Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread SEVENTEEN

World Net Daily ^ | 8-10-04 | Paul Sperry

[JustPiper]

Credit: The Cabal

The title refers to a daily report given to the president of the United States detailing the most serious terrorist threats against the country. To tackle those threats, the government has formed a top-notch task force to infiltrate the terror cells and cut off the danger.

"Every morning, the president receives a list of the top ten terrorist threats - this list is known as the threat matrix."

We here at FR are trying to be in conjunction with the daily reports around the world that involve threats. We try to provide a storehouse of information that takes hours of research.

YOU be the Judge and get informed.


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

Link to Thread Sixteen

With the nation on high alert for al-Qaida terrorists, the Department of Homeland Security is putting its border officers through "etiquette" classes to soften their image and make them less threatening to arriving foreign immigrants, WorldNetDaily has learned.

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers."
-- Jewish proverb

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




"What good are the color codes at all if we are suddenly hit with a bio or chem attack? There would be no warning and the danger would be instant."

"Code Red Implications
Code Red - Stay Home and Await Word."
by MamaDearest

Meet It!
Greet It!
Defeat It!

[HipShot]

"HipShot, here's an interesting question. If the White House got nuked and the command authority were eliminated, would our nuke forces have the ability to strike back? What if the targets were other than those preprogrammed into the guidance systems?"

I can't answer that. I don't know if President Bush has reversed the civilian control mechanism that clinton put into place.

We're not the ones with the automated "doomsday" system, and unless something major has changed, Ivan still has his.

Now that's an interesting thought. What happens if their C&C gets taken out.

[nwctwx]

Iran denies developing missiles capable of reaching US
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-08/22/content_1856277.htm

TEHRAN, Aug. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran on Sunday dismissed US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's allegation that Tehran may be working to develop missiles capable of reaching the United States, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Acquiring missiles which could have a range up to America is a new issue which we hear," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted by the agency as saying.

"Such a program is not on our agenda and this propaganda of certain American officials is only for media consumption," he said.

Rumsfeld, speaking at the seventh annual Space and Missile Defense Conference on Wednesday, named Iran among countries that were allegedly working to develop and deploy missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Relations between Iran and the United States have always been tense since the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979.

The United States accuses Iran of supporting terrorism and seeking nuclear weapons, while Iran terms the United States as the enemy of all Islamic countries.

As on the nuclear issue, Iran says its nuclear activity is solely for peaceful purposes, but the United States alleges Iran may also be in pursuit of nuclear weapons. Enditem

[HipShot]

cYa

[nwctwx]

NEWSWEEK PERISCOPE
Terror - Targeting Britain

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040822/nysu011_1.html

American and British investigators say they have strong evidence that terror suspects recently collared in Pakistan and England -- linked to the latest terror alert -- were preparing to attack in Britain. But they have little proof that the suspects were preparing to hit targets in the U.S. Intelligence reports allege that Dhiren Barot, a suspected British Qaeda fixer also known as Esa Al-Hindi, visited Pakistan last winter and may have met with other Qaeda operatives. During such meetings, investigators fear, Barot, one of eight men charged in London last week with terrorist conspiracy (defense lawyers said the charges would be "fully contested"), may have shared info from surveillances of financial buildings in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., which authorities believe Barot and two associates cased before 9/11. But most of the evidence so far indicates that Barot and his alleged cohorts were actively preparing to attack only British targets. U.S. security officials say they must assume that plotting could be underway by Qaeda sleepers in the U.S. -- perhaps using the surveillance reports written by the Barot group. But if terrorists connected to the accused British conspirators are preparing an attack in the U.S., authorities have no idea who -- or where -- they are.

[Oorang]

Pakistan outlines plot linked to Qaeda

The Associated Press Monday, August 23, 2004

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan A group of terrorists linked to Al Qaeda planned suicide attacks on key government leaders and the U.S. Embassy this month, according to a senior Pakistan Interior Ministry official.

The official, Information Minister Sheik Rashid Ahmed, said Sunday that 11 or 12 suspects - one Egyptian, the others Pakistani - were arrested more than a week ago in Islamabad and other parts of the country.

Officials said the plot could have killed hundreds of people, underscoring the deadly stakes in President Pervez Musharraf's aggressive push to defeat violent extremists enraged by his support of the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Security agencies are hunting for other suspects, including a prominent cleric based in Islamabad, whose car was allegedly used to carry weapons to a safe house that would have been the attackers' base.

"We have infiltrated their network and that is why we have made these arrests," Faisal Saleh Hayyat, the interior minister, said in an interview. "They wanted to destabilize Pakistan, they wanted to create unrest, and they wanted to weaken this government."

