|
Posted on 08/01/2008 12:17:04 PM PDT by nwctwx
|
I've been offline for a few weeks and have only caught up on the past two days posts. If the following has been posted already my apologies for the duplication.
_____________________________________
U.S. gears up to detect nuclear material at sea
August 29, 2008
Dozens of law enforcement and emergency boats in one of the nation's largest and most congested waterways will be outfitted this fall with radiation detectors aimed at preventing terrorists from smuggling deadly weapons into the country.
The first-of-its kind test in Washington's Puget Sound will try to find out whether components for making radioactive or nuclear bombs could be picked up if they're hidden on a small boat cruising into a busy harbor. "We'll all suffer the consequences if we're not able to detect something," says Coast Guard Capt. Chip Strangfeld, who is working on the project with the Homeland Security Department's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO).
DNDO chief Vayl Oxford says he puts the nation's coasts "at the top of the list" of security challenges. "It's one of the most difficult threats we have," he says. Puget Sound was chosen for the tests because it is so big and so busy, both with small recreational boats and cargo ships. The area is home to two commercial ports and the nation's largest ferry system. It's the nation's top region for non-commercial pleasure boats from overseas, and 750,000 cruise ship passengers and 15 billion gallons of oil move through its waters each year, according to Seattle Fire Department Assistant Chief A.D. Vickery.
Excerpted
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-28-boats_N.htm
2008 Threat Season Heats Up
August 27, 2008
Summer brings with it rumors of attacks on the U.S. homeland. Currently, we are hearing unconfirmed word of plans in place for jihadists to be dispatched from Pakistan to conduct coordinated suicide attacks against soft targets in as many as 10 U.S. cities.
This year, the rumors seem to be emerging a little later and with a little less fanfare than last year, when we saw a number of highly publicized warnings, such as that from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and a National Intelligence Estimate saying al Qaeda was gaining strength. Last year also brought warnings from a former Israeli counterterrorism official that al Qaeda was planning a simultaneous attack against five to seven American cities, and of a dirty bomb attack against New York.
Excerpted
Thank you for the post Oorang and glad you’re back online.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2071067/posts
#
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008/08/30/story_30-8-2008_pg1_10
“’Burying women alive for honour is tribal tradition’”
“* Baloch senator Israrullah Zehri says members should not politicise issue”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “ISLAMABAD: The killing of women for honour is a demand of the tribal traditions, Balochistan Senator Israrullah Zehri informed the Senate on Friday.”
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50975
“Pentagon Sept. 11 Memorial: A Place to ‘Remember, Reflect, Renew’”
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2008
Off Topic.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/08/20080829-2.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 29, 2008
“Presidential Message, Ramadan 2008”
#
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50984
“Muslim Chaplains Serve Various Roles During Deployment”
By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2008
#
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50983
“Veterans Offer Tips, Expertise on Conducting Operations During Ramadan”
By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2008
#
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50982
“U.S. Troops in Middle East Must Understand Ramadan, Chaplain Says”
By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2008
http://memorial.pentagon.mil/
PENTAGON MEMORIAL
#
http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/2008/0708_memorial/
“PENTAGON MEMORIAL DEDICATION
September 11, 2008”
#
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50985
Family Members, Survivors Remember at Pentagon’s 9/11 Memorial
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2008 – A group of family members, survivors and first responders shared their thoughts about 9/11 while visiting the nearly completed Pentagon Memorial here yesterday.
Pentagon Memorial Fund manager Jim Laychak visits the Pentagon Memorial, Aug. 28, 2008. Laychak lost his younger brother, David, an Army civilian employee, during the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. The $22 million memorial, Laychak said, is a culmination of years of effort and hard work. “It is a great feeling of pride and accomplishment. Everybody has worked together on this over the past five and a half years,” he said. Defense Dept. photo by Gerry J. Gilmore
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
Tom Heidenberger, 62, lost his wife, Michele, when American Airlines Flight 77 plunged into the Pentagon’s west wall on Sept. 11, 2001. Michele was the senior flight attendant aboard Flight 77, said Heidenberger, a former commercial airline pilot who lives in Chevy Chase, Md.
Heidenberger recalled that his wife had called him at home in the morning from Dulles International Airport here before her flight departed for the West Coast.
“My last words to her were ‘Have a safe trip and I’ll talk to you when you get to Los Angeles,’” Heidenberger said.
Heidenberger said he and his 21-year-old son, Thomas, had visited the memorial together two weeks ago. The memorial “gives us all a sense of closure,” he added.
Located just outside the Pentagon, the memorial park features 184 granite-topped, stainless-steel “sculptural elements” that represent the 125 lives lost in the Pentagon and the 59 deaths aboard American Airlines Flight 77. Each element has a reflecting pool of water at its base, which is flood-lit in the evening. The families of the attack victims had a hand in the memorial’s design.
