eyespymag.com: the magazine that lifts the lid on the world of intelligence, espionage, terrorism, and much more

28.2.04

Iranian radio announce capture of Bin-Laden from "reliable source"

Iran's state radio has quoted an informed source as saying that Osama
Bin-Laden had been captured in a tribal region in Pakistan.

The radio's external service, broadcast in Pashto, said US Secretary of
Defence Donald Rumsfeld's trip to Pakistan on Thursday [26 February] had
been made in connection with the capture.

The radio said: "The capture of the Al-Qaida leader has been made sometime
before, but (US President George W.) Bush is intending to announce it when
the American presidential election is held."

Contacted by IRNA, an IRIB announcer at the Pashto service, confirmed the
news, which he said, they had got from a 'very reliable source' in Peshawar,
Pakistan. 

"Osama Bin-Laden has been arrested a long time ago, but (US President George
W.) Bush is intending to use it for propaganda manoeuvring in the
presidential election," he said.

Osama's head on a platter is believed to be a big boost to Bush's
presidential chances, which are increasingly being eclipsed by Democratic
presidential front-runner John Kerry.

The Saudi-born dissident is accused of masterminding the 11 September 2001
attacks on American landmarks in New York and Washington.

Visiting Kabul on Thursday, Rumsfeld said he believes Usamah will be caught,
but has no idea when.

28.02.04.

Iraqi chief in Saudi Arabia says US must help control borders

 The president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Dr Muhsin Abd-al-Hamid, has
praised the stance and keenness of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to stand
beside Iraq and its people.

Addressing a press conference here last night, he expressed thanks and
appreciation for the kingdom's readiness to support Iraq at political,
economic and trade levels.

He noted that the kingdom is keen on the security of Iraq.

"Saudi officials have stressed that they are watching closely the borders.
However, controlling the long border is not the responsibility of one side.
We are also responsible and the occupation forces are responsible for
maintaining the security of the borders," he added.

He condemned attacks on Iraqi policemen, noting that these attacks aim at
stopping Iraqis from gaining independence. He stressed that attacks on the
occupation forces will end when Iraq becomes independent.

Dr Abd-al-Hamid noted that there are discussions to find other alternatives
for the current Governing Council when its term is over.

28.02.2004

International terrorism getting a grip on Iraq, says Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks there is no threat to Russian
interests in Iraq. 

"In Iraq, international terrorists are gradually getting to know the
territory and the population of Iraq. The longer this goes on, the more
dangerous it becomes," Putin said replying to a question at Krasnoyarsk
University on Friday [27 February].

In this connection, he said, the USA is beginning to realise that the
undermining of international organisations should not be allowed and is
seeking to restore the role of the UN in resolving the Iraqi crisis. "Russia
will work together with everyone who is interested in this," Putin said.

27.02.04

Chief Weapons Inspectors Were Bugged Too.....the plot thickens.

Clare Short's claims of a United Nations bugging scandal have sparked fresh
revelations about phone tapping.

The phones of former UN chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Richard
Butler were also tapped while on missions abroad, it is claimed.

Australian radio reported that Mr Blix's phone was bugged whenever he was in
Iraq and the information shared between the United States, Britain and their
allies.

And Mr Butler said he was "well aware" that his phone calls were being
monitored during his tenure.

He claimed he was forced to hold confidential talks with contacts in New
York's Central Park because of the phone tapping in his office at the UN
headquarters, while he was investigating Iraq's weapons programme.

"Of course I was (bugged). I was well aware of it," he told ABC radio.
   

"How did I know? Because those who did it would come to me and show me the
recordings that they had made on others to help me do my job disarming
Iraq."

Mr Butler, who was chief weapons inspector in Iraq from 1997 to 1999, said
he learned from unnamed sources that his office was bugged.

