Threat Matrix: July 2007

ping to above

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=irhabi007
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=terrorist007

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1603333/posts

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UPDATE:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1603333/posts?page=75#75

http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/Irhaby007_AmericanConnections.pdf

www.nefafoundation.org
“Irhaby007’s American Connections”
(July 2007)

“Jihad, another day.” -Cindy

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http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/07/the_cells_are_already_here_whi.php

“The cells are already here, while more are coming”
By Walid Phares
(July 11, 2007)

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The current media rush to interpret what the US Government is releasing in terms of potential infiltration by an al Qaeda cell (or cells) to strike this summer is warranted but still unfocused.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “This summer and any other summer, and all other seasons by the way, are Jihadi times. We need to adapt to this reality for as long as this conflict is on. For al Qaeda and its allies, as well as the Khomeinists are on the path of war. And when they are in that mode, nothing should surprise us.”

Thanks. I got it in StillProud’s newsletter.

bump

It’s a vid of her interview on CNN today.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=globaljihad
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=alqaeda
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=alqaida

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http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373536
TERRORISM FOCUS

“Firefight in Iraq Exposes Presence of Turkish Al-Qaeda Operatives”
By Frank Hyland
(July 11, 2007)

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46697

Antiterrorism Successes Continue in Iraq Despite Foreign-Born Resistance

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi forces have killed or captured hundreds of al Qaeda members in Iraq over the past two months, including 26 of the terror network’s “high-value” leaders and a would-be bomber, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said. (Video)

Speaking with reporters in Baghdad this morning and during a conference call with bloggers later today, Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner said combined forces also have shut down an important terrorist information artery, and he described the cumulative results of these operations.

Bergner said successes are occurring in spite of ongoing resistance from al Qaeda, proxy groups like the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps — or Quds force — and their Lebanese Hezbollah surrogates, and other foreign fighters drawn to Iraq.

The 26 terrorist leaders slain or seized during May and June include 11 emirs — city or local al Qaeda leaders — and five of their terrorist unit commanders. Seven are facilitators who smuggled foreigner fighters, weapons and money into Iraq; and three were car bomb-network chiefs, Bergner said.

The general called al Qaeda in Iraq “the principal near-term threat,” and said the Iraqi government and security forces with coalition partners are engaged in a tough fight against the terror network’s “extremist ideology and leadership.”

“In their own statements, al Qaeda leaders have declared Iraq their central front. Al Qaeda in Iraq and its affiliates are the greatest source of spectacular attacks and are fueling sectarian violence,” he said.

Stoking Iraq’s al Qaeda cells are foreign extremists who are bent on planting a new caliphate, or Islamic-based theocracy, in the country, the general said. Al Qaeda senior leader Ayman al-Zawahiri articulated this vision in a recent video.

“They claim the al Qaeda gateway to victory starts in Iraq,” he said. “Their goal continues to be a Taliban-like state featuring an extreme and distorted vision of Islam, forbidding the most basic personal freedoms.”

Coalition forces struck a blow against the terror network’s propaganda campaign when they uncovered an al Qaeda media center near Samarra in June. The center, equipped with a film studio and capable of making 156 CDs in eight hours, was used to produce and distribute data that included highlights of recent improvised-explosive-device and car-bomb attacks, Bergner said. Inside the building, forces found 65 hard drives, 18 “thumb drives,” more than 500 CDs, and 12 personal computers containing recruiting and other terrorism-related materials.

“It produced CDs, DVDs, posters, pamphlets and Web-related propaganda products, and contained documents clearly identifying al Qaeda in Iraq’s intent to use media as a weapon,” he said.

The media center played an important role in al Qaeda’s recruitment efforts in Iraq and around the world, Bergner said.

Other encouraging signs in Iraq, he said, are the roughly 23,000 tips that local residents have fed coalition forces, and the emergence of “support councils” in Salah ad Din and Diyala provinces, and increased cooperation from tribal sheiks in Anbar province.

In Anbar’s capital city of Ramadi last week, Iraqi police captured a foreign fighter who had been recruited and smuggled into the country by facilitators.

“He was recruited by a man who attended his mosque to join an al Qaeda unit in Iraq and kill coalition forces after listening to radical messages on cassette tapes and becoming interested in Jihad,” Bergner said.

Describing facilitator’s methods, Bergner said the recruit received $1,000 for travel expenses and was told to obtain a passport and head to Syria. There, he met the Syrian facilitator who arranged for his entry into Iraq, a journey that required the recruit to wear a blindfold and cover himself with blankets while he laid in the backs of cars, swapping vehicles multiple times en route to Iraq.

