Terrorism: News and Updates II

[Ryan Ruck]

A continuation of this thread: Terrorism: News and Updates.

[American Patriot]

Men videotaping airplanes questioned
Richmond Times-Dispatch ^ | Monday, January 15, 2007 | none given



A person who saw three men on Richmond International Airport property videotaping airplanes taking off and landing notified Henrico County police, leading to the arrest of one of the men on a charge of possessing a sawed-off shotgun, police said. .........


Police found the shotgun in the vehicle, along with the video camera and tape of the takeoffs and landings, Crook said. The driver of the car was arrested on the shotgun charge. The other two men were questioned but not arrested, Crook said. The airport police and the Joint Terrorism Task Force were notified, he said.


It was unclear why the air traffic was being taped, according to a police report. The name of the arrested man was not immediately released by police.





(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...




(no names released????????????????????? Hmmmm)

[Jag]

http://www.informationweek.com/story...d_IWK_Security

Terrorists Take Over Google Earth




British Army intelligence sources suspect the mapping software is contributing to some rogue attacks.



By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek

Jan 17, 2007 07:00 PM



Terrorists in Basra, Iraq, have turned Google Earth into a tool for targeting attacks, according to The Daily Telegraph, a U.K. newspaper.

Citing unnamed British Army intelligence sources, the Telegraph said that documents recovered from the homes of insurgents included print-outs of Google Earth images with notations detailing the longitude and latitude of a British military camp.

The article quotes the unidentified intelligence officer as saying, "We believe they use Google Earth to identify the most vulnerable areas such as tents," and notes that one solider has been killed and several wounded in mortar attacks at the camp in question.

The implication is that Google Earth bears some measure of responsibility is dubious considering the mapping software has its limitations.

Google spokesperson Rachel Whetstone said she was unable to comment on whether or not Google had spoken with British military representatives about this issue. She did say however that Google was receptive to such concerns when raised.

This is not the first time that Google's avowed mission "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" has collided with the military need for secrecy.

In December 2005, the New York Times reported that the governments of India, Russia, and South Korea, among others, were concerned that Google Earth images might reveal too much about their military bases.

A complicating factor in this controversy is that Google isn't actually using satellites to spy on anyone. The company buys its images from the likes of DigitalGlobe, an imagery company based in Colorado.
Whetstone said many people were aware of this. "I think there is a very clear understanding that you can get the information on Google Earth from other sources," she said. "The information all comes from third parties. Google Earth imagery, on the whole is used for the purposes for which it was intended. Sadly, some things in life can be used for things we might not want them to be used for."

Jag

[American Patriot]

Governor Suggests Taliban Spokesman Caught 'With Anthrax'

Radio Free Europe ^ | January 17, 2007 | Radio Free Europe



An Afghan governor today showed the media photographs of arrested Taliban spokesman Mohammad Hanif, claiming he had been picked up in a house containing packets of anthrax powder.


Gul Aghar Sherzai, governor of Nangarhar Province, where Hanif was arrested late on January 15, did not say how it had been proven the powder was the deadly anthrax bacteria or what quantity had been found.


Intelligence officials and police did not confirm the discovery of anthrax.

[American Patriot]

ABC NEWS: DOCS SEIZED IN IRAQ REVEAL INSURGENT PLAN FOR ATTACK IN U.S.

Details Emerge About Possible Terror Threat

Suspects, Reportedly Tied to Al Qaeda in Iraq, Sought Student Visas

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2007 — Mimicking the hijackers who executed the Sept. 11 attacks, insurgents reportedly tied to al Qaeda in Iraq considered using student visas to slip terrorists into the United States to orchestrate a new attack on American soil.

Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, recently testified that documents captured by coalition forces during a raid of a safe house believed to house Iraqi members of al Qaeda six months ago "revealed [AQI] was planning terrorist operations in the U.S."

At the time, Maples offered little additional insight into the possible terror plot. ABC News, however, has learned new details of what remains a classified incident that has been dealt with at the highest levels of government.

Watch the full report tonight on "World News with Charles Gibson."

Sources tell ABC News that the plot may have involved moving between 10 and 20 suspects believed to be affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq into the United States with student visas — the same method used by the 19 al Qaeda terrorists who struck American targets on Sept. 11.

U.S. officials now require universities to closely track foreign nationals who use student visas to study in the United States. University officials must report international students who fail to arrive on campus or miss class regularly.

In August, the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement alerted intelligence agencies and state and local law enforcement about 11 Egyptian students who had failed to report to their classes at Montana State University. The students were ultimately apprehended.

Still, despite the heightened precautions, some security analysts fear that skilled terrorists — handpicked because of their clean records and because they are carefully trained — could still slip through an academic setting.

The plot was discovered six months ago, roughly the same time that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by coalition forces. Sources tell ABC News that the suspects involved in the effort to launch the U.S. attack were closely associated with Zarqawi.

The plan also came only months after Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2, had requested that Zarqawi attempt an attack inside the United States.

"This appears to be the first hard evidence al Qaeda in Iraq was trying to attack us here at home," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, former chief counterterrorism adviser on the U.S. National Security Council.

The plan was uncovered in its early stages, and sources say there is no indication that the suspects made it into the United States. Officials also emphasize that there is no evidence of an imminent attack.

The hunt for suspects continues, however, and some fear that al Qaeda recruits in Iraq could be easily redirected.

