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Posted on 03/05/2008 5:59:39 PM PST by nwctwx
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This afternoon’s STUCK ON STUPID award goes to:
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1367561
“Anti-War Protests Could Snarl Traffic”
March 18, 2008 - 10:42am
WASHINGTON -
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “They plan to target businesses, government and political centers that they view as responsible for allowing the war to continue.”
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/march08/cybergroup_031708.html
“CYBER SOLIDARITY
Five Nations, One Mission”
03/18/08
March 17, 2008
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://baltimore.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/ba031708a.htm
MS-13 GANG MEMBER SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS FOR RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY
Participated in the Murder of Ashley Antonio Urias
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Everec Alvarez Chacon, also known as Moreno, age 30, of Washington, D.C., today to 20 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to conduct and participate in racketeering enterprise activities of MS-13, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division. Judge Chasanow also ordered Chacon to pay $6,783 in restitution for funeral expenses.
“Twenty-one MS-13 gang members now have been convicted in Maryland on federal RICO charges for participating in a racketeering conspiracy, and fourteen other gang members have been convicted on other federal charges over the past two years,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.
“We are making a clear impact,” says ATF Special Agent in Charge Gregory K. Gant, “but we’re not finished until there is no longer a threat of gang violence in our communities.”
According to the plea agreement, La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, is a gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador, with members operating throughout Prince George’s County and Montgomery County, Maryland and elsewhere. MS-13 is a national and international criminal organization with approximately 10,000 members.
MS-13 is organized in “cliques,” including the Sailors Locos Salvatruchos Westside (“SLSW”), the Teclas Locos Salvatruchos and the Langley Park Salvatruchos. Chacon became a member of MS-13 while he lived in the vicinity of Sonsonate, El Salvador. Chacon entered the United States illegally in December of 2000 and came to live in Washington, D.C. area. By May of 2004, Chacon was introduced to various SLSW clique members.
On May 20, 2004, Chacon and two SLSW clique members started talking with Ashley Antonio Urias in a parking lot in Suitland, Maryland, where they were all drinking beer. All four individuals decided to go to the Washington National Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland. Chacon
and the SLSW members drove Chacon’s vehicle to the cemetery, Urias drove his truck, and all four continued to drink beer.
The MS-13 members believed Urias to be a member of a rival gang. Later in the evening, a fight broke out. Urias was beaten with a baseball bat and a golf club, suffering several skull fractures, with one blow essentially severing the spine from the base of his brain. Urias was dragged through the cemetery by Chacon and the other SLSW clique members, to an area of dirt and gravel, where they left his body. Urias’s body was discovered by groundskeepers later on May 21, 2004. Also on May 21, 2004, Anne Arundel County police pulled over Urias’s truck, which was being driven by one of the SLSW clique members with Chacon and the other SLSW member as passengers in the truck. The truck was impounded, but none of the three men were arrested.
Chacon and the two SLSW clique members were advised by MS-13 associates to leave the area, after it was discovered they had been involved in a murder. On May 23, 2004, all three men arrived in Port Washington, New York, at the home of a relative of Chacon.
On June 24, 2004, Chacon was arrested in Port Washington, New York. After Chacon initially denied membership in MS-13, or any knowledge of, or participation in, the Urias murder, he made another statement to investigators. Chacon claimed that he had been drinking heavily for three days and that he was inside his car when an argument broke out between Urias and the SLSW clique members. Chacon stated that one of the SLSW clique members and Urias began hitting each other with bats, but that he did not participate in the fight. Chacon acknowledged dragging Urias out of the cemetery roadway, but claimed Urias was still alive at the time. In fact, Urias could not have survived the most serious blow to his spine (from the golf club) for more than a few seconds and died prior to his body being dragged to the area where it was later discovered.
While Chacon was detained for the murder of Urias in Prince George’s County, he directed that a postcard be written to threaten and persuade the SLSW clique members not to cooperate with authorities. The postcard was sent on February 24, 2005.
To date, this office has charged 49 gang members with federal offenses, with 30 defendants charged in this RICO conspiracy case. Twenty-one MS-13 gang members have been convicted thus far of RICO conspiracy charges.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the RAGE Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Prince George’s County Police Department; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Montgomery County Department of Police; the Howard County Police Department; the Maryland National Capital Park Police; and the Maryland State Police.
Mr. Rosenstein thanked the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn F. Ivey and Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy for the assistance that they and their offices provided.
Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Trusty and Chan Park, and Trial Attorney David Jaffe, a prosecutor for the Justice Department’s Gang Squad, who prosecuted the case.
UPDATE:
March 6, 2008
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://sanantonio.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/bombthreats030608.htm
WOMAN SENTENCED FOR MAKING BOMB THREATS TO AIRLINE
United States Attorney Johnny Sutton and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Ralph Diaz announced today that 36-year-old April Wormly, of Hobbs, New Mexico, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Orlando Garcia to 24 months in federal prison for calling in a bomb hoax. She was also ordered to pay $19,761.20 in restitution.
Earlier this year the defendant pled guilty to the federal charges. By pleading guilty, she admitted that on April 21, 2007, she made numerous telephone calls to the San Antonio International Airport (SAIA) and Southwest Airlines (SWA) claiming that there was a bomb on a Southwest flight from San Antonio to Dallas. The airplane was diverted to a secure site at SAIA and removed from service. No explosives were found, but 120 passengers were delayed. Southwest incurred additional costs of $19,761.20, due to the defendant’s actions which form the basis of the restitution.
Five of the defendant’s 36 telephone calls to SWA were recorded. The defendant admitted in a signed statement to FBI agents that she did in fact make the false telephone calls and that she knew there was no bomb on the plane. Wormly stated that her motivation was to end her relationship with her sometimes boyfriend, who was a passenger on the flight; she hoped that once he discovered that she made the false calls, he would leave her alone.
This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, San Antonio Police Department, San Antonio Airport Police, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Hobbs New Mexico Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Roomberg prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
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March 14, 2008
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://minneapolis.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/immigrationfraud031408.htm
Elzahabi sentenced to time served for possessing fraudulent immigration documents
United States District Court Judge John Tunheim today sentenced a 44-year-old Minneapolis man to time served and two years of supervised release for possessing fraudulent immigration documents.
Elzahabi, who has been in custody since May 2004, will be turned over to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who will determine whether or not Elzahabi will remain in the country or be deported.
In August 2007, a jury convicted Mohamed Kamal Elzahabi, also known as Abu Kamal al Lubnani, on three counts of possession of false immigration documents following a four-day trial. The jury deliberated for about eight hours before rendering its decision.
Court documents and evidence at trial showed that on Sept. 6, 2001; Sept. 21, 2001; and Feb. 7, 2002, Elzahabi used an alien registration receipt card, commonly referred to as a “green card,” as evidence of his eligibility to stay and work in this country. That card, however, was obtained by fraud.
Specifically, the card was authorized because of Elzahabi’s 1984 marriage to a U.S. citizen. That marriage occurred, however, only after Elzahabi paid a dancer at the Pink Pussy Cat Club in Houston, Texas, to become his bride for the sole purpose of evading immigration laws and obtaining an alien registration card. Elzahabi never lived with the woman as her husband, but he made statements to the contrary on his immigration petition.
This case was the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ICE, Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Minneapolis Police Department, the Boston Police Department, and the Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office in Texas.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anders Folk and U.S. Department of Justice Trial Attorney John Van Lonkhuyzen.
Off Topic, but sad.
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1987714/posts
Saudi 11-year-old marries 10-year-old cousin: report
AFP ^ | March 18, 2008 | Staff
Posted on 03/18/2008 1:48:07 PM PDT by jdm
An 11-year-old boy has married his 10-year-old cousin in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Mohammed al-Rashidi and his unidentified cousin will seal the marriage they contracted under the sharia laws of Islam and move in together after a ceremony to take place in the summer, Al-Shams newspaper said.
“I am ready for this marriage. It will help me study better,” Mohammed, who goes to primary school in the northern province of Hail, was quoted as saying by Al-Shams.
“I invite all my classmates to do like me,” the boy said, adding that he wanted to “crown a love story through marriage”.
The schoolboy’s father, Muraizak al-Rashidi, told the newspaper he was busy sending out invitations for a summer celebration to seal the marriage.
Dahim al-Jaber, the headmaster at Mohammed’s school, said marriage at such a young age was “inappropriate” but wished the couple a happy life together.
Looking at a youth movement...
