Threat Matrix: September 2007

The Birth of al Qaedastan

In the year 2016, the world may find itself gloomily marking September 6 as the tenth anniversary of the creation of the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan. The Emirate received de facto recognition when the Taliban used the name on the ceasefire agreement they signed with Pakistan on that day in 2006. If things go terribly wrong in the coming decade, they could come to rule a mountainous fragment of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Emirate would be a nightmare state: Osama bin Laden as sultan, Ayman al Zawahiri as vizier, and Mullah Omar the spiritual leader. An economy built on smuggling and heroin. Primary export: terrorism. Welcome to ‘Al Qaedastan’.

Analysts say the rise of a terrorist state straddling the rugged area between Pakistan and Afghanistan is now viable. The reason is a number of troubling trends. One, the revival of a Taliban firmly in the control of Al Qaeda. Two, the seeming inability of either Kabul or Islamabad to defeat the new threat militarily. Three, and the most striking, the Taliban’s systematic supplanting of the traditional tribal leadership in the area. Full story...

	Lebanon: Tiny Country, Big Threats
	Islamist Web Site Explains 'How to Join Al Qaeda'
	The Ongoing Hunt for Osama bin Laden

Threat Matrix:
September 2007

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Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47463

Forces Capture Suspected Sattar Assassination Planner

By John Valceanu
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2007 – Coalition forces yesterday captured a man suspected of being behind the Sept. 13 assassination of Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, an influential Sunni leader who helped fight al Qaeda in Iraq’s Anbar Forces, officials in Baghdad announced during a briefing today.
“Investigative and intelligence reports indicate Fallah Khalifa Hiyas Fayyas al-Jumayli, also known as Abu Khamis, was involved the planning and execution of the plot to kill the sheik and was also plotting to kill other leaders of the Anbar Awakening Council as well,” said Navy Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, Multi-National Force Iraq spokesman.

Intelligence indicates that “Abu Khamis was also involved in organized activity creating car bombs and suicide vest attacks in Al Anbar province,” Fox said.

The admiral called Sattar a “key ally in the fight against al Qaeda in Iraq” and offered his condolences to the sheik’s family. Sattar and his followers rejected the violence of al Qaeda and worked to bring peace and prosperity to their province. Their efforts helped create what became known as the “Anbar Awakening,” in which violence in the province was reduced dramatically as local leaders cooperated with coalition forces to root out terrorists.

Just 10 days before his assassination, Sattar and other Anbar leaders took part in a Labor Day meeting with President Bush on Al Asad Air Base. The sheik also participated in the Ramadi Reconstruction Conference with leaders of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and Multinational Force West earlier in the year.

“As the principal founder and chairman of the Al Anbar awakening council, Sheik Sattar was a brave Iraqi who fearlessly worked to bring security and stability to the province,” Fox said. “We stand in solidarity with all Iraqis in expressing our sorrow at this barbaric and senseless killing. We honor Sheik Sattar’s courage and sacrifice.”

Fox said Sattar was “martyred in the cause of peace in Iraq.”

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47465

Coalition Forces Capture Key Extremist Leaders in Iraq, Kill Three Insurgents

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2007 – Iraqi and coalition forces detained six suspects, including several key extremist militant leaders, killed three insurgents and seized a weapons cache in Iraq over the past three days, military officials said.
Iraqi special operations forces, with U.S. special forces advisers, detained an extremist militant company commander and a cell member yesterday during an operation in Ad Diwaniyah.

During the operation, enemy fighters initiated an attack on the combined force with an improvised-explosive-device, small-arms and machine gun fire. The combined force returned fire, killing three enemy fighters and wounding several others.

The captured extremist commander led more than 20 enemy fighters responsible for launching improvised-explosive-device, explosively-formed-penetrator and indirect fire attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces in the area, military officials said.

Coalition forces suspect the group of attacking a coalition base in Ad Diwaniyah with indirect fire on July 5,. The group allegedly assaulted a local police station two days later, killing two Iraqi police officers and firing on coalition forces as they rushed to aid victims. Intelligence reports indicate that the group has launched more than 450 rocket and mortar attacks on the coalition base during the past four months, military officials said.

