Triggered by cellular phones?

Remember all of the discussion in the summer of 2007 about wildfires in California and in Greece? Many people raised questions about whether some of those fires were, in fact, ecoterrorism. There was also some evidence that devices made from cellular phones may have been used to ignite wildland fires. This is plausible enough, considering that remote bombs triggered by cellular phones have been used in other terrorist attacks. But after the fires were extinguished, the story disappeared from the news.

These mysterious remote cell phone bombs have now surfaced – in California.

Undercover Op Leads To Cell Phone-Triggered Bomb

San Jose and Santa Clara police chiefs announced Wednesday the results of a massive sting operation in their cities. Operation Meltdown, as the joint effort was called, netted investigators hundreds of criminals, tons of stolen copper, dozens of stolen cars and weapons, and in one case, homemade bombs.

A Fremont man was arrested in October as part of Operation Meltdown. He is accused of trying to sell the officers improvised explosive devices capable of being denoted remotely by a cell phone. During a news conference at San Jose Police headquarters Wednesday morning, police showed a video, recorded by hidden camera, of the suspect demonstrating the technology to officers by detonating a bomb for them.

Operation Meltdown was begun in March 2007. Undercover officers from both departments opened a fake metal-recycling business in the city of Santa Clara called Jose Clara Co-Op.

Within days, San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis said, customers started showing up offering to sell what appeared to be stolen copper. Over the course of the next year, the undercover officers purchased 14 tons of copper with a street vale of almost $100,000. Soon after the officers began buying the copper, though, Davis said visitors to the recycling shop started offering to sell other stolen goods. The officers eventually purchased 40 stolen vehicles and 74 firearms, including 21 assault weapons.

Over the life of the operation, Davis said, 273 suspects were investigated, 63 of whom were arrested over the course of the investigation. Another 73 suspects were picked up during a sweep Tuesday. There are still another 70 suspects with outstanding warrants yet to be arrested…

Vehicle theft was also part of the picture, including some mighty fancy rides:

40 stolen vehicles were purchased. The vehicles include a BMW, Porsche Carrera, Nissan 350Z, Audi, Toyota MR2, SUV’s, sedans, motorcycles and a new Ford Edge SUV.

Who is involved?

The article mentioned that “many of the suspects were identified as gang members,” but no suspects were named, nor were the gangs identified.

In case you have any doubts:

Forest Fire Jihad Being Threatened on Terrorist Websites

U.S. officials monitoring terrorist web sites have discovered a call for using forest fires as weapons against “crusader” nations, in what may explain some recent wildfires in places like southern California and Greece.

A terrorist website was discovered recently that carried a posting that called for “Forest Jihad.” The posting was listed on the Internet on Nov. 26 and reported in U.S. intelligence channels last week.

The statement, in Arabic, said that “summer has begun so do not forget the Forest Jihad.”

The writer called on all Muslims in the United States, Europe, Russia and Australia to “start forest fires.”

The posting quoted imprisoned Al Qaida terrorist Abu Musab Al-Suri, as saying “Jihad is an art just like poetry, music, and the fine arts. There are people that draw and there are others that are jihadists. They both act upon inspiration.”

(h/t Scarlett Crusader)

KNDO Washington State: Seven Suspicious Fires Monday Night in the Yakima Valley

Posted: Nov 14, 2007 01:50 AM
Updated: Nov 14, 2007 09:11 AM

YAKIMA, Wash – Firefighters responded to seven different suspicious fires in the Yakima Valley late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

“This is for sure arson,” says Joe Ware, a foreman at Evans Fruit Company in the West Valley, where fruit bins caught fire. That was the first fire reported just before 11:00 Monday night.

Almost an hour later a barn on Prospect Way in Yakima burned to the ground. Fire officials say it was a total loss.

Global Incident Map: Location of Fires

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(Updated 11/20/07, 11/24/07, 12/25/07)
You might know the answer to these questions:

Is the Pentagon bureaucracy on your side?

You think so? Then why does the Pentagon get its advice from a flagrant bigot who refuses to appear on a panel of speakers with an Israeli?

National Review: Academic Freedom?

