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[casi] Terrorists from France to Iraq???




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Several pieces of information:

I find an article from buzzflash (below)

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/11/con03329.html

describing  the NY times distorting information, and linking to an article
in Le Monde.

In the article is a link to Le Monde.

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3226,36-340478,0.html

Translating:

Several times in the past people have posted material, untranslated, in
another language. I have discovered that Google has a language translation
tool. By going to the Le Monde link, (in Windows 98 and Eudora, at least)
clicking on the URL in the browser window,  saying "copy" in the edit menu
, and then going to Google translating service, one can paste that URL into
the box and see the article in another language (like English). One can
also paste text into the Google window. I mention this as a useful thing to
know, and conveniently giving  English speakers greater access to
foreign-language material.

Given the discrepencies between the Times article and what Le Monde
reports, there seems to have been something more "lost in the translation"
than in the Google translation.

I recommend you check out the buzzflash website -- very nice.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=  from buzzflash *=*=*=*=*=*=*=


November 5, 2003
<http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/11//contributors/archives.html>CONTRIBUTOR
ARCHIVES

Is the NYT Inventing Quotes Again?

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY

BuzzFlash Preface: The internationally renowned French Paper Le Monde
charges the New York Times with misquoting a French judge in order to write
an "alarmist story," claiming that dozens of French Muslims have left to
fight the Americans in Iraq. It should be noted by BuzzFlash that the NYT,
in writing such a story, is following the Bush line that foreign terrorists
are behind the attacks on American forces
[<http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=395543&section=news>LINK].
Of course, then there are U.S. military commanders that say this is not
true. In fact, different Bush administration officials, on any given day,
emphatically attribute the attacks to each of several different sources,
then the next day change their minds. The Pentagon even refutes Bush's
"foreign fighter" theory.
[<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31535-2003Oct28.html>LINK]
It's kind of like watching a dark comedy of a musical chairs blame game. It
is a sign of the Bush Cartel's incompetence and ineptness that they don't
seem to have a clue as to who is attacking our troops.

* * *

This is the New York Times article and characterization of Judge
Bruguière's comments
[<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/01/international/middleeast/01RECR.html>LINK]:

"Signs of a movement to Iraq have also been detected in Europe. Jean-Louis
Bruguière, France's top investigative judge on terrorism, said dozens of
poor and middle-class Muslim men had left France for Iraq since the summer.
He said some of them appeared to have been inspired by exhortations of
Qaeda leaders, even if they were not trained by Al Qaeda.
Mr. Bruguière, who earlier this year opened an investigation of young men
leaving France to fight on the side of Muslims in Chechnya, said the
traffic to Iraq was now a similar problem. He called the changing pattern
'a new threat.'"

In any case, what's interesting about this Le Monde article (for those who
don't read French), is that the French judge quoted by the NYT claims he
never says what the NYT claims he said.

Very interesting indeed...

Apparently attempting to outline the invisible enemy ceaselessly harassing
American soldiers, the November 1, 2003 NYT published an investigation on
the "hundreds of jihad warriors" pouring into Iraq. From Europe and the
Middle East supposedly in response to calls to face occupation force by
Osama bin Laden and other islamic extremists.
Quoting numerous anonymous sources among several European security
services, the newspaper specifically cites the anti-terrorist Judge
Jean-Louis Bruguière. According to him, dozens of militant islamists from
poor and middle class backgrounds were said to have left France for Iraq
over the last few months. Certain among them were said to have been
inspired by Al Qaeda chiefs without having followed formal military
training under their guidance.
Interviewed by Le Monde on Monday November 3, Jean-Louis Bruguière
questions the accuracy of remarks attributed to him: "We have no elements
of information whatever to support a claim that dozens of French men have
left to fight in Iraq," he explains. "All you can say is simply that Iraq
is potentially attractive to radical muslims movements in Europe. This
sentiment could eventually, transform [Iraq] into jihad territory because
of the degradation and rottenness of the situation [under the occupation],
but not to the extent that Afghanistan and Chechnya have been."

