 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies. |
|
Locked on 11/03/2004 12:43:19 AM PST by Admin Moderator, reason:
Thread #21: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1268023/posts |
Posted on 10/12/2004 8:58:00 PM PDT by nwctwx
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I think the sliding dollar and the surge in gold prices could be significant. With hindsight people were able to look back after 9/11 and say the financial markers were evident. Now we know what to look for. It will be interesting to see what happens when the U.S markets open. I'm sure the uncertainty of a looming election has some part to play but there also seems to be some alarming chatter the past couple of days. Time will tell.
Rise and sleepy heads.
Updated: 08:03 AM EDT
Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq
By JAMES GLANZ, WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER, The New York Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.
The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year.
The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed. American officials have never publicly announced the disappearance, but beginning last week they answered questions about it posed by The New York Times and the CBS News program "60 Minutes."
Administration officials said Sunday that the Iraq Survey Group, the C.I.A. task force that searched for unconventional weapons, has been ordered to investigate the disappearance of the explosives.
American weapons experts say their immediate concern is that the explosives could be used in major bombing attacks against American or Iraqi forces: the explosives, mainly HMX and RDX, could produce bombs strong enough to shatter airplanes or tear apart buildings.
Talk About It
· Post Messages
The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 used less than a pound of the same type of material, and larger amounts were apparently used in the bombing of a housing complex in November 2003 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the blasts in a Moscow apartment complex in September 1999 that killed nearly 300 people.
The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon, which was why international nuclear inspectors had kept a watch on the material, and even sealed and locked some of it. The other components of an atom bomb - the design and the radioactive fuel - are more difficult to obtain.
"This is a high explosives risk, but not necessarily a proliferation risk," one senior Bush administration official said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of these explosives before the war, and after the invasion it specifically told United States officials about the need to keep the explosives secured, European diplomats said in interviews last week. Administration officials say they cannot explain why the explosives were not safeguarded, beyond the fact that the occupation force was overwhelmed by the amount of munitions they found throughout the country.
A Pentagon spokesman, Lawrence Di Rita, said Sunday evening that Saddam Hussein's government "stored weapons in mosques, schools, hospitals and countless other locations," and that the allied forces "have discovered and destroyed perhaps thousands of tons of ordnance of all types." A senior military official noted that HMX and RDX were "available around the world" and not on the nuclear nonproliferation list, even though they are used in the nuclear warheads of many nations.
The Qaqaa facility, about 30 miles south of Baghdad, was well known to American intelligence officials: Mr. Hussein made conventional warheads at the site, and the I.A.E.A. dismantled parts of his nuclear program there in the early 1990's after the Persian Gulf war in 1991. In the prelude to the 2003 invasion, Mr. Bush cited a number of other "dual use" items - including tubes that the administration contended could be converted to use for the nuclear program - as a justification for invading Iraq.
More From the Times
· American Killed in Bombing Was Due Home
· Officials Split Over Military Tribunals
· Photos of a Japan Scarred by War
After the invasion, when widespread looting began in Iraq, the international weapons experts grew concerned that the Qaqaa stockpile could fall into unfriendly hands. In May, an internal I.A.E.A. memorandum warned that terrorists might be helping "themselves to the greatest explosives bonanza in history."
Earlier this month, in a letter to the I.A.E.A. in Vienna, a senior official from Iraq's Ministry of Science and Technology wrote that the stockpile disappeared after early April 2003 because of "the theft and looting of the governmental installations due to lack of security."
In an interview with The Times and "60 Minutes" in Baghdad, the minister of science and technology, Rashad M. Omar, confirmed the facts described in the letter. "Yes, they are missing," Dr. Omar said. "We don't know what happened." The I.A.E.A. says it also does not know, and has reported that machine tools that can be used for either nuclear or non-nuclear purposes have also been looted.
Dr. Omar said that after the American-led invasion, the sites containing the explosives were under the control of the Coalition Provisional Authority, an American-led entity that was the highest civilian authority in Iraq until it handed sovereignty of the country over to the interim government on June 28.
"After the collapse of the regime, our liberation, everything was under the coalition forces, under their control," Dr. Omar said. "So probably they can answer this question, what happened to the materials."
Officials in Washington said they had no answers to that question. One senior official noted that the Qaqaa complex where the explosives were stored was listed as a "medium priority" site on the Central Intelligence Agency's list of more than 500 sites that needed to be searched and secured during the invasion. "Should we have gone there? Definitely," said one senior administration official.
In the chaos that followed the invasion, however, many of those sites, even some considered a higher priority, were never secured.
A No Man's Land
Seeing the ruined bunkers at the vast Qaqaa complex today, it is hard to recall that just two years ago it was part of Saddam Hussein's secret military complex. The bunkers are so large that they are reminiscent of pyramids, though with rounded edges and the tops chopped off. Several are blackened and eviscerated as a result of American bombing. Smokestacks rise in the distance.
Today, Al Qaqaa has become a wasteland generally avoided even by the marines in charge of northern Babil Province. Headless bodies are found there. An ammunition dump has been looted, and on Sunday an Iraqi employee of The New York Times who made a furtive visit to the site saw looters tearing out metal fixtures. Bare pipes within the darkened interior of one of the buildings were a tangled mess, zigzagging along charred walls. Someone fired a shot, probably to frighten the visitors off.
"It's like Mars on Earth," said Maj. Dan Whisnant, an intelligence officer for the Second Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment. "It would take probably 10 battalions 10 years to clear that out."
Mr. Hussein's engineers acquired HMX and RDX when they embarked on a crash effort to build an atomic bomb in the late 1980's. It did not go smoothly.
