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UK terror arrest

May 25th, 2013 ripley@ripley.za.net No comments

London (CNN) — Concern grew Saturday that the slaying of a British soldier by attackers who claimed they were acting to avenge the deaths of Muslims overseas has prompted a swell in anti-Muslim sentiment in Britain.

A group which monitors incidents of anti-Muslim abuse said Saturday morning it had seen a huge increase in the number of reported incidents in the past 48 hours.

Meanwhile Northumbria Police said its officers had arrested three people in northern England on suspicion of posting racist tweets Saturday, ahead of a planned protest march in Newcastle by the far-right English Defence League.

Another group, Newcastle Unites, will stage a counter demonstration at the same time.

“The policing operation will allow people the right to peaceful protest, protect the safety of everyone in the city and prevent serious disorder and damage,” a police statement said.

Members of the EDL clashed with police near the scene of the killing late Wednesday. A tweet from its official account proclaimed then that “it’s fair to say that finally the country is waking up!:-) NO SURRENDER!”

Politicians and community leaders have been trying to damp down tensions in the wake of the murder of the soldier, Drummer Lee Rigby, while police numbers have been boosted in vulnerable areas.

But despite those efforts, reports of anti-Muslim abuse have soared according to figures gathered by the Tell Mama project, which describes itself as “a public service for measuring and monitoring anti-Muslim attacks.”

Fiyaz Mughal, a coordinator of Tell Mama, told CNN Saturday morning that 162 incidents had been reported in the past 48 hours — compared with four to six incidents a day on average before the Woolwich attack.

The latest include street-based incidents like name calling, assaults and materials being thrown at individuals, Mughal said, as well as online incidents, where targeted hate is directed at individuals through the Internet and social media. Eight incidents of attacks against mosques across Britain are also included in the figure.

Mughal, also director of an interfaith national hate crime reporting project, Faith Matters, said he had observed that people are scared, particularly female Muslims who wear headscarves and have told Tell Mama that they are afraid to go out. “It’s quite endemic,” he said.

Tell Mama recorded 632 incidents of anti-Muslim abuse in the year from March 2012, it said, about three-quarters of which occurred online. More than half were directed at women.

Imams sign letter condemning attack

The apparent increase in abuse comes as Muslim leaders, as well as their Christian counterparts, seek to keep communities calm.

Shaykh Shams Adduha, founder and director of Ebrahim College, which teaches Islamic studies in London, is one of nearly 100 imams and Muslim groups to have signed a letter Friday condemning the “outrageous attack” on Rigby and offering their condolences to his family.

“We share the absolute horror felt by the rest of British society at the sick and barbaric crime that was committed in the name of our religion. We condemn this heinous atrocity in the strongest possible terms. It is a senseless act of pure depravity worthy of nothing but contempt,” it read.

Shams Adduha told CNN Saturday that the Muslim community had reacted promptly and was working hard to defuse tensions.

“First of all we’ve been very open in our condemnation and very open about the fact that there is no place … in Islam for this kind of act,” the imam said.

“At the same time we’ve been calling for calm, we’ve constantly been talking to our communities to make sure that their fears are allayed. But of course the reactions are happening — and they will happen.”

These types of attacks are also a reaction, he said, to problems and grievances among “angry young people out there in the world.”

With regards to the Woolwich attack, he said, Muslim leaders must make clear that what happened is “un-Islamic” and seek to educate young people so they are not susceptible to “fringe voices.”

Prime Minister David Cameron stressed Thursday that “the fault lies solely with sickening individuals who carried out this attack,” adding that “nothing in Islam … justifies this truly dreadful act.

Friends, acquaintances and British media identified 28-year-old Michael Adebolajo, a British national of Nigerian descent, as the suspect seen in a gory video from the scene of the Woolwich killing. He is said to be a Muslim convert.

He apparently approached a man filming the gory scene in the Woolwich neighborhood and suggested that Rigby had been targeted only “because Muslims are dying daily” at the hands of British troops like him.

“We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” he said in the video aired by CNN affiliate ITN.

Britain’s armed forces have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. All its combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The identity of a second man, aged 22, seized at the scene by armed police has not been released. Both suspects were shot and remain in hospital.

A third man, aged 29, who was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder on Thursday is also still in custody.

Terror arrest after TV interview

British counter-terrorism police arrested a man who said he was a friend of Woolwich suspect Adebolajo after he gave an interview to the BBC Friday night, the British broadcaster said.

The man, Abu Nusaybah, was arrested on suspected terrorism offenses after telling on air how his friend had been approached by Britain’s domestic intelligence service, known as MI5, according to the broadcaster.

A BBC staffer, who did want to be named, told CNN that police were inside BBC Broadcasting House in central London waiting for the interview to conclude before they made the arrest.

In the interview with BBC’s “Newsnight” show, Nusaybah said MI5 had approached Adebolajo in the past year, asking if he wanted to work for them.

Adebolajo rejected the approach, according to his friend.

Abu Nusaybah said the contact from MI5 occurred last year after Adebolajo returned from a visit to Kenya during which he was detained by security forces.

Adebolajo told his friend that he was physically assaulted and sexually threatened during his detention.

CNN is working to independently verify the claims made by Abu Nusaybah about his friend’s treatment in detention.

Abu Nusaybah went on to say that Adebolajo appeared changed and withdrawn after his return from Kenya.

