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.

[Velveeta]

Layoutguru, aren't you able to do translations as well?

[Cindy]

Here's something interesting Ruth....

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2004/03/04/2003101059
"Czech Republic to lift ban on imports of Taiwan chicken"
By Chiu Yu-Tzu
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Mar 04, 2004,Page 2

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Council officials yesterday stressed that Taiwan had no cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has been wreaking havoc in neighboring countries since January. However, the discovery of the less virulent H5N2 strain led to many countries banning Taiwanese poultry products."


http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/02/22/2003099700

"Bird flu found in cats doesn't yet threaten humans: scientists"

AP , BANGKOK
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004,Page 5

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Bird flu killed three house cats near the capital, Bangkok, Thai officials reported on Friday. Veterinarians urged residents to stay away from their cats if there were chickens living nearby. Chickens and ducks have been the main victims of bird flu.

Health experts are concerned that if bird flu sickens other animals, it could mutate into a strain more easily passed on to humans".


http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/02/16/2003098972

"Bird Flu death toll reaches 20 while officials plan action"

AP , BANGKOK
Monday, Feb 16, 2004,Page 5

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Bird flu has claimed its 20th fatality in Asia with the death of a 13-year-old boy in Thailand, while zoos across the region were reeling as the disease hit some exotic species after wiping out millions of chickens and ducks.

The boy died late Saturday at a hospital in the country's northeast, where he'd been in intensive care after testing positive for the avian flu virus on Thursday, said Charal Trinvuthipong, director-general of the Public Health Ministry's Department of Communicable Disease Control.

The disease is now confirmed in six human deaths in Thailand and 14 in Vietnam."

[Velveeta]

Did the folks at Itshappening.com get a copy yet? Maybe one of their translators is around??

[jerseygirl]

Interesting! You clearly know alot about diving!

Now I'm wondering if the divers, as you suggested, quickly removed the gear to surface quickly... and if we could send our own divers to search for the equipment.

I also really wonder about the cause of death. I just can't shake the feeling that whatever they were transporting killed them in the process.

[Calpernia]

I don't know anyone over there. Nor do I have a login.

[Calpernia]

Ok, I'm going to start dinner. I'll try calling the wireless number to see turn around for a translation :(

[jerseygirl]

I don't know. I'm just wondering what they were trying to accomplish. Apparently the ones seen in Hawaii were carrying a box and something like a spear.

[Cindy]

I looked around here on 3127 and couldn't find issue 12...or, I should say, I only counted 11 magazine type graphics on one of the pages listed in the links.

[jerseygirl]

Rickylc- Remember this report? The part about the "rebreather" equipment and about water intake valves may be relevant.

FBI puts scuba dive shops, schools on terrorism alert


By Karen Brandon
Tribune national correspondent
Published June 6, 2002

SAN DIEGO -- The FBI has begun a nationwide canvass of shops that offer scuba
diving instruction based on information that "various terrorist elements have
sought to develop an offensive scuba diver capability."

Scuba shops in some regions are now receiving the same level of scrutiny that
has been aimed at flight schools in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, when the
schools discovered that they had trained the hijackers who took over the four
commercial jets on that day.



"While there is no evidence of operational planning to utilize scuba divers to
carry out attacks within the United States, there is a body of information
showing the desire to obtain such capability," the bureau said in a recent
bulletin.

The FBI is acting on information gleaned from prisoners being held at the U.S.
naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to Paul Bresson, an FBI spokesman
in Washington.

"Scuba dive equipment was something [terrorists] had shown interest in
acquiring in efforts to plan a future attack," he said.

The inquiries come as the bureau, the subject of criticism that it failed to
react to warnings before Sept. 11, begins to shift its mission and culture from
catching criminals after the fact to preventing attacks.

Shops and the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, which certifies
the majority of the nation's divers, said they are providing the FBI with the
names of adult students certified to scuba dive within the United States during
the past three years, a list that would include an estimated 2 million people.
The FBI is also seeking the names of any students who may have begun classes
and then dropped out.

John Iannarelli, an FBI agent in San Diego, said the bureau is checking to see
if any names correspond with the FBI's list of potential or known terrorists.
So far, he said Wednesday, no terrorist connection had been made.

The FBI has said that it will focus more on prevention-oriented investigations,
and along that line dive shop owners were told to be on the lookout for
students who seemed suspicious or asked peculiar questions.

"If someone asks, `How would I dive in murky water?' that would be suspicious,"
said Werner Kurn, chief executive officer of Ocean Enterprises, which has
diving shops around the world, including one in San Diego just blocks from
where four hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks lived.

Patrick Hammer, a longtime scuba diver from the Chicago area who owns the Scuba
Emporium, with shops in southwest suburban Alsip and Orland Park, said he
considered the probe valid.

"I never thought about mischief underwater, but as soon as I read about [the
FBI warning], I started thinking about the Lake Michigan water intakes and I
thought, `Holy smokes!'" said Hammer, who had been contacted about the
investigation by an international diving association but not by the FBI. "A
diver could sneak in and really hurt us."

But Darrell Moore, a former member of the Navy's elite SEAL teams from San
Diego, said: "I don't see a single swimmer bringing in enough explosives to do
a lot of damage. You can only carry so much with you."

He and others said they believed there was potential to do greater damage with
boats. By way of example, they cited the terrorist attack two years ago in
Yemen against the USS Cole as well as the accident last month in Oklahoma in
which a barge plowed into a bridge over the Arkansas River, cutting off
Interstate Highway 40.

