National:
[WorldNetDaily.com] USA / IRAN - Pro-Iranian lobby funding Kerry
"Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been given to Kerry from the pro-Iranian lobby, possibly influencing the presidential candidate's startling call to provide Tehran with the nuclear fuel it seeks, "
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40911
[NEWSMAX] USA - Kerry Evades Questions About Ties to Terrorist Iran
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/10/14/170936.shtml
[AP] HAITI - State Department Authorizes Departure of Some Personnel From Haiti
"Visitors and residents must remain vigilant due to the absence of an effective police force in Haiti,"
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBOPQRGB0E.html
[AP] CONNECTICUT - FBI raids Connecticut mosque leader's home in terror probe
[Sacramento Bee] CALIFORNIA - FBI steps up local terror inquiries [ Credible Threats? Apparently the public hasnt been informed as to what the threats are... again]
"Sparked by what they call credible threats, Sacramento-area FBI and immigration officials have stepped up interviews, surveillance and investigations leading up to the Nov. 2 election"
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/11084195p-12000636c.html
[MetroWest Daily News] USA - Lodge: Specific threat, secret warning
"If the threat was so specific and potentially lethal, why wasn't the public made aware in May, so that thousands of extra eyes and ears could have been put on alert in the region? "
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/columnists/view.bg?articleid=80498
[Milwaukee Channel.com] WISCONSIN - Men Reportedly Seen Videotaping Transmission Co. Headquarters [ Men described as middle eastern looking, may not have been eco-terrorism as earlier thought]
",four men reportedly seen videotaping the headquarters of the American Transmission Co."
http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/3822865/detail.html
[Melbourne Herald Sun] USA - US borders not 'dirty bomb' proof
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11080862%255E1702,00.html
[Hope Standard] CANADA - Security patrols increased after bomb threat [ Hospital ]
"Police and the Fraser Health Authority are being tight lipped about a bomb threat at the Fraser Canyon Hospital, this weekend"
"up to 30 phone calls threatening staff had been received at the hospital switchboard"
http://www.hopestandard.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=13&cat=23&id=312349&more=
[WDIV] MICHIGAN - Downtown High-Rise Evacuated After Bomb Threat
"caller claimed there were two packages inside the Penobscot Building ,"
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/3821340/detail.html
[Columbus This Week Newspapers] OHIO - Powder is found in envelope opened at Dublin post office [ Man breathed in substance ]
[Hernando Today] USA - Keep a watchful eye near schools
http://www.hernandotoday.com/letters/MGBLR5X6A0E.html
[UPI] UPI - Experts warn of terror force multiplier
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041014-090220-1250r.htm
[MSNBC] USA - Terrorism won’t thwart elections, officials say
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6193004/
[Cleveland Plain Dealer] USA - Officials prepare to fight terrorism on the farm
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1097746392313650.xml
[Telegraph] CANADA/ NOVA SCOTIA - Four Britons killed in cargo plane crash [ Possible explosion, investigated as criminal act for now ]
"there was an unknown explosion, either within the aircraft or on the ground, shortly after take-off"
[Kazinform] USA / NORTH KOREA - Two NK defectors arrested on plane bound for US
http://www.inform.kz/txt/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=97360
[Sioux City Journal] IOWA - Train crushes propane tank
"authorities have notified the proper authorities including the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Sioux City"
[WVLT Volunteer TV] TENNESSEE - Knox County Man Arrest in Local Bombing Plot [Neo-Nazi]
http://www.volunteertv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2431901&nav=4QcHS0fp
[Washington Times] COLORADO - 620 flu vaccine doses stolen, warning issued
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041013-063712-7153r.htm
[WHNT] ALABAMA - Homeland Security Guarding Sweet Potatoes?
