Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.
From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.
One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.
MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.
Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.
Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.
Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.
He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml
[Third cracked windshield in 2 weeks]
Vietnam Airlines jet makes emergency landing in Azerbaijan
A Vietnam Airlines jet with 307 people on board made an emergency
landing at
the main airport in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, after suffering a
cracked
windshield, the Associated Press said. Nobody was hurt.
An airport official who declined to give his name told AP that the
Boeing
777 was en route from Paris to Hanoi Monday afternoon when the crew
decided
to land because of a cracked windshield.
There were 290 passengers and 17 crew members aboard the plane, the
official
said.
Vietnam Airlines Tuesday sent another Boeing 777 to Baku to carry the
passengers to Hanoi, Vietnamese VnExpress newswire said. The plane is
expected to land at Noi Bai Airport Wednesday afternoon.
This has been the third time in less than two weeks that officials in
Azerbaijan have cited a cracked windshield as the reason for an
emergency
landing in Baku.
An Air Slovakia Boeing 757 on a flight from India to Slovakia made an
emergency landing at the airport Jan. 5, and a Russian Tu-134 made an
emergency landing there last week.
Source: AP, VnExpress
http://www.thanhniennews.com/travel/?catid=7&newsid=24304
Today in History:
January 17, 1991 - Iraq, Kuwait
Allied Air Campaign Begins
The start of hostilities between the multi-national forces and Iraqi forces. The beginning of Operation Desert Storm.
January 17, 1973 - Philippines
Constitution Day
No information provided.
Upcoming Significant Events:
January 18, 1952 - Tunisia
Bourguiba Revolution
Also known as Remembrance Day.
January 20, (year unknown) - Laos
Founding of the Armed Forces
No information provided.
January 20, (year unknown) - Mali
Army Day
No information provided.
January 20, 1973 - Guinea-Bissau
National Heroes' Day
Commemorates the assassination of Amilcar Cabral, founder of the ruling party.
January 20, 1981 - Iran
U.S. Embassy Hostages Released
Fifty-two American hostages were released after 444 days in captivity following an agreement between the U.S. and Iran arranged by Algeria.
January 20, 1986 - Lesotho
Army Day
No information provided.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070116/us_nm/crime_drugs_dc
U.S. arrests 117 alleged members of Colombian drug ring
Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 7:00pm
A Colombian drug ring that smuggled $7.5 million of cocaine and heroin into the United States was shut down on Tuesday with the arrest of 117 of its suspected members, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said. Among the cache seized by drug agents was 55 kilograms of heroin, 173 kilograms of cocaine, $260,000 in cash, 12 vehicles and nine weapons, said John Gilbride, special agent for the DEA's New York office. Full Story
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16106300.htm
Russia's anti-terrorist unit warns of attack
Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 3:00pm
Russia on Tuesday said it had received information from foreign sources which suggested terrorists were planning to strike a Russian public transport system. News agencies quoted the boss of Russia's FSB spy service and head of the government's anti-terror committee, Nikolai Patrushev, telling all citizens and officials to be on high alert. Full Story
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16217697.htm
Panama investigates minister in poison scandal
16 Jan 2007 21:41:14 GMT
Source: Reuters
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PANAMA CITY, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Panamanian prosecutors have begun an investigation into Health Minister Camilo Alleyne and other officials over the deaths of at least 51 people poisoned by adulterated medicine made in government laboratories.
Families of the dead filed a criminal suit against Alleyne and the heads of the country's social security fund and called for their resignations.
"Us taking up the suit does not mean we have identified any specific crime," Kenia Porcell of the attorney-general's office said on Tuesday. She added the process was in its early stages and did not merit Alleyne's resignation.
In October, Panama declared a national epidemic alert after people began dying from an unexplained ailment that affected the renal system and caused neurological damage.
Experts from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later identified the source as cough syrups and other medicines contaminated with diethylene glycol, a solvent commonly used as brake fluid that was employed in place of a similar but more expensive chemical often used in liquid drugs.
Official statistics cited 51 deaths from 92 reported cases, and around 200 more deaths are being investigated for possible links to the poisoning.
The scare led President Martin Torrijos to announce widespread reforms to the public health system.
