Daniel James Murray – Feds Look For Man That Threatened Obama
June 5, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
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Federal authorities are searching for a man who has at least eight guns registered to him and has threatened to kill President Obama.
The man, identified as Daniel James Murray, is charged with making threats against the president of the United States.
He recently withdrew $85,000 from a Utah bank and told a teller: “We are on a mission to kill the president of the United States,” according to court papers.
Murray is originally from New York, but was seen several times in late May in St. George, Utah, making bizarre statements at a bank.
According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Utah, Murray opened an account at Zions First National Bank on May 19 with a $85,000 check.
“With all this mess going on under President Obama with banks and the economy, I’m sure if citizens happen to lose their money, they will rise up and we could see killing and deaths,” he said, according to the criminal complaint.
On May 27, he returned to the bank and tried to withdraw $12,000, but lacked proper identification.
“Not to be disrespectful, but if I don’t get this money, someone is going to die,” Murray said, according to the criminal complaint.
Bin Laden Warns Americans To Be Prepared For Consequences
June 3, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden warned Americans “to be prepared to receive the consequences of the Obama and Bush administrations.” In a new recorded audiotape aired by Arabic Al Jazeera TV Wednesday, June 3 – as Saudi king Abdullah greeted US president Barack Obama on his arrival in Riyadh – bin Laden said Obama had planted the seeds for “revenge and hatred” toward the United States in the Muslim world.
The warning was issued the day before the US president was to deliver a speech to Muslims from Cairo.
Zawahiri To Obama:You Are Not Welcome in Egypt
Al Qaeda No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri said in a new audiotape today that President Obama is not welcome in Egypt. Commenting on Obama’s upcoming visit to Cairo, Zawahiri said that President Obama’s message to the Muslim World has already been delivered.
“Obama’s message to the Muslim World was delivered when he visited the Wailing wall, with the Jewish skullcap on his head…when he performed the Jewish prayers despite claiming that he is Christian,” Zawahiri said, reminding his audience of Obama’s pledge before the AIPAC conference to make Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel.
The al Qaeda deputy chief accused Obama of approving the “Zionist aggression on Gaza,” of sending more troops to Afghanistan and continuing to bomb tribal areas of Pakistan, and of leading the “brutal campaign” against Muslims in the Swat valley. He said the Obama administration’s message to the Muslim world can be seen in the continued use of secret prisons and the breach of the Geneva conventions regarding terror detainees.
Obama Shakes Up White House Security Structure
May 26, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday ended the divide between national security and homeland security staff in the White House, arguing the move would make Americans safer.
Obama shook up the security structure of his teams of advisors after examining the results of a study he ordered into how best to handle homeland security and counter-terrorism efforts.
“I have carefully reviewed the findings and recommendations of that study, and am announcing a new approach which will strengthen our security and the safety of our citizens,” Obama said in a statement.
“These decisions reflect the fundamental truth that the challenges of the 21st Century are increasingly unconventional and transnational, and therefore demand a response that effectively integrates all aspects of American power.”
The move will see the full integration of the White House National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council to support all policy on international, transnational and homeland security issues.
Obama also decided to form new directorates and positions on the new National Security Staff to cope with 21st Century threats including cybersecurity and possible terrorism using weapons of mass destruction.
via Obama shakes up White House security structure – Yahoo! News.
Iran Missile Test Claim – Europe Within Range
May 21, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed to have sucessfully tested another ballistic missile capable of reaching Europe.
Speaking in the northern Iranian city of Semnan, where the Sajil-2 missile was allegedly test-fired, Mr Ahmadinejad said the blast was a success and “met the predetermined target.”
If its alleged range of almost 2,000 kilometers is true, the missile could reach Athens, southern Italy and the Black Sea coast of new EU members Romania and Bulgaria.
A similar test was carried out in November, while in February Iran launched a domestically-made satellite that prompted France and Great Britain to express their concerns over the missile capabilities of the Islamic state.
