Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Twenty-Two

[nwctwx]

Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Thread Twenty-Two (Index)

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Google News : Google Images : News Hotlinks

The Threat Matrix

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!

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Connect these dots, now
Full Story

"We should have secured the Mexican border."

That could be the pitiful lament we hear from negligent U.S. officials if Al Qaeda pulls off an attack on the United States using weapons of mass destruction smuggled across our southern frontier.

Were that horrendous event to happen, leaders in the administration and Congress would be justly hit with the same question that was perhaps unjustly cast at them and their predecessors after the unprecedented Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks: Why didn't they connect the dots?

Related:
Bordering on Nukes?
'Bin Laden has fatwa for nuclear attack'
Jihadists Anticipate Imminent Nuclear Strike Against U.S.

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

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Threat Matrix "TM'er" Tips	Link to Thread Twenty-One "Code Red Implications: Code Red - Stay Home and Await Word." From Tm'er and Freeper ~MamaDearest~	Cindy's Links of Interest
TM Code of Conduct		ExSoldier's Invaluable Tips
TM's 'Be on the Lookout'		Godzilla's Summaries
Threat Matrix Book List		Arabic Image Links

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is an exact quote:

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20041177.txt

NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894


November 22, 2004
Release Number: 04-11-77


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


INSURGENTS FAKING DEAD FIRES ON MARINES

FALLUJAH, Iraq – Marines from the 1st Marine Division shot and killed an insurgent, who while faking dead, opened fire on the Marines that were conducting a security and clearing patrol through the streets here at approximately 3:45 p.m. on 21 November.

For more information, please contact Capt Bradley Gordon, public affairs officer, 1st Marine Division, gordonbv@1mardivdm.usmc.mil



-30-

[liberallyconservative]

You provided a link last night or early this a.m. regarding the series of pipe bomb incidents in Franklin, TN (about 20 mins. south of Nashville) - 3 found in mailboxes and 1 was transported to the police by the recipient. One of the pipe bombs exploded, but there were no injuries.

I know it is purely coincidental (hopefully), but does everyone here remember the incident involving the car bomb explosion in the parking lot of Opryland Hotel, also in Nashville? Well, just a little FYI: where that victim lived is only a few miles from where all these pipe bombs are being found. I doubt the incidents are related, but I found the coincidence to be a little strange.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Do you suppose that the loosened bolts fell off a few minutes too soon?

the Texas plane.

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Falloja%22&hl=en&lr=&filter=0

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Faloja%22&hl=en&lr=&filter=0

[Cindy]

OFF THE CUFF PURE SPECULATIVE OPINION:

I doubt the car bomb explosion and the mail fox pipe bombs are related.

It is interesting that the incidents are relatively close together, though.

[Cindy]

spelling correction: fox should be BOX

[Velveeta]

Do you suppose that the loosened bolts fell off a few minutes too soon?

I'm not sure. Certainly don't like all the coincidences.

I was reading at an aviation forum and these pilots were saying that the plane's wing clipped a lightpole at 120ft. There was even a pic of a tollbooth and you could see the top third of the pole was bent over.

The pilots on the forum were saying that this plane was 3-4 miles outside of the airport and should have been at about 900ft. Maybe some of our freeper pilots will chime in.

[Velveeta]

Sleepy.

Goodnight, friends.

[Cindy]

Goodnight Velveeta.
Sleep well.

[nwctwx]

Thank you MamaDearest

[nwctwx]

The Evidence Scheuer Ignored
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/956xwmyw.asp

...excerpt...

ON SUNDAY'S Meet The Press Tim Russert asked his guest, Michael Scheuer, to respond to questions concerning his first book from 2002, Through Our Enemies' Eyes. In it, as I pointed out in an earlier article, Scheuer cites numerous pieces of evidence that substantiate the Bush administration's claim that Saddam's Iraq had a relationship with al Qaeda. However, in his recent media appearances, Scheuer now gives the impression that there is no evidence that there was a relationship.