At the height of the crisis, Alleyne said the medicines had likely been tampered with maliciously, a claim he has not repeated.
LIBYA RELEASES AL QAIDA INSURGENTS
CAIRO [MENL] -- Libya has released 60 Al Qaida-aligned insurgents in a gesture of reconciliation to the Islamic opposition.
Islamic sources said Libya has released 60 members of the Islamic Fighting Group, listed by the State Department as linked to Al Qaida. The sources said most of the insurgents had been sentenced in connection to the Islamic war against the regime of Col. Moammar Khaddafy in the 1990s.
'Those released were hard-core insurgents as well as facilitators,' an Islamic source said. 'The release came in batches over the last few weeks.'
The sources said the insurgents had been imprisoned in a facility in Tripoli . They said the release was connected to Id Al Adha, when Muslim states normally release inmates.
Date Collected: 1/13/2007
Source: http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2007/january/01_14_1.html
Blocking Turkey 'keeps Islam out of the European Union'
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/France/10097209.html
Blocking Turkey 'keeps Islam out of the European Union'
By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter
Dubai: Nicolas Sarkozy's recent comment that Turkey does not have its
place
in the European Union is just to keep Islam out of Europe, according to
the
former editor of Le Monde Diplomatique.
Currently on a three day tour of the UAE, Alain Gresh, former editor
and
author of several books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and expert
on
the Middle East, on Monday said problems associated with Islam are
socio-economic rather than religious.
In France today, as in other Western countries, the simple mention of
Islam
can cause a debate, at least a concern, and even sometimes an
unconscious
fear, added Gresh.
"Religious differences have replaced the social differences in the
public
speech, and there lies the real threat," he said.
"Personally I'm against any enlargement of the European Union. They
expanded
to 25 countries too fast, no decisions are made because it is too big.
To
keep Turkey out of Europe is a way political parties think because it
is
popular to talk about it," said Gresh.
"In France Muslims tend to be poor immigrants. They were discriminated
against because they are Arab and now they are being discriminated
against
because they are Muslim."
[unknown url]
Chavez' move against TV spurs outcry
Associated Press
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer
The bespectacled talk show host grimaces into the television camera,
raises a finger and accuses President Hugo Chavez of using "tropical
neo-fascism to trample Venezuelans' rights."
Sweat beads up above Miguel Angel Rodriguez's eyebrows as he berates
government officials, calling them liars and challenging them to prove
their accusations that he is an "imperialist" pawn of the CIA.
Welcome to Radio Caracas Television, the channel Chavez loves to hate.
As he accelerates his push toward socialism, Chavez has decided that
Venezuela's oldest private TV station must go off the air for good when
its broadcast license expires on May 28.
"Their days are numbered. Squeal, kick, whatever they do: the license
of that fascist channel is gone," Chavez said Saturday. "RCTV's signal
will be nationalized for Venezuelans."
Emboldened by his sweeping re-election victory, Chavez now seems intent
on transforming Venezuela's broadcast media. An expanding web of
state-run and state-financed radio and TV stations shapes his image. And
almost every Sunday, he preaches socialist ideals on "Hello President," his
folksy talk-show program that runs for five hours or more.
RCTV, in contrast, has been a constant irritant to Chavez. Along with a
cadre of other private TV channels and newspapers he accuses of
spreading disinformation and conspiring against him, he says RCTV produces
"poison" through "grotesque shows" that promote consumerism and violence.
Top RCTV executive Marcel Granier insists his channel has done nothing
wrong and is being punished for criticizing the government as part of
an "autocratic scheme." He argues RCTV has the legal right to keep
broadcasting until 2022, and plans to challenge Chavez in court.
RCTV has been one of Venezuela's leading TV networks since 1953,
broadcasting a mix of news, talk shows, sports, soap operas and its own
version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"
The weekly program "Radio Rochela," which like "Saturday Night Live"
often lampoons politicians, was a Venezuelan institution long before
Chavez was first elected in 1998.
For now, the studios still bustle with giggling teenagers seeking
autographs from soap stars and comedians practicing poking fun at Chavez for
"Radio Rochela." Another recent skit mocked Chavez's mentor, Fidel
Castro, with an impersonator dancing and rapping in olive-green fatigues,
saying: "Give me more gasoline!"