"I was utterly confident that when in my attempts to have private diplomatic
conversations trying to solve the problem of the disarmament of Iraq, I was
being listened to by the Americans, British, the French and the Russians and
they also had people on my staff reporting what I was trying to do
privately," he said.

Former colleagues and ex-diplomats rounded on Ms Short after her claims that
Britain had spied on UN secretary-general Kofi Annan in the run-up to the
Iraq war.    
   

Prime Minister Tony Blair branded Ms Short "deeply irresonsible" - but
stopped short of denying her claims.

Ms Short, however, dismissed Mr Blair's comments as "pompous nonsense".

She added: "Either he has to say it's true, we are bugging Kofi Annan's
office, which he doesn't want to say; or he's got to say it's not true, and
he'd be telling a lie; or he's got to say something pompous about national
security.

"Everyone in the country can judge this for himself or herself. There is no
British national security involved in revealing that Kofi Annan's private
phone calls have been improperly revealed and there is no danger to anyone
working in the British security services by making this public."


27.02.04.

Security of Russian nuclear installations unsatisfactory, says
regulator 

The Russian Federal Monitoring Authority for Nuclear and Radiation Safety
[Gosatomnadzor] has announced that security at Russia's nuclear facilities
is unsatisfactory. 

According to Gosatomnadzor, a total of 299 inspections of the country's
nuclear facilities were carried out in 2003. The specialists of the
organisation discovered 175 violations linked to the guarding of
installations that are strategically important for our country.

26.02.2004.

UN Warning Over British Spy Allegations

Annan wants the practice to stop, "if indeed it exists," said his spokesman
Fred Eckhard at UN headquarters in New York.

"We would be disappointed if this were true," Eckhard said of the allegation
by a former British Cabinet minister.

"Such activities would undermine the integrity and confidential nature of
diplomatic exchanges. Those who speak to the secretary-general are entitled
to assume that their exchanges are confidential."

Clare Short, who resigned as international development secretary shortly
after last year's campaign to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, claimed
British intelligence agents spied on Annan in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Blair refused to say whether the allegation was true, but called Short
"deeply irresponsible."


26.02.04.

No survivors found at Macedonian plane crash site in Bosnia

Rescuers at the site of the plane crash near Mostar, in which the Macedonian
president [Boris Trajkovski] has lost his life, have found no survivors.

26.02.2004

Blair attacks Short over spy claims

Tony Blair has insisted that Britain's intelligence services always act
within domestic and international law.

And he turned on former International Development Secretary Clare Short
after she claimed that British agents spied on United Nations Secretary
General Kofi Annan in the run up to the war on Iraq.

Mr Blair said those who comment on national intelligence "attack the work
that our security services are doing and undermine the security of this
country".

And he added: "The fact that these allegations were made is deeply
irresponsible."

The Prime Minister refused to comment directly on Ms Short's claims.

Mr Blair also said he would not discuss the case of former intelligence
service worker Katharine Gun, who was acquitted yesterday of breaching the
Official Secrets Act despite admitting leaking a US request for help in
bugging the UN.

Discussing the work of the intelligence services would undermine national
security, Mr Blair claimed at the monthly televised press conference at
No10.

"I will simply not let that happen," he said.

Mr Blair told journalists: "I cannot comment on individual court cases or
about intelligence matters but I will say this to you.

"Our security services in this country exist for a reason, as they always
have done. And that is to protect Britain, to protect this country.

"And in an era of global terrorism where we know there are highly dangerous
and repressive states out there developing weapons that could do enormous
damage to the stability of the world, their work is even more necessary than
ever before."

26.02.04

Iraqi police chief killed in Mosul shooting - TV

The Iraqi police have announced that one of their high-ranking officials and
a former officer of the Iraqi army have been assassinated in Mosul, northern
Iraq. 

A police official said three unidentified gunmen riding an Opel vehicle shot
at Major-General Hikmat Mahmud Muhammad, chief of police in the city as he
left his home this morning (Wed 25.02.04). The police chief died of his
wounds. 

