Threat Matrix- Daily Terror Thread (4):

New York Post ^ | February 24, 2004 | By NILES LATHEM

[Revel]

February 24, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has dispatched the elite commando force that hunted down Saddam Hussein to Afghanistan for a new operation aimed at getting Osama bin Laden, officials said yesterday. Military sources confirmed that members of the shadowy Task Force 121, the unit that conducted the high-tech search for Saddam and his henchmen, have recently begun operating in the remote mountainous region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where bin Laden and key al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives are believed to be hiding. The Task Force is made up of highly trained Delta and SEAL commandos, as well as CIA paramilitary operators. It operates outside normal military channels.

[Calpernia]

Easy with the arms. We will if we need too. Let the Bush Admin real everything back in. We have had several adminstrations do a lot of damage. Fixing it all takes time.

[Calpernia]

real = reel

[Velveeta]

Warehouse at port evacuated after suspicious substance is found

A U.S. Customs warehouse at the Port of Miami-Dade was evacuated Thursday morning after a package containing a white powdery substance was found, officials said.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8105874.htm

[Velveeta]

Police: Imposter FBI Agents Try To Pull Con

Police Arrest Two At Car Lot
Frank Heinz, Convergence Editor

POSTED: 11:29 am CST March 4, 2004
UPDATED: 12:18 pm CST March 4, 2004

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A man and a woman claiming to be FBI agents are in jail Thursday after police said they tried to pull a scam at a area car lot.

According to police, the couple showed up at a south Fort Worth car lot Tuesday and flashed FBI badges to employees.

The badges included the names of actors Erik Estrada and Julia Stiles.

Investigators said the pair threatened to throw the owner in jail without bail unless he gave them $9,000 and a new car.

Officers said the agents kept the owner of the car lot in an office for four hours hoping he would meet their demands. Luckily, the owner of the establishment was able to slip a message in Vietnamese to a family member asking them to call the police.

Police arrived soon after and began questioning the supposed agents, whose real names are ***Abhishek Sharma***, 25 and Charlotte Kelkar, 17 (pictured, right).

The employees were relieved when they learned the two were imposters and that even the couple's gun was fake.

NBC 5's Scott Gordon said the employees went from being scared to being amused once the ordeal was over. "We were all laughing after they got arrested," said Don Le, an employee.

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/2897091/detail.html

[jerseygirl]

Middle easterners in pub bump. Just got on, trying to catch up with 300 posts....

[jerseygirl]

Is this "the tape" we have been eagerly awaiting? I've gotten completely confused among all the tapes and warnings- isn't the megatape supposed to be shown slightly after the cave of darkness?

[jerseygirl]

Seems like everyone is joining in the "test the missiles" party. Just read Russia is going to have another "exercise" coinciding with their "election." Didn't they just finish testing some missiles, which fizzled?

[jerseygirl]

What is NEMO talking about?

[jerseygirl]

Submit to Allah's will?

[jerseygirl]

re: Syria dream. Wishful thinking? :)

[Labyrinthos]

They are definately Middle Eastern and they tend to show up late Sunday afternoon every few weeks. There are generally 5 to 9 of them, and they sit around a high rise bar table and drink pitchers of beer. They keep to themselves, and according to the bartenders, they are polite and neither the best nor worst of tippers. The place is blue and gray collar of all races and a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds among the regulars, which is why these guys stand out: They are not really regulars, they don't mingle outside of their group, and they seem to be white collar/professional. The beer drinking throws us off also, because most non-Israeli, non-Lebonese Christians that I've met over the years drink alcohol sparringly. These guys bang back several pitchers in a couple hours or less. I've tried to talk to them because I'm a friendly kind of guy, but what is obvious to me is that they want to be left alone.

[StillProud2BeFree]

This is the tape that was released at the end of December or the beginning of January where only 15 minutes of the 46 minutes was ever released. The rest of it got released yesterday on an Arabic message board, then Daleel picked it up. It was also referenced in a posting on GlobalIslamicMedia yahoogroup around midnight last night.