But the mood has grown somber among RCTV's 2,500 employees.
The station's supporters call Chavez's threat to deny RCTV a new
license an example of how freedom of speech will be sacrificed in the
"socialist republic of Venezuela" that Chavez proclaimed as he began his third
term. Nearly 100 horn-honking cars snaked through Caracas Sunday in one
protest caravan, with "Don't Mess With The Media!" scrawled in white
shoe polish across their windows.
The case also has drawn international attention, with statements of
concern from the Organization of American States, the Roman Catholic
Church, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders and the New York-based
Committee to Protect Journalists.
Chavez says he fully respects freedom of speech, and that turning over
the channel's frequency to a "community" station will help democratize
the airwaves, providing "communication power to those who almost never
have a voice."
Venezuela's radio dial now includes hundreds of mostly state-financed
and Chavez-friendly "community" stations, and three state-run TV
channels have been launched since Chavez took office. They feature musicians
singing songs about "El Comandante," segments calling opposition leaders
CIA agents and documentaries about Argentine-born revolutionary Ernesto
"Che" Guevara. Cuban-produced cartoons feature peasants who prevent
invading soldiers from seizing a palm-dotted island.
Chavez also finances Telesur, the new Latin American network meant to
provide a South American alternative to CNN. Telesur already claims 2.5
million cable viewers in 17 countries. The Venezuelan government holds
a 51 percent stake, with smaller shares owned by Argentina, Cuba,
Uruguay and Bolivia. Next up is Radiosur, an effort to share content with
existing radio stations across the continent.
The move against RCTV won't likely end Chavez's efforts to rewrite the
rules that govern Venezuela's airwaves. Another frequent forum for
opposition views is 24-hour all-news channel Globovision. Without
elaborating, Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon said authorities want to
set up "a structure in which the media owner isn't the owner of 24-hour
messages, 365 days a year."
RCTV, Globovision and two other channels are what Chavez has called the
"Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." He has accused RCTV of one-sided
coverage and said the channels effectively supported a 2002 failed coup by
broadcasting cartoons and movies instead of the street protests that
aided his return to power. Pro-Chavez mobs gathered outside RCTV and
other stations during the coup, shouting insults and in some cases hurling
rocks.
Two of those four channels have since toned down their criticism, while
RCTV and Globovision have stayed their course despite sometimes-violent
demonstrations. During pro-Chavez protests in 2004, an Associated Press
reporter watched as a Chavez supporter fired shots at RCTV's studios
while others rammed an ice cream truck into the wall, then set the truck
afire.
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Spanish walkout over 'Saudi sexism'
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/346FB09D-BD84-47F4-99F7-B3B9696C2CFB.htm
Spain's justice minister has refused to deliver a lecture at a
university in
Saudi Arabia after authorities banned visiting female journalists from
attending.
Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar was to deliver a lecture on the
globalisation of
terrorism at Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, the academic
heart
of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi Islam.
The Spanish reporters were prevented from entering despite the fact
they were
all wearing the traditional black abaya and veil, according to one of
the
journalists, Esther Bazan, of Spain's SER radio.
Saudi authorities said the university was an all-male institution and
women
were not allowed.
Last minute decision
The Spanish delegation and reporters travelling with them were not
informed
about the ban until Sunday night, but tried to enter the university
anyway on
Monday.
A justice ministry spokeswoman in Madrid said: "Yesterday, at the last
minute,
we were told women couldn't enter the university.
He cancelled because the none of the women were allowed to be there."
She said a written copy was given to students instead. Graduates of
Al-Imam
Muhammad Ibn Saud university work in the government, mosques, courts
and in
the religious police force which patrols all Saudi cities and towns to
enforce
Islam-oriented public order.
Last March, Britain's Prince Charles became the first non-Muslim
foreign
dignitary to visit the university.
