Threat Matrix: February 2007

Previous Thread ^

[Cindy]

WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "CHAPLAIN SHORTAGE SEVERE FOR ARMY" by Natasha Altamirano (February 26, 2007) (Read More...)

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=train
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=trains
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=railroad
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=railways

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http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200702/NAT20070220a.html

"Would Another Law Preempt Terror Attacks?"
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
February 20, 2007

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/english/index.cfm?page=Zawahiri

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

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=zawahiri&search_sort=video_date_uploaded&search_category=0

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=zawahiri&num=10&hl=en&so=1&start=0

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http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=27029

"Ayman al-Zawahiri: Jihad’s Judas"
By Patrick Poole

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

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


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=train
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=trains
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=railroad
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=railways

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http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=27093

"Monitoring the Jihad in Spain"
By Aaron Hanscom
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 26, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "With the three year anniversary of March 11, 2004 just around the corner, the trial of 29 individuals charged in connection with the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people began in Madrid on February 15. The trial is being held in the Audiencia Nacional -- the highest criminal court where Islamic cases are investigated. The Audiencia Nacional, it should be remembered, was the target of one of many disrupted plots by Islamist terrorists since March 11. Indeed, Spain continues to be in the crosshairs of jihadists intent on reconquering all of historic Al-Andalus."

[Cindy]

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

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STEPPING BACK IN TIME...




Note: Video Included.

http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4792

February 26, 1993
"THIS DAY IN HISTORY: WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBED"

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http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/reports/wtc93.htm

"CNS Reports
February 1993 Bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City"

SNIPPET: "Extract from:
John V. Parachini, “The World Trade Center Bombers (1993)” Chapter 11 in Jonathan B. Tucker, (ed.) Toxic Terror: Assessing Terrorist Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. (2000), pp.185-206"



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Note: Includes Video.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/26/newsid_2516000/2516469.stm

February 26, 1993
"1993: World Trade Center bomb terrorises New York"

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791227/posts

[Cindy]

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

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https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=64020

you are here: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report
"Warden Message: North Yemen Restricted Travel"
Consular Affairs Bulletins
Middle East / N. Africa - Yemen
25 Feb 2007

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http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_936.html

Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520

This information is current as of today, Mon Feb 26 2007 03:41:15 GMT-0800.

YEMEN

October 13, 2006

[Cindy]

Note: The following news brief is a quote:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3369794,00.html

14 Iranian Revolutionary Guards soldiers died in air crash Friday

Published: 02.26.07, 10:46 / Israel News

Fourteen Iranian Revolutionary Guards soldiers, including two senior officers died on Friday in an air crash northwest of Iran, the Iranian news agency ISNA reported on Monday. (AFP)

[Cindy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6395791.stm

Last Updated: Monday, 26 February 2007, 11:35 GMT

"Court clears Serbia of genocide"

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Thousands died during the Bosnian war of the early 1990s
The UN's highest court has cleared Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide in the 1990s Bosnian war."

[Cindy]

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, Mon Feb 26 2007 03:51:10 GMT-0800.

Worldwide Caution

October 11, 2006

[Cindy]

PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org

[freeperfromnj]

Thanks for the flashback and for remembering. I worked downtown at the time and remember how my building at One Chase Plaza shook during that blast. Felt it all the way up on the 35th floor It was a snowy morning just like today.

[Velveeta]

February 26, 1993
"THIS DAY IN HISTORY: WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBED"

Thanks for the reminder.

[Godzilla]

placemark

[Velveeta]

New York: Targeted By Tehran?

Increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran have revived New York Police Department concerns that Iranian agents may already have targeted the city for terror attacks. Such attacks could be aimed at bridges and tunnels, Jewish organizations and Wall Street, NYPD briefers told security execs last fall, according to a person with access to the briefing materials who asked for anonymity because of the sensitive subject matter.

NYPD officials have worried about possible Iranian-sponsored attacks since a series of incidents involving officials of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations. In November 2003, Ahmad Safari and Alireaza Safi, described as Iranian Mission "security" personnel, were detained by transit cops when they were seen videotaping subway tracks from Queens to Manhattan at 1:10 in the morning. The men later left New York. "We're concerned that Iranian agents were engaged in reconnaissance that might be used in an attack against New York City at some future date," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly told NEWSWEEK. A spokesman for the Iranian Mission in New York said he was aware of the allegations but had no immediate comment.


(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791392/posts

[Cindy]

We won't forget.

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=3175

Suspected al Qaeda Leader, Others Captured; Weapons Cache Found

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2007 – Coalition forces detained 15 suspected terrorists, including a suspected al Qaeda in Iraq emir, in raids throughout Iraq today; Iraqi forces found a large weapons cache Feb. 24; and Iraqi and coalition forces announced the casualty toll from yesterday’s car-bomb attack in Habbaniyah, military officials reported.

During an operation in Baghdad, coalition forces captured a suspected al Qaeda in Iraq emir and one of his associates.