Pentagon civilian employees Cathy Abell, 53, and Holly Russell, 50, visited the bench-like structure that featured the name of their friend, Marian Serva, who was among those in the Pentagon who perished in the attack.
“It is peaceful, and it brings a piece of the person back to me,” Abell said of the memorial. “It gives me a place where I can come and visit with my friend whom I lost.”
The memorial, Russell said, is “a nice place to come and reflect and kind of put life in perspective.”
Army civilian employee John Yates recalled when the hijacked airliner struck the Pentagon nearly seven years ago.
“My offices were located about 100 feet inside the building, right near where the dividing line was where the collapse was,” Yates said. “It was a typical day. Who would have thought anything was going to happen?”
On the morning of the attack, Yates was a civilian security manager for the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel Office, which sustained a near-direct hit from the plunging airliner.
Yates was among a group of people, including Marian Serva, who worked as a congressional liaison officer in his office, who’d gathered around a television set watching news coverage from New York City after two terrorist-hijacked commercial aircraft had struck the World Trade Center’s twin towers.
Yates, now age 57, vaguely recalls that the television then exploded.
“I remember seeing a ball of fire just coming over the top of my head from my left,” he said. “It was an inferno.”
Yates said he somehow managed to crawl below the acrid smoke to safety outside. He later discovered that four other companions standing by the television with him were killed in the blast.
The attack left Yates badly burned. Numerous skin grafts have repaired his hands, but a therapist still treats psychological scars left from the experience. Yates has since transferred to another Army agency in Arlington, Va. The memorial, he said, is “beautiful” and “very, very tastefully done.”
Yates said 24 people in his Pentagon office, including his supervisor, Army Lt. Col. Dennis Johnson, died during the 9/11 attack.
“I still have e-mails from some of them,” Yates said, as his voice cracked and tears welled up in his eyes. “I can’t get rid of those. … I’ll just keep them.”
Arlington County Fire Department paramedic Claude Conde, 40, recalled being called to the Pentagon in response to the attack.
“We were the lead agency, so pretty much our whole department was here that day,” Conde said. “We were transporting patients most of the day.” Conde called 9/11 “a big surprise.” He conceded he was initially scared as he approached the fiery, blasted Pentagon.
“But we’re trained to put those feelings aside and [to] try to help out the best way that we can,” he said.
The Pentagon Memorial, Conde observed, “is very peaceful” in contrast to the hellish scene he witnessed at the Pentagon nearly seven years ago. “I think the memorial is very important to the victims and their families; I think they did a good job on it,” the paramedic said.
Pentagon Force Protection Agency Sgt. Isaac Hoopii recalled pulling security sweeps at the stricken building with his German shepherd bomb-detection dog, Vito, for six months after the attack. Vito, he noted, retired from duty some time ago.
Hoopii recalled that he and his coworkers worked 48 consecutive hours to assist people who’d been injured in the attack. Later, he said, they combed the crash site area, “just making sure” that no terrorist-planted devices –- meaning explosives — were about that could injure or kill more people.
“They did a wonderful job” on the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, Hoopii said, noting it is a fitting tribute “to the people who lost their lives.”
Pentagon Memorial Fund manager Jim Laychak lost his younger brother, David, an Army civilian employee, during the attack on the Pentagon. The $22 million memorial, Laychak said, is a culmination of years of effort and hard work. “It is a great feeling of pride and accomplishment. Everybody has worked together on this over the past five and a half years,” he said.
The Pentagon Memorial “is a special place where people can go” to remember loved ones who perished in the attack, Laychak said, noting he’s grateful to friends who assisted him after the loss of his brother.
“Anybody who knew me wanted to reach out and comfort me, so I think part of it is remembering how we comforted each other after that day,” Laychak said.
The memorial will be officially dedicated at a Sept. 11 ceremony hosted by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. Thereafter, it will be open to the public 24 hours a day.
Related Sites:
Pentagon Memorial
Special Report: Pentagon Memorial Dedication
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50986
Troops in Afghanistan Kill, Detain Enemy Fighters
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2008 – Afghan and coalition forces killed more than two dozen militants and detained two others during two operations in Afghanistan yesterday, military officials reported.
Almost a dozen militants were killed and two were detained during a coalition forces operation to disrupt militant activities in Paktika province.
Coalition forces searched compounds in the Bermel district, targeting an individual affiliated with militant leaders responsible for the movement of foreign fighters from Pakistan into Afghanistan. Militants engaged coalition forces during their search of the compounds. The forces responded with small-arms fire, killing the militants.
In the other operation, Afghan and coalition forces killed more than a dozen militants after a coalition base in Shaheed Hasas district, Oruzgan province, was attacked.
