Olive Tree Ministries - prophetic signs, current issues, and the Messianic Jewish movement.

News Watch: Topical

The Next High Tech Threat to National Security
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2008

The Next High-Tech Threat to U.S. Security

By Paul M. Weyrich
FreeCongress.com | 7/1/2008

It now has been four years since Dr. William Graham, Science Advisor to President Ronald W. Reagan and Chairman of the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament, and a distinguished panel completed a study of High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and its potential effects upon this country. The conclusions of this study are the most frightening I have seen concerning modern-day threats.

Few have heard of it because the report has yet to be made public. The reason it has not been made public is simple: if EMP were understood by the American people, the next logical question would be what steps the government has taken to reduce the possibility of an EMP attack in this country. To date little has been done. When the American people realize as much, the outrage will be palpable.
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Internet Ties Link US Terror Cells
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2008

CBS NEWS

WASHINGTON (CBS News) ― An ex-commando, working undercover for the FBI, took photographs as aspiring terrorists plotted to carry out attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

They trained with weapons and learned how to make suicide vests.

Only this didn't happen in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Pakistan. This training played out in Toledo, Ohio, and involved three Americans drawn to the call of Jihad, CBS News justice and homeland security correspondent Bob Orr reports.

While these radicals have now been convicted, CBS News has learned e-mails and phone calls connect the Toledo cell to terror suspects in at least three other North American cities - and to a notorious al Qaeda operative. View Full Article

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Counterterror Staff Falls by 62%--Wash.Times
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for May, 2008

More than one out of every three positions in an elite FBI division that tracks al Qaeda terrorists is vacant, according to an internal bureau document. Efforts are under way at the FBI to canvass for "volunteers" to fill what the agency said is a "critical" need in its counterterrorism efforts.

A senior bureau official said yesterday that because of significant staffing shortages and a lack of experienced managers, the FBI cannot properly defend the United States against "another catastrophic and direct attack by Middle Eastern terrorists."

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Homeland Security and the Next Administration
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for May, 2008

Homeland Security in the Next Administration

By James Carafano
The Heritage Foundation | 5/19/2008

Delivered April 9, 2008

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Committee today to discuss the subject of this hearing, "Moving Beyond the First Five Years: Solving the Department of Homeland Security’s Management Challenges." I would like to raise with the Committee three immediate priorities for Congress to tackle, as well as two long-term challenges that should be among the first priorities of the next administration.
The three immediate priorities are:

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Nuclear Lab Fails Terror Exercise--Bill Gertz
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for May, 2008

Nuclear lab fails terrorist exercise

By Bill Gertz
May 15, 2008

Armed security agents posing as terrorists broke into a secure area at a nuclear weapons laboratory during a recent test, exposing flaws in the protection of stockpiles of plutonium and uranium coveted by terrorist groups and rogue nations seeking to become nuclear powers.

The "force-on-force" exercise at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California pitted two teams of special-operations-trained commandos: one that attacked use of simulated explosives, and a team of defenders who tried to keep them out, said Bush administration officials familiar with the test.

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Chertoff Pressed on Air Marshals--Wash. Times
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for May, 2008

Sen. Russ Feingold wants the Bush administration to explain why federal air marshals were prevented from boarding some flights because their names matched those on the terrorist no-fly list, and whether the problem has been solved.

Air marshals familiar with the incidents say the problem has persisted for years because some names are either exact matches or similar, prompting airline boarding agents to refuse admittance even after they present their credentials.

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Terrorist Threats to the Food Supply
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for April, 2008

JWR

High food prices have sparked a great deal of unrest over the past few weeks. Indeed, the skyrocketing cost of food staples like grain has caused protests involving thousands of people in places such as South Africa, Egypt and Pakistan. These protests turned deadly in Haiti and even led to the ouster of Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis.

With global food supplies already tight, many people have begun once again to think (and perhaps even worry) about threats to the U.S. agricultural system and the impact such threats could have on the U.S. — and global — food supply. In light of this, it is instructive to examine some of these threats and attempt to place them in perspective.

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Who Will Stand Against Terrorism?--Emerson
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for March, 2008

Who Will Stand Against Terrorism?

By Steven Emerson

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Eight young men, unarmed and in the relative security of their Jerusalem yeshiva, are gunned down in cold blood. In Gaza, thousands take to the streets to celebrate. Their government encourages them to do so.

How toxic is a society when the governing party suggests celebrating a massacre of teenaged boys?

The brutality of Thursday's massacre at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva exposes some ugly truths about the blood lust that has been fostered by leaders in Palestinian society and the unwillingness of most American Muslim political organizations and the mainstream media to confront it.

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A Warning of Jihad Against Trains
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for March, 2008

In a bulletin released Friday to U.S. law enforcement officials, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is warning of “continued strong terrorist interest” in targeting mass transit systems in the U.S. The 10-page threat assessment, labeled “Unclassified/For Official Use Only” and obtained by NBC News, cautions that the “U.S. mass transit and passenger rail systems are vulnerable to terrorist attacks because they are accessible to large numbers of the public and are notoriously difficult to secure.” Previous rail attacks in Madrid, London and Mumbai “could inspire terrorists to conduct similar attacks in the United States,” the report adds. View Full Article

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9/11 Redux: Thousands of Aliens in Flight Schools Illegally
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for February, 2008

9/11 Redux: 'Thousands of Aliens' in U.S. Flight Schools Illegally

Former FAA Inspector: TSA's Enforcement of Post-9/11 Laws 'Basically Nonexistent'

By BRIAN ROSS, VIC WALTER and ERIC LONGABARDI
Feb. 27, 2008—

Thousands of foreign student pilots have been able to enroll and obtain pilot licenses from U.S. flight schools, despite tough laws passed in the wake of the 9/ll attacks, according to internal government documents obtained by ABC News.

"Some of the very same conditions that allowed the 9-11 tragedy to happen in the first place are still very much in existence today," wrote one regional security official to his boss at the TSA, the Transportation Security Administration.

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Fifteen More Cities Considered High Risk for Terror
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for February, 2008

WASHINGTON — More cities across the country are considered at high risk of a terrorist attack, according to a new list of funding priorities from the Homeland Security Department.

Last year the department made 45 cities or regions eligible for a competitive counterterrorism grant program. This year, the list has been expanded to 60 areas that can apply for the nearly $782 million available, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
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"Forest Fire Jihad" Threatened on Islamist Web Sites
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for January, 2008

U.S. officials monitoring terrorist web sites have discovered a call for using forest fires as weapons against “crusader” nations, in what may explain some recent wildfires in places like southern California and Greece.

A terrorist website was discovered recently that carried a posting that called for “Forest Jihad.” The posting was listed on the Internet on Nov. 26 and reported in U.S. intelligence channels last week.

