Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat

Thread Twenty-Nine (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!

Was Bomber's "New York" Shirt A Message?
Full Story

It's hardly a unique fashion statement for a mass transit rider: a Yankees-style cap, and a "New York" sweat shirt.

But the New York Police Department is teaming with British authorities to determine whether those items were worn by suspects in the London terror cases to send a "purposeful message" to the city, according to an NYPD officials.

David Cohen, the NYPD's deputy commissioner of intelligence, raised the concern earlier this week at a security briefing for business leaders at police headquarters in Lower Manhattan.

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

TM Terrorism Handbook

Link to Thread Twenty-Eight

"Code Red Implications:
Code Red - Stay Home and Await Word."
From Tm'er and Freeper ~MamaDearest~

Arabic Links and Resources

TM 'Be on the Lookout'

ExSoldier's Invaluable Tips

Threat Matrix Book List

Godzilla's Summaries

Tracking the Chatter with TM

TM Code of Conduct

Threat Matrix HTML designed by: Ian Livingston

FYI--

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45860

Islamic radicals demand guilty verdict for Christians

Islamic radicals are in no way concealing their agenda as they campaign for a guilty verdict in a court case involving three Christian women accused of "Christianizing" Muslim children in Indonesia.

An Indonesian correspondent known only as Ibrahim B. says their agenda is spelled out in an Indonesian-language book with an English title, "Jihad and the Foreign Policy of the Khilafah State."

Ibrahim told Assist News Service the book is freely available in Indonesian bookstores and "teaches a vision of aggressive and violent jihad to establish an Islamic caliphate, and from there to launch jihad against other nations to bring them into the Islamic Empire."

"This is the new imperialism and the new colonialism my country is facing, and it is evident in the militant mujahideen who gather at the court in Indramayu each week to demand the death of three accused housewives who cared enough about children to try and save them from a future in prostitution," he said.

According to Ibrahim, "The radicals want Indonesia to be the foundation of a Southeast Asian caliphate that will launch jihad against other nations such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia and Papua New Guinea until they have all submitted to Islam."

To achieve this vision, he said, "all pockets of resistance must be subdued. This is why there have been jihad operations in Maluku and Central Sulawesi in the last few years and why there have been more than 100 churches closed down or destroyed in West Java alone in just the last three years – and over 30 churches in the last month."

Ibrahim says The Indonesian Council of Mullahs, or MUI, has spearheaded the jihad drive and it is they who are demanding that these three housewives be severely punished for allowing Muslim children to attend their "Happy Week" activities.

Ibrahim quotes page 64 of the Jihad book as saying, "It is not allowed for Muslims to fight those whom the Islamic da'wah [preaching] has not reached, rather the unbelievers must first be called to join Islam. If they reject, then they are invited to submit (live under) the ruling of the Islamic State by paying the jizyah tax [protection money – only paid by non-Muslims]. If they reject that, then war must be waged against them in order to remove any obstacle in the way of implementing the Islamic ruling system upon them."

In other words, the three choices are join Islam, pay a protection tax called jizyah or be killed in warfare.

Ibrahim told ANS the book declares Muslims "must remove any obstacle in the way of implementing the Islamic ruling system." These three housewives are seen as an obstacle that must be removed, he said.

Earlier this year, Rebecca Laonita, Ratna Mala Bangun, and Ety Pangesti conducted a "Happy Week" Vacation Bible School-type program in their homes in the village of Haurgelis, West Java. Eventually about a score of Muslim children also attended with permission of their parents. The women were arrested on charges of "Christianization" of Muslim children, and immediately jailed. The court case began June 30.

The case is tried only on Thursdays, and fewer militants – 50 to 60 – arrived by truck Thursday than in previous weeks. But their propaganda was no less intense, Ibrahim said.

According to Ibrahim, one of their leaders grabbed a megaphone and shouted, "Remember the times of Dutch colonialism! We fought against them with just sharpened bamboo! Our grandfathers shed their blood because of the bullets and bombs of the Dutch. But one man, Diponegoro, became a national hero and stood up against them. You are the ones called to carry out the command of the prophet and you must be just as brave so that you will be able to implement sharia Islam (Islamic law). Are you ready?"

