Bin Laden Planning Hiroshima-Type Destruction?
Thursday, July 17, 2008 10:26 AM
By: Paul M. Weyrich
Source of Article
Newsmax.com
Does Osama bin Laden possess nuclear weapons? Has he smuggled these weapons into the United States? Does he have a plan to detonate these weapons in multiple American cities if Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities? Dr. Hugh Cort, president of the American Foundation for Counter-Terrorism Policy and Research, believes the answer to all of these questions is yes.
Cort has assembled a body of evidence which he claims supports the view that bin Laden has a plan for an “American Hiroshima” which will be implemented in the near future. He has sent this material to various U.S. officials, including Robert S. Mueller III, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Cort believes that the government is not doing enough to prevent an attack.
Much of his evidence centers around one Hamid Mir, a Pakistani journalist who has conducted the only interview of bin Laden after 9/11. Bin Laden told Mir that he had acquired 20 suitcase nuclear bombs from the former Soviet Union. Mir told Cort that bin Laden’s men have smuggled these bombs into the United States.
His men supposedly are waiting for bin Laden to give them the signal, then seven to ten American cities will be struck. If true it is little wonder that Iran’s leader confidently predicts that the United States will be bombed back to the Stone Age.
Bin Laden supposedly has fulfilled Islamic law by warning the United States that an attack is coming and offering a truce — convert to Islam and you will not be attacked. Refusal to convert to Islam means that an attack against America is justified. Three weeks prior to 9/11 bin Laden warned that the United States would be attacked in an unprecedented way for its support of Israel.
Already bin Laden has called for all Muslims in the United States to leave. Instead of a mass exodus of Muslims from this country, new mosques are opening every few weeks. Muslim schools also are being established, which suggests that families plan to stay here for the foreseeable future. But Yossef Bodansky, director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism from 1988 to 1998, has testified that bin Laden has obtained nuclear weapons.
He told Congress that “Osama has recruited former Soviet Special Forces (SPETSNAZ) soldiers to teach al-Qaida how to maintain and operate the bombs.”
Mir, by the way, has suggested that most of the nuclear weapons have been smuggled across the border from Mexico. Opponents of illegal immigration long have argued that they want the border monitored and closed for national security purposes.
Proponents of illegal immigration have maintained that opposition to it is “racist.” Clearly, opponents of illegal immigration have the better case; although if Mir is correct, the door may have been open too long.
Ronald Kessler, chief Washington correspondent for Newsmax.com, interviewed Mueller, who said that he is very concerned about bin Laden having nuclear weapons in the United States, so concerned that the FBI has surrounded mosques in 10 American cities with nuclear radiation detectors. Cort quotes Steve Coll, president of New America Foundation, as stating that these detectors cannot sense enriched uranium when it is shielded in lead. If Islamists have such bombs, no doubt they are wrapped in lead.
Cort says that Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff does not have a plan in the event that these bombs are detonated. In such a scenario real deaths will come from radiation. If people know how to avoid radiation prior to an attack, there may be many survivors.
If people can devise a radiation-proof shelter in their own homes to survive a detonation, two days later radiation is one, one-hundredth the strength of the initial blast. If people can spend three days in the shelter and then only make brief trips outside once a day, they can defeat radiation. But what credible source has warned people of the potential threat and how they can meet it?
Is all of this just alarmist talk? Has Cort missed something important which would nullify his answers? I have no idea.
It seems more than reasonable that we proceed as if it is true. If it proves to be a false alarm, what have we lost? But if Cort’s research has merit and we are prepared to handle such a situation, we could minimize its terrible impact.
When I asked some U.S. officials why no one in the government is warning people, I was told “we don’t want to unduly alarm people.” Nonsense.
I have great faith that the American people will do the right thing if properly informed. We did in the mid-1950s when told that the Soviet Union could start a nuclear war. We can do so again, but someone with credibility must tell Americans the truth.
Paul M. Weyrich is chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.
***
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Bin Laden Planning Hiroshima-Type Destruction?
"All GREAT TRUTHS begin as blasphemies."
-- George Bernard Shaw
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AFGHANISTAN: US KILLED CIVILIANS AFTER FALSE TIP
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer
Source of Article
Sun Sep 14, 1:14 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - An American bombing that killed up to 90 Afghan civilians last month was based on false information provided by a rival tribe and did not kill a single Taliban fighter, the president's spokesman said Sunday.
The claim contradicted a U.S. contention that the Aug. 22 raid on the western village of Azizabad killed up to 35 Taliban fighters.
"There was total misinformation fed to the coalition forces," Humayun Hamidzada, the spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, told The Associated Press.
Afghan police arrested three suspects accused of giving the U.S. military false intelligence that led to the bombardment, the Interior Ministry has said.
An Afghan government commission found that up to 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, a finding backed by a preliminary U.N. report.
The bombing strained the U.S.-Afghan relationship but the countries remain committed allies, Hamidzada said.
The operation, conducted by U.S. Special Forces and Afghan soldiers, targeted Afghan employees of a British security firm and their family members — the reason the U.S. military recovered weapons after the battle, Hamidzada said.
The U.S. has said its forces were fired on first during a raid that targeted and killed a known militant commander named Mullah Sidiq. But villagers say their homes were targeted because of false information provided by a rival tribesman named Nader Tawakil.
An Afghan parliamentarian has said Tawakil is in the protective custody of U.S. forces. The coalition has declined to comment.
"How the information was gathered, how it was misfed, and their personal animosity led to trying to use the international forces for their own political disputes, which led to a disastrous event and caused a strain on the relationship of the Afghan government and international forces," Hamidzada said.
"Not a single Talib was killed," he added. "So it was a total disaster, and it made it even worse when there were denials, total denials."
The U.S. at first said that 30 militants and no civilians were killed. A formal military investigation found that the operation killed up to 35 militants and seven civilians.
But after video images showing at least 10 dead children and up to 40 other dead villagers surfaced last week, the U.S. said it would send a one-star general from the United States to investigate the strike.
Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said Friday three suspects had been arrested for allegedly giving false information to the American military, but it did not say who they were. Hamidzada and the Interior Ministry spokesman have also declined to say who was arrested.
A U.S. military spokeswoman did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Villagers had gathered for a memorial ceremony in Azizabad to honor a tribal leader named Timor Shah, who had allegedly been killed by Tawakil, the rival tribesman, about eight months ago. Villagers said families had traveled to Azizabad for the ceremony, one of the reasons so many children were killed.
The top NATO spokesman in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, has said the U.S. coalition, U.N. and Afghan government would hold a joint investigation, but Hamidzada said the Afghan government would not take part.
"The Afghan government did not agree to a three-way investigation, because we have already completed two investigations," he said.
"There is no need to go around to the village and actually harass people one more time and remind them of the terrible ordeal they went through. We have the facts straight, we have all the information."
Karzai has long pleaded with international forces to reduce the number of civilians killed in operations, and now the government is studying its "status of force" agreement governing U.S. and NATO operations in the country. Afghan officials are also reviewing the use of airstrikes by international forces.
Hamidzada said Azizabad strained a relationship between friends.
"We can be critical of one particular issue but we are still partners," he said, adding there are ways of killing Taliban without hurting civilians.
"If we only rely on air raids, we know these are not accurate, we know the potential for civilian casualties is extremely high," he said. "So there has to be a combination of ground forces and the use of Afghan military forces. But you cannot just conduct operations from the air alone, because you hurt civilians."
In violence Sunday, a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy carrying Afghan doctors working for the United Nations in southern Afghanistan, killing two doctors and their driver, officials said.
The U.N. said it was trying to determine whether the bombing was an explicit attack on the world body or if the doctors were a target of opportunity.
Also in the Afghan south, a British soldier was killed in an explosion on Saturday, the Ministry of Defense said.
Elsewhere, seven children died after ordnance they were playing with exploded, and militants ambushed and killed seven police, officials said.
***
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer
Source of Article
Sun Sep 14, 1:14 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan - An American bombing that killed up to 90 Afghan civilians last month was based on false information provided by a rival tribe and did not kill a single Taliban fighter, the president's spokesman said Sunday.
The claim contradicted a U.S. contention that the Aug. 22 raid on the western village of Azizabad killed up to 35 Taliban fighters.
"There was total misinformation fed to the coalition forces," Humayun Hamidzada, the spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, told The Associated Press.
Afghan police arrested three suspects accused of giving the U.S. military false intelligence that led to the bombardment, the Interior Ministry has said.
An Afghan government commission found that up to 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, a finding backed by a preliminary U.N. report.
The bombing strained the U.S.-Afghan relationship but the countries remain committed allies, Hamidzada said.
The operation, conducted by U.S. Special Forces and Afghan soldiers, targeted Afghan employees of a British security firm and their family members — the reason the U.S. military recovered weapons after the battle, Hamidzada said.
The U.S. has said its forces were fired on first during a raid that targeted and killed a known militant commander named Mullah Sidiq. But villagers say their homes were targeted because of false information provided by a rival tribesman named Nader Tawakil.
An Afghan parliamentarian has said Tawakil is in the protective custody of U.S. forces. The coalition has declined to comment.
"How the information was gathered, how it was misfed, and their personal animosity led to trying to use the international forces for their own political disputes, which led to a disastrous event and caused a strain on the relationship of the Afghan government and international forces," Hamidzada said.
"Not a single Talib was killed," he added. "So it was a total disaster, and it made it even worse when there were denials, total denials."
The U.S. at first said that 30 militants and no civilians were killed. A formal military investigation found that the operation killed up to 35 militants and seven civilians.
But after video images showing at least 10 dead children and up to 40 other dead villagers surfaced last week, the U.S. said it would send a one-star general from the United States to investigate the strike.
Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said Friday three suspects had been arrested for allegedly giving false information to the American military, but it did not say who they were. Hamidzada and the Interior Ministry spokesman have also declined to say who was arrested.
A U.S. military spokeswoman did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Villagers had gathered for a memorial ceremony in Azizabad to honor a tribal leader named Timor Shah, who had allegedly been killed by Tawakil, the rival tribesman, about eight months ago. Villagers said families had traveled to Azizabad for the ceremony, one of the reasons so many children were killed.
The top NATO spokesman in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, has said the U.S. coalition, U.N. and Afghan government would hold a joint investigation, but Hamidzada said the Afghan government would not take part.
"The Afghan government did not agree to a three-way investigation, because we have already completed two investigations," he said.
"There is no need to go around to the village and actually harass people one more time and remind them of the terrible ordeal they went through. We have the facts straight, we have all the information."
Karzai has long pleaded with international forces to reduce the number of civilians killed in operations, and now the government is studying its "status of force" agreement governing U.S. and NATO operations in the country. Afghan officials are also reviewing the use of airstrikes by international forces.