The statement, in Arabic, said that “summer has begun so do not forget the Forest Jihad.”
The writer called on all Muslims in the United States, Europe, Russia and Australia to “start forest fires.”

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U.S. Fears Europe-Based Terrorism--BBC
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for January, 2008

One of the biggest threats to US security may now come from within Europe, US Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff has told the BBC.

He said militant attacks and plots in Europe over recent years had made the US aware of the "real risk that Europe will become a platform for terrorists".

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U.S. Thwarts 19 Terrorists Attacks Since 9/11
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for November, 2007

HERITAGE FOUNDATION

U.S. Thwarts 19 Terrorist Attacks Against America Since 9/11
by James Jay Carafano, Ph.D.

Criticisms of post-9/11 efforts to protect the United States from attack range from claims that America is more vulnerable than ever to the contention that the transnational terrorist danger is vastly over-hyped.[1] A review of publicly available information on at least 19 terrorist conspiracies thwarted by U.S. law enforcement suggests that the truth lies somewhere in between these two arguments.

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ACLU Resists Anti-Terror Measures
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for November, 2007

HUMAN EVENTS

ACLU, Muslim Groups Resist Anti-terror Measures Again
by Robert Spencer (more by this author)
Posted 11/12/2007 ET

The Los Angeles Police Department announced plans Thursday to map Muslim communities, hoping to identify people who might be liable to succumb to -- as Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing put it -- “violent, ideologically based extremism.” Downing said that the LAPD would work with a Muslim partner, and added: “We want to know where the Pakistanis, Iranians and Chechens are so we can reach out to those communities.”

The ACLU of Southern California, an association of Muslim lawyers called Muslim Advocates, the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California and the Council on American Islamic Relations wrote to Downing that “singling out individuals for investigation, surveillance, and data-gathering based on their religion constitutes religious profiling that is just as unlawful, ill-advised and deeply offensive as racial profiling.”
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Terror Watch List Swells to 755,000
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for October, 2007

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The government's terrorist watch list has swelled to more than 755,000 names, according to a new government report that has raised worries about the list's effectiveness.

The size of the list, typically used to check people entering the country through land border crossings, airports and sea ports, has been growing by 200,000 names a year since 2004. Some lawmakers, security experts and civil rights advocates warn that it will become useless if it includes too many people.

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Airport Security Heading Backwards
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for October, 2007

This should make you furious. This should make you angrier than you have been over almost anything since Sept. 11 — and that includes the war in Iraq.

A recent test showed that 75 percent of fake bombs or bomb parts got past TSA security at Los Angeles International Airport, and 60 percent got past TSA screeners at Chicago's O'Hare.

Those are two of the busiest airports in the world. Those are two of the juiciest targets a terrorist could desire.

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Terrorists Eying Local Schools?--WND
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2007

WASHINGTON – Three years after Muslim terrorists attacked a school in Beslan in North Ossetia-Alania within the Russian Federation resulting in 396 deaths and 437 injuries, terrorism and law enforcement experts say most U.S. schools have not prepared at all to deal with the possibility of such an assault.

More disturbingly, they say, such attacks are most definitely being prepared and rehearsed in Islamic terrorist camps around the world.

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Chertoff: We're Preparing for Nuclear Attack
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2007

NEWS MAX

WASHINGTON -- Weapons of mass destruction, small boats packed with explosives and Islamic radicalization are the greatest terrorist threats facing the country, top U.S. security officials said Monday on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The officials told Congress the country is much better prepared to face terror threats than it was then, but that terrorists' desire to attack the United States remains strong — an assertion that has yet to be fully accepted by the American public, according to a new poll.

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Preventing the Next Attack--Wash.Times
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2007

The successful disruption last week by German police of the al Qaeda plot to slaughter American military personnel at Frankfurt International Airport and at Ramstein Air Base, demonstrates once again that our allies have made enormous progress over the past 6 years in the global war on terrorism. Before September 11, Germany, like Great Britain, tolerated the growing presence of jihadist Muslims and their preachments of hate and violence.

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9/11 Amnesia
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2007

9/11 Amnesia

By Alan W. Dowd
FrontPageMagazine.com | 9/11/2007

If it is hard for Americans to forget September 11, it seems just as hard for Americans to remember that terrible Tuesday.

After all, Americans have short memories and short attention spans. As Henry Ford put it, “We want to live in the present.” We look ahead and move ahead, always bustling, multitasking, racing forward, pursuing happiness. Even when America was still young, we suffered from this self-inflicted amnesia. “Everyone is in motion,” Tocqueville observed in the 1830s. We were then—and remain today—“so confused, so excited, so active.”

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Forget 9/11 at Our Peril--Cal Thomas
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2007

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Throughout our young history, Americans have been admonished to "Remember the Alamo," "Remember the Maine" and "Remember Pearl Harbor." These remembrances — and others — were for the purpose of motivating the public to fight on until an enemy was vanquished. When victory was assured, the memory faded into history.

Now, as we approach the sixth anniversary of Sept. 11, there are suggestions that we should begin to forget the worst terrorist incident in America's history. Recently, a front-page story in The New York Times suggested it is becoming too much of a burden to remember the attack, that nothing new can be said about it and that, perhaps, Sept. 11 "fatigue" may be setting in.

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The CIA, George Tenet, and the Path to 9/11
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2007

HUMAN EVENTS

"No matter how hard we worked -- or how desperately we tried -- it was not enough. The victims and the families of 9/11 deserved better.” -- George Tenet, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in his testimony to the 9/11 Commission.

Under normal circumstances the release of the 2005 report from the Office of the Inspector General concerning the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 would have been just another bureaucratic report with little or no coverage in the media and would either be used by bureaucrats to improve their departments or as doorstops. There was a similar report done in August of 2001 by the same office on the CIA’s counterterrorism efforts.

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The CIA and al-Qaida--Human Events
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2007

In intelligence it’s not so much what you don’t know as what you won’t know.

Al Qaeda was initially formed in 1988, when the Soviet Union announced the humiliating withdrawal its forces from Afghanistan, whence it had invaded in 1979. The Saudi magnate, Osama bin Laden, and Abdullah Azzam, the charismatic Palestinian co-founder of Hamas, birthed al Qaeda from the Services Bureau (Mektab al-Khidmat) the pair had set up in the mid-1980s to promote the so-called “Arab Afghans”-- Muslims from around the world (but mostly from Arab nations) who flocked to Afghanistan to fight in the jihad.

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U.S. Concerned About Two-Dozen "Clusters" of Home-Grown Terrorists
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2007

U.S. law enforcement officials say they have identified more than two dozen "clusters" of young Muslim men in the northeast United States who are on a path that could lead to homegrown terror, ABC News has learned.

"Any one of those clusters may be capable of carrying out a terrorist action that will result in fatalities," Rand Corporation terrorism expert Brian Jenkins tells ABC News.