In a separate operation yesterday in the Bayaa area of Baghdad, Iraqi special operations forces detained an extremist militant battalion commander. The suspect is linked to extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and removing Sunni residents from the area.

During a Sept. 14 raid, Iraqi troops with U.S. special forces advisers detained a Shiite extremist cell member in Wassit Province. The suspect conducts improvised-explosive-device, explosively-formed-penetrator and direct fire attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces in the al Aziziyah area, military officials said.

Military officials allege that on Aug. 23, the suspect’s cell detonated an explosively-formed penetrator on a combined forces convoy, killing two coalition soldiers and wounding three others. He also was involved in an Aug. 2 improvised-explosive-device, or IED, attack on a convoy that killed two civilian contractors.

Further intelligence indicates the extremist is a member of a cell that conducts extrajudicial killings against innocent civilians. The suspect also is accused of criminal acts against the citizens of the town of al Aziziyah, including emplacing IEDs, and conducting assaults and kidnappings.

During the raid, Iraqi and U.S. forces confiscated two AK-47 assault rifles and six grenades. Troops detained two other suspects for further questioning.

(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47464

Forces Kill Insurgents, Capture Suspects in Afghanistan

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2007 – Afghan forces, working in concert with coalition troops, killed more than a dozen insurgents, captured 11 suspects and seized a weapons cache in Afghanistan over the past two days, military officials said.
During operations today:

— Coalition forces using small-arms fire and precision munitions killed several suspected militants in Helmand province. At the site of the action, troops found a vehicle containing rockets, AK-47 assault rifles, a heavy machine gun, boxes of ammo, rocket-propelled grenades and vests laden with ammunition magazines.

— Afghan national security forces and coalition advisers captured nine Taliban insurgents west of Kandahar City early this morning. The combined force caught the suspects at two compounds in Senjary Village where tipsters told them a high-level insurgent leader, responsible for deadly improvised-explosive device attacks on coalition forces, was staked out.

— Afghan and coalition forces detained two suspected militants today in Zabul province. Credible intelligence led the combined force to the Shinkai District where they suspected Taliban-affiliated militants were hiding, military officials said.

Yesterday in Afghanistan, Afghan national auxiliary police and coalition advisers thwarted a powerful insurgent attack about five miles north of the Sangin District Center in Helmand province.

As the combined force patrolled neared Shalban Village in the Musa Qalah District, 12 Taliban fighters attacked from three sides with small arms, a heavy machine gun, mortars and rocket-propelled grenade fire.

Troops repelled the ambush, forcing the insurgent fighters to seek refuge in a nearby forest. Throughout the battle, insurgents reinforced their positions with additional fighters. Combined forces called in coalition close-air support to destroy the exposed insurgents.

The ground-force commander estimated that more than 40 insurgents participated in the foiled ambush and ensuing fight. A dozen enemy fighters were died in the engagement. No coalition troops, Afghan security members or civilians were reported injured or killed during the fighting.

“The enemies of peace and stability continue to use the holy month of Ramadan as an opportunity to conduct violent acts against the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokesman. “Our forces were on a routine patrol today in the Sangin area when they were attacked without warning.

“The (Afghan national auxiliary police) is growing in capability with each patrol,” he added, “and the coalition forces with which they work have noted a marked increase in their abilities.”

(Compiled from Combined Joint Task Force 82 news releases.)

UPDATE:

http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=37913

“3 More Arrested in Florida Police Shootings”
Updated: September 14th, 2007 04:59 PM EDT
Story by local10.com

MIAMI —

Three people have been charged with being accessories for aiding and harboring suspected police killer Shawn Sherwin Labeet and a fourth man could be charged Friday.

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Alain Gonazalez, 27, is charged with being an accessory after the fact for helping Labeet, 25, who was shot and killed just before midnight Thursday in Pembroke Pines after being wanted in the shootings of four Miami-Dade police officers.

One officer died and three others were injured in the shooting Thursday morning.

Also charged is Gonzalez’s mother, Alba Bello, 47, and her boyfriend, Lazaro Guardiola, 35, according to Miami-Dade police.

