Targeting Oil Pipelines

Blasts hit two oil pipelines in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, Friday. An explosion first hit a 0.9 meter-diameter oil pipeline at about 6 p.m. and triggered an adjacent smaller pipeline to explode near Dalian Xingang Harbor. Both pipelines, owned by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), caught fire and more than 400 firefighters and 110 fire engines are working at the site. Blaze of the larger pipeline has been extinguished by 11:30 p.m. but more than 200 meters of the smaller one is still on fire as firefighters failed to turn off its oil pump. The government is sending special jets to transport fire foam for the campaign. An oil tank that was unloading oil in the harbor when the blast broke out had left the scene unharmed. The pipelines were links between oil ships and land tankers. Local authorities are investigating the incident.

Oil pipeline attacks are a major threat from terrorist and extremist groups that seek serious disruption and major media attention. The energy sector is one of the most critical to nations' critical infrastructure. Although the cause of the Chinese explosions have not been determined as terrorism based, the harm is the same. In early July an explosion and fire on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline halted the flow of at least 5,000 barrels of oil. Turkish officials said the pipeline would be back up and running quickly, however. No organization claimed responsibility for the explosion, though analysts say the incident bore the hallmarks of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Nihat Ozcan, an analyst with the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, told Turkish daily newspaper Today's Zaman that such events are capable of sending strong messages to the international community. "The financial cost of attacking the pipeline is minimal but still able to inflict much harm," he said. "Pipelines are easy targets."

• "Inside the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)", Council on Foreign Relations, 10/19/07.
• "Nigerian pipeline blast kills up to 200", USA Today, 5/12/06.
  

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Terrorism in Britain 'mostly home grown'

The Centre for Social Cohesion has compiled profiles of 124 individuals convicted of Islamic terrorism offences since 1999. It found that 69 per cent of offences were perpetrated by individuals holding British nationality. Robin Simcox, co-author of the report, said their aim was to “focus the government’s counter-terrorism efforts.” “There are clear trends emerging with those involving themselves in terrorist activity in the UK,” he added. “It is crucial that this is recognised and then acted upon by the relevant authorities.” His comments follow private remarks by Assistant Commissioner John Yates, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, that the country faces “eye-watering cuts” in counter-terrorism funding that could hand an advantage to al-Qaeda.Douglas Murray, Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: “The report proves how great a threat violent Islamism poses to the world – and the fact that Britain is at the centre of this global struggle.”

The Social Cohesion report outlines the links individuals had to terrorist groups, their nationality and ethnic origin, their age, hometown, occupation and education, which other radical Islamists they were connected to and what legislation the government used to jail them. The report also shows how Britain’s links to violent Islamism are almost two decades old by profiling almost 100 other offences committed abroad since 1993 that are connected to Britain, including terrorist convictions, terrorist training, suicide attacks, and extraditions. The survey found almost half (46 per cent) of offenders had their origins in south Asia including 28 per cent who had Pakistani heritage - of whom at least 80 per cent were British nationals. Six of the eight major plots in Britain, 75 per cent, contained individual members who had trained in Pakistan and four of the leaders of those plots were directly linked to one or more Pakistani based terrorist groups. The next most common origin for offenders was Somalia, accounting for 6 per cent, demonstrating a growing threat from East Africa.

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Terrorist De-Radicalization Shows Promise

Prison-based programs to de-radicalize terrorists show promise, if well-run, says a new joint report from U.S. and British researchers. Their initial findings - the most comprehensive to date, based on programs in 15 nations - were presented at a conference this week. Prisons and Terrorism: Radicalization and De-radicalization in 15 Countries is a joint report of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), based at the University of Maryland, and the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR), based at Kings College in London.

The report concludes that individual de-radicalization and disengagement programs, such as those in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Indonesia and other nations, "can make a difference." The researchers say their work could have policy implications for prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq. "This is a much bigger issue than most people appreciate," said University of Maryland professor Gary LaFree, director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). "It's a classic problem really. Prisons change behavior for both good and for bad. It's difficult to detain prisoners forever, but when is it safe to let them go?"