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Why Not Another 9/11?
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2007

TOWN HALL

Liberally oriented newspaper editors increasingly wonder why subscription and circulation numbers continue to plummet among the old guard of news media: the printed page.

U.S. military helicopter flies over Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
What are they, the dumbest people on earth?

Why would any population of any nation that has the slightest modicum of freedom choose to subject itself to the onset of treasonous and vapid judgment with which these editors seem so well endowed?
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NY Times Bloggers Solicits Ideas for Terror Attacks--Aug. 10
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2007

FOX

If you were a terrorist, how would you attack?

That's the question a New York Times blogger posed Wednesday on the newspaper's Web site.

Steven D. Levitt, in a controversial posting on the paper's Freakonomics blog, has invited fellow bloggers to submit their worst-case scenarios for a terrorist attack.

The blogosphere is buzzing about whether the posting will prompt officials to stay ever-alert, as Levitt intends, or whether it could lead to a catalog of ideas that could encourage new attacks.
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Eavesdropping on Terrorists
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2007

JWR

Congress didn't mean to include overseas communications under the law. So "wire" communications came under the law's purview, but not most "radio" intercepts, since chatter abroad was picked up by satellites. But the law's drafters weren't clairvoyants. They presumably didn't foresee the decline of disco (let alone the demise of the 8-track tape and the LP) or, much more importantly, the telecommunications revolution that gave us fiber optics and packet switching. Now two people can be talking overseas — say, from Afghanistan to Pakistan — and their communication could travel in a packet of digital data through U.S. networks, where it can be conveniently surveilled. View Full Article

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Two Muslims Charged with Pipe Bombs Near Navy Base
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2007

Two men found with several pipe bombs in their car near a Navy base were charged Monday with possession of an explosive device, authorities said.

A joint state-federal investigation was under way to see whether there was any terrorism connection, said FBI spokeswoman Denise Taiste, but no link had been found. The Navy base is the site of a brig where enemy combatants have been held.

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Our Pre-9/11 Congress--NRO
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2007

Members of Congress head home this week with precious little to show for their months of grandstanding on the Hill. However, as the clock counted down to August recess, lawmakers were able to get one “signature” bill off to the president, an act purporting to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

Those hoping the bill would provide a clear strategic direction for homeland-security policy will find this “signature” as inscrutable as that of a drunken doctor writing in haste. But the bill does clearly show, however, that the way Congress “does” homeland security has changed significantly under it new Democratic leadership.
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Al-Qaida Forming New Terror Cells in U.S.--Fox
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

WASHINGTON — A top U.S. military commander said Tuesday he believes there are Al Qaeda cells in the United States —or people working to create them — and the military needs to triple its response teams to counter a growing threat of attack.

Air Force Gen. Victor "Gene" Renuart, who heads U.S. Northern Command, said that as the terrorism threat within the nation's boundaries has increased officials have strengthened intelligence sharing, particularly in an effort to shore up security at ports.

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Airports Warned About Terror Dry Runs
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) - Airport security officers around the nation have been alerted by federal officials to look out for terrorists practicing to carry explosive components onto aircraft, based on four curious seizures at airports since last September.

The unclassified alert was distributed on July 20 by the Transportation Security Administration to federal air marshals, its own transportation security officers and other law enforcement agencies.
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Chertoff: Too Much Cash for Large Cities Could Hurt Others--July 19
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

MSNBC

D.C., N.Y. get big boosts in counterterror aid

Chertoff warns too much cash for large cities could starve mid-sized areas

WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security increased counterterrorism funding for Washington and New York City yesterday but warned that doling out more federal cash to the nation's largest urban areas would require the virtual elimination of aid to mid-size cities.

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Terror Estimate: Safer Than We Were but Not Safe--WSJ
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

Terror Estimate

Safer than we were, but not safe yet.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

This week's release of a two-page summary of the National Intelligence Estimate is being greeted by the usual media suspects as evidence that the war on terror has been a squandered effort. We read it as a stark reminder that al Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups continue to pose an urgent threat to our security, and that 9/11 was not the terrorist one-off that some liberals wish it were so they can switch the subject to global warming and after-school programs.

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Al-Qaida Driven and Intent on Attacking U.S
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

BILL GERTZ: WASHINGTON TIMES

Al Qaeda terrorists are rebuilding their capabilities and continuing to plan mass-casualty attacks inside the United States, according to an intelligence assessment made public yesterday.

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Stop Our Networks from Helping al-Qaida
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

TOWN HALL

You have seen it. We have all seen it. Worst of all, the families of the heroic soldiers killed, have seen it.

“It,” is a video montage of American military vehicle after American military vehicle, getting blown up in Iraq by Improvised Explosive Devices, or IED’s. Some of our television “news” networks will show one or two vehicles getting blown to bits, while others will ghoulishly show ten or more American military vehicles in a row, getting decimated by explosives hidden in the roads by cowardly terrorists.

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Spy Leaders: U.S. to Face Ongoing Threats
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

WASHINGTON - The United States will face a "persistent and evolving" terrorist threat in the next three years, as al-Qaida bolsters its efforts to plant terror plotters in the country and other related activities, according to a new National Intelligence Estimate to be made public Tuesday.

Several of the nation's top intelligence officials — including National Intelligence Council Chairman Thomas Fingar and FBI Deputy Director John Pistole — were to brief reporters on the declassified key findings of the document, which was years in the making.
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Atom Bombs, Suitcase Nukes, and America's Future
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

WND

In just one week in July we have been lucidly reminded that the war on terror is alive and well. The question is: Will we turn a blind eye to the evidence or seek to prevent a repeat of summer 2001, when we were given signs of a clear and present danger before Sept. 11?

"Reminiscent of…the summer of 2001"

The London Telegraph noted that "Britain is a centre of intense plotting and faces a terrorist threat of 'unprecedented scale, ambition and ruthlessness'."
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Cyber Gang Targeted U.S. Facilities
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

WASHINGTON TIMES

Computer files maintained by a "cyber-terrorist" gang in the United Kingdom included a threat by 45 Muslim doctors said to be planning an attack on the Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville, Fla., and other U.S. sites using car bombs and rocket grenades.

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45 Muslim Doctors Planned Attacks on America
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL

Debbie Schlussel: 45 Muslim Doctors Planned Attacks on America, or Why I feel Like Cassandra

By Debbie Schlussel

In mid-May, I warned you about Muslim doctors involved in terrorism and described the case of a Muslim doctor who murdered his Jewish patient by deliberately refusing to treat him. Several pan-Arabists and pan-Islamists, lefties, and assorted other clueless vessels who love to shroud themselves and Muslims with the generally false adjective "moderate" cast doubt on me.

As usual, I felt like Cassandra, the persona from Greek mythology, who always predicted in advance what was going to happen and warned others who laughed at and doubted her. When it was too late, they saw that her predictions and warnings always came true.

