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Threat Matrix: 2010
Freerepublic.com ^ | 12/31/2009 | Freeper TMers

Posted on 12/31/2009 10:06:46 AM PST by Velveeta

:::FreeRepublic's Threat Matrix:::
Critical Threats: Blank When None
Al Qaeda’s Yemen Connection, America and the Global Islamic Jihad

December 30, 2009 — The attempt to destroy Northwest Airlines flight 253 en route from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day underscores the growing ambition of al Qaeda's Yemen franchise, which has grown from a largely Yemeni agenda to become a player in the global Islamic jihad in the last year. Since merging with the al Qaeda franchise in Saudi Arabia last January and renaming itself Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), it has stepped up operations in Yemen itself, struck into Saudi Arabia, and now operates on the global stage. The weak Yemeni government of President Ali Abdallah Salih, which has never fully controlled the country and now faces a host of growing problems, will need significant American support to defeat AQAP.

Al Qaeda has long been active in Yemen, the original homeland of Osama bin Laden's family, and one of its first major terror attacks was conducted in Aden in 2000, when an al Qaeda cell nearly sank the USS Cole. A year ago, the al Qaeda franchises in Saudi Arabia and Yemen merged after the Saudi branch had been effectively repressed by the Saudi authorities under the leadership of Deputy Interior Minister Prince Muhammad bin Nayif. The new AQAP showed its claws last August, when it almost assassinated the prince with a suicide bomber who had passed through at least two airports on the way to his attempt on Nayif.

(snip)

The attack on the Amsterdam-Detroit flight also shows that al Qaeda remains obsessed with striking the American airline industry, a target it has gone after repeatedly since 1999. If AQAP has now been told by the al Qaeda core leadership to take on the job, we can probably assume that other al Qaeda franchises in North Africa, Iraq, Southeast Asia and elsewhere have also been pressed to attack.

The Brookings Institution



Threat Matrix:
2010
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TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: cranswick; lacklancranswick; terror; terrorism; threatmatrix; tm; wot
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To: MestaMachine
Turning up music so I don't have to think about the BO admin

Now playing Cool Oldies on I Heart Radio

461 posted on 01/03/2010 12:26:21 PM PST by JustPiper (Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. ~ML King)
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To: MestaMachine

It might also be instructive to get annual crop tonnage for years BEFORE the Taliban came to power, as they were responsible for the end of the bumper poppy crops.


462 posted on 01/03/2010 12:26:46 PM PST by hennie pennie
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To: WestCoastGal
But Cheney’s take was spot-on: “We are at war” against terrorism, but President Obama “pretends we aren’t.” This, warned Cheney, “makes us less safe.”

Obama, he said, “seems to think that if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war.

“He seems to think that if he closes Guantanamo and releases the hardcore al Qaeda-trained terrorists still there, we won’t be at war.”

“Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war?” asked Cheney — then answered the question: “It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency — social transformation, the restructuring of American society.”

I literally stood up & applauded when I heard him say this on TV

463 posted on 01/03/2010 12:29:41 PM PST by JustPiper (Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. ~ML King)
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To: All
Brennan: System worked ‘every other day’ in ‘09

White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan is maintaining the system to protect the U.S. against attack worked successfully this year apart from the Christmas Day bombing attempt — a claim that seems to downplay the notion that deadly attacks at Fort Hood in Texas and a military recruiting center in Arkansas represented a failure of intelligence gathering.

Asked Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press” about the lead-up to the Christmas Day attack, Brennan said, “Every other day the system has worked this year....The system is working. It's just not working as well as it needs to constantly.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Brennan: Deal ‘on the table’ for terror suspect

The U.S. Government is offering the suspect charged with attempting to bomb an aircraft on Christmas Day, Omar Abdulmutallab, some kind of incentives to share what he knows about Al Qaeda, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Sunday.

Asked why Abdulmutallab should cooperate given his right, as criminal defendant, to remain silent, Brennan replied: “He doesn't have to but he knows there are certain things that are on the table... if he wants to engage with us in a productive manner, there are ways he can do that.”

Asked if Abdulmutallab's willingness to talk changed once he had an attorney, Brennan declined to answer. “I'm not going to address what he did before or after he talked with a lawyer,” the adviser said.

Brennan declined to say what criteria are used to decide whether a prisoner should be taken into criminal court or before a military commission. “There are no downsides or upsides in particular cases,” he said. “What we're trying to do is make the right determination in particular cases.”http://bit.ly/5iJmSq

464 posted on 01/03/2010 12:30:44 PM PST by WestCoastGal
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To: Velveeta

465 posted on 01/03/2010 12:32:39 PM PST by JustPiper (Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. ~ML King)
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To: JustPiper

Women, babies and diapers or women’s monthly equipment comes to mind. Prostheses too.