Hamidzada said Azizabad strained a relationship between friends.
"We can be critical of one particular issue but we are still partners," he said, adding there are ways of killing Taliban without hurting civilians.
"If we only rely on air raids, we know these are not accurate, we know the potential for civilian casualties is extremely high," he said. "So there has to be a combination of ground forces and the use of Afghan military forces. But you cannot just conduct operations from the air alone, because you hurt civilians."
In violence Sunday, a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy carrying Afghan doctors working for the United Nations in southern Afghanistan, killing two doctors and their driver, officials said.
The U.N. said it was trying to determine whether the bombing was an explicit attack on the world body or if the doctors were a target of opportunity.
Also in the Afghan south, a British soldier was killed in an explosion on Saturday, the Ministry of Defense said.
Elsewhere, seven children died after ordnance they were playing with exploded, and militants ambushed and killed seven police, officials said.
***
"All GREAT TRUTHS begin as blasphemies."
-- George Bernard Shaw
-- George Bernard Shaw
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Mary
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Spies Warn Of October (Surprise) Al-Qaeda Operations
SPIES WARN OF OCTOBER (SURPRISE) AL-QAEDA OPERATIONS
2008-09-26 at 10:57 am · Filed under NewsWax, Terrorism
Source: Newsmax
Last month, US intelligence intercepted Al-Qaeda communications warning operatives to be ready for instructions in October. The terrorist group is thought to be planning what has been called an “October surprise” possibly in order to influence the 2008 US elections, just as it did in 2004 when it bombed Madrid commuter trains.
The messages reportedly were simply to be alert and ready to be called upon, and were sent both physically and electronically.
According to Ted Gistaro, a US intelligence officer, the government is “not aware of any specific, credible al-Qaida plot to attack the U.S. homeland, but [does] receive a steady stream of threat [sic] reporting from sources of varying creditability”.
Intelligence agents are expecting an increase in the number of related messages as October nears.
Ex-CIA agent Gary Berntsen said that Al-Qaeda was likely not capable of carrying out another attack on the US, but would target it’s allies “to peel them off from the coalition that George Bush has built to defeat them”. Roger Cressey, once a counter-terrorism official, agreed that the attacks would likely be global and not focused on the US.
An adviser to John McCain noted that in the past, Al-Qaeda have used three different tactics to influence elections: public bombings, assassinations, and messages to voters.
Recently, Al-Qaeda attempted an attack on the new Pakistani President Zardari after his anti-terrorism speech, targeting the Islamabad Mariott hotel where he was expected to eat. According to the vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, the attack would have been devastating if it had succeeded in killing the new President. “Think of the symbolic value if they were able to kill Zardari after his first address as president of Pakistan in a speech announcing his fight against the terrorists,” he said.
***
2008-09-26 at 10:57 am · Filed under NewsWax, Terrorism
Source: Newsmax
Last month, US intelligence intercepted Al-Qaeda communications warning operatives to be ready for instructions in October. The terrorist group is thought to be planning what has been called an “October surprise” possibly in order to influence the 2008 US elections, just as it did in 2004 when it bombed Madrid commuter trains.
The messages reportedly were simply to be alert and ready to be called upon, and were sent both physically and electronically.
According to Ted Gistaro, a US intelligence officer, the government is “not aware of any specific, credible al-Qaida plot to attack the U.S. homeland, but [does] receive a steady stream of threat [sic] reporting from sources of varying creditability”.
Intelligence agents are expecting an increase in the number of related messages as October nears.
Ex-CIA agent Gary Berntsen said that Al-Qaeda was likely not capable of carrying out another attack on the US, but would target it’s allies “to peel them off from the coalition that George Bush has built to defeat them”. Roger Cressey, once a counter-terrorism official, agreed that the attacks would likely be global and not focused on the US.
An adviser to John McCain noted that in the past, Al-Qaeda have used three different tactics to influence elections: public bombings, assassinations, and messages to voters.
Recently, Al-Qaeda attempted an attack on the new Pakistani President Zardari after his anti-terrorism speech, targeting the Islamabad Mariott hotel where he was expected to eat. According to the vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, the attack would have been devastating if it had succeeded in killing the new President. “Think of the symbolic value if they were able to kill Zardari after his first address as president of Pakistan in a speech announcing his fight against the terrorists,” he said.
***
"All GREAT TRUTHS begin as blasphemies."
-- George Bernard Shaw
-- George Bernard Shaw
-
Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
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Website Says To Carry Bin Laden "Present" To Musli
Website Says To Carry Bin Laden "Present" To Muslims
Thursday, September 3 09:48 pm
Source of Article
A website often used by al Qaeda supporters said on Thursday it would soon carry a "present" to Muslims from Osama bin Laden on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.
The Islamist website gave no further details, but messages by the al Qaeda leader have usually appeared within about 48 hours of being announced on the Internet.
In his latest message in June, bin Laden said U.S. President Barack Obama had planted the seeds of "revenge and hatred" towards the United States in the Muslim world.
Bin Laden's remarks were issued just before a major speech by Obama who said he sought a "new beginning" between the United States and the Muslim world.
Bin Laden's message in June and another recording issued by his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri appeared to be a drive by al Qaeda to pre-empt Obama's speech to the Muslim world.
Later in June, CIA Director Leon Panetta said the U.S. intelligence agency believed bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan and hoped joint operations with Pakistani forces would find him.
(Reporting by Firouz Sedarat)
***
Thursday, September 3 09:48 pm
Source of Article
A website often used by al Qaeda supporters said on Thursday it would soon carry a "present" to Muslims from Osama bin Laden on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.
The Islamist website gave no further details, but messages by the al Qaeda leader have usually appeared within about 48 hours of being announced on the Internet.
In his latest message in June, bin Laden said U.S. President Barack Obama had planted the seeds of "revenge and hatred" towards the United States in the Muslim world.
Bin Laden's remarks were issued just before a major speech by Obama who said he sought a "new beginning" between the United States and the Muslim world.
Bin Laden's message in June and another recording issued by his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri appeared to be a drive by al Qaeda to pre-empt Obama's speech to the Muslim world.
Later in June, CIA Director Leon Panetta said the U.S. intelligence agency believed bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan and hoped joint operations with Pakistani forces would find him.
(Reporting by Firouz Sedarat)
***
"All GREAT TRUTHS begin as blasphemies."
-- George Bernard Shaw
-- George Bernard Shaw
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Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
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Al Qaeda's No. 2 Condemns Obama's Mid East Policy
Al Qaeda's No. 2 Condemns Obama's Mid East Policy
After Terror Ring Smashed in Lebanon
DEBKAfile Special Report
Article Source
December 14, 2009, 11:08 PM (GMT+02:00)
Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second top leader, denounced US president Barack Obama's Middle East policy as "nothing but a new stage in the Crusader and Zionist campaign to subjugate and humiliate us… and our religion" in a statement posted on an Islamist website Monday, Dec. 14.
He also slammed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, Saudi king Abdullah and Jordan's monarch as "Arab Zionists." By unusually listing them by name, Zawahiri is seen by DEBKAfile's terror experts as directly threatening those leaders whom he accuses of "implementing the orders of Obama… whose real plan is to support Israel…"
DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources report that Zawahiri's angry statement was posted as Lebanese president Michel Suleiman prepared to meet President Obama at the White House Tuesday, Dec. 14. It was influenced no doubt by the breakup of an important al Qaeda ring in Lebanon controlled by one of his minions, Gemal Baioni, an undercover operative of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad who was based in Athens.
Lebanese military intelligence moved in on the network in time to foil its mission to attack US, UK, French and German embassies in Beirut and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon while Suleiman was away in Washington. The agents acted on information drawn from three al Qaeda operatives captured last week at the border village of Majdal Anjar on the Beirut-Damascus highway, which led to the rest of the network being rolled up Thursday night, Dec. 11 in Beirut and the Palestinian Ein Hilwa refugee camp.
The network's commander was Tareq Abdul Fattah Baidouin codenamed Abu Qusaiba, a biochemist whose extremist leanings and connections were kept dark.
Their controller, the Egyptian Baioni, visited Lebanon several times in recent months to get operations moving. However, last October he arrived from Athens particularly to supervise a Katyusha rocket barrage against northern Israel on the 27th of the month. Only one 207mm rocket was actually fired. Another four were found by UN peacekeepers ready for launching.
Al Qaeda named that operation for Zaid Jarrah, he commanded the hijack of Flight 93 from Newark airport which on Sept. 2001 crashed in Pennsylvania killing all 43 people aboard. Baioni was out of Lebanon when the al Qaeda ring was broken up. The Greek authorities have mounted a big manhunt for his capture.
***
After Terror Ring Smashed in Lebanon
DEBKAfile Special Report
Article Source
December 14, 2009, 11:08 PM (GMT+02:00)
Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second top leader, denounced US president Barack Obama's Middle East policy as "nothing but a new stage in the Crusader and Zionist campaign to subjugate and humiliate us… and our religion" in a statement posted on an Islamist website Monday, Dec. 14.
He also slammed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, Saudi king Abdullah and Jordan's monarch as "Arab Zionists." By unusually listing them by name, Zawahiri is seen by DEBKAfile's terror experts as directly threatening those leaders whom he accuses of "implementing the orders of Obama… whose real plan is to support Israel…"
DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources report that Zawahiri's angry statement was posted as Lebanese president Michel Suleiman prepared to meet President Obama at the White House Tuesday, Dec. 14. It was influenced no doubt by the breakup of an important al Qaeda ring in Lebanon controlled by one of his minions, Gemal Baioni, an undercover operative of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad who was based in Athens.
Lebanese military intelligence moved in on the network in time to foil its mission to attack US, UK, French and German embassies in Beirut and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon while Suleiman was away in Washington. The agents acted on information drawn from three al Qaeda operatives captured last week at the border village of Majdal Anjar on the Beirut-Damascus highway, which led to the rest of the network being rolled up Thursday night, Dec. 11 in Beirut and the Palestinian Ein Hilwa refugee camp.
The network's commander was Tareq Abdul Fattah Baidouin codenamed Abu Qusaiba, a biochemist whose extremist leanings and connections were kept dark.
Their controller, the Egyptian Baioni, visited Lebanon several times in recent months to get operations moving. However, last October he arrived from Athens particularly to supervise a Katyusha rocket barrage against northern Israel on the 27th of the month. Only one 207mm rocket was actually fired. Another four were found by UN peacekeepers ready for launching.
Al Qaeda named that operation for Zaid Jarrah, he commanded the hijack of Flight 93 from Newark airport which on Sept. 2001 crashed in Pennsylvania killing all 43 people aboard. Baioni was out of Lebanon when the al Qaeda ring was broken up. The Greek authorities have mounted a big manhunt for his capture.
