Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Thread Twenty-Nine (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!

Was Bomber's "New York" Shirt A Message?
Full Story

It's hardly a unique fashion statement for a mass transit rider: a Yankees-style cap, and a "New York" sweat shirt.

But the New York Police Department is teaming with British authorities to determine whether those items were worn by suspects in the London terror cases to send a "purposeful message" to the city, according to an NYPD officials.

David Cohen, the NYPD's deputy commissioner of intelligence, raised the concern earlier this week at a security briefing for business leaders at police headquarters in Lower Manhattan.

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

TM Terrorism Handbook

Link to Thread Twenty-Eight

"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

PA rejects Sharon's 'three nos' [Palestinians Demand Jerusalem, West Bank and Return]
Jerusalem Post ^ | Aug. 12, 2005 | Khaled Abu Toameh

Posted on 08/12/2005 12:13:20 PM EDT by Alouette

Palestinian Authority leaders on Thursday strongly condemned Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's statements regarding the future of Jerusalem, the settlement blocs in the West Bank and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who was scheduled to meet with Islamic Jihad leaders in Gaza City on Thursday night to discuss the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, criticized Sharon's remarks as unacceptable.

On the eve of the meeting, Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Hindi said his group would continue to launch attacks even after the "escape" from the Gaza Strip.

"The Zionist retreat from the Gaza Strip won't end the resistance," he said. "The resistance will continue until the expulsion of the occupation from all our lands, including the West Bank, Jerusalem and all of Palestine."

He said that Islamic Jihad views the disengagement as a direct result of the "resistance" and rocket attacks over the past few years. "The pressure of the resistance, as well as the steadfastness of our people and the rockets of our fighters all led the enemy to take the decision to run away from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank," he said.

Commenting on Sharon's statements, Abbas told reporters: "We reject such statements and we do not accept what Sharon said yesterday. No one has the right to cancel issues from negotiations between us and them. These issues will be raised during final-status negotiations with Israel."

In an interview with Channel 1 on Wednesday night, Sharon said, "I will not negotiate on the subject of Jerusalem. The blocs will remain territorially linked to the State of Israel. At the same time, there will be no return of Palestinian refugees to Israel."

PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said after the weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah that the PA would not make any concessions on the West Bank, Jerusalem or the refugees.

"After Sharon's statements, what's left to negotiate with Israel?" he asked. "Has Sharon decided to apply the unilateral disengagement in the Gaza Strip also to the West Bank?"

Calling on the international community to clarify its position vis-a-vis Sharon's statements, Qurei said the PA still hadn't received enough answers from Israel regarding the pullout. He warned that disengagement would not mean the end of occupation as long as Israel continues to maintain control over all the border crossings into the Gaza Strip.

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for the PA, also dismissed Sharon's statements as unacceptable. "The Palestinian Authority is not bound by Sharon's three nos," he said. "They are in violation of the road map.

We can't accept any solution that is not reached through negotiations."

PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat also lashed out at Sharon, saying the only solution is the withdrawal of Israel to the 1967 borders, including Jerusalem, and the implementation of UN Resolution 194 regarding the right of refugees to return to their homes.

"The peace process with Israel is based on the withdrawal of Israel to the pre-1967 borders," Erekat told the Palestine News Network. "There are no other peace equations. Sharon's noes will collapse just like Israel's refusal to recognize the PLO and the Palestinian state."

Meanwhile, following a spate of kidnappings involving international aid workers and journalists in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, Abbas on Thursday instructed the PA security forces to provide protection for all foreigners.

"It's our duty to protect all our guests," Abbas said. "It's the duty of all Palestinians to protect the foreign aid workers working in our territories."

His comments came in response to the kidnapping, earlier this week, of two UN employees in Khan Yunis.

The two, a Swiss and a Briton working for UNRWA, were abducted by Fatah gunmen. They were freed unharmed an hour later when a special PA police force stormed a house in the center of the city.