The lecture was to have closed a two-day visit by Lopez Aguilar, who is
stepping down from the justice post to run for office in his native
Canary
Islands region.
a jihadi site, in Iraq, I think:
http://gorillasguides.com/2007/01/16/january-15th-2007-news-round-up/
Wednesday January 17, 2007
The "Moderate" Islamists in Britain
A recent hidden camera taping of what is really taught in one of Britain’s most influential “moderate” mosques tells you all you need to know about what these groups really believe.
Channel 4 took the courageous approach of infiltrating the Greenlane Mosque in Birmingham, a favorite of the “moderate” Muslim Council of Britain (and friends of CAIR, ISNA and others here) to hear what was being preached over a period of months. It was a true public service, one that U.S. journalism has not performed since Steve Emerson et al did the same thing in the U.S. a decade ago, with very similar results.
The contents of the tape are why many of us believe we are engaged in a war-not a war against Islam, but yes, a war against Islamists who are intent on destroying us and our way of life.
This language of hate and conquest is not a secret, it is openly preached. This is not an isolated, renegade mosque on the fringe of the British Islamic community, but the heart of it. It is a mosque praised publicly for its moderation, and the target of outreach programs by the government. Does any of this sound vaguely familiar in our government outreach program?
We hear the call to jihad against Christians and Jews (and, one would assume, atheists, Hindus and everyone else), a call to throw gays off of mountain tops, justification for hitting women, a death sentence against anyone who converts from Islam to another religion, and the right of an Imam to crucify and leave hanging for three days, anyone deemed an infidel. Much of this, of course, is paid for with Saudi money.
It was not an isolated sermon, but a series of sermons over a period of months. They were not whispers among the faithful, but full throated sermons aimed at audiences where children and teenagers were well represented. This is the target audience. The message is that the Salafist-jihadi movement is going to win, so join it. There is nothing subtle here. Just watch the show.
We hear the classic Muslim Brotherhood line that “you have to live like a stae within a state until we take over.” We hear the overt calls for jihad and calls to preparation for joining the moment when the “tables are turned” and Islam is dominant.
It would be impossible to make this up. Which is why the MCB is ranting about sentences being taken out of context and attempts to distort Islam and foment divisions.
It is a tremendously weak defense, relying on the tried and true tactics of smearing those who reveal what these organizations really are, with the same accusations of intolerance, racism and Muslim bashing that have worked so well for so long to silence any other voices.
But it does beg the question: Where are the Muslims who are outraged by this? Where are those who will say, no, this is not Islam, this is sedition, bigotry, hate speech and treason? The silence is deafening.
http://www.douglasfarah.com/
Security tightened in Chechnya after terror alert
www.chinaview.cn 2007-01-17 19:11:56
MOSCOW, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chechnya's law enforcement services have
beefed up security following a warning of possible terrorist attacks
in Russia, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday.
"Immediately after this information was received, the Interior
Ministry took urgent measures," Col. Akhmed Dakayev, head of the
Chechen Interior Ministry's headquarters, was quoted by the Interfax
news agency as saying.
"Security has been tightened in Grozny and in other populated
areas, police checkpoints have been reinforced and night patrols in
Grozny and other cities strengthened," he said.
According to Dakayev, police squads were deployed at vital
facilities, while no restriction has been imposed on traffic.
The preventive measures proved effective and "no emergencies were
reported in Chechnya last night," he said.
On Tuesday, the Federal Anti-terrorism Headquarters announced that
Russian security services had received information from foreign
partners about a possible terrorist attack on public transportation.
The alert was confirmed by a high-ranking official of the Russian
Interior Ministry on Wednesday.
Yahoo! Groups Links
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/
I forsee a future of attempts to tell the truths about the radical muslims plan to take over the world, and no one will hear you.
It was the same with the communist manifesto and attempts to tell folks what the plan was.
TODAY WE ARE FIGHTING THE SAME PLAN/GOAL.
THE MUSLIM MANIFESTO IS ALMOST WORD FOR WORD THE SAME PLAN TO RULE THE WORLD.
I just posted more on the Russia alert, the one above this one.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769123/posts
American-Born Imam Spews Message of Hate in England
Fox News ^ | January 17, 2007 | George Kindel
Posted on 01/17/2007 1:15:29 PM PST by Ben Mugged
A New Jersey-born Muslim cleric with links to a suspected Al Qaeda operative who surfaced at a college not far from the cleric's Peoria, Ill., mosque the day before the Sept. 11 attacks has found a new home.
