Threat Matrix: January 2008

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blog:

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=28743_Muslim_Brotherhood_in_Jordan_Calls_for_Suicide_Bombings&only

“Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan Calls for Suicide Bombings”
Sun, Jan 27, 2008 at 8:51:04 am PST

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http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2576233220080125

“Jordanians rally in support of Hamas in Gaza”
Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:12pm EST
By Suleiman al-Khalidi

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “AMMAN (Reuters) - Chanting slogans urging Islamist Hamas militants to resume suicide bombings against Israel, thousands of Jordanians marched in the capital on Friday to protest against Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

About 8,000 activists from Jordan’s mainstream Muslim Brotherhood took to the streets to support their ideological allies, the Palestinian Hamas group, and hail militants’ success in breaching the Gaza border in defiance of an Israeli blockade.

“The people of Jordan are with Hamas,” chanted the crowds who called on the Islamist group to resume a campaign of suicide bombings and intensify rocket attacks against Israel.

“”Oh Hamas hit them with al-Qassam rockets ... bring the suicide bombers to Tel Aviv ,” they chanted, waving the green flags of Jordan’s opposition Muslim Brotherhood.”

Just a guess, but if his name was Pete Offender -
It’s now Repeat Offender.

Actually, I wonder the same thing too.

Yep, and Repeat Offender buys one more time in the pokey.

One computer and a almost 13 year old leaves not alot of evening time.

Oh oh, been there, done that. We've got two computers, but one is for games and the other is allegedly "my" computer. No kids left at home (halleluja), but we still quibble for "dial-up internet time."

I always thought the cost was included in the ticket.

2007 Homeland Security Budget

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has made significant improvements in aviation security since September 11, 2001, by implementing a layered, risk-based security approach. These advances include hardened cockpit doors; a greatly expanded Federal Air Marshals program; arming some pilots through the Federal Flight Deck Officers program; offering voluntary self defense training to crew members; and screening 100 percent of passenger and checked baggage. TSA will continue these efforts in 2007 by requesting $4.7 billion for aviation security, including $3.7 billion for aviation screening operations, which ensures sufficient resources for Transportation Security Officer staffing at our Nation’s airports. Combined with the funds provided in 2006, TSA will apply over $100 million to enhance air cargo security over two years. TSA will commit over $690 million to the purchase, installation, and maintenance of baggage screening devices, including in-line systems that will increase baggage throughput up to 250 percent. The Budget also provides more than $80 million for emerging technology at passenger checkpoints. This technology, as seen in the picture depicted below, will enhance the detection of prohibited items, especially firearms and explosives, through the use of additional sensors such as whole body imaging, automated explosive sampling, and cast and prosthesis scanners.

The 2007 Budget proposes to replace the two-tiered aviation passenger security fee schedule with a single flat security fee of $5.00 for a one-way trip. The single fee corresponds better with actual security screening, which normally occurs only once in a one-way trip regardless of the number of trip segments. The new fee is expected to increase collections by an additional $1.3 billion, for a total of $3.3 billion. The revenue generated by aviation security fees will cover about 70 percent of core aviation security costs. Aligning costs to fees will improve the overall management of aviation screening by encouraging system managers to improve system efficiency. Requiring users to pay for aviation screening and security is what was intended by the Congress and will free up other homeland resources to be spent on needs that are more dispersed across the general population.

Thanks MamaDearest.

It’s good to see how are tax dollars being spent.

Thanks to Nick Grace for pointing to the latest rapid recon edition at ThreatsWatch.org.

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threatswatch.org/rapidrecon/2008/01/assahab-winds-of-paradise-part/

“As-Sahab: Winds of Paradise Part 2”

SNIPPET: “[Editor’s Note: We have begun posting the propaganda from al-Qaeda and others for the primary purpose of informing and educating both the general public and policy makers about the level to which the enemy has actively engaged in Information Warfare. Some of the messages contain graphic content. We at ThreatsWatch post these videos as evidence of the brutal nature of the enemy we face and the clear intent they have to kill those not aligned with them. Making the public aware of the nature of the enemy - as well as the often forgotten virtues of our own nation - is one of the primary missions of ThreatsWatch and the Center for Threat Awareness.]”

By Nick Grace on January 28, 2008 at 12:30 AM

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

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Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960644/posts

19 Burned to Death in Violence in Kenya
NY Times ^ | January 28, 2008 | JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Posted on 01/28/2008 12:46:29 AM PST by neverdem

NAIROBI, Kenya — Ethnically driven violence intensified in Kenya on Sunday, and police officials said at least 19 people, including 11 children, were burned to death in a house by a mob.

Even the Kenyan military, deployed for the first time to stop antagonists from attacking one another, has been unable to halt the wave of revenge killings.

More than 100 people have been killed in the past four days, many of them shot with arrows, burned or hacked with machetes.