***
"All GREAT TRUTHS begin as blasphemies."
-- George Bernard Shaw
-- George Bernard Shaw
-
Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:41 pm
- Location: 2003 YORWW Bible Academy Graduate
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The American Hiroshima: Osama's Plan for a Nuclear Attack
'The American Hiroshima: Osama's Plan for a Nuclear Attack, and One Man's Attempt to Warn America'
[url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-american-hiroshima-osamas-plan-for-a-nuclear-attack-and-one-mans-attempt-to-warn-america-79490907.html]Article Source
[/url]
NEW YORK, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Two thirds of Americans believe that Osama bin Laden will strike America again and this time it will be nuclear. Dr. Hugh Cort agrees and writes about the warning signs in his book, "The American Hiroshima: Osama's Plan for a Nuclear Attack, and One Man's Attempt to Warn America" (published by iUniverse). Dr. Cort also contends that the attack could occur in the very near future with Osama bin Laden planning to blow up several American cities.
"The American Hiroshima" provides evidence that Iran has been assisting Osama bin Laden in his plan, including how the British Intelligence, MI6, reported to other intelligence agencies, that six Pakistani nuclear scientists who helped Pakistan develop its nuclear bomb, have been in Iran for the past three years helping Iran develop its nuclear bomb, and that occasionally Ahmadinejad sends them to help Al Qaeda with their nuclear bomb. In addition, top Pakistani journalist, Hamid Mir, told the author that in an interview with Osama, the terrorist said he had acquired suitcase nuclear bombs that were stolen from the former Soviet Union and purchased on the black market.
Because America may be attacked soon, Dr. Cort, who has a wealth of information from intensive research, wrote his book in three months, eager to get the warning out to the American people. The 9/11 Commission said that if the FBI had shared the warning signs it had about 9/11 with the media and the public prior to 9/11, we may have been able to stop it from happening. In order to hinder another more devastating attack, Dr. Cort is attempting to notify the country. If we cannot prevent Osama's horrific plans, Dr. Cort's book also provides information on how to survive a nuclear attack. The questions are, will we be ready for the next 9/11? Or do we want to take a complacent chance and ignore the signs?
About the Author
Dr. Hugh Cort is the President of the American Foundation for Counter-Terrorism Policy and Research, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit counter-terrorism think tank. General Tom McInerney, CNN and Fox News military analyst, is an honorary board member. Dr. Cort has been researching counter-terrorism issues ever since 9/11. He is the author of "Saddam's Attacks on America." Dr. Cort ran as a presidential candidate in the 2008 Republican Presidential Primary in order to get the warning out about Osama bin Laden's plans for a nuclear attack on America. He is a psychiatrist practicing in Alabama. "The American Hiroshima" is the author's attempt to warn America before it is too late. Find out more about Osama's coming attack at http://www.AFCPR.org. Dr. Cort is available for interview.
___________________________________________________________
Here are a few links where Donald C. Burney has predicted that Osama bin Laden is the "King of the North," along with the "Great War," along with other predictions about the future earth shaking events. These predictions were done YEARS in advance!
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/11937/1/October-7-2001-A-Date-of-Infamy
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/39553/1/MDS-keeps-his-promise-Great-War
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/47542/2/MDS-Book-The-Report-1994-Predicts-Global-War-Ahead
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/1096/2/Commentary
There are many various other web sites and/or forums that Mr. Burney published these predictions but they are too numerous to mention.
***
[url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-american-hiroshima-osamas-plan-for-a-nuclear-attack-and-one-mans-attempt-to-warn-america-79490907.html]Article Source
[/url]
NEW YORK, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Two thirds of Americans believe that Osama bin Laden will strike America again and this time it will be nuclear. Dr. Hugh Cort agrees and writes about the warning signs in his book, "The American Hiroshima: Osama's Plan for a Nuclear Attack, and One Man's Attempt to Warn America" (published by iUniverse). Dr. Cort also contends that the attack could occur in the very near future with Osama bin Laden planning to blow up several American cities.
"The American Hiroshima" provides evidence that Iran has been assisting Osama bin Laden in his plan, including how the British Intelligence, MI6, reported to other intelligence agencies, that six Pakistani nuclear scientists who helped Pakistan develop its nuclear bomb, have been in Iran for the past three years helping Iran develop its nuclear bomb, and that occasionally Ahmadinejad sends them to help Al Qaeda with their nuclear bomb. In addition, top Pakistani journalist, Hamid Mir, told the author that in an interview with Osama, the terrorist said he had acquired suitcase nuclear bombs that were stolen from the former Soviet Union and purchased on the black market.
Because America may be attacked soon, Dr. Cort, who has a wealth of information from intensive research, wrote his book in three months, eager to get the warning out to the American people. The 9/11 Commission said that if the FBI had shared the warning signs it had about 9/11 with the media and the public prior to 9/11, we may have been able to stop it from happening. In order to hinder another more devastating attack, Dr. Cort is attempting to notify the country. If we cannot prevent Osama's horrific plans, Dr. Cort's book also provides information on how to survive a nuclear attack. The questions are, will we be ready for the next 9/11? Or do we want to take a complacent chance and ignore the signs?
About the Author
Dr. Hugh Cort is the President of the American Foundation for Counter-Terrorism Policy and Research, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit counter-terrorism think tank. General Tom McInerney, CNN and Fox News military analyst, is an honorary board member. Dr. Cort has been researching counter-terrorism issues ever since 9/11. He is the author of "Saddam's Attacks on America." Dr. Cort ran as a presidential candidate in the 2008 Republican Presidential Primary in order to get the warning out about Osama bin Laden's plans for a nuclear attack on America. He is a psychiatrist practicing in Alabama. "The American Hiroshima" is the author's attempt to warn America before it is too late. Find out more about Osama's coming attack at http://www.AFCPR.org. Dr. Cort is available for interview.
___________________________________________________________
Here are a few links where Donald C. Burney has predicted that Osama bin Laden is the "King of the North," along with the "Great War," along with other predictions about the future earth shaking events. These predictions were done YEARS in advance!
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/11937/1/October-7-2001-A-Date-of-Infamy
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/39553/1/MDS-keeps-his-promise-Great-War
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/47542/2/MDS-Book-The-Report-1994-Predicts-Global-War-Ahead
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/1096/2/Commentary
There are many various other web sites and/or forums that Mr. Burney published these predictions but they are too numerous to mention.
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Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
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NATO Forces to Launch Kandahar Offensive
NATO Forces to Launch Kandahar Offensive
Official says goal is to rid city of Taliban forces before Ramadan in August
MSNBC.com
By ANNE FLAHERTY
The Associated Press
Source of Article
updated 7:22 a.m. CT, Tues., March. 30, 2010
WASHINGTON - NATO forces in June will make a long-planned assault on the Taliban's spiritual home in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a senior military official said Monday.
The goal is to rid the city of Taliban forces before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins in August, according to the official.
U.S. officials have previously disclosed plans for a NATO-led offensive in the area this year, but have not said when it might happen. The two-month offensive will be a major test of President Barack Obama's new strategy in Afghanistan and a bellwether of the war in general.
The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the operation, discussed the operation on condition of anonymity.
Until the start of major military operations, U.S. troops are working on securing transit routes and persuading the leaders of districts surrounding Kandahar to cooperate with NATO forces.
As the Taliban's governing capital prior to the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, Kandahar remains the spiritual heartland of the insurgency and a stubborn holdout in NATO's efforts to transfer control to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
In an effort to reverse gains made by the Taliban, Obama has ordered the deployment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
Military officials say they expect "several thousand" of those troops to be sent to Kandahar, mostly to partner with local police and provide a security presence in the region.
***
Official says goal is to rid city of Taliban forces before Ramadan in August
MSNBC.com
By ANNE FLAHERTY
The Associated Press
Source of Article
updated 7:22 a.m. CT, Tues., March. 30, 2010
WASHINGTON - NATO forces in June will make a long-planned assault on the Taliban's spiritual home in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a senior military official said Monday.
The goal is to rid the city of Taliban forces before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins in August, according to the official.
U.S. officials have previously disclosed plans for a NATO-led offensive in the area this year, but have not said when it might happen. The two-month offensive will be a major test of President Barack Obama's new strategy in Afghanistan and a bellwether of the war in general.
The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the operation, discussed the operation on condition of anonymity.
Until the start of major military operations, U.S. troops are working on securing transit routes and persuading the leaders of districts surrounding Kandahar to cooperate with NATO forces.
As the Taliban's governing capital prior to the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, Kandahar remains the spiritual heartland of the insurgency and a stubborn holdout in NATO's efforts to transfer control to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
In an effort to reverse gains made by the Taliban, Obama has ordered the deployment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
Military officials say they expect "several thousand" of those troops to be sent to Kandahar, mostly to partner with local police and provide a security presence in the region.
***
-
Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:41 pm
- Location: 2003 YORWW Bible Academy Graduate
- Contact:
King of the North
Ready For Kandahar Battle, Taliban Say
Options Include 'Leave And Come Back After' Foreigners Gone
NATO assets in Kandahar, where a summer offensive is planned, include U.S. Predator drones like this one above Kandahar Air Field.
By KATHY GANNON
The Associated Press
Updated 2:49 p.m. CT, Sun., April 18, 2010
Source of Article
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Taliban are moving fighters into Kandahar, planting bombs and plotting attacks as NATO and Afghan forces prepare for a summer showdown with insurgents, according to a Taliban commander with close ties to senior insurgent leaders.
NATO and Afghan forces are stepping up operations to push Taliban fighters out of the city, which was the Islamist movement's headquarters during the years it ruled most of Afghanistan. The goal is to bolster the capability of the local government so that it can keep the Taliban from coming back.
The Taliban commander, who uses the pseudonym Mubeen, told The Associated Press that if military pressure on the insurgents becomes too great "we will just leave and come back after" the foreign forces leave.
Despite nightly raids by NATO and Afghan troops, Mubeen said his movements have not been restricted. He was interviewed last week in the center of Kandahar, seated with his legs crossed on a cushion in a room. His only concession to security was to lock the door.
He made no attempt to hide his face and said he felt comfortable because of widespread support among Kandahar's 500,000 residents, who like the Taliban are mostly Pashtuns, Afghanistan's biggest ethnic community.
"Because of the American attitude to the people, they are sympathetic to us," Mubeen said. "Every day we are getting more support. We are not strangers. We are not foreigners. We are from the people."
It is difficult to measure the depth of support for the Taliban among Kandahar's people, many of whom say they are disgusted by the presence of both the foreign troops and the insurgents. Many of them say they are afraid NATO's summer offensive will accomplish little other than trigger more violence.