Militants simultaneously attacked the base and checkpoints with mortars from multiple firing positions and with small-arms fire, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, resulting in the death of two Afghan security guards. The joint force responded with small-arms fire, mortar and close-air support, killing the militants.
In other Afghanistan news, three detainees being held at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility were released early to the Afghan government yesterday for Ramadan.
The three individuals were scheduled for release at a later date, but this process was expedited to reunite them with their families prior to the holy days, officials said. As part of a reconciliation program called Program Takhim e Sol, they agreed not to take up arms and also swore allegiance to the government of Afghanistan.
Their release was an initiative of the United States military, the Afghan government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
(Compiled from Combined Joint Task Force 101 news releases.)
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50987
Coalition Forces Detain Suspects in Iraq’s Hamrin Mountains
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2008 – Coalition forces detained eight suspected terrorists yesterday and today as they continued to run down the al-Qaida in Iraq network, especially in the Hamrin Mountains region, where they detained four wanted men, military officials reported.
One of the wanted men, captured yesterday near Qara Tappa with one alleged associate, is believed to be a senior advisor for al-Qaida in Iraq operations around the Hamrin Mountains. Three other wanted men in the region were captured in an operation today, along with one additional suspect.
One of the wanted men allegedly operates an attack cell that also provides security for terrorist operations, officials said. Two others reportedly are involved in smuggling, attacks on coalition forces and facilitating female suicide bombers.
South of Baghdad near Mahmudiyah, a man already in coalition custody turned in an alleged associate of a senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader today. The alleged associate and one other suspected terrorist were detained in the operation.
Coalition forces killed an enemy fighter in Tikrit during a daytime operation yesterday targeting associates of al-Qaida leaders in central Iraq.
Coalition forces targeted a facilitator involved with providing bomb triggers for several attack cells in the Tigris River Valley bombing network. As they attempted to apprehend the wanted man, he rushed toward the security element and grabbed one soldier’s rifle. Responding to the hostile threat, coalition forces engaged and killed the man.
In other operations yesterday:
— Iraqi soldiers seized numerous weapons during a search operation in the Mansour district of Baghdad. The munitions included 100 AK 47 assault rifles, four Seminov rifles, an SKS rifle and four pistols. Later, Iraqi National Police seized three rocket-propelled grenade warheads, five 107 mm rockets and two 122 mm mortar rounds in the New Baghdad area.
— A local resident brought six mortar rounds to an entry control point north of Baghdad. Soldiers serving with the 25th Infantry Division’s Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, called in an explosive ordnance disposal team to assess the munitions. The EOD team identified the munitions as 120 mm high-explosive mortar rounds.
— Quick-reaction force soldiers with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 153rd Infantry Battalion, found a weapons cache in Baghdad’s West Rashid district. The cache consisted of 24 124 mm rounds without fuses. An EOD team conducted a controlled detonation and destroyed the munitions.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)
BLOG:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/08/pakistani_forces_thw.php
“Pakistani forces thwart triple suicide bombing attack”
By BILL ROGGIO
August 29, 2008 6:30 AM
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2055031/posts?page=906#906
#
http://covertradioshow.com/podcast.cfm?pid=45
RADIO SHOW DESCRIPTION - QUOTE:
Covert Radio Show: 82808 Farc Hezbollah and Aaron Mannes
Should the west talk to Bin Laden? The Swiss Foreign Minister says yes. Aaron Mannes joins us to talk about Hugo Chavez, FARC and Hezbollah.
(Posted August 28, 2008)
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/alaska
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/pipeline
http://news.google.com/news?&rls=en&q=Reumayr&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wn
#
http://alaskareport.com/news88/x61562_pipeline_plot.htm
August 9, 2008
“Canadian get 13 years in Alaska pipeline bombing plot”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Reumayr was arrested in August 1999.”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Prosecutors said Reumayr acquired explosives and sought to plant 14 timed bombs at three points along the pipeline in an attempt to disrupt energy supplies over the turn of the millennium.
Reumayr also planned to buy energy securities at low prices before the attack, and hoped to profit by selling them at a higher price amid market turmoil afterward, prosecutors said.”
Manila ferry blast suspect held
A leading suspect wanted over the Philippines' worst militant attack has been arrested in Bahrain and returned to Manila, officials have said.
Ruben Pestano Lavilla Jr, 35, is wanted for alleged involvement in the bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 that led to 116 deaths in a subsequent fire.
He was the "brains" behind an Islamic group allied to two al-Qaeda affiliated organisations, Manila officials say.
They say he was detected after document checks by Manila's embassy in Bahrain.
The arrest had not been made public while Philippine officials prepared deportation papers.
