Threat Matrix: July 2007

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Threat Matrix:
July 2007

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US Steps Up Security Following Attack in Britain

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff made appearances on several television talk shows.

He told ABC's This Week program there is no indication of a linkage between the events in Britain and any specific attacks on the United States. "We do not have, at this point, specific, credible intelligence that there is an attack, a particular attack, focused on this country," he said.

But at the same time, speaking on CNN's Late Edition program, Chertoff said U.S. authorities are concerned about the threat of terrorism, especially in the coming months. "We have had a number of al-Qaida leaders quite publicly talking about how they want to carry out their threats against the West. So, given that and given the history that we have had over past summers, with attacks in Britain, I think we were clearly focused on this as a possibility," he said. Full story...

	More United Kingdom Attacks Possible
	More US Air Marshals on Flights to Europe
	Officials: Car Bomb Plot Bears al Qaida's Trademark

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1161.html

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
This information is current as of today, Sun Jul 08 2007 02:37:49 GMT-0700.

Worldwide Caution

April 10, 2007

This Public Announcement updates information on the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against Americans and interests overseas. This supersedes the Worldwide Caution dated October 11, 2006 and expires on October 9, 2007.

The Department of State remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas. Current information suggests that al-Qaida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics to include assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings and bombings.

Ongoing events in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East have resulted in demonstrations and associated violence in several countries. Americans are reminded that demonstrations and rioting can occur with little or no warning.

In August 2006, British authorities arrested a significant number of extremists engaged in a plot to destroy multiple passenger aircraft flying from the United Kingdom to the United States. The September 2006 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Syria and the March 2006 bombing near the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan illustrate the continuing desire of extremists to strike American targets.

Extremists may elect to use conventional or non-conventional weapons, and target both official and private interests. The bomb attacks targeting buses carrying foreign workers in March 2007 and December 2006 in Algeria, a series of bombings in Thailand in May and September 2006 that targeted commercial and tourist destinations in the far south, and the bombings in the the Egyptian resort town of Dahab in April 2006 all illustrate how terrorists exploit vulnerabilities associated with soft targets. Additional examples of such targets include high-profile sporting events, residential areas, business offices, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, public areas and locales where Americans gather in large numbers, including during holidays. Financial or economic targets of value may also be considered as possible venues; the vehicle-based suicide attack on an oil facility near Mukalla and Marib in Yemen in September 2006 and the failed attack on the Abqaiq oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia in late February 2006 are such examples.

In the wake of the August 2006 plot against aircraft in London, numerous terrorist attacks on trains in India in 2006, the July 2005 London Underground bombings, and the March 2004 train attacks in Madrid, Americans are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems. In addition, extremists may also select aviation and maritime services as possible targets.

U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance, be aware of local events, and take the appropriate steps to bolster their personal security. For additional information, please refer to “A Safe Trip Abroad” found at http://travel.state.gov .

U.S. Government facilities worldwide remain at a heightened state of alert. These facilities may temporarily close or periodically suspend public services to assess their security posture. In those instances, U.S. embassies and consulates will make every effort to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens. Americans abroad are urged to monitor the local news and maintain contact with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

As the Department continues to develop information on any potential security threats to U.S. citizens overseas, it shares credible threat information through its Consular Information Program documents, available on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov . In addition to information on the Internet, travelers may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the U.S. or outside the U.S. and Canada on a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.

[Cindy]

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

[Godzilla]

placemark

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=iran
http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html

#

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1862598/posts

Report: Iran General Gives Nuclear Info
THE JERUSALEM POST ^ | July 8, 2007

Posted on 07/08/2007 8:43:33 AM PDT by Fennie

Ali-Reza Asghari, the Iranian general who went missing in Turkey nearly half a year ago, is currently being held in a secure US intelligence facility, it was reported on Sunday.

During his interrogation, Asghari gave over information on the running of the Iranian government and on the country’s nuclear program, Yediot Aharonot reported.

