July 15, 2005

PRINCE SATTAM IBN ABDUL AZIZ OFFERS THE SAUDI LEADERSHIP'S CONDOLENCES TO THE BRITISH EMBASSY IN RIYADH. LONDON DISCOVERS THE IDENTITIES OF THE ATTACKERS. PRESIDENT BUSH: THE AIM OF THE TERRORISTS IS TO REMAKE THE MIDDLE EAST IN THEIR OWN GRIM IMAGE OF TYRANNY AND OPPRESSION BY TOPPLING GOVERNMENTS. THE LEBANESE MINISTER OF DEFENCE ESCAPES A BID ON HIS LIFE. ABU MAZEN CONDEMNS THE SUICIDE ATTACK IN NETANYA. Prince Sattam Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Vice-Governor of Riyadh region, visited the British embassy. On behalf of the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard, and Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, the Saudi Government and People, Prince Sattam offered condolences to the victims of the terror acts which took place in London. Prince Sattam was welcomed by Bary Lowen, the British Charge d'affaires, and members of the staff of the embassy. The Vice Governor was accompanied by Dr Khalid Al-Jindan, the Head of the western administration at the Foreign Ministry, and Abdul-Muhsin Al-Marik, the Deputy Chief of protocol at the Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile the police have issued CCTV footage and a photograph of the man who they say carried out the Number 30 bus bombing in London last week, which killed 14. Head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist Branch Peter Clarke said police needed information on Hasib Hussain, aged 18. Mr Clarke urged the public to ring the anti-terrorist hotline 0800789321 if they had seen Hussain last Thursday. "We need to establish his movements up until 0947 BST, when the explosion occurred in Tavistock Square," he said. "The question I am asking the public is: 'Did you see this man at King's Cross, was he alone or with others? "Do you know the route he took from the station, did you see him get onto a number 30 bus, and if you did - when and where was that?" Police think there were about 80 people on the bus when the explosion happened and Mr Clarke called for any passengers who had not contacted the police to do so. He said the police investigation had uncovered a "vast amount of information", with new leads emerging "literally by the hour". He said detectives had taken 500 witness statements and had seized - and were analysing - more than 5,000 CCTV tapes. "We need to establish a number of things: Who actually committed the act, who supported them, who financed them, who trained them, who encouraged them? "This will take many months of intensive, detailed investigation." He said forensic investigations at the scenes of the attacks were continuing, while properties were being searched in West Yorkshire and in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Mr Clarke also confirmed the identity of the second bomber, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, who died in the explosion at Aldgate. He said property belonging to the third - and not yet officially named - man who travelled from West Yorkshire was found at the scenes of the Aldgate and Edgware Road attacks. But he said there was not yet forensic evidence that he died in the blasts. However, he said forensic evidence did indicate that the fourth bomber had died in the Russell Square blast. British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday called for tougher laws and a global drive to tackle the "evil" ideology behind the London bombings which had killed 52 and injured over 700. He made the call when taking questions from members of parliament (MPs) at the House of Commons. Blair said there would be "profound shock and anxiety" after it got round that three if the bombing suspects were Pakistani British. He told MPs that talks will begin on new laws against incitement and instigation of terrorism as well as on deporting people trying to "incite hatred". Consultations would start in the next few weeks over possible new anti-terror legislation due to be published this autumn, he said. The laws would focus on measures deemed necessary by the police and security services to "combat the incitement and the instigation of terrorism as well as the acts of terrorism themselves". "We will look urgently at how we strengthen the procedures to exclude people from entering the UK who may incite hatred or act contrary to the public good and at how we deport such people if they come here more easily," he continued. Blair met Muslim MPs to discuss how to tackle "this evil within the Muslim community". He urged the mobilization of the "moderate and true voice of Islam". "It is an extreme and evil ideology whose roots lie in a perverted and poisonous misinterpretation of the religion of Islam," he noted. The prime minister condemned any attacks on British Muslims, saying the vast majority were decent and law abiding. Following Tuesday's discovery of four bomber suspects, the police are now seeking the masterminds behind the attacks and looking for a fifth person in connection with the attacks last Thursday. More than 100 alleged revenge attacks - including the killing of a Pakistani immigrant - have been reported in Britain since the bombings. Police increased protection in Muslim communities. Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Britons not to judge all Muslims by the acts of those inspired by a "perverted and poisonous misinterpretation" of Islam. Muslims spoke out about the need to protect their own children from the kind of extremist thinking believed to have led the four men to commit the first successful suicide bombings in Western Europe. Addressing the House of Commons, Blair said the government also would look urgently at how to strengthen the process for excluding from Britain those who incite hatred and make it easier to deport such people. Pakistan pledged to fully assist Britain's investigation into last week's bombings in London, but it was awaiting details of when any of the suspected British-born suicide bombers had visited Pakistan. Three of the four bombers behind the attacks that killed 52 London commuters were of Pakistani ethnic origin living in northern England, while a fourth was identified by media reports on Thursday as a Jamaican-born Briton. "We have an ongoing cooperation with Britain to fight international terrorism," Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani told a news