In 1989, a huge blast ripped through Al Qaqaa, the boom reportedly heard hundreds of miles away. The explosion, it was later determined, occurred when a stockpile of the high explosives ignited.
After the Persian Gulf war in 1991, the United Nations discovered Iraq's clandestine effort and put the United Nations arms agency in charge of Al Qaqaa's huge stockpile. Weapon inspectors determined that Iraq had bought the explosives from France, China and Yugoslavia, a European diplomat said.
None of the explosives were destroyed, arms experts familiar with the decision recalled, because Iraq argued that it should be allowed to keep them for eventual use in mining and civilian construction. But Al Qaqaa was still under the authority of the Military Industrial Council, which ran Iraq's sensitive weapons programs and was led for a time by Hussein Kamel, Mr. Hussein's son-in-law. He defected to the West, then returned to Iraq and was immediately killed.
In 1996, the United Nations hauled away some of the HMX and used it to blow up Al Hakam, a vast Iraqi factory for making germ weapons.
The Qaqaa stockpile went unmonitored from late 1998, when United Nations inspectors left Iraq, to late 2002, when they came back. Upon their return, the inspectors discovered that about 35 tons of HMX were missing. The Iraqis said they had used the explosive mainly in civilian programs.
The remaining stockpile was no secret. Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the arms agency, frequently talked about it publicly as he investigated - in late 2002 and early 2003 - the Bush administration's claims that Iraq was secretly renewing its pursuit of nuclear arms. He ordered his weapons inspectors to conduct an inventory, and publicly reported their findings to the Security Council on Jan. 9, 2003.
During the following weeks, the I.A.E.A. repeatedly drew public attention to the explosives. In New York on Feb. 14, nine days after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell presented his arms case to the Security Council, Dr. ElBaradei reported that the agency had found no sign of new atom endeavors but "has continued to investigate the relocation and consumption of the high explosive HMX."
A European diplomat reported that Jacques Baute, head of the arms agency's Iraq nuclear inspection team, warned officials at the United States mission in Vienna about the danger of the nuclear sites and materials once under I.A.E.A. supervision, including Al Qaqaa.
But apparently, little was done. A senior Bush administration official said that during the initial race to Baghdad, American forces "went through the bunkers, but saw no materials bearing the I.A.E.A. seal." It is unclear whether troops ever returned.
By late 2003, diplomats said, arms agency experts had obtained commercial satellite photos of Al Qaqaa showing that two of roughly 10 bunkers that contained HMX appeared to have been leveled by titanic blasts, apparently during the war. They presumed some of the HMX had exploded, but that is unclear.
Other HMX bunkers were untouched. Some were damaged but not devastated. I.A.E.A. experts say they assume that just before the invasion the Iraqis followed their standard practice of moving crucial explosives out of buildings, so they would not be tempting targets. If so, the experts say, the Iraqi must have broken seals from the arms agency on bunker doors and moved most of the HMX to nearby fields, where it would have been lightly camouflaged - and ripe for looting.
But the Bush administration would not allow the agency back into the country to verify the status of the stockpile. In May 2004, Iraqi officials say in interviews, they warned L. Paul Bremer III, the American head of the occupation authority, that Al Qaqaa had probably been looted. It is unclear if that warning was passed anywhere. Efforts to reach Mr. Bremer by telephone were unsuccessful.
But by the spring of 2004, the Americans were preoccupied with the transfer of authority to Iraq, and the insurgency was gaining strength. "It's not an excuse," said one senior administration official. "But a lot of things went by the boards."
Early this month, Dr. ElBaradei put public pressure on the interim Iraqi government to start the process of accounting for nuclear-related materials still ostensibly under I.A.E.A. supervision, including the Qaqaa stockpile.
"Iraq is obliged," he wrote to the president of the Security Council on Oct. 1, "to declare semiannually changes that have occurred or are foreseen."
The agency, Dr. ElBaradei added pointedly, "has received no such notifications or declarations from any state since the agency's inspectors were withdrawn from Iraq in March 2003."
A Lost Stockpile
Two weeks ago, on Oct. 10, Dr. Mohammed J. Abbas of the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology wrote a letter to the I.A.E.A. to say the Qaqaa stockpile had been lost. He added that his ministry had judged that an "urgent updating of the registered materials is required."
A chart in his letter listed 341.7 metric tons, about 377 American tons, of HMX, RDX and PETN as missing.
The explosives missing from Al Qaqaa are the strongest and fastest in common use by militaries around the globe. The Iraqi letter identified the vanished stockpile as containing 194.7 metric tons of HMX, which stands for "high melting point explosive," 141.2 metric tons of RDX, which stands for "rapid detonation explosive," among other designations, and 5.8 metric tons of PETN, which stands for "pentaerythritol tetranitrate." The total is roughly 340 metric tons or nearly 380 American tons.
Five days later, on Oct. 15, European diplomats said, the arms agency wrote the United States mission in Vienna to forward the Iraqi letter and ask that the American authorities inform the international coalition in Iraq of the missing explosives.
Dr. ElBaradei, a European diplomat said, is "extremely concerned" about the potentially "devastating consequences" of the vanished stockpile.
Its fate remains unknown. Glenn Earhart, manager of an Army Corps of Engineers program in Huntsville, Ala., that is in charge of rounding up and destroying lost Iraqi munitions, said he and his colleagues knew nothing of the whereabouts of the Qaqaa stockpile.
Administration officials say Iraq was awash in munitions, including other stockpiles of exotic explosives.
