Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1321712/posts

"Video Featuring the Terrorist Attack at the Karni Crossing Released"
SITE Institute Update ^ | Fri, 14 Jan 2005 11:52:27 -0500 | SITE Institute
Posted on 01/15/2005 10:06:05 PM PST by Calpernia

Copy of the video: http://siteinstitute.biz/videos/clips/SITE_zalzalt.rm

http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/003479.html

January 14, 2005

"Palestinian Terrorists Murder Six Israeli Civilians at Gaza Border Crossing"

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2005/01/004654print.html

January 15, 2005

"Saudi TV: "I pray to Allah that He will destroy the Jews and their helpers from among the Christians""

""Saudi Terror Conference Part III," from MEMRI via FrontPage"

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s05010070.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com

Saturday, January 15, 2005

WEBSITE VIDEO SHOWS EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF REFUGEES TESTIFYING TO KILLINGS, TORTURE AND MORE

By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

SPARTANBURG,S.C. (ANS) -- Hundreds of Montagnards have fled Vietnam for Cambodia to escape ongoing persecution by the Vietnamese Government.

However, that option is no longer available for the Montagnards, the indigenous people of Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

Cambodia has closed its northeastern border with Vietnam to halt the flow of Montagnard asylum seekers.

And that decision said Human Rights Watch ( http://hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/vietnam0105 ), “comes amidst alarming new reports of mass arrests torture, and increasing persecution of Montagnard Christians.”

Just a few days ago Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division said ( http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/01/09/vietna9967.htm ) wrote,
“The Vietnamese government's mistreatment of Montagnards continues unabated ... Instead of closing its borders to asylum seekers, the Cambodian government should be working with the United Nations refugee agency to provide sanctuary to people escaping torture and arbitrary arrest.”

According to Human Rights Watch, on Jan.1, Cambodian National Police Chief Hok Lundy ordered authorities in the border province of Ratanakiri to increase the number of border police in order to prevent Montagnard asylum seekers from entering. “The authorities have to convince the local people to be our spies in order to report how many Montagnards [enter Cambodia], to arrest them and send them back to Vietnam,” he said.

Human Rights Watch said that under Cambodia’s international treaty obligations, the Cambodian government must not return Montagnard asylum seekers so long as they face a serious risk of persecution upon return to Vietnam. Hok Lundy’s statements, which were tape recorded, make it clear that Cambodia is flouting its legal obligations, the group said.

A Montagnard Foundation video ( http://www.montagnard-foundation.org/video_MFI041116.htm ) confirmed the report from the Human Rights Watch.

In one portion of the video a Montagnard described how Vietnamese authorities chained him to a wall while forcing him to stand over nails in 2003. Vietnamese police taunted him by saying, “Where is your Jesus now?”

Also on the video a Montagnard Christian demonstrated how he was arrested by police and tortured by repeated beatings on May 22 2003 for refusing to give up practicing Christianity.

Another Montagnard man described how his entire village was forced to renounce Christianity in an official ceremony in 2003. Vietnamese police reportedly told him not to believe in God anymore and called Christianity “an American religion.” This man spent 17 months hiding in the jungle before United Nations refugee workers found him in Cambodia in 2004.

According to another account on the video by a Montagnard, Vietnamese police reportedly killed between five and six Montagnard prisoners after an April 2004 demonstration by giving them lethal injections.

Then another Montagnard man described seeing between 35 and 40 Montagnards killed by police in April 2004, lying dead on Phan Chu Trinh street in Banmathuot City. He also reported that 280 Montagnards were admitted to hospital after being attacked by police.

The video also features the account of another Montagnard man who was arrested on June 7 2004 and severely tortured by police. Fearing he was going to die in captivity the police released him. He fled to Cambodia. He said that Vietnamese police beat and tortured him, burning his stomach with both cigarettes and lighters.

As a result of this, a press release from the Montagnard Foundation said its officials are calling on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (www.unhcr.org) “and donor nations to urgently protect the Montagnard Refugees in Cambodia and ensure they are not forcibly deported against their will to Vietnam, and that Vietnam and Cambodia abide by the UN Refugee Convention.”

