Reuters : London plot suspect might face Pakistan terror court

London plot suspect might face Pakistan terror court

December 28, 2006

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani high court has suspended the trial of a Pakistani-British man suspected of involvement in a plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners in a move that could see him tried in an anti-terrorism court.

In August Pakistani officials identified the suspect, Rashid Rauf, as a "key person" in a plot broken up by British police that month to carry out suicide bombings on airliners traveling from London to the United States.

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court dropped terrorism charges against Rauf on December 13, citing a lack of evidence, and referred lesser charges, including the possession of explosives, to a civil court. It began proceedings on December 22.

But the High Court in the city of Lahore, acting on a plea lodged by the Punjab provincial government, suspended proceedings on Wednesday in a move aimed at getting the case referred back to the anti-terrorism court, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

"We argued in our plea that the substances recovered from Rauf could be used to blow up a plane, and planning a terrorist act is also terrorism as defined in the law," the prosecutor general for Punjab province, Chuadhry Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, told Reuters.

Rauf's lawyer, Hashmat Habib, said the High Court would decide on the jurisdiction of the trial on January 15.

"They've started dirty games ... Their intention was to stop us from getting Rauf bail from the civil court," Habib said.

A Pakistani official said in August Rauf had been in contact with an al Qaeda operative in Afghanistan in connection with the London bomb plot.

In brief comments to reporters when he appeared in court last week, Rauf said the charges against him were unjust.

According to reports, Rauf left Britain and traveled to Pakistan in 2002 after the murder in Britain of an uncle.

After the London plot was exposed, Britain said it was seeking Rauf's extradition. Pakistan said it was considering the request.

A British official said the extradition request had been made in connection with an investigation into the murder.

Dallas Morning News : He had no doubts that Oswald acted alone

He had no doubts that Oswald acted alone

Warren Commission found no conspiracy proof, Ford insisted

Staff | December 28, 2006

Gerald Ford, who was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission, never changed his mind about who shot John F. Kennedy in Dallas.

"We made two fundamental decisions, and I agree with them today as I did before," Mr. Ford told USA Today in 2000. "No. 1, Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin. And two, the commission found no evidence of a conspiracy, foreign or domestic. And in my judgment, there has been no new evidence that would undercut those two conclusions."

President Lyndon Johnson asked him to serve on the seven-member commission, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren.

"I tried my darnedest to say no, but you know how Lyndon was," Mr. Ford told USA Today. "He said it's your patriotic duty and all that stuff, and I finally said OK."

In his autobiography, A Time to Heal, Mr. Ford said he didn't know how he would juggle his duties in the House with the panel's responsibilities, including listening to hundreds of hours of testimony from 552 witnesses.

The investigation brought Mr. Ford and Justice Warren to Dallas in June 1964, where they interviewed Jack Ruby, who shot and killed Oswald. Ruby, whom Mr. Ford described as an "unstable person," rambled but told them little.

At the Texas School Book Depository Building, they stood where Oswald was believed to have fired the fatal shots.

"We had a rifle similar to the one he'd used; we picked it up and through the scope sighted the cars passing by on the expressway below. Kennedy had been my friend. The thought that we were reconstructing his assassination sent a chill down my spine," Mr. Ford wrote in his autobiography.

Panel members had heard rumors linking the FBI and CIA to the assassination but found no connection between those agencies and Oswald. "As regards to the possibility that the Soviets or the Cubans might have been involved, we checked every allegation to the best of our ability and came up with nothing tangible," he wrote.

The Warren Commission members and staff, however, disagreed over the conspiracy wording.

"The staff wanted us to say that there was no conspiracy, either foreign or domestic," Mr. Ford recalled in A Time to Heal. But he and two other members thought that was too strong and persuaded the others to change it.

"The final report read that the commission 'has found no evidence of a conspiracy.' That, in my opinion, was far more accurate. When the report came out, critics charged that it was a whitewash, that we had covered up government complicity in the president's death. ... Nonsense!" he wrote.

