The Bombing Plot in Paris Reveals Wider Iranian Threat

Posted on July 6, 2018July 6, 2018 by Denise Simon

Tower: Two Iranian nationals, recently arrested by France and Germany, will be extradited to Belgium in connection to a terror plot that targeted an Iranian opposition rally outside of Paris, Reuters reported Wednesday.

The rally, which took place Saturday, was held by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an Iranian opposition group. Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s lawyer, spoke at the rally calling for the removal of the regime’s rulers.

On Saturday, Belgian authorities arrested an Iranian couple who had 500 grams of a homemade explosive and a detonator in their car.

France has arrested a man of Iranian origin and Germany had arrested an Austria-based Iranian diplomat. According to Reuters, Belgium asked France and Germany to extradite their suspects. A European intelligence source told Reuters that Belgium was taking the lead in the investigation.

On Wednesday, Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the ambassadors of France, Germany, and Belgium to protest the arrest of the Iranian diplomat. Earlier in the day, Iran had also protested to France over allowing the NCRI meeting to take place on French soil. Iran considers the group to be a terrorist group.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi dismissed the European claims about a terror plot, saying that the arrest was part of a plot by the United States and Israel to damage European-Iranian relations. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif similarly referred to the charges as a “sinister false flag ploy.”

Iran has been accused in the paste of planning terror attacks, especially targeting opponents of the regime, on European soil. In November of last year, an advocate for Iranian-Arabs was fatally shot in the Hague. In 2012, an al Qaeda terrorist testified in court that Iran facilitated the travel of him and his accomplices to carry out terror attacks in Europe.

In one of the most notorious of these cases, Iranian agents entered a Berlins restaurant and killed three Kurdish activists and wounded several others in a hail of gunfire. The conviction of the assassins, who were tied to the regime, led to a rupture in relations between Germany and Iran.

*** Deeper dive:

An Iranian diplomat and members of what authorities described as an “Iranian sleeper cell” were arrested this week in Belgium, Germany and France, as they were allegedly planning to a bomb a high-level meeting in Paris. The arrests came after a complex investigation by several European intelligence agencies and were announced by Belgium’s Minister of the Interior, Jan Jambon.

The operation against the alleged sleeper cell began on Saturday, June 30, when members of Belgium’s Special Forces Group, stopped a Mercedes car in Brussels. The car was carrying a married Belgian couple of Iranian descent, named in media reports as Amir S., 38, and Nasimeh N., 33. According to the Belgian Ministry of the Interior, Nasimeh N. was found to be carrying 500 grams of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) explosive and a detonator inside a toiletries bag. On the following day, Sunday, July 1, German police arrested Assadollah A., an Iranian diplomat stationed in Iran’s embassy in Vienna, Austria. According to reports, the diplomat was driving a rental car in the southeastern German state of Bavaria, heading to Austria. On the same day, a fourth person, who has not been named, was arrested by authorities in France, reportedly in connection to the other three arrests.

The four detainees were in contact with each other and were allegedly working for the Iranian government. All four have been charged with an alleged foiled plot to bomb the annual conference of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) that took place last Saturday, June 30, in a Paris suburb. The National Council of Resistance of Iran is a France-based umbrella group of Iranian dissidents, led by Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a militant group that has roots in radical Islam and Marxism. Between 1970 and 1976, the group assassinated six American officials in Iran and in 1970 tried to kill the United States ambassador to the country. It initially supported the Islamic Revolution of 1979, but later withdrew its support, accusing the government of Ayatollah Khomeini of “fascism”. It continued its operations from exile, mainly from Iraq, where its armed members were trained by the Palestine Liberation Organization and other Arab leftist groups.

Until 2009, the European Union and the United States officially considered the MEK a terrorist organization. But the group’s sworn hatred of the government in Iran brought it close to Washington after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. By 2006, the US military was openly collaborating with MEK forces in Iraq, and in 2012 the group was dropped from the US Department of State’s foreign terrorist organizations. Today the group enjoys open protection from the EU and the US. According to Belgian authorities, the four members of the Iranian sleeper cell were planning to bomb the MEK-sponsored NCRI meeting in Paris under instructions by the Iranian government. Conference participants included over 30 senior US officials, including US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who addressed the meeting. Stephen Harper, Canada’s former prime minister, also spoke at the conference.

Speaking in Brussels this week, Belgium’s Interior Minister Jambon praised the country’s intelligence, security and law enforcement agencies for foiling the alleged bomb plot in Paris. But Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, dismissed claims of an Iranian sleeper cell as “fake news” and described reports of a foiled bomb attack as “a sinister false flag plot”.

