Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Twenty-Eight

[nwctwx]

Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Thread Twenty-Eight (Index)

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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!

Terrorists could be just getting started
Full Story

New York City and Washington. Bali, Indonesia; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Istanbul, Turkey; Madrid, Spain. And now London.

When will it end? Where will it all lead?

The experts aren't encouraged. One terrorism researcher sees the prospect of "endless" war. Adds the man who tracked Osama bin Laden for the CIA, "I don't think it's even started yet."

Related:
Terrorists' aim is to end western civilisation, says ex-Mossad head
Understanding the enemy, a different type of war
Al Qaeda answers CIA's hiring call

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

TM Terrorism Handbook	Link to Thread Twenty-Seven "Code Red Implications: Code Red - Stay Home and Await Word." From Tm'er and Freeper ~MamaDearest~	Arabic Links and Resources
TM 'Be on the Lookout'		ExSoldier's Invaluable Tips
Threat Matrix Book List		Godzilla's Summaries
Tracking the Chatter with TM		TM Code of Conduct

Threat Matrix HTML designed by: Ian Livingston

[JellyJam]

from The Times newspaper in London:

Without citing sources, the Times said the mastermind behind the attacks as well as the bombmaker were still thought to be at large. Police found a “bomb factory” during the Leeds raids, the newspaper said.

[JellyJam]

something to think about (from The Boston Globe):

M.J. Gohel, director of a London-based counterterrorism think tank, said the idea of home-grown British suicide bombers targeting their compatriots had elevated the threat of terrorism to an unprecedented level.

“We are now in an entirely new dimension as regard the terror threat,” said Gohel, “a new generation of terrorists, intelligent, educated individuals from solid middle-class backgrounds ... possessing all the Western social skills, no criminal record ... who fits in totally but is infected by the Al Qaeda ideology of global jihad, a hatred for the country he lives in, and the desire to destroy the democratic and secular world.”

[Oorang]

Very interesting links MamaD. Especially the techno-savvy sleepers article. Thank you.

[Oorang]

Thanks for the update on the Sami trial. The MSM sure isn't covering it (surprise, surprise).

[Oorang]

They are still open for read only. Try here:

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=9

[Oorang]

Well that is very interesting GorillaMa. Do you scan the South American news sites? I would but English is my only language.

So sorry to hear of your mother-in-laws passing. Hope your husband makes it home soon.

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Take pictures of this guy where is he at in Atlanta. That is my home town.

[nwctwx]

They must only allow you to see a certain amount of recent posts... I can't find the one I linked to on here. I'm pretty sure it must be someone who grabbed images I posted on FR about Dennis and linked them there... because I went through a ton of bandwidth it seems.

[Cindy]

NOTE: To all Arabic speaking lurkers.
I don't read Arabic.
If I get an email in Arabic, I treat it
as spam and dump in the garbage.
DELETE is my friend.

FYI.

[nwctwx]

At LEAST 60 dead in pakistan Train Crash

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1441624/posts

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Watch for this bogger to be dead soon he gave out way to much information....

Review: The Washing Machine — Money Laundering And Terrorist Financing Soils Us
The Washing Machine: How Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Soils Us
Nick Kochan
Book from Texere
Release date: 24 May, 2005

The global black economy is now estimated at over $2.5 trillion, according to the opening pages of "The Washing Machine", a detailed look at money laundering and terrorist financing by Nick Kochan, investigative reporter, who earlier has investigated scams like the Guinness scandal, and BCCI.

Dirty money makes us all victims. Money laundering controls cost about 10 cents on every dollar of global income. Major financial and commercial institutions, as well as governments facilitate the handling of dirty money, often for personal and corporate benefit, and thereby deny the inhabitants of developing nations their benefits. As Nick puts it, "Western financing schemes hollow out the wealth of poor countries, leaving behind economic deserts and volatile forces bent on political instability.This form of wealth transfer by deception benefits a few sharp or crooked entrepreneurs to the detriment of the larger economy".

The larger challenges of threats to global security put a darker spin on things. Were it only base criminals, drug lords and money-hungry corporations moving illicit funds around, it would be a matter for regular law enforcement. Bad money, though, like people, tends to coagulate, and separating out the greedy from the truly evil terrorist wishing to strike a blow against the establishment for this ideology or that, is next to impossible.

As Nick shows, Colombian drug money is laundered by the same channels, and often by the same people, as a Rwandan warlord wishing to pay for some shoulder-fired missiles, or a Tamil Tiger paying off a shipping agent for his services. He terms this global super-structure of money laundering the 'washing machine', and goes into great detail on it's layers, threats and effects.

