WHO KILLED DANIEL PEARL?
WHAT THE TERROR REPORT LEAVES OUT
AD AGENCIES DEEMED RACIST

BBC is reporting on the new strains in the Coalition of The Willing.

”US President George W Bush has appealed to the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan to put aside their differences and fight terrorism.

Mr Bush hosted a dinner for Pervez Musharraf and Hamid Karzai. But at a public appearance with him, the two leaders did not speak or shake hands.

TERRORISTS ON THE BRAIN

I had terrorists on the mind last night as HBO previewed the new film The Journalist and the Jihadi at the TimeWarner Center. I worked on the film supporting directors Ahmad Jamal and Ramesh Sharma and Executive Producer Anant Singh from South Africa. The film will screen on HBO on October 10th, the birthday of the late journalist Daniel Pearl whose murder the movie investigates.

Daniel Pearl’s father paid tribute to his son as “my mentor” last night picturing him of an icon of the search for truth and the bravery of journalists. He also spoke about his son as a Jewish American and as asymbol of the search for tolerane and understaning in the world.

The movie shows how Pearl was tracked by a Pakistani Jihadi named Omar Sheikh who, like Pearl, grew up in an upper middle class home and went to the best schools. It suggests that Sheik worked for both Al Qaeda and Pakistan’s intelligence agence, the ISI. It tells the story of his targeting of Pearl and his role in his kidnapping. Danny Pearl was later dismembered horrifically by killers allegedly headed up by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the Al Qaeda operative widely described as the “mastermind” of 911. He is expected to be the first high profile captive tried by the Bush Administration in Guantanamo, Cuba. He is said to have confessed and will probably be the first to be convicted in a show trial that conjures up the memory of that line from Alice in Wonderland: “First the Sentence, then the Trial.”

MOVED BY THE MOVIE

The audience, which included CBS’s Andy Rooney and Richard Cohen of the Washington Post and CNN’s Christianne Amanpour who narrates it, seemed moved by the movie.

Yet curiously, just as I arrived at the Time Warner Center, I was told that the Times of London is publishing extracts from a book by Pakistani President Musharaff with a very different view. He claims Omar Sheikh worked for the British, not the Pakistanis. The filmmakers are skeptical, citing factual errors (dates etc) in his self-serving account….Ummmm….the plot thickens.

Here’s part of the book’s relevant passages published in England:

”Omar Sheikh is a British national born to Pakistani parents in London on December 23, 1973. His early education was in the United Kingdom, although he also spent four years at Lahore’s prestigious Aitchison College. He then went to the London School of Economics (LSE) but dropped out before graduation.

It is believed in some quarters that while Omar Sheikh was at the LSE he was recruited by the British intelligence agency MI6. It is said that MI6 persuaded him to take an active part in demonstrations against Serbian aggression in Bosnia and even sent him to Kosovo to join the jihad. At some point he probably became a rogue or double agent….

On his return from Bosnia he came to Pakistan, then had guerrilla training in Khost in Afghanistan. In 1994 he was arrested in India as part of a gang which kidnapped four Western tourists. He was released in 1999 as part of a deal to secure the safety of passengers aboard a hijacked Indian airliner.

Although Omar Sheikh confessed in detail to having masterminded and arranged the kidnapping, he was adamant that he had not ordered the murder and that Pearl had been killed against his instructions…

At first I could not understand why Omar Sheikh surrendered to the police. Why didn’t he escape? Only after all the pieces had been put together did I realise that Omar Sheikh had panicked because the situation had spiralled out of his control. He didn’t realise that the people he had enlisted to help in the kidnapping were hardcore criminals who wouldn’t necessarily take instructions from him. He was now trying to save himself, thinking that by surrendering he might be treated leniently….

READ MORE:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2374550_2,00.html

That was in Yesterday’s Times of London—Today there is a new blockbuster from Musharaff. He is being quoted as saying:

‘Bin Laden is in Afghanistan’

Osama bin Laden has not died of typhoid, but is alive and well in hiding in Afghanistan, President Musharraf of Pakistan has told The Times.

This all could be interpreted as more of a face saving rationalization for Pakistan and its esteemed leader.

NUCLEAR PASS FOR PAKISTAN?
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2831/

Meawhile, on the terror front, the NY Times is reporting:”

“Report Belies President’s Optimistic View on War; Iraq Has Become a Terrorist ‘Cause Celebre,’ It Says”

”Portions of the report appear to bolster President Bush’s argument that the only way to defeat the terrorists is to keep unrelenting military pressure on them. But nowhere in the assessment iany evidence to support Mr. Bush’s confident-sounding assertion this month in Atlanta that “America is winning the war on terror.’’ While the spread of self-described jihadists is hard to measure, the report says, the terrorists “are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion.”

It says that a continuation of that trend would lead “to increasing attacks worldwide’’ and that “the underlying factors fueling the spread of the movement outweigh its vulnerabilities.’’

IS THIS DENIAL? SID BLUMENTHAL THINKS SO.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/09/28/intelligence_report/print.html

“Thank you for not putting a bomb in your luggage.”

By William Blum

The Bush and Blair administrations can not admit to the correlation of terrorism with their policies, but those opposed to their wars should never allow them to avoid the issue.”

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15131.htm

The House has passed the new compromise detainee bill backed by the Administration while critics says it will not stop abuses, eg:

UNITED STATES OF TORTURE

Mathew Yglesias on TomPaine.com
http://ga3.org/ct/11NLpbK10zuL/

IS THERE AN ECONOMIC BOYCOTT OF VENEZUELA COMING?

DALLAS (Sept. 27) - 7-Eleven Inc. dropped Venezuela-owned Citgo as its gasoline supplier after more than 20 years as part of a previously announced plan by the convenience store operator to launch its own brand of fuel.

7-Eleven officials said Wednesday that the decision was partly motivated by politics. Citgo Petroleum Corp. is a Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-run oil company and 7-Eleven is worried that anti-American comments made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez might prompt motorists to fill-up elsewhere.

RICE BOILS, THREATENS SUDAN

Rice Warns Sudan of ‘Consequences’ for Refusing Darfur Force

“Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday Sudanese authorities will be held responsible and “bear the consequences” if they continue undermining efforts to reinforce peacekeeping operations in Darfur.”

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-09-27-voa48.cfm

THE LATEST COLUMBINE IN COLORADO

CNN Reported last night:

”A hostage situation at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colorado, is over after police stormed the school, CNN affiliate KUSA reported. The station said the gunman is dead. Later it was reported that a student who had been shot had died.”

SPARK FOR ORGANIZING LABOR
http://bostonreview.net/BR31.5/milkman.html