http://www.blogtalkradio.com:80/wams/2010/01/19/wams-talks-homeland-security-with-dr-richard-hoyer

Political Correctness Led to 13 Dead and 31 Being Wounded.

On November 7, 2009 around 1:30 PM a Major Malik Nidal Hasan, MD, MPH  killed 13 people and wounding 31 at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas in his shooting rampage shouting "Allahu Akbar!” (Praise God).

According to military records, Hasan worked as a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed military hospital for six years until this July. Congressman McCaul says Hasan had a poor performance evaluation at Walter Reed, which resulted in his transfer to Ft. Hood and "while there received a lot of advanced training in weapons, shooting classes."

His classmates in 2007/2008 while completing his MPH degree voiced their opinion about his radical Islamic views to their faculty and no one took any action in fear of being politically correct.

"There were definitely clear indications that Hasan's loyalties were not with America," said Lt. Col. Val Finnell, Hasan's classmate at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

"The issue here is that there's a political correctness climate in the military. They don't want to say anything because it would be considered questioning somebody's religious belief, or they're afraid of an equal opportunity lawsuit.

"I want to be clear that this wasn't about anyone questioning his religious views. It is different when you are a civilian than when you are a military officer," said Finnell, who is a physician at the Los Angeles Air Force Base.

"When you are in the military and you start making comments that are seditious, when you say you believe something other than your oath of office — someone needed to say why is this guy saying this stuff.

"He was a lightning rod. He made his views known and he was very vocal, he had extremely radical jihadist views," Finnell said. "When you're a military officer you take an oath to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic.
"They should've confronted him — our professors, officers — but they were too concerned about being politically correct."

SIX RED FLAG BEFORE FORT HOOD SHOOTING
http://www.sphere.com/2009/11/12/6-red-flags-in-fort-hood-case/

Fatalities

The 13 killed were:

‡ Francheska Velez was pregnant at the time of her death.

This photograph taken on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009 in Killeen, Texas, shows a business card that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan gave to his neighbor a day before going on a shooting spree at the Fort Hood Army Base. (AP Photo/Jack Plunkett)

 
The man accused in the Fort Hood shooting spree that killed 13 people kept business cards with the initials, SoA, the abbreviation for "Soldier of Allah,"

This is not a matter or race, color of skin, ethnic background or religion. What all our law enforcement, security personnel, human resources staff, and military personnel need to do is profile behavior. Behavior includes body language at airports, border entry points, workplace behavior and what the individual says related to work satisfaction or radical anti-American beliefs. All potential threats must be reported and decisive action must be taken to avoid another workplace violence situation such as this and the dozens of school shootings that have occurred across our country.
This is not as much an issue as to motive, real or imagined. Was this a terrorist attack?  You decide. Was this just another example of workplace violence no matter what the reason? The answer is yes! When being concerned about making waves or over reacting, thinking it may be innocent and just someone blowing off steam gets in the way of taking the obvious proper action, we have taken political correctness to a dangerous extreme.

This tragedy could well have been averted if all of the people hearing this man’s rants took the appropriate action and went as high up the reporting chain as was necessary to bring it to the right person’s attention. This must be corrected so we never see an incident such as this happen again.

Dr. Richard J. Hoyer, Ph.D., Psy.D., Ed.D., CCP,
President/CEO
Homeland Security Defense Coalition
www.Homeland-Security-College.org
A National Security Organization

Incident report-Delta flight 086 New York to Tel-Aviv

September 26th 2009 /S eptember 27th 2009

Delta flight 86 to Tel Aviv took off without any special hitches, regarding delays etc, the only thing that was wrong that Delta security allowed on the plane, an estranged Palestinian woman, 36 years old that later on in the flight caused an incident that almost forced the pilot to decide to make an emergency landing(procedure), had she not been overpowered and restrained by one of the passengers, SWO retired Israeli Police, Daniel Sharon who identified her BPR(Body Language) signs of threatening behavior, even in the terminal before boarding the aircraft.

The passenger! A Palestinian woman of US citizenship from the Chicago area was apparently on a trip to meet her family living in Ramallah, the West Bank, and North of Jerusalem. 

Mr. Sharon's recollection and actions in the incident:-
I was waiting for the boarding at the terminal at Gate 6 in JFK and as it is normal with me I observe who and what is waiting for the plane. Boarding started roughly 1 hour before the flight was due to depart, and the reason is that there is another security check with X ray scanning before getting onto any Tel Aviv bound flight, even if you have been through any TSA regular check. We have learned in Israel not to trust any other security checks by any country other than our own security checks.

The checks were done by Delta personnel and they missed spotting the Palestinian woman whose behavior should have set alarm bells ringing and not allowed her on the flight as she endangered the whole flight and could have caused delays if an emergency landing had been envisaged by the plane's captain, plus putting up 250 plus passengers in a hotel somewhere, extra fuel costs and unnecessary surcharges for the plane as well.

I restrained her by limited force, alerted the crew, and doctors who were traveling to Israel during the flight. There were no Air Marshals on the plane to assist me restraining the passenger, who was problematic all the way to Tel Aviv. I was asked whether I needed to cuff her with plastic restraints, and I said no need as I would guard her till we get to Tel Aviv and hand her over to the authorities there after landing.

Before the incidents started around Ireland around 500 miles west in mid-Atlantic, I started to suspect her as I sat almost next to her and we opened a conversation, where she talked about being met by someone from the Ramallah area to take to her family, which is impossible as the Israeli Security forces close all access from the West Bank and Gaza early in the morning before any major Jewish holiday starts, so I knew that she was lying, after the incident, another thing that she told me and I observed that was probably true that she was an Epileptic which also could have been the reason for her behavior as she told me that in the morning that she had a seizure which would explain her behavior , I asked assistance from the crew for an Air Marshal to help me out, I was answered that the company does not have any marshals to cover flight security unlike El Al.

On completion of the flight I was thanked by the crew and the Delta station manager for preventing a major incident on the plane and the financial loss of making an emergency landing, plus the embarrassment to the company security as well.

The week before the incident, my son who is an Israeli Government Security Agent flew out to New- York on the outgoing Delta flight that left Tel-Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport on September 17th at 11:00 am  to prepare the Israeli Prime Ministers Security arrangements, and as he is permitted to carry a weapon on El-Al flights which is the normal carrier for our personnel and have Air Marshals, he was told that there were Marshals on his plane, so he deposited his weapon with the other agents in the secure bay on the plane as he was mislead to believe that there were Air Marshals  on the plane, which we know as a non truth which I exposed during and after the incident on Delta flight  086, September 26th.

Wasn't September 11th, 2001 enough for America, because at this level of security and trust between our nations that Delta Personnel have to lie that there are Air Marshals on their planes and I exposed the truth, which a copy of this report will be forwarded to the Israeli Secret Service, Israeli Airports Authority, Delta Security and the TSA as this is a scandal. No matter the circumstances, the woman should not have travelled without someone to assist her and someone that could have helped out in her condition. Had she been a terrorist as she had no passport with her as I searched her bags for a passport and did not find it, matters could have turned out differently.

TERRORISM AND FIRST RESPONDER SEMINAR
www.homeland-security-college.org/seminars.php

 

OPERATION CAST LEAD – Will Israel’s Armageddon Lead to a Solution?

by: Maj Gen R S Mehta (Retd)

1/25/2009         www.defstrat.com/exec/frmArticleDetails.aspx?DID=166


It is ironic how "seemingly intractable" the Palestinian problem is, as Hillary Clinton, the designate Secretary of State in the Obama administration succinctly put it, while deposing on January 12, 2009, before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. The irony is that, on January 9, 2009, the day following the promulgation of UN Security Council Resolution 1860 calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, there was a substantial increase in Hamas rocket fire at Israeli targets. On January 8th, 15 rockets and four mortar shells fell in Israeli territory and 35 rockets and 14 mortar shells on January 9th. Clinton said America must recognize Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas rockets but could not ignore the suffering of Palestinians. "Real security for Israel, normal and positive relations with its neighbours as well as genuine security for Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank"  is, in her perception, the challenge she faces on Day 1 of her assuming office. She has her task cut out for her. Let us examine the complexities the world faces in resolving this conflict.