Iranian Regime Using Water as a Weapon and APT 33

Posted on July 2, 2018July 2, 2018 by Denise Simon

The Iranian people have been protesting against the regime for quite some time and in some cases it has turned deadly, where military forces are firing on the protestors. What are the protests about? Their economy. Remember when the Obama White House gave Iran billions that apparently we owed from back debts and the regime was to use the money to infuse growth in the economy? Yeah, not so much. In fact the starving and unemployed citizens of Iran are demanding the regime get out of Syria and pay attention at home.

Yet, water availability in Iran has been at a crisis point for a few years and getting worse.

Dozens of riot police on motorcycles faced off against farmers in the same town, Varzaneh, another video showed. Smoke swirled around the protesters and the person filming said tear gas was being fired. A second person reported clashes. Police in the city of Isfahan were not immediately available to comment.

“What’s called drought is more often the mismanagement of water,” said a journalist in Varzaneh, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.

“And this lack of water has disrupted people’s income.”

Farmers accuse local politicians of allowing water to be diverted from their areas in return for bribes.

While the nationwide protests in December and January stemmed from anger over high prices and alleged corruption, in rural areas, lack of access to water was also a major cause, analysts say.

At least 25 people were killed and, according to one parliamentarian, up to 3,700 people were arrested, the biggest challenge yet for the government of president Hassan Rouhani, who was reelected last year. More here from Reuters.

Meanwhile, in Paris there are several Americans attending the annual National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – an umbrella bloc of opposition groups in exile that seek an end to Shi’ite Muslim clerical rule in Iran. There apparently was a bomb plot on Monday that was foiled, where an Iranian diplomat was arrested along with several others.

Since President Trump formally exited the JCPOA, the nuclear deal, Iran has some nefarious activities again in play and that includes hacking beyond punishing the Iranian citizens and bomb plots.

Since the 2009 Green Revolution in Iran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has taken to hacking including by proxy.

The emergence of the Iranian Cyber Army (ICA) as an extension of the IRGC was an initial attempt by the Islamic Republic at conducting internationally focused operations. These operations were a departure from Gerdab’s focus on maintaining domestic moral values and defending government rhetoric. In 2011, the IRGC’s ICA formed the foundation of the Khaybar Center for Information Technology. According to a former IRGC cyber commander, the Khaybar Center was established in 2011 and has been linked to a number of attacks against the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

Even today, the balance between ideology and cyber skills remains problematic. One example of the conflict between ideology and skill was Mohammad Hussein Tajik, a former cyber commander within the IRGC. According to Insikt Group’s source, Tajik’s father maintained a strong religious background and was a veteran of Iran’s ministry of intelligence. Yet Tajik was arrested and killed because the Iranian government feared that Tajik was not ideologically aligned and posed a betrayal and flight risk.

Today, based on ongoing contact between Insikt Group’s source and Iranian hackers, it is estimated that there are over 50 organizations vying for government-sponsored offensive cyber projects. Only the best teams succeed, are paid, and remain in business. The government does its best to compartmentalize — one job might be creating a remote code exploit (RCE) for a popular software application, while another job might be using the RCE and establishing persistent unauthorized access. Two different contractors (or more) are typically required to complete the government-defined objective.

Public knowledge has also established that Iranian academic institutions play a contractor-like role. Specific examples include Shahid Beheshti University (SBU) and the Imam Hossein University (IHU), which have comprehensive science and technology departments attracting some of the best academic talent in Iran. In fact, the SBU has a specific cyberspace research institute dedicated to such matters, and the IHU was founded by the IRGC.

For a full read on the report due to an interview with a previous Iranian hacker and significant research on state sponsored campaigns, go here.

Cyber security professionals in the United States have detected Iranian hackers breaking into defense contractors, aviation systems, energy companies, telecom operations and other tech companies in the United States. Iran is listed at APT 33, Advanced Persistent Threat and Saudi Arabia is just as vulnerable as the United States. In 2016, the Department of Justice indicted 7 Iranians on cyber attacks on dozens of U.S. banks, attempting to shut down the Bowman Avenue dam operation in New York and to disrupt other critical U.S. infrastructure sites. 45 major financial institutions were targeted including JP Morgan, Well Fargo and American Express. Read more detail here.

For Those that Want to Eliminate ICE, Read This

Posted on June 28, 2018June 28, 2018 by Denise Simon

This operation goes back to at least 2017, where collaboration with several agencies and international programs began to investigate FGM.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Border Enforcement Security Taskforce (BEST), with support from HSI’s Human Rights Violators War Crimes Unit (HRVWCU), has initiated Operation Limelight USA, a pilot program designed to bring awareness to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and deter its practice through training, outreach and enforcement.

