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Posted on 08/06/2005 4:45:21 PM PDT by nwctwx
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Threat Matrix HTML designed by: Ian Livingston
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I think the soviets were claiming that was the real reason Japan surrendered... to the U.S.
(this is the last part of the article "The Crucible" a special report.....granny)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,1544710,00.html
Musharraf has become the hammer
against al-Qaida - and there's no reason to
doubt his sincerity. The results speak for
themselves. Many of its most wanted have
been arrested in Pakistan's teeming cities,
among them Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the
mastermind of 9/11; Ramzi Bin al-Shibh,
another of 9/11's key planners; and Abu
Zubayida, screener of recruits to Bin
Laden's training camps. All these arrests
were in connection with attacks that had
already taken place, but the ISI has also
been dramatically proactive in preventing
alleged attacks in the pipeline by passing
on vital intelligence to its sister agencies
in the US and the UK.
Last summer saw one spectacular success,
whose origins predated 9/11 and whose
consequences stretched well beyond. The
attacks on New York and Washington were
just one of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's
plans. Others were simultaneously in
preparation. According to the ISI, in the
months leading up to 9/11, he instructed
one of his operators, who was in
Afghanistan at the time and whose name
cannot be mentioned for legal reasons, to
case high-profile financial targets in the
New York and Washington areas.
At the beginning of 2001, this individual
and his associates carried out detailed
reconnaissance of financial targets that
included the Prudential building in
Newark, Citigroup in Manhattan and IMF
headquarters in Washington. He stored
the report on his laptop. It makes chilling
reading. Referring to one target, it says,
"This building is almost completely made
to resemble a glass house. When
shattered, each piece of glass becomes a
potential flying piece of cutthroat
shrapnel!" Apparently the attacks were
placed on hold because at the time
al-Qaida did not have the necessary
explosive techniques.
Having lain low since 9/11, the individual
who compiled the report contacted
al-Qaida's leader in Pakistan, who cannot
be named but is still at large. The report
was transferred to the leader's laptop. The
go-between who arranged the meeting
was a footsoldier of the new al-Qaida
breed called Naeem Noor Khan. Khan had
made half a dozen visits to the UK and
had risen through the ranks to become a
key figure at the hub of the new al-Qaida's
global communications network. As an IT
consultant to several leading companies in
Lahore, he had all the technical
qualifications for the job. He downloaded a
copy of the report on to his own laptop as
well. Khan was arrested in July last year
following a three-day stakeout at Lahore
airport.
The Counter Terrorism Centre (CTC) is the
repository of all the ISI's accumulated
intelligence. It was set up after 9/11 with
only seven officers, and now has more
than 400 presiding over what the ISI
regards as the biggest al-Qaida database
in the world. It was in charge of
interrogating Khan. I asked the CTC's
head how long interrogations lasted. "They
can continue for about 18 hours, 20 hours,
sometimes 24 hours - sometimes 48
hours." Without sleep? "Yes, without
sleep." He denied that any torture was
used. The US recce plans were
subsequently found on Khan's computer.
Initially Khan was "a hard nut to crack"
but then he talked, perhaps deciding that
his future lay with the ISI rather than
al-Qaida.
Khan also gave his interrogators details of
an al-Qaida safe house in Gujarat, where,
after a 14-hour gun battle, one of the
FBI's most wanted fugitives emerged. His
name was Khalfan Ghailani and he had a
$10m price on his head, having long been
sought by the Americans in connection
with the bombings of their east African
embassies in 1998. When the house was
searched, the laptop belonging to
al-Qaida's leader in Pakistan was found,
which also contained the recce report.
But the ISI hadn't finished with Khan.
They also instructed him to send emails
from his laptop's address book to his
contacts around the world - including the
UK. This enabled the ISI to identify critical
parts of al-Qaida's network. MI5 was
informed and several suspects were
detained in the UK. It is alleged that
major attacks were prevented (again, legal
constraints prevent more detail). I asked
the CTC's head if there had been any
intelligence at the time of Khan's arrest
that pointed to the July 7 attacks.