Operation Cast Lead

The Israelis began the operation by air strikes on December 27, 2008, with the ground offensive commencing on 03 January 2009. Israeli Defence Force (IDF) infantry, armoured, engineering and artillery forces entered the Gaza Strip with backup from the sea and air. Their objectives were to damage Hamas and its terrorist infrastructure, take control of rocket / mortar launching sites and reduce attacks on Israeli territory. The war continues unabated, notwithstanding the Israeli claim of having killed nearly 200 Hamas fighters. Since the offensive began, 971 people have been killed in Gaza with 4,400 people injured. 13 Israelis have died so far, three of them civilians, with 41 wounded.

The ground operation has dismantled terrorist infrastructure, including tunnels, weapons stores, rocket and mortar shell launching sites, terrorist operatives, military bases and terrorist bases that had situated in mosques and other buildings. The Israeli Air Force and Navy have provided back-up for the ground forces operating in the Gaza Strip, attacking approximately 1,500 targets numerated above, Hamas’s operational network, weapons stores, posts and training camps. Since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead, Hamas has fired 439 rockets and 158 mortar shells at the Israeli heartland/IDF.

Genesis of the Palestinian Problem: Early History

It is necessary to place the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict into context before exploring its various strands. The facts are not in dispute. In 1897, the First Zionist Congress was held for establishing a homeland for the Jewish people. Palestine, 112 years ago, had about 600,000 inhabitants, 95% of whom were Arabs, while 5% were only Jews. It comprised of current day Israel as well as the West Bank and the Gaza strip. In 1922, the League of Nations granted Great Britain mandatory power over Palestine to aid in establishment of a Jewish homeland. Jewish immigration into Palestine reached peak levels after the German genocide against Jews. By 1947, on the eve of the UN decision to partition Palestine, there were 1.35 million Palestinian Arabs and 650,000 Jews, who had acquired roughly 6% of the mandated area of Palestine. Yet, the UN General Assembly gave the Jews around 56% of Palestine.

The Palestinians and neighbouring Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition resolution and waged war on the new state of Israel but lost. In the aftermath of the1948 defeat, close to half the Palestinian population (around 750,000) became refugees, both inside and outside what remained of their own country. They number over three million now, with no hope of returning or being integrated in neighbouring Arab countries where most of them live. After their defeat in 1948, Arab states continued to wage wars on Israel, and continued to lose. Finally, "the era of peace" arrived, ushered in by the Camp David Agreement with Egypt in 1978. This offered a temporary respite from conflict.

Recent Developments on Palestine

The September 1993 Accord provided for a transitional period of Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip that comprise today’s Palestine "State". Between May 1994 and September 1999, Israel transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA), the security and civil responsibilities for the Palestinian occupied areas of the West Bank and Gaza strip. Negotiations stalled due to the Intifada in September 2000. In April 2003, the Quartet (US, EU, UN and Russia) presented a road map for final settlement of the Palestinian problem by 2005. Progress was stalled as both sides reneged on the preconditions to make a final settlement possible. Yasser Arafat, the charismatic PLO leader, died in end 2004 and Mahmoud Abbas was selected the PA leader in January 2005. In September, Israel unilaterally withdrew settlements and troops from the Gaza portion of the PA. In March 2006, Hamas, post elections, democratically took control of the PA government. Voters rewarded Hamas for its efficient administration of public services and lack of corruption that had become associated with Fatah. However the new government failed to renounce violence and recognise the right of Israel to exist within a potential two state solution. The Hamas dominance also led to Fatah and Hamas clashes.

In February 2007, the "Mecca Agreement" was signed in Riyadh that resulted in the formation of the Palestinian National Unity Government (NUG) headed by Hamas leader Haniya, with Mahmoud Abbas continuing as President. This Government has also failed as the Hamas agenda of war against Israel continued unabated. In June 2007, Hamas took over complete control of Gaza. Since then, it has relentlessly followed its focused agenda of jihad against Israel. The Israelis however regard Palestine as their own "biblical homeland"
 and many aspire for a "Greater Israel" that includes the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians continue to resist, increasingly in ways which most of the world has come to regard as terrorist. It is now necessary to have an insight about the Palestinian state as it exists; its geography, economy, demography and interplay with Israel

The West Bank

This is the major part of today’s Palestine. It is located West of Jordan and has a land area of 5860 square kilometers including the North West portion of the Dead Sea. It includes, the West bank, the Latrun Salient, the North West Dead Sea but excludes Mount Scopus. The West Bank as a whole has a 307 km boundary with Israel and 97 km with Jordan. It has 340 Israeli settlements (187,000 inhabitants) and 29 Israeli settlements (177,000 inhabitants) in East Jerusalem. The total population is over 2.4 million with 75 percent being Sunni Muslims, 17 percent Jews and 8 percent Christians. The median age is 20.2 years. The GDP per capita (PPP) is $1100. The West Bank uses the New Israeli Shekel and the Jordanian Dinar as currency. Most of its electricity is supplied by Israel. It has three airports, a relatively good network of roads and a work force led by services provision, cottage industry and agriculture. It has a 350 strength UN Truce Supervisory Organisation (UNTSO) headquartered in Jerusalem. Its trading partners are Israel, Jordan, Gaza and Egypt.

THE GAZA STRIP

Gaza (locally called Qita Ghazzah) is located in the Middle East and borders the Mediterranean Sea between Israel and Egypt. It is 365 kilometers square, has a 62 kilometer border (51 kilometers with Israel, 11 with Egypt) and a 40 kilometer sea front. This part of the Palestine "State" is 40 kilometers long, with the narrowest and widest parts being five and ten kilometers respectively. Gaza has rolling sandy countryside, some of it arable, located mostly at sea level. It has a population of 1.5 million with the median age being 15.65. It is inhabited by 98.7 percent Sunni Muslims and 0.7 percent Christians. O.6 percent Jewish settlers were also present but were relocated in September 2005 by Israel. Literacy in Gaza is at 91 percent. Per capita GDP is equated to a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of $600. Gaza has a services driven economy. It has a labour force of 7, 25,000 with 63 percent employed in services, 28 percent in small cottage industry and 9 percent in agriculture. 81 percent Gazans live below the poverty line. 45.5 percent Gazans are unemployed. About 1 million of Gaza's 1.5 million people are refugees. Gaza trades with Egypt, Israel and the West Bank. Its currency is the new Israeli Shekel. Electricity is provided by Israel, as also Maritime and Air security. Gaza has one International Airport (decommissioned by Israel since 2004), one airstrip (out of use), one heliport, one port, two TV stations and three Internet Service Providers (ISP’s). Telephone services are rudimentary. The borders of the strip are enclosed by Israeli fences, checkpoints and buffer zones designed to prevent bomb-wielding militants from attacking Israel, but imposing a claustrophobic atmosphere that makes peace seem a distant dream.

Gaza has thus been "gated" from three sides with the Mediterranean Sea completing its isolation. It has six manned crossing points, of which five connect it with Israel and one with Egypt. These from North to South are Erez (in Gaza North administrative "province"), Nahal and Karni (in Gaza province). The next two provinces, North to South, are "Middle Area" and "Khan Yunis," which have no crossings. Rafah, the Southern most provinces, has the Sufa and Keren Shalom crossing points with Israel and the Rafah crossing with Egypt. The wall facing Israel has, besides the wall, a 150 meter "No-Go" buffer zone. On the Gazan side, the buffer zone is 500 meters. The Hamas has constructed various types of tunnels on the Gaza border with Egypt for smuggling in arms, munitions etc, thereby bypassing the manned Rafah crossing point through which Israel permits only humanitarian aid to pass. 20 percent of households are unconnected to the water and sewage system, and 90 per cent of the drinking water is contaminated with nitrates. About 70 per cent of Gazans are dependent on food aid.