Mr. Ford said the controversy will never end. "They are still arguing about Abraham Lincoln's assassination, so they'll be doing this on Kennedy for the next 100 years as well," he told USA Today.

NYT : Pakistan Court Drops Charge in London Plot Case

Pakistan Court Drops Charge in London Plot Case

By SALMAN MASOOD | December 13, 2006

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 13 — A judge threw out terrorism charges on Wednesday against Rashid Rauf, a Briton of Pakistani descent whom prosecutors depicted as a major figure in a plot to smuggle liquid explosives onto trans-Atlantic airliners and detonate the bombs in flight.

The ruling means there are now no terrorism charges against two people once accused of being linchpins of a major Al Qaeda bombing plot. The other is Tayib Rauf, Mr. Rauf’s younger brother, who was detained in Britain last August and soon set free without charge.

But it was not clear whether the ruling would clear the way for Rashid Rauf’s return to Britain for questioning on other charges.

Reports of a bombing conspiracy set off a huge alarm in August in Britain and the United States, disrupting air travel when the authorities imposed some of the strictest peacetime security restrictions on passengers.

But less publicly, the alarm created powerful strains between American and British investigators over the timing of a crackdown on suspects in which British authorities rounded up 25 people on Aug. 9 and 10, later charging 17 of them. The other eight, including Tayib Rauf, were set free without charges.

British officials involved in the case said that American investigators had pushed for quicker arrests in the case but that the British had wanted to wait longer to gather admissible evidence.

One of seven people arrested in Pakistan in the case was Rashid Rauf, 25, who holds Pakistani and British citizenship. Pakistani officials identified him as a “key figure” and said he had contacts to Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

But in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, Mr. Rauf appeared in a counterterrorism court and the judge dismissed most of the charges against him, upholding a defense objection that they lay outside the court’s jurisdiction.

Mr. Rauf still faces some secondary charges in Pakistan and is being held by the authorities. Britain has requested his extradition, and Pakistani officials said they are considering the request.

“Rauf was booked under six charges such as impersonation, cheating, forging documents, presenting those forged documents as real and keeping explosives,” Hashmat Habib, his lawyer, said in a telephone interview.

“When we scrutinized the charges, we were of the opinion that none of the charges fell under the jurisdiction of the antiterrorism court. The court agreed with our objection and the terrorism charges have been dropped. So, the outcome of today’s hearing is that there are no charges of terrorism against Rashid Rauf any more.”

Mr. Rauf is now scheduled to appear Dec. 20 before a District and Sessions Court to answer the remaining charges, Mr. Habib said.

Mr. Rauf has not been charged in Britain in connection with any airline plot, and a Home Office spokeswoman said no extradition request had been made in relation to the airline plot.

Britain has, however, filed an extradition request for Mr. Rauf as a suspect in the murder of an uncle, Mohamed Saeed, who was stabbed near his home in Birmingham in April 2002. “Our understanding is that the Pakistani authorities are proceeding with this request,” the spokeswoman said.

Britain and Pakistan have no extradition treaty, so it is Pakistan’s choice whether to permit extradition. It was not clear whether Mr. Rauf would be questioned about any plot in Britain if he were to be extradited.

The British government offered no immediate comment on the case.

Accounts differ over when Rashid Rauf was arrested. The Pakistani police said he was taken into custody on Aug. 10, the day of the British raids, in Chohan Chowk, near the Islamabad airport. But Mr. Habib said his client was arrested the day before while traveling between Multan and Bahawalpur, in Punjab Province.

Mr. Rauf left Britain in 2002 to settle and marry in Bahawalpur. He was not a subject of scrutiny before his arrest in August, although police had linked his wife’s family to an outlawed Islamist group.

Mr. Habib said the accusations against him were trumped up. “All the story about the plans of hijacking airplanes was an imaginary allegation, just to boost the graph of Bush and Blair,” he said.