Three suspected foreign terrorist facilitators were captured in operations northeast of Samarra, and eight more were captured in a foreign fighter safe house west of Mahmudiyah.

In downtown Ramadi, coalition forces captured two suspects in a foreign fighter safe house. Intelligence reports indicated members of the cell were planning suicide operations against coalition or Iraqi forces.

"Coalition forces are making progress dismantling the foreign fighter and al Qaeda terrorist networks inside Iraq," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman. "These operations send a message to terrorists that they will be caught and prosecuted for their crimes under the Iraqi justice system."

Separately, Iraqi police and coalition military officials placed the number of those killed in yesterday's suicide truck bomb attack in Habbaniyah at about 31 Iraqis killed and 75 wounded. The attack occurred at about 4 p.m. in a busy intersection as citizens were exiting a mosque after evening prayer. The blast affected a nearby school and an Iraqi police station.

The target of this latest al Qaeda in Iraq-led attack is not known, officials said. Iraqi police established triage for the victims of the attack, and coalition medical personnel assisted in the treatment and evacuation of the wounded civilians.

In Baqubah, information provided by a concerned citizen led Iraqi police officers from Judidah and coalition forces from the 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, to a large improvised explosive device cache Feb. 24.

The cache consisted of two explosively formed projectiles, a completed improvised mine, more than two dozen mortar rounds and 15 rockets, six rocket launchers, five anti-aircraft rounds, more than two dozen RPG warheads, more than 400 plastic and steel containers in various stages of fabrication for IED construction, and large quantities of IED-making material.

"The vigilance of the Iraqi police and the willingness of the people of Diyala to end the cycle of violence led to this discovery," said Col. David W. Sutherland, 3-1 Cav. commander and senior U.S. Army officer in the Diyala province.

A coalition forces explosive ordnance disposal unit safely disposed of some of the munitions with the majority of the cache being transferred to Forward Operating Base Warhorse.

(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)

[Cindy]

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=3180

Iraqi Tips Lead to Bomb Factory Discovery

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2007 – Tips that led to the discovery of a bomb-making factory in western Iraq demonstrate that the Iraqi people are fed up with terrorists operating in their midst and stepping forward to help remove them, military officials in Baghdad told reporters today.

Officials from 3rd Brigade, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, briefed reporters about a search for weapons caches that ultimately led to the bomb factory Feb. 20 in Gharmah, about 10 miles east of Fallujah.

Army Capt. Matt Gregory, commander of Company A, described the materials uncovered during the raid: blasting caps, ballistic glass used in up-armored Humvees, and five vehicles, one full of propane tanks and initiation devices.

But only when the team continued its mission and found a chemical workshop and metal workshop did they realize the significance of their find, Gregory said. They found homemade explosives and “quite a sizable selection of chemicals,” including canisters of chlorine, several 55-gallon barrels of nitric acid and several bags of fertilizer, as well as a Russian bomb.

“At that point, we realized that this objective was a lot bigger than what we had planned for and what we had ever hoped to find,” he said.

The team returned after daylight to continue the search, he said, finding mortar and artillery rounds, rockets and enemy documents.

Army Lt. Col. Valery Keaveny, the brigade’s commander, called the cooperation that led to the find proof that the Iraqi people don’t like living under the intimidation campaign al Qaeda has imposed on them.

When the brigade first arrived at Camp Fallujah in the fall, “we quickly found the local civilians were terrorized and were threatened, and they did not like life under al Qaeda. They wanted a way out,” Keaveny said. “And we found very quickly that, once we showed our compassion and our professionalism, they would be willing to work with us.”

Over time, relationships built between the troops and the local Iraqis led to tips and information about al Qaeda that led to actionable intelligence. The effort began to have a domino effect as one raid led to more intelligence that led to even more raids -- most recently, the bomb-making factory.

“We continue to conduct more raids, recovery more documentation, more IED-making materials, more sniper capabilities,” Keaveny said.

Iraqis are demonstrating that they want to be a part of this effort and help clear their communities of terrorists, he said. “We are seeing the locals stand up more and more, working with us, working with the Iraqi security forces, police and army, for their road ahead,” he said. “The Iraqi people are standing up for their own freedom (and) … so that their kids can grow up without … oppression from al Qaeda.”

[Cindy]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070226.html

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 26, 2007

"President Bush Meets with the National Governors Association"
The State Dining Room
11:22 A.M. EST

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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=3183

Iraq Key to Defense of U.S., Bush Tells Governors

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2007 – If the United States leaves Iraq before the job is done, the enemy will strike in America, President Bush told the National Governors Association at the White House today.

Bush told the governors, who are in Washington for their annual meeting, that his main priority is protecting the homeland.

Bush, a former Texas governor, explained his current strategy in the war on terrorism to the governors. “We've got a two-pronged strategy in dealing with (enemies),” he said. “One is to stay on the offense and bring them to justice, and two, spread the conditions necessary to defeat an ideology of hatred.”

He said the ideological war against extremists will be a long one. “That's the basis on which I'm making decisions to protect the country,” the president said.