“Once across the border, the Syrian handed him off to another facilitator who drove him to a small mud structure in the middle of the desert,” Bergner said. After hiding out in the desert abode for four days, the recruit was partnered with another fresh foreign recruit, and the two men were driven to a safe house Ramadi, a city where public sentiment has turned against al Qaeda, the general said.

The men learned 10 days later that they were selected to be suicide truck bombers. Their mission was to detonate the 1,000-pound explosive on each truck over a major bridge outside Ramadi, which the recruit claims he reluctantly agreed to, Bergner said.

“On July 1, the two men were driven to a location outside of Ramadi where they boarded two large trucks and followed their handler across the Ramadi bridge,” the general said. “As they crossed the bridge, he changed his mind and did not manually activate the explosive device as directed. His partner, on the other hand, did detonate his explosive device, collapsing two of the four lanes.”

The recruit, who currently is in coalition custody, tells a story that is not uncommon, Bergner said. About 60 to 80 foreigners per month are lured to Iraq by al Qaeda, with 70 percent gaining entry through Syria.

“Between 80 and 90 percent of the suicide attacks in Iraq are being carried out by foreign-born al Qaeda terrorists,” he said. “And in the last six months, some 4,000 Iraqis have been killed or injured by the al Qaeda suicide attacks.”

Thanks for that. I assumed it was the tape she sent out.

Love it, she knows more of the news and videos than CNN.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46698

Two Terrorists Killed, 21 Detained in Iraq Raids Today

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2007 – Two terrorists were killed and 21 suspects detained in raids targeting al Qaeda throughout Iraq today.
During early morning raids in Mosul, coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained five suspected al Qaeda cell members.

In western Baghdad, coalition forces raided a building, killing one terrorist and detaining another suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing network.

Six individuals suspected of associating with an al Qaeda in Iraq cell leader known to conduct kidnappings, assassinations and mortar attacks on coalition forces were detained in a Baghdad raid.

A raid west of the capital city netted a suspected terrorist believed to be a key logistics link and conduit in the al Qaeda in Iraq network.

Coalition forces raided a series of buildings in Samarra and detained four suspected terrorists there for their association with an al Qaeda leader known for bringing foreign terrorists into Iraq.

During coordinated raids west of Taji, coalition forces detained an associate of al Qaeda in Iraq leaders and two others for their suspected involvement with al Qaeda in Iraq.

Coalition forces detained one suspected terrorist before dawn in southwestern Baghdad. He is believed to be affiliated with the Jaysh al Mahdi-affiliated “special groups,” which are active in Baghdad and thought to be responsible for attacks on Iraqi civilians and coalition forces.

In other Iraq operations, 20 terrorists were killed and 20 detained during Operation Saber Guardian, launched yesterday. The joint operation teamed Iraqi army and coalition forces, along with local citizens, to target al Qaeda leaders near the town of Sherween.

The forces also cleared a local mosque suspected of being a terrorist haven and recovered mortar tubes, a mortar cache, small-arms munitions, a sniper rifle, and machine guns. Another weapons cache included small-arms munitions and bomb-making materials.

In other operations yesterday, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers found a weapons cache in the western portion of the Rashid district and detained 14 suspected insurgents during operations.

The weapons cache stored 10 60 mm mortars, five 120 mm mortars, two rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, an RPG round and a 60 mm mortar tube.

In other news from Iraq, troops captured southern Baghdad’s most wanted terrorist July 9.

A local man called soldiers with Troop C, 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), claiming to have the 2nd BCT’s top high-value target. The man later delivered the suspect as agreed. The suspect allegedly is responsible for shooting down an AH-64 Apache helicopter in April 2006, abducting two soldiers in June 2006, and attacking coalition forces and Iraqi civilians.

Another tipster alerted the same troops to a weapons cache south of the village of Dhour, south of Baghdad. During the recovery of the weapons cache, six suspects were detained.

In other Iraq operations:

— Eight insurgents were killed during a targeted raid in eastern Baghdad July 9. Troops from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, attached to 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, killed eight members of a criminal militia believed to be responsible for roadside bombings and indirect fire attacks.

— Multinational Division Baghdad troops discovered three weapons caches in the western part of Rashid district yesterday. The caches included three 107 mm rockets, two rockets larger than 107 mm, a 130 mm rocket, two rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, two RPG rounds, a 60 mm mortar tube, five 120 mm mortars and three cases of U.S.-made .50 caliber ammunition.

