May 2007

Al-Qaeda Operative Adam Gadahn in Message to President Bush (includes video)

May 31, 2007 -- No.1602

From: Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)

American Al-Qaeda Operative Adam Gadahn in Message to President Bush: Your People Will Experience Things That Will Make You Forget the Horrors of September 11, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Virginia Tech

The following is a video address by Adam Gadhan, aka "Azzam the American," which aired on www.tajded.net.tc on May 29, 2007.

TO VIEW THIS CLIP: http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=1464

"You Will Go Down in History... as the President who Sent the United States Off on its Death March Towards its Breakdown And Disintegration"

Complete translation of Gadhan message can be found at: http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD160207

Traveler with Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB)

May 29, 2007

The following is an official CDC Health Advisory
distributed via the Health Alert Network on May 29, 2007 at 12:40 p.m. EDT.

CDC Health Advisory - Drug Resistant TB

Investigation of U.S. Traveler with Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB)

ATLANTA, GA: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with a number of international, state, and local partners on an investigation involving a U.S. citizen recently diagnosed with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB). XDR TB has been recently defined as a subtype of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) with additional resistance to the two most important second-line antibiotics (i.e., a fluoroquinolone and an injectable agent [amikacin, kanamycin, or capreomycin]) in addition to the two most important first-line drugs (i.e., isoniazid and rifampin).

CDC learned that a patient with XDR TB traveled to Europe via commercial airline (Air France # 385) departing Atlanta on May 12 and arriving in Paris on May 13, 2007, and returned to the United States after taking a commercial flight on May 24 from Prague, Czech Republic to Montreal, Canada (Czech Air # 0104). The patient re-entered the U.S. on May 24 via automobile. Since May 25, the patient has been hospitalized in respiratory isolation and is undergoing additional medical evaluation.

CDC is collaborating with U.S. state and local health departments, international Ministries of Health, the airline industry, and the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding appropriate notification and follow up of passengers and crew potentially at risk for exposure to XDR TB. Each country involved in the investigation is determining the most appropriate guidance for its residents. The following recommendations have been developed for U.S. residents who may have been exposed to this patient.

This patient has radiographic evidence of pulmonary TB, is culture-positive for XDR TB, but is sputum smear negative for acid fast bacilli and is relatively asymptomatic. On the basis of the patient?s clinical and laboratory status, and lack of receiving adequate treatment for XDR TB, this patient was considered potentially infectious at the time of his airline travel, and meets the criteria in the WHO guidelines for initiating an airline contact investigation. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2006/WHO_HTM_TB_2006.363_eng.pdf

In accordance with the WHO TB and Airline Travel Guidelines, to ensure appropriate follow-up and care for persons who may have been exposed to XDR TB, CDC is recommending the following for passengers and crew onboard Air France # 385 departing Atlanta on May 12 and arriving in Paris on May 13, and on Czech Air # 0104 departing from Prague and arriving in Montreal on May 24: passengers seated in the same row as the index patient and those seated in the two rows ahead and the two rows behind, as well as the cabin crew members working in the same cabin should be evaluated for TB infection. This includes initial evaluation and testing with follow up 8-10 weeks later for re-evaluation.

As there has never been an airline contact investigation for XDR TB, it is not known if the current recommendations are adequate to determine the possible range and risk of transmission of infection. Because of the serious consequences of XDR TB and anticipated public concern, in addition to the contacts listed above, all U.S. residents and citizens on these flights should be notified and encouraged to seek TB testing and evaluation.

Drug-susceptible (regular) TB and XDR TB are thought to be spread the same way. TB bacilli become aerosolized when a person with TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes, speaks, or sings. These bacilli can float in the air for several hours, depending on the environment. Persons who breathe air containing these TB bacilli can become infected.

The risk of acquiring any type of TB appears to depend on several factors, such as extent of disease in the source patient, duration of exposure, and ventilation. Transmission has been documented in association with patients who have lung disease, and bacteria seen or cultured in sputum. Persons who become infected usually have been exposed for several hours (or days) in poorly ventilated or crowded environments. An important way to prevent the spread and transmission is by limiting an infectious person?s contact with other people. Thus, people who have a confirmed diagnosis of TB or XDR TB are placed on treatment and kept isolated until they are no longer infectious.