"Any attack on our foreign guests is an assault on the law," Abbas said. "We won't allow anyone to harm them in any way."

He added that he had issued instructions to the security forces to arrest all those behind the kidnappings and to bring them to court.

The latest kidnappings were carried out by a Fatah militia affiliated with Farouk Kaddoumi, the Tunis-based chairman of the Fatah's central committee. The kidnappers said they were reacting to the arrest of one of their leaders last Sunday by the Preventative Security Service in the Gaza Strip. In response to the arrest, Kaddoumi on Thursday issued an order expelling all members of the Preventative Security Service from Fatah.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1462074/posts

Mass Transit Alert Level To Be Lowered

Order In Effect At 8PM Local Time

Aug 12, 2005 1:32 pm US/Eastern
WASHINGTON (AP) The Homeland Security Department lowered the terror threat level Friday for the nation’s mass transit systems, effective after the day’s rush hour.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he would end the high alert for city buses, subways and trains after 36 days of being at code orange in response to the deadly July 7 rush-hour bombings in London.

His order—effective at 8 p.m. local time Friday—was returning the national mass transit threat level to code yellow, signifying an elevated risk instead of the high-alert orange.

“While we are changing the threat level at this time, we continue to urge state and local officials, transportation authorities and the general public to remain alert,” Chertoff said in a statement. “Public vigilance is very important, and we encourage all citizens to keep a watchful eye for items left unattended or suspicious behavior and report any incidents to local authorities immediately.”

Despite no specific, credible evidence of a threat against the United States, authorities raised the alert last month as a precautionary measure against any copycat attacks inspired by the bombings of three London subway lines and a bus.

A total of 56 people, including four suicide bombers, were killed in the London attacks. U.S. officials extended the orange alert after follow-up attacks in London two weeks later, on July 21.

However, Chertoff said, authorities will continue closely monitoring threat intelligence for any indication of an attack, as “we are also aware that the London and Madrid bombings were conducted without warning.”

A March 11, 2004, attack on the Madrid commuter rail network killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500. Islamic extremists claimed responsibility for the bombings on behalf of al-Qaida and in revenge for the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq.

The monthlong alert in the United States targeted only mass transit systems, and marked the seventh time the terror threat advisory level had been raised to orange since it was created in 2002.

Maintaining security at orange alert levels—with increased police patrols, heightened inspection and surveillance and the use of bomb-sniffing dogs—costs mass transit systems an estimated $900,000 a day.

http://wcbs880.com/topstories/topstories_story_224130710.html

Depending on where you live you might want to do a MAP RECON of all the major roads out of your area. Here in South Florida, the government would only have to lay a major roadblock across six main highways to paralyze any and all movement in the area. Nothing that was not serious 4x4 (and trained in actually going cross country in specific types of terrain) will get anywhere. Folks who go to this trouble to do the map recon must actually GO to the road/path/area and make sure the passage still exists as things like this change with conditions. Not doing a dry run of this type of evacuation could well end in disaster of the fatal sort. I have a couple of friens who own HUMMER 1, but they have the $$ and bought the vehicle to be seen, rather than for it's true capabilities in a survival situation. I'm pretty sure, I can secure one vehicle from one of these folks as he'll either want to stay close to his home OR will be out using other means not available to the great unwashed (like me).

Thus, I realize up front, my MINI-VAN ain't gonna be able to traverse the semiflooded and rutted paths I know exist through the Everglades in order to escape a catastrophe, unless I have a vehicle like this. SO I know that my family and I HAVE to prepare to ride out the next disaster, without giving ourselves over to the care (slavery?) of the government.

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

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15024260&BRD=2275&PAG=461&dept_id=466401&rfi=6
EDITORIAL

Kulick remembered as noble hero
08/12/2005

John Kulick was already risking his life serving the public when he volunteered to serve in Iraq. He was a fireman for the Centre Square Fire Department in Whitpain Township.

