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

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	Are you Ready?: Ready.Gov		SOFIR		World Policy Institute
	CDC: Preparedness/Response		Little Green Footballs	Threat Matrix Related
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	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

Threat Matrix: Since November 3, 2003
							68	67	66	65	64	63	62	61	60	59	58	57	56	55	54	53	52	51
50	49	48	47	46	45	44	43	42	41	40	39	38	37	36	35	34	33	32	31	30	29	28	27	26
25	24	23	22	21	20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	09	08	07	06	05	04	03	02	01

"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

[Velveeta]

Welcome to Threat Matrix 2010.

Thank you to Jim Robinson and Freerepublic for this wonderful site.

Thanks to all posters for their contributions over the years.

Lurkers, take the plunge and post 'em if you've got 'em.

Wishing you all a safe, healthy, happy and prosperous year.

Please let me know if you'd like on or off the ping list.

[Velveeta]

Threat Matrix 2010

PING!

Happy New Year.

[Michael Barnes]

Bigtime bookmark.

[bitt]

new page, new attitude! let’s git em.

[COUNTrecount]

Please add me. Thanks.

[Velveeta]

If you have time, please bring over your posts from TM 2009 that you posted today, recently - or would just like to draw attention to.

[Velveeta]

Done.
Welcome to TM.

[LayoutGuru2]

Thanks Velveeta!

[WestCoastGal]

Thanks for the ping Vel - and for renewing the thread :)

How many are we at now? - It’s been 7+ years for TM - a lot of hard work by many to search and find information and credible threats. Thanks to all.

There will never be an end to the threats to our country - not at least and until we get a President who is determined to not take any cr@p from our enemies. Even then, I fear it will never be enough. I know “W” did all he could and we were a bit more safe for awhile.

[JDoutrider]

A Happy New Year to you as well!

[Velveeta]

You’re welcome.
Happy New Year!

[Velveeta]

This is Thread #69 - can you believe it?

Threat Matrix since November 3, 2003.

It’s been a long time!

[Velveeta]

Thank you!

[Godzilla]

On board and locked and loaded.

[Velveeta]

Apologies to Ian for my butchering of your lovely html work. ;-)

Hope you are well.

[homegroan]

Please ping me-I didn’t know this thread existed!

What’s the 411 on it Velveeta? Is it to monitor/report USA threats?

Thanx...SZQ

[Rushmore Rocks]

Thanks, Vel........lookin’good.

[WestCoastGal]

I just checked the very first TM thread and there were 712 posts the very first day. WOW

[jersey117]

Happy New Year to you too Vel. And thanks for the ping!

[hennie pennie]

*bookmark*

AND a big thank you to all posters who have remained active all these years on the Free Republic Threat Matrix messagethread, and wishing you & yours a prosperous & safe New Years!

Kind regards,
HP

[Velveeta]

Lock and load - for sure.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

Great job.

How is LGF still on the blogroll? Most people have dropped them from the blogrolls since charles johnson lost it & became some kind of left/lib.

[Oorang]

Bringing over a SNIP from your very interesting post of the Haskell interview with the FBI. Thanks much for the info WCG.

Haskell asked them why he was not shown a full body shot of the suspect. Haskell was eight rows back from the suspect. The FBI agents did not answer and were displeased with the question. He also asked the FBI agents if it would be more appropriate to bring the surveillance video from the Amsterdam airport instead of still photos. “I don’t think they liked that comment from me,” Haskell added. The FBI said they did not have the videotape. They also made a point to tell Haskell they were asking the questions and not him.

The agents showed Haskell a photograph of the man flagged by the bomb-sniffing dog and taken into custody in customs. “Isn’t this the man who had the bomb in his carry-on bag that you arrested in customs who you refuse to admit exists?” Haskell asked the agents. “They really didn’t like that comment from me and had no comment back to me but I said it sure looks like the man you refuse to admit exists.”

[Velveeta]

You’ve been added to the ping list. Welcome to TM!

