Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Chrysler negotiating to build cars in China and export them to the US

IMHO stick the fork in Chrysler and consider it done! We're supposed to support corporations who invest heavily in foreign countries where the American government tells us they are fearful. Just once I'd like to see honesty in a corporate motivational sign: Greed - the ultimate incentive!

FBI protecting Osama's rights

Wishy washy doesn't give any of us a lot of confidence in who they protect. One day they tell us terrorists have no rights, the next they acquit and release them for rights over and above the rights of citizens. Just an observation ;-)

My wife says that I look goooooood with no hair!

Says you look like Sean Connery? Okay, so she may be a little biased. As long as she likes it, no one else really matters!

Scientist hit by bug she studied

Norwegian preacher may kindle religous war

Yesterday afternoon, an incident occurred on the Rowayton train tracks. (Rowayton is slightly west of Norwalk CT.)

This is a straight - up 911 call.

I'm praying for results that say continued remission.

Dear Crabbe,

I will join you in your prayer.

It will be a good report, you are too special to the world, for it to be otherwise.

hugs and many prayers,

Terrorism Summary 04/22/05

A little longer summary than I like, lots of work interferred with getting it done. Key areas to watch in the upcoming months -
1. Potential attacks in Britain to influence elections.
2. More divergent trends in Afghanistan, increasing surrenders, increasing attacks (although less effective with time).
3. Increased activity in Thailand, Indonesia and Yemen. 4. Increased activity in Israel.

Let me know if you want on or off the Ping list.

04/22/04 Current National Homeland Defense threat level is YELLOW

1. Attack threat windows - America
04/22/04 Primary Window: No AQ associated attacks took place in response to the 02/20/05 release of a video on Al-Jazerra of AQ number two - Al Zawahiri. Past history has shown that there is a strong likelyhood that this video may be the signal for an attack somewhere within the next 60 days. No significant windows currently identified.

04/22/04 Secondary windows: None currently identified.

2. Attack Indicators
04/22/05 Rumblings about a new OBL message (see below).

3. Current Terrorist Operations

AQ / OBL
04/21/05 An unauthenticated message posted today, April 21, 2005, on an al-Qaeda affiliated message board alleges an upcoming audio message from Usama bin Laden using “bin Laden’s or [Ayman] al-Zawahiri voice” that will call “the end of the truce he suggested to the European countries to withdraw their forces from Iraq.”
An audio message purportedly from bin Laden issued April 14, 2004 offered a truce, or “reconciliation initiative”, with Europe in a “a commitment to stop operations against any state which vows to stop attacking Muslims or interfere in their affairs….” The truce was to be agreed upon three months following the issuance of the audio message.
Members of this message board expressed disbelief towards the announcement and requested verification.
http://siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications38405&Category=publications&Subcategory=0

Southern ASIA Region

Indonesia - State Dept. Travel Warning issued 03/24/05
04/19/05 A letter written by a member of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network said the group is planning an attack similar to the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, a top Singaporean official said. …snip…
"A letter recovered in Indonesia, written by a JI member, said that 12 operatives were ready to be martyrs and that plans for a Bali-style attack were underway," Wong said in a speech Monday evening to intelligence officials.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050419/ap_on_re_as/southeast_asia_terror_1

04/18/05 The alleged mastermind of a series of bombings - including a strike on a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet - that killed three people on Indonesia's Sulawesi island, went on trial today and faces a possible death penalty if convicted. Under heavy guard, Muhammad Agung Hamid took the stand in the district court in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi, accused of planning attacks on a KFC and a car showroom in the city on December 5, 2002.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15007448-23109,00.html

Thailand
Monitoring - AQ attack watch #2 through 12/31/05
The documents show that in 2005, the militants plan to attack "soft targets" such as the tropical beach resorts of Pattaya and Phuket, which draw tourist from around the world. Recent attacks have hit other resort areas not affected by the tsunami.
http://www.trackingterrorism.com/Default.asp?dismode=article&artid=1305

