U.S. On Alert For Terror Retaliation

U.S. officials are bracing for a possible terror attack associated with Saddam Hussein’s execution.But an advisory sent by the FBI and Homeland Security Department to local law enforcement agencies and intelligence community figures was routine and did not cite any specific threat.

“We currently have no credible, specific intelligence indicating any imminent threat against the Homeland or corroborating that individuals in the Baath party or others loyal to Saddam are prepared to carry out any activities in the United States,” said FBI spokesman Richard Kolko.

“As we have in the past, DHS (the Department of Homeland Security) and the FBI will continue to share our intelligence assessments with our federal, state, local, and private sector partners to keep them informed of relevant information that we receive,” Kolko said.

The bulletin also went to state homeland security advisers, federal departments and agencies, state emergency managers and state and local law enforcement agencies.

Intelligence and security officials in Europe, where several terror plots were thwarted this year, have cited a high risk of a terror attack by Islamic militants during the holiday travel season.

White House – No Terror Threats For New Years

Americans should ring in the new year without undue worry about a terrorist attack, the White House homeland security adviser said Thursday.

“People ought to come, have a good time, they ought to feel confident,” Frances Fragos Townsend said in a nationally broadcast television interview.

Townsend said that while the Bush administration takes every threat seriously, it has heard of no plot or plan that should cause alarm as the nation celebrates New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

“We hear statements all the time” from the al-Qaida terrorist network, among others, she said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” But Townsend added that “rarely are they attached to actions.”

Townsend said that she and other administration officials have been coordinating closely with local law enforcement agencies in preparation for the New Year’s celebrations, noting she’d spent a day with New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

“They laid out what their security plan is. New York is a model of how a large city, an urban government, approaches this,” she said.

“Everybody (in law enforcement) works on New Years’ Eve. People ought to come, have a good time, ought to feel confident. … We feel real confident of the steps police departments are taking.”

Townsend said that federal officials “don’t see a particular threat geared toward” observations of the New Year’s holiday.

Man Faces Charges For White Powder Envelopes

A man accused of putting envelopes containing a white powder inside about 30 residential mailboxes was
identified from an image taken by a grocery store security camera, an FBI agent said in a court document.

Brian Beeson, 25, of Centerville, made his first court appearance Tuesday on federal charges of threatening to use a biological weapon and threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Federal agents have accused Beeson of placing the envelopes in residential roadside mailboxes in Centerville, Miami Township and Washington Township. The envelopes were found last Tuesday through Friday.

The outside of the envelopes said “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” “You’re a winner” and “Just for you,” while greeting cards inside contained the powder and messages such as “Now you are sick,” “Enough to infect you” and “You’re infected,” according to an FBI affidavit.

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Suspicious Note On Plane Leads To Arrest

Some Christmas Eve travelers on a commuter plane from New York to Portland, Maine tonight were getting quite a scare. As their plane got ready to take off, a suspicious note was found on board. The plane was forced to return to the gate and tonight one of the passengers has been taken into custody.

The man taken into custody afternoon at LaGuardia is the passenger who wrote that note. The note scared the pilot so much and he turned the plane around.

Eyewitness News has learned from another passenger on the plane, what was written on the threatening note. The note said “the shed of my blood and everybody’s blood would cure all AIDS and cancer.” That was enough to have the pilot turning the plane around and bring it back to the gate at LaGuardia.

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English Channel Tunnel a Terror Target

According to a report published Sunday in the Observer, the tunnel beneath the English Channel that connects Britain to France is a holiday Christmas terror target of Islamic terrorists.

The plot, first uncovered by the United States CIA and passed along to the French intelligence service is aimed at the heavy rush of holiday travel, according to the report.

While there are currently no specific details, what is known comes from a secret report to the French government on terror threat levels.

U.S. security sources told The Observer the threat was “sky high.”

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UN Sanctions Imposed Against Iran

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Saturday imposing sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, culminating two months of negotiations aimed at pressuring Tehran to clarify its nuclear ambitions.

The resolution orders all countries to ban the supply of specified materials and technology that could contribute to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. It also imposes an asset freeze on key companies and people in the country’s nuclear and missile programs named on a U.N. list.

If Iran refuses to comply, the resolution warns Iran that the council will adopt further nonmilitary sanctions.

al Qaeda Sends Message To Democrats

Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists.

In a portion of the tape from al Qaeda No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri, made available only today, Zawahri says he has two messages for American Democrats.

