Threat Matrix: 2010

Freerepublic.com ^ | 12/31/2009 | Freeper TMers

[Velveeta]

Al Qaeda’s Yemen Connection, America and the Global Islamic Jihad

December 30, 2009 — The attempt to destroy Northwest Airlines flight 253 en route from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day underscores the growing ambition of al Qaeda's Yemen franchise, which has grown from a largely Yemeni agenda to become a player in the global Islamic jihad in the last year. Since merging with the al Qaeda franchise in Saudi Arabia last January and renaming itself Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), it has stepped up operations in Yemen itself, struck into Saudi Arabia, and now operates on the global stage. The weak Yemeni government of President Ali Abdallah Salih, which has never fully controlled the country and now faces a host of growing problems, will need significant American support to defeat AQAP.

Al Qaeda has long been active in Yemen, the original homeland of Osama bin Laden's family, and one of its first major terror attacks was conducted in Aden in 2000, when an al Qaeda cell nearly sank the USS Cole. A year ago, the al Qaeda franchises in Saudi Arabia and Yemen merged after the Saudi branch had been effectively repressed by the Saudi authorities under the leadership of Deputy Interior Minister Prince Muhammad bin Nayif. The new AQAP showed its claws last August, when it almost assassinated the prince with a suicide bomber who had passed through at least two airports on the way to his attempt on Nayif.

(snip)

The attack on the Amsterdam-Detroit flight also shows that al Qaeda remains obsessed with striking the American airline industry, a target it has gone after repeatedly since 1999. If AQAP has now been told by the al Qaeda core leadership to take on the job, we can probably assume that other al Qaeda franchises in North Africa, Iraq, Southeast Asia and elsewhere have also been pressed to attack.

The Brookings Institution

Threat Matrix:
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Ian Livingston

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"No matter where you live in the world, this is a message that bears repeating: Your assistance is needed to prevent terrorist acts." From TM'er and Freeper ~appalachian_dweller~
Submit Information Online: FBI Tips & Public Leads
CDC ::::: CIA ::::: DHS ::::: DOJ ::::: DOD ::::: FBI ::::: NSA
Government Web Sites			Homeland Security Weekly		Nuclear Threat Initiative
	Most Wanted Terrorists		Terror-Alert.com		NCI: Nuclear Terrorism
	FBI: Seeking Information		Global Crisis Watch		IR and Security Network
	Are you Ready?: Ready.Gov		SOFIR		World Policy Institute
	CDC: Preparedness/Response		Little Green Footballs	Threat Matrix Related
	Defense Dept. War on Terror		Terror Base UK		Terrorism Knowledge Base
	U.S. Immigration & Customs		The Blotter		Terror Information Bank
	DOJ: Combating Terrorism		Middle East Live Daily Thread		South Asia Terrorism Portal
	US-Cert: Current Activity	Think Tanks			Terrorist Scorecard
News & Information			The Terrorism Research Center		Iraq Pipeline Watch
	IPN - Fire & Police Paging		The Jamestown Foundation		National Security Archive
	MEMRI | MEMRI TV		The Brookings Institution		Islamic Dictionary
	The Counterterrorism Blog		Council on Foreign Relations		IACSP Terrorism/Antiterrorism
	Jihad Watch		SITE Institute	Maps
	GlobalTerrorAlert.com		CSIS		Terrorist Network in U.S. Map
	LauraMansfield.com		RAND Corporation		Recent Disasters: Worldwide
	Internet Haganah		International Crisis Group		Nuclear Weapon Effects Calc.
	Topix.net: Terrorism News		The Heritage Foundation		Nuclear Terrorism: Blast Maps
	Faith Freedom International		Foreign Policy Institute		FEMA Nuclear Fallout Map
	TrackingTerrorism.com		Center for Defense Information		U.S. Nuclear Targets Map
	DEBKAfile		The Cato Institute		Global Incident Map
	TerroristWarning.com		Hudson Institute	Pay Sites
	HomelandSecurityUS.net		Homeland Security Institute		Strategic Forecasting
New Links in Italics

"America Supports You" spotlights what Americans are doing in support of the military all across the land, encourages others to thank the troops and allows all to tell their stories by giving voice and visibility to their efforts.

Being prepared is a good thing, no matter where one lives; no matter what alert level we are on.
From TM'er and Freeper ~Cindy~

Intelligence is the best weapon against terrorism.
National Commission on Terrorism: 1999

Ian Livingston

[JustPiper]

Bump to that RD,The ME is a hellhole except for Israel

[Candor7]

Well , I can think of one time all abandoned Israel except for one very important ally:

Here is an artists rendition of it:

[JustPiper]

Oh My, the two vids I just posted are all about a history of Israel also, that’s why I thought all would like to see them

[rdl6989]

And with Hezbollah moving jihadiots into Lebanon in force things are about to get worse.

[STARWISE]

WOW ... whole lot of flaming tensions.
God help us all.

[El Gato]

These from the Jerusalem Post:

'Next war with Israel will be regional', Hamas leader

Obama names special envoy to global Islamic group

More ash kissing? Story is from AP

Same story from Reuters via Haaretz

Obama names Rashad Hussain as envoy to the Muslim world

Funny there is no special envoy to the Hindu world, or the Buddhist World, or even the Christian world. Why not?

