Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Thirty-Five

[nwctwx]

Unrest in Pakistan Setback for Terror War
(Full Story)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A week of unprecedented urban fighting in the wild tribal belt of North Waziristan has left scores dead and forced thousands to flee their homes, raising the stakes in Pakistan's war on Islamic militancy along the Afghan border.

A jumbled alliance of foreign militants, local tribesmen and Islamic students eager for jihad have stepped up resistance in a region where the army already claims to have wiped out al-Qaida as a viable fighting force.

The unrest, brewing for months, is a setback to the U.S.-led war on terror. Further hampering that effort are deteriorating relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan over Afghan claims that Taliban leader Mullah Omar is hiding in Pakistan and suicide bombers are training here.

	Growing strength of Pakistani Taliban worries U.S. officials
	Are global events spiraling out of control?
	Zawahri calls for strikes against West

Thread Thirty-Five

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[JustPiper]

Woman reports suspicious phone call
From Staff Reports
(Elizabethton, Tennessee)

An elderly county woman reported to police that she received a suspicious phone call where the person on the other end of the line wanted her bank account information to collect funds to offset the costs of the war in Iraq.

http://www.starhq.com/html/news/articles/articles.asp?day=Wednesday&article=nw-funnyphonecall.html
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Explosion That Killed Pregnant Woman A Mystery, Police Say

PORT TOWNSEND,WASHINGTON

Police in Port Townsend have a mystery on their hands.
There was an explosion inside the car, and I attempted to approach there were two more explosions

http://www.komotv.com/stories/42278.htm
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* Mama

IDAHO - Mystery powder rains on Idaho

A strange white powder fell on Idaho Falls, Idaho last Friday. Utah Power officials blame the unusual dust for knocking a power plant out of commission. From KIFI:
Power workers says the dirt created an arc across the insulators. It acts like a groundwire and shorted out the power. The power crews rerouted the power, but Tuesday morning, they'll have to fix the insulators.

What is the mystery dirt? Utah Power officials say it's salt from the Great Salt Lake. It blew in with the storm. Salt is a conductor.

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/07/mystery_powder_rains.html
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Suspicious Substance Found in Letter Sent to (R)Rep. Doolittle (CA)

Placer County Sheriff's personnel and hazardous materials teams are investigating a letter containing an unknown substance that was sent to the Granite Bay office of Rep. John Doolittle.

Malim said a female employee opened the letter, which contained a white, powdery substance that allegedly caused the woman's thumb to tingle. The woman was treated at the scene and released, Malim said.

http://www.news10.net/storyfull2.aspx?storyid=16351

[JustPiper]

NEW JERSEY - Terror alerts on stolen truck

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1141812760249350.xml&coll=3
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NJ Starts Suspicious Boater DatabaseCOMMERCIAL TOWNSHIP, NJ-March 9, 2006

State police in New Jersey have launched a Web site to gather information about suspicious activity on the state's waterways.

more info:
http://www.state.nj.us/njsp/maritime/msi_report.html
article:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=3976139

[JustPiper]

Local police heed threat to agents

Agents warned to be on the lookout for human smugglers targeting them
(MEXICO BORDER w/ Texas)
LA GRULLA – The warning came in the form of a bulletin from the Laredo FBI office.

Police working along the border say they are on the lookout, too. La Grulla, located near the Rio Grande River, is an infamous spot for illegal crossing and smugglers.

http://www.newschannel5.tv/2006/3/9/6722/Local-police-heed-threat-to-agents
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Governor sending more troops to border to aid immigration efforts

PHOENIX Arizona's governor has signed an executive order to expand the National Guard's presence at the state's porous border with Mexico.

http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=4603689

[JustPiper]

Bridgeport oil site has Saudi links

BRIDGEPORT — As controversy rages over a proposed Dubai-based operation running key U.S. port terminals, a company with direct ties to Saudi Arabia has quietly owned and operated petroleum storage facilities in Bridgeport and New Haven for years.

Motiva Enterprises has owned an oil tank farm within Bridgeport's port since 1998 and a similar facility in New Haven since 2000. The company is jointly owned by Shell Oil and Saudi Armaco, Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil-refining business.

http://www.connpost.com/news/ci_3583974

[JustPiper]

* ALERT:

Nuclear bomb material sailed from Dubai

The issue: Selling our ports to the United Arab Emirates

Our view: Dubai's dubious past isn't a mystery, so why risk it?