— On July 9, Iraqi security forces detained four suspects allegedly responsible for running an extortion network and two individuals suspected of planning attacks against coalition forces.

— Near Rawah, Iraqi police detained four suspects allegedly engaged in extorting protection money from local contractors and using the funds to finance al Qaeda in Iraq activities.

— Near Hit, two suspected insurgents were detained after Iraqi police received information tying them to recently seized weapons caches. They are believed to be part of an insurgent group responsible for a series of IED and small-arms-fire attacks against coalition forces.

— In operations in Samarra on July 9, Iraqi police forces detained a suspect thought to be responsible for running a mortar and sniper network there. Forces seized a large amount of ammunition, four sniper rifles and parts, various mortar rounds, and material for making IEDs.

— Soldiers from 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division, discovered an IED-making facility July 8 during operations in the Sinaa neighborhood. The cache consisted of 400 pounds of ammonium nitrate, fragmentation material, cement and molds for shaping, and numerous batteries and other IED components. A curb-shaped IED, ready for emplacement, was found.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq, Multinational Corps Iraq, and Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Arabian Peninsula news releases.)

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46693

“New Afghan Police Units to Help Counter Aggressive Taliban Tactics”

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2007

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46696

“National Guard Troops Help Fight Wildfires in Western States”

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2007

TOTALLY OFF TOPIC...

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/July/07_crt_491%20%20.html

“Federal Agreement with Utah College of Massage Therapy will Ensure Effective Communication for Students with Disabilities”

PRESS RELEASE SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice today announced a settlement agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Utah College of Massage Therapy (UCMT) that will require the college to provide sign language interpreters and other auxiliary aids to students who need them as required by the ADA.”

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

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http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373533
TERRORISM FOCUS

“Yemen Attack Reveals Struggle Among Al-Qaeda’s Ranks”
By Gregory D. Johnsen, Brian O’neill
(July 10, 2007)

http://www.michaelyon-online.com

Note: Video included.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/al-qaeda-on-the-run-feasting-on-the-moveable-beast.htm

“Al-Qaeda on the Run: Feasting on the Moveable Beast”

http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
http://memri.org/iran.html

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http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S5&P1=148

http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S5&P1=148&P3=2
http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S5&P1=148&P3=3
http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S5&P1=148&P3=4
http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S5&P1=148&P3=5
http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S5&P1=148&P3=6
http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S5&P1=148&P3=7
http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S5&P1=148&P3=8

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http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=iran&ID=IA37007

Inquiry and Analysis Series - No. 370
July 12, 2007 No.370

“The Crisis in Iranian-Russian Relations over Iran’s Nuclear Project (2)”
By Y. Mansharof*

http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=reform&ID=SP165107

Special Dispatch Series - No. 1651
July 12, 2007 No.1651

“Editor of Kuwaiti Daily: Arab Countries Must Join Forces to Counter Iranian Threat”

Thanks for the links/post of Zawahiri (#1051 Laura Mansfield) and (#1080 youtube)

Die honorably in the fields of Jihad, and don't live like women with moustaches and beards. Aren't there any honorable ones in Pakistan?

Go ahead Ayman. Practice what you preach bearded girlyman.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QALM9G2&show_article=1

al-Qaida Has Rebuilt, U.S. Intel Warns

Jul 11 06:33 PM US/Eastern
By KATHERINE SHRADER and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded al-Qaida has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, The Associated Press has learned.
The conclusion suggests that the group that launched the most devastating terror attack on the United States has been able to rebuild despite nearly six years of bombings, war and other tactics aimed at crippling it.

Still, numerous government officials say they know of no specific, credible threat of a new attack.

A counterterrorism official familiar with a five-page summary of the new government threat assessment called it a stark appraisal that will be discussed at the White House on Thursday as part of a broader meeting on an upcoming National Intelligence Estimate.

The official and others spoke on condition of anonymity because the secret report remains classified.

Counterterrorism analysts produced the document, titled “Al-Qaida better positioned to strike the West.” The document pays special heed to the terror group’s safe haven in Pakistan and makes a range of observations about the threat posed to the United States and its allies, officials said.

Al-Qaida is “considerably operationally stronger than a year ago” and has “regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001,” the official said, paraphrasing the report’s conclusions. “They are showing greater and greater ability to plan attacks in Europe and the United States.”

