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!

[nwctwx]

U.S. Says Diplomacy Can Resolve Iran Nuclear Crisis
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6047321

...excerpt...

VIENNA (Reuters) - The top U.S. disarmament diplomat said on Monday evidence pointed to an Iranian nuclear weapons program, but that Washington wanted a diplomatic solution and its ultimate goal was not to topple Tehran's government.

"There's no question that U.S. President (George W.) Bush wants to resolve the Iranian issue diplomatically," U.S. Under Secretary of State John Bolton told Reuters.

The United States accuses Iran of secretly developing atomic weapons and wants the International Atomic Energy Agency to report Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for what it says are violations of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"The evidence ... points to an Iranian nuclear weapons program," Bolton said in a telephone interview.

Iran denies wanting the bomb and says its nuclear program is intended solely for the peaceful generation of electricity.

The hawkish Bolton was responding to comments from several analysts at U.S. think-tanks, who said that Washington was not interested in resolving the crisis with Iran.

"They (U.S. hard-liners) are not interested in resolving the crisis or changing regime behavior, they want to change the regime," said Joseph Cirincione, head of non-proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

"Evidence that highlights the Iranian threat is promoted, evidence that explains Iranian behavior is belittled," he said.

While criticizing Iran for repeatedly withholding information and hiding activities from the IAEA, the agency's chief Mohamed ElBaradei has said repeatedly "the jury is still out" on whether Iran has a covert military atomic program.

Equipment the IAEA has found in Iran are all "dual-use" and can be used for both military and civilian purposes.

Bolton said that at five quarterly meetings of the IAEA Board of Governors, beginning in June 2003, the United States has consistently pushed the agency to report Iran to the Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.

[nwctwx]

Islamic world’s hatred of occupiers of Iraq on the rise
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=8/24/2004&Cat=4&Num=016

TEHRAN (MNA) — Animosity toward the United States is on the rise in the Islamic world as U.S. occupation forces have gone beyond the pale in Iraq by desecrating the country’s sacred sites and oppressing the people.

President Mohammad Khatami of Iran on Monday strongly condemned the occupiers’ heavy-handed handling of the Najaf crisis, saying that such behaviors have no justification.

Khatami even said Iraq's interim government risked losing popular support because of its backing for military operations against people in the holy city of Najaf.

Speaking to reporters, Khatami said the fighting was unjustified since Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army had shown it was willing to reach a negotiated settlement.

"It seems there is a desire to crack down on Najaf and scare all Iraqis." "It was Falluja yesterday, today it is Najaf and if the trend continues it will spread to all Iraqis," he said.

"The Iraqi interim government faces a great test and if it fails to resolve the problems it will not be held in high regard by the Iraqi people," he said.

"We want peace and stability to prevail in Iraq,” he added.

Malaysia, which currently heads the world's biggest grouping of Islamic countries, called Monday for an end to violence in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, chairman of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, urged the United Nations to act to end the fighting.

"If the confrontation in Najaf is not defused, it will inflame emotions and may create unpredictable conditions," Abdullah said in a statement to the official Bernama news agency.

"It will also erode the fragile stability in the country and affect the preparations for the holding of the national elections in Iraq scheduled in January 2005," said Abdullah, who is in South Korea for a three-day visit.

"The people of Iraq deserve to have peace and not more suffering," he said.

Meanwhile, a great number of Shiite Muslims Monday staged a demonstration in the central Pakistani city of Multan against U.S. attacks near their holiest shrine in Iraqi city of Najaf.

Protestors marched and condemned what they called the desecration of the Imam Ali (AS) shrine.

"The United States wants to occupy the oil resources of Muslim states on the pretext of terrorism and the hunt for Al-Qaeda," Shiite leader Anis Haider Naqvi told the rally.

The protestors carried placards reading: "Stop U.S. barbaric operation in Iraq, Najaf", "Stop bombing holy places", "Down with America and Britain" "Bush and allied forces are terrorists" and "Desecration of sacred places will not be tolerated".

U.S. planes pounded Najaf's cemetery and historic centre near the shrine on Monday, dimming hopes of a peaceful end to a near three-week stand-off between US-led Iraqi troops and Shiite militia.

Dense, black smoke spewed into the sky above the enormous, sacred Valley of Peace burial ground after a deafening explosion followed by a second blast in the early afternoon as a U.S. plane flew overhead.

Hours later, another two raids targeted the Old City around a world famous Shiite Muslim shrine, as sporadic gunfights and mortar attacks continued to reverberate through the ravaged streets, said an AFP correspondent.

[nwctwx]

Brother of Qaeda suspect arrested in Saudi Arabia
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_23-8-2004_pg7_52

MANAMA: The brother of a man detained in Bahrain on suspicion of links with Al Qaeda has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, the family’s lawyer told AFP on Sunday.

“Mohamad Khan was arrested by Saudi authorities at about 10:00 pm (0700 GMT) on Saturday after crossing the King Fahd bridge” linking Bahrain with Saudi Arabia, said Abdullah Hashim. He was returning from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, where he lives and works for a private company in the eastern part of the kingdom, he said.