According to Sunday’s report, CIA agents contacted Asghari, who met them in Istanbul. Asghari has since revealed new and relevant information about Iran’s nuclear progress, saying that Iran has also developed the technology to enrich uranium with lasers.

Laser enrichment is a relatively old technique, but Iran has evidently added chemical enhancements that make the technology more advanced, the report said.

Asghari apparently acquired his knowledge during his time as a senior officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who were often responsible for guarding the country’s nuclear facilities. He was also a member of the Iranian security council.

[Cindy]

http://www.internet-haganah.com/harchives/006143.html

08 July 2007
“Jihadi forum poll of the day: “Do you agree to undertake martyrdom?””

SNIPPET: “Responses vary on two forums where we find the question posted, but in both cases an overwhelming majority of those who bothered to respond say “yes” to death in the cause of Allah.”

[Cindy]

RECAP:

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

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

#

http://www.internet-haganah.com/harchives/006142.html
(July 5, 2007

08 July 2007
“Three jailed over holy war campaign”

[Cindy]

RECAP:

http://www.internet-haganah.com/harchives/006141.html
(July 5, 2007)

08 July 2007
“Terrorism’s Hook Into Your Inbox - U.K. Case Shows Link Between Online Fraud and Jihadist Networks”

[Cindy]

More Details:

http://www.internet-haganah.com/harchives/006140.html
(July 4, 2007)

08 July 2007
“Man ‘hoarded terror manuals’”

[Cindy]

http://www.internet-haganah.com/harchives/006139.html

08 July 2007
“islamiortam.com: Turkish jihadist site of the moment”

www.islamiortam.com
www.islamiortam.com/forum/index.php

[Cindy]

http://sfir-arabicsource.blogspot.com/2007/07/blog-post.html

#

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.internet-haganah.com/harchives/006138.html

08 July 2007
OSINT/FITNA - Spanish intelligence in league with Hizballah
It’s a text report claiming that the Spanish intelligence service is working with Hizballah to coordinate efforts against the jihadis in Lebanon.

Read it at Arabic Source

Posted on 08 July 2007 @ 08:21

[Cindy]

http://www.internet-haganah.com/harchives/006137.html

08 July 2007
“In Morocco’s ‘Chemist,’ A Glimpse of Al-Qaeda Bombmaker Typified Resilient Network”

SNIPPET: “What his long underground career demonstrates is that we are still spending too much time focusing on what is being discussed on jihadist websites, rather on who is visiting those sites and where each visitor is located.”

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://osint.internet-haganah.com/archives/001277.html

July 08, 2007

Report: Attack on German UNIFIL Naval Vessel Foiled

Jerusalem Post

The Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL arrested a group of terrorists planning a naval attack on a German vessel, As-Safir, a Lebanese daily, reported Tuesday.
The detainees were training in northern Lebanon, across from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp.

See also Lebanese Army Breaks Up Scuba Terrorists

Posted on 08 July 2007 @ 13:17 GMT

[FARS]

Although it could be part of a negotiation with iran, I believe we have now milked these five dry and the information of what they told us would also not be relevant in a current time frame if the Iranians become aware of it.

Or, we want the Iranians to know that “we know and have statements” about their iraq acitvities and will make these public unless........

cheers,

[FARS]

Note - all Indonesian airlines of any size have been forbidden entry into the European countries on the basis of being unsafe. Sound more like a containment of Indonesian threat.

[callmejoe]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/us-general-paints-dire-scenarios/2007/05/15/1178995161551.html

US general paints dire scenarios

Brendan Nicholson
May 16, 2007 (excerpt)

THE bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may not be the worst nightmare facing the world, a former top US general has warned. That could be a nuclear-armed Pakistan following a security meltdown or Saudi Arabia under extremist control, General John Abizaid told a conference in Canberra yesterday. “Those two countries are struggling mightily with the security implications that they have to deal with in regard to their external security problems, internal security problems and, in the case of Pakistan, with the fact that they happen to be a nuclear-armed country,” General Abizaid said. “A meltdown in the security apparatus of those two countries could have implications for us that make the current situation look easy.” . . .

