Town of Braintree

Muslim mole panics Dutch secret


THE Dutch secret service has been infiltrated by an Islamic extremist linked to the killer of Theo van Gogh, the Dutch film-maker whose murder has accelerated Holland?’s transformation from one of Europe?’s most tolerant countries into a society increasingly polarised by fears about immigration.

Intelligence sources said last week that a mole working for a terrorist group codenamed the ?“Hofstad cell?” had been arrested on suspicion of relaying information collected by the authorities to its members.

The disclosure has compounded the embarrassment of the security services, which have admitted they were watching Mohammed Bouyeri, the 26-year-old Dutch-born Moroccan charged with van Gogh?’s murder, from August 2002.

They ended their surveillance less than two weeks before Bouyeri allegedly shot the film director six times as he cycled down an Amsterdam street, then butchered him with a knife.

The murder ?— apparently provoked by the 47-year-old van Gogh?’s outspoken attacks on radical Islam, including a film depicting Koranic verses on a naked female back to represent the supposed oppression of women ?— has been followed by what Jan Peter Balkenende, the prime minister, called ?“a maelstrom of violence?”.

There have been more than 20 arson attacks on mosques, churches and schools ?— the latest early yesterday on a mosque in the southeastern village of Helden. The spiral of attack and counterattack has shattered the image of Dutch society as one that cherishes consensus and abhors conflict.

Jozias van Aartsen, the parliamentary Speaker, warned yesterday: ?“Jihad has come to the Netherlands.?”

Several politicians ?— including Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a liberal MP of Somali origin and van Gogh?’s co-producer ?— were forced into hiding after death threats from Islamic extremists, and a poll revealed that 40% of the Dutch now hope their 900,000 Muslim neighbours no longer feel at home. Some 80% want tougher policies against immigrants.




By Justin Sparks, Amsterdam

The CIA?’s new banana republic

The CIA?’s new banana republic

In its heyday, the CIA was famous for mucking around in the affairs of banana republics, manipulating this, toppling that, and in best cases, achieving the political aims (usually leaders, actually) that the President of the U.S. sought. Iran, Philippines and Guatemala in the 1940s and 1950s were prime examples. But more often than not, these operations went wrong, horribly wrong - Bay of Pigs, Congo, Indonesia, Nicaragua come to mind, leaving the U.S. in a worse position than it started. The CIA may even have been involved in the botched coup d?’etat attempt against modern banana republic Supremo Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, in 2002. At least he thinks so.

And sadly enough, the CIA?’s banana-republic fiascos, which attracted a lot of public attention, obscured the real failure of the CIA, which was its abysmal capacity to understand what was happening in the U.S.?’s leading enemy, the Soviet Union.

But they haven?’t played that risky covert action card all that much in the past 20 years, and for obvious reasons ?– the Wall has fallen, and these operations usually don?’t work.

But don?’t think CIA has changed. Like Aesop?’s scorpion, it looks like they do what they are going to do. And more to the point, they are showing their incompetence again, this time mistaking an incredibly strong target for a banana republic, pretty much showing that they are even more inept than ever.

As we cited earlier, the estimable David Brooks chronicled the CIA?’s pursuit of its latest target: none other than its own customer, President Bush. Brooks minced no words in calling them an enemy; planting leaks, slanting reports, and doing everything possible to alter U.S. voter perceptions of reality through the news. Not really different from what CBS did during the election that discredited them so thoroughly since. And it?’s even less different than the CIA airdrops of leaflets on peasants in Guatemala ahead of elections. In short, like the CIA of old, unable to provide meaningful intelligence or covertly destroy their leading enemy, (which now is terrorism), today?’s CIA substitutes banana republic shenanigans for real results.

But they miscalculated their new enemy. Now, the Washington Post is reporting the biggest personnel shakeup since the Schlesinger and Turner days in the 1970s, which decimated the CIA. Left unsaid in their report is that those fired turned their covert action skills against President Bush and tried to use American voters as their peasants. The result is heads rolling, even as the Washington Post whines about how ?‘the level of experience and competence will go down?’ Oh really? I see the normal wreckage of covert operation gone wrong along with the sour blowback. Playing politics against President Bush, did they really think they could succeed at this? Only if they were betting on a Kerry victory ?– something we reported not even the anti-Bush but carefully calculating French were willing to do. What a fascinating thing that for the first time in their careers, the CIA satraps are being held accountable for their losses. What a shock it must be. Toto, I don?’t think we?’re in Banana Republic anymore.

By U.S. sought. Iran, Philippines a

Marine Pictured in Iconic Photo

Marine Pictured in Iconic Photo Is Unfazed, but His Mother Is Thrilled



PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) - An eastern Kentucky Marine whose battle-grimed face has quickly become a symbol of the fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah says he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.
But his mother is thrilled. Maxie Webber, of Robinson Creek in eastern Kentucky, said the close-up of Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller let her know that her son was OK.

Webber said she first saw it Wednesday on CBS.

''I just sat here and I thought, that's my son,'' Webber said. ''I couldn't believe it.''

The photograph, taken by a Los Angeles Times photographer and transmitted by The Associated Press, has been printed in more than 100 newspapers and shown on network television.

Miller, 20, is shown with smudged camouflage paint and a bloody scratch on his nose, a cigarette drooping from the side of his mouth. He was exhausted and grimy after more than 12 hours of nonstop fighting.

Miller, a graduate of Shelby Valley High School, is serving with Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, scene of fierce battles over the past week.

He didn't know about the photo and his spreading fame until two Los Angeles Times staffers traveling with his unit told him about it.

''I was just smokin' a cigarette and someone takes my picture and it all blows up,'' Miller told them Friday.

The picture, which appeared in the Times on Wednesday, was taken on the afternoon after Charlie Company entered Fallujah under intense hostile fire.

Miller and his fellow platoon members had spent the day engaged in practically nonstop firefights, fending off snipers and attackers, and hadn't slept in more than 24 hours.

''It was kind of crazy out here at first,'' Miller says. ''No one really knew what to expect. They told us about it all the time, but no one knows for sure until you get here.''

He grew up in rural Jonancy, named after his great-great-great grandparents Joe and Nancy Miller, the first settlers in the area. His father, James Miller, is a mechanic and farmer, and the young Miller grew up working crops of potatoes, corn and green beans. His mother is a nurse.

His mother said she stays home as much as possible in case he calls.

''

By Is Unfazed, but His Mother Is T

Guess What?

NO ONE GIVES A FRIGG, IDIOT!

By Jacque