conference. "We have cooperated in the past and we would continue to cooperate." On the other hand reports said the US Department of Homeland Security is closely monitoring the bombings in London which killed dozens of British citizens and crippled that city's mass transit system. DHS official are in constant contact with their British counterparts. "We have been in direct communication with officials at the state and local level and with public and private sector transportation officials. We have asked them for increased vigilance and additional security measures for major transit systems," said US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, during his morning press conference. A key to investigating the terrorist attacks is the vast closed-circuit television system installed in London as part of their anti-terrorism effort. It's hoped the surveillance cameras will provide the identities of the terrorists responsible for the attacks as well as information on their operation methods. The Metropolitan Police Department and Scotland Yard are working with the United Kingdom's counterterrorism agents in their quest to bring the terrorists to justice, according to former Scotland Yard police inspector. Meanwhile Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al-Shara said the explosions that rocked London yesterday are a denounced action. "They are a denounced action that underline the peoples of the region need to work hand in a hand as to change this congested atmosphere into a better one that could achieve peace in the Middle East," Shara said in a statement to journalist at the end of the two day official visit of the Palestinians Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to Syria. In Algeria, Arab parliamentarians opened their 46th conference of their union in Algeria Monday amid calls for unity to confront challenges facing Arab nations. Speaking at the opening session, Algerian parliament Speaker Ammar Saadani said Arab unity is necessary to surmount the very difficult situation through which the Arab world is passing. He mentioned Israel and international pressure on Syria as areas of concern. We denounce as well the threats targeting Lebanon through interference in its internal affairs and we demand a full implementation of international legitimacy to end Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory, Saadani added. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa underscored the need to introduce reforms to Arab countries and find solutions to terrorism. On the other hand President Bush defended the White House strategy for preventing future terrorist attacks and warned that the London bombings were part of a broader campaign to scare the United States and its allies into retreat. "These attacks were barbaric, and they provide a clear window into the evil we face," Bush said in a speech at the FBI Academy, at the Marine base in Quantico. "The aim of the terrorists is to remake the Middle East in their own grim image of tyranny and oppression by toppling governments, by exporting terror, by forcing free nations to retreat and withdraw." Bush said it is imperative that the United States and its allies wage an offensive war to hunt down terrorists before they strike again. "These kind of people who blow up subways and buses are not people you can negotiate with, or reason with, or appease," Bush said. The president said the U.S. military operation in Iraq is central to defeating these terrorists: "The terrorists fight in Iraq because they know that the survival of their hateful, hateful ideology is at stake." Democrats, however, say the Iraq war has diverted U.S. attention and resources away from securing ports, airports and other potential terrorist targets and left Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, on the loose. "We should take very seriously the lesson learned from the attacks in London: Fighting terrorism overseas is not enough to ensure that terrorists will not strike American soil again," Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement. "We spend more in Iraq in a single month than we spend on first responders all year. Failure in Iraq is not an option, and we will continue to support our troops but we must do more to support the war on terror here at home." As part of the broader effort to defend the administration's approach, Bush told an audience of Marines, FBI recruits and first responders that the White House has tripled homeland security spending since 2001. "In an age of new dangers, we're doing everything in our power to do our jobs," Bush said. But, repeating a line other White House officials have been using since the bombings, he said, "We know that there is no such thing as perfect security, and that in a free and open society it is impossible to protect against every threat." Bush, who has strong public support for his anti-terrorism policies even as his overall popularity sags, used his first speech since the London bombings to lobby Congress to endorse his agenda, including extending the USA Patriot Act, which provides federal and state authorities greater power to hunt down potential terrorists. Critics from both parties have said the act jeopardizes the civil rights of ordinary citizens. Still, the central -- and most contentious -- focus of the Bush strategy is Iraq. With public support for the military operation slipping, Bush said the London bombings, much like the suicide attacks carried out by insurgents in Iraq, are designed to pressure the United States and its allies to surrender. "The terrorists know they can't defeat us on the battlefield," Bush said. "The only way the terrorists can win is if we lose our nerve. This isn't going to happen on my watch." Bush, who was with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Scotland during last week's attacks, said the United States is assisting the Blair government in trying to find those who carried out the subway bombings and to share intelligence on future terrorism. "The city that survived the Nazi blitz will not yield in the face of thugs and assassins. And just as America and Great Britain stood together to defeat the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century, we now stand together against the murderous ideologies of the 21st century," Bush said. The UN Security Council has