02.24.06 Ten Imams murdered in Iraq as sectarian killings intensify

BAGHDAD, February 24 – Gunmen at a makeshift checkpoint south of Baghdad murdered 47 people who had been demonstrating against the destruction of the Shia shrine at Samarra, bringing Iraq close to a sectarian bloodbath. The victims were Shia and Sunni returning from a demonstration in the town of Kenaan, when they were dragged from their cars and killed. Their bodies were left in a ditch by the side of the road. The scale and intensity of the violence increasingly resembles Lebanon at the start of its bloody civil war 30 years ago.

The number of dead in the vicious circle of violence provoked by the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra was rising by the hour yesterday. More than 130 people are known to have been killed in tit-for-tat killings by Shia and Sunni, but the true figure is certainly much higher. The militant Sunni Clerical Association of Muslim Scholars said 168 Sunni mosques had been attacked, 10 imams had been killed and 15 abducted.

Among those to die in the crescendo of violence were a correspondent of al-Arabiya television and two members of her crew who were taken away by gunmen when they were interviewing people in Samarra. Overnight, 12 prisoners were taken out of a jail in Basra and 11 of them killed. In all, 25 people are known to have died in the mainly Shia city. In Baquba, north of Baghdad, a bomb targeting an army patrol killed 16 people, including eight soldiers and eight civilians. A particularly worrying factor in the present wave of violence is that frequently the sectarian killers either disguise themselves as army or police officers or really are soldiers or policemen. This means that both Shia and Sunni will be forced to rely on their own powerful militias for security. This marks a new stage in the disintegration of the Iraqi government. [More>>independent.co.uk ; See related story, nytimes.com, "As violence ebbs, US envoy warns of danger in Iraq's future."]

---

02.24.06 Yemen rejects US arrest demand

February 24 – Yemen has rejected a US demand to arrest scholar Shaikh Abd al-Majid al-Zindani, whom Washington accuses of financing terrorism. The Yemeni government has asked Washington to provide proof of its accusations against Shaikh al-Zindani in order to take judicial measures. Shaikh al-Zindani, who is the dean of the Iman University and is a senior leader of the Islamist Islah (Reform) party in Yemen, said the demand for his arrest impinges on Yemen's sovereignty.

Yemen's Saba news agency said: "The United States has officially demanded from the Yemeni government to arrest Shaikh al-Zindani, freeze his assets and prevent him from travelling abroad." Washington has been angered by the escape of 23 al-Qaida suspects from a jail in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, prompting some US politicians to say the Yemeni authorities may have facilitated the jail break. Yemen offered a reward of more than $25,000 for information that could lead to the capture of any of the men, including Jamal Badawi who was serving a 10-year sentence. [More>>aljazeera.net]

---

02.24.06 Iraq shrine bombing was specialist job: minister

BAGHDAD, February 24 – The bombing of a revered Shiite shrine which sparked a wave of violence in Iraq was the work of specialists, Construction Minister Jassem Mohammed Jaafar said Friday, adding that the placing of the explosives must have taken at least 12 hours. "According to initial reports, the bombing was technically well conceived and could only have been carried out by specialists," the minister told Iraqia state television.

Jaafar, who toured the devastated thousand-year-old shrine on Thursday a day after the bombing which brought down its golden dome, said "holes were dug into the mausoleum's four main pillars and packed with explosives."

"Then the charges were connected together and linked to another charge placed just under the dome. The wires were then linked to a detonator which was triggered at a distance," the minister added. To drill into the pillars would have taken at least four hours per pillar, he also estimated. Damage to the mausoleum, holding the tombs of the 10th and 11th Shiite Imams, was extensive. [More>>turkishpress.com]

---

02.24.06 Suicide bombers attack Saudi oil facility

RIYADH (Reuters) February 24 – At least two cars exploded at the gates of Saudi Arabiaıs huge Abqaiq oil facility on Friday when security forces fired on suicide bombers trying to storm the worldıs biggest oil processing plant, Saudi officials said. Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi said oil and gas output was unaffected by the "terrorist attempt," the first direct strike on a Saudi oil target since Al Qaeda militants launched attacks aimed at the Saudi government in 2003. [More>>khaleejtimes.com ; See later report, theaustralian.news.com.au, (AFP) 2.25.06 11:10am, ""Al-Qaeda claims foiled attack."]

