Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread 5

CNN ^ | March 12, 2004

[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.

[Letitring]

LOL. I love your choice of scripture. :) I think I'm supposed to hate the evil in the people, not the people, themselves. VERY difficult to do, in this particular instance. It's just hard for me to listen to and see the hatred directed toward Israel, Jewish people, and US. When I read that about blood instead of tears flowing, I KNEW they were scheming up a bio threat against Israel. Probably the rest of the World, too, but especially Israel. Some of those hemmoraghic fever viruses cause your tear ducts to bleed profusely. As well as every other body orifice.

[TexKat]

Russia Growls at NATO Air Patrols on Borders

Tue Mar 23, 2004 09:48 AM ET

By Tom Miles

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned Tuesday that it would "respond" to NATO warplanes patrolling on its frontiers once the three ex-Soviet Baltic states join the U.S.-led defense bloc next week but it did not say what that response would be.

"If the alliance thinks the region needs such defenses, Russia has a right to draw its own conclusions and will be forced to respond accordingly," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told a news conference in Moscow.

NATO sources have said four Danish fighters will patrol the alliance's newly extended frontiers in the skies over Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which have very limited air forces of their own, once the three join NATO Monday, March 29.

"We are now studying this step," Yakovenko said, without elaborating what form the Russian reaction might take.

Moscow bitterly opposed the expansion of its old Cold War adversary into eastern Europe and especially into territories that were until 1991 integral parts of the Soviet Union. But faced with a fait accompli it has since sought cooperation with NATO and any confrontation has been limited to the verbal.

Yakovenko said the patrols would directly affect Russian security interests and show bad faith in the coordination which the two sides tried to foster at a summit in Rome in 2002.

A better way forward would be to speed up the launch of a modified treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE), he said, referring to a Cold War-era pact limiting armed forces.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is expected in Moscow in the coming week to try to allay Russian suspicions about the plan for the Baltic states, which were left with no effective combat aircraft when they broke from Soviet control.

Russia is likely to tell him the plan is misguided.

"It's unfortunate that in taking this decision, the NATO countries didn't get a realistic picture of the military situation in the region, where there are no direct security threats, partly because of unprecedented disarmament efforts by Russia and other states," said Yakovenko.

He added that arguments that the patrols might help defend NATO members against terrorists were "barely credible."

The Baltic trio also joins the European Union on May 1. Estonia and Latvia border Russia's main landmass while Lithuania has a frontier with Moscow's Kaliningrad enclave.

[Indie]

Effective or not, doesn't mean I am not going to use my CHL in every venue. The fear of it not doing any good [and therefore not carrying my weapon] is just not rational, if that is what you are saying. I've held off commenting again until I though I was sure. What is the point of your fear of being prepared in all ways?

[Oorang]

Thanks for the link. I just always thought of Texas as our "cowboy" state (okay, I'm sterotyping here ;-)). And I agree with you. If it's a wacko suicide bomber not much will help.

On another note, how is your son doing? Have you been able to see him yet?

[TexKat]

What is the point of your fear of being prepared in all ways?

I do not have a fear of being prepared, that is not how or what the original conversation (postings) started about to begin with, I think it just went there.

[Oorang]

Hang in there NW AG. If they want to keep wondering where you all were in 1950 just tell them you were all directly above the center of the earth. Maybe that will give you some peace and quiet for at least a few minutes. Hugs.

[jerseygirl]

Same thought here. IMO AQ is reserving the radiation for US and UK. Israel has a strong nuclear deterrent, but it might be pointless to use it if bio was dispersed.

Then again, so many ME countries are so close to Israel, would they use something that could spread to their own people?

[jerseygirl]

Sure fits in with the other articles. Any idea on Russian interests in Kosovo?

[TexKat]

On another note, how is your son doing? Have you been able to see him yet?

Thanks for asking Oorang, he is doing fine and no I have not got a chance to see him yet. When my daughter's college semester is over in May we plan to take a trip to Georgia to see him. I talk with him on a daily basis over the phone and he is trying to enjoy his baby son while he can.

[Oorang]

LOL! I like how you "get to the point".

When are you going to S.A.?

[Letitring]

Sure sounds like they intend to, doesn't it? Close proximity or not, that "rotten bodies/unable to be buried in Palestine," etc., part reeks of bio weapons, to me.

[jerseygirl]

Not to change the subject, but here's an update on the disaster plan for DC & Baltimore. When this story initially broke, the team who developed the plan were on the "nuclear" committee. Those initial reports stated the plan was developed to deal with nuked victims from DC and Baltimore. The reports specifically said that victims would be radiated, burned, and many blinded.
_______________________________________________________

Frederick Mayor Upset Over Terror Casualty Plan
County Plan Calls For Transport Of Area Casualties To Frederick Fairgrounds

POSTED: 5:41 pm EST March 23, 2004
UPDATED: 6:59 pm EST March 23, 2004

FREDERICK, Md. -- A plan to use a Frederick fairground to treat casualties in a terror attack has the town's mayor speaking out.

