Threat Matrix: January 2008

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[nwctwx]

Still in Control

Pervez Musharraf was calm, confident and—despite a flurry of rumors—not about to announce his resignation. Instead, the Pakistani president's "concession" to his troubled nation was an announcement that he would allow Britain's Scotland Yard to help local law enforcement agencies with their investigation into last week's assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Speaking in a nationally televised address two hours after Pakistan's election commission announced the postponement of the ballot to Feb. 18, six weeks later than had been scheduled, Musharraf was notably deferential in his remarks about Bhutto, often invoking her "martyrdom" and extolling her liberal democratic credentials. "May she go to heaven," he said. "I stand for the same things she said." Read More

	Pakistan's Frayed Politics
	Musharraf's Dangerous Liaisons
	Pakistan after Bhutto

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January 2008

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[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952729/posts

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http://www.cphpost.dk/get/105096.html

“Terrorism suspects caught on film”
11.01.2008

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The film reportedly shows the two making TATP, a form of explosive commonly used in suicide bombings. It was found in the flat when police made the arrests.

The search also turned up seven mobile phones and 50 calling cards, according to TV2. The phones reportedly contained video recordings of Muslims yelling ‘Death to America - Jihad’ and the 2001 World Trade Centre attack.

In addition, a number of the building’s residents are said to have told investigators that the two tested detonation devices in the stairwell.”

[Godzilla]

placemark

[Cindy]

ADDING 1 thread link to post no. 534.
Thanks to fanfan for starting this thread.

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952733/posts

“Conservative who published Prophet cartoons faces rights commission”
Canada.com ^ | Thursday, January 10, 2008 | Staff
Posted on 01/12/2008 2:58:55 PM PST by fanfan
CALGARY - Thursday, Jan. 10/08.

[fanfan]

:-)

[Cindy]

Thanks to rdtf for starting this thread and the ping:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952744/posts

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http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/WORLD/europe/01/12/germany.terror.ap/art.alqaeda.germany.afp.gi.jpg

Photo Caption: “Youssef Mohammed el-Hajdib is on trial for allegedly plotting to place bombs on regional trains in Germany.”

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http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/12/germany.terror.ap/index.html

updated 11:37 a.m. EST, Sat January 12, 2008

“Fears of terror attack in Germany”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “BERLIN, Germany (AP) — Lebanese authorities have warned of terrorist attacks being planned on targets within Germany, prompting the Justice Ministry in Berlin to increase its security measures, authorities said Saturday.

“There was a tip from Lebanon — a warning tip,” said Stefanie Amft, a spokeswoman for German federal police.

She said that the threat was related to the worldwide terrorism threat, but would not give further details.

“It is known that Germany is part of this worldwide threat,” she said.”

[Cindy]

OFF TOPIC.

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Photos included.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952751/posts

“Bin Laden’s son wants Brit visa so he, his g-mother wife can live in Cheshire, have surrogate baby”
The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | January 12, 2008 | DANIEL BOFFEY
Posted on 01/12/2008 3:55:21 PM PST by Stoat

[Cindy]

Note: Photos included.

Thanks to a special freepmailer for pointing to this murder:

blog:

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/01/islam-murders-a.html

Saturday, January 12, 2008
“ISLAM MURDERS ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL GIRL”

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blog:

Previously...

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/01/islam-killing-o.html

Monday, January 07, 2008
“ISLAM’S SYSTEMATIC MURDER OF OUR GIRLS”

[Cindy]

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

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952766/posts

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.1760963186

“Iran: AIDS rate doubles in the holy city of Qom”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Tehran, 11 Jan. (AKI) - In the past year, the incidence of AIDS has doubled in the holy Shia city of Qom, second only to the Iraqi city of Najaf in religious significance.

“The great share of the newly infected have contracted the HIV virus, not through using infected syringes, but through unprotected sexual relations,” said Amir, Akbari, director of the city’s health centre.”

