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| Locked on 07/11/2005 8:20:21 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason: |
Posted on 06/02/2005 9:27:09 PM PDT by nwctwx
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I think a link might be the way to go as well. I'd rather keep each thread as 'current' as possible.. if I keep it offsite, I can edit it whenever I have time as well.. rather than waiting on a new thread.
I have started tackling some thoughts I had for the TM over the past few months, but had no time to try out.. I want it to be easy for people to look at the current thread, and be able to put together some sort of picture without having read the previous year of postings. It's a daunting task for those who wander in..
I'll certainly enjoy being able to read what I want to read over the summer. ;) I have a big stack of books to get to.
Awesome thread as always nwctwx.
I for one love the beginning of each thread, so please don't stop!
Also, love seeing the blog up there, gives me shivers! LOL
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
peace
neosgirl
I wouldn't go anywhere near a French airshow!! lol
You ready for hurricane season? :-)
Singapore PM Says Terrorists Studying Maritime Targets
(fair use rules, sorry no links for Dow Jones newswires)
08:59 DJ Singapore PM Says Terrorists Studying Maritime Targets
SINGAPORE (AP)--Terrorists are studying maritime targets in Southeast Asia and Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaida-linked terror group, remains "highly dangerous,"
Singapore's prime minister said Friday.
"We know that terrorists have been studying maritime targets across the
region," Lee Hsien Loong said at the opening of a regional defense ministers'
conference. "The recent spate of violent pirate attacks in the Malacca Strait
shows up our vulnerabilities only too clearly, but a terrorist attack would be
of an altogether different magnitude."
He said Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for a spate of bombings across Southeast
Asia, was "morphing into a loose web" of groups.
"While the JI may be weakened, it remains highly dangerous," he said.
The network is blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people and
the Jakarta Marriott suicide bombing a year later which killed 11. It is also
blamed for last September's suicide attack on the Australian embassy in
Jakarta, which left 10 dead.
Two of its purported top leaders - Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin
Mohamed Top - were allegedly central figures in all three attacks and remain
fugitives in Indonesia. Lee said the reason the network was able to
reinvigorate itself is because its top leaders remain at large.
"It is also tapping into like-minded groups in Indonesia to provide manpower
and support for its terrorist activities," Lee said at a gathering of 500
delegates.
Washington and Singapore are concerned that militants could target the flow of
50,000 ships plying the Malacca Strait yearly or hijack a supertanker and use
it as a giant floating bomb. The strait lies between Singapore, Malaysia and
Indonesia and carries half the world's oil and a third of its commerce.
Singapore has said it is open to involvement by other countries, including the
U.S., in helping to secure the waterway, where pirate attacks occur. Malaysia
and Indonesia said they are able to handle their sectors with no outside
assistance.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-03-05 0859ET- - 08 59 AM EDT 06-03-05
Looking forward to tracking some storms. ;-) Already keeping an eye on the benign little wave south of FL... though, don't expect much more than rain from that.
Canada, U.S. warn citizens of possible attacks on hotels in Indonesian capital
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Canada and the United States on Friday warned its citizens living in Indonesia that terrorists were planning to bomb hotels and other locations frequented by foreigners in the capital, while the police chief also cautioned that fresh attacks were likely.
In an update to its travel report, Foreign Affairs Canada also advised citizens not to travel to Indonesia, especially the west coast of northern Sumatra, including Aceh province and offshore islands, and to exercise caution in commercial and public establishments and tourist areas, some of which have been targets in the past.
Canadians still in the area were advised to leave immediately and tell the Canadian Embassy in Jakarta of their departure. Recent reports indicate that terrorists were planning attacks against foreigners in Aceh and other parts of northern Sumatra, the department said.
Australia also has warned its citizens to avoid travelling to Indonesia.
The warnings were the latest in a flurry of security advisories underlining the continuing threat of terrorism in the world's most populous Muslim country, which has suffered three major attacks by al-Qaida-linked militants since 2002.
In its message to American citizens in Indonesia, the U.S. Embassy said it had "learned that as of June 1, 2005, there were plans by extremists to conduct bomb attacks targeting the lobbies of hotels frequented by Westerners in Jakarta. The attacks were to occur circa noon on an unspecified date."
It included no more details, but it follows an unspecified security threat that forced Washington to close its diplomatic facilities in Indonesia last week for four days.
Separately, National Police chief Gen. Dai Bachtiar said that terrorists' "activities were increasing."
"According to our observations, their communications show they are intensively planning to launch more attacks," he told reporters without elaborating.
Militants belonging to the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group have been blamed for three attacks on western targets in Indonesia in the last three years: the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, in which two Canadians were killed; the 2003 bombing of the J. W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta; and last year's attack at the Australian Embassy. All the attacks resulted in deaths and injuries.
After the Bali bombings, some foreign governments faced domestic criticism for not sharing information that militants may have been planning attacks.
http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.html?id=5b39be0e-fb63-48a9-94c5-78dd87b28f9a
re: sham marriages
This was taking place in Philly, which I witnessed first hand. Numerous ME's in their early to mid 20's marrying women from their age group up to women in their late 50's...