The pair first met in 2002, he said. Abu Nusaybah had converted to Islam in late 2004 and Adebolajo followed suit about four months later, he said.

A security source told CNN that “we would never comment” on the kind of allegations made in the interview.

London’s Metropolitan Police Service said a 31-year-old man had been arrested in London Friday night on terrorism-related offenses, but following standard practice would not give the arrested man’s name.

A Scotland Yard spokesman told CNN the arrest was not connected to the investigation in Woolwich into the murder of Rigby.

Officers from Counter Terrorism Command arrested the 31-year-old man under the Terrorism Act, on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. He was taken to a south London police station, where he remains in custody, a police statement said.

Search warrants were being executed at two homes in east London, police said.

Donations flood in

It is understood that the two individuals suspected of carrying out the knife and cleaver attack were known to Britain’s domestic security service. They had featured in previous investigations into other individuals, but were not themselves under surveillance.

CNN understands that one line of inquiry being examined in the Woolwich terror investigation is that suspect Adebolajo might have attempted — but failed — to travel to Somalia some time last year.

The brutal slaying of Rigby near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, a working-class neighborhood in southeast London, shocked people across the United Kingdom.

The 25-year-old, who was married and had a 2-year-old son, was a machine gunner who became a recruiter. He was also a ceremonial military drummer.

His family spoke Friday of their sorrow at losing a son, husband and brother who was dedicated to his job and devoted to his family.

Help for Heroes, a charity which helps injured military veterans and servicemen and women, said Saturday that nearly £600,000 in public donations had poured in since the news of Rigby’s murder — with more still coming in.

“The nation has rallied behind our Armed Forces in an extraordinary and wonderful display of support,” the charity said.

CNN’s Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported in London, while Erin McLaughlin reported in London and Lonzo Cook reported in Atlanta. CNN’s Neda Farshbaf, Bharati Naik, Dan Rivers, Jonathan Wald and Ed Payne contributed to this report.

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‘Star Trek II’ producer talks Ceti Eel, J.J. Abrams, and more (Q&A)

May 25th, 2013 ripley@ripley.za.net No comments

Robert Sallin poses with the Genesis device prop.

(Credit:
Courtesy of Robert Sallin)

The release of “Star Trek Into Darkness” has not only spurred interest in the “Trek” world in general, but especially in its film daddy, the original Khan-as-villain movie “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” While the new film takes quite a few detours, it is full of homages to the earlier work.

Let’s look back to 1982. “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” had been released in 1979 and faced a poor critical reception. Paramount, the film’s studio, was gun-shy after the movie nearly doubled its original budget, ending up with a $46 million price tag. Nonetheless, plans for a second movie plodded along.

Into this mix of wariness and hope stepped Robert Sallin. With 2,000 commercials to his name, he was primarily a director, but he signed a deal with Paramount to take on producer duties for “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” With no script ready, no director on-board, and Paramount keeping a tight clamp on the budget, Sallin had his hands full with steering the film into and through production.

All those trials somehow came out OK in the end. “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” is now often viewed among fans as one of the greatest films (if not the greatest) the franchise ever turned out. Crave caught up with Sallin to get a behind-the-scenes view on this iconic movie.

Q: How did you get involved with “Star Trek II?”
Sallin: I went to UCLA film school back before it was fashionable. One of the people with whom I became friendly was a guy named Harve Bennett. Our paths diverged. I eventually started my own production company, producing and directing about 2,000 commercials for clients all over the world. In the late ’70s, I decided to close my company. I was tired of the 30-second format and really wanted the opportunity to expand creatively. Harve had just signed a deal with Paramount to be involved with three projects. One was “Star Trek.” I decided to come aboard, so Paramount signed me up to be the producer of “Star Trek II.” Harve was busy working on the other things.

Crave: What were your duties as producer?
Sallin: I was a director. I had never produced anything per se, but I ran a commercial company and we were very focused on costs and managing costs. My primary responsibility was mounting the whole production. That meant everything, including selecting all the key department and crew personnel. I was also tasked with supervising the day-to-day production, keeping it on budget, and creating and supervising the visual effects, which involved a lot of going back and forth between ILM (Industrial Light Magic) and Hollywood.

“Star Trek II” poster. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit:
Paramount)

Crave: How did you find a director?
Sallin: I created a list of 40-plus directors I thought might be interesting, but it turned out nobody wanted to do it. Some people didn’t want to do “Star Trek.” Some people didn’t want to do science fiction. Some people didn’t want to do a sequel. I would have thought people would be dying to do it. I was really astounded. Then, my secretary suggested Nick Meyer and I had liked his film “Time After Time” and admired his script, “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.”

Nick came on-board well after the visual effects were already in production and dived right in. I have to give Nick substantial credit for rewriting the script in about 10 days. It was his rewrite, uncredited, that we actually shot. He took the disparate elements that Harve was struggling with and he just made it work.

Crave: What were the actors like to work with?
Sallin: Casting Ricardo Montalban as Khan was a major stroke of good luck. He was a consummate gentleman, consummate professional, and one of the nicest people I’ve ever run into. Bill Shatner and Leonard [Nimoy] are top-of-the-line professional actors, they are so talented. But they had been playing their roles for so long, there was a bit of nonchalance as they approached shooting. They knew what they were doing, but there was kind of a casual atmosphere, which is fine. Then, Ricardo arrives on the set and the first thing he does is a 10-minute master shot without a break… and it was perfect! Boy, the next day, suddenly Bill and Leonard are there promptly, and they’ve got their lines learned. It’s not that Ricardo was a better actor, it’s that his whole attitude was so professional, so suddenly the boys had to ratchet it up.