What is Hamas? The Hezbollah/ Syria/Iran Connection

Hamas, which today runs Gaza strip, takes its name from the Arabic initials for the Islamic Resistance Movement. It is seen by its supporters as a legitimate fighting force defending Palestinians from a brutal military occupation. It is the largest Palestinian militant Islamist organisation, formed in 1987 at the beginning of the first intifada, against Israel's occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. The Hamas charter was formulated during 1987-1993. It is Hamas’s most important ideological document. The main points of the Hamas charter are that the conflict with Israel is religious and political. All Palestine is Muslim land and no one has the right to give it up. The importance of jihad (holy war) is the main means for the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to achieve its goals. The charter is rife with overt anti-Semitism. For years the organisation was divided into two main spheres of operation: Social programmes like building schools, hospitals and religious institutions and militant operations carried out by Hamas' underground Iss al-Din Qassam Brigades.
Hezbollah (Arabic for "party of God") emerged in 1982 from the Shiite Muslim population of South Lebanon with the help of Iranian Revolutionary Guards who traveled to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon to fight Israel following its incursion into the region. Israel entered Lebanon in response to the PLO, which mounted repeated cross-border attacks against Israel after establishing its base in Lebanon in the early 1970s. Despite the Israeli army's withdrawal from South Lebanon, Hezbollah has reinforced its grip over that territory, acquiring missiles and armaments and entrenching itself on Israel's northern border. Hezbollah has also increased its presence in the West Bank and Gaza, providing weapons, training and funds to Palestinian terrorist groups. Its moral and material sustenance comes from Iran and Syria. Since it is not on the best of terms with Hamas, the Arab world led by Hezbollah, has not responded with much enthusiasm. Hezbollah is consolidating its position and does not want to open a front against Israel at this critical juncture.

Israeli Motives

Israel, firstly, expects to weaken Hamas substantially by killing its fighters and destroying its rocket stockpile. Secondly, to establish Israeli deterrence so that Hamas will be more wary of firing cross-border rockets and using smuggling tunnels. Israel's underlying motivation for going to war in Gaza is, more importantly, to protect some of its most important defence installations. "It's only a matter of a year or two before Hamas threatens Ben-Gurion, the only international airport Israel has," said Hillel Frisch, senior research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv. In the past week, Palestinian militants in Gaza have been firing longer-range Grad-type missiles at targets in Israel, scoring numerous hits on towns like Beersheba, 40 kilometres from Israel's border with Gaza. The airport is located 20 kilometres southeast of Tel Aviv. Frisch says that the facilities that could be targeted as also Israel's nuclear reactor in Dimona, about 40 kilometres east of Beersheba, or 80 kilometres from Gaza.

What the Future Holds

As per BBC reportage, Maj Gen (Retd) Yaakov Amidror believes Israel should neutralise Gaza "as decisively as it went into the West Bank during the second intifada". Amidror however concedes that few people inside Israel want to put the 1.5 million Palestinians inside Gaza back under full Israeli control. On the other hand, Maj Gen (Retd) Giora Eiland, the former head of Israel's National Security Council, says that though a "wide military re-occupation of Gaza" is certainly an option, he favours halting operations now, and instead turning the screw(s) on Egypt. The ideal, he says, would be to stop arms smuggling by forcing Egypt to police a buffer zone five to 10 kilometres (three to seven miles) around Gaza's south-western border.

India is used to (if not callous) the loss of lives. To us, therefore, Israel’s obsession with the safety of its soldiers appears ridiculous. Not so in Israel. This display of state policy is best indicated that the Israelis have yet another goal which the senior echelons of the Israeli military discuss – releasing Corporal Gilad Shalit, the soldier captured by Hamas two and a half years ago. Maj Gen Dayan thinks that "
Israel's military objectives should extend beyond stopping rockets, to mass arrests". He says Israel now has a "good opportunity to arrest 1,000 Hamas members". That should be enough, he feels, to speed up Corporals Shalit's return to Israel. The BBC further reports that Maj Gen Eiland feels Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may be wrong in considering the option of toppling Hamas altogether. He says "It is not necessarily better than to have a weakened Hamas." That, at least, he says, would be "one accountable government, that has something to lose, something to deliver to its own people."

A united Israel however knows that it has only a few days at most to achieve its goals. As one senior Israeli officer has put it, "
Israel may have all the time in the world; but the world does not have all the time for Israel".

 

THE AGENDA ● HOMELAND SECURITY

HOMELAND SECURITY

"We are here to do the work that ensures no other family members have to lose a loved one to a terrorist who turns a plane into a missile, a terrorist who straps a bomb around her waist and climbs aboard a bus, a terrorist who figures out how to set off a dirty bomb in one of our cities. This is why we are here: to make our country safer and make sure the nearly 3,000 who were taken from us did not die in vain; that their legacy will be a more safe and secure Nation."

-- Barack Obama, Speech in the U.S. Senate, March 6, 2007



The first responsibility of any president is to protect the American people. President Barack Obama will provide the leadership and strategies to strengthen our security at home.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden's strategy for securing the homeland against 21st century threats is focused on preventing terrorist attacks on our homeland, preparing and planning for emergencies and investing in strong response and recovery capabilities. Obama and Biden will strengthen our homeland against all hazards -– including natural or accidental disasters and terrorist threats -- and ensure that the federal government works with states, localities, and the private sector as a true partner in prevention, mitigation, and response.

Defeat Terrorism Worldwide

• Find, Disrupt, and Destroy Al Qaeda: Responsibly end the war in Iraq and focus on the right battlefield in Afghanistan. Work with other nations to strengthen their capacity to eliminate shared enemies.
• New Capabilities to Aggressively Defeat Terrorists: Improve the American intelligence apparatus by investing in its capacity to collect and analyze information, share information with other agencies and carry out operations to disrupt terrorist networks.
• Prepare the Military to Meet 21st Century Threats: Ensure that our military becomes more stealthy, agile, and lethal in its ability to capture or kill terrorists. Bolster our military's ability to speak different languages, navigate different cultures, and coordinate complex missions with our civilian agencies.
• Win the Battle of Ideas: Defeat al Qaeda in the battle of ideas by returning to an American foreign policy consistent with America's traditional values, and work with moderates within the Islamic world to counter al Qaeda propaganda. Establish a $2 billion Global Education Fund to work to eliminate the global education deficit and offer an alternative to extremist schools.
• Restore American Influence and Restore Our Values: Stop shuttering consulates and start opening them in the tough and hopeless corners of the world. Expand our foreign service, and develop the capacity of our civilian aid workers to work alongside the military.