"Anyone willing to go to Iraq to fight American troops is probably willing to try to come to the United States," Clarke said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2813235&page=1

[American Patriot]

'Al-Qaeda' threatens to kill newspaper editor
Herald Sun ^ | 24 January 2007 | Rebecca Weisser




A MAN claiming to represent al-Qaeda in Australia has left a telephone message at an Arabic Australian newspaper threatening to kill its editor-in-chief and destroy its offices in Sydney and Melbourne.


Apparently reading from a script, the Arabic-speaking caller threatened to butcher every Iraqi Kurd and Shiite in Australia.


ASIO and NSW police are investigating the message, left for al-Furat editor-in-chief Hussein Khoshnow 10 days ago.


The caller claims his "well-structured organisation" will track down the names and addresses of the newspaper's reporters.


"We will destroy the newspaper's headquarters in Sydney very soon, God willing," the caller says. "We will destroy the newspaper's headquarters in Melbourne. You will be butchered. Every Iraqi Kurd and Shiite in Australia will be butchered."


The threats, made on Sunday, January 14, were left on the answering machine in the newspaper's Fairfield office. They appeared to have been written down and then read over the phone in Arabic.


"Judging by the voice, I think it was a young man and from the way he spoke Arabic, his vocabulary and his accent, I think he might have been born here but of Yemeni or Syrian origin," Mr Khoshnow said.


The caller appeared to assume, incorrectly, that Mr Khoshnow was a Shiite and said: "You Shiites are dogs. You are scum, to be trodden underfoot.


From Moqtada al-Sadr to Hassan Nasrallah, all your leaders are dogs and scum. Do not think that the death of Saddam will save you. We will deter you with terrorism here inside Australia.


(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...

[American Patriot]

MI5 warns UK labs of threat from al Qaeda

Daily Mail ^ | January 25, 2005 | n/a



MI5 officials are warning British laboratories that Islamist terrorists may try to steal deadly viruses.



Scientists and lab staff handling biological agents such as samples of polio, rabies, tuberculosis and avian flu, have been told their security measures will be vetted by police.



The crackdown comes after M15 told the Foreign Office that al Qaeda operatives are training in germ warfare.



The terror network is said to be trying to recruit university students with access to laboratories.



Ayman al-Zawahri, al Qaeda's second-in-command, warned Western states in a video on the internet: "You are facing the Islamic rage... what awaits you, should you press on [with current policies], is far worse than anything you have seen."



Tony McNulty, the Home Office minister in charge of policing, said: "The terror threat is always changing and we must adapt. As terrorists look for new ways to endanger life we have to take action to be one step ahead.

"That is why we are extending the list of controlled substances to prevent terrorist groups using chemical or biological materials as terrorist weapons."

[Phil Fiord]

I still consider that the Spinach and other contaminated field products may have been tests at this more discreet warfare. Pig feces were cited as a cause, but why now? All of a sudden.

[Jag]

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/

Suspicious Incident At Barrett Firearms Plant

January 26th, 2007
Rutherford County law enforcement agencies were concerned about homeland security safety after an incident at Barrett Firearms Mfg. Inc.

Around 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, a man of Middle Eastern descent approached an employee outside Barrett Manufacturing, asked about what was made there, and if he could see inside.

The employee responded with information about tours planned in advance.

The man wanted to know if he could buy metal from the company with the $15,000 to $20,000 in cash he had on him at the time.

The man had asked questions about the plant and began demanding access, sheriff’s spokesman Dan Goodwin said in a news release issued Friday.

The man was asked to leave after he became upset when the employee began to examine his pickup truck.
The white truck was described as having dual rear tires and towing a white utility trailer. Two other men were in the truck, and there was luggage in the bed of the vehicle.

“Certainly since 9/11 a lot of law enforcement agencies have taken these kinds of things more seriously. It’s hard to say whether there is anything to this or not, but if it is something suspicious we definitely want to know about it,” TBI spokesperson Jennifer Johnson said.

Barrett Firearms makes 50 caliber rifles for the military.

If you have any information about these men please call the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department at 898-7770.

Jag

[Backstop]

Good catch.

Although the release part kinda makes me wonder...

http://www.mysanantonio.com/global-i...s.2064ce1.html

S.A. arrest linked to Iran

Web Posted: 01/31/2007 01:22 AM CST
Guillermo Contreras

Express-News

Federal authorities in El Paso are investigating an international smuggling operation that allegedly tried to illegally export to Iran parts used in Hawk surface-to-air missile systems, which initially were developed for the U.S. military, court documents show.

One of the members of the alleged conspiracy, Robert Caldwell of Portland, Ore., was taken into custody last week in San Antonio as he tried to buy batteries that power Hawk missile systems, according to a government court affidavit obtained Tuesday by the San Antonio Express-News.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents allege in the affidavit that the batteries were to be shipped to Iran, which the State Department lists as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The affidavit, however, doesn't mention the intended use of the batteries.

Caldwell, 56, is jailed in San Antonio on a charge of conspiring to export without a license items regulated by the State Department's International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

Caldwell is scheduled for a bail hearing in federal court in San Antonio today.

The affidavit paints Caldwell, who owns a brokerage company that handles domestic procurement and exports, as a middleman in the scheme.

According to the affidavit, Caldwell told agents he was led to believe the batteries he sought have applications other than for powering systems for Hawk missiles, which were designed to down aircraft or other missiles.

"He plans to enter a plea of not guilty, and we plan to see if we can get him released so we can more carefully explore the facts surrounding his role in the alleged offense in a more relaxed setting," said his lawyer, Van Hilley. "He's never been arrested, and all this is new to him."