04/20/05 Singapore has warned a regional terrorist group is planning more attacks similar to the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali. Singapore says an Asian terrorist group with links to al-Qaida is planning to carry out more attacks like the bombings on Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.
A senior Singapore official says a letter written by a Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) member and obtained by Indonesian authorities says 12 of the group's members are ready to become "martyrs" and a Bali-style attack is being planned.
In a speech to the Internal Security Department, Singapore Home Affairs Minister Wong Ken Seng said terrorists are reverting to traditional forms of communication, such as hand-delivered notes, to thwart security surveillance of electronic methods. Mr. Wong also says the group is recruiting Caucasians and converts to Islam in an attempt to counter terrorist profiling by the authorities.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-04-19-voa22.cfm

East ASIA Region

North Korea
04/18/05 North Korea has suspended the operation of its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, a South Korean foreign ministry official said Monday, a move analysts said could be aimed at extracting material for nuclear weapons. The official said the purpose of the stoppage was unclear, but also said Seoul was treating the suspension as a potentially serious development. North Korea said explicitly for the first time in February that it possessed nuclear weapons. It has also previously said it had reprocessed nuclear fuel to get weapons-grade plutonium.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20050418/wl_nm/korea_north_dc

04/17/05 North Korea has halted operations at a nuclear power reactor at the center of an international row, a move that could let Pyongyang reprocess spent fuel to retract plutonium and boost its nuclear arsenal, a press report said. The United States will shortly send Christopher Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, to South Korea, Japan and China for talks to cope with the new development in the nuclear stand-off, the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun said."
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050417/wl_asia_afp/nkoreanuclearus_050417070610

Phillipines
04/18/05 Peace talks on ending a three-decade-old Muslim separatist insurgency in southern Philippines opened on Monday in Malaysia, with the two sides saying they are hopeful of progress despite the tough agenda. The three-day talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are being held at a secret location, believed to be a town south of Kuala Lumpur. Neither Filipino officials nor Malaysian hosts have disclosed details. ..snip…
Malaysia has a huge stake in a peaceful settlement of the rebellion in the southern Philippines because tens of thousands of Filipinos have been fleeing into Malaysia for years to escape the fighting.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2005/April/theworld_April397.xml§ion=theworld

04/16/05 Two suspected members of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group were killed as Philippine security forces pounded a known rebel territory in a marshy area in southern Philippines, the military said Friday.
Armed Forces Southern Command spokesperson Col. Domingo Tutaan Jr. said that the clash erupted earlier this morning when a Philippine Air Force plane dropped four bombs at the southwest portion of the Butilan marsh in Maguindanao province. Operating troops, however, could not retrieve the bodies of the slain rebels as they were being subjected to sniper fire, Tutaan said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-04/15/content_2835056.htm

04/15/05 The United States has expressed concern about militant training activity on Mindanao in the southern Philippines, warning the rebellion-torn southern region could become the "next Afghanistan." Joseph Mussomeli, the number-two official of the US embassy in Manila, urged its Southeast Asian ally to do more to stem the flow of Islamic militant recruits into Mindanao, which he alleged was becoming "the new 'Mecca' for terrorism."
These groups train in bomb-making in Mindanao and have actually conducted bombing campaigns in the country, he added. "Personally, I'm worried that we're not worried enough. I think the real danger here, and the danger that has been here since the mid-90s, is that we're not focused enough on the threat here," Charge d'affaires Mussomeli said in an interview with Australia's SBS television.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2005/04/005753print.html

Middle East / SW Asia

Pakistan
04/15/05 Two of Pakistan's international airports were put on high alert on Friday because of a terror threat, a security official said. "We have put Karachi and Lahore international airports on high-security alert after some specific aviation-related threats," Major Riaz Ahmad, a spokesman for the Airport Security Force, told Reuters.
"Security at both these airport has been beefed up on an intelligence report," he said without providing details. Earlier this week, the U.S. consulate in Karachi remained closed for three days after its officials received threatening telephone calls. It was not clear whether the threats were linked.
http://my.aol.com/news/news_story.psp?type=1&cat=0600&id=2005041511590002764672

Iran
04/22/05 Iran contiunes unabated in its quest for a nuclear weapon. Recently held a military parade. Continued democracy protests in scattered locations.