The Rauf brothers’ father, Abdul, emigrated and settled as a baker in Birmingham but kept strong ties to his home country, starting a charity that raised money meant to help Pakistanis in need. His sons, too, seemed caught between the cultures, with Rashid moving to Pakistan while Tayib remained in Britain.

Stephen Grey and Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London.

BBC : UK 'plot' terror charge dropped

UK 'plot' terror charge dropped

December 13, 2006

A Pakistani judge has ruled there is not enough evidence to try a key suspect in an alleged airline bomb plot on terrorism charges.

He has moved the case of Rashid Rauf, a Briton, from an anti-terrorism court to a regular court, where he faces lesser charges such as forgery.

Pakistan has presented Mr Rauf as one of the ringleaders behind the alleged plan to blow up flights out of London.

The British authorities say they foiled it with Pakistan's help in August.

They say proceedings against suspects arrested in Britain will go ahead.

'Explosives'

The arrest of Rashid Rauf in Pakistan triggered arrests in the United Kingdom of a number of suspects allegedly plotting to blow up transatlantic flights.

The Pakistani authorities described him as a key figure.

But an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi found no evidence that he had been involved in terrorist activities or that he belonged to a terrorist organisation.

As well as forgery charges, Mr Rauf has also been charged with carrying explosives.

But his lawyer says police evidence amounts only to bottles of hydrogen peroxide found in his possession.

Hydrogen peroxide is a disinfectant that can be used for bomb-making if other chemicals are added.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says the judge's decision has reinforced the already widespread scepticism there about the airliner plot.

Several commentators said the threat was deliberately exaggerated to bolster the anti-terror credentials of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and that it helped to demonise British Muslims of Pakistani origin.

The Crown Prosecution Service in the UK said the dropping of charges against Mr Rauf in Pakistan would "make no difference" to the case against the men charged in Britain.

'Suspected conspiracy'

In August, the British government requested the extradition of Mr Rauf, a Briton of Pakistani origin who returned to Pakistan four years ago, in connection with a 2002 murder.

Scotland Yard declined to discuss which murder case the request related to.

The government in Pakistan, which has no extradition treaty with the UK, said it was considering the request.

Rashid Rauf was arrested in Pakistan earlier that month over the alleged plot to blow up US-bound aircraft, Pakistan's foreign ministry said.

He has been described by Pakistan's government as a "key person" in the "suspected conspiracy".

The August arrests led to increased airport security around the world, causing major disruption.

Passengers on many flights were forbidden to take liquids aboard aircraft.

DNA : LTTE, with an ISI mark

LTTE, with an ISI mark

DNA Editorial | December 13, 2006

As the proverb goes, your enemy’s enemy is your friend. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), both of which don’t see India as a friend, have now reportedly joined hands to target the coastal zone in Gujarat.

This bourgeoning co-operation among forces inimical to Indian interests is not a new development. The Nepali Maoists are reported to have had links with Indian Maoist extremists, and following the disarming of the former, there are fears that the weapons may find their way to the latter.

The ISI, of course, is an old hand at the art of making such tie-ups with all kinds of extremist and terrorist groups in the neighbourhood. Many cross-border terrorist outfits which operate out of Pakistani territory are said to have been trained and funded by the organisation. An arrangement with the LTTE is of immense mutual value. The Tigers provide the expertise in maritime operations, while the ISI has funds and arms at its disposal.

These funds are critical at a time the LTTE is engaged in a war with the Sri Lankan defence forces. Further, after the US and several other countries banned it as an international terrorist group, one of its primary sources of funds — Tamil supporters settled in western countries — has dried up.

For the ISI, the sensitive Gujarat coast — which forms one-third of India’s coastline and has been a hive of commercial activity of late following the rise in investment in the state — is a soft target.

Reports indicate that several ports in the Jamnagar area, such as Sika and Salaya are being targeted. There are also plans to smuggle arms through the difficult terrain to sleeper cells of militant organisations in the state. Besides several ports and gigantic petrochemical complexes, the coastal zone also has some strategic interests that are vulnerable to terrorist activity.