"The only reason this stockpile was under seal," said one senior administration official, "is because it was located at Al Qaqaa," where nuclear work had gone on years ago.
As a measure of the size of the stockpile, one large truck can carry about 10 tons, meaning that the missing explosives could fill a fleet of almost 40 trucks.
By weight, these explosives pack far more destructive power than TNT, so armies often use them in shells, bombs, mines, mortars and many types of conventional ordinance.
"HMX and RDX have a lot of shattering power," said Dr. Van Romero, vice president for research at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, or New Mexico Tech, which specializes in explosives.
"Getting a large amount is difficult," he added, because most nations carefully regulate who can buy such explosives, though civilian experts can sometimes get licenses to use them for demolition and mining.
An Immediate Danger
A special property of HMX and RDX lends them to smuggling and terrorism, experts said. While violently energetic when detonated, they are insensitive to shock and physical abuse during handling and transport because of their chemical stability. A hammer blow does nothing. It takes a detonator, like a blasting cap, to release the stored energy.
Experts said the insensitivity made them safer to transport than the millions of unexploded shells, mines and pieces of live ammunition that litter Iraq. And its benign appearance makes it easy to disguise as harmless goods, easily slipped across borders.
"The immediate danger" of the lost stockpile, said an expert who recently led a team that searched Iraq for deadly arms, "is its potential use with insurgents in very small and powerful explosive devices. The other danger is that it can easily move into the terrorist web across the Middle East."
More worrisome to the I.A.E.A. - and to some in Washington - is that HMX and RDX are used in standard nuclear weapons design. In a nuclear implosion weapon, the explosives crush a hollow sphere of uranium or plutonium into a critical mass, initiating the nuclear explosion.
A crude implosion device - like the one that the United States tested in 1945 in the New Mexican desert and then dropped on Nagasaki, Japan - needs about a ton of high explosive to crush the core and start the chain reaction.
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20041025064309990001
catching up ... catching up ...
Thank God.
Just ran across this on the ever colorful ASCA site:
http://www.asca.net
October 23, 2004: "Signs seem to indicate that the US Domestic Sleeper Cells of Osamma Bin Laden / Al Qaeda are in 'attack plan restart' and simultaneous intelligence seems to verify Bin Laden has relocated his hiding place, suggesting fear of renewed pursuit on the heels of a major attack on the USA proper," says ACSA decryption expert, Milt Abramson. Savvy intelligence gatherers have advised ACSA that Bin Laden, fearing a latent threat from Chinese populations in the vicinity of his hiding place, moved to a new underground facility. Simultaneously, he has quietly fielded new orders to "restart attack plans on the USA" effective yesterday, October 22, 2004. That would place the Terrorist Operatives inside of the United States in a position of being able to strike as early as October 25, though it seems more likely that they would attack on the eve of or day of the Elections, as previously suggested by Vice President Dick Cheney. Abramson indicated certain kinds of money laundering and raise up activities had become visible, suggesting that Al Qaeda operatives were in need of some "quick traveling money". "We may actually see Bin Laden dispense with his usual public Video Tape, but if one in his voice/image or Dr. Zavaharis hits the streets, all indicators say the attack is 'on'". NOTE: Al Qaeda raises operating funds untraceably through a combination of white collar crimes and narcotics trafficking in and outside the USA, to eliminate money trails back to their leadership. Please read the following news:
Note: the Associated Press has been, in our opinion, introducing counter arguments in their news coverage in an effort to support the notion that there is no terrorist threat against the USA, for political reasons. When we contacted the News Communications Channel manager about things like trying to counter the reports about the FBI with "CIA" contradictions, he admitted the AP was biasing the press broadly agreeing that it was spinning the news "pro-Democratic Party". Note that the AP is an INTERNATIONAL, ROCKEFELLER DOMINATED News Organization, headquartered at 50 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. We find the AP to be reprehensible in not truthfully reporting that they DO NOT KNOW the full extent of either the FBI's nor the CIA's ongoing investigation of terrorism. They do know, however, that the CIA does not engage in investigations inside of the USA, by law, and that decredifying one possible witness does not even begin to touch on the vast number of confidential leads they are presented with each day alone. It does, however, tend to ruffle the feathers of both the FBI and the CIA and members of the public. We believe actual pro-Al Qaeda and pro-Hamas sympathies lurk in one of the governing News Directors at the AP and have taken steps to further our knowledge of his background. Use of a politically biased position on the news could also be part of the "machinery of stage management" being implemented to give terrorism a chance at actually succeeding in it's efforts to land a body blow on the United States during the upcoming election. We would not be surprised to discover as much bias at the AP in the heart of one or more of it's commissioners, as exists in all of Al Jazeera. And the influence of the super-wealthy, super influential Rockefeller Family over the AP is without question, they will do anything to displace Bush, to get their greedy little hands on all that oil the Iraqi's are presently pumping for their own benefit and not Exxon's. Monitoring BIAS in the Press during Election 2004, is an ACSA project.
World - AFP
US expert believes Bin Laden network active in Bosnia
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Hercegovina (AFP) - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) is actively directing terrorist cells in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia, a top US terrorism analyst told a local daily.
Yossef Bodansky, director of the Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the US Congress, told the Glas Srpske daily that terrorists responsible for the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad last year were trained near the central Bosnian town of Zenica.
"There is a terrorist network in Bosnia, composed of several well-trained and connected groups, which are directly or indirectly responsible to ... Osama Bin Laden," he was quoted as saying in the Serbian-language paper.
He said the cells were using Bosnia as a training ground and a gateway to send terrorists to western Europe or to hide them on their way to the east if they were on the run.
