Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Nine

Yahoo News ^ | 5-30-04 | DONNA ABU-NASR AP

[JustPiper]

Picture credit: TheCabal

Picture Credit:Calpernia

"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat"

LINK TO THREAD EIGHT

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia - Tens of American, European and other hostages were released Sunday and a gunman believed to be the lead Islamic militant holding them was arrested, a Saudi security official said, adding that two other gunmen were "in the process of being arrested."

We are the "Stotters" who make ourselves aware of the enemy who wishes to do us harm

[quadrant]

Expect an attack on July 4.
Its not only Independence Day but the date for Muslims has a more important significance: its the 817th anniversary of Saladin's victory at the Battle of Hattin.

[Bethshaya]

You think that was a small meteor hit like they had in Washington?

Seems an odd place for an earthquake. Its too far from the fault line, but who knows.

[Calpernia]

Please everyone. Send this out to all email distribution lists.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1150040/posts

MEDIA KNEW OF IMPENDING ROADSIDE BOMB AND FILMED IT!!
CENTCOM ^ | June 3, 2004 | CENTCOM


Posted on 06/08/2004 6:02:43 PM EDT by RaceBannon


News media gets tip of a roadside bomb and sets up cameras to film US soldiers being blown up when it went off.

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/news_release.asp?NewsRelease=20040609.txt

NEWS RELEASE

HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND

7115 South Boundary Boulevard MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101 Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 June 3, 2004 Release Number: 04-06-09

---

For additional information on the story see also:

From Palace Of Reason

http://www.palaceofreason.com/Curmudgeon/curmudgeon.html

then select "Firing 'Em Up" from the left menu):

Fran's Sunday Follies, A Saturday Edition: Firing 'Em Up

June 5, 2004

Either I've been teleported interdimensionally to a world where black is white, Kirk is evil, and Spock wears a beard, or a significant occupational group has declared its colors, and they're not red, white, and blue:

COALITION SOLDIERS QUESTION NEWS MEDIA FOLLOWING ROADSIDE BOMB

MOSUL, Iraq - Coalition soldiers questioned two news media cameramen and a reporter after a roadside bomb exploded near a Coalition convoy two kilometers north of Mosul June 3.

The media, who were at the scene prior to the attack, told soldiers at the scene they had received a tip to be at that location prior to the attack and they had witnessed the explosion.

There was minimal damage to a Coalition vehicle, a cracked windshield, and no serious injuries.

3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division soldiers requested the media accompany them to a base camp in Mosul to answer questions as witnesses to the incident. The news media representatives left the base camp in the mid afternoon. [from CENTCOM's June 3 news release. Reference courtesy of Sarah at Trying To Grok.]

This is not the habitual behavior of so-called "journalists." If precedent holds, it will not get a lot of play in the Old Media. It's up to us of the New Media to spread it as far as we possibly can.

Imagine yourself in the situation described. Imagine receiving a tip, from a source you had some reason to believe, that an explosive ambush had been prepared in a particular place, and that lives were at hazard as a result. What would you do? Without reference to the identities of the bombers, their probable victims, or any other element of the tableau: what would you do?

Wouldn't elementary human decency oblige you to tell whoever might be able to avert the atrocity, and urge him to check it out? Wouldn't that be compulsory for anyone with a shred of regard for human life?

Had the above incident happened in any part of these United States, the "journalists" would be indictable as accessories before the fact to attempted murder. What will happen to them in consequence of events as reported from Iraq is anyone's guess. Mine is that they'll step away unscathed, legally and occupationally.

Legal questions to the side, how can a decent man, whatever his nationality or trade, merely watch as others hurtle into deadly peril -- a peril of which the observer could have forewarned him? What price "objectivity," "impartiality," or any other euphemism for this sort of callousness?

Will their "journalist" brethren remonstrate with them for having watched in silence? Not if recent interviews with high-line "reporters" like Mike Wallace are any indication. More likely, the Mosul miscreants will be patted on the back and lauded for having upheld the "standards" of the "profession."