The Hawk missile system was developed in the 1950s for U.S. forces and saw action during Gulf War I, in the early 1990s, according to Redstone Arsenal Historical Information, an official Army Web site.

"The missile is highly lethal, reliable and effective against electronic countermeasures," the site says.

It also says newer, more advanced and longer-range missile technology largely has replaced the Hawk systems, but that other countries also received them as private contractors produced them.

Iran has some in its arsenal obtained from other countries, according to historical listings compiled by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif.

The center, which tracks weapons of mass destruction and used public sources to compile the list, said some Hawk missiles were obtained by Iran during the Iran-Contra affair, in which the Reagan administration sold missiles to Tehran to fund rebels fighting to overthrow the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in the 1980s.

The court affidavit said the smuggling ring shipped "U.S. technology" to Iran using the United Kingdom or the Netherlands as go-between countries to disguise the shipments and that the group planned to use similar routes to ship batteries in the future.

The State Department lists Iran among a handful of countries designated as state sponsors of international terrorism, and most items except food, medicine or other humanitarian items are barred from export from the United States to Iran.

Munitions and their components require a license to be exported to any country.

Caldwell's arrest is but a piece of the puzzle federal agents have been putting together since they investigated and arrested a suspect last year who tried to buy batteries for $5,000 apiece, the affidavit said.

According to the affidavit, in an interview, the unnamed suspect told agents the batteries would be sent to Iran.

Further investigation resulted in a meeting in San Antonio last Thursday with Caldwell, according to the affidavit.

Caldwell came to San Antonio to handle the purchase and transportation of some of the batteries, the affidavit alleged. He was arrested by federal agents shortly after he checked in at an upscale downtown hotel.

Caldwell had some documents relating to the purchase of some of the batteries, the affidavit said.

It said Caldwell told the agents he was told the batteries he was buying were for navigational systems but acknowledged the items still required a license for export out of the United States.

"Caldwell told (special agents) that he knew it was illegal to do this, but did not know the consequences," the affidavit said.

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story...4-a45f3ffdbfd2

Man Accused in Weapons Smuggling Ring

Last Update: 1/31/2007 6:48:52 PM
Posted By: Walker Robinson

A man investigators believe to be linked to an international weapon smuggling ring was out of jail Wednesday night.

Robert Caldwell, 56, tried shipping military Hawk Missile batteries from the U.S. to Iran, according to federal investigators. He gave undercover customs agents in San Antonio a check for the batteries.

"Our number one concern is to make sure that this battery, or any other components that are associated with a Hawk missile, doesn't make its way to Iran or any other country where it can be used against our soldiers or our allies," U.S. Customs Agent Jerry Robinette said.

Court documents show Caldwell flew to San Antonio from Oregon. He is charged with violating the Arms Control Act, investigators said.

Caldwell’s family posted $50,000 bond. A judge in the case allowed him to go back to Oregon. Caldwell's lawyer told News 4 WOAI his client didn't fully understand what he got himself involved in.

[Backstop]

Please read this very carefully.

http://www.americanthinker.com/print...united_st.html

February 02, 2007

Sleeper Cells in the United States and Canada
By Dave Gaubatz

There is every reason to suspect that we will endure suicide missions by Islamist sleeper cells. They are already in place. They are waiting for the right time. I know this from experience.

I have worked over 15 years as a U.S. Federal Agent, a U.S. State Department Arabic linguist, and the first civilian Federal Agent deployed into Iraq at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Since returning from Iraq I have been involved in terrorism analysis, specifically the mindset of terrorists. During my extensive research on sleeper cells I have talked with hundreds of people from the Middle East from all walks of life, and have talked with Iraqi Government officials, Iraqi military, and Iraqi police officers. In addition I have interviewed numerous counter-terrorism specialists in the U.S. and abroad. In the last year alone I have trained over 4000 U.S. Law Enforcement officers in Basic Investigative Arabic and counter-terrorism. The conclusion of my research is the title of this article.

Before I departed for the Middle East in 2003 I had been assigned to Kirtland AFB, NM. Kirtland has some of the best scientists in the world working on U.S. Government projects. I had been working closely with these scientists who specialized in nuclear energy, directed energy, laser technology, bio-weapons and more. I fully understand the impact if suicide bombers begin progressing from conventional explosives to unconventional methods.

The Middle East

In Jan 2003, I was assigned to Arar Air Base Saudi Arabia. Arar is located near the border of Iraq. My mission was to interact with Saudi military officials in order to determine the support we could expect from the Saudi government, to determine if Iraqis were monitoring the activities of the U.S. forces at Arar, and to infiltrate the encampments of the Bedouin community (Saudis and Iraqis living in the desert of Arar). This involved leaving the relatively safe confines of Arar Air Base and driving to the Bedouin camps.

It was most important the Saudis did not know we were leaving the compound because they had forbidden us to do so. Four U.S. special Agents would use our ATV's and/or four wheel drive vehicles to conduct these missions. The Saudi Government had active spies collecting information pertaining to our troop strength, our weapons, and any other intelligence they could obtain. The Saudis were providing the intelligence to the Saudi Government, and we were very confident it was also being passed to Iraqi intelligence.

