Threat Matrix: May 2007

U.S. Seeks Closing of Visa Loophole for Britons
-Full Story-

Omar Khyam, the ringleader of the thwarted London bomb plot who was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday, showed the potential for disaffected young men to be lured as terrorists, a threat that British officials said they would have to contend with for a generation.

But the 25-year-old Mr. Khyam, a Briton of Pakistani descent, also personifies a larger and more immediate concern: as a British citizen, he could have entered the United States without a visa, like many of an estimated 800,000 other Britons of Pakistani origin.

American officials, citing the number of terror plots in Britain involving Britons with ties to Pakistan, expressed concern over the visa loophole. In recent months, the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, has opened talks with the government here on how to curb the access of British citizens of Pakistani origin to the United States.

	How the Plot Came Together
	Briefing on Release of 2006 Country Reports on Terrorism
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Chaos Tonight For 100,000 After Train Line Blaze (United Kingdon)
24 May, 2007

More than 100,000 rail commuters face chaos on their journeys home tonight after an explosion and fire underneath a key line. The blaze at an MoT garage in railway arches at Bermondsey halted all services between London Bridge and New Cross some of the busiest in the country.

Excerpted

http://www.firefightingnews.com/article-UK.cfm?articleID=31421

Suspicious packages found in Perth Amboy (New Jersey)
05/24/07

PERTH AMBOY: Two suspicious packages, one marked ""organic peroxide'' and the other covered in bubble wrap with a placard marked ""explosive material'' were discovered at a Convery Boulevard company around 1 p.m. today.

Deputy Police Chief E.J. McDonald said the packages were found at Chemtura, formerly known as Witco Chemical, 1000 Convery Blvd. He said a hazardous materials unit responded and separated the packages. The State Police Bomb Squad is en route from Fort Dix, he said.

http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070524/NEWS/70524007

Police: Person Killed In Possible Pipe Bomb Explosion (California)
May 24, 2007

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- An explosion possibly caused by a pipe bomb killed one person at a North County home Thursday, authorities reported.

The deadly blast at Squire Place and Guinevere Street in Oceanside occurred shortly before 5 p.m., according to police. The victim died at the scene, a dispatcher said. Bomb/arson detectives went to the house to investigate the fatality and to clear the premises of any remaining dangerous substances.

http://www.10news.com/news/13387197/detail.html

Terrorist plot against Baku-Ceyhan main pipeline prevented
24 May 2007

After the explosion in Ankara, Turkish law-enforcement bodies arrested a women kamikaze in Adana during intensified operations in the country, APA’s Turkey bureau reports.

11 kg 300 grams of A-4 explosive material, two hand grenades and some equipment for committing explosion was found in the woman’s bag who said “You poisoned Ojalan, therefore I wanted to kill you.” But investigation suspects that her target was the Baku-Tbilis-Ceyhan main oil pipeline or Botash Energy Company. The terrorist was detained while going to Ceyhan in a taxi.

“She got into car with her bags. She told me to drive to Ceyhan. But she did not said where we had to go in Ceyhan,” taxi driver told the police. Police source says there can only be two targets for terrorists in Ceyhan– Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and Botash company.

“The police achieved to prevent a huge terrorist acts by detaining the living bomb,” the source said. Person named Adem Barik who sent this woman from Urfa region of Turkey to Adana, and provided her with explosive materials and equipment for committing terrorist act was also detained and taken to Adana. A-4 explosive material found in the bag of the woman terrorist-kamikaze was also used in the terrorist act committed in Ankara on Tuesday.

http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=27272

Deal lets PBS stations air Islam film
May 24, 2007

A documentary billed as "the film PBS doesn't want you to see" will at long last get a national audience. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) announced a joint agreement yesterday to make "Islam vs. Islamists" available to the 354 Public Broadcasting Service member stations across the nation as a "stand-alone" TV program, with a little extra embellishment. "We plan to distribute the film to any public broadcasting station that wants it. We'll package it and also produce some sort of discussion to accompany the film, and give it some context," OPB President Steve Bass told The Washington Times yesterday.

"There has been a lot of debate on whether this program needed editing. Some said yes, some no. When you're dealing with an object of controversy, it is better to let the audience draw their own conclusions," Mr. Bass said. "As stewards of the investment in public broadcasting, this fulfills our responsibility to the taxpayer," CPB President Patricia Harrison said yesterday.

The often-disquieting 52-minute film explores the struggles of moderate American Muslims at the hands of their radical brethren and gives details about a "parallel" Islamist society that is slowly but surely developing within the U.S. borders. The film was produced by conservative columnist Frank Gaffney Jr., founder of the Center for Security Policy, filmmaker Martyn Burke and Middle East scholar Alex Alexiev.

