The Jihadist Threat and Grassroots Defense

A source in Beijing says that the murder in Beijing of American Todd Bachman and the wounding of his wife Barbara and their Chinese tour guide were committed by someone other than the individual identified in China’s state-run press.

The three were attacked on August 9 while visiting the Drum Tower, a popular Beijing tourist site. The next day, Xinhua reported that they had been murdered by a 47-year-old factory worker named Tang Yongming who had recently been thrown out of work. Tang was said to have committed the murder out of hopelessness and rage at society, and then to have committed suicide by jumping 150 feet to the concrete below.

According to the Epoch Times’ source, however, a local store clerk saw something different.

Immediately after the murder a witness came out of one of the stores nearby where she works, shaken at what she had seen. According to this store clerk, the murderer was a very tall Chinese man between 30 and 40 years old in a business suit. The killer was said to be very agile and quick and used a double-bladed military knife to commit the murder.

The clerk says that there were security guards within 20 feet of the murder who did nothing to stop or apprehend the killer. While she and other witnesses were too shocked to react, the killer quickly ran away.

The source pointed out “There was a tight security check there with many public security officers. No one could pass the security check with a weapon.”....

"Rules of Jihad" book called for bombings, assassinations

from Jihad Watch

Clearly Belal Khazaal is a Misunderstander of Islam. Watch for the Vast Majority of Moderate, Peaceful Muslims to take to the streets to protest his defamation of their religion.

More on this story. "Terror suspect Belal Khazaal compiled book, court told," by Natalie O'Brien in The Australian, August 13 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A SYDNEY man allegedly compiled a book advocating terrorist attacks including bombings, shooting down planes and assassinations of key US officials including George W Bush, a Supreme Court jury has been told.

The book, entitled Provision on the Rules of Jihad, contained sections that canvassed various methods of murder and terrorist attack including letterbombs, boobytrapping cars, kidnappings and poisonings, according to crown prosecutor Peter Neil SC. ....

Homeland Security sets up counterintelligence unit because of foreign threats

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Concerns about foreign spies and terrorists have prompted the Homeland Security Department to set up its own counterintelligence division and require strict reporting from employees about foreign travel, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The new directive comes as the federal government increases its counterspy efforts across all agencies and raises the awareness of intelligence vulnerabilities in the private industry as well as in protecting government secrets.

The Homeland Security Department "is vulnerable to adversaries who seek information about our nation's homeland defense programs, classified or unclassified," ....

Al Qaeda calls for jihad in Mauritania after coup

Al Qaeda's North Africa wing has called for a holy war in Mauritania to establish Islamic rule after a military junta toppled the country's elected president. "Raise the banner of jihad and let us bleed and have our limbs severed until we bring back a caliphate styled along the lines of The Prophet's way," the leader of the al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, Abu Mus'ab Abd el-Wadoud, said in a statement posted on the Internet on Tuesday.

White House imposes sanctions on 5 Iranian firms

The Bush administration has imposed economic sanctions on five Iranian companies that it has accused of helping the country pursue its ambitions to develop a nuclear weapon. The Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it was freezing any assets the five companies might have in the United States and prohibiting American individuals and companies from having dealings with the firms. ....

ICE, Local Officers Arrest 119 Illegal Aliens in Penn. and Del.

A 10-day ICE operation in Pennsylvania and Delaware netted 75 fugitive aliens and 44 other immigration violators, according to an ICE press release. Of these, 38 had criminal histories that included offensive touching and assault of a child, forgery, criminal conspiracy, receiving stolen property, and narcotics violations. The arrestees came from countries around the globe including El Salvador, Indonesia, Mauritania (Islamic Republic) and Mexico. ....

FCC Commissioner: Return of Fairness Doctrine Could Control Web Content

There’s a huge concern among conservative talk radio hosts that reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine would all-but destroy the industry due to equal time constraints. But speech limits might not stop at radio. They could even be extended to include the Internet and “government dictating content policy.”

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell raised that as a possibility after talking with bloggers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. McDowell spoke about a recent FCC vote to bar Comcast from engaging in certain Internet practices – expanding the federal agency’s oversight of Internet networks. ...