Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Twenty-Five

[nwctwx]

Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Thread Twenty-Five (Index)

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The Threat Matrix

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!

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U.S. works 'day and night' to rein in al-Qaida
Full Story

WASHINGTON - Prompted by new intelligence indicating Osama bin Laden reached out to the most feared terrorist in Iraq, President Bush charged Thursday that "al-Qaida still hopes to attack us on our own soil."

"Recently, we learned that Osama bin Laden has urged the terrorist Zarqawi to form a group to conduct attacks outside Iraq, including here in the United States," Bush said at the swearing-in of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

The president vowed, "We're working every day and night to dismantle (bin Laden's) network and to bring him to justice."

Related:
Officials: Bin Laden Urges Zarqawi to Hit U.S.
Al-Qaeda's Completed Warning Cycle - Ready to Attack?

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

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Threat Matrix "TM'er" Tips	Link to Thread Twenty-Four "Code Red Implications: Code Red - Stay Home and Await Word." From Tm'er and Freeper ~MamaDearest~
TM Code of Conduct		ExSoldier's Invaluable Tips
TM's 'Be on the Lookout'		Godzilla's Summaries
Threat Matrix Book List		Tracking the Chatter with TM

[Oorang]

McKenna backs Canada's cattle farmers, debunks terrorism myths on U.S. show
By BETH GORHAM

WASHINGTON (CP) - Canada is "not going to sit back and abandon its farmers" over the mad cow crisis, even if that means the United States will lose processing jobs, Ambassador Frank McKenna told a call-in television show Wednesday.

Appearing for a half-hour on C-SPAN, a political cable channel, McKenna also attacked the "urban legend" that any terrorists involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks crossed into the United States from Canada, as well as persistent views that the border is a major security problem.

And he told one caller with a long list of grievances about Canada that major policy differences and a few "loose cannons" who have disparaged the United States don't mean the country is anti-American.

Just a month into the job, McKenna is fast becoming a strong pitch man for Canadian interests and quick to respond to American criticism.

He took issue last weekend with a New York Times editorial that alleged terrorists routinely cross the border into the states, firing off a letter to debunk the claim.

Excerpted

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/03/30/976967-cp.html

[nwctwx]

OT: SEVERE WEATHER (Tornadoes) in Illinois (Chicago Included)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1374096/posts

[Oorang]

If there was no bomb in the suitcase, but it was considered "suspicious", why don't they say what was in the suitcase?

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

'Suspicious suitcase' causes street closures

Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times

A "suspicious suitcase" left on a sidewalk near El Paso Community College's Rio Grande Campus on Tuesday night led to several nearby blocks being cordoned off, police said.

The suitcase was reported at 6:20 p.m. in the 1100 block of North Oregon.

The police bomb squad remotely opened the case at 9 p.m. and learned there was no bomb. Police did not disclose what was in the luggage.

http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050330/NEWS/503300336/1001

[Oorang]

Long, but interesting read.

U Penn’s Terror Apologists
By Jacob Laksin
FrontPageMagazine.com | March 30, 2005

At first blush, the University of Pennsylvania appears immune from the recent spate of “Peace Studies” programs that have found a home at campuses nationwide. Administered at no fewer than 40 universities across America, these programs’ sole purpose is to anathematize American foreign policy and any institution or ally associated with it, under cover of dispassionate scholarship. However, as a closer look at U Penn’s course syllabus reveals, the “Peace Studies” program exists at the Ivy League school in everything but name.

A case in point: A U Penn course called “National and Ethnic Conflict-Regulation.”

A leftwing amalgam of political science, comparative politics, international relations and public policy, U Penn’s National and Ethnic Conflict-Regulation course purports to examine the ways in which governments respond to ethnic conflict. In keeping with this aim, it surveys those corners of the earth, past and present, where national and ethnic conflicts have flared with the greatest intensity: Northern Ireland, South Africa, Nazi Germany, and, curiously, the United States. Students with an interest in the troubled Middle East, however, will be in for a disappointment, in that there appears to be only one conflict in the tumultuous region meriting serious scholarly study: Israel/Palestine.

Though course descriptions do not disclose a syllabus, UPenn’s choice of professor reveals much about the direction of the course. This spring, it will be taught by Brendan O’Leary, a political science professor at UPenn. To gain some insight into O’Leary’s approach to conflict studies, one need look no further than the remarks he made just two days following the terrorist attacks of 9-11. Counseling against easy condemnations of the attackers, O’Leary instead urged his audience to ponder how the attackers “might have seen their actions.” O’Leary then offered his own, interpretation of the attacks’ root causes:

“The people who organized these atrocities were probably motivated by the world-religion that is most secularization-resistant, and from the peoples who feel most humiliated and outraged by western power, and its leading state, the United States of America.”

