Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread SEVENTEEN

World Net Daily ^ | 8-10-04 | Paul Sperry

[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 Sixteen

With the nation on high alert for al-Qaida terrorists, the Department of Homeland Security is putting its border officers through "etiquette" classes to soften their image and make them less threatening to arriving foreign immigrants, WorldNetDaily has learned.

"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!

[HipShot]

"How's your headache? Hopefully gone!"

I'm doing just fine, thanks! It was like someone flipped a switch and turned it off.

[Cindy]

and here's a Southern Border FR discussion:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1196378/posts

[liberallyconservative]

Thanks for the link(s), Cindy.

[nwctwx]

Terrorism-related events in Latin America

By The Associated Press
A look at terrorism-related events in Latin America since late last year:

-- In Honduras, Security Minister Oscar Alvarez says evidence shows terrorists, likely from al-Qaida, may be trying to recruit Hondurans to carry out attacks in Central America.

-- In El Salvador, authorities reinforce security at the international airport and along the borders after purported al-Qaida threats appear on the Internet against the country for its support of the U.S.-led mission in Iraq.

-- In Panama, the United States and seven Latin American countries -- including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Peru and Panama -- carry out a weeklong anti-terror exercise aimed at protecting the Panama Canal.

-- Along the U.S.-Mexican border, the FBI issues an alert for Adnan Gulshair El Shukrijumah, 29, an alleged al-Qaida cell leader and bombmaker, saying the Saudi pilot may try to cross into Arizona or Texas. Mexican authorities said they had no evidence he had entered Mexico.

--In Mexicali, near the border with California, eight people from Armenia, Iran and Iraq are arrested Thursday on charges they may have entered Mexico with false documents. Although they did not appear to have ties to terrorists, they are part of Mexico's growing crackdown on non-Mexican migrants.

-- In McAllen, Texas, 48-year-old Farida Goolam Mahamed Ahmed of South Africa is arrested after wading across the Rio Grande into Texas. Officials detain her as she tries to board a flight, saying she carried a passport with pages missing. She pleads innocent to violating U.S. immigration law, and authorities are investigating whether she has ties to terrorists. During a court hearing Aug. 20, testimony indicates Ahmed traveled from Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 8, via Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to London, then to Mexico City on or about July 14. The countries she traveled through do not require South Africans to have visas.

-- Honduran officials say Shukrijumah was spotted earlier this year at an Internet cafe in the capital, Tegucigalpa.

-- In Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft warns that al-Qaida is determined to launch a U.S. attack in the next few months, and he asks state and local law enforcement and the public for help tracking down seven people believed to be connected to al-Qaida. One of the seven is Shukrijumah, who once lived in Florida. "All present a clear and present danger to America. All should be considered armed and dangerous,'' Ashcroft said.

-- In Mexico, authorities cancel two Los Angeles-bound flights from Mexico City and force a third to turn around after takeoff because the United States, Canada and Interpol told Mexico they suspected terrorists might be using Mexican soil to plan an attack.

[nwctwx]

Family holds funeral for hostage beheaded in Saudi Arabia
Newsday.Com

PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. -- Family and friends of an American contractor kidnapped and beheaded in Saudi Arabia gathered for a funeral Saturday, more than two months after the engineer disappeared.

About 100 people attended services for Paul M. Johnson Jr., who grew up in Eagleswood Township, N.J. and once lived in Florida. He had worked in Saudi Arabia for Lockheed Martin for more than a decade. Johnson was kidnapped June 12 by militants in Riyadh who demanded the release of al-Qaida prisoners in exchange for the 49-year-old's life. Photographs and a video of the beheading were later posted on the Internet.

Hours later, Saudi security forces shot and killed Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, alleged mastermind of Johnson's kidnapping and murder.

Not all of Johnson's remains were recovered, but the family thought it was time for a funeral. "This is not a full closure, but it is some closure," said Johnson's son, Paul M. Johnson III.

Johnson's remains will be cremated and sent to Thailand. His widow is a native of Thailand, and the couple had planned to move there after Johnson's contract expired.

Johnson's casket, draped with an American flag, was carried into a church by an Air Force honor guard, which also fired a 21-gun salute.

[nwctwx]

Washington accused of ignoring nuclear terror threat
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles

The Bush administration insists that its top priority is keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. But in a withering new book, one of America's foremost nuclear weapons experts argues that the White House has been so heedless of the threat that nuclear armageddon in one or more US cities is now "more likely than not" over the next decade.

