06/07/04
Submitted by Templar Titan on Wed, 06/09/2004 - 15:27.
Fellow Professionals: |
| *Mr President... It is with sadness that we mark the passing 6/6/04 of one of the Great Men of our time, President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Much will be said of him in the days and weeks to come, but we just want to say "Thank You" once again Sir, you always did us proud! All flags at half-mast with the greatest of respect for our Commander-In-Chief. Editor *Point and shoot cameras "I still can't understand, especially in these times of increased activities of a suspicious nature, why we are not arming our security forces with point and shoot cameras. Even highly trained security folks have a difficult time describing exactly what they saw and the end result is information that is basically useless. Give them a point and shoot camera and encourage (hell, demand) they take pictures whenever they see what they believe to be suspicious activity. This is security on the cheap- yet it can be very effective. We have continued reports of folks taking pictures of us but we fail to use the same technique. . . WHY? I first taught this to the wives of the Army General staff in Washington many, many years ago. Basically told them if they saw something they thought was suspicious they needed to take the small camera they were carrying in their purses out and take pictures. Now the intelligence folks have something they can work from rather than a sketchy report where the person reporting it doesn't know a Ford from a Chrysler, or a 2002 from a 1998 model. Perhaps the bad guys might even choose an easier target. Our job was to have them (bad guys) go down the street to the Air Force- just leave the Army alone. It was the Air Force's job to take care of their own, not ours. We had a narrow frame of reference when it came to security. . protect our own." James F. *Re Last Bulletin: ISP dolts "Some ISPs, ESPECIALLY AOL, doesn't like bulk mailings. AOL also blocks incoming mail that has URLs in the message..... I have both AOL and Earthlink - only use AOL for work, and can't send more than about 10 emails in a group without them shutting me down for "violation of their TOS on spam".............I've had NO problems with Earthlink. I have friends who use MSN, and they are simply a carbon copy of AOL." *Interesting brief on latest ambush of Blackwater sub-contractors.... WHO: PRIVATE SECURITY COMPANY WHAT: AMBUSH on Route Irish from CPA to BIAP WHEN: 5 June 2004 between 10:00 and 11:00 am WHERE: Just past second bridge towards the airport Other details: Two PSC vehicles, a soft skin Suburban (with four occupants: 2 American, 2 Poles) in the lead and an armored Suburban (3 occupants: 1 American, 2 Poles) in the trail, headed toward BIAP from CPA. Past the second bridge, they were approached by two enemy vehicles at a very high rate of speed. SAF from enemy vehicles disabled the lead (softskin) vehicle which almost immediately caught fire. Second (armored) vehicle moved into screening position near disabled vehicle. Armored vehicle had a flat tire and catches fire. Enemy vehicles stop approximately 100 meters away and begin SAF. Occupants of softskin vehicle try to exit- some/all possibly dead or may be near dead at that time. At least one more enemy vehicle possibly two approached and was stopped to the rear of two vehicles and began SAF. At this point with both vehicles disabled, remaining personnel decide to break contact. Depleting all available ammunition, PSC exfilled across highway to oncoming traffic, commandeered a vehicle from local national and are driven to GZ by vehicle owner. Four KIA (2 Americans, 2 Poles), three WIA.................... "Don't know the exact details, BUT #1 why did the second *armored* vehicle not exit the kill zone immediately instead of moving into a "screening position". Was the principal traveling in the soft-skinned NON armored vehicle ?? IF so, why the hell would you do that ? IF there was no principal, and this was just a pre-positioning ride, then I can understand covering your comrads, but wouldn't you make better use of the armor ? #2 No run-flats on the armored vehicle ?? And personally, I wouldn't give a shit if it was on fire or not.. I would still be driving a vehicle out of the kill zone as long as it was running.. even if it was on fire and had 4 flats and I had to press a dead guy's foot to make it go ! Would be interesting to hear the WHOLE story on this and learn from it." c *Re: Presidential Stuff..... I heard a story about Bill Clinton coming downstairs unexpectedly one morning and demanding his car. He was reminded that it was kept about 20 minutes away, and that it would take that long to arrive. In a huff he returned to his quarters. This was contrasted to the time his predecessor, George Bush, unexpectedly appeared one morning at 7 am and said "OK, is the car here?" He was reminded that it was kept about 20 minutes away, and that it would take that long to arrive. He said he knew, he was just jerking their chain, and was going in to have coffee before the car arrived. Some time after Bush left office, a friend of mine was taking some foreign visitors to the theatre. Sitting in the row behind him was President Bush. My friend said "Mr. President, how nice to