Threat Matrix: November 2007

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[nwctwx]

U.S. to Offer Turkey Help on PKK

The U.S. is to offer Turkey a package of measures to dissuade Ankara from mounting a large-scale military incursion into Iraq to attack PKK Kurdish guerrillas, who have killed scores of Turkish soldiers in recent weeks.

Ahead of a meeting in Washington on Monday between President George W. Bush and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, U.S. officials said Ankara would have to get concrete American help to combat the PKK, which has bases in northern Iraq from where it frequently launches attacks into Turkey.

“Erdogan has to go back with the belief that for whatever reason, the U.S. is serious” about tackling Turkey’s concerns regarding the PKK, said Matthew Bryza, deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. state department responsible for Turkey policy. Full story...

	Turkey Imposes Sanctions on Iraqi Kurdistan in Bid to Halt PKK
	Ambassador Ryan Crocker to Turkey: Stay Out of Iraq
	Deaths in Baghdad Hit Yearly Low

Threat Matrix:
November 2007

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[Cindy]

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

#

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=6384D032-28EE-40A1-97B5-0952876BBCBC

“Oil Hydra Goes Hyper”
By Victor Davis Hanson
The Washington Times | Monday, November 12, 2007

[Cindy]

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=10ED4835-A503-433A-A7D3-55909E888A5C

“One Day in the Life of Amir Abbas Fakhravar”
By Jacob Laksin
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, November 12, 2007

“[Editor’s Note: the following profile is on Amir Abbas Fakhravaris, the Annie Taylor Award recipient at this year’s Restoration Weekend, Nov. 15-18].”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Fakhravar has paid terribly for his heresies. Sentenced to eight years in prison in 2001 for his involvement in the student movement, Fakhravar served four consecutive years, including eight months in solitary confinement when he was subjected to “white torture,” a form of sensory deprivation in which he was locked in a windowless cell, denied all human contact, and was surrounded by white (including white walls, white clothes and even white rice for food).

Even worse than the torture was the mental anguish. “Day in an day out, the interrogators would say, ‘You will never see the blue sky again.’ ‘You will never see the moon again.’ ‘You will be buried here.’” At night, Fakhravar would have nightmares, his mind racing with images that the prison walls closing in, burying him. Terrified, he would awake in a cold sweat.

Most dispiriting, however, was what happened before he went to prison. Fakhravar recalls being beaten up and thrown in jail for three days. Finally, a judge finally came to see him. Fakhravar protested his detention, but the judge showed no interest in his case. “Remember,” he recalls the judge sneering at him, “those who cross the line deserve to die.” “When you hear that from a judge, you lose hope,” Fakhravar says. In the end, he was sentenced without trial, or even so much as an opportunity to plead his case. The official charge: “Insult to the Supreme Leader,” the Ayatollah Khamenei.”

[Cindy]

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=CBCF2FE7-1043-413E-911B-E5907FE56A3C

“Forgetting How War Works”
By Rachel Marsden
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, November 12, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “If the West loses the current war against Islamofascism, it will be because some have lost all sense of what war really means.”

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Thank you, Oorang.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Thank you, Oorang.

[Rushmore Rocks]

Thanks Cindy. I must have taken a nap and missed the cyber attack.

[Velveeta]

Toxic fume fears as massive fire at Olympic site shrouds London in smoke

Police have issued an asbestos warning after a massive blaze broke out on the edge of the Olympic Village in east London.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23420617-details/Toxic+fume+fears+as+massive+fire+at+Olympic+site+shrouds+London+in+smoke/article.do

[Velveeta]

Evacuations as 75 firefighters tackle huge blaze at 2012 Olympic site

Eye witnesses have told the Advertiser they heard an explosion at 12 noon.
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/advertiser/news/story.aspx?brand=ELAOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsela&itemid=WeED12%20Nov%202007%2014%3A19%3A39%3A287

Witnesses said they heard a loud blast then watched as the choking smoke and fumes spread out across London – which could be seen from 30 miles away.

“It’s the most incredible pall of smoke, it looked like an atomic bomb had gone off,” said another eyewitness.
http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/news/article/1157149663377?packedargs=suffix%3DArticleController

Scotland Yard said there were no reports of an explosion, and witnesses confirmed they had not heard anything. “There wasn’t any bang as such,” one witness told Sky News.
http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/674201.htm

[Velveeta]

The Truth Behind Al Qaeda’s Holiday Terrorism Threat
By Catherine Herridge

In this week’s Intelligence Briefing: MI5, malls and making it work at the Pentagon.

The week began with stunning news out of England. It was my day off and I was taking some time to read the paper and one story immediately caught my attention. The head of MI5, her majesty’s intelligence service, a man who rarely speaks publicly, said 2000 extremists are living in Great Britain and there are maybe twice as many they don’t even know about — stunning information.

SNIP

It is hard to say how credible this intelligence is. You can’t dismiss it out of hand. One of my contacts is noticing a lot more chatter on the jihadist forums about striking small blows. That may be code for smaller attacks which could be equally effective at hurting the economy and our resolve than the “big spectaculars” like 9/11. In some of the recent tapes, Al Qaeda has spoken of this as well. I am paraphrasing here, but why dream of a nuclear strike on the U.S. if you can never get a hold of a bomb that works?

SNIP
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,310278,00.html

[drymans wife]

I have been following this. We have to be vigilant.

[Oorang]

Thanks for the links Cindy. The Balkans, another ticking time bomb.

[Velveeta]

Sadly, such is life these days.

[Velveeta]

TMers will remember this incident:

FBI: Turkey Point hole vandalism not sabotage

Turkey Point Power Plant in South Dade. The fuel barge is at the left where it unloads it’s cargo to the holding tanks on the right. The fossil fuel part of the power plant is seen between the stacks while the nuclear cooling towers are at the left. The oil barge goes from the Port of Miami through Biscayne National Park to Turkey Point and back.A mystery at the Turkey Point nuclear power plant has been solved — sort of.

The FBI recently completed its investigation into who may have drilled a tiny hole into a cooling system at the South Miami-Dade facility last year, agency spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said. The FBI, which interviewed hundreds of utility workers about the incident, knows who did it — but doesn’t plan to file charges because the agency lacks sufficient evidence to prove criminal intent.

‘’No one is being charged unless more evidence becomes available,’’ Orihuela said Monday.

Agents found no evidence to indicate sabotage.......
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_dade/story/304941.html

[drymans wife]

Ya know, if they want to do small scale attacks, would our media even be inclined to see it as such.

I don’t think so!

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1919875/posts?page=562#562

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http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=10ED4835-A503-433A-A7D3-55909E888A5C

“One Day in the Life of Amir Abbas Fakhravar”
By Jacob Laksin
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, November 12, 2007

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Follow-up Comments:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/GoPostal/default.aspx?GUID=10ED4835-A503-433A-A7D3-55909E888A5C

[Cindy]

You caught me...I did take a nap and missed your post.
Sorry for the late response RR.

[Cindy]

Wow, those photos are just incredible — like being there.
Thank you.

Apparently, the fire chiefs think a spark from a welder’s torch working on a warehouse may have caused the fire. (Per article).

[Rushmore Rocks]

No problem. Naps are good. Especially at my age.

[Cindy]

LOL — Sunday naps are the very best.

[Cindy]

http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html

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http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/018771.php
(REUTERS)

November 12, 2007
“US military says finding more Iranian arms in Iraq”