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When Liberals and Terrorists Conspire--July 1
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2007

TOWN HALL

There seems to be a pattern amongst the left and terrorists. They work together. Whether they do so intentionally or not is irrelevant. The actions of one are given cover by the others and in the end - they are all working for the same team.

Take the attempted terrorist bombings of this past week.

On Friday, due to some very fortunate timing by a police officer and a set of parking garage attendants two massively huge car bombs were dismantled. And while the actions of those people are commendable - let's face it, the main reason that thousands of Brits weren't dead was due to the fact that the cell phone triggers had not worked.
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Troubling Occurence on NW Flight Still not Resolved--June 29
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2007

(NOTE: HEAR PASSENGER ANNIE JACOBSEN RELIVE THIS ON OUR JUNE 9, 2007 PROGRAM AT "RADIO ARCHIVES.")

Here’s what we know happened on Northwest Flight 327 back on June 29, 2004:

Thirteen Middle Eastern men — 12 from Syria, one a permanent U.S. resident from Lebanon — had one-way tickets for the weekday nonstop from Detroit to Los Angeles. The men, a musical group and their U.S. promoter, took seats all over the plane. Takeoff was delayed when one man with a limp refused to move from an emergency row, pretending he did not understand English.

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Homeland Security: The Good, the Bad, the . . .
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2007

Homeland Security: The Good, The Bad....
By James Carafano
Heritage Foundation | June 13, 2007

Next to defense, arguably the most important congressional responsibility is ensuring that the federal government has the resources and guidance needed to fulfill its domestic security role. Congress created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002; however, it has yet to pass a DHS authorization bill--an inexcusable shortfall.

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Olmert: No Ceasefire this Time--Fox--June 3
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2007

JERUSALEM — Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli army base in southern Israel with mortar fire early Sunday, wounding four soldiers, the army said. The Hamas terror group claimed responsibility.

The attack occurred at the Erez crossing on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, the army said. One soldier was in moderate condition, while the others were lightly wounded, the army said.

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Bin Laden Plan for Attacks in U.S.
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for May, 2007

WASHINGTON — President Bush, trying to defend his war strategy, declassified intelligence Tuesday asserting that Usama bin Laden ordered a top lieutenant in early 2005 to form a terrorist cell that would conduct attacks outside Iraq — and that the United States should be the top target.

Frances Fragos Townsend, the White House homeland security adviser, said the intelligence bolsters the Bush administration's contention that Al Qaeda wants to use Iraq as a staging area to launch terrorist attacks around the world, including the United States.

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Drones Could Defend Airports--USA Today
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for March, 2007

Drones could defend airports

Anti-missile system to be tested in USA

USA TODAY

The Homeland Security Department and the military this summer will test whether drones flying 65,000 feet above the nation's busiest airports could be used to protect planes from being shot down by terrorists with shoulder-fired missiles.

Dubbed "Project Chloe" after a character on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's favorite TV show, 24, the anti-missile strategy is the latest to be explored by government leaders looking to thwart potential missile threats at commercial airports. Other methods are being considered, but Homeland Security officials say they may be too costly or impractical.

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Jihad Strategies Against America
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for March, 2007

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Walid Phares, a Professor of Middle East Studies and Religious Conflict at the LLS Program of Florida Atlantic University and a visiting Professor at National Defense University in Winter 2007. Dr. Phares is a Senior Fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. He has served as an Analyst on Terrorism with MSNBC since 2003 and is now a contributor to Fox News. He is the author of Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against America, which has just come out in paperback and includes a new chapter which discusses some of Phares’ predictions that have already proved accurate.

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Chertoff Warns of Web of Terrorism--Wash.Times--March 15
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for March, 2007

Radical Islamists are using the Internet to recruit homegrown terrorists in the U.S., Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a Senate panel yesterday.

"I don't think it's necessary to send radical recruiters into the United States, and I think there's a risk to doing that," Mr. Chertoff told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
Viwe Full Article

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Security Falters in U.S. Rail Checks
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for February, 2007

An ambitious test of machines for checking subway and rail passengers for bombs failed to find a technology that can reliably stop terrorists such as those who attacked trains in Madrid and London, according to a Homeland Security Department assessment.

The $7 million government program tested futuristic screening equipment in major rail systems last year and found that each of the technologies had significant problems.

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"Mother of Satan" Bombs Likely Used Against U.S.
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for February, 2007

Now, Mr. Yeager says, the "Mother of Satan" explosives are considered the most likely weapon that terrorists will use against the U.S., more so than a nuclear or radiological "dirty" bomb.
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What Every American Should Know About Jihad---Feb. 21
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for February, 2007

Is Islamic jihad just a harmless form of spiritual struggle -- as is often argued by Western apologists for radical Islam? Is Jihadi violence simply a twisted, hijacked version of Islam, rejected by traditional Muslims? The David Horowitz Freedom Center's new Terrorism Awareness Project, which seeks to educate Americans, and especially college students about jihad, confronts questions such as these. It has produced a powerful new flash video, What Every American Needs to Know About Jihad.

This video is adapted from a new pamphlet by Robert Spencer, which puts the threat of jihadist ideology into historical perspective. As Spencer makes clear, the religious imperatives of jihad demand the subjugation or killing of infidels and form the poisoned logic of Islamists' expansionist war against America and the West.

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Nuclear Terror Threat Growing
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for February, 2007

LONDON (Reuters) - Western governments must take seriously the possibility of terrorists exploding a nuclear bomb as the necessary materials and know-how become easier to acquire, security analysts argue in two new reports.

"The threat of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons is real ... moreover, the likelihood of terrorists acquiring such weapons is growing as more states aggressively pursue their own nuclear ambitions," the EastWest Institute said in a study.

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Terrorism in Early America
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for January, 2007

Terrorism In Early America

The U.S. Wages War Against The Barbary
States To End International Blackmail and Terrorism

By Thomas Jewett

The events of September 11, 2001 shocked the United States out of its complacency concerning its invulnerability. Even though the U.S. has the most powerful military machine on earth, it might be of little avail; it seems that a new type of war will be fought. A war that will need resolve, years of effort, and new tactics.

This is not the first conflict in which America has faced such deprivations against life and property. There was another time when it was determined that diplomacy would not only be futile, but humiliating and in the long run disastrous. A time when ransom or tribute would not buy peace. A time when war was considered more effective and honorable. And, a time when war would be fought, not with large concentrations of military might, but by small bands peopled with individuals of indomitable spirit.

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Post 9/11 Air Security Programs Still Not in Place--Fox---Dec. 25
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for December, 2006

WASHINGTON — Five years, millions of dollars and innumerable headaches later, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) still has not put in place the sophisticated terrorist screening facilities it promised to install at the nation's airports and ports after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

TSA officials have confirmed to FOXNews.com that Secure Flight, the terrorist screening program that would check passengers against a massive federal terror watch list, won't be up and running until the database is complete, and no deadline has been set for completion.