Musharraf, who abandoned Pakistan's support of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, has been a target of Al Qaeda before. He narrowly escaped two bombings just 10 days apart in December 2003 that left 17 people dead.

He has since stepped up the fight against terrorists, and over the past five weeks Pakistan says it has captured more than 60 suspects, including Qaeda operatives. Among them was a Pakistani computer expert and a Tanzanian national wanted in the 1998 bombings of U.S. Embassies in East Africa that killed more than 200 people.

Those two arrests also unearthed computer files storing Al Qaeda surveillance of potential targets in the United States and Britain, and led to a dozen additional arrests in Britain.

Last weekend, Pakistan said it had cracked a plot at home to sabotage its Independence Day celebrations on Aug. 14, and this weekend officials finally disclosed some details of what the attackers had planned.

The officials said the suspects were arrested in the cities of Islamabad, Hyderabad and Lahore from Aug. 10 to 15. Hayyat said they were linked to Al Qaeda and wanted to kill "important personalities" including Musharraf and government ministers.

Security agencies seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including dozens of bombs, grenades, rocket launchers and detonators and electronic surveillance devices. They also found belts used to strap explosives to a suicide attacker's body.

Among the targets were Musharraf's official residence, the prime minister's house, a convention center, Parliament, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and the headquarters of the army in the neighboring city of Rawalpindi.

All but one of 11 or 12 suspects arrested were Pakistani. The other was the alleged Egyptian mastermind, Sheik Isa alias Qari Ismail, whose identity was being checked by intelligence agencies.

"Unfortunately Pakistani people were involved in these plans," Hayyat said. "Our own wanted to kill hundreds of innocent people."

Ahmed, the information minister, told reporters Sunday that the authorities were hunting for four more suspects, including one man who had brought weapons from Afghanistan.

http://www.iht.com/articles/535211.html

[ExSoldier]

I don't know if President Bush has reversed the civilian control mechanism that clinton put into place.

HUH? I musta missed something here. I guess I was too busy ignoring him. Tell me the 19th GOzillionth way Clinton screwed up our military and national defense with this....

[Oorang]

Egyptian cleric warns US of Najaf fallout

Sunday 22 August 2004, 0:23 Makka Time, 21:23 GMT

A leading Egyptian Islamic leader has warned that a "volcano of anger" could explode in response to US-led military action in Najaf and Falluja.

In a statement on Saturday, Ali Gumaa, the mufti of Egypt and the country's highest authority on Islamic law, condemned the "continuing aggression by US-led forces on the Imam Ali shrine and Islamic holy places" in Iraq.

"After the attack on the shrines of the Prophet's noble companions, after the humiliations and the terrorizing and killing of civilians, the world cannot expect… that a volcano of anger and indignation will not explode," Gumaa said.

Gumaa is second in the Islamic hierarchy only to the shaikh of al-Azhar, Cairo's ancient university and institute of religious learning.

Gumaa said since occupation forces claimed to have saved Iraq from dictatorship, "the Dar al-Ifta cannot accept any justification… that enables them to play this ugly role, rejected by the world's reasonable people and lovers of peace".

"The Dar al-Ifta wonders why the world is seeking the reasons for terrorism, hatred of others and the clash of civilizations," he said.

Gumaa, however, appealed for restraint "so that events do not slip out of control and the situation does not deteriorate into an unjustified sea of blood, since regret would then be futile".

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AA843409-E1C1-47F9-9717-DF04DA8BC53A.htm

[JellyJam]

some home-grown terrorism ...

STUDENTS RIOT FOR SECOND NIGHT, EXPLODE HOMEMADE BOMB

THE DENVER POST

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — For the second night in a row, police used tear gas near the Colorado State University campus early Sunday to break up a riot marked by violence, fires and even a homemade bomb.

A string of house parties west of the CSU campus late Saturday merged into a full-blown riot. A few people were seriously injured and two people were arrested, said Fort Collins police Sgt. Craig Horton.

Horton said rioters threw rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails at officers and severely damaged two police cars. The crowd seemed to have the riot planned — an “improvised explosive” littered 1,000 nails in the street, he said.

The latest crowd of 600-800 was smaller than Friday night’s, estimated at some 1,500 people, but was much more violent and aggressive, according to police.

And, these riots may not be the end of it, police said. “It’s a learned behavior,” Horton said. “I would expect other crowd problems to occur with this class.”

On Sunday, glass was strewn across the pavement. Street signs were missing, as was a tree. The charred scent of a bonfire hung in the air as residents near the epicenter cleaned up and surveyed the damage.