"The network in Bosnia ... is training and controlling terrorists who later travel to Western European countries," Bodansky said in comments translated from Serbian.
"On the other hand, terrorists for whom arrest warrants have been issued in the west are coming back to Bosnia where 'liaison officers' welcome them and provide accommodation and hiding places, and they are later transferred to the east."
/snip/
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1512&ncid=732&e=9&u=/afp/20041025/wl_afp/bosnia_binladen_us_iraq
Don't have the option to vote early except to absentee. But on that Tuesday, I'll walk across the street to the polling place with my walking stick in hand just incase I encounter a demorat/union thug who needs an attitude adjustement.
For what its worth:
http://www.stevequayle.com/News.alert/04_Terror/041025.scalar.terrorism.html
In a new document by scalar scientist Tom Bearden at his website Cheniere.org Bearden brings together a great many threads of information to peer into the future of terrorism, and he proclaims that the future of terrorism will be scalar electromagnetic in nature. The dangers presented by scalar electromagnetic weapons, now being developed by at least 10 nations and several rogue groups, trump the dangers of nuclear weapons by orders of magnitude, and yet these dangers continue to be ignored by governments and the press under a cloak of secrecy that is nearly absolute. The real dangers we face are swept under the rug.
For those who would like some background on Tom Bearden's information about scalar electromagnetic weapons I suggest my article "Scalar Wars" and Bearden's own website Cheniere.org . In particular, read through Tom's book Fer de Lance which explains the weapons known as longitudinal wave interferometers. This weapon was announced by Nikita Krushchev in 1960 who said "It is a fantastic weapon."
This new document released by Tom Bearden is called "Scalar Electromagnetic Weapons and their Terrorist Use: Immediate Strategic Aspects of the Asymmetric War on the U.S." I should probably give a warning here, the material covered in this document can be extremely frightening and scary. Bearden paints our beloved way of life as a very delicate house of cards where a tiny force applied to a particular card can bring the whole house tumbling down. The card which Bearden believes will be the one to cause the "house" of America to fall is our highly vulnerable centralized power grid. Taking down the power grid hubs with scalar interferometers is almost child's play. This is true assymetrical scalar terrorism, whereby a relatively small attack can have a huge disastrous effect. With no electrical power for even six months, something very doable, the entire economy of America would collaps.
/snip/
I've been busy so I haven't had time to check back to see if this was posted or not:
FBI CHASES NEW LEAD ON ELECTION ATTACK PLOT
Posted: 8:15 am EDT October 25, 2004
WASHINGTON -- FBI investigators have made new arrests and developed leads that reinforce concerns that terrorists plan to strike around the presidential election, officials said Saturday, even though the CIA has discredited a person who told its agents of such a plot involving al-Qaida.
A senior FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some of the leads were culled from interviews with thousands of individuals that agents have conducted in the Muslim community.
The official would not be more specific, but said the FBI continues to have misgivings about possible al-Qaida intentions to launch an attack with the goal of affecting the elections.
Several people have been taken into custody recently on charges not related to terrorism, but officials are investigating whether they may have been involved in terror activities, said another law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
As for the person who warned the CIA, at least some of that individual's reporting no longer is seen as credible, said a U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official stressed, however, that a number of other sources point to terrorist activity around the election season.
The official also said no concrete plot has been discovered so far with specific mention of time, place, method or identity of would-be attackers.
James Carafano, a homeland security expert with the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, said there's little doubt that al-Qaida wants to send a message with an attack.
"I think they're probably less concerned with affecting the outcome of the election, whether Bush or Kerry wins, but it would be more prestigious, the capability to do something before the election and really undermine the confidence of the United States," he said.
Top government officials have warned since the spring about al-Qaida's desire to attack during the election with the hope of orchestrating something similar to the March commuter train bombings in Madrid. The bombings, which killed more than 190 people, were a factor in the ouster of Spain's former ruling party.
The FBI has partnered with American Muslims and others as part of what the agency describes as a prevention plan aimed at disrupting an attack. Thousands of agents from bureaus across the country are participating in the effort.
FBI agents have interviewed thousands of people considered possible sources of information as well as about 10,000 operators of self-storage facilities, which are considered likely places to hide bomb-making materials or other items that could be used in an attack.
http://www.wnbc.com/news/3846202/detail.html
Bookmark.
Train carrying explosive material derails in Detroit
10/25/2004, 11:28 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A train carrying a highly explosive material derailed Monday morning in a residential neighborhood on the city's east side, the fire department said.
Four tank cars and four boxcars were on their side by the tracks near Interstate 75. Some of the tankers were flipped over.
There were no reports of injuries.
Some of the cars contained methyl alcohol, which is used as an antifreeze and is highly explosive. None of the methanol leaked out, Senior Fire Chief Roy Miller told WDIV-TV.
The area — including at least one school — was being evacuated in a mile radius. It was unclear who operates the train, Miller said.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/base/news-19/1098718446240361.xml&storylist=mibusiness
"Naming Bin Laden the Al Mahdi during this Ramadan is significant.
If Bin Laden comes out from under a rock and declares Jihad, thats really significant."
*If* he is still alive and
*If* he is in a physical position to do anything and
*If* he can find a new "safe area" a la Sudan or Afghanistan (Iran, Pak, SA, Gaza?) and
*If* the remaining AQ leadership wants to roll the dice on this, then
It would be the ultimate "self-fulfilling prophecy".
Not "either/or" but "both/and" (declaring his identity and launching a new stage of jihad).