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/mar/102338.htm
Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
March 18, 2008
Designation of Al-Shabaab
PDF version
On February 29, 2008, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice designated al-Shabaab (aka al-Shabab, aka Shabaab, aka the Youth, aka Mujahidin al-Shabaab Movement, aka Mujahideen Youth Movement, aka Mujahidin Youth Movement, aka MYM, aka Harakat Shabab al-Mujahidin, aka Hizbul Shabaab, aka Hisb’ul Shabaab, aka al-Shabaab al-Islamiya, aka Youth Wing, aka al Shabaab al-Islaam, aka al-Shabaab al-Jihaad, aka the Unity of Islamic Youth) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as amended) and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224 (as amended).
The consequences of these designations include a prohibition against the provision of material support or resources to al-Shabaab and blocking of all property and interests in property of the organization that are in the United States, or come within the United States, or the control of U.S. persons. Secretary Rice took this action in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury. Designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to renounce terrorism.
Al-Shabaab is a violent and brutal extremist group with a number of individuals affiliated with al-Qaida. Many of its senior leaders are believed to have trained and fought with al-Qaida in Afghanistan.
Al-Shabaab has used intimidation and violence to undermine the Somali government and threatened civil society activists working to bring about peace through political dialogue and reconciliation. The group scattered leaflets on the streets of Mogadishu warning participants in last year’s reconciliation conference that they intended to bomb the conference venue. Al-Shabaab promised to shoot anyone planning to attend the conference and to blow up delegates’ cars and hotels. Although al-Shabaab did not carry out these particular threats, the group has claimed responsibility for shooting Deputy District Administrators, as well as several bombings and shootings in Mogadishu targeting Ethiopian troops and Somali government officials. Al-Shabaab’s leader, Aden Hashi Ayrow, has ordered his fighters to attack African Union (AU) troops based in Mogadishu. Ayrow has also called for foreign fighters to join al-Shabaab in their fight in Somalia. Given the threat that al-Shabaab poses, the designation will raise awareness of al-Shabaab’s activities and help undercut the group’s ability to threaten targets in and destabilize the Horn of Africa region.
2008/200
Released on March 18, 2008
Thank you, Cindy. It’s good to see some progress being made on a situation that seems all too often forgotten by the media.
OPINION:
I agree SlowBoat407.
I also think that like the surge in Iraq; one can’t let up on the surge against the MS-13’s activities.
Norooz (the Persian New Year) begins on Thursday.
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/347087
It is like “a Tet” (Vietnamese New Year)
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Tetoffen.html
Norooz 2007 was used to stage a major provocation (the seizure of the British sailors).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17752685/
Iranian state media speculated about a year ago that the Mahdi might appear during Norooz.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3346589,00.html
tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War
“a Tet nuclear 911”
But it also could just have meant “Mahmoud Atef” (Abu Hafs al-Masri)
http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/mohammed_atef.htm
Of course, many of the nuclear threats in 2003-2004 were issued in the name of the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203283469342&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Revolutionary Guards cmdr: ‘Cancerous growth’ Israel will soon disappear
“The cancerous growth Israel will soon disappear,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Muhammad Ali Jafari wrote to Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the FARS news agency reported Monday.
In a letter of condolences following last week’s assassination of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh, Jafari said: “I am convinced that with every passing day Hizbullah’s might is increasing and in the near future, we will witness the disappearance of this cancerous growth Israel by means of the Hizbullah fighters’ radiation.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1205420721608&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Barak orders closure ahead of Purim (snipped)
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 18, 2008
Concerned that terrorists may strike ahead of this weekend’s Purim holiday, the IDF began on Tuesday to impose a full closure on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip slated to remain in effect until Sunday.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided on the closure following a security assessment he held Tuesday morning with representatives of the IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police. Police Insp.-Gen. Dudi Cohen has also ordered the police to beef up security in public areas over the weekend.
During the security assessment, Barak was presented with intelligence that terrorists might attack Israeli cities over the holiday weekend. Police will deploy thousands of officers and volunteers at holiday celebrations as well as at bus stations and malls throughout the country. . .
The increase in the level of alert also comes after threats from Hizbullah, which the defense establishment fears will carry out an attack in the coming days to avenge the assassination of the group’s operations chief Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus on February 12.
Israel has denied involvement in the killing. Mughniyeh’s 40-day mourning period will end this weekend. . .
Thank you Callmejoe for the posts.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49305
“U.S. Will Complete Mission, Cheney Tells Troops in Iraq”
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 18, 2008 –
More Details:
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49310
Detained Terrorists Reveal Al Qaeda Recruiting Process
By Seaman William Selby, USN
Special to American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 18, 2008 – Information culled from 48 foreign fighters in custody of Multinational Force Iraq yields a profile for al Qaeda foreign terrorists, a senior military official said yesterday.
