• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Terror Alerts

The page has gone now, which leaves me wondering as to specifics :- so not only are angry terrorist haters unable to say they would like to kill the terrorists, because they do that themselves, but now they can't say they'd like to take their bombs and shove them up their ****s either.
 
But an operation by MI5 has uncovered evidence that Al Qaeda is planning a new stage in its terror campaign by inserting ‘surgical bombs’ inside people for the first time."
Click to expand...

Life imitating art? That was used as a premise in the last Batman movie.

It's quite simple. After a man set his penis on fire in a plane recently, the government felt the need to switch to Terrordetectorisator 'Arthur' with set of balls 3.
'Severe' is the default setting.
Click to expand...

I heard it was because a janitor accidentally knocked the setting on the freezer where they keep Thatcher to defrost :shock:
 
ted_bloody_maul said:
Am I being cynical or is the threat level rise not rather good news for Brown?
Click to expand...

Bad news I would have said. It doesn't look good to have rampant terrorism on your watch and the opposition saying "It's only a matter of time before the terrorists attack unless you allow us to put our measures in place"
 
Bigfoot73 said:
The page has gone now, which leaves me wondering as to specifics :- so not only are angry terrorist haters unable to say they would like to kill the terrorists, because they do that themselves, but now they can't say they'd like to take their bombs and shove them up their ****s either.
Click to expand...

It's just a bad link. Take out the rogue '[/quote]' tag at the end.
 
wembley9 said:
ted_bloody_maul said:
Am I being cynical or is the threat level rise not rather good news for Brown?
Click to expand...

Bad news I would have said. It doesn't look good to have rampant terrorism on your watch and the opposition saying "It's only a matter of time before the terrorists attack unless you allow us to put our measures in place"
Click to expand...

It does if your opponent's David Cameron. Besides it never seemed to do Bush's regime any harm to draw attention to the terrorist threat (nor Blair's for that matter).

Also, Brown's had a recent bounce in the polls although that could be down to any number of factors (including bad polling).
 
Dr_Baltar said:
It's just a bad link. Take out the rogue '
Click to expand...
' tag at the end.[/quote]

Apologies for that. I'm trying to get used to Google Chrome. :oops:
 
You have to wonder why this guy was allowed to stay in the UK.

Al-Qaida planned to bomb Manchester, court hearsUK-based Pakistani national Abid Naseer faces extradition to US over alleged international plot


Share3 Press Association guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 December 2010 13.49 GMT Article history
The Arndale shopping centre is believed to have been a possible target in the alleged bomb plot. Photograph: John Sturrock / Alamy/Alamy

A UK-based al-Qaida operative planned a bomb attack on Manchester city centre as part of a terrorist plot targeting the UK, Norway and the US, a court heard today.

Abid Naseer's cell probably intended to attack St Ann's Square or the Arndale shopping centre, City of Westminster magistrates court, in central London, was told.

The 24-year-old faces extradition to the US to stand trial on allegations of providing material support to al-Qaida, conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaida and conspiracy to use a destructive device.

David Perry QC, for the US authorities, said: "The allegation is that the defendant was an al-Qaida operative who participated in a conspiracy to attack western interests by the use of explosive devices.

"A wide international conspiracy was conceived by the al-Qaida external operations leader in Pakistan and the conspiracy extended to planning attacks in the UK, Norway and the United States of America.

"The conduct alleged against this particular defendant arises from his alleged involvement between September 2008 and April 2009 in an al-Qaida cell operating in the UK in which the participants conspired to conduct a terrorist attack between 15 April and 20 April 2009 in Manchester city centre, most likely in the vicinity of St Ann's Square or the Arndale shopping centre."

Naseer spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth. The Pakistani national was one of 12 men arrested in counter-terrorism raids in north-west England last year over a suspected bomb plot.

He was released without charge and in May won the right to stay in Britain when a judge ruled his safety could not be guaranteed if he returned to Pakistan.
Click to expand...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/1 ... ter-naseer
 
This doesn't boost my confidence in TWAT

US intelligence chief unaware of UK terror arrests
James Clapper stumped after being asked on ABC about anti-terror raids carried out earlier this week
Ewen MacAskill in Washington The Guardian, Thursday 23 December 2010

The head of US intelligence was exposed on national television yesterday as being unaware of the arrests in Britain of suspects in an alleged terrorist plot.

James Clapper, director of national intelligence, looked stumped when asked by Diane Sawyer on ABC about the arrests of 12 suspects in London and elsewhere around Britain earlier this week. "London?", Clapper asked, looking puzzled.

Later, the White House admitted that Clapper had not known about the developments in the UK.
John Brennan, the White House adviser on homeland security and security, said; "Should he have been briefed by his staff on those arrests? Yes."

The show was taped on Monday but hours after the arrests, which received wide coverage on US television.

The gaffe could make life difficult for Clapper as the post of director of national intelligence, since its creation after the 9/11 attacks, has been a controversial one, seen as an extra agency in an already crowded field, and without real power. It was intended to co-ordinate the work of the dozen or so US intelligence agencies but has yet to establish serious credibility.