"Initial results indicate that the programs can work, though probably not 100 percent of the time," LaFree adds. "Just as with regular criminals, individual and community supports help combat recidivism. But with terrorism and ideology there's an added dimension. In general, it's easier to de-radicalize when a movement is on the decline, when the battle seems lost." The report identifies principles and best practices to help governments and policymakers avoid costly and counterproductive mistakes. These include:

• Prison services should be more ambitious in promoting positive influences inside prison, and develop more innovative approaches to facilitate extremists' transition back into mainstream society. The current emphasis on security and containment of terrorists leads to missed opportunities to promote reform.
• Over-crowding and under-staffing amplify the conditions that lend themselves to radicalization of inmates. Badly run prisons make the detection of radicalization difficult, and they also create the physical and ideological space in which extremist recruiters can operate freely.
• Religious conversion is not the same as radicalization. Good counter-radicalization policies - whether in or outside prison - never fail to distinguish between legitimate expression of faith and extremist ideologies. Prison services should invest more in staff training, and consider sharing specialized resources.
• Individual de-radicalization and disengagement programs - such as those in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Indonesia, and other countries - can make a difference. Their positive and outward-looking approach should serve as an inspiration for governments and policymakers everywhere.
• Even in the best circumstances, de-radicalization and disengagement programs complement rather than replace other instruments in the fight against terrorism. They work best when the political momentum is no longer with the terrorists or insurgents.

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Embassy Bombers Moved to Prevent Escape

Two militants on death row for the September 2004 car bombing at the Australian Embassy compound in Jakarta were transferred to a maximum security prison on Thursday after police discovered a plot to attack Cipinang Penitentiary and free the terrorists, an intelligence expert said. The transfer was also made amid concerns that the inmates, Iwan Darmawan Muntho, alias Rois, and Achmad Hasan, were able to communicate with fellow militants in Aceh using cellphones from inside their cells in the state penitentiary in East Jakarta. They have been transferred to the prison island of Nusakambangan in Central Java. “Police have uncovered a plot by a group of militants who were recently caught holding paramilitary training activities in Aceh. Their objective was to free Rois and Hasan by force,” Dynno Cresbon, a renowned intelligence analyst, told the Jakarta Globe.

“A series of operations that started in Aceh in February revealed key information that included contact between Rois and the group regarding the plot. So Thursday’s transfer was not carried out hastily. Police have been preparing for it for weeks,” Dynno said, adding that he obtained the information from a source at the police antiterror unit Densus 88. If the plot had materialized, the planned attack could trigger the use of a new terror method, with prisons targeted instead of hotels or tourist venues.

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Miami Man Accused of Selling Video Games to Terrorists

A PlayStation game system is usually a pretty acceptable gift, unless you are shipping it to a suspected terrorist. Khaled Safadi, a business man in Doral, is accused by federal authorities of shipping Sony PlayStation 2 consoles to a shopping center in Paraguay marked by the feds a front for terrorist activity. Two other Miami business men have also been arrested in connection with the large shipments. "It's a children's toy,'' Michael Tein, Safadi's attorney told a federal judge Monday. "He is being accused of shipping a children's toy to Paraguay. It's a shame that the government has pumped this thing up as a terrorism case,'' he said.

A judge granted Safadi's release on $1.5 million bond, but he will be forced to stay home while he fights the charges. Hopefully he saved a PlayStation or two for himself. Apparently, shipping video games to terrorists is serious business to the feds, who have dropped an 11-charge indictment on Safadi, who has never had a run-in with the law. Safadi allegedly sold $720,000 in Sony PlayStation 2 consoles and digital cameras to the Galeria Page Mall in Paraguay between 2007 and 2008. U.S. intelligence officials believe the shopping center is a front for financing terrorist activities out of the Middle East, including groups like Hezbollah. That makes it the poster child for the "Do Not Do Business With" list. Authorities claim Safadi hid the shipments by providing false addresses on invoices.

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U.S. hunts for English-speaking bombers

U.S. and allied counterterrorism authorities have launched a global manhunt for English-speaking terrorists trained in Yemen who are planning attacks on the United States, based on intelligence provided by the suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing after he began cooperating. U.S. officials told The Washington Times that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, facing charges as a would-be suicide bomber, revealed during recent cooperation with the FBI that he met with other English speakers at a terrorist training camp in Yemen. Three U.S. intelligence officials, including one senior official, disclosed on the condition of anonymity some details of the additional bomb plots.

Said one official: "It's safe to say that Abdulmutallab is not the only bullet in the chamber for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the Islamist terrorist group based in Yemen. "Farouk took a month to get operational. Once he left [training in Yemen], it did not take very long." Information about the bomb plots was shared with the FBI after Mr. Abdulmutallab's family traveled from Nigeria to help coax the former student into cooperating, after a period of about five weeks when he refused to help authorities.

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Here's one vote for full body scans

"Today I’m flying for the first time since before Thanksgiving . . . and for the first time since the Panty Bomber tried to light his balls—and then the plane—on fire. And I have one very simple question: Who in their right mind would object to full-body scanners in the airport? I mean, who could be that God-damned dumb?"