Orders from Omar
Mubeen said Taliban attacks are not random but are carefully planned and ordered by the senior military and political command that assigns jobs and responsibilities to its rank and file. The final arbiter is the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who heads the council, or shura, that decides strategic goals passed down the ranks to commanders in the field, he said.
"We are always getting instructions from our commanders, what suicide attacks to carry out, who to behead if he is a spy," Mubeen said, gesturing with a maimed hand suffered during fighting in 1996 when the Taliban were trying to gain control of the capital of Kabul.
Then, like now, his enemies were members of the Northern Alliance, dominated by Afghanistan's minority ethnic groups and returned to power by the U.S.-led coalition following the Taliban's collapse in 2001.
Mubeen, a native of Zabul province, worked with the Taliban's civil aviation minister, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, during the Taliban's five-year rule. In the final days before the Taliban abandoned Kandahar in 2001, Mubeen played a crucial logistical role, helping move weapons and supplies to hideouts outside the city.
Mullah Mansoor was one of two senior Taliban figures named by Mullah Omar to replace the No. 2 commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Barader, who was arrested in Pakistan in February.
Mubeen said that in the first years after the Taliban were routed, fighters had to survive in the mountains, rarely making forays into Afghan towns and villages. He attributed the Taliban comeback to deep resentment — especially among ethnic Pashtuns — to the presence of foreign military forces and public disgust with the Afghan government.
'More sophisticated' attacks vowed
"Our brothers are already here and ready," he said. "Our people are skilled now. They know a lot of things, how to make things more difficult and to be more sophisticated in our attacks."
Mubeen said Taliban fighters had received better training, although he would not say where and by whom.
"But we were interested to get the training and we understood that we needed the training," he said.
Mubeen said the Taliban's main goal in the war is the establishment of sharia, or Islamic law, in Afghanistan. When they ruled the religious militia enforced an antiquated and regressive interpretation of Islamic law that appalled the West, including publicly amputating hands and feet for theft and carrying out public executions.
"We want sharia. That is first. Everything else comes after that," he said. "People want sharia and then development."
Mubeen said he was confident that efforts by President Hamid Karzai and his international partners to win over rank-and-file members with promises of amnesty, jobs and money would not succeed in undermining the insurgents.
"The government and the Americans did a lot of work to make disputes in the Taliban and to give money to the Taliban," he said.
He also said peace negotiations with the Taliban leadership would not take place without the blessing of Mullah Omar.
"The world community should leave our country and then we are ready to negotiate," he said.
***
Options Include 'Leave And Come Back After' Foreigners Gone
NATO assets in Kandahar, where a summer offensive is planned, include U.S. Predator drones like this one above Kandahar Air Field.
By KATHY GANNON
The Associated Press
Updated 2:49 p.m. CT, Sun., April 18, 2010
Source of Article
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Taliban are moving fighters into Kandahar, planting bombs and plotting attacks as NATO and Afghan forces prepare for a summer showdown with insurgents, according to a Taliban commander with close ties to senior insurgent leaders.
NATO and Afghan forces are stepping up operations to push Taliban fighters out of the city, which was the Islamist movement's headquarters during the years it ruled most of Afghanistan. The goal is to bolster the capability of the local government so that it can keep the Taliban from coming back.
The Taliban commander, who uses the pseudonym Mubeen, told The Associated Press that if military pressure on the insurgents becomes too great "we will just leave and come back after" the foreign forces leave.
Despite nightly raids by NATO and Afghan troops, Mubeen said his movements have not been restricted. He was interviewed last week in the center of Kandahar, seated with his legs crossed on a cushion in a room. His only concession to security was to lock the door.
He made no attempt to hide his face and said he felt comfortable because of widespread support among Kandahar's 500,000 residents, who like the Taliban are mostly Pashtuns, Afghanistan's biggest ethnic community.
"Because of the American attitude to the people, they are sympathetic to us," Mubeen said. "Every day we are getting more support. We are not strangers. We are not foreigners. We are from the people."
It is difficult to measure the depth of support for the Taliban among Kandahar's people, many of whom say they are disgusted by the presence of both the foreign troops and the insurgents. Many of them say they are afraid NATO's summer offensive will accomplish little other than trigger more violence.
Orders from Omar
Mubeen said Taliban attacks are not random but are carefully planned and ordered by the senior military and political command that assigns jobs and responsibilities to its rank and file. The final arbiter is the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who heads the council, or shura, that decides strategic goals passed down the ranks to commanders in the field, he said.
"We are always getting instructions from our commanders, what suicide attacks to carry out, who to behead if he is a spy," Mubeen said, gesturing with a maimed hand suffered during fighting in 1996 when the Taliban were trying to gain control of the capital of Kabul.
Then, like now, his enemies were members of the Northern Alliance, dominated by Afghanistan's minority ethnic groups and returned to power by the U.S.-led coalition following the Taliban's collapse in 2001.
Mubeen, a native of Zabul province, worked with the Taliban's civil aviation minister, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, during the Taliban's five-year rule. In the final days before the Taliban abandoned Kandahar in 2001, Mubeen played a crucial logistical role, helping move weapons and supplies to hideouts outside the city.
Mullah Mansoor was one of two senior Taliban figures named by Mullah Omar to replace the No. 2 commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Barader, who was arrested in Pakistan in February.
Mubeen said that in the first years after the Taliban were routed, fighters had to survive in the mountains, rarely making forays into Afghan towns and villages. He attributed the Taliban comeback to deep resentment — especially among ethnic Pashtuns — to the presence of foreign military forces and public disgust with the Afghan government.
'More sophisticated' attacks vowed
"Our brothers are already here and ready," he said. "Our people are skilled now. They know a lot of things, how to make things more difficult and to be more sophisticated in our attacks."
Mubeen said Taliban fighters had received better training, although he would not say where and by whom.
"But we were interested to get the training and we understood that we needed the training," he said.
Mubeen said the Taliban's main goal in the war is the establishment of sharia, or Islamic law, in Afghanistan. When they ruled the religious militia enforced an antiquated and regressive interpretation of Islamic law that appalled the West, including publicly amputating hands and feet for theft and carrying out public executions.
"We want sharia. That is first. Everything else comes after that," he said. "People want sharia and then development."
Mubeen said he was confident that efforts by President Hamid Karzai and his international partners to win over rank-and-file members with promises of amnesty, jobs and money would not succeed in undermining the insurgents.
"The government and the Americans did a lot of work to make disputes in the Taliban and to give money to the Taliban," he said.
He also said peace negotiations with the Taliban leadership would not take place without the blessing of Mullah Omar.
"The world community should leave our country and then we are ready to negotiate," he said.
***
-
Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:41 pm
- Location: 2003 YORWW Bible Academy Graduate
- Contact:
Pakistani Taliban Promise US Attacks Post - NY Scare
Pakistani Taliban Promise US AttacPost - NY Scareks
AP – An image from a Pakistani Taliban video and released by IntelCenter, a private contractor working for …
By NAHAL TOOSI
Associated Press Writer
Source of Article
May 3, 2010, 2 hrs 51 mins ago
ISLAMABAD – The Pakistani Taliban promise future attacks on major U.S. cities and appear to claim responsibility for an attempted car bombing in New York in three separate videos that surfaced after the weekend scare, monitoring groups said Monday.
U.S. authorities have played down the potential connection between the Pakistani militant network and the car bomb attempt in New York's Times Square, saying the group does not have the global infrastructure to carry out such a strike. However, the Pakistani Taliban is allied with militant networks such as al-Qaida, which could aid in expanding its reach.
Two of the videos feature Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, providing the strongest evidence to date that he survived a U.S. missile strike in January.
Police in New York found the potentially powerful car bomb on Saturday. It had apparently began to detonate but did not explode in a smoking sport utility vehicle. The vehicle contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components, officials said.
The most substantial of the militant videos is nearly nine minutes long, according to IntelCenter, a U.S.-based group that monitors militant media. In it, Mehsud does not specifically mention New York, but says he is speaking on April 4 of this year, and promises that, "(God willing), very soon in some days or a month's time, the Muslim (community) will see the fruits of most successful attacks of our fedayeen in USA."
"Fedayeen" usually refers to suicide bombers, which the car bomb attempt in New York did not involve.
Mehsud also refutes earlier Pakistani and American claims that he died in a U.S. missile strike in January, referring to reports about his demise as propaganda.
A picture of Mehsud next to a map of the United States showing explosions in three cities coast to coast is featured in another video that surfaced, IntelCenter said. However, the map is not detailed enough to identify which cities.
The clip is 2 minutes, 19 seconds long and was purportedly made on April 19. Audio attributed to Mehsud says that the group's main targets from now on are U.S. cities, and that "good news will be heard within some days or weeks."
An additional video was about 1 minute, 11 seconds long and appears to refer to the New York scare, though it does not mention any specific location or that it was a car bomb, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, another militant media monitor.
A voice attributed to a Pakistani Taliban militant acts as if the attack was successful, and calls it revenge for the U.S. missile strike killing of ex-Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud as well as the recent slaying of al-Qaida in Iraq leaders Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The latter two were killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops last month north of Baghdad.
SITE, which is also U.S.-based, first uncovered the video on YouTube. The tape later appeared to have been removed from the website. It was not immediately clear if militants prepared the video in anticipation of a successful attack but then removed it after the car bomb failed to explode.
In a copy of the tape provided by SITE, an unidentified voice speaking in Urdu, the primary language in Pakistan, says the group takes "full responsibility for the RECENT ATTACK IN THE USA."
The videos list grievances against the United States. One clip says the attack comes in response to American "interference and terrorism in Muslim Countries, especially in Pakistan for (the) Lalmasjid operation," a reference to the Pakistani army's 2007 storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad where militants were holed up.
The claims in the three videos could not be immediately be independently verified, and U.S. officials have played down the group's potential involvement. New York City's police commissioner said there's no evidence of a Taliban link to the failed car bomb, while the White House has declined to comment on the claims.
If they turn out to be genuine, however, it would be the first time the Pakistani Taliban has struck outside of South Asia.
Pakistan considers the network it's No. 1 internal threat, and the army here has pursued offensives against the group that are believed to have significantly weakened it.
The network also has no known global infrastructure like al-Qaida, though it professes the same hatred of the U.S. and has threatened to attack it. In at least one past instance, the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack it played no role in — a mass shooting in Binghamton, N.Y. in April 2009
Still, the Pakistani Taliban have proved remarkably resilient and crafty. For instance, since mid-January, Pakistani and U.S. officials had come to increasingly believe that Hakimullah had died in a U.S. missile strike. Only recently did the Pakistani intelligence agencies revise that assessment.