Major-General Abd-al-Ilah al-Anz, a former officer in the Iraqi army, was
also killed, and his son was wounded when gunmen shot at him while he was in
his car. A police source said the former Iraqi officer was a member of the
Ba'th Party, and his wounded son was a former Iraqi intelligence officer.

24.02.04

Blunkett: Terror Attack on UK 'Inevitable'

Home Secretary David Blunkett has said a terror attack against Britain is
inevitable as he prepares to set out Government plans to counter the threat.

Blunkett told the BBC's Newsnight programme on Tuesday that a suicide
bombing was the most likely method of attack and the threat was "real".

The claim came before Blunkett was due to publish a controversial paper
setting out possible options for new counter-terrorism laws, but he knows he
risks the derision of his opponents by calling for all sides to come up with
solutions to the international terror threat.

The Home Secretary said he was "fed up" of the "brickbats" aimed at him by
human rights campaigners.
   
"Let's hear some new ideas, not just poisonous personal attacks," he said.

The document was expected to feature radical proposals such as lowering the
standard of proof in terror cases and introducing secret trials heard by
security-vetted judges, as first mooted by Mr Blunkett in an interview with
PA News a month ago.

He confessed that he risked "being derided as ineffectual" for publishing a
paper that asked more questions than it answered.

"By 2006, we need to have decided whether to re-legislate to allow the
detention of foreign terrorist suspects and, if not, how to protect
ourselves with alternative measures," wrote Mr Blunkett.

"We also need to look at how best to convict or prevent those supporting
terrorism, as well as whether more intelligence material, such as intercept,
could be used in court.

"This is too important a subject to be left to slanging matches between Home
Office ministers and self-proclaimed human rights campaigners.

"I am fed up with what little debate we have in this country being dictated
by the campaigners and lawyers who only say how rights are being damaged,
rather than come up with some solutions. In short, I want answers and ideas,
not just brickbats."


21.02.2004

Red Cross Visits Saddam Hussein

TWO staff members of the international Red Cross have visited former Iraqi
president Saddam Hussein in US custody in Iraq.

The delegates, one of whom was a doctor, saw Saddam at an undisclosed
location in Iraq, said Nada Doumani, spokeswoman for the International
Committee of the Red Cross.

"The aim of this visit is to track and monitor the conditions of detention
and treatment of the detainee," Ms Doumani said, speaking from Amman,
Jordan.

"We want to see whether he is getting enough food and water and also to
check his health condition and to give him the possibility to write a
message to his family, which he did."

The ICRC is mandated to carry out visits to detainees under the Geneva
Conventions on the conduct of warfare, but it never comments publicly on the
conditions it finds.

Ms Doumani said the ICRC would carry out a second visit to Saddam in due
course, but she could not say when that would be.

"We will repeat our visits as long as the person is in detention," she said.

She declined to say how long the visit had been but said it was "long enough
to get answers to the important questions."

The ICRC has been seeking access to Saddam since his capture on December 13.

The neutral, Swiss-based agency has already visited most of the 43 other
high-ranking Iraqis captured by coalition forces, as well as many other
prisoners of war and civilian internees in Iraq.


19.02.04.

SOLDIERS Capture Insurgents, Seize Weapons in Iraq

News releases from Combined Joint Task Force 7 in
Iraq have provided details of recent coalition successes in capturing
insurgents and taking weapons out of circulation.

Soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, raided three
locations in Samarra just after midnight Feb. 17 and captured specifically
targeted individuals suspected of attacking coalition forces.

Residents near Balad asked soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th
Infantry
Regiment, to remove weapons from their home Feb. 17. The soldiers removed
and
confiscated an improvised rocket tube, a rocket, three AK-47 assault rifles,
one SKS automatic weapon and assorted electrical components similar to those
used to make improvised explosive devices.

