Threat Matrix: November 2006

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1161.html

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
This information is current as of today, Sat Nov 04 2006 03:13:55 GMT-0800.

Worldwide Caution

October 11, 2006

This Public Announcement updates information on the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against Americans and interests overseas. This supersedes the Worldwide Caution dated June 6, 2006 and expires on April 9, 2007.

The Department of State remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas. Current information suggests that al-Qa’ida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics to include assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings and bombings.

Ongoing events in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East have resulted in demonstrations and associated violence in several countries. Americans are reminded that demonstrations and rioting can occur with little or no warning.

In August 2006, British authorities arrested a significant number of extremists engaged in a plot to destroy multiple passenger aircraft flying from the United Kingdom to the United States. The September 2006 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Syria and the March 2006 bombing near the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, illustrate the continuing desire of extremists to strike American targets.

Extremists may elect to use conventional or non-conventional weapons, and target both official and private interests. A series of bombings in Thailand in May and September 2006 which targeted tourist destinations, the bombings in the Egyptian resort town of Dahab in April 2006, the bombings at a market in Palu, Indonesia in December 2005, the hotel bombings in Jordan in early November 2005 and the bombing of a crowded marketplace in New Delhi in October 2005 illustrate how terrorists exploit vulnerabilities associated with soft targets. Additional examples of such targets include high-profile sporting events, residential areas, business offices, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, public areas and locales where Americans gather in large numbers, including during holidays. Financial or economic targets of value may also be considered as possible venues; the failed attack on the Abqaiq oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia in late February 2006 is one such example.

In the wake of the August 2006 plot against aircraft in London, numerous terrorist attacks on trains in India in 2006, the July 2005 London Underground bombings, and the March 2004 train attacks in Madrid, Americans are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems. In addition, extremists may also select aviation and maritime services as possible targets.

U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance, be aware of local events, and take the appropriate steps to bolster their personal security. For additional information, please refer to “A Safe Trip Abroad” found at http://travel.state.gov.

U.S. Government facilities worldwide remain at a heightened state of alert. These facilities may temporarily close or periodically suspend public services to assess their security posture. In those instances, U.S. embassies and consulates will make every effort to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens. Americans abroad are urged to monitor the local news and maintain contact with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

As the Department continues to develop information on any potential security threats to U.S. citizens overseas, it shares credible threat information through its Consular Information Program documents, available on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov. In addition to information on the Internet, travelers may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the U.S. or outside the U.S. and Canada on a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.

ON THE NET...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=HAMAS

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1731648/posts

===

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200611/INT20061103b.html

"Hamas Urges Women, Children to Shield Gunmen in Mosque"
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
November 03, 2006

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - At least a dozen Palestinian gunmen eluded Israeli capture in the Gaza Strip on Friday, first by taking refuge in a mosque and then by calling on women and children to shield them so they could escape.

Palestinians reported at least one women killed and a second was in critical condition after they were shot during the fray. The Israeli Army said its soldiers had fired only at armed gunmen, who were firing at them from within the crowd.

The standoff began on Thursday evening when some three dozen Palestinian gunmen -- fleeing Israeli forces -- took refuge in a mosque in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. Gunmen and Israeli troops exchanged fire during the night and part of the mosque's roof collapsed.

On Friday morning, Hamas radio put out a call for women and children to come to the mosque - to form a human shield around the gunmen so they could escape. The Israeli Army said Hamas knows that Israeli troops would not shoot at women and children.

About 3,000 protestors, most of them women, turned out to protect the gunmen -- and the ploy worked. When soldiers searched the mosque later, it was empty, the army said.

This is not the first time that Palestinian gunmen have taken cover in religious buildings to escape Israeli forces. Four years ago, 200 armed Palestinians spent more than a month holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity."

ON THE NET...

http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S5&P1=9

http://www.memri.org/jihad.html

---

http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=jihad&ID=SP134606

Special Dispatch Series - No. 1346
November 3, 2006 No.1346

"Islamist Websites Monitor No. 18
Jihad Video Encourages Suicide Bombings"

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "On October, 10, 2006, an Islamist website posted a three-minute video (http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=214&ar=M4-014wmv&ak=null ) titled "Blow Yourself Up," extolling suicide bombings and encouraging Muslims to blow themselves up."

---

http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=jihad&ID=IA29906
Inquiry and Analysis Series - No. 299
November 3, 2006 No.299

"Lebanon Faces Political Crisis in Aftermath of War: Tensions Escalate Between ‘March 14 Forces’ and Hizbullah, Pro-Syrian Camp"
By H. Avraham*.