Yesterday, the University of Delaware asked Asaf Romirowsky to step down from an academic panel at the University of Delaware because another panelist, University of Delaware political scientist Muqtedar Khan, didn’t want to share the podium with anyone who served in the Israeli Defense Forces.

If Khan was just an academic, that would be one thing. But he also straddles the policy world: Khan is a a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a Pentagon consultant. According to an e-mail he sent to the University, he gave a workshop at the Pentagon yesterday afternoon.

Is the Department of Justice on your side?

You think so? Then why did the DOJ botch the first Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial so thoroughly? True, there’s going to be another trial, but why couldn’t they have gotten their ducks in a row to do it right the first time?

• Bad News for Holy Land defendants
• Second HLF Trial Could Bring Changes
• A Hung Jury in the Holy Land Foundation Case
• The Holy Land Foundation: Misinformation about Material Support

Is the VA on your side?

You think so? Then why did they censor the text used in the flag folding ceremony for veterans in national cemeteries, in response to an anonymous complaint that was clearly motivated by anti-Semitism?

Holy War at our National Cemeteries

CW31 (cbs13.com) in California reports that, the traditional flag-folding recitation has been banned at national cemeteries due to a complaint filed at the Riverside National Cemetery. The complaint was apparently specific to the 11th fold of the ceremony, which honors Hebrew soldiers, Kings David and Solomon, and gives tribute to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

VA contact information

Is Wal-Mart on your side?

You think so? Just because of their “falling prices”/”everyday low prices”? How do you expect to afford even those “low prices” when all of the jobs have been sucked out of the US and exported to places like China?

The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know

Steve Dobbins has been bearing the brunt of that switch. He’s president and CEO of Carolina Mills, a 75-year-old North Carolina company that supplies thread, yarn, and textile finishing to apparel makers–half of which supply Wal-Mart. Carolina Mills grew steadily until 2000. But in the past three years, as its customers have gone either overseas or out of business, it has shrunk from 17 factories to 7, and from 2,600 employees to 1,200. Dobbins’s customers have begun to face imported clothing sold so cheaply to Wal-Mart that they could not compete even if they paid their workers nothing.

Here’s the comment I wrote for this article (I fixed a few typos and tweaked the formatting to make it work for this blog, because the comment form accompanying the article did not allow HTML):

I used to shop at Wal-Mart, back in their “Buy American” days. I stopped when I noticed that the good brands disappeared and the quality of everything in the store began getting worse and worse.

In essence, Wal-Mart is forcing their suppliers to outsource everything overseas, to destroy whatever reputation for quality they once had, and to become dependent on Wal-Mart. Then Wal-Mart makes the relationship unprofitable.

Here`s the solution:

1. Never buy anything at Wal-Mart [or, for that matter, Sam's Club].

   If you`re so broke that you can`t afford anything better, then go to a flea market or a second-hand store, or do without. How much clutter do you really need, anyway?

   For the holidays, give your child one good toy, or a good book or game, from somewhere else, not five pieces of cheap, breakable, poorly-designed garbage from Wal-Mart.

2. If you`re a supplier, don`t start doing business with Wal-Mart. Find ways to survive and prosper without getting sucked into their system.

3. If you`re a journalist of any type, report more stories like this about what Wal-Mart is doing to America`s manufacturing base, communities, employment prospects, and reputation for quality.

   Expose the abysmal quality of the outsourced rubbish that American firms are importing from places such as China, partly or wholly in response to pressure from Wal-Mart. The lead paint fiasco is only the beginning.

   There are a lot more scandals if you want to look for them. Follow the money! Just for starters: Look at political contributions. Look at where their employees are getting their health care.

   Finally, please stop comparing Wal-Mart to companies such as A&P that maintained a reputation for quality during the era when they were able to out-compete other companies.

   Remember: If cost is your only consideration, everything turns into a race to the bottom. You will eventually end up spending all your money on a lot of junk, none of which would be worth the price even if it were free!

Also see:

• Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
• Wal-Mart Disses Jesus
• Essay by Wendell Berry in Orion magazine

Is the FBI on your side?