The flap started after Frederick County officials made the decision without any input from Mayor Jennifer Dougherty, WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Lowell Melser reported.

The Genesis Plan calls for Washington, D.C., and Baltimore residents to go to the Frederick area in the event of an attack. The plan would direct victims of a potential chemical or biological attack to Frederick.

Officials are planning for preparations to deal with a mass exodus from the two cities to the Frederick area, but many in Frederick said they don't know what plan is about.

"Do I feel like the Genesis Project is poorly organized or holding back information? Both," Dougherty said.

Video


Frederick Co. Officials Plan For Disaster Without City Input
The mayor held an executive meeting Monday night, expecting to hear details, but she learned nothing, Melser reported.

"[There was] no map, no description. It was a replay of a video tape of four or five people talking at a podium," Dougherty said.

But parts of the plan have supposedly been leaked to the public, including the use of the Frederick County Fairground (pictured, left) as a staging area to treat as many as 500,000 possibly contaminated people, Melser reported.

"In the event of something terribly bad happening in Washington or Baltimore creates a public health risk for the city of Frederick and I don't think that I should stand quietly by while that happens," Dougherty said.

The mayor has called for an emergency executive session for Wednesday night to "put more meat on the bones," Melser reported. And on Thursday night, a public meeting has been scheduled where the mayor hopes to have a plan in place to present.

Stay with TheWBALChannel.com and WBAL-TV 11 News for the latest news updates.

TheWBALChannel.com.

© 2004, Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc.

[jerseygirl]

Here's an item about a potential bioattack in Japan. Didn't the AQ's threaten a maritime attack on Japan? I wonder if we are looking at AQ exploding germ filled container boats in harbors.


Herald Tribune/Asahi Asahi Weekly from SiliconValley from NY Times.com



PREPARE FOR TERROR: U.S. health chief warns of bio-attack
By TSUTOMU YAMASHITA,The Asahi Shimbun

---

Japan should follow the lead of the United States in preparing for bio-terrorism attacks that are certain to hit both countries, the U.S. secretary of health and human services said Monday.

``It is not if there is going to be an attack in Japan, it is when it is going to be,'' Tommy G. Thompson said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun.

``Japan is going to have a bio-terrorism attack sometime in the future, just like America is going to have.''

Thompson said there are terrorists everywhere, even in democratic countries. The March 11 terrorist attack in Madrid shows they can strike at any time, he said.

Thompson urged Japan, which has yet to compile a comprehensive plan to deal with bio-terrorism, to take a close look at what the United States has done.

``We have 8,000 medical personnel that practice medicine full-time in hospitals and clinics during the daytime, but have been trained by my department so that if we have a bio-terrorism attack, we can call them up and deploy them into any state, any community,'' he said.

Such personnel can vaccinate and organize emergency procedures in the event of a terrorist attack, he said.

``I urge your (Japanese) government to come and see what I am doing and look at ways in which they could replicate the same things in Japan,'' he said.

Thompson also noted that the United States has 600 tons of medical supplies, equipment, and anti-viral drugs ready for use following a terrorist attack.

``We can deploy into any city in America within seven hours 50 tons of medical supplies and equipment in order to control a bio-terrorism attack,'' he said.

Thompson was in Japan as chairman of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at an international symposium titled ``Human Security Challenges of HIV/AIDS and Communicable Diseases in Asia.''

The symposium was held at a hotel in Tokyo on Monday.(IHT/Asahi: March 23,2004) (03/23)

[TexKat]

A defining moment

By R. Bruce Hitchner and Paul R. Williams

Originally published March 23, 2004

FOUR YEARS AGO, the United Nations was charged with the responsibility of establishing a protectorate over Kosovo in order to facilitate "a political process" to determine the future of the Balkan province. The United Nations has failed in its mission, as the outbreak of ethnic violence across Kosovo and Serbia revealed.

Although the United States took the lead in the 1999 NATO intervention to protect Kosovar Albanians from the Serbian army, Washington has become distracted by the war on terrorism and handed over management of the conflict to the United Nations and the European Union. The U.S. disengagement risks squandering the immense political goodwill in Kosovo and missing an opportunity to bring about a lasting resolution of the conflict.

Ethnic violence and mistrust in Kosovo have festered because the United Nations has engaged in a series of halfway measures that are ostensibly intended to move toward final status negotiations but are little more than delaying tactics. That's because neither the United Nations nor the EU wants to come to grips with the issue of Kosovo's final status.

