Expert warns terrorists may be setting wildfires across American West

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld of the New York-based American Center for Democracy's Economic Warfare Institute warns that last July "al-Qaeda's English-language online magazine, Inspire, published an article called 'It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb,' which featured instructions on how to build an incendiary bomb to light forests on fire.

"A few months later, Russia's security (FSB) chief, Aleksandr Bortnikov warned, 'al-Qaeda was complicit in recent forest fires in Europe' as part of the terrorists' 'strategy of a thousand cuts.' Bortnikov spoke of 'extremist sites [that] contained detailed instructions of waging the forest jihad and stressed that such a method had proved itself effective as it inflicted both physical and moral damage, needed little training or investment and it was extremely hard for police to find and apprehend the arsonists.'

I have no doubt what he has done is real, and I bet It is even impressive on many levels, but all structures can burn, even concrete ones. The people of Black Forest, a neighborhood just a few miles from my own forested neighborhood, are not stupid. They did plenty of fire mitigation, but when you live in a State that hovers at 5% humidity for weeks on end and less than rain than most deserts, fire has an easy target.

I live here, stupid. Stop trying to argue what we get. 19 inches? Get real. This week was the first week of any rain in months.

Now you are proven dishonest. You portrayed 9 inches as if it was usual for where you live. I gave you the example of Bonnicksen's description of the San Bernardino National Forest because THAT area has similar precipitation and humidity (or less), more frost free days, and higher temperatures than your area in Colorado. You should have taken Bonnicksen's description of historic stand density in that area to heart, as he is perhaps America's foremost authority on pre-Columbian forest structure. So AGAIN, you refuse to incorporate that information because you think you know what you're talking about.

I'll bet your acquaintances who "mitigated" that area followed Forest Service specifications. If so, they are fools because those specs are generated by people who WANT them burned out. I've photographed fires from Southern Arizona to Idaho. I've studied repeat photography of forests from Utah to California. Don't sit there like a dumbass pretending you know what you're talking about. You don't.

I've authored two books that include cited studies of catastrophic wildfire, including a pine forest that was thinned prior to a catastrophic wildfire and survived unscathed (the Cone Fire). Hell, if you had the brains of a toad you'd have checked my FR page. These people think I know what I'm talking about and they know a lot more about forestry and catastrophic fire than you do.

The only reason I bothered tolerating your foul, arrogant, and ignorant ranting unworthy of any FReeper was to explore a mind quite apparently characteristic of these freaking idiots who build in mesic Western forests thinking "natural forests" should look like Europe or Canada. LOL, they even named the development "Black Forest" ("The" Black Forest is in Germany), so it is obvious what type of forest structure they are using for the pitch. None of you have any concept for what your area looked like when the Indians ran it and (frankly), nobody else understands that in sufficient detail to know exactly how to manage it.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2013/07/masadat_al_mujahideen_claims_c.php

“Palestinian jihadist group claims credit for Arizona wildfire”

By DAVID BARNETT
July 3, 2013 6:14 PM

SNIPPET: “A Palestinian jihadist group, Masada al Mujahideen, recently claimed credit for ongoing wildfires in Arizona in a statement posted to jihadist forums today.”

SNIPPET: “Contrary to the claims of Masada al Mujahideen, authorities have said that they believe the fires were started as a result of lighting.” [sp=lightning]

SNIPPET: “Today’s statement was not the first highly dubious claim by the jihadist group related to fires in the US. In January 2012, the group claimed credit for wildfires in Nevada.

According to SITE, in addition to claiming responsibility for fires in the US, the jihadist group has claimed credit for more than a dozen fires in Israel since 2010.”

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