Crave: How were the special effects handled?
Sallin: In “Star Trek I,” all the monitors and all the displays were Super 8 or 16mm film
projectors. They made noise. When it came time to do coverage, you couldn’t sync them to match. I said, that’s going. We’re going to do it with computers. There was a lot of that kind of stuff.

I also pushed ILM to create the very first computer-generated graphics visual effects they or anyone had ever done for a major film at that time. It was the creation of the Genesis planet video report. ILM really got excited and gave the idea full support, even though that short sequence cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars and it came out of their end of the budget.

Crave: Spock’s death started a huge controversy. How did it come about?
Sallin: This is contrary to what everyone says. Harve had a discussion with the major cast members about returning for their roles. Everybody agreed, except for Leonard. Leonard didn’t want to do it. Leonard is one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever run across. To quote him, he didn’t want to put on the ears anymore. I wasn’t a Trekkie and Harve wasn’t a Trekkie, so we said, “Let’s kill him off.” Done. But, despite my attempts to keep the scripts logged in and under tight security, the word got out and the uproar was substantial. Then we had to figure out a way that he wouldn’t really be killed off. That’s when the idea came that he should be shot to the Genesis planet and we could play the rebirth-of-life concept. But, up until that moment, he was really going to be a goner. During that, I got a telephone call on my home phone saying, “If you kill Spock, we’ll kill you.” I had two small children and a wife, so we had enhanced security around our home, though nothing ever happened.

This Ceti Eel concept wasn’t chosen for the final film. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit:
Courtesy of Robert Sallin)

Crave: Let’s talk about the Ceti Eel. It gave me nightmares as a 6-year-old child.
Sallin: I didn’t mean to traumatize you. The way that came about, the writer suggested a creature that would take control of Chekov and the Paul Winfield character by attaching itself to their necks. I said that it had been done before in a TV episode and was immediately challenged to come up with something better.

Well, the next morning, I went out to pick up my newspaper and there was a slug on the pathway. I thought, what if that slimy thing was able to go into the ear? We had an adviser from the Jet Propulsion Lab, a space guy. He said, sure, we can justify that. I called ILM and asked Ken Ralston to design some creature sketches. He did 15 sketches, I picked one, and that’s what we used. I loved sitting in the theaters when everybody cringed.

It was great fun bringing the Ceti Eel to life. Up at ILM, they engineered a piece of monofilament which moved a little plastic worm covered with slime. You pull one end and it would stretch the little creature and move across Chekov’s face. We also had a huge, oversized model of an ear for the actual insertion. We just tried to make it as gross as possible.

Crave: Was that Montalban’s real chest?
Sallin: Yes. He was in amazing shape. His pectoral muscles and his whole upper body [were] very strong and they emphasized that with the costume. That was real Ricardo.

Crave: Have you seen “Star Trek Into Darkness?”
Sallin: I was invited to a screening, but I didn’t go. There’s part of me that has been there and done that. On the other hand, I’m a huge fan of J.J. Abrams. The guy is so talented and is such a fresh, creative force to take this on and do what he’s done. I’m full of admiration. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the other one and I think he is truly taking “Star Trek” where no man has gone before.

‘Star Trek II’ behind the scenes (pictures)

Crave: Why didn’t you stay with the “Star Trek” franchise?
Sallin: When I finished “Star Trek II,” I was called up to the executive offices at Paramount and I was asked if I would stay on and produce more “Star Trek” features. I thought about it and I didn’t do it. Part of it had to do with the fact that the man who had brought me into Paramount was Harve Bennett and that would mean taking the franchise away from him. Even though the reality is that I produced “Star Trek II” and he worked on the script, I felt a sense of obligation that I couldn’t do that to him. I should have stayed on, but I didn’t. Over the years, a lot of fans have noticed that the later “Trek” films were inconsistent in creativity and production quality after “Trek II.” I took that as the highest sort of compliment.

Crave: What do you see for the future of “Star Trek?”
Sallin: Most of the fans of the previous films have accepted J.J. Abrams’ new direction and appreciate it. It’s a different time. It’s 30, 40 years later and we have new audiences. You can’t keep dwelling on the old guys and the old things. It has to move ahead. It has been energized through J.J.’s creative vision. I feel that with him in the captain’s chair, the future is truly unlimited. Previous “Star Treks” found their audiences. It will go on for who knows how long. It’s a combination of new blood, younger blood, an enormous amount of talent, and Gene Roddenberry’s core belief that there is always hope.

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9 myths about drones and Gitmo

May 25th, 2013 ripley@ripley.za.net No comments

Editor’s note: Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a director at the New America Foundation and the author of “Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden — From 9/11 to Abbottabad,” the basis for the HBO documentary “Manhunt” that will be shown on CNN on May 24. Jennifer Rowland is a research associate at the New America Foundation.

(CNN) — On Thursday, President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver a major speech in Washington about his administration’s counterterrorism policies, focusing on the rationale and legal framework for the controversial CIA drone program and his plans to wind down the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

So we thought it might be useful to examine some common myths about the drone program and the prison population at Guantanamo.