---

02.24.06 Whitehall branded internet 'Villain of the Year'

February 24 – The British Government has been named "Villain of the Year" by a group of the world's largest internet companies after pushing through laws across Europe that will force firms to store more information on their customers' web and telephone use. At an awards ceremony in London last night, the Internet Service Provider Association said the Government had used its presidency of the European Union in 2005 to push through EU-wide data retention laws that will force ISPs and telecoms companies "to retain more data for longer without proper impact assessment".

The associationıs members, which include telecoms providers such as BT as well as internet giants such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, are already among the biggest repositories of personal data in the world. Under the legislation, which was given final approval in Brussels this week, they will keep details of their European customers' telephone calls and internet use for up to two years. Previously ISPs in Britain had operated under a voluntary code included in the 2001 Anti-terrorism, Crime & Security Act. The code suggested that subscriber information be stored for 12 months and web activity information – which includes logs of web pages visited – for just four days. [More>>timesonline.co.uk ; See related story, independent.co.uk, "Blair faces torrent of criticism on human rights."]

---

02.23.06 Bird flu still spreading

February 23 – A number of new cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain have been confirmed across Europe. In Germany, it is feared the disease has been found in domestic birds for the first time, with the strain suspected in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Meanwhile, Slovakia has confirmed its first cases in a wild falcon and a grebe.

France has also reported its second case of H5N1, in a dead duck in the Ain region. Its first case, reported last week, also affected a duck in the same region in southeast France, around 22 miles away from the new case. Germany has reported around 100 cases of bird flu, all previously in wild birds. They are all in the same region of Germany, with two on the mainland and remainder on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen. [More>>sky.com]

---

02.23.06 Nigerian religious violence kills 96

February 23 – Bodies littered the streets of the southern Nigerian city of Onitsha as the death toll from days of violence between Christians and Muslims across Nigeria rose to at least 96. "I've counted more than 20 people killed today," said Isotonu Achor, who lives in Onitsha, after rioters armed with machetes and shotguns poured through the mainly Christian city yesterday. Residents said soldiers had opened fire on a mob of ethnic Igbo Christians that tried to enter the military barracks after reports that ethnic Hausa Muslims sheltering in the barracks had attacked a nearby primary school, killing a number of children. The claims could not be verified and it was not clear if the soldiers killed anyone in the mob.

The deaths brought to at least 96 the number of people killed in Nigeria since sectarian violence first erupted on Saturday in the northern city of Maiduguri, where Muslim protests against cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Mohamad turned violent, burning down 30 churches and claiming the lives of 18 people, mostly Christians. [More>>independent.co.uk ; See related story, theaustralian.news.com.au, "Bodies burnt in open in Nigeria."]

---

02.23.06 Over 120 shot dead in Iraq sectarian bloodshed

BAGHDAD (AFP) February 23 – Gunmen have killed at least 127 people in Iraq in sectarian violence that flared after the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine and reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques, officials said on Thursday. Amid warnings that sectarian violence could spiral further out of control, Iraqi political leaders went into an emergency meeting with President Jalal Talabani. The bloodshed is likely to complicate the task of Shiite and Sunni political leaders who have pledged to set up a government of national unity in the wake of the December elections, which illustrated a deep sectarian split in Iraq.

Eighty bullet-ridden corpses were brought to the Baghdad morgue between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, the deputy director of the morgue, Doctor Kais Mohammed, told AFP. "Iıve only been able to carry out autopsies on 25 of them," he said, adding that all had been shot. The bodies, which had been dumped in Baghdad and its suburbs, could not immediately be identified. [More>>kihaleejtimes.com]

---

02.23.06 White House report advises revamping disaster response

WASHINGTON, February 23 – The nation must revamp the way it responds to major disasters or terrorist attacks, according to a new White House report that calls for more stockpiling of emergency supplies, a better-defined role for the military and a more concerted push to evacuate hospitals and nursing homes. The report, prepared by Frances Fragos Townsend, President Bush's domestic security adviser, and scheduled to be officially released Thursday, does not advocate removing the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the Department of Homeland Security, which some members of Congress have urged, officials said Wednesday.