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FBI Describes Texas Jihad Plot---Dec. 2
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for December, 2006

DALLAS — An FBI agent testified in federal court Friday that at least four aspiring jihadists conducted firearms training and discussed going to war against the United States on two weekend camping trips near Willis earlier this year.

"The group had discussions about traveling to Pakistan to engage (the) United States and coalition forces," Special Agent John McKinley, who is assigned to an international counterterrorism squad in Houston, told a federal judge.

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Why Airport Security Should be Profiling--Coulter
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for November, 2006

Imam spokesman is great example of why airport security ought to be profiling Arabs

By Ann Coulter

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The six imams removed from a US Airways flight last week have apparently adopted my suggestion that if they really want to protest the airline, instead of boycotting US Airways, they should start flying it frequently.

The spokesman for the imams — or as I believe it's phrased in their culture, "designated liar" — Omar Shahin, staged a protest at Reagan Washington National Airport on Monday, after which, according to The Associated Press, "he and other religious leaders boarded a US Airways flight to demonstrate their determination to continue praying and flying."

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Marshalls Kept off Plane at Reagan
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for November, 2006

Marshals kept off plane at Reagan

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A team of federal air marshals was prevented from protecting a recent flight from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport because a gate agent erroneously said they did not have the correct paperwork, say marshals familiar with the incident.

Officials with Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) were called in to remove the marshals from US Airways Flight 3464 departing Nov. 8 for Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn.

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Guilty Plea from Man Planning to Blow Up Major American Landmarks---Oct. 13
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for October, 2006

LONDON -- A British man identified by U.S. officials as a senior al Qaeda figure pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to murder in a plot to bomb high-profile targets in the United States including the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington and the New York Stock Exchange.

"I plead guilty," Dhiren Barot, 34, said in a clear voice at London's high-security Woolwich Crown Court.
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Terror Oil: Financing Our Own Demise---Oct. 9
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for October, 2006

Terror Oil: Financing Our Own Demise

A thought-provoking piece by Joe Kaufman, Chairman of Americans Against Hate, the host of The Politics of Terrorism radio show, and the spokesman for Terror-Free Oil Initiative:

As Iran decides its next move, Americans sit back, waiting for the effects at home. One of those possible effects is a higher average cost for gasoline, as so much of the gas we use is tethered to the Middle East. We cannot help but feel held hostage to the whims of those that, if they weren't accepting our money, would instead accept our demise. Because of this, and other reasons as well, our quest is to get away from Middle Eastern oil altogether – to look for avenues out of the morass we find ourselves in. That seems a monumental task, indeed. However, there is one simple thing we can do in the meantime, and that is to purchase 'terror-free' oil. View Full Article

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Defeating Internet Terrorists--Wash. Times---Oct. 8
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for October, 2006

Defeating Internet terrorists

October 8, 2006

The Internet has become the "seductive hypermedia" for radical Islamic terrorists, with official and unofficial Web sites, forums and chatrooms that appeal to supporters worldwide. Most Web sites are intended to advance a group's propaganda to increase their supporting audience, while some have operational intentions. But how do we defeat such terrorism in cyberspace?

An eclectic group of international experts in terrorist use of the Internet and graphic design specialists met recently in Israel's southern resort city of Eilat to formulate a comprehensive response campaign that deserves wide attention.

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Terror in the Skies
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2006

(NOTE: Hear Jan's updated interview of Annie on "radio archives." The program is September 16, 2006 and will be posted later in the day, September 18).

Terror in the Skies
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 18, 2006

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Annie Jacobsen, a regular columnist for Women's Wall Street where her controversial Terror in the Skies columns were first published. After over a dozen instalments, Spence Publications contacted her to write a book of the same title. For the past two year, Ms. Jacobsen has interviewed over 100 federal air marshalls, dozens of FBI and DHS agents, government officials, scores of pilots, over 100 flight attendants, and even the ambassador of Syria. She joins us today to discuss some of the wealth of information she has discovered about our airport security. View Full Article

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Solidarity--Hitchins---Sept. 11
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2006

Solidarity

Our first duty is to stand together against bin Ladenism.

BY CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
Monday, September 11,

Never mind where I was standing or what I was doing this time five years ago. (Because really, what could be less pertinent?) Except that I do remember wondering, with apparent irrelevance, how soon I would be hearing one familiar cliché. And that I do remember hearing, with annoyance, one other observation that I believe started the whole post-9/11 epoch on the wrong foot.

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What 9/11 Didn't Change--George Will---Sept. 11
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2006

What 9/11 Didn't Change

By George Will

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Before the dust from the collapsed towers had settled, conventional wisdom had congealed: "Everything has changed." But what about what matters most, the public's sensibility?

It has taken five years for Sept. 11, 2001, to receive a novelist's subtle and satisfying treatment, but it was worth the wait for Claire Messud's "The Emperor's Children." Her intimation of the mark the attacks made on the American mind is convincing because in her comedy of manners, as in the nation's life, that horrific event is, oddly, both pivotal and tangential.

Messud's Manhattan story revolves around two women and a gay man who met as classmates at Brown University and who, as they turn 30 in 2001, vaguely yearn to do something "important" and "serious." Vagueness — lack of definition — is their defining characteristic. Which may be because — or perhaps why — all three are in the media. All are earnest auditors and aspiring improvers of the nation's sensibility.

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How the Left Undermined National Security Before 9/11---Sept. 11
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2006

How the Left Undermined National Security Before 9/11
By David Horowitz
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 11, 2006

(The following article by David Horowitz first appeared in our March 24, 2004, issue. An updated version appeared last September 11. It has been further updated to reflect information that has come to light since then. With last night's premiere of the ABC-TV movie "The Path to 9/11," the truth impact of the Left's policies in bringing about the nation's worst terrorist attack is finally coming to light. -- The Editors) View Full Article

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New College Program Brings Saudis to U.S.--Wash. Times---Sept. 10
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2006

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Thousands of students from Saudi Arabia are enrolling on college campuses across the United States this semester under a new educational exchange program brokered by President Bush and Saudi King Abdullah.

The program will quintuple the number of Saudi students and scholars in the United States by the academic year's end. And big, public universities from Florida to Oregon are in a fierce competition for their tuition dollars.

The kingdom's royal family -- which is paying full scholarships for most of the 15,000 students -- says the program will help stem unrest at home by schooling the country's brightest in the American tradition. The State Department sees the exchange as a way to build ties with future Saudi leaders and young scholars at a time of unsteady relations with the Muslim world.
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America IS in Mortal Danger---Sept. 5
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2006

WASHINGTON – Two years ago, he was as lonely as the Maytag repairman – an obscure congressman trying desperately to raise the visibility of an issue he believed threatened the very security of the U.S.