Excerpted

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070523-115135-9053r.htm

New Database Debunks Terrorism Myths
24 May 2007

The majority of terrorist attacks result in no fatalities, with just 1 percent of such attacks causing the deaths of 25 or more people. And terror incidents began rising some in 1998, and that level remained relatively constant through 2004. These and other myth-busting facts about global terrorism are now available on a new online database open to the public.

The database identifies more than 30,000 bombings, 13,400 assassinations and 3,200 kidnappings. Also, it details more than 1,200 terrorist attacks within the United States. The unclassified Global Terrorism Database (GTD) will give anyone interested the opportunity to peruse through the actual details of global terror attacks. The online terror rap sheet is expected to be a critical tool for researchers and policy-makers who can use it to improve responses to terrorism.

Excerpted

http://www.livescience.com/history/070524_terrorism_database.html

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3403224,00.html

“Anne Frank memorial in Idaho hit by vandals”

“Vandals topple and damage bronze statue of Holocaust victim Anne Frank in Idaho’s capital two months after the memorial was plastered with neo-Nazi stickers”

Associated Press
Published: 05.22.07, 04:24 / Israel News

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Vandals toppled and damaged a bronze statue of Holocaust victim Anne Frank in Idaho’s capital two months after the memorial was plastered with neo-Nazi stickers.

Damage to the 500-pound statue of the girl, whose diary written in hiding from the Nazis during World War II made her a human rights heroine, included a broken finger and scrapes on the head.

In March the five-year-old, $1.8 million Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial was plastered with swastika-emblazoned stickers promoting the neo-Nazi group Combat 18, and identical stickers were attached to the Islamic Center of Boise. Combat 18 is a loosely organized group that is believed to have originated in Britain.

The life-sized memorial depicts Anne Frank standing atop a chair just south of downtown along the Boise River. Vandals uprooted the chair, sending the entire sculpture crashing to the ground below. A landscaping rock was also overturned.”

http://news.google.com/news?um=1&tab=wn&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=Idaho+%2B+Aryan+Nations&btnG=Search+News

RECAP:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003694463_gilbert05m0.html

Saturday, May 5, 2007 - Page updated at 02:02 AM

“Judge sentences man, 67, to 8 years on gun charges”
By Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporter

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Prosecutors said Gilbert possessed at least 74 weapons, including a weapon that was stolen from the military and another with a missing serial number, and that he’d stockpiled more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition. They said Gilbert and a co-defendant manufactured machine guns.

Gilbert was convicted in September of a long list of gun crimes, including conspiracy to manufacture unregistered firearms, felon in possession of a firearm, seven counts of possession of a machine gun and two counts of possession of an unregistered firearm.

According to court documents, Gilbert was arrested in 1965 and convicted of possessing 1,400 pounds of stolen dynamite. Police and prosecutors said Gilbert was among a group that intended to blow up a Hollywood stage where Martin Luther King Jr. was scheduled to make a speech.

He was also convicted of shooting a motorist after making insulting remarks about the other person’s race, according to court documents.

After serving five years in prison, Gilbert moved to Idaho where he met Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler. The two later had a falling-out and Gilbert said he never joined the Aryan Nations.

He later founded the Socialist Nationalist Aryan People’s Party, which considered Adolf Hitler a prophet and tried to recruit members from Butler’s organization, court documents say.”

http://www.newwest.net/index.php/topic/article/moscow_shooter_was_member_of_aryan_nations/C37/L37

“FBI UNCOVERS HAMILTON’S TIES TO WHITE SUPREMACIST GROUP”
Moscow Shooter Was Member of Aryan Nations
By Joan Opyr, 5-23-07

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The Spokesman Review has reported that Jason Hamilton, who on May 19th killed his wife, a Moscow police officer, and the caretaker at the First Presbyterian Church, before turning the gun on himself, was a member of the Aryan Nations, a white supremacist group founded by the late Richard Butler. Hamilton apparently joined the Aryan Nations in 2000, two years after moving to Moscow.