The Vietnamese government does not take kindly to public protests by the Montagnards about their mistreatment. On April 10 2004, thousands of Christian Montagnards conducted a peaceful prayer vigil inside Vietnam’s Central Highlands calling for an end to this ongoing persecution.

Vietnamese security forces attacked the demonstrators. Human Rights Watch reported on May 28 2004, “Hundreds of demonstrators were wounded and many were killed on April 10 and 11 on key bridges and roadways.”

Additional information about the Montagnard Foundation is available at http://www.montagnard-foundation.org/about-mfi.html

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is a candidate for the Ph.D. in intercultural education at Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jgreynalds@aol.com. Tel: (505) 877-6967 or (505) 400-7145. Note: A black and white JPEG picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at assistcomm@cs.com.

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

UPDATE...

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s05010069.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com

Saturday, January 15, 2005

EYE WITNESS DESCRIBES BANDA ACEH TSUNAMI DEVASTATION AS “UNIMAGINABLE”
Says “You Can Smell Death in the Air”

By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA (ANS) -- The humanitarian aid organization World Vision is continuing its vital relief work in areas devastated by the recent tsunami.

But how do the organization’s staff react to being plunged into the middle of such a devastated area as Banda Aceh (on the northern tip of Sumatra) in Indonesia, where World Vision videographer Tom Costanza is currently located?

In an article on World Vision’s web site, Costanza described what he saw and felt upon his arrival in Banda Aceh.

“The destruction here is unimaginable,” Costanza wrote. “Buildings are crushed, flattened and splintered. Cars and buses look as if they’ve been picked up and tossed. Bodies in bags line the sidewalks in piles of four, five, six or more. Here and there a corpse lies out in the open. And this is two weeks after the quake. It's hideous. You can smell death in the air as you drive down the streets. The one-two punch of both an earthquake and a tsunami has been devastating. It has to be seen to be believed.”

A teenager whom Costanza met at a World Vision food distribution told the videographer about the morning the day the tsunami struck.

Costanza said Mustafa spent that Sunday morning the same way he always spent Sunday mornings—playing on the beach. Back at home, he later felt the earthquake. Then according to Costanza, Mustafa heard what he described as a “volcanic eruption.”

The waters came and swept him and his family away. Mustafa was rescued by some adults and shortly afterward his dad was also saved, Costanza wrote. But Mustafa’s mom, two sisters and two cousins were lost in the tsunami. Mustafa’s father (who had a stick stuck in his neck when they found him) is now hospitalized with broken ribs and a broken pelvis from being crushed between two trees. Mustafa is living with his aunt and receiving food assistance from World Vision.

One of the World Vision distribution team members described the tsunami which killed seven of his family members (including his father, mother, brother and sister) to Costanza.

This man’s description of the tsunami was the most dramatic he had ever heard, Costanza wrote. “He described the wave as a black wall of water about 30 meters high. ‘It looked like a big, black cobra,’ he (told Costanza).”

Commenting on the team member Costanza wrote, “He came to work at World Vision because he wanted to help others. He hopes it will make him forget.”

Costanza said that World Vision continues to do “incredible work under difficult circumstances.”

Last Sunday World Vision distributed tarps and on Monday gave rice, noodles and high protein biscuits to 550 people.

One woman Costanza and a colleague talked to lost two of her three children in the tsunami. Along with 20 other people who also lost everything, she is now living in an A-frame covered with those donated tarps from World Vision.

In addition, Costanza wrote, World Vision has opened the first of what he called “child-friendly spaces.” These large tents, Costanza said, are places where children can come and relax by singing, playing, drawing and dancing.

According to Costanza, “Counselors are there to facilitate the fun and provide much needed emotional support to these traumatized children.”