Which brings me to another bit of spleen tokage: "journalists'" self-attribution of "professionalism." If there's a word in the English language that's been abused worse, I'm unaware of it -- and I'm the dictator verborum for the New York Metropolitan area.

A professional is emphatically not just a white-collar employee who draws a salary instead of an hourly wage. A professional is emphatically not just a tradesman who takes his work seriously. A professional is one who professes a code of ethics that takes precedence over his own interests. Medicine, law, and the clergy, the trades traditionally called professions, all conform to that stricture. Persons in each of those trades must swear before witnesses to a code of ethical conduct that obliges them to lay down their own lives rather than break its rules.

"Journalists," while claiming exemption from any ethical standard whatsoever in the name of "objectivity," nonetheless call themselves "professionals." The word is infinitely too good for them. Given the way they routinely deceive, distort, and suppress vital news when it suits their editorial agendas or political proclivities to do so, they aren't even honest workmen.

Some will say that "journalists" do uphold a standard of sorts: "protecting their sources." Please! That isn't an ethically based constraint; it's an attempt to retain a competitive edge over other "journalists" who don't have access to the source, and to protect the source from the consequences of any lies he might utter. It's so selfish a precept that it defies comparison to any notion ever advanced as moral or ethical.

In the name of "protecting their sources, "journalists" have spread the foulest of calumnies, ruining lives and reputations wholesale. Now, in the name of "objectivity," they're allowing other men -- American soldiers, who volunteered to take up arms and risk death in service to their country! -- to walk into harm's way unawares. They sit and watch, with cameras rolling, as the crosshairs of Islamist insurgents and terrorists settle on the chests of American men at arms.

People think lawyers are a plague upon the land. At least lawyers, though they might leave you broke, will leave you your life.

Who is teaching "journalists" that this is acceptable behavior? Is it their older mentors and role models? Is it the journalism schools and professors of communications? Or is it We The People, by consuming their product in blissful disregard for the poisons in the recipe?

Shame on them. Shame on all of us.

If this is the way "journalists" regard their occupational obligations and perquisites, they're as dangerous to our men at arms as the weapons of the enemy, and should be treated as such.

[Oorang]

I should have put "/sarcasm" after that. It was just the line "no terrorism here, move along sheeple, move along".

[mindspy]

I want to know which media agency they were with and they should be kicked out of Iraq. If they are U.S. journalists they need to be tried for treason.

[Myrddin]

Two hundred feet to five hundred feet of altitude isn't enough for a good airburst to be really effective. You'd need something like 1500 to 2000 feet and timing of the blast would be critical. Something special in the way of triggers and detonators. An ICBM fired from a nationstate like Russia (the former USSR) or China (possible now thanks to Clinton) would have the lab facilities to construct such a device and test it until they got it right.

Why would timing be critical? Consider a jihadi flying a Cessna 182 with a nuke inside. The plane has plenty of carrying capacity and it is too slow to make a getaway after laying down the weapon. It is a nuclear suicide bomber with the ability to fly to the optimum point in space and push a detonation switch.

[Cindy]

VALID ids are legal and can be used for legal purposes.

[Godzilla]

"Thanks Indie....I check this site just about every other day...and 482 earthquakes in the U.S. in the past week alone.....well I can remember a time when every tremor was reported!

Relax, 90+% of the ones shown were not even felt by those directly over them. There were almost twice that shortly after the Santa Monica quake a couple of months ago. Seismic equipment is more sensitive and extensively deployed now-a-days that more of these smaller quakes are being recorded. Don't lose any sleep over it.

[nwctwx]

It's not as uncommon as you would think. There are fault lines near the Red River. I remember one or 2 small quakes in the 4 years I lived in North Texas.

Quakes can happen just about anywhere even though they are most common along major plate boundaries.

You would need a pretty sizeable rock to hit earth to cause much shaking.

[ExSoldier]

Good point and a good demonstration of critical thinking. Wish I could get my students to emulate you! ~WHEW~ I'm ready for summer vacation in three days!