Prevent Nuclear Terrorism

Barack Obama and Joe Biden have a comprehensive strategy for nuclear security that will reduce the danger of nuclear terrorism, prevent the spread of nuclear weapons capabilities, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime. They will:

• Secure Nuclear Weapons Materials in Four Years and End Nuclear Smuggling: Lead a global effort to secure all nuclear weapons materials at vulnerable sites within four years -- the most effective way to prevent terrorists from acquiring a nuclear bomb. Fully implement the Lugar-Obama legislation to help our allies detect and stop the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction.
• Strengthen Policing and Interdiction Efforts: Institutionalize the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a global initiative aimed at stopping shipments of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, and related materials worldwide.
• Convene a Summit on Preventing Nuclear Terrorism: Convene a summit in 2009 (and regularly thereafter) of leaders of Permanent Members of the UN Security Council and other key countries to agree on preventing nuclear terrorism.
• Eliminate Iran's and North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Programs Through Tough, Direct Diplomacy: Use tough diplomacy -- backed by real incentives and real pressures -- to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to eliminate fully and verifiably North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
• Strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): Seek to ensure that the Agency gets the authority, information, people, and technology it needs to do its job.
• Control Fissile Materials: Lead a global effort to negotiate a verifiable treaty ending the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes.
• Prevent Nuclear Fuel from Becoming Nuclear Bombs: Work with other interested governments to establish a new international nuclear energy architecture -- including an international nuclear fuel bank, international nuclear fuel cycle centers, and reliable fuel supply assurances -- to meet growing demands for nuclear power without contributing to proliferation.
• Set the Goal of a Nuclear-Free World: Show the world that America believes in its existing commitment under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to work to ultimately eliminate all nuclear weapons. America will not disarm unilaterally.
• Seek Real, Verifiable Reductions in Nuclear Stockpiles: Seek deep, verifiable reductions in all U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons and work with other nuclear powers to reduce global stockpiles dramatically.
• Work with Russia to Increase Warning and Decision Time: Work with Russia to end dangerous Cold War policies like keeping nuclear weapons ready to launch on a moment’s notice, in a mutual and verifiable manner.
• Appoint White House Coordinator for Nuclear Security: Appoint a deputy national security advisor to be in charge of coordinating all U.S. programs aimed at reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism and weapons proliferation.
• Strengthen Nuclear Risk Reduction Work at Defense, State, and Energy Departments: Expand our foreign service, and develop the capacity of our civilian aid workers to work alongside the military. Thwarting terrorist networks requires international partnerships in military, intelligence, law enforcement, financial transactions, border controls, and transportation security.

Strengthen American Biosecurity

Biological weapons pose a serious and increasing national security risk. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will work to prevent bioterror attacks and mitigate consequences. They will:

• Prevent Bioterror Attacks: Strengthen U.S. intelligence collection overseas to identify and interdict would-be bioterrorists before they strike.
• Build Capacity to Mitigate the Consequences of Bioterror Attacks: Ensure that decision-makers have the information and communication tools they need to manage disease outbreaks by linking health care providers, hospitals, and public health agencies. A well-planned, well-rehearsed, and rapidly executed epidemic response can dramatically diminish the consequences of biological attacks.
• Accelerate the Development of New Medicines, Vaccines, and Production Capabilities: Build on America's unparalleled talent to create new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tests and to manufacture them more quickly and efficiently.
• Lead an International Effort to Diminish Impact of Major Infectious Disease Epidemics: Promote international efforts to develop new diagnostics, vaccines, and medicines that will be available and affordable in all parts of the world.

Protect Our Information Networks

Barack Obama and Joe Biden -- working with private industry, the research community and our citizens -- will lead an effort to build a trustworthy and accountable cyber infrastructure that is resilient, protects America's competitive advantage, and advances our national and homeland security. They will:

• Strengthen Federal Leadership on Cyber Security: Declare the cyber infrastructure a strategic asset and establish the position of national cyber advisor who will report directly to the president and will be responsible for coordinating federal agency efforts and development of national cyber policy.
• Initiate a Safe Computing R&D Effort and Harden our Nation's Cyber Infrastructure: Support an initiative to develop next-generation secure computers and networking for national security applications. Work with industry and academia to develop and deploy a new generation of secure hardware and software for our critical cyber infrastructure.
• Protect the IT Infrastructure That Keeps America's Economy Safe: Work with the private sector to establish tough new standards for cyber security and physical resilience.
• Prevent Corporate Cyber-Espionage: Work with industry to develop the systems necessary to protect our nation's trade secrets and our research and development. Innovations in software, engineering, pharmaceuticals and other fields are being stolen online from U.S. businesses at an alarming rate.
• Develop a Cyber Crime Strategy to Minimize the Opportunities for Criminal Profit: Shut down the mechanisms used to transmit criminal profits by shutting down untraceable Internet payment schemes. Initiate a grant and training program to provide federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies the tools they need to detect and prosecute cyber crime.
• Mandate Standards for Securing Personal Data and Require Companies to Disclose Personal Information Data Breaches: Partner with industry and our citizens to secure personal data stored on government and private systems. Institute a common standard for securing such data across industries and protect the rights of individuals in the information age.

Improve Intelligence Capacity and Protect Civil Liberties

• Improve Information Sharing and Analysis: Improve our intelligence system by creating a senior position to coordinate domestic intelligence gathering, establishing a grant program to support thousands more state and local level intelligence analysts, and increasing our capacity to share intelligence across all levels of government.
• Give Real Authority to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board: Support efforts to strengthen the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board with subpoena powers and reporting responsibilities. Give the Board a robust mandate designed to protect American civil liberties and demand transparency from the Board to ensure accountability.
• Strengthen Institutions to Fight Terrorism: Establish a Shared Security Partnership Program overseas to invest $5 billion over three years to improve cooperation between U.S. and foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Protect Americans from Terrorist Attacks and Natural Disasters

• Allocate Funds Based on Risk: Allocate our precious homeland security dollars according to risk, not as pork-barrel spending or a form of general revenue sharing. Eliminate waste, fraud and abuse that cost the nation billions of Department of Homeland Security dollars.
• Prepare Effective Emergency Response Plans: Further improve coordination between all levels of government, create better evacuation plan guidelines, ensure prompt federal assistance to emergency zones, and increase medical surge capacity.
• Support First Responders: Increase federal resources and logistic support to local emergency planning efforts.
• Improve Interoperable Communications Systems: Support efforts to provide greater technical assistance to local and state first responders and dramatically increase funding for reliable, interoperable communications systems. Appoint a National Chief Technology Officer to ensure that the current non-interoperable plans at the federal, state, and local levels are combined, funded, implemented and effective.
• Working with State and Local Governments and the Private Sector: Make the federal government a better partner to states and localities, one that listens to local concerns and considers local priorities. Reach out to the private sector to leverage its expertise and assets to protect our homeland security.

Protect Critical Infrastructure

• Create a National Infrastructure Protection Plan: Develop an effective critical infrastructure protection and resiliency plan for the nation and work with the private sector to ensure that targets are protected against all hazards.
• Secure our Chemical Plants: Work with all stakeholders to enact permanent federal chemical plant security regulations.
• Improve Airline Security: Redouble our efforts to adequately address the threats our nation continues to face from airplane-based terrorism.
• Monitor our Ports: Redouble our efforts to develop technology that can detect radiation and work with the maritime transportation industry to deploy this technology to maximize security without causing economic disruption.
• Safeguard Public Transportation: Work to protect the public transportation systems Americans use to get to work, school and beyond every day.
• Improve Border Security: Support the virtual and physical infrastructure and manpower necessary to secure our borders and keep our nation safe.

Modernize America's Aging Infrastructure

• Build-in Security: Ensure that security is considered and built into the design of new infrastructure, so that our critical assets are protected from the start and more resilient to naturally-occurring and deliberate threats throughout their life-cycle.
• Create a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank: Address the infrastructure challenge by creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank of $60 billion over 10 years, to expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments. This independent entity will be directed to invest in our nation's most challenging transportation infrastructure needs, without the influence of special interests.
• Invest in Critical Infrastructure Projects: Invest in our nation's most pressing short and long-term infrastructure needs, including modernizing our electrical grid and upgrading our highway, rail, ports, water, and aviation infrastructure. Establish a Grid Modernization Commission to facilitate adoption of Smart Grid practices to improve efficiency and security of our electricity grid.
   

Sunday, November 25, 2007, Chandigarh, India

'N-terrorism a growing threat'
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 24
Stating that nuclear terrorism is a growing threat with potentially massive and disastrous consequences for all countries, Dr David F Ciampi from the US Homeland Security Defence Coalition said the global structures currently in place today are inadequate for preventing the acquisition of nuclear materials by terrorist organisations.