Also observed this in another area in Pennsylvania, where a group of Czech Republic illegals were finding brides ( and new id cards and licenses) in record time),,,
"I've noticed that a lot of the probing (false bomb threats, etc) have stopped. I wonder if that means they have all the intel they need."
Ties in with what I'm wondering about....in that recent letter from Z to OBL (could of course be bogus), it seems that Z mentions that the plan is ready to go- all that is needed is OBL's final word....
| What if we don't win? Clifford D. May In Iraq, they say, failure is not an option. But it is a possibility. From the start of the intervention, two critical questions have awaited answers: Is there a critical mass of Iraqis who are willing to fight for freedom rather than submit to tyranny? And can the American military -- designed to confront the Soviet Union, a lumbering giant - learn to effectively fight an elusive enemy who plays by no rules and need not win a single battle? All that the enemy has to do is erode our will to fight. Video tapes of beheadings and suicide bombings tend to have that effect on the Western psyche. More than two years into the war, those who insist Iraq is a hopeless quagmire can point out that, in recent weeks, 130 car bombs have left more than 600 people dead. On the other hand, thousands of freshly trained Iraqi troops have begun hunting insurgents in and around Baghdad. Even in the most restive provinces of the country, Sunni tribesmen have been battling the forces of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. And Zarqawi himself is reportedly wounded. But leave aside, for the moment, the question of whether we are today inching forward or slipping back. Focus instead on this: Has failure now become an option? What would be the consequence of an American defeat in Iraq? It surely would mean a blood bath as the Ba'athist insurgents and al-Qaeda terrorists settled scores and demonstrated - as an object lesson for others -- the price that must be paid for collaborating with American infidels. Iraqi terrorist training camps would no doubt be re-opened. Refurbishing Salman Pak, for example, not only would humiliate America but, more practically, could turn out skilled replacements for those combatants lost during the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. On a conceptual level, it would now be apparent that America's flight from Beirut after the slaughter of its Marines in 1983, its hasty withdrawal from Somalia ten years later, its refusal to hold any terrorist nation, dictator or group responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing - these were not flukes or mistakes but points in a trend line. It would confirm the belief that the West is in decline and that a superior force is destined to prevail - exactly what both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have long predicted. Al-Qaeda, Saddam loyalists, agents of the Iranian mullahs - whichever group or alliance of groups emerged on top in Iraq would build on their success. Before long we could expect an 'insurgency' in Kuwait: the assassination of a few key figures, some beheadings and suicide bombings. The wave would continue into Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and beyond. Who would stop it? How would they stop it? With expanding territory, population and resources, including vast oil wealth, the leaders of the new totalitarian confederation or empire - or caliphate -- could manipulate the world's economy to its benefit and to the detriment of those few nations who might dare obstruct their ascendance. Nuclear, biological and chemical weapons would soon be theirs. They'd want them only for peaceful purposes, of course; and for deterrence. Before long, the dream of both Saddam and bin Laden would be realized. There would be an oil-rich, nuclear-armed new superpower, a true rival to the decadent and divided West. Quietly, it would empower 'non-state actors,' AKA, terrorist groups. In Europe, radical Islamists would become increasingly demanding. They'd find European leaders surprisingly accommodating. Americans, by contrast, would be obstreperous and try to better seal their borders. Such efforts would only delay the inevitable. Chances are that, eventually, a nuclear weapon or germ bomb would be detonated in some American population center. World leaders would express sympathy. But what could be done? Investigate who had supplied it to whom? Ask the United Nations to impose sanctions? Retaliate against the civilian populations of Baghdad and Tehran? That war is hell is not news. That the war in Iraq is more hellish than many imagined is obvious. It is legitimate, indeed useful, to criticize the Bush administration's conduct of the war. But those who interpret every helicopter crash, bombing or decapitation as proof that America's 21st century enemies can't be beaten, those who urge - or merely imply -that the U.S. should accept defeat, need to say what they expect would happen after U.S. forces went home. Will it be anything like the apocalyptic scenario sketched above? If not, why not? Some people may answer by saying that after the U.S. defeat in Vietnam life returned to normal for most Americans. But Ho Chi Min had modest ambitions. He never sought to topple the American colossus; the Viet Cong never attempted to massacre Americans on American soil. This enemy is different. This war is different. This time, America has to win. Failure is not an option. Clifford D. May is the president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism and a Townhall.com member group. |
>> all that is needed is OBL's final word.... <<
I remember that letter. What do you suppose OBL would be waiting for? These monsters are opportunistic and I would imagine they'd not hesitate to kill more of us infidels.
There has always been speculation that they'd like to attack on a specific date or lunar event. Do you suppose it could be that? If they are ready and waiting there's always the change they could be discovered. Surely they realize that.
Anyone care to kick this around?
Remember that graphic with the three faces?
Quote from an email today:
"guy on left is rantisi - dead
guy in middle is mohammed al-massari - alive and in london
guy on right has bad kidneys"
FYI.
You're welcome Jet Jaguar.
THANKS for the update granny.
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