The group also is believed to have played a role in a suicide bombing at a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan that killed seven of the agency's employees late last year. Hakimullah Mehsud appeared in a video with the would-be suicide attacker, a Jordanian the agency was cultivating as an informant, in which the bomber listed grievances against the U.S.
***
AP – An image from a Pakistani Taliban video and released by IntelCenter, a private contractor working for …
By NAHAL TOOSI
Associated Press Writer
Source of Article
May 3, 2010, 2 hrs 51 mins ago
ISLAMABAD – The Pakistani Taliban promise future attacks on major U.S. cities and appear to claim responsibility for an attempted car bombing in New York in three separate videos that surfaced after the weekend scare, monitoring groups said Monday.
U.S. authorities have played down the potential connection between the Pakistani militant network and the car bomb attempt in New York's Times Square, saying the group does not have the global infrastructure to carry out such a strike. However, the Pakistani Taliban is allied with militant networks such as al-Qaida, which could aid in expanding its reach.
Two of the videos feature Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, providing the strongest evidence to date that he survived a U.S. missile strike in January.
Police in New York found the potentially powerful car bomb on Saturday. It had apparently began to detonate but did not explode in a smoking sport utility vehicle. The vehicle contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components, officials said.
The most substantial of the militant videos is nearly nine minutes long, according to IntelCenter, a U.S.-based group that monitors militant media. In it, Mehsud does not specifically mention New York, but says he is speaking on April 4 of this year, and promises that, "(God willing), very soon in some days or a month's time, the Muslim (community) will see the fruits of most successful attacks of our fedayeen in USA."
"Fedayeen" usually refers to suicide bombers, which the car bomb attempt in New York did not involve.
Mehsud also refutes earlier Pakistani and American claims that he died in a U.S. missile strike in January, referring to reports about his demise as propaganda.
A picture of Mehsud next to a map of the United States showing explosions in three cities coast to coast is featured in another video that surfaced, IntelCenter said. However, the map is not detailed enough to identify which cities.
The clip is 2 minutes, 19 seconds long and was purportedly made on April 19. Audio attributed to Mehsud says that the group's main targets from now on are U.S. cities, and that "good news will be heard within some days or weeks."
An additional video was about 1 minute, 11 seconds long and appears to refer to the New York scare, though it does not mention any specific location or that it was a car bomb, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, another militant media monitor.
A voice attributed to a Pakistani Taliban militant acts as if the attack was successful, and calls it revenge for the U.S. missile strike killing of ex-Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud as well as the recent slaying of al-Qaida in Iraq leaders Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The latter two were killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops last month north of Baghdad.
SITE, which is also U.S.-based, first uncovered the video on YouTube. The tape later appeared to have been removed from the website. It was not immediately clear if militants prepared the video in anticipation of a successful attack but then removed it after the car bomb failed to explode.
In a copy of the tape provided by SITE, an unidentified voice speaking in Urdu, the primary language in Pakistan, says the group takes "full responsibility for the RECENT ATTACK IN THE USA."
The videos list grievances against the United States. One clip says the attack comes in response to American "interference and terrorism in Muslim Countries, especially in Pakistan for (the) Lalmasjid operation," a reference to the Pakistani army's 2007 storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad where militants were holed up.
The claims in the three videos could not be immediately be independently verified, and U.S. officials have played down the group's potential involvement. New York City's police commissioner said there's no evidence of a Taliban link to the failed car bomb, while the White House has declined to comment on the claims.
If they turn out to be genuine, however, it would be the first time the Pakistani Taliban has struck outside of South Asia.
Pakistan considers the network it's No. 1 internal threat, and the army here has pursued offensives against the group that are believed to have significantly weakened it.
The network also has no known global infrastructure like al-Qaida, though it professes the same hatred of the U.S. and has threatened to attack it. In at least one past instance, the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack it played no role in — a mass shooting in Binghamton, N.Y. in April 2009
Still, the Pakistani Taliban have proved remarkably resilient and crafty. For instance, since mid-January, Pakistani and U.S. officials had come to increasingly believe that Hakimullah had died in a U.S. missile strike. Only recently did the Pakistani intelligence agencies revise that assessment.
The group also is believed to have played a role in a suicide bombing at a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan that killed seven of the agency's employees late last year. Hakimullah Mehsud appeared in a video with the would-be suicide attacker, a Jordanian the agency was cultivating as an informant, in which the bomber listed grievances against the U.S.
***
"All GREAT TRUTHS begin as blasphemies."
-- George Bernard Shaw
-- George Bernard Shaw
-
Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:41 pm
- Location: 2003 YORWW Bible Academy Graduate
- Contact:
‘CIA Runs Covert Army To Hunt Qaeda In Pak’
‘CIA Runs Covert Army To Hunt Qaeda In Pak’
Press Trust of India
Article Source
Posted online: Fri Sep 24 2010, 03:03 hrs
New York : The CIA is running a 3,000-strong covert army to hunt down leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with US officials saying that the force is proving “highly effective”.
The heavily-armed irregular force manned entirely by Afghan personnel operates in small units called Counter-terrorism Pursuit Teams is modelled after the US Special Forces, the officials said confirming the disclosure made in a new book — Obama’s Wars — by journalist Bob Woodward. The brigade sized force, officials said, is “one of the best Afghan fighting force that has made a major contribution to stability and security”.
The book said the force trained and bankrolled by the CIA and had been operating for nearly eight years to hunt al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders. The Afghan force reportedly drawn out from private militias and armies of former warlords has been trained in CIA’s facilities in the US.
The force has been designed to pursue “highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan”, The Washington Post reported. The New York Times said these CIA forces conducted clandestine raids into Pakistan as part of stepped-up campaign against al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens there.
“The covert army captures and kills Taliban fighters and seeks support in Tribal areas,” The New York Times quoted Pentagon officials as saying. Afghan units were closely working with American Green Berets to go after Taliban fighters.
“We need to make clear to the people that the cancer is in Pakistan”, the book quotes Obama as saying, adding that the CIA had turned this into its classic old strategy of setting up of a lethal proxy unit. Pakistan says it is unaware of such a force.
***
Press Trust of India
Article Source
Posted online: Fri Sep 24 2010, 03:03 hrs
New York : The CIA is running a 3,000-strong covert army to hunt down leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with US officials saying that the force is proving “highly effective”.
The heavily-armed irregular force manned entirely by Afghan personnel operates in small units called Counter-terrorism Pursuit Teams is modelled after the US Special Forces, the officials said confirming the disclosure made in a new book — Obama’s Wars — by journalist Bob Woodward. The brigade sized force, officials said, is “one of the best Afghan fighting force that has made a major contribution to stability and security”.
The book said the force trained and bankrolled by the CIA and had been operating for nearly eight years to hunt al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders. The Afghan force reportedly drawn out from private militias and armies of former warlords has been trained in CIA’s facilities in the US.
The force has been designed to pursue “highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan”, The Washington Post reported. The New York Times said these CIA forces conducted clandestine raids into Pakistan as part of stepped-up campaign against al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens there.
“The covert army captures and kills Taliban fighters and seeks support in Tribal areas,” The New York Times quoted Pentagon officials as saying. Afghan units were closely working with American Green Berets to go after Taliban fighters.
“We need to make clear to the people that the cancer is in Pakistan”, the book quotes Obama as saying, adding that the CIA had turned this into its classic old strategy of setting up of a lethal proxy unit. Pakistan says it is unaware of such a force.
***
-
Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:41 pm
- Location: 2003 YORWW Bible Academy Graduate
- Contact:
Analysts: Europe Plot Reveals Al Qaeda Adapting
Analysts: Europe Plot Reveals Al Qaeda Adapting
By Nic Robertson, Paul Cruickshank and Paul Armstrong, CNN
Article Source
September 29, 2010 -- Updated 2131 GMT (0531 HKT)
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A deadly plan uncovered by Western intelligence services to attack targets across Europe could indicate a change in tactics by al Qaeda, security analysts say.
German intelligence officials say much of the information about the plot has come from a German citizen with suspected links to al Qaeda who was detained in Kabul in July and handed over to U.S. forces.
The officials say he has spoken of a plan similar to the 2008 assault on the Indian city of Mumbai and had told interrogators the plan had the blessing of Osama bin Laden.
In that attack, spread over three days, more than 160 people were killed as 10 men attacked and occupied a number of prominent buildings including the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and Oberoi-Trident hotels, the city's Victoria Terminus train station, and the Jewish cultural center, Chabad House.
India blamed the attacks on the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based terror group allied with al Qaeda.
With al Qaeda struggling to replicate attacks on the scale of the devastation witnessed on September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington, security experts believe the Mumbai attack, which gained worldwide publicity, may provide the template for its future operations.
"This new plot is perhaps an indication that al Qaeda is trying to change its strategy," said CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson. "The high-profile attacks that it has always liked using explosives are clearly getting harder and harder to perpetrate.
"The cells are being spotted and it's harder to keep undercover when you're making bombs. Even buying the material to make bombs is getting harder, so many analysts believe al Qaeda would be unable to mount a 9/11-style attack in the current climate.
"Therefore Mumbai would have been viewed as successful by the al Qaeda leadership as it killed a large number of people. This type of attack is just as deadly but harder to stop."
In the last year, a number of plots targeting the West have been foiled, including the failed Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner; the failed car bomb attempt in New York City's Times Square and an alleged plan to attack shopping malls in Manchester, England over one holiday weekend in 2009.
Read how the plot was uncovered
CNN Terrorism Consultant Paul Cruickshank says Western intelligence officials are extremely worried about a Mumbai-style attack if al Qaeda chooses "softer" economic targets.
"We're so vulnerable in Europe and the United States," he said. "Guns and ammunition can be concealed easily. They may be harder to access in Europe, but not impossible on the black market."
Last week, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the terrorism threat against the United States has evolved, with homegrown terrorists and a greater diversity in the scope and methods of attack -- making it more difficult to prevent them.
"It is diversifying in terms of sources; it is diversifying in terms of tactics," she said. "The results of these changing tactics are fewer opportunities to detect and disrupt plots."
Al Qaeda's hideouts in the tribal areas that straddle the Pakistan-Afghanistan border have come under greater pressure.
Operations by the Pakistani Army have forced the group into a diminishing area; and the much expanded U.S. drone campaign has disrupted its operations and killed senior figures. But enough of the leadership remains at large and it is a supremely adaptive organization.
"They're down but not out," warned Cruickshank. "Osama bin Laden most definitely signed off on this operation and this is a major fact to bear in mind.
"This is interesting because there has been little in recent times to pinpoint his role in various plots. So he's still in charge, he's still the strategic driving force but not the details guy.
