Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

The terrorists are seeking nationhood. They attacked us in a most provacative way so we would have to respond. This was essential to their plan. In order for them to build a unified Arab world, they had to construct an us/them situation. It could be argued that we fell into their trap by running over their and playing out their script too quickly. This 3 year period has not been mishandled by the terror strategists when we realize that Arab unification/nationhood is the agenda. There is convincing evidence that they could certainly have detonated a suitcase(s) here (among other horrors), but that they have chosen not to at this time because this near 3 year period has deliberately been used as a time of "fertility" to seed hate, rage, and revenge. These elements are essential for the plan to build unification and obtain nationhood. In the minds of the terrorist planners, the Arab world needs to taste, breathe, and live "humiliation and victimhood" in order to build support and enthusiasm for the next step.
Imagine if, after 9/11, they continued to successively attack us in these horrific ways. The world community would have crushed them with their unanimous unity. Their fellow Arabs (non-terrorists) would be at a loss to understand and explain this terrorist aggression, and they too, would sympathize with us, and distance themselves from the terrorists. Instead, the strategic plan of deliberately waiting is serving the terrorist agenda. The Arab world is unifying as they feel victimized by our interventions.
I realize that they are taking substantial hits, but I can't overlook that these people know that they are strategically sacrificing "pieces" (like a chessmaster)with their eye on the final "checkmate."
And by the way, doesn't chess originate from this corner of the world? I don't think we are looking at sloppy strategists.

Considering the recent threats...this is really unbelievable!!!

Special Screening at Ports Will End

By Shaun Waterman UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

The Bush administration has pledged to eliminate special security checks imposed on men entering the United States from a list of mainly Muslim countries considered a risk for terrorism.

"Our long-term goal," senior homeland security official Asa Hutchinson told Arab-American leaders Friday, "is to treat [all visitors] the same way, and not based on where you come from."

Mr. Hutchinson also distinguished the approach of the Homeland Security Department from those of other parts of the administration, notably Attorney General John Ashcroft's Justice Department.

Under the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, introduced in November 2002, men holding visas from one of 25 listed nations — including the Muslim-majority nations of Yemen, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Iran — have had to be fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed at U.S. ports of entry........

Entire Article Here

US Embassy Riyadh issues warden alert

United States Department of State

WARDEN MESSAGE

June 13, 2004

The recent terrorist attacks on Westerners in Riyadh appear to have involved extensive planning and preparation and were likely preceded by extensive pre-attack surveillance. Often, this pre-attack surveillance can be detected.

Be aware of your surroundings. Take note of vehicles or individuals that do not appear to belong in the area and immediately report them to authorities.

Vary your times and routes to and from destinations. Whenever possible, do not have a set day for shopping, errands and personal needs. Be unpredictable in your work and social schedules. Unpredictable targets are hard targets.

Avoid areas frequented by Westerners and avoid establishments at times when Westerners constitute the majority of the patrons.

Maintain a low personal profile by avoiding actions that may draw attention to yourself.

Keep your colleagues and family aware of your daily plans and ensure that they know how to reach you.

In traffic, always try to leave space in which to maneuver. Do not get boxed in; always leave yourself an exit. When stopped in traffic, think about what you would do if an incident occurred. Be prepared to take evasive action at any time.

Be wary of detours.

If you are being followed or harassed by another driver, drive to the nearest police station, hotel, or other public facility and summon the police. Never leave your vehicle to confront a harasser.

To the extent possible, do not schedule regular meetings at either the start or end of the day. Arrival and departure times from home to office can become unacceptably predictable if employees must schedule their commute around regularly scheduled meetings.

Check the interior and exterior of your vehicle prior to getting into your vehicle? Are there items in on or around your vehicle that are suspicious? If so, do not touch your vehicle, leave the area immediately and notify the authorities.