But it does call for many other changes in how federal agencies respond to disasters, including asking the Department of Housing and Urban Development to play a more central role in finding temporary housing for victims, according to a preview provided by Ms. Townsend in a speech last week that two senior administration officials said on Wednesday still stands as accurate summary of the recommendations. [More>>nytimes.com]

---

02.22.06 Second H5N1 bird flu case in France

PARIS, February 23 – The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has been discovered in a second wild duck found dead in the Ain region of southeast France, the ministry of agriculture announced early Thursday. It said in a statement that the duck was found in the village of Bouvent on Sunday, the day after the discovery of the first wild duck carrying the highly pathogenic virus. [More>>jang.com.pk]

---

02.22.06 Iran leader faces Holocaust case

February 22 – An Israeli lawyer, Ervin Shahar, says he has asked Germany to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with denying the Holocaust. Mr. Ahmadinejad was widely criticized when he said last year that the Holocaust was a "myth" and that Israel should be "wiped off the map." Germany passed a law in 1993 forbidding Holocaust denial. It is punishable by up to five years in prison. Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II. Mr. Shahar said he wanted the German federal prosecutors' office to take the issue before the constitutional court in the hope that international arrest warrants would be issued against Mr. Ahmadinejad...Although Mr. Ahmadinejad did not deny the Holocaust on German soil, another law passed in 2005 permits the filing of international cases in German courts. Mr. Shahar hopes the case might result in international warrants for Mr. Ahmadinejad's arrest, thus preventing the president from entering the US or Europe. [Full story>>bbc.co.uk]

---

02.22.06 Blast damages iraq Shia shrine

February 22 – A large explosion has heavily damaged the golden dome of one of Iraq's most famous Shia religious shrines, sending protesters pouring into the streets. The explosion at the Golden Mosque in the northern city of Samarra was the third major attack against Shia targets in Iraq in three days. There were no confirmed reports of casualties from the blast early on Wednesday.

The shrine contains the tombs of two revered Shia imams, both descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. Jalal Talabani, the president and an ethnic Kurd, accused the attackers of trying to derail negotiations on a national unity coalition: "We must ... work together against ... the danger of civil war," he said in a televised address to the nation. The Shias' reclusive and ageing senior cleric, Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani made a rare, if silent, television appearance that underlined the gravity of the crisis; he appealed in a statement for protests but restraint as protesters outside his office in Najaf chanted: "Rise up Shias! Take revenge!" [More>>aljazeera.net ; See also theaustralian.news.com.au, "Shrine bomb fuels Shiite fury" and separate story, aljazeera.net, "Jordan pledges help to Iraq."]

---

02.22.06 Israel fears harm to ties with Jordan due to comments by IDF commander

February 22 – Israeli-Jordanian relations were clouded on Wednesday evening when a senior Israel Defense Forces commander expressed uncertainty as to the future of Hashemite rule in Jordan. GOC Central Command Yair Naveh said that at least 80 percent of Jordan's citizens are Palestinian and that, due to regional threats, King Abdullah is liable to be the last Hashemite monarch to lead the kingdom.

Naveh comments were leaked from a closed-door meeting conducted by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. A senior figure who participated in the meeting said Naveh spoke to a group of foreign journalists and diplomats on instability and threats in the Middle East liable to spread to Israel's neighbors....Diplomatic officials in Amman sought Israeli clarifications to Naveh's statements. Urgent high-level Israeli efforts on Wednesday evening sought to soften the impact of Naveh's comments. [Full story>>haaretzdaily.com]

Editorial note: The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan comes from the post World War I allied creation of the Middle East as we know it, following the defeat of the Ottoman Turks. The Hashemites are the direct descendants of the Prophet Mohammed through his daughter Fatima and her husband Ali bin Abi Talib, who was also the Prophetıs paternal first cousin and the fourth caliph of Islam. Ali and Fatima had two sons: Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein. The direct descendants of their eldest son, Hassan, are known as "Sharifs" (nobles), while the descendants of Hussein are called "Sayyids" (lords). The royal family of Jordan, the Hashemites, is descended through the Sharifian branch of lineage, who ruled the holy city, Mecca, of the Hijaz. After World War I the Hijaz, along with the rest of Saudi Arabia, was turned over to the Saudi familly which then controlled the center of what is now known as Saudi Arabia. In brokering this deal, the heirs of the Sharifs were expelled, given new kingdoms outside of their homeland. The Hashamite Sharif Faisal was given Syria and the Palestinian mandate which included Jordan and Transjordan (West Bank, Jerusalem). Then in brokering a deal with his brother Abdullah, the Allies established Faisal as king of Iraq and Abdullah as king of Jordan and Transjordan. King Faisal was overthrown in Iraq.