Afghanistan
04/21/05 Two senior members of Afghanistan 's former Taliban regime surrendered to the government on Thursday under an amnesty offer, a provincial governor said. The officials -- Mullah Mohammad Naseem, the former Taliban governor of Zabul province, and Haji Mohammad Akhtar, former police chief of Farah province -- surrendered following month-long talks, the governor of Helmand province said.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050421/wl_nm/afghan_fighting_dc

04/17/05 “Desperate” Taliban members and their al Qaeda allies are likely to launch more violent attacks with the approach of parliamentary elections this fall, the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan told reporters in Kabul today. Army Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, who heads Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, called the election of Hamid Karzai as Afghanistan’s president last October a “strategic defeat” for the Taliban and said much of the organization is close to collapse.
Some Taliban leaders have expressed interest in joining the political process in Afghanistan, Barno said, but others are clinging to hopes of reversing the country’s course. “As the terrorists’ capability grows more and more limited,” he predicted, “hard-core fanatics would desperately try to do something to change the course of events in Afghanistan.” These terrorists “want to reassert themselves,” Barno said. “And I expect they would be looking here, for the next six to nine months or so, to stage some type of high-visibility attack to garner media publicity.”
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2005/20050416_633.html

04/16/05 America’s senior military commander in Afghanistan predicted Saturday the near-total collapse of the Taliban insurgency within a year, but he cautioned that militants remain a danger and could stage a “high-visibility attack” in coming months.
Lt. Gen. David Barno, speaking at a news conference, did not give any details about a potential attack or say if he had specific intelligence about one. “As these terrorist capabilities grow more and more limited, the hard-core fanatics will grow more and more desperate to try and do something to change the course of events in Afghanistan,” Barno told a press conference. “Terrorists here in Afghanistan want to reassert themselves and I expect that they will be looking here, over the next six to nine months or so, to stage some type of high-visibility attack. “I think we must all remain realistic and clear-eyed with the understanding that the enemy is still dangerous. He’s been reduced in his capabilities but he remains a desperate foe who will try and create events and inflict losses.”
http://cbsnewyork.com/terror/terror_story_106113843.html

Iraq
04/21/05 The chief al-Qaida terrorist in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has acquired or is preparing a "dirty bomb" for an attack, according to U.S. officials citing recurrent intelligence reports.
For several months, intelligence agencies have been receiving the classified reports, which indicate Zarqawi has been storing the radiological explosive in Afghanistan, the Washington Times reported.
The officials say, however, analysts are unable to gauge the reliability of the information's sources. The Times reported the intelligence is being questioned because analysts believe al-Qaida would already have used a nuclear device if it had one.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43896
Godzilla - A dirty nuke will do little in Iraq as it wouldn’t pack the terror punch such a device could in the U.S. However, Iraq would serve as a relatively safe testing ground for such a device.

04/18/05 Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. military, swept into a town south of Baghdad at dawn Monday but found no hostages despite reports that Sunni militants had kidnapped as many as 100 Shiites there. Residents and Sunni clerics said the reports had been grossly exaggerated by government officials bent on re-establishing control in the lawless region the U.S. military has called the "Triangle of Death" because it has become a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=2&u=/ap/20050418/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&sid=84439559

Saudi Arabia
04/15/05 Saudi Arabia confirmed today officially that its forces killed Saud al-Oteibi who is believed to be the leader of al-Qaida organization in the kingdom, and the Moroccan Abdul Karim al-Majati, who suspected to be the master mind for Madrid explosions, during the clashes in the north west of Riyadh.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050411/2005041112.html