“The first is that you aren’t the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen — the Muslim Ummah’s vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq — are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are the ones who lost,” Zawahri said, according to a full transcript obtained by ABC News.

Source – The Blotter

al Qaeda of England Holiday Terror Plot

British law enforcement officials are providing a rather stark holiday terror assessment to U.S. Intelligence sources, stating, “It will be a miracle if there isn’t a terror attack over the holidays in London”.

British police have made several arrests while tracking at least six active terror plots tied to what is being called “al Qaeda of England.”

No specific date or target has been identified by law inforcement.

Authorities say they are seeking at least 18 suspected suicide bombers.

“They hope they are one step ahead, but they seriously fear they may be one step behind,” a senior American official said.

British law enforcement and intelligence officials say the ongoing plots have been in the planning stages for at least three years.

Read Article – The Blotter

Al Qaeda’s al-Zawahri Threatens West

Al Qaeda will continue to target the United States and other Western countries so long as Muslims are under attack, the militant group’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said in a video tape aired on Wednesday.

“If we are attacked in our land we shall not stop attacking you in your countries, God willing,” Zawahri said in the tape aired by Al Jazeera television.

“The formula for your safety is: You will not dream of security until we live it as a reality in Palestine and all Muslim countries,” he said.

He dismissed US President George W. Bush’s argument that combating terrorism can guarantee security and said Washington was scrambling for an exit from Iraq and Afghanistan, but was approaching the wrong parties.

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American al-Qaeda Captured in Belize

It is being reported that Belize police arrested an American fugitive with Al Qaeda ties and handed him over to U.S. authorities.

James Ujaama, who was arrested in 2002 in connection with plots to poison water supplies and later pleaded guilty to dealing with Al Qaeda and providing various types of material support to the Taliban, was wanted for violating his parole.

“He entered Belize about 10 days or so ago using a Mexican passport,” according to Assistant Police Commissioner Eduardo Wade.

“Police conducted an investigation and some time around midnight last night or earlier this morning this fugitive was apprehended here in Belize City.”

Wade said the 41-year-old Ujaama, also known as Ernest James Thompson and Bilal Ahmed, had since been taken out of the country.

A spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy confirmed that Ujaama had been handed over to U.S. custody.

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New al-Qaeda Message Coming

With European law enforcement officials warning of an imminent holiday terror attack, Web sites associated with al Qaeda announced today that the group’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is about to issue a new statement entitled “the truths about the clash between Islam and atheism.”

Al Qaeda Recruiting Westerners

For the past year, a secret has been slowly spreading among Taliban commanders in Afghanistan: a 12-man team of Westerners was being trained by Al Qaeda in Pakistan for a special mission. Most of the Afghan fighters could rely only on hearsay, but some told of seeing the “English brothers” (as the foreign recruits were nicknamed for their shared language) in person.

One eyewitness, a former Guantánamo detainee with close Taliban and Qaeda ties, spoke to Newsweek recently in southern Afghanistan, demanding anonymity because he doesn’t want the Americans looking for him. He says he met the 12 recruits in November 2005, at a mud-brick compound near the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali.

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TSA To Watch Over Hazardous Rail Shipments

The Transportation Security Administration is set to propose a new rule that would require rail carriers to respond more quickly to government queries on the whereabouts of hazardous chemicals they transport through urban centers.

Under the proposed rule, slated for publication next week in the Federal Register, transporters of potentially explosive chemicals or those that could be lethal if inhaled would have as little as five minutes to tell federal investigators the precise location of rail shipments, in the highest risk situations. In less severe circumstances, the companies would be allowed up to half an hour to respond.

TSA Deputy Administrator Robert Jamison said Friday that full implementation of the proposed rule, available now on the agency’s Web site, would cost the rail industry $162 million over 10 years. The agency’s goal, he said, is to protect “densely populated areas” from the seizure or detonation of dangerous chemicals.

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Omar Abdel Rahman Possibly Near Death

Terrorist cleric Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik, may be nearing death, leading to fears that his demise could trigger an attack on the United States, officials said Thursday.

There is no credible indication that an attack on the U.S. is imminent, said several law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation.

In a two-page bulletin, dated December 8, the FBI reported to federal intelligence officials that Rahman was rushed from prison to a Missouri hospital two days earlier for a blood transfusion. There, doctors discovered a tumor on Rahman’s liver, according to the bulletin, which was described to The Associated Press by a law enforcement official.

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