But the real target, of course, would be the state’s rapid pace of economic development. A few calculated strikes could make the state an unsafe destination for investment, which fits in with the emergent terrorist policy of undermining India’s economic development.

All of which calls for newer thinking on strategies to tackle terrorism. In a vast country like India, there will always be open and easy targets, but areas such as the coast of Gujarat require more surveillance and patrolling to tackle this double menace.

Guardian : UK suspect avoids Pakistan terror charges

UK suspect avoids Pakistan terror charges

Staff and Agencies | December 13, 2006

A British man the Pakistani authorities have identified as a "key" person in an alleged plot to blow up a series of transatlantic passenger planes will not face terrorism charges, a court in Pakistan ruled today.

The case of Rashid Rauf, 25, does not "fall in the category of terrorism", a judge at an anti-terrorism court in the city of Rawalpindi said, transferring him to the jurisdiction of a court that hears regular criminal cases.

"The allegations that the police made against him did not prove terrorism," Mr Rauf's lawyer, Hashmat Habib, said.

A court official said Mr Rauf had been accused separately of possessing forged travel and identity documents.

Mr Rauf was arrested in Pakistan in August shortly before fears of a plot to blow up planes flying between Britain and the US saw mass cancellations of flights to and from Heathrow airport for several days.

Pakistani intelligence officials alleged Mr Rauf had been in contact with an Afghanistan-based al-Qaida operative who was supposedly behind the scheme.

Dozens of people in Britain and Pakistan were arrested and charged in connection with the alleged plot.

Separately, Britain is seeing to extradite Mr Rauf in connection with an inquiry into the murder of his uncle in April 2002.

British police have refused to discuss the case. However, according to earlier reports, Mr Rauf moved to Pakistan shortly after his uncle Muhammad Saeed, 54, was stabbed to death just yards from his terrace home in Alum Rock, Birmingham.

Police raided Mr Rauf's home, also in Birmingham, as part of the inquiry and he was considered a suspect in the killing.

Agence France Presse : Pakistan drops British airline plot terror charge

Pakistan drops British airline plot terror charge

Agence France Presse | December 13, 2006

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A Pakistani court has dropped terrorism charges against a British man suspected of being a key figure in an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners.

Rashid Rauf, 25, was arrested in central Pakistan in early August. Pakistani officials said that his detention led to the uncovering of the conspiracy and that he was linked to Al-Qaeda.

His lawyer Hashmat Habib said Wednesday a judge at an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi near Islamabad had agreed to his petition that two charges relating to terrorism were "not relevant and this court cannot try him".

BBC : UK 'plot' terror charge dropped

UK 'plot' terror charge dropped

BBC News | December 13, 2006

A Pakistani judge has ruled there is not enough evidence to try a key suspect in an alleged airline bomb plot on terrorism charges.

He has moved the case of Rashid Rauf, a Briton, from an anti-terrorism court to a regular court, where he faces lesser charges such as forgery.

Pakistan has presented Mr Rauf as one of the ringleaders behind the alleged plan to blow up flights out of London.

The British authorities say they foiled it with Pakistan's help in August.

'Explosives'
The arrest of Rashid Rauf in Pakistan triggered arrests in the UK of a number of suspects allegedly plotting to blow up transatlantic flights.

The Pakistani authorities described him as a key figure.

But an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi found no evidence that he had been involved in terrorist activities or that he belonged to a terrorist organisation.

As well as forgery charges, Mr Rauf has also been charged with carrying explosives.

But his lawyer says police evidence amounts only to bottles of hydrogen peroxide found in his possession.

Hydrogen peroxide is a disinfectant that can be used for bomb-making if other chemicals are added.

'Suspected conspiracy'

In August, the British government requested the extradition of Mr Rauf, a Briton of Pakistani origin, in connection with a murder committed in 2002.

Scotland Yard declined to discuss which murder case the request related to.

The government in Pakistan, which has no extradition treaty with the UK, said it was considering the request.

Rashid Rauf was arrested in Pakistan earlier that month over the alleged plot to blow up US-bound aircraft, Pakistan's foreign ministry said.

