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Threat Matrix: 2010
Freerepublic.com ^ | 12/31/2009 | Freeper TMers

Posted on 12/31/2009 10:06:46 AM PST by Velveeta

:::FreeRepublic's Threat Matrix:::
Critical Threats: Blank When None
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:
2010
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Threat Matrix: Since November 3, 2003
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TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: cranswick; lacklancranswick; terror; terrorism; threatmatrix; tm; wot
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To: MamaDearest

This is a very important post, TY Mama!

Also read it here:

http://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/learn/recent-news

which btw leads to your article anyway -g-


3,081 posted on 02/23/2010 12:18:43 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: caww

Patriot citizens, radio


3,082 posted on 02/23/2010 12:21:16 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: RaceBannon

Did you get the info my link made it on the radio? LOL , was listening to White House Briefing and bam I hear my name & just know the feds & HAARP were zooming in on me, lmao. But no it was about your link I left in a gazillion places on FB & they agree & were stunned!


3,083 posted on 02/23/2010 12:24:19 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: WestCoastGal

Oh CoCo dontchya know? that’s because of global warming too


3,084 posted on 02/23/2010 12:25:38 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: RaceBannon; MestaMachine; All

Interesting connection posted on your thread Bannon

Another step to proving the symbolism of that logo?

NASA To Focus On Muslim Outreach

A few weeks after killing the U.S.A.’s world-famous moon-mission program, President Obama has ordered the space agency that operates it to focus on reaching out to Muslim countries.

Indeed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) mission will shift from space exploration to Muslim diplomacy, as per the commander-in-chief’s orders. When Obama announced earlier this month that he would slash NASA’s $100 billion plan to return astronauts to the moon, he didn’t mention where some of the resources would be directed.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2010/feb/nasa-focus-muslim-outreach


3,085 posted on 02/23/2010 12:48:56 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: caww; blackie; All

Comic relief in truth to help the emotional load

One of the best ones yet

2-23

http://newsbusters.org/

“Bend Over”


3,086 posted on 02/23/2010 12:51:07 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: JustPiper

LOL! We’re gonna send Bedouin to the Moon!


3,087 posted on 02/23/2010 12:53:15 PM PST by swarthyguy
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To: JustPiper

Humor abounds...


3,088 posted on 02/23/2010 12:59:03 PM PST by blackie
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To: hennie pennie; MamaDearest; MestaMachine; All

Excellent connecting the dots Pennie!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2456368/posts?page=23#23


3,089 posted on 02/23/2010 1:04:25 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: JustPiper; All

Remember what I told you about the Dubai Space Agency. Here we go.


3,090 posted on 02/23/2010 1:11:26 PM PST by MestaMachine (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2426869/posts SUPPORT RINO FREE AMERICA)
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To: JustPiper

Matthew RJ Brodsky
Jerusalem Post
February 23, 2010

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/1616/dithering-on-damascus

President Barack Obama’s recent decision to name a new ambassador to Syria is puzzling. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs explained, “Ambassador Ford will engage the Syrian government on how we can enhance relations, while addressing areas of ongoing concern.” But the areas of “concern” with the Assad regime are deep and will not be improved or resolved by the return of an American ambassador.

There were many compelling reasons why the Bush administration withdrew its ambassador to Syria in 2005. The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was the brazen murder in Beirut of the pro-West Lebanese politician Rafik Hariri in an operation that bore all the hallmarks of a politically connected, well-funded, Syrian state-sponsored assassination.

But Hariri’s assassination was just the tip of the iceberg. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, Syria has financed, trained, armed, encouraged, and transported foreign jihadists to fight against both coalition forces in Iraq and the fledgling army of the new Iraqi government. The Assad regime has pursued nuclear weapons and continues to support terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hizbullah in Israel and Lebanon, and remains tactically and strategically wedded to Iran.

While the White House says that appointing a new ambassador “represents President Obama’s commitment to use engagement to advance US interests by improving communication with the Syrian government and people,” nothing indicates that this form of engagement will yield positive results. In fact, a year into the Obama administration, it is becoming increasingly clear that the “direct engagement” he envisioned during his presidential campaign with regimes such as Syria and Iran has produced nothing more than an increase in Syrian support for terrorism and the ongoing spinning of centrifuges in Iran.

THAT IS because Obama’s engagement strategy with Syria is based on several misguided assumptions. The first is that it is possible to effectively pry Damascus apart from its alliance with Teheran, which will make engaging with Iran and solving the nuclear issue easier for the United States. But the durable Syrian-Iranian alliance is not a reactive marriage of convenience. They seek to overturn the regional balance of power and undermine Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as the US. Furthermore, Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is not dependent on Syria. Teheran’s problem with Israel is not territorial; it is existential. America’s issues with Iran will not improve with a change in Syrian behavior.

The second faulty premise is that Syria is ready to sign a peace agreement with Israel that will be acceptable in Jerusalem and in Washington. But Assad’s concept of peace with Israel was revealed last year in an interview with the Emirati newspaper Al-Khaleej: “A peace agreement,” Assad said, “is a piece of paper you sign. This does not mean trade and normal relations, or borders, or otherwise.” What would a cold peace with Syria look like with Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s headquarters still open for business in Damascus while weapons continue to pass freely to Hizbullah in Lebanon?