The first section looks at the criminal oligarchy typified by the Russian mafia. Political instability and social change tend to stimulate criminal activity. The Russian Federation has had ample space for the former, and produced much of the latter. The Russian mafiosi are on a variety of watch-lists, as well as have been involved in numerous scams of large scale. Nick explores the career of one senior member of the Moscow-based Solntsevo crime gang, Semion Mogilevitch. He has allegedly been involved in a variety of schemes, including the Eastern European sex trade, providing expert money laundering services to the Japanese Yakuza and the Italian Camorra, running a scam (BoNYGate) through the Bank of New York, and most prominently, the creation and (mis-)management of a public company, being admitted to the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 index - YBM-Magnex International.

Along the way, he looks at how even stable countries like Israel become witting partners of the Washing Machine operators. He notes the high proportion of Russian Jewish members in the Russian mafia, attributing this to the marginalization of the Jews under the Tsars, and the subsequent lack of respect for Soviet law, and disdain for its social structures. This, coupled with "Israel's political insecurity and it's lack of international friends outside the United States...exacerbated its dependence on dubious sources of funds"


Israel's desperation for foreign exchange means Russian Mafiosi have been allowed to integrate themselves into the country's political and financial system. It also means Russian Mafioisi have been given shelter and a great deal of security, which they would not have experiened either in Russia or in Western Europe"

Nick describes techniques used by the launderers, such as "smurfing", where large sums of money are broken up into small amounts that can be deposited into banking systems without arousing suspicion. Unfortunately, there is no benevolent Papa Smurf giving orders to the little smurfs. More often than not, there is a sinister figure like Semion Moglevitch, or the even more dangerous, Victor Bout.

The 'Merchant of Death', Victor Bout, has fed the hunger for arms, oil, diamonds, dollars, and mercenaries of many of the world's governments. Reportedly a friend of Vladimir Putin, and an oligarch of the new Russia, he lives freely in Moscow. A majority of his ventures have been legitimate, such as an enterprise to import frozen chickens from South Africa to Nigeria, or an airline flying UN peacekeepers to Somalia in Operation Restore Hope. He was involved in more unsavory enterprises however, such as reportedly supplying both sides in Afghanistan in the 1990s with surplus Soviet armaments through Slovakia. His double-sided persona is reflected in the Rwandan venture, wherein he allegedly supplied arms to the Hutu extremists, as well as flying French peacekeepers there. His fingers were in many pies in conflict regions, from Liberia to Monrovia.

He was monitored and investigated at length, but post the election of George W Bush, the monitoring of arms sales in Africa was scaled down, among a host of international crime-fighting efforts that saw the same fate. Post-9/11, Nick tells us, he was left alone, on orders from the National Security Council, mainly because "the US government wanted Russia on its side in the War on Terror. To win this co-operation, they apparently felt the need to assure Russia that it wouldn't be pressured about Bout."




The center-piece of the book is a study in Terrorist Financing, large and small. The many-headed hydra of the Al-Qaeda is explored at length. Estimates are that the tragedy of 9/11 cost no more than $500,000, a true drop in the bucket for these groups. Nick explains how terrorist financiers maintain many layers between themselves and the groups for whom the money is intended, or the final purposes to which the funds are put. He raises the very real danger that 'terrorist groups are now prepared to join forces to create a global terrorist black market. Market forces will enable the economically more powerful groups like Al Qaida to live longer, and even take over other weaker groups.'

The case study of the Al Qaeda, or 'the base, is a terrifying glimpse at this underbelly of capitalism. From his own roots as a successful businessman and financier to his role as manager of the 'Maktab al-Khidamat' or Welfare Office in Kabul, Osama Bin Laden straddled the open and secret worlds of big money. The name 'World Islamic Front' is now used by the group, and they grew by alliances, mergers and acquisitions, like any more respectable conglomerate. After 9/11/2001, the War on Terror succeeded in it's primary purpose of defenestrating the 'head office' of the organization, and driving many of its key members into hiding, or arresting/killing them. This has unfortunately only accelerated the already under-way 'devolution of power from the center to outlying cadres'. The lack of a monolithic organization has empowered lesser-known groups to execute smaller attacks, besides affording the local franchises the ability to recruit fools for the 'larger cause', which is mostly non-existent.

