Are Pakistans Nuclear Weapons Safe?

The prospect of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of al Qaeda or the Taliban in Pakistan is perhaps the most immediate threat facing the US. It’s thought that Pakistan has an arsenal of nearly 100 missiles, however; no one is certain of the total, or for that matter where many of the nuclear weapons are located. While government officials have publicly stated that our military is poised and ready to enter the country should it appear the safety of Pakistan’s nukes is at risk, the challenge to locate and protect each missile and missile site would be daunting if not impossible should this nuclear nightmare ever begin to unfold.

Seymour M. Hersh has written an article in the New Yorker detailing the situation

In the tumultuous days leading up to the Pakistan Army’s ground offensive in the tribal area of South Waziristan, which began on October 17th, the Pakistani Taliban attacked what should have been some of the country’s best-guarded targets. In the most brazen strike, ten gunmen penetrated the Army’s main headquarters, in Rawalpindi, instigating a twenty-two-hour standoff that left twenty-three dead and the military thoroughly embarrassed. The terrorists had been dressed in Army uniforms. There were also attacks on police installations in Peshawar and Lahore, and, once the offensive began, an Army general was shot dead by gunmen on motorcycles on the streets of Islamabad, the capital. The assassins clearly had advance knowledge of the general’s route, indicating that they had contacts and allies inside the security forces.

Pakistan has been a nuclear power for two decades, and has an estimated eighty to a hundred warheads, scattered in facilities around the country. The success of the latest attacks raised an obvious question: Are the bombs safe? Asked this question the day after the Rawalpindi raid, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “We have confidence in the Pakistani government and the military’s control over nuclear weapons.” Clinton—whose own visit to Pakistan, two weeks later, would be disrupted by more terrorist bombs—added that, despite the attacks by the Taliban, “we see no evidence that they are going to take over the state.”

via Read The Full Article.

New Bin Laden Videotape Not New According To Experts

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden released a new videotape on Friday however it appears to actually be the Pashto-language version of a tape released by al Qaeda several months ago.

The tape, titled “To Our People in Pakistan,” was broadly released in Arabic and Urdu on July 12, IntelCenter said. Excerpts had been aired by the Al Jazeera television network on June 3, it added.

Earlier on Friday, IntelCenter had said al-Qaeda’s as-Sahab Media had released a new video from bin Laden.

In his remarks broadcast by Al Jazeera in June, Saudi-born bin Laden said U.S. President Barack Obama had planted the seeds of “revenge and hatred” toward the United States in the Muslim world and warned Americans to prepare for the consequences.

In an audio message posted on an Islamist website in September, Osama warned Americans over their government’s close ties with Israel.

Osama is believed to be hiding in the mountainous border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

via Bin Laden videotape not new, monitoring site says | Reuters.

Terror Attack Warnings Issued in Pakistan

Pakistan continues to face terrorist threats and intelligence agencies have issued increased security warnings in face of possible terror strikes across the country.

According to local media reports, the county’s major government building, offices and officials from law enforcement agencies have been placed on militant hit lists.

Awami National Party (ANP) leaders including North Western Frontier Province information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain and other leaders are among the target list of pro-Taliban militants, a Press TV correspondent reported on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the military said at least five militants were killed and eight others injured during an offensive in the South Waziristan Agency in northwest Pakistan.

Security forces have also claimed to have seized several landmines and rocket launchers in Quetta city in southwest Pakistan late on Saturday.

via Source.

Suicide Bomber Strikes Near Nuclear Facility in Pakistan

A Taliban suicide bomber has killed seven people near a nuclear weapons complex in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Bill Roggio at The Long War Journal has the details .

The suicide bomber detonated outside a security checkpoint near the Kamra Air Weapon Complex in the district of Attock, Geo News reported. Three security personnel and four civilians were killed in the blast, and 12 more were wounded.

[...].