"They may go to him for the big decisions but the detailed operations will be taken care of by people under him who have risen through the ranks in tribal areas of Pakistan, where it has its center, or have come recently from Europe or the U.S."
This diversification has also meant forging links with groups around the world that share al Qaeda's anti-western and jihadist ideology, such as al Shabaab in Somalia and Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.
"Al Shabaab is involved in a nationalist struggle in Somalia but has already shown it is willing to strike outside its borders with the recent attack in Uganda," said Robertson. "It has attracted people from the U.S. to go there and join the fight and al Qaeda would like to turn many of them around, creating a wider potential threat there."
Despite a number of failed plots, al Qaeda has retained a command structure -- and has a external operations chief planning operations around the world. U.S. officials say evidence of this emerged in the case of Najibullah Zazi, a U.S. resident, who this year confessed to a plot to carry out suicide bombings in the New York City subway.
U.S. officials allege that a senior al Qaeda handler, Adnan El Shukrijumah, recruited Zazi to conduct suicide bombings in the city with bombs made of hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and high explosive detonators.
An accomplice also confessed to being involved in the plot; a third man is due to go on trial in New York also accused of involvement. Prosecutors allege all three went to Pakistan and received training in making bombs at al Qaeda camps. Shukrijumah is a U.S. citizen who had lived in New York and Florida.
"Even though many al Qaeda plots failed, they have shown they can still send personnel to western countries, said Cruickshank. "The feeling is some attacks will eventually get through. Al Qaeda may be smaller now but they are still very capable of launching deadly attacks."
***
By Nic Robertson, Paul Cruickshank and Paul Armstrong, CNN
Article Source
September 29, 2010 -- Updated 2131 GMT (0531 HKT)
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A deadly plan uncovered by Western intelligence services to attack targets across Europe could indicate a change in tactics by al Qaeda, security analysts say.
German intelligence officials say much of the information about the plot has come from a German citizen with suspected links to al Qaeda who was detained in Kabul in July and handed over to U.S. forces.
The officials say he has spoken of a plan similar to the 2008 assault on the Indian city of Mumbai and had told interrogators the plan had the blessing of Osama bin Laden.
In that attack, spread over three days, more than 160 people were killed as 10 men attacked and occupied a number of prominent buildings including the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and Oberoi-Trident hotels, the city's Victoria Terminus train station, and the Jewish cultural center, Chabad House.
India blamed the attacks on the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based terror group allied with al Qaeda.
With al Qaeda struggling to replicate attacks on the scale of the devastation witnessed on September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington, security experts believe the Mumbai attack, which gained worldwide publicity, may provide the template for its future operations.
"This new plot is perhaps an indication that al Qaeda is trying to change its strategy," said CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson. "The high-profile attacks that it has always liked using explosives are clearly getting harder and harder to perpetrate.
"The cells are being spotted and it's harder to keep undercover when you're making bombs. Even buying the material to make bombs is getting harder, so many analysts believe al Qaeda would be unable to mount a 9/11-style attack in the current climate.
"Therefore Mumbai would have been viewed as successful by the al Qaeda leadership as it killed a large number of people. This type of attack is just as deadly but harder to stop."
In the last year, a number of plots targeting the West have been foiled, including the failed Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner; the failed car bomb attempt in New York City's Times Square and an alleged plan to attack shopping malls in Manchester, England over one holiday weekend in 2009.
Read how the plot was uncovered
CNN Terrorism Consultant Paul Cruickshank says Western intelligence officials are extremely worried about a Mumbai-style attack if al Qaeda chooses "softer" economic targets.
"We're so vulnerable in Europe and the United States," he said. "Guns and ammunition can be concealed easily. They may be harder to access in Europe, but not impossible on the black market."
Last week, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the terrorism threat against the United States has evolved, with homegrown terrorists and a greater diversity in the scope and methods of attack -- making it more difficult to prevent them.
"It is diversifying in terms of sources; it is diversifying in terms of tactics," she said. "The results of these changing tactics are fewer opportunities to detect and disrupt plots."
Al Qaeda's hideouts in the tribal areas that straddle the Pakistan-Afghanistan border have come under greater pressure.
Operations by the Pakistani Army have forced the group into a diminishing area; and the much expanded U.S. drone campaign has disrupted its operations and killed senior figures. But enough of the leadership remains at large and it is a supremely adaptive organization.
"They're down but not out," warned Cruickshank. "Osama bin Laden most definitely signed off on this operation and this is a major fact to bear in mind.
"This is interesting because there has been little in recent times to pinpoint his role in various plots. So he's still in charge, he's still the strategic driving force but not the details guy.
"They may go to him for the big decisions but the detailed operations will be taken care of by people under him who have risen through the ranks in tribal areas of Pakistan, where it has its center, or have come recently from Europe or the U.S."
This diversification has also meant forging links with groups around the world that share al Qaeda's anti-western and jihadist ideology, such as al Shabaab in Somalia and Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.
"Al Shabaab is involved in a nationalist struggle in Somalia but has already shown it is willing to strike outside its borders with the recent attack in Uganda," said Robertson. "It has attracted people from the U.S. to go there and join the fight and al Qaeda would like to turn many of them around, creating a wider potential threat there."
Despite a number of failed plots, al Qaeda has retained a command structure -- and has a external operations chief planning operations around the world. U.S. officials say evidence of this emerged in the case of Najibullah Zazi, a U.S. resident, who this year confessed to a plot to carry out suicide bombings in the New York City subway.
U.S. officials allege that a senior al Qaeda handler, Adnan El Shukrijumah, recruited Zazi to conduct suicide bombings in the city with bombs made of hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and high explosive detonators.
An accomplice also confessed to being involved in the plot; a third man is due to go on trial in New York also accused of involvement. Prosecutors allege all three went to Pakistan and received training in making bombs at al Qaeda camps. Shukrijumah is a U.S. citizen who had lived in New York and Florida.
"Even though many al Qaeda plots failed, they have shown they can still send personnel to western countries, said Cruickshank. "The feeling is some attacks will eventually get through. Al Qaeda may be smaller now but they are still very capable of launching deadly attacks."
***
-
Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:41 pm
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- Contact:
Bin Laden Warns France Over Afghan War, Veil Ban
TV Network Says It Got an Audio Tape by Bin Laden, Who Threatens: "It Is a Simple Equation: If You Kill, You Will Be Killed"
CAIRO, Oct. 27, 2010
Article Source
CBSNews.com
(AP) Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatens in a new audio tape to kill French citizens to avenge their country's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and a new law that will ban face-covering Muslim veils.
In the tape obtained by satellite television station Al-Jazeera and then posted on its website on Wednesday, bin Laden said France was aiding the Americans in the killing of Muslim women and children in an apparent reference to the war in Afghanistan. He said the kidnapping of five French citizens in the African nation of Niger last month was a reaction to what he called France's oppression of Muslims.
"How can it be right that you participate in the occupation of our lands, support the Americans in the killing of our women and children and yet want to live in peace and security?" said bin Laden, addressing the French.
"It is a simple and clear equation: As you kill, you will be killed. As you capture, you will be captured. And as you threaten our security, your security will be threatened. The way to safeguard your security is to cease your oppression and its impact on our nation, most importantly your withdrawal from the ill-fated Bush war in Afghanistan."
The authenticity of the tape could not be immediately verified but the voice resembled that of the terror group leader on previous tapes determined to be genuine. France's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tapes by bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri, have recently been posted on Al-Jazeera website rather than on sites run by militant Muslims as has been done for years. The shift appears to reflect the unexplained technical difficulties or closures experienced by the militant sites in recent months.
France has about 4,000 troops deployed in and near Afghanistan.
"You need to think of what happened to America as a result of that unjust war," bin Laden said, again addressing the French and referring to the war in Afghanistan. "It's on the verge of bankruptcy ... and tomorrow it will retreat to beyond the Atlantic."
France passed a law this month that will ban the wearing of face-covering burqa-style Muslim veils in public starting in April. Many Muslims have expressed fears the law would stigmatize them.
"If you deemed it your right to ban (Muslim) women from wearing the hijab, then should not it be our right to expel your invading men by striking their necks?" bin Laden said.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, an offshoot of bin Laden's group, has claimed responsibility for the abductions of five French citizens in Niger and is believed to have taken them to neighboring Mali. The French hostages, as well as a Togolese and a Madagascar national were kidnapped on Sept. 16 while they were sleeping in their villas in the uranium mining town of Arlit.
"The kidnapping of your experts in the Niger is a reaction to your oppression of Muslims," said bin Laden.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb grew out of an Islamist insurgency movement in Algeria, merging with al Qaeda in 2006 and spreading through the Sahara and the arid Sahel region. It has increasingly been targeting French interests.
In July, the group said it executed a 78-year-old French aid worker it had taken hostage three months before. It said the killing was retaliation for the deaths of six al Qaeda members in a French-backed military operation against the group.
Also in July, the French military said it provided technical and logistical assistance to help Mauritanian forces thwart an attack by suspected al Qaeda members in northwest Africa. It said the operation left six extremists dead.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy later described that operation as a "turning point" and said France would provide training, equipment and intelligence to local troops working to fight militants in the Sahel.
A series of warnings has put France and other European countries on high alert in recent weeks, prompting the U.S. State Department to advise American citizens living or traveling in Europe to take more precautions. Speculation on the source of a potential terror threat in France has focused on al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
***
TV Network Says It Got an Audio Tape by Bin Laden, Who Threatens: "It Is a Simple Equation: If You Kill, You Will Be Killed"
CAIRO, Oct. 27, 2010
Article Source
CBSNews.com
(AP) Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatens in a new audio tape to kill French citizens to avenge their country's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and a new law that will ban face-covering Muslim veils.
In the tape obtained by satellite television station Al-Jazeera and then posted on its website on Wednesday, bin Laden said France was aiding the Americans in the killing of Muslim women and children in an apparent reference to the war in Afghanistan. He said the kidnapping of five French citizens in the African nation of Niger last month was a reaction to what he called France's oppression of Muslims.
"How can it be right that you participate in the occupation of our lands, support the Americans in the killing of our women and children and yet want to live in peace and security?" said bin Laden, addressing the French.
"It is a simple and clear equation: As you kill, you will be killed. As you capture, you will be captured. And as you threaten our security, your security will be threatened. The way to safeguard your security is to cease your oppression and its impact on our nation, most importantly your withdrawal from the ill-fated Bush war in Afghanistan."
The authenticity of the tape could not be immediately verified but the voice resembled that of the terror group leader on previous tapes determined to be genuine. France's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tapes by bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri, have recently been posted on Al-Jazeera website rather than on sites run by militant Muslims as has been done for years. The shift appears to reflect the unexplained technical difficulties or closures experienced by the militant sites in recent months.