'Fled' country
Marcelino Libanan, head of the immigration commission, told Reuters news agency that Mr Lavilla was checked after trying to get a bank loan and had been working as an interpreter at the Philippine embassy.
However, Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor told the AP agency that the arrest came after Mr Lavilla submitted documents for a job at the embassy.
Mr Lavilla is alleged to have fled the Philippines a month after the ferry attack.
He is accused of being the mastermind behind the Rajah Solaiman Movement, blamed for several bomb attacks in Manila in 2004 and 2005.
The movement is said to be linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf Muslim militant groups, based in the southern Philippines.
Mr Blancaflor said: "If you are a terrorist, wherever you are, wherever you hide, the law will catch up with you - that's the most important thing here."
The ferry blaze was South East Asia's second-worst militant attack after the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202 people.
The 10,000-tonne Superferry 14 was heading for Bacolod in the central Philippines when it caught fire on 27 February 2004.
THANK YOU very much for the update csvset.
I’m so glad they got him and I hope he talks ASAP.
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/hamas
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/pennsylvania
http://news.google.com/news?&rls=en&q=HUPPER&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&tab=wn
#
IN THE U.S.A.:
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/022457.php
August 29, 2008
Pennsylvania Leftist useful idiot guilty of aiding Hamas
A member of the International Solidarity Movement. Left/Jihad Nexus Update: “York County native gets 31/2 years for helping Hamas,” by Nichole Dobo for The Evening Sun, August 23 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):
A 33-year-old York County native was sentenced Thursday morning to prison for aiding a group the United States designated as a terrorist organization.
Richard David Hupper, originally from York Township, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison for aiding Hamas, a Palestinian military and political organization.
Hupper faced up to 15 years in prison. He admitted to giving about $20,000 to Hamas while working in Israel with the International Solidarity Movement, a non-governmental organization....
Hupper, a Dallastown Area High School graduate, became involved with the conflict in the Middle East after watching international newscasts. The machinist watched the TV shows while recovering from a work-related injury at his Alabama home, his lawyer has said.
Hupper traveled to the Gaza Strip, where he worked with the International Solidarity Movement to aid Palestinians, according to court documents. He was eventually deported by Israeli authorities, according to court documents.
To return to Israel, Hupper applied for a passport in Florida using false information, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty to passport fraud charges more than two years ago. He is finishing his 24-month federal prison sentence for those charges.
Posted by Robert at August 29, 2008 9:55 AM
http://covertradioshow.com/podcast.cfm?pid=46
“Covert Radio Show: 082908 World Review”
(August 29, 2008)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION - QUOTE:
Great 60 minute episode. Get the latest on Russia, Iran, Al Qaeda in Turkey and the Maghreb, plus the latest on the plot to bomb the Alaskan Pipeline, and border security. Finally Brett looks at the emerging Air Strategy over Iraq. It is a powerful 60 minutes.
http://www.civil.ge
http://www.messenger.com.ge
http://geomessenger.blogspot.com/
#
http://www.eucom.mil
http://www.nato.int
#
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2071101/posts
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=19349
“MIA Issues Data on Russian Troops in Georgia”
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 30 Aug.’08 / 13:33
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) released date on deployment of the Russian military on various locations on the Georgian territory as of August 27.
“All locations and numbers given here are double-checked,” the ministry said. “MIA could not verify all information available and the actual number of both Russian military equipment and personnel on the ground may be much higher.”
Below is the data as provided by the Georgian MIA:”
#
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/globaldiplomacy/
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/collarbomb
#
Thanks to Calpernia for the ping and nw arizona granny for finding this article.
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2071110/posts
Lawyer: Guilty plea coming in Pa. collar-bomb case
Google News ^
Posted on August 30, 2008 4:28:55 AM PDT by Calpernia
A defense attorney says his client will plead guilty to conspiracy in a bizarre 2003 bank robbery that led to the collar-bomb death of a Pennsylvania pizza delivery man.
Attorney Jamie Mead of Erie said Friday that Kenneth Barnes will plead guilty Wednesday to his role in planning the heist.
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.google.com ...
PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org
#
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08080203.htm
Friday, August 29, 2008
“Hindu Radicals Disrupt Gospel Prayer Meeting and Beat Pastor in Karnataka, India”
By James Varghese
Special to ASSIST News Service
KARNATAKA, INDIA
#
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08080197.htm
Friday, August 29, 2008
“Christians Flee to Forests as Mob Violence Escalates in Indian State”
Gospel for Asia
For Immediate Release
ORISSA, INDIA
http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/reports/narco_impact_report_05042007.pdf
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/reports/chart.pdf
#
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp1119.htm
August 28, 2008
HP-1119
“Treasury Targets Rising Colombian Narcotics Traffickers”
Washington, DC
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