An off-duty Iraqi police officer stopped a patrol from 2nd Battalion, 8th
Infantry Regiment, in the village of Wajihiyah and told the soldiers about
an
ammunition cache.

The soldiers went to the location and found 30 rounds of 152 mm artillery
shells. In another incident, Iraqi police brought an explosive device made
of
four 155 mm artillery rounds to soldiers from the 4th Military Police
Battalion.  The police found the device partially buried at the side of the
road near the village of Jabal Makhul.

Soldiers from Company A, 3rd Battalion, 66th armour Regiment, were in Bayji
Feb.
17 when they saw a pickup truck drive away at a high speed.  The soldiers
were
not able to stop the fleeing truck, but went to the house from which they
saw
the truck leave. They located and confiscated two rocket-propelled grenade
launchers, two AK-47s, eight Beretta submachine guns, a recoilless rifle
sight
and numerous containers for missiles. The house was littered with military
paraphernalia. One person was detained for questioning.

In Muqdadiyah, soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, conducted
two
raids Feb. 17 looking for individuals suspected of being involved in attacks
against coalition forces. One person specifically targeted was among six
people
they captured. Soldiers confiscated two AK-47s, three bolt-action rifles,
one
SKS automatic weapon, a shotgun, an antiquated machine gun and six AK-47
ammunition magazines.

Three people were seized Feb. 17 after a coalition helicopter crew saw them
attack an Iraqi Civil Defence Corps headquarters near Balad with automatic
weapons and flee to a nearby building. Soldiers also confiscated an AK-47,
an
SKS automatic weapon and a .45-caliber pistol.

Task Force 1st Armoured Division soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team
captured eight men suspected of participating in the Baath Party during a
raid
in the Karradah district at about 2 a.m. Feb. 15. Soldiers from 2nd
Battalion,
6th Infantry Regiment, detained eight men suspected of being active in the
outlawed party.

Weapons seized during the operation include nine AK-47s, one rocket, a
pistol,
two rifles, two RPG rounds, 23 rounds of 125 mm artillery and assorted
small-arms ammunition.


19.02.2004

FIVE British Guantanamo Bay Captives to Return Home

FIVE of the nine British prisoners being held in Guantanamo Bay are to be
released, the Foreign Office announced.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that they would be returned to the UK "in
the next few weeks".

Police will consider whether they should face questioning under the
Terrorism Act 2000 when they get back to Britain, Mr Straw said.

He added that discussions were continuing with the US authorities over the
other four Britons.

The families of the men were informed earlier today. The five men do not
include Moazzam Begg, 36, from Sparkhill, Birmingham or Feroz Abbasi, 23,
from Croydon, south London.

The breakthrough followed intensive discussions between the British and the
US authorities.

The nine British men are among 660 people who have been held by the US for
more than two years without charge or access to legal assistance.

They are currently being detained at Camp Delta in Cuba and interrogated
over possible links to al Qaida.

All the prisoners being held were captured after allegedly fighting
alongside the Taliban against British and US troops in Afghanistan.

There are 20 European citizens being held at Camp Delta including the nine
Britons, six French and nationals from Sweden and Germany.

In November 2002, the British Court of Appeal said the detainees were being
held in a "legal black hole" and described their treatment as
"objectionable".

17.02.2004

Russia has some 33,000 chemical munitions in "critical condition"

Experts of the Russian Agency for Munitions have identified about 33,000
chemical munitions that are in a critical condition, the agency's
director-general, Viktor Kholstov, said today.

The experts are permanently monitoring the state of chemical munitions in
order to improve the safety of the storage of combat agents, Kholstov told
Interfax-Military News Agency. "They have made an assessment of the
technical conditions and established safe storage conditions for chemical
munitions. As a result of this work, about 33,000 munitions were found to be
in a critical condition. These include about 12,000 aviation munitions and
21,000 artillery munitions that require special monitoring," he said.

