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Threat Matrix: March 2007
Previous Thread ^

Posted on 03/01/2007 8:28:33 PM PST by nwctwx

:::FreeRepublic's Threat Matrix:::
Senior Taliban leader held in Pakistan
-Full Story-

Pakistani security forces have captured a high-ranking Taliban leader in the southwestern city of Quetta, a senior security official and Taliban sources said late Thursday

The capture of Mullah Obaidullah Akhund marked the first Pakistan arrest of a senior leader of the Islamist militia since it was driven from power in Afghanistan in 2001 when thousands of its fighters fled into Pakistan.

The security official and Taliban sources said Akhund, the third most senior member of the Taliban's 10-member leadership council, was arrested late on Monday, hours after a surprise visit to Pakistan by U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Thread Forty-Six
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TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; alqaeda; alqaida; australia; banglist; china; gaza; globaljihad; hospitals; iran; iraq; italy; jihad; netherlands; newzealand; pakistan; philippines; russia; spain; syria; taiwan; threatmatrix; usembassy; yemen; zimbabwe
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To: Cindy
"pissoids"

A new word to add to my lexicon. Thanks......it is so apropos.
1,281 posted on 03/23/2007 5:49:10 PM PDT by Rushmore Rocks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1279 | View Replies]

To: Cindy

Interesting interview(s) Cindy. Even the best case scenerios were not too bright. It will be interesting to see how Pakistan is doing a few years from now.


1,282 posted on 03/23/2007 6:10:24 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1245 | View Replies]

To: Oorang

"It will be interesting to see how Pakistan is doing a few years from now."

Yep.


1,283 posted on 03/23/2007 6:37:04 PM PDT by Cindy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1282 | View Replies]

To: All

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1805906/posts

---

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K73pWPAYg0g

"Mary Carpenter In Her Own Words Pt 1"
Added March 23, 2007

---

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CiOUNchmzs

"Mary Carpenter In Her Own Pt 2"
Added March 23, 2007


1,284 posted on 03/23/2007 6:45:28 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: All

Note: The following post is a quote:

---

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1805905/posts


The Family Who Died for Sheltering Jews
Zenit News Agency ^ | March 23, 2007

Posted on 03/23/2007 6:27:08 PM PDT by NYer

ROME, MARCH 23, 2007 (Zenit.org).- For harboring Jews, the nine members of the Ulma family were executed by firing squad in 1944 in their German-occupied Polish village.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, mentioned the Polish family in a speech given recently in Rome on the occasion of the publication of a book by British historian Martin Gilbert entitled "The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust."

The Ulmas' story was also told recently in an interview with the magazine Inside the Vatican and Mateusz Szpytma, a Polish historian and co-author of the book "The Sacrifice of the Just: The Ulma Family Gave Their Lives for Helping Jews."

Szpytma began, "In the summer and spring of 1942, Germans murdered the majority of the Jewish citizens of Markowa," a small village in southeastern Poland.

"One of the families who made a heroic decision to hide the Jews was the Ulma family," Szpytma explained. "Eight Jewish people found shelter in the Ulmas' house."

"At dawn on March 24, 1944, military policemen arrived at the house of Jozef Ulma. There were soon thereafter a few shots heard -- the Jews were killed first," Szpytma continued. Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma were then "led out of the house and executed."

A witness to the tragedy testified that "the children were calling for their parents, but the parents were already dead. It was a shocking sight."

Szpytma explained that "having shot the parents, among the yells, the policemen started to discuss what to do with the children." It was decided the children should also be executed.

And so died the Ulmas' six children "and the seventh child in his mother's womb, just a few days before the day of his planned birth. In just a few dozen minutes 17 people were killed," recalled Szpytma.

"Owing to the help of other Poles who kept Jews in their houses until the end of the war, at least 17 people survived in Markowa," the historian said.

The Ulma family has been honored with the title Righteous Among the Nations, and their beatification process was initiated on the diocesan level in August 2003.