Clapper's job is to brief the president each morning on intelligence developments. :shock:

One explanation offered is that he was focused on North-South Korean tensions. Brennan, defending Clapper at a press conference, said: "I know there was attention by the media about these arrests and it was constantly on the news networks. I am glad that Jim Clapper is not sitting in front of the TV 24 hours a day and monitoring what is coming out of the media."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/de ... are-terror
 
Are there any really 'terrorists' anywhere? It seems to me that all we have is numerous rogue elements of various nations intelligence agencies running around, acting the arse without any official recognition or instruction.
Russia, Pakistan, USA, Britain Israel and France seem to be the countries most obsessed about terrorism and seem to be the countries who's security services seem to be responsible for an awful lot of acts of terrorism
 
Bloodbeard said:
Are there any really 'terrorists' anywhere? It seems to me that all we have is numerous rogue elements of various nations intelligence agencies running around, acting the arse without any official recognition or instruction.
Russia, Pakistan, USA, Britain Israel and France seem to be the countries most obsessed about terrorism and seem to be the countries who's security services seem to be responsible for an awful lot of acts of terrorism
Click to expand...

Reminds me of an INLA "mission" in 1993. 3 inla members went to england to rob explosives from a quarry. One of them was an MI5 plant, another was working for Garda special branch & one patsy. The operation wouldn't have happened without the aid of MI5 & the Garda.
 
Yup. INLA were a bit of a by word for ineptitude and infiltration as were the UDA, UFF and sundry others there are growing underground noises about Gerry A, watch out he's going to win in Louth
 
Bloodbeard said:
Are there any really 'terrorists' anywhere? It seems to me that all we have is numerous rogue elements of various nations intelligence agencies running around, acting the arse without any official recognition or instruction.
Russia, Pakistan, USA, Britain Israel and France seem to be the countries most obsessed about terrorism and seem to be the countries who's security services seem to be responsible for an awful lot of acts of terrorism
Click to expand...

To add fuel to your suspicions, this time in Egypt :
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/ ... 36723.html

Probe starts on Adly’s reported role in Alex church attrack
Ex-minister suspected behind Alex church bombing

Egypt's general prosecutor on Monday opened probe on former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly's reported role in the New Year's Eve bombing of al-Qiddissin Church in Alexandria in which 24 people were killed, an Egyptian lawyer told Al Arabiya.

Laywer Ramzi Mamdouh said he had presented a proclamation to Egyptian prosecutor Abd al-Majid Mahmud to investigate news media reports suggesting that the former interior ministry had masterminded the deadly church attack with the intent to blame it on Islamists, escalate government crackdown on them, and gain increased western support for the regime.

Mahmud said the information contained in some reports were "serious."

The proclamation, numbered 1450, pointed to the news reports sourcing a UK diplomat who explained the reasons why Britain has insisted on the immediate departure of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his regime, especially his interior ministry's security apparatus previously directed by el-Adly.

According the UK diplomatic sources quoted in the reports, the former interior minister had built up in over six years a special security system that was managed by 22 officers and that employed a number of former radical Islamists, drug dealers and some security firms to carry out acts of sabotage around the country in case the regime was under threat to collapse.

The proclamation also pointed, sourcing reports on UK intelligence services, that interior ministry officer Maj. Fathi Abdelwahid began in Dec. 11, 2011 preparing Ahmed Mohamed Khaled, who had spent 11 years in Egyptian prisons, to contact an extremist group named Jundullah and coordinate with it the attack on the Alexandria church.

"Discipline the Copts"

Khaled reportedly told the group he could assist with providing weapons he had allegedly obtained from Gaza and that the act was meant to "discipline the Copts."

After contact was made, a Jundullah leader named Mohammed Abdelhadi agreed to cooperate in the plot and recruited a man named Abdelrahman Ahmed Ali to drive a car wired with explosives, park it in front of the church and then leave it to be detonated by remote control, according to the report.

But Maj. Abdelwahid, who worked for the interior ministry, reportedly detonated the car before the Jundullah recruit got out, therefore killing him and 24 worshipers in the church.

After the attack, the interior ministry officer asked Khaled to go meet the Jundullah leader in an Alexandria apartment and evaluate the success of the attack.

A few days later the two men met in an apartment in Alexandrian's Abdel-Moneim Riad street. During their meeting Maj. Abdelwahid and his security forces raided the apartment and arrested them. They were then driven immediately on ambulance to an interior ministry building in Cairo.

They stayed in detention until Jan. 28 when the ministry of interior and its security system broke down allowing them to escape as did thousands of prisoners around the country.

When they fled, both the men went straight to the UK embassy in Cairo and told the story of how they were set up by the government to carry out terrorist attacks, according to the reports.

(Translated from Arabic by Mustapha Ajbaili)
Click to expand...