Khan is the brother of Mohiedin Mahmud Khan, one of six suspects detained in Bahrain last month for alleged links to the Al Qaeda terror network and for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in Bahrain.

Hashim said that after his arrest Khan “was taken to his home which was searched by police who confiscated his personal computer, CDs and documents”.

“He was then taken to the city of al-Khobar,” said Hashim. “The family has not been informed on the exact place of his detention,” he added. There was no official confirmation of Khan’s arrest in Saudi Arabia but a policeman on King Fahd bridge told AFP: “We did not detain anyone.”

[nwctwx]

9/11 Report: Al-Qaeda in the U.S.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/23/al.quaeda.tm/

...excerpt... ***more on Shukrijumah***

As it shut down formal operations on Saturday, the September 11 Commission released a pair of staff monograph reports that reveal tantalizing and important new nuggets about the 9/11 plot ? including the possibility that 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta and another hijacker visited an INS office in Miami together in May 2001 with Adnan Shukrijumah, a trained pilot who today remains one of the most wanted al-Qaeda terrorists with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head.

The commission also revealed new but ambiguous evidence of a financial connection between one of the hijackers and a Saudi national in San Diego, and declares that this is the only known instance of a hijacker potentially receiving a noteworthy sum of money from someone inside the U.S.

Atta visited the INS in May 2001 looking for a visa extension for one of his companions, but ended up with the INS discovering Atta himself had improperly received an eight-month visa, until Sept. 8, 2001, that was then rolled back to July 9. INS personnel who dealt with the Atta group then could not identify one of the men with him.

But the "Terrorist Travel" staff monograph released yesterday said that, based on other evidence, the commission believes that fellow hijacker Ziad Jarrah "may have been" with Atta.

More significant is that an INS officer who dealt with the group said she was "75 percent sure" that one of Atta's companions ? "a great looking kid," as she described him ? was Shukrijumah, based on the photos released along with his "wanted" notice after September 11.

The APB for Shukrijumah has been renewed this year, with Attorney General John Ashcroft calling attention to him in a press conference in May and officials sounding the alarm again in connection with the recent "Orange Alert" for sites in New york, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

There is a particular alert for Shukrijumah along the U.S.'s southwest border, and officials in Mexico and Central America are on the lookout for him ? especially after he was reportedly sighted earlier this year in a Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Internet café.

[nwctwx]

UK arrests show terrorist planners avoid US
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=570231&section=news

...excerpt...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - High-profile terror arrests like those recently made in Britain are unlikely in the United States as militants hatch their plans abroad in hopes of evading U.S. detection, experts and former officials say.

While some critics say a lack of similar high-caliber swoops in the United States indicates the Bush administration isn't doing enough to hunt terrorists at home, a range of experts and former officials across the political spectrum say key militants simply stay away because the danger of getting caught is greater in America.

They say insight gleaned from arrested al Qaeda suspects in Pakistan and elsewhere showed militants took advantage of more freedom of movement in Europe, historically more generous asylum laws and proportionally larger immigrant communities they can hide in while planning attacks.

"I believe the higher-level operatives simply view it as too risky to be operating here. Even in the September 11 plot, the hijackers were the footsoldiers rather than the major planners," said Kenneth Katzman, a terrorism expert with the Congressional Research Service.

"After 9/11, with vastly increased vigilance by U.S. law enforcement, intelligence and border control authorities, I think many terrorists quite wisely believe they can lay their plans more easily abroad," said Philip Wilcox, a former counter-terrorism chief at the State Department.

The only other big militant Islamic attack in the United States -- the 1993 World Trade Center bombing -- was probably planned in the suburbs of New York, but experts say this kind of activity would no longer go unnoticed.

Terror suspects arrested in Britain this month were charged in a plot linked to security alerts at U.S. financial targets. They made their first court appearance last Wednesday, and are due to return to court this week.

Among the suspects is a man American officials say is a key al Qaeda operative who played a central role in conducting surveillance of financial buildings for the plot.

Arrests in the United States have mainly involved lower-level militant suspects with questionable ties to the global al Qaeda movement. Both European and U.S. prosecutors have found it hard to turn terror-related indictments into convictions.

[nwctwx]

Homeland security money not being spent
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1093253469308720.xml

...excerpt...

Columbus- The state has spent less than one-fifth of the money it has received from the federal government for homeland security, a published analysis shows.

A review by the Columbus Dispatch shows that Ohio has spent just $29 million of its $194 million in federal funds. An additional $12.5 million in equipment has been ordered but not yet received.

A similar proportion of homeland security money remains unspent nationwide.

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 emergency agencies.

"We're not trying to hide the ball," said Robert Glenn, spokesman for Ohio's Emergency Management Agency. "We're basically waiting on locals to send us their requests."

Officials also have questioned some of the local projects for which money has been granted.

In Ohio this year, they include a $1,000 heated and air-conditioned portable toilet, three boats worth a combined $550,000 and several $4,000 all-terrain vehicles, the newspaper reported.

[Cindy]

I'm sorry I don't 4thygipper.
He's posted in prior threads and maybe this one.
You can scroll through them until you find it.