1. Drone strikes largely target the leaders of terrorist groups that threaten the United States.

In fact, of the thousands who have been killed in CIA drone strikes in Pakistan, only 37 were leaders of al Qaeda or affiliated organizations, according to a tally by the New America Foundation. And even if we add to that list the leaders of the Taliban who have been killed in drone strikes, only 2% of the victims of the CIA strikes in Pakistan have been militant leaders.

The drone program, which began more than a decade ago as a tool to kill leaders of terrorist groups, has evolved today into a counterinsurgency air force whose principal victims in Pakistan are lower-level members of the Taliban.

Drones, by the numbers

2. Drone strikes target specific terrorists who pose some kind of imminent threat to the U.S.

Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser and now CIA Director John Brennan said in a speech last year that “in order to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States and to save American lives — the United States government conducts targeted strikes against specific al Qaeda terrorists.”

That’s only partly true, because the CIA has also has occasionally conducted “signature strikes” against groups of men who display a particular behavioral “signature” that indicates they may be militants. In these cases, the targeter does not know the identity of the persons in the drone cross hairs.

3. Drone strikes kill a lot of civilians.

That was certainly once the case. Under President George W. Bush, the proportion of those killed by drones in Pakistan who were identified in reliable news reports as civilians or “unknowns” — people who were not identified definitively as either civilians or militants — was around 40%, according to data assembled by the New America Foundation.

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is home to the U.S. naval base that has held terror suspects since January 2002. Early in the war on terror, the Bush administration argued these detainees were “enemy combatants” who didn’t have the protections accorded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. Click through for a look inside the controversial facility. Pictured: A detainee stands at an interior fence at Guantanamo Bay in October 2009.

A Navy sailor surveys the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in October 2009. Shortly after his first term began, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay within a year, but the move do so has stalled. Congress passed legislation preventing detainees from being transferred into the United States. However, the administration says Obama remains committed to closing the facility, also known as Gitmo.

U.S. military guards move a detainee inside the detention center in September 2010. At its peak, the detainee population reportedly exceeded 750 men at Guantanamo.

Muslim detainees kneel during early morning prayers in October 2009. Cells are marked with an arrow pointing in the direction of Mecca, regarded as Islam’s holy city.

A soldier stands near a placard on the fence line of the detention facility in January 2012.

A Quran sits among a display of items isssued to detainees in September 2010. The suspects are given a prayer mat and a copy of the Muslim holy book as well as a toothbrush, soap, shampoo and clothing.

A U.S. military guard walks out of the maximum security section of the detention center in September 2010.

A German shepherd police dog undergoes training exercises in October 2009 at Guantanamo Bay.

A camp librarian views artwork painted by detainees in September 2010.

A detainee rubs his face while attending a “life skills” class inside the Camp 6 high-security detention facility in April 2009.

A seat and shackle await a detainee in the DVD room of the maximum security Camp 5 detention center in March 2010.

U.S. Marines join in martial arts training at the U.S. naval base in September 2010.

Members of the military walk the hallway of Cell Block C in the Camp 5 detention facility in January 2012.

Guards move a detainee from his cell in Cell Block A of the Camp 6 detention facility in January 2012.

A detainee waits for lunch in September 2010. The cost of building Guantanamo’s high-security detention facilities was reportedly about $54 million.

Marines get an early-morning workout at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in October 2009.

A bus carries military guards from their night shift at the detention center in September 2010.

A military guard puts on gloves before moving a detainee within the detention center in September 2010.

Members of the U.S. Navy move down the hallway of Cell Block C in the Camp 5 detention facility in January 2012.

A U.S. military guard holds shackles before preparing to move a detainee in September 2010.

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Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay

Gitmo prisoners being force-fed

CNN Explains: Drones

But the civilian and “unknown” casualty rate from drone strikes has fallen steadily over the life of the program. Under Obama that number has fallen to 16%. And in 2012 it was around 11%.

In 2012, 2% of the drones’ victims were characterized as civilians in news reports and 9% were described in a manner that made it ambiguous whether they were militants or civilians.

And in 2013, civilian casualties are at their lowest ever. That is partly the result of a sharply reduced number of drone strikes in Pakistan — 12 so far in 2013, compared with a record 122 in 2010 — and also more precise targeting. According to data collected by the New America Foundation, three to five “unknown” individuals have been killed so far in drone strikes in 2013. Two other organizations that track the CIA drone program in Pakistan, the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Long War Journal, report zero to four civilian deaths and 11 civilian deaths respectively.

4. The United States has no reason to worry about the legal framework governing drone strikes because it is so dominant in drone technology.

Only three countries currently are confirmed to possess armed drones — Israel, the United Kingdom and the U.S. But some 80 countries have drones, according to a count by the New America Foundation, and a number of them may already be able to arm them.

In February, a Chinese state-run newspaper reported that the Chinese government had contemplated deploying an armed drone in a remote, mountainous area to kill a drug lord, but decided instead to capture him.

Iran unveiled what it claimed was its first armed drone in 2010.

During a speech last week at the New America Foundation, the U.N. special rapporteur for counterterrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson, estimated that “within a matter of certainly a year or two, other states will be deploying the technology, and within five years or so we will see a number of states and possibly nonstate actors deploying similar types of combat technology.”

Emmerson also pointed out that the rapid proliferation of drone technology means whatever legal framework the United States puts together to justify its targeted killing campaign “has to be a framework that we can live with if it is being used by Iran when it is deploying drones against Iranian dissidents hiding inside the territory of Syria or Turkey or Iraq.” A sobering and instructive thought.

