StormWarning’s Counterterrorism

OK, I admit it!@#!%^/?%. I watched American Idol again last night. Somehow, the human train wrecks of some of the people involved always fascinates me. Besides, I’m tired of bashing the idiot local DJ, Joe Pags who never fails to amuse. But one has to wonder where in the world Paula Abdul’s head was when she commented on a bad song that hadn’t been sung!

A Fox spokesperson declined to comment, and Paula’s rep did not return e-mails seeking comment. Below is the clip in question. What do you think, PopWatchers? Was this just an honest mistake, or did the whole event strike you as bit more…curious? (If you’re looking for our regular on-the-scene write-up, don’t fret, it’s coming soon. It’s just that this was too juicy not to bring up as soon as possible.)

She is an absolute trainwreck!  But lets remove the movie since it slows down the page load, and provide this update from MTV.

I know sweet heart…”this is hard!” This woman is the epitome of a ditzty booby. I’d like one of whatever she’s having (well, maybe two). Maybe not.

American Idol, Paula Abdul

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Simple situational question. Is Somalia sliding down that slippery slope? Fighting has renewed in Mogadishu. Aid groups are being targeted by fighting, foreign reporters and volunteers are being captured and held for ransom, and Islamists are executing their captives.

While it could be argued that this is simply more of the same violence and disruption to civil society that has ripped through Somalia for nearly two decades, the fear is that the worst days are still ahead.

Recent months have seen a comeback by the radical Islamic groups that had asserted control over parts of the shattered country. Reports from the region suggest that the fundamentalist fighters will capture a town in a lightning raid and then retreat, more to show off their muscle than anything else. According to witnesses, the fighters behind these raids belong to the al-Shabab, a band of mostly young men who adhere to Taliban-style Islamic codes.

Thus, the security situation is deteriorating and the combination of the Transitional government and Ethiopian troops have not been able to stabilize the situation. It is very possible that the mere presence of the Ethiopians in Somalia is creating the situation in which the violence is increasing. Meet Africa, the next front in the GWOT.

Islamists, Mogadishu, Somalia

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Has al Qaeda been “lured” back into Baghdad because of the recent bombings in Sunni areas? With the attention drawn to al Sadr’s Mahdi Army, it appears possible that AQI has returned. This happens as the Iraqi forces remain focused on the Mahdi.

Pointing to the bombings last weekend, the fear is that AQI has returned.

Now, some observers fear Sunni insurgents allied with al-Qaeda may seek to capitalize on the situation by wreaking havoc in other neighborhoods where U.S. and Iraqi forces are paying less attention. Last month, American troops found a letter in a farmhouse northwest of Baghdad, purportedly signed by an al-Qaeda operative, which called on insurgents to sow disunity among the nation’s Sunni fighters who have begun working with the Americans.

Apparently using a new tactic of tandem events, if this is AQI, they are drawing crowds of people to the first incident, like the recent assassination style killing of a shopkeeper and his son, and then exploding the bomb.

“These attacks are evidence that al-Qaeda is still a very large threat,” Rear Admiral Patrick Driscoll, a spokesman for the multi-national forces in Iraq, said Sunday, “We are continuously very closely focused on al-Qaeda.”

I may well be swimming against the stream of the happy talk right on this one. The question could well be whether AQI ever really left. The question may still remain if even American presence in Baghdad and the region, whether the Sunni/Shi’a conflict will be quelled, or if it remains the festering boil that it has always been.

al Qaeda in Iraq, AQI

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Last week a New Orleans judge ruled in favor of the ACLU in a suit against the Gideon Company (you see their Bibles - New Testament - in many hotel rooms). Gideon, it seems, was in a school giving away free Bibles. The suit was brought on behalf of “Jane Roe,” a little girl whose family didn’t believe in G-d. This post is not about the suit per se, but about an idiot local “dj” (Joe “Pags”) who singlehandedly proved that the “difference between genius and stupidity is the genius has its limits.”

What’s the problem? Once again, this one-side seeing imported pseudo talk show host managed to mangle the entire situation. How? His position was that there was nothing wrong with the Gideon Company giving away free Bibles, and that the position of the child and the parent (atheists) was wrong since no one was going to make fun of the girl for not taking the Bible (”out of fear of retaliation by schoolmates and neighbors“). What this “stand-in” for a conservo-talk show dunce missed was that if my children (or perhaps someday, grandchildren) were placed in a position of accepting a copy of the New Testament, they too, would refuse, and might, depending on their school district or hometown, also be open to ridicule. Why? Because it wasn’t the Old Testament.