Israel, also a nuclear power, said Wednesday’s test should be more of a concern to Europe, since previous missiles tested by Iran could already reach the Jewish state.
With presidential elections scheduled for 12 June, the test could also be read as part of Mr Ahmadinejad’s re-election campaign, as three other contenders have been approved by Iran’s electoral council.
Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini had to cancel at the very last minute a trip to Tehran when he found out that Iranian authorities had organised his meeting with reformist ex-president Mohammed Khatami in Semnan, where the missile was tested, not in the capital as initially agreed.
Cheney, Obama – No Middle Ground on Gitmo Approach
The headlines will say two big, dueling speeches about the war on terror were delivered in Washington on Thursday, one by President Barack Obama and one by former Vice President Dick Cheney.
And that’s true, as far as it goes. But it would be more accurate to say that four quite different speeches were delivered.
Mr. Cheney gave one speech, a remarkably focused, blistering attack on those who criticize the Bush administration’s methods for detaining and interrogating terror suspects. Scathing in terminology, scornful in tone, Mr. Cheney took on those critics and gave not an inch of ground to them. He questioned both the integrity and wisdom of those, including the current president, who would reverse policies that he said have kept America safe for more than seven years since the 9/11 terror attacks.
Obama: I know some have argued that brutal methods like water-boarding were necessary to keep us safe. I could not disagree more. As commander-in-chief, I see the intelligence, I bear responsibility for keeping this country safe, and I categorically reject the assertion that these are the most effective means of interrogation.
Cheney: The interrogations were…legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do. The intelligence officers who questioned the terrorists can be proud of their work and proud of the results, because they prevented the violent deaths of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people.
Those who prefer their Washington policy debates to be cloaked in understatement or delicate euphemisms may have been taken aback by the ferocity of the Cheney rejoinder, which crackled in intensity, even while being delivered in the former vice president’s trademark monotone style.
Meanwhile, Mr. Obama, facing the trickier task of selling a policy to both parties, really gave three speeches wrapped in one. His first was meant to address critics on the right, who charge he has gone soft on terror and that his decision to close the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay will bring to U.S. soil dangerous extremists.
via No Middle Ground on Gitmo Approach – WSJ.com.
Report: CIA Chief Warned Israel Not to Bomb Iran in Secret Visit
May 14, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
The director of the CIA was recently sent on a secret mission to Israel to warn its leaders not to launch a surprise attack on Iran without notifying the U.S. Administration, the Times of London reported on Thursday.
FOX News could not immediately confirm the report.
As Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, prepares to visit Washington, it emerged on Wednesday that Leon Panetta went to Israel two weeks ago. He sought assurances from Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the Defense Minister, that their hawkish new government would not attack Iran without alerting Washington.
Concerns have been rising that Netanyahu could launch a strike on Tehran’s atomic program, in the same way that Israel hit Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in 1981. Israel has been preparing for such an eventuality. It has carried out long-distance maneuvers and is due to hold its largest civil defense drills this summer. The country’s leaders reportedly told Panetta that they did not “intend to surprise the U.S. on Iran.”
Another Planned NYC Military Fly Over Cancelled
May 11, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
A retiring navy pilot planned to fly over New York City this morning to celebrate the end of his career before the flight was cancelled at the last minute by the Federal Aviation Administration in consultation with city officials as the plane was set to roar down the Hudson, over the harbor and up to Maine.
Before saner heads prevailed, a P-3, a turbo prop aircraft that often sees service as a marine patrol plane for the Navy, was set to fly at 3000 feet.
According to officials, shortly before the flyover was slated to begin at 10:30a.m., the FAA notified the city of the slated flight and of the agency’s intent to cancel it.
Panel Opposes No First Use of Nuclear Weapons
President Obama wants the world to get rid of its nukes, eventually. But, for now, it’s still official U.S. policy that America reserves the right to drop the first Bomb in an atomic war.