5. The Pakistani government gives a wink and a nod to the drone program, providing tacit approval for its continuation.

It is true that Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf quietly agreed to allow the CIA’s targeted killing campaign to begin in 2004. But the program has become deeply controversial and unpopular in Pakistan because of the perception that it kills many civilians and that it erodes Pakistan’s national sovereignty.

In April 2012, the Pakistani parliament voted unanimously to rescind any previous permission that had been granted by the government for the CIA to conduct the targeted killing program.

During Ben Emmerson’s visit to Pakistan in March to discuss the CIA drone program with top officials, the point made to him “consistently, right across government, at the highest level and throughout, was that there is no continuing consent to the use of drones on Pakistani territory.”

The next Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who was elected on May 11 with a clear mandate, has urged an end to the drone strikes, telling reporters, “Drones indeed are challenging our sovereignty. Of course we have taken this matter up very seriously. I think this is a very serious issue, and our concern must be understood properly.”

6. Obama is soft on terrorists.

The CIA has conducted 355 drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions since the targeted killing program began there in 2004. The vast majority of these — 307 to be precise — were carried out under Obama.

Even if you take the most conservative estimate of the numbers of people the Obama administration has killed in drone strikes in Pakistan, 1,600, that is around twice the total number of prisoners that Bush sent to Guantanamo.

7. Many of the Guantanamo detainees who have been released return to the battlefield.

The U.S. government claims that 27% of those released from Guantanamo are suspected or confirmed to have taken up arms. For security reasons the government hasn’t released the names of these men since 2009, but a review of the public record suggests that number is quite inflated.

According to a review by the New America Foundation of news articles, Pentagon reports, and other relevant documents, of the 603 detainees who have been released from the prison, only 17 individuals (2.8%) are confirmed to have engaged in terrorist or insurgent activities against the United States or its citizens, while 21 individuals (3.5%) are suspected of engaging in such activities.

8. The detainees still held at Guantanamo are too dangerous to release.

Some undoubtedly are, such as the operational commander of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. But contrary to the fulminations of officials such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina — who said last year that Guantanamo detainees are “crazy bastards that want to kill us all” — half of the men still held at the prison camp were cleared for release three years ago by a task force of Department of Justice and Pentagon officials.

To be exact, 86 of the 166 men still imprisoned at Guantanamo were either found to be guilty of nothing, or were low-level fighters who could be repatriated subject to some continued monitoring by their home country’s government.

9. There are no benefits for the U.S. to release additional prisoners from Guantanamo.

Obama correctly said of Guantanamo in April, “It is expensive. It is inefficient. It hurts us in terms of our international standing. It lessens cooperation with our allies on counterterrorism efforts. It is a recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed.”

The cost per year to keep one prisoner at Guantanamo is estimated to be $800,000, more than 30 times the cost of keeping a prisoner in a jail in the United States. And the Pentagon is asking Congress to approve a $200 million renovation plan for the prison.

The prisoners at Guantanamo have also featured frequently in jihadist propaganda, making it a recruitment tool for would-be al Qaeda members.

There is also a way forward through Guantanamo to obtaining some kind of peace deal with the Taliban. As a “confidence-building measure” for peace negotiations, theTaliban have agreed to release the only U.S. prisoner of war, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, in exchange for a handful of senior Taliban figures being held at Guantanamo, who would then be held under some form of house arrest in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. This deal is a precondition for continuing serious peace talks with the Taliban.

The 27-year-old soldier has been in captivity since the Taliban seized him on June 30, 2009.

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Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/opinion/bergen-nine-myths-drones-gitmo/index.html?eref=edition

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Are lone wolf attacks the new threat?

May 24th, 2013 ripley@ripley.za.net No comments

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The victim killed in a cleaver attack Wednesday was identified as Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The brutal killing of Rigby shocked the United Kingdom, with Prime Minister David Cameron saying the act appears to have been a terrorist attack.

A police officer stands with flowers in a hail storm on Thursday, May 23, close to the crime scene in front of Woolwich Barracks in southeast London.

A man contemplates at a scene where flowers lay, outside Woolwich Barracks in London.

Flowers lie outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23.

Soldiers walk outside Woolwich Barracks on Thursday, May 23, near where the soldier was killed.

Notes and shirts sit outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23. The slain soldier was wearing a “Help for Heroes” shirt when he was killed.

British soldiers stand guard outside the barracks on May 23.

Members of the far-right English Defence League wear balaclavas as they gather outside a pub in Woolwich on Wednesday, May 22.

EDL supporters confront police in Woolwich on May 22.

EDL leader Tommy Robinson joins supporters at the crime scene on May 22.

A police officer guards a tent that’s been set up at the crime scene as investigations continue late May 22.

Mary Warder brings flowers to the scene of the crime on May 22 to pay respects to the victim.

Men place flowers near the scene on John Wilson Street.

A police officer guards a blocked-off area in Woolwich on May 22.

A general view of Woolwich Barracks, near the scene in Woolwich.

Police officers block off a road in Woolwich.

Forensic officers investigate the crime scene on May 22.

Police walk to the scene in Woolwich on May 22.

A still frame from video shows a man outside the Woolwich Barracks in London holding a cleaver and addressing the camera directly, moments after a serving soldier was hacked to death in the street on Wednesday, May 22. The man in the video swore “by almighty Allah” to keep fighting. British Prime David Cameron called the attack terrorism.

