Threat Matrix: February 2008

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[nwctwx]

Is the U.S. Failing in Afghanistan?

It was malice in wonderland at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as Bush Administration envoys insisted things are getting better in Afghanistan, while angry lawmakers from both parties cited facts and figures showing just the opposite. Even the senior Republican on the panel, Senator Richard Lugar, found the Administration's claims wanting. "I'm not sure that we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said.

Long seen as the "forgotten war" eclipsed by Iraq in U.S. priorities, Afghanistan is in the Washington spotlight this week with the release of three independent reports concluding that without a change in U.S. policy there, the erstwhile sanctuary of Osama bin Laden would remain a failed state. Read More

	Why the Taliban Feel Confident
	Top US Officer Lauds al-Qaida Death
	US Air Strike Signals al-Qaida Onslaught

Threat Matrix:
February 2008

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[Cindy]

ON THE INTERNET:

ekhlaas.info/forum/
http://www.upload2world.com./pic73/upload2world_b3369.gif
ekhlaas.info/forum/showthread.php?t=121843

[Cindy]

Thank you MamaDearest.

Apparently he was caser, too.

I wonder if they got a good photo from either of the store security or mall security.

[Cindy]

Note: A terrorist with a different name and/or a different colored turban is still a terrorist. -Cindy

###

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080207/FOREIGN/564925018/1003

“Banned terror groups back with new IDs”
By Ralph Joseph
February 7, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

[Cindy]

SPECIAL REQUEST:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/02/the_long_war_journal_1.php

#

ADDING a link to post no. 323:

blog:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/02/pakistans_interior_m.php

“Pakistan’s Interior Minister orders negotiations with Baitullah Mehsud”
By BILL ROGGIO
February 7, 2008 12:20 AM

[Cindy]

Note: The following blog entry is a quote:

http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/5155.htm

Iranian Paper Warns Neighboring Countries

In an editorial, the Iranian daily Jomhouri-e Eslami warned the countries to the south of Iran about “the dangerous ramifications” of standing against Iran.

The paper added that Saudi King Abdullah was trying to incite other countries against Iran and against the Shi’ites in Arab countries.

Source: Jomhouri-e Eslami, Iran, February 6, 2008

Posted at: 2008-02-06

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=96D9C25E-3282-4F78-9823-9E4F7AE3331E

Two Women Stoned: Feminists Mum
By David Horowitz, Robert Spencer and Janet Levy
FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, February 07, 2008
Two sisters – identified only as Zohreh and Azar – have been convicted of adultery in Iran.

They have now been sentenced to be stoned to death.

Adultery is a crime punishable by death in the Islamic Republic of Iran, in accordance with the canons of Islamic Sharia law. The Iranian Supreme Court has upheld the stoning sentence.

Zohreh and Azar have already received 99 lashes for “illegal relations.” Yet they were tried again for the same crime, and convicted of adultery on the evidence of videotape that showed them in the presence of other men while their husbands were absent. The video does not show either of them engaging in any sexual activity at all.

Their crime is non-existent, their trials a miscarriage of justice, and their sentencing a barbarity.

All those who believe in human rights and human dignity should protest against this sentence.

We call upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to drop all prosecution of Zohreh and Azar, and to end punishment by stoning.

We call upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to end the Sharia-inspired and institutionalized discrimination against women that results in their being treated as chattels of men.

We call upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to affirm the equality of dignity of women with men and the equality of rights of all people, women with men, non-Muslims with Muslims, and to implement these principles in their laws.

We call upon the United Nations and human rights organizations to redouble their pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran until it ends its war on the rights of women and human rights in general.

We call upon feminists, including the signers of the statement drafted by The Nation’s Katha Pollitt, to join us in protesting this outrage. We continue to be stunned but not surprised by the silence of these feminists who have questioned the authenticity of our concern for Muslim women oppressed by the laws of Islam. The feminists who recently complained that the media has falsely represented them as indifferent to the plight of Muslim women have so far been conspicuously indifferent to the plight of Zohreh and Azar. We call upon these feminists in particular to join us in protesting the violence already done to Zohreh and Azar and the death penalty they face. The Islamic Republic of Iran is an oppressor of women. So far American feminists have failed to support their Muslim sisters. We call on them to join us in doing so now.

[Cindy]

Previously...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PaIWicBz5w

“Women in Islam - The Stoning of Soraya M.”
(Added January 30, 2008)

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=mexico
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1966135/posts

#

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20080206-9999-1m6kidnap.html

“Sophisticated Mexican groups plot abductions”
By Tony Manolatos
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 6, 2008

[Cindy]

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_3028.html

Travel Alert

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
This information is current as of today, Thu Feb 07 2008 01:10:49 GMT-0800 (PST).

Mexico

October 24, 2007

[Cindy]

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

#

Note:The following news brief is a quote:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3503791,00.html

Hamas’ military claims responsibility for Qassam fire
Published: 02.07.08, 09:15 / Israel News

Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire at Sderot Thursday morning.