http://www.whnt19.com/Global/story.asp?S=2427811&nav=1VPtRycO
[Clanton Advertiser] ALABAMA - Chilton Homeland Security focusing on school buses
http://www.clantonadvertiser.com/articles/2004/10/14/news/d-news.txt
[GovExec.com] USA - Homeland Security identifies potential infrastructure targets
",full implementation of a national infrastructure protection plan is two to three years away"
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/101404tdpm1.htm
International:
[Korea Times] SOUTH KOREA - Local Banks Put on Alert for Possible Terrorist Attacks
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200410/kt2004101515431011900.htm
[Korea Times] SOUTH KOREA/ MIDDLE EAST - S. Koreans Advised Not to Visit Middle East During Ramadan
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200410/kt2004101416173710160.htm
[Reuters AlertNet] KATHMANDU - Ten Maoist rebels killed in Nepal clashes
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/B475739.htm
[Reuters] INDONESIA - Papua rebels kill six in convoy - Indonesian army [Free Papua Movement]
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK280919.htm
[Xinhuanet] PHILIPPINES - Two Filipino soldiers killed in clash with rebels [New People's Army ]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-10/14/content_2090402.htm
[Bangladesh Journal] BANGLADESH - Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrests one terrorist, 2 communist extremists
http://www.bangladeshjournal.com/index.php?ID=2783
[Rabble.ca] CANADA / PAKISTAN - No terrorist links, secret plots or dirty bombs
http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=34540
[Indian Express] INDIA - Another bomb found in Khanna
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=103497
[Pakistan Dawn] PAKISTAN - Terror suspect held in Sadiqabad
http://www.dawn.com/2004/10/15/top13.htm
[Radio Australia] SINGAPORE - Singapore taxi drivers to help in the fight against terrorism
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/newstories/RANewsStories_1220994.htm
[Reuters] IRAN / RUSSIA - Russia, Iran finish up nuclear plant
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002063897_iran15.html
[Daily Times] PAKISTAN / INDIA - ‘Accidental Indo-Pak nuclear war possible’
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_15-10-2004_pg7_12
[MOSNEWS] RUSSIA - Terrorists Leave Explosives in Moscow Taxi
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/10/15/cabexplosives.shtml
[AP] IRAQ - Kidnapped Turkish Driver Is Beheaded in Iraq, Shown on Video on Islamic Web Site
Mexico al-Qa'ida 'back door' to US
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11085314%255E401,00.html
October 16, 2004
INTELLIGENCE reports that 25 Chechen terrorism suspects have illegally entered the US from Mexico have refocused attention on a porous border from which many believe the next major attack on Americans could come.
Despite the $US9 billion ($12.326 billion) budget, and assurances from President George W. Bush that border security is tighter than it has ever been, public figures of all political stripes in the border states say the danger of al-Qa'ida infiltrating the US from Mexico has never been higher.
The Washington Times newspaper reported that a source told US intelligence officers the Chechens, seen carrying backpacks, were shepherded from northern Mexico in July through a remote mountainous region of Arizona that is notoriously difficult to patrol.
It is not known if this intelligence was behind the warning issued by the US Education Department for American schools to be vigilant after Chechen militants took over a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, last month, a tragedy that cost at least 344 lives, half of them children.
The Chechen report has angered those who have been warning for months that US borders are insecure.
"In the name of national security we must do something about our wide-open southern border," said Arizona Republican congressional candidate Stan Barnes. "We are now in a war mentality. The first duty of a country in a war situation is to protect its borders."
Experts say it is not difficult for terrorists to blend into a vast sea of an estimated 13million illegal aliens, most of them impoverished Mexicans seeking work.
To make matters worse, the Department of Homeland Security is so hopelessly overstretched that it has taken to releasing what it calls OTMs (Other Than Mexicans) because it cannot house them until it arranges for deportation hearings.
"If they're deemed not dangerous, they're given a notice to appear in court, and the border patrol agents even have to drive them to a bus station and watch these people get on buses for New Jersey or California," said Cathy Travis, a senior aide to veteran Texas congressman Henry Ortiz.
Fewer than 30 per cent of the OTMs released into the US actually show up for their hearings, meaning an estimated 400,000 illegal aliens are currently in the US after being caught and released.
Officially, fewer than 100 border jumpers apprehended along the Mexican borders within the last year were from nations associated with Islamic terrorism.
However, Travis said that few of these people had identification papers, and many lied and said they were from South America in order to evade attention and have a better chance of being released.
"We have heard from border patrol agents that they're being told to let people who look like they're from East Africa and the Middle East go because they say their name is Juan Pablo Garcia from Guatemala - except that they don't speak a word of Spanish," she said.
Congressman Ortiz has said that intelligence shows al-Qa'ida working with El Salvadorean criminal gangs as well as reports of Brazilians being recruited to accompany Arabs to illegally cross the US border. If they are apprehended, the groups say they are Brazilian - knowing there are few Portuguese-speaking border patrol agents - and are usually released into the US.
Sheriff D'Wayne Jernigan, of Del Rio, Texas, last month publicly blasted the dubious policy after being ordered by the Homeland Security Department to release 17 captured Brazilians before they had been interrogated.
Congressmen Ortiz, a Democrat, and Henry Bonilla, a Republican, also of Texas, wrote to Mr Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge last month seeking an urgent solution.
"We simply cannot continue allowing US citizens to be under the mistaken impression that OTMs from countries that should raise suspicion are being detained in the US when, in fact, they are free to roam the nation at will," the congressmen wrote.
But the issue, surprisingly, has hardly made the front pages. "It's an election year," Travis explained.
"This is a very sensitive time. People on both sides have reasons not to want to talk about it. For Republicans, they don't want to upset the apple cart for Bush, while for Democrats, they know this whole issue of the border is very sensitive within the Hispanic community."
The FBI and CIA, however, are apparently very interested, especially after intelligence reported that a key lieutenant to Osama bin Laden, Adnan El Shukrijumah, was seen in Honduras and northern Mexico in recent months.
Thank you tmp02 for that summary.