The Kamra Air Weapon Complex is one of three military industrial production facilities in the Wah Cantt, according to Global Security. The Pakistani Ordnance Factories, a collection of 14 factories that produce arms and ammunition for the Pakistani armed forces, and Heavy Industries Taxila are also contained within the Wah Cantt. More than 40,000 Pakistanis are employed at the factories.

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UPDATE: A Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people outside a key Pakistani air force facility yesterday, with officials quick to deny suggestions the target was linked to the country’s nuclear program. Source

Western Terror Recruits Are On The Rise

A rising number of Western recruits including Americans are traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan to attend paramilitary terrorist training camps.

Midway through a propaganda video released last month by a group calling itself the German Taliban, a surprise guest made an appearance: a cleanshaven, muscular gunman sporting the alias Abu Ibrahim the American.

The gunman did not speak but wore military fatigues and waved his rifle as subtitles identified him as an American. The video contained a stream of threats against Germany if it did not withdraw its troops from the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. Although the American’s part in the film lasted only a few seconds, it has alarmed German and U.S. intelligence officials, who are still puzzling over his background, his real identity and how he became involved with the terrorist group.

U.S. and European counterterrorism officials say a rising number of Western recruits including Americans are traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan to attend paramilitary training camps. The flow of recruits has continued unabated, officials said, in spite of an intensified campaign over the past year by the CIA to eliminate al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders in drone missile attacks.

via Read Article.

Terrorism And Radicalization Going Viral On The Web

The Dallas News points out the danger thousands of websites may pose as they continue to spring up and spread a viral message of of radicalization and jihad.

Thousands of Web sites, most in Arabic but some in English, make it possible for Web surfers to soak up the tenets of violent Islamic terrorism. They can watch videos of jihadi rappers, meet like-minded radicals in chat rooms and, in one notorious case, even launch a rocket attack on U.S. troops in Iraq from anywhere in the world with the click of a mouse.

Last month’s arrest of Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, the 19-year-old Jordanian accused of trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper, was an example of how a leaderless, virtual terror movement has become a worldwide phenomenon, counterterrorism experts say. FBI agents monitoring an Arabic Internet chat room discovered Smadi in March.

The top leaders of al-Qaeda may be living as hunted fugitives on the far edges of the world, but their ideology is available everywhere, said Yigal Carmon, a former Israeli army colonel who is president of the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute.

“They got from the developed world a tool, the tool of their life, to jump from their caves to the 21st century,” Carmon said.

Al-Qaeda sympathizers agree. In a column commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks, the editor of the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper wrote: “Al-Qaeda’s ideology is becoming a global ideology which is increasingly independent. Thanks to advanced media like the Internet, Facebook and YouTube, it can reach the widest audiences worldwide, attracting numerous supporters and recruits.”

via Read Full Article.

Al Qaeda Wars Facebook App Pushes The Envelope

Al Qaeda Wars, a new social game application available on Facebook in which players can become terrorists or counter terrorists, is apparently now available.

I say apparently because I don’t have any interest in checking it out. A quick visit to the website and a portion of the games description was enough for me to make my decision.

Players can complete missions, build a global network and participate in special Jihads that depict the total destruction, or prevent the destruction of, famous landmarks utilizing realistic flash effects. Among these landmarks are the Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Taj Mahal, and the Sphinx.

IMHO, anything that includes the opportunity to participate as a terrorist/jihadist, even in a virtual world, is in bad taste and not something I would choose to be involved with.

When I consider the lives that have been lost and torn apart at the hands of al Qaeda, I have a difficult time understanding the interest one might have in such a game and it’s depictions.

Having stated my opinion, what’s yours? Does something like this cross the line?

Additional Details

New Bin Laden Audio Tape May Indicate Upcoming Attack

al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s latest message, released today, contains language considered by many in the Intelligence community to be a valid indicator of an upcoming attack.

An AFP news report posted this afternoon cites the the concern.

“This indicator when viewed in light of the five Abu Talha videos this year, three of which have been released in the last eight days and their focus on the upcoming elections in Germany, significantly raises the threat level even further,” IntelCenter said.

