Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread 5

CNN ^ | March 12, 2004

[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.

[WestCoastGal]

Oops here's the URL for above article

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,243017,00.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

With Virginia so close, only an hour away, there will be several mosques and digging deep in my memory, a muslim school/camp.

Over a year ago, there was a newspaper or ? doing a report on muslim compounds that were being/had been opened.

I have no idea of where or exactly what I read, but the word compound is firmly fixed in my mind.

There were several of them, Washington State, California and in the east.

It bothered me that 'they' could have a compound, but you know what happened when a church group had a compound at Waco, Texas.

They were large, closed in and out of our sight. And oh so perfect for hiding terrorists.

In Wellton, we had a 'bad' family move in the Gila River Bottom, the lady had 25 kids and the kids were trained from birth to be criminals.

The Police had flown over the river bottom and had taken photos of it, they figured there were up to 250 people hiding in the bushes.

It was next to the county dump, they hauled the old car bodies and pieces of building materials and made shade in the river bottom growth.

NO Policeman would go to the camp to arrest a criminal.

Now, you know why I suspected the muslim communities.

[Cindy]

Thank you so much.

Saves my tired eyes and lazy fingers research time.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Nope, all that blubber and hot air will float.

Have you ever seen him almost naked?

Freepers have posted pictures of him, on his sailboat, almost naked.

You know, in the threads, where we are invited to "Write the Caption" for the pictures.

LOL

[TexKat]

Spanish police came within a whisker of foiling the Madrid bombings when they stopped a stolen car carrying explosives used in the attacks.

WCG I know that evidently the police had no clue, but this gets so tiresom. How many times was John Mohammad and Malvo stopped by the police?

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thank you for doing the research to find the bases, now to determine, who fixed the planes to crash.

I have to ask, "were they expected to crash on the Carriers?"

Four or more military planes crashing in one day, is too many to be an accident, when they are not shot down.

Sure makes one wonder if the Military airfields are close enough to the water, to allow a scuba diver to come in and fray a cord, etc, that would lead to a crash.

Are the guards in the guard shacks, looking for boats to come in? and allowing the scuba diver to slip onto the flight line?

If the coast is un-peopled and a diver can get close to the flight line, he won't need a boat, simply go into the water and swim to a spot that will allow him to come up, do the dirty to the planes and swim back on the same route.

As I recall it, the two dead scuba divers on the east coast, did not have belts or tanks, but then they would not be needed, if the goal was to only swim a short distance, on the top of the water.

The rubber suit, would both protect him from the cold and make it harder to spot him on a dark night.

Crashing those planes, is a plus to the terrorists, as now they won't be dropping missiles on the terrorists heads.

Please, pass the tinfoil.

[WestCoastGal]

"Have you ever seen him almost naked?",

Ewwwwwwww, yuck, no. You're right about the hot air floating. :-)

[Oorang]

Undersec. Bolton has been saying this for a while (fortunately, IMO). Just an FYI, here is some more info on Cuba (from 2002, but interesting).

US: Cuba Trying To Make Bioweapons

[WestCoastGal]

Spanish police came within a whisker of foiling the Madrid bombings when they stopped a stolen car carrying explosives used in the attacks.

WCG I know that evidently the police had no clue, but this gets so tiresom. How many times was John Mohammad and Malvo stopped by the police?

---

I wonder how many others we have let go here because we have to be so "PC". We are a profiling /free/ zone after all.

[Palladin]

I'm going to New York City this weekend.

I will be thinking of the Threat Matrix thread all the while I'm there.

If I don't come back, say nice things about me when I'm gone. ;)

[Oorang]

I have no idea why I wanted to relate this.

Well I'm glad you did. It's nice to hear some good news today! (Good news = you and your friends did the right thing).

[brucecw]

Kitty Hawk NC is on one of the barrier islands. For those not familiar with that part of the country, the barrier islands are long, narrow islands that range from a few hundred to as much as a few miles wide, and dozens of miles long. Basically they're sand dunes in the middle of the sea. The North Carolina coastline is not very hospitable to large modern shipping; the only two deepwater seaports are in Wilmington at the southern end of the state, and Morehead, which is about 1/3 of the way from there to the Virginia state line. Both of these are relatively small seaports by modern standards. Kitty Hawk is roughly halfway between Morehead and the next deepwater port north, which would be the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area.

Because of its position, there has been essentially no significant development around Kitty Hawk except for the beach. It would not have been a particularly valuable piece of real estate during the Civil War because there just wasn't a lot there (not to say that there was nothing, because some of the smaller blockade runners could get through the inlets between the barrier islands, but it was not and is not nearly as significant a place as Wilmington and Morehead). It was a tiny spot out in the middle of the ocean, and the mainland behind it was mostly farmland and swampland with few major towns. There were major battles in the war for both Wilmington and Morehead/Beaufort but I don't recall anything significant happening out near Kitty Hawk.

Even today the most significant things happening around there are the beaches for the tourists, and the fishing community on Manteo (an island in the sound just behind the barrier islands). As others have said it just isn't a very significant place. Very picturesque though.