“They flipped it,” said Greg Delich, 20, as he looked at the concave roof of the silver Saturn he used to drive. “You can tell they flipped it.”

Forty officers outfitted in riot gear with a PA system began moving east during Saturday night’s riot, warning the crowd to leave. Horton said police shot tear gas and crowd-control gas to disrupt the crowd. They shot PepperBall rounds and .60 caliber rubber balls until the rioters dispersed. Classes at CSU begin Monday.

Police said they always anticipate problems when the school year starts.

[MamaDearest]

You're welcome - just another incident involving men dressed in black with backpacks acting suspiciously. If memory is correct there was one on the east coast somewhere a while back whereby someone with that description was seen coming off a trail that led to a nearby water source as well.

[MamaDearest]

Thank you nwctwx - much appreciated links.

[Cindy]

Thanks I appreciate the info being posted here.

[null and void]

We can't arm the pilots because a single bullet hole would explosively decompress the airplane and make it crash... < /sarc>

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Clintoon signed a bill to absorb the first nuke if we were attacked...not sure but think Bush has already reversed it not sure just think. It is way back on thread ????.

[Rushmore Rocks]

Good job.............thanks.

[ExSoldier]

Clintoon signed a bill to absorb the first nuke if we were attacked

Well, you can bet John F'n Kerry will sign will sign a bill to absorb the next five nukes, too. Gotta be sensitive about such things.

[JellyJam]

(my ancestors are French ... but I have no desire to visit France)

ARSONISTS IN PARIS SET ABLAZE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

PARIS — Fire swept through a Jewish community center in eastern Paris in the early morning hours on Sunday after arsonists broke into the building and scrawled swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans inside.

It was the latest in a series of neo-Nazi acts across the country.

The center, which prepares kosher food for Jews in need, occupies the ground floor of a five-story residential building. There were no injuries.

President Jacques Chirac and other politicians were quick to issue statements condemning the attack and vowing to find and punish the perpetrators. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe visited the scene on Sunday and said he felt “shock and horror.”

Much of this year’s neo-Nazi activity in France has been concentrated in the eastern region of Alsace, a traditionally German-speaking area along the German border. On Saturday, about 3,000 people took part in a neo-Nazi march in the German town of Wunsiedel, about 250 miles from Alsace, to commemorate the death, in 1987, of Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess.

Dozens of Neo-Nazi acts have been perpetrated across France since April, in some cases by copycats with no clear relationship to an organized movement.

The recent neo-Nazism in France appears to have no clear ideology beyond anti-Semitic slogans and the lyrics of white supremacy, heavy metal music by such groups as Ninth Panzer Symphony, Kontingent 88 and Elsass Korps. Adherents are mostly men in their teens or early 20s, say people who monitor the movement, and their targets are as often Arabs as Jews. France is home to Europe’s biggest Muslim and Jewish communities.

[Oorang]

Border no terror corridor - so far
Still, infiltration threat via Mexico called real

Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 22, 2004 12:00 AM

Among the thousands of undocumented immigrants streaming into Arizona from Mexico each week, the U.S. Border Patrol has yet to discover a known terrorist.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security likewise have failed to detect a single al-Qaida operative who infiltrated the United States via our southern boundary.

Yet, counterterrorism experts concede that the threat is real. And conservative media suggest Arizona is already a conduit for Islamic fanatics hellbent on mass destruction.

All of which leaves average folks wondering: Is al-Qaida knocking on our back door?

That question was raised again last week when U.S. news outlets trumpeted FBI alerts about one of Osama bin Laden's important lieutenants, Adnan El Shukrijumah. The bulletin to border watchers was based on intelligence that Shukrijumah was seen in Honduras months ago and might travel through Mexico on a U.S. terror mission.

FBI spokeswoman Susan Herskovits said the sighting was never confirmed and there is no evidence Shukrijumah had any such plan.

In fact, the intelligence picture is fuzzy all over. No one knows if any terrorists have slipped in from Mexico undetected. Nor can anyone predict whether they will.

Among law enforcement officials, the consensus seems to be that al-Qaida is not rushing to Arizona's southern entrance because terrorists have found safer, easier routes into America.

"These people are meticulous," said Col. Norm Beasley, who oversees counterterrorism efforts with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. "They do not like leaving anything to chance.... And there is a tremendous effort at the federal level to really watch for those (undocumented immigrants) who are non-Hispanic....

"I'm concerned about the Mexican border. But, from a pure terrorism issue, I'm more concerned about the Canadian border."