The imam now is spewing his message of hate to a growing group of followers at a mosque in Birmingham, England.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1768923/posts
Enemy in Our Back Yard .... (Iran & Latin America)
NY Sun ^ | January 16, 2007 | Editorial
Posted on 01/17/2007 7:53:48 AM PST by IrishMike
Iran is moving aggressively to gain influence in our hemisphere, and left-wing, anti-American leaders in Latin America are rolling out the red carpet for President Ahmadinejad. As this Marxist-Islamist entente grows, it presents a clear danger to American security and makes the need for action against Iran's nuclear program even more pressing. The latest development in the alliance came this weekend, when Mr. Ahmadinejad visited Latin America for the second time in four months. In Venezuela, he was received at the airport by President Chavez. "Welcome to Venezuela, where Iran is beloved," the Caracas daily El Universal quoted Mr. Chavez as saying. "We give welcome to a distinguished leader, the leader of a heroic people and of a revolution kindred to the Venezuelan revolution: the Islamic revolution."
Mass slaughter in our schools: the terrorists’ chilling plan
Part 1 of a 3-part PoliceOne.com series
By Chuck Remsberg
Senior PoliceOne Contributor
Probably the last place you want to think of terrorists striking is your kids’ school. But according to two trainers at an anti-terrorism conference on the East Coast, preparations for attacks on American schools that will bring rivers of blood and staggering body counts are well underway in Islamic terrorist camps.
• The intended attackers have bluntly warned us they’re going to do it.
• They’re already begun testing school-related targets here.
• They’ve given us a catastrophic model to train against, which we’ve
largely ignored and they’ve learned more deadly tactics from.
“We don’t know for sure what they will do. But by definition, a successful attack is one we are not ready for,” declared one of the instructors, Lt.Col. Dave Grossman. Our schools fit that description to a “T”—as in Terrorism and Threat.
Grossman, the popular law enforcement motivational speaker, and Todd Rassa, a trainer with the SigArms Academy and an advisory board member for The Police Marksman magazine, shared a full day’s agenda on the danger to U.S. schools at a recent three-day conference on terrorist issues, sponsored by the International Assn. of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI) in Atlantic City.
They reminded the audience that patrol officers, including perhaps some with their own children involved, will inevitably be the first responders when terrorists hit. And they documented chilling descriptions of the life-or-death challenges that likely will be faced.
In Part 1 of this two-part report on highlights of their presentations we focus on what’s known about the threat to our schools to date, why terrorists have selected them as targets, and what tactics you’re likely to be up against in responding to a sudden strike.
In Parts 2 and 3, we’ll explore Grossman’s and Rassa’s recommendations for practical measures you and your agency can take now to get ready, including some defensive actions that don’t require any budget allocations.
Why schools?
Two reasons:
1. Our values. “The most sacred thing to us is our children, our babies,” Rassa said. Killing hundreds of them at a time would significantly “boost Islamic morale and lower that of the enemy” (us). In Grossman’s words, terrorists see this effort as “an attempt to defile our nation” by leaving it “stunned to its soul.”
2. Our lack of preparation. Police agencies “aren’t used to this,” Rassa said. “We deal with acts of a criminal nature. This is an act of war,” but because of our laws “we can’t depend on the military to help us,” at least at the outset.
Indeed, Grossman claimed, “the U.S. in the one nation in the world where the military is not the first line of defense against domestic terrorist attacks. By law, you the police officer are our Delta Force. It is your job to go in, while in most other nations cops will wait for the military to come save their kids.”
School personnel, Rassa said, “are not even close” to being either mentally or physically prepared. “Most don’t even have response plans for handling a single active shooter. Their world is taught to nurture and care for people. They don’t want to deal with this.”
The American public, “sticking their heads in the sand, can’t be mentally prepared,” he said. “They’re going to freak when it happens,” their stubborn denial making the crisis “all the more shocking.”