He "appears" to the world as the Hidden Imam to officially declare a new stage of jihad *after* the next major attack (as has been rumored). It is one thing to come out of hiding and urge the Islamic world to join him in his crusade. It is entirely another to emerge after a blow inflicted against America an order or two of magnitude greater than 9/11 and then declare he is the one they have been waiting for . . .
And that the time has come for the Islamic world to retake Jerusalem.
Actions speak louder than words.
Why wait this long for the big hit?
Why hide so long?
Timing is everything.
If this happens (several big "ifs" involved), it is an enemy of the U.S. exploiting the Mahdi myth as the Ottomans did centuries ago. There were Jews in ancient history who declared themselves to be the awaited Messiah to add legitimacy to their rebellion (as there have been modern-day Mahdis in the Islamic world). This is an old script.
9/11 had these apocalyptic overtones common to this strain of Islamic thought.
The "Towers of Ad" fell in the heart of "World Judaism" (NYC) and the "puppet government" controlled by the forces of "World Judaism" was also targeted by plane and anthrax (DC) along with the "Jewish-controlled media" (anthrax at TV networks).
The "Islamic Bomb" may not just be Khan-related nukes.
The "Islamic Bomb" may be a self-declared Mahdi using the bomb to rise to power.
This scenario applies even if and when UBL is gone.
If we start believing the propaganda by some on our side that this is us against all of Islam, then we will never see what this is all about. The Islamic world is not yet in bed with the idea of world jihad, that is why folks like al-Sadr (and maybe UBL) are *campaigning* for the office of Caliph or Mahdi. If the Moslems are already all fighting us, they need not be persuaded by UBL. But everything since 9/11 (including 9/11 and the attacks before) is a relentless, methodical, and strategic effort to win the hearts and minds of a billion Muslims.
Hitting NYC was hitting the city with the largest concentration of Jews on the planet.
The Twin Towers are the Quranic "Towers of Ad".
The White House is the "House of Pharaoh".
Attacks on resorts Bali, East Africa, Taba are attacks on moral laxity in Muslim countries.
And people who choose to demonize the entire billion rather than trying to talk them out of drinking the grape Kool-aid, wittingly or not, are doing the work of world jihad for them. It would be like the GOP taking out ads in battleground states this week targeting swing voters saying "you must be a bunch of drooling morons if after all this time you still cannot make up your minds with such a clear choice - - go soak your heads". May be on the mark and make me feel better, but it would be shooting myself in the foot.
There are still votes to be had in the strangest of places.
It is the same mistake as assuming that after the 1992 LA riots and 1994 OJ Simpson that in 1995, Farrakhan's "Million Man March" was the beginning of an organized and dangerous separatist campaign simply because there was such latent anger in the black community. Just because Farrakhan managed to tap into a vein of frustration in portions of the African-American community did not mean that the entire black population was willing to buy into his nonsense.
If Moslems had already bought into the mass suicidal jihadi cult, then inside Iraq, which has the population of New York state, there would be millions fighting us from across the globe. Instead, if you rounded up all the fighters in a nation as large as Texas and as populous as New York state, they would fill less than one-quarter of the Yankees ballpark (8-12,000 fighters).
When the day does come that a self-declared messiah arises to seek to lead jihad (even if it is not UBL), we must remember that this is above all a spiritual war fought in hearts and minds. We must make sure Pied Piper has no followers, not drive them to him.
There is PR symbolism behind the attacks (their version of TV commercials with wolves or unplanned wild-goose chases) and therefore a method behind the madness.
I do not buy into the "Allah is actually a Sumerian moon-god" assertions.
New Moon Festivals were around before Islam. They were commanded by God to the Jews as part of the Torah. The moon was the only calendar they had back then.
The issue is not the moon itself but the *timing*.
Timing is everything.
They have their own "Battleground States" and their attacks are their advertisements.
And in this war, which for them is the *real* war, we are not even in the game.
Evacuations Reported In Train Derailment
Officials Determine Situation Hazmat Level Three
POSTED: 10:56 am EDT October 25, 2004
UPDATED: 11:46 am EDT October 25, 2004
DETROIT -- Explosive contents in a train derailment have created a Hazmat Level Three situation in a Detroit neighborhood Monday morning. Evacuations include three elementary schools.
Eight train cars overturned just before 11 a.m. in a neighborhood in the area of Nevada and the Interstate 75 service drive, Local 4 reported. Senior Chief Roy Miller of the Detroit Fire Department said four of the cars contain methyl alcohol, but said there are no reports of a leak.
Methyl alcohol is highly explosive and is used as a jet fuel, according to Miller.
Police said homes are being evacuated in a two-mile radius from the scene. Officers are reportedly going door to door to alert residents and combing the streets.
Detroit Public School officials have announced they are evacuating Greenfield Union Elementary School on Seven Mile Road, Greenfield Park Elementary School on Brush Street and Grayling Elementary School on West Adeline, according to Local 4. Parents were reportedly being called by the schools to pick up their children and sign them out.
Children who were not picked up by their parents were being taken to a safe location by school bus. Detroit Public School representative Mattie Majors said Greenfield Park Elementary students were being taken to Pershing High School on Ryan Road. She said she would later release the locations of the other schools.
"The safety of the kids is the most important," said Majors.
Miller said emergency crews remain at the scene and will keep water on the tanks in an effort to prevent an explosion.
"Right now what we are trying to do is secure the situation," said Canadian Rail representative Gloria Combe. "We are very concerned with the safety of the people in the community."
Combe said she would go to the scene to assess the situation and confirm the possibility of a leak. She said the scene will be treated as a worst-case scenario to ensure the community is safe.
