Archive for May 15, 2007
Iran’s talks with the US
This story is about the US meeting with Iran to have talks concerning Iraq.
“The United States and Iran will meet in Baghdad in the next few weeks to discuss Tehran taking a “productive role” in Iraq’s security, the White House says.” (SMH may 14)
the talks will ensure that Iran will play a productive role in Iraq to help the stability of the country – the talk will not stray from this topic say officials and the nuclear debate concerning Iran and the UN will not be discussed.
“Many experts say Tehran could play a big role in stabilising Iraq and this should be a major area of US-Iranian convergence.” (SMH May 14)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/WORLD/Iran-US-say-will-hold-talks-on-Iraq/2007/05/14/1178995024887.html
a further story explains the talks
Iran will talk to the US in Baghdad “with the aim of easing the pain of the Iraqi people, supporting the Iraqi Government and strengthening security in Iraq”, the IRNA news agency yesterday quoted Mohammad Ali Hosseini as saying.
The announced US-Iranian talks are a turnaround between two nations that have not had diplomatic ties for more than 25 years, although both sides acknowledge meeting for discussions specific to Afghanistan. (Reuters, The New York Times – May 14)
Add comment May 15, 2007
threat to national security
This story is about a new Federal Court ruling that could “give terrorism suspects access to highly classified national security information.” (SMH May 7)
“The submission, reported in The Australian, noted the dangerous precedent Federal Court judge Ross Sundberg’s decision set in dealing with terrorism suspects, saying the “issues raised by this appeal are of substantial public importance”.“If Sundberg judgment accurately states the law, ASIO may be required to disclose national security information to the very people – people who are assessed as risks to national security – to whom it is most important that such information is not disclosed,” argues the submission.”http://www.smh.com.au/news/NATIONAL/Terror-suspects-may-get-classified-info/2007/05/07/1178390169935.html
Add comment May 15, 2007
Hicks to return home
The Australian Government is working hard to being David Hicks back to Australia after he pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism earlier in the year. The plan is to bring Hicks back to his home town of Adelaide where he can serve out his 7 year prison sentence, instead of staying in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
there was speculation in the media that Hicks would be returning home a week from the 8th of May, “Confessed terrorism supporter David Hicks could return to Australia in a week” (SMH, May 8th)
however it was revealed by Alexander Downer on the 13th that this was not the case “No exact time for his return has been determined yet,” Mr Downer told journalists in the Adelaide Hills town of Stirling.
“It’s unlikely it will be on Sunday but it’s likely it will be in the next 10 days or so beyond the end of this week.” (SMH may 13)
The Age(May 8) tells the same story as SMH, with ambiguity about when Hicks will return home
Secrecy surrounds the details of Hicks’ return to Australia with the federal government refusing to reveal how the 31-year-old Muslim convert will be returned to Adelaide to serve the remainder of his nine-month jail sentence.
The Australian Associated Press General News(May 15) features an interesting story about Hicks, in a quite entertaining writing style, although it is still regarding hicks’s departure from Guantanamo Bay
David Hicks arrived in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from Afghanistan more than five years ago on a US military plane handcuffed and strapped into his seat.
For the 13,000km flight his sight was blinded by a face mask and goggles, his hearing was blocked by ear muffs and gloves covered his hands.
A needle containing a mystery substance was jabbed into his thigh just before the plane landed, making him drowsy.
When Hicks leaves Guantanamo for Adelaide, most likely next week, he will travel in the style of a billionaire or Hollywood celebrity.
A private jet will be chartered by the Australian government at an estimated cost of around $A500,000.
The flight will likely include a stopover in Tahiti or Fiji.
If Hicks has a window seat the view will be spectacular as the jet speeds down the Guantanamo runway, leaves the ground and makes a steep turn to avoid flying into off-limit Cuban airspace.
The article then takes a more serious tone, stating the important and top secret process of bringing Hicks home
Hicks’ departure is a closely guarded secret.
The Pentagon has said it will announce the details once his plane’s wheels have left the Guantanamo runway.
Some Australian officials say the first the public will know about Hicks’ flight back to Australia will be when he lands in Adelaide.
The seriousness of escorting Hicks home is captured by the personnel who will accompany him – four security officers, two Australian officials and a doctor.
The article then back tracks to the prison where Hicks has been staying and employs a sympathetic tone
Hicks’ cell was a sparse 7.4 square metre room with no window to the outside world and a concrete slab for a bed, lined with a thin foam mat.
Lights remained on in the cell day and night, guards checked his cell once every three minutes and he was given three meals a day.
The Herald Sun posted a story about an hour ago (3.30pm Tues 15th May)
CONFESSED al-Qaida foot soldier David Hicks is preparing to sign the transfer papers that will see him returned home to Adelaide probably by early next week.