Yemen - State Dept Travel Warning issued 4/8/05
04/15/05 Yemeni security forces are hunting terrorists suspected of involvement in the bombing of military targets in Sanaa in the past two days, reports said Monday.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050411-054845-9420r.htm

Israel
04/21/05 An internal Israeli defense report obtained by Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin shows Palestinian violence and terrorist attacks up 300 percent in the last 10 days. The report is a concentrated collection of intelligence submitted by the Israeli Defense Forces, the Internal Security Service, Shabak and Israel's national police. It highlights the disturbing increase in the number of terrorist incidents and – even more alarming – information on Palestinian plans to resume open hostilities in what would be the "third intifada," or major uprising."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43918

04/19/05 Israel has warned its nationals to stay away from Egypt and Jordan over the next few weeks. Officials said the Israeli intelligence community has determined that Islamic insurgency groups were planning to attack Israelis in several Arab countries. They said the attacks would most likely take place in Egypt and Jordan. In early April, three Westerners were killed in a suicide bombing in Cairo. ….snip…..
"All Arab countries except Mauritania are included in the travel warning list and it is recommended not to visit, or stay in, any of them," the travel advisory said. Afghanistan and Iran were said to have a "very high threat level," the warning said. Other areas in this category included India's Kashmir, Russia's Chechnya and the Mindanao island in the Philippines.
Arab countries with a high threat level were identified as Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia and Pakistan were also on the list of countries that contained a high threat level.
The advisory said "a basic threat level" exists in the Comoros Islands, Kuwait, Libya, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Qatar - excluding Doha - Morocco and Tunisia, were deemed to contain a "concrete threat level." In March, Doha was rocked by a suicide car bombing that targeted a British theater.
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/front2453479.01875.html

Africa

Algeria
04/19/05 Some 400 armed Islamist militants in Algeria are prepared to lay down their weapons if the government passes an amnesty to end 13 years of civil strife, a senior official was quoted as saying on Monday. "Around 400 armed militants, or more than 95% of the terrorist elements still present in the field," are ready to give themselves up, the head of the National Commission for a General Amnesty (CNAG), Abderrezak Smail, told the Expression newspaper.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1691784,00.html

Europe

Russia
04/19/05 A head of one of the terrorist groups under the command of Shamil Basayev has given himself up to the Chechen law enforcement authorities. This was disclosed in a message by the region HQ for the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus. Refraining from disclosing the name of the terrorist, law enforcers, however, reported that born in 1975, he was the so-called emir of the Vedensky district's Kharachoi village.
The terrorist said that his group totaling nine people is also ready to surrender. However, the militants are waiting for a decision to be taken with regard to their commander. Although all of them realize that criminal proceedings can be initiated against them for participation in illegal armed formations, they decided to go out of Basayev's control.
Another terrorist, who was a member of the terrorist group that operated in Grozny's Oktyabrsky district from December 1999 through March 2000, has surrendered to law enforcers.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050419/39695237.html

04/19/05 A little-known Islamic group calling itself Shariat has claimed responsibility for the bombings in the southern Russian republic of Daghestan last week that wounded six people. The group posted a statement on an Internet website linked to Chechen separatists saying members of Shariat were responsible for the bombings of the prosecutor's office in the Daghestani capital Makhachkala."
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticleprint/2005/04/61990dae-9cf9-4f91-b1e2-af76562a8aa3.html

Bulgaria
04/15/05 The threat of terrorism is quite obvious on the Balkans given the fact that there are many Islamic communities here among which terrorism could find friendly startup, according to Bulgaria's Secretary of the Interior Ministry.
Lieutenant-General Boyko Borissov inaugurated Thursday in Sofia an international police conference dedicated to regional police cooperation in times of globalization of terrorism and organized crime.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=46697

