Threat Matrix- Daily Terror Thread (4):

New York Post ^ | February 24, 2004 | By NILES LATHEM

[Revel]

February 24, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has dispatched the elite commando force that hunted down Saddam Hussein to Afghanistan for a new operation aimed at getting Osama bin Laden, officials said yesterday. Military sources confirmed that members of the shadowy Task Force 121, the unit that conducted the high-tech search for Saddam and his henchmen, have recently begun operating in the remote mountainous region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where bin Laden and key al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives are believed to be hiding. The Task Force is made up of highly trained Delta and SEAL commandos, as well as CIA paramilitary operators. It operates outside normal military channels.

[Velveeta]

Groan!

[Velveeta]

Any FReeper pilots here???

[rickylc]

On the Haaretz ticker

Five large blasts heard in central Baghdad; sirens sound in area containing headquarters of U.S.-led forces

[Velveeta]

Oh, dear.

[rickylc]

I can't find any other details.

Haaretz ticker says it's an AP story, but I can find nothing on AP.

[rickylc]

A very little bit more:

Five Large Explosions Rumble Baghdad

[Velveeta]

Just reported on Fox News (Linda Vester's program).

This should be posted to breaking news.

[rickylc]

White Powder Found Near State Capitol Officials Say Legislature, Lucas Employees Not In Danger

POSTED: 10:24 am CST March 3, 2004
UPDATED: 11:19 am CST March 3, 2004

DES MOINES -- Authorities are investigating a white powdery substance found in a tunnel connecting the Capitol and the Lucas Office Building.

They say two tablespoons of the substance was discovered around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday by a security guard. The tunnel's doors and air ducts were immediately sealed off.

[jerseygirl]

Whoa. Thank you for your informative post! Just started checking posts- trying to catch up with the Matrix.

[jerseygirl]

I lean toward option number 2.

[jerseygirl]

Well, I'm here in Philly today. Where could all these people possibly go? New Jersey? (hardly...)

[TexKat]

Vel, did you listen to Mansoor Ijaz on Dayside.

He stated that yesterdays explosions in Iraq (body count now at 271) was state sponsored (Iran). Ijaz said he thought that it was not about religion but was a proxy test. A test to see if the American military had equipment in place to stop their (enemies) rockets. He also stated that he believed that their are chemical weapons in the area and brought up the 30 or 40 rockets that were found some time ago and that 6 or 7 of them were thought to have some type of chemical in the warhead.

Ijaz also mentioned Sistani's ties with Iranian mullahs.

[TexKat]

Five Large Explosions Rumble Baghdad

Fox News correspondent in Baghdad just reported that mortars were found nearby, but no one injured.

Thank God.

[rickylc]

Thanks for the update!!!

[freeperfromnj]

That's quite a heavy death toll.

[jerseygirl]

Thank you! (sigh of relief)

[jerseygirl]

Another interesting tidbit regarding Syria and Swedish Uranium:

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/w...rticleID=744707

Swedish uranium may be missing

Large amounts of uranium may have gone missing from a nuclear technology company in Sweden. The American Central Intelligence Agency fears a worst-case scenario where the material has already fallen into terrorist hands, newspaper Expressen reports.

"The company (Ranstad Mineral) is a security risk and we have taken the matter to top level to get the Swedes to stop them," a CIA spokesman told the Swedish newspaper.

The CIA operative claims to know that the little Swedish company has educated Syrian nuclear physicists in the treatment of uranium. He also has information that a Swedish consultancy has sold nuclear equipment to Syria that can be used in the treatment of radioactive material.

"If it transpires that radioactive or nuclear material has been sent on from Sweden to Syria then this is a very serious matter for Sweden," the CIA source said.

After a meeting with the CIA operative Swedish authorities raided Ranstad Mineral several times and shut the company down on the grounds of deficient security.

"It was one of the worst things I have seen. The company has extremely serious deficiencies in its registration system," said Carl Magnus Larsson, divisional leader of the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority after their inspection.

[Calpernia]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--newbrunswickfire0303mar03,0,3539228.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

My kids go to school two blocks from here. There were K9s on the scene. Only traffic aloud in was for the school. All vehicles were checked before entry.

The school dismissed the children for the day at 12:30pm

The Northeast Corridor Line was not running this morning. I just heard the first train go by at 3:00pm.

Fire claims 3 buildings in New Brunswick

March 3, 2004, 9:12 AM EST

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- A fire spread to three buildings and snarled traffic near Rutgers University Wednesday morning, but no injuries were reported.

The four-alarm blaze broke out on Easton Avenue shortly after 6 a.m. More than 100 firefighters were battling the blaze, which began in a building with a ground floor restaurant with apartments above it.

http://www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20040228/localnews/40569.html
2 transit workers found dead
By DONNA DE LA CRUZ
The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- One of the two NYC Transit Authority supervisors found shot to death Friday in a trailer at the Coney Island rail yard had filed a report last year with police alleging that an employee had spit at him, police sources said.

That employee, who no longer works for the Transit Authority, had apparently been upset over an evaluation that Luigi Sedita had given him, two police sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press.
Police would not comment on whether that employee was involved in the double shooting. They were questioning a man Friday afternoon about the homicides.

Bodies of Sedita, 61, of Staten Island, and Clive Patterson of Far Rockaway, Queens, were found by a security guard at 7:40 a.m. Sedita was shot twice in his torso, and Patterson had gunshot wounds to one hand and his face. Patterson's age was not immediately known, police said.
The two cleaning supervisors were assigned to the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, and had last been seen at 4:20 a.m., a third police source said.

The two veteran workers had 33 years on the job between them, said NYC Transit President Lawrence G. Reuter.
"The murder this morning of two of our fellow NYC Transit employees at the Coney Island Overhaul Shop is as disturbing as it is shocking," Reuter said in a statement.
Police interviewed about 50 co-workers from the overnight shift as part of their investigation. Transit chaplains and grief counselors were on the scene offering assistance to those workers, Reuter said.

The victims were wearing their blue NYC Transit uniforms, along with hooded sweatshirts and gloves, the second police source said. One was still wearing an orange work vest over his clothes.

The trailer is used as a break room for workers in Coney Island. The bodies were found on the floor, and a radio was still playing, the source said.

The yard is located off the Stillwell Avenue station, the last stop in Brooklyn for several train lines. The yard is heavily secured because of vandalism in the past.
A woman who answered the telephone at Sedita's home said the family was devastated and had no comment. No one answered the telephone at Patterson's home.

[freeperfromnj]

There have been a lot of these strange occurrences lately. Glad everything is OK and that there were no chemicals involved in the fire. I was reading the story about the NY transit workers the other day and it certainly is a mystery. The story about the train in France on a bomb timer was disturbing also. Sounds like a clear case of blackmail.

[Calpernia]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1088913/posts


Explosions rock city of Karbala; at least five killed
KARBALA, Iraq (AP) -- Several explosions were heard Tuesday morning in Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims were marking the mourning festival of Ashoura. At least five people were killed, witness said.

An Associated Press reporter said the streets were in chaos with people running to seek shelter as a series of at least five explosions went off nearly simultaneously after 10 a.m. local time in and around the city, 55 miles south of Baghdad.

It wasn't immediately clear what the targets of the explosions were.