Thus, by allowing the Gideon Company to distribute free Bibles, albeit, acceptance of the Bible being at the choice and discretion of the student(s), it could have been seen as encroaching on my children’s (or any other Jewish child’s) rights by opening them up to criticism, ridicule, or worse (in these days of You Tube motivated beatings). Afterall, it has nothing to do with being an atheist.

Missed the point again Joe! This is not like the Pledge of Allegiance thing a few years ago (where an atheist father objected to his daughter having to recite the Pledge).  Simply and frankly, if you keep religious activities out of the public schools, there won’t be any issue with offending anyone who might be of a different “persuasion.”

I know that I’m open to some level of criticism, especially by some of my more believing Christian friends and readers, but nonetheless, this is my opinion.

ACLU, Joe pags, Loranger Middle School

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Hamid Karzai has once again escaped assassination today when Taliban insurgents sent mortar fire and bullets at a spectator stand where he was speaking. This occurs within hours of his declaration that the U.S. should “leave the Taliban alone.” One person died and 11 were injured. There have been atlleast 3 earlier attempts to kill him - this is the first time an attempt was made in Kabul.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said that it had disrupted the ceremony to show that it could carry out an attack anywhere in Afghanistan. “We cannot say Afghanistan is free. Afghanistan is still under the domination of infidels. This ceremony being held by Mujahadeen is baseless,” Zabiullah Mujahed, a Taliban spokesman, said when contacted by telephone.

Note the use of the word “mujahadeen.” But for the counterpoint, we have Karzai deriding the U.S. and the U.K. to let him deal with the Taliban. So here, thanks to the BBC, are pictures of the attack. I’m certain that there are people smarter than me who disagree about the tenuous condition of the Afghan government. Just as I am sure that some people will argue that Karzai was not the target and that the Taliban (or some other group of “baddies” were simply trying to disrupt the ceremony (celebrating 16 years since Kabul was taken from the Soviet-led government), but “whatevah!”

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has called on British and American troops to stop arresting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, saying that their operations undermined his government’s authority and were counter-productive.

I still want Karzai in the World leader death pool (with the over/under).

assassination, Karzai, mujahadeen, Taliban, World Leader death pool

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Once again, my friend Moon has outdone himself.  Included in this post is this little “ditty” from FOX News: Study: Masturbation May Prevent Prostate Cancer. 

Take it for what you will

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While there are other posts, Steve Emerson says it well enough. I simply hate being wrong, and I have an issue with unattributed “scoops.” Anyway, I’ve got a huge workload and Mrs. SW and I are in the process of getting our house ready to sell. I really hate being wrong.

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I WAS WRONG. GAME, SET MATCH.

It is spreading like wild fire. Didn’t ya hear? The words “jihad” and “jihadist” have been banned from use by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Its not in any news blurb…its not announced on the State Department website. It has been posted by one blog and then repeated, and repeated and repeated etc. Even by some bloggers of “some repute.” I also note that while it may not be a subject that would normally be covered, websites like Counterterrorism Blog, the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Doug Farah, Evan Kohlmann, Powerline, Bill Roggio (Long War), StrataSphere, Small Wars Journal, BlackFive, and others of that level mention nothing about this “ban.” Perhaps later on in the day??? It is also not shown on the State Department website. There is currently no substantiation of this claim.

A reliable source has informed me that Condoleeza Rice has approved a new lexicon for State Department usage, absolutely forbidding the use of the terms “jihad” and “jihadist” by any State Department official.

[:]

I will publish more information on this when possible.

The “I” is not me, Stormwarning (the “I” refers to the originator of the information). But publish more information indeed…when possible, of course. The reliable source isn’t named. The origin of the “information” isn’t verified.

Previous post on StormBlog: Double Speak and the Lunacy of Language and The War on Terror - Facing Reality.

I don’t know about you, but I’m involved in an early morning conference call in which the term GWOT was used yesterday and will be used today.  Its the “war of words” versus the reality of the War on Terrorism against the Global Jihad.

As always and as is my practice, when (if) corroboration of this “report” is shown, I will eat my words. In fact, I might actually give up blogging if my name isn’t StormWarning (really? - well, maybe).

jihad, jihadist, lexicon, U.S. State Department

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In a new and still to be authenticated audio, it seems like Ayman al-Zawahiri is making a point of refuting the theory that Israel carried out the September 11th attacks, blaming Shi’ite Hezbollah and Iran of spreading the rumor. The voice however, does sound like AQ#2.

“The purpose of this lie is clear — (to suggest) that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no else did in history. Iranian media snapped up this lie and repeated it,” he said.

“Iran’s aim here is also clear — to cover up its involvement with America in invading the homes of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said.