Thailand 'rebels' attack schools

The attacks took place overnight on Saturday in the Muslim-dominated province of Yala.

They came after Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, installed in an October coup, apologised for the policies of the previous government.

More than 1,500 people have died in violence in the country's restive south since January 2004.

Three schools were completely gutted and a fourth badly damaged in the blazes which began almost simultaneously during the night.

Home to most of Thailand's 4% Muslim minority
Muslim rebels fought the government up to the mid-1980s
Suspected militants have upped attacks since 2004, targeting Buddhists

A police officer told Reuters news agency that four militants had shot the couple and their daughter from the back of motorcycles later on Saturday.

Schools and teachers are a frequent target as symbols of the distant Bangkok-based government.

Many teachers have even been issued guns to protect themselves.

On Friday, the new government ordered the release of 92 Muslims charged with taking part in an anti-government rally two years ago during which 85 protesters died while in army custody.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6116220.stm

ON THE NET...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=WarOnTerror

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=Wot

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=GLOBALJIHAD

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=jihad

===
===

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1732296/posts

"U.S. vote key in war on terror"
Toronto Sun ^ | 2006-11-04 | Rachel Marsden

Posted on 11/04/2006 11:25:01 AM PST by Clive

"U.S. vote key in war on terror
Americans must decide this election whether to fight overseas or die on their own soil"

By RACHEL MARSDEN

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "YANKS WON'T STOP DYING

Liberals like Letterman seem to think that if the U.S. pulls out of Iraq, Americans will stop dying because the jihadists will just go home, unstrap their bombs, download some Beyonce, and start chatting on MySpace.

The only thing keeping terrorists from doing damage in America is their current preoccupation with getting infidel boots off Muslim soil in Iraq.

These are the options: Either Americans will die over there fighting in the sandbox, or they will die on their own soil like they did on 9/11.

On Nov. 7, that is America's real choice."

Regarding #173?

If you cannot view the movie "OBSESSION" on Fox News Saturday Nov. 4th at 8pm/1am/5am, and Sunday Nov. 5th at 10pm. , you can still catch it on youtube:

Obsession: Radical Islam Part 1- There's a Problem

Obsession: Radical Islam Part 2 - The Culture of Jihad

Obsession: Radical Islam Part 3 - The Media of Terrorism

Obsession: Radical Islam Part 4- Jihad in the West

Obsession: Radical Islam Part 5 - The culture of Denial

Obsession: Radical Islam Part 6 - To Their Own Children!
Obsession: Radical Islam Part 7 - Hitler and the Mufti
Obsession: Radical Islam Part 8 - We've Been Here Before...

Go to the Obsession link and view
Steve Emerson discussing Obsession on Fox News (link in left hand bar)

as well as Obsession featured on CNN
Director Wayne Kopping was interviewed by Glenn Beck

Honest Reporting also posted their film
Relentless - The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East online at google video.

A look at PROPAGANDA:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1162544401780B254&set_id=

"Islamists reject US terrorism warning"

November 03 2006 at 11:55AM
By Mustafa Haji Abdinur

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Mogadishu - Somalia's powerful Islamic movement on Friday rejected as "baseless" United States allegations that its supreme leader had authorised suicide attacks in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia.

The Islamists, some of whom are suspected of links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, said the "baseless warning" from Washington was part of pro-Zionist, Israeli propaganda aimed at destabilising the Muslim world.

"We know that America never favours Islamic movements anywhere in the world and such statements are part of an incorrect Zionist-inherited ideology," said Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, the Islamists' deputy defense chief.

"Islam does not harm people," he said. "The warnings issued by the American embassy issued are baseless and we never attack neighbouring countries.""

===
===

A look at REALITY:

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2006/10/013741print.html

October 26, 2006

"Thousands" in Somalia enlist for jihad against Ethiopia

An update on this story. "Somali Islamists recruit for jihad against Ethiopia," by Mustafa Haji Abdinur for AFP:

MOGADISHU -- Somali Islamists have begun recruiting thousands of young fighters to fight a jihad against Ethiopia, officials said Wednesday, amid fears of all-out war across the lawless Horn of Africa nation.
A day after claiming to have captured an Ethiopian military officer in fierce weekend battles with a militia allied to Somalia's weak government, the Islamists said that at least 3,000 people had enlisted for combat in the holy war.
Many of the new recruits have signed up in the last two days, since the supreme leader of the powerful Islamist movement announced the start of a threatened jihad against Ethiopian troops alleged in Somalia, officials said.
"We have at least 3,000 young fighters who have now registered to fight the enemy of Allah," a senior official with the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SICS) official said in Mogadishu.
The newcomers, including women, will join what the Islamists claim are tens of thousands of battle-hardened gunmen who seized Mogadishu in June from warlords and now control most of southern and central Somalia.
The Islamic Courts are already making use of their training camps and registration centers:

"We have trained them to fight and that is religious obligation," said Sheikh Abdinur Farah, a senior Islamist commander who runs a jihad recruitment center in Qoryoley, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Mogadishu.
"Ethiopia has made clear its intention: that is a war against us," he said from the town. "So we are calling an open war against Ethiopia and every young fighter is welcome to join the jihad against the Ethiopian invaders."
Ethiopia and the Somali government have repeatedly denied eyewitness accounts of Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia, although Addis Ababa has said several times that it has sent trainers and advisors.
But mainly Christian Ethiopia has vowed to protect itself and the Somali government from the jihadists, whom, together with the transitional government, it accuses of links with Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.
[...]
On Monday, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, chief of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS) and a hardline cleric designated a "terrorist" by the United States, urged Somalis to take up arms against Ethiopian troops.
Several recruits from Qoryoley Wednesday said that they had been inspired to join the jihad by Aweys' speech in which he vowed that the graves of Ethiopian troops would "be littered everywhere in Somalia."
"I have been looking for somewhere to devote my passion for my religion and country," said 23-year-old Abdullahi Sidow Hassan. "Now that the righteous jihad has started, I have found it. Fadumo Isaq Duale, 20, a female student, echoed that sentiment. "I am ready to die for my religion because it is a religious obligation on every Muslim, be it man or woman," she said. "We have nothing to lose because Ethiopia is violating our religion and our land." Soaring tensions between the Islamists and the government and worsening security in south and central Somalia have forced tens of thousands to flee into neighboring Kenya and added to concerns of widespread conflict.
Posted at October 26, 2006 02:35 PM

Thanks to Fair Opinion for starting this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1732302/posts

97 Reasons Democrats Are Weak On Defense And Can't Be Trusted To Govern In Wartime
Investors Business Daily ^ | Nov. 4, 2006 | IBD

Posted on 11/04/2006 11:48:08 AM PST by FairOpinion

Today's Democrats are nothing like Presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy, who with courage and decisive action kept on top of their jobs and aggressively confronted one national defense crisis after another.

We're in a war. Something always goes wrong in a war, and our military leaders have made mistakes in Iraq. But quitting and leaving would amount to defeat for the U.S. in the global war on terrorism and create chaos. Quitters never win.

However, (97) when it comes to which party has proved more capable in acting to defend and protect Americans from foreign enemies, there is only one choice. From Johnson to Carter to Clinton, virtually all the defense policies and decisions made by Democratic administrations have been unsuccessful. And in many cases, they have unintentionally but materially increased the danger to our national security and the safety of all Americans.

(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...

ON THE NET...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=GLOBALJIHAD
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=jihad

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=alqaeda
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=alqaida

http://www.disastercenter.com/terror/Al_Qaeda_Manual_Eighteen_LESSON.htm

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=Canada

===
===

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/013905.php

November 04, 2006

'I only buy and sell weapons for al-Qaeda'

Abdullah Khadr, the most visible exponent of what has been dubbed "Canada's Al-Qaeda family," details his relationship with the organization. By Colin Freeze in the Globe and Mail, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Asked by the Mounties if he were part of al-Qaeda, Abdullah Khadr responded, "No, I only buy and sell weapons for al-Qaeda."

Over the course of five interviews with the RCMP last year, the 25-year-old terrorism suspect admitted that he "knows everybody" in al-Qaeda and ran guns for the organization to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. But he also insisted that if any terrorist "had anything planned for Canada, I'd be the first one to stop it."

The Crown this week released two volumes of interviews Mr. Khadr gave to the RCMP between the time he was detained in Pakistan in 2005 and was released to Canada last year. Days after he landed in Toronto, the U.S. government had him arrested and launched an extradition case against him.

Mr. Khadr, a Canadian citizen who grew up in Afghanistan, seems to have been forthcoming during long questioning sessions with police. His lawyers suggest, however, all of the testimony could be tainted by torture he said he suffered in Pakistan.

Al-Qaeda Playbook Alert.

Posted by Robert at November 4, 2006 10:40 AM

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.