According to Kholstov, 49 munitions in a critical condition were removed
from storage facilities and destroyed in 2003.

An entire set of measures ranging from preventive maintenance to the
destruction of dysfunctional [unstable] munitions is envisaged to maintain
storage safety for combat agents, he went on. In addition, on-duty forces
and equipment are maintained in permanent readiness for the localisation of
possible disasters.

"The Russian Agency for Munitions is holding special exercises regularly in
co-operation with the Defence Ministry, the Emergencies Ministry and the
Interior Ministry in order to train the required personnel," Kholstov added.

15.02.2004

Iraq Bids to Put Saddam on Trial

IRAQ is to ask the United States to change Saddam Hussein's status as a
prisoner of war and to hand him to Iraqis for trial.

"We have agreed with the United States and the coalition forces that
whenever we are ready as Iraqis, and especially after we regain power ... we
will demand changing Saddam's status as a prisoner of war,'' said Iraq's
foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari.

Speaking at a news conference in Kuwait at the end of a two-day meeting with
delegates of Iraq's neighbours, he said the new Iraqi government would also
ask that the former Iraqi leader now in US custody was "handed over to the
Iraqi justice''.

Washington, which plans to transfer power to Iraqis on June 30, declared
Saddam a war prisoner last month because of his status as former
commander-in-chief of Iraq's military.

PoW status under the Geneva Conventions grants Saddam certain rights,
including access to visits by the International Red Cross and freedom from
coercion of any kind during interrogations.

The United States has said it wants an Iraqi court to try Saddam, who has
been in its custody under CIA interrogation since his capture on December
13. Prisoner of war status does not preclude prosecution.

Washington says Saddam's government killed at least 300,00 Iraqis, including
thousands of Iraqi Kurds in a poison gas attack in 1988.

14.02.2004.

GUANTANAMO Cases to be Reviewed Yearly

SUSPECTED terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba will be allowed to
appeal against their detentions to a new panel, which will determine if they
are a threat to the United States, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has
said.

The panel will hear cases annually to decide whether the suspects remain a
threat or could be released, Rumsfeld said, in remarks to the Greater Miami
Chamber of Commerce.

Rumsfeld said the United States was planning to hold many of the detainees
"as long as necessary".

About 660 alleged al Qaida and Taliban fighters, including some Britons,
captured in Afghanistan, and elsewhere, after the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks are being held at the maximum security prison at the US
naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. None have been charged.

The United States says the prisoners are "enemy combatants", not prisoners
of war, and can be tried by military tribunals.

US officials have said the lengthy detentions are vital to
intelligence-gathering and that the information gleaned from prisoners has
led to arrests around the world.

Human rights groups and some foreign governments have criticised the
detainees' treatment and the lack of trials or access to lawyers.

The Supreme Court will decide this year whether the Guantanamo detainees can
be held indefinitely without lawyers and hearings.

14.02.2004

IRAQ Gun Battle Leaves 20 Dead and 30 Injured

DOZENS of rebels have stormed an Iraqi security compound and a government
building in an attack that killed 20 people and wounded 30.

The same compound was attacked two days earlier during a visit by US General
John Abizaid.

As many as 50 attackers went from room to room of the Iraqi Civil Defence
Corps compound in Fallujah, throwing grenades and firing automatic weapons,
said one police officer.

The attackers freed about 100 prisoners held in the compound, he said.

It was not known if the prisoners included suspected members of the anti-US
insurgency.

The gunmen also attacked the local mayor's office, about half a mile away,
police said.

Iraqi security forces traded fire with the attackers in the streets, taking
cover behind concrete blocks amid a hail of gunfire. No American forces
could be seen.

The US command has said American troops could be quickly dispatched to
trouble spots to help Iraqi forces as America hands over security to the
Iraqis.

Abdul Hamid al-Janabi, a security official at Fallujah hospital, said at
least 18 police and civilians were killed, along with two attackers.

