Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Sixteen

Yahoo ^ | 8-02-04 | AP

[JustPiper]

Credit: The Cabal

The title refers to a daily report given to the president of the United States detailing the most serious terrorist threats against the country. To tackle those threats, the government has formed a top-notch task force to infiltrate the terror cells and cut off the danger.

"Every morning, the president receives a list of the top ten terrorist threats - this list is known as the threat matrix."

We here at FR are trying to be in conjunction with the daily reports around the world that involve threats. We try to provide a storehouse of information that takes hours of research.

YOU be the Judge and get informed.


"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat."

Link to Thread Fifteen

Police Secure Businesses on Terror Alert
NEW YORK - Police searched trucks, blocked streets and posted machine-gun toting officers outside financial landmarks Monday, a day after the government's chilling warning that terrorists might target the buildings with bombs.

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers."
-- Jewish proverb

We are the "Stotters" who make ourselves aware of the
enemy who wishes to do us harm.




"What good are the color codes at all if we are suddenly hit with a bio or chem attack? There would be no warning and the danger would be instant."

"Code Red Implications
Code Red - Stay Home and Await Word."
by MamaDearest

Meet It!
Greet It!
Defeat It!

[Velveeta]

Was it a dark blue helicopter?

[Rutles4Ever]

Didn't actually see it. Other people in the office saw it. Looking top-down, they couldn't tell what color the body was...

[Velveeta]

Continuing daily prayers for you and your husband.

[freeperfromnj]

It's still there.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1186240/posts

[ladyjane]

Orange high, yellow elevated - that's what alarmed me in the joint statement yesterday. It seemed as if they had raised the threat level. Still not clear to me if they did. It seems they did!

[LikeLight]

Military fighter jet just crossed the Cumberland Valley west of Susquhanna River on a northeast heading, I'm guessing at about 10,000 feet . . . very similar to what I saw a month or two ago . . . don't see too many fighters here, so it always raises a concern, especially when the trajectory would take it right to the NYC area . . .

[Bobibutu]

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/m-n/marzullo/2004/marzullo080604.htm

War Gaming Terrorism, Part 6
August 6, 2004
by Tom Marzullo



This is the sixth (tactical) part of a series of analyses that seeks to partially game out potential terrorist attacks from the terrorist’s point of view, using some of the realistic measures that we know or suspect are available to them. 

After the basic discussions have been published, the summary for this series will then look at the potential deployment of these actions against us.  By understanding how such attacks are likely to be used, it is expected that our communities will be better prepared to go to where they are needed.  This is, after all, the very solid basis for how our founders envisioned citizen participation in conflicts.

This series is an opportunity for every citizen, without a military background in guerrilla warfare, to learn of how our sworn enemies will work in order that we may be better unified to do something useful about them.  Forewarned is forearmed.

WMDs – Toxins and Biological weapons

Toxin use by the Islamists is something that has already been in the news for years.  Potent toxins are lightweight, virtually undetectable until deployed and not very difficult to produce or ship.  We also know from confirmed reports that they have already been found stored by Islamists in the UK.

The world of the terrorist being the Darwinian situation that it is, the Islamists have learned how to better transport and store these toxins from that incident in London two years back.  Terrorism is a purely pass-fail environment and nobody gets the benefit of the use of curve or the norming of grades much to discomfort of the NEA…  This is the real world after all.  The stupid and careless die and the smarter come forward.  Deal with it.

Ricin is my toxin-du-jour… a derivative of the hulls of the castor bean; it has no known anti-toxin although extreme supportive care can keep a person affected by it alive to recover.  But just how many ICU beds do you think any major city will have?  Those available within a 500-mile region are probably equal to the number of survivors of a lethal dose.  Ricin powder (the usual form) is most toxic by the inhalation route, while ingestion requires ten times the amount to produce the same level of effect.

Since it is a powder, it is but a simple measure to place a bag (with a small explosive charge to turn it into an aerosol - think of that cell phone detonator technology the Islamists favor) into the air conditioning system of any major building.  Just how secure are your company’s mechanical spaces, hmmmm?

Just for the pure hell of it, let’s look at another little poisonous wonder… Botulinum toxin.  I will assume that you have heard of Botulism before.  This is the toxic byproduct of the Clostridium botulinum organism and is among the substances most toxic to humans (and animals). The bacteria is easy to grow with some minimal lab skills and fairly easy to mimic equipment (oxygen content, temperature and humidity are the key things to control well).  Duplicate the dispersal tactic cited above to get your brain in gear… only in this case lets limit the time to initiate effective treatment to hours, not days as with Ricin.

There are others out there as well…  For instance, Osmium has hit the news of late and any reasonably competent Toxicologist or Industrial Hygienist could supply you with a rather lengthy list in virtually no time at all.  Toxins-R-Us.

Suffice it to say that toxins are clearly a viable terrorist weapon because of their ease of production, use and the fact that they will only affect a limited area… none of those nasty epidemics to worry about.

Biological agents are a whole ‘nother ball of wax.  If they are at all really effective Bio-agents, they can get away from the intended area in no time at all and so are dicey propositions.

