Threat Matrix: December 2007

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[nwctwx]

Calculating the Risks in Pakistan

A small group of U.S. military experts and intelligence officials convened in Washington for a classified war game last year, exploring strategies for securing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if the country's political institutions and military safeguards began to fall apart.

The secret exercise — conducted without official sponsorship from any government agency, apparently due to the sensitivity of its subject — was one of several such games the U.S. government has conducted in recent years examining various options and scenarios for Pakistan's nuclear weapons: How many troops might be required for a military intervention in Pakistan? Could Pakistani nuclear bunkers be isolated by saturating the surrounding areas with tens of thousands of high-powered mines, dropped from the air and packed with anti-tank and anti-personnel munitions? Or might such a move only worsen the security of Pakistan's arsenal?
Full story...

	Musharraf: U.S. Shares Blame for Pakistan and Afghanistan
	Bin Laden's Message to the Europeans
	Messages from bin Laden Since 9-11

Threat Matrix:
December 2007

November 2007

Threat Matrix Index

Theat Matrix Handbook

Theat Matrix 'BOLO'

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Preparedness

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1935904/posts

#

http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/12/was_general_ashgari_a_double_a.html

December 06, 2007
“Was General Ashgari a Double Agent?”
By James Lewis

[Cindy]

In my opinion, they should be afraid.
Let history be their teacher.

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936004/posts

#

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7131703.stm

Last Updated: Thursday, 6 December 2007, 20:56 GMT

“Iran a threat, say Europe allies”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have said Iran continues to pose a threat.

The comments came as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began talks with European and Russian officials in Brussels on Iran’s nuclear programme.

A US intelligence report published on Monday said Iran had suspended a nuclear weapons programme in 2003.

But the report also said that Iran was continuing to enrich uranium, which can be used to make nuclear weapons.

Iran says the aims of its nuclear programme are peaceful.

“Iran continues to represent a threat,” Mrs Merkel said during a joint news conference with Mr Sarkozy in Paris.”

[Cindy]

http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=jihad&ID=SP178007

Special Dispatch Series - No. 1780
December 7, 2007 No.1780

“Two Testimonies by Young Men Who Went to Wage Jihad in Iraq”

SNIPPET: “Two testimonies by young men who went to Iraq to wage jihad were published recently. In the first testimony, a young Saudi named Ahmad bin ‘Abdallah Al-Shayi’ said that he regretted his actions, and accused Al-Qaeda of exploiting young men by tempting them to join the organization and then sending them to carry out martyrdom operations. He warned all young men, and Muslims in general, to learn from his mistake, and not to join the jihad in Iraq or in other regions of conflict.

The second testimony was that of an individual calling himself “the noble mujahid Muhibb Al-Sunna Al-Iraqi.” Unlike Al-Shayi’, he described his experience in very positive terms, and praised the Al-Qaeda commanders, particularly the late Al-Qaeda in Iraq commander Abu Mus’ab Al-Zarqawi.

The interview with Al-Shayi’ was published in the Saudi government daily Al-Riyadh, on November 21, 2007, as part of recent Saudis efforts to prevent young men from participating in jihad in Iraq. The second testimony, published by the Rafidayn Center, was posted in French on the Islamist forum Minbar-SOS (hosted by Bravenet Web Services Inc. in Canada) on October 28, 2007, [1] and also on the Islamist forum Elshouraa (hosted by ZipServers Inc. in Oklahoma, USA), on November 21, 2007. [2]

The following are excerpts from the two testimonies.”

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48342

Terrorist Networks Disrupted; Three Terrorists Killed, 19 Detained

American Forces Press Service

BAGHDAD, Dec. 6, 2007 – Coalition forces killed three terrorists and detained 19 suspects during operations today to disrupt al Qaeda activities along the Tigris River Valley in Iraq.

Coalition forces captured a wanted individual during an operation targeting alleged associates of the terrorist network north of Baghdad. The wanted individual is believed to be involved in the network’s car-bombing operations, including procuring and delivering vehicles for attacks. As the ground force arrived at the area, an armed man emerged, maneuvering west of the target building. Coalition forces engaged, killing the armed man. The ground force detained five suspects in addition to the targeted individual.