The trucked-in militants responded, "Ready! Allahu akbar! [Allah is Greatest!"]

The Muslim preacher continued, "Every drop of your blood will give birth to many in Islam who will be proved by Allah. Seventy-two houris [fairy women] will bathe you.

"Alhamdulillah! [Allah be Praised!] we have reached the seventh session of the trial. The whole of the Islamic community is again waiting for a just decision [i.e., favorable to Islam], but if this court is not just then we ourselves will act according to our own law. Indeed we have our own plans but we are still holding ourselves back because we respect the law in this nation. But we will not agree if Rebecca and her companions are given a light penalty, or if they are set free.

"Don't think for a moment that Rebecca will be able to return peacefully to Haurgeulis [the village where the Happy Week was conducted]. We have our own just methods according to Islamic law. Allahu akbar!"

The mujahideen responded loudly with raised, clenched fists, "Allahu akbar! Allah is Greater!"

As the court proceedings resumed, Posma Sabam Manahan, a defense lawyer, requested a week's postponement. The prosecution had added new elements in his summary the previous week, and the defense needed more time to prepare. The chief justice immediately granted the defense lawyer's request and closed the session.

But the mujahideen, Ibrahim said, broke out in shouts of anger. One cried out, "Don't postpone the trial! Get on with it!" Another shouted, "That's rubbish!" While yet another was clearly heard to say, "Hand down the verdict now! Punish them, judge!"

Ibrahim told ANS he next saw something he had never seen before. The chief justice, Judge Hasby, stood up to the shouting militants and exploded in anger against them.

"This court has its rules and regulations! Who dared to tell us to hand down the verdict now?" he declared.

The judge rebuked them for their behavior and then told them to be patient.

"This threw the leaders of the mujahideen into a panic as they scurried around calming down their troops and telling them to leave the court in an orderly fashion," Ibrahim said.

The mujahideen then retreated, climbed into their trucks and departed for another week.

"Today's brush with outrage made me wonder what will be the outcome of this case," Ibrahim told ANS. "Can the judges truly be impartial when even their own safety is being threatened? Can they possibly hand down a 'not guilty' verdict knowing that the mujahideen are threatening violent jihad and the shedding of blood? What will happen to the Christians in Haurgeulis and the families of the three accused if the women are cleared or given a light sentence? Truly the potential consequences are disturbing, but the three women must not be allowed to be thrown on the scrap heap of convenience just to placate the violent mujahideen."

Ibrahim said Indonesia is a land known for its tolerance. It has a constitution that guarantees freedom of religion and a system of law that is meant to protect the innocent and the oppressed and to punish the oppressors. The question is, will these standards prevail, or will they be overpowered by a highly vocal, militant minority bent on jihad?

Aug. 17 was the nation's 58th celebration of the Declaration of Independence since 1945.

Ibrahim said, "I felt as proud as any Indonesian should be, because the nation had liberated itself from Dutch colonialism. But I also felt shame as I saw my fellow countrymen becoming victims of a new imperialism, a new colonialism in radical Islam that wishes to subject its will on the nation."

"Will we see true justice in this case?" Ibrahim asks. "We can only pray that we will."

The religion of peace shows its' true colors yet again and the outline for the conquering of Southeast Asia.

MTA locks riders into terror trap

NY Daily News
8/21/05

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/339076p-289567c.html

Imagine this terrifying scenario: You're on a moving subway car when
the backpack carried by the man beside you starts to smoke. You see a
wire hanging out, hear a hissing sound and pop-pop-pop.

You instantly move away and push toward the end door. The door won't
open - it's locked. You're trapped beside a suicide bomber.

That very scenario took place in London, but with a crucial difference.
Underground riders fleeing smoking and hissing backpacks July 21 got
out of their moving cars through the end doors and into the next cars.

In New York, there's a good chance they would have been trapped because
of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's decision to lock the end
doors on 25% of subway cars.

