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Posted on 03/12/2004 8:23:06 PM PST by thecabal
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- This week's deadly train bombings in Spain will not lead to a rise in the U.S. color-coded terror threat alert system, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said Friday.
"Based on the current intelligence, we have no specific indicators that terrorist groups are considering such an attack in the U.S. in the near term," said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
My sentiments exactly.
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The following is the latest info. regarding the illnesses in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Virus Toll Hits 1,581
LAS VEGAS, NV, March 31
The number of people, mostly Hawaii residents, who reported catching a gastrointestinal illness in Las Vegas has risen to 1,581, county health officials say.
However, cases have steadily decreased to just 32 reported last week in comparison to more than 100 in previous weeks, says Clark County Health District spokesman Dave Tonelli said.
Most of the people who reported catching the highly contagious Norwalk virus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea, stayed in or visited the California, Fremont and Main Street Station hotel-casinos in downtown Las Vegas.
The hotels are a favorite destination for island residents and are owned by Boyd Gaming Corp.
All the cases were reported between Dec. 3 and March 26, Tonelli said.
He said the illness goes away after a couple days of extreme discomfort, but some have been hospitalized.
I was switching channels with my remote earlier and saw that they have brought Jane Arraf of CNN back to the states. I was glad to see her because I thought her experience at one of her last Iraqi multiple explosions (Iraqi mosque courtyard)on the scene reporting would surely break her (mentally).
CNN Transcript Iraq a Danger Zone for Reporters; Insurgents Getting Creative with Bombs; Police
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Scott McClellan saying despite the attacks, no matter how cruel they get, the U.S. is not going to be intimidated by what's happening there. Because as you know, today was one of the deadliest days this year for the coalition in Iraq.
Here to offer unique perspective, our Baghdad bureau chief, Jane Arraf.
You know this area of Fallujah very well. When you see what happens there. Kind of put into perspective for us -- it's a bit of dilemma, isn't it, with regard to your safety, going there and having to cover what happens there?
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a huge dilemma, Kyra, not just for western journalists but for Arab ones, as well. I mean, we've got to cover this. It's essential. But at the same time, you've got to stay alive to cover that story. And we have not escaped strategy. We've lost two people. Other news organizations have lost people, as well.
And it is quite a dangerous place, perhaps more dangerous than other places. Americans refer to it as the Wild West in a sense. So the challenge, the dilemma, is really to keep an eye on what's going on there and in other places like that and still not be killed doing it.
PHILLIPS: And even some of the other journalists you know, that I guess you could say are a little rough around the edges, that have even gone into that area have even said to you that when they have gone, they haven't even sometimes been able to tell their organization. I mean, this is how...
ARRAF: There are all sorts of ways of trying to figure out exactly how you're going to cover that story. Any journalist who's there desperately wants to find out what's going on.
In a place like Fallujah, you really want to explore what is it about this place that makes it so unique, that makes this violence keep happening?
I was there a few months ago and it was extraordinary, the extent of anti-American sentiment there that perhaps you don't get in other places in Iraq.
PHILLIPS: Give us some examples of that.
ARRAF: Well, for instance, when the helicopter was shot down with the loss of American lives. Perfectly nice-seeming people invited us into their homes, gave us tea, and told us how they were really very sorry that more Americans hadn't been killed.
Now we have to understand, that's not the perception, that's not the sentiment of all Iraqis. And clearly there are a lot of Iraqis that either secretly or openly are glad American soldiers are there.
But in Fallujah, particularly, there is a very vocal minority, perhaps, of people who really passionately, desperately want the Americans out. And that's the kind of rage that we saw today in that incident.
PHILLIPS: And they want them out because of the number of misconceptions, or at least stereotypes. I mean, you were talking about this with us earlier today. Tell our viewers about what they think.
ARRAF: Well, some of what they think goes back to what they think in general of Americans, which is something that underpins a lot of places in the Middle East, and we have to be aware of this.
They think that the U.S. is simply supporting Israel, that it's come to Iraq to steal their oil. And when they see American soldiers in the streets, a lot of them do think that they're not American soldiers, that they are Israeli soldiers.
But we have to understand that this is a common sentiment and mistrust runs very deeply.
And I think we also have to remember, Kyra, that this is a town that really has a long memory. It's a town where bomb, a U.S. bomb hit the marketplace in 1991, killing more than 100 civilians. It's a town where...
PHILLIPS: That was a mistake, right?
ARRAF: It was a mistake. It's a town where the army opened fire on protesters after this last war. And things like that don't go away.
But at the same time, we have to understand, as well, this is not what's happening in the rest of Iraq, that all of this is punctuated by violence. But in those spaces in between, people are living normal live, just punctuated by these horrible incidents that keep happening.
PHILLIPS: Well, some might say, you know, this is only 30 miles from Baghdad, Fallujah. So if you can't get an area like Fallujah under control, how do you get the rest of the country under control?