Graham Allison, a former defence official under both Republican and Democratic administrations and now a leading researcher at Harvard, describes the Bush administration as "reckless" for its failure to secure fissile materials around the world and its apparent lack of interest in preventing North Korea and Iran from becoming nuclear powers. In his book Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, Mr Allison lays out a series of measures to minimise the risk that al-Qa'ida or another group could either build or buy a nuclear weapon and then smuggle it into the United States.

He demonstrates that the Bush White House, for all its bullish rhetoric, has taken none of them.

"No one observing the behaviour of the US government after 9/11 would note any significant changes in activity aimed at preventing terrorists from acquiring the world's most destructive technologies," he writes. At the same time, al-Qa'ida is known to have taken steps to obtain nuclear weaponry since 1992, and has publicly stated its ambition to kill four million Americans.

"On the current course," Mr Allison concludes, "nuclear terrorism is inevitable." The most likely scenario, according to security experts, is that al-Qa'ida or another group would buy or steal fissile material and then construct its own bomb, using science that has been in the public domain for 30 years. Hence the urgent need to secure the world's relatively restricted stockpiles of that fissile material - either highly enriched uranium or plutonium. However, a programme for securing nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union, pioneered by US Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar, has been so poorly funded that it will take another 13 years to finish at the current pace. "The incandescent and incontestable fact is that in the two years after 9/11, fewer potential nuclear weapons' worth of highly enriched uranium and plutonium were secured than in the two years before 9/11," Mr Allison told The Independent on Sunday.

A further 43 countries have varying amounts of fissile material as by-products of their civilian nuclear power industries, but as things stand the US is only willing to take this off their hands if they pay for the privilege.

Mr Allison described the Bush administration's approach to North Korea and Iran as "paralysis" - offering neither carrots nor sticks to prevent those countries becoming full nuclear weapons states. If North Korea developed a full nuclear production line - carrying with it the distinct possibility of selling parts or technology to the highest bidder - it would be "the greatest failure of American diplomacy in all our history".

A nuclear North Korea would almost certainly induce Japan and South Korea to develop their own programmes. And the Bush administration is talking about new nuclear tests and the development of so-called "mini-nukes" and atomic bunker-buster bombs.

Mr Allison ascribed many of the White House's failures to the war in Iraq, which, he says, has diverted attention and eaten up resources in a country that had neither nuclear weapons nor a nuclear weapons programme.

But he also accused the White House of a failure of imagination, an odd combination of denial and fatalism."They don't get that this is a preventable catastrophe," he said. An effective "war on nuclear terrorism", Mr Allison argued, would cost around $5bn (£2.75bn) per year. "In a current budget that devotes more than $500bn to defence and the war in Iraq," he suggested, "a penny of every dollar for what Bush calls 'our highest priority' would not be excessive."

[nwctwx]

Alleged vigilante insists bin Laden was within reach
The Globe and Mail

[Excerpt]

Kabul -; An American on trial for allegedly torturing Afghan terror suspects in a private jail claimed Saturday in his first interview from custody that he was hot on the heels of Osama bin Laden and other militant leaders when he was arrested on July 5.

Jonathan Idema told AP that he had official sanction from Afghans and Americans to hunt down terrorists and said he has been prevented from showing the evidence in court. Prosecutors contend that Mr. Idema was waging a private war. He could be sentenced to 20 years in a crumbling Afghan prison if convicted.

"We would have had [renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin] Hekmatyar in 14 days or less. We would have had bin Laden in less than 30 days" had he and his team not been arrested, said Mr. Idema, a colourful former U.S. Army soldier who spent three years in jail in the 1980s for allegedly bilking 60 companies out of more than $200,000 in goods.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, Mr. Idema came to Afghanistan and was featured in several books about the war and the search for Mr. bin Laden. He has also worked with several western TV networks. He said he came to Afghanistan again earlier this year because he felt U.S. anti-terror efforts were failing.

At least four Afghan intelligence officials sat in on the 75-minute interview in a sparsely decorated room on the top floor of a building at the National Security Directorate -; Afghanistan's chief intelligence agency.

Though none interceded, Mr. Idema made frequent references to not being able to speak freely in their presence. He claimed he was badly beaten repeatedly by his jailers, though he had no visible cuts or bruises.

"Everything I was accused of doing [to the Afghan prisoners] got done to me," said the Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-native, sitting in a T-shirt, black pants and brown combat boots on a couch between two of the officials. He was not handcuffed.

