Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Thread Thirty-Two (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!

What's become of bin Laden since he gave us all the slip?
Full Story

Some think he is dead, others that he is hiding because he is scared of being killed.

Whatever the reason for the strange disappearance of Osama bin Laden, not seen alive since his last mocking video statement a year ago, he is no longer the face of the global "jihad" against the West.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi { TM 25,TM 27 }, the Jordanian responsible for some of the worst atrocities in Iraq, has become the hero of the hour on militant Islamist websites.

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

TM Terrorism Handbook

Link to Thread Thirty-One

"Code Red Implications:
Code Red - Stay Home and Await Word."
From Tm'er and Freeper ~MamaDearest~

Tracking the Chatter with TM

TM 'Be on the Lookout'

Survival Preparedness Info.

Threat Matrix Book List

ExSoldier's Invaluable Tips

Arabic Links and Resources

Godzilla's Summaries

Threat Matrix HTML designed by: Ian Livingston

It sounds as if they think 10,000 is a nice round number.

Snip: Local Arab/Muslim Palestinians manufacturing weapons will now be free to produce mortars, Kassem Rockets, 'et al' but, once it's no longer necessary to use the Egyptian tunnels in Rafah to smuggle in weapons, then larger weapons can be trucked, shipped or flown in. That means that larger missile launchers and artillery can be imported into the Terrorist Center of the World - much the same as the 10,000 missile launchers set up by Hezb'Allah in the area of Lebanon after the IDF retreated when ordered by then Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Launching mortars, missiles over the Wall into the densely populated near-by Israeli cities will be too easy.

Snip: There are over 1,000 HQ-2 SAM launchers and about 10,000 missiles deployed by the PLA, most of which are operated by the PLA Air Force's Air Defence Missile Troops to protect major cities and other important targets. Normally a medium- to large-size city is protected by a HQ-2 SAM Regiment, comprising three SAM battalions, with six launchers in each battalion.

Snip: The FBI now reports conducting more than 10,000 terrorism investigations a year. By contrast, just released Justice Department data show that in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2001 that all the criminal investigative agencies of the government asked federal prosecutors to bring criminal charges against 463 individuals who the assistant U.S. Attorneys had identified as being involved in either international or domestic terrorism.

Snip: MEK (Mujahedeen-e-Khalq) is believed to have some 10,000 members, one-third to one-half of whom are fighters. Experts say its activities have dropped off in recent years as its membership has dwindled. MEK has had little success luring new recruits and is composed mostly of its founding members.

Snip: SECURITY agencies in the country may have been placed on red alert following an alarm raised by the Federal Government that it had uncovered a 10,000-man terrorist organisation in the Niger Delta region whose motive is to disrupt Nigeria’s oil production by kidnapping and killing oil workers.

Bin Laden fascinates, repels scholars at VU
Professors' group studies terrorist's speeches, writing

By MICHAEL CASS
Staff Writer

Every few weeks this fall, a small group of Vanderbilt University professors has gathered to discuss a repulsive but fascinating topic: the speeches and statements of Osama bin Laden.

Getting inside the head of the terrorist mastermind who authored the deaths of almost 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, is tough to stomach, to say the least.

But the group of about a dozen professors, who range from religion scholars to political scientists and historians, say it's crucial to try to understand a man who has become a featured player on the world stage, no matter how he got there.

"They're poorly written and poorly edited and yucky texts … but they're important texts," said Richard McGregor, an assistant professor of religious studies who specializes in Islam. "It's not enjoyable to read aesthetically, but what else should be the business of people on this campus but to read directly relevant, urgent material?"

But the federal government's intense interest in people who show signs of interest in terrorist activity may have turned away some professors who otherwise would have joined. The threat of having one's library checkout records combed through by FBI agents — as the USA Patriot Act, now up for reauthorization, allows under certain circumstances — has had a chilling effect on college campuses in general, McGregor said.

"Even at Vanderbilt, where the administration stands behind us and there's no interference in what you do, to go on record, it's a bit sensitive to say, 'Yes, I'm in an Osama bin Laden reading group.' "

George Bolds, spokesman for the Memphis field office of the FBI, which oversees the Nashville satellite office, said such worries are unfounded.