The airburst might only be viable if the ground security situation was just too tight. Even then, I can't imagine a Cessna getting past fully loaded "high cover" from F16's into a downtown area. Even an airburst at the correct altitude will probably be not as effective radiation wise. But then....a nuke is a nuke is a nuke. Right?

Speaking of high cover. I remember in the first few days after 911, when everything was grounded and the USAF was over every major city and loaded fer bear, an F15 screamed in over my portable classroom at about 1000 feet and kicked in his afterburners. The kids screamed and were absolutely terrified. I yelled at them to run outside and look up, which they did. we were just in time to see the bird scream out of sight in a vertical (ballistic) climb, afterburners just mere bright dots against the blue sky. As the sound rolled over Miami and died away I shouted to them as they craned their necks up:

"Hear that? That's the SOUND OF FREEDOM! They are there, risking their lives to keep YOU safe." I was never prouder to be both an American and a veteran. Most of my students are Haitian immigrants. It made an impression.

[ExSoldier]

I thought California got earthquakes and Florida got Hurricanes because Florida won the "toss" and got to choose first.

[liberallyconservative]

Awesome. I got a chill just reading this. Wish we had more teachers like you.

[ExSoldier]

"Expect an attack on July 4."

I think we've expected such an attack since 911. I wouldn't be surprised if this year is the winner, but I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't suffer multiple attacks far in advance perhaps beginning by this Friday. It is also possible that the transit of venus (which has a significance to the Jihadist mentality as being significant to Allah) which took place today could be seen as a sort of universal "go code" for action. That possibility was previously mentioned here on TM.

[exlibris]

Just a point of fact here, please.

Labyrinthos, you write: "From what I've read, the protesters are being kept in New Brunswick, GA more than an hour away."

NEW Brunswick is in CANADA.

The place in Georgia is just plain BRUNSWICK.

[MamaDearest]

He would see it bought and named the Clinton Coop.

That was excellent Granny. That should actually include anyplace the former pres spends/spent much time.

[all4one]

Thanks, this info. coming from you gives me reassurance.

[Myrddin]

I lived one mile north of the Miramar runway in San Diego for 17 years. F14, F16N, F5, FA18, E2C and a variety of other aircraft were common all day long. When Topgun moved, the Marines brought in helicopter and lots of FA18. The more exotic stuff showed up for the annual airshow. It was jazzed to see the SR71 make 4 complete transits of the pattern before departing. AV8 Harriers performing slow speed maneuvers for the airshow crowd is impressive and VERY loud. That is one of the few things I miss after moving to Idaho.

I have a tiny advantage over your students on the issue of ideal placement of a nuke. I get paid to pick the ideal way to do it. NATO and USSTRATCOM. The usual delivery vehicle isn't a jihadi in a C182 either :-)

[null and void]

Back from Bio2004

Pi$$ed off a protester...

[null and void]

Take 2:

[all4one]

Explosion Probe Continues In Northeast Baltimore Feds Stop Short Of Confirming Pipe Bomb Explosion

POSTED: 10:04 am EDT June 8, 2004 UPDATED: 6:46 pm EDT June 8, 2004 BALTIMORE -- Federal agents are stopping short of confirming that a pipe bomb caused an explosion Tuesday morning in northeast Baltimore......

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Eight Injured In Well Explosion (Texas)

At least eight people were injured Tuesday in a fiery gas well explosion in Robertson County, abou 60 miles southeast of Waco......

Link to Full Article

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Another Local Junkyard Up In Flames Cars Going Up In Big Blaze (2nd Junkyard fire in one Day - Philadelphia)

POSTED: 4:44 pm EDT June 8, 2004 The second fire at a junkyard in the NBC 10 viewing area in the past day has closed a roadway as crews battle a roaring blaze. Route 50 is currently closed in both directions between the Black Horse Pike and White Horse Pike in Mays Landing, N.J. due to the fire. Police said Route 50 will remain closed until at least 9 p.m. Tuesday......

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