Even the lightly patrolled northern line has been terrorist-free since 1999, when a U.S. Customs agent stopped Algerian immigrant Ahmed Ressam as he tried to enter Washington state with a carload of explosives. (Ressam, serving a 27-year sentence, admitted al-Qaida ties in his planned attack on Los Angeles International Airport.)

Beasley and others point out that, so far, bin Laden's operatives have been successful crisscrossing the world and entering America with forged documents or valid visas. They note that Arizona's 375-mile border with Sonora is a treacherous outback where the risk of getting caught is high, even for veteran smugglers.

Why would terrorists who don't speak Spanish or blend in easily in Mexico run such a gauntlet when there are other options?

Andy Adame, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, noted that every captured immigrant is questioned at length, and the Tucson Sector's 2,100 agents are trained to spot non-Mexicans. Those who fall under suspicion are turned over to the FBI for questioning.

Roger Maier of U.S. Customs and Border Protection said border control has been beefed up dramatically since Sept. 11, with more manpower and technology. "Our primary mission is anti-terrorism," he added. "The inspection process is more thorough than it's ever been."

Adame said al-Qaida operatives would stand out in northern Mexico so much that even coyotes would shun them. "When you talk terrorists, I think the smuggler realizes there are no boundaries," he noted. "Sitting in Mexico, he's still not safe."

The threat
Still, a Border Patrol report on "other-than-Mexican" immigrants detained from October 2003 to July 2004 shows a trickle of illegal crossers from nations with known populations of Islamic terrorists: five from Iraq, 19 from Pakistan, none from Yemen, six from Saudi Arabia.

Critics say al-Qaida insurgents could be among them. A review of media reports on the LexisNexis database, however, shows only a few terror-related arrests with Mexican implications:

• A Pakistani woman, Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed, apparently crossed illegally into Texas from Mexico last month and was arrested trying to board a flight to New York. Her name appears on a federal watch list. The Associated Press said she was indicted for carrying a false passport and lying to investigators.

• According to the Dallas Morning News, a Mexican counterterrorism squad in Sinaloa sought two Middle Eastern men late last year after they allegedly bought one-way tickets to Los Angeles. The men weren't found. At least one police official said the case was a hoax.

• Authorities in Baja, Calif., received a tip that Saudi Arabian terrorism suspect Ali Saed Bin Ali El-Hoorie was seen trying to open a bank account in Tijuana. Wire services said that, too, turned out to be a false alarm.

• Kamran Akhtar, a 35-year-old New Yorker, was arrested in North Carolina last month while videotaping Charlotte skyscrapers. The Associated Press said investigators found additional film of buildings in Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston. Akhtar allegedly entered the country from Mexico illegally - in 1991.

Some see scare tactics
Steve Emerson, a radical-Islam researcher and author of American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us, says Mexico could become a conduit even if it hasn't been to date.

"Is there known evidence of al-Qaida operatives arrested on the border? I don't think so," he acknowledged. "But any point of entry is a potential route for the bad guys."

The issue is particularly hot with Republican politicians and conservative groups seeking to close the door on Hispanic immigration.

GOP congressional candidate Stan Barnes, for example, has plastered East Valley roadsides with signs touting his big issue: "Secure our Borders."

"In the name of national security, we must do something about our wide-open southern border," said Barnes. "We are now in a war mentality. The first duty of a country in a war situation is to protect its borders."

Vernon Robinson, a GOP congressional candidate in Winston-Salem, N.C., recently ran TV ads picturing Kamran Akhtar and labeling him a Pakistani terrorist. "He got arrested videotaping targets in North Carolina," said the narrator. "He came here illegally, across our Mexican border."

According to the Associated Press, Department of Homeland Security officials found no terrorism ties. Akhtar was charged only with immigration violations. Family members said he was trying out his new video camera on a nationwide bus tour.

Pro-immigration advocates claim national security is being cheapened by fear mongers.

"I think it's election-year politics," said Robin Hoover, president of Tucson-based Humane Borders. "All we hear is rumor, hearsay. Fear does sell."

"They're using terrorism, in some cases, to divide the community," added Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz.

Barnes, who makes no apologies for targeting undocumented immigrants and terrorists at the same time, says he has tapped the public pulse with both causes. "The threat is real," Barnes added. "I don't think we should wait for a terrorist attack in Tucson, Arizona, before we act and do our job."

An invasion?
Discourse on border security is complicated by rumor and wild tales, especially on the Internet.

Chris Simcox, publisher of the Tombstone Tumbleweed and founder of a civilian border militia, reported in July that dozens of Middle Easterners invaded Arizona two months ago and the government covered it up.

