Threat Matrix: September 2007

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[nwctwx]

The Birth of al Qaedastan

In the year 2016, the world may find itself gloomily marking September 6 as the tenth anniversary of the creation of the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan. The Emirate received de facto recognition when the Taliban used the name on the ceasefire agreement they signed with Pakistan on that day in 2006. If things go terribly wrong in the coming decade, they could come to rule a mountainous fragment of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Emirate would be a nightmare state: Osama bin Laden as sultan, Ayman al Zawahiri as vizier, and Mullah Omar the spiritual leader. An economy built on smuggling and heroin. Primary export: terrorism. Welcome to ‘Al Qaedastan’.

Analysts say the rise of a terrorist state straddling the rugged area between Pakistan and Afghanistan is now viable. The reason is a number of troubling trends. One, the revival of a Taliban firmly in the control of Al Qaeda. Two, the seeming inability of either Kabul or Islamabad to defeat the new threat militarily. Three, and the most striking, the Taliban’s systematic supplanting of the traditional tribal leadership in the area. Full story...

	Lebanon: Tiny Country, Big Threats
	Islamist Web Site Explains 'How to Join Al Qaeda'
	The Ongoing Hunt for Osama bin Laden

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September 2007

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[milkncookies]

Gold has broken through the $700.00 level.
Currently at $702.60.
It was as high as $713.00

[neverendinghunt]

n triplicate. My limited search indicates that Al Taghat is a reference to Iran

—

imo its just another name for any ‘crusader’ country, they always mess with the name on purpose, if you’ve read jill’s site quite a bit they use PRLNKA or dif variations of words for their enemy, almost like a mockery. just my opinion.

i really doubt iran is the subject of this man.

[Velveeta]

New Videotape From Bin Laden; Al Qaeda’s No. 1 Still Alive

September 07, 2007 9:23 AM

Brian Ross Reports:

Intelligence sources tell ABC News they believe the expected video message from Osama bin Laden is authentic, recently produced and evidence the al Qaeda leader is still alive.

U.S. authorities now say they have a transcript which they say is aimed at potential suicide bombers who he urges to carry out missions against the West.

The jihadist Web site announced the tape with a banner, showing a still picture of bin Laden, now 50 years old, looking fit with a full beard of dark black hair, no gray at all.

“It does look oddly like he is wearing a false beard,” Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism official and now ABC News consultant, said. “If we go back to the tape three years, he had a very white beard. This looks like a phony beard that has been passed on.”

The “phony beard” may be an important clue as to where bin Laden is hiding, according to Clarke.

“One place where a beard would stand out would be southeast Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia,” Clarke told ABC News. “No one’s thought he was there, but that is an environment where most men, Muslim men don’t have beards.”

U.S. officials say there is little doubt the al Qaeda leader timed his latest message to the 9/11 anniversary.

“He came up on this occasion to prove he’s alive, to taunt us and to take advantage of the 9/11 remembrance ceremonies to get some propaganda,” Clarke said.

The actual videotape – bin Laden’s first in 35 months since October 2004 – is expected to be released in the next few days or hours.

Sources in the intelligence community, who are already busy analyzing the image of bin Laden for clues of his whereabouts, say the tape is likely to be a direct message to Americans.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/09/new-videotape-f.html

Velveeta’s memo to Richard Clarke - the beard is digitally altered. Sheesh. Intelligence expert??

[drymans wife]

I think “Al Taghat” is an disbeliever of Islam.

http://www.islaam.net/main/display.php?part=1&category=3&id=104

The Importance of Ruling by What Allaah has Revealed
by Shaykh Sâlih ibn Fawzân al-Fawzân
Back
Ruling by other than what Allah revealed
Among the requirements of believing in Allaah, the Exalted, and worshipping Him is submitting to His judgment, and contentment with His laws, and the referral to His book and to the Sunnah of His Messenger (SAW), in disputes with regards to statements, fundamentals, litigation’s, blood, properties, and the rest of rights. For Allaah is the ultimate Judge and judgment ultimately pertains to Him. It is incumbent upon the rulers to rule by what Allah revealed, and it is incumbent upon the subjects to seek judgment from the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (SAW).