He has been described by Pakistan's government as a "key person" in the "suspected conspiracy".

Reuters : Pakistan court drops charge in London plot case

Pakistan court drops charge in London plot case

December 13, 2006

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani court dropped terrorism charges on Wednesday against a Pakistani-British dual national suspected of being a key figure in a plot to blow up airliners over the Atlantic Ocean, his lawyer said.

British police said in August they had foiled a plot to carry out suicide bombings on airliners traveling from London to the United States.

Days later, Pakistan announced it had arrested a "key person" in the plot, Rashid Rauf, who a Pakistani official said had been in contact with an al Qaeda operative in Afghanistan.

Rauf's lawyer, Hashmat Habib, said an anti-terrorism court in the city of Rawalpindi had found no evidence of terrorism against the suspect.

Photo

The top news, photos, and videos of 2006. Full Coverage

"The court has dropped charges of terrorism against him," Habib told Reuters. "It's a big decision".

Rauf was still in detention and faced other charges including impersonation, forging documents and possessing explosives. A civil court would begin a hearing into those charges on December 20, he said.

British police said on August 10 they had foiled a plot to use liquid explosives to bring down several airliners on their way from Britain to the United States. They arrested 25 men for questioning.

Pakistan later said it had arrested seven people, including two British Muslims of Pakistani descent, one identified as Rauf, in connection with the plot.

Rauf is the only suspect who has been identified.

Britain had also sought his extradition and Pakistan had said at the time it was considering the request.

According to reports, Rauf had left Britain and traveled to Pakistan in 2002 after the murder in Britain of an uncle.

A British official in Pakistan said the extradition request had been in connection with an investigation into the murder.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

IHT : London court hearing scheduled over alleged plot to down U.S.-bound airliners

London court hearing scheduled over alleged plot to down U.S.-bound airliners

AP | December 8, 2006

LONDON: Fifteen suspects charged over an alleged plot to bomb U.S.-bound airliners with improvised explosives were scheduled to face a court Friday, prosecution officials said.

Detectives rounded up the group on Aug. 9-10. over a purported plan to target trans-Atlantic air passengers.

The alleged plot — which authorities said would have targeted flights from London to the United States with explosives concealed in containers of liquids or gels — caused major disruption to flights in August, and eventually led to airlines reviewing what they would allow passengers to take on board planes as carry-on luggage.

Judge David Calvert-Smith was to be updated on police inquiries and to refine a timetable for the court proceedings, a Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.

The 13 suspects being held in custody were to appear at the hearing via a video link. Two other suspects currently on bail would attend London's Central Criminal Court in person, the spokesman said.

Eleven men are charged with a count of conspiracy to murder and an offense of preparing acts of terrorism. They are: Umar Islam, 28; Waheed Zaman, 22; Ahmed Abdullah Ali, 25; Tanvir Hussain, 25; Arafat Khan, 25; Ibrahim Savant, 25; Assad Sarwar, 26; and Adam Khatib, 19; Nabeel Hussain, 22; Mohammed Gulzar, 25; and Mohammed Uddin, 35.

Mohammed Saddique, 24, and Donald Stewart Whyte, 21, are charged with a count of preparing terrorism. Whyte is also accused of three firearms offenses, including possession of an 8mm pistol.

Two other suspects — both previously released on court bail — face minor charges in connection with the plot, which caused major disruption to trans-Atlantic and European air travel.

Cossar Ali, 24, Abdullah Ali's wife, is charged with failing to disclose information about her husband. A 17-year-old man, who cannot be named as he is a minor, is charged with possessing material considered useful for the preparation of a terrorist act.

Prosecutor Colin Gibbs told an earlier hearing the suspects would not be brought to trial before 2008 as officials sift through evidence from across the world.