Britain
04/18/05 Britain is near the top of world terrorism risk ratings for a second year amid fears that Islamic extremists will try to disrupt the general election with an attack on a big city. Britain has an “elevated” risk of being hit by terrorists, while London is at “high” risk, together with Baghdad, Kabul and Jerusalem, according to a terrorism risk map published today by Aon, the world’s second-largest insurance broker. ….snip…..
“We’re seeing increased recruiting of radical Islamists in Europe for a tour of duty in Iraq, then these people returning to their own country, feeling motivated and recruiting others,” said Mr Bassett, a former bomb disposal expert. “If they can carry out a successful attack around the election in the UK, they will.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1573916,00.html

04/17/05 After Kamel Bourgass was convicted last week of plotting to make poisons and sentenced to 17 years in prison, ministers sprang to the microphones to claim that the jury's verdict in the ricin trial proved that they had told the truth about the terrorist threat to Britain. But this was far wide of the mark. On the contrary, it was a disaster for those who believe that such a threat exists.
The acquittal of eight of the nine defendants allowed the opponents of the Government's behaviour in Iraq to claim that Bourgass was merely a lone and ineffectual nutcase, that there was no al-Qa'eda conspiracy, and that the threat of a ricin plot was simply cooked up by Tony Blair to justify the Iraq war by mendaciously fuelling a climate of fear, as he had done over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/17/nricin117.xml

04/17/05 Britain's most senior policeman has issued a new warning about the threat of al Qeada terrorists targeting the UK.Sir Ian Blair is calling for new laws to tackle terrorist conspiracies and has asked for the introduction of ID cards to be given further consideration.His comments come in an interview to be broadcast on the Breakfast with Frost programme. And they follow the jailing of Kamel Bourgass for murdering a policeman and conspiring to cause a public nuisance after police unravelled an al Qaeda ricin poison plot.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050416/140/fghy4.html

04/15/05 A British-based network of Algerian terrorists with links to al-Qa'ida are suspected of being behind the plot to cause mass panic in the UK with the release of lethal poisons….snip…
The attempt to break the network led to more than 100 arrests, with investigations stretching from Bournemouth to Scotland.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=629208

Denmark
04/15/05 Denmark's Queen Margrethe II warned against the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Denmark and the world in a new book out, saying people must on occasion "show their opposition to Islam".
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050414/323/fgdoj.html

Germany
04/15/05 Police on Thursday arrested seven Islamic extremists and raided 31 mosques, homes and offices in this year's third crackdown in Germany on fund-raising for terrorism. In months of surveillance, police discovered that two Munich-based activists had raised EUR 1 million between them to finance Islamist groups abroad. They are likely to be charged with money laundering and tax evasion.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=19103&name=Police+arrest+seven+Islamists%3CBR%3Eand+raid+30+associated+sites

Spain
04/20/05 Although 75 members of al Qaeda have been arrested in Spain, the terrorist group's efforts to recruit followers among Muslim residents of that country remains a threat, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos told Washington Post reporters and editors last week. Moratinos, who also met with Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice while on a brief visit to Washington, said Spain had reached agreements with most Arab countries to launch an "early warning system" to keep track of any movements by possible al Qaeda suspects planning subversive activity in Spain.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2944-2005Apr19.html

The Americas

United States
04/19/05 Zacarias Moussaoui has notified the government that he intends to plead guilty to his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and could enter the plea as early as this week if a judge finds him mentally competent, sources familiar with the case said yesterday.
Moussaoui's plan to plead guilty comes over his attorneys' objections and still has several obstacles -- including Moussaoui's own whim. The French citizen, the only person charged in the United States in the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, tried to plead guilty in 2002, claiming an intimate knowledge of the plane hijackings. But he rescinded his plea a week later. His mental state has been an issue in the case ever since, and U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Alexandria is scheduled to meet with Moussaoui this week to determine if he has the mental capacity to enter a plea now, the sources said.
In recent letters to the government and to Brinkema, Moussaoui said he is willing to accept the possibility of a death sentence, which sources said could resolve a key point of contention: Prosecutors are unlikely to drop their insistence on capital punishment. If Brinkema accepts a plea, she would then probably set a death penalty trial, at which jurors would decide if Moussaoui should be executed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64195-2005Apr18.html

