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.

[milkncookies]

U.S. Special Forces fighting Salafists in southern Algeria

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, March 8, 2004

CAIRO – The United States has deployed Special Forces to the Sahara Desert battle a leading Islamic insurgency group with ties to Al Qaida.

U.S. officials said a Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit was operating with Algerian troops in the southern part of the country. They said the U.S. military also planned to expand operations to other parts of Algeria.

This is the first time a U.S. military force was sent to battle insurgents in Algeria. Officials said the focus was on the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call, which has been referred to as a subcontractor for Al Qaida and which has a significant presence along the southern border with Mali.

"The United States is battling terrorist activities in Algeria and the Sahel," the U.S. embassy in Algiers said in a statement. The statement said U.S. forces would also continue to train Algerian military forces, Middle East Newsline reported. The statement did not elaborate.

The United States has been reviewing an Algerian request for a range of military aircraft, including a combat helicopter. So far, the United States has provided Algeria with non-lethal equipment.

In Sudan, Khartoum's military and rebels have intensified fighting in the Western Darfour region. Rebel spokesmen said their forces, including the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement killed more than 400 soldiers and militiamen in battles over the weekend.

The rebels were said to have halted a Sudanese military drive near the Darfour capital of Fasher. A second battle took place near Nyala in the southern part of Darfour.

[milkncookies]

08/03/2004

URGENT STATEMENT: RUSSIANS KIDNAPPED 16 RELATIVES OF CHECHEN MINISTER OF HEALTH DR. OUMAR KHANBIEV. THE WORLD MUST TELL PUTIN TO FREE THEM.

Last week Russian security services and the Kremlin-backed Kadyrov’s criminal administration, in a series of separate operations in Benoi, Grozny and elsewhere in Chechnya, selectively kidnapped 16 relatives of Chechen Minister of Health Dr. Oumar Khanbiev. The Russian authorities then announced to the locals that the detainees would “be tortured to death” if Oumar Khanbiev and his brother Magomed Khanbiev do not “surrender” to Russians.

This mass and politically motivated kidnapping is a barbaric act of a state sponsored terrorism aimed to silence Chechen legitimate political leadership, which the world must immediately condemn in the strongest possible terms and take urgent actions to guarantee safe and speedy release of the all 16 kidnapped civilians.

In February 2000, Oumar Khanbiev, together with 18 members of his medical staff and 75 wounded patients, was illegally detained and subjected to torture in Russian concentration camps. He was freed weeks latter only as a combined result of an international pressure and ransom.

Since then Oumar Khanbiev has become Chechen key political representative in Europe and has done a tremendous job in increasing European and international public and political awareness about the situation in Chechnya and searching for a peaceful resolution of the Russian-Chechen conflict. In December 2000, European Parliamentarians, in recognition of his important work on behalf of the innocent victims of the Russian war in Chechnya, awarded Dr. Khanbiev with “Passport for Freedom”.

On 4 September 2002, apparently in an attempt to silence Dr. Khanbiev, Russian security services kidnapped his younger brother – civilian doctor Ali Khanbiev, whose fate, despite of the concerns raised by members of the European Parliament and the European Commission, is still unknown. Now, the masters of Kremlin and their local puppets kidnapped almost every relative of Oumar Khanbiev.

This crime comes only two weeks after Russian agents committed a terrorist attack in Qatar that killed former acting Chechen President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and severely injured his 13-year-old son. Now we have another crime of an open terror. It must not be allowed to succeed.

The United States of America, the states of the free Europe, the European Union, the United Nations, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and all human rights organizations must do no less than to demand from President Putin today to release the kidnapped civilians, to release them immediately.

Ilyas Akhmadov Foreign Minister

[jerseygirl]

Just started checking through the updates. Any major developments?

[jerseygirl]

Botulism seems to meet the criteria. Ugh

[jerseygirl]

Whoa! I truly wonder what all those graphics signify!

[jerseygirl]

Sure do. Frogmen, falcons, nukes....

I still wonder about that picture showing the towers being destroyed, the FLYING BIRD, the bodies wearing protective gear, and what looked like chicken wire or a honeycomb. The more I thought about the honeycomb, it suddenly dawned on me that it looked very similar to pictures of cell structure (from long-ago bio class.)

Their rants consistently stress that what they are going to try to do, will affect future generations. I have to wonder if the cellular image might refer to radiation or some kind of toxic substance.

[jerseygirl]

All these practice runs and "mock" tests- it makes me wonder if we are on a hairtrigger alert stage, and need to present this as only a "practice." (Like the COG exercise right around Christmas.)

[Cindy]

INTERNET HAGANAH: "UNMENTIONABLE SITE OF THE DAY" (March 8, 2004)
http://internet-haganah.us/harchives/001578.html

"4THE1.ORG"
http://www.4the1.org/

[jerseygirl]

Re: "both the Hudson and Dania Beach dead divers were found without their tanks and gear or weight belts". Okay folks, I know nothing whatsover about diving. Is there any reason divers would not have tanks or weight belts? The only thing that occurs to me is that maybe they only needed to be in shallow waters to perform their tasks.

[jerseygirl]

I read them too! Intriguing finds.

[Cindy]

http://internet-haganah.us/harchives/001577.html
Internet Haganah
March 08, 2004
"List of sites participating in e-Jihad grows"
"Six more have been added..."



http://internet-haganah.us/harchives/001574.html
Internet Haganah
March 06, 2004
"Project accountability"
"These are the sites we've identified so far that are participating in planning the e-jihad against Internet Haganah. Site status and service provider information is subject to change without notice. Concerned individuals should check to see if the site is still active and the attack thread is still present before contacting the service provider listed."

[Cindy]

You're very astute.
WHY is the question and a very important one, too.
WHO is the question that should get the utmost attention and is right up there with WHY.

[Cindy]

Another thing that caught my attention was the fence housed ducks. I seem to recall (correct me if I'm in error about this) about 2 months or so, more or less, that ducks had to be destroyed in Tawaiin because they eithehr had West Nile Viror or Avian Bird disease.

[Cindy]

I'm in total agreement with you.

[Cindy]

Nothing surprises me when it comes to Zimbabwe....

Discussions on FREEREPUBLIC.com ... "ZIMBABWE"

[Velveeta]

Any ideas on whether or not OBL is still alive?

[rickylc]

Nope, that can't be it, even working in shallow water you need a wieght belt to go under if you are wearing a neoprene (closed cell foam, very buoyant) wet suit. If the diver were in an emergency situation needing to surface quickly, he would scuttle the wieght belt and shoot to the surface. If you weren't planning on using the gear again, it too could be easily shed underwater to facilitate rapid ascent. In a river I can't imagine water deep enough to cause any serious problems with rapid decompression.

All scuba tanks have ID numbers that can be traced, very close watch is kept on tanks to ensure proper servicing. No one wants an airtank to explode on their back. Gear would have to have been taken away by someone if it wasn't scuttled by the diver.

[rickylc]

Re: ID numbers on SCUBA air tanks.

I don't think it would be possible to grind the numbers off without affecting the integrity of the tank.

[oceanview]

well, they have to do something with all these homeland security dollars being spent. I sure as heck want them to conduct drills. They conduct launch drills on nuclear submarines all the time, that doesn't mean they expect to launch the missiles.

[oceanview]

Loftus should be back on the Batchelor show tonight, his comments the last time he was on (thursday) were interesting, let's see if he has any followup.