It is some of the worst fighting since a disputed election in December ignited long-simmering tensions that have so far claimed at least 750 lives. The fighting appeared to be spreading Sunday across the Rift Valley region, a particularly picturesque part of Kenya known more for its game parks and fancy lodges.

The Kenyan government is now threatening to arrest top opposition leaders on suspicion of orchestrating the bloodshed, but opposition leaders are in turn accusing the government of backing criminal gangs.

According to police officials in the Rift Valley town of Naivasha, fighting erupted Sunday morning between gangs of Kikuyus and Luos, two of Kenya’s biggest ethnic groups, who have clashed across the country since the election. Witnesses said mobs threw flaming tires and mountains of rocks into the streets to block police officers from entering some neighborhoods. The mobs then went house to house, looking for certain people.

—snip—

The episode was similar to one on Jan. 1, when up to 50 women and children seeking shelter in a church in another Rift Valley town were burned to death by a mob. The victims in that case were mostly Kikuyus, and Kikuyus across the country seem to have been attacked more than any other group...

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

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08010197.htm

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Riots and ethnic conflict expand across the Rift Valley a month after the disputed Kenyan election vote

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
NAKURU, KENYA (ANS) — Gunfire erupted Saturday and young men vowed revenge as the death toll from two days of bloodshed in western Kenya’s main town reached at least 25 — including 16 charred bodies unloaded at the morgue from the back of a truck.

According to an Associated Press (AP) story carried on CBS, Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth-largest city, is suffering the latest explosion of fury over Kenya’s deeply flawed presidential election. Riots and ethnic fighting following the Dec. 27 vote have killed more than 700 people nationwide and forced 255,000 from their homes.

In her report, CBS News producer Katherine Smerdon says that Nakuru’s mortuary is full and the center of town is empty as much of the fighting has taken place in suburbs of the tourist and business area. Residents are piling up what belongings they can and fleeing, a sight that has now become familiar in this country.

“We are planning revenge, we are searching for weapons,” said 23-year-old Njenga, who was among hundreds taking shelter at a Catholic church after their homes were torched. He gave only his first name for fear of reprisals.

“Now it will be the survival of the fittest,” he said.

CBS reports that much of the recent fighting has degenerated into riots pitting ethnic groups who support the opposition against President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe, long dominant in Kenyan politics and the economy. Opposition leader Raila Odinga accuses Kibaki of stealing the election, and local and foreign observers have said the vote tally was rigged.

CBS producer Smerdon spoke with Daniel Maina, a waiter working in Nairobi, whose family is in Nakuru. He worries for his son’s safety and for his parents. A member of the Kikuyu tribe, his family has owned land there for decades. His parents were born there, but still they are being told to leave.

“I want to rush there but I don’t know if I will be able to reach there. The road may be insecure. They are being told to leave but we have nowhere to go. All we have is in Nakuru...and they are telling my family to go to the Central Province. But we have nothing there.”

When asked why the members of another tribe, the Kalenjin, are so angry with Kikuyus, Maina said “This is all about land. I’m sure my family’s land was purchased properly, but they think land was stolen from them.”

Men broke down in tears at the city mortuary as police wearing rubber gloves unloaded the burned bodies. In recent days, hundreds of homes have been burned by mobs with torches and homemade guns, the CBS report states.

“I have never experienced this in my country,” one man at the mortuary said, his face marked with grief. “I just pray that our leaders end this thing immediately.”

CBS also says that at Nakuru’s main hospital, dozens of people with machete and arrow wounds were lying two-to-a-bed. One man’s face was a maze of stitches; he appeared to have been slashed. Bed sheets were soaked in blood.

Michael Ndegwa, 21, thought he found a corpse behind some kiosks Saturday morning when he walking through town, but when he got closer he saw the body trembling.

“I saw him and he was lying by the side of the road,” Ndegwa said, sitting at a Nakuru hospital with the wounded man, Steven Mwangi. “I carried him here. I thought he was dead.”

Mwangi, whose forehead, ear and nose were bandaged, kept his eyes closed as he waited for treatment, tears streaming down his face. He did not speak.

CBS says that Nakuru, a city of 300,000, had until now been spared the violence, but the fighting started late Thursday after Kibaki and Odinga held talks for the first time since the election. Immediately after the meeting, Kibaki made clear his position as president was not negotiable. The Rift Valley exploded in violence just hours later.

CBS reports that soldiers began patrolling the streets and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed. A barrier of rocks and wood blocked a main road Saturday, manned by youths with sticks.

Meanwhile, on Naivasha, also in the Rift Valley, CBS said scores of youths in a slum went on house-to-house searches and two people were hacked to death, according to witnesses. “I saw at least two dead men, all with wounds, lying on the ground as I escaped through my bedroom window,” said resident David Okoth. Police officer Willy Lugusa said one man was killed and one seriously injured.