[Cindy]

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

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http://truthusa.com/a/index.php?topic=141.msg192#msg192

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http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/4522.htm

“FROM MEMRI TV - Islamist Sheik Omar Bakri Interview with Iran’s Press TV: Declares His Support of Al-Qaeda”

(Posted at January 11, 2008)

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Video:

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1651.htm

“Title of Video: Islamist Sheik Omar Bakri, Who Fled from London to Lebanon, Declares His Support of Al-Qaeda, Criticizes Hizbullah and States: The Prophet Muhammad Also Killed Civilians”

(”Clip #1651 Broadcast: January 8, 2008”)

[Cindy]

http://www.rewardsforjustice.net

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Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/index.cfm?page=athens&language=english

REWARDS FOR JUSTICE

SEEKING INFORMATION AGAINST INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

January 12, 2007 — Athens, Greece — Attack on U.S. Embassy

On January 12, 2007, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the U.S. Embassy in Athens. Each year, terrorist attacks like this kill and injure innocent men, women, and children through the world. You can help bring terrorists to justice and save lives by providing valuable information to resolve past acts of terrorism or prevent future ones.

A reward of up to $1 million is being offered for information leading to the successful resolution of this attack.

[Cindy]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/mideast/trip2008/index.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080112-3.html

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Note: Photos included.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48645

Bush Thanks U.S. Troops in Kuwait, Predicts Victory Against Terrorism

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2008 – Continuing his week-long Mideast trip, President Bush today thanked U.S. troops posted in Kuwait for their service in the war against terrorism and predicted ultimate victory.

“I’m here to thank you for your service. I want you to know the American people are mighty proud of you, and so am I,” Bush told servicemembers gathered at Camp Arifjan.

“We can’t thank you enough, and we can’t thank your families enough for doing the hard work necessary to protect the United States of America,” the president told the troops.

The war against terrorism is a struggle between the coalition’s belief in hope, liberty and justice and the terrorists’ vision of hate, Bush said.

History “will say loud and clear that … the men and women of this military understood that we’re in an ideological struggle — that we’re facing cold-blooded murderers who kill the innocent to achieve their hateful vision of a future,” Bush said. “And, so I thank you for what you’re doing. There is no doubt in my mind that we will succeed.”

Soldiers in the Camp Arifjan audience belong to a forward-deployed component of 3rd U.S. Army, based at Fort McPherson, Ga., that supports U.S. Central Command missions in the Mideast region, including anti-terrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush noted the 3rd Army has a storied history. It was commanded by Army Gen. George S. Patton during his drive through France into Germany during World War II.

Patton’s soldiers “played a vital role in the destruction of the Nazi war machine,” Bush said. Today’s 3rd Army troops, he noted, also are making history by performing important work vital to the preservation of liberty.

Bush told the troops that history also will record that their service “was absolutely necessary to defeat an enemy overseas so we do not have to face them here at home.”

The president pledged to the troops that the U.S. government “will make sure that our (military) families have a good life, with good support, when you’re deployed overseas.”

Bush said there is no doubt in his mind that the terrorists operating in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere will be defeated “for the good of the world.”

Servicemembers are fighting and sacrificing today, Bush said, so that “the United States of America is more secure, and generations of Americans will be able to live in peace.”

Bush began his Mideast trip on Jan. 9 to discuss the way ahead in the terror war with U.S. diplomatic and military officials posted in the region. Just prior to meeting with the troops at Camp Arifjan, Bush had a meeting at the base with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker and Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq. The president was accompanied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Bush’s travel schedule also includes discussions with senior leaders of several Middle East nations to find a way to obtain lasting peace in the region. Bush has visited Israel and Kuwait, and he is slated to travel on to Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Related Sites:
President’s Remarks at Camp Arifjan

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16397&Itemid=21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20080112-06
January 12, 2008

Local Iraqi discovers explosive formed penetrator at major intersection (SUQ ASH SHUYUK)

By Maj. Virginia A. McCabe
1st BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. PAO
Multi-National Corps – Iraq PAO

SUQ ASH SHUYUK, Iraq – A local Iraqi man reported a possible EFP to troops located near a combat outpost at a main highway intersection.