He said there was great concern among many experts that Pakistan's nuclear weapons and components are increasingly vulnerable to being diverted to terrorist groups, he said while speaking today at a seminar on "Changing dimensions of international security: Implications for India", organised at Panjab University here.

Pointing out that Al-Qaida and Taliban have a solid foothold in tribal areas of Pakistan and that there was political and ethnic unrest among various factions, he said there was fear that some Pakistani scientists, government officials and military commanders may be helping Taliban and Al Qaeda.

He said constant threat that a radical government may emerge in Pakistan due to a popular uprising was of great concern to everyone and the adverse implications for India should not be underestimated.

Rouge regimes, Dr Ciampi said, must be prevented from acquiring the technical ability to manufacture military grade uranium and plutonium and new aggressive international security systems must be implemented to secure and protect nuclear establishments.

Speaking on India's shifting security paradigm, Brig Kiran Krishan (retd) said in the new geo-political scenario post 9/11, with a weakened Pakistan and an economically resurgent India in strategic partnership with America, there was a need to realistically assess security challenges facing India.

He was of the view that military threats from Pakistan and China have diminished and rather than a fixation with borders, resurgent India needed to look outward and fashion its security needs and apparatus accordingly.

Lieut-General Kamal Dawar (retd) spoke on the "Dynamics of international terrorism and India's concern". He explained the need to wage global war on terrorism under the aegis of U.N Prof. R.N. Swaroop presented a mathematical model of security emphasising on non-military threats to international security.

Vice-Admiral Anup Singh talked about Indian maritime security and delved upon the importance of Indian Ocean, through which majority of international sea trade lanes pass, and India 's influence over it. Prof Hari Saran discussed the strategic imperative of India's maritime security.

Former Punjab DGP P.C. Dogra talked about internal security and the myriad threat to India's internal security. He asked the government to take concrete steps to emerging threat to internal security from Maoists.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071125/cth1.htm#8

Monday, June 18, 2007   FOCUS ON THE CARIBBEAN The discovery and dismantling of a plot to attack New York's JFK airport is only the latest reminder of the growing jihadist threat around us.  That the JFK plot had not yet left the planning stage after a year of activity should not suggest that it was not serious. Among the hallmarks of Islamist plots are that the enemy has enormous patience, and that they plan and practice for far longer than we might consider reasonable in order to ensure a successful mission. The cell may not have been as small as it at first seemed, but this remains to be proven. However, the existence of cells like this one throughout the United State underscores the need for Americans to wake up to a dangerous reality. In this case, the four individuals involved appear to have had close ties to one of the terrorist networks in the Caribbean. There is no dearth of these. Al Qaeda, Darul Uloom, Jammat Islamiyah, and Hezbollah are all known to be active throughout the Caribbean, as well as in Central and South America.  In the world of terrorism, international boundaries do not represent acceptable limitation of activity or goals. They are simply inconvenient impediments to be overcome. There is therefore a strong likelihood that further investigation will show that the individuals involved in this plot were part of a far-reaching network that transcended international constraints with known terrorist links in the Caribbean, South America, Europe, the United States, and beyond. The links between the JFK plotters and Trinidad/Tobago and Guyana are not surprising.  The Caribbean region, with its proximity to Venezuela and Colombia, has long been a playground for terrorist organizations whose strategic goal is the global dominance of radical Islam. The Caribbean has provided a convenient nexus for the mutual interests of drugs, organized crime, and terrorism, and radical Islamist groups and their activities are growing in numbers and strength. The combination of evolving strategies for global terrorist groups and the laid-back culture of the islands have made the region an attractive place for cottage industries in document forgery, money laundering, drug dealing, and human trafficking, and these islands, with their friendly relations with America, give relatively easy access to the United States. The Link to Shukrijumah The possible connection between the JFK plotters and Adnan al-Shukrijuma is ominous. Shukrijuma is considered to be a dangerous and elusive agent of al Qaeda.  His aim to attack the United States with a nuclear or radioactive device has caused the FBI to put a $5 million reward on his head. They have dubbed him "the next Mohammed Atta". Known as an expert bomb maker, he is a master of disguise who seems to appear and disappear at will and has eluded capture for many years. His last reported sighting was on October 30, 2006 on the McMaster University campus in Hamilton, Ontario, where he had spent considerable time in 2003. His mission at the time, according to Dr Paul Williams, who has done extensive research on his activities there, was to steal 180 pounds of nuclear material from the McMaster nuclear reactor that is situated on the campus. Shukrijuma's connections to both Trinidad/Tobago and Guyana make his possible association with the JFK plot more than a little coincidental. He is known to be travel under multiple identities, and may be carrying multiple passports from Guyana, where he grew up, Trinidad and Tobago, and Canada. Over the last few years, he has been sighted at various times in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Honduras, and Mexico, and in various spots throughout the United States and Canada. He was reported to be in Trinidad for several months, where he claimed to be working on the construction site of the new Atlantic LNG Train 4 facility in Trinidad. During that period, he stayed at a prominent hotel in Point Fortin, until he realized that the FBI was looking for him. He then left the country via boat to South America. More recently, in relation to the latest plot, a New York Post article quoted a law enforcement officer, who said, "We thought he could be the invisible hand. He's always in the shadows, particularly in [the Caribbean]. He's passed through it, he's known." In 2004, a spokesman for the FBI in El Paso called him "one of the most dangerous cell leaders below the leadership of al-Qaeda who plans to hurt the United States." Officials suspected that Shukrijumah was using immigrant-smuggling routes through Central America and Mexico to get to the border. If the men who were working on the JFK plot were indeed connected with Shukrijuma, however peripherally, the implications are even greater that al Qaeda was involved in the plot, and that the consequences, had it been carried out, would have been devastating. Connecting the Dots There also appears to be evidence that the men arrested in the JFK plot were associated with the Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Islamist group in Trinidad best known for their bloody takeover of the Trinidad parliament in 1990. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that these groups are collaborating with others when their jihadist missions coincide. Our sources tell us that there may be a link between Darul Uloom, the Jamaat Al Muslimeen, and Al Qaeda, but that it is a hidden one. They further suggest that Darul Ulom of Trinidad and Tobago is an even more dangerous organization than Jamaat al-Muslimeen. They follow the radical Deobandi ideology, which represents the most extreme forms of Islamist belief (the Taliban are among their most devoted adherents).  Shukrijumah has been closely linked to Darul Uloom, which has branches in the Pakistan, the UK, Trinidad, and closer to home, Canada and the United States (including Florida, Illinois, and Georgia). Although more than a few terrorist plots have been thwarted by our federal and local law enforcement agencies (such as the planned attacks against Fort Dix, the Manhattan tunnels, and Miami), the proliferation of Islamist radicalism in the United States should alarm us all. As the details of this last plot unfold, it will be necessary to also take a hard look at our policies at the national and local levels that makes the development of terrorism within our own country not only possible, but comparatively easy. SHORT TAKES DANGEROUS SIGNS FROM MOSCOW Putin's latest sabre-rattling against America and Europe points to increasing signs of paranoia on the part of the Russian premier. His most recent threat to aim nuclear warheads at European cities, in response to America's missile defence shield, is an inappropriate and exaggerated reaction. Even a brief look at recent events in Russia will find Putin closing his circle of advisors, imposing increasing limitations on its democratic institutions, and, despite his assurances that he will be stepping down at the end of his term, stronger signs that will ensure his job security for the future. (See coming issue for in-depth analysis) OVERLOOKED THREAT TO AVIATION SECURITY The communications disruption at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport last week due to pirate radio transmissions that jammed air traffic communications and endangered takeoffs and landings should give us all pause. The culprit was an illegal radio station operating out of the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, which caused interference in communications between the airport's control tower and both inbound and outbound airplanes. The consequences could have been disastrous. Although the rogue station was found and closed down, further interference was experienced by the control tower.  The implications are ominous and should be a warning to aviation around the world. Intentional interference by terrorists or rogue hackers could result in multiple, simultaneous mid-air collisions. The bad guys have discovered another method of committing mayhem by airplane and the lives of millions of travelers are at stake. There is now an urgent need to secure the airwaves used by our airports and the pilots who fly in and out of them. This warning should not go unheeded.   About This Publication INTELANALYSIS is published by Gerard Group International, which provides in-depth analysis relating to homeland security and counter-terrorism. Our other intelligence-led programs include: Homeland Security Solutions: sIntelligence Analysis    sCounter-Terrorism Training for Law Enforcement    sEmergency Response Planning sSafe Schools Initiative    sCritical Infrastructure Security Planning    sMunicipal Security Programs sCounter-Terrorism Threat / Vulnerability Assessments and Mitigation Planning Corporate Programs: sBusiness Intelligence    sThreat Analysis and Mitigation Planning     sExecutive Safety  sTravel Security sPersonnel Training    sCountry Evaluation with Risk and Threat Assessment     s24/7 Emergency Response

