Threat Matrix: 2009

Previous ^ | 2009 | Freeper TMers

[Velveeta]

Mysterious Explosions Reported Near Mississippi River in Minneapolis

Police have not determined the source

Over the past few months, mysterious explosions have been seen and heard throughout south Minneapolis — but police have no idea what’s causing them.

Four nights ago, Matt Gross heard a bang from 20 blocks away. From early Sunday morning through midnight Monday, three loud explosions were reported. Gross says it sounded like a cross between a sonic boom and a firecracker.

“A lot of them are just not explainable,” says Lt. Dean Christiansen, who’s investigating the mystery explosions.....

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/mississippi_river_explosions_feb_19_2009

[Velveeta]

Feds Reject Imams’ Complaint Against US Airways

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The men claim they were discriminated against because they appeared Middle Eastern and some of them prayed before boarding the flight.

The U.S. Department of Transportation says an airline didn’t discriminate against six imams when it removed them from a flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in 2006....
http://wcco.com/local/imams.us.airways.2.938753.html

[Unrepentant VN Vet]

Things that make you say “Hmmm”...

This kind of ploy has worked so well in the past, it’s almost a shock to see it fail. Somebody in the New Regime must have stock in the airline.

[WestCoastGal]

Man with possible tie to bin Laden is arrested [Orange County, CA]
The Orange County Register ^ | February 20, 2009 | By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ

Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 5:54:08 PM by Oldeconomybuyer

A local man lied to obtain citizenship, a U.S. passport, and about a trip to Pakistan in 2005 – information he is believed to have falsified to hide alleged connections to terrorists and terrorist organizations abroad, authorities said.

Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, a 34-year-old man from Tustin who was born in Afghanistan, was taken into custody by federal authorities this morning in the 13000 block of Charloma Drive, officials said.

He is facing several charges, ranging from perjury to naturalization fraud, misuse of a passport obtained by fraud and making a false statement to a federal agency. Court documents also show that Niazi and his wife, Jamilah Amin, had been investigated by federal authorities since at least June 2008, for several suspicious financial transactions in the Unites States and financial transfers to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

While Niazi is not facing any terrorism-related charges, officials said he made several false statements to cover up what they allege are connections to organizations such as al-Qaida, Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin and the Taliban.

According to a federal indictment unsealed today, Niazi hid his alleged connections with terrorist groups when he applied for residency, citizenship and a U.S. passport. The arrest comes after months of investigation conducted by the Orange County Joint Terrorist Task Force, said Laura Eimiller, spokeswoman for the FBI.

[snip]

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

[Velveeta]

Thanks, WCG. There’s more here at JAWA inlcuding their astute observation that Adam Gadahn hails from the same area:

Afghan National Arrested in CA for Ties to al Qaeda [UPDATED & BUMPED]
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/196466.php

[Velveeta]

Inshallahshaheed AKA Samir Khan Steals Bill Roggio’s Post Gets PWN3d!

You would think that as many times as this moron, Samir Khan, has been burned, he would learn about stealing other peoples stuff.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/196468.php

[callmejoe]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304834205&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065810.html

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/13940.htm

[Velveeta]

Global Witness Says Charles Taylor Received 1M to Harbor Al Qaeda Operatives in Liberia

Liberia’s former President Charles Taylor received a US$1 million payment for arranging to harbor two al Qaeda operatives in Liberia soon after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Global Witness said.

The men, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, both of whom were on the FBI’s Most Wanted List of Terrorists, Global Witness said, were hidden at the Gbartala Base in Bong County.

Testifying Friday at the Economic Crimes Hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC), Patrick Alley, one of the directors of Global Witness said Al Qaeda’s interest in Liberia and Sierra Leone goes back to the late 1990s, when the Taylor-backed RUF rebels were in control of the lucrative diamond fields of Sierra Leone....
http://newliberian.com/?p=717

[Velveeta]

Iranian leader due in Kenya on Tuesday

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due in Kenya on Tuesday for a two-day state visit, Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said Sunday, adding the visit will help expand bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

“Kenya has very strong ties with Iran. They are our key markets for tea and we expect to further this by signing several bilateral agreements during President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Kenya which starts on Tuesday,” Wetangula told journalists on Sunday.

President Ahmadinejad, who will be paying his first official visit to Kenya, will be accompanied by a delegation of more than 100 officials and private businessmen. He will also visit Comoros and Djibouti.....

