The NEFA Foundation has obtained exclusive video footage of a secret Taliban training camp located just north of the Afghan capital Kabul, excerpts of which were aired today by NBC News. The recording was made by NEFA Investigator Claudio Franco, who watched firsthand as Taliban fighters demonstrated the detailed construction of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which their commander endorsed as his preferred method of attacking enemy forces.
video
Showing posts with label claudio franco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label claudio franco. Show all posts
September 24, 2007
March 09, 2007
A Disturbance in the Force
I've known Claudio a while, he tried the same thing I was doing on Hamza et al with Bakri's posse and met one of the British suicide bombers who did the Tel Aviv "Jakes place" attack.
Here is an article of his about the Taliban.
Hamid said the Afghans and the Arabs have a common enemy, but don't necessarily like each other. He described the Arabs as firebrand Islamists who don't obey orders and are obsessed with martyrdom. "They won't stop shooting even when they are told to. And they always write messages home before a battle -- they get ready to die. I know them well, and I don't like them; they just don't trust Afghans."
The fighters are confident about the conflict's outcome. "The American troops move slowly, they carry pounds of body armor and equipment," Hamid said. "You can't win if you can't move on these mountains. Their helicopters are the only real danger for us, but we have learned how to hit them, even without Stingers...
...He would not answer questions on the presence of al Qaeda's leaders in the region. But the Konar-Nuristan triangle, including the Pakistani tribal district of Bajaur, is thought to be the most likely hideout for bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and a number of other key figures.
"You must understand," Musa Khan said, "that one Arab is worth 10 Afghans in terms of religious zeal. They truly hate the West and all Westerners, without exception. They would never allow the press on these mountains. They are not fighting our war, but their own personal jihad. Protecting their own people and achieving martyrdom are their first priority."
Claudo invited me to go with him to Afghanistan a while back but I'm just not up for any of this warzone stuff. Its interesting seeing the (long standing) difference between Afghans and Al-Qaeda Saudi's. The only people I ever got any real hassle from in Finsbury park were Saudi's.
I watched The Great Global Warming Swindle last night. Hilarious. I'm off out to buy a 4X4 now. No seriously I spent a lot of time slagging my Republican buddies when they used to go on about this. I thought the people they interviewed were very interesting and they explained everything well. No one I was watching it with could wait till it finished to start debating about it so I have no idea what I reckon about it all.
July 12, 2006
BRITAINS FIRST SUICIDE BOMBER
Britain's First Suicide Bombers tells how Omar, a man from an unremarkable, provincial background, came to believe that by committing suicide and murder, he would achieve martyrdom and find a place in paradise.
Suspected of knowing his plans, Omar's wife, Tahira, and his older brother, Zaheed, were charged with failing to alert the authorities to a potential terrorist act. His older sister, Parveen, was charged with incitement to commit a terrorist act.
The documentary reconstructs key moments from the trials, using transcripts from court, letters and e-mails. The three defendants were found to be not guilty.
Really good doc last night which showed that whilst Omar Sharif's sister may not have known specifics about his plan to become a martyr she certainly knew it was his intention. I can now reveal that the consultant on this programme, Claudio contacted me asking if these two had any connection with Hamza's posse.
Claudio is much more serious than I am, as he's got kids to feed, but it seems he did much the same thing with Bakri's posse I was trying with Hamza's lot. In conversation he l told me that he had a proper "visit" from MI-5, not like the little chat the FIT squad had with me.
This is interesting from the Telegraph:
A BBC documentary tomorrow will claim that Mohammed Siddique Khan, the ringleader, had previously met two British Muslims who went to Israel to carry out a suicide mission.
It quotes an alleged witness, who has not come forward before, as saying that he collaborated with Omar Sharif, from Derby, and Hanif Asif, from Hounslow, north-west London, to recruit young Muslims for training camps in Afghanistan five years ago.
Kursheed Fiaz, a businessman who runs an information technology company in Manchester, says that he had four or five meetings - the first in 2001 - with Khan, who was initially accompanied by Sharif and later by Asif.
If true, this would have significant implications for the investigation into extremist jihadi groups, suggesting closer links than had been realised.