see you." Mr. Bush stuck out his hand and said "It's great to see you!".......Independent of one's political views, nice is still nice, and mean is still mean. Richard *Sadr's militia defeated June 6, 04: THE US military said today it had defeated the outlawed militia of flamboyant Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Sadr across central Iraq, and denied that there was any truce with the radical preacher. "The Moqtada militia is militarily defeated. We have killed scores of them over the last few weeks, and that is in Najaf alone," Brigadier General Mark Hertling, one of the top US commanders in charge of Najaf, told AFP. "Over the past several days, Moqtada's militia has lost much of their stomach for fighting," he said, also declaring victory in the central cities of Kut, Diwaniyah and Karbala, dogged by fighting over the past two months. "We have also destroyed their weapons stores and their offensive capability," he said. "What remains of them, which is a very small force, will take advantage of the governor's announcement to disperse if not disband." Hertling praised Najaf governor Adnan al-Zorfi, appointed last month, for playing a political role in the defeat and stressed that US patrols and checkpoints were still active around Najaf and its twin city of Kufa. "There is no truce between the coalition forces and the militia ... We have not conceded anything to Sadr. We have told him that when we encounter any armed forces, we will destroy them. We have done just that," Hertling said. "We have not pulled back from anything. We are conducting the same patrols we have already conducted, and we are executing checkpoints in Najaf and Kufa right now." Calm returned to Najaf late yesterday after Zorfi announced that Iraqi police would patrol in sensitive areas around the shrines, which include some of the world's holiest sites in Shi'ite Islam, the US military said. "That was a brilliant move on his part, because it was one of the things the militia was asking for... (and) made it possible for the militia to lay down their arms and leave town," said Hertling. "The governor has taken his city back under control, in an unbelievably historic and courageous act. He has re-established his police force, and we are helping them train and we are helping him to arm them. *San Francisco "protests" "Check out http://sf.indymedia.org/ The protesters are using cell phone short messaging to coordinate the crowd. I have this vision of everyone marching, then their phones go off simultaneously, everyone stops to read their phones, then heads to the new destination. ["Can you read me now? Good! Head to the Civic Center.] Legally the PD can't sign up for the message service, but well, I'm sure they will get the message. Looks like black bloc is back, as least in the anti-war protests. They are always good for a few arrests............ IndyMedia photo of SFPD's new counter-protest surveillance teams http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/1695630.php ........ Notice how they are now targeting tourists and economic targets.. just like their heros.. the terrorists. http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/1695581.php " c *"Mossad.com"? Not exactly - http://www.mossad.gov.il May. 28, 04 "The new Mossad Web site launched this week has drawn not only an enormous amount of interest and applicants, but officials said the Mossad has been swamped with "tips" by the public willing to help the Israeli spy agency. In the first 48 hours since it was launched, over 350,000 people logged into www.mossad.gov.il to examine what the Mossad had to offer, said Limor Friedman, head of the Internet department at the Governmental Advertising Agency (Lapam), who produced the site. Friedman said that over 2,500 applications and resumes have been sent in so far, but could not reveal the exact number. "We promised the people on our site that any information sent to the Mossad would be kept private," Friedman told The Jerusalem Post. Much of the Internet traffic was from abroad, she said, without offering more details. "They [the Mossad] are very satisfied with the reaction," Friedman said. On the flood of faxes and replies, she said that the Mossad knew what it was getting into. "The fact that it is on-line brings them up to the level of the other top-notch intelligence agencies around the world. We aren't doing anything that they are not," she said. Friedman also confirmed that there was an enormous amount of contact being made via the Internet site to Mossad agents. She declined to elaborate. Another government official speaking on condition of anonymity said that many of these messages were "tips" being passed on to the Israeli secret service. It was impossible to say whether this information was credible or not, but would no doubt be checked. The Web site itself informs the visitor that they are invited to send in anything "you think might affect state security." It also says that while the Mossad cannot reply to every message, it does promise to read seriously each message it receives. It also reminded visitors that the Mossad operates abroad and cannot handle information pertaining to domestic law enforcement." Gary *Indonesian warnings Indonesia's police put nearly 170,000 officers, about two-thirds of its total force, on full alert status this week, and high-ranking officials say they expect little trouble. Lieutenant-General Adang Dorojatun, deputy chief for police operations, said: 'We've decided to step up security to ensure that there will be no disturbance.' In potential hotspots such as Jakarta, at least 16,000 officers are on full duty at all times. He said intelligence specialists are also analysing any material suggestive of threats. The British government, on its Jakarta embassy website, says: 'If you are already in Indonesia you should consider leaving if your presence is not essential.' The United States, Australia and Canada gave similar warnings. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/msendmail/0,4391,EmailReporter--254670,00.h tml? Mayer *Turkey Customs authorities in Istanbul seized a radio-controlled missile and launcher as well as other weapons from a ship that was headed for Egypt from Ukraine, a government official said Thursday. The weapons, which also included a number of rockets and warheads, were discovered in two containers after customs officials searched the ship that had docked at the port of Ambarli, 20 miles from Istanbul, said Kursad Tuzmen, the minister in charge of foreign trade and customs. "The cargo declared by the ship's captain did not match what was inside the containers," Tuzmen told reporters after meeting with customs officials and paramilitary police at Ambarli. "There were military weapons inside." "We can say that the weapons are the kind that we can describe as 'sophisticated,'" he said. He did gave no further details on the quantity, nature of the weapons or on the missile's range. *U.S. freed terror suspect despite attack evidence Nabil al-Marabh, once imprisoned as the No. 27 man on the FBI's list of must-capture terror suspects, is free again. He's free despite telling a Jordanian informant he planned to die a martyr by driving a gasoline truck into a New York City tunnel, turning it sideways, opening its fuel valves and having an al Qaeda operative shoot a flare to ignite a massive explosion. Free despite telling the FBI he had trained on rifles and rocket propelled grenades at militant camps in Afghanistan and after admitting he sent money to a former roommate convicted of trying to blow up a hotel in Jordan. Free despite efforts by prosecutors in Detroit and Chicago to indict him on charges that could have kept him in prison for years. Those indictments were rejected by the Justice Department in the name of protecting intelligence. Even two judges openly questioned al-Marabh's terror ties. *Honduran AQ? The Office of the public prosecutor and the Ministry of Security investigate possible nexuses between the terrorist group To the Qaeda and Islamic organizations in Honduras. After three months of investigations, Navarrese Ovid, general prosecutor of the State, it assured that a network of Islamic organizations in charge exists to recruit Honduran young people who offer to them to follow studies in countries of the Middle East, but with the objective to gain followers for the terrorist fight against the West. The civil employee said that these organizations have offices in Honduras but they receive financing of the outside, reason why this phase of the investigation has to do with a tracking of that money. "This is very serious. We are speaking of which they are being prepared citizen Honduran to commit terrorist acts. "The investigations contemplate a pursuit of the people who have been granted a scholarship to see what behavior has had and what type of communication continues having with groups who have been declared terrorist", it added. The movement of Honduran towards the Middle East, added to a recent discovery on the part of the North American embassy of a traffic of Honduran passports used by Afghan and paquistanÃes citizens, it has put on the alert to the Honduran authorities. The embassy of the United States in Honduras sent an official report to President Mature Ricardo, stating that a Honduran consulate in a revealed Latin American country was not in charge to emit these documents in subrepticia form. Parallel, a band that worked in Honduras, that also it was dedicated to deal in Honduran passports in favor of citizens of Afghanistan and Pakistan, it was articulated by local authorities. This case, along with another relative one to the shipment of originating money of Egypt, it already is into the hands of the public prosecutor of the Organized Crime, Doris Aguilar. "we are collating information with the National Commission of Bank and Insurances to know the names the owners of the saving accounts that are the receivers of these funds", it assured. These facts, added to the threat of Al Qaeda of greater retaliation against countries than as Honduras supports to the United States in Iraq, they have caused which an increase of the safety measures in airports is ordered, commercial ports and centers of agglomeration of people. (....so, if they get in the USA, get to California and pretend to be illegal Mexicans, they can soon get a driver's license and run all over the country?) *A British Muslim claims he was trained as a hijacker for Osama bin Laden ....but surrendered to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation about 18 months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. Niaz Khan, a British subject of Pakistani descent, said in an interview that he was recruited by Islamic radicals in England and trained to hijack airplanes at a school in Pakistan before being sent to New York to await orders. There is no independent confirmation that Mr. Khan, 30 years old, trained to be a hijacker. But there is abundant evidence that in April 2000, he described to FBI agents in Newark, N.J., plans to hijack U.S. airliners. Mr. Khan said he was lured into joining a group of Islamic radicals who offered to pay off his gambling debts. It isn't clear why Mr. Khan decided to go to the FBI. (easy: "You want me to do WHAT with the airplane????) Court records show that United Kingdom intelligence agencies believed the group's imam was involved at the time in recruiting and fund-raising for the Pakistani terror group Lashkar e Taiba, an al Qaeda affiliate. Mr. Khan's story also was outlined in a report last year by a House-Senate committee that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks. "In April 2000, the Intelligence Community obtained information regarding an alleged Bin Laden plot to hijack a Boeing 747," the report said. "The source, a 'walk in' to the FBI's Newark office, claimed he had learned hijacking techniques and received arms training in a Pakistani camp." *Witness at German Terror Trial Names Saudi Diplomat An imam at a local mosque implicated a Saudi diplomat as a member of the inner circle of an alleged al Qaeda cell, in testimony yesterday at the trial here of a Tunisian man charged with planning a terrorist attack in Germany. Emotional statements by the defendant, Ihsan Garnaoui, and by 37-year-old Ben Slimane Ben Slimane, a friend and fellow Tunisian, have changed the dynamics of the trial. Up to now, the defendant and his alleged supporters had maintained their right to remain silent. Members of the panel of judges repeatedly warned the witness to guard against perjury. In one confrontation, the witness said he had met Mr. Garnaoui by chance on the day of the defendant's arrest. Mr. Ben Slimane was then confronted with transcripts of two phone calls he had with the defendant on the day of the arrest in which the two men arranged to meet. "It would be dangerous for us to be seen in public together," Mr. Garnaoui said to his friend, according to a conversation tapped by police at 11:50 a.m. on March 20, 2003. Mr. Ben Slimane told the court that he then met with Saudi diplomat Mohammed Fakihi, director of the Islamic affairs department. Two days later, the German Foreign Service ordered Mr. Fakihi to leave Germany immediately or face revocation of his diplomatic status. Since Mr. Fakihi's departure from the country, the Saudi Embassy in Berlin declined to comment, and a spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington said Mr. Fakihi left Germany by his own choice due to unjust publicity. Source: Wall Street Journal *Former airline worker arrested in Australia on terrorism charge A former Qantas Airways Ltd baggage handler wanted in Lebanon over the bombing of a McDonald's restaurant appeared in court here charged with inciting terrorism on the Internet officials said. Bilal Khazal, 34, who has been under investigation for 10 years, was arrested after a morning raid on his home by police and agents of the intelligence agency ASIO. Documents including his own book of rules for holy war and a computer hard drive were seized from the house in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba, the centre of Australia's 300,000-strong Islamic community. Police say the book, "Provisions In The Rules of Jihad - Short Wise Rules and Organizational Instructions Which Is The Concern of Every Fighter and Mujahid Against the Infidels," which is printed in Arabic and published on the Internet, advocates among other things the killing of "infidels." Khazal is the first person charged with collecting or making documents likely to facilitate terrorist acts under legislation introduced in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001 and in Bali in October, 2002. Heavily bearded Khazal was granted 10,000 aud bail on strict conditions after a brief appearance in Sydney's Central Local Court. Source: AFX *Kerry Dump..... W. Scott Thompson, recalled a conversation with the late Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. that clearly had a slightly different take on Mr. Kerry's recollection of their discussions: "The fabled and distinguished chief of naval operations,Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, told me - 30 years ago when he was still CNO -that during his own command of U.S. naval forces in Vietnam, just prior to his anointment as CNO, young Kerry had created great problems for him and the other top brass, by [KILLING SO MANY NON-COMBATANTS AND GOING AFTER OTHER NON-MILITARY TARGETS - my emphasis added] 'We had virtually to straitjacket him to keep him under control,' the admiral said. 'Bud' Zumwalt got it right when he assessed Kerry as having large ambitions - but promised that his career in Vietnam would haunt him if he were ever on the national stage." http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/02/11/2003098345 - end bulletin - |