Other links :
http://www.eip-news.com/2011/02/explosi ... b-el-adly/
http://qwmagazine.co.uk/news/ex-ministe ... ch-bombing
 
Same suspicions in Pakistan :

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 446263.cms

Benazir Bhutto murder case: Musharraf declared absconder
Omer Farooq Khan, TNN, Feb 7, 2011, 08.46pm IST

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been declared an absconder after a court in Pakistan's garrison city of Rawalpindi accepted the interim chargesheet submitted by the investigation agency, which named the ex-president as an accused in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

Investigators of Pakistan's leading Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted a chargesheet in Rawalpindi's anti-terrorism court on Monday, listing Musharraf as one of the accused in the assassination of the former two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The court accepted the challan (chargesheet) after the testimony of police officials detained for alleged dereliction of duty over the assassination of the former PM. Former Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz and superintendent of police Khuramm Shazad were arrested last December after allegations were levelled against them for providing inadequate security to the former premier, hosing down the crime scene and destroying the evidence.

Aziz claimed in the testimony that the order to change Benazir's security in-charge had been given by Musharraf. He also stated that the scene of the assassination was immediately washed on Musharraf's orders. FIA's prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar told the court that Musharraf had been named as an "absconding accused" as he was not cooperating in the investigation.

Chaudhary said that both detained police officials were in contact with the former president and were following his orders. "The phone records confirm contact between Musharraf and Saud Aziz," he said. The prosecutor requested the court to declare Musharraf as an absconder until the next hearing on February 12, and if he failed to appear at the court, he should be declared proclaimed offender.

A report of Benazir Bhutto's BlackBerry mobile set was also submitted in the court.

According to the report, she neither received any call nor did she phone from her set from 3:00pm till she was attacked. The report further revealed that Benazir Bhutto even did not contact her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, during that time.

Ms Bhutto was mysteriously killed in a gun and bomb attack outside Rawalpindi's Liaquat Bagh, when she was returning after addressing a rally during her election campaign on December 27, 2007. The Musharraf regime had blamed then Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsood for Benazir's killing, a charge denied by Pakistani Taliban.

Last November, the FIA sent a 32-point questionnaire to Musharraf, seeking explanations on serious security lapses that caused Ms Bhutto's assassination. Musharraf, however, refused to accept the questionnaire. The UN commission that probed the Bhutto assassination had also blamed Musharraf for failing to provide adequate security to the former premier.

Barrister Saif, a spokesman for Musharraf, dismissed the FIA report as politically motivated and said it was aimed at hiding the real causes of the murder of Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf, who has been living in self-exile in Britain since April 2009, had said that he intended to return to Pakistan before the next general election in 2013. He formed a new party in exile, the All Pakistan Muslim League, but none of his politician friends who supported him for ten years as president in uniform is ready to accept him as civilian leader.

The anti-terrorism court is conducting the trial of five suspects, including members of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, who have been charged with planning and facilitating the assassination. Last year, a Pakistani newspaper reported that Bhutto's murder plot was hatched at the official residence of an army official of the brigadier rank.
Click to expand...


http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_be ... on_1507260

Benazir Bhutto assassination: Investigators to seek Pervez Musharraf's extradition
Published: Sunday, Feb 13, 2011, 15:24 IST | Updated: Sunday, Feb 13, 2011, 15:25 IST
Place: ISLAMABAD | Agency: PTI


Pervez Musharraf Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency will seek the extradition of former President Pervez Musharraf after his refusal to appear before an anti-terrorism court on charges that he failed to provide adequate security to slain former premier Benazir Bhutto.

"We have decided to write to the home secretary of the UK for General Musharraf's extradition," an unnamed senior FIA official was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune newspaper.

The decision was made at a meeting chaired yesterday by interior minister Rehman Malik, the report said.

An anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi yesterday issued a warrant for the arrest of Musharraf after the special prosecutor handling the case alleged that he had not cooperated with the investigation into Bhutto's assassination.

Pakistan and Britain do not have a formal extradition treaty, which is likely to make the process complicated, said legal expert Salman Akram Raja.

Any extradition request will depend on relevant British laws, he said.

Musharraf's legal advisor Muhammad Ali Saif said there was "no possibility" of the former military ruler appearing in court despite the warrant.

He also challenged the allegations levelled against Musharraf.

The FIA earlier named Musharraf as an "absconder", saying he had failed to cooperate with investigators.

Musharraf was accused of failing to provide adequate security to Bhutto after she returned to Pakistan from self-exile in October 2007.

Bhutto was killed by a suicide attacker in Rawalpindi two months later.

Investigators have also alleged that two police officers, who were recently arrested for negligence in providing security to Bhutto, were acting on Musharraf's instructions.

The prosecution is also dealing with a change of the head of the team investigating Bhutto's killing.

The interior minister has appointed FIA Director Wajid Zia as the new head of the team.

Khalid Qureshi, the former head, will join a course at the Lahore Staff College this week.

However, some observers believe the government was unhappy with Qureshi because he implicated Musharraf without taking the interior minister on board and revealed his findings in court, The Express Tribune reported.

The observers criticised the interior minister's decision to appoint a junior official to head the investigation, saying it might slow down the momentum of the probe.

The prosecution has not alleged that there is any direct conspiracy between slain Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and Musharraf, but it names both as jointly responsible for Bhutto's death.