Investigators said Labeet went to a Miami home at Southwest 202nd Street and hid out, where he shaved his beard and cut his hair after a shootout at a Southwest Miami-Dade apartment complex.

Labeet’s girlfriend, Renee D’Angelo, was arrested earlier by police who said she gave them false information about Labeet’s identity.”

UPDATE:

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1897627/posts

Miami Police Given Choice of Carrying Assault Rifles
NY Times ^ | September 17, 2007 | NA

Posted on 09/16/2007 8:54:03 PM PDT by neverdem

MIAMI, Sept. 16 (AP) — Patrol officers here will have the option of carrying assault rifles as they try to combat the rise in the use of similar weapons by criminals, the city’s police chief said Sunday.

The chief, John F. Timoney, approved the policy last week, before a Miami-Dade police officer was killed on Thursday in a shootout with a man wielding an assault rifle.

“This is something we do not do with any relish,” Chief Timoney said. “We do this reluctantly.”

The policy had been under review for about a year after officers began seeing an increase in the weapons in the hands of criminals, the chief said.

Officers interested in the guns will have to undergo two days of training and be certified in their use. The Police Department does not yet have money to buy the assault rifles, and if officers want to use them immediately they will have to pay for them, Chief Timoney said.

Years ago, law enforcement specialists like SWAT teams were the only officers to carry assault weapons, but now even some small town police agencies are arming officers with the AR-15, a civilian version of the military M-16 rifle.

Patrol officers in Danbury, Conn., have been allowed to carry the weapons since 2003. Police departments in Merced, Calif., and Waterloo, Iowa, have put them in all patrol vehicles for several years. In Stillwater, Okla., about 70 miles west of Tulsa, every patrol officer is issued an AR-15.

Officers in Los Angeles have been equipped with the weapons since a 1997 gunfight outside a bank where police officers were out-gunned by a man armed...

—snip—

The Miami Police Department said 15 of its 79 homicides last year involved assault weapons. This year, 12 of the 60 homicides have involved the high-power guns...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=china
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=algeria

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070917/NATION/109170066/1001

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“Algeria, China teamed on nuke”
By Bill Gertz
September 17, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Newly declassified U.S. government documents confirm the U.S. government suspected China was helping Algeria build a secret facility in 1991 for developing nuclear weapons.

The 15-megawatt reactor is now a research center about 80 miles south of the Algerian capital of Algiers, and has been brought under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) controls.

However, the once-classified reports show the joint Chinese-Algerian nuclear project was kept secret from the 1980s until its existence was first disclosed by The Washington Times on April 11, 1991.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=pino

http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=7496A489-9D56-4E01-A88B-E51345023C00

“Pino 911”
By Mike Adams
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, September 17, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “On September 11, 2007, I was sitting around minding my own business and quietly remembering the thousands who lost their lives six years earlier. It was a nice, peaceful morning until I received an email from someone claiming to be Professor Julio Pino of Kent State University.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The most memorable portions of the disturbing email are reproduced below:

“O, Slaves of Zion and Amerika, Arise! The shaheed (martyr) who yearns to die, and has prayed for this moment all his life, has come to rescue you!”

“The martyr is performing an action that is the culmination of a whole life’s struggle, and in turn gives meaning to that life. Muslims venerate the Prophet Mohammed (Peace and Blessings of Allah Be Upon him) as al-kemal-al-insan (The Perfect Man).”

“The shaheed, May God Be Pleased with Him, is not only the perfect soldier, but the perfect Muslim. All of life is preparation, and striving for, martyrdom.”

“The intention for martyrdom is elevated to a higher status than the final act itself. A soldier walking, without shaking, into a field of fire courts death but does not desire it from birth.”

“(T)he Muslim knows no continents, regions, nations or tribes but acknowledges the existence of only two groups of human beings; men of faith-—his Brothers-—and the kaaffir (unbelievers and apostates), those ungrateful and rebellious beings that, like Satan himself, opted for disobedience. With the latter no compromise is possible or permissible, by Islamic principles.”

“The Muslim is commanded in the Quran to ‘fight oppression and overcome tribulation, until all religion is for Allah.’ This is the true meaning of jihad; daily struggle, in every manner prescribed by Allah and His Messenger.”