South of Yusufiyah, coalition forces captured another wanted individual believed to be associated with the terrorist network in southern Baghdad and suspected of planning a potential attack on coalition forces operating in the area. The suspect also reportedly has ties to foreign terrorists and senior al Qaeda leaders operating in the Arab Jabour and southern Baghdad area. The wanted individual identified himself to the ground force and was detained along with another suspect.

North of Mosul, coalition forces conducted an operation targeting an alleged al Qaeda leader involved in weapons and financial facilitation in Hawijah. The individual reportedly commands numerous terrorists, whom he uses to conduct assassinations targeting Iraqi security forces. As coalition forces entered the target building, a man armed with a knife lunged at their position. They engaged and killed the man. Also in the building, the ground force discovered a man wrapped in a blanket with wires protruding out of it. They engaged and killed him. Six other suspected terrorists were detained on site without incident.

In another operation, five suspected terrorists were detained north of Bayji while coalition forces targeted an al Qaeda member associated with weapons and foreign-terrorist facilitation.

“These operations are further examples of the progress we’ve made against al Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders,” said Army Maj. Winfield Danielson, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman. “We’re continuously pursuing them, finding the places they hide and disrupting their ability to attack innocent Iraqis.”

(From a Multinational Force Iraq news release.)

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48348

Department Works to Keep Homeland Secure

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2007 – The U.S. military is prepared to defend the United States and support civil authorities in ways not even thought of a decade ago, the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense said to reporters at the Foreign Press Center here today.

Paul McHale said that establishing the office he now holds in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was a recognition that the nature of warfare had changed.

“What we recognized was that through most of the history of the United States, in order to fundamentally threaten the national security of our country it required the resources and capabilities of a hostile nation state,” McHale said.

“On September 11th it became brutally clear that in the 21st Century, with the evolution of destructive technology, the proliferation of that technology and its raw power and transportability, it no longer required the resources of a nation-state to fundamentally threaten the United States.”

Small terrorist groups – or even individuals – could gain these technologies and could threaten America. The threat became different and the U.S. response also had to be different.

“In order to confront a threat that was more decentralized and less dependent on the command and control of a hostile nation-state … in order to protect the United States we had to devise defenses that were built upon, but quite different from, defenses that had worked in the Cold War,” McHale.

In 2002, the Defense Department established U.S. Northern Command to coordinate the military defense of the country, and McHale’s position was created to supervise all the homeland defense activities of DoD.

“The protection of the United States in the 21st century involves much more than military power,” McHale said. His office works to coordinate with another newly created entity: the Department of Homeland Security.

McHale’s office helps ensure defense of the United States, and it provides military assistance to civilian agencies in the event of a catastrophic attack or natural disaster.

McHale said the various commands and departments have made America safer. He said U.S. air defense capabilities have been drastically modified since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. There are now ground-based air defenses around cities and high-value targets, he said. The air-to-air fighters “on alert, ready to destroy any aviation threat to the United States,” he said.

On land, there are active duty and National Guard quick reaction forces ready to deploy in order to defeat a foreign terrorist attack, he said.

In the maritime domain, there are Navy and Coast Guard ships ready to interdict and defeat a threat. This could involve “the maritime movement of a weapon of mass destruction – a nuclear device or a dirty bomb,” he said. “We are prepared to use U.S. Navy ships … to interdict the maritime approaches to the U.S. We are prepared and train to that mission everyday.”

But if the defense fails and a terrorist manages to attack the United States, the office has a mission of providing civil support. The Defense Department could provide manpower, expertise and help to civilian agencies coping with the aftermath of such an attack, McHale said.

Communications, equipment, trained manpower, imagery, air assets, there are any number of military capabilities that could help. And it is not limited to an attack. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. military helped bring order to an overwhelming humanitarian disaster.

Overall, the nation is in much better shape to defend itself than before September 11, 2001, McHale said. “In terms of physical defense of the United States and our ability to respond, we have many more military personnel with much better equipment, on much shorter alert, task-organized and ready to respond in a way that we did not envision a half-decade ago,” McHale said.