Soldiers from 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, with the help of the local Iraqi, found the device just south of the combat outpost.

The battalion’s recovery security team cordoned the area. The device was confirmed as an EFP with a video recording device located in the surrounding area.

The device consisted of one, 14-inch diameter EFP.

-30-

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16398&Itemid=21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20080112-07
January 12, 2008

Paratroopers discover rockets thanks to tip (SUQ ASH SHUYUK)

By Sgt. 1st Class Gary L. Qualls Jr.

1st BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. PAO

Multi-National Corps – Iraq PAO

SUQ ASH SHUYUK, Iraq – Paratroopers in Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division discovered and thwarted 21 107mm rockets set to launch toward their command outpost – thanks to a tip from a local shepherd Jan. 6.

The shepherd told the paratroopers he heard and saw a rocket launch.

The element found the rockets set to launch. The paratroopers were ordered to move back and engage the rockets with MK-19 rounds to knock them off their launchers and eliminate the threat to the combat outpost. Air support from an Air Force F-16 followed up, hitting the rocket site with 1,000 20mm rounds and one 500 pound GBU-12.

The incident is under investigation.

-30-

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16401&Itemid=21

OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20080113-02
January 13, 2008

Tips lead to destruction of booby-trapped houses during Operation Phantom Phoenix (Himbus)

Multi-National Division – North PAO

TIKRIT, Iraq – Multi-National Division - North Soldiers destroyed three booby-trapped houses in Himbus Jan. 11 during Operation Raider Harvest, which is part of the countrywide Operation Phantom Phoenix.

Local Iraqis told Soldiers of Company I, 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment the location of the buildings being used by al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The Soldiers inspected the buildings and identified them as booby-trapped.

Two of the buildings contained explosives and copper wire leading to all the doors.

The explosives were arranged to collapse the buildings.

The third building was in the process of being prepped as a house-born improvised explosive device.

An ordnance explosive team destroyed all three buildings in a controlled detonation.

-30-

[Cindy]

blog:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/01/34_al_qaeda_killed_i.php

“34 al Qaeda killed in day’s fighting during Phantom Phoenix”
By BILL ROGGIO
January 12, 2008 12:31 AM

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952595/posts

“Iraq: We’ve Penetrated AQI — But Apparently Not The American Media”
Captain’s Quarters ^ | Jan. 12, 2008 | Ed Morrissey
Posted on 01/12/2008 9:21:42 AM PST by jdm

[Cindy]

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

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Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952870/posts

Norovirus reaches epidemic levels
Times Online / The Sunday Times ^ | January 12, 2008 | Brendan Montague
Posted on 01/12/2008 9:27:38 PM PST by PureSolace
The winter vomiting bug norovirus has struck 2.8million people, with health professionals braced for another rise as people return to schools and offices.

The virus - which causes projectile vomiting, diarrhoea, mild fevers and headaches - is striking down more than 200,000 a week, according to official estimates.

Three hospitals have been placed on red alert, while hundreds of wards up and down the country have been closed to new patients as the number of beds being taken up by bug victims reaches critical levels.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952369/posts

“Britain In Grip Of Norovirus As Cases Hit 3m”
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 1-12-2008 | Rebecca Smith
Posted on 01/11/2008 6:10:20 PM PST by blam

[MamaDearest]

Ick, my girlfriend emailed me the hotel drinking glasses article. Yuck!

I'd just as soon sleep in my car as any hotel/motel these days. At least I know my car is clean.

Obama, the Muslim thing, and why it matters

The recent revelations of Obama's ties to Raila Odinga in Kenya are disconcerting as well, because Odinga is behind the terrible violence in his country. It was he who instigated bloody riots and killing after he lost the election. Obama's bias for his fellow Luo was so blatant that a Kenyan government spokesman denounced Obama during his visit as Raila's "stooge." And while there are few angels in Kenya, Odinga is the source of great unrest and turmoil; and the MOU he signed with the Muslim Council to institute sharia is a foreshadowing of a dark fate for Kenya. (A Jacksonian picked up on my previous post on this and wrote a lengthy, well-researched piece on the politics and back story on Odinga.) Just how quickly will Kenya go Islamic?