Persons who believe they may have been exposed to TB or XDR TB can call 1-800 CDC INFO for further information.

Where to go for information about:

Tuberculosis: http://www.cdc.gov/tb/default.htm

XDR TB: http://www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/xdrtb.htm and http://www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/cdcandxdrtb.htm

TB Testing: http://www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/skintesting.htm and http://www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/QFT.htm

Infection Control: http://www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/ichcs.htm and http://www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/rphcs.htm

Tuberculosis and Air Travel: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2006/WHO_HTM_TB_2006.363_eng.pdf

Emergency.com - Biohazard/Infectious Disease Page: http://www.emergency.com/infctous.htm

Private Security: Homeland Security's Weakest Link?

Tue, May. 29, 2007

AP IMPACT: Private security guards: homeland security weak link

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON --Richard Bergendahl fights the war on terrorism in Los Angeles for $19,000 a year, one of the legions of ill-trained, low-paid private security guards protecting tempting terrorist targets. One of them is the skyscraper down the block, identified by President Bush as a building chosen for a Sept. 11-style airplane attack.

Bergendahl, 55, says he often thinks: "Well, what am I doing here? These people are paying me minimum wage."

The security guard industry found itself involuntarily transformed after September 2001 from an army of "rent-a-cops" to protectors of the homeland. Yet many security officers are paid little more than restaurant cooks or janitors.

And the industry is governed by a maze of conflicting state rules, according to a nationwide survey by The Associated Press. Wide chasms exist among states in requirements for training and background checks. Tens of thousands of guard applicants were found to have criminal backgrounds.

"A security officer is ... not trained to be a G.I. Joe," said Paul Maniscalco, a senior research scientist at George Washington University.

More than five years after the 9/11 terror attacks, Maniscalco is helping to change the security guard culture. He recently developed an anti-terrorism computer course for shopping mall guards, who are being taught that they now have more concerns than rowdy teenagers and shoplifters.

The middle ground pay for security officers in 2006 was $23,620, according to a Labor Department survey. The low pay reflects cutthroat competition among security firms, who submit the lowest possible bids to win contracts. Lowball contracts also mean lower profit margins and less money for training and background checks for guards...

Article continues at: http://www.sunherald.com/306/story/64642.html

ERRI/EmergencyNet News References:

1. ERRI counter-terrorism analysts previously addressed this issue on several occasions, most recently in: February 13, 2007, 21:07 PM EST -- "Shopping Malls Another Vulnerable Target of Terrorism? Malls Emerge as Another Front in Terror War," which can be found on this blog at: http://www.emergency.com/archive/2007/02/entry_112.htm

2. Additionally, private security guard issues were covered in: 24 Apr 2002 - 11:00CDT - 24 Apr 2002, "Another Unconfirmed Zubaydah Statement Provokes Concerns At Shopping Malls," which is on the net at: http://www.emergency.com/2001/ter-advsry-sum.htm

3. ERRI's Clark Staten first (and most specifically) addressed this issue in regard to private security guards/screeners at aviation facilities at 23:30CDT on 07/23/96, in an article entitled: "Airport Safety and Security; "Minimal Acceptable Standards." That file is also available for review at: http://www.emergency.com/airprtsc.htm

34th Annual National EMS Week

ACEP Announces 34th Annual National EMS Week (This week)

May 20-26, 2007

Washington, DC-The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) today announced that the 34th annual Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week will be celebrated throughout the nation May 20-26, 2007. The event brings together local communities and medical personnel to publicize safety and honor the dedication of those who provide the day-to-day lifesaving services on the medical "front line."

National EMS Week will feature hundreds of grassroots activities coast-to-coast that will be planned around this year's theme, "Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Service," which exemplifies the excellent services provided every day, under any circumstances by the 750,000 EMS providers who serve their communities.