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Propaganda and Why There is No Negotiating with the Resistance

March 28, 2007, By: Tim Greene

The Islamic State of Iraq, under the leadership of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, released information concerning the attempt of the U.S. military to open negotiations with the Islamic State leadership.

They reported that the U.S. military released al-Mujihadeen fighters from Iraqi/U.S. military prisons with a verbal message for the al-Mujihadeen and Islamic State of Iraq to open negotiations.

Baghdadi says the U.S. agreed to support the Islamic State of Iraq and would fight with them against the shiite's if the Islamic State would cease attacks on the U.S. military, Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi government.

Baghdadi's top field lieutenant says while the negotiation is tempting, he nor any group associated with the membership of the Islamic State of Iraq will negotiate with America because America 's interest is not that of Iraq or the sunni people but only of themselves.

Now the U.S. military is sandwiched between fighting the resistance of Iraq, which is ever more growing in membership and support of money, weapons and technology - terrorist groups such as al-Queda and also the shiite militia's supported and trained by Iran.

They say the war in the middle east in which Iraq is caught in between currently is America's fight for control of the middle east and Iran's fight for control of the middle east.

But it would seem that the fight for control of Iraq is enough for the U.S. military.

Dr. Zalmay Khalizad, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, says that the U.S. is attempting to negotiate with tribal leaders and some insurgent groups in an effort to turn them away from al-Queda.

The Islamic State of Iraq has no need to negotiate with America when they perceive that their tactics and strategy are far more successful than that of the U.S. military's as well as the Iraqi security forces old and new security plan.

The U.S. military fails to understand the drive and confidence behind the Islamic State of Iraq that is the religion of Islam itself.

The Islamic State of Iraq has 2 agenda's:

1. Win
2. Fight until death

There is no negotiation with the Islamic State of Iraq except for the U.S. military pull-out from Iraq immediately.

COSTING AMERICA

The Islamic State of Iraq is costing the United States millions of dollars per day just in manpower, logistics and equipment support, not including the medical cost of wounded soldiers, the destruction of U.S. military equipment, the destruction of Iraqi government facilities such as police stations, army bases Iraqi utility structures and government offices.

For every strategy the U.S. and Iraqi government and military implement, the Islamic State of Iraq reports that it has successfully countered it.

For every new technology the U.S. military has invented and placed in-service, the Islamic State of Iraq has successfully countered and they continue to develop new technology in their improvised explosive devices, anti-aircraft missiles, mortar fired missiles and shoulder fired rockets.

The U.S. military has taken the Israeli approach to fighting terrorism in Iraq and according to the sunni arab culture in Iraq, this does not make militants "think twice" about joining the resistance or terrorist groups when their family members (men, women, children and elderly) are arrested or killed, it drives them stronger to join into the ranks of the resistance.

You can't fight the war on terrorism in Iraq like the Israeli's fight the Palestinians in Gaza , the West Bank and other Palestinian territories and current and former Israeli officials are heavily involved in the coaching of U.S. military strategy in Iraq , Afghanistan and throughout the middle east.

Your dealing with a different culture, a different society, a different set of values, principles and ideology that only a sunni Iraqi knows and can understand.

POWER STRUGGLERS

The U.S. military has a window to negotiate with groups such as former Ba'athist of Saddam Hussein's, with resistance groups such as the 1920 Revolutionary brigades and so forth.

These groups fell from grace as the countries former government and religious ethnic's most powerful people in Iraq before the war.
They are fighting to regain their control, power and money once again so negotiating with them is far more easy and acceptable by them. Religion is not the driving force behind these groups and therefore that leaves a window for negotiating with them.

Actually these groups have internal conflicts that have arisen and caused them to split recently – particularly speaking of the 1920 Revolutionary Brigades.

They are now two separate groups. One named "Islamic Jihad" and the other named "Islamic Conquest". The one thing they did manage to work out during their split was territory.

The Islamic Jihad group will control northern regions of Iraq in Mosul , Kirkurk, Tikrit, sections of Baghdad and Abu Ghraib.

The Islamic Conquest group will control western regions of Iraq , Ramadi, Fallujah, sections of Baghdad and Diyala.

But as one group splits another group arises as of January a new Sulefy group has formed called the "Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order". They are fighting U.S. Military in Iraq in honor of the memory of a former Palestinian Liberation Organization leader named Mohammed Abbas who was captured in Iraq by the U.S. Military in May of 2003. Abbas died of natural causes while in custody, however, the group claims that he was tortured and poisoned to death in U.S. custody.
Their other reasons for joining the resistance include discrimination against Sunni's, loss of power, status and unemployment as well as revenge for suffering of other indecencies such as unlawful detentions whereas sunni men have held in U.S. and Iraqi detention centers for months to up to two years and then released with no right to legal counsel and no criminal charges brought against them.

WHO IS AL-QUEDA?

Who is al-Queda anyway? Most all sunni people, tribes and even the "resistance" groups have strongly opposed to al-Queda in Iraq , specifically for religious reasons in which former al-Queda in Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, strongly misrepresented the true meaning and idea of Jihad in Islam with al-Queda's indiscriminant killing of men, women and children of sunni and shiite religious fellowship.

Every attack that takes place today in Iraq is labeled an "al-Queda" linked attack and a great majority of the attacks in Iraq today are not al-Queda linked but "resistance" linked.

DRIVING FORCE OF ISLAM

The Islamic State of Iraq is a "resistance" organization, not an al-Queda organization, totally against the foreign control and foreign occupation of Iraq.

The shiite dominant Maliki government is seen to be controlled by America, but in the absence of America would certainly be controlled by Iran.

Islamic and Shariah law are the constitution of the Islamic State of Iraq and therefore negotiation between them is definitely going to be impossible. Islam is not-negotiable.

There is no other religion and driving force to stand and fight for one's self, family, culture, values and home than in Islam.

Recently however, the Islamic State of Iraq released information that now they are making deals with al-Queda to increase the quantity and quality of their attacks on U.S. Military in Iraq.

Why should the Islamic State of Iraq negotiate when today they have exactly what they have been wanting?

"IF" they were to negotiate, this would split the organization of the Islamic State of Iraq, because certainly some will be for the negotiation and some will be against the negotiation.

This would decrease their membership, their support from money and weapons and their ability to succeed so exclusively in their strategy to make the Maliki government fail, keep from shiite domination controlled by Iran and to force the U.S. military out of Iraq .

This would make the Islamic State of Iraq appear extremely weak to the sunni population for negotiating with the "Masters of the Maliki government", the "Crusaders" and the "Zionist Jews".