“Jihad is constant battle, in all places and at all times, with those forces, natural and supernatural, that would remove the Muslim from the sacred realm and into the profane. Dying on the battlefield or in any other way ordained by the kaaffir is a profane act unless death is dedicated to Allah.”

“The martyr has no time for peace; no time to be cynical, or pessimistic.”

“The Muslim world is poetic, and the greatest of all epics is martyrdom.“Laa ‘ilaaha ‘illallahu (There is none worthy of worship but Allah) must be on his dying lips that he may enter Paradise. Not by chance did Mohammed Atta’s ‘Instructions for the Final Night’ counsel him [sic] make these his last words before crashing into the World Trade Center. Amen.””

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/law_of_the_dea_treaty/2007/09/16/33102.html

“U.S. Sovereignty Threatened by U.N. Treaty, Critics Charge”
Sunday, September 16, 2007 8:35 PM
By: Chris Gonsalves Article Font Size

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “U.S. scientists aboard the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy are mapping the ocean floor in an effort to claim territory that holds an estimated 400 billion barrels of untapped undersea oil and gas.

The U.S. is poised to turn much of its authority on the high seas over to international arbiters by ratifying a long-controversial United Nations sea treaty.

Approval of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a 25-year-old international treaty regulating use of the world’s oceans, is steaming full speed ahead in the Senate, where committee hearings are set to begin Sept. 27.

The full Senate is likely to ratify the treaty — which would link U.S. naval actions to those of 155 other member nations — by year’s end.

For decades, critics have derided the 182-page Law of the Sea pact as a threat to U.S. sovereignty and naval independence.

They add that it would create a massive new U.N. bureaucracy (the International Seabed Authority); would give environmentalists a back door to greater regulation; and would hinder the U.S. military’s efforts to capture terrorists on the high seas.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1897669/posts

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6925676,00.html

“Official: Russian Fuel Ready for Iran”
Sunday September 16, 2007 10:31 AM
By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “TEHRAN, Iran (AP)- Enriched uranium fuel is ready to be shipped from Russia to Iran’s first nuclear power plant, state television on Sunday quoted Iran’s foreign minister as saying.

The announcement comes after talks in Moscow between minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Russian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko to address delays in completing the $1 billion joint Iranian-Russian Bushehr power plant.

``Nuclear fuel for this power plant, inspected and sealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, is ready,’’ the broadcast quoted Mottaki as saying late on Saturday. ``We do see the trend of cooperation between Iran and Russia moving ahead for the Bushehr power plant.’’”

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=KREKAR&btnG=Search+News

September 13, 2007

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00606/_12092007153100_jpg_606206h.jpg

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1993257.ece

“Krekar back in court”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Krekar appeared in an Oslo city court on Wednesday to describe his current life in virtual house arrest. He claimed that he never goes out, with the exception of one hour a week, when he attends Friday prayers at a local mosque.

His complaints will be included in material that will be presented to Norway’s highest court, when it considers his appeal of an expulsion ordered by state authorities.

Even though Krekar has been declared a risk to national security in Norway, and hit with the expulsion order, he remains in the country because he likely would face a death sentence back home in northern Iraq. Norway won’t deport people to countries where there’s a risk of execution.

Despite 16 years in Norway, much of it on welfare, Krekar spoke through an interpreter in the court and not in Norwegian.”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296952,00.html

ranian Nail Salon Owner Brutalized, Robbed in New York Anti-Muslim Attack

Sunday, September 16, 2007

MATINECOCK, New York — An Iranian-American nail salon owner was brutalized by robbers who called her a “terrorist” and scrawled anti-Muslim messages on a mirror in her shop, the victim and police said.

“I’m in shock,” victim Zoreh Assemi told WNBC-TV after the attack Saturday morning, a web of cuts and bruises visible on her face, arms and hands. She said she felt “terrorized ... not by American people, but by a very small group and prejudice. And it hurts.”
___________________________________________________________

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297018,00.html

Iran’s Ahmadinejad Prepares for Trip to U.S.