This initiative is the U.S.based version of the United Kingdom’s Operation Limelight at Heathrow Airport conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service and Border Force.

The initiative aims to safeguard and prevent young girls from being subjected to FGM by informing passengers traveling to high-prevalence countries about the U.S. laws governing FGM and the potential criminal, immigration, and child protective consequences of transporting a child to another country for the purpose of FGM.

HSI HRVWCU intends to expand Operation Limelight USA to additional airports around the country, focusing on those airports serving the largest FGM- prevalent diaspora communities.

ICE leads effort to prevent female genital mutilation at Newark Airport

NEWARK, NJ – Starting on June 19, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark initiated Operation Limelight USA, a program designed to bring awareness to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and prevent young girls from being subjected to FGM by informing passengers traveling to FGM high-prevalence countries about the U.S. laws governing FGM and the potential criminal, immigration, and child protective consequences of transporting a child to another country for the purpose of FGM.

This initiative is the U.S. based version of the United Kingdom’s Operation Limelight at Heathrow Airport conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service and Border Force. The pilot program was initiated at JFK International Airport last year and was incredibly successful. HSI has expanded Operation Limelight USA to additional airports around the country, focusing on those airports serving the largest FGM- prevalent diaspora communities. The operation at Newark International Airport met with similar success.

“Our aim here is three-fold regarding this brutal practice,” said Brett Dreyer, assistant special in charge, HSI Newark, and who led the efforts for Operation Limelight at JFK Airport last year and at Newark Airport this year. “Enforcement is a key piece here, but so is outreach and prevention. This is why we have partnered with other government agencies, NGOs and, most importantly, survivors and advocates from the community to share knowledge and resources so we may collectively end this practice.”

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection is extremely proud to have assisted in this awareness program,” said Robert E. Perez, director New York Field office. “It is through collaborative efforts, such as this Female Genital Mutilation Prevention Program, that law enforcement agencies can contribute to the prevention of these serious human rights violations.”

FGM is a serious human rights violation, and a gender-specific form of child abuse. This harmful traditional practice negatively affects millions of women and girls around the world, and is concentrated in thirty-one countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. FGM provides no health benefits and in fact can cause lifelong consequences including chronic infection, severe complications during childbirth, mental health and even death.

HSI is in a unique position to engage with the traveling public at U.S. borders and ports of entry to focus on the prevention of “vacation cutting”, or sending children out of the United States for the purpose of FGM. As part of Operation Limelight USA, special agents, who have completed FGM-related training, speak to passengers flying to or from high-risk countries, offering informational brochures and identifying potential victims and violators of FGM. These discussions both educate passengers on the consequences of involvement in FGM and provide passengers with a means by which to refer cases or receive victim assistance.

Additionally, HSI Newark has partnered with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, NJ state agencies representing children, local health practitioners, community organizations, and survivors in the fight against FGM. These partnerships reflect the necessity for a whole government approach to prevention of FGM.

Federal law, under Title 18 of United States Code (U.S.C.) §116, prohibits individuals from conducting, assisting, attempting or conspiring to conduct FGM in the United States or facilitating the international travel to perform FGM abroad on female children, under age 18. Additionally, 26 states, including New Jersey, have specifically outlawed FGM, and for the remaining 24 states, FGM would fall under existing child abuse statutes.

In April 2017, an HSI and FBI joint investigation led to the arrest of a Detroit emergency room physician who was charged with performing FGM on girls who were approximately six to eight years of age. This case, which is being prosecuted out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, is the first case of an individual facing prosecution in the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. §116, which criminalizes FGM.

Members of the public who have information about individuals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses, to include FGM, are urged to call the HSI tip line at – 1-866-DHS-2423 (1-866-347-2423). Callers may remain anonymous. To learn more about the assistance available to victims in these cases, the public should contact the confidential victim-witness toll-free number at 1-866-872-4973. You can learn more about HSI’s mission to enforce federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration to promote homeland security and public safety at www.ICE.gov.

Introducing Southwest Key Programs, Housing Illegals

Posted on June 22, 2018June 22, 2018 by Denise Simon

Primer:

Texas-based Southwest Key Programs has taken in roughly $1 billion in federal contracts since the Obama administration, and is expected to receive about $500 million this year to house and provide services for immigrant children, according to reports.

