The Insider: Daily Terrorism Report

July 8, 2004 -- U.S. Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun who was reportedly taken hostage in Iraq last week is now at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, ABCNEWS has learned. A small team of agents went out to a location, picked up Hassoun and took him to the embassy, where he was debriefed. There have been several contradictory reports over the past week about the fate and whereabouts of Hassoun. He was reported missing from his unit in Iraq on June 20th.

And, responding to Supreme Court rulings, the Defense Department will create a panel of military officers to review whether prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are being held legally and will notify the 595 prisoners within 10 days of their right to contest their detention in U.S. courts, officials said Wednesday. The move, which human rights activists criticized as inadequate, followed last week's Supreme Court decision that foreign terrorism suspects held at the base could turn to federal courts to challenge their confinements.

IRAQ NEWS

U.S. Embassy: Missing Marine Is In LebanonU.S. Embassy says it has credible information that the missing marine is in Lebanon. (AP)Note: ABCNEWS has learned that U.S. Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun is already at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

4 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq Gunfire4 U.S. Soldiers were killed and 20 were people wounded as insurgents fired mortar rounds at Iraq guard base. (AP)

Filipino Workers Barred From Going To IraqAl Jazeera broadcasts videotape of the Filipino hostage and Philippines bars workers to Iraq. (AP)

U.N. Didn't OK Uranium Transfer To U.S.The U.S. transferred nearly 2 million tons of uranium from Iraq to the U.S. without U.N. authorization. (AP)

Militant Group Claims Fallujah KillingsA militant group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility for the March 31st killings of four American contractors whose bodies were mutilated in the restive city of Fallujah. (AP)

Senate Iraq Report Said To Skirt White House Use Of IntelligenceA bipartisan Senate report to be issued Friday that is highly critical of prewar intelligence on Iraq will sidestep the question of how the Bush administration used that information to make the case for war, Congressional officials said Wednesday. (NY Times)

For Iraqis, Patrol Turns Into CombatMembers of the new Iraqi National Guard ventured into a tough neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday to show that they did not need U.S. troops to keep the peace. (Washington Post)

Hostile Mission For Recruiters Prison scandal discourages enlistment in 372nd MP unit. (Washington Post)

Iraq Confident Its Debt Will Be ForgivenFinance minister: $120 billion write-off will help global economy. (AFP)

THE WAR ON TERROR

INVESTIGATIONS

GuantanamoU.S. Sets Up New Guantanamo PanelsThe U.S. government is setting up new military tribunals to review the legal status of terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon says. (BBC)

Pentagon Accused Of Evading Guantánamo Ruling Critics say the Pentagon's military review panels fall far short of a supreme court ruling. (The Guardian)

Detainee Will Challenge U.S. TribunalsThe military lawyer for a man being held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base said she will "challenge the lawful makeup" of planned U.S. tribunals of terrorism suspects. (CNN)

U.S.Ridge Cites New Al Qaeda Attack PlansThe United States is not raising its terror alert level, despite new intelligence that al Qaeda is moving forward with plans to attack the United States in this presidential election year, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on Thursday. (Reuters)

Airports Test Express Security LaneA digital fingerprint and an eye scan can let frequent fliers avoid long lines and hassles. (LA Times)

AfghanistanThree Americans Arrested In KabulThree U.S. citizens have been arrested in Kabul for allegedly holding Afghans in a private prison, an Afghan intelligence official has said. (BBC)

Taliban Founder On The LineAfghan intelligence agents have spoken with fugitive Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar after commandeering a satellite phone being used by his top aide, an Afghan official claimed on Thursday. (News 24)

Saudi ArabiaMilitants Search For Americans At Dammam FactoryThree armed, masked militants approached a guard at an aluminum factory in the industrial city of Dammam yesterday and asked if there were any Americans working there. When the guard said there were no Americans there, they threatened to kill him if he moves and left the area immediately. Security forces then arrived to the scene and surrounded the place for a few hours. (Elaph)

EgyptU.S. Accused In New Terror Torture Claim The United States asked Pakistan to send an Australian terror suspect it had arrested to Egypt where they knew he would be tortured, according to his lawyer and a television report. (AP)

GermanyGerman Interior Ministers Agree On Anti-Terrorism Database Interior ministers from the German states conclude a two-day conference on internal security measures by agreeing on a federal database for terror suspects. (Deutsche Welle)

China, PakistanChina, Pakistan Set Up Terror Hotline Pakistan and China have agreed to set up a terror hotline to share intelligence in the fight against terrorism, officials said Thursday. (UPI)

Foreign Missions Reopen In PakistanThe British and Saudi missions in Pakistan reopened Thursday after terror threats forced them to close. (Washington Times)

SpainExpert: Spain Blamed Basques For Blast The government's initial move to link Basque separatists to the Madrid train bombings - now blamed on Islamic terrorists - came even before experts had determined what kind of explosives were used, an official testified Wednesday. (AP)

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

U.K.Eight Terror Suspects Begin Appeal Lawyers for eight suspected terrorists detained for up to 2 1/2 years without trial told a court today the men should not have been locked up on evidence potentially gained through the torture of suspects at U.S. detention camps. (Herald Sun)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Emergency LawEmergency laws are no strangers in the Middle East. They have been in place in Syria and Egypt for decades, and go a long way to explain the suppression of human rights for which the Arab world is so often criticized. (The Guardian)

Shades Of The Old IraqIt is less than two weeks since Iyad Allawi took office as Iraq's interim prime minister, yet his governing methods already carry a whiff of the old-style Arab authoritarianism the Bush administration once dreamed of overturning throughout the Middle East. (NY Times)

Allawi Paves Way For Martial Law In IraqSeventeen months after the Anglo-American invasion in which President Bush promised to bring democracy to Iraq, the country's American-approved prime minister, Iyad Allawi, yesterday introduced legislation allowing the Iraqi authorities to impose martial law, curfews, a ban on demonstrations, the restriction of movement, phone tapping, the opening of mail and the freezing of bank accounts. (The Independent)

Agenda Toppers For The New Allawi GovernmentEvery evening Mazen Bakir and his sisters Layla and Salima prepare for the worst. Around 7.00pm their nightly security routine begins at their home in a Baghdad suburb. (The Daily Star)

France And IraqFrance and Iraq have a relation that goes back to the 1960s. (Al Hayat)

A Tightrope Of Toughness Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi signed into law emergency security measures granted to the interim government. (Washington Times)

Blame And Hope In IraqThe size of the mess in Iraq seems to have triggered a rash of finger-pointing at the Bush administration. (LA Times)

Al-Yawer Shaped By Modern, Tribal LifeFor spiritual inspiration, Ghazi Mashal Ajil al Yawer reflects on the morals and values of the Shamar tribe, of which he is a leading member. (Washington Times)

Finding 'Normality' After Sept. 11 Americans will come to view the roller coaster ride on which history embarked them on Sept. 11, 2001. Do we glimpse what American national character has become in those appalling photographs from Abu Ghraib prison, as al Jazeera's propagandists claim? (Washington Post)

The Insider Daily Terrorism Report (DTR) is a summary of major news articles and broadcasts relating to international terrorism and developments in Iraq. The DTR is edited daily from foreign and U.S. sources by Chris Isham, Hoda Osman, and Brinda Adhikari of the ABCNEWS Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.