The Hashemite ruling family controls the religious sites in Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount. The issues involving the breakup of the British Mandate territories of Syria / Palestine and Iraq are addressed in "Philistia Triumph thou because of me." An Israeli discussion of the history of the region is at palestinefacts.org and kinghussein.gov.jo provides a history of Jordan and its ruling Hashemite family.

Mel Copeland

---

02.22.06 Facts about Dubai ports

(Reuters) February 22 – Dubai Ports World is at the center of the Washington controversy over whether the firm, owned by Dubai, should take over managing six major ports in the United States. According to khaleejtimes.com here are five facts about Dubai Ports World.

• Shareholders at Britainıs P&O, who had been managing the ports, voted last week in favour of Dubai Portıs multibillion dollar bid, giving the firm control over the management of P&Oıs global operations, including in the US ports of New York and New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Miami.
• The deal made Dubai Ports World the worldıs third-largest ports group.
• Dubai Ports World purchased the global port assets of US freight rail company CSX Corp. in 2005 for $1.15 billion. US Treasury Secretary John Snow is a former chairman of CSX, but left the company a year before the Dubai deal.
• One of DP Worldıs top executives, David Sanborn, was nominated by President George W. Bush in January to become the administrator of the Maritime Administration in the US Department of Transportation. At least one senator plans to hold up Sanbornıs confirmation until more questions about the port deal are answered.
• Dubai Ports has international operations in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Germany, Romania, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, India, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Australia in addition to the UAE.

See related story, villagevoice.com, "Dubai's port of no return" : WASHINGTON, D.C. – James Ridgeway writes: No matter what Bush and his supporters say, there is indisputable evidence of tight connections between the United Arab Emirates and leadership of both the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The country is the center of financial activity in the Persian Gulf, and has next to no laws controlling money laundering.Two of the hijackers came from the UAE and hijacker money was laundered through the UAE. The details are spelled out in documents in the government's case against Moussaoui.

The ties with bin Laden and the Taliban reach far back into the '90s. Prominent Persian Gulf officials, including members of the UAE royal family, and businessmen would fly to Kandahar on UAE and private jets for hunting expeditions, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2001. In addition to ranking UAE ministers, these parties included Saudi big wigs like Prince Turki, the former Saudi intelligence minister who now is ambassador to the US.

General Wayne Downing, Bush's former national director for combating terrorism, was quoted on MSNBC in September, 2003 saying, "They would go out and see Osama, spend some time with him, talk with him, you know, live out in the tents, eat the simple food, engage in falconing, some other pursuits, ride horses...

Editorial note: What is the Bush-bin Laden connection?

Ever since two dozen members of the bin Laden family were placed on a private plane and flown out of the US to Saudi Arabia the day after 9/11, the connection of the Bush family to the bin Ladens has been an object of concern. September 11, 2002 Byron York, nationalreview.com Washington Correspondent, wrote: "The bin Laden's Great Escape" : Bill Carter, the FBI spokesman, is adamant. "We were given full access to the individuals on that plane," he says, "and we were satisfied that we did not believe any of those individuals had anything to do with the 9/11 plots."

The plane to which Carter refers was an aircraft chartered by the Saudi government in the days after the terrorist attacks. The individuals were two dozen members of Osama bin Laden's extended family who had been living in the United States. Saying they were afraid that family members might suffer retribution in the US, the Saudis asked for American assistance in getting them out of the country. With the help of the FBI, the Saudis and the bin Laden family chartered an aircraft to pick up family members in Los Angeles, Orlando, and Washington, D.C. The bin Laden plane then flew the relatives to Boston, where — one week after the attacks — the group left Logan Airport bound for Jeddah.