With regards to rulers, Allaah says:

“Verily, Allaah commands you to deliver the trust committed to you to their due owners, and that when you judge between people, to judge with justice.”(4:58)

And surely excellent is that with which Allaah admonishes you. Allaah is all-Hearing, all-Seeing.

And with regards to the subjects, He said:

“O you who believe, obey Allaah and obey His Messenger, and the people in authority among you. And if you dispute over anything, refer it to Allaah and His Messenger if you really believe in Allaah and the Last Day, that is best in terms of consequences.” (4:59)

Then Allaah has made it clear that having faith does not conform with seeking judgment in other than what Allaah revealed. Allaah, the Exalted, says:

“Do you not see those who allege to believe in what is revealed to you and what was revealed before you? They desire to seek judgment from the Taghat, although they are commanded to disbelieve in it, and Satan desires to lead them far astray.” (4:60)

[callmejoe]

The audio trailer also has the three repetitions.

After the initial explosion, siren, and screams, the first voice (which sounds like UBL’s) after repeating an initial phrase twice, then goes on to repeat a phrase three times that ends in a word that sounds like “Iraq”.

Though I don’t understand the words to the final verses (except “Osama”), the ending nasheed sounds almost elegiacal.

If so, that would fit the “Winds of Martyrdom” theme.

[null and void]

Can I get both?

[Oorang]

I have no idea. I checked and this morning (Friday am) there is still no reference. Perhaps it has been pulled and is now only for their subscribers.

[drymans wife]

It seems a lot comes in three’s.

The prayers are said three times.
We will have also heard from Sheik Bin Laden, 3 times.
The audio
The picture
The Video, yet to come.

[flutters]

Thanks for the important ping. I hope everyone stays alert in the coming days. This weekend would be a good time to review emergency plans and supplies.

[fanfan]

Radical Islamic sect ‘has half of Britain’s mosques in its grip’

A hardline Islamic movement, whose leading UK imam preaches anti-Semitism and calls on Muslims to “shed blood for Allah”, is controlling almost half of Britain’s mosques, a police report has found.

The influence of the ultra-conservative Deobandi sect, which is characterised by its total rejection of western values, has grown to such an extent that police now believe it runs more than 600 of Britain’s 1,350 mosques.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=480470&in_page_id=1770

[JellyJam]

Wanna hear something freaky (or at least coincidental)? There's a tropical system out in the Atlantic that if it becomes a tropical storm would be named Gabrielle.

Three days after 9/11, Tropical Storm Gabrielle struck us in Sarasota/Venice.

Yikes!

[Godzilla]

Wanna hear something freaky (or at least coincidental)? There's a tropical system out in the Atlantic that if it becomes a tropical storm would be named Gabrielle. Three days after 9/11, Tropical Storm Gabrielle struck us in Sarasota/Venice. Yikes!

Cue Twilight Zone theme.

[drymans wife]

Thats like Velveeta’s computer setting to 09/10/01.

Very Very Scary :o

[milkncookies]

Video: Former US Senator on Hizballah TV

Fri, Sep 7, 2007 at 10:02:25 am PDT

A few days ago, former Democratic Senator James Abourezk
(who represented South Dakota from 1973 until 1979, and
founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee)
visited Lebanon and appeared on the terrorist group
Hizballah’s Al-Manar TV (banned in the US), telling a
fully-veiled interviewer that Arabs involved in the 9/11
attacks “cooperated with the Zionists,” the Israel lobby
controls US Congress, Hamas and Hizballah are
“resistance fighters,” and Americans are all racists.

[milkncookies]

Not exactly a revelation but....

Al Qaeda 'Plans Attacks On US'

Updated: 18:38, Friday September 07, 2007
Al Qaeda is said to be planning a series of "high-impact"
attacks against US targets, according to the CIA.
More follows...