I wonder, with Zawahiri denouncing the “Crusader invasion” of Iraq, and now linking it to mention of “Iranian complicity” or “Iranian agents” if we are beginning to see the emergence of a Muslim versus Muslim conflict. While Zawahiri also include Japan in the list of countries that aided the “Crusader invasion” of Iraq, among the targets of al Qaeda terror. Further, if it is the case that al Qaeda is seeing Iran as complicit in the invasion of Afghanistan, then how does it see the involvement of Iran in Iraq?

Zawahiri concludes with: “The Crusaders and their agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan are starting to fall.”

al Qaeda, Crusaders, Iran, Zawahiri

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Buried chemical weapons have been discovered…in Washington DC and in Hawaii.

A section northwest of DC, Spring Valley, is also the location of American University.  During the first World War, the area was known as the American University Experimental Station.  Here, at Camp Leach, we had an R&D facility for chemical weapons…this is where American University is today, and where in 1993, a utility contractor unearthed First World War munitions.  Additional checking found chemical munitions on the Korean ambassador property abutting American University.  The cleanup was scheduled to begin in the fall of 2007.

Additionally, arsenic-contaminated soil was also removed from an area on American University.  AU is among 145 arsenic sites that will cost $11 million and take until 2011 to clean-up.  Also found at AU was a bottle containing a small amount of Lewisite, a blister agent and one containing mustard gas.  OOOPS!

Also, the U.S. Army is cleaning up some discovered phosgene munitions in Hawaii.  More than 70  WWII projectiles were discovered on an old Stryker brigade training range. All except one were filled with phosgene, which was a main chemical warfare agent for the U.S. Army during the Second World War.

The projectiles included a mix of 38 each 155 mm projectiles; 22 each 75 mm projectiles; 11 each 4-inch Stokes mortars; and a good number of liquid-filled (not chemical agent) mortar and artillery projectiles. The Army has been setting this disposal process up carefully over the past year.

As I wrote, buried WMD have been found. Double OOOPS!!!

American University, buried WMD, Hawaii, Washington DC

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EDITORIAL AND OPINION

Time has come again - see May 17, 2007 - North American Union - URBAN LEGEND (Updated) - for me to write in opposition to the conspiracy theorists’ contention that a covert movement is afoot to erase our Nation’s boundaries through the creation of what is referred to as the North American Union.

Just because its in the WorldNetDaily (I cannot believe that I’ve just linked to a WorldNetDaily “exclusive” commentary - AUTHOR’s NOTE: it is generally held by credible bloggers and experts in the field of counterterrorism that WND is not a credible source of information) doesn’t make it true.  There is even this morning an “editorial” from a thing called NaturalNews in which a “school psychologist, a published author in the area of personal finance, a breast cancer survivor using “alternative” treatments, a born existentialist, and a student of nature and all things natural” writes about a “secret meeting of the Security and Prosperity Partnership” discussed PR. Problems implementing this conspiracy abound.  Not the least of which is the elimination of illegal immigration.

False Claim: The leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico agreed in 2005 to subsume their countries into a great “North American Union” by the year 2010.

False claim: The U.S. Mint has been producing the “Amero,” a coin to be used by the economic union of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Bits and pieces of unrelated information being spun together by libertarians and others (of their ilk) looking to offer that an economic linkage or an outer band of security around North America will immediately bring down the Sovereignty of the United States. Inevitably, my position will leave me open to criticism and maybe ridicule, or as in the post from a year ago, a commenter urging me to “do my own research” and to open my eyes to the obvious of what the Security and Prosperity Partnership says. And yes! I am aware of the United Nations resolution, 55/2. Millennium Declaration that was enacted on September 8, 2000. And yes! I am aware of the Trans-Texas Corridor (it is among a list of “Gov. Rick Perry’s Follies” that will be his unfortunate legacy when he is finally defeated in the Texas elections).

Well, despite the derision that is likely to follow, I don’t believe all of this conspiracy theory sh!t. I acknowledge that there are people, good people, some people who I consider friends and blogging buddies, who believe 100% that the NAU is coming and will eliminate the Sovereign borders of the United States. For further texture and detail on this subject, and then debunking of the NAU fears, please see Debunking the North American Union Conspiracy Theory By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted June 15, 2007.

The subject of “Negotiating North America” is discussed at Right Truth. I vehementally disagree with the words and thoughts of Phyllis Schlafly whose article is referred to in that post.