04/18/05 On April 8, KLM Flight 685 took off from Amsterdam, scheduled to pass through U.S. airspace after making a long swing over Canada on its way to Mexico City. By the time the Boeing 747 had finished its three-hour crossing of the Atlantic, U.S. Department of Homeland Security screeners were on high alert. The names of two Saudi passengers aboard the flight had begun producing "hits" on the screening center's list of 70,000 suspect foreigners. According to an FBI database of terror suspects known as TIPOFF, the two Saudis were brothers and pilots who had attended the same Arizona flight school as 9/11 hijacker Hani Hanjour, Investigative Correspondent Mark Hosenball and Senior Editor Michael Hirsh report in the April 25 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, April 18). Soon the multiplicity of U.S. terror databases started pumping out similar hits. Fearing that Flight 685 might be a 9/11-style plot in the making, U.S. authorities refused the plane overflight rights, and Canada rejected a request to land. Much to the chagrin of its 278 passengers, the KLM jet returned to Amsterdam.
Hosenball and Hirsh write that Washington's concern about the flight seems legitimate. In the last year, U.S. counterterrorism officials have cited intelligence indicating that Al Qaeda might be planning to use foreign-based airliners to launch attacks against the U.S. homeland. One U.S. counterterrorism official told Newsweek that the two passengers were "bad dudes." And a European intelligence official said the two have "extensive but secondary links" to Al Qaeda.
At least one of the two Saudis had previously been deported from the United States, according to Homeland Security sources. A former neighbor in Arizona, who asked to remain anonymous, recalled that federal officials in full body armor rushed the Saudi's empty house several weeks after 9/11 and later arrested him. During FBI questioning, a law-enforcement official told Newsweek, the Saudi acknowledged knowing Hani Hanjour. Upon further questioning, he also conceded that he had known another of the 9/11 hijackers.
…snip…
Some counterterrorism officials say that if the two Saudis were indeed part of a Qaeda operation, it is no surprise their destination was Mexico City. U.S. officials fear that Latin America, and more particularly Mexico -- with its porous U.S. border -- may become a staging ground for Al Qaeda, report Hosenball and Hirsh. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7529185/site/newsweek/

04/14/05 Three Dallas-area brothers were convicted Wednesday of supporting terrorism by funneling money to a high-ranking official in the militant Palestinian group Hamas. Ghassan and Bayan Elashi and their company were found guilty of all 21 federal counts they faced: conspiracy, money laundering and dealing in property of a terrorist. Basman Elashi, who faced the same counts, was convicted of three counts of conspiracy but acquitted of the other charges.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050413/ap_on_re_us/hamas_trial_1
Ghassan Elashi, by the way, was the founder of the Texas chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations—CAIR. Coincidence, I think not.

04/16/05 O n April 4th, nine FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Raleigh home of a convicted felon named Rafat Jamal Mawlawi, a Syrian with dual citizenship in the United States. Mawlawi is suspected of organizing a scam to illegally bring Moroccan men into the United States by arranging sham marriages and engagements to women from Memphis.
What the FBI found was much more troubling: a hidden stash of loaded weapons and ammunition clips, $34,000 in cash, two pictures of Mawlawi shouldering a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a gruesome videotape of war casualties with Arabic text and voiceover, and more than 20 passports to Morocco, Syria, Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries.
The agents were members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. As outlined by prosecutors and agents in a federal courtroom last week, what they found could be evidence of a possible terrorist link in Memphis or something less sinister, as has proven to be the case in other investigations of Middle Easterners caught up in our legal system. The FBI investigation is ongoing.
http://www.memphisflyer.com/content.asp?ArticleID=2&ID=7180

4. Attack method.
11/23/04 No real change in the preferred method of choice of AQ which are bombs - the bigger the better. There are special concerns regarding the use by terrorists of the following types of vehicles:

1. Uhaul type cargo trucks.
2. Gasoline / Propane supply / tanker trucks.
3. Emergency vehicles (ambulances, police cars, fire trucks)

04/22/05 Godzilla - With the anniversary of the OK City bombing, we see the potential impacts of such a simple device. In a rural areas, fertilizer can be obtained without too much notice. Why this technique hasn’t been applied in the US as it has in Iraq is unknown, perhaps because there are operational security concerns in obtaining the volumes of fertilizer necessary for multiple attacks, whereas in Iraq there is an abundance of ordance left over from Saddam’s army or smuggled in from Syria/Iran.

04/16/05 In the post-Sept. 11 world, U.S. schools need to realize they are potential targets for attacks not only from mentally unstable students, but from terrorists looking to strike at the heart of the American fabric, a leading school security expert told a meeting of school board administrators Friday.
Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, said many school districts have neglected to prepare for terrorism because of limited money, pressure to spend more time on raising test scores and, in some cases, denial of the risk.
"People are reluctant to talk about schools as terror targets because of fear," he told members of the National School Boards Association. "And yet we'll talk about protecting bridges, monuments and Capitol Hill. Where is the logic?
"If you want to strike at the heart of America, you'd strike at America's children."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/11412290.htm

5. Personnel
04/22/05 This Category will be retired after this summary.

6. Significant meetings canceled:
04/22/04 No new cancellations.

7. Security has been heightened in specific cities
04/22/04 NYC is at a locally declared ORANGE where it had been since. 9/11/01.

8. Military operations.
04/22/05 No announced operations out of normal.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2 - Egads!!!

9. Dept of Homeland Security. / State Department
04/20/05 PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
This information is current as of, Wed Apr 20 07:23:00 2005.
Tunisia
April 19, 2005
This Public Announcement is being issued to alert Americans to the potential for terrorist actions in Tunisia. This Public Announcement expires on July 19, 2005.

The United States Government has strong indications that individuals may be planning imminent terrorist actions in Tunisia. We have no further information on specific targets, timing, or method of attack, or capabilities of these individuals.

In the past, terrorists have not distinguished between official and civilian targets. As always, we take this information seriously. Terrorist attacks may occur on or around dates of religious significance, such as the Moulid holiday in the third week of April. U.S. Government facilities remain at a heightened state of alert. Americans in Tunisia are urged to remain vigilant with regard to their personal security and to exercise caution.

This Public Announcement supplements the Middle East and North Africa Public Announcement of March 14, 2005 and the Worldwide Public Announcement of March 8, 2005, both available at http://travel.state.gov/>.
http://travel.state.gov./travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_2258.html

10. Suspicious Domestic Incidents Not Currently Linked to Specific Terrorism Attempts
04/18/05 The Springfield-Branson Regional Airport was evacuated Monday afternoon around 3:15 PM after bomb detection equipment scored a hit on some luggage. Airport director Gary Cyr and airport spokeswoman Sherry Wallace said detectors went off while screening a bag. Cyr said a second screening was also positive, forcing the airport to evacuate and call in the bomb squad.
Cr said two passengers were removed from the plane and questioned by police. The flight was allowed to take off without the passengers or their bags, Cyr said. Cyr was not sure of its final destination. Assistant airport direcotr Shawn Schroeder said bomb inpsectors were able to clear the scene and re-open the airport at 4:30 PM. Airport officials were busy getting caught up with a backlog of passengers. Cyr said he did not recall this type of incident happening before.
http://www.ky3.com/newsdetailed.asp?id=7918