The bomb that killed Hariri and brought about the withdrawal of America’s ambassador to Syria weighed 1,000 kilograms and left a crater 10 meters wide in downtown Beirut. In addition to Hariri, the bomb killed 21 people, injured 220 more, knocked down several buildings, and set dozens of cars ablaze. This is Bashar Assad’s preferred method of engagement and he has yet to be held to account. When Syria ended its nearly 30-year military occupation of Lebanon, it did so because of strong and sustained international pressure in the wake of Hariri’s assassination. It was not the result of lengthy hand-holding and endless diplomatic engagement, but the real fear of consequences that could threaten the stability of the Assad regime.

The argument increasingly made in Washington that aggressive diplomacy with Syria was tried and failed and now engagement and incentives must be the order of the day, is false. American policy toward Syria has dithered since 2005 with neither a carrot nor a stick approach fully explored. Syria’s rogue behavior is not the result of Washington’s diplomatic communications skills; it is the result of strategic calculations and decisions made by Damascus. Syria should be presented with difficult choices that will unequivocally and irreversibly demonstrate that it has changed its worldview and behavior. Unfortunately, sending an American ambassador back to Syria will merely embolden the regime and those in the region that are opposed to peace.


3,091 posted on 02/23/2010 1:21:09 PM PST by MestaMachine (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2426869/posts SUPPORT RINO FREE AMERICA)
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To: MestaMachine

Yes’m I recollect


3,092 posted on 02/23/2010 1:21:10 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: swarthyguy

hahaha we can wish, let’s start taking up a collection for the NEW GITMO!!!


3,093 posted on 02/23/2010 1:22:33 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: MestaMachine

Pig, such a pig


3,094 posted on 02/23/2010 1:24:21 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: MestaMachine; All


An excellent kill---Behind the Hamas-honcho hit Dubai police released this video still of the alleged killers stalking terror master Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

NOT FIRED Remarks Defending Terror Suspect Rashad Hussain, named by Obama as an envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference, said Friday his comments at the time were "ill conceived or not well formulated."

Obama Envoy Admits 'Ill Conceived'

Friday Afternoon Roundup - There is No End to the Jihad

The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is living with his family in a luxury villa in Libya six months after he was released from jail on compassionate grounds because he had less than three months to live.

Lockerbie bomber Megrahi living in luxury villa six months after being at 'death's door'

Dallas Muslim leader, former CAIR board member, deported for ties to jihad terror groups Yet another CAIR leader linked to jihad terror

3,095 posted on 02/23/2010 1:32:37 PM PST by JustPiper (I won't fall in line against my beliefs~ I won't argue with you because my opinion differs)
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To: JustPiper
I have a really bad feeling about Lachlan Cranwick's disappearance.

Have you ever been in contact with Paul Williams? He's the author who wrote "The" book on Canadian terrorists.

It is waaaaaay TOO peculiar that his disappearance remained a local story, and that really creeeeeps me out; this ain't the 18th century, this is the era of the Internet and just imagine how many Canadians have heard either Steve Quayler and/or Douglas Hagmann interviewed MANY times on Coast to Coast AM.

Anyone whose heard one of the DEAD SCIENTISTS RADIO SHOWS would never forget it, and would realize that lots of stuff online records all the strange deaths of so many scientists.

Anyway, as I say, I have distinctly b a d feelings about Cranswick......

3,096 posted on 02/23/2010 1:34:09 PM PST by hennie pennie
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To: hennie pennie

Fox News did a little “blurb” about Cranwick’s disappearance this afternoon. I only caught a portion of it. At least some of the media is reporting it.


3,097 posted on 02/23/2010 3:19:25 PM PST by Rushmore Rocks (Dollar a Day Member..............Free Republic is not Free!)
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To: WestCoastGal

LOL.

Many of my EastTex relatives have been sending me their snow pictures. Humidity really makes a difference in the “real feel” of the temperature. I’ve felt colder in Texas at 30 above than I’ve felt here at 30 below.


3,098 posted on 02/23/2010 3:22:39 PM PST by Rushmore Rocks (Dollar a Day Member..............Free Republic is not Free!)
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To: All

To any military and military family reading this, I hope you guys understand one reason why many of us FReepers don’t visit the TM much. We failed you. We need to get you a Commander in Chief more worthy of your respect.

We need to get rid of congress critters who vote against your support, pay, and medical.

Just as important, we need to rebuild our economy. Without that, we will continue to fail you even more than I would like to think.

We CARE. Some of us are silly at times the way we post and squander our time. But most of us are in agreement — we want to help you guys. Most of us pray for you daily.

Please forgive me for not helping this thread more. One of the things I’m working on is a ping list to help Hayworth. He will fight for you. He loves you guys!

Please stay as safe as you can.

— FRegards ....


3,099 posted on 02/23/2010 6:23:20 PM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March (Farah: "If [certifigate]'s been settled show us the birth certificate. Simple.")
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March

If the Military Guys who belong to, or visit, Free Republic don’t know how much we love and support them, it isn’t because we don’t tell them every single day in so many ways.
I think they know...and that is why they come back and that is why so many stay. FR is one of the most outstanding sites on the internet in support of our Troops.
You have not one thing to apologize for.

Semper Fi


3,100 posted on 02/23/2010 6:56:45 PM PST by MestaMachine (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2426869/posts SUPPORT RINO FREE AMERICA)
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