A member of the Pennsylvania National Guard‚ he was assigned to the 1st Battalion‚ 111th Infantry Regiment‚ of the famed 28th Infantry Division‚ a unit that can trace its origin to the Revolutionary War.

When Kulick volunteered‚ he did so knowing that there were sacrifices he would make. Yet‚ he did not complain.

I first became aware of him from an article in the Ambler Gazette‚ which mentioned he was not receiving the difference in pay from his military salary to his fire department salary. My oldest daughter and I circulated a petition‚ enthusiastically signed by Blue Bell residents‚ requesting that this inequity be adjusted. The Whitpain Township council corrected it.

John Kulick exemplified the ordinary American who does extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances. He and his colleagues are doing an exemplary task in Iraq. They expose themselves to great risk to prevent innocent civilians from being killed or wounded. They are suffering casualties because of it. Yet‚ they do so willingly.

Kulick did not go to Iraq for lust of conquest. He went to liberate.

Kulick did not fight for despotism. He fought for democracy.

On Aug. 4‚ five days before he was killed in action‚ Kulick sent me an e-mail in which he said‚ “I think that the world is a much better place without Saddam. Someone needs to be the police in this world and the only superpower is us. The 1‚800 soldiers did not die in vain‚ and the war was justified. People don’t know the true stories of the horror the Iraq people endured under Saddam and the Baathist party. It’s sad but I think the American people forget their feelings they had after 9/11.”

Kulick believed in what he was doing and because of him those enslaved by the Baathists are no longer enslaved. Kulick protected those who cannot protect themselves.

For each generation of Americans‚ there are the brave and the young who are called to go forth and vanquish freedom’s foes. These are the people that our society delegates as guarantors of our independence. They are emblematic of those to whom Thomas Paine referred when he wrote‚ “O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose‚ not only the tyranny‚ but the tyrant‚ stand forth!”

Kulick and his brethren are the foes of terrorists. They are the intrepid soldiers; dutiful and resolute.

The ancient Romans’ model of the virtuous citizen was Cincinnatus. In 458 B.C.‚ Cincinnatus was tending his fields when word arrived that he had been selected to defend the city against two hostile tribes. Cincinnatus took command and within sixteen days he defeated Rome’s enemies and returned to his farm – just as John Kulick would have returned to the Centre Square Fire Department.

For the ancient Romans it was Cincinnatus‚ for ancient Sparta it was Leonidas‚ for the residents of Whitpain it is John Kulick. A man so noble‚ “The elements mixed in him so that nature may say to all the world‚ ‘This was a man!’”

Indeed‚ we are fortunate to have such men among us. We‚ as a society‚ need to ask ourselves – where do we find such men as Kulick? Where do they come from‚ these selfless men – these noble men? What kind of society have we created that spawns such men as he? More importantly‚ are we worthy of the John Kulicks among us?

The Taliban‚ al-Qaida‚ the Baathists‚ and the rest want to return to the days of an Arab empire much like Mussolini wanted to return to the days of the Roman Empire. It is written in their mission statements and proclaimed in their speeches. They are the new master race.

It is because of Kulick and his cohorts that they will not succeed.

I received another e-mail from Kulick. It was sent Aug. 9. He wrote‚ “Šwe lost two good friends from our unit Saturday. It is devastating. Their memorial will be held tomorrow. It really hits home. We are only less than 90 days out to go home. I will let you know when I am scheduled to leave to go to Fort Dix.”

Several hours later‚ Spc. John Kulick‚ of the 1st Battalion‚ 111th Infantry Regiment‚ 28 Division was killed in action.

Benjamin Franklin once said‚ “We have given you a republic – if you can keep it.” Because of John Kulick‚ and others like him‚ our republic will be preserved.

Kulick is truly deserving of the motto of Cincinnatus‚ “Omnia relinquit servare Republicam.”

He gave everything to the republic.

Michael P. Tremoglie is a resident of Whitpain.

©Reporter online.com 2005

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