"People can read what they want to read," Bolds said. "If we have some reason to believe someone is doing something illegal, we would have an interest in that. But the way you're describing it, these people are just reading."

McGregor, who is Canadian, and others in the group said they have nothing to hide. Martina Urban, an assistant professor of religious studies and Jewish studies, is from Germany and still waiting to get her green card, which would make her a permanent legal resident of the United States.

But Urban said she isn't worried about jeopardizing her immigration status. A few jokes were the extent of her discussions with fellow professors about any potential legal trouble.

She said the faculty group is doing what academics are supposed to do. "I feel confident that in the academy one can still discuss anything," she said. "Nothing should be taboo."

Volney Gay, professor and chairman of religious studies at Vanderbilt, said "paranoia" on campus is greater than
he's ever seen before. "But I can't imagine someone hearing about this and thinking we're a bin Laden cell," Gay said. "We wouldn't be advertising it if we were."

McGregor said some professors turned down a chance to join because of the difficulty of fathoming bin Laden, the carnage he's responsible for and his efforts to advance his cause. He described the reading as "staring into the abyss."

Those who did work up the nerve have reacted in different ways. Urban said she's been surprised by how "intellectually uncompelling" much of bin Laden's writing is.

"It's basically political rhetoric," she said. "I'm not sure there's a deeper message. It didn't grab my curiosity so far."

McGregor agreed the work is "shallow" in its religious thinking but said it is "powerful to many, many, many people."

Gay, who helped form the group as co-director of Vanderbilt's Center for the Study of Religion and Culture, said bin Laden's speeches are compelling as visceral statements a large audience will react to — the work of a master orator.

Gay said the speeches use powerful metaphors and images; they invoke an "idealized past" that sympathetic listeners want to return to, and they talk of a lost Arab nobility. A group member who speaks Arabic told him the language bin Laden uses is "sensual," he added.

"The overall intelligence is bad news for us in the sense that he's not a fool," Gay said of bin Laden. "He's not ranting."

Gay said Adolph Hitler was another "brilliant writer and rabble-rouser" who spelled out his plans in Mein Kampf in the mid-1920s, years before he actually rose to power and initiated the Holocaust.

Bruce Lawrence, a Duke University professor who edited a new book, Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, wrote in the Nov. 4 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education that countering bin Laden's arguments is a better strategy than censoring them.

"He has left a sufficient record that can, and should, be attacked for its deficiencies, its lapses, its contradictions and, above all, its hopelessness," Lawrence wrote.

Gay said he plans to have the Vanderbilt discussion group take its work public with a panel discussion or publication. He said he wants the product to be "something useful but not academic," appealing to an audience beyond experts.

Richard McCarty, dean of Vanderbilt's College of Arts and Science, is not a member of the discussion group. But he was in London when bombs exploded on the city's subways in July, and he said he fears the work of bin Laden and other terrorists will be part of the world we live in for a long time.

For that reason, understanding what makes bin Laden tick is crucial.

"I'm afraid we're in for a very long period of turmoil and disruption," McCarty said. "And I hate it."
Volney Gay, front, and Richard McGregor are among the Vanderbilt professors analyzing the words of Osama bin Laden. Gay said he hopes eventually to make the group's work public. (MANDY LUNN / STAFF)
Osama bin Laden
http://www.ashlandcitytimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051121/NEWS01/511210344/1291/MTCN01

This is the greatest thing Our President can or will ever do...IMHO

Chinese Christians step out of shadows for Bush
By David Eimer in Beijing
Published: 21 November 2005
China's Christians are more used to police surveillance and harassment and worshipping in secret than basking in the limelight. But a visit by US President George Bush to the Gangwashi Church near Tiananmen Square for a morning's service, offered a rare chance for them to step out of the shadows.

Outside the church, one of five officially recognised protestant places of worship in Beijing, hundreds of riot police cordoned off the area yesterday, while plain-clothes officers circulated in the curious crowd.