"Definitely they were talking about
targeting the infrastructure in the UK,
America and elsewhere, which we were
able to frustrate and pre-empt. But
following the arrests in the UK, there was
no signature that there was a plan to
target public facilities in the UK." He
confirms that none of the July 7 bombers'
names figured on the ISI's database.
British intelligence has now provided the
ISI with telephone numbers that the
London bombers called in Pakistan before
they embarked on their suicide mission.
The ISI is urgently tracking them down to
see if there's a pattern and if "persons of
interest" were called. The priority now is to
uncover the network before another cell -
assuming there is one - can strike again.
The bombers' possible connections with
one or more of Pakistan's radical
madrasas, the religious schools that
Musharraf is committed to reforming, are
now also coming under the spotlight.
Pakistan has approximately 12,000 of
these seats of Islamic learning, some of
which are alleged to be the radicalising
engine of Pakistan's religious extremists;
they were, after all, the alma maters of
the Taliban's leaders in Afghanistan. The
CTC's head is adamant that to date no
such connection has been found and
British sources confirm it, despite reports
in the press. It's unlikely, too, as the
bombers were too old and were barely in
Pakistan long enough to have been
radicalised in a madrasa, although
meetings with others in madrasas and
radical mosques are not being ruled out.
But the investigation of the hinterland of
the London bombers and the intelligence
coups that flowed from the arrest of
Naeem Noor Khan represent only one front
in the war against Islamist extremists.
Pakistan's counter-terrorist officers
recognise, as do Britain's, that the war
also has to be fought on the political front.
I asked the CTC's head if his interrogators
discussed motivation with their prisoners.
"They always refer to Palestine. They
always talk about the exploitation of
Muslims in different parts of the world."
And if these problems were addressed? "It
would definitely make a visible and
immediate difference," he said. Musharraf
agrees, but believes Pakistan's own war on
terror will be long term. "You can't solve
these problems overnight," he told me. "I
think were we to resolve the Palestinian
and Kashmir disputes, we would really
have achieved a lot." He recognises, too,
that the failure to resolve these problems
only increases the militant opposition at
home. "My nightmare for Pakistan is
exactly this, that the extremists are
gaining strength."
· Frontline Pakistan, the final programme
in Peter Taylor's series, The New Al Qaeda,
is tonight at 9pm on BBC2.
I haven't researched Russia's declaration of war on Japan, but did hear Dr. Bill Wattenberg talk of it the last two nights on his program and he rarely makes mistakes.
He seemed to feel that if we had not stopped Japan, Russia would have killed more than we did.
Several callers that had knowledge of WW2, agreed that dropping the bombs was the best way to handle it.
I had not known that the reason we had stopped our bombing in Japan, was that we had run out of bombs......
Several of the callers said that they, along with thousands of other Americans were already on the ships, ready to leave for Japan to continue the on the ground fight.
Dr. Bill is on kgo.com on saturday and sunday evenings at 10 pm, california time. You can listen on the computer.
This might be a good time to post a suggestion that he made last night.
He has pushed for people to be prepared to take care of themselves, but also warned that buying an extra can or two of gas was too dangerous.
His suggestion, was to go to the far corner of the yard, dig a hole, put in a large sealable plastic barrel or large plastic bucket and then to set the gas can in there and cover it with a good layer of dirt.
I once had a neighbor, whose home burned, from gas in the garage, where there was also a gas water heater.
One never knows what one will learn on Dr. Bill's program.
Here you go, lots to read.
http://www.google.com/search?client=googlet&q=Russia%20declared%20war%20on%20Japan
Arms cache discovered in Saudi Arabia
Aug. 8, 2005 at 7:39AM
United Press International
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi/20050808-071740-4384r.htm
Saudi police discovered an arms cache in an artesian well on a deserted
farm near Medina in western Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry said
Monday.
Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Turki was quoted in the
daily al-Riyadh as saying police were still retrieving arms from the well,
which was 200 meters (656 feet) deep and only 30 centimeters (12
inches) in diameter.
"Police extracted information about the arms cache after
interrogating a terror suspect arrested recently," Turki said.
Elsewhere, police arrested an Asian man of undisclosed
nationality and seized explosives from his car in the province of Yunbu' in
western Saudi Arabia.
The provincial police chief, Brig. Hamad Oufi, said police had
received a tip concerning a car carrying explosives coming from Jeddah on
the Red Sea.
"The car was spotted and after a thorough search police
discovered 155 dynamite sticks with equipment needed to detonate them," Oufi
said.
Saudi Arabia has been rocked by several terrorist attacks in the
past two years in which dozens of people have been killed or wounded.
_________________________________________________
Note: there must be a large and active cell at the Red Sea, at least this time they hauled the explosives away....
Is this why the Embassy is closed in S.A.?
granny
Aug 8, 8:14 AM EDT
Iran Resumes Uranium Conversion Methods
http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/I/IRAN_NUCLEAR?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran resumed uranium conversion activities Monday
at its Isfahan nuclear facility, a step that Europeans and the United
States warned would prompt them to seek U.N. sanctions against Tehran.
Work resumed at the conversion facility quickly after inspectors from
the U.N. nuclear watchdog finished installing surveillance equipment
there. Iran had suspended work at the plant and its other nuclear
facilities in November to avoid U.N. sanctions and as a gesture in negotiations
with the Europeans.
"The uranium conversion facility restarted its work a few minutes ago,"
the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
The facility, 10 miles southeast of the historical city of Isfahan,
converts raw uranium, known as yellowcake, into gas, the feedstock for
enrichment.
In the next stage of the process - which Iran has said it will not
resume for the time being - the gas is fed into centrifuges for enrichment.
Uranium enriched to a low level is used to produce nuclear fuel and
further enrichment makes it suitable for use in atomic bomb.
Iran has said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the
United States accuses it of seeking to develop atomic weapons.
French warning on Pakstanis' terror links
Aug 8 2005
icWales
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0700world/tm_objectid=15832975&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=french-warning-on-pakstanis--terror-links-name_page.html
A FRENCH intelligence service has warned that several hundred
Pakistanis in France have terrorist links and recommended surveillance of the
small Pakistani community, a newspaper said today.
While most Pakistanis aspire to integrate into French society, several
hundred "have chosen the path of terrorism and Salafism to express
their hatred of the West," the report said, according to Le Figaro
newspaper.
The report by the Central Directorate of General Information, known by
its French initials DCRG, said that radical Pakistani activists from
southern Asia or Britain have visited France more frequently in recent
years.
It also said that militant groups including Lashkar-e-Tayyaba â
banned by Pakistan for alleged links to a 2001 attack on Indiaâs
Parliament â had set up outposts in France, according to Le Figaro.
Monitoring the Pakistani community â about 35,000-40,000 people â
is "essential in preventing any violent act," the report said.
Franceâs Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a call
seeking confirmation.
The DCRG also warned that Britain was at risk from radicals within its
Pakistani community, Le Figaro said, noting that the report was
completed in late June, soon before Londonâs July 7 attacks on three subway
trains and a bus. The attacks killed 52 and the four suicide bombers
â three Britons of Pakistani descent and a Jamaican.
France has already been touched by violence by Islamic militants from
Pakistan.
On May 8, 2002, a suicide bomber struck a bus carrying French engineers
outside the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11. The French
had been helping the Pakistani armed forces develop a new submarine.
Islamic radicals warn of city riots
Mark Townsend
Sunday August 7, 2005
London Guardian
The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1544255,00.html
A radical Islamic group declared yesterday it would resist all attempts
by Tony Blair to ban the organisation.
Officials of Hizb ut-Tahrir warned that the government's proposals
would be interpreted by the Muslim community as part of an 'anti-Islamic'
agenda and could trigger civil unrest.