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/22/content_10870765.htm

[Velveeta]

Geopolitical Diary: Russia’s Continuing Cooperation with Iran

Iran announced on Sunday that it plans to “pre-commission” its nuclear power plant at Bushehr this week. The ceremony is to be attended by Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia’s state nuclear company.....
http://www.stratfor.com/geopolitical_diary/20090222_geopolitical_diary_russias_continuing_cooperation_iran

[Velveeta]

HARMAN: Loose nuke scientist

Jane Harman
Monday, February 23, 2009

COMMENTARY:
One of the most important challenges confronting the intelligence community is learning the nature of and damage done by the worldwide network in nuclear centrifuge technology, bomb components and training run for almost two decades by Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan - the revered “father” of his country’s nuclear program. Considered a pariah abroad but a hero at home, that task got a lot tougher when Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Mr. Khan released from house arrest earlier this month.

At the recent Wehrkunde Security Conference in Munich, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi astonished delegates (I was one), telling us that his government had not decided whether to challenge the court decision but that Pakistan would continue to monitor Mr. Khan.

But for those who stay awake at night worrying about Iran’s increasing mastery of centrifuge technology and the ability of terror groups to access nuclear components, Pakistan’s action is distressing.....

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/23/loose-nuke-scientist/

[Velveeta]

Report: Obama Taps Israel Critic For Intel Council
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_israel_freeman/2009/02/22/184389.html

[Velveeta]

Secret U.S. Unit Trains Commandos in Pakistan

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/world/asia/23terror.html

[Velveeta]

Blast rocks Egypt tourist district
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/02/2009222224540134776.html

[Oorang]

1 dead in blast at Romanian nuclear defense plant
02.23.09

A defense ministry official said Mondy that an officer has been killed by an explosion at a nuclear, biological and chemical research plant in Bucharest, the Romanian capital.

Defense ministry spokesman Florin Jiba said that the public is in no danger. He said the plant specialized in defending against nuclear, biological and chemical attacks.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3676321,00.html

FBI chief: Suicide bomber indoctrinated in Minnesota Shirwa Ahmed, the first known suicide bomber with U.S. citizenship, apparently was indoctrinated in Minnesota
February 24, 2009

FBI Director Robert Mueller said Monday in Washington, D.C., that a Somali-American man from Minnesota who was one of several suicide bombers in a terrorist attack in Somalia had apparently been indoctrinated into his extremist beliefs while living in Minneapolis.

Shirwa Ahmed, the first known suicide bomber with U.S. citizenship, immigrated with his family to the Minneapolis area in the mid-1990s, but returned to Somalia after he was recruited by a militant group, Mueller said. The FBI director, who spoke at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, declined to be more specific, and did not mention the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center, a Minneapolis mosque that some of the young men, including Ahmed, attended, and which some local Somali families have suggested is linked to their disappearance.

Excerpted

http://www.startribune.com/local/40202352.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUs

[Godzilla]

placemark

[PGalt]

Thanks for the ping. Thanks to all posters/linkers/researchers/educators. BTTT!

[flutters]

Worthington man gets 20 years in terrorist plot

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2194730/posts

[Oorang]

Traveler got on Miami plane using fake badge
2/26/09

Carrying a ''Fisher Island Chief of Police'' badge and claiming he was a U.S. air marshal, Mark Rimkufski convinced Miami airline employees to allow him on a flight after the gate had closed, police said. The ruse landed him in jail, Miami-Dade police said, when he was confronted -- by real air marshals on the plane. Rimkufski, 49, was later charged with falsely impersonating a law enforcement officer. He was scheduled to appear in Miami-Dade court Thursday but did not because he was hospitalized for unspecified reasons. There is no Fisher Island police department.

Rimkufski, a former island resident who also goes by the name Harry Henry Rimm, also faces a federal charge of impersonating an air marshal. When arrested, he was carrying nearly $14,000 in cash and had plans to travel to Los Angeles, Hawaii and Dubai.

Excerpted

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/922872.html

DHS to miss cargo screening deadline
2/25/09

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told lawmakers Wednesday that the agency cannot meet its 2012 deadline for radiological and nuclear screening of all cargos coming into the United States.

excerpted

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29386327

[PGalt]

Thanks very much for the ping, link and your post. BTTT!