SKY NEWS

[GorillaMa]

Adding to the freaky news, now a parade in NYC this Sunday:

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=11985

[milkncookies]

"Characteristically, no one is picking up on the
significance of the dye job. The Shafi'i school
of Islamic jurisprudence forbids men and women to
dye their hair black "except when the intention is
jihad...as a show of strength to unbelievers" ('Umdat
al-Salik e.4.4). Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, in his The
Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam, says essentially
the same thing: "Some of the early Muslims, including
some sahabah [companions of Muhammad] such as
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, 'Uqbah ibn 'Amr, al-Hassan,
al-Hussein, Jarir, and others permitted the use of black
dye. Some scholars, on the other hand, do not consider
the use of black dye as permissible except during time
of war, when the enemy might be impressed by the fact
that all the soldiers of the Muslim army look young."

I am not impressed. I think it makes him look like an
aging lounge lizard. But the belligerent overtones
should not be overlooked."

jihadwatch.org

[callmejoe]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20640658/

Details of purported bin Laden video emerge
Officials: No specific threat made; Web sites carrying tape shut down

NBC News and news services
Updated: 12:58 p.m. CT Sept 7, 2007
WASHINGTON - (excerpted)

The U.S. government has obtained a new video of Osama bin Laden marking the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and is analyzing it, a counterterror official said Friday.

Several intelligence agencies were looking at the 25-minute video — the first new images of the terror leader in nearly three years.

The tape contains no specific threat, senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News’ Robert Windrem. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Officials said bin Laden criticized Democrats in Congress in the video for being unable to stop the war in Iraq. The al-Qaida leader also urged young Muslims to carry out suicide bombings against the West — a piece of advice he offers in most tapes.

Bin Laden also recommended reading books by American authors Noam Chomsky and Michael Scheuer, a former CIA analyst, officials said. Chomsky’s book cites various examples of American imperialism, while Scheuer’s book argues that the U.S. does not understand the Islamic predicament.

Bin Laden also suggests the Jews could have avoided the Holocaust if they had put themselves under the protection of Muslims and indicates that the mujahadeen are now determining U.S. policy. . .

Web sites shut down

Soon after Washington announced it had the video, all the Islamic militant Web sites that usually carry statements from al-Qaida went down and were inaccessible, in an unprecedented shutdown.

The reason for the shutdown was not immediately known. Evan Kohlmann, an NBC News terrorism expert, said he suspected it was the work of al-Qaida itself, trying to find how the video leaked to U.S. officials.

“For them this is totally disruptive that the U.S. government could have a copy before their targeted audience does,” he said. “They could be concerned and trying to plug the leak quickly.”

Another possibility is that the U.S. government shut down the sites, but that was unlikely, he said.

“I don’t think they would have the legal or technical capability to do so, to collectively shut all these sites at the same time. Also, I don’t think the U.S. government is necessarily interested in shutting these sites down, unless there is something so provocative and dangerous in what bin Laden is saying.”

“It’s pretty remote that the content of his speech is so incendiary that they would shut down all the sites. The idea that they (U.S. government) could totally prevent this from coming out on the Internet is ludicrous,” he said. . .

The Associated Press and NBC News’ Robert Windrem contributed to this report.

[callmejoe]

(expanding on #475)

http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=6277573&action=article

(AFX UK Focus) 2007-09-07 19:06 GMT:
Al-Qaeda planning ‘high impact plots’ on US: CIA chief

NEW YORK (Thomson Financial) - CIA director Michael Hayden warned today that Al-Qaeda was plotting fresh attacks on the United States aimed at producing massive casualties.

“Our analysts assess with high confidence that Al-Qaeda’s central leadership is planning high impact plots against the American homeland,” Hayden told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

“Al-Qaeda is focusing on targets that would produce mass casualties, dramatic destruction and significant economic aftershocks,” he added, speaking a week ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks.

[drymans wife]

I just watched Chertoff on Fox and he said they reviewed the tape and found there was no call to arms and nothing to worry about.

However, a week ago, he said there was cause for concern but nothing credible could point them in any direction, just increased chatter that rivals pre 9/11.

Well which is it.