"Musharraf was equally responsible for facilitation and complicity in the assassination of Ms Benazir Bhutto through failure in providing her the requisite security that her status demanded as a twice-elected premier," said a 57-page report submitted by the prosecution in court.

According to the prosecution, Musharraf was aware of the imminent danger to Bhutto's life but did not take action to prevent her assassination.
Click to expand...


http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-ne ... sued-again

Benazir Bhutto murder case: Warrants of Ex-President Musharraf issued again

RAWALPINDI: Anti-Terrorism Court Rawalpindi on Saturday again issued arrest warrants of former President Gen Pervaiz Musharraf (retd) in Benazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto assassination case, Geo News reported.

Judge Rana Nisar of ATC-III heard the case in Adiyala jail. The court issued warrant and ordered the authorities concerned to send it to the residence of former President in Islamabad and London.

Accused police officers Saud Aziz and Khurram Shehzad were also present during the hearing of the case.

FIA presented the report on non-compliance of the earlier orders of Musharraf’s arrest.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing till March 05.
Click to expand...
 
Sellafield nuclear site terror arrests made

Five men are being held under the Terrorism Act after being arrested close to the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, according to police.

The men, who are all from London and aged in their 20s, were arrested on Monday shortly after 1630 BST.

The arrests were made after Civil Nuclear Constabulary officers conducted a stop check on a vehicle close to the Sellafield site, in Cumbria.

The men were held in Carlisle overnight and are being moved to Manchester.

The BBC's Fiona Trott said the men were thought to have been filming and were all Bangladeshi.

The North West Counter Terrorism Unit is leading the investigation.
Click to expand...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13268834
 
Aldwych and southern end of the Strand were cordoned off this morning, supposedly because of a suspect package/vehicle (reports vary) outside Temple Tube station.

Tube station closures are not unusual, but what was surprising was the sheer number of police, paramedics and firefighters in attendance.

People are very jittery...
 
I can appreciate that there's the possibility of an attack of some kind in order to show that AQ or its offshoots are still active but I wouldn't expect anything to materialise in the short term. These groups are not exactly known for restraint so if they have anything to pull of the peg, so to speak, I would have thought they would have used it regardless of events.
 
Follow up on the Sellafield 'suspects:

Sellafield nuclear site terror suspects released

Five men arrested close to the Sellafield nuclear site under the Terrorism Act have been released without charge.

The men, all from London and in their 20s, were arrested on Monday afternoon after a stop check on a vehicle close to the Sellafield site, in Cumbria.

The BBC understands the men had been taking photographs.

The North West Counter Terrorism Unit led the investigation. It was supported by Cumbria Constabulary.

The men, all thought to be of Bangladeshi origin, were held in Carlisle overnight on Monday and then moved to Manchester the following day.

Under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, a police officer can arrest anyone they "reasonably suspect" of being a terrorist.

The arrests were made within hours of the news breaking that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan, and members of the public being warned to remain vigilant over fears of reprisals from groups sympathetic to al-Qaeda.

The Sellafield site is responsible for decommissioning and reprocessing nuclear waste and fuel manufacturing on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

The site, which has operated since the 1940s, is heavily protected by both officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, who carried out the arrests, and private security.
Click to expand...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13284968

Unless they'd been inside the complex itself, they prob. didn;t have any pics they couldn;t have got straight from google street view.
 
Unless they'd been inside the complex itself, they prob. didn;t have any pics they couldn;t have got straight from google street view.
Click to expand...

Yes - and in any case in the absence of any other evidence (nothing of interest seems to have been found in their homes) I doubt there was anything they could have been charged with anyway.

Still seems an odd place to be taking photos, mind you. :?
 
Quake42 said:
Still seems an odd place to be taking photos, mind you. :?
Click to expand...

Not really. I remember a friend of mine taking photos of Hinkley Point, way back in the '80s. They're pretty impressive locations, especially if (like him) you're into engineering, etc..
 
Jerry_B said:
Quake42 said:
Still seems an odd place to be taking photos, mind you. :?
Click to expand...

Not really. I remember a friend of mine taking photos of Hinkley Point, way back in the '80s. They're pretty impressive locations, especially if (like him) you're into engineering, etc..
Click to expand...

Maybe theres a whole sub-culture of NPP spotters.
 
There have been a number of road closures in London today, not just the Mall.

Bomb warning received in London

A bomb warning has been received relating to central London, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed.

The force said the threat did not provide specifics about location or time.

The Mall and other central London streets were closed on Monday morning although a link has not been confirmed.

The warning is thought to be related to Irish dissident republicans but the threat level for Northern Ireland-related terrorism has not been changed.

Threat level

The BBC understands the police received a coded bomb warning on Sunday night.

The Met Police statement said: "All officers have been advised to be highly vigilant to ensure the safety of London."

It told the public to continue going about their business but to be vigilant.

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said: "My understanding is that this may have come because of a coded warning, which is why there is more concern about it than normal. Threats come in and out all the time.

"But if it was a specific code word warning, that would suggest something more serious and that would be why we have had this alert."

He added it was significant that the threat level from dissident Irish terrorism had not been raised.

"Officials I have spoken to are trying to stress that it is not as if they have concrete intelligence of a specific attack at a particular time, or that would have gone up high in terms of the threat."