Combe did not have details on the train's route.
The cause of the derailment was not known.
Stay with Local 4 News and ClickOnDetroit.com for the latest developments.
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/3847160/detail.html
Panic over?
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20041025154533.shtml
Central Bank begins supporting dollar
RBC, 25.10.2004, Moscow 15:45:33.The Russian Central Bank has started a ruble intervention on the Russian currency market this afternoon. The dollar is being supported at 28.865 RUR/USD at a special session for tomorrow deals. The weighted average rate is at the same level. Dollar purchases by the Central Bank began at 2 p.m. Moscow time, some experts told RBC. The Central Bank is buying dollars in large lots of some $27m and $35m. Due to these active purchases, the process of the dollar's weakening against the ruble has ceased. Nevertheless, the selling of dollars by commercial banks has been substantial. Participants of the special session sold over $900m at 3 p.m. Moscow time. Some $350m were sold from 1 p.m. till 3 p.m. Moscow time.
FYI - AP reporting Chief Justice Renquist being treated for Thyroid Cancer.
FBI ups reward for ricin mailer to $120,000
http://www.thetrucker.com/stories/10_04/1025_ricin_reward.html
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for mailing letters containing the poison ricin was raised from $100,000 to $120,000 Oct. 14 on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the discovery of one of the letters, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
On Oct. 15, 2003, a threatening letter was discovered at a U.S. Postal facility in Greenville, S.C. The author of the typewritten letter claimed to be a fleet owner of a tanker company and demanded that the Hours of Service rules that were in effect at that time remain unchanged as new HOS regulations were set to become effective Jan. 4 of this year.
The following typed message appeared on the exterior of the envelope: "RICIN POISON Enclosed in sealed container Do not open without proper protection." Inside the envelope was a small, metal vial which contained ricin, a white, granular, potentially deadly poison made from castor beans.
The letter was signed "Fallen Angel," and the author claimed to have the ability to make large quantities of the poison and said he or she would use it if the new HOS regulations were not repealed by Jan. 4.
Later, a second letter addressed to the White House and processed through a postal facility in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Oct. 17, 2003, was found and contained similar threatening language. The second letter threatened to turn "D.C. into a ghost town" if the new HOS rules went into effect. It was also signed "Fallen Angel" and contained ricin.
The reward is offered by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, FBI, and U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General.
Anyone with information concerning the identity of the individual or individuals responsible for authoring the letters is requested to contact the FBI toll free at (866) 839-6241.
National:
[NWI TIMES] INDIANA - Local police watching for terrorists
"PORTER COUNTY: Departments say they receive specific warnings from feds, also watch for suspicious activity in general"
http://nwitimes.com/articles/2004/10/25/news/porter_county/0e5528e93b0d437d86256f37006e4882.txt
[FOX NEWS] USA - Arrests Made in Possible Election Day Plot
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,136410,00.html
[AP] USA - Private planes violate Bush air space
[The Guardian (Charlie Brooker)] USA / UNITED KINGDOM - Dumb show [ Journalist advocating the assasination of President Bush?]
"John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/columnists/story/0,,1333748,00.html
[UPI] CANADA / ISRAEL - Muslim statement on Israelis outrages many
"The head of the Canadian Islamic Congress has ignited a storm of criticism by saying all adult Israeli citizens are legitimate targets for suicide bombers"
[St. Petersburg Times] FLORIDA - Attempts to buy vehicles raise suspicions [ Ambulance, 2 cruisers, truck]
"After St. Petersburg College employees call the FBI, the buyers, described as Middle Eastern, vanish"
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/10/22/Tampabay/Attempts_to_buy_vehic.shtml
See also http://www.sptimes.com/2004/10/23/Tampabay/SPC_auction_buyers_ar.shtml
[AP] USA - Democratic Report Finds Bioterror Resources May Struggle to Reach Local Areas
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBX9PX7P0E.html
[KABC] LAS VEGAS - Mystery Illness Strikes Vegas Hotel
"Guests and employees at the Flamingo Las Vegas reported suffering from flu-like symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and headaches"
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/102404_nwAP_sick_vegas.html
[NewsMax.com] USA - Dems Register Al Qaida Terrorists in Ohio Vote Drive
"Democratic Party activist groups in Ohio have registered at least two known terrorists involved in a plot to blow up a shopping center in a bid to get out the vote for John Kerry."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/10/24/120810.shtml
[Chattanoogan] USA - Cropp Calls On Local Democrats To Repudiate "Terrorist" Comment [ Candidate asserts U.S. war in Iraq is Terrorist Act ]
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_57662.asp
[The Journal News.com] NEW YORK - Emergency agencies conduct terrorism drills at reservoirs
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/102504/b04w25drill.html
[Newsmax.com] USA - Kerry Campaign Linked to Fundraiser for Terror Group [ TerroristWarning.com Editors Note - I'm sure we will get complaints, and lose some members, for having included this link but its just too relevant, too important not to include.]