You think so? Then why do they refuse to acknowledge jihadist terrorism when they see it?

FBI Downplays Another Terrorist Attack Aimed at Homestead AFB in Florida

Sleep safe tonight. Your children might just be getting their education from a mentally ill Muslim who is on the FBI’s Terrorist Watch List… There are just so many things wrong with this, I don’t even know where to start!

FBI: Teacher who attacked base guards was suicidal, not terrorist

The Associated Press – Jacksonville.com

. . .

Ahmad’s mother said the first-year teacher at Miami Central High School is mentally ill and had recently been in a mental institution, where officials reported he tried killing himself.

Oh, and by the way: If you happen to live in Miami, you just might want to ask what (if any) background checks are being done on prospective teachers!

(Added 11/7/2007) And what about this?

LGF: FBI’s Latest Outreach Outrage

Again the US government reaches out to the wrong people: FBI’s Latest Outreach Outrage.

As reported in the Detroit Free Press (see: Detroit’s FBI chief: Violence extremism cuts across religions), two top FBI officials from that office “spoke to about 50 Muslims inside the Islamic Organization of North America, or Tanzeem-e-Islami.” The Free Press described the organization as merely “a Sunni mosque with a primarily Pakistani congregation” and tells us that the meeting was nothing more than “part of an effort by the FBI to reach out to Muslims and other communities.”

As everyone, especially the FBI, should know by now, the IANA is an Islamist pressure group.

(Added 11/20/2007) And this?

Terror on the Tarmac

If the FBI wants the support of the American people when it comes to fighting terror in the skies, it needs to treat them with respect. Annie Jacobsen has the harrowing tale of what happened when a Good Samaritan was transformed into a terror suspect. Required reading for Thanksgiving travelers.

In a nutshell, an innocent traveler saw someone exhibiting bizarre behavior on an airliner. He reported what he saw, but then, the FBI hauled him in as the suspect. The FBI eventually let him go and considers the matter “resolved.” Naturally, since he’s pro-American and not a jihadist, the ACLU is uninterested in helping him recover damages. Of course, there’s no word on what happened to the person who actually was behaving strangely on the plane.

• Former Employee of CIA and FBI Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy, Unauthorized Computer Access and Naturalization Fraud
• Jihad Jane’s “State” of Bliss
• Hizballah’s Penetration of the FBI, CIA
• Illegal immigrant FBI/CIA agent married to State Dept employee who held sensitive posts in Middle East embassies

Oh, and by the way, how many more enemy moles are working at the FBI, the CIA, or the State Department?

(Added 11/24/2007) This many more?

Homeland Insecurity: Is U.S. gov’t infested with terrorist moles?

Intelligence official: ‘FBI might as well put out a sign – Double agents wanted’
Posted: November 20, 2007
9:35 p.m. Eastern

Thanks to lax background checks, even after 9/11, the Hezbollah spy who managed to obtain sensitive jobs at the FBI and CIA is not the first terrorist supporter to infiltrate the U.S. government.

An alleged al-Qaida operative also infiltrated the Environmental Protection Agency, according to federal investigators and court documents obtained by WND.

The case, details of which are revealed here for the first time, involves Waheeda Tehseen, a Pakistani national who obtained a sensitive position with the EPA in Washington as a toxicologist even though she was not a U.S. citizen.

Like the Lebanese national suspected of passing secrets to Hezbollah, Tehseen lied about her citizenship on her government application, a falsehood that the government failed – in both cases – to catch in its security background investigation.

You probably won’t know the answer to this question:

Are Serbs, and Serbian-Americans, on your side?

You think not? Especially after everything that’s happened in the past sixty years?

Think again!

It may surprise you to know that, even now, Orthodox Christian Serbian-Americans pray every Sunday in church for America’s government and armed forces. Serbs, in Serbia and elsewhere, are waiting for Americans to come to their senses about jihadism in the Balkans and elsewhere, preferably before it’s too late to avoid widespread destruction to what’s left of the civilized world!

Download this book – FREE of charge – and read the other articles that follow.