When analyzed, officials found that foreign terrorists had comparable recruitment stories, including why they joined al Qaeda and what they did once they were smuggled into Iraq, said Air Force Col. Donald Bacon, chief of special operations and intelligence information for Multinational Force Iraq. Bacon spoke with online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call.
All of the captured or surrendered foreign terrorists were single men, and they averaged 22 years of age. Most worked blue-collar jobs and had little-to-no education or military experience, Bacon said.
All the foreign terrorists came from large families, and standing out was a prime motivator for joining al Qaeda. However, Bacon said, interrogators were interested to find that while foreign fighters said they joined al Qaeda to “make their mark,” most were reluctant to tell their families for fear of disapproval.
Multinational Force Iraq interrogators also discovered that al Qaeda misled recruits about the situation in Iraq.
“The overwhelming point from the 48 (foreign terrorists in custody) is they came to Iraq expecting to see Americans get killed, yet what they primarily saw was Iraqis getting killed, and it bothered them,” Bacon said. “They did not come to kill Iraqis.”
He said the foreign fighters were discouraged to find the expectations al Qaeda instilled in them were not reality upon arriving in Iraq. They came to Iraq expecting to see al Qaeda victorious instead of being defeated, he said.
Multinational Force Iraq officials learned from the foreign terrorists that al Qaeda recruiters prey on young men they deem to be impressionable and lonely, Bacon said. They target recruits at mosques or at their jobs.
“In all cases, the recruiter offered friendship and also offered to teach the future foreign terrorist the basics of Islam … and that’s how the relationship started,” he explained.
The foreign fighters revealed that they are usually flown into the airport in Damascus, Syria, and then they are smuggled into Iraq in a process that could take months, he said.
The fighters described their treatment from fellow al Qaeda members and Iraqis as harsh upon their arrival in Iraq. They felt looked down upon by the Iraqis and feared revealing their foreign identity to locals, he said.
Additionally, he said, officials found out that most of the foreign terrorists had signed up to be fighters but were pressured by al Qaeda to become suicide bombers.
“They were told, ‘This is your duty. This is what we need you to do for the Jihad. You could be more useful as a suicide bomber than you could be a fighter. You’ll be a martyr and this is what we need you to do to win,’” he said.
Ninety percent of suicide bombings in Iraq are carried out by foreign terrorists, Bacon said, making them the most lethal of all insurgents.
“They produce the most destruction and cause the most civilian casualties,” he said.
Coalition forces are working with the Iraqi government to tighten border controls, and the number of foreign terrorists entering the country has been reduced to between 40 and 50 a month, compared to an estimated 120 entries in June, he explained.
(Seaman William Selby works for the New Media branch of American Forces Information Service.)
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/russia/
#
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49311
“U.S., Russian Officials Agree to Create Strategic Framework Document”
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
NEWS RELEASE SNIPPET: “MOSCOW, March 18, 2008 – After two days of intense talks here, U.S. and Russian officials have agreed to a draft of a “strategic framework” document that will hopefully guide the two sides through dealing with tough issues such as a European missile defense plan.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented the draft to Russian President Vladimir Putin and their Russian counterparts at the start of their talks yesterday and have since been hammering out its details.”
...and now for some REALLY GREAT news:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49312
“Soldiers Capture High-Value Target During Night Raid”
By Spc. Ben Hutto, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 18, 2008
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17689&Itemid=128
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20080318-16
March 18, 2008
‘Wolverines’ find 2 EFPs (Baghdad)
4th BCT PAO, 1st Inf. Div.
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers discovered two improvised explosive devices while conducting a patrol in southern Baghdad March 17.
Soldiers from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division found two explosively formed penetrators while on a route-clearance mission in a southern Baghdad neighborhood.
Explosive ordnance personnel safely removed the EFPs.
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17690&Itemid=128
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20080318-17
March 17, 2008
Iraqi Army discover cache in Salah ad Din
Multi-National Division – North PAO
TIKRIT, Iraq – Iraqi Soldiers discovered a weapons cache of explosives east of Balad, March 16.
The weapons cache included ammonium nitrate, more than a dozen mortar shells, several pounds of homemade explosives, several weapons, and materials for making improvised explosive devices.
“These discoveries will continue to deny the enemy the means to conduct future attacks,” said Maj. Dan Meyers, a U.S. military spokesman in northern Iraq.
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