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| Locked on 07/11/2005 8:20:21 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason: |
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Oops this sitekeeps updating so the links change.
Let's go here:
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs
The abbasid empire caliphate was centered in Baghdad. I was thinking their rhetoric implied that Zarqawi had some sort of plan for that region, to destabilize it further... and gain control of the city. I would guess the chances of that happening are slim to none... but, that was my take.
= = =
Some analysts suspect bin Laden slipped into Iran
The Wasington Times via World Peace Herald ^ | June 13, 2005 | Rowan Scarborough
Posted on 06/14/2005 10:46:52 PM EDT by WmShirerAdmirer
WASHINGTON -- Some within the U.S. intelligence community think Osama bin Laden is in eastern Iran, instead of the rugged tribal areas of Pakistan's northwestern frontier, where most American officials think he is still on the run.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1422983/posts
Well, I wouldn't be so sure that they believe it is an impossibility. Baghdad was the caliphate center during the crusades, and AQ continually makes comparisons between now and that time period... perhaps their next move involves that city, rather than a western one.
Nuclear Terror
Set your VCR to record CNN Presents Classroom Edition: Nuclear Terror when it airs commercial-free on Monday, June 20, 2004 from 4:00-5:00 a.m. on CNN.
Program Overview
It is our worst nightmare: A terrorist group builds a nuclear device and smuggles it into a major American city. Could it happen? Unfortunately, experts say yes. In fact, a leading expert says "... if everybody just keeps doing what we're doing, a nuclear terrorist attack is inevitable." Three years after 9/11, has the threat of nuclear terrorism grown worse? CNN Presents investigates in this special report.
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2004/fyi/news/09/09/cnnpce.nuclear.terror/
| The threat we won't discuss |
| By Paul Kelly |
| June 15, 2005 |
|
NOTHING better reveals the unreality of Australia's political class than the frequent remarks that global warming, as distinct from nuclear terrorism, is the world's main problem. This is the chatter, loaded with spin, beloved by certain Labor premiers. It displays both an intellectual failure and the fatalism abroad in Australia about the most urgent and intractable issue facing the world. Yet it has become almost politically incorrect to discuss it. The visit to Australia this week of Pakistan's leader, Pervez Musharraf, our friend and ally, is precisely the time to discuss it. Musharraf, after the September 11 attack, took the momentous decision to switch sides, ditch the Taliban and back the US. As a result the US (and Australia) have fudged the truth about Pakistan's hero and nuclear mastermind, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who changed forever the politics of proliferation in two respects. First, Khan symbolised a Pakistan strategy where its nuclear capability was seen as an "Islamic bomb" designed not just to combat India but, in the words of former Pakistan leader, Ali Bhutto, to vindicate Islamic civilisation. The idea of an Islamic bomb as a "civilisational" weapon remains strong. This was proven in August 2001 when Osama bin Laden met two officials from Pakistan's nuclear industry, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Abdul Majeed, near Kabul to plan al-Qa'ida's attacks beyond September 11. Mahmood had called Pakistan's bomb "the property of a whole Islamic community". Both men were later arrested and questioned by Pakistan-CIA teams, with the officials confirming they had spoken to bin Laden at length about weapons of mass destruction. An account of these events is provided by Harvard University's Graham Allison, founding dean of the Kennedy School of Government and former senior Pentagon official in the Clinton administration, in his recent book Nuclear Terrorism. "In the end, US intelligence agencies concluded that Mahmood and Majeed had provided bin Laden with a blueprint for constructing nuclear weapons," Allison said. This was the advice the CIA gave President George W. Bush. When bin Laden discussed the September 11 attack with its chief planner, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, they thought of hitting nuclear facilities but decided to leave the nuclear targets "for now". After the attack, al-Qa'ida's then spokesman, Suleiman Abu Gheith, asserted its right to "kill four million Americans, two million of them children, and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple hundreds of thousands". No prizes for guessing how they intended to kill so many. Explaining why the US was the target, he said: "America is the reason for all oppression, injustice, licentiousness, or suppression that is the Muslim's lot." Allison says that on October 11, 2001, Bush was informed by the CIA it had an agent's report, unconfirmed, that al-Qa'ida terrorists had smuggled a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb stolen from Russia's arsenal into New York City. Several months earlier US intelligence had detected chatter in al-Qa'ida channels about an "American Hiroshima". Only a nuclear bomb can kill hundreds of thousands instantaneously. The report, fortunately, was wrong. The second way Khan transformed the politics of proliferation was his nuclear trading for huge profits on a scale the world has never seen - he sold nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea (which he visited 13 times). When exposed, Khan accepted full responsibility and absolved Musharraf. The New York Times's David Sanger in his June 2004 Stanford University paper on Khan says: "If the lesson of Iraq is that it is dangerous to overestimate the size and sophistication of a covert weapons