And Southwest officials receive significant compensation for their efforts. WQAD reported tax filings show Juan Sanchez, the group’s founder and CEO, received nearly $1.5 million in 2016 – nearly twice the previous year’s salary, of $786,822. His wife, Jennifer, vice president of Southwest Key, received about $280,000 in 2015 in total compensation, WQAD reported.

Three Flee Tucsonâs Southwest Key Unaccompanied Alien ... photo

But let’s go back to 2015 shall we?

There was this Department of Justice slush fund, you may remember. When big banks were found guilty of mortgage fraud like Citigroup or Bank of America, no one went to jail. They just paid fines. Well, those fines were quite substantial, as much as a total of $36 billion. So, there were actually a few slush funds of a quasi nature. You see, some banks rather than go through Treasury or to the Justice Department’s slush fund, they are told to pay some radical/activist groups directly, specifically designated by the Justice Department. The Justice Department’s division is known as The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), which coordinated and managed all of this. Oh, and for each dollar they did pay, they got credit for two dollars. How does that accounting work?

So, far left even Marxist organizations such as La Raza, National Urban League and Southwest Key Programs were just some of the beneficiaries. More here.

Then came other law enforcement operations also kicking in dollars and then a training program was created.

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), a national nonprofit organization that promotes just and equitable social systems for individuals, families, and communities through research, public policy, and practice, developed the Immigrant Parents and Law Enforcement Promoting Community Safety Project curriculum

with the support of key partners.

NCCD would like to thank its law enforcement and community partners in Austin, Texas, and Oakland, California: La Clinica de la Raza, Southwest Key Programs, the Oakland Police Department, the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department, the Austin Police Department, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, and the Travis County Constables. NCCD’s partners played a crucial role in the development and piloting of the curriculum.

NCCD would also like to thank the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) for funding the development of the Immigrant Parents and Law Enforcement Promoting Community Safety Project. The BJA, a component of the US Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), disseminates state-of-the-art knowledge and practices across US

justice systems and provides grants at the national, state, local, and tribal level

s to fund the implementation of these crime-fighting strategies. BJA provides

proven leadership and services in grant administration and criminal justice policy development to make our nation’s communities safer. This project was supported by Grant No. 2010-DB-BX-K064 awarded by the BJA. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not represent the official position or policies of the US

Department of Justice. You can read that trainers guide here in full.

Even The Boston Globe is attempting to tell the truth about Southwest Key Program. Hello CNN?

WASHINGTON — The outrage generated by President Trump’s forced separations of immigrant children from their parents at the Mexican border would seem to leave little room for middle ground. Advocates including Latino groups, Catholic bishops, the United Nations, and members of Congress are condemning the practice as inhumane.

But one major Latino charity is trying to occupy a gray area in the midst of the firestorm, with limited success at escaping controversy: Texas-based Southwest Key Programs Inc., a pillar of the Hispanic nonprofit world with deep respect across the country.

It now finds itself accused of complicity in Trump’s separations policy, raising broader questions about how much moral responsibility is borne by the thousands of people who are working to carry out that policy, even when the job includes taking care of the children themselves.

The $240 million-a-year Southwest Key organization has big contracts with the government to house immigrant minors in its two dozen low-security shelters in Texas, Arizona, and California, a population that in recent weeks has exploded with infants and children removed from their parents.

The Associated Press reported Friday that 2,000 children have been removed from their parents since April. Southwest Key estimates it has roughly 500 of those children in its facilities. It also is the only Hispanic-run organization with federal Department of Health and Human Services contracts to house the children en masse.

That has thrust Southwest Key into the middle of a burning human rights controversy and into what its chief executive described in an interview as a “dilemma.’’ A spokesman for the group said it has been deluged with angry calls and e-mails, including one person who called Southwest Key “the nonprofit wing of the Nazi party.”

There’s even been an internal debate within Southwest Key’s board of directors.

“It’s inhumane to me,” said Rosa Santis, the treasurer of the board for Southwest Key, which is based in Austin. “I think it’s horrible that they’re really separating kids from their parents.”

Now Southwest is risking that reputation as it participates in the Trump crackdown.

“This is raising issues about whether you are complicit at some level in a process and a procedure that has moral questions,” said Robert Carey, who oversaw Southwest Key’s contracts when he was the director of the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement from 2015 to 2017 during the Obama administration. “They are, in some way, part of a system that is not serving children and not protecting children. . . . It is immoral to tear children out of the arms of their parents.”

On the other hand, said Carey, who is now a fellow at the Open Society Foundations, “By being there, are they preventing further harm?” Read the full story here from the Boston Globe.