--Bruce

[brucecw]

Just remembered - the nearest major action during the Civil War that I can remember reading about would have been the battle for Washington, NC which is on the mainland and would be about 75 miles from Kitty Hawk as the crow flies. Except that like most other things along the North Carolina coastline, you can't get there by crow - too much water and swamp in the way. There's still a house standing there with a big cannon ball showing on one of the corners where it struck when the town was bombarded.

--Bruce

[Cindy]

I wonder who takes "vacations" in Cuba?

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g147270-Cuba-Vacations_GTESTto.html

[liberallyconservative]

As you will read further, I think Kitty Hawk MAY be significant for just the very reasons you stated: it's not very developed, and yet is in close enough proximity to Norfolk/Hampton Roads VA. The coastline there can be rather desolate in areas, especially this time of year. Easy for someone to slip in unnoticed?

And 74 miles from Kitty Hawk to one of our largest Naval bases in the US is very close; MapQuest estimates the trip at less than 2 hours, even travelling the coastal backroads.

[brucecw]

Possibly although it's hard to imagine anything "specacular" happening at Kitty Hawk.

You could probably get some small boats ashore through the surf on the ocean side but you couldn't get much ashore with them. Plus there's some danger of being spotted on the open beach - you can be seen for miles. If you're trying to slip through unnoticed it would be easier to come in through the inlets and find some friendly backwater pier - should be easier to do and you could get more people or goods ashore that way.

Possibly some kind of allegorical or historical reference? Kitty Hawk was of course where the Wright brothers tested their biplane - again, because the place was practically deserted and often had favorable winds.

--Bruce

[liberallyconservative]

Ok, here's the review:

1) A Navy F/A-18 "Hornet" on a training mission out of Beaufort, S.C., crashed into the Atlantic Ocean about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, 3/24. The jet, part of the VFA-82 "Marauders" based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., returned Feb. 25 from a six-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom aboard the USS Enterprise. The cause of the crash is under investigation. Yes, Beaufort, SC is on the coast.

2) A US Navy F/A-18C Hornet jet crashed shortly after take off in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday, 3/26. "The aircraft was on a routine training flight and the accident is under investigation," Commander Lydia Robertson said.

The jet was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 15, based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Norfolk, Virginia. "The pilot ejected and the aircraft did ... crash on the runway" at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, said Kathleen Bergen, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman.

The pilot, Wesley Baumgartner, was able to safely eject from the aircraft. He is at Wake Medical Center and is reportedly in good condition.

RDU spokeswoman Theresa Damiono, said no other airport facilities were damaged, and no other injuries were reported.

Damiono said the fire from the plane's wreckage has been contained. She said there was no information on what caused the crash and it was not clear if the plane came apart before or after it struck the runway.

3) The Navy is unsure if the pilot of a fighter jet that crashed near a rural highway in Rhea County, TN clipped power lines 75 feet over Watts Bar Lake before he ejected.

Navy Lt. Ken Shade says the pilot, Navy Reserve Comm. Kevin Hagnstad, broke a leg when he ejected from the one-seat training jet that crashed about 11:00 a.m. Monday., 3/29.

A Tennessee Valley Authority spokeswoman says high-voltage lines over the Watts Bar Lake were severed and fuel tanks were jettisoned in the water. Officials are not saying if that happened before the pilot ejected miles away.

Shade says the accident is being investigated. He says the jet was one of two returning to Naval Air Station Atlanta from the Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Blountville.

He was unsure if the jets participated in a weekend flyover at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Both the departure point and destination are several hours from the coast.

4) Two Oceana-based pilots were rescued Monday 3/29 after the crash of their Navy F-14 off the coast of San Diego.

The plane, part of VF-31 - the "Tomcatters" from Fighter Squadron 31 - based at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach was performing flight operations with the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.

The F-14 Tomcat went down about three miles off Point Loma shortly after 11 a.m., according to Steve Fiebing, public affairs officer for North Island Naval Air Station.

The home base is east coast, and this jet was on training manuevers onboard an aircraft carrier off the west coast.

[4thygipper]

This is a little while back, but I think we all need to remind ourselves of that old President Bush (#1) ad against Dukakis that had him driving the tank and talking about how weak on defense he is. For you politicos you can watch every presidential commerical back to 1955 at http://www.ammi.org/livingroomcandidate/index_2000.html If you have the time check out that Bush ad and think about John Kerry. Dukakis and Kerry are have a lot in common. Lets pray for the re-election of our great President.

[MamaDearest]

I think it is time that we FReep the President.

It's time we brought back shock and awe to Falluja and damn the dems and their histronics. The deaths, mutilations and disrepect of our dead is simply intolerable. To let it go is letting them spit on our efforts to help them. If they are not with us, then they are against us! We all heard the speech. This cannot continue! I agree with you 100% Granny.

[WestCoastGal]

No one would dare harm a matrix person!! But, please do be careful, and let us know when you get home. Have fun, it's a great city!!