Britain’s prime Minister David Cameron addresses media representatives at 10 Downing Street in London on May 23, 2013, a day after a soldier who was hacked to death in a London street by two suspected Islamist extremists.

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Editor’s note: Are you in London? Tell us your reaction to this incident.

London (CNN) — The only thing more horrifying than the murder of a British soldier in a London street is the fear that there is little police can do in the age of “open-source jihad” to prevent these types of terror attacks.

“It’s always the one we feared, the lone wolf that can come from nowhere and not be on our radar,” said ex-London police chief John Yates.

On Wednesday two men hacked the soldier to death near his military barracks in Woolwich, southeast London before delivering a message to a witness’s camera: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone … this British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth.”

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The message has all the hallmarks of classic al Qaeda rhetoric, and experts believe the blood-soaked men wielding cleavers for the cameras in London are just the latest proponents of the “open-source jihad” that seems to have grown just as the U.S.-led “War on Terror” scattered the organization’s terror cells around the world.

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Muslim community reacts to London attack

“Nearly a decade ago there was a debate within al Qaeda about the future of the organization,” according to Shiraz Maher, Head of Outreach at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. “Afghanistan had been overrun by U.S. forces, the Taliban had been forced to retreat, and as a result al Qaeda lost its ability to train recruits there.”

The organization needed a new plan to stay relevant as the U.S. struck at the heart of its traditional operation in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Enter a man called Abu Musab al-Suri, the so-called architect of the new al Qaeda, who had a simple plan to change the way al Qaeda took the fight to the West.

“Every Muslim should be an army of one,” Maher told CNN. “That was his grand idea — every individual Muslim should be an autonomous hub that goes out and strikes the West and you can’t contain it.”

READ: Slaughter of soldier on London street

Al-Suri may have had the vision, but it was al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) that translated it into reality in 2010 through the online speeches of radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki — since killed by a U.S. drone strike — and the publishing of “Inspire,” the English-language magazine that acts as a how-to guide for followers to carry out small-scale terrorist attacks in the West.

“Since 2010 al Qaeda has been telling its followers in the West: ‘Don’t try and do another 9/11 or 7/7-style attack because invariably these things catch the attention of security services and you go to jail. Think small, think easy, think unsophisticated. Really scale it down to make it difficult to detect, because really it’s a detection battle,’” Maher said.

So this is the growing struggle facing police forces around the world today, say experts — not more traditional terror cells, which are more likely to show up through traditional surveillance methods, but self-starters who become radicalized through online sermons and publications.

In 2011 New York police arrested Jose Pimentel and accused him of plotting to detonate pipe bombs that he allegedly learned to make after reading “Inspire” magazine. Pimental pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges and is awaiting trial.

The pressure cooker bombs that killed three people near the finish line of April’s Boston Marathon bore strong similarities to a design laid out in the first issue of the magazine titled “How to Build a Bomb in Your Mom’s Kitchen,” according to CNN’s Paul Cruickshank.

In 2010 British MP Stephen Timms was nearly killed when a 21-year-old British student stabbed him during a meeting with his constituents in east London. The student, Roshonara Choudhry, told police she had become radicalized after watching the speeches of al-Awlaki online, and tried to kill Timms because he voted in favor of the Iraq War.

Yates, who was Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner until he retired in 2011, told CNN: “As someone who has tried to prevent these attacks in the past, they’re the most difficult ones.

“If we have some serious targets, then of course you can apply the correct level of resources and tactics … (but) Choudhry had never come to the attention of any authorities at any point.”

OPINION: Real enemy in London hacking death

So what, if anything, can be done to prevent lone wolf attacks? The grisly murder in Woolwich has prompted calls for Britain’s government to look again at a shelved bill that would greatly expand law enforcement’s powers to monitor suspects’ use of the internet, which is currently only possible on a more limited basis.

“There is some internet surveillance going on,” said Yates. “It’s been made very clear by police chiefs in recent weeks that if you download something like ‘Inspire’ you will be arrested, it is an offence and you will be charged.”

So where to draw the line between free speech and invasion of privacy? The proposal to expand police powers for collecting online data caused uproar among privacy advocates in late 2012, but the government says more robust surveillance tools are now needed to effectively combat terrorism.

While acknowledging there are “powerful” arguments on both sides, Yates said: “All I know is that you’ve got to do something, because the level of sophistication in technology is going to make it extraordinarily challenging to improve the way that the internet and other means of communication are monitored if nothing’s done.”

But radicalization expert Maher said monitoring the internet and tracking down anyone who downloads an al-Awlaki speech or a bomb-making guide won’t solve the lone wolf problem.

“You don’t have to have read ‘Inspire’ anymore — everyone knows what’s going on because, if nothing else, the media talks about it so much. The idea of committing an unsophisticated attack against a high-profile symbol is out there. It’s an impossible thing to work against,” he said.

Yates says in order to prevent future attacks, counter-terrorism police must bolster their community engagement strategy — making local people feel “free and able to provide relevant information at the right time.”

“It comes back to the line from the 1980s with the IRA: ‘Communities defeat terrorism.’ That was the strap-line then, and it’s no different today.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/world/europe/london-attack-lone-wolf-fears/index.html?eref=edition

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Most dangerous place for tourists?