At the time, the massive 9/11 investigation was just beginning. The government had begun detaining hundreds of people who were held for days, weeks, or months while U.S. agents performed extensive background checks and interviews. In addition, the government announced its intention to question thousands of men from Muslim countries who might simply have known something of interest to the investigation. "The Department of Justice is waging a deliberate campaign of arrest and detention to protect American lives," Attorney General John Ashcroft said on November 27.

But the bin Ladens did not have to worry about that. While FBI agents looked into bin Laden family members in the Boston area immediately after September 11, it appears that the agents' first chance to interview them — or other family members who lived elsewhere in the country — came on the day they left the US Each family member was given the all-clear on the basis of a single, day-of-departure interview — conducted, in Bill Carter's words, "at the airport, as they were about to leave." [More>> nationalreview.com ;

---

See [later] related story, hillnews.com, May 18, 2004, "Who let bin Ladens leave US?" : The Bush administration has refused to answer repeated requests from the Sept. 11 commission about who authorized flights of Saudi Arabian citizens, including members of Osama bin Ladenıs family, from the United States immediately after the attacks of 2001.

Former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), vice chairman of the independent, bipartisan commission, disclosed the administrationıs refusal to answer questions on the sensitive subject during a recent closed-door meeting with a group of Democratic senators, according to several Democratic sources... Democrats suspect President Bush, who met privately with the Saudi Arabian ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, on the morning of Sept. 13, 2001, may have personally authorized the controversial flights, several of which took place when all other U.S. commercial air travel had been halted... Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said she asked Hamilton and Lehman if they were able to find out who in the administration authorized the Saudi Arabian flights. "Who did this? Why would the Saudis want to get out of the country? They said [those questions have] been part of their inquiry and they havenıt received satisfactory answers yet and they were pushing," Boxer said.

Another Democrat in the meeting who confirmed Boxerıs account reported that Hamilton said, "We donıt know who authorized it. Weıve asked that question 50 times." [More>>hillnews.com]

---

See Senator Lautenberg, lautenberg.senate.gov, July 24, 2004 publication of the "Passenger Manifest of the bin Laden family airlift" : WASHINGTON, DC – Today, United States Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) released the passenger manifest from a charter flight that carried thirteen members of Osama Bin Laden's family out of the United States and out of reach from US investigators just days after Osama Bin Laden killed 3,000 innocent people. At least one member of the Bin Laden family on board is linked to a suspected terrorist organization based in Northern Virginia.

Omar Awad Bin Laden, a nephew of Osama and the brother and one-time roommate of Abdullah Bin Laden, the President of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) was allowed to leave the country even though Omar has been linked to WAMY; a suspected terrorist organization located in Falls Church, Va., that was recently raided by 50 federal agents...

---

See guardian.co.uk, October 31, 2001, "The ex-president's club" : It is hard to imagine an address closer to the heart of American power. The offices of the Carlyle Group are on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, midway between the White House and the Capitol building, and within a stone's throw of the headquarters of the FBI and numerous government departments. The address reflects Carlyle's position at the very centre of the Washington establishment, but amid the frenetic politicking that has occupied the higher reaches of that world in recent weeks, few have paid it much attention. Elsewhere, few have even heard of it.

This is exactly the way Carlyle likes it. For 14 years now, with almost no publicity, the company has been signing up an impressive list of former politicians – including the first President Bush and his secretary of state, James Baker; John Major; one-time World Bank treasurer Afsaneh Masheyekhi and several south-east Asian powerbrokers – and using their contacts and influence to promote the group. Among the companies Carlyle owns are those which make equipment, vehicles and munitions for the US military, and its celebrity employees have long served an ingenious dual purpose, helping encourage investments from the very wealthy while also smoothing the path for Carlyle's defence firms.

But since the start of the "war on terrorism", the firm - unofficially valued at $3.5bn - has taken on an added significance. Carlyle has become the thread which indirectly links American military policy in Afghanistan to the personal financial fortunes of its celebrity employees, not least the current president's father. And, until earlier this month, Carlyle provided another curious link to the Afghan crisis: among the firm's multi-million-dollar investors were members of the family of Osama bin Laden..