Monday, September 17, 2007

TEHRAN, Iran — As reports swirl in U.S. and Europe of plans to use military force to knock out Iran’s nuclear development capability, the man behind the rogue state’s defiance says he’s coming to America to make his case to the U.N.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he hoped to discuss policy with the U.S. at the opening meeting of the United Nations General Assembly during a Sunday appearance on Iranian state television, Reuters reports.
__________________________________________________________

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297020,00.html

U.N. Human Rights Official Calls On Iran to Stop Executing Children

Monday, September 17, 2007

GENEVA — Iran should immediately halt the execution of children, the U.N.’s top human rights official said Monday.

Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said she met with Iranian officials during a visit to Tehran earlier this month and urged them to impose a moratorium on the execution of minors.
___________________________________________________________

Opinion, maybe it is time to stop dealing with China.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296949,00.html

China Recalls Tainted Leukemia Drugs

Sunday, September 16, 2007

BEIJING — Chinese authorities ordered the recall of tainted leukemia drugs blamed for leg pains and other problems, state media reported Sunday, the latest crisis to strike the country’s embattled food and drug industries.

Most of the drugs involved — methotrexate and cytarabin hydrochloride — have been recovered and authorities have traced the remainder, the Xinhua News Agency said. The report did not say if any of the drugs had been exported.

Authorities have banned the sale and distribution of the drugs, produced by the Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Co., it said.

China, a major global supplier, has been facing growing international pressure to improve the quality of its exports after dangerous toxins — from lead to an antifreeze ingredient — were found in goods including toys and toothpaste.

Trial papers detail plan to seize U.S.

Muslim Brotherhood’s takeover plot emerges in Holy Land case

Amid the mountain of evidence released in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial, the most provocative has turned out to be a handful of previously classified evidence detailing Islamist extremists’ ambitious plans for a U.S. takeover.

A knot of terrorism researchers say the memos and audiotapes, many translated from Arabic and containing detailed strategies by the international Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood, are proof that extremists have long sought to replace the Constitution with Shariah, or Islamic law. (snip)
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-brotherhood_17met.ART0.State.Edition2.41fe33d.html

*Long, but very informative article

FOILED BOMB PLOT
Terror Suspect Worked at Frankfurt Airport

Adem Yilmaz, one of the three men arrested in Germany two weeks ago on suspicion of plotting bomb attacks, spent time working at Frankfurt Airport, one of the possible targets, SPIEGEL has learned.

One of the three terrorism suspects (more...) arrested two weeks ago in Germany worked at Frankfurt Airport, SPIEGEL has learned.

Turkish citizen Adem Yilmaz from the town of Langen in western Germany was employed in the security division of rail operator Deutsche Bahn from 1997 until 2002.(snip)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,506190,00.html

Southern German Towns Become Hub of Jihadism
Roland Ströbele | 17 Sep 2007
World Politics Review Exclusive

The arrest earlier this month of three Islamic radicals suspected of planning attacks on American military installations in Germany has again called attention to the southern German towns of Neu-Ulm and Ulm. The alleged leader of the trio, Fritz G., comes from Ulm. As Roland Ströbele of the local Neu-Ulmer Zeitung reports, the twin cities on opposite banks of the Danube have in recent years become a bustling hub of Jihadist activism.

NEU-ULM/ULM, Germany — And once again the trail leads to Neu-Ulm. One of the three presumed members of an Islamic terror group arrested earlier this month in Germany comes from Ulm. The 28-year-old Fritz G. is supposed even to have been the ringleader of the group, which is accused of planning bomb attacks on the Frankfurt Airport and the U.S. military base in Ramstein.

If the accusations should turn out to be true, then they provide renewed evidence that plans for terror attacks have been hatched in Ulm and Neu-Ulm and that it is from here that the terrorists have set out to realize their plans.

Fritz G. has been long known to Bavarian police authorities. The 28-year-old German converted to Islam several years ago and was a frequent visitor to the “Multi-Kultur-Haus” in Neu-Ulm, an Islamic cultural center that was shut down by the authorities in January 2006 on account of Islamist activism. According to investigators, radical “preachers of hate” frequented the Multi-Kultur-Haus, recruiting “holy warriors” for Jihad or collecting funds for the latter. (snip)

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=1142

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