And this could have a "bad end" as well

Pakistan court strikes down president's order

(entire story below)

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's Supreme Court suspended the presidential appointment of two top judges in an emergency ruling that could cause a destabilizing clash between the judiciary and the unpopular, Western-backed government.

As local media reported the country was headed into a political and judicial crisis following the decision, President Asif Ali Zardari's spokesman issued a statement dismissing rumors the government was planning to declare a state of emergency.

The development will concern Pakistan's Western allies, who want the country to concentrate on battling al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the northwest. The stability of the nuclear-armed nation is also key to Washington's hopes of defeating the insurgency just across the border in Afghanistan.

If the Islamists take over Pakistan, we won't need to be worrying about any Iranian bombs, which they might get sometime in the future, but we'll need to start worrying Paki bombs, which exist *right now*. India will need to worry more, but India has it's own bombs, more and with better delivery systems than the Paki's have, and can take out Pakistan tomorrow if they wish.

Now here's something, maybe. From Haaretz:

Ex-IDF chief: Israel can't handle nuclear Iran alone

... Halutz's comments came a day before the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States Military was set to arrive in Israel for a meeting with the Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff to discuss the situation in Iran.

U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen is scheduled to meet with IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as well as Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, and other senior IDF commanders to discuss joint defense issues between Israel and the U.S. and mutual security concerns.

Admiral Mullen's meetings follow remarks made by the U.S. last week when they called Iran's nuclear intentions "anything but peaceful."

[El Gato]

If Israel had planned an aerial attack for anytime this month, it would have been last night or tonight...dark of the moon.

Not as important as it once was. Besides, even for a few more days, the moon sets before sunrise, like about an hour after sunset, give or take. Plenty of time for a nice dark Oh Dark Thirty operation.

[JustPiper]

Thanks Gato

[JustPiper]

Obama sending light attack aircraft to Lebanon/Hezbollah

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3860944
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2451005/posts

[AliVeritas]

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=111738

See these from other’s posts:

Obama sending light attack aircraft to Lebanon/Hezbollah

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3860944
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2451005/posts

**

Obama names special envoy to global Islamic group/OIC

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=168631

This snippet of his views prove interesting:

http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/25918

[AliVeritas]

Hmmm. Snip from the speech:

President Obama Addresses the U.S.-Islamic World Forum | The White ...

Feb 13, 2010 ... That is why in Cairo last year I called for a new beginning between ... member of my White House staff, Rashad has played a key role in developing ... *And as a hafiz of the Qur’an, he is a respected member of the American Muslim community, and I thank him for carrying forward this important work. ...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/02/13/president-obama-addresses-us-islamic-world-forum

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Drudge headline

A TASTE OF WAR...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/world/asia/14marja.html?hp

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Declining U.S. Navy vs. Chinese challenge
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=124930
Fleet’s ‘much-diminshed’ status creates door of vulnerability to other powers

[I’d rather read worldnetdaily than those who have trouble spelling ‘net’.]

[AliVeritas]

MILF approved?

http://www.luwaran.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1193:milf-hails-appointment-of-us-envoy-to-pan-islamic-body&catid=81:moro-news&Itemid=372

[blackie]

Thanks!

[FrogHawk]

Bomb scare closes Fort Worth freeway

http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Possible-terror-incident-in-Fort-Worth-84316367.html

This “lady” has a history in the DFW area....also questioned several years back for spending an inordinate amount of time watching aircraft taking off and landing at Love Field as well as the referenced incident with the handgranade.

[toomanygrasshoppers]

More on Asma Al-Homsi from the 2007 incident.

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/1566/lesbian-muslim-terror-suspects-in-texas-arrested-explosives-house-detonated-terrorized-neighbors-tested-police-response/

[hennie pennie]

Here's a peculiar little report I came across while searching the news sites for reports about commodities and crop failures.

Anyway, there are LOTS of Islamists in the Philippines, and the OK City bombing pair, Nichols & McVeigh had connections to people in Manila . . . . but I'm not quite sure if this has any relevance here, particularly due to the Vietnamese connection -- but just in case:

http://wap.inquirer.net/articles/20100130-250374.wml

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—Senator Richard Gordon said Saturday the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will look into the discovery of sacks of a white substance which can be turned into either shabu or explosives that were found in a shipment of rice imported by the National Food Authority from Vietnam.

Gordon, who chairs the committee, said there was something highly suspicious in the discovery of N-methylephedrine, which was later said to be ammonium sulfate, in a shipment of 77,000 bags of NFA rice from Vietnam to Bacolod City as it could be a move to raise funds for the elections.

Gordon, who was in Bacolod City Saturday, did not say who he suspected of raising funds but said a close watch on all large-scale shipments by the government should be closely monitored.

Gordon said local authorities should keep a close watch on the rice shipment that arrived in Bacolod on Tuesday to make sure that the misdeclared items that came with the rice are not switched.

The discovery of the crystalline substance was made by an NFA classifier and a warehouse man on Tuesday, according to NFA provincial manager Pablito Gemarino.

[JustPiper]

Thank you for posting these. I was disturbed when I read about “ Rashad Hussain’s peculiar views on Islam and Counterterrorism Policy “. BO’s agenda seems blatantly obvious & I do not know why the world is not standing up & taking notice. In your opinion what direction is he taking?

[JustPiper]

do you know I did not know he was a Jr.?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Obama,%20Barack%20Hussein,%20Jr.