This is how Steve Crescenzo begins a missive in Corporate Hallucinations. It is hilarious, very pointed, and in many ways I agree with what he is saying, although I would definitely phrase it differently. Please read the entire article below, I am sure you will enjoy it...

"There are people trying to blow our planes out of the sky. There are people strapping explosives to their genitals. The current security system obviously doesn’t work. Something needs to happen. And yet the ACLU and other morons object to having people go through full body scanners because of “privacy” reasons.

Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz, sponsor of a House bill banning the full-time use of body scanners, told the New York Times that he didn’t think that “anyone needs to see my 8 year old naked in order to secure that airplane.” What an ass. The ACLU calls these body scanners “an assault on the essential dignity of passengers.” What a bunch of asses. We have terrorists trying to blow us out of the sky and people are worried about modesty? It defies logic.

As a nervous flyer to begin with, I certainly don’t care if they send me through a body scanner. Send me through TWO body scanners if you want to. Send me through a row of body scanners. Pat me down. Pat me down again. Lay me flat on a conveyer belt with hundreds of other travelers and send us all through an MIR machine if that will keep the bombs off the planes.

Hell, you can drop a drug-sniffing rat into my pants . . . as long as you’re doing the same thing to everyone else, and doing it twice to the people most likely to try and blow up the plane (yes, Corporate Hallucinations fully supports all racial profiling, when it comes to airports).

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking:
“That’s easy for you to say, Crescenzo. You’re Italian, blessed with an Italian’s anatomy. Who cares if someone scans your entire body and sees the Bald Eagle? You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. “

And you’re also thinking:
“What about all the poor Irish and Japanese people out there, who weren’t so anatomically blessed? What about exposing those folks to the ridicule of heartless TSA workers who run the body scans?"

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Nuclear attack: Terrorists vs U.S.

Confidential discussions with leaders throughout the Homeland Security Network of agencies reveal that the prevention of an atomic attack is not thorough in the United States. In fact, they indicate that nontraditional infiltration and detonation avenues are barely known and those that are known are barely covered. The entire East Coast of the United States is at risk of a nuclear attack, ranging through New York, D.C., Atlanta, and Orlando. With the Secretary of Homeland Security declaring that America is safe from any such attack one is left with asking, “How national security professionals think that it could happen?”

A briefing before national security professionals has revealed a particularly spooky scenario. One that is sure to run chills up the spine of anyone who learns of it and how unprepared the United States remains. It is an attack scenario that could occur at any moment and without any warning whatsoever. Naturally, those who know of it within the government are highly reluctant to allow themselves to be named.

Let’s go into an imaginary world for a moment. Imagine that a nuclear warhead built in Tehran, Iran and developed jointly by Iran, North Korea, and Russia becomes a multi-megaton reality. With the United States and its allies out of Iraq, Iran has an established transport pipe-line to Syria, a close political and religious ally. Imagine that a Gulfstream or Hawker long-range executive jet is modified internally to carry the warhead on a one way trip to the United States.

The aircraft departs Tehran, with its cargo, and lands at a Syrian Air Base located near Damascus for re-fueling and final checks of its deadly cargo. From Damascus, Syria the aircraft flies to an airport inside Bosnia. There, sympathetic officials who have been well compensated pencil-whip a non-existent customs inspection and allow refueling. It is then off again.

The aircraft flies normally across Europe, over Greenland, and over Iceland as it moves towards the final destination. Again, it continues to fly without its cargo being detected as U.S. airspace begins to get nearer. According to anonymous sources, there are no aircraft in the skies with super sensitive detectors in U.S. airspace searching for radiological signatures. It is an assumption that has not been directly inferred but hasn’t been squashed or corrected by the DHS, either. People just assume that U.S. technology exists to detect this rather simply approach by enemy force. The reality is that such an approach would happen without hindrance or detection. That is what makes this scenario so worrisome to national security experts, military strategists, and the public in general

When the aircraft enters American Airspace it continues on to whatever city airport, most likely an international airport, it has listed on its flight plan. As it approaches the airport, the co-pilot walks to the back of the plane and performs the final arming processes following the controlled decompression of the cabin. Decompressing the cabin allows a barometric pressure sensitive detonator to have a more accurate reading of altitude. It will detonate the bomb at a given altitude which is detected by air pressure. Altitude is key in maximizing the effect of a nuclear explosion.

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A Little Cause For Concern: Pakistan's Nuclear Facilities

Pakistan's nuclear facilities have been attacked three times by home-grown extremists over the past two years, a senior U.S. official has confirmed to FOX News. Three separate facilities in Pakistan — each of which deals in some part with nuclear activity — have been targeted by extremists, the official said, while insisting that there is "no waning confidence regarding the safety of the Pakistani nuclear program."

