Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

404 is the phone prefix 404-000-0000 for inside I-285 in Atlanta

Hmmmm. Now this is getting even more intriguing:

Train blast mystery deepening

N. Korean disaster may have been assassination bid, observers say

By DOUG SAUNDERS
From Thursday's Globe and Mail

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The railway explosion that killed more than 160 people, injured 1,300 and destroyed more than 8,000 homes in North Korea last week remains deeply shrouded in mystery, leading some observers to speculate that it was something other than a freak accident.

Pyongyang's totalitarian government has offered little explanation for last Thursday's disaster, except to say that a train carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer had accidentally contacted an electrical line. Yesterday, North Korean officials issued a statement saying that the disaster's effects were similar to "100 bombs, each weighing one tonne" and that it resulted in "horrible human and material loss within the radius of four kilometres."

The blast occurred nine hours after North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il and his private train passed through the site, near the Chinese border. Mr. Kim has made no statements or public appearances since.

Rail-transport experts said yesterday that while ammonium nitrate is considered an explosive material and is a component in bomb construction, such rail-borne explosions are extremely rare and are considered highly unlikely when standard fertilizer is transported using conventional methods. To become highly explosive, it generally has to be mixed with other chemicals.

"It is inordinately rare -- I can't tell you about another case I've ever heard of," said Robert Halstead, president of IronWood Technologies, an engineering firm that has investigated hundreds of rail disasters on behalf of U.S. governments. "Certainly nothing we've ever done has involved ammonium nitrate, and nothing I've ever heard of -- most rail explosions involve [propane] or liquefied natural gas."

Yet transportation officials in Canada and the United States said in interviews yesterday that ammonium nitrate is classified as an explosive hazardous material in both countries and is frequently carried by rail.

Mr. Halstead and other experts acknowledged that North Korea's safety standards are likely far more lax than those in North America, and that it would not have been impossible for an explosion on this scale to be caused by accident.

Some North Korean defectors, however, insisted that the possibility of an assassination attempt, or an explosion staged to attract international attention, was highly likely given North Korea's past behaviour.

"There is a possibility that some terrorists or rebellious groups wanted to kill Kim Jong-il," Kim Yong Sung, a 71-year-old defector, said at a Washington press event yesterday, according to Agence France-Presse.

James Lilley, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and China, speculated this week that the disaster may have been an assassination attempt. He said groups opposed to Mr. Kim "realize the system depends so much on him and the system is so bad and punitive that some people could have just taken the situation into their own hands."

Mr. Kim travels almost exclusively by train and makes frequent visits to China. North Korean defectors say that these trips often invite disaster, since the Korean transportation system is expected to come to a halt.

"So, right after Kim Jong-il arrives at some destination, all the other trains start moving again," An Hyuk, another defector, said in Washington. "Because of these complications, whenever Kim goes somewhere, after that a lot of trains hit each other and [cause] a lot of train accidents."

Indeed, some experts on the Pyongyang regime said that disorganization and incompetence were the most likely causes of the blast.

"The circumstances which allowed an incident of this magnitude to come about, and the official response to it, may or may not reflect very well on the North Korean government, but it seems a bit far-fetched to suggest complicity," said Adam Ward, a North Korea specialist with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv.../International/

"So I was guessing May 3rd."

I think the 2nd to 3rd is a full moon.

AK-47s Headed to U.S. Had Legal Permits

Wed Apr 28, 4:13 PM ET

By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A U.S.-bound shipment of thousands of AK-47 assault rifles and other
combat-type weapons, seized by Italian authorities who suspected they were being smuggled,
actually have legal permits to be imported, American officials said Wednesday.

About 7,500 AK-47s, AKM rifles and other weapons worth an estimated $6 million were
seized April 20 aboard a Turkish-flagged ship in the port of Gioia Tauro. They were bound for
New York from Romania.

At the time, Italian authorities said the guns were hidden aboard the ship.

But Andrew Lluberes, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives, said the weapons actually were cleared by U.S. authorities. "The permits are
valid," he said.

A 1994 law prevents the U.S. gun industry from making, importing or selling military-style
semiautomatic weapons.