Even as it searches passenger bags, the MTA has obvious security holes.
There are stations without security cameras or public address systems,
turnstile gates that are locked and train yards that are wide open. The
age of terror is upon us, and the MTA is behind the curve.

Nothing shows the problem as clearly as the locked doors on 1,600
subway cars. As wrong as that policy is, the reason behind it is absolutely
shocking. The agency is stuck in a time warp, more worried about a
safety problem of the late 1970s than a modern terror blast.

Fortunately, the July 21 London bombs - two weeks after the first
attack, which killed 52 people - malfunctioned. The fuses ignited, but the
explosives did not detonate.

But luck is not a strategy for safety. Nor is a foolish devotion to the
past.

Back in the late '70s and early '80s, transit systems were bedeviled by
accidents involving riders falling between cars. The National
Transportation Safety Board found that, over a five-year period, 25 of 48 rail
deaths involved "between car fatalities." Of the nine such fatalities
reported in 1981, eight were in the city.

The NTSB recommended that New York get better warning signs and
strictly enforce existing rules against riding between moving cars. According
to its 1982 report, the agency, which is advisory only, noted a
consensus among experts that locking doors "would be far more dangerous in
case of an emergency than the practice of leaving doors unlocked."

But MTA officials had already started locking some doors. That policy
continues to this day, unaffected by the menace of terror

(clipped)

'I Will Go to Do Jihad Again and Again'
Prisoner's Story Highlights Pakistan-Based Training Network for
Insurgents

By N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 21, 2005; A17

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/20/AR2005082001002.html

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The prisoner perched on a metal chair, hugging
his knees to his chest and rocking slightly, like a nervous child.

But his expression relaxed into a blissful smile as he described what
he would do if released from his cell in the headquarters of the
national intelligence service.

"When I get the chance, I will stick to my promise," said Sher Ali, 28,
a Pakistani man with cropped black hair and a long beard. "I will go to
do jihad again and again."

Ali said he took his vow to wage holy war against U.S. forces in
Afghanistan earlier this summer, just before embarking on what he described
as a 20-day weapons training course at a secret mountain camp in
northeastern Pakistan.

He was captured by Afghan police about three weeks ago, shortly after
crossing into Afghanistan's rugged, northeastern Konar province. The
area has been a haven for armed renegades from an assortment of groups,
including al Qaeda, the Taliban and backers of former Afghan leader
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is now a fugitive.

Over the last several months, insurgents have killed hundreds of people
in Afghanistan, including aid workers, religious and tribal leaders,
government officials, and Afghan and U.S. troops, many in ambushes and
bombings apparently aimed at derailing parliamentary elections scheduled
for Sept. 18.

American and Afghan forces have countered with an aggressive effort to
flush the fighters from their remote mountain hideouts, killing several
hundred in operations in border provinces from Konar in the north to
Kandahar in the south. They have also taken several hundred suspected
insurgents prisoner and allowed a few to speak to journalists.

Ali's story, which could not be verified independently,
( snipped)

Ali spoke in the presence of an Afghan intelligence official, but he
did not show signs of having been mistreated. Some details, such as the
existence of jihadist training camps and the recruitment of Islamic
fighters,
(snipped)

"We know where a lot of these training camps are. We have their names.
And we've given the Pakistanis all the information we have," said a
senior Afghan intelligence official. "We're waiting for Pakistan to show
the willingness to fight."

Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has repeatedly pointed out
that his government has captured or killed more than 700 suspected al
Qaeda members in Pakistan since 2001. It also lost more than 250
soldiers last year in battles against al Qaeda bases in the largely lawless
semiautonomous tribal regions along the Afghan border.

Officials from the two governments have recently exchanged pledges to
collaborate closely on security. But they must still contend with the
sympathy that many Pakistanis feel toward the Taliban, particularly in
tribal border towns such as Miram Shah, where residents share the same
Pashtun ethnicity as the Afghan militia.

It was in Miram Shah this summer, at the home of a friend, that Sher
Ali said he met Zubair, an Afghan in his late twenties, who recruited him
to fight in Afghanistan. Ali, who was visiting from his village, said
Zubair did not initially admit to being an insurgent. "But from the way
he talked, I could tell that he had been a fighter," Ali said during an
hour-long interview in the intelligence headquarters.