1,285 posted on 03/23/2007 6:49:19 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: All

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1805630/posts

"Man hugs armed robber (Africa)"
News24 ^ | March 23, 2007 | Staff

Posted on 03/23/2007 8:59:15 AM PDT by DaveLoneRanger

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Pretoria - A man who caught a young armed robber who had just burgled his home asked him if he knew Jesus, forgave him and prayed for him.

Myndert Bloem from Erasmuskloof in the eastern parts of Pretoria said he ran after two armed robbers and hugged one of them after catching him, and told him about Jesus.

Bloem's domestic worker, Esther Makgoba, was meanwhile lying bleeding in front of the house after one of the two had stabbed her with a knife. She was being treated in Kloof Hospital.

Makgoba and Bertha Pretorius, Bloem's mother-in-law, were overpowered in their house on Thursday morning."


1,286 posted on 03/23/2007 6:55:22 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: Cindy; All; backhoe; piasa; JohnathanRGalt; nwctwx; ExSoldier
Fifteen British navy personnel have been captured at gunpoint by Iranian forces, the Ministry of Defence says.

While Iran has done this in the past, tensions were not at this level. Remember, RUMINT was that Iran was going to capture (American) soldiers in retaliation for those Iranian operatives arrested in the current surge. The second issue is that this may also be a ruse to draw US naval assets to this area of the gulf where they would be more vulnerable to Iranian anti-ship weapons. If they try this again, there would be more than enough justification for a strike upon the Iranian naval facilities that they operated out of as well as any assest in the immediate area.

1,287 posted on 03/23/2007 6:57:22 PM PDT by Godzilla (If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.)
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To: All

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1805717/posts

"New Orleans residents arming themselves"
fortwayne.com ^ | 03/23/07 | MARY FOSTER

Posted on 03/23/2007 11:48:34 AM PDT by Ellesu

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "NEW ORLEANS - Sixty-four-year-old Vivian Westerman rode out Hurricane Katrina in her 19th-century house. So terrible was the experience that she wanted two things before the 2006 season arrived: a backup power source and a gun.

"I got a 6,000-watt generator and the cutest little Smith & Wesson, snub-nose .38 you ever saw," she boasted. "I've never been more confident."

People across New Orleans are arming themselves - not only against the possibility of another storm bringing anarchy, but against the violence that has engulfed the metropolitan area in the 19 months since Katrina, making New Orleans the nation's murder capital.

The number of permits issued to carry concealed weapons is running twice as high as it was before Katrina - this, in a city with only about half its pre-storm population of around 450,000. Attendance at firearms classes and hours logged at shooting ranges also are up, according to the gun industry.

Gun dealers who saw sales shoot up during the chaotic few months after Katrina say that sales are still brisk, and that the customers are a cross-section of the population - doctors, lawyers, bankers, artists, laborers, stay-at-home moms.

"People are in fear of their lives. They're looking for ways to feel safe again," said Mike Roniger, manager of Gretna Gunworks in Jefferson Parish.

Citizens, the tourism industry, police and politicians officials have been alarmed by the wave of killings in New Orleans, with 162 in 2006 and 37 so far this year. A Tulane University study put the city's 2006 homicide rate at 96 slayings per 100,000 people, the highest in the nation.

National Guardsmen and state police are patrolling the streets of New Orleans. In neighboring Jefferson Parish, which posted a record 66 homicides in 2006, the sheriff sent armored vehicles to protect high-crime neighborhoods.

In New Orleans, police have accused the district attorney of failing to prosecute many suspects. Prosecutors have accused the police of not bringing them solid cases.

Some people are losing faith in the system to protect them.

Earnest Johnson, a 37-year-old chef who lives in Kenner, bought his first gun recently and visits a shooting range regularly. "Things are way worse than they used to be," he said. "You have to do something to protect yourself.""


1,288 posted on 03/23/2007 6:59:03 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: Godzilla

"While Iran has done this in the past, tensions were not at this level."