More recently, he has become a force to be reckoned with, the leader of a powerful House caucus, a Republican who has taken on the president, a man respected for outspoken positions and the political force behind what has become the hottest issue in the nation.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus and the undisputed heavyweight champion of the border security issue in the nation's capital, now tells the whole story of the threats facing the nation, the solutions within its grasp and his own personal quest to awaken the political establishment to the seething discontentment gripping America as a result of illegal immigration.
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TSA Halts Explosive Detectors at Airports--MSNBC---Sept. 3
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for September, 2006

NEW YORK - The Transportation Security Administration is suspending installation of the only airport checkpoint device that automatically screens passengers for hidden explosives due to problems with the system’s reliability, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.

“We are seeing some issues that we did not anticipate” with the devices known as “puffers,” the Times quoted Randy Null, the agency’s chief technology officer as saying.

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9/11 Shows Little Affect on Faith in America--Barna
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

Ventura, CA) – As the United States nears the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Americans are looking back at how their lives have changed in the half decade since that tumultuous day. How have their spiritual lives been affected? A new study by The Barna Group examined data from nine national surveys, involving interviews with more than 8,600 adults, conducted right before the attacks and at regular intervals since then.

The study shows that despite an intense surge in religious activity and expression in the weeks immediately following 9/11 the faith of Americans is virtually indistinguishable today compared to pre-attack conditions. Barna’s tracking surveys looked at 19 dimensions of spirituality and beliefs. Remarkably, none of those 19 indicators are statistically different from the summer before the attacks! (This means that the small gaps in percentage points – when they exist – are not larger than the random differences that might be expected because of using a sample of Americans rather a census.)

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What Israeli Security Could Teach Us--Jacoby
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

What Israeli security could teach us

By Jeff Jacoby

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The safest airline in the world, it is widely agreed, is El Al, Israel's national carrier. The safest airport is Ben Gurion International, in Tel Aviv. No El Al plane has been attacked by terrorists in more than three decades, and no flight leaving Ben Gurion has ever been hijacked. So when US aviation intensified its focus on security after 9/11, it seemed a good bet that the experience of travelers in American airports would increasingly come to resemble that of travelers flying out of Tel Aviv.

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Hezbollah: Coming to a Town Near You
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

Hezbollah coming to a town near you.

Please watch. http://www.youtube.com/v/-HlaVpqUXF0

For those of you who think Hezbollah is a Lebanese/Israeli problem here is some info for you:

Over 300 Hezbollah terrorist have been arrested in America on American soil in the last few years by our government one of them was a general who came through the Mexican border.

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How the FBI Puts America at Risk--MSNBC
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

Dangerous Disgrace

The FBI’s continued technological incompetence is putting America at risk

Everyone’s got an Exhibit A of the mind-bending, staggering and almost incomprehensible incompetence of the Bush Era. Iraq. Katrina. Medicare. But let’s add one more. Should, God forbid, we be hit again by terrorists, historians will point an unforgiving finger at the computers of the FBI.
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The War on Terror at Five--Emerson
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

With British Muslims hatching plots to blow up airplanes with liquid explosives and our all-out war on terrorism nearing its fifth anniversary, it's a good time to check in with Steven Emerson.

Emerson, whose prescient warnings about militant Islamic activities in the United States in the late 1990s and in May of 2001 went unheeded, is an award-winning investigative journalist and international terrorism expert. I talked to him Wednesday, Aug. 16 by telephone from his offices in Washington, where he is director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism:

Q: How is the war against terrorism going in the United States?

A: I think it's going pretty well, insofar as the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies have interdicted various operations and infiltrated terrorist groups. It's taken a while -- close to five years -- but we've not been hit and most of the cases that have been brought have shown the ability of the FBI to get on the inside of these groups.
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The Profiling Debate--WSJ
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

In the aftermath of 9/11, Congress rushed to mandate that 100% of checked airline baggage in the U.S. be screened for explosives. But the recently foiled plot to bring down 10 U.S.-bound airliners highlights what has remained a major concern in international aviation security: bombs carried into the cabin by passengers themselves.

The initial response this past week has been to sharply curtail the size and number of allowable carry-on items. But the inconvenience from keeping things like laptops and overnight bags out of the cabin is great enough that it could deter air travel and do long-term economic harm. Subjecting all of what used to pass for normal carry-on baggage to exhaustive searches has a similar effect, assuming it is even practical in the long run.

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CAIR Given VIP Tour of Airport Security
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

The Department of Homeland Security took a Muslim group with known past ties to terror organizations on a VIP tour of security operations at the nation's busiest airport at the same time British authorities were working to break up a plot to blow up U.S. airlines.

On June 21, a senior DHS official from Washington personally guided Muslim officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations on a behind-the-scenes tour of Customs screening operations at O'Hare International Airport in response to CAIR complaints that Muslim travelers were being unfairly delayed as they entered the U.S. from abroad.

CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association for Palestine, identified by two former FBI counterterrorism chiefs as a "front group" for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Several CAIR leaders have been convicted on terror-related charges.

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Lunacy Occupies our Airports--WND
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

"Keep it random" is the motto of the madmen who run the Transportation Security Administration."Unpredictability," says the TSA's website, is key to securing (or is it tormenting) the traveling public. One moment an inspector may be lifting La Prairie face toner from well-to-do matrons; the next she'll be stealing anti-acne lotion from teenagers, or grabbing Gerber juice bottles from chubby cherubs. As one of Chertoff's chicks told MSNBC's Tucker Carlson, the terrorists are changing their methods all the time, and so must we.

Sounds more like a headless and very malevolent chicken (although to be fair to fowl, they're too stupid to harbor complex emotions).

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Why We Must Profile--Spencer
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

Why We MUST Profile
By Robert Spencer

To profile or not to profile? Some recent suspicious incidents involving mass purchase of cell phones by Middle Eastern men have given this debate a new urgency.

On Tuesday, terrorism charges were dropped against two Muslims from Dearborn, Michigan, who had been arrested in Ohio. Ali Houssaiky and Osama Sabhi Abulhassan had been stopped for a traffic violation a week before; in their car, sheriff’s deputies found $11,000 in cash, airline passenger lists, material about airport security procedures, and twelve cell phones. It turned out that they had bought 600 cell phones recently.

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Since 9/11 Have We Lost Our Resolve to Win?
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | We are just weeks away from the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and yet we have quickly forgotten the lessons of that terrible day. We understood then that a group of Islamic fanatics had declared war on the United States and that our only option was to defeat them.

Barely five years later, we seem to have lost our resolve. But our enemies haven't lost theirs, as the interrupted plot to blow up U.S.-bound airplanes in Great Britain demonstrates all too well. So what are the chances we will ultimately prevail?

