Hariri Video

INVESTIGATIONS

Lebanon

Video Appears To Show Hariri Convoy Before Blast

An Arabic-language satellite channel broadcast a videotape Sunday that it said showed images recorded seconds before the explosion that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February. (CNN)

Lebanese Government Accepts International Probe Into Hariri Killing

Lebanese authorities agreed to an international panel to determine who killed former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, acceding to a demand from the anti-Syrian opposition following harsh UN criticism. (AFP)

Car Bomb Explodes in East Beirut

A car bomb in a Christian neighborhood of Beirut triggered a huge fire late last night. The attack, the third in two weeks, injured at least five people, security sources said. (Arab News)

Jazeera TV Says Threatened Over Beirut Blast Report

Popular Arabic television Al Jazeera said Sunday it had received a bomb threat against its Beirut office over its coverage of a Beirut blast, which included interviews with leading anti-Syrian politicians. (Reuters)

U.S.

Panel Ignored Evidence on Detainee

U.S. military intelligence, German authorities found no ties to terrorists. (Washington Post)

U.S. is Examining a Plan to Bolster the Rights of Detainees

The Defense Department is considering substantial changes to the military tribunals that the Bush administration established to prosecute foreign terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, military and administration officials say. (NY Times)

New Details on F.B.I. Aid for Saudis After 9/11

The episode has been retold so many times in the last three and a half years that it has become the stuff of political legend: in the frenzied days after Sept. 11, 2001, when some flights were still grounded, dozens of well-connected Saudis, including relatives of Osama bin Laden, managed to leave the United States on specially chartered flights. (NY Times)

Storage of Nuclear Spent Fuel Criticized

Science academy study points to risk of attack. (Washington Post)

Look Who's Not Talking — Still

A new report says U.S. intelligence agencies haven't learned to share information, despite lessons of 9/11. (Newsweek)

FBI Hands Secret Disc To Released Prisoner

The FBI admits an Arab translator convicted of taking a classified disc was handed the disc with his personal property when he was released from prison. (UPI)

TSA Misled Public, Report Says

Agency's Role in Obtaining Passengers' Private Data Cited. (Washington Post)

Qatar

Qatar Finds House Used to Prepare Last Week's Theater Bombing

Qatari authorities have found the house used to prepare a suicide car bombing that killed a Briton at a theater, the Interior Ministry said yesterday. (Reuters)

LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

Egypt

Egyptian Court Convicts 2 in Mubarak Plot

Egyptian court convicts two men of plotting to assassinate President Mubarak, spying for Iran. (AP)

France

Ex-Guantanamo Detainee Sent to French Prison

A French court yesterday ordered the imprisonment of a Frenchman who was released by U.S. authorities at Guantanamo Bay this month, his lawyer said. (Reuters)

IRAQ NEWS

Al Qaeda Claims Murder of Iraqi Official

Al Qaeda video purports to show murder of Iraqi official; debate rages about religion in gov't. (AP)

Army Probe Finds Abuse at Jail Near Mosul

Army probe finds systematic abuse, possible torture of Iraqi prisoners at jail near Mosul. (AP)

Tunnel Finds At Iraqi Prison Suggest Preparations For Mass Breakout

Inmates in Iraq's biggest prison had started digging a third escape tunnel in addition to the passages discovered earlier. (The Guardian)

Iraqi Troops Seize 131 Suspected Insurgents

Iraqi soldiers backed by US helicopters killed several suspected insurgents and seized 131 more in a dawn raid on Saturday, capturing tons of explosives earmarked for attacks on the holy city of Kerbala, officials said. (Reuters)

Iraq Scientist Jail Death Inquiry

The U.S. army has opened an investigation into the death of an Iraqi scientist who died in U.S. custody. (BBC)

Top U.S. Commander Says More Foreign Fighters Appear To Be Entering Iraq

Foreign fighters who have entered Iraq in recent months are making up a growing percentage of insurgents battling U.S. troops and the country's fledgling security force, a senior US military commander said. (AFP)

