/

20071122
• Iraq - United States - Saudi Arabia - Libya - Syria - Military - Terrorism - Computer - Intelligence - Religious - Politics - "Foreign Fighters in Iraq Are Tied to Allies of U.S.." ... "Saudi Arabia and Libya, both considered allies by the United States in its fight against terrorism, were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year to serve as suicide bombers or to facilitate other attacks, according to senior American military officials." ... "The data come largely from a trove of documents and computers discovered in September, when American forces raided a tent camp in the desert near Sinjar, close to the Syrian border. The raid’s target was an insurgent cell believed to be responsible for smuggling the vast majority of foreign fighters into Iraq." ... "The most significant discovery was a collection of biographical sketches that listed hometowns and other details for more than 700 fighters brought into Iraq since August 2006." ... "The records also underscore how the insurgency in Iraq remains both overwhelmingly Iraqi and Sunni. American officials now estimate that the flow of foreign fighters was 80 to 110 per month during the first half of this year and about 60 per month during the summer. The numbers fell sharply in October to no more than 40, partly as a result of the Sinjar raid, the American officials say." ... "In contrast to the comparatively small number of foreigners, more than 25,000 inmates are in American detention centers in Iraq. Of those, only about 290, or some 1.2 percent, are foreigners, military officials say." ... "About four out of every five detainees in American detention centers are Sunni Arab, even though Sunni Arabs make up just one-fifth of Iraq’s population." (1, 2) -By Richard A. Oppel Jr. -NYTimes 

  ---

20060530
• Noteworthy - Opinion - US - Military - Terrorism - Countries - Intelligence - Libya - Egypt - Lebanon - China - North Korea - Iran - "Neo-cons question Bush’s democratisation strategy." ... "President George W. Bush has likened the “war on terrorism” to the cold war against communism." ... "Addressing military cadets graduating from West Point, Mr Bush reaffirmed at the weekend that the US “will not rest until the promise of liberty reaches every people in every nation”." ... "But as the US struggles to assert itself on the international stage, the president’s most radical supporters now dismiss this as mere rhetoric, and traditional conservatives are questioning the wisdom of a democratisation strategy that has brought unpleasant consequences in the Middle East." ... "Neo-conservative commentators at the American Enterprise Institute wrote last week what amounted to an obituary of the Bush freedom doctrine." ... "“Bush killed his own doctrine,” they said, describing the final blow as the resumption of diplomatic relations with Libya. This betrayal of Libyan democracy activists, they said, came after the US watched Egypt abrogate elections, ignored the collapse of the “Cedar Revolution” in Lebanon, abandoned imprisoned Chinese dissidents and started considering a peace treaty with Stalinist North Korea." ... "The neo-conservatives offered no explanation for desertion of the doctrine, other than a desire to make quick but transitory short-term gains. “The president continues to believe his own preaching, but his administration has become incapable of making the hard choices those beliefs require,” they wrote." -By Guy Dinmore -FT.com 

  ---

20050307
• - "CIA Jets Fly the War on Terror: Rendition Program Ships Suspects Abroad." ... "It is supposed to be top secret, but ABC News found plenty of people who said they knew the true purpose of the airplane hangars at the end of a private two-lane road in rural North Carolina." ... ""That's the CIA hangar," said one airport maintenance worker, pointing out one of the two operating bases in North Carolina for the executive jets used by the CIA to move dozens of suspected terrorists over the last few years to countries well-known for using brutality and torture." ... "The two jets, one a Gulfstream V and the other a Boeing 737, have been spotted at airports around the world, and flight logs shown to ABC News show trips to Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and Uzbekistan." ... "The CIA would not officially comment on its operation, known as "extraordinary rendition." The program began under an executive order signed by President George H.W. Bush in December 1992. Former senior government officials say the program initially involved only a select few terror suspects, but was vastly expanded after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks." (1, 2) -By Brian Ross with contributions by David Scott, Vic Walter and Hoda Osman -ABCNEWS.com

  ---

20040425
• - "Shell says signs Libya oil and gas partnership."  -Reuters via -Forbes 

  ---

20040424
• "U.S., Libyan Bankers Discuss Frozen Assets -Libya." ... "Libyan officials say assets worth about $1 billion are frozen in the United States, including equity holdings in banks." ... "Although assets remain blocked, a Libyan banking official said there would be no further freezing, which would previously have occurred if, for example, any Libyan dollar transactions were cleared through New York." (1, 2) -By Salah Sarrar -Reuters 

  ---

  
• -  -  - "Bush eases years-long economic sanctions against Libya." ... "President Bush on Friday eased economic sanctions against Libya, ending its status as a pariah nation and clearing the way for the return of American oil companies." ... "Bush's order ending Libya's economic isolation gave Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi the reward that he wanted for agreeing in December to abandon his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction." -By Ron Hutcheson -Knight Ridder via -SLTrib.com 

  ---