Yes, Homegroan, it’s very important to be aware, to monitor and to report any suspicious activity and threats. As clearly indicated by the Fruit of the Boom attempted bomber, the jihadis want us dead. They’ll be back and the general public is the first line of defense.

Please check out the links in the initial post for additional information.

[Oorang]

Big Thank You Velveeta!

[Velveeta]

Thanks, RR.

Sure wish I had some html skills to clean up all my errors.
Ian must be cringing.

[Velveeta]

It’s surprising to look through some of those early threads and see that not much has changed.

They still want us dead - we’re still here.

[Velveeta]

Thanks for being here.

[Velveeta]

Ah, you’re right. I should have caught that, but just did the ole copy and paste - so I missed it.

[Velveeta]

My pleasure, Oorang.

[appalachian_dweller]

Thanks for the new thread and for the ping Velveeta!

Wow,7+ years. Lots of great discussion.

It’s been and is an HONOR to be a part of this. Thanks everyone!!!

[MamaDearest]

Thank you Velveeta for bringing Threat Matrix current to 2010. You are much appreciated for your diligent work here!

Hizb ut-Tahir America promotes supremacism as solution to Pakistan violence, poverty

In the Chicago suburb of Lombard on December 20, 2009, Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA) held a recruitment event to promote its anti-democracy, Islamic supremacist views, with the focus of this event by claiming that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is not sufficiently "Islamic" enough for Hizb ut-Tahrir's goals of creating "Islamic states" in building a global Islamic supremacist caliphate.

Children in the jihadi cause - an Ansar Al-Muahideen video compilation

The following are excerpts from a compilation of videos of Jihadi children, produced by Ansar Al-Mujahideen. The compilation, titled "The Next Generation of Mujahideen," identifies the jihad groups to which the children belong, and shows them training, giving speeches, chanting, and praying.The compilation was posted on the Internet in December 2009.

Students caught in terrorism net


A NUMBER of students who dropped out of an Australian-affiliated university in Dubai are being investigated for links to the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a US aircraft.

2008 FBI audit flagged failure to place terror suspects on watchlist

While the State Department is fending off questions about why it didn’t revoke Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s visa and points fingers at the National Counterterrorism Center, it’s worth noting that the FBI last year was told, following an in-depth audit by its inspector general, that it had a big problem with failing to place terror suspects on the NCTC’s terror watchlists.

A civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and convictions to defend itself

Indeed, the weakness of the West is its loss of the spirit of its own culture. The West requires not only the existence of certain institutions and principles — legislatures, courts of law, free speech and freedom of religion, for example — but also a populace willing to defend those institutions and principles without apology.

Commentary - Unholy war in cyberspace

Snips: ..... it is almost mission impossible to figure out what terrorists and would-be terrorists are up to in cyberspace.

[Velveeta]

And to all you lurking terrorist jihadis and wannabees out there...this one's for you:

[Oorang]

Bringing over your excellent post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2181917/posts?page=2029#2029

SNIP:
Federal officials are following leads as to why Abdul-Mutallab was in Houston. The details are classified.

Doubt if we will ever learn the "classified details". Also, I wonder how many branches there are of the Islamic Institute. I see what I can find and post accordingly.

Thanks for all your informative posts MamaD.

[Velveeta]

And thanks to all of you for keeping TM going. ;-)

[MamaDearest]

Denial of the real problem is going to kill Americans (including airline passengers and flight crews). Unless and until they adopt El Al procedures in total, terrorists will dictate and take our lives if we attempt to fly anywhere.

[Velveeta]

Thanks for being here, AD.

And a reminder to all to review the very important list on Appalachian Dweller’s homepage, of things to do and supplies to have on hand:

http://www.freerepublic.com/~appalachiandweller/

[Velveeta]

I’ve often told my husband that the airlines need to hire Moms and Grandmothers.

Nothing gets by us.

We can always tell if someone is trying to sneak something by us.

