The Insider: Daily Terrorism Report

Jan. 22, 2004 -- The governments of the United States and Saudi Arabia released a joint statement today on terror financing, designating four branch offices of an Islamic foundation as financiers of terror. The offices of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation — located in Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan and Indonesia — have been infiltrated by individuals who support terror, Saudi and U.S. authorities said today. The United States and Saudi Arabia have recently been working closely to identify perpertrators of terror as well as their financiers. Saudi Arabia has scaled up its campaign against terror, following several terror attacks over the last year within the country.

And a former U.N. weapons inspector may replace David Kay as the head of the hunt for weapons of mass destruction team in Iraq, administration officials said last night. Charles Duelfer, an experienced former U.N. official, had previously expressed doubts that any weapons will ever be found.

THE WAR ON TERROR

INVESTIGATIONS

Saudi Arabia, United StatesSaudi Arabia and the United States Jointly Designate Four Organizations as Financiers of Terrorism (Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia)

United StatesSecrets of the 20th HijackerEveryone — including Zacarias Moussaoui — wants to know what he knows. But the man being held at Guantanamo Bay isn't talking. (Newsweek)

Probe of Intercepted Messages Focuses On Shelby The investigation centers on the disclosure in 2002 that the National Security Agency had intercepted two messages on the eve of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks signaling that something was to happen the next day. (Washington Post)

ACLU: Terror Database Threatens Privacy A seven-state crime database launched with $12 million in federal funds is a more powerful threat to privacy than its organizers acknowledge, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged Wednesday after obtaining documents relating to the program.(AP)

CanadaCanada Reporter's Home Raided Over Al Qaeda StoryPolice raided the home and office of an Ottawa journalist on Wednesday to investigate possible leaks of classified information about a Syrian-born Canadian who was deported to Syria by the United States, suspected of ties to al Qaeda. (Reuters)

AfghanistanTaliban Warns of More AttacksAfghanistan's outlawed Taliban has threatened more attacks against foreign troops and those allied with the country's interim President Hamid Karzai. (Al Jazeera)

ON THE WEB

The 9th Issue of Sot Al Jihad: New Video Of November Riyadh Attacks

In its 9th issue, the bi-monthly online magazine Sot Al Jihad says it received a copy of a video produced by Al Sahab for Media Production about the suicide attacks on a residential compound in Riyadh in November of last year. According to the magazine, the video contains the wills of the suicide bombers as well as the preparations for the operation and pictures of the actual suicide attack with the use of "a new technology." It is still unclear who exactly is behind the magazine, but it has in the past published articles and interviews with Saudi terror suspects. (ABC News Investigative Unit)

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

United StatesMinnesotan Charged With Al Qaeda Support A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday charged a Minnesota man with conspiracy to support to the al Qaeda terrorist network. (AP)

City of Los Angeles Defies Bush Over Extending Tough Terror LawLos Angeles' city council defied President George W. Bush and voted to back legislation that would repeal parts of the controversial USA Patriot Act that Bush wants renewed. (AFP)

With Sept. 11 Fund Deadline, Suits Start Families of Sept. 11 victims who still want to sue airlines, security companies and others for negligence have until Thursday to opt out of the federal government's compensation fund — the final step before what will probably be a lengthy legal battle. (AP)

ItalyMoroccan is Convicted On Terrorism Charges, Another Defendant is ClearedA court convicted a Moroccan man Thursday of providing logistical support to members of an Islamic extremist group linked to al Qaeda, while another defendant in the case was acquitted, a news agency said. (AP)

NorwayCourt Rejects Appeal to Free Iraqi Terror SuspectNorway's supreme court rejected an appeal to free an Iraqi Kurd who co-founded an Islamic group that Washington has accused of being linked to al Qaeda. (LA Times)

JordanAl Qaeda Suspects May Face Death Penalty Jordan's military prosecutor Tuesday recommended the death penalty for 11 men accused in an al Qaeda-linked plot to carry out terror attacks on Americans and Israelis that began with the slaying of a U.S. aid worker in Jordan. (AP)

