Threat Matrix: May 2007

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[nwctwx]

U.S. Seeks Closing of Visa Loophole for Britons
-Full Story-

Omar Khyam, the ringleader of the thwarted London bomb plot who was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday, showed the potential for disaffected young men to be lured as terrorists, a threat that British officials said they would have to contend with for a generation.

But the 25-year-old Mr. Khyam, a Briton of Pakistani descent, also personifies a larger and more immediate concern: as a British citizen, he could have entered the United States without a visa, like many of an estimated 800,000 other Britons of Pakistani origin.

American officials, citing the number of terror plots in Britain involving Britons with ties to Pakistan, expressed concern over the visa loophole. In recent months, the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, has opened talks with the government here on how to curb the access of British citizens of Pakistani origin to the United States.

	How the Plot Came Together
	Briefing on Release of 2006 Country Reports on Terrorism
	Iran to Tell Coalition Forces to Leave Iraq at Summit in Egypt

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[Cindy]

ON THE NET..

http://www.internet-haganah.com/harchives/006026.html

[Godzilla]

Bill Gertz is respected and I hope he and his partner in the report carefully vetted their ‘source’ in the ME on this topic.

[Cindy]

Giggling...

Ummm, yep sure...another plot unfolds (Hint: No.)...

http://www.internet-haganah.com/harchives/006020.html

[Cindy]

I understand what you are saying and I sure do agree, Godzilla.

[Cindy]

http://internet-haganah.com/harchives/006023.html

02 May 2007
“Phat jihadi banner of the day”

[Cindy]

http://internet-haganah.com/harchives/006022.html

02 May 2007
“List of brothers detained in Saudi”

http://sfir-arabicsource.blogspot.com/2007/05/blog-post.html

[Cindy]

http://internet-haganah.com/harchives/006021.html

02 May 2007
“How do you know you arrested the right bunch of jihadis?
When a statement from their kinfolk turns up on the jihadi forums”

http://sfir-arabicsource.blogspot.com/2007/05/blog-post_01.html

[Cindy]

http://osint.internet-haganah.com/archives/001085.html

May 02, 2007
“The answer to the question was ‘yes’”

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=denmark

http://osint.internet-haganah.com/archives/001063.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3392960,00.html

###

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=cartoonjihad
http://www.truthusa.com/MoreThanCartoons.html

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1827138/posts

[Oorang]

How terrorists send money
May 1, 2007

Advanced mobile technology, cooperation between international mobile communications providers and international financial institutions and the lack of regulations make for a swift, cheap, mostly untraceable money transfer -- known as "m-payments" -- anywhere, anytime, by anyone with a mobile telephone.

Members of the GSM Association and MasterCard are developing an m-payment service to enable 200 million international migrant workers and the poor who lack bank accounts to transfer money domestically and internationally. According to the World Bank, 175 million migrants transferred at least $230 billion in international remittances in 2005. A recent U.N.-sponsored South African study found that m-banking can be up to one-third cheaper for customers than the current banking alternatives.

However, the spread of m-payments in less developed countries, which often lack functioning anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulatory frameworks, and where corruption is rife, will likely increase money laundering and terrorist financing. The abuse of the m-payments is easy when the stored value card is used. It does not require a bank account, credit card or two forms of government-approved identification to activate and use. It just requires cash. Most cards set limits on the amount held on the card, but most can be reloaded, allowing the transfer of thousands of dollars. Indeed, this anonymous and mobile m-payment service is the best vehicle for criminals and terrorists for transferring or receiving money.

Excerpted

http://www.upi.com/International_Intelligence/Analysis/2007/05/01/outside_view_how_terrorists_send_money/

Iran arrests former nuclear negotiator
May 2, 2007

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian authorities have arrested the country's former nuclear negotiator, an ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predecessor and key rival, and he reportedly could face an espionage charge.

Excerpted

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070502/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear_arrest;_ylt=AhrjCPFThI9WIi0ezC05bsnMWM0F

Egyptian Daily Reveals Details Of Al-Qaeda In Iraq Leader

Cairo, 2 May 2007 - As US investigators seek to verify through DNA tests that the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq was killed recently in clashes north of Baghdad, Egyptian daily al-Ahram has revealed new biographical details about the man who stepped into the shoes of the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Behind the pseudonym al-Masri, the paper says, is Abdel Muniem Ezzedin Ali Ismayl, born 21 December 1969 in the eastern provinces of Egypt. He did not finish his university studies and is believed to have used various battle names during his Islamist militancy; Abu Jihad al-Masri, Abu Al-Darda, Yusuf Hadad, Yusuf Labib and Labib Hadad.

Al-Masri was sentenced in absentia by an Egyptian court in 1999 to seven years in jail because he had left the country at the end of the 1980s for Pakistan, from where he then moved to Afghanistan. His move to Iraq was reportedly under the urgings of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri who wanted him to lead the local franchise after the death last June of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Excerpted

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=

[Cindy]

http://off-topic.internet-haganah.com/archives/001075.html

May 02, 2007

“THERE ARE SECRETS...
...and then there are Syrian secrets”

###

http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=34082

Monday, April 30, 2007
“Foreign experts: Syria secretly built 30 underground bunkers to enable rocket attack before IAF can destroy them”

“Foreign experts: Syria secretly built 30 underground bunkers to enable
rocket attack before IAF can destroy them”
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 30 April, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Yediot Ahronot correspondent Arieh Egozi reports in today’s edition [page 9] that foreign experts say Syria has built a huge underground compound that includes 30 steel reinforced concrete bunkers, production facilities, development labs and command posts. This new “rocket city” has missiles that can cover the entire area of Israel. In contrast to mobile deployment systems that are easy prey to air attacks, the bunker system is designed to enable Syria to launch many missiles against Israel before the IAF can take them out.