What inspires a young sunni arab to stand in front of a tank and fight it with an AK-47?

The Islamic State's motto is to fight to win or fight until death, whichever comes first. Fighting to the death is a glorious prize in Islam as a martyr of religion supporting GOD's will and law even if that comes down to fighting with nothing but rocks and sticks.


WEAPONS WARS

The World's military superpower occupies Iraq today with sophisticated technology of weapons, tactics, planning and equipment.
Fighting them is the world's most un-sophisticated military in the world, the Islamic military, destroying thousands to million dollar pieces of the most magnificent technology in the world with explosive's made with hardware store materials to improvise them for maximum destruction.

Million dollar helicopters shot down with $40 to $100 rockets.

Military minesweeper vehicles, costing $750,000 each, with the worlds most sophisticated and up to date technology in frequency jamming of remote control explosive devices, destroyed completely by the combination of 4 to 8 120mm shells tied together with detonation cord and packed with TNT - about a $250-$400 value.

The top military frequency jamming devices penetrated to set off remote improvised explosive devices.

The top military anti-tank and anti-aircraft defense technology penetrated by techniques such as covering the missile in mud and new electronic technology developed by the engineers of the Islamic State of Iraq themselves to drive through anti-missile flares.

Top experienced military tactical strategist who plan and prepare every attack operation throughly and carefully before implementation.

The Islamic State of Iraq has established their leader, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, a multi-media team and Information Ministry, field lieutenants that take orders and give orders in all provinces of Iraq under U.S. occupation and resistance operations, teams established for attacks on specific targets, specific investigations teams, intelligence operatives, engineers who work to create new technologies and new weapons to defeat America's most advanced technologies and weapons, former military planners who create the new strategies to defeat America's newest defense and security strategies, financial supporters from all over Iraq and abroad and a membership and recruitment drive associated with their strategic propaganda drives.

MEDIA WAR

Recently the media released that the Defense Department has put in a purchase for the manufacture of the new minesweeper vehicles such as the Buffalo , the Cougar, the Meerkat and the RG-31 Nayala. These vehicles have the most up to date frequency jamming technology to prevent remote detonation of improvised explosive devices. They have IED detection technology to locate IED's along the roadways in front of military patrols and convoys. The Buffalo is the largest of the new vehicles, sitting high up from the ground and has a V-shaped bottom to deflect the concussion of an explosion under the roadway out and away from the body of the vehicle. It also has a large crane arm with a camera to deal with, disarm or disassemble any explosive devices that it finds.

The Defense Department reported that they had an order of 4000+ of these vehicles to be manufactured and deployed in Iraq before the end of 2007, however, since the vehicle has been so successful, with no soldier casualties and the inability to destroy such a vehicle unlike the humvee which has a large, flat body and takes in most of the explosion, the Defense Department has increased the order to over 6000 vehicles at an estimated cost each of $750,000 US.

The week after this media report, the Islamic State of Iraq released a 26 minute video detailing all 4 new military vehicles with their specialized design and technologies and included in the video was specific and strategic attacks against all of the 4 vehicles resulting in the deaths of soldiers on board as well as the destruction of the vehicles to prove the Defense Departments information release as insufficient.

Two weeks ago the Islamic State of Iraq attacked the Badoosh prison in Mosul.

The western media reports that the prison suffered no known injuries or casualties and that about 114 prisoners were released, however, all but appx. 40 of them were captured within one hour.
Days later the Islamic State of Iraq released their video footage of the attack on Badoosh Prison noting that their attack teams had specific targets. One team attacked the tower guards, who were their largest threat, one team attacked the communications for the prison to prevent them from calling for assistance, one team attacked the electricity and one team attacked the entrance to the prison. They all successfully made entry, released 114 Iraqi prisoners and some approx. 100 other foreign prisoners, none of which were apprehended. The prison personnel suffered heavy injuries and deaths. The whole operation took 14 minutes - and had the prison been successful to contact for help, resistance teams were set up to attack the responding military teams and hold them off until the prison operation was complete. Similar to the attack incident on the Blackwater helicopters and emergency response teams recently in Baghdad .

Recently they released a video showing the attack on an undisclosed U.S. military base where their tactical strategists split their personnel into 3 teams... the attackers, the supporters and the get-a-way. They had a good tactical plan, predetermined and planned carefully. They had their attackers in good operational locations and the ability to move about. They attacked the base from different directions for maximum results and confusion among the base. They closed off support routes with fighters, weapons and explosive devices. They set up a quick and successful evacuation.

The old saying is that there is two sides to every story and the Islamic State of Iraq's main idea is to have their side heard on top of the western media and the press releases they get from the US military and Iraqi government in an attempt to prove that the security plan is not working and that the Iraqi government is not functioning and working for the people of Iraq.

Tim Greene is a lecturer and instructor in Islam, Sharia law, the Sunnah, Haddith, Arab Culture, Tribal Society, Middle Eastern and International militia's, resistance groups and terrorist organizations, and conducts anti-terrorism assessments, consulting, policies and training.
 

The Trouble with the Baker-Hamilton Study
By Ilana Freedman

The Iraq Study Group Report is one of the most naďve and potentially dangerous documents to impact United States policy in many years. The alarming scope of the panel's ignorance of Middle East realities is made all the more alarming by the respected reputations of those who sat on the panel. They included two former White House Chiefs of Staff, advisors to several presidents, a retired Supreme Court Judge, a former Secretary of State, and several academics and think tank executives.

Significantly absent from this commission, however, was anyone with military expertise or experience, with real and recent knowledge of the current situation in Iraq. Considering that America's involvement in Iraq has been first and foremost a military one, this omission is singularly glaring and it casts a long shadow on the findings. This may explain some of the more serious shortcomings of this report, but it does not lessen the dangers that the report will represent if it is accepted as a reasonable analysis and absorbed into policy.

This is very clear in the very first pages of the report, which refers to "the ability of Iran and Syria to influence events within Iraq and their interest in avoiding chaos in Iraq". In reality, Iran has been one of the key drivers of Iraq's increasing instability since the beginning of America's military involvement in Iraq in 2003. As an element of their national policy, they have offered safe haven, training, and military support to terrorists bound for operations in Iraq. They have flooded Iraq with billions of counterfeit US dollars aimed at destabilizing the local economy, and have provided major military and financial support to terrorist groups within the country. Anyone who has studied the strategic implications of policy changes in Iraq should know this.

Yet the Study Group recommends that "Iran should stem the flow of equipment, technology, and training to any group resorting to violence in Iraq", displays a shocking lack of understanding of the forces that drive the conflict. Iran has no interest in a stable region or a strong Iraq, but rather seeks to dominate the entire Muslim world. When the panel suggests that the United States try to "engage [Iran and Syria] constructively", they ignore Iran's vested interest in destabilizing the region.

The report also ignores the harsh lessons of history. The patterns of pre-World War II Germany are now playing out again in Iran. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made his game plan clear, just as Hitler did more than 80 years ago. As early as 1919, Hitler was publicly asserting his ideas about"racial purity" and reserving his greatest venom for the Jews, whom he made it clear needed to be "eliminated".

The world did not pay attention then, and Hitler did exactly as he said he would. The six million Jews who were murdered represented 25% of the civilian casualties of the war in Europe. Today, as Ahmadinejad develops his nuclear arsenal while unabashedly calling for the total destruction of the state of Israel and its six million Jews, his message is abundantly clear. Yet this point is totally disregarded by the panel.