04/16/05 Two men aboard a Northwest Airlink flight from Detroit to New York were arrested Friday after one of them asked to see the cockpit and refused to sit down, federal authorities said. They were refused entry and the flight landed safely at JFK, where the FBI arrested them.
Law enforcement officials say the two men on Northwest commuter flight 3741 from Detroit to JFK are citizens of the Republic of Georgia. They were still being questioned Friday afternoon at the airport’s Terminal 4.
Officials emphasize that early reports of an altercation appear to be untrue, that the two men's actions appear to have been more of annoyance than anything else and "drinking may have been involved."
Sometime during the flight, one or both men got up and told a flight attendant they wanted to get into the cockpit. They were told that was not permitted. Then they asked if their luggage could be brought up from the hold. That request was denied as well and they were asked to return to their seats, which they did. Not long thereafter, one of them got up and started wandering around the plane and flight attendants again asked him to remain seated. The pilot, out of caution, declared an in-flight emergency and alerted JFK. The two men were detained on arrival and questioned.
http://www.wnbc.com/news/4383910/detail.html

04/16/05 A 19-year-old man was jailed Friday, accused of placing a propane tank in the path of a commuter train. The NJ Transit train struck the tank about 10:45 p.m. April 8 in Matawan, damaging the undercarriage and disrupting service on the North Jersey Coast Line for more than two hours, the agency said. No injuries were reported among the 100 passengers, the agency said. There was no explosion or fire, but police and firefighters from Old Bridge and Aberdeen responded, NJ Transit said. ...snip...
NJ Transit police arrested Edward Kolbinski at his Sayreville home on Thursday. He was held at the Middlesex County Jail on $100,000 bail. Police did not disclose what led them to Kolbinski. He was charged with attempted aggravated assault, criminal mischief, criminal trespass, interference with transportation and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
http://www.wnbc.com/traffic/4385228/detail.html

Egads is right! You have certainly been busy. Thanks for your hard work and please give those keyboarding fingers and wrists a rest! (smiling - knowing nothing or no one can keep you down).

Thanks Godzilla.
Exceptional work as always.

Hospital imposters get Homeland Security attention

THANK YOU all4one.

50 sick after chemical truck crash

Mr. Galt,

"Paris" is on Hannity and Colmes right now.
http://www.foxnews.com

I wonder if he is the same "Paris" of "Sonic Jihad" fame?

ON THE NET...

ISLAM ONLINE.net - Arts and Entertainment: "SONIC JIHAD, TAKE TWO" by Ali Asadullah (February 25, 2003)

ISLAM ONLINE.net - Arts and Entertainment: "RAPPER, PARIS, UNLEASHES A 'SONIC JIHAD" by Ali Asadullah (January 8, 2003)

GOOGLE Search Term: "SONIC JIHAD"

GUERRILLAFUNK.com - Press: "PARIS - SONIC JIHAD: 9 OUT OF 10" by Steve "Flash" Juon, RapReviews.com, November 29, 2004"

Just make sure your son calls to report it right away before touching anything.

If a police car had driven by, your son would've been arrested for doing it and they would never have believed his story.

Gotta cover your own "tracks" when you want to be a good samaritan these days..sad but true.

I would contact both Metro North and the local police. These teens are sure to be back.

Only problem is, that Benedict is not O.S.B or Order of St Benedict.

He did however, choose Benedict as his papal name out of honor to St Benedict, the founder of the order. Therefore, I would assume if he did a good job and it did in fact "honor" St Benedict with his service to God, it would be to the "Glory" of the Olivitans.

He clearly has been Benedictine in stance and Spirit over the decades of his priesthood...as they say in the Vatican...some appointments are in pectore.

Bird flu could unleash pandemic

Airline guide for passengers with suspected SARS

Exposure to passengers with menningococal disease on aircraft

PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org
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April 22, 2005

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1024117.ece

"Norwegian preacher kindles religious strife
Celebrity Pentecostal preacher Runar Søgaard is under protection by Swedish police after receiving death threats. A high-profile sermon where Sögaard called the prophet Mohammed "a confused pedophile" has triggered fears of religious war."

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Imam Hassan Moussa, head of Sweden's imam council, demanded that Christian communities repudiate Søgaard's remarks, and promised that Sweden would avoid the ugly scenes experienced in Holland."