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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: MamaDearest
I'd like to know what percentage of the pilots came from active duty in the USAF. Air Force cargo pilots are specifically trained to get down FAST in order to avoid becoming a target for a Stinger style antiaircraft missile. I've had dozens of landings on USAF aircraft where I thought the base of my spine would pop out my ears, because these guys took that to heart. I've had a lot of harsh landings on civilian airliners but I've not flown a lot in the last 20 years, fewer than 5 trips. So since the attacks on Sept 11th and the initial attacks on terror, how many USAF cargo pilots have left the service and been employed with commercial airlines? Because I think military aircraft have better suspension systems than civilian airliners since the military is more likely to have to land on unimproved airstrips. Hmmmmmmmm.
701 posted on 01/05/2010 8:37:31 AM PST by ExSoldier (Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)
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United pilot from Colorado admits to drinking too much before flight

KDVR Denver

LONDON - A United Airlines pilot from Colorado admitted to being above the alcohol limit for flying a plane. Erwin Vermont Washington of Lakewood pleaded guilty Tuesday in a courtroom in England.

The 51-year-old was removed from the cockpit of a London to Chicago flight before takeoff in November after a co-worker suspected him of being drunk. The flight was canceled.

Washington will be sentenced February 5. http://bit.ly/5bmkhh


702 posted on 01/05/2010 9:00:21 AM PST by WestCoastGal
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To: All

This week, it’s fifteen Arab Muslim students at Dearbornistan’s Edsel Ford High School. They made sweatshirts glorifying the 9/11 attacks, depicting the twin towers with a plane about to fly into it. “Religion of Peace,” indeed. It’s disgusting, but it’s the way of life in Dearbornistan and–soon–your neck of the woods (and, actually, already there). Watch the video. In case you are curious, I don’t know what “LOUI” stands for in this case, but it’s often an Arabic name and surname.

About 15 Arab-American students at Edsel Ford High School are in trouble over a sweatshirt they had made over the holiday break. On the back of the sweatshirt, the number 11 is made to look like the World Trade Center Towers. The school’s mascot, a thunderbird, is seen flying toward the number.

Under the graphic, a tagline reads, “You can’t bring us down.” The students wore the hooded sweatshirts to school Monday.

The “you can’t bring us down” part is not referring to America or the towers, but to their fellow Arab Muslims who flew the planes on 9/11. They clearly meant to make a statement after the Flight 253 attack that happened in their backyard while they were on winter break.

They were immediately sent to the principal’s office.The sweatshirts were confiscated.“What took place here today was an inappropriate, distasteful act,” said David Mustonen, a spokesman for Dearborn Schools. “(It was) totally inappropriate, totally disrespectful, and they just were not thinking.”The students told the principal they didn’t mean any harm by having the sweatshirts made.

Uh-huh. Sure, they didn’t. And by the way, David Mustonen has his job by virtue of pandering to the Arab Muslims who run Dearborn. He’s never had the guts to stand up to him. And this is no exception. He constantly appears in the media as an apologist for his school district’s Hezbollah High a/k/a Fordson High School and its Islamic extremist principal, Imad Fadlallah, who runs the school, like his cousin, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, runs Hezbollah, constantly harassing and persecuting non-Muslim employees and students, and giving them the day off and extra credit to campaign against Christian candidates for the Dearborn City Council and School Board.

More plus pic at link http://bit.ly/6GpEUA


703 posted on 01/05/2010 9:44:04 AM PST by WestCoastGal
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To: MamaDearest
Tell Baghdad Butch that Illegal immigration is a bloody crime!!
704 posted on 01/05/2010 9:59:25 AM PST by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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I know I’ve over-posted here today, but I can’t not put this up.

Michael Yon Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not “arrested”, but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eve...ntually came — they were professionals — and rescued me from the border bullies.

When they handcuffed me, I said that no country has ever treated me so badly. Not China. Not Vietnam. Not Afghanistan. Definitely not Singapore or India or Nepal or Germany, not Brunei, not Indonesia, or Malaysia, or Kuwait or Qatar or United Arab Emirates. No county has treated me with the disrespect can that can be expected from our border bullies.

I hope everyone knows who he is..


705 posted on 01/05/2010 10:02:21 AM PST by WestCoastGal
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To: MamaDearest

Lock ‘n Load!!

Be Ever Vigilant!!


706 posted on 01/05/2010 10:03:14 AM PST by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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To: MestaMachine

Very interesting!!


707 posted on 01/05/2010 10:09:55 AM PST by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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To: WestCoastGal

2 TSA workers hospitalized after hazardous material found in passenger’s bag in Bakersfield, Calif.

Update: TSA says the owner of the bag involved is in the custody of the Sheriff’s department; no word on what the chemical is - NBC

Update: Official says hazardous material at Calif. airport found in sports drink bottle; no bomb or terrorism suspected - NBC Uh????


708 posted on 01/05/2010 10:24:46 AM PST by WestCoastGal
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To: MestaMachine

So this is indeed going to be a major problem once it’s on the street.

I know suicide bombers are often drugged up before they blow themselves up....and kids are also drugged up to follow whatever they’re told to do, including the training for military. I suspect several drugs are used. It’s heartwretching what they do to their kids!


709 posted on 01/05/2010 10:39:15 AM PST by caww
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To: MestaMachine

Well..you stay safe. You might consider riding on the wings of those angels now and then, when the going gets tough..ya know?


710 posted on 01/05/2010 10:44:21 AM PST by caww
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To: MestaMachine

Thanks for the Khat ping. I’ve read about this before, I believe last year.