During January 2003 and Feb 2003, Saudi Intelligence officers would boast that the American military was overreacting about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Their bravery changed as we approached the invasion of Iraq in Mar 2003. The high-ranking Saudi officers were scrambling to obtain gas masks and other protective equipment. They knew their equipment was substandard and they wanted U.S.-made protective equipment. We gave them some of ours. The Saudi Intelligence officers were visibly frightened about a potential chemical, biological, or nuclear attack and expressed their fears. This was my first confirmation Saddam Hussein still had WMD material and the capability to use them.

The Saudis knew Saddam had WMD and would use them if he had the opportunity.

When I arrived in Nasiriyah, Iraq (after the start of war) my team and I immediately began interviewing (in the field) Iraqis from all walks of life to determine where the WMD sites were located. At the beginning of the war Iraqis were very helpful and provided us exact locations and proof WMD was at certain locations (primarily southern Iraq because Saddam knew the UN Weapons Inspectors had seldom inspected any locations in this area). They had always focused in northern Iraq.

Four primary suspected WMD sites were located. We tried from April until July 2003 to have the Iraq Survey Group come and excavate these sites.

They advised us they did not have the manpower nor the heavy equipment needed to excavate the sites, which were underground bunkers (beneath waterways). We were frustrated. I have received information from various sources that the WMD I had attempted to have excavated was subsequently looted (after the war) and transferred to Syria.

While in Iraq we determined the following:

1. Russian activity in Iraq had been rampant several months prior to the war and up until the day before the invasion.

2. Iranians were infiltrating southern Iraq by the thousands and were preparing to assist insurgents in removing U.S. forces from Iraq.

3. We found numerous pieces of evidence indicating WMD were in Iraq before the war began and some were still in Iraq.

4. I and other agents were informed by Iraqis that a civil war would erupt and violence against U.S. forces would increase due to the Iranian and Russian influence.

All of this information was provided through intelligence channels, but was ignored. Today we are seeing the results of our intelligence being ignored in 2003.

Vulnerability at home

Upon returning from Iraq I left Federal Service to pursue a career educating U.S. law enforcement in the U.S. I wrote a book titled "Arabic for law enforcement and military". During my lectures to local, county, and state law enforcement officers it was revealed the true first line defenders in the U.S. are not trained nor prepared to combat terrorism in the U.S. (through no fault of their own). The local law enforcement agencies were not receiving adequate funds or assistance from the Federal Government to fight terrorism. The majority advised they were supposed to be the first line defenders, but in actuality they did not even know what Al-Qaeda meant, and/or could not point out Iraq or Iran on a map. They had no Arabic language training.

I began conducting research and talking with experts from various fields and determined three significant facts that I corroborated by further research:

1. The terrorists groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Al-Qaeda each had different leaders and to some degree operated in different ways, but they each had the same two goals (destroy Israel and destroy America and any country that supported either).

2. Our nuclear research centers were very vulnerable to an attack and the potential for a suicide bomber using a dirty radiological bomb from these facilities was and is a high probability. Note: Vic Walter and Brian Ross of ABC News did an excellent report on the lack of security at these facilities. I received an enormous amount of information from individuals associated with Russian nuclear programs that there is nuclear material being sold on the black market and nuclear material is in the hands of Islamic Extremists.

3. Terrorist sleeper cells are located primarily in North Carolina, Michigan, and Canada. The "sleepers" are prepared to conduct terrorist attacks within the U.S., and nuclear material is available to them. "Prepared" in this instance indicates they have the necessary tools to carry our their attacks and are prepared to die.

About nine months ago a lady from Morehead City, NC contacted me and asked for assistance because she had been ignored by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the FBI, and local law enforcement. Her allegation: A group of people who were citizens of Lebanon was operating from NC and was involved in financially supporting Hezbollah. The members were also befriending United States Marine Corps personnel (to include the Marine Corps Base Commander at Cherry Point USMC Base). The Lebanese citizens had free access to the Marine Corps base and had frequent parties with USMC members. She had ledgers; photographs of U.S. Marines with the Lebanese members, numerous passports (some falsified), duplicate drivers licenses, social security cards, and financial transactions log books both in Arabic and English. I obtained the information from her and conducted research. I turned my information over to the NCSBI office.

Less than a week ago I met several citizens from the Middle East who are familiar with terrorist groups, their methodology, and more importantly the mindset of terrorists (specifically Al-Qaeda). They believe violence in Iraq will increase and the number of U.S. troops in Iraq is not a factor. The largest percentage of U.S. troops in Iraq are support troops and not combat troops. From the beginning of 2003 until now the number of troops who actually engage insurgents is actually less than 5% of all assigned troops in the region. Al-Qaeda now has a strong hold in Iraq and they will not let go. Terrorist operations are active in the U.S. and are being operated/financed in Michigan. U.S. citizens need to understand there are people trained and prepared to carry our suicide missions in the U.S. and nothing is off limits. Churches, malls, and even the schools our children attend are not off limits to suicide bombers. It is only a relatively short time before the U.S. will begin seeing suicide terrorist missions.

I will continue to research terrorism related issues in the U.S. and Canada and will bring forward the results. My next project is to follow Dr. Paul William's investigation into McMaster University located in Canada. My initial research indicates terrorists are being educated here with the approval of some university administrators. I have contacted the university and informed them of this project and will give them an opportunity to respond to each piece developed during my research on terrorism at McMaster. McMaster is not alone when it comes to nuclear reactors located on major university sites. Nuclear reactors are located on a large number of major university campuses in the U.S. There locations are not classified and are described on the internet.

Children are the ones who suffer in wartime and I want to prevent any child from ever having to experience a terrorist attack.