One such child is 6-year-old Idawati, Costanza wrote. “She was at her grandmother's house when the tsunami came. It destroyed the house and killed both her parents and her younger sister. When Idawati arrived at the children’s center she looked lonely and was clingy. She still needs a great deal of attention, but now she plays with the other children and likes to draw.”

Individuals wanting to help World Vision continue to provide assistance to tsunami victims can go to www.kintera.org/site/pp.asp?c=fvKVLbMVIwG&b=277370&lid=tsunami_donate&lpos=main1text.

Due to a new bill passed by Congress, donations made through Jan. 31 2005 for tsunami disaster relief are eligible for a tax deduction on U.S. 2004 income tax returns.

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is a candidate for the Ph.D. in intercultural education at Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jgreynalds@aol.com. Tel: (505) 877-6967 or (505) 400-7145. Note: A black and white JPEG picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at assistcomm@cs.com.

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=14327_Abu_Mazens_Death_Squads&only=yes

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1321732/posts

"Afghanistan - Eighty detainees returned from Guantanamo, given to authorities"
AFP via Babelfish translation ^ | January 16, 2004

Posted on 01/16/2005 12:08:35 AM PST by HAL9000

"Eighty Afghan prisoners of Guantanamo given to Afghanistan"

Note: The following text is an exact quote:
===
===

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20050171.txt

NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894

January 15, 2005
Release Number: 05-01-71

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IRAQ: INSURGENTS ATTACK FROM MOSQUE AGAIN

MOSUL, Iraq -- For the second consecutive day, Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Combat Team), were engaged by anti-Iraqi insurgents from a mosque in northern Iraq.

Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia were patrolling in eastern Mosul when their convoy came under attack by anti-Iraqi insurgents. Multi-National Forces and Iraqi Security Forces came under attack from the same mosque on Jan. 14. The Multi-National Forces countered with a proportional, precise and appropriate attack.

Firing from the mosque clearly is a violation of the law of war. Iraqi authorities have stated that those insurgents using a religious center as their headquarters or as a place to attack Iraqi Security Forces or Multi-National Forces will not be safe.

-30-

http://www.wtop.com/?sid=390737&nid=417

"Police, Protesters Prepare for Inauguration"

WASHINGTON

http://www.washingtontimes.com/specialreport/20050116-121425-5516r.htm

"Security with a capital S"

By Jon Ward and Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

January 16, 2005

http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/2005/01/no_surprise_abo.html

Resource Link:

READY.gov
http://www.ready.gov

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1321743/posts

"Daily Terrorist Round-up Stories - January 16, 2005"
1/16/05

Posted on 01/16/2005 1:04:56 AM PST by Straight Vermonter

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=57612&d=16&m=1&y=2005

"The Rest of the World Has Changed With the Times and We Arabs Have Not"
Suraya Al-Shehry

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1321742/posts

"'ISLAMIC HATE' EYED IN SLAYS"
New York Post ^ | January 16, 2005 | DOUGLAS MONTERO, STEFAN C. FRIEDMAN, and Heather Gilmore

Posted on 01/16/2005 1:03:52 AM PST by nickcarraway
===
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"FAMILY OF 4 SLAUGHTERED"
New York Post ^ | 1/15/2004 | Lorena Mongelli

Posted on 01/15/2005 4:27:27 PM PST by 4.1O dana super trac pak

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1321598/posts

ON THE NET...

http://www.michellemalkin.com

http://www.danielpipes.com

More on good ole Philly...

Bomb Scare on Local Rails

CENTER CITY-January 16, 2005 — Amtrak and SEPTA regional train customers had an early morning scare at Philadelphia's Suburban Station.

The bomb squad moved in at about 4:30am Sunday after a cleaning crew found a suspicious bag and box in the underground station at 15th and JFK Boulevard.

While the bomb squad did its work, police evacuated the station, stopped all train service, and diverted all street traffic within two blocks of the station.

Fortunately, the bag and box contained nothing threatening. Train service has resumed.

"15th and JFK Boulevard"

Notice it's the same area which had the underground explosion a day or so ago

Thanks for the ping!