---

See washingtonpost.com, July 22, 2004, Plane carried 13 bin Ladens" : At least 13 relatives of Osama bin Laden, accompanied by bodyguards and associates, were allowed to leave the United States on a chartered flight eight days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a passenger manifest released yesterday. One passenger, Omar Awad bin Laden, a nephew of the al Qaeda leader, had been investigated by the FBI because he had lived with Abdullah bin Laden, a leader of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, which the FBI suspected of being a terrorist organization.

The passenger list was made public by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who obtained the manifest from officials at Boston's Logan International Airport. Lautenberg's office was given the document in recent weeks and released it before today's issuance of the final report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

Although much was already known about the "bin Laden flight," Lautenberg provided additional details, including the information that the plane, a 727 owned by DB Air and operated by Ryan International, began its flight in Los Angeles and made stops in Orlando, Dulles International Airport and Boston before continuing to Gander, Newfoundland; Paris; Geneva; and Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. The aircraft, tail number N521DB, has been chartered frequently by the White House for the press corps traveling with President Bush.

...The flight manifest lists 13 people with the bin Laden surname and others with Brazilian, British, Indonesian and Yemeni passports. Passenger Omar Awad bin Laden had lived with Abdullah bin Laden, a nephew of Osama bin Laden who was involved in forming the U.S. branch of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth in Alexandria. Federal agents raided the office this spring in connection with a terrorism-related investigation. The FBI has described the group as a "suspected terrorist organization."

Among the other passengers was Shafig bin Laden, a half brother of Osama bin Laden who was reportedly attending the annual investor conference of the Carlyle Group, a politically connected investment company in Washington, on Sept. 11, 2001. Also on board was Akberali Moawalla, an official with the investment company run by Yeslam bin Laden, another of Osama bin Laden's half brothers. Records show that a passenger, Kholoud Kurdi, lived in Northern Virginia with a bin Laden relative.

---

More on the Carlyle Group, Dubai and Saudis:

See forbes.com, "U.K. faces of the week, – Billionaire Sheik of Dubai wins P & O" : The winner in the tussle for P&O is now steaming ahead to victory. The venerated British shipping company Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation is set to be folded into the holdings of the Dubai government, after rival bidder PSA International bowed out of the race. Overseen by the billionaire Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the state of Dubai will now own the world's third-largest ports operator after Hutchinson Whampoa of Hong King and PSA International...

business.timesonline.co.uk, March 24, 2005, "Buyer of Tussauds tells of private equity ambitions" : DUBAI International Capital (DIC), the Government of Dubaiıs newly created investment arm, yesterday outlined plans to become a major force in the private equity market after buying Tussauds Group for £800 million. The acquisition of the company that owns the Madame Tussaudıs waxwork museum and Alton Towers is DICıs first big private equity investment and the firm last night said that there would be more. "We will look at anything and everything that comes up," Sameer Al Ansari, chief executive of DIC, said.

DIC, formed last October, is part of Dubai Holding, which was also set up last year to consolidate the ownership of state-controlled companies in fields including leisure, health care, property, technology, finance, energy and education. The chairman of Dubai Holding is Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defence in the United Arab Emirates. Sheikh Mohammed is one of the worldıs richest men and owns a string of top racehorses...Although DIC is already being touted as a putative rival to the big US private equity houses such as Carlyle Group, Blackstone and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Mr. Al Ansari said that, unlike most venture capitalists, DIC did not have to go out into the investment community to raise a fund.... However, Mr. Al Ansari said he saw the company as "complementary" to established private equity groups, rather than as competition to them. He said that DIC had invested $100 million in Carlyle Groupıs new $7.85 billion fund...

forbes.com, March 15, 2004, "Arabian Knight" : Dubai is a place where the act of moving around sand dunes always involves billions of dollars. You might recognize the sail-shaped $1 billion Burj Al Arab superluxury hotel jutting into the Persian Gulf. Perhaps you haven't heard of the $3 billion construction of two islands in the shape of palm trees. Or the 480,000-square-foot hole for a new $4.1 billion airport terminal. That's in front of the site for Dubailand, an improbable $5 billion Disneyesque project comprising indoor snow skiing, an animal safari and amusement rides – but not a single mosque.