A visit to the official Aryan Nations website, if you can stand it, reveals that their motto is “Violence Solves Everything!” The exclamation mark is theirs, not mine.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Hamilton’s ties to the Aryan Nations were uncovered by the FBI investigation of his residence at 1020 Julian Way in Moscow. Hamilton’s court records will be posted to the Latah County Website sometime today or tomorrow. Those records indicate that the shooter had a long history of domestic abuse dating back at least fifteen years. Hamilton’s criminal history extends across four states, including Arizona, Oklahoma, California, and Idaho. Prior to Saturday night’s fatal shootings, Hamilton had been arrested and/or charged for a number of violent crimes, some drug-related.”

http://prescottdailycourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=44273&TM=47520.98

Friday, May 25, 2007

5/24/2007 12:03:00 PM

“Former deputy was once head of the Washington state Aryan Nation chapter”

By Mirsada Buric
The Daily Courier

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “PRESCOTT - A Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputy who is in jail on drug charges was the former leader of the Aryan Nations white supremacist group in Washington in the early 1990s, the Sheriff’s Office says.

Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested Justin L. Dwyer, 39, on Sunday after a tip from a jail inmate about Dwyer’s alleged cocaine use prompted a monthlong investigation.

Dwyer has been with the agency since 1999 and faces seven felony counts including possession of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, use of cocaine, involving a minor in a drug offense and driving under the influence of drugs.

The charge of involving a minor in a drug offense stems from an April 26 incident when Dwyer sent his 16-year-old son to buy 3.5 grams of cocaine from a drug dealer, the Sheriff’s Office say.

Dwyer became a deputy a decade after he was a featured speaker at a skinhead rally commemorating Hitler’s birthday at the Aryan Nation’s compound in North Idaho, according to the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash.

At the 1989 gathering, the late founder of the Aryan Nation, Richard Butler introduced Dwyer as “white man” and said the young skinhead was a fine example of his race and the future generation.

Dwyer recruited skinheads in the Seattle area in 1991 and staged a neo-Nazi rally on Whidbey Island for the late Bob Mathews, who led a band of domestic terrorists known as The Order.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1839545/posts

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55859

“Mosques awarded Homeland Security grants
CAIR urges Muslim clerics to cash in on federal funds”
Posted: May 25, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “While the European Union investigates mosques for ties to Islamic terrorism, the U.S. government is giving mosques security grants that are designed to protect churches, synagogues and other nonprofit groups from Islamic terror.

Most recently, the Islamic Society of Baltimore landed a $15,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to upgrade security at its Maryland mosque.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations since April has been urging leaders of mosques and Islamic schools across the nation to apply for the DHS grants, even though the agency’s program was set up to help protect nonprofit facilities that are at high risk for attacks by Islamic terrorists.”

Note; The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1839150/posts

Raid on spy’s home ‘reveals details of Chirac’s secret £30m bank account’
The Scotsman ^ | 23 May 2007 | Susan Bell

Posted on 05/24/2007 10:49:46 AM PDT by burzum

LONG-STANDING rumours that the former French president Jacques Chirac holds a secret multi-million-euro bank account in Japan appear to have been confirmed by files seized from the home of a senior spy.

Papers seized by two investigating magistrates from General Philippe Rondot, a former head of the DGSE, France’s intelligence service, show Mr Chirac opened an account in the mid-1990s at Tokyo Sowa Bank, credited with the equivalent of £30 million. It is not known where the money came from, nor whether it is connected to various kick-back scandals to which Mr Chirac’s name has been linked over the past decade.

Last year, Mr Chirac “categorically denied” having a bank account in Japan.

The seized documents have been described by the magistrates as “explosive” and are believed to contain copies of the former president’s bank statements.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.scotsman.com ...

STEPPING BACK IN TIME...

Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1629613/posts

Chirac Denies Claims Of 30m Pounds Paid Into Secret Japanese Bank Account
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 5-10-2006 | Colin Randall

Posted on 05/09/2006 8:32:23 PM PDT by blam

Chirac denies claims of £30m paid into secret Japanese bank account

By Colin Randall in Paris
(Filed: 10/05/2006)

President Jacques Chirac took the exceptional step last night of denying allegations that he had a secret Japanese bank account into which £30 million had been paid over a number of years.

Mr Chirac, who rarely responds to allegations questioning his financial propriety, “categorically” rejected the suggestion in the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchainé that he had ever possessed such an account.

A French intelligence chief, Gen Philippe Rondot, was alleged to have told investigating judges that the large amounts were paid by a “cultural foundation” into an account in the president’s name at the Tokyo Sowa Bank.

Gen Rondot is at the centre of an investigation into who ordered intelligence checks on Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and presidential hopeful. Mr Sarkozy had been falsely accused in poison pen mail of holding secret overseas accounts to launder kickbacks from the sale of French warships to Taiwan.

The judges, who are seeking to identify the whistleblower, were reportedly told by the general that he was personally ordered by the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, to investigate Mr Sarkozy.

Both the prime minister and Mr Chirac, who was said to have sanctioned such inquiries, deny the charges.