OPINION: I agree Godzilla.

I am hoping and praying the Iranian people rise up NOW and take care of their homeland by dealing with the guys (AllMyJihad - the little Mahdi and his tight band of Mad Mahdis) who need a 12-step program now.


1,289 posted on 03/23/2007 7:02:30 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: Cindy
Note that the Brits were likely a target because of their more casual posture (unarmed), and the lower probability of immediate retaliation as would have occurred if they had tried to seize Americans (who would defend themselves and call for backup).
1,290 posted on 03/23/2007 7:06:42 PM PDT by Godzilla (If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.)
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To: ladyjane

"Could the dog food contamination be
an act of terrorism?"

In earlier threads on TM there were some intercepted chat messages/translations that referenced a dog disease or diseased dog so yes it could be terrorism or a test run...or there could be human food contamination that hasn't been recognized yet. Was the rat poison in the grain that was mixed into the pet food? Where were the QA folks for the manufacturer?


1,291 posted on 03/23/2007 7:06:46 PM PDT by Domestic Church (AMDG...)
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To: JellyJam; ExSoldier; Cindy; MamaDearest; Godzilla; nwctwx; piasa; freeperfromnj; Domestic Church; ..
Police: Man Had Explosives, Books On Terrorism FBI, Hazmat Teams Swarm Orlando Home After Fire
March 23, 2007

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A man was arrested on explosives charges Thursday night after authorities responded to a fire inside the bedroom of an Orange County home, which led to the discovery of jars of chemicals, guns, swords and terrorism-related books, according to a charging affidavit.

Abram Smith, 20, was arrested on charges of possession of explosives and attempting to make a destructive device. FBI agents, police and hazmat teams swarmed a house in which Smith lives with his parents in the 3300 block of North Orange Avenue near Florida Hospital in Orlando after the fire broke out.

While checking the home, police found a box that appeared to contain fireworks and mortar-type shells, the affidavit said. An officer noted that several unidentified devices appeared to be electrical in nature and homemade. A mattress inside the house had fire damage and a PVC pipe was capped on both ends and wired to an unidentified device that appeared to be a pipe bomb, the report said. Officers also found two long-guns that appeared to be loaded, several swords and jars of chemicals, according to the report.

Some of the glass jars had handwritten labels reading ammonium nitrate, sulfur and nitric acid, the affidavit said. Several other containers had white powders and granular materials, according to the report. As the house was being cleared, a military-style hand grenade was found on the floor of a closet, the report said.

Excerpted

http://www.local6.com/firstnews/11345473/detail.html

Two rockets fired in Quetta
Friday, March 23, 2007

QUETTA: Two rockets were fired in the provincial capital’s cantonment area on Thursday night. One of the rockets hit the Radio Pakistan building, disrupting the supply of electricity to the entire locality.

Excerpted

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007/03/23/story_23-3-2007_pg7_3

Pakistani al-Qaeda camps destroyed
March 22 2007

A week of fighting between al-Qaeda loyalists and tribal militants in a remote Pakistani border region has almost completely destroyed camps used by a leading terrorist from Uzbekistan, Pakistani intelligence officials claimed on Thursday.

The claim, if true, could mark not only a success in Pakistan’s war against militants hiding on its soil, but could also vindicate Pakistan’s position on two controversial agreements signed by the government with tribal elders in the region bordering Afghanistan. General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s military ruler, last year ordered his troops home from the North Waziristan border region after deals that would see local tribal elders policing the region themselves. The move has been widely criticised as giving freer rein for militants to launch cross-border attacks into Afghanistan on US and Nato forces.

Pakistani intelligence officials, however, claimed on Thursday, after a week of fighting that left more than 100 people dead, the infrastructure used by loyalists of Tahir Yuldashev, the pro al-Qaeda militant, had been wiped out. More than half the people killed so far were said to be Uzbek Islamists who took refuge on the Pakistani side of the border after US-led forces ousted the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

“There’s no way to confirm if Yuldashev himself may be dead. But what I know for certain is that his group has suffered heavy casualties,” said one Pakistani intelligence official. “It’s hard to imagine if the Uzbeks have any firepower remaining to carry on in the tribal areas”.