Moreover, Ahmadinejad has also declared - in letters and speeches - that the West must follow the path of Allah or "vanish from the face of the earth". These are words that must be taken at face value. In a worst case scenario, they will be there to remind us that we were warned. A student of Islam knows that warnings are a part of the tradition of Mohammed, and are declared today as a prelude to war. The fact that these warnings have not been taken into account by the Study Group is reason for great concern. Like Chamberlain, the panel embraces diplomacy while ignoring the threats and clear warnings of the enemy who preaches the destruction of our nation. As Iran moves purposefully towards the acquisition of nuclear power, the ominous threat of a nuclear war looms large. Ahmadinejad has issued thinly veiled threats of his goal in this regard and we ignore at our peril. A nuclear bomb delivered against one of Iran's precieved will mark the beginning of a world war unlike anything we have ever seen.

The report shows a stunning lack of interest or concern for Israel's place in the Middle East. It calls for a direct talks between Israel and Syria to "deal directly with the Middle East conflict." But it then provides a list of eight fanciful assumptions that includes "verifiable cessation" of Syrian aid to Hezbollah and arms shipments for Hamas, and a Syrian commitment to help obtain from Hamas an acknowledgment of Israel's right to exist. The end result, according to the report, will be a full and secure peace agreement. The idea that Syria will agree to any of this denies Syria's close alliance with Iran, its history of supplying arms, ammunition, funds, a logistical support to the Hezbollah to support their terrorist activities against Israel.

Nevertheless, the panel has recommended that in return for these naďve and simplistic demands, Israel will return the strategic Golan Heights, that overlook its entire northern region, to Syria, with the promise of a U.S. security guarantee and an international force on the borders. Given Israel's past disastrous experience with security guarantees and international forces, it is hardly reasonable to expect them to stake their very survival on such promises. They also ignore the massive support of Iran and Syria, or, no less alarming, the continued movement of long-range missiles to Syria's border with Israel.

Finally, the panel's urgent call for US withdrawal from Iraq is both uninformed and dangerous. Given Iran's consistent and deadly meddling in Iraq, US withdrawal would do more to destabilize the region than any other single act. It could throw the Middle East into a war on several fronts that could merge into a conflagration unlike anything we have yet seen in the region. And it would inflame Islamists around the globe to take up the sword in jihad.

The historical record shows that the Study Group's assumptions are simplistic at best and, more to the point, they are dangerously lacking realistic perspective. While they have raised serious questions about issues which are in urgent need of discussion and resolution, their lack of knowledge about the complex cultures and issues of the Middle East or the ramifications of Western actions there should disqualify this report from playing any significant role in developing foreign policy.


© Gerard Group International LLC 2006

 

Learning from the enemy's side

Written by P. Michel

The author is a former member of Bundesgrenzschutz, a German federal police force. His company Praesidia Defence provides executive protection and training in executive protection, as well as bomb awareness training and security consulting

The knowledge of terrorist tactics is a valuable tool for predicting future attacks, assessing the most probable means of attacks and developing counter measures for security professionals....Click Here to read full article in pdf format

This article originally appeared in The Forensic Examiner, the peer-reviewed publication of the American College of Forensic Examiners (ACFEI). It appears here with the permission of ACFEI. For more information on ACFEI or The Forensic Examiner call toll free (800) 423-9737 or visit www.acfei.com. Dr. David F. Ciampi, the author of this article, welcomes your comments at:  ciampi@aamsitm.org The document is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view. You can download Acrobat Reader Here

Freedman: It is perilous to ignore the gathering storm
By Ilana Freedman / Local Columnist
Friday, November 18, 2005

The ongoing riots in France, and the recent suicide bombings in Jordan, are thinly veiled warnings of what the world can expect in the coming months. As the terror spreads from country to country, the message is one we would be wise to take to heart.

Since 9/11, we in America have been spared the grief of additional attacks. It has been easy for us to allow complacency to take over. While destruction and anarchy continues in France, and as Jordanians struggle with the new reality of suicide terrorism in their kingdom, our fickle American network television news stations, hungry for new stories, has already moved on.

But averting our eyes to the growing threat is hardly in our best interest. The threat of terror is not going away anytime soon, and with each incident abroad, it comes closer to American shores.

Last Tuesday night, the twentieth night of violence in France, 149 cars were torched throughout the country. It brought the total number of vehicles destroyed in the continuing riots to well over 8,000, but there was hardly a mention in our own press.

Once again, the politically correct shied away from the obvious, calling the rioters "restive suburban youth." But the incendiary mobs roaming France's streets are more than just frustrated, angry young men. What began as a "spontaneous" response by an apparently disaffected community to the death of two teens quickly turned into an orgy of car burnings and property destruction that spread to nearly 300 other cities and towns. What most reports neglected to mention is that the vast majority of the rioters are young, French-born Muslims of the banlieues (similar to American inner city housing projects).

There is no argument that conditions in the neighborhoods which spawned the riots are bad. The residents are largely poor and disadvantaged, with a jobless rate that reaches nearly 30 percent in some areas. These banlieues are home to a large Muslim community. Many of these families have lived in France for two or three generations. They maintain their own culture, keeping themselves apart from mainstream French life. They have never truly assimilated into the culture of their new home. They are no longer 'new immigrants' - they just behave as though they were.

Is the rioting simply the result of pent up frustrations and anger, triggered by a random event, or is it something more? The question of whether terrorist organizations or radical Islamic groups exploited this situation and fanned the flames of rage is still on the table. Government officials say no. Terrorist experts are not so sure.

It is doubtful the rioting was spontaneous. In fact, it appears to have been a well coordinated action, spreading from city to town with incredible speed. Young rioters were seen synchronizing their activities via cell phones, e-mail, and instant messaging. Using every medium available, they urged others to join the rioting, shouting "Alahu Akhbar" (Allah is great) as the orgy of burning and destruction took on a life of its own.

These are all signs of a well-planned event. It is more than likely that this was a plan waiting for a trigger -- a gas leak looking for a spark. The accidental electrocution of two teenage boys, hiding from police in a power substation, was all that was needed to set it off.

The same unrest that has exploded in France was mirrored throughout Europe. Once the rioting began in earnest, arson attacks were quickly reported in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, and Switzerland. In an age of instant communication, bad news traveled fast, but nowhere was the rioting so severe or lasting as it was in France.

Europe has seen a large influx of Muslims over the last 40 years. Liberal immigration policies opened the doors to mass immigration from North Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean in order to attract unskilled labor. Today more than 12 million Muslims live in Western Europe. Regulations regarding the reunification of dispersed families led not only to mecurial population growth, but an increase in average family size as well within Europe's Muslim community.

Coupled with a determination to maintain cultural integrity and remain separate from the national character of the country they have adopted, the Muslims in France have created large, concentrated communities of socially isolated, economically disadvantaged citizens. These poor neighborhoods are fertile breeding grounds for restless young Muslims seeking an outlet for their anger and frustration. Poverty is a useful condition in which to grow the seeds of insurrection, and al Qaeda has been ready and willing to exploit any opportunity.

Indigenous sleeper cells have been spawned among the young native populations in countries around the world. Reaching beyond the stereotypical young Middle Eastern men, al Qaeda has initiated sophisticated new campaigns, recruiting blond, blue-eyed Europeans, and dark-eyed Hispanics from South America to the cause of radical Islamic terror. They have expanded their mission to include people who are native to Western culture, who blend in, and who know how to use the system they hope to destroy.

We saw the results of this policy in London last July when four British citizens targeted the city's public transportation system. These suicide terrorists, two of whom had been trained in one of al Qaeda's camps in Pakistan, murdered 52 people and injured over 700 during morning rush hour. For the first time, the world saw how al Qaeda has moved beyond its own parochialism and created a new paradigm for fomenting terror.

It is only a matter of time before the fires of Paris and the suicide bombers of Amman reach our shores. We cannot continue to watch the carnage abroad as if it had nothing to do with us. We have the resources and the ability to make ourselves safer; our history is a powerful reminder of our own resilience and strength.

But the longer we close our eyes to the gathering storm, the greater is the danger that lies before us.

Ilana Freedman is a specialist in counter-terrorism and CEO of Gerard Group International.