As he has done during his trial in a Kabul court, he wore dark sunglasses throughout the interview and refused a request to be photographed.

Mr. Idema accused the FBI of orchestrating his arrest, saying the agency was trying to cover up its own incompetence in hunting for terrorists. But the U.S. government has described him as a vigilante working on his own.

[Cindy]

You're very welcome.

[nwctwx]

Berlin rejects U.S. official's claim on Iran's nuclear program
Tehran Times

BERLIN (IRNA) -- The German government dismissed remarks by U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton alleging that Iran had admitted to Germany, France and Britain that it could build nuclear weapons in three years.

"I cannot confirm this," a top German Foreign Ministry official told IRNA in Berlin Friday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was reacting to Bolton's statements in the U.S. media claiming Iran had informed the three European powers that it could produce weapons-grade uranium within a year and nuclear weapons within three years.

A hawkish nominee of U.S. President George W. Bush, Bolton has become the front man for America's psychological warfare with Iran.

Tehran has repeatedly stressed that its nuclear program is peaceful and has called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to finally close its file with the agency.

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Uncertainties seen rocking global economic growth
Top economist says surging oil prices and rising interest rates may affect expected turnaround ...



"Have you been to an American kitchen? A refrigerator in an American kitchen is as big as a room in Japan. It is used basically as a heating system for the kitchen and an inefficient cooling system for the food," he said.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/Business/2004/08/21/1093063499.htm

[Domestic Church]

"Wasn't there a report on ING pulling out recently?"

ING pulled out of JANUS.

[Domestic Church]

"2.To Amish Khaok "

????

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Saudi Arabia set to exceed record budget surplus projections

RIYADH : Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is headed for a budget surplus of as much as 35 billion dollars this fiscal year, as it enjoys a revenue windfall with world crude prices hitting new highs, analysts said.


http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/102328/1/.html

[Velveeta]

2.To Amish Khaok "

????

ROFL! Don't ask me!

[Velveeta]

Driver killed in rest stop crash, explosion

NEW CANAAN, Conn. -- A Mercedes Benz crashed into a gasoline pump at a highway rest stop and exploded, killing the driver, authorities said. (snip)
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct--reststopcrash0821aug21,0,4894756.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
******
Note: Canaan...another "ancient city", the promised land of ancient Palestine.

[Velveeta]

Fingers lost as bomb explodes (Australia)
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10526108%255E1702,00.html

[ExSoldier]

From the linked article: I'm exercising my right as a citizen, I've been assaulted.' " But the horror kept on growing for Streeter as he walked to his car on the phone with police, "This guy turns, and totally by surprise takes his hand and bam! It was a big guy. Shoved me onto the ground, I hit my head." A police report has been filed.

See this is becoming much more common with the liberals. Used to be you thought of a "liberal" as a kind of wishy washy professorial type who hugged bunnies and ate granola. Not anymore. The thin veneer of civilization is being stripped away as they see their way of life and WORSE their utopian dreams slip away. It is forcing them to reveal their true selves. They really are psychopathic barbarians.

[Velveeta]

Doctors Wonder If Mysterious Hmong Sickness Will Resurface

Minneapolis (AP) During the 1980s Hmong men in America were dying mysteriously in their beds, at night, in their sleep. The mysterious illness, called Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome, eventually vanished as mysteriously as it appeared.

Now, with more than five thousand Hmong refugees arriving in the Twin Cities this summer, some doctors wonder if it will resurface. (snip)
http://wcco.com/localnews/local_story_234170059.html

[Domestic Church]

Look at the location of the two balloons and what falls between them...no laughing this time. If you could pick the most defensless lambs to slaughter...

[Selene]

Saturday, August 21, 2004

CDC joins island illness probe
Island visitors pour in for fun but take health precautions

PUT-IN-BAY -- The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has sent three researchers to Ohio to help pinpoint the source of the mystery disease that has stricken hundreds.

Health officials have documented 378 cases and are investigating 150 other claims of illnesses, said Ohio Department of Health spokesman Kristopher Weiss.

...And as the investigation continues, tourists continue to pour in for a summer retreat but are taking precautions.

..."People at work said don't drink anything, don't eat anything and don't touch anything," Mahdinel, of Broadview Heights, said on the ferry to South Bass, which draws about 15,000 people by boat on the weekends.

http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/news/stories/20040821/localnews/1091667.html