"Evidently, he has accepted campaign contributions from the chief fundraiser for an Albanian terrorist organization known as the Kosovo Liberation Army"
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/10/25/85141.shtml
See also http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41072
[580 CFRA Radio] CANADA / USA BORDER - Border Security Stepped Up Ahead of Election
http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp?cat=2&nid=21018
[AP] CALIFORNIA - Suspicious note prompts delay of United flight in San Francisco
[KFSN] CALIFORNIA - Amtrak Train Evacuated After Threat [ Bomb threat, nothign found ]
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/news/102504_nw_amtrak.html
[Malvern Daily Record] ARKANSAS - What would you do if you had to respond to a terrorist attack, [Drill]
http://www.malvern-online.com/articles/2004/10/25/news/news.txt
International:
[Jerusalem Post] TURKEY - Bomb explodes near McDonald's restaurant in Turkey
[Toronto Star] TURKEY - Turkish oil pipeline blast blamed on Kurdish rebels
[Xinhuanet] PAKISTAN - Saudi diplomat receives parcel bomb
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-10/25/content_2137340.htm
[Japan TOday] JAPAN - Poison sufficient to kill 3,000 missing from Kyoto University [500 grams of potassium cyanide]
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=2&id=316500
[East Anglian Daily Times] UNITED KINGDOM - Airfield on alert for terror threat
[Times Online] RUSSIA / UNITED KINGDOM - Tycoon foils ‘nuclear bomb sale’ plot
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1325302,00.html
[UPI] RUSSIA - Russian troops foil Chechen mine attack
[UPI] ALGERIA - Five killed in Algerian violence [ Fake checkpoint ]
[AP] IRAQ - Bodies of About 50 Iraqi Soldiers Found in Eastern Iraq; Victims Were Unarmed
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBD899AP0E.html
[PTI] INDIA - 16 more children die of mysterious disease; Toll mounts to 48 in western UP
"raising the the toll to 48 during the last three days"
http://www.teamindia.net/news/index.php?action=fullnews&id=31847
[TNA] THAILAND - Police nab bomb suspect in the South
http://www.mcot.org/query.php?nid=32161
[Reuters] THAILAND - Thai police, villagers exchange fire in Muslim south
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP75598.htm
[Reuters] KASHMIR - Militants bomb Kashmir mourners, killing one
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP80365.htm
[The State] AFGHANISTAN - Taliban bomb kills US woman in Kabul
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/10000954.htm
[Al-Jazeera] PAKISTAN - 2 bomb blasts hit state-owned gas pipeline in Pakistan
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=5369
[PakTribune.com] PAKISTAN - Bannu police recovers 120-kg explosive material from terrorists
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=81466
[Warrnambool Standard] AUSTRALIA - Vandals bomb letterboxes
"In the last couple of weeks to a month there has been a few of these letterbox bombs at different locations"
http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2004/10/25/1098556330751.html
[Reyters] BRAZIL - Brazil Can Enrich Uranium for 6 Nukes-Researchers
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6586010
[BBC] UNITED KINGDOM - 'Act now on biological weapons' - BMA
"the threat of weapons that could target specific ethnic groups is no longer theoretical and is approaching reality"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3950391.stm
[Daily TImes] IRAQ - Zarqawi group changes name after Qaeda vow
"Tawhid Wal Jihad group has now become Tanzeem Qaedat Al Jihad Fee Bilad Al Rafidain (Qaeda Organisation of Jihad in Iraq), "
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_25-10-2004_pg7_8
[Korea Herald] SOUTH KOREA / IRAQ - Zaytun troops on alert after new terror threat
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/10/26/200410260010.asp
[Korea Times] SOUTH KOREA - USFK on Alert for Missing ID Cards
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200410/kt2004102516353311970.htm
[Reuters] INDONESIA - Police find 120 homemade bombs in Indonesia's Poso
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK116282.htm
[Reuters] INDONESIA - Indonesia Muslim group plans more nightclub attacks
"U.S. embassy in Jakarta has warned Americans in the world's most populous Muslim nation to take precautions against attacks on nightspots during Ramadan"
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK185441.htm
[ABC Online] AUSTRALIA - 'Stolen plane' report sparks emergency response [ False alarm ]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1226848.htm
[USA Today] NORTH KOREA/ USA - Powell declares North Korea a 'terrorist state'
"he told the news media that naval maneuvers beginning today off the Japanese coast and a new U.S. law intended to promote North Korean human rights were not meant as "hostile acts" against North Korea"
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1025powell25.html
[Interfax] RUSSIA - False terrorist act alarm halts classes in Chechen school [ Fake bomb ]
"police found a bomb mockup consisting of a plastic bottle, scotch tape and electric wire"
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=10714165
[AP] EGYPT - 5 Egyptians arrested in Sinai terrorist attack
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2865180
[Maariv International] ISRAEL - IDF enters Khan Younis in new anti-terrorism sweep
http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=11372
[Ha'aretz] ISRAEL - Gaza terror groups thought to have anti-aircraft missiles
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/493145.html
[The Daily Star] BANGLADESH - BB finds suspicious transactions by Al-Haramain
"A Bangladesh Bank (BB) probe has found transactions of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a Saudi Arabia-based Islamic NGO"
http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/10/25/d4102501033.htm
[Sify] INDIA / BANGLADESH - BSF on high alert along Bangla border
http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=13597239
[Tanjug] BOSNIA - Terrorist network operating in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bodansky
"terrorist network made up of several highly trained and mutually linked groups is operating in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and they are directly or indirectly answerable to Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden,"
[Baku Today] AZERBAIJAN - Al-Qaeda Threatens Azerbaijan With Terror Attacks
Zarqawi Exploits Al Qaeda Brand for Own Ends
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reutersEdge&storyID=6599609
...ecxerpt...
BERLIN (Reuters) - By reinventing himself as Osama bin Laden's top man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is seeking to humiliate President Bush, exploit al Qaeda's militant "brand" and win more recruits for the Iraqi insurgency.
Zarqawi had for months built up the profile of his own group, Tawhid wal Jihad (One God and Holy War), as he issued statements and videos in its name claiming responsibility for a grisly series of bombings and beheadings in Iraq.