Scuba diving is relatively easy to learn, and instruction can be accomplished
in an intensive weekend, divers said. In addition, certification instruction is
widely available, and certifications earned abroad are recognized in the U.S.

"It doesn't take a lot of time. It doesn't take a lot of money. And, it's not
difficult," said Barry Block, a master instructor at Adventures in Scuba on
Fullerton Avenue.

Still, some scuba experts acknowledged that the equipment now available to
recreational divers made the sport a potential route for terrorism. For
instance, recreational divers now have access to rebreathers, lightweight
devices that combine oxygen and exhaled air from the diver. The tanks, which
are much lighter than traditional tanks, allow divers to stay underwater longer
and they eliminate the tell-tale bubbles usually produced by traditional scuba
diving. Though used for decades by the military, the rebreathers are relatively
new to recreational divers, who use them to be able to get closer to marine
animals.

Scuba divers also have access to so-called diver propulsion vehicles. These
battery-powered vehicles, bullet-shaped contraptions some 5 feet in length, can
propel a diver at speeds of more than 3 miles per hour.

Kurn said investigators have asked questions about Middle Eastern men, anyone
buying rebreather tanks or the propulsion vehicles. Most of the propulsion
vehicles his business sold were purchased by Cirque du Soleil, he said, which
uses them in one of its Las Vegas shows.

Before the FBI appeared, he said, "Terrorism never crossed my mind."

"But now that I'm thinking about it, I think, `Wow, they could really do
that.'"


Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune

[MamaDearest]

Botulism seems to meet the criteria. Ugh

It's so easy for that one to be used against us. When we buy our food at the grocery store, we virtually have no clue who prepared the food we bought that was bottled, packaged or prepared for us. Those who prepare our food at restaurants are usually "behind the scene" and many are of foreign extraction.

[Velveeta]

I didn't know what a "Propulsion Vehicle" was, so I just looked it up. I'll be darned that the thing looks just like a small torpedo.

[jerseygirl]

This gets more chilling each day.

Remember the posts about the AQ "mystery ships", about Cuba (possibly) outfitting small ships with missiles, about oil rigs (UK and US) being threatened, AQ's relentless blather about "water,water,water" threatening that they could poison an entire city's water, ad nauseum.

I'd be willing to bet they have not only missiles and explosives, but germs and possibly suitcase nukes as well.
Get close to the US - detonate.

[Indie]

#3 picture is assuredly depicting an infection in the bloodstream.

[Velveeta]

I was just looking into the Bow Mariner incident. I'm going to run back and copy the article....(talk about chilling).

[Indie]

Use the tanks and belts to get down and do their business, release the tanks and belts, so as to die from the bends and drowning [overkill eh?] while floating to the surface...leaving no witness. In short, a suicide diving mission.

[Velveeta]

Four Bow Mariner crewmen won't talk to investigators

05:20 PM EST on Monday, March 8, 2004

Reported by: Eric Turner



Nine days after the sinking of the chemical tanker Bow Mariner, the investigation is stalled.

The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reports that four of the six survivors aren't cooperating with the Coast Guard.

They've invoked the fifth amendment, which gives people the right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself.

The other two have spoken with investigators.

The Bow Mariner, a 570-foot tanker registered in Singapore, was traveling from New York to Houston and was carrying 3.2 million gallons of ethanol, a highly flammable, colorless alcohol used in manufacturing. On the night of February 28, it went down in 260 feet of water more than 50 miles east of Chincoteague, near the Virginia-Maryland line.

The cause of the explosion is being investigated by the Coast Guard, which preliminarily concluded there's no evidence of foul play.


A survivor from the Bow Mariner was treated at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
Three crewman have been confirmed dead. 18 others are missing and six survived.
The Coast Guard released an audio tape of Bow Mariner's frantic call for help as explosions ripped through her that fateful night.

Some of the last words to be heard from the ship were, "Bow Mariner, Bow Mariner. We are on fire. We are on fire! Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is Bow Mariner, Bow Mariner. We are on fire! Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is Bow Mariner. We are on fire. We are on fire!"

As the Coast Guard determines the extent of the damage and how to reclaim fuel oil inside the sunken ship, efforts will also determine whether any of the missing crewmen are entombed and should be recovered for burial on land.

This week, the ship's parent company is bringing in the 252-foot Mystic Viking, a diving support vessel that will be the working platform for the salvage operation; and the 226-foot offshore supply vessel Powhatan, which will use a remotely operated vehicle to survey the tanker on the ocean floor.
The ROV will take still and video photography and has the ability to manipulate objects on the seabed. Depending on the size of the opening it also can also be steered inside the vessel.

http://www.wvec.com/news/local/wvec_local_030804_bow_mariner_investigation.675dc549.html

[Domestic Church]

From the link posted by Squantos:

" ...uveitis can be a consequence of Feline Leukemia Virus (FELV), Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP), Feline Immunodeficiency Virus or Feline AIDS (FIV)"

This is ringing bells from several threads back..especially the Feline Leukemia Virus connection. Also the possibility of uveitis being a complication of another internal infection undiagnosed or diagnosed but unannounced raises my eyebrows.

Can a canine parvo virus cause uveitis?

[jerseygirl]

Yes, it most certainly is. Question of the day: which infection?

Hopefully, those in a position to know can piece together clues and information.

[jerseygirl]

The only thing that doesn't fit that scenario is that- according to information about diving posted early today, the water would not be deep enough in the Hudson to worry about decompression.

[jerseygirl]

They get rescued, then plead the fifth? What is going on here !