France has about 4,000 troops deployed in and near Afghanistan.
"You need to think of what happened to America as a result of that unjust war," bin Laden said, again addressing the French and referring to the war in Afghanistan. "It's on the verge of bankruptcy ... and tomorrow it will retreat to beyond the Atlantic."
France passed a law this month that will ban the wearing of face-covering burqa-style Muslim veils in public starting in April. Many Muslims have expressed fears the law would stigmatize them.
"If you deemed it your right to ban (Muslim) women from wearing the hijab, then should not it be our right to expel your invading men by striking their necks?" bin Laden said.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, an offshoot of bin Laden's group, has claimed responsibility for the abductions of five French citizens in Niger and is believed to have taken them to neighboring Mali. The French hostages, as well as a Togolese and a Madagascar national were kidnapped on Sept. 16 while they were sleeping in their villas in the uranium mining town of Arlit.
"The kidnapping of your experts in the Niger is a reaction to your oppression of Muslims," said bin Laden.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb grew out of an Islamist insurgency movement in Algeria, merging with al Qaeda in 2006 and spreading through the Sahara and the arid Sahel region. It has increasingly been targeting French interests.
In July, the group said it executed a 78-year-old French aid worker it had taken hostage three months before. It said the killing was retaliation for the deaths of six al Qaeda members in a French-backed military operation against the group.
Also in July, the French military said it provided technical and logistical assistance to help Mauritanian forces thwart an attack by suspected al Qaeda members in northwest Africa. It said the operation left six extremists dead.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy later described that operation as a "turning point" and said France would provide training, equipment and intelligence to local troops working to fight militants in the Sahel.
A series of warnings has put France and other European countries on high alert in recent weeks, prompting the U.S. State Department to advise American citizens living or traveling in Europe to take more precautions. Speculation on the source of a potential terror threat in France has focused on al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
***
-
Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:41 pm
- Location: 2003 YORWW Bible Academy Graduate
- Contact:
Suspicious UK Item Sparks US Plane, Truck Sweep
Doctored Ink Cartridge on Plane in U.K. Prompts Searches of UPS Planes,
Trucks in US; All Suspicious Items Sent from Yemen
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2010
Article Source
CBSNews.com
(CBS/AP) Last updated 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Suspicious packages containing toner cartridges with wires and powder was found during routine screening of cargo in the United Kingdom, prompting authorities to scour three planes and two trucks in the United States on Friday. Sources tell CBS News that the cartridges also contained a syringe.
Authorities are investigating whether the string of suspicious packages was a dry run for a plot to send bombs through the mail.
Searches were conducted in Philadelphia, Newark, N.J., and New York City, but no explosives were found. All the packages believed to be suspicious came from Yemen and were being sent via UPS.
Yemen is the home of the al Qaeda branch that claimed responsibility for an attempted bombing of a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas.
Meanhwile, officials for FedEx said the company has confiscated a suspicious package in Dubai that was shipped from Yemen and is cooperating with the FBI.
Cargo planes in the U.K. and Dubai were searched in response to a specific warning that they were carrying suspicious packages originating in Yemen with addresses to synagogues and Jewish centers in Chicago, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.
A Joint Terrorism Task Force source tells CBS News that investigators are looking for between 10-20 packages shipped out of the UPS office in Sanna, Yemen during the same time frame.
Authorities are looking for a small device in the packaging similar to the Detroit underwear bomber device, a law enforcement source told CBS News.
The White House says President Barack Obama was notified about the potential terrorist threat.
Officials found a suspicious item during a basic security screening process in the United Kingdom, according to a U.S. government official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
U.K. officials discovered that a toner cartridge on the plane had been manipulated and found wires attached to it and white powder. Tests on the device came back negative for explosives, according to a law enforcement official who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.
All the packages being investigated in the U.S. originated from a specific address in Yemen that is connected to the suspicious device found in the U.K., the law enforcement official said. The official would not say where in Yemen the package came from.
Concerns about the possibility of similar and potentially dangerous devices shipped elsewhere prompted officials to check other cargo headed to the U.S.
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Kristin Lee says the planes in Philadelphia and Newark were swept. The planes were moved away from terminal buildings so law enforcement officials could investigate.
Two Philadelphia jets belonging to UPS were searched. A federal law enforcement official, who was not authorized to provide information on the investigation, told the AP that nothing suspicious was found on them.
A source with knowledge of the situation in Newark who was not authorized to speak said the FBI and a bomb squad checked two packages there and gave the "all clear."
The Department of Homeland Security announced that it was taking steps to enhance security.
"Some of these security measures will be visible while others will not. The public may recognize specific enhancements including heightened cargo screening and additional security at airports," the DHS statement reads.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that the NYPD removed a package from a UPS truck in Brooklyn, tested it for possible explosives and found it not to be dangerous. The package was an envelope that came from Yemen, appeared to contain bank receipts, and was addressed to the JP Morgan Chase bank in Brooklyn, Kelly said. The package arrived on a plane that landed at Kennedy Airport, he said.
Yemeni authorities reached by the AP declined to comment. Many offices were closed because Friday is a day off in Yemen.
Mike Mangeot, a spokesman for Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc., said two planes in Philadelphia that had come from Cologne, Germany, and Paris were being investigated.
"Out of an abundance of caution, those aircraft have been isolated, and they are looking into the shipments in question there," he said.
Air Cargo Loopholes May Risk Security
All UPS packages are x-rayed and visually inspected, the manager at UPS Sanaa told CBS News.
A third plane had arrived in Newark, N.J., from East Midlands airport in England. That plane was cleared and flew to UPS' main hub in Louisville, Ky., on its usual route, Mangeot said.
In central England, police had evacuated a freight distribution building at East Midlands Airport after a suspicious package was reported at 3:30 a.m. Police and emergency workers examined the package and lifted the security cordon by midmorning, but Leicestershire Constabulary later said officers were re-examining it "as a precaution."
Sarah Furbank, a passenger who was about to board a plane out of East Midlands Airport, said that she had noticed an increased security presence.
There were "quite a few police cars round the edge" of the airport, Furbank told The Associated Press. "Apparently there was an incident earlier according to staff but they didn't go into detail."
***
Doctored Ink Cartridge on Plane in U.K. Prompts Searches of UPS Planes,
Trucks in US; All Suspicious Items Sent from Yemen
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2010
Article Source
CBSNews.com
(CBS/AP) Last updated 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Suspicious packages containing toner cartridges with wires and powder was found during routine screening of cargo in the United Kingdom, prompting authorities to scour three planes and two trucks in the United States on Friday. Sources tell CBS News that the cartridges also contained a syringe.
Authorities are investigating whether the string of suspicious packages was a dry run for a plot to send bombs through the mail.
Searches were conducted in Philadelphia, Newark, N.J., and New York City, but no explosives were found. All the packages believed to be suspicious came from Yemen and were being sent via UPS.
Yemen is the home of the al Qaeda branch that claimed responsibility for an attempted bombing of a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas.
Meanhwile, officials for FedEx said the company has confiscated a suspicious package in Dubai that was shipped from Yemen and is cooperating with the FBI.
Cargo planes in the U.K. and Dubai were searched in response to a specific warning that they were carrying suspicious packages originating in Yemen with addresses to synagogues and Jewish centers in Chicago, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.
A Joint Terrorism Task Force source tells CBS News that investigators are looking for between 10-20 packages shipped out of the UPS office in Sanna, Yemen during the same time frame.
Authorities are looking for a small device in the packaging similar to the Detroit underwear bomber device, a law enforcement source told CBS News.
The White House says President Barack Obama was notified about the potential terrorist threat.
Officials found a suspicious item during a basic security screening process in the United Kingdom, according to a U.S. government official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
U.K. officials discovered that a toner cartridge on the plane had been manipulated and found wires attached to it and white powder. Tests on the device came back negative for explosives, according to a law enforcement official who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.
All the packages being investigated in the U.S. originated from a specific address in Yemen that is connected to the suspicious device found in the U.K., the law enforcement official said. The official would not say where in Yemen the package came from.
Concerns about the possibility of similar and potentially dangerous devices shipped elsewhere prompted officials to check other cargo headed to the U.S.
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Kristin Lee says the planes in Philadelphia and Newark were swept. The planes were moved away from terminal buildings so law enforcement officials could investigate.
Two Philadelphia jets belonging to UPS were searched. A federal law enforcement official, who was not authorized to provide information on the investigation, told the AP that nothing suspicious was found on them.
A source with knowledge of the situation in Newark who was not authorized to speak said the FBI and a bomb squad checked two packages there and gave the "all clear."
The Department of Homeland Security announced that it was taking steps to enhance security.
"Some of these security measures will be visible while others will not. The public may recognize specific enhancements including heightened cargo screening and additional security at airports," the DHS statement reads.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that the NYPD removed a package from a UPS truck in Brooklyn, tested it for possible explosives and found it not to be dangerous. The package was an envelope that came from Yemen, appeared to contain bank receipts, and was addressed to the JP Morgan Chase bank in Brooklyn, Kelly said. The package arrived on a plane that landed at Kennedy Airport, he said.
Yemeni authorities reached by the AP declined to comment. Many offices were closed because Friday is a day off in Yemen.
Mike Mangeot, a spokesman for Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc., said two planes in Philadelphia that had come from Cologne, Germany, and Paris were being investigated.
"Out of an abundance of caution, those aircraft have been isolated, and they are looking into the shipments in question there," he said.
Air Cargo Loopholes May Risk Security
All UPS packages are x-rayed and visually inspected, the manager at UPS Sanaa told CBS News.
A third plane had arrived in Newark, N.J., from East Midlands airport in England. That plane was cleared and flew to UPS' main hub in Louisville, Ky., on its usual route, Mangeot said.
In central England, police had evacuated a freight distribution building at East Midlands Airport after a suspicious package was reported at 3:30 a.m. Police and emergency workers examined the package and lifted the security cordon by midmorning, but Leicestershire Constabulary later said officers were re-examining it "as a precaution."
Sarah Furbank, a passenger who was about to board a plane out of East Midlands Airport, said that she had noticed an increased security presence.
There were "quite a few police cars round the edge" of the airport, Furbank told The Associated Press. "Apparently there was an incident earlier according to staff but they didn't go into detail."
***
-
Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:41 pm
- Location: 2003 YORWW Bible Academy Graduate
- Contact:
BOMB BUILT TO EXPLODE AT 30,000FT
Mirror.co.uk.com
Article Source
By Nick Owens
31/10/2010
Woman is arrested as agents track down printer plot terrorists
The al-Qaeda cargo bomb was primed to blow up in mid-air and could have exploded over Britain.
