Threat Matrix: December 2007

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[nwctwx]

Calculating the Risks in Pakistan

A small group of U.S. military experts and intelligence officials convened in Washington for a classified war game last year, exploring strategies for securing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if the country's political institutions and military safeguards began to fall apart.

The secret exercise — conducted without official sponsorship from any government agency, apparently due to the sensitivity of its subject — was one of several such games the U.S. government has conducted in recent years examining various options and scenarios for Pakistan's nuclear weapons: How many troops might be required for a military intervention in Pakistan? Could Pakistani nuclear bunkers be isolated by saturating the surrounding areas with tens of thousands of high-powered mines, dropped from the air and packed with anti-tank and anti-personnel munitions? Or might such a move only worsen the security of Pakistan's arsenal?
Full story...

	Musharraf: U.S. Shares Blame for Pakistan and Afghanistan
	Bin Laden's Message to the Europeans
	Messages from bin Laden Since 9-11

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December 2007

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[Cindy]

Re Mall Shooter - UPDATE:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004103456_ndig02.html

Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Nation Digest
“Only Valium found in mall killer’s body”

NEWS BRIEF SNIPPET: “Only an anti-anxiety medication turned up in tests done on the body of Robert Hawkins, 19, who fatally wounded eight people before killing himself last month at a shopping mall.

The autopsy report on Hawkins revealed diazepam, better known by its market name, Valium, in his system.”

[Cindy]

Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1947057/posts

Powerful Explosion Hits Serbian Bank In Kosovo
nasdaq ^ | 1/2/08 | RTTNews
Posted on 01/02/2008 2:38:35 AM PST by Flavius

A powerful explosion hit the offices of a Serbian bank late Tuesday, in the ethnically mixed town of Dragas, in the mountainous region bordering Macedonia in southern Kosovo, officials said. However, no one was reported to have been injured in the explosion.

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

[Cindy]

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

#

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1947058/posts

“China’s sudden show of force sent SDF jets scrambling”
asahi ^ | 1/2/2008 | TSUYOSHI NOJIMA, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Posted on 01/02/2008 2:41:33 AM PST by Flavius
TAIPEI-

[Cindy]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3489375,00.html

“PMO: Talks with Bush to focus on Iran”

SNIPPET: “Prime Minister’s Office sources say Olmert to concentrate on Iranian nuclear threat during US president’s visit to Israel next week. Tripartite meeting between Bush, Olmert and Abbas possible”

Roni Sofer
Published: 01.02.08, 10:25 / Israel News

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Talks between Israeli leaders and US President George W. Bush during his visit to the country next week will focus on both the Palestinian and the Iranian issues, sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said Wednesday.

“Iran’s uranium enrichment program is no less a concern to us than the Palestinian issue” they explained.”

[Cindy]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517272776&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Jan 2, 2008 11:56
“Firebombs thrown at Turkish consulate in Austria; no injuries reported”
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “They said only one of the bombs, which contained gasoline, pierced a window of the consulate, and neighbors who heard the explosions alerted firefighters and police.

Authorities said the consulate was unguarded at the time of the attack. Investigators were examining security camera footage that showed four young people throwing the firebombs at the building in Bregenz, a city near the border with Germany.”

[PGalt]

Thanks for the ping and your research/links. Placemark BUMP!

[drymans wife]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319525,00.html

Manhunt for Father Suspected of Killing Teen Girls

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

AP/Irving Police Department

Yaser Abdel Said

IRVING, Texas — Police continued searching for a man suspected of shooting his two teenage daughters, including one who called 911 about an hour before officers found them dead in his taxi, police said.

Yaser Abdel Said, 50, of the Dallas suburb of Lewisville, is accused of shooting Sarah Yaser Said, 17, and Amina Yaser Said, 18, in his taxi Tuesday night and abandoning it in a parking lot, leaving them to die.

Police have not released a motive for the shootings, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in its online edition Wednesday.

snip..

[drymans wife]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319646,00.html

Saudi Authorities Detain Popular Blogger

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi authorities have detained a popular blogger for violating the kingdom’s laws, a senior Interior Ministry official said Tuesday. It was the first known arrest of a Saudi online critic.

The blogger, Fouad al-Farhan, was being questioned by security authorities, Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Monsour al-Turki said. He added the blogger might be released on Wednesday but did not elaborate.

The Saudi English daily, Arab News, said al-Farhan had “violated non-security regulations.” The paper said the 32-year-old Jeddah resident was arrested at his office Dec. 10 and taken to his home where police conducted a search. There were no other details.

Al-Farhan’s family has contacted the governmental Human Rights Commission, asking for help in the case, the paper said.

Al-Farhan is one of the few bloggers who uses his real name. His blog headline reads: “Searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, shoura and all the rest of lost Islamic values.” Shoura is Arabic for public consultation.

Following the arrest, al-Farhan’s friends who are now running his Web site, posted a letter allegedly from the blogger claiming he was told by an official there was an Interior Ministry order “to investigate me and they will pick me up anytime in the next two weeks.”

snip....

[Cindy]

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019414.php
(GLOBE AND MAIL.com)

January 2, 2008
“’Our religion has not changed. If it was jihad then, it is jihad now.’”

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1947387/posts

FOXNews.com ^ | Wednesday, January 02, 2008 | Catherine Donaldson-Evans, Tom Durante and The Associated Press
Posted on 01/02/2008 3:39:39 PM PST by metmom

LAUREL, Md. — An inmate who escaped from a Maryland hospital with a guard’s gun and shot a driver in the head in a carjacking during his getaway is dead, Prince George’s County Police told FOXNews.com

Kelvin Poke, 45, was shot and killed during his capture, apparently in an exchange of gunfire with officers near Cedar Hill Cemetery in Suitland, Md., according to a spokesman for Prince George’s County Police Department.