Speakers for the Islamic political party announced they had begun
seeking legal advice to fight any attempts to ban the organisation, which
has existed in Britain for more than 50 years. The announcement coincided
with fresh warnings that Britain's deteriorating race relations could
lead to a repeat of the inner-city riots in the Eighties.
'The move is a perilous route that is harming community relations and
could lead to civil unrest comparable to that which affected the black
community,' said Imran Waheed, spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir. He also
rejected calls for the Muslim community to root out extremism and
dismissed claims that the organisation was harbouring terrorists as
'ludicrous'.
However, experts believe that Hizb ut-Tahrir's extreme views may have
helped to radicalise young British Muslims. The National Union of
Students banned Hizb ut-Tahrir from campuses in 1995 after its speeches,
leafleting and methods in a number of universities caused worry and
distress. Leaflets called for Muslims to 'exterminate' the Jewish authorities
in Israel.
The group, however, says it does not advocate or condone violence.
Instead it aims to restore the caliphate, the all-encompassing Muslim state
which existed in the first years of Islam, and to spread its power
around the world.
Until recently, the government tolerated Hizb ut-Tahrir. Home Office
documents released to the group two months ago under the Freedom of
Information Act advised that all media inquiries about the organisation
should be used to promote Britain's tolerance to dissenting voices.
The group claimed it had received no explanation from the government on
why it was now facing a ban.
However, many of its thousands of members are understood to have taken
the view that the government was keen to eradicate critical voices
concerning its foreign policy, particularly over the war in Iraq.
Waheed said: 'God help us if the level of frustration grows among the
Muslim community and there is no-one there like us to challenge it. He
(Tony Blair) has made statements that many in the Muslim community have
interpreted as anti-Islamic. He could have gone on the record and made
clear his position, but to my knowledge he hasn't.'
A later statement from the group described the moves as a blow against
British democracy. 'Placing a ban on a political party with a 50-year
history of non-violence will lead many to question the talk of freedom
of speech, tolerance, people power, human rights and democracy.'
Al Qaeda man held
By Our Staff Correspondent
FAISALABAD, Aug 7: Security agencies picked up an alleged Al Qaeda operative in Sargodha Road area on Sunday. Sources said personnel of secret agencies with police commandos encircled a public call office in the industrial area on the Sargodha Road and picked up Osama bin Yousuf, 33. Police seized cell phones from him and took him to an undisclosed place. Meanwhile, Hashim Qadeer, an accused in the Pearl murder case arrested in Gujranwala last week has been shifted to Karachi.
http://www.dawn.com/2005/text/top5.htm
Engine of Jet Parked at JFK Catches Fire
Aug 7, 2005 8:37 am US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) The engine of a JetBlue airplane parked at JFK airport caught fire just before midnight. A Port Authority spokesman says no passengers were on the plane at the time and no one was injured.
The fire was quickly extinguished and airport traffic was not affected
http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_219084417.html
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/007577.php
August 08, 2005
If al-Qaida has nukes, why wait to use them?
Analysts see major investment in a complex, coordinated, devastating terror
attack plan. From WND:
WASHINGTON Recent al-Qaida attacks using primitive bombs and
inflicting relatively small numbers of casualties have persuaded some
that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network has been unable to secure
weapons of mass destruction or has been unable to smuggle them into
the U.S. and other key target countries.
In the wake of a series of reports from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin
about the nuclear terrorism threat, some skeptics of al-Qaida's ability
to detonate nuclear weapons inside the U.S. most often suggest the
problems with maintenance and technical attention.
Others suggest Osama bin Laden may have purchased duds on the
black market. Others point out that the triggers on suitcase nukes
decay rapidly and have short half lives. The nuclear cores, after a
time, fall below the critical mass threshold, say the optimists. Even
the shells are subject to contamination over time if not properly
maintained, they say.
Unfortunately, finds Paul Williams, author of the upcoming book, "The
Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and
the Coming Apocalypse," there's little point in assessing the
possibilities with rose-colored glasses....