New Iraq Cabinet Stalls Over Oil Ministry Job

Iraqi politicians yesterday fought over the Oil Ministry and the role of Islam in the next government, while an Al-Qaeda website posted a video of the purported execution of an Iraqi colonel. Iraq's Parliament, due to meet tomorrow, seemed far from a deal on a coalition government, as the country's ethnic and religious factions bickered two months after Jan. 30 election. (AFP)

Tarek Aziz's Son-in-Law Kidnapped

The son-in-law of former Iraqi Vice President Tarek Aziz was kidnapped 3 days ago in Baghdad, al Hayat reports today. He was kidnapped by an unknown group which is asking the family for $150 thousand ransom. Meanwhile, sources told al Hayat that the Iraqi authorities will respond to Aziz's call for improving the conditions of prisoners and will allow a visit by family members of a number of former regime figures next Thursday. (Al Hayat)

Rings That Kidnap Iraqis Thrive on Big Threats and Bigger Profits

As many as 5,000 Iraqis have been kidnapped in the last year and a half, with ransom being a far greater motive than intimidation. (NY Times)

Jordan King Claims His Borders With Iraq Are Safe: Paper

Jordan's King Abdullah II insisted his country had the most secure borders of any of Iraq's neighbours, amid a diplomatic crisis with Baghdad over a deadly bombing allegedly carried out by a Jordanian. (AFP)

Asharq Al Awsat reports that an investigation found out that the Jordanian who allegedly carried out al Hilla suicide attack left Jordan for Syria only 48 hours before the attack and entered Syria legally.

Insurgent Group Issues New Video

The video is an hour and 15 minutes long and shows what the group claims are attacks against U.S. and British forces in Iraq, training on use of weapons, lectures given and attended by masked men and attacks on oil pipelines in Iraq. (ABCNEWS Investigative Unit)

ANALYSIS & OPINION

The U.N. Report's Hailstorm of Truth Requires Initiative and Imagination

Like a hailstorm, a moment of truth has just showered the Lebanese and Syrian governments. This storm is the U.N. report on the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. (The Daily Star)

A Jihadist's Tale

How a young Jordanian left his American life and died an insurgent in Iraq(Time Magazine)

Is No One Accountable?

The administration behaves as if it were above the law when it comes to prison abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. (NY Times)

Society of Fear

Two days ago, I rejected the American-style democracy, and today, I am rejecting the British-style democracy. I reject both of them, while knowing that the United States and Britain, in their worse aspects, remain a thousand times more democratic than all Arab states put together. (Al Hayat)

Iraq War: Trust Is Still the Crucial Issue for Blair

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Cabinet allies have been briefing that "Peter is still comfortable" with the advice he gave the government before the Iraq war. Surely Attorney General Lord Goldsmith must be anything but comfortable because the issue of his change of heart in the run-up to war in Iraq has the potential to unify all streams of opinion on the war. (The Observer)

Legal Niceties of Invasion

Was the U.S.-British led invasion of Iraq illegal? For British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the issue is becoming both increasingly important and difficult. (Arab News)

Iraq's Sunni Arabs Seek Their Voice

The divided minority is trying to stake a claim in a system now dominated by Shiites and Kurds. (LA Times)

Weapons of Mass Deception Revisited

Democratizing the Arab world is no less a flimsy fig-leaf for Washington's real designs in the region than were Iraq's alleged WMDs and al Qaeda links. (Al Ahram Weekly)http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/735/op2.htm

The Secret World Of Security "Safe" writers confront technology and terrorism. (San Francisco Chronicle)

The Iraqi Al-Qa'ida Organization: A Self-Portrait

Recently the first issue of the "Department of Indoctrination" of the Al-Qa'ida-Iraq organization's online magazine was published under the title of "The Crest of the Summit of Islam" [Dhurwat Sanam Al-Islam], an expression which is commonly used to designate Jihad. An article in the magazine by a certain Abu Maysara, who is believed to be one of the commanders of the Al-Qai'da organization in Iraq, discusses the identity of the Iraqi Al-Qa'ida organization and outlines its aims. (MEMRI)

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