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To: LindyBill who wrote (35875)	3/21/2004 7:27:09 AM
From: aladin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793955

Reporter following trail of corruption in EU arrested By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels (Filed: 20/03/2004) Police arrested a leading investigative journalist yesterday on the orders of the European Union, seizing his computers, address books and archive of files in a move that stunned Euro-MPs. Hans-Martin Tillack, the Brussels correspondent for Germany's Stern magazine, said he was held for 10 hours without access to a lawyer by the Belgian police after his office and home were raided by six officers. "They asked me to tell them who my sources were. I replied that was something I would never do. Now they have all my sensitive files, so I suppose they'll find out anyway," he said last night. "The police said I was lucky I wasn't in Burma or central Africa, where journalists get the real treatment," he added. Mr Tillack said the raid was triggered by a complaint from the EU's anti-fraud office, OLAF. He was accused of paying money to obtain a leaked OLAF dossier two years ago, which he denies. The European Ombudsman has already come to his defence, issuing a harsh criticism of OLAF's campaign to silence him. Mr Tillack, who describes himself as a "pro-European federalist", has been OLAF's most vocal critic, accusing it of covering up abuses within the EU system. As the author of a recent book on EU corruption, he has the greatest archive of investigative files of any journalist working in Brussels. Rest at: telegraph.co.uk

To: LindyBill who wrote (35875)	3/21/2004 7:41:04 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793955

THE JIHADISTS IN AMERICA NY POst By ROBERT SPENCER Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and author of "Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West." March 21, 2004 -- AS the world reels from the bombings in Madrid, it is important to remember that the jihad continues in America as well. * The FBI and Coast Guard announced March 11 that nine members of the Merchant Marine may have links to terrorist groups. This is the fruit of Operation Drydock, an anti-terror investigation that has lasted more than a year. These efforts, while laudable, only underscore the fact that terrorists have already begun to try to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of U.S. seaports. * The same day, three members of the "Virginia jihad network" were found guilty of conspiracy. Masoud Khan, Seifullah Chapman and Hammad Abdur-Raheem played paintball in 2000 and 2001 with a deadly serious purpose: training with the hope of joining the Taliban and waging jihad against America. Khan was also convicted of attempting to wage war against the U.S. * Also that day, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, formerly a high-profile Muslim student activist at the University of Idaho, was charged with ties to Hamas. He maintains his innocence. Fox News reported that he "was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism after federal prosecutors said he helped run Web sites that urge people to contribute money to Hamas." * In San Diego on March 10, Ilyas Ali, a U.S. citizen, and Muhamed Abid Afridi, a Pakistani national, admitted to trafficking drugs to raise money for weapons for the Taliban and al Qaeda. They were selling heroin and hashish to raise money for Stinger missiles. * The same day, five Muslims were convicted in Buffalo of trafficking in untaxed cigarettes in order to get money for jihad. Mohamed Abuhamra, Aref Ahmed, Ramzy Abdullah, Nagib Aziz and Azzeaz Saleh could get 20 years and $500,000 fines for using the smokes to try to raise money to help six Upstate jihadists - the notorious "Lackawanna Six" - journey to Afghanistan to join up with al Qaeda. * A member of the Kashmir jihad was arrested last week in Pennsylvania. Mohammad Aslam, a British citizen, was originally arrested for staying in the U.S. after the expiration of his visa. Through his fingerprints, however, he was identified as a member of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, wanted for the kidnap and murder of the Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre in England in 1984. Mhatre was seized and killed in an attempt to secure the release from prison of the group's founder, Maqbool Bhat. * Sgt. Hasan Akbar is the Muslim soldier who attacked his own commanding officers in Kuwait last year while crying out, "You guys are coming into our countries, and you're going to rape our women and kill our children" - a clear indication that his attack grew out of his identity as a Muslim. After a long silence, the Army has announced it will go ahead with a court martial. Akbar could get the death penalty. * The Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) is building a new mosque intended to be one of the country's grandest. Arabic-language brochures boast that the project has the backing of the radical Sheikh Yusuf Abdullah al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian now based in Qatar. In English, the ISB claims al-Qaradawi "has never played any role in the ISB." But, reports the Boston Herald, "Records show al-Qaradawi's name was listed on federal tax forms as recently as 2001 as a member of the society's board of directors." The ISB is not alone in embracing al-Qaradawi: Establishment Islamic scholar John Esposito has praised him as a champion of a "reformist interpretation of Islam." Yet Qaradawi has justified suicide bombings, praising such attacks against Israeli civilians. He cites tenets of Islamic law that forbid attacks against civilians unless they're aiding the war effort - and he sees everyone in Israel in this category. The Herald also reports that al-Qaradawi exclaimed at a Muslim youth group convention in Toledo in 1995: "We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through [the] sword, but through Da'awa [preaching]." The Herald adds that "in March 2003, al-Qaradawi issued a religious ruling, a fatwa, encouraging Muslim women, as well as men, to become suicide bombers in the name of Allah and jihad." With the biases of the major media abundantly established, it will be interesting to see how much attention such stories receive as the election season kicks into high gear. NEW YORK POST