Williams dismisses suggestions that bin Laden hasn't taken into
account some obvious problems with nuclear weapons.
"Bin Laden has been extremely mindful of proper maintenance," he
writes. "As soon as he obtained the weapons, he paid an amount
estimated from $60 to $100 million for the assistance of nuclear
scientists from Russia, China and Pakistan. From 1996 to 2001, bin
Laden also kept a score of Spetznaz technicians from the former
Soviet Union on his payroll. These technicians had been trained to
open and operate the weapons in order to prevent any unauthorized
use. To simplify the process of activation, the scientists and
technicians came up with a way of hot-wiring the small nukes to the
bodies of Muslim agents who long for immediate martyrdom and
immediate elevation to the seventh heaven."...
"The next attack, according to al-Qaida defectors and informants, will
take place simultaneously at various sites throughout the country," he
writes. "Designated targets include New York, Boston, Philadelphia,
Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Houston, Las Vegas, and Valdez,
Alaska, where the tankers are filled with oil from the Trans-Alaska
pipeline. To orchestrate such an incredible event requires not only the
shipment of the nukes into the United States but also the
establishment of cells, the training of sleeper agents, the selection of
sites, and the preparation of the weapons without detection from
federal, state or local law enforcement officials. Unlike 9-11, that cost
less than $350,000, this event already has cost a king's ransom, and
bin Laden will not waste the billions in expenditures, the years of
planning and his coveted 'crown jewels' on an attack that is
ill-planned, poorly timed and carelessly coordinated."...
Williams also speculates that the delay in launching attacks with
weapons already smuggled inside the U.S. could be due to reports
al-Qaida is determined to locate tactical nuclear weapons that were
forward-deployed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. These
weapons were reportedly buried at remote sites throughout the
country for recovery by Soviet agents.
"There is no doubt that the Soviets stored material in this country,"
says Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., chairman of the House Armed Services
Subcommittee on Military Research. "The question is what and
where."...
Posted by Robert at August 8, 2005 07:13 AM | Email this entry | Print this entry
Thanks, Ian. This new thread happened fast!
Great, also falling on a Tuesday dulfully noted.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/007565.php
August 07, 2005
Britain, Europe begin expelling radical Muslims
"500 On Terror Hit List," from Britain's News of the World, with thanks to Uajeg.
FIVE hundred radical Muslim extremists are to be deported by the government, the
News of the World can reveal.
Immigration officials have already been given a list of names compiled by
MI5and told to begin proceedings.
The first could be sent back to their homeland over the next two weeks.
Among the first to be deported will be a DOZEN radical clerics. But hundreds of
other foreign extremists, including some Islamic bookshop owners, writers,
teachers and website operators will also go...
"France expells Islamic radicals," from IC Wales with thanks to The One Who Must Not be Named.
Since last months deadly terror bombings in London, France has expelled two extremist Muslim prayer leaders
and plans to to the same with eight others. Italian authorities deported eight Palestinian imams for not holding
the proper residency papers.
Shaken by new terrorism on European soil, authorities have stepped up a policy of deporting Islamic clerics
accused of whipping up hatred and violence in vulnerable, disenfranchised pockets of the continents mostly
moderate Muslim community.
Several European countries enacted expulsion policies since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US,
saying legislation was needed to ensure public order and security...
Posted by Rebecca at August 7, 2005 12:01 PM | Email this entry | Print this entry
Yup. I have this "any second now" feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Another ray of sunshine.
Thanks, granny. Not a nice thing to know, but a good thing to know.
Isn't the 15th the day when the official truce ends with Europe?
They've been known to jumpt the deadline before.
No problem Cindy. I notice the oil markets freaking out over the embassy closings also.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - Crude-oil prices rallied to a new high Monday, reflecting market fears over the U.S. embassy closure in Saudi Arabia due to security threats and continued concerns that earlier shutdowns of U.S. oil refineries would reduce supply.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050808/D8BRLFF80.html
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