Terrorism: Iraq suspect arrested in northern Italy
Venice, 1 Oct. (AKI) — Italian police have arrested an Iraqi man on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack on US military bases in Iraq. Saber Fadhi Hussien, was detained near Venice last Friday during an early morning raid, Carabinieri paramilitary police said.
Hussien, a former member of late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s disbanded Baath Party, is allegedly the head of an al-Qaeda cell. He was arrested at the airport as he was boarding a plane bound for Damascus, via the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
The cell was allegedly planning attacks using suicide bombers, anti-tank weapons and ultra-light helicopters, according to investigators. They said Hussien was intending to travel to Syria and meet a contact for al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Police said he had been in touch with aides of the group’s founder, the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed last year in Iraq by a US airstrike.
The ultra-light helicopters can fly low enough to avoid radar and could transport up to 250 kilogrammes of explosives. It is believed to be the first time terrorist groups in Iraq have considered using light aircraft to overcome the tight security surrounding international forces in the country.
Ultra-light helicopters — this is either innovative and cunning, or grandiose and insane. How likely is it that terrorist groups could successfully manage to use such tactics? Maybe they’re more sophisticated than we give them credit for.
This next excerpt ties in with al-Baghdadi’s complaints about the “traitors” and “apostates” in Iraq:
- - - - - - - - -
Hussien was also alleged to be planning a strike against a Sunni tribe in western al-Anbar province because it has turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq.
These were the guys that Al Qaeda used to be able to count on, but now they’ve switched to the stronger horse.
Here’s a reminder that the deadliest terrorists are being nurtured in the heart of Europe, and have been for a long time:
Venice prosecutors have been probing Hussien since the end of 2006. He has an elegant apartment in the centre of Padua, where he and his family ran a pizza and kebab shop. He has lived in Italy for 25 years.
Prosecutors said Hussien had been providing logistical support for an al-Qaeda cell in Iraq for some time, sending around 4,200 euros a month to Iraq for the purchase of weapons and to recruit suicide bombers.
Europe is thoroughly infested with Islamic radicals, many of them citizens of their host countries. They rely on social welfare programs for their support, gain the protection of a justice system which bends over backwards to accommodate them, pose as asylum-seekers, and use the useful idiots of the leftist NGOs and activist organizations to obtain aid and sustenance.
It’s insane and suicidal, and it can’t go on like this.
Hat tip: insubria.
5 comments:
To give the devil his due, Baron, this particular Islamic wacko seems to have been a successful restauranteur rather than an able-bodied welfare recipient. In America, where the majority of new restaurants go bankrupt within a year, that would be no mean feat.
I certainly agree that admitting Muslims into Western societies is insane and suicidal. To my knowledge, however, no political candidate has made an issue of Muslim immigration. Only one candidate has announced an intention actually to enforce the immigration laws. I fear that it will go on like this until something much worse than 9/11 happens or, worse yet, until the West becomes indistinguishable from the Middle East.
gringo_malo --
Some of those wacko Londonistan terrorists were successful physicians. And many of the 9/11 wack-jobs had attained their undergrad science degrees in the West.
It is a sign of my growing desperation that Ron Paul looks better every day. Unfortunately his greatest virtue is also his greatest flaw --, i.e., he lets "perfect" get in the way of "good enough"...if I remember correctly he has voted against some security measures because they didn't go far enough.
IMHO, a beginning -- say, the fence -- would be a good place to start.
Hmmm...Dr. Paul is a physician, too. Is there a pattern here ;}
Trying to track where things go in the world of Transnational Terrorism requires that one look at how it works. A bit ago, in a larger article, I looked at how bomb triggers from a failed UK 'sting' operation against the IRA found their way to Iraq. al Qaeda, itself, has connections via Albania and Bosnia, particularly to underworld figures and those also are in contact with their Italian counter-parts.
The IRA to Iraq connection most likely goes through the PLO, that the IRA trained with on the use of automatic weapons and small arms tactics, and from there either to the more radical elements in contact with Syria. That said I believe that some equivalents have also shown up in Italy, so a pathway through there is not out of the question. One of the dirty little secrets of Italy getting so little external terrorist attention is the role its underworld plays in the facilitation of arms, narcotics and money laundering. While radical elements can get a start in Italy or even attack it (see the various 'Red' groups and even ETA which have done so) they have tended to be small operations and either of little importance or use to standard criminal organizations, or external to them.
The Iraqi in Italy was most likely part of Zarqawi's European cells, and have been a supplier for them funneling arms/equipment via Syria or Iran or even Turkey. While attack cells get high visibility, the INTEL and logistics and clean-up cells are just as vital to al Qaeda's continued operations.
The pattern is simply:
If they're badly educated, they qualify as cannon fodder for Iraq or A-stan.
If they're well educated, they can infiltrate western societies much easier.
You don't send Abdul from the ass end of the world to London. No, you send him to A-stan with an AK, and you sand Mohammed, who has a degree from a university, to London.
Hell's penguin (you poor guy. What a job description)--
To some extent you're right, but it's reductionist. I stronly urge anyone with a desire to know more about it to visit A Jackonian's site (he links to one of his posts above you). His maps are amazing and when he covers a subject, you can find out some of the things you didn't even know you didn't know.
He'd make a good teacher.
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