A Home Office spokesman said the UK faced a "real and serious threat from terrorism".

"The overall threat level from international terrorism remains at severe which means that an attack is highly likely.

"The threat level to Great Britain from Northern Irish-related terrorism remains at substantial, which means that an attack is a strong possibility.

"There is a continuing need for vigilance and the public should report any suspicious activity to the police."

Security alert

Earlier on Monday, The Mall and Carlton House Terrace were closed after a disturbed manhole cover sparked an alert.

The Metropolitan Police have confirmed they are investigating a break-in at Carlton Gardens but could not confirm whether or not the incident was linked to the closure.

They were called at 0420 but the suspects had fled.

The building involved is believed to be 2 Carlton Gardens, which houses the Institute for Government think tank.

That is adjacent to the foreign secretary's residence, where William Hague is believed to have been at the time.

BBC pictures from the scene show a van of search dogs, and the Met's underwater and confined spaces search team.

Roads around Northumberland Avenue were also closed while a bag was destroyed in a controlled explosion. The roads have now reopened.

Police said the bag was no longer deemed suspicious.
Click to expand...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13412871
 
Very clever Gardai preparing for the Queens visit. People entering Parnell Square East from O'Connell Street have their bags searched but those entering it from the other end, Nth Frederick Street suffer no such inconvenience.
 
Seven held in Birmingham anti-terror operation

Six men and a woman have been arrested in Birmingham in a large anti-terrorism operation, West Midlands Police say.

The men, aged between 25 and 32, are being held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism in the UK.

The woman, 22, is held on suspicion of failing to disclose information contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.

The arrests are thought to be the most significant this year, BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said.

It is understood the investigation, which has involved security service MI5, relates to suspected Islamist extremism.

But the arrests are not thought to be related to the Liberal Democrats' conference which is taking place at the city's International Convention Centre.

'Ensure safety'

The men were taken into custody by unarmed officers in the Moseley, Sparkbrook, Sparkhill, Ward End and Balsall Heath areas of Birmingham between 11:30 BST on Sunday and 1:00 BST on Monday, police said.

Police said specialist teams were searching their homes and seven other properties in the city - six domestic and one commercial.

West Midlands Police Assistant Chief Constable for security Marcus Beale said: "The operation is in its early stages so we are unable to go into detail at this time about the nature of the suspected offences.

"However, I believe it was necessary to take action at this time in order to ensure public safety."

The men and woman are being questioned at an unnamed police station and can be held for up to 14 days.

The terrorism threat level in England, Wales and Scotland remains unchanged at "substantial" - meaning that an attack is a "strong possibility".

Our correspondent said the fact the arrests were carried out by unarmed officers suggested there was no imminent threat suspected.
Click to expand...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14969893
 
Kurt HASKELL gives his personal appreciation of the attempted terrorist attack on Flight Northwest 253 on 25.12.2009, which more and more appears to have been another state-staged terrorist event.
Kurt Haskell was notably one of the witnesses of the presence of a mysterious man in a tan suit, whose existence the FBI would at first deny, before reluctanctly acknowledging he might have been present. Which confirms that FBI agents should definitely be tested for their visual acuity.


http://haskellfamily.blogspot.fr/2012/0 ... ement.html

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Victim Impact Statement

by Kurt Haskell

Every victim of a crime in Michigan is entitled to make a statement in open court regarding the impact of the crime on their life. The statement is limited to the victim's physical, emotional and financial well being as it relates to the crime. Keep that in my as you read my statement. Below is a copy of the victim impact statement I gave today at the Underwear Bomber sentencing hearing. When reading my statement, keep in mind that I am a practicing attorney in the State of Michigan. In addition, I regularly practice in the Court the hearings are taking place at and therefore, I am somewhat limited as to what I can say. We were limited to 5 minutes each.

I wish to thank the Court for allowing me these 5 minutes to make my statement. My references to the government in this statement refer to the Federal Government excluding this Court and the prosecution. On Christmas Day 2009, my wife and I were returning from an African safari and had a connecting flight through Amsterdam. As we waited for our flight, we sat on the floor next to the boarding gate. What I witnessed while sitting there and subsequent events have changed my life forever. While I sat there, I witnessed Umar dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt, being escorted around security by a man in a tan suit who spoke perfect American English and who aided Umar in boarding without a passport. The airline gate worker initially refused Umar boarding until the man in the tan suit intervened. The event meant nothing to me at the time. Little did I know that Umar would try to kill me a few hours later as our flight approached Detroit. The final 10 minutes of our flight after the attack were the worst minutes of my life. During those 10 minutes I sat paralyzed in fear. Unfortunately, what happened next has had an even greater impact on my life and has saddened me further.