American citizens requiring assistance from the Embassy or its Consulates in Dhahran or Jeddah may contact a consular official during normal working hours, Saturday through Wednesday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, at the following numbers:

American Embassy Riyadh
01-488-3800, Extensions 4315, 4591

American Consulate Dhahran
03-330-3200, Extensions 3085, 3120

American Consulate Jeddah
02-667-0080, Extensions 4610, 4445

During nonworking hours, a duty officer is available and can be reached by dialing the Embassy or Consulate telephone number listed above and following the recorded instructions.

The U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia refers American citizens to the current Department of State Travel Warning for Saudi Arabia dated April 15, 2004 and issued as Warden Message #9/2004. In addition, on May 1, the Mission disseminated revised Public Announcements - Worldwide Caution - and - Middle East and North Africa - as Warden Messages and . These documents are available on the Embassy’s home page at and on Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs website at http://travel.state.gov.

As the Department continues to develop information on any potential security threats to U.S. citizens overseas, it shares credible threat information through its consular information program documents, available on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov. In addition to information on the Internet, travelers may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the U.S. or outside the U.S. and Canada on a regular toll line at 1-317-472-2328.

American citizens already registered with the Embassy in Riyadh or the Consulates in Jeddah or Dhahran are reminded to update their registration information regularly with an estimated date of departure. See http://riyadh.usembassy.gov/wwwhcn6.html for registration information.

Two shopping mall bomb plots thwarted. That is really good news, but as ffnj said, there are a lot more where these two scumbags came from.

What really worries me most right now is not a catastrophic attack (although I stay prepared and ready for such an event), but one or two mall bombings. That could really skew the elections. I'm not really sure how the sheeple would react to such an incident. I know how the hard-core lefties would react, the I don't thing the hardcore liberals are a majority. They just scream the loudest.

On another note, this past Saturday I passed 2 fire trucks responding to a suspicious package on Rt.66W at the Vienna metro station. Don't know whatever became of it. My buddy said it happens all the time.

BOMB IN GERMANY WAS SET BY REMOTE CONTROL

The Associated Press
6/14/2004, 12:05 p.m. ET

BERLIN (AP) -- A bomb that injured 22 people on a shopping street in Cologne last week was set off by remote control, investigators said Monday.

State police crime scene specialists came to the conclusion after identifying fragments found as parts of the triggering device, said Cologne police spokesman Wolfgang Beus.

He would not say exactly what kind of device police believed was used, saying it could jeopardize the ongoing investigation.

The blast last Wednesday afternoon spewed nails along a shopping street in a Turkish immigrant neighborhood of Cologne. German Interior Minister Otto Schily has said it probably was the work of common criminals, not terrorists.

The bomb consisted of a gas canister filled with gunpowder and nails, Beus said. It was most likely in a backpack strapped to a bicycle that was left in front of the two buildings that suffered the worst damage.

Witnesses saw a man with blonde hair in his 30s leaning the bicycle against a hair salon minutes before the bomb went off.

German authorities offered a $24,000 reward Friday for clues that lead to an arrest in the bombing and have put up wanted posters in German and Turkish around the area.

Police said they had no other leads in the case and had not ruled out political terrorism, an anti-foreigner attack or crime gang rivalries.

Muslim special interests 1....American schoolchildren 0. Rules only apply to majority. My prediction is that lawsuits will help the Muslim minority make huge strides in our liberal school system.

Okla. School District Revises Dress Code to Settle Lawsuit Over Religious Clothing (Muslim Headscarf)

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma school district has revised its dress code to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of a sixth-grader who wanted to wear her Muslim head scarf to class.

Nashala Hearn, now 12, was suspended twice last year by the Muskogee Public School District for wearing the hijab. School officials said her clothing violated a dress code banning hats, bandanas and other head coverings — a rule intended to curb gang-related activity.

In March, the Justice Department joined a lawsuit filed on her behalf by a Virginia-based civil rights group. A federal judge approved the settlement last month.

"This experience has been very stressful, very depressing and very humiliating," Hearn said.

Starting this fall, students can wear religious head coverings to school if they apply and have their requests approved by the school board, officials said.

Under the settlement, the district also must pay an undisclosed amount of money, said Leah Farish, Hearn's lawyer. The lawsuit had sought $80,000 in damages.

