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Thread Six: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1109459/posts |
Posted on 03/12/2004 8:23:06 PM PST by thecabal
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- This week's deadly train bombings in Spain will not lead to a rise in the U.S. color-coded terror threat alert system, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said Friday.
"Based on the current intelligence, we have no specific indicators that terrorist groups are considering such an attack in the U.S. in the near term," said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Nice try but I'll have to disagree. [circle gets the square!!]
By Afif Diab
KFAR SHOUBA, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas attacked Israeli posts in a disputed border area on Monday, drawing air raids, in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza.
Witnesses said they saw smoke rising from one Israeli position at Roueissat al-Aalam after the Syrian and Iranian-backed group launched mortar and rocket attacks.
Israeli aircraft and tanks fired back at Hizbollah targets on the outskirts of Lebanese border towns, an Israeli army spokesman said. There were no reports of casualties.
The Israeli spokesman issued a statement saying Israel had no interest in escalating violence, but would strike against anyone who "uses or supports terrorism" against Israeli civilians.
Hizbollah's al-Manar TV said Sheikh Ahmed Yassin Brigades, named after the assassinated Hamas leader, carried out the attacks on six Israeli positions.
"The martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's Brigades struck all of the Zionist enemy's positions in the Shebaa Farms using direct weapons and rockets scoring direct hits," it said.
"What happened today is the natural consequence of the crimes of the Zionist enemy against the Palestinian people, especially its assassination today of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin," Hizbollah spokesman Sheikh Hassan Izzedine told Reuters.
"What does the Zionist entity expect but more anger, condemnation, enmity and support for the Palestinian people?"
The border has been quiet in recent weeks but there have been sporadic flareups since Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.
Hizbollah says Shebaa Farms is Israeli-held Lebanese territory. The United Nations regards the area as occupied Syrian land.
Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah had earlier said that Israel would pay a heavy price for Yassin's killing.
Yassin's Hamas group has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings since the start of a Palestinian uprising more than three years ago.
Israeli warplanes had swooped over southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley earlier in the day.
Wyoming: A case study
To its credit, Wyoming, the least populous state in the U.S., does not feel like an ideal place for a terrorist attack. The 493,800 people who live here have a well-deserved affection for the state's yawning prairie land, framed by mountains and speckled with elk, antelope and mule deer.
Wyoming's biggest city is Cheyenne, the capital, which is still not serviced by jet liners. "It's very hard to hide in Wyoming," says Joe Moore, head of Wyoming's office of homeland security, on my first morning in town. "By the end of the day, everyone will know you're here."
Like most rural states, Wyoming does not have a lot of money from property taxes to outfit its police, fire and emergency-services personnel. On top of that, the legislature has never been too generous. Until recently, it wasn't unusual for a fire station to hold a bake sale to raise money.
Last summer, after a vintage World War II-era German bomber crashed into a building in Cheyenne, fire, ambulance and airport personnel could not talk to one another over their radios because they use different equipment. "We eventually ended up sending runners like the Greeks," says Brian Grimm, communications officer for the state office of homeland security.
Now that Wyoming is the nation's No. 1 state recipient of homeland-security money per capita, Cheyenne has access to a mobile radio system that allows different agencies to talk to one another, thanks to $52,000 in federal money.
Federal money has also brought Wyoming four command vehicles; enough protective haz-mat suits for every police officer, sheriff's deputy and coroner in the state; and a robot named Miss Daisy that can help dismantle bombs and dispose of toxic chemicals.
All these items will more than likely save lives. Haz-mat suits can be used for highway oil spills and police raids of crystal-meth labs. As the fire fighters will tell you, they should have had this equipment years ago. Mark Young, chief of the Casper fire department, says of federal authorities, "They've done us all a favor in this state. We're not gonna waste their money."
But a strange thing has happened since September 11. Moore and some of his counterparts in other rural and small states have become convinced that their turf is just as threatened as Washington, New York and Chicago.
Our citizens deserve the same kind of protection that they're afforded in other places in the country -- Lori Emmert, Douglas, Wyoming police chief
One recent morning, Moore rattled off his doomsday scenarios: "We have two major interstate highways, and a significant proportion of the traffic is hazardous materials. We have two major railroads. Also, Wyoming has major mining, major electrical generating plants and coal-bed methane. Any one of those becomes a vulnerability for a terrorist."
A former FBI agent, Moore works in an office decorated with a sketch of a longhorn sheep and a picture of the burning Twin Towers with the phrase 'Constant Vigilance.' When I ask him how he would prioritize limited federal money, he declines to answer. "We don't have crystal balls. We just believe that we're as important as anyone else."