The guy driving all this construction is a bit of an oddity himself. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 54, who rules this tiny city-state (roughly the size of Rhode Island), is Dubai's de facto Muslim leader, but he has a distinctly capitalist tilt. Thanks to his restless enterprise, Dubai's nominal GDP has exploded from $8 billion to $20 billion in the last decade. That wealth does not derive from oil, which represents only 8.5% of output; nearly two-thirds comes from trade, tourism, real estate, construction and financial services...Think of Dubai as a corporation and Mohammed its chief executive – without a board of directors getting in his way. He can increase the value of land simply by building, say, a marble-clad hotel on a portion of it.

...Now to attract more foreign capital. Remember that pair of man-made islands in the shape of palm trees, 3.5 billion cubic feet of sand? Someone like Donald Trump might be interested: Due for completion in 2007, the project will offer $400,000- to $1.5-million ocean-view villas, 40 hotels – plus a water theme park with dolphins and killer whales – and a $550 million shopping mall.

Trouble is, no federal law permits foreigners to buy land in the UAE. Still, Mohammed has authorized the state-run property development company, Nakheel, to allow foreigners to invest in real estate via 99-year leases. But the draft of a new bill from the 40-member UAE federal national council leaves open the question of whether foreigners can resell property, or will it upon death, even if Islamic law prohibits it.

Mohammed faces other problems with the law. Last month the UAE's central bank announced an investigation into whether foreign criminals are laundering money in Dubai by paying for property with cash – the source of about 10% of real estate sales to foreigners last year. The probe is driven in part by a UAE anti-money-laundering law passed right after Sept. 11. (One of Osama bin Laden's henchmen wired $100,000 from Sharjah to Florida accounts opened by two of the hijackers. So far there is no proof of a link between any of Dubai's 50 major banks and the attackers or al Qaeda.) The recent revelation of a Dubai national's role in the smuggling of nuclear materials from Pakistan to Libya could prompt further investigations...

middle-east-online.com January 5, 2006, "New Dubai ruler is a moderniser" DUBAI – The new ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who has long been considered the "real boss" in this city-emirate, vies to project an image of a new, moderate Arab leader. "I say to my fellow Arabs in power: If you do not change, you will be changed," he said in a conference attended by Arab and world figures in Dubai in 2004. "If you do not initiate radical changes to restore respect to public duties, uphold the principles of transparency, justice and responsibility, your peoples will resent you, and the verdict of history on you will be severe," he added...He is married to princess Haya, daughter of the late king Hussein of Jordan who shares his interest in horses, and is believed to have at least one other wife. Sheikh Mohammed has led the charge to model Dubai as a haven for tolerance...

guardian.co.uk, November 1, 2001, "CIA agent alledged to have met Bin Laden in July – French report claims terrorist leader stayed in Dubai hospital" : Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the American hospital, where he was visited by the local CIA agent, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro. The disclosures are known to come from French intelligence which is keen to reveal the ambiguous role of the CIA, and to restrain Washington from extending the war to Iraq and elsewhere.

Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology department. While there he was visited by several members of his family and Saudi personalities, and the CIA. The CIA chief was seen in the lift, on his way to see Bin Laden, and later, it is alleged, boasted to friends about his contact. He was recalled to Washington soon afterwards.

Intelligence sources say that another CIA agent was also present; and that Bin Laden was also visited by Prince Turki al Faisal, then head of Saudi intelligence, who had long had links with the Taliban, and Bin Laden. Soon afterwards Turki resigned, and more recently he has publicly attacked him in an open letter: "You are a rotten seed, like the son of Noah."

The American hospital in Dubai emphatically denied that Bin Laden was a patient there. Washington last night also denied the story.

Private planes owned by rich princes in the Gulf fly frequently between Quetta and the Emirates, often on luxurious "hunting trips" in territories sympathetic to Bin Laden. Other sources confirm that these hunting trips have provided opportunities for Saudi contacts with the Taliban and terrorists, since they first began in 1994...

ajc.com, May 2, 2004, "Bush ties to Saudis given new scrutiny" – they went on hunting trips together : WASHINGTON — Last July, just months after U.S. soldiers dismantled Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, the White House announced that Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz had presented President Bush with a $1 million oil painting of an American buffalo hunt.