Of the 30 wounded, most were policemen, though two women and a child were
among the injured, al-Janabi said. Two wounded attackers taken to hospital
were arrested.

13.02.2004

A NATIONAL Guardsman is facing charges of attempting to give information to
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida.

US defence officials said Ryan Anderson, 26, signed on to extremist internet
chat rooms and tried to get in touch with al-Qaida operatives, offering the
organisation information on US military capabilities and weaponry.

It is unclear how the government learned of his alleged offer, but
authorities began monitoring his communications, the officials said. It does
not appear he actually transmitted any information to the terror
organisation.

Anderson became a Muslim during the last five years, officials said.

Army Lt Col Stephen Barger said Anderson was being held "pending criminal
charges of aiding the enemy by wrongfully attempting to communicate and give
intelligence to the al-Qaida terrorist network".

Barger said Anderson was taken into custody in a joint investigation by the
Army, Justice Department and FBI. He was being held at the Fort Lewis
Regional Corrections Facility near Tacoma, Washington.

Barger declined to give any details on the arrest, and it was not
immediately clear if Anderson had a lawyer.

Anderson is a tank crew member from the National Guard's 81st Armour
Brigade, a 4,200-member unit set to depart for Iraq. It is the biggest
deployment for the Washington Army National Guard since the Second World
War.

12.02.2004

UKRAINIAN foreign minister denies nuclear weapons sale to Al-Qaida

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko has said that press
reports on the possible sale of nuclear weapons by Ukraine to the Al-Qaida
international terrorist organisation were false.

"I can say only one thing about this - it is evident to all our serious
partners that this is a pure 'canard', and it is aimed at harming us," he
told a news conference in Kiev on Thursday [12 February].

"We have clearly described the situation. Professionals in the area of
non-proliferation have no doubt that we are observing our commitments," he
said. 

"I would like to say once more and confirm that not a single state
organisation or serious NGO has even the slightest suspicion that this could
have happened. There is some hesitation in the media which do not seriously
consider where the information comes from and who is behind it," the
minister said. 

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister said earlier that Ukraine was not connected
to nuclear weapons trade.

On Wednesday [11 February], the Al-Hayat [London-based] pan-Arab newspaper
against published an article saying that Al-Qaida allegedly bought nuclear
technology through a Ukrainian scientist. Referring to trustworthy sources
in Islamabad, the newspaper said that a Ukrainian, named Viktor, visited the
Afghan city of Kandahar in 1998. Reportedly, he was a mediator in the deal.

11.02.2004

US journalist reported missing near Chechnya

The US embassy has confirmed that an American female reporter who lives in
Russia has been missing since 8 February in the area near Mozdok, North
Ossetia. "The US embassy in Moscow has filed an official missing persons
report with the prosecutor's office and notified the Foreign Ministry of its
concerns for the missing reporter's welfare, so that the Russian government
can inform the relevant authorities," an embassy spokesman said.

"The US embassy will continue searching for the missing reporter through all
of its available sources," he said. Because of privacy act restrictions, the
embassy cannot release the name of the missing reporter or the newspaper she
works for. 

A Moscow city police source told Interfax earlier that "the US embassy
consul told the police on Tuesday [10 February] that US citizen, Rebecca
Santana, born in 1971, left her residence on Ulitsa Serafimovicha [Street]
and has not returned. She works for a news agency." The source said the
woman is 30-35 years old, 160-165 centimetres tall, has brown eyes, brown
hair and a straight nose.

10.02.2004

50 Killed in Iraq Car Bomb Attack

AT least 50 people have been killed after a car bomb exploded at a police
station south of Baghdad.

The attack was launched as dozens of would-be recruits lined up to apply for
jobs.

US officials in the Iraqi capital put the figure at 35 dead and 75 wounded,
but said those numbers were expected to rise.