[JellyJam]

Events will test NYC's security skills

NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. Open tennis tournament. Home games for the Mets and Yankees. The start of a massive celebration by Caribbean immigrants.

And then there's the matter of the Republican National Convention.

The pileup of events in the city next week will add to the security challenge for the New York Police Department, but commissioner Ray Kelly says, "With a big, experienced police force, we can do it."

Kelly spoke Monday at police headquarters as he and Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with Jewish leaders to outline security measures for the upcoming Jewish religious holidays, and for the confluence of other events preceding them.

The police commissioner said "virtually the entire department" will be mobilized throughout the city next week -- in midtown at Madison Square Garden, site of the Republican convention; at Yankee stadium in the Bronx and at Shea Stadium and the nearby U.S. Tennis Center in Queens. Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the 36,500-member department has deployed scores of uniformed and plainclothes officers at each home game of the city's two baseball teams.

Security also will be tight at the U.S. Open, where matches begin on August 30, the same day the convention opens. A festival in Brooklyn that starts the day after the convention ends and culminates in the West Indian Day parade on September 6. is expected to draw a large number of spectators and hundreds of police officers.

The department has taken a show-of-force approach to the convention. Up to 10,000 officers will flood the streets and subways around Madison Square Garden and elsewhere. On Monday, uniformed police officers were posted throughout Pennsylvania Station and still more officers guarded entrances above ground.

Police expect up to 250,000 anti-war demonstrators to march on Sunday, the eve of the convention. They also believe protesters will take to the streets on the night of September 2, when President Bush accepts his party's nomination.

[liberallyconservative]

His moniker is Mossad1967.

[NanaDory8]

Please add me to your ping list. Thanks for all your hard work.

[Rushmore Rocks]

Ian, you're doing a really great job! Thanks for keeping us going.

Please add me to your "ping list". I will be gone for about 10 days, but I may find computer access occasionally. I will try to keep up...........really hate to miss anything of import.

Thanks,

RR

[nwctwx]

Added both of you.

Have a good trip RR, hopefully things will remain quiet in your absence. Thanks for the kind words. =)

[Cindy]

"http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/9431269.htm"
Posted on Wed, Aug. 18, 2004


"Wiccans in the military seek more understanding, tolerance"

BY RANDY MYERS

Knight Ridder Newspapers

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Wiccans represent a small fraction of the military, roughly 1,500 among 1.4 million active personnel, but the Pentagon wants to accommodate their faith. The military trains chaplains to meet the religious needs of all service members without compromising their own religious beliefs, said Col. Richard Hum, executive director of the Armed Forces Chaplains Board at the Defense Department."

[Mossad1967]

Hello all.

I'm sorry, I haven't had the chance to post lately.

I've been working OT on a constant basis recently.

There is still a great deal of concern about attempted hijackings from overseas flights.
(cancellations of some international flights is a definite possibility during the convention)

There is a general consensus that these guys will attempt a "big one" with whatever means they have available to them
before the elections.

Many arrests (both documented and undocumented) have been taking place overseas.

It is a race against time.

The guys at the seaports are especially worried about cargo containers containing WMD.

Port cities on both coasts are of concern.

There will be a great deal of "Federal assets" in NYC and NJ during the convention. (Some will be visible, most will not)

Paul Williams (Osama's Revenge) might not be as off the mark as some people would think. His numbers might be a little exaggerated but, his premise is not.

There is a reason why the president is to spend as little time as possible on the ground in NYC next week.

Our area has been swarming with Secret Service over the past month.

Expect the unexpected from these AQ animals.

To my fellow New Yorkers next week: Keep your heads up.

Stay safe.

[little jeremiah]

(What crap about the military and Wiccanism which is a bunch of 8@%#%@^!!!)

Yesterday in the early afternoon somewhat north of Petaluma (maybe towards Santa Rosa, it's been a long couple of days of driving and I can't remember exactly) on Highway 101 while driving north, mrs lj and self saw three military planes (too stupid to know what kind) flying tighly next to a smaller white plane, heading roughly SW. Looked like they escorting it. They were all flying really close together. Hmmm.

IIRC there's an Air Force base near Petaluma.

[nwctwx]

Thanks for the update, stay safe.

[Rushmore Rocks]

.............."attempted hijackings from overseas flights..."


ARGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't tell me that. I'm getting ready to make one.

But, I am taking my great grandmother's four inch hat pin.
I've gotten it through security before......many times.

[Cindy]

It could have been training, but most likely, lately, are these hoax bomb threats and/or passenger disruptions. When these happen, the pilot calls it in and their plane usually gets an escort.

[Cindy]

WARNING***DISTURBING***GRAPHIC***JIHAD

ON THE NET and taking a look at "Q8-JIHADI-MAN":

INTERNET-HAGANAH.US: "Q8-JIHADI BLOWS A GASKET" (Re: "q8-jihadi-man") (July 19, 2004) (Read More...)

GOOGLE Search Term: "q8-jihadi-man" (Read More...)

GOOGLE Search Term: "q8-jihadi" (Read More...)

[4thygipper]

thank you.