The group also has created “the most robust training program since with an interest in using European operatives,” the official quoted the report as saying.

At the same time, this official said, the report speaks of “significant gaps in intelligence” so U.S. authorities may be ignorant of potential or planned attacks.

John Kringen, who heads the CIA’s analysis directorate, echoed the concerns about al-Qaida’s resurgence during testimony and conversations with reporters at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday.

“They seem to be fairly well settled into the safe haven and the ungoverned spaces of Pakistan,” Kringen testified. “We see more training. We see more money. We see more communications. We see that activity rising.”

The threat assessment comes as the National Intelligence Council is preparing a National Intelligence Estimate focusing on threats to the United States. A senior intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity while the high-level analysis was being finalized, said the document has been in the works for roughly two years.

Kringen and aides to National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell would not comment on the details of that analysis. “Preparation of the estimate is not a response to any specific threat,” McConnell’s spokesman Ross Feinstein said, adding that it would be ready for distribution this summer.

Counterterrorism officials have been increasingly concerned about al- Qaida’s recent operations. This week, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he had a “gut feeling” that the United States faced a heightened risk of attack this summer.

Kringen said he wouldn’t attach a summer timeframe to the concern. In studying the threat, he said he begins with the premise that al-Qaida would consider attacking the U.S. a “home run hit” and that the easiest way to get into the United States would be through Europe.

The new threat assessment puts particular focus on Pakistan, as did Kringen.

“Sooner or later you have to quit permitting them to have a safe haven” along the Afghan-Pakistani border, he told the House committee. “At the end of the day, when we have had success, it is when you’ve been able to get them worried about who was informing on them, get them worried about who was coming after them.”

Several European countries—among them Britain, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands—are also highlighted in the threat assessment partly because they have arrangements with the Pakistani government that allow their citizens easier access to Pakistan than others, according to the counterterrorism official.

This is more troubling because all four are part of the U.S. visa waiver program, and their citizens can enter the United States without additional security scrutiny, the official said.

The Bush administration has repeatedly cited al-Qaida as a key justification for continuing the fight in Iraq.

“The number one enemy in Iraq is al-Qaida. Al-Qaida continues to be the chief organizer of mayhem within Iraq, the chief organization for killing innocent Iraqis,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said Wednesday.

The findings could bolster the president’s hand at a moment when support on Capitol Hill for the war is eroding and the administration is struggling to defend its decision for a military buildup in Iraq. A progress report that the White House is releasing to Congress this week is expected to indicate scant progress on the political and military benchmarks set for Iraq.

The threat assessment says that al-Qaida stepped up efforts to “improve its core operational capability” in late 2004 but did not succeed until December of 2006 after the Pakistani government signed a peace agreement with tribal leaders that effectively removed government military presence from the northwest frontier with Afghanistan.

The agreement allows Taliban and al-Qaida operatives to move across the border with impunity and establish and run training centers, the report says, according to the official.

It also says that al-Qaida is particularly interested in building up the numbers in its middle ranks, or operational positions, so there is not as great a lag in attacks when such people are killed.

“Being No. 3 in al-Qaida is a bad job. We regularly get to the No. 3 person,” Tom Fingar, the top U.S. intelligence analyst, told the House panel.

The counterterror official said the report does not focus on Osama bin Laden, his whereabouts or his role in al-Qaida. Officials say the network has become more like a “family-oriented” mob organization with leadership roles in cells and other groups being handed from father to son, or cousin to uncle.

Yet bin Laden’s whereabouts are still of great interest to intelligence agencies. Although he has not been heard from for some time, Kringen said officials believe he is still alive and living under the protection of tribal leaders in the border area.

Armed Services Committee members expressed frustration that more was not being done to get bin Laden and tamp down activity in the tribal areas. The senior intelligence analysts tried to portray the difficulty of operating in the area, despite a $25 million bounty on the head of bin Laden and his top deputy.

“They are in an environment that is more hostile to us than it is to al-Qaida,” Fingar said.

Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

At the same time, this official said, the report speaks of “significant gaps in intelligence” so U.S. authorities may be ignorant of potential or planned attacks.

“It’s what we don’t know that scares me.”

Two things that stood out (to me) ~

1. The phrase: your salvation is only through Jihad is in there twice.

2. "If you help him not, Allah helped him when those who disbelieve drove him out, the second of two ; when they both were in the cave, when he said to his companion, 'Don't worry.Allah is with us.'"

Does the phrase "second of two", in the context of that sentence, make any sense?