Nick describes Al Qaeda's extensive role in the illegal diamonds trade, collaborating with the RUF of Sierra Leone, and generating as much as $1 million in diamond sales per year in the 1990s. He tells us how the sticky business of honey exports is a convenient method for terrorist groups to secrete illicit funds as well as weapons, etc in the honey containers, unlikely to be searched very well at customs offices.

Osama Bin Laden developed a commercial taste for honey after he left Saudi Arabia under a cloud in 1991 and moved to Sudan. His deputy the Dr. Ayman Mohammed Rabi al-Zawahri, apparently pioneered the exploitiation of the honey distribution network when he was a leading light in the Islamic Jihad.

Nick also looks at other pioneers in Global terror such as the IRA of Ireland, the LTTE of Sri Lanka and the PKK of Turkey. He acknowledges the difficulty of terming some groups as terrorists when they seem to be fighting for their own rights of self-determination. The means adopted however, and the channels, such as heroin, arms and diesel, have other purposes, and effects - to the worse for society, more often than not.

In the third section of the book, he studies the lucrative and very large black markets in diamonds, drugs and cigarettes. I will only quote a piece from the diamonds section that sums it all up, at least for me:

"The diamond trade is built on fantasies and bluff. The fantasy that diamonds are scarce was created by De Beers which controls the supply with an iron grip. The bluff involves the bargaining between dealers over every deal, the leap into the unknown taken by every cutter when he buys a diamond,...The dream means lives are lost and livelihoods are made to bring tiny, useless stones from remote riverbeds to the ring finger of the majority of married women in the West...The more that diamonds have become the criminal's best friend, the more they have served the goals of corrupt politicians and terrorists in countries where they are mined."

He next looks at 'bad banks' - the channels that actually facilitate and create the means for money laundering and terrorist financing. The willingness of large commercial banks like Citibank to service criminal clients and corrupt government heads is explored. Dirty clients mean that cents on every dollar we withdraw from an ATM are blood- or drug-stained. He touches on corruption even in high places, such as details of the 'Casablanca sting', run by the DEA, which exposed drug connections high in the Mexican government until it was shut down prematurely on orders from the State Department.

The Hawala, or unofficial financial system used to transfer money between Western and Eastern/Asian/African economies is studied. It's benefit as a means to transfer funds for simple workers, as well as it's potential and actual use by terrorist financiers is described. The recent case of Hemant Lakhani, subject of this week's "This American Life" on NPR, convicted of arms trading by the US Government is a case in point, although not mentioned in the book. These petty financiers often enough are unable or choose not to distinguish between sources of funds, or discriminate against the ultimate destination or purpose. This makes them witting or unwitting henchmen of the global villains. The 'laundering footmen' are the true 'baby smurfs' of the global washing machine.

Nick Kochan wraps up this engrossing book with a look at what the world is doing to stop this spin cycle of money. He describes how the United States 'got religion' after 9/11, following years of inaction on money laundering. He notes the enforcement frenzy in recent years, but wonders about it's sustainability once the furor dies down. Few of the systemic problems are being addressed, or big players forced out, shut down, or taken out of circulation. The special case of London as a new hub of financial irregularities, almost an 'offshore haven' is studied, particularly affecting after the recent attacks of 7.7. Cyber-launderers are also touched on, although not in much detail. The potential for easy and convenient laundering through e-auctions, online casinos, and telemarketing is all too real to ignore. The lack of a paper trail and government control makes this channel a tempting one for the goons to abuse, as they do.

This book is not one that will allow the reader to sleep easy at night, or to wilfully ignore the money trails we participate in, unknowingly part of a global network of dirty money
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/11/163253.php

Here is a nice little list of dead reports...
Soviet-Style Control Over Media Killing Reporters — CPJ
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:RVOeyunT0xgJ:www.mosnews.com/news/2005/03/14/journalistskilled.shtml+list+of+reporters+killed+by+russian+mafia&hl=en