[Cindy]

http://truthusa.com/a/index.php?topic=998.0

#

RECAP:

http://truthusa.com/a/index.php?topic=339.0

...and now a word from Cindy to lurkers who may be jihadis and/or jihad supporters:

Jihad is evil.

You can turn your life around.

It is not too late.

Open your minds.

Think.

Open your hearts.

Love.

Every day you live is a gift of
life from God.

Live life.

Do the right thing.

Turn your back on evil.

Jihad is evil.

[Cindy]

blog:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/12/special_groups_weapo.php

“Special Groups weapons trainers in the crosshairs”
By BILL ROGGIODecember 7, 2007 12:22 AM

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “While US and Iraqi forces focus on combatting al Qaeda as it shifts to the Northern provinces, Coalition Special Forces teams continue to target the Iranian-backed Special Groups terror cells operating in the central and southern provinces.”

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1935986/posts

“The Terrorist Roundup for December 7, 2007”
12/07/07
Posted on 12/06/2007 9:33:01 PM PST by Straight Vermonter

[Cindy]

December 7, 1941: “JAPAN ATTACKS PEARL HARBOR!”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=december7

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22December+7,+1941%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0

[Cindy]

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

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

#

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071207/NATION04/112070088/1008

Inside the Ring
By Bill Gertz
December 7, 2007
Romney and Huawei

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “”Your company, Bain Capital, is taking on a ‘strategic partner,’ Huawei, in the acquisition of 3Com,” Mr. Hunter wrote, noting that Huawei has close ties to the Chinese military and aided Saddam Hussein and the Taliban.

Mr. Hunter said even though Mr. Romney no longer controls Bain, “the contributions you have received from its principals indicate that your influence within the company remains strong.”

Mr. Hunter, who like Mr. Romney seeks the Republican nomination for president, asked Mr. Romney to state publicly that “this transaction should be terminated on the grounds of national security.”

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said “the governor is not currently involved in Bain Capital or their investment decisions.””

[Cindy]

Ding. Ding. Ding. Here is today’s STUCK ON STUPID winner.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019057.php

December 6, 2007
“University of Florida: Saying ‘Radical Islam Wants You Dead’ Offends Muslims”

#

Here is a bright light of honesty here that should be noted:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/12/06/qt

SNIPPET: “Florida’s attorney general, Bill McCollum, has sent a sharply worded letter to the University of Florida, saying that a vice president of the institution may have limited students’ free speech rights by criticizing posters put up last month to publicize a showing of the controversial documentary, Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West. Campus Republican groups sponsored the event, and their posters said: “Radical Islam Wants You Dead.””
(December 6, 2007)

#

...and if you haven’t seen “OBSESSION Radical Islam’s War Against the West”; then click on this link for details:

http://www.obsessionthemovie.com/

[Cindy]

http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071207/COMMENTARY/112070021

COMMENTARY:

Nuclear deceptions
By Kenneth R. Timmerman
December 7, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The NIE also said Iran continues to enrich uranium and will have enough highly enriched material to make its first bomb by the end of 2009. Or by 2013. Or perhaps 2015. It all depends, we are told, on just how much progress the Iranians have made in this part of their program.

That uncertainty — which is absolutely critical — concerns the one part of Iran’s nuclear programs that is open and has been declared (since 2003) to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

If the U.S. intelligence community can’t give us a reliable estimate on the status of that declared program, how can they state with “high confidence” that Tehran halted a clandestine nuclear weapons effort in fall 2003? If Iran actually stopped something, we don’t know what it is. Because, of course, what they stopped was covert and has never been declared or inspected.

But we do know quite a lot.”

[Cindy]

and now on to THE GOOD NEWS:

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15670&Itemid=21

Press Release 07DEC07a
December 7, 2007

Coalition forces capture Special Groups weapons trainer; two killed, five detained (Baghdad)

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces captured a suspected Special Groups criminal element leader, killed two armed men in self-defense, wounded two others and detained five suspects during operations early Thursday in the Al Hayy area, southeast of Baghdad.