"As this year's theme emphasizes, EMS providers are dedicated to saving lives, even putting their own lives on hold as they respond to medical emergencies," said Dr. Brian Keaton, president of ACEP. "They do this every day without special recognition, which is why we are recognizing EMS providers this year as extraordinary."

The weeklong series of events will include national and local activities to honor EMS providers (paramedics, emergency medical technicians, first responders, fire fighters, and police), and to raise public awareness about health and safety issues, including how to prevent injuries and what to do in a medical emergency.

Each year, ACEP develops and distributes EMS Week organizational kits to help communities plan and promote activities for the week. Kits are distributed to hospital emergency departments, state EMS offices, fire departments, EMS services, and the 53 ACEP chapters. The kits are made available free to the public thanks to this year's EMS Week 2007 corporate sponsors, including USA Mobility, Zoll, OnStar, JEMS, EMS Magazine and NBC Universal.

The EMS Week kit also contains the EMS Week Planning Guide, which reports on national and community events held during EMS Week 2006 and highlights activities planned for 2007. The kit also contains numerous fact sheets addressing important injury prevention and health topics.

Special Observances

" May 23-Annual Emergency Medical Services for Children Day. This day focuses on drawing national attention to the essential need for specialized emergency care for children to ensure that every child in the nation receives the highest quality emergency care possible-from primary prevention to acute care and rehabilitation.

" May 25-26-National EMS Memorial Service and Annual National Moment of Silence. The National EMS Memorial Service in Roanoke, Va., organizes this national event to honor and remember the nation's EMS providers who have made the ultimate sacrifice and given their lives in the line of duty. All EMS and communications agencies participating observe 60 seconds of radio silence on this day at 8 p.m. (ET).

EMS Week 2007 is sponsored by ACEP along with EMS Week partners who provide information for the kits and distribute them to their members. ACEP's 2007 organizational partners for EMS Week include: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emergency Medical Services for Children, the National Association of EMTs and The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

For more information or to obtain an EMS Week kit, please call 800-798-1822, touch 6, or visit ACEP's EMS Week Web site at www.acep.org/emsweek (e-mail: emsweek@acep.org). EMS Week kits can also be obtained from your local state EMS office or any EMS Week partner organization.

-- Source: http://www.acep.org/webportal/Advocacy/ems/week/pressrelease.htm

A Drug-Fuelled Wave of Terror...

Published: May 18 2007 00:22 -- Last updated: May 18 2007 00:22

Mexico hit by drug-fuelled wave of terror

By Adam Thomson in Mexico City, for The Financial Times

Mexico admitted on Thursday that the recent increase in narcotics-related violence has "common patterns" with the bloody wave of drugs-fuelled terror that swept Colombia in the late 1980s.

In a press conference on Thursday, Genaro Garcia, the country's security minister, said drugs gangs in Mexico had adopted similar working methods to those used by the notorious Colombian cartels, whose reign of terror led to the death of thousands of police and civilians.

"The [Mexican] context is different from that of Colombia but there are common patterns," he said. "Their aim is to use violence to intimidate [the state] in order to achieve impunity."

Mr.Garcia also said the Mexican government's attempts to combat the drugs trade were made all the more difficult by the ease with which the criminals could obtain firearms just north of the border with the US. "There is a massive flow of firearms into Mexico [and] many of them come from the US," he said.

Stopping short of demanding that the US government stiffen its gun-control laws, Mr.Garcia added: "The big advantage of the drugs traffickers is that in the US the possession of arms is not against the law."

The minister's comments come as Mexico grapples with the most acute period of violence in living memory. According to the El Universal daily newspaper, the number of drugs-related murders this year reached 1,000 on May 15. By contrast, that figure was only reached in mid July last year, and on September 12 in 2005.

One example of how the gangs are becoming increasingly daring in their strategies came early Wednesday morning this week when a group of approximately 50 armed men stormed a police station in the municipality of Cananea in the northern border state of Sonora. An ensuing gun battle with state police left 22 people dead, including 15 gang members....

-- Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5000bac4-04c6-11dc-80ed-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=8fa2c9cc-2f77-11da-8b51-00000e2511c8.html

Please see:

EmergencyNet News - Curmudgeon's Corner
05/28/97 - 08:30CDT

The Mexico/USA Border; A Gathering Storm, Editorial/Opinion; By C. L. Staten, ENN Publisher
ERRI Warning From 10 Years Ago Coming True?

http://www.emergency.com/mexusa97.htm

First Nation-State Cyberwar Underway in Estonia?

Thursday May 17, 2007

Russia accused of "unleashing cyberwar" to disable Estonia

* Parliament, ministries, banks, media targeted
* NATO experts sent in to strengthen defenses

By Ian Traynor in Brussels
The Guardian (U.K.)

EUROPEAN UNION/NATO: A three-week wave of massive cyber-attacks on the small Baltic country of Estonia, the first known incidence of such an assault on a state, is causing alarm across the western alliance, with NATO urgently examining the offensive and its implications.

While Russia and Estonia are embroiled in their worst dispute since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a row that erupted at the end of last month over the Estonians' removal of the Bronze Soldier Soviet war memorial in central Tallinn, the country has been subjected to a barrage of cyber warfare, disabling the websites of government ministries, political parties, newspapers, banks, and companies.

NATO has dispatched some of its top cyber-terrorism experts to Tallinn to investigate and to help the Estonians beef up their electronic defenses.

"This is an operational security issue, something we're taking very seriously," said an official at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "It goes to the heart of the alliance's modus operandi."

Alarm over the unprecedented scale of cyber-warfare is to be raised tomorrow at a summit between Russian and European leaders outside Samara on the Volga.

While planning to raise the issue with the Russian authorities, EU and NATO officials have been careful not to accuse the Russians directly.

If it were established that Russia is behind the attacks, it would be the first known case of one state targeting another by cyber-warfare...

-- Article continues on the net at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2081438,00.html

Taliban Leader Says: "We will be executing attacks in Britain and the U.S."

May 14, 2007 5:03 PM

Dead Taliban Leader Was Training U.S./U.K. Recruits
Dadullah Makes Terror Threats Against U.S. and U.K. Before Death

AFGHANISTAN: Thirty-six hours before he was killed by U.S. forces, Taliban Commander Mullah Dadullah said he was training American and British citizens to carry out suicide missions in their home countries, according to a videotape interview to be broadcast on ABC News' "World News" Monday.

"We will be executing attacks in Britain and the U.S. to demonstrate our sincerity," he told an Afghan interviewer, "to destroy their cities as they have destroyed our cities."

A senior U.S. official told the Blotter on ABCNews.com that recent intelligence reports confirmed Dadullah's claim that U.S. citizens were being trained in Taliban and al Qaeda camps. "The number is small, not large, but even one is dangerous," the official said.

-- Source: ABCNews Blotter, Brian Ross and Christopher Isham, "Dead Taliban Leader Was Training U.S. Recruits," can be found at: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/dead_taliban_le.html

Listen/Watch the Taliban Leader's Final Words: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3173751

Environmental 'Intelligence" Needed From CIA?

Posted: 14 May 2007

Do Democrats want to turn our Intelligence Anaylsts into Weathermen?

Washington, May 10 - Environmental 'Intelligence?'
Wall Street Journal

By PETER HOEKSTRA

Here we go again. The 2008 intelligence authorization bill, which the House may vote on this week, diverts CIA and other intelligence resources away from critical terrorism-related missions to study global climate change. If it becomes law, the legislation will force agencies to complete a National Intelligence Estimate with a 30-year assessment on the effects of environmental change within nine months.

We've been down this road before. In the mid-1990s, Bill Clinton's first Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, declared that environmental concerns and national security would share equal status in U.S. foreign policy. Immediately following that announcement, CIA Director John Deutch said in July 1996 that the U.S. was diverting spy satellites to photograph "ecologically sensitive" sites.

This was in the heady days that followed the Cold War, when our beleaguered intelligence community -- considered pass?, downsized and suffering under the strain of budget cuts -- was searching for a politically popular mission.