When we landed, I was shocked that our plane taxied up to the gate. I was further shocked that we were forced to sit on the plane for 20 minutes with powder from the so called bomb all over the cabin. The officers that boarded the plane did nothing to ensure our safety and did not check for accomplices or other explosive devices. Several passengers trampled through parts of the bomb as they exited the plane. We were then taken into the terminal with our unchecked carry on bags. Again, there was no concern for our safety even though Umar told the officers that there was another bomb on board as he exited the plane. I wondered why nobody was concerned about our safety, accomplices or other bombs and the lack of concern worried me greatly. I immediately told the FBI my story in order to help catch the accomplice I had seen in Amsterdam. It soon became obvious that the FBI wasn't interested in what I had to say, which upset me further. For one month the government refused to admit the existence of the man in the tan suit before changing course and admitting his existence in an ABC News article on January 22, 2010. That was the last time the government talked about this man. The video that would prove the truth of my account has never been released. I continue to be emotional upset that the video has not been released. The Dutch police, meanwhile, in this article (show article), also confirmed that Umar did not show his passport in Amsterdam which also meant that he didn't go through security as both are in the same line in Amsterdam. It upsets me that the government refuses to admit this fact.

I became further saddened from this case, when Patrick Kennedy of the State Department during Congressional hearings, admitted that Umar was a known terrorist, was being followed, and the U.S. allowed him into the U.S. so that it could catch Umar's accomplices. I was once again shocked and saddened when Michael Leiter of the National Counter terrorism Center admitted during these same hearings that intentionally letting terrorists into the U.S. was a frequent practice of the U.S. Government. I cannot fully explain my sadness, disappointment and fear when I realized that my government allowed an attack on me intentionally.

During this time, I questioned if my country intentionally put a known terrorist onto my flight with a live bomb. I had many sleepless nights over this issue. My answer came shortly thereafter. In late 2010, the FBI admitted to giving out intentionally defective bombs to the Portland Christmas Tree Bomber,the Wrigley Field Bomber and several others. Further, Mr. Chambers was quoted in the Free Press on January 11, 2011 when he indicated that the government's own explosives experts had indicated that Umar's bomb was impossibly defective. I wondered how that could be. Certainly, I thought, Al Qaeda wouldn't go through all of the trouble to plan such an attack only to provide the terrorist with an impossibly defective bomb.

I attended nearly all of the pretrial hearings. At the hearing on January 28, 2011, I was greatly disappointed by the prosecution's request to block evidence from Mr. Chambers "as it could then be able to be obtained by third parties, who could use it in a civil suit against the government". It really bothered me that the government apparently was admitting to wrongdoing of some kind as it admitted that it was concerned it would be sued. It further upset me to know that the government was putting its own interests ahead of those of the passengers.

When I attended the jury selection hearings, I questioned why versions of the same two questions kept coming up, those being:

1. Do you think whether you'll be able to tell whether something is actually a bomb? and
2. Do you realize that sometimes the media doesn't always tell the truth?

I continued to be greatly saddened at this point as I felt the truth continued to be hidden.

When Umar listed me as his only witness, I was happy to testify, not on his behalf, but on behalf of the truth. I never expected to testify, as my eyewitness account would have been too damaging to the myth that the government and media are putting forward. A mere 5 days after I was announced as a witness, there was an inexplicable guilty plea which exasperated me as I no longer would be testifying.

In closing I will just say that regardless of how the media and government try to shape the public perception of this case, I am convinced that Umar was given an intentionally defective bomb by a U.S. Government agent and placed on our flight without showing a passport or going through security, to stage a false terrorist attack to be used to implement various government policies.

The effect this matter has had on my life has been astounding and due to this case, I will never trust the government in any matter, ever.

In regards to sentencing, nothing I've said excuses the fact that Umar tried to kill me. He has waived his valid claim to the entrapment defense. Umar, you are not a great Muslim martyr, you are merely a "Patsy".
I ask the court to impose the mandatory sentence.
Click to expand...
 
It is not surprising that the more recent "underwear bomber" case raises similar questions :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ma ... ng-for-cia

'Underwear bomber' was working for the CIA
Bomber involved in plot to attack US-bound jet was working as an informer with Saudi intelligence and the CIA, it has emerged

Paul Harris and Ed Pilkington in New York
The Guardian, Wednesday 9 May 2012

'Underwear bomber' involved in a plot to attack jet was in fact working as an undercover informer with the CIA, it has emerged.

A would-be "underwear bomber" involved in a plot to attack a US-based jet was in fact working as an undercover informer with Saudi intelligence and the CIA, it has emerged.

The revelation is the latest twist in an increasingly bizarre story about the disruption of an apparent attempt by al-Qaida to strike at a high-profile American target using a sophisticated device hidden in the clothing of an attacker.

The plot, which the White House said on Monday had involved the seizing of an underwear bomb by authorities in the Middle East sometime in the last 10 days, had caused alarm throughout the US.

It has also been linked to a suspected US drone strike in Yemen where two Yemeni members of al-Qaida were killed by a missile attack on their car on Sunday, one of them a senior militant, Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso.

But the news that the individual at the heart of the bomb plot was in fact an informer for US intelligence is likely to raise just as many questions as it answers.

Citing US and Yemeni officials, Associated Press reported that the unnamed informant was working under cover for the Saudis and the CIA when he was given the bomb, which was of a new non-metallic type aimed at getting past airport security.