Muskogee is about 125 miles east of Oklahoma City.

Link to Article

THE TERRORIST NEXT DOOR

Al Qaeda Operative Provides Insight Into Sleeper Cells in U.S.

By Pierre Thomas, Mary Walsh and Jason Ryan

C O L U M B U S, Ohio, Sept. 8, 2003— "The weather is too hot," Iyman Faris wrote in an e-mail last winter to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks. The message meant: Destroying the Brooklyn Bridge would be too difficult.

From Pakistan, Mohammed had sent Faris on a mission to scout the feasibility of bringing down the bridge by slashing its suspension cables.

The e-mail message caught the eye of CIA and FBI agents when they began examining Mohammed's computer after he was captured last March. Mohammed then fingered Faris, who, when confronted by the FBI in April, admitted he was an al Qaeda sleeper — a terrorist lying in wait for instructions.

"We learned a lot from this case about al Qaeda," said Kevin Brock, the FBI special agent in charge of the Faris investigation. "They are not afraid to reach out and task American citizens like Iyman Faris to do their bidding, to take overt steps to further terrorist conspiracy."

The case of Faris, the only confessed al Qaeda sleeper caught on U.S. soil, offers disturbing insight into the way the terrorist organization has attempted to operate in the United States. And Faris may have been far more dangerous than previously known.

Double Life

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced June 19 that Faris, 34, had pleaded guilty to two counts of providing material support to terrorists. Faris admitted living a "secret double life," Ashcroft said.

Although he appeared to be a normal, hardworking truck driver to his associates and neighbors, he was also an al Qaeda operative who met with Osama bin Laden and helped plot new attacks in the United States, Ashcroft said.

Faris, who was born in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, originally came to the United States in May 1994 and became a U.S. citizen in December 1999.

A commercial truck driver, Faris had access to airports and was licensed to haul flammable, poisonous chemicals.

Despite the fact he was at times suicidal, Faris was able to keep that license. He once tried to jump off a bridge in downtown Columbus, and was briefly housed in a mental hospital.

In an exclusive interview with ABCNEWS, his ex-wife, Geneva Bowling, said Faris sometimes woke up in the middle of the night screaming and told her he saw demons when he was awake.

"He would tell me about the man that he talked to when he would go out and have the blackouts," Bowling told ABCNEWS. "He was a half-man that looked like him and he would be up in the tree."

But Ohio transportation officials maintain they were never aware Faris suffered from psychological problems. "The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles had no knowledge that this person might be a dangerous individual," said Franklin Caltrider, the registrar of motor vehicles.

Fits the Profile

Faris fits the profile of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers and the type of men al Qaeda has sought to infiltrate the United States, sources told ABCNEWS. Like the Sept. 11 hijackers, Faris came to the United States on a student visa, but failed to enroll in school.

In 2000, Faris made a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he was introduced to Osama bin Laden. At that time, his life was unraveling: His marriage was failing and his father had died.

In Karachi, Pakistan, under the direction of al Qaeda, Faris started researching airplanes at Internet cafés. He also ordered cell phones and 2,000 sleeping bags for terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.

In early 2002, just months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Faris returned to Karachi, where he met al Qaeda's operations chief, Mohammed, who told Faris he was targeting a New York City landmark. Faris signed on.

‘Never Suspected a Thing’

But when he returned to Columbus, Faris didn't even hint at his newfound radical connections.

"He never once was pro-Osama bin Laden or anything to do with him or al Qaeda or anything," said Bowling.

Even today, his spiritual adviser has no answers. "When he was here in public, we never saw any of this," Mouhamed Nabih Tarazi, the imam of the Columbus Islamic Center, told ABCNEWS.

His neighbors in Columbus were shocked to learn he was a terrorist operative.

"[I] never suspected a thing," said Larry Conners, who lived two doors down from Faris. "He looked all right to me, but being a truck driver, it … in the neighborhood, you wouldn't have any idea."

Negra Ross said neighbors sometimes complained about the noise that came from Faris' home. She said he didn't mix much with people in the area. "He was fairly standoffish and wasn't necessarily friendly."