The CBS report states: “As the violence raged, Kibaki and Odinga remained far apart on the central question of who really won the election. Both men are under international pressure to find a way to share power. But Odinga is insisting that new elections are the only way to restore peace.

“The crisis has destroyed Kenya’s image as a peaceful haven in a region rife with conflict, and raised international concern about the East African nation, which is an ally in Washington’s war on terrorism.”

CBS said mediator Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian who is the former U.N. secretary-general, visited trouble spots in the Rift Valley Saturday and flew over Nakuru and other areas where thousands of homes have been razed. Annan called for an investigation to establish who was responsible for the violence in the Rift Valley, and he urged politicians to avoid inciting people.

“If there are people inciting others to violence or sponsoring chaos, they should know that that is not acceptable and that action will be taken against them,” Annan said.

CBS also says that New York-based Human Rights Watch reported this week it had evidence that opposition politicians helped direct and organize some attacks in the Rift Valley — charges Odinga has vigorously denied. Odinga said the violence was a spontaneous reaction.

Annan flew by helicopter to Molo, where 50,000 people have been chased from their homes in ethnic clashes in recent days, according to the Kenya Red Cross.

“We cannot accept the pattern every five years these sorts of incidents take place and no one is held to account,” Annan said, referring to Kenya’s cycle of ethnic clashes in election-year violence. “Let’s not kid ourselves this is an electoral problem. This is much broader.”

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael’s involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department — Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) — of ACT International at: Artists in Christian Testimony (ACT) International. His weblog appears at: Michael Ireland Media Missionary.

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Previously...

Note: Photos included.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7166932.stm

Last Updated: Tuesday, 1 January 2008, 21:52 GMT

“Kenyans burned to death in church”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “A pastor from the church, Jackson Nyanga, told the BBC that many of the people were beaten before the building was set on fire.

“After torching the church, children died - around 25 in number - four elderly people. And our men and our people who tried to confront them were injured,” he said.

Eldoret, in the Rift Valley, has witnessed some of the worst violence since last Sunday’s controversial poll and has a history of inter-ethnic tension.

Correspondents say that over the past few days hundreds of Kikuyus in the Eldoret area have been taking shelter in churches and around the town’s police station.

Eldoret resident Bernard Magamu told the BBC News website that many houses and businesses have been torched, and that roads in and around the town are closed.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Alfred Mutua, spokesman for the Kenyan government, accused Mr Odinga’s supporters of a systematic campaign of ethnic violence.

“Raila Odinga’s supporters... are engaging in ethnic cleansing and they are not doing it in a haphazard manner, they’re doing it in a very well organised, calculated manner... attacking in military precision,” he told the BBC World Service.”

ADDING 1 link to post no. 1073:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=AE1AE743-9F2B-448A-BCF4-2D702EC6844C

“Department of the Defenseless”
By Joe Kaufman
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, January 28, 2008

ON THE INTERNET:

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

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

UPDATE:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080128/wl_sthasia_afp/britainpakistanattacksescape

“Pakistan denies escaped British terror suspect in detention”
42 minutes ago
ISLAMABAD (AFP) -

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Habib repeated the allegations when contacted by AFP.

“This is not a case of escape. Rashid Rauf in fact disappeared and the government later came out with different stories every time,” Habib said.

But Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema dismissed the claims.

“There is no truth in reports that Rashid Rauf is being secretly held by authorities. This is not correct, this is nonsense,” Cheema told AFP.

“There have been inquiries going on as to how he escaped.”

Britain has been seeking the extradition of Rauf in a 2002 murder case unrelated to the alleged plane plot.”

RECAP:

UPDATE:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?tag=Pakistan&blog_id=7

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

UPDATE:

(Note: This url may expire.)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080128/wl_sthasia_afp/britainpakistanattacksescape

“Pakistan denies escaped British terror suspect in detention”
42 minutes ago
ISLAMABAD (AFP) -

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Habib repeated the allegations when contacted by AFP.

“This is not a case of escape. Rashid Rauf in fact disappeared and the government later came out with different stories every time,” Habib said.

But Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema dismissed the claims.

“There is no truth in reports that Rashid Rauf is being secretly held by authorities. This is not correct, this is nonsense,” Cheema told AFP.

“There have been inquiries going on as to how he escaped.”

Britain has been seeking the extradition of Rauf in a 2002 murder case unrelated to the alleged plane plot.”

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(Note: This url may expire.)

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C12%5C20%5Cstory_20-12-2007_pg11_8

Thursday, December 20, 2007
“Rauf’s uncle remanded in police custody”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “RAWALPINDI: Special Judge Shaukat Ali Sajid on Wednesday granted five-day physical remand of Muhammad Rafiq, uncle of Rashid Rauf, to police.”