“David is fully committed to complying with any requests made of him by the South Australian government or Commonwealth government upon his release from prison at the end of this year” said Major Michael Mori
Once the paperwork is signed, it is only the logistical arrangements of flying Hicks’ home that need to be finalised, Major Mori said.
Major Mori said: “David is looking forward to being able to see his family regularly in a South Australian prison. He hopes to take advantage of any educational opportunities in the prison.”
He said Hicks wanted to put the time he spent in Guantanamo Bay behind him and “has no desire to speak about it”.
Hicks, he said, was aware of speculation that he might want to profit from his experiences.
“David has no intention of trying to profit or sell his story,” Major Mori said.
“He desires to put this part of his life behind him. He knows there will people who will hound him to break this commitment.”
Hicks is likely to arrive at South Australia’s Edinburgh RAAF base in a chartered plane.
It was interesting that the Chicago Tribune did not have any articles written on David Hicks and the most recent article about Hicks from the New York Timeswas written on the April 5th. Also the earliest article i found by the UK Independent was back in March and was about Hicks initial plea bargaining.
This lack of stories can be attributed to proximity as David Hicks is an Australian so it does make sense that Australian newspapers would be following the story more closely.
The news values evident here are proximity as the Australian newspapers cover the story adequately and overseas newspapers have less importance placed on the story. Currency is also a significant news values as the David Hicks story has been circulating in the media for some years now. The Sun Herald in particular has been keeping a close eye on proceedings and has published 4 articles on Hicks as the story has been developing. Human interest- slightly used by The Press General News as the story was quite in depth, descriptive and less formal than other news stories.
Add comment May 15, 2007
Amateur Radicals
A new threat has emerged which makes one think that fighting the war against terrorism is impossible -
Below is excerpted from the Sydney Morning Herald- May 10
“SIX alleged “Islamic radicals” accused of plotting terror attacks on American military targets represent a frightening species of homegrown jihad that can easily fly below the radar, US federal officials warned.
“Today we are dealing with a new form of terrorism; smaller, more loosely defined types of cells that may or may not be affiliated with al-Qaeda,” said J.P. Weis, chief agent in the Philadelphia FBI office. “
Authorities believe these groups can be as dangerous as any known group
“The ring includes three Albanian brothers who ran a roofing business in New Jersey, a 7-Eleven shop assistant, a taxi driver and a man who once delivered pizzas to Fort Dix. The plot was discovered only through a lucky break, when one member tried to have a video of an assault weapons training session transferred to DVD. A shop assistant in New Jersey, concerned by the jihadist sentiments on the DVD, alerted the FBI in January, 2006.”
Federal officials said two informants infiltrated the group and monitored it for 16 months as the suspects allegedly scouted targets, discussed how they could “kill as many soldiers as possible”, practised for their attacks at paintball ranges, and sought to acquire weapons ranging from AK-47s to rocket-propelled grenades.
New Jersey US Attorney Christopher Christie said the group was no less dangerous for being a group of local amateurs. He said on one occasion the men “burst into laughter” while watching a video with an informant that showed a Marine’s arm getting blown off.
The plotters were arrested on Monday night after an attempt to buy automatic weapons from the FBI. Five of the group were charged with weapons violations and conspiring to kill US military personnel. They included the three ethnic Albanian brothers in their 20s, Dritan “Tony” Duka, Eljvir “Elvis” Duka, and Shain Duka, as well as Mohammed Shnewer, 23, a Jordanian-born taxi driver, and Serdar Tatar, a Turkish 7-Eleven employee.
It is interesting to note the different ‘format’ used by The Age, their story seemed a lot more narrative style (May 9)
In January 2006 a retailer alerted FBI officers about a customer who had been asked to copy a video onto a DVD. The footage depicted young men at a firing range who were shooting assault weapons while calling for “jihad” and shouting “Allah Akbar,” or “God is Great” in Arabic, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.By March 2006 the group was infiltrated by the first of two FBI informers, who obtained computer files. One of these – a file named “19″ – appears to be the last will and testament of at least two of the 19 hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks, the document said.Another contained images of Osama bin Laden urging viewers to join their movement.In a recording obtained by an informant, suspect Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer said, “If you want to do anything here, there is Fort
Dix and I don’t want to exaggerate, and I assure you that you can hit an American base very easily”.When the informant asked Shnewer why he wanted to attackFort
Dix, he replied, “My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers”.But Eljvir Duka said the group would need a fatwa, or ruling from an Islamic scholar, before they could attack.The group trained in Pennsylvania’s
Pocono mountains in February, where law enforcement officials conducted video surveillance.Four of the suspects were born in the former Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s office in
Newark, New Jersey.The Chicago Tribune went even further into the background of the terrorists (may 11)
“The men have lived in and around Philadelphia for years, worshipped at moderate mosques and worked blue-collar jobs installing roofs, driving a cab, delivering pizzas and baking bread. Four are ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, one is from Jordan and one is from Turkey.”