Instead of focusing on looming national security threats -- the first World Trade Center bombing came in 1993 and in August of 1996 Osama bin Laden issued his fatwa, "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places" -- Mr. Deutch was currying favor with then-Vice President Al Gore.

George Tenet, Mr. Deutch's successor at the CIA, notes in his new book "At the Center of the Storm," Mr. Gore's interest in "wonkish" issues that he refers to as "bugs and bunnies." What Mr. Tenet fails to mention is that he kept open the ultimate expression of the politically correct "Deutch doctrine," the Director of Central Intelligence Environmental Center.

The Center had ordered intelligence analysts and collectors to write about volcano eruptions, fish schools and air pollution. And it also produced an annual Earth Day edition of the highly classified President's Daily Brief.

At the direction of the Center, spy satellites were tasked to conduct what some in the press dubbed "environmental peeking." The diversion meant fewer overhead images of vital national security concerns, such as Iran, North Korea and al Qaeda. It's impossible to know, but I wonder what intelligence clues in the run up to 9/11 were missed because our spy satellites were focused on the polar ice caps and schools of fish instead of Afghanistan and bin Laden.

Now House Democrats want to return to the days when the CIA wasted valuable resources on "bugs and bunnies." My objection is not about the validity of global climate change. I am concerned about whether it is an intelligence issue. Does it require analysts to make assessments using classified information that can only be acquired from sensitive human sources and billion-dollar spy satellites? Does it take holding a high-level security clearance and reviewing information in high-security, classified offices to write assessments about the environment?

The answer to these questions is no, at least according to one Democratic House Intelligence Committee staff member. The aide, who did not want to be named, told the Associated Press that, "a vast majority of the information used by intelligence analysts could come from unclassified, openly available sources and data in the government's possession." Why then divert intelligence assets to collect it?

The Democrats' 2008 intelligence authorization bill is a throwback to the mistakes of the 1990s when scarce resources were diverted to issues that clearly were not related to the businesses of intelligence. There was a mistaken belief then that serious threats to U.S. national security diminished or disappeared with the end of the Cold War. Intelligence spending was slashed in what was called then a post-Cold War "peace dividend."

I fear the intelligence authorization being voted on by Congress demonstrates some of the same short-sightedness of the 1990s. While Democrats call for U.S. intelligence agencies to study global climate change, they continue to grossly underestimate the terrorist threat. They willfully ignore or play down world-wide activity by radical jihadists, including this week's arrest in New Jersey of six men -- who may have been influenced by al Qaeda terrorist training tapes -- for allegedly planning to kill hundreds of soldiers at Fort Dix and other military installations in the Northeast. This past weekend, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, in a videotape message, mocked Democratic legislation to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq as a sign of American weakness and mentioned using Afghanistan and Iraq as bases to launch attacks.

The world remains a dangerous place. We need to spend our limited intelligence dollars wisely. We need our intelligence analysts focused on threats that require clandestine effort and classified information, such as rogue state weapons of mass destruction programs, al Qaeda and threats to American lives.

Let other federal agencies, as more than a dozen already do, cover the "bugs and bunnies." But let our spies be spies.

- The author, Mr. Hoekstra, is a Republican congressman from Michigan and a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee

-- Source: Wall Street Journal/Website of U.S. Representative Dave Weldon, M.D., F.A.C.P. of Melbourne, Florida, which can be found at: http://weldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=64939

ERRI Comment:

One must wonder what a given segment of our elected representatives will do next to try to diminish the importance of the American battle against jihadists? It increasingly appears that at least some in Washington believe that their "future political position" will somehow be improved by downplaying the terror threat and even capitulating to the religious radicals, thus allowing these murderers to thrive and prosper in various parts of the world.

It would be ERRI's stated position that we believe that America will have to face and defeat the Jihadists sooner or later...either here or elsewhere. We can face them now while they are still attempting to staff, organize, finance, and equip their jihad...or we can fight them later when there are more of them, when they control entire countries, and when they have more sophisticated weapons with which to launch their attacks on the "infidels" (the West). But, this is a choice that will be made by the American people when they go to the polls.