News Article

Site Intelligence Group Has More

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, addresses European peoples in a new audio message released on jihadist forums on September 25, 2009.

The audio comes in a 4 minute, 47 second video produced by al-Qaeda’s media arm, as-Sahab, and shows only a still image on bin Laden.

Bin Laden asks Europeans to cease their alliance with the US and withdraw their forces from Afghanistan, saying: “An intelligent man doesn’t waste his money and sons for a gang of criminals in Washington, and it is a shameful thing for a person to be in a coalition whose supreme commander has no regard for human life…

Site Intelligence Group

Thomas Hegghammer at Jihadica thinks bin Laden may be laying the groundwork for an attack that is months away, or hoping to inspire a grassroots group or individual in Europe to take action on his behalf.

…My guess is that these messages are primarily intended to influence German public opinion at a crucial juncture in the Western campaign in Afghanistan. Germany is a pivotal player in the coalition; her withdrawal could initiate a vicious (or virtuous, depending on one’s preferences) circle of European withdrawals from the Afghanistan enterprise. Al Qaida is focusing the weakest link in the coalition, just as the Madrid bombers were advised to do.

jihadica

The Third Jihad Available for Free Online Streaming

The producers of The Third Jihad are making the full feature-length documentary available to the public for online viewing, free of charge, on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

The film is available for free streaming in its entirety from Wednesday, September 9 through Tuesday, September 15. Individuals are encouraged to watch The Third Jihad and share the film with others.

The film, narrated by devout Muslim American Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, opens with the following statement: “This is not a film about Islam. It is about the threat of radical Islam. Only a small percentage of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims are radical. This film is about them.”

Source

India PM Warns of Credible Terror Threat From Pakistan

Alarmed by evidence that Pakistan-based terror groups were plotting fresh attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday sounded an alert about the continuing threat. “There is credible information about ongoing plans of terrorists in Pakistan to carry out fresh attacks. The area of operation of these terrorists today extends far beyond the confines of Jammu and Kashmir and covers all parts of our country,” Singh said while addressing a meeting of chief ministers on internal security in the capital.

The PM did not name any specific group.

Sources, however, said the warning was based on intercepts of chatter among terrorist leaders, including 26/11 accused Lashkar operatives Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and Abu al Qama.

The intercepts pointed to a plot for another massive terror attack via sea route, but this time involving local Lashkar modules, not Pakistani jihadis. The conspiracy has not ripened yet because of the disarray among Lashkar’s local collaborators due to the crackdown on Indian Mujahideen.

via PM sounds terror alert: Credible threat from Pak – India – NEWS – The Times of India.

FBI: Uzair Ali Hashmi Made Up Terrorist Encounter Story

A Chicago man has been indicted on charges that he made up a story about being approached and recruited by terrorists. Uzair Ali Hashmi, 20, was indicted Wednesday on three charges of making false statements to the FBI about possible terrorism activity, leading to an investigation that determined it was a hoax, according to a Friday release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Hashmi is scheduled to be arraigned at 10 a.m. on Wednesday of next week, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Milton Shadur at the Dirksen Federal Building.

According to the indictment, Hashmi told FBI agents on July 28 that he had been approached by an individual who asked whether he carried a firearm and was proficient with firearms; asked his opinion about “homegrown jihad” in the United States; suggested he join “God’s military;” and asked whether he was familiar with downtown Chicago.

On July 29, according to the indictment, Hashmi told agents a second individual approached him and said he would find something near the trash cans in the alley behind his home. On the same day, the FBI said he gave them a fabricated letter, which read in part:

“[Y]ou are the exact person we have been looking for.”

“Our job here is to carry out ‘the mission’ of giving the nonbelievers what they deserve.”

“You seem to have the drive it will take to inflict damage to where it will hurt most. This is your calling to Jihad my brother. You have a key roles in our Operation.”