The men will be charged with conspiring to kill uninformed military personnel – an offense punishable by life in prison.
(end of Chicago Tribune)
I found it interesting that the article from UK Independant was pretty brief, it covered the story in just over 250 words
this newspaper was also extremely cautious in what they were writing,
“The case apparently began when the authorities received a tip-off last year”
”After several false alarms, the Bush administration was at pains to avoid any judgement. There was, “no direct evidence” that the men involved were linked to international terrorism, Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, said.”
“But the evidence, am-assed over 16 monthsby federal investigators, does point to a plot, the authorities insist”
I think this article stands out becasue unlike the SMH and Chicago Tribune, becuase it appears more objective, unlike the SMH, it doesn’t plainly state that the men are “terrorists”
The New York Times (11 may) placed a totally different angle on the story and focused on the effect in the families of the accused terrorists – their story is more like a feature article
Ramiz Duka said his three cousins started to change two to three years ago. Three young men who had grown up with more American friends than fellow ethnic Albanian immigrants began to lecture other Muslims about religion.
”They were praying different, they were talking different, they were telling people what to believe,” Mr. Duka recalled of Eljvir, Shain and Dritan Duka, three of the six men charged in southern New Jersey this week with plotting to attack the Fort Dix military reservation. ”They thought they only knew the right way.”
”What was inflicted on their brain, from who, I don’t know,” the cousin said in an interview on Thursday. ”It’s not our faith. It’s not our religion. It’s not our people.”
Mr. Duka and other members of the New York metropolitan region’s Albanian-American community have struggled in recent days to understand how the three Duka brothers, ages 23, 26 and 28, and a fourth Albanian immigrant, Agron Abdullahu, 24, could have turned against the United States, a country that helped liberate their people less than a decade ago and welcomed them as refugees.
relatives of the suspects shook their heads in disbelief.
Agron Abdullahu’s family said he was not radicalized. Since arriving in the country eight years ago, he worked at a ShopRite supermarket in Williamstown, N.J.
”He works 10 hours a day,” said his cousin Arsim. ”He would come home and work on his car at night. When he has time to do all these things?”
”I don’t want the people of Albania to be made enemies of the United States,” Mr. Duka said. ”The people of America are the best friends that we have.”
”I’m so disappointed,” Mr. Shehu said. ”I feel just terrible about this.”
He added: ”The United States saved us from ethnic cleansing. How can some crazy guys do something like that?”
Another angle on the story was placed by Associated Press Newswires, in their article they included quotes from members of the suspected terrorists who believe the men are innocent
Relatives in the ethnic Albanian-populated town of 15,000 said they had not seen the brothers in more than two decades, but expressed disbelief Wednesday that the three would attack the United States.
“We all have been supporters of America. We were always thankful to America for its support during the wars in Kosovo and Macedonia,” a cousin, Elez Duka, 29, told The Associated Press.
“These are simple, ordinary people and they’ve got nothing to do with terrorism. I expect their release and I expect an apology,” he said, waving his hands. “I see injustice. These are ridiculous charges.”
U.S. authorities have not given details of the alleged plot, or said if a date had been set for an attack. They said only that the accused were training and buying weapons.
Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku wrote a letter to the U.S. mission in Pristina on Wednesday expressing the “extraordinary feeling that Kosovo’s people have for the U.S.” Ceku also denounced what he called “the disgusting idea” that Albanians could be involved in an attack “against a nation that has been very generous so far.”
“I don’t believe that my kids would do anything like that. I know my kids — they were committed to supporting their families, their house,” she added. (The Duka brothers’ grandmother, Naze Duka)
“They live in America and grew up in the American culture. How can you say they are anti-American? These accusations are totally unfounded,” he said. (Elez Duka, the brothers’ cousin)
The main newsvalues followed here
timeliness – as all articles are written within a 3 day period as the story was unfolding – this also gave the different news organisations time to take different angles on the story,
proximity as all terrorism generally affects every part of the world, the New York Times story had aspects of a human interest story because it went beyond the fact and applied an emotional level to the story.
Impact and consequence are always present in terrorism stories, because like proximity, it can affects countries all over the world.
The UK Independant story follow the jounalistic principal of “its essence us a discipline of verification” better than its counterparts, as the journalist was very cautious to name where all the information came from. I think the principal “it must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant” was best covered by The New York Times and The Associated Press Newswires are these organisations took different angles on the story.
Add comment May 15, 2007