Noting that “sheep have two speeds: ‘grazing’ and ‘stampede,’” Grossman predicted that “not a parent in the nation will send their kids to school the next day”—perhaps for many days—after a large-scale terrorist massacre. If day-care centers—“also on the terrorists’ list”—are hit as well, “parents will drop out of the work force” en masse to protect their children and “our economy will be devastated.”
How we know they’re coming.
Al-Qaeda has publicly asserted the “right” to kill 2,000,000 American children, Rassa explained, and has warned that “operations are in stages of preparation” now. He played vivid videotapes confiscated in Afghanistan, showing al-Qaeda terrorists practicing the takeover of a school. The trainees issue commands in English, rehearse separating youngsters into manageable groups and meeting any resistance with violence. Some “hostages” are taken to the rooftop, dangled over the edge, then “shot.”
“Any place that has given [Islamic terrorists] trouble, they’ve come after the kids,” Grossman said. Muslim religious literature, according to Rassa, states clearly that the killing of children not only is “permitted” in Islam but is “approved” by Mohammed, so long as the perpetrators “are striving for the general good” as interpreted by that religion.
He cited instances in Indonesia where girls on their way to school have been beheaded and in other countries where children have been shot, mutilated, raped or burned alive.
In this country this year [’06], Rassa said, there have been several school bus-related incidents involving Middle Eastern males that raise suspicion of terrorist activity. These include the surprise boarding of a school bus in Florida by two men in trench coats, who may have been on a canvassing mission, and the attempt in New York State by an Arab male to obtain a job as a school bus driver using fraudulent Social Security documents. The latter gave an address in Detroit, home to a large colony of fundamentalist Muslims. Rassa claimed that floor plans for half a dozen schools in Virginia, Texas and New Jersey have been recovered from terrorist hands in Iraq.
The terrorists’ tactical model.
A “dress rehearsal for what terrorists plan to do to us” has already taken place, Rassa and Grossman agreed. That was the brutal takedown in 2004 of a school that served children from 6 to 17 years old in Beslan, Russia. Some 100 terrorists were involved, nearly half of whom were discreetly embedded in the large crowd of parents, staff and kids who showed up for the first day of school; the rest arrived for the surprise attack in SUVs, troop carriers and big sedans. Across a three-day siege, 700 people were wounded and 338 killed, including 172 youngsters.
If a similar assault were launched against a school in your jurisdiction, how would you and your agency respond? Consider this modest sampling of challenges that were deliberately planned or arose from the ensuing chaos at Beslan, as outlined by Rassa:
• The school was chosen because it was one of the taller buildings in the area and had a very complicated floor plan, making a rapid and effective counter-assault by responders extremely difficult. Offender weaponry included AK-47s, sniper rifles, RPGs and explosives, with everything the terrorists needed carried in on their backs. RPGs were fired at a responding military helicopter and at troops.
• More than 1,000 men, women and children, including babies, were penned inan unventilated gym and a cafeteria. As the days passed without food or water and inside temperatures rose to 115 degrees, survivors were eating flowers they’d brought for teachers and fighting for urine to drink out of their shoes in desperation. Women and some children were repeatedly and continuously raped.
• Adult males and larger male students were used as “forced labor” to help fortify the building, then shot to death. Bodies were thrown out of an upper-story window, down onto a courtyard. Attempts at negotiation by responders were used by the terrorists strictly as an opportunity to buy time to solidify their fortifications.
• Surviving hostages were surrounded by armed guards standing on deadman switches, wired to explosives. All entrances to the building as well as stairwells and some interior doorways were booby-trapped. Youngsters were forced to sit on window sills to serve as shields for snipers. “Black widows” (potential suicide bombers) were rigged so their bomb belts could be detonated by remote control when leaders considered the timing was right. The terrorists stayed cranked up on some type of amphetamine to keep awake.
• Armed, outraged parents and other civilians, some of them drunk, showed up and started “rolling gunfights” outside in a futile effort to defeat the takeover. The crowd identified one embedded terrorist and “literally ripped him apart.” The media was everywhere, unrestrained. So many people were milling around that responders often could not establish a clear field of fire.
• When troops finally stormed the school in a counter-assault on the thirdday, “pure pandemonium” reigned. Soldiers and the kids they were trying to rescue were gunned down mercilessly. Explosions touched off inside started multiple fires.