To assist me in my endeavors to uncover the truths behind terrorist cells in Canada and the U.S. contact me at pdgaubatz@yahoo.com or visit my website.

[Ryan Ruck]

Backstop,
I moved your post over to this new "Terrorism: News and Updates" thread.

The other thread was locked due to length.

[Backstop]

Cool.

[Jag]

Leaders hear message of terrorism, response
Vulnerability of schools gets the most attention
February 8, 2007

By Vickie Welborn
vwelborn@gannett.com

MANSFIELD -- It's not a matter of if, but when, terrorists will once again strike the United States, according to a retired lieutenant of the Oklahoma City Police Department who now leads awareness sessions on terrorism and response plans.

The fast-paced information presented Wednesday by John Clark, employed as an adjunct professor with the New Mexico Tech's Institute of Mining and Technology, and Don Renner, also an adjunct professor and an explosive ordinance technician with 21 years of military service, was sobering for the 117 attending.



The session was attended by law enforcement officers, teachers, school system representatives, emergency response personnel, municipal mayors, parish government officials, public works, military personnel, firefighters, judicial and other parish office representatives from DeSoto, Caddo, Red River and Sabine parishes gathered the DeSoto School Board's Instructional Materials Center in Mansfield.

A group of about 125 people will attend an identical session today.

Clark, who developed the emergency response team for Oklahoma City police and responded to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in 1995, told participants his intent was not to make them paranoid but prepared.

"What's happening with our military on foreign countries will happen here. It's coming like a freight train. ... And one of the things they want is your children," he said.

After listening to snippets of Clark's experience at the Murrah building and viewing photographs and video clips from Renner on the recognition of a wide array of energetic materials and devices, Central School teacher Helen May realized schools, even the small private school in Grand Cane, are vulnerable.

"We are terribly unprepared. We are still a trusting society and we're not ready," May said. "Even those in authority above us are not prepared."

May, who easily pointed to several security concerns at the school, said she encouraged the principal, other teachers and board members to attend today's session.

While Clark hammered home the responsibilities of first responders such as law enforcement officers, firefighters and EMS, his demeanor grew stern when he zeroed in on the carnage he fears will be directed at the nation's schools. He spent a majority of the afternoon session talking about evacuation and proper response to school bomb threats -- something that schools don't take seriously.

FBI data indicates 99 out of 100 bomb threats are bogus. "But you've got to look out for that one time they are real," Clark said.

And he challenged first responders to make sure their response plans are firm when it comes to reacting to other acts of domestic terrorism in schools such as shootings and fires.

"If schools don't have policies and procedures on bomb threats, then shame on you, because I'm telling you this is coming at you. I can't tell you enough times," Clark said. He challenged school personnel to make immediate changes to their emergency response plans.

The seriousness of his message was not lost on Ted DeLacerda, chief investigator for the DeSoto-Sabine district attorney's office. Wednesday's daylong seminar was the second time he has heard the warning that U.S. schools will be the next terrorist target.

DeLacerda recently attended a more intensive workshop on school violence held in Gonzales and heard from different instructors hailing from other parts of the country with no connection to Clark and Renner that schools are predicted to be the next terrorist target, perhaps within the next five years.

"Their message is almost the same word for word," DeLacerda said. "We've got to be ready."

Linda Davidson, a retired teacher who serves as constable for Justice of the Peace District 5, said she wished more school personnel had attended Wednesday's session. "They, we, all need to be trained on this. To me, this is serious business that we all need to be aware of."

Headway is still being made on making the country more aware, Clark said. Over the past five years, about 120,000 first responders have been trained through the awareness program he, Renner and 48 other instructors conduct under the umbrella of Homeland Security. More in-depth information is offered through the New Mexico Tech's Energetic Materials and Research and Testing Center in Socorro, N.M., which is where supervisors of the DeSoto Parish sheriff's office spent a week in December.

"It is incumbent upon those people to do what they can to get the message out. "» These first responders have got to do it," Clark said.

And even though most people think of overseas when they talk of terrorism, the homeland is not immune because there are "plenty of Americans willing to kill here," Renner said.

The explosives expert showed example after example of the power of the devices that can injure and kill, with many of those now being made to blend into the environment.

"I'm not trying to scare but inform, but fear will keep you from making mistakes," Renner added.

Clark outlined different types of domestic and international terrorists. And he touched on, without offering too many details, multiple situations in the U.S. and abroad where terrorism attempts have been thwarted since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists' strikes.

"When I tell you we're going to get hit again, we're going to get hit again. Time is on their side. "» They want to target what will rip your hearts out. That's why your children are in danger," Clark said

"Nothing ever happens here, does it?" was an often repeated question punctuating Clark's message.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/...702080351/1063

Jag

[Jag]

Colorado Police Arrest Man On Terrorist Watch List

February 11th, 2007

In what is described as a ‘sensitive’ case, police took a man into custody early Friday morning whose name is on the FBI’s terrorist watch list, officials said.

Police stopped Moussa Bitar, 27, at 2 a.m. for suspicion of drunk driving and then took him into custody on unrelated charges, officials said.

When asked to provide identification, police said, Bitar produced papers that listed the name of a dead man. Police were later able to determine his true identity and learned of his listing on the terrorist watch list.

Bitar is currently being held at the Aurora Detention Center, said David Gaouette, a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.

“The federal government is looking into any possible federal violations,” Gaouette said. “The FBI and other agencies are interested in talking to him.”