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

~~~~~~~~~~Great to see all our old partners against crime back.


Russia Signs $300M Deal to Supply Engines for China’s New Combat Jet
http://www.mosnews.com/money/2005/07/11/chinafighters.shtml

Russia can guarantee oil and gas supplies to global economy - presidential aide
http://en.rian.ru/business/20050711/40883955.html

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Transboundary cattle trafficking spreads disease
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/860e510a8d46650d159522660f7a04ae.htm

Israel seeks $2.2 billion from U.S. for Gaza pullout
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-07-12T002534Z_01_MCC118792_RTRUKOC_0_MIDEAST.xml

Explosion in Russian Shopping Centre may have been an attack
http://www.profindpages.com/news/2005/07/11/MN1038.htm

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

DMV manager charged with selling licenses to illegitmate applicants




07/12/2005


By MATTHEW BARAKAT / Associated Press



The manager of the Department of Motor Vehicles office at Springfield Mall was charged Tuesday with selling driver's licenses to illegitimate applicants.

Frank Martinez, 57, of Stafford, was manager at the Springfield location since 2001 and issued more than 40 authentic licenses since January 2004 to people who could not obtain a license legally — mostly illegal immigrants and people with suspended licenses, authorities said.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1441617/posts

[nw_arizona_granny]

Don't miss the photos in #10 they are jpg's.

This one will make you think.

I don't know a much about ocean currents, do know that there is a direct way that stuff floats from Japan to the Oregon coast....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1441634/posts

Navy says fishing boat's strange catch was Cold War
era equipment(ALittleTooCloseForComfort)
The Seattle PI ^ | Tuesday, July 12, 2005 · Last updated 4:16 p.m. PT | The AP

Posted on 07/12/2005 8:16:08 PM PDT by Saynotosocialism

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- It was hard to miss. The stubby missile,
floating about 14 miles off the Washington coast, was crusted with
barnacles, seaweed and seagull droppings and had a live seagull
sitting on its nose.

The trawler Windjammer had just pulled its net when skipper Erik Eide
spotted the object on Sunday afternoon. He decided to move in for a
closer look.

It looked to him like a World War II buzz bomb. "It was kind of freaky
at first," Eide said.

Then he remembered seeing something similar on the Discovery
Channel and he was pretty sure it was a type of sonar rig. Eide
decided to haul it on board in hopes that it could be worth something.
"We're just four guys struggling to make a living," he said.

When they scraped off some barnacles and seaweed, they saw Cyrillic
letters and that's when Eide decided they better report their find to
the U.S. Coast Guard. Minutes later, the Coast Guard radioed back to
say it was coming to take a look.

(clipped)

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

I think this it the guy that the information for the WND article came from on nukes.

Coast to Coast Announcement: Al Qaeda Smuggling Nukes into U.S. ?
Amazon.com ^ | 7/12/2005 | Paul L. Williams


Posted on 07/12/2005 11:33:59 PM EDT by ex-Texan


Tonight on Coast to Coast, author Paul L. Williams will be discussing the possibility that al Qaeda may have smuggled suitcase nukes into the U.S. The interview will be broadcast between 10:00 pm and 12:00 midnight.

Coast2Coast Web Site
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1441642/posts

[nwctwx]

It is.

http://www.ianlivingston.com/archived/2004/osamasrevenge_july14.htm

[Cindy]

Personal Opinion:

Daleel of any spelling does not interest me.
EOM, OEM (quite the spam guys) does not
interest me.
Cave of darkness does not interest me at
this time.

"abualbukhary" is interesting.

The alqa3edah and it's spellings variations
are always interesting.

Terrorist 007, irhabi007, erhabi 077 and
all his web pages are of interest.

[Right_Handed_Writer]

I heard that the "El" on the Wilmette/Howard line was shut down today due to 3 alleged bombs placed there.

I can't say I heard anything today, and since last Thursday I have had the scanners going here in Chicago. But just about every day since last week, there have been several reports of suspicious packages that have caused a few minor interruptions/delays.

One interesting call I heard today was a report of 2 ME's videotaping the marker beacon towers just east of O'Hare. They pulled up in a green Honda, got out, filmed the tower and surrounding area and took off. One witness, police never found the car and the license plate they had did not match the car. Those calls never make the news...

[MamaDearest]

Camera-wise, some of those cheapie $4.99-$9.99 disposable cameras are good for use in water. We took underwater photos in the Caribbean with them rather than spend $$$ on a waterproof camera. These cameras float, therefore they could go back and retrieve the camera later...

[nw_arizona_granny]

Davey an interesting report on the money, wish I could help
google it, saw several good ones in it.

Now I understand why some have been told Putin is good, Bush wanted his help on the War on Terror.

Looks like it failed, as Putin is now fully against the U.S., and willing to sign paks with China, Venezuela and Cuba, oh yes, Iran and N. Korea, says it is to be stronger than the U.S.

Cal, do you have all these names? Some were new to me, not that being new to me is a surprise.

Davey, I keep my eye out for other branches of the mafia for
you to study.........LOL