held a session of consultations on Lebanon during which it was stated that the chairman of the international investigation team to the assassination of the late prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, Detleve Meles, sent messages to Syria, Israel, and Jordan asking for help. The US charge de affairs to the UN, Ann Paterson, said following consultations that the UN Security Council held that she presumed that the request pertains to any available information on three persons and their possible crossing the borders to Lebanon. Paterson added that German attorney general Deteleve Meles notified the UN Security Council that he had prepared a delegation composed of 30 experts from Germany, Holland and Britain and that the Lebanese authorities are helping with the investigation. Meles added that so far he interrogated 68 witnesses and one accused person, and that he set up hot lines for those wanting to provide information, and contacted the Interpol in order to get technical help. She added that the investigator wrote for "Jordan, Syria and Israel calling for support because these are neighboring states," noting that this act "seems to be logical in light of my experience abroad." In Lebanon according to Lebanese security sources, a booby trapped car was behind the explosion which targeted the procession of the Lebanese defense minister Elias al-Murr. The sources added that the booby trapped car was stationed on the roadside of the road the procession that al-Murr took while he got out of his house in Antilias district. The Lebanese national agency for the media in Beirut said that the wife of Mexican ambassador was injured in the explosion and she was admitted to hospital to receive medical treatment. Hospital sources in Beirut said that the minister is in good health conditions and he talked to many of his visitors. One witness said that the minister got out of his car bloodied after the explosion and went with two of his guards to the hospital in a car for one of the passers by citizens. The witness added that the minister had injuries on his face and legs. Later, Murr underwent successful surgery, Lebanese medical sources announced. The two doctors who supervised the operation said "he is now in good health and fully conscious," noting that he would be moved to the American University hospital in Beirut to follow up treatment. Lebanese defense minister Elias al-Murr said he had received information that he might be exposed to an assassination attempt, noting that he notified the specialized Lebanese security of these threats. In a televised interview with al-Mustaqbal TV, al-Murr added he had since last march information about the assassination attempt. He stressed he sent last week a message to the attorney general including this information. Murr indicated, in the interview which he had made on his bed from the hospital, that this information was available to the state security and that it reached him "unexpectedly," giving no further details. Syria has strongly condemned the assassination attempt on the life of the defense minister in the outgoing Lebanese government, Elias al Murr, in the north of Beirut on Tuesday. The attempt resulted in killing two of his guards while other 12 were injured. A Syrian official media source described the operation as a terrorist act and a chain in the series of explosions and acts of assassination aimed at destabilizing Lebanon and weakening its national unity. The Syrian official news Agency SANA quoted the source as saying that these "terrorist acts target the Lebanese from various political trends and directions. This fact proves that those behind these explosions are directly linked to the enemies of Lebanon and the enemies of stability in the region." Worthy mentioning that the Lebanese forces which oppose Syria started since the assassination attempt of the Druz parliamentarian Marwan Hamadeh in October 2004 and after the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri and the followed assassination acts and explosions to accuse what it called the Syrian- Lebanese security system of being behind these explosions. However, Syria which ended the pullout of its forces from Lebanon in April this year condemned these explosions and strongly denied to have had any hand in these incidents and held responsible what it called the enemies of Lebanon for "these terrorist acts." A suicide bombing attack took place near an Israeli shopping mall, dubbed "Hasharon", at the entrance to the coastal town of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv last Tuesday evening. Two Israeli women were killed and scores were wounded, some of them seriously. Another woman was reported to be in critical condition. The armed wing of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for this attack. The suicide bomber was identified as Ahmad Abu Khalil from the town of Ateel, near the West PBank city of Tulkarem. Islamic Jihad said after the attack that it remained committed to the calm. It said the bombing was a "natural response" to Israeli violations, such arrests of Islamic Jihad members. It should be mentioned that in May 2001, five Israelis were killed after a Hamas member blew himself up near this shopping mall. Earlier, one Palestinian has been seriously injured after he detonated his car at the entrance to the "Shavei Shomron" settlement in the West Bank. In his reaction to the events, Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas strongly denounced the attack in Netanya and said those responsible for it were acting against the Palestinian people. "There's no sane and patriotic Palestinian who would do such a thing at the same time as Israel prepares to withdraw from 20 to 22 settlements in Gaza Strip and the West Bank," Abbas said in a statement. The Palestinian President added that the attack was "an act of foolishness" and vowed to severely punish those responsible for it. He maintained that neither of the Palestinian factions that signed the calm declaration in Cairo was responsible for the suicide bombing, "even the Islamic Jihad movement declared it was not responsible for it." Abbas added that he was making contacts with all relevant parties, and reiterated the Palestinian Authority's strong denunciation of the attack, asserting his sympathy with the victims' families.