Excerpted

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17538

[Oorang]

Syria ignores demand to pull agents

The Associated Press
Thursday, March 31, 2005

UNITED NATIONS, New York Syria promised the United Nations it would withdraw all troops from Lebanon before parliamentary elections, but it did not mention the pullout of its intelligence operatives, which the UN Security Council has demanded.

Excerpted

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/30/news/syria.html

[Oorang]

Taliban claim to be behind new violence

Reuters
Thursday, March 31, 2005

KABUL One person was killed and one wounded when a car bomb exploded in front of government buildings in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, a state agency official said.

The blast, for which Taliban guerrillas claimed responsibility, came as Laura Bush, the U.S. first lady, was to visit Kabul about 120 kilometers, or 75 miles, to the west of Jalalabad.

It was the latest incident in a wave of violence. Taliban activity had dropped off during the winter. More attacks are expected with the onset of spring.

Excerpted

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/30/news/afghan.html

[Oorang]

What role for militant groups in Palestinian democracy?

Hamas and Islamic Jihad likely to take part in upcoming elections.

By Matthew Clark | csmonitor.com
posted March 30, 2005, updated 1:00 p.m.

Will Hamas and Islamic Jihad – two of the largest, most influential Palestinian militant groups – ever trade the bullet for the ballot?

That prospect is not likely to happen soon, but recent signs indicate that both groups are seriously considering moves to parlay their street credibility into democratic legitimacy.

As July 17 legislative elections approach, the groups no longer seem to want to remain outside of the mainstream Palestinian political process, as they have traditionally. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), now led by Mahmoud Abbas, is the only internationally recognized legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who advocate the destruction of Israel, have refused to join the PLO, largely because it removed an anti-Israel clause from its charter.

Hamas decided a few weeks ago that it would run in the July elections. It boycotted the last parliamentary elections in 1996. The Associated Press reports that Hamas "has emerged as key player in Palestinian politics, with an overwhelming victory in municipal elections in Gaza in January and gains in a West Bank vote."

Islamic Jihad head Mohammed al-Hindi attended a PLO executive committee meeting in Gaza Tuesday. As the Israeli daily Ha'aretz points out, this marks "the first time that a religious Islamic group has participated in a meeting of the PLO's highest decision-making body."

Excerpted

http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/sept11/dailyUpdate.html

[Cindy]

MEMRI.ORG: "SYRIA"
http://www.memri.org/syria.html

[Cindy]

OFF TOPIC...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1374127/posts

"CBSNews.com's Draft Schiavo Obit Found on Internet"
AP ^ | March 30 2005


Posted on 03/30/2005 2:34:44 PM PST by West Coast Conservative

[Cindy]

PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org

===
===

March 30, 2005

Note: The following text is an exact quote:
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Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org

 

BODY OF MISSING PERUVIAN CHRISTIAN UNCOVERED  AT MILITARY BASE

 


     The remains of an evangelical Christian in Peru who disappeared in 1989 have been found at a military base. 

 

     According to a partner ministry of the evangelical human rights organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the remains of Guzman Castillo Roque were returned to his family who have given him a Christian burial.

 

     Castillo Roque was detained on Oct. 25 1989 along with two other Christians, Jorge Párraga Castillo and Tito Roque Huamanlazo, in Atcas, about 180 km south east of Lima. The three were taken by a military patrol and never heard from again.

 

     The bodies of Jorge Párraga Castillo, an evangelical pastor, and of Tito Roque Huamanlazo have not been found, but a news release from CSW stated it is assumed they met a similar fate.
 
     With Castillo Roque's remains, the CSW news release said, investigators found a bullet in the ribs, pieces of clothing, burnt rope and a number broken bones, indicating he was tortured before being killed. Investigators also concluded that the body was burnt before being hidden and buried. 

 

     Around 70,000 Peruvians were killed or disappeared during years of internal strife as militant guerrilla groups the Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement battled government forces for control of the country (www.worldrevolution.org/article/1012). While a Peruvian government commission found the Shining Path to be responsible for most of the deaths and disappearances, CSW reported that government forces have also been blamed for a significant number.