How about a couple of sample other states? Like Illinois? Check out how that is being funded.

Beyond the normal Catholic charities that have made a full business out of all of this, not to be overlooked is the Islamic Society, say in Tampa. They want a piece of the action.

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Members of Tampa Bay area religious communities have offered to host the 2,300 children who have been separated from their parents by President Trump’s border policy.

The Islamic Society of Tampa Bay and other religious leaders made the announcement about their humanitarian program at a news conference on Friday.

The leaders said that so far, there are more than 100 families in the Tampa Bay area who would like to host the migrant children until they are reunited with their parents.

“It will be very much like the foster care system per say.. without the financial help from the government. this will be competely self funded,” said Ahmen Bedier who is president of United Voices of America.

The families have offered to host the children at no cost. The program would also pay for the children’s transportation to the Tampa Bay area.

The faith leaders say they have received more than $1 million in pledges to pay for the children’s transportation.

“Our ultimate goal is to protect the children,” said Bedier.

He said the faith communities do not want to play the blame game when it comes to the crisis involving migrant children who have been separated from their parents.

“How did we get here? It doesn’t matter,” he said.

Bedier said he hopes the U.S. government will respond to the offer.

“We hope that the government responds well to our offer and takes us up on it.”

Nyla Hazrajee is one of the people stepping forward to host. She said, she would want someone to do the same for her child.

“This is not supposed to happen and it’s our job to make sure that it doesn’t happen,” she said.

He also said that local families who are interested in hosting migrant children can learn more by calling the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay at (813) 628-0007.

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bin Qumu of Benghazi Attack Captured in Libya

Posted on June 19, 2018June 19, 2018 by Denise Simon

photo

bin Qumu was in Afghanistan in the 80’s, then Sudan in the 90’s and back to Libya and Afghanistan and back to Libya. In 2011, he was working to overthrow Qaddafi, which is precisely what Hillary was trying to do. Heck, the Hillary operation hired bin Qumu. For interesting read, click here to read his GITMO file. That pesky left wing radical law group, The Center for Constitutional Rights that represented several GITMO detainees, published a statement in 2011 that bin Qumu was a harmless man.

Fox News’ Benghazi Special & the Continuing Cover-up ...

Osama Bin Laden’s driver who was linked to 2012 Benghazi attack that killed a US diplomat ‘is captured in Libya’, 11 years after he was released from Guantanamo

Reports: Libya National Army have captured a ‘high-ranking al-Qaeda’ operative
Suspect found in Derna is named as Ansar al-Sharia leader Abu Sufian Bin Qumu
Bin Qumu was once personal driver to al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden
He has links to the diplomatic compound attack by gunmen that killed US envoy Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi in 2012

Reports have emerged that the Libyan army has arrested Abu Sufian Bin Qumu, a leader of an Islamist militia group and former driver of Osama Bin Laden.

He was reportedly captured in raids in ‘one of the last strongholds’ of extremist groups in Derna.

Bin Qumu had purported links to attacks in Benghazi that killed US diplomat Chris Stevens in 2012.

It is believed Bin Qumu was arrested after his group ran out of ammunition at a hideout in Derna, according to Al Arabiya.

The 59-year-old is considered a high-ranking operative of al-Qaeda based on his associations with the terrorist group around the time it was founded.

He was said to be the personal driver to Osama Bin Laden in Sudan where the al-Qaeda leader lived for three years during the 1990s. But Bin Qumu denies this.

Washington Post reported he fought alongside the Taliban against US forces in Afghanistan before he was detained at Guantanamo Bay after being captured in Pakistan.

The US military characterised him as a ‘medium to high’ risk to national security while he was in US custody and he refused to cooperate with authorities and explain his past associations with Islamic extremists.

He was extradited to Libya in 2007 where he served jail time before being released by Muammar Gaddafi.

Bin Qama returned to Derna to establish the Ansar al-Sharia extremist group, who advocate the implementation of Sharia law across Syria.

It was also suggested by Washington Post that the Islamic faction’s militiamen were present during the Benghazi attacks in 2012.

Last year, Ahmed Abu Khattala was on trial in the US capital as the suspected mastermind of the attacks on a diplomatic compound in the Libyan city that killed four Americans.

It resulted in the death of Chris Stevens — the first US Ambassador killed by violence overseas since 1979.

Al Arabiya said Bin Qama, despite being a leader of Ansar al-Sharia, no longer played a prominent role in the group.

He is set to be questioned by the Libyan National Army according to reports.