program, the lesson of the Khan network is that it is equally dangerous to underestimate it as well." US intelligence admits that it lost track of what Khan was doing. The problem, as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei says, is that "the information is now all over the place". Sanger says: "It now seems more likely that, sooner or later, a rogue state or terror group will be able to obtain the ingredients and the designs for nuclear weapons. The world is left watching a terrifying race - one that pits scientists, middlemen and extremists against Western powers trying to intercept, shipload by shipload, the technology as it spreads through the clandestine network." Khan's corruption highlights the failure of the recent UN conference to strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The political compact between the nuclear and non-nuclear powers is now unravelling, pointing to more proliferation. It is hardly a surprise that Pakistan, a non-signatory to the NPT, has been such a huge proliferator. The other nations outside the treaty are India, Israel and North Korea. ElBaradei says "absolutely nothing" came from the month-long NPT meeting. Meanwhile, Musharraf has tightened his control in Pakistan, though the Islamists want to kill him and seize the state's nuclear assets or, alternatively, create another proliferation channel to uphold Islamic civilisation. In his cool-headed book, Allison outlines a strategy for nuclear prevention based on control of nuclear materials and ensuring there are no new nuclear weapon states. He nominates Russia followed by Pakistan as the sources where terrorists are most likely to obtain the lethal materials. Allison argues a "dirty bomb attack is overdue". Stressing the need for urgent action, he says: "In my own considered judgment, on the current path, a nuclear attack on America in the decade ahead is more likely than not." He slams the Bush administration for its ineptitude in addressing the danger. Such an event and its consequences would be dire for the entire world, including Australia. At least the terrorists are honest. They say that they want nuclear technology and they intend to use it. Allison recycles a line from a US television ad where a child asks: "Mummy, won't the bomb wake everybody up?" |
| Source Link: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15614591%255E12250,00.html |
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1423080/posts
"CA: Cleric Denies He Trained Calif. Man ~~ Lodi CA man, Cleric in Pakistan"
Las Vegas Sun ^ | June 14, 2005 at 21:03:36 PDT | MUNIR AHMAD ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted on 06/14/2005 10:39:04 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) -
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "A white-bearded cleric, tutor to hundreds of Islamic students at a Pakistani seminary near the capital, on Tuesday branded FBI allegations that his 22-year-old grandson received jihadist training while attending the school a "pack of lies."
Qari Saeed-ur Rehman, leader of the Jamia Islamia madrassah in Rawalpindi, said his grandson Hamid Hayat and son-in-law Umer Hayat, 47, were wrongfully arrested in California last week, and he dismissed suggestions they were linked to an al-Qaida cell.
"Hamid Hayat never received religious education at my madrassah. There is no terrorist camp here. We reject such FBI allegations," Rehman, a supporter of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, told The Associated Press in an interview at the school, which lies inside a grand mosque in a teeming commercial district of the city - also home to the headquarters of Pakistan's army.
"All allegations leveled against them by the FBI are a pack of lies," he said.
An FBI spokeswoman in Sacramento, Calif., said the agency stood by the allegations it made in court documents.
"Time will tell what we come up with," spokeswoman Marcie Soligo said. "That's his opinion and that's fine. We stick by what was in the affidavit."
She said the agency's investigation was still under way."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1423084/posts
"Mounties uncover Al Qaeda cache"
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1118700615668&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes ^ | Jun. 14, 2005 | MICHELLE SHEPHARD
Posted on 06/14/2005 10:54:22 PM PDT by Antioch
"Plans, tapes diaries seized at Pearson airport Zaynab Khadr denies they belong to her"
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "OTTAWA—The RCMP and Canadian military believe they've discovered a vital cache of information on Al Qaeda that includes the whereabouts of wanted members and details of attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan.
The information is allegedly contained in a laptop, dozens of DVDs, audiocassettes and the pages of diaries, seized by the RCMP officers who met Zaynab Khadr at Pearson airport with a search warrant as she arrived back in Canada in February, court documents state.
Khadr is the eldest daughter of a family that has admitted close ties to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and whose patriarch was once believed to be the highest-ranking Canadian member of Al Qaeda. Her younger brother, Omar, is currently Canada's only known detainee in the American camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1422692/posts
"Daily Terrorist Round-Up 6/14/05"
6/14/05
Posted on 06/14/2005 11:08:26 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
The last paragraph is the clencher.
Political Correctness strikes again...
ON THE NET...
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=16223_Dhimmitude_in_Vermont&only
A different kind of terror in Alaska.
The bugs are back with a biting vengeance
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/6599095p-6483140c.html
Yuk.
Bugs are terrorizers.
Zap, Zap, Zap...love those bug zappers.
Swat...wham.