Gov. Rick Perrys Follies, North American Union

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There are many recent history conspiracy theories. Perhaps one of the most offensive is that surrounding the events 13 years ago this morning when Terry Nicols and Timothy McVeigh exploded a bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (Yes, there are some people who continue to maintain that there was an Islamic connection, when it was an act of domestic terrorism.). A traffic stop just 90 minutes afterward led to the arrest of McVeigh.

The crime scene that morning covered a 20 sq. block area. However, a truck axle found 650 feet away from the building revealed a VIN and led to investigators learning that it belonged to a Ford truck that had been sold to Ryder truck rentals.

The Ford people were quick to tell us that the 1993 twenty-foot Ford truck had been sold to Ryder and it was a rental. Ryder? That immediately piqued our interest because Ryder was the same brand that had been used in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 in New York City. Did this mean that the perpetrators were Middle Eastern? This was a thought that certainly ran through our heads. As we all now know, the bombers weren’t Middle Eastern and the Ryder truck usage was merely coincidental, but at the time we figured that a connection could be a possibility.

Not too long after, FBI investigators traced the truck to “Elliott’s Auto Body, a rental agency in Junction City, Kansas, where a “Robert Kling” had rented it on April 17 a little after 4:00 PM.” Located just 244 miles, or a 4 hour drive from Oklahoma City…too close for comfort to be insignificant to the investigation. Interviews with the people at Elliott’s Auto Body quickly found the paperwork showing that the truck had been rented to “Robert Kling” who supposedly lived in Idaho. This phony address led to the conclusion that no Robert Kling existed (and in fact, not only not in Idaho, but anywhere in the 50 states). This led the FBI to send an artists to Junction City to do a composite sketch.

The result of the artist’s work was an image of what we called Unknown Subjects (Unsubs) in the FBI lexicon. In this case, there were two images, and with Unsub #1, or John Doe #1, the image was very close, as it would turn out, to that of the actual bomber, Timothy McVeigh. Unsub #1, the primary person, was the one who actually went to the rental counter and rented the truck. Eldon Elliott, the owner, later testified that he remembered Timothy McVeigh’s face because McVeigh, unlike most clients, had waived damage insurance on the vehicle.

(But a witness at the rental agency also remembered something else—McVeigh was accompanied by another man. As Simple Truths, the seminal book on the Oklahoma City bombing, describes it, the search for Unsub #2 would receive more public and media attention than anything else in the case.)

With the faces of the perpetrators, the FBI’s investigation was accelerated. At first they were surprised that neither suspect looked like a Middle Easterner (please now, eliminate the conspiracy theory from your minds)…they were white, make Americans. The next day, “John Doe #1″ and “John Doe #2″ were introduced to the American public. AG Reno also announced a $2 million reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the bombers.

What else went on during this time?

● There was talk of a possible third man, an Oklahoma resident named Abraham Ahmad, who had left Oklahoma on the day of the explosion. On his way to Amman, Jordan, he was stopped on a connecting leg of his trip in London for “acting nervous.”

● there was a spotlight on three Middle Eastern–looking men who had been arrested in Oklahoma and Texas…held on immigration charges after stopping an Oklahoma state trooper to ask directions on Wednesday (Later found to have nothing to do with this case.)

At that point, the FBI started to question motive for the bombing.

After basically rejecting the notion that the motive for the bombing was drug related (DEA employees were among those missing in the attack), they concluded a possible “connection to survivalist or extremist religious cults,” considering that the Oklahoma City bombing occurred exactly two years following the Branch Davidian stand-off in Waco (now in the news because people are drawing relationships between Waco and El Dordado where newly pubescent teen girls were being impregnated in the name of a polygamist “religion”). Perhaps not coincidently, on the same day as the Oklahoma bombing, “a member of another right-wing extremist group, the Order, was executed in Arkansas for the murder of a pawnshop owner whom he thought was Jewish.”

The real break in the case came when the manager of the Dreamland Motel recognized the man federal agents had only known as Robert Kling, as “Tim McVeigh.” A bit more digging determined that in a routine traffic stop, an Oklahoma State Trooper has queried the name, Timothy McVeigh that very same day, April 19th, seventy-five miles from the bombing site when, about an hour and a half after the explosion. The car didn’t have a license plate.

The driver, Timothy McVeigh, explained he’d just bought the car and that’s why he didn’t have the plate. When Hanger asked if he had insurance or registration, he said that because the car was newly purchased—although he didn’t have any kind of receipt—all the documentation was being sent to his new address.

As he gave Trooper Hanger his driver’s license, the officer saw that he did happen to be carrying something: a gun. The traffic violator was sporting a Glock semiautomatic pistol on a shoulder holster. He also had ith him an ammo clip and a knife.