How many weighing in on the ports controversy know or care that the tools to make a nuclear bomb set sail for Libya from the ports of our new good friends and prospective business partners in Dubai? Had there been a serious review of the Dubai ports deal, such warning signs about the United Arab Emirates could not have been missed, unless, of course, the desired outcome was politically - or and/or financially - predestined.

http://www.journalstandard.com/articles/2006/02/28/opinion/opinion01.txt

[JustPiper]

SPAIN - ETA sets off two bombs in Cantabria and Navarre
~today

http://www.eitb24.com/portal/eitb24/noticia/en/politics/no-injuries-eta-sets-off-two-bombs-in-cantabria-and-navarre?itemId=D17957&cl=%2Feitb24%2Fpolitica&idioma=en

[JustPiper]

lots of news posted today

N. Korea launches 2 missiles
By wire services
Published March 9, 2006

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles Wednesday, an unsettling reminder of the reclusive communist regime's ability to cause instability in the region where a standoff persists over its nuclear program.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/03/09/Worldandnation/N_Korea_launches_2_mi.shtml

[JustPiper]

Al Qaeda fugitive surrenders in Kuwait

KUWAIT (Reuters) - A man sentenced to 10 years in jail in absentia in Kuwait for belonging to al Qaeda has handed himself in to authorities, security sources said on Thursday.

They named the fugitive as Meshal al-Shimmari, sentenced to 10 years in jail in December for belonging to the al Qaeda-linked Peninsula Lions group which staged several bloody attacks in Kuwait last year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/09/AR2006030900379.html

[JustPiper]

FACTBOX-Developments in Iraq, March 10

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO034732.htm
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*BOLO

Games terror attack feasible: ASIO

TONY EASTLEY: ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) believes a terrorist attack remains 'feasible' at next week's Games and experts are warning that Melbourne may not be the only target.

With thousands of security personnel, including members of the Australian Defence Force concentrated in Victoria, terrorists may see an opportunity to strike in other locations, exactly the same scenario that characterised last year's horrific London bombings.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1587340.htm

[JustPiper]

BREAKING:

NEW YORK (AP) The judge has declared a mistrial in the racketeering case against John A. "Junior" Gotti.


~Prayers for Curtis Sliwa

[MamaDearest]

Hot digity dog! Huge congrats on your job offer. Did you accept it (I was taught not to make assumptions)?

[JustPiper]

Iranian rockets hitting Israelis?
Terror group's new 'Shahab' missiles dedicated to President Ahmadinejad

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49195

[JustPiper]

They did offer it?1
Are you taking it?!

details,details!

[JustPiper]

America the socialist
~Farah

It's amazing how the national debate has been corrupted.

It's sad how people no longer discuss principles upon which this country was founded.

It's disheartening to see the way America is slouching – no hurtling – toward unaccountable socialist oblivion.

Maybe you can't detect it in the day's news because there is so much noise. It's hard to see the forest for the trees.

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49199

[JustPiper]

In terror war, perfect must not be enemy of good

~David Limbaugh

We live in an enormously dangerous world. We don't even know for sure who our enemy is. Yes, it's radical Islamic terrorists. But what about ostensibly less radical Muslims? How about anti-American Arab populations whose governments are controlled by apparently America-friendly regimes, like the UAE?

Our failure to recognize our ambivalence about the degree to which we can trust "friendly" Arab states, whether the UAE, Saudi Arabia, or even the newly formed Iraqi government once we loosen the reins, clouds our judgment. If the Dubai Ports deal demonstrates nothing else, it reveals our uncertainty in that we've fully identified the enemy.

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49202

[JustPiper]

Off Topic:

Ron Brown: 10 years and no questions

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49208

[JustPiper]

Off Topic but wait a minute he is a terror!

Neverland Shut Down
Friday, March 10, 2006

California officials shut down Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch yesterday after it was discovered that MJ had let his employees’ workers compensation insurance lapse.

http://www.muchmusic.com/news/story.asp?id=17261

[nwctwx]

Yes, I did accept.

The position is Website Coordinator for the Foreign Policy Studies program. It's not exactly what I was looking for, but it's pretty close. I think it will be a great way to get my foot in the door as well... meet the right people, etc. Brookings is certainly one of the top Think Tanks in DC.