We can always tell if someone is lying to us.

[Excellence]

http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/christmas-day-attack-manifestation-aqap-shift-targeting-america

Lots of good background info here.

[MestaMachine]

Hey, Vel. Happy New Year to everyone!!!
I was wondering yesterday who was gonna switch the year for us. Hard to believe a whole year has gone by so quickly and nothing has gotten any better. Let us pray that 2010 is more to our liking, but it sure doesn’t seem to be starting out that way.

Be alert and stay safe tonight.

[MamaDearest]

Also, I wonder how many branches there are of the Islamic Institute. I see what I can find and post accordingly.

Thanks Oorang. I think there is something much more to the Houston connection than has been told. Here'a couple of older links:

Link from 2007: Storm track infiltration - The Houston Taliban - Jihad in Texas

4 Whyislam and ICNA workers (coined by the media as the “Houston Taliban”) held jihad training camps on Islamic Society of Greater Houston property in Willis Texas north of Houston. The men sought firearms training in the Houston area on at least eight occasions between May 2005 and June 2006. Semi-automatic weapons were used in paramilitary training conducted by an undercover FBI agent. The men were in possession of an Armalite M15A4 rifle, a .308 rifle and a 12-gage shotgun, a Glock pistol and other weapons. The group was photographed and recorded during the paramilitary training exercises.

Link from 2004: Jihad in Houston?

They're scratching their heads in Houston over this one: "A Saudi Arabian national who slashed a Jewish friend's throat after apparently undergoing a religious reawakening has pleaded guilty to murder rather than face trial." This from the Houston Chronicle, with thanks to Mrs. Obelix and Nicolei. Mohammed Ali Alayed, 23, faces up to 60 years in prison for the Aug. 6 attack in which Ariel Sellouk was almost decapitated with a knife.

Jihad camps in the USA?

List at link

[MamaDearest]

Thanks for that link Excellence!

[Velveeta]

Great article, thank you - with a powerful conclusion:

The Christmas Day attempt is proof of AQAP’s desire and ability to strike America and American interests. The recent U.S. and Yemeni strikes on AQAP strongholds and leadership may have weakened the group, but its recent statements suggest that it is still operational and under strong leadership. AQAP reiterated its desire to strike the U.S. in its statement claiming responsibility for Abdulmutallab’s attempt: “From here, we say to the American people: since you support your leaders and you stand behind them in killing our women and our children, rejoice for what will do you harm. We have come to you with slaughter and we have prepared for you men who love death as you love life. With permission from Allah, we will come to you from where you do not expect. As you kill, you will be killed. Tomorrow is near.”[40] AQAP has made its intentions very clear: it is no longer satisfied with attacking Saudi and Yemeni targets; it has every intention to kill Americans.

http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/christmas-day-attack-manifestation-aqap-shift-targeting-america

[Excellence]

You’re welcome. Happy New Year!

[Velveeta]

Thanks, MestaMachine.

You be safe as well!

[MamaDearest]

Nothing gets by us. We can always tell if someone is trying to sneak something by us.

You've got that right. Raising teenagers and being one step ahead of them and their plans qualifies us as experts. Getting "the look" when we discovered "undisclosed" things was worth its weight in gold.

[MestaMachine]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418409/posts
Flight 253 passenger Kurt Haskell: ‘I was visited by the FBI’

I would bet money the “Indian” man in this article is not Indian, but Pakistani. And I am still putting my thumb firmly on the State Department for having so many islamist moles in embassies around the world that we are safe nowhere and no time.
This whole thing stinks to high, high heaven!

[NanaDory8]

Thank you and all who keep this going.
Happy New year and may God Bless each of you.

[Unrepentant VN Vet]

We just hang around and occasionally post something that is (hopefully) relevant.

Thanks yet again for keeping the door open.

(And a VERY Happy New Year.)

[WestCoastGal]

Thanks for the ping MamaD - I have to run into town but will read when I get back :)