The targeted individual reportedly received special weapons training in order to train Special Group criminal element members for insurgent operations. His skills consist of improvised explosive device operation, sniper fire, rocket propelled grenades, operational security, mortars and insurgency combat tactics. He is also believed to be an associate of several other senior-level criminal element leaders who were involved in attacks on Coalition forces.
During the operation, ground forces came under assault by small-arms fire. Assault forces engaged the armed men in self-defense, killing two and wounding two others. Additionally, the targeted individual was captured and four other suspects were detained.

“Coalition forces will continue to apply pressure to splinter groups that are not honoring al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr’s pledge to cease attacks,” said Capt. Vic Beck, MNF-I spokesman. “Each capture of one of these criminals brings us one step closer to a secure future for Iraq.”
- 30 -

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15672&Itemid=21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20071207-05
December 7, 2007

Iraqi Security Forces kill one terrorist, detain 55 suspects in operations against al-Qaeda
Multi-National Corps – Iraq PAO

BALAD, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces, advised by U.S. Special Forces, detained 55 suspects and killed one al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist in two separate operations Dec. 6.

Iraqi Special Operations Forces and U.S. Special Forces conducted a raid near Balad to capture a known AQI terror cell leader who is reported to have conducted indirect fire attacks against Logistic Support Area Anaconda. The cell is also suspected to have been involved in improvised explosive device and other attacks against Iraqi Security Forces, Coalition Forces and Iraqi civilians in the area. Reporting indicates this cell was directly responsible for emplacing an IED that killed three U.S. Air Force Airmen near LSA Anaconda in November 2007.

During the operation, the AQI leader was killed and eight suspected terrorists were captured. Found during the operation and destroyed on site were 82mm mortar rounds, several assault rifles and loaded magazines, hand grenades and body armor.

In a separate operation, Iraqi Security Forces, advised by U.S. Special Forces, detained 47 suspects for questioning during a cordon and search of Al Aswad village.

Iraqi Forces conducted the operation to disrupt AQI cells, safe houses and weapons storage areas in the vicinity. All detainees were placed in the custody of Khalis Iraqi Police. Two improvised explosive devices were discovered and destroyed on site.

No Iraqi or U.S. Forces were injured during the operation.

-30-

[Fedora]

Thanks for the ping! Reminds me of some apparent Mafia front guys’ involvement with Qadafi during the Billygate scandal, which was just before the time period mentioned.

[Cindy]

Thanks for the reminder, Fedora.

Generally speaking, I believe the media understates the wide tentacles and reach of organized crime to strange bedfellows — which at times may include jihadis.

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936025/posts

“December 7, 1941: Edward Dutch Gaulrapp, Pearl Harbor survivor, shares memories of attack”

Commander Navy Region Hawaii and National Archives ^ | December 7 | Blair Martin, Contributing Writer
Posted on 12/07/2007 2:57:58 AM PST by bd476

[Cindy]

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

#

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07120041.htm

Thursday, December 6, 2007

“Missionary pastor shot dead in Trinidad”

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

SNIPPET: “ROUSILLAC, REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO (ANS) — A missionary pastor of a Full Gospel Church was shot dead on December 5 at his residence in Rousillac in Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.”

[Cindy]

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936034/posts

U.S. Capitol officer accused of Senate fire
AP ^ | 12/7/7
Posted on 12/07/2007 3:47:20 AM PST by NativeNewYorker

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A U.S. Capitol Police officer was charged by a grand jury Wednesday with setting a fire Nov. 2 in a women’s bathroom in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The federal indictment of Officer Karen Emory, 36, of Waldorf, Md., did not mention at least six other fires in Senate office buildings since late September.

Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, the Capitol Police spokeswoman, said the other six fires remain under investigation. Investigators are exploring whether the fires are linked but have reached no conclusions, Schneider said.

Emory was charged with one misdemeanor count of willfully injuring property of the United States - toilet roll dispensers and toilet tissue, with damage not exceeding $1,000. If convicted, she faces up to one year in jail.

Emory has been an officer since January 2003, Schneider said.

The Nov. 2 fire, in a second-floor restroom, was quickly extinguished and there were no evacuations or injuries.

All of the fires were in ladies’ restrooms, except for one in a stairwell in the Hart Senate Office Building.