Let's hope that when this battle comes, and we are sure it will, that the electorate clearly remembers which politicians wanted to divert our valuable and limited intelligence and satellite assets to climate analysis work that can better be accomplished by NASA, NOAA and the National Weather Service...

Signed: C. L. Staten, Senior Analyst
Emergency Resonse and Research Institute (ERRI)

Two Alleged Al-Qaeda Operatives Detained in Germany

May 12, 2007

Authorities in Germany Detained 2 With Alleged al Qaeda Ties
Men Were Conducting Surveillance on U.S. Base, Security Sources Tell ABC News

BERLIN, GERMANY: Authorities detained two suspects believed to be part of a cell of the Islamic Jihad Union, an al Qaeda-affiliated Uzbek group, intelligence sources have told ABC News.

The pair has been released and now German authorities are concerned that the two men know they are being watched and may have devised a new plan of attack to time with the G-8 Summit, which is scheduled for June 6 to June 8 in Heiligendamm, Germany.

The global summit will draw leaders from around the world, including President George Bush. Britain was hosting the same event two years ago when the London transportation system was bombed -- a fact not lost on the summit's planners and a terrorist tactic that has become familiar....

More on this story: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3168533&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

The U.S. Embassy in Berlin previously issued a "Warden Message" urging additional caution concerning U.S. facilities in Germany.

6 Suspects Arrested in Plot to Attack Fort Dix

Posted by The Star-Ledger May 08, 2007 8:12AM

6 arrested in plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix

NEW JERSEY: Federal investigators last night arrested six men who were planning a heavily-armed armed attack against soldiers at Fort Dix as part of a jihad against America, according to two law enforcement sources.

The men had conducted surveillance of the Army base and were caught allegedly attempting to purchase AK-47s to carry out their plan, one of the sources said.

The bust came after several of them were lured to a meeting with an arms-seller who turned out to be a secret FBI informant, said both sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the arrests.

The would-be attackers, ethnic Albanians who had been under surveillance by the FBI for months, practiced by shooting paintball guns and real weapons in a rural area of the Poconos, one source said. They also allegedly watched jihadist videos in which Osama bin Laden urged them toward martyrdom.

"They were prepared to die," said the law enforcement source. "We became increasingly convinced this was for real and these guys were ready to roll."

The FBI had the group under surveillance for more than a year, the source said. The men had scouted out Dover Air Force Base and Fort Monmouth before settling on Fort Dix, a base that is used to mobilize troops to Iraq, said the source... Continues at: http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates/2007/05/6_arrested_in_plot_to_kill_sol.html

New Zawahiri Tape; Wants to Kill Hundreds of Thousands of Americans

May 5, 2007

Ayman al-Zawahiri Says Al Qaeda Wants to Spill More U.S. Blood Before America Withdraws
Al Qaeda no. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri wished for hundreds of thousands of U.S. dead in a new video.

In a new video posted today on the Internet, al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al Zawahiri, mocks the bill passed by Congress setting a timetable for the pullout of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Compromise emerging in D.C. on Iraq war-funding billDemocrats Nearing Deal on Spending GoalsBush Vows to Veto Abortion-Rights Bills"This bill will deprive us of the opportunity to destroy the American forces which we have caught in a historic trap," Zawahiri says in answer to a question posed to him an interviewer.

Continuing in the same tone, Zawahiri says, "We ask Allah that they only get out of it after losing 200,000 to 300,000 killed, in order that we give the spillers of blood in Washington and Europe an unforgettable lesson."

-- Source: ABC News, BRIAN ROSS, article continues at: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=3143623&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Obama Reported to be Under Secret Service Protection

22:00 CDT - 03 May 2007

BREAKING: Obama Under Secret Service Protection

WASHINGTON, DC: Presidential candidate Barack Obama has been placed under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service following a threat against him, multiple sources say. The nature and source of the specific threat is not presently known, according to a law enforcement sources. Reportedly the Obama campaign has received hate mail, calls and other "threatening materials" in the past and during his campaign, a Chicago source said.

The Secret Service said in a written statement that Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, "after consultation with the congressional advisory committee, authorized the United States Secret Service to protect presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama." We will bring you more details if/when they become available...