Outlook India : The Curious Case Of Rashid Rauf

The Curious Case Of Rashid Rauf

Just as in the case of Omar Sheikh and Dr.A.Q.Khan, the Pakistani authorities are once again avoiding handing him over a criminal to the British or American investigators.

by B. Raman | December 6, 2006

Rashid Rauf is from a Mirpuri family of Birmingham. The Mirpuris are the Punjabi-speaking residents of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK).He disappeared from the UK in 2002 after the British Police suspected him in connection with the murder of one of his relatives in Birmingham. Their search for him did not produce any clues—either in the UK or in Pakistan.

Then, suddenly, on August 9, 2006, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) claimed to have picked him up from a house in Bhawalpur, southern Punjab, which he had bought after coming to Pakistan in 2002. He had married a woman related by marriage to Maulana Masood Azhar, the Amir of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) which was involved in the aborted attack on the Indian Parliament in December, 2001.

The Pakistani authorities claimed that he was in close touch with Al Qaeda and that it was his arrest that gave them an inkling regarding the imminence of the plot of a group of jihadi extremists based in the UK to blow up a number of US-bound planes. The discovery of the conspiracy and the arrest of many UK-based suspects were then announced by the British Police. The final results of their investigation are not yet known.

Since Rashid Rauf was projected by the Pakistani authorities as the most important player in the plot and as the man whose arrest led to the unearthing of the planned terrorist conspiracy in the UK, one would have thought that his being handed-over to the British for interrogation would have been of the highest priority to the British investigating authorities. But, no action has been taken so far. The Pakistani media had reported that a team of British Police officers had visited Pakistan to question him, but it is not clear whether Rashid was questioned by them and, if they and if his questioning did indicate his involvement in the plot, why have they have so far moved for his extradition.

It is clear from the facts available so far that as with Omar Sheikh, the principal accused in the case relating to the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, the US journalist, in the beginning of 2002, and Dr.A.Q.Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist with links with Iran, North Korea, Libya and Al Qaeda, in the case of Rashid Rauf too, the Pakistani authorities are avoiding handing him over to the British or American investigators.

Reliable police sources in Pakistan say that the reluctance of Gen.Pervez Musharraf to hand over Rashid Rauf to the UK or US is due to the fear that his independent interrogation by them might bring out that Rashid Rauf was aware of the training of some of the perpetrators of the Mumbai blasts of July, 2006, in which over 180 suburban train commuters were killed, in a camp of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) in Bhawalpur and that the ISI was aware of his presence in Bhawalpur ever since 2002, when he fled to Pakistan from the UK. These police sources say that the ISI's contention that it came to know of his presence only in the beginning of August,2006, is not correct.

The government of Pakistan told a court on October 30, 2006, that Rashid Rauf had been detained under the Security of Pakistan Act. A Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Judge, Justice Safdar Hussain Malik, passed orders on November 21, 2006, approving his judicial custody in the Adiala jail. This could rule out his early transfer to the British Police for interrogation.

Under the joint anti-terrorism mechanism recently set up by the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan, India should also request the Pakistani authorities for permission to interrogate him on the LET training camp in Bahawalpur. If Pakistan refuses to co-operate, the international community should be informed about it.

Earlier articles featuring Rashid Rauf: Their Man In Havana: & ISI Mark

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai

Raw Story : Russert: Why does Bush keep saying 'al Qaeda, al Qaeda, al Qaeda' while discussing Iraq?

Russert: Why does Bush keep saying 'al Qaeda, al Qaeda, al Qaeda' while discussing Iraq?


by Ron Brynaert | December 3, 2006

On NBC's Meet the Press, host Tim Russert asked National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley to explain why President George W. Bush keeps harping on al Qaeda while discussing the insurgency in Iraq.

"Whenever the administration seems to be having trouble with Iraq, in terms of its message, al Qaeda comes front and center," said Russert, before showing a clip of President Bush blaming insurgent violence on al Qaeda at a press conference during his visit to Estonia last week.

Bush said, "There is a lot of sectarian violence taking place, fomented, in my opinion, because of these attacks by al Qaeda, causing people to seek reprisal."

