Untitled Document
Hezbollah website hosted by a US defense subcontractor (Hejailan Projects
/ United Defense Industries, Inc. / BAE Systems Land and Armaments)
Hezbollah website hosted by a US defense subcontractor? (Hejailan Projects / United Defense Industries, Inc. / BAE Systems Land and Armaments)
[CORRECTION: July 18th & 19th, 2006: UDI sold their stake in Al-Hejailan
Group in April 2003.
This would be most accurately described as "a U.S.-Related Saudi Defense Contractor"
hosting a Hezbollah website.]
After many months of me complaining about how often the mainstream media was citing unspecified "internet postings" as sources for their stories, I was reading an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ("Group: Soldiers killed over rape-slaying", July 11th, 2006) that finally sourced a claim. They credited an organization that tracks terrorist activities and internet postings. As suspected, it didn't take much digging to find propaganda.
The "SITE Instititute"
The Search for International Terrorist Entities Institute (The "SITE Instititute"), seems to be chronocling most of the terrorist activity you hear about in the news, and appears to be the source for much of the reporting on terrorist activities provided to the mainstream media.
One of the pages hosted on the SITE Institute website, provides a list of "Terrorist Websites".
One of six websites listed is for Hizballah (Party of God)
SITE lists their website as: http://www.nasrollah.org/
You can check it out if you like, (though i wouldn't recommend it), but it looks pretty legitimate...
...until I started digging around into who's hosting it.
According to the domain registration record, nasrollah.org is registered to a "Hussein Beydoun", who resides at a Beirut (Lebanon) address. Looks pretty legitimate, but things get fishy when you look at the IP address of their web server.
www.nasrollah.org resolves to 82.205.138.35
The RIPE registration record for that IP address says it belongs to a "Horizon Communication", out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The registration record goes on to list "Karthikeyan K" at an address of "Hejailan Projects"
Thinking that was a rather strange address, I searched for information on who "Hejailan Projects" is... I found them listed on a directory of Defense / Aerospace contractors.
Al-Hejailan Projects Co., Ltd.
DESCRIPTION: Al-Hejailan Projects Engineering Co. is a Saudi
engineering firm known to be involved in maintenance and upgrading of vehicles
belonging to the Royal Saudi Land Forces Infantry Corps.
CHRONOLOGY
* 1993. FMC-Arabia Ltd. is established as a joint venture between United Defense Industries, Inc. (Arlington, VA) and the Al-Hejailan Group (Saudi Arabia). The company is 51% owned by United Defense.
* April 2003. Al-Hejailan Group acquires the 51% stake in United Defense Systems-Arabia owned by United Defense Industries, Inc. (NYSE: UDI) for approximately $0.4 million.
Wikipedia says, "United Defense Industries was a United States defense contractor which is now part of BAE Systems Land and Armaments. This company produces combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers and precision munitions. The company started as a division of the agricultural machine business, Food Machinery Corporation (FMC), when they won a US government contract to build LVTs and became a weapon manufacturer during World War II."
.... Why is a US defense contractor hosting a known terrorist website?
Here is the evidence showing United Defense's Al-Hejailan Projects Co. hosting the Hizballah website.
>whois nasrollah.org
Domain ID:D46574899-LRMS
Domain Name:NASROLLAH.ORG
Created On:08-Dec-2000 21:08:25 UTC
Last Updated On:13-Mar-2006 08:33:15 UTC
Expiration Date:08-Dec-2007 21:08:25 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Register.com Inc. (R71-LRMS)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:C12631095-RCOM
Registrant Name:Mohamad Hejazi
Registrant Organization:Hadeel.net
Registrant Street1:Haret Herik
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Beirut
Registrant State/Province:
Registrant Postal Code:no
Registrant Country:LB
Registrant Phone:+961.3216933
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:elco@cyberia.net.lb
Admin ID:C47632673-RCOM
Admin Name:Hussein Beydoun
Admin Organization:Hadeel.net
Admin Street1:Haret Herik
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Beirut
Admin State/Province:
Admin Postal Code:no
Admin Country:LB
Admin Phone:+1.3216933
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:elco@cyberia.net.lb
Tech ID:C47632674-RCOM
Tech Name:Hussein Beydoun
Tech Organization:Hadeel.net
Tech Street1:Haret Herik
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Beirut
Tech State/Province:
Tech Postal Code:no
Tech Country:LB
Tech Phone:+1.3216933
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:elco@cyberia.net.lb
Name Server:DNS34.REGISTER.COM
Name Server:NS.HADEEL3.NET
> nslookup www.NASROLLAH.ORG
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: NASROLLAH.ORG
Address: 82.205.138.35
Aliases: www.NASROLLAH.ORG
> whois -h whois.ripe.net 82.205.138.35
inetnum: 82.205.138.0 - 82.205.138.63
netname: HCS
remarks: INFRA-AW
descr: Horizon Communication Riyadh
country: sa
admin-c: MA3701-RIPE
tech-c: KK1722-RIPE
status: Assigned PA
mnt-by: HSS-MNT
source: RIPE # Filtered
person: Mohammed Aslam
address: Horizon Communication
phone: +96612910244
e-mail: maslam@horizon-communication.com
nic-hdl: MA3701-RIPE
source: RIPE # Filtered
person: Karthikeyan K
address: Hejailan Projects
phone: +96612910244
e-mail: karthik@hejailan.com
nic-hdl: KK1722-RIPE
source: RIPE # Filtered
% Information related to '82.205.128.0/19AS30729'
route: 82.205.128.0/19
descr: HORIZON-SATELLITE
origin: AS30729
mnt-by: HSS-MNT
source: RIPE # Filtered
http://companies.infobasepub.com/detail_pages/17539.html
This business is one of more than 8,000 described in the Companies database of the Defense/Aerospace Competitive Intelligence Service (DACIS), published by InfoBase Publishers.