Tim Russert asked Scheuer about this apparent contradiction; his response left much to be desired. Scheuer's response does, however, illustrate one of the many problems Porter Goss and the Bush administration face in their attempt to reform the intelligence community. When asked about his analysis in 2002, Scheuer responded (in part), "I certainly saw a link when I was writing the books in terms of the open-source literature, unclassified literature, but I had nothing to do with Iraq during my professional career until the run-up to the war." (emphasis added)

Scheuer had "nothing to do with Iraq" during his professional career? Scheuer's response implies that during his entire tenure as the head of the CIA's "bin Laden unit" he never seriously investigated the possibility that Saddam's Iraq was aiding bin Laden's al Qaeda in its endeavors. In other words, he never tested the hypothesis of "state support" for al Qaeda's terrorist activities.

This startling admission reveals the type of pathological "group-think" that needs to be purged from the CIA. In the early
'90s the CIA adopted a specific "stateless" paradigm for understanding terrorism. Directly contrary to the prevailing wisdom of the 1980s, terrorist acts were no longer suspected of being "state-backed" affairs. Instead, the mantra of "loosely affiliated" terrorist networks took root and pariah states such as Iraq--despite being on the State Department's list of "state sponsors of terrorism" every year--were increasingly viewed as bit players in the terrorist arena.

As a brief example of how problematic this view became, consider the events of just three months during Scheuer's tenure as the head of the bin Laden unit--from December 1998 until February 1999.

In December 1998 President Bill Clinton ordered Operation Desert Fox, a massive missile strike against Iraqi targets, which lasted from December 16 to 19. Operation Desert Fox was the last of many U.S. / U.K. efforts in 1998 to destabilize and punish the Iraqi regime for its refusal to comply with weapons inspections. For example, the Iraqi Liberation Act, signed into law by President Clinton on October 31, provided direct funding and support for a coalition of Iraqi opposition groups as well as funding for Radio Free Iraq (which broadcasted anti-regime programming into Iraq from Prague).

[nwctwx]

Zarqawi Spotted South of Kirkuk?
http://home.cogeco.ca/~kurdistan4/23-11-04-zarqawi-spotted-in-kirkuk.htm

BAGHDAD,(UPI) -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the suspected al-Qaida leader in Iraq, was spotted south of the northern Iraqi oil-center of Kirkuk, reports said Monday.

The daily al-Taakhi, organ of the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Massoud Barzani, quoted a police source in Kirkuk as saying Zarqawi had fled the battles in Fallujah to northern Iraq and might have been wounded.

"Zarqawi was able to sneak out of Fallujah with the help of his followers and moved in stages to the province of Toz Khormatu, south of Kirkuk," said the source, who was not identified.

He said Zarqawi was seen riding in an ambulance and heading towards southern Kirkuk, 260 kilometers (162 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops battled for more than a week against suspected Iraqi insurgents and Zarqawi's followers in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, in an attempt to out them from the Sunni city.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian, and his followers are blamed for the kidnapping and beheading of foreigners and for terrorist bombing attacks targeting Iraqi police and U.S.-led multinational forces.

[nwctwx]

Central America, the forgotten frontier
http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/11/22/opinion/edshulman.html

...excerpt...

NEW YORK U.S. foreign policy after 9/11 has dramatically shifted its focus toward the Middle East, leaving Central and South America in the cold. Within the past several months, there have been several alarming developments in Central America that suggest the opening of a new front in the struggle against global terrorism. And while the Bush administration has not paid sufficient attention to these issues, recent events offer some hope of an important shift. On his way to the Defense Ministerial Conference in Quito, Ecuador, last week, Donald Rumsfeld held talks with the presidents of Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador to promote regional cooperation to combat all "the enemies of civil order in the world."

Central America is plagued by ineffective border security, weak infrastructure, half-hearted efforts at regional cooperation, widespread poverty and rising crime rates. For many years, the porous borders of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama and Honduras have turned the region into a major transit zone of narcotics and human trafficking between South America and the United States. And now, Al Qaeda may be recognizing opportunities there.

During the summer, Adnan Shukrijumah, a Saudi Qaeda operative also known as the "next Mohammed Atta" and listed as one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists, was spotted in an Internet cafe in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez fears Shukrijumah has been involved in plots to disrupt shipping lanes by using explosives to damage the Panama Canal.