However, this connection is unknown to police and MI5 officers who have been compiling a profile of Khan and his associates in the year since the London attacks. There is some scepticism about the claim among counter-terrorism specialists, not least that the operation mounted by the two Britons in Israel was carried out by Hamas, not al-Qa'eda.
The program alleges he had contact with Abu Hamza. This maybe true, I don't know. I very clearly remember when asked whether he knew them Hamza answered in typical style
"When people shake my hand I say, brother don't tell me your name, so that if ever I am upside down with someone hitting the soles of my feet no one can beat it out of me." he added "I hope they are in paradise."
As outlined in the doc, Claudio met the guy as Omar Bakri's right hand man. It certainly seemed to me that there was no friendship between Bakris group and Hamza's lot if not open enmity. which would suggest no connection, but as I say, i don't know.
For me, this was the first program which doesn't shy away from the big question "why" they did it. The psychological signs from the words of their friends seem so obvious after the event. Young Muslims so dangerously distant from the humanity around them by their own decisions and their place in the current history of british immigration. You see the answer very simply in the videos they made, and in the video Mohammed Sadiqui Khan made which the film finishes with.
They seem to be saying that whilst Muslims are being killed with deaths being swept under the carpet worldwide, and Islam as a nation is being supressed with the backing of western governments, people like them will be amongst us blowing themselves up, eye for an eye.
Terrorism. And I didn't need the deaths of 30-100 000 innocent Iraqis to know that.
Suspected of knowing his plans, Omar's wife, Tahira, and his older brother, Zaheed, were charged with failing to alert the authorities to a potential terrorist act. His older sister, Parveen, was charged with incitement to commit a terrorist act.
The documentary reconstructs key moments from the trials, using transcripts from court, letters and e-mails. The three defendants were found to be not guilty.
Really good doc last night which showed that whilst Omar Sharif's sister may not have known specifics about his plan to become a martyr she certainly knew it was his intention. I can now reveal that the consultant on this programme, Claudio contacted me asking if these two had any connection with Hamza's posse.
Claudio is much more serious than I am, as he's got kids to feed, but it seems he did much the same thing with Bakri's posse I was trying with Hamza's lot. In conversation he l told me that he had a proper "visit" from MI-5, not like the little chat the FIT squad had with me.
This is interesting from the Telegraph:
A BBC documentary tomorrow will claim that Mohammed Siddique Khan, the ringleader, had previously met two British Muslims who went to Israel to carry out a suicide mission.
It quotes an alleged witness, who has not come forward before, as saying that he collaborated with Omar Sharif, from Derby, and Hanif Asif, from Hounslow, north-west London, to recruit young Muslims for training camps in Afghanistan five years ago.
Kursheed Fiaz, a businessman who runs an information technology company in Manchester, says that he had four or five meetings - the first in 2001 - with Khan, who was initially accompanied by Sharif and later by Asif.
If true, this would have significant implications for the investigation into extremist jihadi groups, suggesting closer links than had been realised.
However, this connection is unknown to police and MI5 officers who have been compiling a profile of Khan and his associates in the year since the London attacks. There is some scepticism about the claim among counter-terrorism specialists, not least that the operation mounted by the two Britons in Israel was carried out by Hamas, not al-Qa'eda.
The program alleges he had contact with Abu Hamza. This maybe true, I don't know. I very clearly remember when asked whether he knew them Hamza answered in typical style
"When people shake my hand I say, brother don't tell me your name, so that if ever I am upside down with someone hitting the soles of my feet no one can beat it out of me." he added "I hope they are in paradise."
As outlined in the doc, Claudio met the guy as Omar Bakri's right hand man. It certainly seemed to me that there was no friendship between Bakris group and Hamza's lot if not open enmity. which would suggest no connection, but as I say, i don't know.
For me, this was the first program which doesn't shy away from the big question "why" they did it. The psychological signs from the words of their friends seem so obvious after the event. Young Muslims so dangerously distant from the humanity around them by their own decisions and their place in the current history of british immigration. You see the answer very simply in the videos they made, and in the video Mohammed Sadiqui Khan made which the film finishes with.
They seem to be saying that whilst Muslims are being killed with deaths being swept under the carpet worldwide, and Islam as a nation is being supressed with the backing of western governments, people like them will be amongst us blowing themselves up, eye for an eye.
Terrorism. And I didn't need the deaths of 30-100 000 innocent Iraqis to know that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)