The Union of Good: INTERPAL and the U.K. Member Organizations

The Union of Good:INTERPAL and the U.K.

Member Organizations

http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/nefaunionofgoodmemberorgs0309.pdf

The NEFA Foundation has released a new report in its Union of Good series titled “The Union of Good: INTERPAL and the U.K. Member Organizations.” According to the report synopsis:

The Union of Good (UG) is a coalition of Islamic charities that provides financial support to both the Hamas “social” infrastructure, as well as its terrorist activities. In November 2008, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the UG stating:

Europe Pieces Together Terrorism Puzzle

By BRUCE CRUMLEY / PARIS Tuesday, May. 12, 2009

Malika El Aroud, widow of Abdessater Dahmane, at her computer in the living room of her home in Brussels. Hazel Thompson / Eyevine

Continental Europeans may have been spared the devastation of jihadist suicide bombings since the deadly March 2004 attacks in Madrid, but on Tuesday morning there was another grim reminder that the threat of terrorism is far from over. Italian police in the southern city of Bari announced that they are holding two French nationals whom authorities call “top-level point men” for “al-Qaeda in Europe” and who were allegedly plotting kamikaze strikes in France and the U.K. — including one purportedly targeting the Charles de Gaulle airport.

Hezbollah: The World’s Most Effective Terrorist Organization

Elias Youssef Bejjani

05 May 2009

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing “- Edmund Burke – 17th century philosopher and author”

The U.S. government has labeled Hezbollah, in its State Department report for 2008, as the world’s most effective terrorist organization. The report said that Iran remains the most active state sponsor of terrorism, including supporting terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. According to the same report, “Iran’s involvement in the planning and financial support of terrorist attacks throughout the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia had a direct impact on international efforts to promote peace, threatened economic stability in the Gulf, and undermined the growth of democracy”. It singled out the Qods Force, an elite branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the Islamic republic’s main means to cultivate and support terrorists overseas.

British, Bangladesh conduct exercise

Published: May 12, 2009 at 6:22 PM

DHAKA, Bangladesh, May 12 (UPI) — The British and Bangladeshi navies recently conducted an exercise around the Ganges Delta to improve joint counter-terrorism capabilities.

The British Royal Navy partnered with the Bangladeshi navy for an exercise to share expertise and improve interoperability on counter-terrorism operations and missions to respond to natural disasters, the British Ministry of Defense reported.

Hizbollah confirms broad aid for Hamas

By Anna Fifield in Beirut

Published: May 12 2009 13:50 | Last updated: May 12 2009 22:11

Sheikh Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary-general of Hizbollah, gives a rare interview to the FT, sitting beneath tapestries showing Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late Supreme Leader

Hizbollah has been providing the Palestinians in Gaza with “every type of support” possible for some time, the deputy leader of the powerful Lebanese Shia movement has said, in a remarkable admission of a widening regional role.

Sheikh Naim Qassem’s frank comments to the Financial Times are the first clear confirmation of Hizbollah’s broad assistance to the Palestinian Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

The Strategic Debate Over Afghanistan

May 11, 2009

By George Friedman

After U.S. airstrikes killed scores of civilians in western Afghanistan this past week, White House National Security Adviser Gen. James L. Jones said the United States would continue with the airstrikes and would not tie the hands of U.S. generals fighting in Afghanistan. At the same time, U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus has cautioned against using tactics that undermine strategic U.S. goals in Afghanistan — raising the question of what exactly are the U.S. strategic goals in Afghanistan. A debate inside the U.S. camp has emerged over this very question, the outcome of which is likely to determine the future of the region.

On one side are President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and a substantial amount of the U.S. Army leadership. On the other side are Petraeus — the architect of U.S. strategy in Iraq after 2006 — and his staff and supporters. An Army general — even one with four stars — is unlikely to overcome a president and a defense secretary; even the five-star Gen. Douglas MacArthur couldn’t pull that off. But the Afghan debate is important, and it provides us with a sense of future U.S. strategy in the region.

Petraeus and U.S. Strategy in Iraq

Petraeus took over effective command of coalition forces in Iraq in 2006. Two things framed his strategy. One was the Republican defeat in the 2006 midterm congressional elections, which many saw as a referendum on the Iraq war. The second was the report by the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan group of elder statesmen (including Gates) that recommended some fundamental changes in how the war was fought.

Equipment a concern in Afghanistan

By Lara Jakes

Associated Press

Friday, May 08, 2009

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan —- U.S. troops are being rushed to Afghanistan without the equipment they need to fight an emboldened Taliban, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and military officials said Thursday.

The equipment delay is “a considerable concern,” Gates said as he toured a base in south Afghanistan, where some 200 Marines and sailors arrive each day in a 21,000-troop buildup.