Over and over again, when I ask Wyoming officials about relative risk, they talk about relative worth. "Our citizens deserve the same kind of protection that they're afforded in other places in the country," says Lori Emmert, chief of police in Douglas (pop. 5,288), which has just received a new $50,000 silver RV that serves as an emergency-operations command center, paid for with federal dollars.
When I ask a group of 22 fire fighters in Casper whether they feel insulted by suggestions that they should get less homeland-security money, they all nod in agreement.
"No one can say Casper can't be a terrorist target," says fire fighter Roy Buck. Taking the point further, Peter Beering, terrorism-preparedness chief in Indianapolis, Indiana, writes in 'First to Arrive,' a Harvard collection of essays on emergency preparedness, "In an era of satellite television ... attacking a rural target may actually instill more fear by delivering the message that no one is safe."
While that is a valid point, certain kinds of attacks would kill far fewer people in Casper than they would in Boston, owing to population density. And as it stands, the funding system is vulnerable to opportunism. While money for homeland security has grown, regular state and federal funding for police and fire operations continues to be cut as both state legislatures and the Bush Administration try to control growing budget deficits.
In order to get the homeland-security money, states and localities must frame their needs in terms of terrorism. Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal defends his state's allotment but admits there is an incentive to see terrorism all around.
"If you're trying to pick up an ambulance, you may know that ambulance will be used for natural disasters, but the paperwork will have to reflect terrorism. That's the problem," he says."Money distorts objectivity."
Click on link to read the article in its entirety.
All of us.
Thanks tmp02. I pray for our troops in Afganistan and Iraq, in harms way.
Then what do you think it is Indie?
A little cryptic, care to expand? Is it us, or the Indians, or just nonjihadis in general?
If their religion of "peace" told them to hate us, then it must be true.
A pat on the back or a small amount of money doesn't equate the loss of a child to us. To them, it's a great honor. Cultures are at opposite ends here.
Liar Liar your Pants are on Fire!
The next full moon is April 5th. Palm Sunday is April 4th....Passover begins at sundown on April 5th....Good Friday is April 9th and Easter is on April 11th. The moon phases are very important in Islamic culture. While the posting on Jill's site is cryptic, one can still cull some meaning from it. My thought is that perhaps they could plan strikes to coincide with both the Christian holy days as well as the Jewish, during the same week.
I know that part of terrorism is the "threat" of what could be possible. I also think that is is maddening that those who live in mud huts and use donkey's for transportation are terrorizing the civilized countries of the world. Sadly, based on countries like Spain they are making progress at a time when they should be eradicated.
If we bombed the @&*! (French) out of them, we could keep them permanently underground in the lifestyle they seem to prefer.
I feel like a bit of a hypocrite by asking this, but it's not for me. I'm not a very religious person, but I do believe in God. My little sister (who is only 26) has just been diagnosed with cancer. Apparently it is in stage 4, which is very dangerous. She has to get into surgery immediately or she is in trouble. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any insurance coverage or money. Our family is trying to find a way to get her into surgery right away. I ask that you please pray for her recovery, she's going to have quite a fight ahead of her.
Thank you everyone for your time.
Red Cross Plans for Disaster in D.C.
The Associated Press Mar 22, 2004
WASHINGTON - The American Red Cross has developed a plan to ferry emergency supplies and vehicles to the District of Columbia over waterways using military-style landing craft if the region's roads and bridges are closed or damaged during a terrorist attack.
By the end of April, the relief agency's National Capital Area chapter plans to test the possibility of using landing vehicles along the Potomac and Anacostia rivers in Virginia and Washington.
The 74-foot steel crafts could carry ambulances, food kitchens, communications vehicles or other gear. Several local, regional and federal emergency response plans contain detailed transportation sections, but don't say much about D.C. waterways. The capital's waterfront is little used and does not have major port, ferry or commercial operations, unlike shorelines in Baltimore, Chicago and New York.
Emergency planners say the limits of the area's road grid were demonstrated Sept. 11, 2001, when authorities triggered hours of gridlock by restricting traffic on two bridges as a security precaution.
In March 2003, a tractor-riding farmer caused a 47-hour traffic shutdown by threatening to set off explosives on the Mall.
To bypass traffic bottlenecks, the Red Cross and defense contractor XL Associates of Rockville, Md., have proposed permanently basing mechanized landing craft in the area for emergencies, said Keith Berkery, disaster operations manager for the Red Cross's National Capital Area. The agency has identified 10 landing sites. Half are in Virginia, near locations such as Old Town Alexandria, the Pentagon and Reagan National Airport.
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