Western diplomats warned that there was no way of independently confirming the claim. “Since the Pakistanis do not let anyone from the outside to freely venture around the tribal areas, it’s impossible to know what is happening,” said one.

Abdul Sattar, Pakistan’s former foreign minister, said the challenge of militancy in the tribal areas was too complex to be resolved quickly. “The people of the tribal area are fed up of militants present among them. But the militants have had a long-term presence in the tribal areas. You can’t get rid of them in one go.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c8746d14-d895-11db-a759-000b5df10621.html

1,292 posted on 03/23/2007 7:56:03 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: Oorang
Police: Man Had Explosives, Books On Terrorism

FBI, Hazmat Teams Swarm Orlando Home After Fire

... but it's not terror-related, I'm sure they'll say, so just move along ...

1,293 posted on 03/23/2007 8:01:31 PM PDT by JellyJam (Best headline ever: "The Painful Truth: All the World Terrorists Are Muslims!")
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Arrested Men Were Not 'Bombmakers', UK Police Says
March 23, 2007

British police began questioning three men suspected in plotting three suicide bombings in July 2005 which killed 52 people and wounded over 700 in London subway and a bus.

Two of the suspects, aged 23 and 30, were arrested shortly yesterday at Manchester airport. The third, aged 26, was arrested in Beeston, a suburb of Leeds, same afternoon. Beeston, a working-class area of Leeds, was home to three of the 2005 bombers.

One of the three arrested, Mohammed Shakil, 30, is a taxi driver and father of three from Beeston. He quit his job saying that he was going to Pakistan for some time to deal with family problems. He was arrested at Manchester Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Pakistan, London's Metropolitan Police said. Police sources indicated that the three men arrested were not "bomb makers", although they were suspected of providing financial support and accommodation to the bombers, and of having knowledge of the attacks on three London tube trains and a bus.

Excerpted

http://www.torontodailynews.com/index.php/WorldNews/2007032306arrested-bombings

Court affirms former professor's contempt citation

RICHMOND, Va. A federal appeals court Richmond today affirmed a civil contempt ruling against a former professor who refused to testify in front of a federal grand jury investigating Islamic charities in northern Virginia.

Sami al-Arian taught computer science at the University of South Florida but is now in a North Carolina federal prison. He claimed that a plea agreement in Florida exempts him from testifying before the grand jury in Alexandria. A three-judge panel of the Fourth U-S Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected that argument.

Prosecutors accused al-Arian of being a leader of a terrorist group called Palestinian Islamic Jihad. After a six-month trial ended in an acquittal on some counts and a hung jury on others, al-Arian struck a plea bargain last May and admitted to conspiring to aid Palestinian Islamic Jihad. His prison sentence was extended indefinitely after he refused to testify before the grand jury.

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=6272777&nav=menu368_2

1,294 posted on 03/23/2007 8:11:57 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: JellyJam
Yes, nothing to see here :-).
Actually they already said He's just a 20 year old with a curiosity about bomb making. Nothing more so no cause to worry
1,295 posted on 03/23/2007 8:14:11 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: Rushmore Rocks; Cindy; Velveeta; All
Possible Islamist connection to fake IDs traffic in Brazil
Al Hayat, Saudi Arabia, 03/16/2007

Brazilian police forces announced the dismantling of a network specialized in manufacturing fake IDs, forged passports and documents permitting naturalization in Brazil:

· The network is composed in majority of Lebanese and Arab nationals

· 1 of the members of the network is a former Lebanese consular employee, Souheil Mouzer

· Authorities are investigating the possible links between this network and Islamist organizations

· Hezbollah in Latin America’s alleged treasurer, Asad Barakate, is among the recipients of this traffic, a most troubling fact

http://thecroissant.com/sample_articles.php?action=viewarticle&id=313

A new young mullah gaining popularity in Pakistan
Le Temps, Switzerland, 03/20/2007

Young mullah Fazalullah illegally preaches on radio every evening to a large audience.