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/

Jag

[Aplomb]

http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0...195489,00.html

6 minutes of horror
Shooter aimed to kill as many as he could

By Pat Reavy and Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News

In just six minutes, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic left a tragic path of destruction that forever changed the lives of dozens of people.
"His intent was to shoot as many people as he possibly could," said Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank.
Police released details Tuesday on Talovic's shooting rampage that left five people dead before off-duty Ogden police officer Ken Hammond and four Salt Lake City police officers killed him in "a shootout," Burbank said.
Four other shooting victims are hospitalized.
Talovic was armed with a shotgun, a .38-caliber handgun and "a backpack full of ammunition," Burbank said. Around the man's waist was a bandolier of shotgun shells.
"He had a pump shotgun," said one witness, DeEtta Barta. "He was shooting, and he shot about four shots."
Barta and her friend Ron Mason were celebrating her birthday at the Desert Edge Brewery when they looked out the window and saw Talovic emerging from the parking terrace, firing away.
"It didn't seem real to me," Mason said.
Police said Tuesday they did not know where Talovic got his weapons. Investigators believe the shootings were random.
Family photo via Associated Press
Sulejman Talovic, 18, is shown in a January 2007 family photo supplied by the family. Talovic allegedly shot and killed five people Monday night and wounded four more before being shot and killed by police.

Some of the biggest questions remained unanswered Tuesday — including why Talovic picked Trolley Square and what prompted the tragedy.
"This is something really unheard of in our community," Burbank said.
Investigators believe that Talovic pulled into the west parking terrace of Trolley Square about 6:44 p.m. on Monday. He got out of his car and shot 52-year-old Jeffery Walker and his son, 16-year-old AJ Walker.
Jeffery Walker was killed. AJ was taken to a local hospital and was listed in critical but stable condition.
Barta, who is an intensive-care nurse, said she rushed to help the young man, who had been shot in the head.
"He had a bullet lodged superficially in his temple, and his ear was bleeding," she said.
On his way into the mall, Shawn Munns' family said Talovic shot Munns, 34, in the courtyard near Green Street Social Club. Munns was heading to a car when he heard a noise and turned a little.
Munns' sister-in-law, Jodie Sparrow, said the man heard Talovic say, "Die, mother-(expletive)!" as Munns was shot twice. Munns then stumbled into the Hard Rock Cafe for help.
He was reported to be in serious condition at a hospital Tuesday but alert and talking to his family.
Salt Lake City police say Talovic entered Trolley Square's west entrance, where he shot and killed 29-year-old Vanessa Quinn in the hallway. People inside the Bath and Body Works store watched helplessly as the woman was gunned down.
"We saw him go in the back door of the mall and into the store across from Bath and Body Works, and he shot a girl right in front of the door," Madilee Puttuck said, her voice shaking with fear. She and others locked themselves in a bathroom to hide from the gunman.
Emergency dispatchers were flooded with 911 calls. So many calls were made to the Salt Lake City Police Department's 911 dispatch center that the city's overflow system kicked in, and calls started being rerouted to the Valley Emergency Communications Center. The center received approximately 50 calls from Trolley Square in a 10-to 15-minute period.
Police said Talovic next moved to Cabin Fever, a novelty and card shop, where he shot four people inside, killing three. Carolyn Tuft, 44, and her 15-year-old daughter, Kirsten Hinckley, were shot. Hinckley was killed, as were Brad Frantz, 24, and Teresa Ellis, 29.
Tuft was taken to the hospital and was listed in critical but stable condition Tuesday.
Scott G. Winterton, Deseret Morning News
LDS ward members and friends of Jeffery Walker attend a prayer service Tuesday. Walker's son AJ was injured in the shootings.

Police said Talovic also shot Stacy Hanson, 53. Hanson was reported to be in critical condition at a hospital Tuesday.

A 'hero' responds
Witnesses told the Deseret Morning News that Talovic appeared to be "hunting" people. Some described a calm expression on his face as he aimed his shotgun and fired.
Off-duty Ogden police officer Hammond, who was eating dinner with his pregnant wife at the Rodizio Grill, heard the gunfire. Walking into the mall, he spotted people on the ground — and saw Talovic.
"I noticed a man with a shotgun walking out of the business where the people were seriously injured," he said Tuesday. "He took a shot at me."
Hammond said he backed up for safety and hit the ground, losing sight of Talovic for a brief time.
Salt Lake City police arrived at Trolley Square at 6:47 p.m., and four officers formed an "Emergency Action Team," a police tactic in which officers immediately enter a situation to prevent more people from being shot. It's a change from the days before the Columbine High School tragedy, when officers would wait for more backup and set up a game plan.
The officers "rushed right in" without worry for their own safety, the chief said. Hammond was involved in the shootout with Talovic, and Salt Lake City police arrived and helped corner the gunman.
"There was a shootout," said Barrett Dodds, an antique-shop owner in the mall.
At approximately 6:50 p.m., officers reported the gunman was down.
"There was blood all over that place," Dodds said.
Burbank praised the law enforcement agencies involved, which included most officers in the Salt Lake Valley plus the off-duty Ogden officer.
"There's no question (Hammond's) quick actions saved the lives of numerous people," Burbank said.
Burbank called Hammond's acts "heroic," but also added that he "cannot be too complimentary" of his own officers who risked their own lives. The four Salt Lake officers and Hammond are on routine paid administrative leave pending the outcome of inquiries into the shooting.