The painting, by famed Western artist C.M. Russell, is to be displayed in the Bush presidential library once the president leaves the White House — an event Bandar does not necessarily want to see happen for another four years...Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the ambassador to the United States and a longtime Bush family friend, denies promising to cut oil prices to help President Bush's re-election bid...The Bush-Saudi relationship, cloaked in wartime government and corporate boardroom secrecy, is difficult to assess. But it invites legitimate questions of public policy as well as wild-eyed conspiracy theories...The Persian Gulf War in 1991, in which a U.S.-led coalition of troops drove Iraqi occupying forces out of Kuwait, deepened the Saudis' relationship with the president who put together that coalition, the elder George Bush. Bandar became so close to the 41st president — they went on vacations and hunting trips together — that within the family he was good-naturedly known as "Bandar Bush," according to the 2003 book "Sleeping With the Devil" by Robert Baer, who served 21 years with the CIA, mostly as a field officer in the Middle East...

findarticles.com (USA Today, November 2004, "The president and the terrorist: does George W. Bush have business ties to Osama bin laden? – 'Bandar Bush'" After ascending the Oval Office in 1989, Bush employed Bandar as his middleman in negotiating with Saddam Hussein. Bandar is known to have assured Bush that he could continue to count on Saddam as a staunch ally against Islamic extremism in the Middle East, just as the Reagan/Bush team had done all throughout the 1980s when they supported Saddam in the Iran-Iraq war. When Saddam "officially" turned evil and invaded Kuwait a year later, it was Bandar who persuaded the reluctant King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia to join the U.S. coalition against the Iraqi invasion. The King then granted American forces permission to set up shop on Saudi territory. This, in turn, made an official enemy out of Osama bin Laden.

Beginning in 1995, the elder Bush worked as a senior advisor for the Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group, said to be the world's largest private equity firm and one of America's largest defense contractors. Carlyle is chaired by Frank Carlucci, Reagan's former Defense Secretary (mad current Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's ex-college roommate) and run by a veritable who's who of political figures from the Reagan/Bush era. Carlyle has over 400 partners around the globe, with an untold number of Saudi oil and banking sheiks on its roster. After leaving office four years sooner than expected (thanks to Bill Clinton), Bush, along with his Secretary of State, James Baker, and former British Prime Minister John Major, are reported to have conducted several meetings with the Saudis to encourage their investment in Carlyle.

Remember, it was these three men who led the fight against Iraq during the first Gulf War and saved the Saudis from the newly minted evil Saddam, who had taken up residence on their doorstep in Kuwait. Among the various Saudis reported to have invested in the Carlyle Group at Bush's urging were Prince Bandar, the Saudi bin Laden Group, and Sultan and Abdulrahman bin Mahfouz. The latter two are sons of the notorious Khalid bin Mahfouz. They reportedly put $30,000,000 into Carlyle's coffers. Abdulrahman bin Mahfouz subsequently was identified as a director of the Muwafaq Foundation, which was one of several Islamic charities designated by the US Treasury Department as a front operation shifting funds to Al Qaeda...

---

Mel Copeland

---

02.22.06 Rioting in southern Nigerian city

February 22 – At least 20 people are believed to have died in two days of violence in the southern Nigerian city of Onitsha Christian mobs rampaged through the city attacking Muslims in retaliation for anti-Christian riots in the north. Nigerian police said hundreds of Christian Ibos attacked houses belonging to Muslim Hausas when news of the northern clashes reached Onitsha. Danish cartoon protests in the north led to sectarian clashes which have seen dozens of deaths in four cities. On Wednesday, groups of Christian men wielding clubs and machetes rampaged through Onitsha for a second day attacking any members of the Muslim Hausa community they could find, according to witnesses. [More>>bbc.co.uk]

---

02.22.06 Iran pledges financial aid to Palestinian Authority

TEHRAN (Reuters) February 22 – Iran pledged on Wednesday to provide financial assistance to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority following threats by Western nations to halt aid to a Hamas-controlled government. "We will definitely provide financial aid to this government so that they can stand up against the oppression of America," Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA students news agency. He was speaking after a meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, who is touring regional countries in search of financial support.

"We hope that the new Palestinian government overcomes its current problems with the help of Islamic countries, including Iran," Larijani said. US President George W. Bush on Tuesday said a Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority should not be funded until it recognized Israel's right to exist. [More>>iranfocus.com]

---