May 24th, 2013 ripley@ripley.za.net No comments

(CNN) — The view from the roof of Mohammed Younis’s hotel in Giza, Cairo, is of a thousand lights twinkling on the dark surface of the river Nile.

It’s a pretty scene, but few visitors are here to enjoy it.

As a waiter brings over beer and tea, Younis puts out a Marlboro cigarette and lights another.

A tour guide and hotel partner whose livelihood depends on tourism, Younis is agitated, and understandably so.

Egypt’s economy still struggling

Doing TV business in Egypt

The World Economic Forum has just declared Egypt one of the most dangerous places on earth for tourists. The report puts Egypt above Yemen and Pakistan in terms of risks for visitors.

“Just like any other country, Egypt has dangerous places,” allows a weary Younis.

“Yes, the crime rate has increased since the revolution, due to the economic situation, but this affects Egyptians, not tourists.”

Why some travelers seek out the world’s most dangerous locales

Younis is one of many.

The country’s tourism workers have been hit hard by political and civil unrest. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), tourism employs directly nearly 18 million people.

Tourist arrivals are far lower than in previous years.

In addition to politically motivated violence that continues in the wake of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, there are concerns about the country’s beachside resorts at Hurghada and Sharm Al Sheikh.

Many worry that the new government, the Muslim Brotherhood, will impose strict morality provisions on these party towns, which are famed for their beaches and nightlife.

Earlier this month, tourism minister Hisham Zaazou sought to quell these fears at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, when he alluded to Islamist groups calling for bans on alcohol and women wearing bikinis.

“Bikinis are welcome in Egypt and booze is still being served,” Zaazou told reporters in Dubai.

Egypt hotel goes alcohol-free, creates women-only floor

Tourists trickling back

Despite media coverage of calls by conservatives for an alcohol ban, tour guide Younis says he never expected the comments of hardliners to be taken seriously.

Egypt isn’t an exclusively Muslim country, and tourism has long been a lifeline for the Egyptian government, which is currently facing its worst economic crisis in decades.

The country desperately needs the money that tourism brings. In 2012, UNWTO figures show international tourism generated $10.1 billion.

Tourist numbers have fallen, from 14 million in 2010 to 10.2 million in 2011, and 10.5 million for 2012. The good news is that, after a sluggish start, total numbers for 2012 picked up with a strong surge toward the end of the year.

“Despite the ongoing political instability in 2012, main tourist attractions such as the Red Sea beach resorts, Luxor and Aswan remained very much secluded from the political turmoil, which allowed the tourism sector to slowly recover,” says Maii Abdel Rahman, a research analyst at Euromonitor International.

The first quarter of 2013 has continued the trend, with arrivals and hotel bookings showing a “healthy increase,” according to Rahman.

Cairo slower to recover

Despite the positive outlook, the Egyptian capital of Cairo isn’t a placid city two years after the revolution (arguably it never was). Gone are the days when tourists might visit Egypt’s museums and pyramids and ignore the country’s political turmoil.

Tourism gains for 2013 come almost exclusively from outside of Cairo.

Euromonitor’s Rahman says that in the early days of the revolution, the capital’s Tahrir Square — the epicenter of protests that ultimately toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 — became a tourist attraction in itself.

The attraction proved short lived, as political instability in the country persists.

“With the ongoing unrest and growing security concerns, the number of tourists visiting Tahrir Square and Cairo in general remains very small, hence the low (hotel) occupancy rates,” she says.

The revolution is on the lips of every barman, taxi driver, shop owner and tout.

Its graffiti adorns walls across the city.

Despite the challenges, Cairo remains a fascinating, vibrant city, and local optimists argue that dangerous areas are few and far between.

Luxor balloon flights resume

Fruit sellers, kebab shops and cafes bring peaceful crowds into the streets. Men sit in plastic chairs puffing on shisha pipes.

Outside the Metro station close to the Al Tonsi, an unlicensed vendor openly sells Egypt’s Stella and Sakara beers for a fraction of the price found in the city’s trendy bars.

In Zamalek, a 20-minute walk north, outdoor cafes are packed with young Egyptians sitting in the shade of the trees.

Tentative hope

Mohammed Younis has landed another job, this one guiding a group around Egypt’s ancient tombs and monuments at Luxor.

He’s grateful for the work, and, with his schedule filling up in the warm summer months — generally a slow season in Egypt ahead of the busy autumn — he can relax, at least temporarily.

“The unrest is still putting people off, of course, but I think people are starting to come back,” he says.

Younis remains hopeful, if not for a revolution, at least for a little more activity.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/travel/egypt-tourism/index.html?eref=edition

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Opinion: Nine counterterrorism myths

May 23rd, 2013 ripley@ripley.za.net No comments

Editor’s note: Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a director at the New America Foundation and the author of “Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden — From 9/11 to Abbottabad,” the basis for the HBO documentary “Manhunt” that will be shown on CNN on May 24. Jennifer Rowland is a research associate at the New America Foundation.

(CNN) — On Thursday, President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver a major speech in Washington about his administration’s counterterrorism policies, focusing on the rationale and legal framework for the controversial CIA drone program and his plans to wind down the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

So we thought it might be useful to examine some common myths about the drone program and the prison population at Guantanamo.

1. Drone strikes largely target the leaders of terrorist groups that threaten the United States.

In fact, of the thousands who have been killed in CIA drone strikes in Pakistan, only 37 were leaders of al Qaeda or affiliated organizations, according to a tally by the New America Foundation. And even if we add to that list the leaders of the Taliban who have been killed in drone strikes, only 2% of the victims of the CIA strikes in Pakistan have been militant leaders.