The former Los Angeles kindergarten teacher wrote that, on June 13, Border Patrol agents in southeast Arizona captured 53 men from Syria or Iran in a single group. One week later, Simcox alleged, 24 more Arabic-speaking males were rounded up in Cochise County and that countless others got away.

The information was attributed to unidentified Border Patrol agents who purportedly said the interlopers wore baseball caps and T-shirts with American flags and slogans. "They looked as if they had just been to the barbershop, you know," one agent purportedly said. "New haircuts. They were clean-cut and they all had almost the exact cut of mustaches."

Simcox has warned Mexico that his Civil Homeland Defense volunteers will treat all undocumented aliens as "enemies of the state." Earlier this year, he was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon into Chiricahua National Monument and of lying to a federal officer.

Unverified
Meanwhile, no other journalist in the country could verify that 77 mustachioed, flag-wearing Muslims were silently scooped up and secretly whisked to points unknown.

Adame, the Border Patrol spokesman, said large groups of immigrants were caught on the dates and locations identified by Simcox. However, he added, "Every single one of them was Mexican.... I don't know what he's talking about. How can you hide 50 or whatever Middle Easterners? There's no way."

Yet the story spread through Internet sites until the Sunday Telegraph of London and other media regurgitated it as truth.

Last week, Tucson television station KVOA reported findings in a three-month investigation of border invaders from "terrorist nations." According to an online transcript, reporter Tom McNamara declared the evidence was "frightening" and "compelling."

The leading video image was a Muslim prayer blanket found outside Douglas in 2001. Reporters did not identify any terrorists who crossed into Arizona from Mexico. But they did quote the Tombstone Tumbleweed, as well as retired U.S. Army Col. Ben Anderson of Sierra Vista, who wants the border militarized to stop the northward swarm of immigrants.

"This is the main alley," Anderson said into the camera. " . . . 'Terrorist Alley.' Whatever you want to call it, Arizona is the prime place."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0822borderterror23.html

[JustPiper]

Okay don't know if this has been posted or anyone even heard this on FNC BUT to me it's a 'biggie'

Palm Beach County's absentee ballot points voters to confusion, some say

{{{From the butterfly ballot to the broken arrow}}}

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/epaper/2004/08/22/m1a_absentee_0822.html

[cibco]

My company had their convention last week and I have been listening to recorded announcements on the net. They have been making a big buildup about some exciting new products for months before.

Without going into a long drawn-out explanation, one of the new products is an air purifier that will be good against NBC pollution. They are installing some in different parts of the country right now.

I should know more later in the week.

[flutters]

More Victims Of Island Illness Identified

Snippet:

Total Now At 510

PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio -- Researchers have found additional cases of an illness that's causing cramps, diarrhea, nausea, fever and chills among visitors to this resort area, the Ohio Department of Health said Saturday.

Carey said it was too early to rule out any possible sources of the illness.

The Ohio Department of Health has confirmed cases of salmonella, norovirus and campylobacter among the victims, said spokesman Kristopher Weiss.

All three germs have symptoms that match the outbreak. Campylobacter is one of the most common bacterial causes of diarrhea and is usually caused by eating or handling undercooked or raw chicken, according to the CDC.

OHIO’S HOMELAND-SECURITY MONEY - Aid spent so far went for ‘toys,’ critics say

Snippet:

In recent months, taxpayers have bought three boats worth a total of $550,000, several $4,000 all-terrain vehicles and a $1,000 climate-controlled portable toilet.

All in the name of homeland security for Ohio. "We’re buying toys for boys," said Clark County Sheriff Gene A. Kelly. "It’s frustrating when you can have money for toys, but not the basics."

At the same time, emergency workers in New York City still lack vital equipment such as radios nearly three years after the 9/11 terrorist attack.

We certainly believe cities that are believed to be primary targets should be given more money," said Al O’Leary of the New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

"We’ve gotten virtually nothing — some training and gas masks — but beyond that, nothing has filtered down to our 22,200 (police) officers."

As New York City’s homelandsecurity needs remain unmet, a Dispatch review of Ohio spending found that $8.50 of every $10 in federal homeland-security money given to the state remains unspent.

In April, a U.S. House Select Committee on Homeland Security found that $5.2 billion of $6.3 billion in Department of Homeland Security grants had yet to be distributed to local police, firefighters and emergency-response workers.

"We’re not trying to hide the ball," said Robert C. Glenn, spokesman for the state Emergency Management Agency. "We’re basically waiting on locals to send us their (grant money) requests."