Le Canard said Mr Chirac’s alleged account in Japan had been mentioned incidentally during Gen Rondot’s questioning. But a close confidant of the president was quoted as saying: “The President of the Republic categorically denies the information reported by the Canard Enchainé. The president has never had an account at the Sowa Bank.”

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1159.html

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
This information is current as of today, Fri May 25 2007 05:00:04 GMT-0700.

Laos

May 24, 2007

This Public Announcement is being issued to update American citizens about continuing security concerns in northern Laos. Sporadic clashes and military movements in northern Vientiane Province were reported in March and April. This Public Announcement supersedes the Public Announcement dated February 23, 2007 and expires on August 23, 2007.

The U.S. Embassy in Laos continues to receive reports from multiple sources of sporadic fighting between Lao Government forces and unidentified opponents and of increased movements by Lao Government forces in the area of Vang Vieng in northern Vientiane Province beginning around February 7. The Embassy received similar reports in March and April. The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens to exercise caution in and around the area of Vang Vieng and recommends against any ground travel north from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang.

U.S. Embassy personnel are prohibited from undertaking personal travel by ground transportation north of Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang, along Route 13 and contiguous roadways.

U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to consult the Department of State’s Consular Information Sheet for Laos, and the Worldwide Caution Public Announcement, located at http://travel.state.gov . For further information, U.S. citizens may also contact the Department of State toll-free from within the United States and Canada at 1-888-407-4747, or outside the U.S. and Canada, on a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. The U.S. Embassy is located at Thanon Bartholonie (near Tat Dam), in Vientiane; from the U.S., mail may be addressed to U.S. Embassy Vientiane, Box V, APO AP 96546; tel (856-21) 267-000; duty officer emergency cellular telephone (856-20) 550-2016; consular section fax number (856-21) 267-040; internet http://LAOS.USEMBASSY.GOV ; e-mail: conslao@state.gov.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07050161.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net — E-mail: assistnews@aol.com

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Burma Army Troops on Offensive against Civilians

By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

SURREY, ENGLAND (ANS) — Burma Army troops are continuing their offensive against Karen civilians, one of the country’s ethnic minorities.
The troops have reportedly shot dead a deaf man, raped and murdered a woman, taken thousands of villagers for forced labour and displaced thousands more people.

Burma is in Southeast Asia.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported that according to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief organisation working in the area, soldiers from Light Infantry Battalions 542 and 544 attacked Ber Ka Lay Ko village in north-western Karen State on May 12. They reportedly captured, raped and killed a woman.

Three days later, troops attacked again as villagers worked in their fields. Many were able to flee due to the noise made by the Burma Army, but one hearing impaired man was unable to hear the attacking troops. He was shot and killed.

Another man was also shot dead, and one man was captured and executed. CSW reported that at least 14 other civilians from several villages in the area were captured.

The Burma Army is continuing its policy of forced labor. CSW reported that on May 16, according to the Free Burma Rangers, over 2,000 civilians were forced to carry rations for the Burma Army. On May 7, over 1,000 villagers were made to clear a new road between two Burma Army camps.

In a separate incident, Burma Army troops attacked villages in Papun District. A 27 year-old woman was killed while working in the fields. Her body was later burned by the soldiers.

These attacks are the latest in the Burma Army’s worst offensive against the Karen in a decade. On April 5, CSW reported, Burma Army troops mortared a village, killing a two year-old girl and injuring at least five people. In another district, villages have been shelled and burned, and farms destroyed.

Stuart Windsor, National Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said in a news release, “The continuing offensive against the Karen people, and the accompanying gross violations of human rights including torture and killings, are completely unacceptable. How much longer will the international community, including Burma’s neighbors, allow this to go on? The evidence is mounting, and efforts should be made to investigate crimes against humanity and genocide.”

CSW reported that in 2006 the Burma Army began its worst offensive against civilians in Karen State in almost a decade. Over 27,000 civilians were displaced in Karen State last year, and several thousand have been displaced so far this year. In 2006, over 86,000 were displaced in eastern Burma as a whole. Since 1996, over 3,000 villages in eastern Burma have been destroyed by the Burma Army, and it is estimated that one million people are internally displaced.

CSW is a human rights organization which works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for everyone. For more information, go to www.csw.org.uk.

For more background on the situation in Burma go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/correspondent/2151458.stm .

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico’s largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction. He has a master’s degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is “Homeless in the City: A Call to Service.” Additional details about “Homeless” are available at http://www.HomelessBook.com He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net. Tel: (505) 877-6967 or (505) 400-7145. Note: A higher resolution JPEG picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com.

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