Two rockets were fired at town, causing some damage to a building. Several people suffered shock in the attack. (Ali waked)

[Cindy]

and in a separate incident...

Note: The following news brief is a quote:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3503806,00.html

4 Qassam rockets land in Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council
Published: 02.07.08, 09:50 / Israel News

Four Qassam rockets fired from northern Gaza Thursday landed in Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council limits. No injuries or damage were reported. (Shmulik Hadad)

[Cindy]

and there’s more...

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1202246337973&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Feb 7, 2008 7:26 | Updated Feb 7, 2008 11:11
“IDF kills five Hamas gunmen, Islamic Jihad member in Gaza”
By JPOST STAFF AND AP

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Five Hamas operatives and an Islamic Jihad member were killed early Thursday morning in IDF ground operations in the northern Gaza Strip, while 15 Kassam rockets hit the western Negev.”

[Cindy]

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_922.html

Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520

This information is current as of today, Thu Feb 07 2008 01:20:46 GMT-0800 (PST).

ISRAEL, THE WEST BANK AND GAZA

July 13, 2007

[Cindy]

http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html

#

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1966254/posts?page=13#13

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1966254/posts

“Iran testing advanced centrifuges”
Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 2/6/08 | Mark Heinrich
Posted on 02/06/2008 8:11:51 PM PST by NormsRevenge
VIENNA (Reuters)

[Cindy]

A small detail:

http://www.globalincidentmap.com/eventdetail.php?ID=6995

“GlobalIncidentMap.com Editors Note - Apparently there has been more than one instance involving the suspect.”

#

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=Oyster+Creek&btnG=Search+News

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16864&Itemid=21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20080206-11
February 6, 2008

Hostages found after 15 days in underground prison
Multi-National Division – North PAO

SAMARRA, Iraq – Coalition Force Soldiers, working with intelligence from Iraqi Police in Northern Iraq, liberated two men locked inside a large storage container being used as a subterranean prison in the Al Jazeera desert near Samarra Feb. 4.

Local Iraqi Police were given the information from Sons of Iraq (formerly known as Concerned Local Citizens). The Soldiers of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, quickly responded from Patrol Base Olsen in Samarra.

Coalition Forces arrived at the prison site and found two men inside the buried container. The hostages, both from Yethrib Village near Balad, were taken from a gas station along with a fuel truck by men in black masks.

“The two individuals told us they were taken because their station didn’t pay Al Qaeda extremist,” said 1st Lt. Todd Baldwin, Company C, 2-327th,

The two men were malnourished and dehydrated, but showed no signs of torture. They were able to move freely inside the container.

After receiving medical attention at Forward Operating Base Brassfield-Mora near Samarra, the men were questioned. They said, while in captivity, there were up to nine other people held prisoner. The two men didn’t know what happened to the others, but mentioned five of them were from a Sons of Iraq group in Bayji.

The informant, who led Coalition Forces to the underground prison, also led Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces to another location where an empty storage container was buried. It is believed to be an old weapons cache.

“Iraqi Police and Sons of Iraq were the driving forces in the rescue of the two men,” said Baldwin. “They provided the human intelligence for us to conduct the rescue operation.”

-30-

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16865&Itemid=21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20080206-12
February 6, 2008

3 suspected extremists arrested in Rashid
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO

BAGHDAD – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers arrested three suspected Sunni extremists Feb. 3 during operations across the Rashid District of the Iraqi capital.

Policemen from 1st Brigade, 7th Iraqi National Police Division, arrested a man believed to be an al-Qaeda operative after he tried to pass through a traffic control checkpoint in Massafee.

The man, suspected of murder, placing improvised explosive devices and weapons trafficking, was taken to an Iraqi facility for further questioning.

Earlier in the day, Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, MND-B, captured two suspected AQI cell members in two separate raids in Doura.

During the first raid, Company B Soldiers knocked on the door of home believed to be an AQI sniper, and arrested a man matching the extremist’s name and description. The man is accused of setting up false checkpoints to kidnap Shia and Christian Iraqis in the Arab Jabour region of the city.

Later, Company C Soldiers arrested a man accused of murder, forcibly displacing families and placing IEDs in the Doura area.

Both alleged extremists were taken to a Coalition Forces Detention Facility for further questioning.

-30-

[Cindy]

PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org

#

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08020038.htm

Tuesday, February 5, 2008
“Pastor attacked and three believers injured and hospitalized”

By James Varghese
Special to ASSIST News Service
KARNATAKA, INDIA

#

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08020036.htm

Tuesday, February 5, 2008
“Indian Bishop attacked”

By James Varghese
Special to ASSIST News Service
TAMIL NADU, INDIA

#

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08020035.htm

Tuesday, February 5, 2008
“Woman attacked for converting to Christianity”

By James Varghese
Special to ASSIST News Service
KARNATAKA, INDIA

[Cindy]

https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=79374

YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report
“Travel Warning: Colombia”
CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS
Americas - Colombia
5 Feb 2008

[Cindy]

https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=79375

YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report
“Warden Message: Brussels Demonstration, February 9”
CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS
Europe - Belgium
6 Feb 2008