Time for jail, Mr. McVeigh. He was escorted into Hanger’s patrol car, after being ordered to leave his locked car by the side of the road. So, there it was—a nearly undisturbed crime scene. It was sort of like one of the Egyptian tombs. We caught quite a lucky break.

It was also quickly learned that McVeigh’s NY State concealed weapon permit was not legal in Oklahoma…he was put in jail.

Note that the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism has an extensive data base of information relating to the Oklahoma City bombing. One element is a feature called “Today in Terrorism” the results for today are shown below:

April 19, 2000 - Philippines: Abu Sayyaf beheads 2 hostages because demands ignored, including release of Arab terrorists in US jails. See 3/20.

April 19, 1995 - United States: An explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City killed 168 people and injured hundreds of others.

April 19, 1995 - Japan: Over 400 injured during chemical attack on the Yokohama subway, Aum Shinrikyo responsible.

April 19, 1980 - Colombia: Founding of M-19. The “April 19 Movement (M-19),” formerly a leftist guerrilla group, has made peace with the government and become a legitimate political party.

There is one other thing. For those who may wonder my identity or why I am interested in terrorism, a minor clue is that this event, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, is in fact, the moment when I began my new life. See discussion of federal building security here and here.

Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Branch Davidian, El Dorado, Terry Nicols, Timothy McVeigh, Waco

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Abu Sayyaf, Islamist militant group in the southern Philippines is the primary suspect in the bombing of a Catholic Church last Sunday in Zamboanga City, nearly 900 km south of Manila.

Superintendent Jonathan Perez, city police director, said the bombs used in the two attacks were similar to those used in previous attacks by Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels in the southern Philippines.

“There has been a threat in our area and the Abu Sayyaf rebels are the ones who could be behind it,” he said.

Superintendent Jose Bayani Gucela, head of the police regional explosive ordinance and disposal unit, said the bomb that exploded at the Metropolitan Immaculate Cathedral compound was made from a 60-millimetre and 81-millimetre mortars attached to a digital timer.

Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat is urging the people not to give into the threats of terror. Considering that Abu Sayyaf has been a serious threat to the people of the Philippines long before they became associated with al Qaeda, I wonder if this braggadocio is warranted. We’ll see what happens next.

abu sayyaf, Zamboanga, جماعة أبو سياف

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A public forum was held in Southhold Long Island to guage community reaction to the possibility of resurrecting the National Bio Agro Defense Facility on Plum Island. Its probably accurate to say that hands down Long Islanders responded with a resounding, “Hell No!”

Plum Island is only 1.5 miles from Orient Point at the tip of Long Island. Its been there for 55 years. Some people believe that horrible things have happened there. Some people believe that man-life threatening diseases have escaped from the Plum Island facility - hoof and mouth, West Nile - to name just two.

The paramount question concerned safety procedures at Plum Island. If a new center were built there, they asked, what would protect against the failure of systems designed to keep dangerous organisms from getting out?

“The basic issue is very simple. They are trying to put a bio-level four laboratory in an area with just one egress,” said Sandra Sinclair, of Orient, pointing out that only one two-lane road is available for people trying to leave the area. “They don’t seem to have a realistic plan [for evacuation].”

The first environmental impact statement (EIS) on the new location is expected to be issued in the next few months with the final EIS should be released in the Fall. After the EIS is issued, a second series of public hearings will occur and then the final site selection will be made at least 30 days after the final environmental impact statement is released for public comment.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: I think that one of the important things to consider that many of the conspiracy theorists and “chicken littles” are ignoring is that the safeguards and securities measures being incorporated into the plans for the new NBAF incorporate knowledge of, and therefore correct all if not “just” many of the previous safety and security issues that have been disclosed. For example, does anyone really think that after last year’s power system shutdown at the CDC lab that certain backup power systems will not be built into the new facility? Undoubtably, opponents of the NBAF will raise the spectre of rampant virus and bacteria escapes into the local community. To think that the new facility will not be the most safe and secure BSL-4 in the World (if not the Universe) is beyond naive.

NBAF

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According to the Homeland Security undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, Charles Allen, even though there are indications of clear intent, there is no sign of al Qaeda actually trying to move jihad terrorists into the United States from Mexico (not just yet, at least). Let us hope this revelation does not reduce our vigilence on the southern border and our efforts to stop illegal immigration.

“We do know that going back to 2004, the southern border is something that al Qaeda’s central leadership has looked at. But we know of no specifics of where al Qaeda has really endeavored to cross our borders in the south,” he said.

Of course, the contrast is that at least one Islamic militant has been caught trying to enter the United States from Canada by land to attempt an attack…before 2000.

al Qaeda, illegal immigration

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