711 posted on 01/05/2010 11:34:45 AM PST by MamaDearest
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To: MamaDearest; All

http://www.breitbart.tv/livestream/

YON on live now


712 posted on 01/05/2010 1:19:51 PM PST by WestCoastGal
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We’ve got Minneapolis now - been going on for about an hour since I got first news. Incoming baggage got bomb sniffing dogs attention

Update: Officials re-open all areas of the Minneapolis airport, except one baggage carousel area - NBC

Earlier Bakersfield alert turns out to be 5 soda bottles filled with honey?????????


713 posted on 01/05/2010 1:39:00 PM PST by WestCoastGal
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To: WestCoastGal; MestaMachine; Cindy; Oorang; Rushmore Rocks; JustPiper; ExSoldier; Velveeta; ...
Thanks for the link WestCoastGal! Much appreciated!

White House says no detainees to Yemen for now

No more detainees at Guantanamo Bay will be sent to Yemen for the time being, the White House announced Tuesday as officials continue to reshape the nation's security posture following a failed Christmas terror plot to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner.

Profile - Islam4UK

Snip: One of al-Muhajiroun's events was billed as celebrating the "Magnificent 19" plane hijackers who had taken the fight back to the West.

The Yemen hidden agenda - behind the Al Qaeda scenarios, a strategic oil transit checkpoint

The strategic significance of the region between Yemen and Somalia becomes the point of geopolitical interest. It is the site of Bab el-Mandab, one of what the US Government lists as seven strategic world oil shipping chokepoints. The US Government Energy Information Agency states that “closure of the Bab el-Mandab could keep tankers from the Persian Gulf from reaching the Suez Canal/Sumed pipeline complex, diverting them around the southern tip of Africa. The Strait of Bab el-Mandab is a chokepoint between the horn of Africa and the Middle East, and a strategic link between the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean.” [9]

  Bab el-Mandab, between Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. Oil and other exports from the Persian Gulf must pass through Bab el-Mandab before entering the Suez Canal. In 2006, the Energy Department in Washington reported that an estimated 3.3 million barrels a day of oil flowed through this narrow waterway to Europe, the United States, and Asia. Most oil, or some 2.1 million barrels a day, goes north through the Bab el-Mandab to the Suez/Sumed complex into the Mediterranean.

 

714 posted on 01/05/2010 1:39:37 PM PST by MamaDearest
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To: WestCoastGal

That’s interesting, thanks WCG. I’ve never been to Michigan and these days I hope I never have to go.


715 posted on 01/05/2010 2:51:30 PM PST by Oorang (Tyranny thrives where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: Oorang; Velveeta; MamaDearest; WestCoastGal; MestaMachine; Myrddin; milford421; Godzilla; ...

More Dead Scientists.

BreakingNews Update: Officials say helicopter crash in Sierra forest kills 3 state biologists; pilot believed dead too - AP
8 minutes ago from BreakingNews Headquarters

Dead Scientists List:

[Are we allowed to link to this?]

http://rense.com/general62/list.htm


716 posted on 01/05/2010 3:00:52 PM PST by LucyT
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To: WestCoastGal

I’ve been busy most of the day and have not caught much news but I did hear the “all clear as it’s just sport drinks”. Now I read that two workers were hospitalized? That is some strong “sport drink” that we, the sheeple, don’t need to worry about.


717 posted on 01/05/2010 3:02:25 PM PST by Oorang (Tyranny thrives where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: MamaDearest

I would add only one other point regarding Yemen and Somolia and that is the weak nearly none existant government that permits jihadi training to be conducted and practiced with little to no resistance.


718 posted on 01/05/2010 3:04:20 PM PST by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: MamaDearest

Excellent background info on Yemen, thanks MamaD.


719 posted on 01/05/2010 3:40:31 PM PST by Oorang (Tyranny thrives where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: WestCoastGal; MamaDearest; Cindy; Godzilla; JustPiper; Velveeta; Rushmore Rocks; LucyT; All
Update...

Airport reopens after TNT forces evacuation, grounds flights
Jan 5, 2010 at 1:54 PM PST

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Meadows Field has reopened after the discovery of explosive substances in some checked baggage forced the airport's evacuation and the grounding of all flights. The airport reopened about 1:30 p.m., more than five hours after it was closed. Earlier in the day, passengers and employees were bussed over to the airport's international terminal, and incoming flights were being diverted to Los Angeles.

The Kern County Sheriff's Office said a swab of the substance, initially reported simply as hazardous material, came back positive for TNT and TATP. Sheriff Donny Youngblood said the explosive substances were found on the inside of the bag and on the outside of five Gatorade bottles filled with what appeared to be honey. The contents of the bottles had yet to be tested, Youngblood said.

The owner of the luggage was detained, though it was unknown if he would be arrested. Youngblood said that man, 31-year-old Francisco Ramirez, of Milwaukee, was heading home after visiting his sister in Kern County since Dec. 23. Ramirez is also an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, according to Youngblood.

The sheriff's office was unable to say how much TNT and TATP was found in the luggage, which was being removed from the airport. Crime lab technicians from Los Angeles were coming to Bakersfield to conduct further tests. Two workers with the Transportation Security Administration were reportedly sickened after being exposed to the substances. They were treated at an area hospital. TSA spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino told The Associated Press earlier in the day that officials didn't believe the incident was terrorism-related.

http://www.kval.com/news/national/80738127.html

720 posted on 01/05/2010 3:49:19 PM PST by Oorang (Tyranny thrives where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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