• Responders who made it inside had to jump over trip wires as they “ran” up stairs under fire from above. By then terrorists were holding hostages in virtually every room. Rescue teams were subjected to continual ambushes. Gunfights occurred predominately within a 6-ft. range, with some responders having to fight for their lives in places so cramped they couldn’t get off their hands and knees.
• Some children successfully rescued from the building were so crazed by thirst that they ran to an outdoor spigot and were killed by a grenade as they filled their hands with water.
• Terrorists who escaped during the melee ran to homes of embedded sympathizers who hid them successfully and were not immediately suspected because they were considered “non-strangers” in the community. Some townspeople who volunteered to help as stretcher bearers for the injured were, in fact, embedded terrorists.
• During the siege “at least four people or agencies claimed to be in charge. Actually, no one was in charge and no one wanted to be.” “Osama bin Laden has promised that what has happened in Russia will happen to us many times over,” Grossman warned. “And Osama tries very hard never to lie to us.”
[For more details on this siege, Grossman recommends the book, "Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America’s Schools" (http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Beslan-Russian-Tragedy-Americas/dp/0976775301) ,
by John Giduck.]
What’s likely here.
Probably not so many terrorists involved at a single location. Moving that big a contingent into place would likely attract too much attention and thwart the attack. Grossman describes a more likely possibility, in his opinion: Terrorist cells of four operatives each will strike simultaneously at four different schools. They’ll probably pick middle schools with no police officers on site, where the girls are “old enough to rape” but students are not big enough to fight back effectively.
The targets will probably be in states “with no concealed-carry laws and no hunting culture” and in communities where “police do not have rifles.” Rural areas may be favored, where 30 minutes or more could be required for responders to arrive in force.
The attackers will “mow down every kid and teacher they see” as they move in to seize the school. They’ll plant bombs throughout the buildings, and “ rape, murder and throw out bodies like they did in Russia.” Emergency vehicles responding and children fleeing will be blown up by car bombs in the parking lot.
In all, 100 to 300 children could be slaughtered in a first strike. Terrorists capable of this are already embedded in communities “all over America,” Grossman and Rassa agreed. More will probably gain entry surreptitiously from Mexico, making southern California potentially a prime target.
No time for despair.
It’s a grim picture, for certain. “But if we think there’s nothing we can do to prepare, that is a defeatist mentality,” Rassa said. “We ought to be trying. If we’re not trying, we’re failing. We may as well give up our guns and surrender now.
“I can’t think of a better thing to train up for than protecting our kids. If we try but fall short, look at how much else we’ll still be able to handle than we can now.
“What made most of us do active-shooter training? The killings at Columbine. Are we going to wait for something far worse than that before we do the most that we can to stop the terrorists who are coming for our schools?”
http://ordnance-corner.blogspot.com/2007/01/mass-slaughter-in-our-schools.html
[THIS IS A MUST READ AND SAVE THREAD, granny]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1768847/posts?page=2
Discover the Arab Lobby “Network”-iscoverTheNetworks.org has added a new section to database.
FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | January 17, 2007 | John Perazzo
Posted on 01/17/2007 5:52:10 AM PST by SJackson
Granny, here's more from the article:
President Reagan understood all this, which is why during the 1980s he fought so hard against Mr. Ortega's Soviet-backed camarilla and raided Grenada.
That the left makes common cause with the Islamists is one of the bizarre facts of modern geopolitics.
The only thing Marxists like Messrs. Chavez, Ortega, and Correa have in common today with the likes of Mr. Ahmadinejad is a hatred of America.
That is the foundation on which the Marxist-Islamist scheme is formed and the motivation behind any actions it carries out.
Although economic in nature, this entente will eventually become a military one.
This has been underscored in the last several years by Venezuela's billions of dollars in arms purchases, which included both small arms and more serious weapons like the Sukhoi Su-30 Russian fighter jets and Russian-made attack helicopters.
There is also increasing troop movement among the left-wing Latin American states.