Still, she said, his admitted involvement in terrorism was shocking.

"Even though this is a state capital, you never think that things like this could happen in Ohio — Columbus, Ohio, of all places."

More Sleeper Cells?

Faris is one of more than 1,000 suspected al Qaeda sympathizers under FBI investigation across the nation. Hundreds of suspects are being tailed or are under electronic surveillance. Many came under focus because their names turned up in records recovered in terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.

"I can't think of a division of the FBI that doesn't have an aggressive joint terrorism task force looking at a number of people of interest," said Brock.

Faris is being held in the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia, where he awaits sentencing. He could face 20 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines.

As part of his plea agreement, Faris agreed to cooperate with authorities — and so far he is. Sources told ABCNEWS that Faris is naming other associates, which is another step in the attempt to uncover terrorist sleeper cells in the United States.

"These individuals now have moved throughout the country. It's not just limited to major cities like Chicago, like New York, Los Angeles," said FBI Assistant Director Pat D'Amuro, chief of the New York field office and until recently head of all FBI counterterrorism programs. "They're in rural America."

But there is no guarantee U.S. officials will be able to nab them the way they nabbed Iyman Faris.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/US/sept11_faris030907.html

I'm concerned that we have cesspools all around us. Columbus seems to be a bed of activity lately. Just a month or so ago someone, probably the cleaning crew, wrote ""Fallujah" on four chalkboards. A fifth chalkboard contained an outline drawing of the United States with words "The Real Enemies." I haven't heard a followup on this story yet.

Thanks for posting that. I have that article indexed on my computer. It's a real eye-opener.

You know we're in trouble when they have infiltrated rural America.

Houston Muslim Leader Detained at Canadian Airport

04:14 PM CDT on Sunday, June 13, 2004 A Texas Muslim leader says he and his wife and daughter were detained for two days last weekend after officials at a Canadian airport told him he was considered a security threat.

Mohammed Zaki Alswij, an imam who moved to the United States from Iraq in 1987, said racial profiling may have been to blame for his detention in Vancouver, British Columbia. Alswij, 53, wears a cleric's robes and a turban as symbols of his religious stature and beliefs.

"This wouldn't happen to (just) anyone," Alswij said in Saturday's edition of the Houston Chronicle. "But because I am a Muslim, I was stopped."

Nancy Bray, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, said she could not discuss the Houston man's case because of privacy laws. But she said they would not deny a person entry based on his or her race.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, said it will ask the U.S. State Department and Canadian authorities to investigate the incident.

Alswij, a naturalized U.S. citizen, said he and his wife were traveling with their 18-year-old daughter to visit their son and grandson in Vancouver.

He said Canadian officials searched their luggage, questioned him and held them for more than 50 hours in a detention center before the family voluntarily returned to Houston on Monday. Nothing suspicious was found in the family's bags.

The interrogators questioned the Shiite scholar about his political associations and beliefs and asked him why he visited Iraq shortly after Saddam Hussein's dictatorship was toppled last year, he said.

Alswij said he went to Iraq to see his parents and the country's top Shiite leader. But he said he has no political connections. "I'm not political in any way," he said.

Link to Article

>> Just a month or so ago someone, probably the cleaning crew, wrote ""Fallujah" on four chalkboards. A fifth chalkboard contained an outline drawing of the United States with words "The Real Enemies." <<

Thanks for the eye witness account flutters, that's disturbing. Cleaning crews have worried me for a while. I tend to work late and after 6pm, all the security measures you see during business hours are relaxed...secured doors are propped open, etc. Maybe I should speak to the security dept. about it, but I doubt anything would be done.

I forgot to add that the chalkboard incident occurred at the courthouse...locked jury rooms.

Also, I just read that Abdi owned a cellular phone store in Columbus. Wasn't there discussion a while back about this?

Hey WCG,

Anything going on in CA? I can't call 3 california clients or access any of the california clients servers.

Any news?