“We . . . do not have much time till our operation in completed.”

“We will be in touch with you soon.”

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Terror and Pakistan’s Nuclear Assets – Counterterrorism Blog

Every Pakistan watchers knew about those events. Bill Roggio has highlighted these events in his reports too (esp. in Long War Journal). But, Shaun Gregory (“The Terrorist Threat to Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons,” CTC Sentinel, Vol. 2 (7), July 2009) has analyzed these events to expose the vulnerability of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, the “pillar of Pakistan’s national security”.

The paper published in the CTC Sentinel (Combating Terrorism Center, West Point) has triggered a pitched debate in the region and in the Western World whether Pakistan’s nuclear infrastructures are secure or not , especially in the face of those (mentioned below) terror attacks that occurred in the last couple of years. Gregory’s article underscores three terror strikes on nuclear weapons facilities in Pakistan, questioning the physical security of the coveted nuclear assets:

“These have included an attack on the nuclear missile storage facility at Sargodha on November 1, 2007, an attack on Pakistan’s nuclear airbase at Kamra by a suicide bomber on December 10, 2007, and perhaps most significantly the August 20, 2008 attack when Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew up several entry points to one of the armament complexes at the Wah cantonment, considered one of Pakistan’s main nuclear weapons assembly sites.”

(Correction: The twin attack at the Wah Cantonment actually took place on August 21, Thursday, 2008, not on August 20 as chronicled in the paper).

Let’s revisit those terror events, all perpetrated by Taliban and Al Qaeda elements.

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Jihadis Have Attacked Pakistans Nuclear Facilities 3 Times

Pakistan’s nuclear facilities have already been attacked at least thrice by its home-grown extremists and terrorists in little reported incidents over the last two years, even as the world remains divided over the safety and security of the nuclear weapons in the troubled country, according to western analysts.

The incidents, tracked by Shaun Gregory, a professor at Bradford University in UK, include an attack on the nuclear missile storage facility at Sargodha on November 1, 2007, an attack on Pakistan’s nuclear airbase at Kamra by a suicide bomber on December 10, 2007, and perhaps most significantly the August 20, 2008 attack when Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew up several entry points to one of the armament complexes at the Wah cantonment, considered one of Pakistan’s main nuclear weapons assembly.

These attacks have occurred even as Pakistan has taken several steps to secure and fortify its nuclear weapons against potential attacks, particularly by the United States and India, says Gregory.

In fact, the attacks have received so little attention that Peter Bergen, the eminent terrorism expert who reviewed Gregory’s paper first published in West Point’s Counter Terrorism Center Sentinel, said “he Gregory points out something that was news to me and shouldn’t have been which is that a series of attacks on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons facilities have already happened.”

Pakistan insists that its nuclear weapons are fully secured and there is no chance of them falling into the hands of the extremists or terrorists.

But Gregory, while detailing the steps Islamabad has taken to protect them against Indian and US attacks, asks if the geographical location of Pakistan’s principle nuclear weapons infrastructure, which is mainly in areas dominated by al-Qaida and Taliban, makes it more vulnerable to internal attacks.

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War On Terrorism, Global War, Fighting Jihadists Over – White House

It’s official. The U.S. is no longer engaged in a “war on terrorism.” Neither is it fighting “jihadists” or in a “global war.”

President Obama’s top homeland security and counterterrorism official took all three terms off the table of acceptable words inside the White House during a speech Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

“The President does not describe this as a ‘war on terrorism,’” said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, who outlined a “new way of seeing” the fight against terrorism.

The only terminology that Mr. Brennan said the administration is using is that the U.S. is “at war with al Qaeda.”

“We are at war with al Qaeda,” he said. “We are at war with its violent extremist allies who seek to carry on al Qaeda’s murderous agenda.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in March that the administration was not using the term “war on terror” but no specific directive had come from the White House itself. Mr. Obama himself used the term “war on terror” on Jan. 23, his fourth day as president, but has not used it since.

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