Poke was pronounced dead at Prince George’s Hospital Center, said Suzanne Almalel, a spokeswoman for Dimensions Healthcare System, which operates the hospital.

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

[Cindy]

http://truthusa.com/a/index.php?topic=1521.0

#

blog:

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/01/looking_back_and_forward_at_te.php

“Looking Back and Forward at Terrorist Financing and Money Laundering Highlights”
By Dennis Lormel
(January 2, 2008)

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48557

Three Suspects Killed, 33 Detained in Iraq Operations

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 2008 – Coalition forces killed three terrorists and detained 33 suspects in operations targeting al Qaeda in central and northern Iraq this week.

North of Jalula today, forces captured a suspect wanted for aiding foreign terrorists in Kirkuk, killing three and wounding another during the operation. Forces also captured three other suspects there.

Today in Samarra, forces captured a suspect wanted for propaganda operations and detained another suspect in a separate operation nearby. And in the Adhamiyah area, forces detained a suspect wanted for training terrorists.

In the northeastern Diyala River Valley region yesterday, forces captured four people suspected of an execution-style killing.

In Dec. 31 operations, forces captured 21 suspects targeting al Qaeda in central and northern Iraq:

— In Kirkuk, forces captured two suspects wanted for bomb attacks. The two, believed to be brothers, are suspected of involvement in the Ansar al Sunna network operating there.

— Nearby, forces captured another wanted suspect believed to be an al Qaeda in Iraq senior leader of the network operating in the Kirkuk province. They also captured another suspect in the same operation.

— South of Samarra, forces caught five people suspected of helping foreign terrorists there. Forces also detained 12 suspects in Mosul.

— A car-bomb explosion at a checkpoint near Mushada killed two members of a concerned local citizens group and wounded two others. Two more are missing, officials said.

In earlier operations:

— Forces found and destroyed a weapons cache south of Baghdad, and concerned local citizens turned in another cache in Hawr Rajab on Dec. 29. In both caches, forces found mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making materials.

— Forces captured three suspected extremists Dec. 28 after receiving a tip from a local citizen in southeastern Baghdad. The suspects were detained for questioning.

— In Baghdad, soldiers rescued a kidnap victim in western Rashid on Dec. 26. Forces also found rockets and about 8 pounds of homemade explosives.

— Also Dec. 26, two suspects were detained for suspicious activity near Jisr Diyala on a road frequently used by coalition forces. One later admitted to placing an improvised explosive device on the road. Forces, however, searched the area and did not find a bomb.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48558

Afghan Forces Free Village From Insurgent Control

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 2008 – Afghan national security forces liberated the village of Yakhdan, in the Shahidi Hasas district of Afghanistan’s Oruzgan province, from insurgent control Dec. 31, coalition military officials reported.
The Shahidi Hasas district reportedly serves as a major corridor for transporting fighters and weapons between the provinces to the north and south of Oruzgan. Insurgents are suspected of using Yakhdan as a major command and control hub for illegal activities, officials said.

Afghan National Army soldiers led the multiday operation, along with Afghan National Police and coalition forces.

In other operations that day, coalition and Afghan forces killed several militants and found a weapons cache in raids targeting Taliban extremist operations in Helmand province.

Forces searched compounds in the Nahr Surkh district looking for militants associated with Taliban extremists and foreign-fighter facilitators. During the search, several militants were killed in an attack against coalition and Afghan forces. No exact number of militants killed was reported. Forces found a weapons cache with several AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and explosives.

(Compiled from Combined Joint Task Force 82 news releases.)

[Cindy]

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

#

blog:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/01/yemens_intifada.php

“Yemen’s Intifada”
By FEATURED WRITER
January 2, 2008 12:01 PM

“Jane Novak looks at the internal problems in Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula. Recent unrest may signal a renewed round of fighting and perhaps civil war.”

[Cindy]

http://truthusa.com/a/index.php?topic=1554.0

#

blog:

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/01/mullah_omar_confirms.php

“Mullah Omar confirms firing of Mullah Mansoor Dadullah”
By BILL ROGGIO
January 2, 2008 1:06 PM

[cmsgop]

Will Omar have to pay unemployment ??? :*)

[Cindy]

Eventually, they will be unemployed, but I guess if they ever go to prison; they won’t have to follow that Rule 19.

#

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1945775/posts?page=41#41

[PGalt]

Thanks for the ping/links research. OUTSTANDING thread BUMP!

[MamaDearest]

You're very welcome. 2008 is looking to be plenty more news the MSM doesn't bother to report or consider "newsworthy."

Sudden Jihad Syndrome

Sympathy for al Qaeda has produced "sudden jihad syndrome" in domestic terror cells unaffiliated with foreign terrorists and people seeking to carry out attacks in the U.S., a law-enforcement intelligence analysis says.

The Dec. 6 report by the Texas Public Safety Department's Bureau of Information Analysis warns officials not to dismiss individual or homegrown terror cells as "wannabes," saying they pose a credible threat to homeland security.

National Counterterrorism Center 2008 Calendar

This year's calendar is the largest ever, with 160 pages of information on known terrorist groups, individual terrorists, and technical information on topics such as biological and chemical threats. New features this year include pages on Anthrax, al-Qa'ida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Radicalization: Myth and Reality, VX Nerve Agent, Toxic Industrial Chemicals, Kongra-Gel (KGK), a significantly expanded index, and more.

[PGalt]

Post #1407 more here...

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019416.php#comments

and here...

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019415.php#comments

Disgusting.