Ali said Zubair told him and his companions that Western troops were
bombing, arresting and torturing innocent Afghans. "He kept saying, 'It's
our duty as Muslims to go there and help,' " said Ali.

That night, Ali recalled, Zubair turned to him and asked point-blank:
"Do you want to join the jihad?"

The son of a truck driver, Ali said he had never belonged to any
religious movement and had never attended any of the thousands of free
religious schools that cater to impoverished Pakistani children. Instead he
had dropped out of public school at 13 to take a series of odd jobs,
most recently as a security guard.

During that pivotal evening in Miram Shah, Ali said he thought of his
wife and 1-year-old son, who lived with his parents in a mud hut. But he
also thought of how he had often seethed at the idea of U.S. troops in
Muslim lands such as Afghanistan and Iraq and at the U.S. military's
detention of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"It was like Zubair had poured the petrol, lit the match and set fire
to this issue of jihad for me," he said.

Several days later, Ali said he boarded a public bus for the four-hour
journey from Peshawar, the city nearest his village, to the
northeastern Pakistani mountain town of Mansehra. He carried only a backpack
stuffed with three changes of clothes and a bar of soap. His ears rang with
his mother's wails of protest at the news that he was setting off for
jihad.
(snipped)

"I knew then that when I was killed in jihad, I would go directly to
heaven," he said, smiling.

On reaching the bus stop in Mansehra, Ali walked to a stand selling
fried dumplings and looked for the contact Zubair had promised would be
waiting.

"Salaam aleikum," peace be to you, he said tentatively to a middle-age
man with a long beard.

"Are you the person who has come from Peshawar?" the man asked.

Ali nodded, and the man quickly led him to another bus, this one far
more dilapidated. They rode for an hour to a small town, then alighted
and began a steep hike up into the hills, following no discernable path.
For more than four hours they trekked in silence under a cool canopy of
trees, taller than any Ali had ever seen.

Finally they reached a small camp of five white tents, where about 20
men were preparing to perform afternoon prayers. Ali was introduced to a
soft-spoken Pakistani instructor who never gave his name, though Ali
said he overheard others refer to him as Maksud.

Maksud never gave the name of the group that was training him, Ali
said. However, the hills around Mansehra overlook Pakistan's border with
Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan province that is split between Pakistan and
India.

The area has long been a training ground for Kashmiri guerrillas,
unofficially supported by Pakistan. In recent years, several Kashmiri groups
have joined forces with al Qaeda or the Taliban to attack Western
targets, but critics charge that the Pakistani military remains reluctant to
defang them.

Every day, Ali said, the trainees awoke before dawn and did sprinting
exercises for 20 minutes. They spent several hours learning how to
assemble, aim and fire weapons, from Kalashnikov rifles to rocket-propelled
grenade launchers, although Ali said there was only one rocket, so the
trainees never actually fired it.

Despite the loud bangs emanating from the camp, Ali said, Maksud took
pains to conceal it and warned the trainees not to wander too far away.

Shortly after Ali returned to Peshawar, he said, Zubair arrived and
announced they would drive into Afghanistan the next morning. Ali said
Zubair never told him whom they would be joining, but an Afghan
intelligence investigator said Ali had confessed under interrogation that Zubair
was working for a senior Taliban commander, Jalaluddin Haqqani.

Ali said Afghan border guards waved them into Konar, assuming they were
Afghan. But some miles later, police stopped their taxi. When they
discovered Ali did not have identity papers, they arrested him.

Ali complained that the Konar police kept him tied up for several days
and threatened to hurt him. But he said that he was never beaten and
added he had been pleasantly surprised by the extent to which Afghans
appeared to be in charge of their country.

Still, the Pakistani prisoner remained skeptical and defiant. The
interview over, Ali rose from his chair in the investigator's office and
began to shuffle out of the room. Suddenly, he stopped and popped his head
back through the door.

"So," he demanded, "when are you taking me to Guantanamo?"

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