His radio headquarters:

· Are in Mingora, a small city in the valley of Swat, 250km North-West of Islamabad, close to the tribal zones near the Afghan border
· No women and cameras are allowed

Mullah Fazalullah:
· Thinks the police cannot arrest him because of his popular support
· Said he lives in a country which does not respect Islam
· Said that since women must remain locked up, he teaches them how to live in accordance with the sharia principles

Mullah Fazalullah vehemently criticizes the anti-polio vaccination campaign organized by the authorities:
· He believes that vaccinations are incompatible with Islamic laws,
· Because if one dies of a disease, one becomes a martyr and the government wants to prevent people from dying with this honor
· After a doctor in charge of vaccination in the tribal zone of Bajaur, not far from Swat, was recently assassinated, Fazalullah suggests the reason he was killed was because he acted against the will of God

Pakistani authorities watch him closely:
· They are worried about the rise of extremism in a region relatively quiet until then

· Mohammad Yamin, Police chief:
- Thinks that mullah Fazalullah is dangerous
- He has an increasing influence on the population, especially in the villages where people are uneducated

http://thecroissant.com/sample_articles.php?action=viewarticle&id=322


1,296 posted on 03/23/2007 8:27:45 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: Godzilla

Those are good points, Godzilla.


1,297 posted on 03/23/2007 8:48:05 PM PDT by Cindy
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Agri-terrorism? It's out there, seminar attendees hear
Friday, March 23, 2007

If you want to bring a community to its knees, aim for the stomach. Farms -- Michigan's second biggest industry, in which Ottawa County ranks first in sales -- are vulnerable to agri-terrorism, officials say. But representatives from only a handful of the 1,291 farms in Ottawa County turned out this week for a seminar designed to bring those in agriculture together with those they might someday call for help.

"Most people believe, 'It's not going to happen to me,"' said Bill Robb, MSU extension dairy educator and acting Ottawa County extension director. "The vast majority of them are self-proprietors, and it's one person doing everything. You combine those two things, and it makes it a back-burner thing," Robb said. The Dairy, Meat & Poultry Agri-Terrorism Seminar held at Howard Miller Library was organized by Ottawa County's Local Emergency Planning Committee. Bill Smith, the county's emergency coordinator, said he was happy with the turnout of 41 farm operators and emergency responders. Last fall, a similar seminar in Kent County targeted the food processing industry, Robb said.

Excerpted

http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1174661248308380.xml&coll=8

Al-Qaeda names cell leader (MOGADISHU)
March 23, 2007

A leader of the Council of Islamic Courts, the radical militia ousted from Somalia in December, has been named as al-Qaeda’s leader in the country, according to government intelligence.

Aden Hashi Ayro has been directing the insurgency in the capital, Mogadishu, Salad Ali Jelle, the Deputy Defence Minister, said yesterday.

Counter-terrorism experts believe that Ayro, who is in his mid30s, had al-Qaeda training in Afghanistan. United Nations officials have linked him to the killings of 16 people, including Kate Peyton, a BBC journalist. He was also believed to have been involved in a failed plot to bring down an Ethiopian airliner.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1555541.ece

1,298 posted on 03/23/2007 8:58:49 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: Cindy

Smallpox threat prompts isolation of airline passengers

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/16963999.htm


1,299 posted on 03/23/2007 9:04:48 PM PDT by cgk
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To: cgk; NautiNurse; Judith Anne; Marine Inspector

THANK YOU cgk for the info.

Ping to Nauti Nurse, Judith Anne and Marine Inspector.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/16963999.htm


1,300 posted on 03/23/2007 9:36:28 PM PDT by Cindy
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