During the early 1980’s — the peak of the late Cold War — the Soviet Union declared that it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict. Many of America’s strategic lions — most famously Robert McNamara, George Kennan, Gerard Smith, and McGeorge Bundy — said we should do the same. But we never did. Why not? Primarily because we thought we might actually use the weapons first. In my view, one of the three most likely ways that World War III would have started would have been with Red Army troops surging west across Europe. American conventional weapons probably couldn’t have helped the French or West Germans stop them. But nuclear weapons could have.
Cheney: Obama Endangers The Nation
Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday continued his verbal attack against President Obama, saying that the country is more vulnerable to a potential terrorist attack since the Obama administration took power.
Mr. Cheney said that administration’s dismantling of many of the policies and protections instituted by President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — including the planned closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba and halting controversial prisoner interrogation techniques — have made the country more vulnerable to future attacks.
“That’s my belief,” Mr. Cheney said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I think to the extent that those [Bush-era] policies were responsible for saving lives, that the administration is now trying to cancel those policies … means in the future we’re not going to have the same safeguards we’ve had for the last eight years.”
White House Declines to Release Photos of New York Flyover
The White House is refusing to release the controversial photos of Air Force One flying over the Manhattan skyline last week that triggered panic among New Yorkers and an internal review in the Obama administration.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that there was no need to release them.
“I’ve watched CNN,” he said, noting the considerable coverage from amateur footage. “I didn’t notice a lack of archival material from that flight.”
He added that he didn’t know where to locate the photos taken from inside the plane.
Last week, the Obama administration sent an Air Force One backup plane to fly over lower Manhattan to capture the presidential plane with the Statue of Liberty in the background. The public was not notified in advance that there was no cause for alarm.
Some New Yorkers were reminded of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, sparking chaos as employees evacuated office buildings and emergency call centers were inundated.
President Obama immediately denounced the photo-op, which cost $328,835, calling it “a mistake.”
White House Military Office Director Louis Caldera accepted responsibility and apologized for allowing the exercise.
Gibbs said he anticipates the internal review will be completed this week.
Swine Flu – First U.S. Death Is Reported
April 29, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
American authorities confirmed the first death outside of Mexico from swine flu on Wednesday, as the number of confirmed cases of the disease continued to rise in Europe.
President Obama, in a morning news conference, called on local authorities to be vigilant in reporting new suspected cases, and called on schools to consider closing temporarily if a confirmed case was reported among its students.
[...]
Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday in an interview with CNN that the first American death of the disease was a 23-month-old child in Texas. He gave no other details about the child. The death was confirmed by President Obama, who said his “thoughts and prayers” were with the child’s family.
Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic
Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.
In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD the Federal Aviation Administration’s James Johnston said the agency was aware of “the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes” in an around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor’s office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out.
“To say that it should not be made public knowing that it might scare people it’s just confounding,” Sen. Charles Schumer said. “It’s what gives Washington and government a bad name. It’s sheer stupidity.”
The flyover — apparently ordered by the White House Office of Military Affairs so it would have souvenir photos of Air Force One with the Statue of Liberty in the background — had President Obama seeing red. He ordered a probe and apologized.
“It was a mistake. It will never happen again,” President Obama said.
The NYPD was so upset about the demand for secrecy that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly vowed never to follow such a directive again and he accused the feds of inciting fears of a 9/11 replay.
Air Force One Photo Op Creates Terror Scare In NYC
A jumbo jet being chased by a F-16 fighter jets buzzed Lower Manhattan this morning, panicking New Yorkers, many of whom were forced to evacuate their office buildings.
It was not a terrorist attack, however, but a photo opportunity for Air Force One, sources told the Post.
President Obama was in Washington at the time, but the low-flying 747 circling the Statue of Liberty was one of the planes used as Air Force One, sources said.
The NYPD and the city were notified of the planned flight, but did not share that information with Mayor Bloomberg and other New Yorkers, many of whom said they were terrified.