The blast followed warnings from occupation officials that Iraqi insurgents
would step up attacks against Iraqis who work with the coalition, especially
in the run-up to the planned June 30 transfer of sovereignty to a
provisional Iraqi government.

US officials said a letter seized last month from an al-Qaida courier asked
the terrorist leadership to help foment civil war in Iraq to undermine the
coalition and the future Iraqi leadership.

The purported author of the letter was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a
Palestinian-Jordanian suspected of al-Qaida links. The author boasted of
having organised 25 suicide attacks in Iraq.

US paratroopers sealed off an area around the police station in Iskandariyah
and refused to allow journalists near the blast site, 30 miles south of
Baghdad.

In Baghdad, Lt Col Dan Williams, a coalition spokesman, said no US or other
coalition forces were killed or injured.

Iskandariyah hospital director Razaq Jabbar said he had received 50 dead and
50 injured - all believed to be Iraqis. He said he had heard that three
others died at another hospital.

"This figure might increase," he said. "There were somebody parts that
haven't been identified yet. Some more bodies may be trapped under the
rubble."

Policeman Wissam Abdul-Karim said he did not know whether the blast was
caused by a suicide driver or from a bomb in a stationary vehicle.

Security for the facility included a checkpoint surrounded by sandbags and
barbed wire.

09.02.2004

BLAIR Unveils FBI-Style Agency

PRIME Minister Tony Blair has announced the creation of an elite new law
enforcement agency to combat organised crime.

He also hinted at some of the radical proposals which could feature in
Government plans to target the country's most serious criminals.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is expected to have more than
5,000 investigators concentrating on crimes such as drug trafficking, people
smuggling and fraud.

During a visit to the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit in London's Docklands, Mr
Blair said the new agency must be prepared to be "ruthless" to break down
the complex networks established by international crime lords.

He hinted that the burden of proof in organised crime cases may need to be
lowered so that it is easier for police to secure convictions.

The Prime Minister said: "My impression sometimes is that the system is
struggling against a presumption that you treat these crimes like every
other type of crime and that you build up cases beyond reasonable doubt.

"I think we have got to look at this."

He appeared to suggest that criminals may be required to explain how they
had generated their wealth.

"If you think, yes, there's something bad going on, you can change the
burden of proof so that people can say 'this is how we came by it'.

"To require everything beyond reasonable doubt in these cases is very
difficult," said Mr Blair.

"I think people would accept that within certain categories of case,
provided it's big enough, you don't take the normal burden."

06.02.2004

IRAQI radio says New Year suicide bomber Palestinian

A Baghdad security source has confirmed that the Iraqi authorities have
identified the suicide attacker who blew up himself in front of Nabil
Restaurant in Al-Masbah area of the Karradah neighbourhood of Baghdad. The
suicide attack, which took place on New Year's eve, led to the death of
several Iraqi citizens.

The source said that the perpetrator was a Palestinian, born in Baghdad in
1984, who used to live with his family in Al-Ta'lim neighbourhood, close to
Al-Karkh area. 

The source revealed that a Baghdad-resident Palestinian gave the information
which led to the identification of the suicide attacker. He described the
informer as an honest Palestinian who does not wish to see Iraq turn into an
arena for Al-Qa'idah war with its enemies. He added that the security bodies
will interrogate the father of the said suicide attacker within their
investigations into the incident.
    

06.02.2004.

RUSSIA'S political pundit sees "Chechen connection" in Moscow blast

Vyacheslav Nikonov, chairman of the fund called Unity in the Name of Russia,
thinks that today's Moscow metro blast "has been timed to coincide with the
forthcoming presidential elections".

"I think the blast has a 'Chechen connection', it would be strange to assume
anything else. There is no doubt that it has been timed to coincide with the
forthcoming presidential elections".


He said he was disinclined to blame Russian special services for everything.
"It is, unfortunately, very difficult to avert a terrorist act. No single
country is insured against that," he said.

