:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 5.25.2004 ::
:: "Occupation has boosted al-Qaida, says thinktank" ::
from The Guardian UK
Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday May 26, 2004
The occupation of Iraq has provided a "potent global recruitment pretext" for al-Qaida and probably increased worldwide terrorism, a leading thinktank said yesterday.
Despite some losses, al-Qaida has more than 18,000 potential terrorists at large and its ranks are growing, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said, adding that al-Qaida now had a presence in more than 60 countries.
Last night, a new warning emerged from the US that al-Qaida-type terrorists are preparing to launch a major attack in the US this summer. The warning came from a counter-terrorism official who told Associated Press that the intelligence was the most disturbing garnered since the September 11 attacks.
The IISS survey said that despite the death or capture of half of its 30 senior leaders, as well as some 2,000 rank-and-file supporters, a rump leadership of the al-Qaida network was still intact.
"Christian nations' forcible occupation of Iraq, a historically important land of Islam, has more than offset any calming effect of the US military withdrawal from Saudi Ara bia," the IISS said. It added: "With Osama bin Laden's public encouragement, up to 1,000 foreign jihadists have infiltrated Iraq."
Read more here.
posted by me
:: 10:51:00 PM [+] ::
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