The official confirmed a report in West Point's Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel describing an attack on a nuclear missile storage facility at Sargodha on Nov. 1, 2007, and a homicide bombing at the nuclear airbase at Kamra on Dec. 10, 2007. The report also notes a much larger raid by the Pakistani Taliban on Aug. 20, 2008, when homicide bombers blew up several entry points to an armament complex at the country's main nuclear facility, the Wah Cantonment Ordnance Complex.

A Pakistani official told FOX News the report was "out of context" but stopped well short of saying the attacks did not occur. "Pakistan's nuclear facilities are safe — there is no likelihood of terrorist activity at those sites," the official told FOX News. "This report is out of context. The incidents that are mentioned here have no link to our facilities."

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Mara Salvatrucha and Al Qaeda

The situation at the border now poses a grave threat to national security. Agent Mike Scioli of the U.S. Border Patrol confirms that the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol is facing a worsening problem with Mara Salvatrucha, a Salvadoran street gang that now controls the flow of arms, drugs, and illegal aliens into the U.S.

Two members of the violent gang were collared last week in Tucson and Nogales. Twenty have been brought into custody since President Barack Obama assumed the oath of office on January 20, 2009. But the Salvadoran gang is bringing more than guns, dope, and Mexican peasant workers over the border.

In the wake of 9/11, Mara Salvatrucha attracted the attention of top al Qaeda officials, who realized that the gang could be used to smuggle operatives and weapons into the United States. An agreement was forged between the terrorists and the gang-bangers. In exchange for safe passage across the border, al Qaeda – through its cells in South America – agreed to pay the Maras from $30,000 to $50,000 for each sleeper agent they managed to smuggle into the country with bogus matricula consulars.

"MS-13 Smuggles Muslim Terrorists into U.S.", Family Security Matters, 8/3/09.

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ETA Blamed For Separate Bomb Attacks in Spain

The Basque separatist terror group ETA has been blamed for two separate bombings in Spain in the last 48 hours. If this is true, it is especially startling considering that they have suffered a number of major setbacks in the last few years. Three of their military commanders were arrested by Spanish authorities in an eight month period during 2008, inflicting a major blow on the organization. ETA, which is pronounced "etta," is a leftist group that conducts terrorist attacks to win independence for a Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France. ETA stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, which means “Basque Fatherland and Liberty” in the Basque language.

Steve Kingstone, BBC News Madrid correspondent, wrote"This attack is a sobering reminder of ETA's potency, to politicians and commentators who had previously portrayed the group as weakened following a series of high-profile arrests. Those arrests certainly dented ETA's leadership structure, but this attack demonstrates that other militants are willing to step into the shoes of those now in jail. And the quantity of explosives used - almost 300kg, according to Spanish reports - makes clear that the group still has the potential to inflict violence on a large scale. The catalyst for this bombing was the exclusion of separatist parties from regional elections in March. ETA branded the vote "undemocratic," and described members of the resulting Socialist administration as a "priority target." The Socialists ended almost three decades of rule by the Basque Nationalist Party, and have promised renewed vigour in tackling the militants."

• "Spain mourns as Eta mark founding", al Jazeera, 7/31/09.
  
• "Travel Chaos After Mallorca Bomb", BBC News, 7/30/09.
  
• "Spanish Barracks Hit By Car Bomb", BBC News, 7/29/09.
• "Basque Fatherland and Liberty", Council for Foreign Relations, 11/17/08.
• "The End of ETA?" Harvard International Review.
  

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FARC you!

On July 8, 2008, BBC News announced that French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages had been freed after FARC rebels holding them were tricked into handing them over. Colombian soldiers - posing as members of a non-government organisation - flew them to freedom in a helicopter. Betancourt said at the time, "This is a miracle. There is no historical precedent for such a perfect operation." She had been held by the left-wing FARC rebels for more than six years.

This event was believed to have dealt a serious blow to the lifeblood of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as FARC. Combined with action by the Colombian military, 2008, was said by many to signal the beginning of the end for the Marxist-Leninist guerrillas, who are listed by the U.S., Canada, the European Union and Colombia as a terrorist organisation. However, this year has seen a resurgence of their activity in an attempt to prove that they are still a force to be reckoned with.

For the International Terrorism analyst, three links are shown below. The first two are the most recent actions by FARC and the last is a detailed backgrounder.

• Colombian rebels turn to urban warfare after battlefield losses. Bloomberg. 7/8/09.
• FARC kills six soldiers in east Colombia. Colombia Reports. 7/1/09.
• FARC, ELN: Colombia's Left-Wing Guerrillas. Council on Foreign Relations. 3/11/08.
  

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