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http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019256.php
(AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE)

December 20, 2007
“Pakistani police helped British jihad suspect escape”

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blog:

http://www.TheAviationNation.com/2008/01/19/nine-pakistani-police-fired-in-rauf-escape/

Saturday
19 Jan 2008
“Nine Pakistani Police Fired in Rauf Escape”
By Annie Jacobsen in category The Al-Qaeda Threat

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http://www.theaviationnation.com/wp-content/images/rauf.jpg

blog:

http://www.TheAviationNation.com/2007/12/18/365/
(DAWN.com, December 17, 2007)

“Uncle Helped Rashid Rauf Escape”
By Annie Jacobsen in category The Al-Qaeda Threat
(December 18, 2007)

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http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019198.php
(IOL.co.za)

December 17, 2007
“Jihad terror suspect, on way to prison, asks police escort to stop so he can pray in mosque — where he escapes”

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blog:

http://www.TheAviationNation.com/2007/12/16/airline-mega-plot-suspect-escapes-jail/

“Airline Mega-Plot Suspect Escapes Jail”
By Annie Jacobsen in category The Al-Qaeda Threat
(December 16, 2007)

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blog:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/12/al_qaeda_commander_r.php
“Al Qaeda commander Rashid Rauf escapes Pakistani custody”
By BILL ROGGIO
December 15, 2007 6:13 PM

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/15/world/main3622361.shtml
CBS NEWS.com: Islamabad, Pakistan - “TERROR SUSPECT ESCAPES IN PAKISTAN Rashid Rauf, Accused in Airliner Bomb Plot, Slips Away from Police Custody” (December 15, 2007)

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http://news.google.com/news?tab=wn&hl=en&ned=us&q=Rauf&ie=UTF-8&scoring=n

blog:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/01/in_pictures_al_qaeda_1.php

“In Pictures: Al Qaeda in the Caucasus”
By BILL ROGGIO
January 31, 2008 1:57 PM

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=russia
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=iran
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=nuclear

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Note: The following news brief is a quote:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3499538,00.html

Russia completes shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran
Published: 01.28.08, 08:45 / Israel News

Russia has completed the shipment of uranium fuel for Iran’s first nuclear plant, the Interfax news agency reported Monday.

It quoted Irina Yesipova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s state Atomstroiexport company in charge of building the nuclear plant in the southern port of Bushehr, as saying that the final shipment of fuel had been delivered. (AP)

RECAP:

FreeRepublic.com - Discussion Forum (XINHUANET): "IRAN PRODUCES 300 TONS OF UF6 IN ISFAHAN NUCLEAR FACILITY" (January 27, 2008)

Google - Search News: "UF6"

Link

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080126-1.html

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 26, 2008

Statement by the President

I strongly condemn the terrorist bombing in Beirut that killed Lebanese Internal Security Forces Captain Wissam Eid and many other Lebanese. I extend condolences to the families of the innocent Lebanese killed in this brutal attack and hope for a rapid recovery for all those wounded.

This bombing, the latest in a series of terrorist attacks targeting those who are working to secure Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty, is a part of the continuing assault on Lebanon’s institutions. We will not falter in our support for the democratically-elected Lebanese government. We renew our call for the immediate selection of a new President in accordance with Lebanon’s constitution. We demand that Syria, Iran, and their allies end their interference in and obstruction of Lebanon’s political process.

The Lebanese people should be able to enjoy security and liberty without the threat of terrorism, violence, and foreign intimidation. I appreciate the UN’s efforts to rapidly stand up the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which will hold accountable those who are responsible for this systematic campaign of murder and intimidation. I urge Lebanon’s friends and allies to commit immediately the remaining funds required for the Tribunal to commence its work.

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Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080127.html

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 27, 2008

Statement by the President
International Day of Commemoration
In Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

On the third International Day of Commemoration, we remember and mourn the victims of the Holocaust.

I was deeply moved by my recent visit to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum. Sixty-three years after the liberation of Auschwitz, we must continue to educate ourselves about the lessons of the Holocaust, and honor those whose lives were taken as a result of a totalitarian ideology that embraced a national policy of violent hatred, bigotry, and extermination. It is also our responsibility to honor the survivors and those courageous souls who refused to be bystanders, and instead risked their own lives to try to save the Nazis’ intended victims.

Remembering the victims, heroes, and lessons of the Holocaust remains important today. We must continue to condemn the resurgence of anti-Semitism, that same virulent intolerance that led to the Holocaust, and we must combat bigotry and hatred in all forms, in America and abroad. Today provides a sobering reminder that evil exists and a call that when we find evil we must resist it.

May God bless the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. And may we never forget.

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=alqaradawi
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=qaradawi
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=muslimbrotherhood

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blog:

http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/003956.html

January 27, 2008
“UK: Foreign Office Approves Visit By Anti-Semitic Muslim Fascist”