He said the main security threat the West was likely to face for 20 to 50 years was from terrorist groups possibly armed with weapons of mass destruction rather than any serious conflict with another nation. . .

[callmejoe]

“radioactive materials”

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070508/full/070508-2.html

Published online: 8 May 2007; | doi:10.1038/news070508-2

Have you seen any nuclear material?
Pakistan places advertisements regarding ‘misplaced’ isotopes.

Geoff Brumfiel (excerpt)

A Pakistani public information campaign about what to do if you stumble across stray radioactive material is raising hairs on the necks of Western arms control experts.

The ads, which appeared last week in several Urdu-language newspapers, featured the large, yellow radiation symbol and a warning to report any lost or misplaced isotopes.

“As public education campaigns go, it’s unique,” says Jeffrey Lewis, director of nuclear strategy and nonproliferation at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC. Lewis says he was “shocked” to hear of the announcements. . .

[callmejoe]

dual warnings by Iran/AQ (”side by side” . . .”five by five”)

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-203/0704192609003402.htm

Ahmadinejad advises oppressors to heed prophets’ teachings
April 19, IRNA (excerpt)

” . . . He added, “I wish to send a message to these oppressive powers on behalf of you, and the entire Iranian nation, asking them to get back to the path put before them by the prophets, that is the path of divine guidance, justice, friendship, and being faithful to the covenants they have vowed with their nations.” Ahmadinejad warned the oppressive powers, “Beware! If you do not get back to this path; if you do not end your oppressive methods; if you do not keep on looting the other nations and try to keep on imposing your illegitimate hegemony over other nations, you will face the destiny of the past tyrants in history, that is none but death, and downfall for yourselves, and wretched lives for your nations.”

http://public.cq.com/public/20060908_homeland.html

(excerpt)

Convert or Die

The key: an offer from al Qaeda to Americans to convert to Islam. Most analysts had dismissed it as “conciliatory,” Scheuer says, but they missed the point. A key prescription of the Koran says Muslims must offer their enemies a chance at conversion — before killing them.

The videotaped message was delivered in unaccented English by “Azzam the American” (Azzam al-Amriki), the U.S. citizen formerly known as Adam Gadahn, who grew up Jewish in the suburbs of Southern California. Gadahn was introduced on the tape by bin Laden’s Egyptian deputy, the portly surgeon-turned-holy warrior Ayman al-Zawahiri. Gadahn’s plea to convert was accompanied by the phrase, “before it is too late,” Scheuer pointed out on the Web site of the Jamestown Foundation, a nonpartisan forum favored by former military and intelligence officials.

It signalled the last signal before an attack.

“There are three such actions: multiple, clear warnings of an intention to attack; offers of a truce; and public calls on the foe to convert to Islam,” Scheuer wrote.

“The September 2 video is in no way an isolated occurrence, but rather part of an al-Qaeda effort that began early in 2002 in which bin Laden and al-Zawahiri have more than adequately fulfilled the Prophet Muhammad’s requirements for actions that must be taken vis-vis an enemy before attacking him militarily.” All have been met now, Scheuer wrote, through a series of messages from bin Laden’s lair in the caves of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Taken in context with other al Qaeda taped messages, as well as bin Laden’s discomfort at the dramatic ascendancy of his rival Hezbollah, who fought Israel to a draw in Lebanon — the latest statement is particularly worrisome, he said. The message is that “there is a dark, pitiable fate awaiting Americans because of their policies and actions toward Muslims.” The California-raised jihadist looks into the camera and says, “Time is running out, so make the right choice before it is too late and you meet the death [that was] the most dismal fate of thousands before you.”

http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=410&issue_id=3251&article_id=2369367

[callmejoe]

This article cites a new MEMRI report today, but cannot find it on their site. So they may be repeating the information linked in post 670 from the 7/6/07 MEMRI report.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3422565,00.html

Lebanon ‘to erupt in 1 week’

Syria calls on citizens to evacuate Lebanon, reports say; Expert: Civil war possible
Yaakov Lappin
Published: 07.08.07, 13:24 / Israel News