The most obvious example of these tactics is the so-called Standards Before Status policy, which requires the Kosovars to meet near-absolute standards on the rule of law, democratization and human rights. The provisional government of Kosovo cannot be expected to meet these lofty standards for many years. Indeed, it's doubtful that most EU member states could meet all the requirements laid out in the document.

No less dubious is the so-called Kosovo-Serb dialogue. While these talks provide the pretense that progress is being made toward eventual negotiations on final status, they have achieved little to date, focusing on trivial issues such as harmonizing phone codes and license plates.

The United Nations and the EU have purposely delayed Kosovo's final status because of a misplaced fear that independence for the province - the only viable option short of renewed conflict - would be vetoed by Russia and China in the U.N. Security Council and would threaten stability in Serbia and Bosnia. As the hostilities last week demonstrate, the imagined fears are being outpaced by realities.

To restore peace to Serbia and Kosovo, the United States must reassert its leadership in the region. The primary objective of a renewed U.S. initiative must be to halt the failed U.N. and EU approach of passive denial, which simply delays the resolution of crucial issues and fosters increasing animosity and tension among the Kosovars and Serbs.

The first step is to appoint a senior U.S. representative with the political credibility to command the respect of the Serbs and Kosovars. Then the United States should insist on a discontinuation of the meaningless Kosovo-Serb dialogue and replace it with a U.S.-led effort to determine the final status of Kosovo by summer.

The objective of the talks should be to provide for the emergence of an independent Kosovo by fall.

The United States should also encourage the EU to recognize an independent Montenegro. Only when Kosovo and Montenegro are separated from Serbia will Serbia be able to focus on the corruption and political stagnation at the core of the instability in the Balkans.

Once Kosovo is independent, the United States and the EU will be able to more effectively engage with Kosovar institutions to ensure protection of human and minority rights and the promotion of regional stability. So long as Kosovo is U.N.-run, the primary political actors cannot be held accountable and can have little control over destabilizing forces.

It is important that the Kosovo Protection Corps, an indigenous police force, be given greater responsibility to protect Kosovar civilians since it is the only security force that retains credibility among them.

Finally, the guiding principle for the United States should be to prevent the partition of Kosovo, which Serbian political leaders now publicly state is the primary objective, and which is tacitly welcomed by some Kosovars. Washington must also make clear that the independence of Kosovo should not be offset for Serbia by the partition of Bosnia.

Securing the independence of Kosovo and Montenegro is a long-overdue step in the political transformation of the Balkans. The longer this crucial step is delayed, the more volatile the region will become. We are at a defining moment in the history of the Balkans.

R. Bruce Hitchner is chairman of the Dayton Peace Accords Project at Tufts University. Paul R. Williams is the Rebecca Grazier Professor of Law and International Relations at American University.

[Oorang]

Baby son!?! Freepers want photos!

[jerseygirl]

How is it that we are expected to maintain order in so many international disputes?

[Letitring]

Sounds like the Mayor is going to hafta get a grip! Survivors will have to be evacuated from a ground zero area. Sick people, too, must be moved, if possible. Hum, seems to me the Mayor needs to develop her own evac program. Get her town emptied out before sick folks arrive? Hummmmmm. I dunno, tough one to face, for sure. If something awful happens, I expect alot of smaller towns surrounding our big cities will be made available for survivors and treatment centers. At least, I hope so. Whoever happens to live at or near ground zero, will need our help. That Mayor's attitude is NOT helpful.imho

[Indie]

Thanks Texkat. Sorry I misunderstood. It's so easy with all this threat stuff to get going off on tangents and not realize how we got there :) No offense intended at all.
There is a good thread going on about the AWB and how all it's done is increase the sale of these weapons [for fear they would be banned] and made people buy them that otherwise wouldn't have..LOL. The Rats as usual show their stupidity about cause and effect..:)

[TexKat]

This is Hamid Mir (Pakistani journalist) view point.

Afghanistan's 'pipeline police'

Russian and German oil companies had been trying to establish a pipeline from the Caspian Sea through Eastern Europe, but the American bombing of Yugoslavia blocked this plan. But Russia brokered a treaty with Iran for a pipeline route. China also began negotiating to build oil and gas pipelines from Kazakhstan.

It is obvious that not only Russia and Iran, but also China is unhappy about the growing American influence around the oil and gas resources of Central Asia. Americans have their troops not only in Afghanistan, but also in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. These troops are not there to fight terrorism. Their real task is to act as the 'pipeline police' of American oil companies. They landed in Afghanistan for a long stay and the danger cannot be ruled out that Afghanistan will become a battlefield for an oil war between Iran, Russia, and America.

Click on link to read the entire article.

[jerseygirl]

I can just imagine the horror of small towns sealing themselves off from victims.

It would be horrific to have to choose between helping victims and "containing" them, or turning them away.