However, Russert noted, only two weeks ago, Gen. Michael D. Maples, the Defense Intelligence Agency director, told Congress that "attacks by terrorist groups like al Qaeda and Iraq account for only a fraction of the insurgent violence."

"Only a fraction," Russert repeated, before also pointing out that Hadley's "own book, Victory in Iraq, says al Qaeda makes up the smallest enemy group."

Russert asked, "Why does the president keep bringing up 'al Qaeda, al Qaeda, al Qaeda,' when your own military and your own reports say that they're the smallest component of the enemy?"

"Because it's true, Tim," Hadley responded.

Russert then asked, "It's true, what?"

"It's true," Hadley insisted. "If you look at what Zarqawi said, who was the lead al Qaeda operative in Iraq, he articulated very early on a strategy for provoking sectarian violence by attacking Shi'a so they, in turn, would attack Sunni. This was part of their strategy to sow chaos, to thwart the advance of democracy and make Iraq a safe haven for terror."

Hadley explained that despite the fact that Qaeda attacks comprised the "small[est] fraction of the total of incidents...they are responsible for some of most heinous incidents -- the car bombings and other things that result in the massive -- the large civilian casualties, and it is those casualties and those incidents that have provoked the reprisals that the president has talked about."

"It's very important for the American people to understand that there is a key al Qaeda piece in all of this, and that is why one of the principal responsibilities we have, the challenges we have, is to deal with al Qaeda in Iraq," Hadley said.

Hadley added that Qaeda in Iraq was as much as a threat as Shiite death squads.

Pelosi: 'Sad' for Bush to blame Qaeda

As reported at RAW STORY, House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters on Wednesday that she feels it is "sad" that President Bush continues to blame Iraqi insurgent violence on al Qaeda.

"My thoughts on the president's representations are well-known," Pelosi said. "The 9/11 Commission dismissed that notion a long time ago and I feel sad that the president is resorting to it again."

Pelosi's statement also followed a press briefing in Baghdad on Wednesday, where a US military spokesman was unable to state clearly what role al Qaeda plays in Iraq violence.

Displaying a series of slides and charts, the spokesman for the multinational forces in Iraq claimed that "since October of 2004, we have now killed or captured over 7,000 al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists."

According to Major General William Caldwell, because Iraq still has a "government moving forward" with "institutions in place," and because al Qaeda in Iraq seeks "anarchy" instead of power, the current situation should not be considered a "civil war."

"We don't see an organization out there that's looking to assume the control of this country, but rather just to create anarchy, to create death, to create destruction, and that's in fact what we're combatting right now," Caldwell said.

A reporter argued that "all of those things that you've just outlined as measures of success, functioning institutions, all of those things still fit within every academic and every strategic think tank's definition of civil war anyway," but Caldwell resisted multiple entreaties to define what he considered a "civil war."

"Well, what I would tell you, Michael -- again, I can only back to -- if in fact all the governmental functions are still functioning, and we don't see an organization out there that's trying to overthrow and assume control of the government, we don't see two viable entities out there like that, what we see is a(n) entity out there that's been duly elected, representative of the people, that's got plenty of challenges in trying to work through all their difficulties but moving forward nonetheless, and we see another entity that wants to do nothing but create division amongst the people, to create anarchy, to create casualties, to separate them," Caldwell said.

A journalist asked the spokesman, "You keep saying al Qaeda in Iraq. What proportion of the Sunni resistance do you think al Qaeda in Iraq is responsible for? It's a handy tag, but in reality is it 10 percent, 50 percent of what we would loosely call Sunni resistance or insurgency?"

Caldwell didn't have an answer to the question. "We also, you know, look at that also very closely, try to identify exactly what percentage it is," he said. "What we do know is that al Qaeda in Iraq are the most well-funded, produce the most sensational attacks than any element out there. So that's where we put our predominant effort against."

(NOTE: An early transcript received by RAW STORY mistakenly had Hadley referring to former Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the present tense. Zarqawi was reported to have been killed this past June during a U.S. air raid.)