Al-Hejailan Projects Co., Ltd.
PO Box 9175
Riyadh 11413
Saudi Arabia
tel: 4761414 / 4767491
fax: 4729008
Company Code: ALJ-01
Previous Names
PMW: FMC-Arabia Ltd.
DESCRIPTION
Al-Hejailan Projects Engineering Co. is a Saudi engineering firm known to be involved in maintenance and upgrading of vehicles belonging to the Royal Saudi Land Forces Infantry Corps.
OWNERSHIP
CHRONOLOGY
April 2003. Al-Hejailan Group acquires the 51% stake in United Defense Systems-Arabia owned by United Defense Industries, Inc. (NYSE: UDI) for approximately $0.4 million.
1993. FMC-Arabia Ltd. is established as a joint venture between United Defense Industries, Inc. (Arlington, VA) and the Al-Hejailan Group (Saudi Arabia). The company is 51% owned by United Defense.
UPDATE: July 19th, 2006
I knew this article was going to attract some attention, but this WAY more attention than I was anticipating.
I've been reviewing logfiles, and am stunned at how many of the articles readers are government agencies,
financial institutions, insurance agencies, defense contractors, and high ranking military. I'm not sure
how I should be taking this. It almost feels as if a memo of some type was circulated to some of the big
power players about this article, but that's just my suspicion.
UPDATE: July 21, 2006
The above mentioned suspected memo was possibly circulated on Intelink
Check out the list of my visitors:
BAE Systems (new name for United Defense, the defense contractor I reported about.)
Air Force (Ramstein, Arnold, Kirtland)
Army (numerous bases, forts, Korea, Tactical Command)
Navy (numerous)
Pentagon
Defense Logistics Agency (military)
Northrop Grumman
Centers for Disease Control (CDC.gov)
US Department of Veterans Affairs
The World Bank
census.gov
US Patent and Trademark Office
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Department of Health & Human Services
South Florida Water Management District (.gov)
RBC Royal Bank
Polish Government
Shell (Oil)
Statoil (Refiner)
United States Coast Guard
Boeing
Fluor (contractor doing hanford nuclear cleanup)
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute
Citizen's Bank
Oracle
Wells Fargo
State Farm Insurance
Pearson Government Solutions
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Department of Transportation)
National Instsitute of Health
TriQuint SemiConductor
BISYS investment services
Intel
Ford
Level 3 communications
more universities than I can list.
US General Services Administration (GSA)
the Red Cross
DoD Military Health System
dc.gov (district of colombia)
Kodak
US Department of Education
SAC Capital Partners
Reuters
State Department
Bank of America
NATO
SCO group
CBS
Adobe
Seagate
Toronto Star
Glaxo Smith Kline
General Electric
Lockheed Martin
Texas Instruments
Fidelity Investments
United Technologies (Areospace)
US Central Command (centcom.mil)
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
maine.gov
Alcatel
Department Of Defense Inspector General (dodig.mil)
Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Company
Raytheon
Austrailian DoD
Neiman Marcus
Disney
Food Services of America
Allianz Life Insurance Company
Stowers Institute (Medical Research)
Corbis
Rockwell Collins (Aerospace / Defense)
Morgan Stanley
Office of Scientific Information Service
One of my company's customers that I don't know.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA.gov)
United States Postal Service (usps.gov)
US Geological Survey (usgs.gov)
Home Depot
Wachovia (finance)
Bureau of Prisons (bop.gov)
Covington & Burling (law)
Stroock, Stroock, & Lavan (law)
NPG (News-Press & Gazzette) Companies
Ellis, Lawhorne & Sims (law)
McFarland Cascade (timber)
H.J. Heinz Company
Wyeth-Ayerst Research (pharmaceutical research and development)
Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) (vita.virginia.gov)
Emerson Electric Company
DreamWorks (Animation / Movies)
Charles Schwab & Co. (investment)
State of Alaska Department of Administration
Microsoft
NewYork and Company
Johnson & Johnson
Health and Welfare Agency Data Center (ca.gov)
Austin Energy
US Fish and Wildlife Service (fws.gov)
White Sands Missile Range (army.mil)
County of Santa Cruz
AccuWeather
Webber Shandwick (public relations and communications management firm)
A.T. Kearney (global management consulting firm)
Cheek & Zeehandelar, L. L. P. (law firm)
Computer Sciences Corporation
United Defense, Limited Partnership (UDLP.com) / BAE Systems
Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (lawyer firm specializing in complex class action lawsuits related to securities fraud)
General Motors
State of Illinois - Department of Central Management Services
Social Security Administration
Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Saudi ARAMCO / Aramco Services Company (aramcoservices.com) (James Baker! Omar Saeed!)