Governors are commanders in chief for their states’ National Guard units. Bush praised the contributions of Guard units in the war on terror. He also thanked the governors for visiting their troops deployed to hotspots around the world. “It matters to those troops that you take time, as a commander in chief, to thank them,” Bush said. “And it matters to their families that people are paying attention to them.”

Bush told the governors that Afghanistan and Iraq are the most visible theaters in the struggle against terror. He said he understands that people disagree with his course in Iraq and respects their opinions, but he will continue forward. “The main reason why is because I understand the consequences of failure in Iraq,” he said. “If we leave before that country can govern itself and sustain itself and defend itself, there will be chaos. And out of chaos will come vacuums, and out of vacuums will come an emboldened enemy that would like to do us harm.”

To protect America, it is important to “get it right” in Iraq, Bush said. “And so I made a decision that I think is more likely to succeed than any of the alternatives that were presented to me,” he said.

Bush said that funding for the National Guard in his fiscal 2008 budget request is strong, and he hopes it stays that way. “I know you're concerned about the funding for your troops. So am I,” Bush said.

He said people can honestly disagree, and that debate is healthy. “On the other hand, I think it's important for people to understand the consequences of not giving our troops the resources necessary to do the job,” he said. “So I'm looking forward to a healthy debate. I'm also looking forward to defending – strongly defending -- the budgets we send up to Congress, to make sure those troops who are in harm's way have the resources … and our commanders have the flexibility necessary to execute the plan we've laid out.”

[Cindy]

NOTE: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=3181

Building Global Network, Denying Safe Havens Essential in War on Terror

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 26, 2007 – In the long war on terrorism, it takes a network to defeat a network, a senior Defense Department official said today at the 18th annual Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Symposium here.
Mark Kimmitt, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Near East and South Asian affairs, said al Qaeda and its associates operate within a “full-spectrum network” that extends beyond the physical battlefield into the virtual and financial worlds.

“It has the ability to use the virtual and physical network, all tied together in this center of gravity of this radical Islamist ideology,” he said. “The fact that it uses the most advanced methods of communications to get what it needs to be done is truly remarkable.”

The al Qaeda network poses the greatest threat to the U.S. and other Western democracies, Kimmitt said.

“It has truly got its stuff together in terms of fighting as a network,” he said. “Those (improvised explosive devices) … going off in Afghanistan weren’t sent over there by books, they were sent over by information directly available on the Internet.”

Terrorists, who seek to obtain chemical and biological weapons, and fissile material for dirty bombs, use communication networks to recruit, wire money, and transfer tactics, techniques and procedures, Kimmitt said.

“As a result, we have got to be able to develop that same network ourselves,” he said. “The military does its job pretty well, but (a formidable network) is going to take the United States Treasury Department; it’s going to take the Department of State; it’s going to take all of our organizations to attack all of its nodes simultaneously.”

Kimmitt said the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., were not the only exhibition of terrorists’ talent. He cited strikes in Bali, Indonesia; Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Istanbul, Turkey; and Madrid, Spain, to underscore the war’s global scale.

To dismantle this global network, eliminating terrorist sanctuaries and safe havens is imperative, he said.

“It’s clear that (Osama) bin Laden and his associates take advantage of failed states, nations in strife, nations that aren’t able to … get the rule of law transmitted,” he said. “In our area of operation in the Middle East, we’ve got to reduce the number of safe havens and sanctuaries.”

In Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, efforts to deny such breeding grounds for terrorism represent a key principal of defeating al Qaeda and its associated movements, Kimmitt said.

“Bin Laden is looking for the next place to operate, and you can bet that he’s taking a look around this world where he can transfer his operations,” he said. “He’s going to be looking for a country or a land that doesn’t have a lot of control.”

Kimmitt said countries engaged in the global war on terror should posture themselves for “the long war,” emphasizing the lengthy duration required to defeat this uniquely organized enemy.

“(These) organizations don’t come together in a conventional hierarchy: one guy at the top, organizations at the bottom; they’re organizations that are highly networked together,” he said. “We’re talking about a significant number of organizations that transcend simply al Qaeda being at the base.

“It is a generational fight; it’s not one that we’ll see completed any time soon,” he said. “We would expect those attacks to go on and on until (the network) is defeated.

“This enemy is ingenious, but it is not 10 feet tall,” he said. “He can be, he must be, and he will be defeated.”

[Cindy]

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

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1791519/posts

"[Ambush of Mexican Congressman] Horacio Garza: Wake-up call for our neighbors"
LaredoMorning Times ^ | 02/26/2007 | ODIE ARAMBULA

Posted on 02/26/2007 1:04:25 PM PST by SwinneySwitch

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1788046/posts

"Mexican lawmaker ambushed[chauffeur killed Nuevo Laredo]"
San Antonio Express-News ^ | 02/20/2007 | Carmina Danini and Mariano Castillo

Posted on 02/20/2007 10:40:48 AM PST by SwinneySwitch