Love those fly swatters.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1423110/posts
"Italians consider trashing euro, returning to lira"
Washington Times ^ | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 | By John Phillips
Posted on 06/15/2005 1:08:37 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
THE WASHINGTON TIMES June 15, 2005
ROME
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1423098/posts
"Iran has failed to provide crucial nuclear information - ElBaradei"
Middle East Times ^ | June 14, 2005 | Michael Adler
Posted on 06/14/2005 11:51:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "VIENNA -- The UN atomic agency's investigation of Iran will continue as Iran has failed to provide "sufficient" information on crucial questions about uranium-enriching centrifuges and nuclear smuggling, the agency's chief said on Tuesday.
Mohamed ElBaradei also said that Iran had not given access requested by the IAEA to the Lavizan and Parchin military sites, where diplomats say that weaponization work is suspected.
Diplomats said that the agency had also requested but had been denied access so far to interview key officials such as Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a brigadier general who has worked at Lavizan.
Information is lacking over how close Iran is to being able to use sophisticated centrifuges for enriching uranium as well as its links to international nuclear smuggling, ElBaradei told a meeting of the 35-nation board of governors of his International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Speaking after being elected on Monday to a third four-year term as IAEA director general, ElBaradei, 62, said that the IAEA investigation of Iran would continue, even if progress was being made on some fronts.
"Iran has provided some additional documentation and information, which are not yet sufficient to answer several remaining questions," ElBaradei said."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1423124/posts
"Specter to hold hearings on Gitmo prisoners' rights"
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | 6/15/05 | Maeve Reston
Posted on 06/15/2005 2:14:09 AM PDT by Crackingham
Note: The following text is an exact quote:
===
===
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2005/06/006635print.html
June 14, 2005
Cutthroat! Terror plan for Citigroup
Details of a plan targeting New York's financial institutions from the New York Daily News, with thanks to T.
A terrorism plot that sparked last summer's Orange Alert envisioned turning the Citigroup Center into "cutthroat shrapnel," according to a report yesterday.
In reconnaissance plans, accused terrorist Dhiren Barot, currently jailed in Britain, called the building a glass house whose panels could be turned into "a potential flying piece of cutthroat shrapnel," according to a CBS News report.
Barot carefully cased the landmark tower on Lexington Ave. and E. 53rd St. down to the smallest detail - even describing how the toilets could be used as a place to assemble a bomb.
"The documents were very detailed," NYPD Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne told the Daily News. "They included, for example, how many seats there were around the conference table in the board room of the New York Stock Exchange [which he also scouted]. The level of detail showed they had engaged in serious reconnaissance."
Barot, 33, whose alleged Al Qaeda alias was Abu Eisa Al Hindi, checked out financial centers in Newark and Washington in addition to Citigroup and the Stock Exchange. A 50-page printout from his computer obtained by CBS revealed he was very thorough...
Posted at June 14, 2005 09:09 AM
Note: The following text is an exact quote:
===
===
http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20050603.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
June 12, 2005
Release Number: 05-06-03
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AIR STRIKES OUTSIDE OF KARABILAH
CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq -- Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team-2 engaged a terrorist force in western Al Anbar Province, June 11.
Marine Infantry supported by Coalition and Marine Corps aircraft engaged several large groups of terrorists armed with AK-47 assault rifles, medium machine guns and RPGs while conducting operations on the outskirts of Karabilah. The terrorists were stopping vehicles at gunpoint and threatening Iraqi civilians attempting to travel through their checkpoint.
The terrorists set up a barricade on a main road to the city and were threatening Iraqi civilians.
The seven precision-guided air strikes began at 11:40 a.m., and are estimated to have killed approximately 40 terrorists. There have been no Marine casualties.
The Coalition aircraft, fighter jets and attack helicopters from the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) attacked the terrorist compound and surrounding area targeting the armed men.
There are no reports of civilian casualties or collateral damage.
The air strikes ended at 4 p.m. once all the targets were destroyed.
It is not known if there were any foreign fighters within the terrorists’ compound.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS RELEASE CONTACT II MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE PUBLIC AFFAIRS. CEPAOWO@cemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil or PoolJS@gcemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil
-30-
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159611,00.html
"Australian PM: Douglas Wood Freed"
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "CANBERRA, Australia — An Australian held hostage for six weeks in Iraq has been freed in a military operation and is in the hands of Australian forces in Baghdad (search), Prime Minister John Howard (search) announced Wednesday.
Douglas Wood (search), a 63-year-old Australian engineer who is a longtime resident of California, was abducted in late April. A few days later, a militant group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq released a DVD showing him pleading for Australia to withdraw it 1,400 troops from Iraq.
"I am delighted to inform the House that the Australian hostage in Iraq, Mr. Douglas Wood, is safe," Howard told Parliament in Canberra on Wednesday."
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200506\FOR20050614d.html
"Europe Puts Aside Plan to Lift China Arms Embargo"
By Eva Cahen
CNSNews.com Correspondent
June 14, 2005
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