'A good boy'
Investigators were trying to learn more about the man responsible for causing the tragedy. Burbank said Talovic's car was searched, but the chief would not discuss whether evidence was found. He also did not say if any suicide notes were left or messages were posted on the Internet that might provide insight.
On Tuesday morning, police detectives were in South Salt Lake, questioning employees at the Aramark Uniform Supply business where Talovic had worked since December. Aramark managers and a company spokeswoman declined to comment. One employee described Talovic as "quiet."
Police said Talovic had a juvenile record of only four minor offenses. None of his arrests were for violent crimes.
Mike Terry, Deseret Morning News
A group of friends who gathered across the street from Trolley Square holds a small candlelight vigil on Tuesday in the wake of Monday night's tragedy.

The man had lived at a house with his mother and three younger sisters near the Utah State Fairpark. Neither his mother nor his sisters would answer the door or respond to phone calls Tuesday, although a person inside would pick up the phone and then quickly hang up.
Ajka Omerovic, who said she was Talovic's aunt, visited the home Tuesday afternoon. She told the Deseret Morning News that Talovic had been "a good boy." She said the family are Muslims from Bosnia who had lived in the vicinity of Sarajevo.
Omerovic said she believed the young man's mother had been living here for about four years. Omerovic was extremely distraught and at first said she did not speak English. But she did try to conduct an interview. She and a younger man went inside the home and left with a large cage with two birds in it.
"We want to know what happened, just like you guys," Omerovic told reporters. "We have no idea.... We know him as a good boy."
Asked what he was like, she replied, "He liked everybody, so I don't know what happened."
His mother is in "a difficult situation — she is very sick," she added.

A loner
Many neighbors said that while the mother and young girls were always pleasant and the girls often played with other neighborhood children, Talovic kept to himself.
"I don't even know that there is a man living there," said neighbor Yasmin Castellanos.
Castellanos said police and an ambulance arrived at the house about 5 a.m. Tuesday.
Neighbor Riana Yellowbear said the few times she'd see Talovic walk by, he would never say anything. Another neighbor, John Buddensick, said he also rarely ever saw Talovic.
"I never would have expected anything like that at all," he said. "He was really quiet. He'd just walk in and out."
One of Talovic's former teachers remembered him as a loner who "didn't have any friends in class."
"I just remember a quiet kid, " said Danny Schwam, Talovic's former ninth-grade teacher at the Highland High-Garfield alternative program. "He didn't cause any trouble. He was kind of unassuming. He never acted out."
Schwam said Talovic only came to school about half the time. When Schwam called his mother to discuss the repeated absences, he said, "I usually got, 'He's sick."'
"It's always these kinds of kids," Schwam said. "It's the kids who are distraught, who have nothing to live for...who cause the most severe damage. They don't know what else to do. In their mind, they're at the end of their rope."

The aftermath
Many people caught up in Monday night's shooting rampage are still trying to process what happened to them.
"I can't sleep, I just can't get it out of my head," said shopper Melanie Kenyon. "I try to sleep, but it's still there."
Kenyon said she was in Pottery Barn when she heard the shots and was quickly ushered into a back room inside the Restoration Hardware store.
"There was about 25 of us. We were pacing back and forth, talking on cell phones," she recalled. "We really didn't know what was going on."
After about 2 1/2 hours, police officers came and ushered Kenyon and others to safety.
"We all had to walk out with our hands in the air," she said.
Mall spokeswoman Alicia Bremer said in a statement that the mall would reopen today at 8 a.m.
"It is at the discretion of each mall retailer and restaurant as to when they resume business. We advise retail customers and restaurant patrons to call ahead," she said.
Some companies were offering grief counseling to their employees who were in the mall when the shooting rampage occurred. The Wells Fargo Bank branch at Trolley Square remains closed, but grief counselors met with employees to offer counseling on Tuesday.
A memorial account for the shooting victims has been established at Wells Fargo Bank.

---

Contributing: Joe Bauman, Elaine Jarvik.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com; bwinslow@desnews.com

[Aplomb]

http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0...195487,00.html

Salt Lake City police are praising Hammond for helping to end 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic's shooting rampage on Monday night.
"Undoubtedly, he saved a lot of lives," assistant Salt Lake City Police Chief Terry Fritz said.
Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey said Tuesday that Hammond "meets the definition of hero in every sense."

This is an excerpt from the article about the patron at the mall who also had a gun and kept this Muslim killer busy, and consequently kept many more people from being shot. And by the way, the FBI isn't calling this terrorism.

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There may be something to this comment at Jihad Watch:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015245.php#c349491

Yesterday, February 13, I’d been watching the news all morning as I always do and, just before a station break on CNN, they flashed one of those very brief (five second) news previews to keep viewers interested enough not to change the channel.

In the news preview, a man, an eyewitness to the Utah shopping mall shootings, was being interviewed at the mall who said very excitedly, "...he had a shotgun in one hand and a Koran in the other..."

Needless to say, I stayed tuned through the station break and waited for the news to return to hear the rest of this man's story. But when the news returned, it took a while to get back to that item. CNN played several other unrelated news clips first. When they did get back to the Utah mall shooting, they played a different portion of the same interview. This time, the man being interviewed was no longer excited and said nothing about a Koran, nor anything about a shotgun either.

[Jag]

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles...e.asp?ID=26961

Salt Lake Jihad?

By Robert Spencer
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 15, 2007

When Sulejmen Talovic entered the Trolley Square mall in Salt Lake City Monday night with a shotgun, a pistol, and a backpack full of ammunition, he intended to “kill a large number of people,” according to Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank. Talovic killed five people and wounded four before he himself was killed by an off-duty Ogden police officer who happened to be in the mall.