Prime Minister David Cameron revealed that the bomb discovered at East Midlands Airport on a US-bound cargo plane could have been set off in an atrocity similar to Lockerbie.
It is believed to have been posted by a woman in the rogue Arab state of Yemen and built by al-Qaeda terrorists.
The PM said: "We believe the device was designed to go off on the aeroplane. There is no early evidence it was designed to take place over British soil, but we can't rule that out."
The Premier's statement came as UK security officials continued to carry out tests on the bomb - concealed in a printer cartridge - which was discovered on a UPS cargo plane.
Meanwhile, authorities in Dubai have released dramatic new pictures of a second bomb - also bound for the US - which terrorists had hidden inside a printer.
Highly potent explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate - PETN - had been tucked inside the printer's toner cartridge with wires linked to a mobile phone SIM card.
A simple phone call would have activated the bomb at 30,000ft and brought down the jet carrying it.
Yesterday the hunt for the terrorists behind the plot focused on the Yemen, home to more than 500 members of al-Qaeda. Authorities in the Arab state, where there is virtually no government, were reportedly searching for another 24 bombs in the capital San'a.
Last night they arrested a woman in connection with both bombs.
Today the Sunday Mirror can also reveal that militants in Yemen have been issued with instructions to use Semtex to launch attacks to cause terror and mayhem throughout the West.
Home Secretary Theresa May chaired a meeting of the emergency committee Cobra yesterday and announced a ban on all cargo flights from the Yemen into or via the UK.
She said: "The target of the device may have been an aircraft and, had it detonated, the aircraft could have been brought down.
"Our investigation remains sensitive. The threat level is already at severe, meaning that a terrorist attack in this country is highly likely. We do not plan to change that threat level at this stage."
A ban on passenger flights from the Yemen, introduced in January, will remain in place. The PM and US President Barack Obama shared a phone call yesterday to discuss the terror alert. The Prime Minister also spoke with President Saleh of Yemen, who said later that the arrested woman had posted both of the bomb packages.
Last night it was suggested that the East Midlands device was so sophisticated that initial examination by forensics experts suggested it did not contain explosives.
"Even when it was examined, the sniffer dogs couldn't detect it," a security source was quoted as saying.
"It was only when forensics experts had a second look at it they realised what it was."
Police in Dubai have confirmed the device found there bore the hallmarks of terror-group al-Qaeda.
A spokesman said: "The parcel was prepared in a professional manner where a closed electrical circuit was connected to a mobile phone SIM card hidden inside the printer. This tactic carries the hallmarks of methods used by terrorist organisations such as al-Qaeda."
Us Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she also suspected al-Qaeda involvement.
The suspect packages - described by President Obama as "a credible terrorist threat" - were addressed to synagogues in the Chicago area.
But security sources think that could be a bluff and that the intention was actually to bring down planes.
The discovery of the packages triggered massive security alerts in the US, UK and Middle East.
Aviation security expert Terry Tozer said British airport passengers can now expect a raft of new draconian security measures driven by the demands from the US.
Powerful weapon of choice PENTAERYTHRITOL tetranitrate, or PETN, is a major ingredient of Semtex and is one of the most powerful explosives known.
Its colourless crystals are hard to detect in a sealed container, making it a favourite of terrorists. Around 100g of PETN could destroy a car, say experts. Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber", tried to set off a PETN device on an American Airlines jet to Miami in 2001.
***
Mirror.co.uk.com
Article Source
By Nick Owens
31/10/2010
Woman is arrested as agents track down printer plot terrorists
The al-Qaeda cargo bomb was primed to blow up in mid-air and could have exploded over Britain.
Prime Minister David Cameron revealed that the bomb discovered at East Midlands Airport on a US-bound cargo plane could have been set off in an atrocity similar to Lockerbie.
It is believed to have been posted by a woman in the rogue Arab state of Yemen and built by al-Qaeda terrorists.
The PM said: "We believe the device was designed to go off on the aeroplane. There is no early evidence it was designed to take place over British soil, but we can't rule that out."
The Premier's statement came as UK security officials continued to carry out tests on the bomb - concealed in a printer cartridge - which was discovered on a UPS cargo plane.
Meanwhile, authorities in Dubai have released dramatic new pictures of a second bomb - also bound for the US - which terrorists had hidden inside a printer.
Highly potent explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate - PETN - had been tucked inside the printer's toner cartridge with wires linked to a mobile phone SIM card.
A simple phone call would have activated the bomb at 30,000ft and brought down the jet carrying it.
Yesterday the hunt for the terrorists behind the plot focused on the Yemen, home to more than 500 members of al-Qaeda. Authorities in the Arab state, where there is virtually no government, were reportedly searching for another 24 bombs in the capital San'a.
Last night they arrested a woman in connection with both bombs.
Today the Sunday Mirror can also reveal that militants in Yemen have been issued with instructions to use Semtex to launch attacks to cause terror and mayhem throughout the West.
Home Secretary Theresa May chaired a meeting of the emergency committee Cobra yesterday and announced a ban on all cargo flights from the Yemen into or via the UK.
She said: "The target of the device may have been an aircraft and, had it detonated, the aircraft could have been brought down.
"Our investigation remains sensitive. The threat level is already at severe, meaning that a terrorist attack in this country is highly likely. We do not plan to change that threat level at this stage."
A ban on passenger flights from the Yemen, introduced in January, will remain in place. The PM and US President Barack Obama shared a phone call yesterday to discuss the terror alert. The Prime Minister also spoke with President Saleh of Yemen, who said later that the arrested woman had posted both of the bomb packages.
Last night it was suggested that the East Midlands device was so sophisticated that initial examination by forensics experts suggested it did not contain explosives.
"Even when it was examined, the sniffer dogs couldn't detect it," a security source was quoted as saying.
"It was only when forensics experts had a second look at it they realised what it was."
Police in Dubai have confirmed the device found there bore the hallmarks of terror-group al-Qaeda.
A spokesman said: "The parcel was prepared in a professional manner where a closed electrical circuit was connected to a mobile phone SIM card hidden inside the printer. This tactic carries the hallmarks of methods used by terrorist organisations such as al-Qaeda."
Us Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she also suspected al-Qaeda involvement.
The suspect packages - described by President Obama as "a credible terrorist threat" - were addressed to synagogues in the Chicago area.
But security sources think that could be a bluff and that the intention was actually to bring down planes.
The discovery of the packages triggered massive security alerts in the US, UK and Middle East.
Aviation security expert Terry Tozer said British airport passengers can now expect a raft of new draconian security measures driven by the demands from the US.
Powerful weapon of choice PENTAERYTHRITOL tetranitrate, or PETN, is a major ingredient of Semtex and is one of the most powerful explosives known.
Its colourless crystals are hard to detect in a sealed container, making it a favourite of terrorists. Around 100g of PETN could destroy a car, say experts. Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber", tried to set off a PETN device on an American Airlines jet to Miami in 2001.
***
-
Mary
- YORWW Bible Academy Graduate (Alumni)
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:41 pm
- Location: 2003 YORWW Bible Academy Graduate
- Contact:
Re: The King of The "North" Is Coming!
Christians and Muslims Clash In Egyptian Capital
AP Associated Press
Article Source
By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI,
March 8, 2011
CAIRO – Clashes between Christians and Muslims escalated on Tuesday with thousands of people burning tires, smashing parked cars and cutting off a main road despite military moves to control a day of violent protests in Egypt's capital.
Tensions have been simmering between Egypt's minority Christian community and its Muslim majority after a Muslim mob burned a church in a Cairo suburb. Egypt's military rulers have since pledged to rebuild the church and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf met Monday with the protesters outside the state-television building.
On Tuesday, thousands of Christians demonstrated in locations around the city, saying they were being persecuted. But several of the gatherings descended into violence when the two sides confronted each other in the streets.
About 2,000 people cut off a main road running on the eastern side of the city and pelted motorists with rocks. A crowd of garbage collectors known as the zabaleen — who are predominantly Christians — also demonstrated on a main street near their neighborhood demanding equal rights and better quality of life.
Tensions remain high in Egypt nearly a month after mass protests ousted President Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years in power. The upheaval has plunged many parts of the country into turmoil, with virtually incessant protests, strikes and a higher rate of violent crime.
Also Tuesday, an Egyptian court rejected an appeal by Mubarak and his family against a top prosecutor's move to seize funds that could total in the billions of dollars. The decision clears the way for a criminal investigation and a possible trial of Egypt's former leader.
Mubarak, his wife, two sons and their wives have also been banned from travel abroad.
Judicial officials described the court decision to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
During the pro-democracy uprising, unconfirmed reports that Mubarak and his family might have amassed billions, or even tens of billions of dollars, over their three decades in power, fueled protesters already enraged over massive corruption and poverty in Egypt.
Mubarak, top leaders of his one-time ruling party and other cronies, as well as the powerful military have all profited richly from the corrupt system while nearly half of Egypt's 80 million people live under or near the poverty line set by the World bank at $2 a day.
Mubarak, 82, is suspected of turning a blind eye to corruption by family members and their associates, while many of the allegations of wrongdoing centered on the business activity of his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, as well as Gamal's wife and her family.
Unlike other Arab leaders, particularly those in the oil-rich Gulf nations, Mubarak was far from ostentatious. Whatever wealth he and his family may have had was rarely — if ever — flaunted. But that did not stop Egyptians from swapping stories about the size of their wealth and the allegedly corrupt methods they used to amass it.
The most prominent symbol of their presumed fortune that has surfaced was a town house in London's exclusive Knightsbridge district, which is listed under Gamal Mubarak's name and where he was said to have lived while working as an investment banker in the early 1990s. The town house has become a focal point for many in Egypt as foreign governments begin to either enact, or consider freezing the family's assets.
Gamal Mubarak was the ousted leader's one-time heir apparent, although they never confirmed the plan and remained evasive on the topic almost until the very end. The younger Mubarak rose rapidly through the ranks of his father's National Democratic Party, or NDP, over the past decade to become the country's most powerful politician after the president.
In the NDP, Gamal Mubarak surrounded himself with mega-rich businessmen who sought political careers to promote their business interests. Between them, they introduced far-reaching economic reforms that benefited the businessmen. But any prosperity Egypt ever enjoyed never trickled to the impoverished majority.
Several of those businessmen are now in prison and subject to criminal investigations as the ruling military pushes ahead with a campaign to cleanse the country from the corruption of the ousted regime.
Alaa Mubarak's wealth had been the subject of much speculation well before the political rise of his younger brother. There are allegations that he used the family name to muscle in on profitable enterprises, taking a cut of profits without contributing to the funds invested or work done.
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