Syria has some 200 Scud B, 60 Scud C and an unknown quantity of North Korean made 700 kilometer range Scud D’s. According to Egozi last February Israeli surveillance noted a Syrian launching of an improved Scud that is more
accurate, can cause greater damage and is more difficult to intercept,
terming it “a reason for great concern.”

According to foreign experts, the chemical weapons heads for the rockets are
stored in another location.

According to Israeli sources, Egozi reports, Syria recently received 100
C802 Chinese anti-ship cruise missiles from Iran.”

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://osint.internet-haganah.com/archives/001066.html

May 02, 2007

Gazprom’s unit signs 160-mln-euro gas refinery deal with Syria

DAMASCUS. April 26 (RIA Novosti)

Gazprom’s construction arm signed a 160-million-euro deal with its Syrian counterpart to build another gas refinery in the country, Russia’s regional development minister said Thursday.
The company, Stroitransgaz, a unit of the Russian energy giant, will build the refinery near the ancient Roman city of Palmyra, 150 miles northeast of Damascus, within two years, Vladimir Yakovlev said after a two-day session of the bilateral cooperation commission.

The commission also signed an automotive traffic agreement and a MoU between Russian and Syrian business associations.

“Syria is ready to sign up to $1 billion in contracts with Russia,” Syria’s Trade and Economy Minister Hosni Lutfi said.

Yakovlev also said the two countries were committed to raising trade to a record $1 billion this year, up 35% from last year’s $630 million.

Economic cooperation between Russia and Syria rocketed after Russia wrote off a large part of Syria’s 13-billion debt.

This will be Stroitransgaz’s third project in Syria, along with a gas refinery near the city of Homs in central Syria to be completed in 2008 and the construction of the Syrian part of the Jordan-Syria-Egypt gas pipeline.

Posted on 02 May 2007 @ 12:05 GMT

[Cindy]

THANKS for the m-payments article, Oorang.

#

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=terroristfinancing

[Cindy]

Thanks to Velveeta and ZacAndPook for the ping to this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1826227/posts

“Researcher Believes Al Qaeda Anthrax Plotters Were Captured or Killed”
The Inside Straight ^ | 04/30/07 | vanity

Posted on 04/30/2007 4:59:48 PM PDT by genefromjersey

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=nuclear
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=pakistan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=iran

###

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1827419/posts

“’Khan’s sale of nuclear tech helped Iran’(A.Q. Khan)”
The Nation(Pakistan) ^ | ASIF MEHMOOD

Posted on 05/02/2007 2:41:19 PM PDT by milestogo

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=hizbuttahrir
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=ht

#

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/016269.php
(TELEGRAPH.CO.UK)

May 02, 2007

“’Today, in our midst, Hizb ut-Tahrir calls for an expansionist, violent, totalitarian Islamist state - and we continue to ignore it’”

[callmejoe]

The purported late 2003 attempt to infiltrate nuclear weapons followed the purported late 2001 attempt.

The NYC gas attack was aborted by Zawahiri earlier in 2003 in favor of this attack.

Tenet revealed this in a portion of the 60 Minutes interview that did not air Sunday, but was excerpted Monday on the Evening News.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=5n&channel=ondemand

click “Evening News Online, 04.30.07” to the right and view from 2:00-2:30

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=tablighijamaat
http://www.jihadwatch.org/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=Tablighi+Jamaat

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=cricket
http://www.jihadwatch.org/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=cricket

###
###

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/016277.php
(PTI)

May 02, 2007
“Death Fatwa angle emerges in murder of Pakistan cricket coach”

[Cindy]

UPDATES APPRECIATED.

http://www.sfgate.com

Photos here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/05/02/BAGJ1PJN6T4.DTL&o=0

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/02/BAGJ1PJN6T4.DTL

“SUV jumps curb, strikes Belmont middle school students”
Matthew B. Stannard, Jill Tucker, Jaxon Van Derbeken and John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 2, 2007

(05-02) 15:30 PDT BELMONT —

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Children at the school, located at 2675 Ralston Ave, said today was a half day because students were being given standardized tests. The injured students were struck as they waited for a bus after school let out, they said.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “”It looked like (the driver) was asleep,” said Marcus Campanile, a 14-year-old eighth-grader, who estimated the vehicle was moving 40 mph. “I heard the car hit against the bus. I heard screams and a second later I see this car speeding toward me. I jumped out of the way at the last minute. I got up to see what happened, and that’s when I see all my friends under the car.”
Assistant Principal David Schrag said he had been doing normal bus duty when he saw the SUV accelerate and heard the rev of the engine, twice.
“I just jumped to the curb,” he said. “(The driver) looked just shocked. He didn’t have control over the vehicle.”

The driver was not immediately identified.”

[Cindy]

Thank you callmejoe for the link.