Day 364

FBI Arrest Suspected Terrorists

The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrest three men on suspicion of attempting to bomb an unknown target. Colorado residents Najibullah Zazi, 24, his father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, and New York resident, Wais Afazli, 37 were taken into custody late last night.  Authorities state that a laptop found in the young Mr. Zazi's rental car contained 9 pages of scanned, handwritten notes on formulas for making explosive devices.

Day 362

World Gone Crazy

Story highlights from today's news headlines:

• Suicide bomb in northwestern Pakistan kills 25- Christian Science Monitor
• 21 killed in suicide attack on African Union base in Somalia- CNN International
• Iranian President once again claims Holocaust a myth- Voice of America

Sometimes (frequently) reading the news makes me very sad.

Day 361

Attack in German School

9 students were injured in an attack by a classmate at Carolinum High School in Ansbach Germany.  The 18 year old entered the school with an axe and Molotov cocktails.  He was shot by police and taken into custody. This is the second violent incident at German school this year.

8th Anniversary

Day 349

NATO

From Reuters:

NATO officers met air strike victims and their families in Afghanistan on Saturday and their commander took to the TV airwaves in a bid to cool anger over an incident that undermines efforts to win hearts and minds.

Afghan officials say scores of people were killed, many of them civilians, when a U.S. F-15 fighter jet called in by German troops struck two hijacked fuel trucks before dawn on Friday.

NATO hopes to avert a backlash over the incident, which comes two months after the new U.S. and NATO commander, General Stanley McChrystal, ordered new procedures that require extra precautions to protect civilians before troops can open fire.

In an unprecedented televised address to the Afghan people, McChrystal said the attack was launched against what troops thought was a Taliban target. He promised to make the outcome of an investigation public.

"As Commander of the International Security Assistance Force, nothing is more important than the safety and protection of the Afghan people," he said in the taped address, released in versions dubbed into the two official languages, Dari and Pashtu.

"I take this possible loss of life or injury to innocent Afghans very seriously."

Day 348

Syringe Attacks in Urumqui, China

From the AP:

China's security chief blamed Muslim separatists Friday for a string of bizarre needle attacks that drew thousands of angry protesters into the streets as officials disclosed five people were killed and 14 injured during demonstrations in this restive city.

Police fired tear gas to break up continuing protests by thousands of Han Chinese, the country's majority ethnic group, underscoring how unsettled Urumqi remains despite a massive security crackdown following ethnic rioting in July that left 197 people dead.

The Xinjiang region, of which Urumqi is the capital, has for decades faced a simmering separatist movement by Uighurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group.

Day 346

Athens Stock Exchange Bomb

A bomb placed in a parked van outside the Athens Stock Exchange exploded today at 5:35am.  Luckily, only one person suffered minor injuries.  No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb, but authorities speculate that the bomb was planted by the far-left paramilitary group, Revolutionary Struggle.  There has been an increase in home-bred terrorist attacks since the shooting of 15 year old Alexandros Grigorpoulos on 6 Dec 2009 in Athens.  

Day 334

Day 333

Is the release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi connected with British interests in Libyan oil? Verrrrrry interesting.

Tom Ridge

An excerpt from The Washington Post:

"Former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, the first director of the Department of Homeland Security, says that he was pressured by other Bush administration department heads to raise the national security-threat level on the eve of the 2004 presidential election -- a move he rejected as having such uncomfortable political undertones that it could destroy the administration's credibility.

The disclosure comes in Ridge's new book, "The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege . . . and How We Can Be Safe Again," written with Larry Bloom and published by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press. It will not hit bookstores until Sept. 1, but a copy of the book was obtained Friday by The Washington Post."

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi

Abdel Bassett al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the Lockerbie plan bombing in 1988 was released by Scottish authorities.  Al-Megrahi has terminal cancer and has been allowed to spend his remaining days in his home country, Libya.  American government officials including, President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Attorney General Eric Holder have condemned the actions of the Scottish government and have implored Libyan authorities not to extend a "hero's welcome" to al-Megrahi.  The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 killed 270 people, 189 of them American.  

Baitullah Mehsud

The suspected killing of Pakistani Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, has caused a feud over who will be the successor.  Pakistani intelligence officials claim that Hakimullah Mehsud was shot in a fight between another Taliban commander.  Earlier today, Hakimullah Mehsud released a statement that Baitullah Mehsud went into hiding after the US drone attacks as a "strategy" and had not been killed.  

Day 317

Suspected Terror Plot in Australia Foiled

From the New York Times:  

Four men suspected of having links to a radical Islamic group from Somalia were arrested Tuesday for what authorities said was a plot to storm a military base in the Sydney suburbs and shoot as many soldiers as possible.

The men, all Australian citizens of Somali and Lebanese descent, were detained when hundreds of police officers swept through 19 houses in Melbourne early Tuesday. The raids were the culmination of a seven-month investigation involving state and federal officials and the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization, the government’s spy agency.

The police said the men, whose ages ranged from 22 to 26, planned to arm themselves with automatic weapons and stage an attack on Holsworthy Barracks, a sprawling military complex set in the scrub lands southwest of Sydney. No date was given for the alleged attack.

The men are thought to be members of Somali terrorist organization Al Shabaab.