The drone program, which began more than a decade ago as a tool to kill leaders of terrorist groups, has evolved today into a counterinsurgency air force whose principal victims in Pakistan are lower-level members of the Taliban.

Drones, by the numbers

2. Drone strikes target specific terrorists who pose some kind of imminent threat to the U.S.

Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser and now CIA Director John Brennan said in a speech last year that “in order to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States and to save American lives — the United States government conducts targeted strikes against specific al Qaeda terrorists.”

That’s only partly true, because the CIA has also has occasionally conducted “signature strikes” against groups of men who display a particular behavioral “signature” that indicates they may be militants. In these cases, the targeter does not know the identity of the persons in the drone cross hairs.

3. Drone strikes kill a lot of civilians.

That was certainly once the case. Under President George W. Bush, the proportion of those killed by drones in Pakistan who were identified in reliable news reports as civilians or “unknowns” — people who were not identified definitively as either civilians or militants — was around 40%, according to data assembled by the New America Foundation.

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is home to the U.S. naval base that has held terror suspects since January 2002. Early in the war on terror, the Bush administration argued these detainees were “enemy combatants” who didn’t have the protections accorded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. Click through for a look inside the controversial facility. Pictured: A detainee stands at an interior fence at Guantanamo Bay in October 2009.

A Navy sailor surveys the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in October 2009. Shortly after his first term began, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay within a year, but the move do so has stalled. Congress passed legislation preventing detainees from being transferred into the United States. However, the administration says Obama remains committed to closing the facility, also known as Gitmo.

U.S. military guards move a detainee inside the detention center in September 2010. At its peak, the detainee population reportedly exceeded 750 men at Guantanamo.

Muslim detainees kneel during early morning prayers in October 2009. Cells are marked with an arrow pointing in the direction of Mecca, regarded as Islam’s holy city.

A soldier stands near a placard on the fence line of the detention facility in January 2012.

A Quran sits among a display of items isssued to detainees in September 2010. The suspects are given a prayer mat and a copy of the Muslim holy book as well as a toothbrush, soap, shampoo and clothing.

A U.S. military guard walks out of the maximum security section of the detention center in September 2010.

A German shepherd police dog undergoes training exercises in October 2009 at Guantanamo Bay.

A camp librarian views artwork painted by detainees in September 2010.

A detainee rubs his face while attending a “life skills” class inside the Camp 6 high-security detention facility in April 2009.

A seat and shackle await a detainee in the DVD room of the maximum security Camp 5 detention center in March 2010.

U.S. Marines join in martial arts training at the U.S. naval base in September 2010.

Members of the military walk the hallway of Cell Block C in the Camp 5 detention facility in January 2012.

Guards move a detainee from his cell in Cell Block A of the Camp 6 detention facility in January 2012.

A detainee waits for lunch in September 2010. The cost of building Guantanamo’s high-security detention facilities was reportedly about $54 million.

Marines get an early-morning workout at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in October 2009.

A bus carries military guards from their night shift at the detention center in September 2010.

A military guard puts on gloves before moving a detainee within the detention center in September 2010.

Members of the U.S. Navy move down the hallway of Cell Block C in the Camp 5 detention facility in January 2012.

A U.S. military guard holds shackles before preparing to move a detainee in September 2010.

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Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay

Gitmo prisoners being force-fed

CNN Explains: Drones

But the civilian and “unknown” casualty rate from drone strikes has fallen steadily over the life of the program. Under Obama that number has fallen to 16%. And in 2012 it was around 11%.

In 2012, 2% of the drones’ victims were characterized as civilians in news reports and 9% were described in a manner that made it ambiguous whether they were militants or civilians.

And in 2013, civilian casualties are at their lowest ever. That is partly the result of a sharply reduced number of drone strikes in Pakistan — 12 so far in 2013, compared with a record 122 in 2010 — and also more precise targeting. According to data collected by the New America Foundation, three to five “unknown” individuals have been killed so far in drone strikes in 2013. Two other organizations that track the CIA drone program in Pakistan, the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Long War Journal, report zero to four civilian deaths and 11 civilian deaths respectively.

4. The United States has no reason to worry about the legal framework governing drone strikes because it is so dominant in drone technology.

Only three countries currently are confirmed to possess armed drones — Israel, the United Kingdom and the U.S. But some 80 countries have drones, according to a count by the New America Foundation, and a number of them may already be able to arm them.

In February, a Chinese state-run newspaper reported that the Chinese government had contemplated deploying an armed drone in a remote, mountainous area to kill a drug lord, but decided instead to capture him.

Iran unveiled what it claimed was its first armed drone in 2010.

During a speech last week at the New America Foundation, the U.N. special rapporteur for counterterrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson, estimated that “within a matter of certainly a year or two, other states will be deploying the technology, and within five years or so we will see a number of states and possibly nonstate actors deploying similar types of combat technology.”

Emmerson also pointed out that the rapid proliferation of drone technology means whatever legal framework the United States puts together to justify its targeted killing campaign “has to be a framework that we can live with if it is being used by Iran when it is deploying drones against Iranian dissidents hiding inside the territory of Syria or Turkey or Iraq.” A sobering and instructive thought.

Holder: Drone strikes have killed four Americans since 2009