References:

Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070503obama,1,3142356.story?coll=chi-news-hed

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/03/obama.protection/index.html

Iraq Could Become Terror Hub After Untimely Withdrawal

POSTED: 20:25 p.m. EDT, May 2, 2007

No safe way for U.S. to leave Iraq, experts warn

Pulling U.S. forces from Iraq could trigger catastrophe, CNN analysts and other observers warn, affecting not just Iraq but its neighbors in the Middle East, with far-reaching global implications.

Sectarian violence could erupt on a scale never seen before in Iraq if coalition troops leave before Iraq's security forces are ready. Supporters of al Qaeda could develop an international hub of terror from which to threaten the West. And the likely civil war could draw countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran into a broader conflict.

President Bush vetoed a war spending bill Tuesday precisely because the Democrat-led Congress required the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn by October 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later.

Bush said such a deadline would be irresponsible and both sides are now working on new proposals -- which may have no pullout dates.

A rapid withdrawal of all U.S. troops would hurt America's image and hand al Qaeda and other terror groups a propaganda victory that the United States is only a "paper tiger,"(1) CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said.

"It would also play into their strategy, which is to create a mini-state somewhere in the Middle East where they can reorganize along the lines of what they did in Afghanistan in the late '90s," Bergen told CNN.com.

It was in Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda allied with the Taliban, and were allowed to run terror bases and plan the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States.

Bergen says it is imperative that the United States not let that happen in Iraq... Article continues at: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/02/iraq.scenarios/index.html

ERRI Reference:

1. 08/31/98 - 08:00CDT, Opinion/Editorial/Analysis, "International Terrorism; Where Do We Go From Here?" 'There Can Be No More Somalias,' By Staten, C. L., ERRI, which can be found at: http://www.emergency.com/bin-oped.htm

Lessons from Madrid and London [Bombings]

April 30, 2007

Lessons from Madrid and London

From the Counter-Terrorism.Blog...
By Lorenzo Vidino

A British court today sentenced to life in prison the five "Fertiliser Plot" men, mostly British-born and Pakistani-trained militants who were planning to blow up targets in London (including a nightclub, power plants and shopping mall) with half a ton of ammonium nitrate and other substances. As a consequence today the MI5, finally free to disclose its information without jeopardizing the case, released new information about the links (some of them already known) between the Fertiliser Plot and the 7/7 bombers. (See photo, right, of convicted plotters)

The information is quite detailed, but, in a nutshell, the MI5 revealed that two of the 7/7 bombers, Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, had been seen with Omar Khyam and other Fertiliser Plot members in early 2004. Khan and Tanweer were taped discussing ways to raise money through fraudulent schemes but, since no specific mention of an attack was made, the MI5 decided not to investigate them. As the Intelligence and Security Committee?s Report into the London Terrorist Attacks has already pointed out, "in light of the other priority investigations being conducted and the limitations on Security Service resources, the decisions not to give greater investigative priority to these two individuals were understandable." Given its limited resources, MI5's decision not to divert human resources to investigate individuals that, while clearly interested in jihadi activities and intentioned in committing crimes to support them, did not constitute an immediate threat, was probably a sound one and second guessing it today is as easy as useless.

But here lies the problem: the MI5 should not have been stretched so thin. As the MI5 correctly points out, "when the fertiliser plot took place it was one of 50 networks of which the Service was aware? and the agency could not possibly start a new investigation. The MI5 was simply understaffed to deal with a domestic threat of that magnitude. And the problem is not just a British one. 3/11, the other major attack perpetrated by al Qaeda-inspired networks in Europe, is characterized by eerily similar circumstances. Jamal Zougam, one of the men currently standing trial in Madrid for his crucial role in the bombings, was also known to local intelligence services, but because of their lack personnel, no detailed investigation on him could be carried out.