* * *
Here is the Le Monde article, in the original French:

Jean-Louis Bruguière dément le départ de dizaines de Français en Irak
[<http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3226,36-340478,0.html>LINK]
LE MONDE | 03.11.03 | 13h31 • MIS A JOUR LE 03.11.03 | 17h23
Soucieux de préciser les contours de cet ennemi invisible qui harcèle sans
répit les soldats américains, le New York Times a publié une enquête,
samedi 1er novembre, sur les "centaines de combattants du djihad" qui
afflueraient en Irak. Venus d'Europe et du Moyen-Orient, ils répondraient à
l'appel d'Oussama Ben Laden et d'autres extrémistes islamistes pour
affronter les forces d'occupation.
Faisant référence à de nombreuses sources anonymes parmi les services de
renseignement de plusieurs pays européens, le journal cite notamment le
juge antiterroriste français Jean-Louis Bruguière. Selon lui, des dizaines
de militants islamistes issus de milieux pauvres et des classes moyennes
auraient quitté la France pour l'Irak ces derniers mois. Certains auraient
été inspirés par les exhortations des chefs d'Al-Qaida, sans avoir
forcément subi un entraînement militaire sous leur autorité.
Interrogé, lundi 3 novembre, par Le Monde, Jean-Louis Bruguière conteste la
teneur des propos qui lui sont attribués. "Nous ne disposons d'aucun
élément d'information documenté sur des dizaines de Français qui seraient
allés combattre en Irak, explique-t-il. On peut simplement dire que l'Irak
est potentiellement attractif pour des islamistes radicaux de la mouvance
européenne. Ça pourrait, à terme, devenir une terre de djihad à cause de la
dégradation et du pourrissement de la situation sur place, mais pas au
niveau de l'Afghanistan et de la Tchétchénie."
A la direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST), on se montre
également fort surpris par le ton alarmiste de l'article du New York Times
et, en particulier, par le chiffre avancé concernant la France. Selon la
DST, la mutation de l'Irak en nouvelle terre de djihad et en aimant pour
les radicaux islamistes n'est qu'une crainte et une hypothèse.

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY

<http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/11/#top>BACK TO TOP

Articles in the BuzzFlash Contributor section are posted as-is. Given the
timeliness of some Contributor articles, BuzzFlash cannot verify or
guarantee the accuracy of every word. We strive to correct inaccuracies
when they are brought to our attention.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= end buzzflash article *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Google translation of the Le Monde article =*=*=*=*=*

Jean-Louis BruguiŠre lunatic the departure of tens of French in Iraq

THE WORLD|03.11.03| 13h31 ? UPDATED 03.11.03|17h23

Anxious to specify contours of this invisible enemy who badgers without
respite the American soldiers, the New York Times published an
investigation, Saturday 1 er November, on the "hundreds of combatants of
the djihad" who would flow to Iraq. From Europe and from the Middle East,
they would answer the call of Oussama Ben Laden and other extremists
islamists to face the occupying forces.

Referring to many anonymous sources among the services of information of
several European countries, the newspaper quotes in particular the judge
French antiterrorist Jean-Louis BruguiŠre. According to him, tens of
militants islamists resulting from poor mediums and middle class would have
left France for Iraq these last months. Some would have been inspired by
the exhortations of the heads of Al-Qaida, without to have inevitably
undergone a military drive under their authority.

Questioned, Monday November 3, by the World , Jean-Louis BruguiŠre disputes
the content of the remarks which are allotted to him. "We do not have any
data element documented on tens of French who would have gone to fight in
Iraq, it explains. One can simply say that Iraq is potentially
gravitational for radical islamists of European mobility. That could, in
the long term, become a ground of djihad because of the degradation and the
rotting of the situation on the spot, but not on the level of Afghanistan
and Tch‚tch‚nie."

With the direction of the monitoring of territory (DST), one shows oneself
also extremely surprised by the alarmist tone of the article of the New
York Times and, in particular, by the advanced figure concerning France.
According to the DST, the change of Iraq in new ground of djihad and liking
for the
radicals islamists is only one fear and an assumption. During their
investigations into the Beghal network, the project of attack in Strasbourg
or the attack against the synagogue of Djerba, in Tunisia, the French
services located or challenged many last islamists a time by Afghanistan,
then directed
by the talibans, or on a quite less level by Tch‚tch‚nie. Thus the French
Djamel Loiseau was found died in the mountains of Tora Bora in December
2001. Before the war, other French had followed a military formation in the
zone tribale between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Iraq is not, for the hour, such an accessible ground.

Piotr Smolar

? ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN the EDITION OF The 04.11.03



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