Threat Matrix: March 2008

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[nwctwx]

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In'

U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq.

They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007.

"Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More

	Militants Assert Themselves in Pakistan
	U.S. Optimistic about Afghanistan Reinforcements
	‘You Have to Rethink War’

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March 2008

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[Cindy]

and the good news just keeps rolling in....

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17710&Itemid=21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20080320-01
March 20, 2008

MND-C Soldiers detain key criminal suspect, three additional suspects (Baghdad)

Multi-National Division – Center PAO

BAGHDAD – Soldiers from 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team captured a wanted criminal suspect during an operation in Narhwan March 16.

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery, cleared three houses during the mission and detained an additional three suspects for questioning.

The detained individual was wanted by Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition forces for his alleged role in several improvised explosive device attacks.

He is suspected of smuggling weapons and explosives for several criminal groups throughout Iraq.

Soldiers uncovered a small cache in the suspect’s home containing an AK-47 assault rifle, two shotguns, a bayonet and a small quantity of small-arms ammunition.

“Everything went perfectly,” said Capt. Jared Albright. “Our guys did everything according to plan, and it went exactly as we rehearsed it.”

[Cindy]

Thank you nw.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thank you for the alert on OBL.

[Rushmore Rocks]

You’re welcome, Ruth. Hope you are doing well. I think of you often.

[Cindy]

and more court jestering...

UPDATE:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/462928.html

“Military judge rules for driver’s defense”
Posted on Wed, Mar. 19, 2008
BY CAROL ROSENBERG

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “For a third time, a military judge has authorized lawyers for Osama bin Laden’s driver to send questions to alleged al Qaeda kingpins in segregation at Guantánamo.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Specifically, Allred authorized the lawyers to ask reputed mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed whether the driver was a part of the 9/11 suicide plot and other al Qaeda attacks.

‘The issue of whether the accused was `merely a driver,’ or knew the unlawful purpose and was actively engaged in the unlawful work of al Qaeda seems to be very much at issue,’’ Allred wrote in the four-page ruling, dated Friday.

The Pentagon made it public on Wednesday, intact, with no portions blacked out. Earlier judges’ rulings have been censored.”

[Cindy]

OPINION:

Where is Omar Bin Laden?

This would be a very good time for Omar bin Laden to discuss peace in our time with the release of this latest Usama Bin Laden message.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22OMAR+BIN+LADEN%22&num=10&hl=en&so=1&start=0

[nwctwx]

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatened the European Union with grave punishment over the re-publication of cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad that Muslims saw as offensive.

Bin Laden in an audio recording posted on the Internet said that the drawings which were published by Danish and other newspapers were part of a “crusade” in which the Catholic Pope was involved.

(Reporting by Inal Ersan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1979767020080319

[drymans wife]

Praise God!!!!! The Sun is Out!!!!!!!

Speaking of UBL, I wonder what happened to Gadahn?

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/02/is_adam_gadahn_dead.asp

[Revel]

They don’t provide much info in that article considering the video is over 5 minutes long.

[drymans wife]

We faired well because we live up on a bluff above the lake
that runs through Branson. Others have lost their lives
and there homes.

Pray for those that are suffering.

[Revel]

Here is another link with info on the video:

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/

[drymans wife]

That’s interesting. It could be that the quality of the video
is poor or old is because he doesn’t have Gadahn, his
media guru and better yet, they are both dead.

[Cindy]

ON THE INTERNET...

www.al-boraq.info/showthread.php?t=59716
www.3zh.com/uploads/3b10fab21a.gif

[drymans wife]

In the news it is going around that they are going to open
a Catholic Church in Saudi. I am sure he is none to happy
about that.

[Oorang]

Thank you all for the links and pings, I do appreciate it.

Security forces fear double Hezbollah revenge attack in Israel, abroad
19/03/2008

Security forces are on high alert in Israel and at Israeli and Jewish institutions abroad before the end of the 40-day mourning period for Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyah, who was assassinated in Damascus last month. A full closure was imposed on the West Bank as of last night.