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Stone's Movie: Stand up and Applaud
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

Like a lot of conservative film critics, I was more than a little apprehensive to hear that anti-American conspiracy theorist Oliver Stone would be making a movie about 9/11. Fortunately, whatever his past cinematic sins and however many he may commit in the future, there is no reason to fear World Trade Center. On the contrary, Stone gives us many reasons to stand up and applaud.

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FBI: Hezbollah Can Strike in U.S.--NewsMax---Aug. 7
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

FBI: Hezbollah Can Strike in U.S.

A handful of money scams uncovered across the United States in recent years bearing Hezbollah's fingerprints have some experts worried that if orders were given to launch a terror attack against the U.S. the means are in place to do so.

The FBI has made Hezbollah a central target of its counterterrorism efforts, setting up a unit dedicated to tracking the group and assigning agents to develop sources in Lebanese and other Middle Eastern communities across the country, report National Security Correspondent Dan Ephron and Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff in the August 14 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, August 7).
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Security Flawed in Electronic Passports--Wash.Times---Aug. 7
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

Security flawed in electronic passports
By Dan Goodin
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 7, 2006

LAS VEGAS -- Electronic passports being introduced in the United States and other countries have a major vulnerability that allows criminals to clone embedded secret codes and enter countries illegally, a researcher warned.

A demonstration by German computer-security specialist Lukas Grunwald showed how personal information stored on the documents could be copied and transferred to another device.

It appeared to contradict assurances by officials in government and private industry that the electronic information stored in passports could not be duplicated.

"If there is an automatic inspection system, I can use this card to enter any country," Mr. Grunwald said, holding up a computer chip containing electronic information he had copied from his German passport.

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Our Shocking Vulnerability--NewsMax
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

It is this reporter's opinion that if the following story – revealed in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee concerning the vulnerability of our borders with Mexico and Canada – won't shock you, nothing will.

Our own U.S. undercover investigators have repeatedly entered the United States using fake documents; in some cases, Homeland Security agents didn't ask for identification. At nine border crossings, on the Mexican and Canadian borders, U.S. agents never questioned the authenticity of counterfeit documents, according to Government Accountability Office (GAO) testimony.

In testimony obtained by the Associated Press, undercover investigators crossed unhindered into the U.S. at least 14 times using counterfeit driver's licenses and, in one case, an expired, altered U.S. diplomatic passport. During the investigation border agents in New York and Florida did stop three undercover officials using expired and forged passports, driver's licenses or birth certificates.
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In Mortal Danger--Trancredo---Aug. 3
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for August, 2006

In Mortal Danger
By Jamie Glazov

Frontpage Interview's gust today is Congressman Tom Tancredo, who represents Colorado's 6th district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to his election to Congress in 1998, Tancredo worked as a school teacher, was elected to the Colorado State House of Representatives in 1976, was appointed by President Reagan as the Secretary of Education's Regional Representative in 1981, and served as President of the Independence Institute. He serves on the International Relations Committee, the Resources Committee, and the Budget Committee, and is the chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. He is the author of the new book In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America's Border and Security. View Full Article

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FBI Investigating 10,000 Terror Cases--NewsMax
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Besides uncovering a plot to blow up tunnels in New York City, the FBI is currently investigating 10,000 terrorism cases, according to Joe Billy, Jr., the bureau's chief of counterterrorism. The investigations include cases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, CIA and FBI officials are dumbfounded by quotes attributed to them in Ron Suskind's "The One Percent Doctrine." They say many of the conversations never took place. The FBI took the unusual step of issuing a press release stating that the book was wrong in claiming that, two years before the London subway bombings of July 7, 2005, the CIA had placed Mohammad Sidique Khan, a suspect in the bombings, on the U.S. "No Fly List" and warned British intelligence about him.

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America: Land of the Free and Stomping Ground of Terrorists
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for July, 2006

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | I was supposed to go to New York City this week and found myself making travel arrangements on July 11, the latest blood-red letter day of jihadist infamy. That was when bombers struck in Bombay, killing over 200 people and wounding more than 700 rush-hour commuters just trying to get home for dinner. I decided to fly.

But was that the best (read: safest) way to go? The plot to blow up Manhattan's Holland Tunnel had this same week been "disrupted," as they say, so maybe driving a car before another plot was cooked up was the better bet. But since not even the Department of Homeland Security could "disrupt" the heavy traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike, I still decided to fly.

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Confusion Reigns Five Years After 9/11--WSJ
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2006

So we got the Hamdan Guantanamo detainee decision yesterday, the turmoil over revealing the Swift surveillance of terrorist financing a week ago, the FBI's capture in Florida of the would-be al Qaeda bombers of the Sears Tower before that, and oh yes, those 17 Muslims in Canada who wanted to invade Parliament and behead the prime minister. We seem to be thoroughly entangled just now in never-ending tensions over civil liberty concerns on one hand and manifest national security threats on the other. Nearly five years after September 11, it's a little stale to argue that this much confusion is just the way a vigorous democracy functions. Or not. View Full Article

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Terrorists Win - America Loses--Hal Lindsey
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2006

The U.S. government took a body blow when one of its most sensitive war-fighting programs turned up on the front page of the New York Times. It wasn't that the New York Times didn't know it was exposing a closely held secret national security project. The administration not only told the New York Times how sensitive the information was, it "implored" the Times not to reveal it.

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Al-Qaida's Planned Gas Attack on NYC
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2006

NEW YORK -- U.S. officials received intelligence that al-Qaida operatives had been 45 days away from releasing a deadly gas into the city's subways when the plan was called off by Osama bin Laden's deputy in 2003, according to a book excerpt released Sunday on Time magazine's Web site.

According to the investigative report by Ron Suskind, an informant close to al-Qaida leaders told U.S. officials that Ayman al-Zawahri had canceled the plan in January 2003, despite the likelihood that the strike would have killed as many people as the Sept. 11 attacks.

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Danger from the North--Wash. Times
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2006

While Canada's security services performed admirably in the investigation leading to last weekend's arrests of Muslim men for planning a series of terrorist attacks, Ottawa has only begun to address the larger problem: that its lenient asylum, immigration and refugee-status laws have made Canada a haven for terrorists with easy access to the United States. The threat was spotlighted Thursday at a hearing held by House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims.
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Homeland Security Accepts Fake I.D.--Wash. Times
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2006

The Department of Homeland Security allowed a man to enter its headquarters last week using a fake Matricula Consular card as identification, despite federal rules that say the Mexican-issued card is not valid ID at government buildings.

Bruce DeCell, a retired New York City police officer, used his phony card -- which lists his place of birth as "Tijuana, B.C." and his address as "123 Fraud Blvd." on an incorrectly spelled "Staton Island, N.Y." -- to enter the building Wednesday for a meeting with DHS officials.
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Illegals from Terror-Sponsoring States--Timmerman
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2006

(Hear Ken Timmerman on our radio show. Use the search engine provided.--jm)

While the White House argues with the Heritage Foundation over how many new immigrants will be minted by the administration’s immigration plan, and Congress debates how many miles of fencing they should fund along the Mexican border, no on is paying attention to the real immigration scandal. If left unattended, this one could cost the lives of millions of Americans, not just their livelihoods.