In the summer of 2001, in fact, Spanish authorities had begun monitoring the conversations of several Islamic fundamentalists operating in the Madrid area, but Zougam?s telephone was tapped only briefly. When most of the members of the cell were arrested in November 2001, Zougam was not charged. Even though Yarkas, the leader of the cell, had frequently spoken with him and had often used his shop to make phone calls or to meet other members of the network, there was no evidence that Zougam had committed any crime. Zougam?s name surfaced again after the May 2003 Casablanca bombings. Mohammed Fazazi, the Beniyach brothers, and several other associates of Zougam were either arrested or investigated by Moroccan authorities cracking down on Islamic fundamentalists operating in the country. Zougam, who had returned to Madrid three weeks after the bombings, was also investigated, but there was not enough evidence to charge him. "Morocco informed the Spanish that he went to Spain and that he was a quite dangerous person. There was no evidence against him in Morocco, but they asked Spain to investigate him," said frustrated a Moroccan official.

It was common knowledge that Zougam was involved in radical activities, but investigators lacked sufficient evidence to charge him or even to maintain a constant tap on his phone. Because the tapes of his conversations were given low priority, they were set aside for months. And since the Spanish counterterrorism authorities had only seven part-time Arabic translators, who were overwhelmed by their workload, most of the tapes were not translated at all.

Cases like those of the 7/7 bombers and of Jamal Zougam show that, in most cases, terrorists do not operate in a vacuum and have at least superficial contacts with likeminded individuals. While these contacts do not warrant an arrest (France, with its broad and often criticized "conspiracy in relation to terrorism" charge might be, in a way, an exception to this), they should be enough to raise the attention of intelligence services. Today things have improved and in both Spain and the UK the intelligence services have been given additional funds and manpower. London and Madrid [give us a lesson-learned about] the importance of not underfunding intelligence services.

Click the link to visit the Counter-Terrorism Blog and read: Lessons from Madrid and London

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Additional Reference:

LINKS BETWEEN THE 7 JULY BOMBERS AND THE FERTILISER PLOT

From MI5 - http://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/Page602.html

Additional CBS News Reference:

FBI Informant Key To U.K. Bomb Plot Case

Told Of Running Training Camps In Pakistan, Cemented Ties Between Five Men And Al Qaeda
Connections Between Naturalized American and London Bombing Plot

LONDON, May 1, 2007 -- Can be found at: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/01/terror/main2746589.shtml

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President Bush Vetos Iraq Withdrawal Bill

May 1, 2007 - 18:47 PM EDT

Bush Vetoes Troop Withdrawal Bill

WASHINGTON, DC: President George Bush vetoed legislation to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq Tuesday night in a historic showdown with Congress over whether the unpopular and costly war should end or escalate.

In only the second veto of his presidency, Bush rejected legislation pushed by Democratic leaders that would require the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later.

"This is a prescription for chaos and confusion and we must not impose it on our troops," Bush said in a nationally broadcast statement from the White House. He said the bill would "mandate a rigid and artificial deadline" for troop pullouts, and "it makes no sense to tell the enemy when you plan to start withdrawing."

Democrats accused Bush of ignoring American's desire to stop the war, which has claimed the lives of more than 3,350 members of the military.

"The president wants a blank check," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., moments after Bush's appearance. "The Congress is not going to give it to him." She said Congress would work with him to find common ground but added that there was "great distance" between them on Iraq.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Bush has an obligation to explain his plan for responsibly ending the war. "If the president thinks by vetoing this bill, he'll stop us from working to change the direction of the war in Iraq, he is mistaken," Reid said.

-- Source: Associated Press, Anne Flaherty and Jennifer Loven, May 1 06:47 PM US/Eastern. Article Continues at: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8ORS7LO0&show_article=1&catnum=-1

DoS 2006 Country Reports on Terrorism

U.S. State Department

"Country Reports on Terrorism"

This annual (2006) report is entitled "Country Reports on Terrorism." Beginning with the report for 2004, it replaced the previously published "Patterns of Global Terrorism."

Summary - Incidents of Terrorism Worldwide

2005 -- 11,153

2006 -- 14,338

-- Source: National Counterterrorism Center: Annex of Statistical Information

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/82739.htm#2

Complete Country Reports on Terrorism - 2006 (html format)

Can be found at: http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/