He disagreed with the view expressed by some of his political scientist
colleagues that people are beginning to get accustomed to acts of terrorism.
"It is not possible to become accustomed to them," he said. He thinks
security in Moscow and other Russian cities will be tightened up following
the Moscow metro blast.

04.02.2004.

TONY Blair has swept aside fresh concerns about the intelligence used to
take Britain to war with Iraq.

Opening the Commons debate on the Hutton Report, the Prime Minister said the
inquiry had shown that the now infamous BBC report was "100% wrong".

He again defended the decision to go to war with Iraq, saying that Saddam
Hussein had been guilty of multiple breaches of UN resolutions.

He rejected demands to widen the scope of the new inquiry into the
intelligence on Iraq to examine the political decisions which took Britain
to war.

Earlier Downing Street dismissed a call by a former intelligence official
who gave evidence to the Hutton Inquiry to publish the secret evidence which
convinced spy chiefs that Iraq still had chemical and biological weapons.

Brian Jones, a former branch head in the Defence Intelligence Staff, said he
believed the handful of top intelligence officials who actually saw the
evidence may have "misinterpreted" it. In the Commons, Mr Blair said Dr
Jones had never claimed that the material should not have been included in
the dossier.

He had simply argued that it should have said "intelligence indicates"
rather than "intelligence shows" that Iraq had chemical and biological
weapons.

"I agree there is a difference between those two things but let us be quite
clear, it is hardly of earth-shattering significance in terms of what will
be in the dossier," Mr Blair told MPs.

The debate in the Commons chamber was briefly suspended by Speaker Michael
Martin while the public gallery was cleared after a series of protesters
tried to disrupt Mr Blair's speech with shouts of "war criminal" and
"murderer".    

04.02.04

FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw has announced a wide-ranging review of
intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.

He announced to the Commons that a review chaired by ex-Cabinet Secretary
Lord Butler would look at intelligence on weapons of mass destruction
programmes and the global trade in WMD.

They would also look at the accuracy of pre-war intelligence on Saddam's WMD
and any discrepancies with what was eventually found.

Mr Straw said the review committee would report to the Prime Minister and
would look at "countries of concern" involved in WMD.

He added that the committee, which would follow precedents set by the Franks
inquiry into the Falklands conflict, would report before Parliament's summer
recess in July.

The Foreign Secretary said the committee would be made up of Lord Butler,
Sir John Chilcot, Field Marshal Lord Inge, chairman of the Intelligence and
Security Committee Labour's Ann Taylor and Tory MP Michael Mates.

He went on: "The committee will submit its final conclusions to the Prime
Minister in a form for publication, along with any classified

recommendations and material."

Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram welcomed the inquiry, saying that Mr
Blair, for a Prime Minister "with no reverse gear", had executed a
"spectacular U-turn" in agreeing to it.

The committee will meet in private, Mr Straw confirmed, as did the Franks
committee.

The Foreign Secretary said it would work closely with the commission to be
set up by the White House to probe WMD intelligence on Iraq and the Iraq
Survey Group.

02.02.2004

TONY Blair has reportedly succumbed to mounting pressure for a probe into
the intelligence that led Britain into war with Iraq.

Downing Street signalled an official announcement soon - after months of
rejecting calls for an investigation into intelligence which claimed that
Saddam Hussein possessed stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.

The dramatic U-turn came as President Bush gave in to pressure from his
critics and announced a commission into the non-appearance of WMD.

Tory leader Michael Howard piled on the pressure by urging the Prime
Minister "not to be the odd man out" and called for a meeting of party
leaders to hammer out how an inquiry would be set up.

Downing Street said the change of heart had come about because the Hutton
Report has fully cleared ministers over any wrongdoing over the use of
intelligence material.

It was now a "perfectly valid question" of what happened to Saddam's WMD,
the Prime MInister's official spokesman added.

Mr Blair is expected to make the announcement to MPs soon.


01.02.2004