The key is to pick an agent with high infectivity, a longer sub-clinical period of infection and higher lethality.  Ebola virus for instance is a poor choice as people die soon after contracting it… therefore no real chance to spread.  The Small Pox virus works pretty well as we Americans showed during the Indian wars of the 19th century, those free (infected) blankets worked like a charm.  Anthrax is pretty good on most counts though we now have antibiotics that work well… something that is definitively not true when it comes to viral diseases.  Those we can immunize against, but once you have it – supportive care is all that there is.  People can survive cholera, if they don’t die from dehydration or electrolyte imbalance caused by the intractable diarrhea in the interim.

But biological agents aren’t that hard to produce if you have a sample of the strain you favor.  It was not until around 9-11 that the World Health Organization put the clamps on the distribution of disease-causing organisms virtually at will.  Open a lab, hang out a shingle and get all the bugs you want used to be the rule.  But remember, the Islamists have been at war with us for going on 20 years now, whether we actually paid attention is a moot point.

The Soviets had a huge bio-weapons program in the 1970-80s that went to pot virtually overnight… now, where did all those technicians and bacterial/viral stocks go to?  A damn good set of questions to which there are no dependable answers.

The bottom line here is that the truly effective biological weapons are likely in reserve as a doomsday device for the Islamists.  But toxins are right there, available for instant use.

Stand by… there is more yet to come.

Tom Marzullo

Reference:

See Part 1

See Part 2

See Part 3

See Part 4

See Part 5
Tom Marzullo is a columnist/physicist/educator who is a former US Army Special Forces combat soldier and US Navy Submariner with special operations experience in both services. He was the leader of the Internet-based effort by Special Forces veterans that debunked the false CNN/TIME magazine nerve gas story, 'Tailwind' and has provided testimony before the US Senate on military and intelligence matters. He resides in Colorado.

[Velveeta]

I've gathered that "two bows" refers to a distance measurement of about "one mile".

Is this perhaps a "mile long" bridge?

Is there a mile long building?

---

>>>Mankind shall be gathered on an off white land, described to be like pure flour. The mountains will be brought down, trees flattened, and everything will become dust. Every creation- jinn, men, angels will be resurrected. The congregation will be so horrendous that there will be no place to move. The sun will be brought down to about two bows length (about a mile away) which will cause mankind to be submerged in perspiration.<<<

http://www.latinodawah.org/newsletter/jan2k2newletter.html

[freeperfromnj]

Good brainstorming. You may be on the right track. There is a Mile High Stadium in Denver.

[Rutles4Ever]

On a sidenote: I received some disturbing info. from a close friend who is very well politically connected (a major donor). I would consider this person a source of high confidence (I don't give anyone 100% confidence), but I had a chance meeting with this person yesterday, and given the current environment, I asked just how serious are these threats that the gov't is warning about?

This person told me, "Very very serious. It's very bad."

This person told me that the gov't is extremely worried about al Qaeda. That they are going to use our own Constitution to destroy us.

This person told me it is widely believed that there are two (2) suitcase nukes in the country.

This person told me that President Bush is not concerned about the election at all. His biggest concern is getting the warnings out.

This person told me that the gov't is trying very hard to come up with ways to keep Bush hidden in NY when he is not at the convention.

This person agreed with my assessment that the current warnings are designed to ratchet up security without creating a panic. That the info regarding the targeting of financial sites is TRUE, however, this is not the threat they're worried about...

As I said, I regard this person with high confidence. For what it's worth, this person is NOT IN INTELLIGENCE, NOR DO I KNOW THIS PERSON'S SOURCES, but, as I said, is politically extremely well connected. This person doesn't b.s., and has no reason to...

If there's anything to take away from this, it's that the powers that be are not thinking much differently than anyone here.

I'm not shilling for anyone. I have always shown a healthy amount of skepticism towards people who come here with "inside" info... Draw your own conclusions.

[Velveeta]

WOW!

[freeperfromnj]

While searching on your "mile high" theory, I discovered there is also a building in Chicago called the One Mile High Building.

[freeperfromnj]

Thanks for sharing that information with us.

[STFrancis]

Does anyone know the name of the Lady that wrote the book about Oklahoma City and John Doe? She has been making the rounds on the talk show circuit. I can not find it for the life of me....

Thanks.

[Godzilla]

Isn't that rather like killing a fly with a stick of dynamite. I suspect he was going to use that thing for something bigger. If he wanted to kill an ambassador just use a good old fashioned gun like everybody else does. Anyone else find that strange?

No, especially since many travel in armmored vehicles. Note how they are used in abundance in Iraq.

[KylaStarr]

Jayna Davis

[Velveeta]

Last weekend was the first time I was helicopters on what seemed like "patrol" flights. It was quite comforting.

2 blue choppers circling buildings around the Grant Park and Navy Pier area. They would hover around the buildings and even looked like they hovered over the rooftops.

They made their rounds and came buzzing back about 2 hours later and repeated their patrol. This was Friday evening. On Saturday, they were out again several times. :-)

[Rutles4Ever]

You're welcome. I take everything with a grain of salt, but I think it confirms that we're on the right track around here... Ww all have to go on living our lives and being ALERT. We're at a point in time where we really have to entrust our lives to the gov't. I have every confidence that we're going to win this war. I respect the possibilities of something terrible happening, but I think that despite the intelligence failures of the past, we have the men and women who will get the job done.

Not only that... but I happen to believe that the Creator has a soft spot in His heart for the stars and stripes...

I recommend a lot of prayer and a lot of time spent being outstanding citizens. That's about all we can do from where we sit...

[Unknowing]

They tore it down, and built "Invesco Field at Mile High." Denver is called the Mile High City.