But inside, the choir sang "Joyful, joyful, we adore thee" in the Bush's honour and, after the service, the pastor presented the President and First Lady with Chinese bibles. "May God bless the Christians of China," the President wrote in the church's visitors book.

For President Bush, a born-again Christian whose core constituency in the US is the religious right, pressing his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on the need for greater religious freedom has been one of the most important aspects of his forty hour visit to China. "My hope is that the government of China will not fear Christians who gather to worship openly," said Mr Bush as he left the Gangwashi church.

But there is little sign that China's leaders are listening.

The between 40 and 80 million Chinese Christians routinely face religious persecution. Earlier this month, the protestant minister Cai Zhuohua, his wife and brother were sentenced to three years in jail for printing bibles without the permission of the authorities, while when the catholic Bishop Xie Shiguang died in August, he had spent 28 of his 88 years in prison.

China's constitution protects freedom of belief, but the government fears religious groups provide a focus for protests against the authorities and only allows worshippers, whether Christian, Muslim or Tibetan Buddhists, to attend officially sanctioned venues run by clergy who have been vetted by the government. Even then, they are subject to suspicion and harassment.

Last month's annual report by the US Congress's Executive Commission on China cited "increased government restrictions on Chinese citizens who worship in state-controlled venues".

Many of China's Christians though, have turned their back on the state-run churches. China set up the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association in 1957, six years after Beijing cut off diplomatic ties with the Vatican, but the majority of the country's 12 million Catholics continue to recognise the Pope as their spiritual leader and risk arrest when they attend underground services in apartments and houses.

Attempts by the Vatican to re-establish relations with China have been stepped up since Benedict XVI became Pope this April.

But Beijing continues to insist that the Holy See sever its diplomatic ties with Taiwan and allow them to appoint bishops on the mainland. In September, the government refused to allow four catholic bishops to attend a conference in Rome.

The estimated 35 million Muslims in China, and in particular the ethnic minority Uighurs, face more rigorous persecution. In the far western province of Xinjiang, where they are a majority, Uighurs have been prevented from fasting during Ramadan and growing beards, there are restrictions on the number of mosques in the region and religious schools are banned.

China has flooded Xinjiang with Han Chinese settlers in an effort to secularise the region, just as it has in Tibet. This though, has had the effect of driving formerly moderate Muslims into the arms of Islamic fundamentalists. But with 15 Uighurs being held in Guantanamo Bay, after being captured by US forces in Afghanistan, Beijing knows that President Bush will stay silent on the fate of China's Muslims.

China's Christians are more used to police surveillance and harassment and worshipping in secret than basking in the limelight. But a visit by US President George Bush to the Gangwashi Church near Tiananmen Square for a morning's service, offered a rare chance for them to step out of the shadows.

Outside the church, one of five officially recognised protestant places of worship in Beijing, hundreds of riot police cordoned off the area yesterday, while plain-clothes officers circulated in the curious crowd.

But inside, the choir sang "Joyful, joyful, we adore thee" in the Bush's honour and, after the service, the pastor presented the President and First Lady with Chinese bibles. "May God bless the Christians of China," the President wrote in the church's visitors book.

For President Bush, a born-again Christian whose core constituency in the US is the religious right, pressing his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on the need for greater religious freedom has been one of the most important aspects of his forty hour visit to China. "My hope is that the government of China will not fear Christians who gather to worship openly," said Mr Bush as he left the Gangwashi church.

But there is little sign that China's leaders are listening.

The between 40 and 80 million Chinese Christians routinely face religious persecution. Earlier this month, the protestant minister Cai Zhuohua, his wife and brother were sentenced to three years in jail for printing bibles without the permission of the authorities, while when the catholic Bishop Xie Shiguang died in August, he had spent 28 of his 88 years in prison.

China's constitution protects freedom of belief, but the government fears religious groups provide a focus for protests against the authorities and only allows worshippers, whether Christian, Muslim or Tibetan Buddhists, to attend officially sanctioned venues run by clergy who have been vetted by the government. Even then, they are subject to suspicion and harassment.
Last month's annual report by the US Congress's Executive Commission on China cited "increased government restrictions on Chinese citizens who worship in state-controlled venues".