But under ATF regulations, a properly licensed company can ship such weapons to a "custom
bonded warehouse" in the United States. There, they are disassembled and their key firing
components destroyed. The remaining parts can then be reconfigured into a weapon that will
meet the letter of the 1994 law and can be sold legally in the United States.

Two U.S. law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the weapons
seized in Italy were being shipped to a Century International Arms Inc. facility in Georgia, Vt.
The company's Internet site bills Century as "North America's largest importer/exporter of
surplus firearms and accessories."

An official at the company, which is based on Boca Raton, Fla., refused to comment
Wednesday.

Dean Boyd, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said American and
Italian authorities continue to investigate the case. The weapons remain in Italy.

The 1994 weapons ban is set to expire Sept. 13 unless extended by Congress. Gun control
groups have been lobbying to win an extension, which President Bush (news - web sites)
promised to support during his 2000 campaign.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is planning a Capitol Hill rally and march on
Mother's Day, May 9, to push for renewal of the assault weapons ban.

news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=...s_seized_1
http://p080.ezboard.com/fthefinalphasefrm18.showMessage?topicID=5255.topic

Good job Selene, but be wary and be careful, you never know what you may run across!

Yes, that's about what I've read.

You summed it up quite well, Quix.

Something happened, but we can't tell you what it was!

Not good.

2004 May 04: Total Lunar Eclipse

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html

Thanks Ma

The eclipse will not be visible here in the states though.

Here's a graphic of where it will be though...
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2004May04T.gif

I don't know how to post a graphic to the thread :/

Hmmm
Commie Celebration: May Day, 05-01-04
add two days 5-03-04

Full Moon- 05-04-04

WILLFULLY

BLIND, DEAF, DUMB SHEEPLE

CHRONICALLY

addicted to mental masaturbation and other kinds alone or in circle jerks pretending that's the best life has to offer their peeeee brains.

Sigh.

Beyond disgusting. Sigh.

NEW YORK (AP) A jury finds that the World Trade Center attack should be considered just one attack for most insurers involved, handing a defeat to leaseholder Larry Silverstein.

Kerry calls for more chemical plant security
04/29/04
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Thursday accused the Bush administration of being lax in requiring chemical plants to assess their risks of a catastrophic terrorist attack, saying "I wish their policies were as tough as their words."
FULL STORY
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/29/kerry.security.ap/index.html

U.S. debates missile defenses for airliners
04/29/04
The House aviation subcommittee on Thursday approved a bill designed to counter the threat of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to U.S. airliners and airports by speeding the development of aircraft defense systems, among other measures.
FULL STORY
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/04/29/airlines.missiles.ap/index.html

The enemy wishes to remain hidden ... expose him. The enemy wishes to inflict death ... deny him. The enemy wishes to dominate ... destroy him, for such is their evil.

-Amen

Quix, you've got some serious bottled-up rage, there. Tell us how you REALLY feel - you're among friends, that's why we're all here.

::grin::

9/11 panel finishes Bush, Cheney session...3-hour private testimony was at the White House (AP) http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4862296/

Pentagon denies deal in Fallujah; 10 GIs die...Eight U.S. soldiers killed in car bombing near Baghdad (MSNBC) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4824213/

Briefing "must reads"

Iraq congress members under investigation...Allegations include abduction, robbery, assault, car theft (Lisa Myers) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4855109/

Saddam security blamed for postwar bombings...Intelligence report: Campaign planned prior to U.S.-led invasion (MSNBC) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4862536/

No permit for protest at GOP convention...Anti-war group told that N.Y. crowd would be too big (AP) http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4862641

Los Angeles malls on terror alert...Residents of Los Angeles' Westside were asked to be on the lookout for unusual activities around local shopping malls after a terrorism task force reported an "uncorroborated" threat of a possible attack Thursday.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4861685/

Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, has been pegged as a possible leaker of the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to a syndicated columnist, according to accounts in a book by former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, Plame's husband. (AP) http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040429/D828K32O0.html

North Korea's Top Priority Remains Secrecy After Blast
By JAMES BROOKE
North Korea's response to the train tragedy has been consistent with its larger survival strategy: maximize economic gain and minimize political risk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/29/international/asia/29kore.html?th

How could 'illegal' weapons have a legal ok?

THANKS.

AM adding it to my Webshots screensaver.