In another troubling Mideast connection, Ashref Ahmed Abdallah, an Egyptian national, was arrested by U.S. authorities at Miami International Airport in July for smuggling illegal aliens from the Middle East into the United States. Central America is a staging ground for his operation.

And if international terrorism succeeds in gaining influence in drug circles, its rewards could be staggering. Shortly before 9/11, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a Belize fishing vessel carrying 26,400 pounds of cocaine, worth $600 million.

A sure way to fight the threat of terror from this direction is to address the region's more conventional crime, since both thrive under the same conditions. Foreign criminals of all stripes can easily extend their illegal operations because the region's local law enforcement is ineffective, and at times, corrupt and susceptible to bribery. National governments are ill equipped to manage the enforcement workload.

Prominent Central Americans suggest that the creation of an integrated economic zone would help resolve the drug and crime problems. With free trade, governments are forced to improve border and port security to safeguard commerce. Civil society and multinational corporations would be more likely to collaborate as pressure groups on security reform.

The Central American Free Trade Agreement, signed this May, could be a catalyst for change. Central Americans see the pact as an opportunity to accelerate economic and political reform and to forge a stronger relationship with the United States. But in order to fully reap the benefits of free trade, Cafta members should formulate a coherent policy on port and border security; after all, this is where import and export begins.

[liberallyconservative]

As a postal employee, I'm always a little freaked by pipe bombs. I guess that's why my imagination is running rampant. Thank goodness I'm in processing and not delivery. Our carriers are literally in harm's way every day while this is going on. Of course, those of us in processing have always got anthrax in the backs of our minds as well.

Goodnight all.

[Selene]

You are good granny

[Selene]

Donald Rumsfeld:
"promote regional cooperation to combat all "the enemies of civil order in the world."

Get em Rummy!

[Cindy]

I understand your concerns liberallyconservative.

Good night.
Rest well.

[MamaDearest]

You're welcome Cindy. Most importantly from those links, was the one stating Great Britain had dodged the bullet from its own 9/11 to date by security efforts...meaning attempts most assuredly have been made. It's exactly what we've been questioning for some time here at TM, how many attempts have been thwarted by US security efforts since 9/11 that we'll never know about, or at least not for some time to come. God has certainly been watching out for us and our allies to date.

[Cindy]

I agree.

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is an exact quote:
===
===

http://travel.state.gov/travel/iran_warning.html

Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520




This information is current as of today, Mon Nov 22 2004 22:35:20 GMT-0800.


Iran


November 22, 2004


The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens to carefully consider the risks of travel to Iran. Due to ongoing tensions, particularly along the border with Iraq, U.S. citizens may be at higher risk of harassment or kidnapping. This Warning is being reissued without change after periodic review and supersedes the Travel Warning for Iran issued May 14, 2004.


Tensions generated by the current situation in Iraq have increased the potential threat to U.S. citizens and interests abroad posed by those who oppose U.S. policy. Some elements of the Iranian government and population remain hostile to the U.S. American citizens may be subject to the possibility of harassment or kidnapping. Some areas of the country, including the Baluchistan border area near Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Kurdish northwest of the country, and areas near the Iraqi border are not considered safe.


Large-scale demonstrations have taken place in various regions throughout Iran over the past several years as a result of a sometimes volatile political climate. U.S. citizens who travel to Iran despite this Travel Warning should exercise caution.


The U.S. government does not currently have diplomatic or consular relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and therefore cannot provide protection or routine consular services to American citizens in Iran. The Swiss government, acting through its Embassy in Tehran, serves as protecting power for U.S. interests in Iran. Neither U.S. passports nor visas to the United States are issued in Tehran. The Iranian Government does not recognize dual citizenship and generally does not permit the Swiss to provide protective services for U.S. citizens who are also Iranian nationals. In addition, U.S. citizens of Iranian origin who are considered by Iran to be Iranian citizens have been detained and harassed by Iranian authorities. Former Muslims who have converted to other religions, as well as persons who encourage Muslims to convert, are subject to arrest and prosecution.


For additional information, consult the Department of State's Consular Information Sheet for Iran, the current Worldwide Caution and the Middle East and North Africa Public Announcements located at http://travel.state.gov. American citizens may also obtain updated information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States or Canada, or, from overseas, 317-472-2328.