U.S. Summons Experts to Draft Asteroid Defense Plan

Toledo Blade
The Cincinnati Post
June 7, 2002

The U.S. federal government is summoning the world's top scientists to an urgent conference this summer to plan defenses against an attack that could wipe out an American city or disrupt the whole country's infrastructure.

No, it's not global terrorism.

The scientists will map ways to combat an asteroid attack, a cosmic sucker punch like the collision that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago and flattened a Siberian forest in 1908.

While the world's attention is focused on the real threat of terrorism, the theoretical asteroid menace has been garnering a surprising amount of behind-the-scenes attention.

Asteroid 1950 DA, as seen by radar, has a one in 300 probability of colliding with Earth on March 16, 2880. The graphic shows the asteroid's position relative to Earth on April 5, 2002.

Britain's Royal Astronomical Society hosted an international meeting of experts on the asteroid impact threat in December. In January the world's astronomers petitioned Australia's government to fund a special asteroid-detecting telescope. In February NASA announced the "Workshop on Scientific Requirements for Mitigation of Hazardous Comets and Asteroids," which will be conducted in Washington in September. In March, NASA activated "Sentry," a new system to monitor near-Earth objects (NEOs) and assess their threat to Earth.

NEOs are small objects—asteroids and certain comets—that orbit in the solar system relatively close to Earth and could one day collide with Earth.

"We've had a couple of close shaves during the past few months," says Brian G. Marsden, with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

One asteroid caused public jitters when discovered March 12. Named 2002 EM7, it came from the direction of the sun—an astronomical blind spot where objects are hidden in the sun's glare.

Astronomers didn't detect 2002 EM7 until four days after it came within 288,000 miles (460,000 kilometers) of Earth, which they regarded as a close encounter. [The moon is about 239,000 miles, or 385,000 kilometers, from the Earth.]

The asteroid was about 200 feet (60 meters) in diameter—big enough to fill two-thirds of a football field—and could have flattened a city, unleashing the energy of a five-megaton nuclear bomb.

"I think Mother Nature has given us yet another wake-up call," says Donald K. Yeomans of NASA. "Objects the size of 2002 EM7 pass as close as this one did every two weeks or so. We just haven't found them all yet."

Another scare occurred in January, when a 1,000-foot-diameter (300-meter) asteroid came within 375,000 miles (600,000 kilometers) of Earth. Astronomers detected the mountain-sized rock only a few weeks earlier.

Astronomers are detecting more and more asteroids that sped by unnoticed in the past.

Copyright 2002 The Cincinnati Post

>> Also, I just read that Abdi owned a cellular phone store in Columbus. Wasn't there discussion a while back about this? <<

Truthfully flutters, I don't remember. This thread moves so fast sometimes.

Anyone else remember this?

The Bush administration has pledged to eliminate special security checks imposed on men entering the United States from a list of mainly Muslim countries considered a risk for terrorism.

Is this treason or what? Peroutka and the CP might gain a new voter this fall. Bush is doing it to himself. Someone...please correct me if I'm wrong here..I have an open mind and I'm willing to listen.

Thanks much.

THANKS MUCH.

I have been a lurker on TM list since thread 2. I appreciate all of your efforts and want to thank each of you for your insight. I have become dependent on TM to stay informed. This is my first post to the list.

Last Friday (6/11) in the early morning around 1:30AM we heard a very loud boom with a brief flash of light. I was on the computer (freerepublic)and my husband and children were sleeping. The boom woke up everyone in the house. Just as my husband and I were dressing to go outside and take a look around we heard another very loud boom just like the first one and they were about 5 minutes apart. We went outside and our Thoroughbred horses were running around the paddock very frightened. We saw a few of our neighbors outside of their homes doing the same as we were. A few minutes later we heard sirens that seemed to stop a mile or so away. Then a police helicopter with a big search light started scanning our area. After about a half an hour it left. We went back inside and did not witness anything else out of the ordinary.

The boom sounded like what a very large transformer blowing out would if you were nearby. However there was no disruption to our power in the neighborhood. My husband said he thought it could have been a sonic type boom. We did not see anything in the news about it. We live in South Florida near Wellington/West Palm Beach.