Also, that list of 7 countries doesn’t even begin to scrutinize every place these asshats are coming from.


466 posted on 01/03/2010 12:33:28 PM PST by WestCoastGal
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To: WestCoastGal
More like:

Out to Get Us

THEN throw us under the bus again and again

467 posted on 01/03/2010 12:36:40 PM PST by JustPiper (Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. ~ML King)
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This one requires a BS meter

Brennan also weighed in on former Vice President Dick Cheney’s criticism of the president’s anti-terrorism policies, saying Cheney is intentionally misstating Obama’s position or is ignorant of the facts.

Last week the former vice president said Obama is “trying to pretend” the U.S. is not at war with terrorists. The result, according to Cheney, is that Americans are less safe.

Brennan said that he has worked for five administrations and that Obama is as determined as anyone to keep the nation safe.

Brennan called Cheney’s comments disappointing and said they do not speak well of the former vice president.

http://bit.ly/7bEZSs


468 posted on 01/03/2010 12:37:23 PM PST by WestCoastGal
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To: WestCoastGal

FR thread for Brennan deal “on the table” for terror suspect.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420150/posts


469 posted on 01/03/2010 12:38:04 PM PST by Velveeta
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To: JustPiper

Looks like Chicago-sized potholes.


470 posted on 01/03/2010 12:38:53 PM PST by Velveeta
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To: WestCoastGal

I sure hope that Cheney responds!


471 posted on 01/03/2010 12:39:36 PM PST by Velveeta
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To: WestCoastGal

472 posted on 01/03/2010 12:39:56 PM PST by JustPiper (Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. ~ML King)
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To: JustPiper; MestaMachine; Candor7; WestCoastGal; Velveeta; MamaDearest; Rushmore Rocks
omg... they are offering the underpanties bomber a deal IF he'll tell them all about al qaeda.

do you believe this????

DOES THIS MEAN WE HAVE NOT ALREADY YEARS AGO INFLILTRATED YEMENI EXTREMISTS GROUPS????

Brennan: Deal 'on the table' for terror suspect

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420150/posts

He almost murdered 300 Americans and they are offerring him a DEAL?

473 posted on 01/03/2010 12:41:50 PM PST by hennie pennie
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To: WestCoastGal
asshats


474 posted on 01/03/2010 12:42:53 PM PST by JustPiper (Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. ~ML King)
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To: hennie pennie

Shocking, isn’t it?

Perhaps next we’ll be offering him a beer summit at the White House, with the hero who took him down on the flight.


475 posted on 01/03/2010 12:44:28 PM PST by Velveeta
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To: WestCoastGal
Your wish is my command:


476 posted on 01/03/2010 12:45:27 PM PST by JustPiper (Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. ~ML King)
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To: Velveeta
Looks like Chicago-sized potholes

Funny cuz tis true

477 posted on 01/03/2010 12:48:19 PM PST by JustPiper (Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. ~ML King)
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To: hennie pennie

~tears at how blatant this administration has gone socialist

478 posted on 01/03/2010 12:51:19 PM PST by JustPiper (Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. ~ML King)
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To: Velveeta; JustPiper; hennie pennie

This has me so angry right now. They are cutting a deal with a guy who tried to blow 300 innocent people out of the sky. obama still has not acknowledged that Fort Hood was also a terror attack. Now he’s going to have a “safety summit”. His top security people say the system worked and that there is no smoking gun. Our national security has become a joke.


479 posted on 01/03/2010 12:52:01 PM PST by jersey117
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To: hennie pennie; All; Spunky; ~Kim4VRWC's~; 1035rep; 2ndDivisionVet; 4woodenboats; 5Madman2; ...
Having been in Yemen and the mountain strongholds of the Iranian backed Shia tribes, getting up at six in the morning in one mountain top town/fort, descending a mountain side (with mules, riding where or when possible)to the valley below, then climbing up the other side and hopefully arriving at the next mountain top town/fort .by dark. Did this for weeks on a daily basis.

Infrastructure can be defined at BEST as paths, some dating back hundreds of years, zig-zagging up mountain sides or often vertical faces, barely wide enough for a mule and occasional “pass by” wider curves.

Luckily traffic is extremely sparse and usually skirt wearing mountain tribesmen without any beasts. To avoid being spotted as a outsider I wore a khaki turban and long skirt over my khaki trousers.

480 posted on 01/03/2010 1:19:35 PM PST by FARS (Be well, be happy and THRIVE! Happy New Year.)
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