 

     The body's exhumation base was performed by Mario Gonzalez, a Peruvian public prosecutor. In addition, according to the news release from CSW, the Legal Medicine Institute also participated alongside family members of the victims and a team from Paz y Esperanza – CSW's partner ministry. 

 

     According to Ruth Cespedes, regional director of Paz y Esperanza, while the organization considers the discovery of the body to be a positive development, they want the search for the other missing individuals to continue.

 

     In addition, they are calling upon the Peruvian Ministry of Defense to be forthcoming with details about the activities of military personnel at the time of the murder and disappearances. 

 

     Mervyn Thomas, CSW's Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Guzman, Pastor Parraga and Tito. Having met with families of the disappeared I have seen their pain in not knowing what has happened to their loved ones. CSW commends the Peruvian government's decision to carry out this investigation and encourages it to continue until the truth of what happened in the 1980's and 1990's is brought to light. (It's) not only for closure for the families of those who were disappeared and killed, but also for the healing of the nation of Peru."

 

     Additional information about Christian Solidarity Worldwide is available at  www.csw.org.uk

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1374031/posts

"Solving the riddle of H5N1 . . . (Bird Flu)"
Taipei Times via NewsPundit.net ^ | 3/26/2005 | Mark Honigsbaum


Posted on 03/30/2005 12:31:07 PM PST by ex-Texan

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1374237/posts

"Twenty-Seven Killed, 285 Poisoned In East China Chlorine Leak"
Channel News Asia ^ | March 30, 2005 | AFP


Posted on 03/30/2005 5:23:10 PM PST by srm913


BEIJING

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Pray for Israel...

Settlers praying for a miracle
Neve Dekalim Settlement, Gaza Strip - Jewish settlers in Gaza on Wednesday prayed that divine intervention would save them from expulsion after political efforts to stall Israel's planned pullout from the territory failed.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1682902,00.html


Jewish Settlers Urged to Give Up Weapons
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4901933,00.html

'Allah' found etched into wall of Temple Mount
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/558870.html



Police to Shut Temple Mount to Jewish Visitors during Passover
http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=79297

U.N. Hears of Persecution of Christians
The United Nations is hearing accounts of persecution in China today.
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0036018.cfm

Hackers Steal Russian Central Bank Transactions — Paper
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/03/30/stolentransactions.shtml

[Cindy]

Yep, I had multiple choices on finishing the sentence, and really that was an interesting article.

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

http://www.al-qal3ah.net/vb/

[Quix]

Thanks. Amen!

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1374040/posts

"Terrorism bill would stiffen penalties for animal rights threats"
The Akron Beacon Journal ^ | Mar. 29, 2005 | CARRIE SPENCER


Posted on 03/30/2005 12:40:42 PM PST by neverdem
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio

[all4one]

Investigators: Fatal Explosion at Texas Refinery Might Have Been Sparked by Car Ignition (3/30/05

By Pam Easton Associated Press Writer Published: Mar 30, 2005

HOUSTON (AP) - Investigators said Wednesday it appears likely some sort of spark combined with hydrocarbon liquid and vapor to set off the fiery refinery explosion that killed 15 people and injured more than 100 others last week.

Investigators are considering the possibility a car's ignition caused the blast in the plant's isomerization unit, which boosts octane levels in gasoline, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board spokesman Daniel Horowitz said.

"Witness evidence points to possible ignition sources on the ground," CSB manager Bill Hoyle said in a statement. "At this time, the exact ignition source remains unknown." ...

Link to Full Article

[all4one]

6 Iraqis Detained on Mexican Border (3/30/05)

twincities.com ^ | Mar. 30, 2005 | BRENDAN M. CASE

Posted on 03/30/2005 5:27:40 PM EST by TERMINATTOR

MEXICO CITY - (KRT) - Mexican officials detained six Iraqis at checkpoints near the California border over the past week as they apparently were preparing to enter the United States, Mexico's attorney general's office said Tuesday....

Link to FR Post

[all4one]

Al-Jazeera Broadcasts Alleged Tape of Four Hostages; One Apparently an American (3/30/05)

By Mariam Fam Associated Press Writer Published: Mar 30, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Al-Jazeera satellite channel aired a tape Wednesday that purported to show three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq and a fourth unidentified person, apparently an American.

The station said the four were held by an unnamed militant group and no demands were made.

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that a U.S. citizen was taken hostage with the three Romanians. However, the department gave no further information so there was no way of confirming if the American was also on the video....

Link to Full Article