It's not new. We just haven't heard it before. I've got a first draft of the English completed - it's 14 or so pages long.

[jerseygirl]

Haven't noticed any problem with deliveries, but I'm not in a position to know. It certainly sounds like they were asked to carefully screen all cargo. Wonder what the threat is, this time.

[jerseygirl]

Calpernia, any info on the train situation? I'm deciding between Amtrak and NJ transit.

[all4one]

High Terror Alert for Purim

By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
March 4, 2004

Jerusalem (jnewswire.com) - Israel's security forces went on a weeklong high alert Thursday in an effort to thwart terrorist attacks over the national Purim holiday.

Jews in Israel and around the world will Saturday evening celebrate their ancestors' deliverance from the genocidal Haman, and from other who have sought to annihilate their people down the ages.

As they sport costumes and revel at parties, however, the highly visible soldier and police presence will remind Israelis that there remain until today those intent on destroying them.

Arab terrorists have successfully carried out "suicide" attacks on Purim on a number of occasions in the past.
Week-long alert

Although Purim only begins Saturday night, Israel's security forces will be on high alert for a full week from Thursday to try and keep "Palestinians" from achieving the psychological advantage of successfully attacking Jews on their holiday.

Terrorists have struck on Purim before. Thirteen Israelis were killed and 130 were wounded when a bomber blew himself up in a Tel Aviv shopping mall in 1996, and Purim the following year saw three women murdered in a "suicide" bombing of a Tel Aviv café.

http://www.jnewswire.com/news_archive/04/03/040304_purim.asp

[Calpernia]

I just came from New Brunswick. I still see no service from the Northeast Corridor.

I can't understand how this is being kept so quiet.

[TexKat]

Police stop explosives-packed car

From correspondents in Basra, Iraq

05mar04

IRAQI police arrested five people today travelling in a car packed with explosives in the British-controlled southern city of Basra, a local official said.

"The police arrested five Iraqis who were driving in a car with a bomb in it and who have admitted being supporters of the former regime," of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, Majed al-Tamimi said.

"They wanted to blow it up in the centre of the city," which lies 500km south of Baghdad, he said, but gave no further details.

Basra is under the control of British coalition forces and has been relatively calm since Saddam's ouster in April, as attacks have increased in northern Iraq.

[Calpernia]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1090818/posts

Judge convicts three U.S. citizens on terror conspiracy counts
AP | 3/04/04 | MATTHEW BARAKAT

Posted on 03/04/2004 4:14:22 PM EST by kattracks

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Three American Muslims accused of undergoing paramilitary training in hopes of joining up with the Taliban were convicted Thursday of conspiring to support terrorism.

[jerseygirl]

I can't, either. I think I'll call 1-800-go-rail and talk to the helpful disembodied voice. :)

[TexKat]

Group: Libya Completes Bomb Destruction

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Libya has destroyed 3,300 bombs capable of delivering chemical payloads and is set to give a full account of its stockpiles, the chief watchdog organization said Thursday.

Bulldozers crushed the bombs after each was disarmed and inventoried "under stringent international verification," the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said.

The week-long project was completed Wednesday, the OPCW said.

On Friday, a Libyan envoy will hand over to OPCW Director-General Rogelio Pfirter a full declaration of the country's chemical weapons, its production capacity and any industrial activity that could be involved with making outlawed weapons, as well as a plan for destroying the banned material, the organization said.

It was not clear how much of Libya's declaration will be made public.

Libya agreed in December to scrap its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction under U.S., British and United Nations supervision in return for a restoration of diplomatic ties with Washington. Last week, Washington lifted a 23-year restriction on travel to the north African state, which it had branded a terrorist state.

Pfirter said Libya was running ahead of the schedule outlined in the Chemical Weapons Convention, and praised the country's "cooperative spirit of compliance."