Even as we speak, tens of thousands of illegals from terrorist-sponsoring states are roaming the streets of America, according to a stunning new report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
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U.S. Links to Canadian Terror--Wash. Times
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for June, 2006

U.S. and Canadian officials are investigating links between Canadian terror suspects accused of plotting to bomb government buildings and Islamic militants in the United States and other countries.

Investigators are looking at links between two Atlanta men arrested in March after they videotaped the U.S. Capitol and at least three other Washington locations and two Canadians identified as part of a terrorist ring. The Canadians were arrested last year trying to smuggle weapons into Canada.
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Terrorists Within
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for May, 2006

(Hear Paul Sperry on our radio program on "radio archives." Use the search engine in that category.--jm)

"While we certainly should continue to take the fight to the enemy wherever he is, we need to face the awful reality that the enemy may already be in our very own backyard," says former Homeland Security Department Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin. "The frightening truth is that there are already terrorists among us."

Osama bin Laden recently warned that al-Qaeda is making final preparations for another massive attack on America. Assuming the terrorist kingpin isn't bluffing, he could have terrorist cells secreted inside American cities.

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In Flight Probing by Terrorists?--Wash. Times
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for May, 2006

(HEAR ANNIE JACOBSEN RELATE THIS STORY ON OUR "RADIO ARCHIVES" BACK IN NOVEMBER, 2005.--jm)

The report includes two new incidents of Middle Eastern-looking men apparently probing security. On Aug. 29, 2002, one man checked the cockpit, flight-deck door and locks, bumped two passengers who may have been the marshals with luggage "and then touched them in the chest with an open hand," checking for a firearm, according to a FAMS incident report included in the report.

The suspect's "activities have all the indications that he was attempting to determine if FAMS were on board the flight," according to the FAMS.

On June 27, 2002, two persons boarded separately, then asked an air marshal to switch seats. The two began to converse in Arabic, took notes of first-class passengers, air crew and marshals, and later followed one marshal through the airport, the incident report says.
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9/11, the Pentagon and Our Borders--Malkin
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for May, 2006

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Sitting on my home office desk is one of my most treasured possessions. It's a silver medallion inscribed "United in Memory: September 11, 2001" with a proud American eagle on one side. On the other side, the memento depicts workers at the Pentagon saluting as they unfurl a large U.S. flag from the Pentagon rooftop.

The medal was given to me by Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame III, the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77. Jihadi hijackers who exploited our joke of an immigration system crashed the plane into the Pentagon on 9/11 while screaming "Allahu Akbar!" I look at the keepsake every day before I write to be reminded of this nation's strength, courage, and perseverance.

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The Port Security That Isn't
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for May, 2006

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee recently approved a major maritime security bill that would start the Department of Homeland Security down the road to 100 percent scanning of cargo containers. There have also been attempts in the House to add requirements for radiation scanning and the use of seals on all containers before they enter the United States. These approaches are misguided.

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Shockingly Ignorant of the Muslims Among Us
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for March, 2006

Media shockingly ignorant of Muslims among us

By Mark Steyn

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | This week's Voldemort Award goes to the New York Times for their account of a curious case of road rage in North Carolina:

"The man charged with nine counts of attempted murder for driving a Jeep through a crowd at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last Friday told the police that he deliberately rented a four-wheel-drive vehicle so he could 'run over things and keep going.' "

The driver in question was Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar.

Whoa, don't jump to conclusions. The Times certainly didn't. As the report continued:

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Homeland Security Debacle
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for March, 2006

Homeland security debacle
TODAY'S EDITORIAL

As the legislative session in Annapolis grinds on, it looks less and less likely that anything will be done to alter what has become a national embarassment: the fact that Maryland has become one of the easiest states in the country when it comes to permitting illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses.

We oppose permitting the federal government to micromanage the issuing of driver's licenses, which is clearly a state responsibility. But if we have learned anything from September 11, it is the ease with which the hijackers were able to obtain driver's licenses and use them as a form of identification. America is only as strong as its weakest link. And among the 50 states, Maryland has one of the worst records when it comes to protecting the integrity of its licenses.

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Probe Finds Muslims in U.S. "Training for War"
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for February, 2006

HOMELAND INSECURITY

Probe finds terrorists in U.S. 'training for war'

Neighbors of Muslim encampment fear retaliation if they report to police

The Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra is using Islamic schools in the United States as training facilities, confirms a joint investigative report by an intelligence think tank and an independent reporter.

A covert visit to an encampment in the Catskill Mountains near Hancock, N.Y., called "Islamberg" found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities, said the report by the Northeast Intelligence Network, which worked with an Internet blogger, "CP," to publish an interim report.

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The Enemy Within--Hal Lindsey
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for February, 2006

The Enemy Within

Since the 9-11 Muslim terrorists attacks against the United States, I have been seeking to warn Americans in general, and Christians in particular, of the enormous threat posed to our country by radical Islam. That has gotten me on the wrong side of the politically correct, even among other Christians.

Some Christian leaders have not understood this God-directed emphasis to my prophetic ministry. They have told me that my emphasis "puts Arabs in a bad light," "is too anti-Muslim" and "hinders evangelism to Muslims."

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Bush: U.S. Surveillance Stopped Attack--NewsMax
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for February, 2006

Bush: U.S. Surveillance Helped Stop Attack
NewsMax.com Wires

WASHINGTON -- Under fire for eavesdropping on Americans, President Bush said Thursday that spy work stretching from the U.S. to Asia helped thwart terrorists plotting to use shoe bombs to hijack an airliner and crash it into the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast in 2002.

"It took the combined efforts of several countries to break up this plot," Bush said. "By working together we stopped a catastrophic attack on our homeland."

Some information about the foiled attack was disclosed last year, but Bush offered more details to highlight international cooperation in fighting terrorists. He did not say whether information about the West Coast plot was collected by his administration's program to monitor - without court warrants - some calls and e-mails between people overseas and in the U.S. when links to terrorism are suspected.
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The Legal Left's War on National Security
--> Posted to Terrorism_US for January, 2006

No small leap of faith is required to imagine the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), those two bastions of the “legal Left,” as paladins of the Constitution and guardians of American legal norms. CCR, after all, has consistently opposed the enforcement of U.S. immigration statutes, even vying against restrictions on immigrants who “endorse or espouse terrorist activity.” The ACLU meanwhile has waged a concerted attack against all measures aimed at holding the enemies of American liberties—from radical Islamic mosques to terrorist suspects—to account.

But that has not kept both groups from posturing as the last line of defense against an oppressive and invasive American government. In their