GUANTANAMOU.S. Rejects Church Leaders' Bid to Visit GuantanamoU.S. church leaders said on Wednesday the Pentagon had rebuffed their plea to send a small interfaith delegation to minister to detainees at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Reuters)

THE WAR IN IRAQ

Bin Laden's Attacks BackfiringThe large number of Muslim deaths caused by al Qaeda terrorist attacks in Iraq has created p.r. problems for Osama bin Laden, who now appears to be having second thoughts about his holy war against coalition forces there, The Post has learned. (NY Post)

Two U.S. Troops, Three Iraqi Women KilledTwo U.S. troops, three Iraqi women working for U.S. killed in Iraq; Spanish security chief wounded. (AP)

Red Cross Confident of Visiting Saddam Hussein in Prison "Soon"The international Red Cross said it was confident that it will soon be able to visit detained former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to check on his treatment in prison. (AFP)

Hunt for Iraqi Weapons May Get New Chief Soon Charles A. Duelfer, an experienced former U.N. weapons inspector, is likely to be named soon to succeed David Kay as head of the U.S. hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a senior administration official said last night. (Washington Post)

U.S., Britain Detail Iraq Plan at U.N. The United States and Britain have begun detailed discussions at the United Nations about the disputed U.S. plan to hand over power in Iraq, with Secretary General Kofi Annan expected to make an announcement as early as Monday that he will send a U.N. team to Iraq to help defuse the building political crisis, according to U.S., U.N. and Iraqi officials. (Washington Post)

Iraqis Want U.N. to Give Its Verdict On Feasibility of Holding Elections Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al Sistani is likely to drop his demand for early elections if the United Nations concludes they would not be feasible, a Shiite political leader said yesterday. (Arab News)

Japanese Leader Under Fire Over Troops for Iraq Opposition leader calls for Japanese PM to resign during debate on deployment of Japanese ground troops to Iraq. (The Guardian)

4 Arab Nations Agree to Reduce Debt Owed by IraqFormer Secretary of State James A. Baker III has secured pledges from four Persian Gulf nations to reduce their holdings of Iraq's debt, a senior State Department official said Wednesday. (NY Times)

BBC Faults Itself in Review of Furor On the Case for WarJust days before an official verdict on whether Prime Minister Tony Blair exaggerated the case for war in Iraq, the BBC on Wednesday broadcast a documentary that aired a litany of its own mistakes in reporting the suspected misuse of intelligence. (NY Times)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

L. Paul Bremer: Who Me Worry!The Coalition Provisional Authority has one heck of a problem on its hands in Iraq…it has to do with the predicament of promoting liberty and prosperity in a country that for decades had enjoyed neither, via a brand new political system alien to, but not by any means detrimental to the interests of, most Iraqis. (Arab News)

Bush's U.N. GambleAmerica's efforts to steer Iraq towards democracy are in a state of extraordinary confusion. (The Telegraph)

Whose Democracy?Women, academics, the media worry about their rights in a new Iraq. (CS Monitor)

Next Stop Syria? Washington's post-9/11 war on terror is finished. But another has only just begun. (The Guardian)

On a Suicide MissionEver since 9/11, President Pervez Musharraf knows there is a bullet relentlessly searching for him. (Al Hayat)

U.S. Official: Al Qaeda Weak But a ThreatThe al Qaeda terror network is under "catastrophic stress" but still poses a threat, a U.S. official said in an interview broadcast Thursday. (AP)

On TelevisionFrontline: Chasing Saddam's WeaponsBBC reporter Jane Corbin takes viewers inside the high-stakes search for Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction. Through exclusive access to top-secret locations and key U.S. officials leading the hunt, including David Kay, Frontline reveals new details about what the search has uncovered and questions whether the investigation's final results will justify the Bush administration's call for war. (PBS)

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