Al Jazeera Satellite Channel
=================================================================
Somewhat related story:
CIA contractor fired over blog post
A software contractor for the CIA was fired this week after she posted her views on the Geneva Conventions and torture at a blog site only accessible to those with a top-secret clearance.
Christine Axsmith had been employed by BAE Systems, a prominent defense contractor, to test software performance at the spy agency, the Washington Post reported on Friday.
On July 13, under her usual alias of "Covert Communications," she posted an entry called "Waterboarding is Torture and Torture is Wrong" to Intelink, the intelligence community's classified intranet. She mentioned in the entry that she had had "the sad occasion to read interrogation transcripts in an assignment that should not be made public," and that's reportedly what set off upper management at the CIA, BAE Systems told her.
UPDATE: July 21st, 2006
While investigating the Global Islamic Media Front, I came across something from the US Marine Core.
http://hewar.khayma.com/ is a hostile site involved in disseminating Global Islamic Media Front information.
Browsing around on that site I found references to: http://quran.muslim-web.com/
>nslookup quran.muslim-web.com
quran.muslim-web.com canonical name = GISOL.muslim-web.com.
Name: GISOL.muslim-web.com
Address: 64.27.11.24
According to the ARIN registration record for this IP, that site is hosted by: Hollywood Interactive, Inc.
Interestingly enough, Hollywood Interactive, Inc. was one of the very first visitors to my "Hejailan Projects" story, but I had dismissed them as being unrelated... Finding this very company hosting their own muslim website, now gives me pause. This company seemingly specializes in Peer-to-Peer copyright enforcement, as far as I can tell. Apparently they host muslim websites, too, but I couldn't find any indication that they offered website hosting services.
===================================================
[Update: July 23, 2006]
DNS records for NASROLLAH.ORG have been updated! No longer hosted at Horizon Communication!
DNS records have been pointed away from Horizon Communications; now using register.com to host the content. Netcraft confirms my claim that hosting changed from Horizon Communication Riyadh to Register.com sometime just before last Friday. (Scroll down to the "Hosting History" section.)
The best part? Not only did I catch them trying to change hosting providers, I also caught them trying to lie about when DNS for this domain was last modified...
nasrollah.org. 86397 IN NS dns34.register.com.
nasrollah.org. 86397 IN NS ns.hadeel3.net.
dns34.register.com. claims it was last updated December 18th, 2000.
ns.hadeel3.net. claims it was last updated March 25th, 2005.
Netcraft prooves them both to be liars and says that nasrollah.org stopped using Horizon sometime between June 4th, 2006 and July 21st, 2006
Not only has hosting companies changed, the content has changed completely, too. I don't speak arabic, so Its difficult for me to understand content changes, but I know that the site layout and design changed completely from when I was viewing it in early July. I do also note that it know contains some links in English now.
... The attempt to cover-up the original host and DNS change only serves to draw more attention to the issue and further calls into doubt the legitimacy of nasrollah.org, Hejailan Projects, BAE, UDI, and Horizon Communication Riyadh.
IP for nasrollah webhost changing:
Before:
> nslookup www.NASROLLAH.ORG
Name: NASROLLAH.ORG
Address: 82.205.138.35
Aliases: www.NASROLLAH.ORG
Now:
> nslookup www.NASROLLAH.ORG
www.NASROLLAH.ORG canonical name = NASROLLAH.ORG.
Name: NASROLLAH.ORG
Address: 216.21.229.196
The old IP address appears to be offline now. Not pingable, and no webserver is reachable at the old IP.
current SOA records, lying about dates:
hadeel3.net. 7200 IN SOA ns3.hostsvr.com. soacontact.dnsvr.com. 1111822829 14400 7200 950400 7200
NASROLLAH.ORG. 86400 IN SOA dns34.register.com. root.register.com. 200012187 10800 3600 604800 86400
|