ARRAF: Well, that's a good point. Geographically, on a map, it is not very far away. But in other terms, it is worlds away. Now, again, Fallujah is really interesting, because it is -- it poses the essential question, how do you reconstruct this country and maintain stability in a place where these were people, many of whom depended on Saddam, many of them were Ba'ath Party people, and now they've been cut out?
It's been made abundantly clear to them they have no future. They see the Kurds getting ahead. They see the Shias getting ahead. They have this historical animosity towards Americans. They have this suspicion of American motives.
And without making the economy better, and without being able to crack down on the insurgents better than they have, it really is going to be tough to improve that situation.
PHILLIPS: Well, we're continually amazed here when we watch you do your live shots and watch you travel throughout Iraq. We sure appreciate. We're glad you're here and thanks for your insight today.
ARRAF: Thanks, Kyra. Great to be here. Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Our Jane Arraf, thanks so much.
Well, roadside bombs are often the weapon of choice among insurgents in Iraq. Jane's seen plenty of those.
CNN's Mike Brooks is here to talk about their tactics and show us what those bombs actually look like.
Mike, show us some of these unique pictures that you've received.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN ANALYST: Well, you know, Kyra, they were just talking about the bomb that killed the military personnel was one that was buried under the street.
But there are also other bombs that are used. We obtained a couple -- three pictures, showing a grenade that was placed under the carriage of a U.S. vehicle.
Some American personnel were jittery to get in this vehicle. They did a search, and they found this grenade hanging under the frame of the car.
Now, it's held on by wire. It's just not very sophisticated. The grenade has wire wrapped around it. It's attached to the frame, and there's another piece of wire running off to the side here. That's actually attached to the wheel.
If we can show the -- a little closer up of this grenade, you see how it's attached, and then the other wire goes off and it's attached to wheel of the vehicle.
So as the vehicle starts to turn it would pull the pin. The spoon would fly off. And you see it here on the wheel. The spoon would fly off. And the grenade would go off, either killing or seriously injuring the people inside. Again, not very sophisticated, but very, very effective.
PHILLIPS: Getting pretty advanced about where they're putting these explosives devices, right? I mean, you talked about, they're digging holes in the streets, covering them up. They're putting them in Coke cans.
We've heard a lot of the stories about how, I guess, creative these terrorists are coming with these explosives.
BROOKS: They're just using the imagination. Anything you can probably think of, they've probably already thought of it.
A source -- a federal law enforcement source who has been over there investigating some of these bombings told me that they're using dead animals along the side of the road. They're digging up the street, putting bombs down to remotely detonate them.
They're also using piles of rocks. He said you'll see soldiers going up and actually scooping up these piles of rocks to just get rid of any target of opportunity.
Whatever we can think of, that's what they're doing. And they're hiding them all over the place, Kyra. Donkey carts, Coke cans, whatever you can think of, whatever they can either remotely detonate or something they can run a wire from. That's what they're using.
PHILLIPS: Well, at the same time, intelligence is also getting better. You had a number of stories from your contacts there in Iraq about all the explosives that they're finding and materials to make them, right?
BROOKS: That's exactly right. A lot of Iraqis are coming in to the coalition, giving them intelligence, putting their life on the line by cooperating with the coalition, tell them where they can find explosive devices.
My source said that almost on a daily basis they're going out and recovering ordnance. These are bombs that were probably set to go off somewhere in the street or grenades like we've seen here.
They're taking military ordnance. They're breaking them down, and they're putting powders and everything else in barrels. And they're using these barrels as boosters for some of the larger bombs that we've seen.
But the cooperation, they say, from the Iraqis, citizens there in Baghdad, in the outlying areas, they said is just fantastic. And they're putting their life on the line by giving the information to the coalition.
PHILLIPS; Mike Brooks, thanks.
Mystery Illinois Plastic Explosives Probed
CHICAGO, March 31 (UPI) -- Twenty days after the discovery of plastic explosives found hidden on an Illinois horse farm, investigators say it could take months to trace the source.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is testing samples at a lab in Beltsville, Md., said Cmdr. Kenneth Rewers of the Cook County Sheriff's Department bomb squad, which is aiding the investigation. Two men looking for deer antlers came across 4 pounds of C-4 and other devices March 11 at a 4,000-acre horse farm north of Chicago.
The puttylike C-4 was among objects found inside three green metal boxes under the covering. The boxes also contained a smoke grenade, eight cluster flares, six blasting caps, four booby-trap simulators, a lithium battery and an M-16 military gun-cleaning kit, the Chicago Tribune said Wednesday.
More powerful than TNT, C-4 can be molded to control the force and direction of its blast, and is often used to demolish buildings.
Oh goody! I can not wait for the KABOOM!! The Immudium U-236 explosive space modulator will go kaboom!!
Good catch granny. Now if valid who, what and where are the spy sources in NC?
Where is Teddy when you need him?
[sorry...phht...BWAA HA!!!!]
IMHO Vincente Fox can keep his criminals at home if he is concerned about them and he can keep his a$$ at home and all his offspring as well.
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