The military ambitions of Messrs. Chavez, Ortega, and Ahmadinejad spell trouble.
http://www.nysun.com/article/46771
Oh, sorry, chopped off the last sentence; here it is:
"The threat posed by a nuclear Iran will be to our own cities — Miami, Houston, Tucson — and it will come from Iranian missiles based in the jungles of Nicaragua and on the plains of Venezuela."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1769094/posts
Return of the Bear rise of the Dragon
Rantz and Reckonings ^ | 1/17/2007 | Metro-Redneck
Posted on 01/17/2007 12:12:31 PM PST by inpajamas
In an article of their own MEMRI has brought to light two articles published in December of 2006 from the Syrian government daily: Teshreen, and the Iranian government daily: Tehran Times. The articles give evidence to Russia's global ambitions to re-establish Russia's international power by increasing Russian presence, influence, and participation in the oil rich Middle-East.
The article posted at MEMRI is from January 12, 2007 and entitled: Iranian and Syrian Government Papers on Renewed Superpower Role for Russia to Counter U.S. in Middle East
The following are selected excerpts from the two articles cited by MERMI:
"We must acknowledge that the role of Unified Russia was limited for a while following the fall of the Soviet Union, when the Russians were busy reorganizing their domestic affairs after going through some rough times... But now, Russia has begun to rebuild its central and important role in the global arena, especially in the Middle East...
…….Syria is [relying] on Russia to play its role alongside Europe and the U.N., so that the region will not remain hostage to the Americans, who tend to support Israel's aggression and terrorism..."
"Russia has begun to restore its central and important role in the global arena, and especially in the Middle East"
The main goal of these activities is restoring Russia's international status, which was greatly diminished after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
I have been ranting about Russia for some time now and we should be watching China also. The Russians are very shrewd and have been waging a global war of deceit and manipulation since Putin came to power.
continues.......
[time to take another look at the nazi/muslim/russia connection.... the above thread fits in with my thoughts today, I keep thinking of the skinheads in Russia, who attack those who are different and rarely get arrested...granny]
http://www.google.com/search?q=nazi+communist+muslim+connection&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=Arab%2FMuslim+Nazi+Connection&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
to double check:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=Arab%2FMuslim+communist+Connection&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?q=Russia+was+using+Communist+Arabs&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Beslan:
http://www.google.com/search?q=The+Nazi%2C+Communist+and+Radical+Islamist+Connection&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Beslan and OBL:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=+Communist+trained+Radical+Islamist+Connection&btnG=Search
Worse than I thought:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=Russia+skinhead+gangs&btnG=Search
Interesting, skinheads also tape their attacks:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=Russia+skinhead+gangs+trained+by+KGB&btnG=Search
Important links:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=radical+muslims+trained+by+KGB&btnG=Search
More searches to do in this one:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=Americans+trained+by+KGB&btnG=Search
truths:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Clinton+trained+by+KGB&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=KGB+trained+and+backs+terrorists&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
Yes:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=KGB+trained+Nation+of+Islam&btnG=Search
Surprises: [Kerry and American Indian movement:
http://www.google.com/search?q=KGB+trained+Black+Panthers&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
Iran again:
http://www.google.com/search?q=KGB+trained+muslims&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
Interesting:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Terrorists+in+Muslim+Disguise&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=KGB+trained+American+Indian&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=KGB+trained+people+to+overthrow+America&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=Communists+in+Muslim+Disguise&btnG=Search
Worth thinking about and more research:
http://www.google.com/search?q=KGB+in+Muslim+Disguise&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=FSB+in+Muslim+Disguise&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=FSB+has+training+for+terrorists&btnG=Search
nuclear and 9-11:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Global+terrorism+has%2C+indeed%2C+been+a+long-term+Russian+operation&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?q=FSB%2C+advocated+the+use+of+the+forces+of+the+state&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Needs refining, but has several:
http://www.google.com/search?q=FSB+has+plans+to&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
There is no end to these googles, I can think of a hundred more, using the names of the leaders and other countries.
I see new articles, [to me] and much to check out.
granny
WoW:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Russia+has+begun+to+restore+its+central+and+important+role+in+the+global&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=Russia+has+begun+to+restore+its+central+and+important+role+in+the+middle+east&btnG=Search
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