Many of China's Christians though, have turned their back on the state-run churches. China set up the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association in 1957, six years after Beijing cut off diplomatic ties with the Vatican, but the majority of the country's 12 million Catholics continue to recognise the Pope as their spiritual leader and risk arrest when they attend underground services in apartments and houses.

Attempts by the Vatican to re-establish relations with China have been stepped up since Benedict XVI became Pope this April.

But Beijing continues to insist that the Holy See sever its diplomatic ties with Taiwan and allow them to appoint bishops on the mainland. In September, the government refused to allow four catholic bishops to attend a conference in Rome.

The estimated 35 million Muslims in China, and in particular the ethnic minority Uighurs, face more rigorous persecution. In the far western province of Xinjiang, where they are a majority, Uighurs have been prevented from fasting during Ramadan and growing beards, there are restrictions on the number of mosques in the region and religious schools are banned.

China has flooded Xinjiang with Han Chinese settlers in an effort to secularise the region, just as it has in Tibet. This though, has had the effect of driving formerly moderate Muslims into the arms of Islamic fundamentalists. But with 15 Uighurs being held in Guantanamo Bay, after being captured by US forces in Afghanistan, Beijing knows that President Bush will stay silent on the fate of China's Muslims.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article328248.ece

Pledging allegiance to Bin Laden online
Islamic Internet forums publish declaration on opening month-long signing of oath of loyalty to Bin Laden, al-Qaeda elite on Internet
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3172405,00.html

Moroccan police uncover terrorist network, arrest 17
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051121/WORLDREPORT21-5/TPInternational/TopStories

Germany made secret deal with Syria: report
Captured at the end of 2001, Zammar has been held in the brutal Far Filastin Jail, a facility in the basement of the Syrian military intelligence headquarters in Damascus, the magazine said. Amnesty International says torture takes place routinely there.

At the November 2002 meeting, German federal police and domestic and foreign intelligence officers travelled to Damascus and were told by Zammar that his main contribution had been to convince one of the pilots, Marwan al-Shehhi, to join the "jihad" cause.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=25516&name=Germans+'interrogated+terrorist'+under+deal+with+Syria

Accomplice of terrorist Posada Carriles arrested in the United States
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2005/noviembre/lun21/48detienen.html

Indonesia gives Australian police access to terrorist plans
"We now ... have a better understanding of Jemaah Islamiyah than what we ever had," Keelty told a counterterrorism conference in Sydney.
"We now have ... access to some of their plans (and) ... the future plans that they had in place," he added.
http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2005/11/21/68120.html

Iran Is Building Nukes in Underground Locations
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=1334218

World Bank supports plans for pipeline in South America
http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15610344&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=474112&rfi=6

Iran bill blocks nuclear inspections
By MarketWatch
Last Update: 1:55 PM ET Nov. 20, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Iran's Parliament approved a bill Sunday that would block possible nuclear inspections by international officials.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/archivedStory.asp?archive=true&dist=ArchiveSplash&siteid=google&guid=%7BB8B7DC75%2D8CA6%2D4520%2D941F%2DB7A7FDA31626%7D&returnURL=%2Fnews%2Fstory%2Easp%3Fguid%3D%7BB8B7DC75%2D8CA6%2D4520%2D941F%2DB7A7FDA31626%7D%26siteid%3Dgoogle%26dist%3D%26archive%3Dtrue%26param%3Darchive%26garden%3D%26minisite%3D

Russia Posts $500,000 Bail to Free Jailed UN Official
The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS -- A Russian UN official accused of money laundering was freed from jail Friday after the Russian government posted $500,000 bail.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/11/21/013.html

Eight killed in Russia plane crash
http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Russia+plane+crash+kills+8&id=81563

Russia signs four-party railway freight cooperation agreement
http://en.rian.ru/business/20051120/42152679.html

National alert sounded in China for bird flu
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1301921.cms

RITFLOL...
Prince takes paper to court for printing his China journal
...published details from his private journal, which included his description of Chinese officials as ''appalling old waxworks.''
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-charles20.html

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