Iran and Hezbollah blame Israel for the February 12 assassination, and Hezbollah has threatened revenge attacks in Israel. The mourning period ends on Sunday. In the past, extremist Islamic organizations have launched revenge attacks at the end of the mourning period. Israeli military officials are particularly concerned about possible simultaneous attacks in Israel and on Israeli diplomatic offices and Jewish institutions abroad. Security at many Israeli diplomatic missions has been tightened in response.

Excerpted

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966023.html

IDF nabs 6 wanted Palestinian terror suspects overnight
03.19.08

IDF soldiers arrested six wanted Palestinian terror suspects in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley on Tuesday night. A Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition were found in the home of one of the suspects, northeast of Nablus. The suspects were taken in for questioning by security forces.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3520913,00.html

[Cindy]

I don't know if bin Laden is happy or dead, but I did read about the latest church that opened in Qatar.

CNS NEWS.com: "GULF STATE'S FIRST CHURCH OPENS" by Patrick Goodenough (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Last week several western embassies warned citizens that the church could be targeted, following threats of violence from Islamists. The U.S. Embassy added the new church to a list of examples of potential targets which it said could be attacked by extremists. The Australian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates, which deals with Qatar, noted that a terrorist Web site had made reference to the new church complex.") (March 17, 2008) (Read More...)

[Cindy]

“IDF nabs 6...”

Good.

[Oorang]

Officer finds box containing radioactive material in parking garage (California)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008

SAN BERNARDINO - A parking control officer found an ice chest-size box containing industrial radioactive material this morning in the parking garage of the Carousel Mall in San Bernardino. The structure was empty and no one was reported injured, San Bernardino City Fire Department Capt. Martin Estacio said. Police cordoned off the parking structure while firefighters called a Riverside company to retrieve its equipment.

The plastic yellow box contained a radioactive check source device, Estacio said. The devices are used for checking water wells, pipes and metal. Symbols on the outside of the box indicated it contained radioactive material.

Excerpted

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_webbbox.213012e.html

Bomb explodes in Bulgaria, no injuries reported
2008-03-19

SOFIA -- A bomb was detonated late on Tuesday near the building where Bulgarian regional police chiefs were holding their annual meeting in Plovdiv, the country's second-largest city, local Sofia News Agency reported Wednesday.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumen Petkov and Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev were also at the meeting, authorities said. The explosive device was detonated to destroy a lawyer's office, situated in a newly constructed residential building. Fortunately, the blast did not claim any victims but caused serious damage to the whole building.

The area has been cordoned off by police while officers make a second analysis of the scene. An investigation into the incident is underway.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/19/content_7822379.htm

[drymans wife]

Thanks, I couldn’t find a source.

[Cindy]

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

#

A late afternoon look at Iranian propaganda:

###

Note: The following blog entry is a quote:

http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/6288.htm

Lebanon Ambassador To Tehran: Iran’s Supplying Us With Weapons

In an interview with the Iranian news agency ISNA, Lebanese Ambassador to Iran Zein Al-Musawi acknowledged that Iran was providing Lebanon with “weapons for self defense” that played an important part in the 2006 Lebanon War, while “the Americans supplied Israel with weapons to eliminate Lebanon.”

Source: ISNA, Iran, March 17, 2008

Posted at: 2008-03-19

###

Note: The following blog entry is a quote:

http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/6258.htm

‘Kayhan’: Nuclear Iran Is A Fact

On the eve of the new year in Iran, the daily Kayhan, which is close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, stated in an editorial that there had been no strategic change in Iran’s nuclear dossier in the past year.

The paper said that the third U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution was the last concrete action by U.S. President Bush, and that now everyone was waiting for the next president.

The paper added that the resignation of commander of the U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan Adm. William Fallon, who it says acknowledged that it was not possible to attack Iran, attests to the fact that Iran is very close to being a nuclear country.

Source: Kayhan, Iran, March 18, 2008

Posted at: 2008-03-18