The informant then turned the device over to his handlers and has left Yemen, the officials told the news agency. The LA Times, which first broke the news that the plot had been a "sting operation", said that the bomb plan had also provided the intelligence leads that allowed the strike on Quso.

Earlier John Brennan, Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser and a former CIA official, told ABC's Good Morning America that authorities are "confident that neither the device nor the intended user of this device pose a threat to us".

US officials have said the plot was detected in its early stages and that no American airliner was ever at risk.

The FBI is conducting forensic tests on the bomb as a first step towards discovering whether it would have cleared existing airport scanning systems. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic senator for California who heads the Senate intelligence committee, gave an early hint when she said that she had been briefed about the device which she called "undetectable".

But AP quoted an unnamed US official as saying current detection methods probably would have spotted the shape of the explosive in the latest device.

Just how major an escalation in threat is posed by the bomb remains unclear. Security sources have told news agencies that it was a step up in levels of sophistication from the original underwear bomb that was used in a failed attempt to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.

The device used a more refined detonation system, and Brennan said "it was a threat from a standpoint of the design".

When it comes to who made the device the focus is on an al-Qaida's offshoot, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Matthew Levitt, a counter-terrorism expert at the Washington Institute, said that the interception of the plot amounted to a significant achievement for US security agencies.

He said: "The FBI is holding the device, which suggests that this was done by having boots on the ground. This was a sophisticated operation that shows we are making in-roads in serious places."

Levitt, who was involved as a senior analyst in the FBI's investigation into 9/11, said that it was natural to be sceptical in a presidential election year about security announcements. "But this was not political, it didn't come from the White House and my sense was that it was a really unique success," he said.

Levitt said that the spotlight would now be even more intense on Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, AQAP's assumed bomb-making chief, who is thought to be hiding out in Yemen.

Asiri is believed to have been the creator of the Detroit underwear bomb as well as explosives that were packed into printer cartridges bound for Chicago in 2010.
Click to expand...
 
More (thankfully) incompetent terrorists

Six plead guilty to plotting attack on EDL rally

Six would-be terrorists have pleaded guilty to plotting an attack on a far-right English Defence League demonstration with a home-made bomb, guns, knives and a machete.

The men, all from the West Midlands, had planned to target EDL supporters who were holding a rally in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on 30 June last year. Police believe the mission was only abandoned when the group turned up after the EDL demonstration had finished.

Omar Khan, 28, Mohammed Saud, 22, Jewel Uddin, 27, Zohaib Ahmed, 22, and Anzal Hussain, 24, pleaded guilty at Woolwich crown court to engaging in preparation for acts of terrorism. A sixth man, Mohammed Hasseen, 23, pleaded guilty to the same offence and possessing a document likely to be of use to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

All the defendants, except Hasseen, had travelled in two cars from Birmingham to Dewsbury on the afternoon of 30 June with an arsenal of weapons hidden in holdalls in the boot of one of the cars.

They also had 10 A4 printouts of a document addressed to David Cameron and the Queen that set out in chilling terms their determination to take revenge on the "enemies of Allah" – the "English Drunkards League".

It stated: "We love death more than you love life … What we did today was a direct retaliation of your insulting of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him) & also in retaliation of your crusade against Islam/Muslims on a global scale. It is of the greatest honour for us to do what we did."

The men refused to answer questions during police interviews and detectives say they cannot rule out the possibility they had been planning a suicide attack.

The men, who sat impassively together, changed their pleas and admitted their involvement via videolink. They will be sentenced on 6 June.

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, the recorder of Greenwich, told the men: "This will attract significant custody. There is no doubt about that."

Marcus Beale, the assistant chief constable of West Midlands police, with responsibility for its counter-terrorism unit, said the six were extremely dangerous and could have maimed, killed and brought misery which would "have transmitted fear and anxieties to our communities".

He said: "I am really pleased these six have pleaded guilty. They are clearly a radicalised group with extremely dangerous intent. Their intent was to recklessly cause mayhem and probably mass injuries."

The EDL has held a number of virulently anti-Muslim demonstrations in towns and cities across the country since it was formed in 2009. The rally in Dewsbury had been due to finish at 3pm or 4pm but was cut short because the group's leader, Stephen Lennon, did not speak.

When the would-be attackers arrived at 4pm, the EDL supporters – numbering between 400 and 700, according to the police – had already left. The men drove around the town to the sites where the demonstration had been held and then, after stopping at a chip shop and mosque, made their way back to Birmingham.

The aborted plot may never have been discovered had it not been for a traffic officer who decided to carry out a routine stop on one of the cars – driven by the suspected bomb-maker Khan – as it headed back to Birmingham along the M1 motorway.

The gang had given the wrong registration number when they purchased car insurance over the phone earlier that day.

The traffic officer seized the car and took Khan and his passenger, Uddin, to Meadow Hall train station so they could get back to Birmingham. Meanwhile the car was taken to a pound where it was locked up for the weekend. On Monday morning the staff discovered the arsenal of weapons and a full-scale manhunt involving hundreds of counter-terrorism officers swung into action. Within 48 hours all six men had been arrested.