Why did Talovic do it? No one knows. Talovic’s aunt, Ajka Omerovic, told reporters: “We want to know what happened, just like you guys. We have no idea...We know him as a good boy. He liked everybody, so I don’t know what happened.” Talovic, who was eighteen at the time of the murders, was a Bosnian Muslim who came to the United States with his family in 1998. Could he have been motivated by jihadist sympathies?
fficeffice" />>>
FBI special agent Patrick Kiernan discounted that possibility. “We’re working closely with the Salt Lake P.D. and we’re obviously aware that that [terrorism] is a potential issue out there,” he explained. “But at this point there is nothing that is leading us down this road.” And with Talovic dead and apparently having acted alone, unless something he wrote explaining his actions is discovered, it is unlikely that his motive will ever be definitively known.
>>
But was Kiernan really correct that “there is nothing that is leading us down this road”? Unfortunately, he didn’t explain how he came to this conclusion. Talovic joins an unfortunately growing list of Muslims who have committed random acts of violence, only for officials to assure us that their actions have nothing to do with terrorism. Maybe none of them do, but the list is full of troubling details:
>>

• On January 31, Ismail Yassin Mohamed, 22, stole a car in Minneapolis. He went on a rampage, ramming the stolen car into other cars and then stealing a van and continuing to ram other cars, injuring one person. His father told officials that Mohamed was suffering from mental problems; his mother added he had been depressed and hadn’t been taking his medication. During his rampage, Mohamed repeatedly yelled, “Die, die, die, kill, kill, kill,” and when asked why he did all this, he replied, “Allah made me do it.”
• Omeed Aziz Popal, a Muslim from Afghanistan, who killed one person and injured fourteen during a murderous drive through San Francisco city streets in August 2006, during which he targeted people on crosswalks and sidewalks, identified himself as a terrorist after his rampage, according to Rob Roth of San Francisco’s KTVU. Later the murders were ascribed to Popal’s mental problems, and to stress arising from his impending arranged marriage.
• On July 28, 2006, a Muslim named Naveed Afzal Haq forced his way into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Once inside, Haq announced, “I’m a Muslim American; I’m angry at Israel,” and then began shooting, killing one woman and injuring five more. FBI assistant special agent David Gomez stated: “We believe...it’s a lone individual acting out his antagonism. There’s nothing to indicate that it’s terrorism-related. But we're monitoring the entire situation.”
• In March 2006, a twenty-two-year-old Iranian student named Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar drove an SUV onto the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, deliberately trying to kill people and succeeding in injuring nine. After the incident, he seemed singularly pleased with himself, smiling and waving to crowds after a court appearance on Monday, at which he explained that he was “thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah.” Officials here again dismissed the possibility of terrorism, even after Taheri-azar wrote a series of letters to the UNC campus newspaper detailing the Qur’anic justification for warfare against unbelievers, and explaining why he believed his attacks were justified from an Islamic perspective.

None of these were terrorist attacks in the sense that they were planned and executed by al-Qaeda agents. And it is possible that all of them were products of nothing more ideologically significant than a disturbed mental state, although it is at least noteworthy that each attacker explained his actions in terms of Islamic terrorism. As such attacks grow in number, it would behoove authorities at very least to consider the possibility that these attacks were inspired by the jihadist ideology of Islamic supremacism, and to step up pressure on American Muslim advocacy groups to renounce that ideology definitively and begin extensive programs to teach against it in American Islamic schools and mosques.
>>
In October 2006, a pro-jihad internet site published a “Guide for Individual Jihad,” explaining to jihadists “how to fight alone.” It recommended, among other things, assassination with guns and running people over. Is it possible that Sulejmen Talovic and some of these others were waging this jihad of one? It is indeed, but with law enforcement officials trained only to look for signs of membership in al-Qaeda or other jihad groups, and to discount terrorism as a factor if those signs aren’t there, it is a possibility that investigators will continue to overlook.

Jag

[Aplomb]

“We’re working closely with the Salt Lake P.D. and we’re obviously aware that that [terrorism] is a potential issue out there,” he explained. “But at this point there is nothing that is leading us down this road.” And with Talovic dead and apparently having acted alone, unless something he wrote explaining his actions is discovered, it is unlikely that his motive will ever be definitively known.

The FBI special agent doesn't see a young man who is a Muslim in a mall shooting and killing innocent people as a terrorist attack? And for what purpose is that bull I wonder. Additionally, what is the reason for not taking his computer to check things out? Something smells.

Somebody was able to take some video coverage of part of the shootout. It was, I'm sure, the best that the wedding videographer could do while trying to stay out of the way of gunfire. But listen closely and see if you hear Allah akbar. Maybe not, but that's what it sounds like to me. Hopefully a police report will have written down what this terrorist was saying. I'm quoting little green football comment 437 by "jimash" because there's more here than I can make out that he or she hears. http://littlegreenfootballs.com/webl...Facts#comments

1:27 "there he goes"
Shots
1:30 "one down in ?
1:34"allahuackbar" "Police" "OPD OPD"
1:40 "Come on BAck"
Then the police get it together.
2:00 bunch of shots (5) "Are you ok ?"
2:04 "allhuackbar" x2
PA noise
"I'm Good"
"Yeah"

The home movie is here: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8dbc5_4507&c=1&page=3