(excerpt)

. . .Syria has called on its citizens to leave Lebanon ahead of an expected “eruption” in that country, Arab and Iranian press reports have said. The media reports were translated and made available by MEMRI in a special dispatch on Sunday. “In the past few days, Arab and Iranian media reports have pointed to the possibility that Lebanon’s current political crisis may become a violent conflict after July 15, 2007,” the MEMRI dispatch said. July 15 comes one day before a special UN Security Council meeting which is expected to discuss the possibility of stationing international experts on the Syria-Lebanon border, in order monitor the ongoing illegal cross border arms traffic to Hizbullah, thought to be originating from Iran and Syria. The UN Security Council is also expected to meet next week to discuss a key report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a development which may bode badly for Syria. . .

“On July 5, 2007, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported that Syrian authorities had instructed all Syrian citizens residing in Lebanon to return to their country by July 15, 2007. The next day, the Israeli Arab daily Al-Sinara similarly reported, on the authority of a Lebanese source close to Damascus, that Syria was planning to remove its citizens from Lebanon. Also on July 5, the Lebanese daily Al-Liwa reported rumors that Syrian workers were leaving Lebanon at the request of the Syrian authorities. In addition, the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra reported that Syrian universities would accept Syrian students who were leaving Lebanon due to the instability there,” MEMRI said in its report. . .

Within Lebanon itself, the Hizbullah-led opposition threatened to establish a “second government” through “historical steps” in mid July, according to senior Hizbullah officials quoted in the Lebanese media, MEMRI added. . .

[callmejoe]

http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/Newsdesk.nsf/0/7082F91E1191E3E1C22572EF003E57CD?OpenDocument

Ahmadinejad: Israel’s ‘Destruction’ Countdown Starts on Hands of Lebanese, Palestinians

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that a countdown has begun that will end with the “destruction” of Israel by the people of Lebanon and Palestine, the ISNA news agency reported.

“The countdown has started for the Zionist regime’s destruction at the hands of the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples,” the student agency quoted the president as saying.

“In the near future we will witness the destruction of the Zionist regime, God willing.”

Beirut, 03 Jun 07, 14:23

[callmejoe]

“countdown” next week

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/07/eveningnews/main3027794.shtml

No-Confidence Vote Looms Over Iraq’s PM

BAGHDAD, July 7, 2007 (excerpt)

---

(CBS) For four years, Iraqis have been waiting in lines at gas stations in Baghdad, waiting for their lives to get better. But, as CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports, the situation has gotten worse and their government is now in crisis.

That has led senior Iraqi leaders to demand drastic change. CBS News has learned that on July 15, they plan to ask for a no-confidence vote in the Iraqi parliament as the first step to bringing down the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Even those closest to the Iraqi prime minister, from his own party, admit the political situation is desperate. . .

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070704/kyodo/d8q5o9b00.html

Wednesday July 4, 7:28 PM
N. Korea agrees to supply 4 mini-submarines to Iran: source
(Kyodo)

(excerpted)

North Korea has agreed to supply four mini-submarines to Iran by mid-July, raising the level of alert in neighboring countries, a diplomatic source said Wednesday.

The agreement was reached when North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il made a visit to Iran in May, the source familiar with relations between Tehran and Pyongyang told Kyodo News. . .

“During the visit of Kim Yong Il in Iran, it was agreed that North Korea would deliver 4 mini-submarines to Iran within the next two months, not later than July 15 this year,” the source said.

The source raised concerns that Iran may mobilize the North Korean-made submarines near the Strait of Hormuz and may pose threats to naval vessels deployed by the United States. . .

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=15732&sectionid=351020101

Ahmadinejad to visit Syria
Sun, 08 Jul 2007 02:02:39

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to visit his Syrian counterpart Bashshar al-Assad in Damascus for the second time, Syrian sources say.

Ahmadinejad will be the first to congratulate Bashar al-Assad on his new term in office, which will officially start July 17.

Iran and Syria have always had close ties and are pledged to work together to confront the US and Israel designs against the region.

GMA/HAR