Gaza's American school attacked

Armed men have raided a privately-run American school in the north of the Gaza Strip, setting fire to buses and stealing computer equipment. It was the second attack on the school, in Beit Lahiya, in the past two days. On Thursday a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the building.

Secret e-mail that freed the mole at the Foreign Office

Snippets:

Pasquill, 48, had handed over confidential documents to an Observer journalist after becoming concerned about Foreign Office contacts with Islamic groups and individuals who backed violence. Now he was facing trial for six breaches of Section 3 of the 1989 Official Secrets Act that, according to Mariot Leslie, the Foreign Office's director of defence and intelligence, had seriously damaged UK interests abroad and endangered the life of a colleague.

At the centre of the argument, not for the first time in the Pasquill affair, is the controversial figure of Mockbul Ali, an ambitious young civil servant accused by his critics of being an apologist for extreme Islamist views within Whitehall.

With the backing of Straw, Ali, Pasquill believed, had soft-soaped organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood and its spiritual leader, the controversial Islamist preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who had expressed his support for Palestinian suicide bombers and whom Ali suggested should be allowed to visit the UK. He had offered similar support for Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, a Bangladeshi MP who preaches violent hatred against the West, proclaiming him to be 'mainstream'.

[MamaDearest]

Nearly 1 million sex crimes committed by illegal aliens in the US

Based on population numbers of 12,000,000 illegal immigrants and the fact that young males make up more of this population than the general U.S. population, sex offenders in the illegal immigrant group make up a higher percentage. When examining ICE reports and public records, it is consistent to find sex offenders comprising 2 percent of illegals apprehended. Based on this 2 percent figure, which is conservative, there are approximately 240,000 illegal immigrant sex offenders in the United States.

Millions of taxpayer dollars spent transporting illegals to the fields

Each county was recently granted $3 million to purchase vans and cover the expense of operating the transportation program for three years." "Henry Vega, president of Costal Harvesting Inc., which supplies up to 1,000 laborers to Ventura County farms each year, said the program should be popular. "I know it's controversial to use public funds for this pilot program," Vega said, "but this will be one big gorilla off our backs so we can make sure workers" arrive at work safe and on time."

Illegal immigrant arrested in traffic stop wanted for murder

"Authorities who detained an illegal immigrant during a traffic stop in Plattsmouth found he's wanted for murder in El Salvador.

Employer charged with harboring illegal immigrant accused of killing cop

Robert Lane Camp, 47, the owner of a landscaping company, has been charged in a federal criminal complaint with encouraging Juan Leonardo Quintero-Perez, the accused killer of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson, to unlawfully enter the United States and with harboring him."

"Jury selection in Quintero-Perez's capital murder trial is set for March 31. He faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

Quintero-Perez is accused of shooting Johnson four times in the head as the officer sat in his patrol car's front seat during a routine traffic stop in September 2006. Police said Johnson, 40, was shot after Quintero-Perez pulled a gun from his waistband as he sat handcuffed in the back of the patrol car.

[Cindy]

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

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ADDING to and UPDATING post no. 486:

http://threatswatch.org/rapidrecon/2008/01/the-movement-for-the-emancipat/

“MEND Bombs Oil Tanker”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the Nigerian insurgent group, did not take long to act on its promise to create an “economic tsunami in the world oil markets”. On January 11 MEND claimed responsibility for a bombing attack on the oil tanker Golden Lucy while it was waiting to offload fuel in Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s main transit point for petroleum exports. The explosion caused a fire that caused no fatalities but injured several.

Oil industry sources reported that exports were unaffected, so whether this particular strike will result in MEND’s economic tsunami is at this juncture unlikely.”

By Clay Varney on January 12, 2008 at 7:30 PM | Permalink