Detectives say there is no evidence linking the group to Pakistan or al-Qaida – although Hasseen had researched bomb-making from Inspire magazine, a self-help guide produced by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula which is pushed on internet forums to would-be terrorists.


One of the group, Uddin, was under "low-level" surveillance by the security services because of a suspected connection to a separate plot to carry out an attack rivalling the 7 July 2005 bombings – although police insist there was not enough evidence against him to warrant his arrest in relation to that case. Another, Hussain, was the brother of one of those convicted in the same plot. A third, Ahmed, had served a prison sentence after being convicted of possession of terrorist material from the internet.

However, counter-terrorism detectives say the group was not on their radar and that they knew nothing about the plot as the men set off for Dewsbury.
Click to expand...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/3 ... y-plot-edl
 
Shots fired during London anti-terror operations

One man held in west London and two more arrested near Tower of London after police fire at vehicle

Special ammunition designed to breach doors or burst tyres was fired at a car during a series of anti-terror raids across the capital.

Police fired Hatton rounds - large shotgun ammunition used to stop vehicles - at a car on Mansell Street, close to the Tower of London, on Monday night.

Two men, both aged 25, were arrested in the street, while a 28-year-old man was arrested in Westbourne Grove, west London, and a 29-year-old was detained in Peckham Street, south-east London.

All the men have been arrested on the suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, Scotland Yard said, and are being quizzed at a south London police station.

As six addresses across London continue to be searched by counter-terror officers, further reports from people who witnesses the arrests emerged.

Ramin Massodi a worker at a Persian restaurant in Westbourne Grove, said the man arrested there had been swooped on by specialist officers in several cars who pushed him up against the glass of the restaurant.

"I heard shouting then I looked outside and saw four cars … and they grabbed him," he said.

Neighbour George Paul, who lived across the street from the restaurant, said he was sitting in his flat when he head the commotion outside.

"I poked my head out the window - it was dark - but I could clearly see at least three cars," he said.

"They were stopping traffic in all directions. There were two policemen on top of a guy, pinning him down and from what I may have heard, the assailant said in maybe a foreign accent, 'please don't break my arm'."

Paul said officers then cuffed the man and pressed him against the restaurant wall.

He said he thought about coming out to investigate further but decided against it because of how serious the situation seemed.

Paul, who has lived in the area for 30 years, said he had never seen anything like it before.

"This is one of the best policed areas, there's two policemen walking around every 15 minutes," he said.

"It's a very safe area so this is a surprise, it's a shock basically."

The street where the man was arrested in Notting Hill is lined with restaurants and boutiques.

A restaurant owner, who did not want to be named, said the incident closed down most of the street and cost him a significant amount of business.
Click to expand...

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013 ... operations
 
Bloodbeard said:
Are there any really 'terrorists' anywhere? It seems to me that all we have is numerous rogue elements of various nations intelligence agencies running around, acting the arse without any official recognition or instruction.
Russia, Pakistan, USA, Britain Israel and France seem to be the countries most obsessed about terrorism and seem to be the countries who's security services seem to be responsible for an awful lot of acts of terrorism
Click to expand...

Another example of a disputed terrorist attack whose authorship has been disputed are the Buenos Aires bombings . Controversy over them has resurfaced recently, supsicions involving this time former Argentinian Interior Minister.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article179257.html

Buenos Aires bombing in 1994 allegedly instigated by former Interior Minister
VOLTAIRE NETWORK | 3 JULY 2013


The Buenos Aires Federal Appeals Court ordered the investigation into the involvement of former interior minister Carlos Vladimir Corach [photo] in the 18 July 1994 bomb attack against the Jewish Community Center (AMIA) located in the Argentinian capital.

The explosion devastated the building, killing 85 people and wounding more than 300. The attack was quickly attributed to Hezbollah and Iran. Ever since, it has been used by Israel to accuse the Lebanese resistance network and the Iranian state of "international terrorism", which the two entities deny.

At the initiative of Oscar Abudura Bini—physician to Zulema Yoma, the former wife of then-President Carlos Menem—several lawsuits have been opened over the past twenty years to review the case. In 2006, a mediation had been envisaged between the examining magistrate and the accused to have the latter auditioned in Switzerland, but the network of Lebanese resistance and Iran declined the offer.

It now appears that the Jewish ex-interior minister, Carlos Corach Vladimir, allegedly paid 400,000 dollars to Carlos Telleldin, a former used car salesman, to carry out the attack.
Click to expand...
 
A couple of incidents over the last few days:

- Westfield shopping centre (next to the Olympic Park) evacuated after a boomb scare

- Major terror alert near Luton airport - including, apparently, scrambling of military helicopters - after two individuals were spotted under the flight path with a range finder and ran off when challenged.

Very little media attention given to either, especially the second, which featured solely on Twitter and local websites until belatedly picked up by the Express this morning.

Coupled with the odd editorial decisions by BBC and ITV not to mention the recent London beheading in their nightly news bulletins, and an apparent media blackout on what seems to have been a big EDL march in Rotherham over the weekend, I'm wondering whether media organisations have been asked to play down stories which are likely to increase panic and/or tensions. Thoughts?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top