In a change of tack this month, he first declared allegiance to bin Laden and then, in an Internet statement Saturday, renamed his movement as the Iraqi arm of al Qaeda.
Security analysts said that while ostensibly pledging subservience and submitting his group to a "takeover," Zarqawi was taking on the mantle of al Qaeda's most active commander in order to boost his profile and rally support.
Singapore-based analyst Rohan Gunaratna said the Jordanian militant was seeking to exert authority over al Qaeda cells whose links with bin Laden had been severed since the United States launched its "war on terror."
"He wants to be the de facto operational leader of al Qaeda. That is why he pledged allegiance to Osama, and now he wants to take control of the al Qaeda cells that are located worldwide," said Gunaratna, author of "Inside al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror."
Iraqi analyst Mustafa Alani at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai said that while placing himself under bin Laden's authority, Zarqawi would still enjoy effective autonomy.
"Al Qaeda as a headquarters and a nerve system is no longer functioning, so he knows bin Laden will not be able to boss him around," Alani said.
Sinai Probe: Al Qaeda, Palestinians – or Both?
http://nyjtimes.com/cover/10-25-04/SinaiProbe.htm
DEBKAfile Special Report
Egyptian investigators have only just begun peeling off the layers of an extremely complex and sensitive search for the hands behind the bomb blasts that hit three holiday resorts in Sinai Thursday, October 7. The peninsula is popular with Israelis, a quarter of a million of whom frequent its beaches, hotels, campsites and mountain trails every year. Of the total of 31 or 32 victims, 12 were Israelis, the largest national group. Not all the bodies found have been identified.
One of the targeted sites, Nuweiba on the Red Sea, was discovered Monday, October 11, not to have been struck by suicide bombers but by two booby-trapped cars detonated by remote control. This was confirmed by the two suspicious figures seen making off in the dark by a local guard and a baker who are now helping the Egyptian police put together identikits.
Indeed, the Egyptians are puzzled by the discovery that none of the exploding cars bears the presence of a suicide bomber. They have therefore begun testing the theory that the Ras al-Satan and Nuweiba attacks were carried out by 6 to 8 terrorists who were not suicide killers.
Even the Isuzu jeep which blew up a wing of the Taba Hilton lobby bore neither hide nor hair - or even a bloodspot - indicating the presence of the one or more suicide bombers believed to have driven it, even after the vehicle was stripped down screw by screw for minute examination. The Egyptians believe the car contained 600 kilos of explosives, enough to vaporize their bodies. The owners of all the quarries of Sinai have been called in for questioning. But the Bedouin tribesmen interrogated in the immediate aftermath of the attacks have not provided any useful leads.
The investigators have also deduced that the terrorists hit the wrong end of the hotel by mistake. Had they hit its supporting wall, the entire building with its 900 guests would have crumbled wreaking great carnage, instead of just the lobby and one wing.
A Palestinian connection to the Sinai attacks was discussed exhaustively Saturday, October 9, in a conference at Taba between Shin Beit director Avi Dichter and the head of the Egyptian inquiry Habib Adli. Like the Egyptians, Israel is also looking into the possibility that the suicide bombers arrived from Jordan or another part of Sinai, most likely by sea.
The route of entry is important as it provides a clue to the hand behind the attacks. One suggestion under examination is that they were orchestrated by al Qaeda’s Jordanian operations chief in Iraq, Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, who still keeps his Jordanian terrorist rings active and is also closely allied with Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist elements in the Hashemite kingdom. Another theory points to al Qaeda sleeper cells in Egypt, the Gaza Strip or Israel. They too may have activated Hamas, which could never have organized a mega-terror attack on the Sinai scale unaided and has until now shunned operations on foreign soil.
A more remote option is al Qaeda’s chief of operations in East Africa, Mohammed Fazul, who staged the November 28, 2002, attack on the Israeli Paradise Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, followed by the missed shoulder-borne Strela missile attack on an Arkia airliner coming into land with hundreds of Israelis aboard. Most of the casualties in that attack were Kenyans.
This last possibility is being carefully scrutinized because there are similarities between the Mombasa hotel and Taba Hilton strikes, and a hint that the planners of the Sinai blasts were familiar with the Kenya operation and drew lessons from their mistakes there. The Mossad has put its Mombasa investigating team on the Taba case. This file remains open because of some unanswered questions, such as how did the Strela missile come to miss its target?
The al Qaeda direction was further strengthened Monday by a claim of responsibility for the string of attacks in Egypt on a website signed by the Martyr Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a branch of al Qaeda, which also asserted that two of the perpetrators got away. This would partly explain the vanishing suicides in at least two of the bomb cars.
The Azzam group went on to demand the evacuation within 48 hours of the “outposts of espionage and heresy” (ed. Embassies) in Egypt and Greater Syria (ed. Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel) or they would be blown up.
The late Palestinian-born Abdullah Yussuf Azzam was the first mentor to impart to Osama bin Laden and the Hamas the doctrine that calls for a worldwide jihad without borders against the West, namely, the Christians and the Jews.
Invoking his name offers a pointer to the two fundamentalist terrorist groups, al Qaeda and the Palestinian Hamas.
DEBKAfile’s political sources note that neither Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak nor Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has publicly condemned al Qaeda or any other terrorist group for the Sinai attacks. They both appear to be at sea over how to handle the new threat. In private conversation, Mubarak shrugs it off as directed against Israel with Egypt only incidentally involved rather than a target. Sharon, for his part, refers to Egypt as the terrorists’ primary objective.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
