politics, terrorism, and sports

This story appeared recently (1/21/10) in what appears to be an Indian tabloid-style paper. It has several important details about Mohammed Abdul Khwaja, a purported terrorist.

According to the Indian police:

• Khwaja, age 30, commands a militant group, Huji for South India
• Khwaja was caught by the Hyderabad Special Task Force recently
• Khwaja recruited local youth for training
• Khwaja recruited and/or trained Raziuddin Nasir, who was arrested, to conduct suicide attacks on Western tourists in Goa
• Khwaja is a close associate of Shahid Bilal, who masterminded the suicide attack on Hyderabad's Special Task Force headquarters in 2005
• Khwaja is also linked to the Hyderabad twin blasts of 2007
  
• Khwaja worked in Saudi Arabia
• Khwaja is Nasir's handler

Click here to watch some television reports about this by an Indian program, Inside Story (a la Fox News). Some points made:

• RAW nabs Khwaja, Huji commander and pointman for arranging terrorists locally (part 1)
  
• ISI planning to strike oil refineries in India, RSS headquarters, and public events
• with the aim of wrecking the Indian economy
• senior ISI officer Mohd coordinates strikes against India
• ISI coordinating activities of LeT, HuM, JeM and manages terror camps
• RAW lured him into a trap in Colombo, Sri Lanka (part 2)
  
• Khwaja has named names to RAW
• terrorism, politics and sports are interlinked, since athletes are the "ambassadors" of a country (part 3)
• the passions from a sports snub have taken on a life of their own (part 4)
  

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"Terrible events produce outrage, and when people are outraged, they are all the more likely to seek causes that justify their emotional states, and also to attribute those events to intentional action." -- from Cass Sunstein's conspiracy paper, download here and hang upside by your ankles while you read it -- it's basically their mind-fucking instruction manual

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Attacks against India conflate with attacks against the UK. According to a report in the Sri Lanka Guardian, it was Khwaja who provided the intelligence that led to the UK terrorism alert last weekend. Worth a read, as he manages to mention every talking point plus the kitchen sink.

According to the “Sunday Times” of the UK as quoted by “The Hindu” of January 25,2010, the Indian intelligence agencies are reported to have alerted MI-5, the British security service,about the suspected plans of Pakistan-based pro-Al Qaeda elements to hijack an Indian aircraft originating from Delhi or Mumbai and crash it into a British city. The recent upgradation of threat level in the UK from “substantial” to “severe” but one below “imminent” has been attributed to this Indian warning. There is a possibility that the terrorist plans might be related to the January 28 London conference on Afghanistan. According to the “Sunday Times”, the Indian intelligence came to know of this plot during the interrogation of Amjad Khwaja of the HUJI, who was arrested recently in India.

Another source: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has asked all airlines to conduct a mandatory 100 percent secondary ladder point check until January 31 on all aircraft flying between Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Hmm. I wonder what happens after January 31st.

In any event, India's response for public celebrations: With intelligence inputs warning of threats posed by LeT and other militant groups, security establishments in Delhi and the state capitals on Monday went on top alert putting in place a ground-to-air apparatus to thwart any attempt to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations. A heavy security blanket was thrown around the capital with snipers and mobile hit teams fanning across the city and nearly 15,000 police and paramilitary personnel being deployed to guard the 8-km-long route of the Republic Day parade and other key installations. Anti-aircraft guns have also been stationed in certain crucial areas.

Good timing huh?


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Some recent attacks on athletes -- Sri Lanka, Angola, Mexico (they're getting closer...):

3/4/09 - Sri Lankan cricket team: Pakistani police hunted on Wednesday for gunmen who mounted a bold attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Lahore as officials tried to figure out who was behind it. The attack on Tuesday killed seven Pakistanis -- six police and the driver of a bus carrying match officials. Six members of the Sri Lankan team and a British coach were among 16 wounded in the daylight attack as their bus approached the cricket stadium.

That attack was linked to Huji: The prosecution on Friday, told a Delhi court that a Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-jehadi Islami (HUJI) terrorist, who along with five others are accused of plotting to kidnap Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, had confessed that he came to abduct the cricketers and then bargain the release of two members of the outfit....Besides three Pakistan-based accused, Tariq Mohammed, Ashfaq Ahmed and Arshad Khan, the others are - Mufti Israr, Ghulam Qadir Bhatt and Ghulam Mohd Dar.

1/3/10 - Attack on Togo's football team in Angola: Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor escaped unharmed after a bus carrying the Togo national team came under attack from gunfire in Angola. ... According to reports, at least three Togo players and the bus driver suffered injuries during the attack. Some reports suggest the driver was killed.

South African response for the World Cup: South Africa's police force has bought helicopters for air surveillance, acquired mobile police stations to be stationed at all key venues and will supply a 24-hour ground patrol using more than 40,000 specially trained officers and private security guards. The military has also been called in to provide additional security.

1/26/10 - Salvadore Cabanas shot in Mexico City nightclub: Two suspects were captured on a security camera walking out of the nightclub toilet where Cabañas was found. Another camera filmed them leaving the building less than a minute later and driving away in a car without number plates. Mexico City's attorney general, Miguel Angel Mancera, said the suspects were José J Balderas Garza, nicknamed El Modelo, and his bodyguard. Balderas was a regular at the Bar Bar club, which was also popular with footballers and other celebrities. With robbery ruled out by the authorities, the motive remains a mystery. Balderas is reportedly from Sinaloa, a state in Mexico renowned for its drug traffickers, although no evidence has yet emerged of any link to organised crime.

Not yet.

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Now, this is just me, but I can't help but wonder if the evidence will lead in a certain direction, like, for instance, to Lebanon and Hizbollah, perhaps. Because we have lately heard about connections and drug smuggling between Venezuela, West Africa and over to Europe and then Lebanon. And corruption in Africa. And threats to Israel. And we've also seen the forward connections established in corporate media between Lebanon and West Africa, in light of the Ethiopian plane crash. So all this has been floating around in the herd attention space. All this stuff is part of the narrative. It's part of preparing people, in baby steps, for what is going to happen next.