Shameful Betrayal of General Draza Mihailovich, Hero of Two World Wars

Free book available in PDF format, courtesy of Andy Wilcoxson:

Gen. Mihailovic’s only crime was resisting the twin evils of Hitler’s fascism and Stalin’s communism.

. . .

“Because the book is out of print and the publisher went out of business more than 50 years ago copies of it are hard to come by, so I scanned my copy, and through the magic of the Internet you can download your own copy of the book in PDF format by right clicking this link and selecting “Save Target As” (please note file is 137 MB).”

. . .

General Mihailovich fell seventeen months after the so-called “liberation” of Yugoslavia. Reports from Belgrade on March 24th, 1946, announced his capture under puzzling circumstances on March 13th, 1946. His trial before a Communist military court began on June 10th, 1946. He was “sentenced” to death on July 15th, 1946, and murdered on July 17th, 1946.

General Mihailovich is no more. He has departed this world convinced that he was abandoned by the Allies. The voices that were raised abroad in his defence were not allowed to reach him and he died without the satisfaction of knowing that in the opinion of many he died an innocent man and a great soldier.

General Mihailovich is no more, but the legends of his heroic deeds are becoming more and more popular and they live in the hearts of the people.

General Mihailovich is no more. He has departed this world. Those who have murdered him have not only perpetrated a crime, they have also committed a grave mistake, for democratic public opinion is well aware of General Mihailovich’s merits.

General Mihailovich is no more. The last words of this great patriot were concise and poignant. He said:

“I strove for much, I undertook much, but the gales of the world have carried away both me and my work.”

But wait, there’s more!

• Kosovo, Serbia’s Cross to Bear: Serbia pays 100,000 US$ each day for Kosovo’s debt, even though it gets no revenue from the province.
• Who restarted the Cold War? If there was ever a case of pot calling the kettle black! The article explains how Russia offered its friendship and the Clinton and Bush Administrations ruthlessly abused it. But it’s not too late to change the situation for the better.
• New Information and Key Trends Regarding Islamic Extremist Groups in the Balkans: About the insanity of US foreign policy in the Balkans, in which the Clinton Administration fought against the Christian Serbs, on behalf of Bosnian and Albanian Muslims – including those who were, and still are, the local branches of al Qaeda in the Balkans. The Bush Administration has done nothing to reverse this failed policy, and Hillary Clinton would only worsen it.
• Dissecting the UN Debacle in Kosovo
• Capt. Lance Peter Sijan, USAF
• COUNTERTERRORIST BLOG SWARM WANTED!
• Petition to Demand Investigation of UN Bribery Scandal
• It takes a mighty big person to repent these days!

Technorati : Bosnia, CIA, China, FBI, Kosovo, MSM corruption, Serbia, U.S. law, counterterrorism, disaster preparedness, ecoterrorism, enemy propaganda, jihadism, military, political correctness
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It’s No Accident

A significant number of these fires appear to have been deliberately set.

Obviously, in drought conditions, where plenty of dry fuel abounds, anybody who thoughtlessly discards a cigarette butt can start a wildfire. Lightning, or spontaneous combustion from rotting debris, can do the same.

But these fires show a suspicious pattern.

Despite the fact that there has long been evidence of al Qaeda’s plans to cause such fires, public figures are unwilling to go on record to warn about jihadist involvement in pyroterrorism!

For more about this, see Is there a terrorist connection with the California wildfires?

Nobody on the 1389 Blog team cares about being politically correct. We bring you all of the news that we can find, and we are not afraid to point out the obvious conclusions about what it means!

If you doubt that pyroterrorism is real:

• Suspicious fires destroy forests in northern Lebanon
• Suspicious Fires in Lebanon
• Rampaging Through Brussels: Turks Set Cars Alight. Coming soon to a location near you!

Pelosi, Boxer, and the global warming contingent exploit fires for political advantage:

• Pelosi plays politics with SoCal fires (Stein hoist to njdhockeyfan at LGF!)
• San Diegans and pro-troop group condemn Barbara Boxer for politicizing fire with comments on Iraq
• CNN demonstrates how fear-mongering works
• CNN Predicts Possible “Century of Fires” Due to Global Warming
• Steven Milloy of JunkScience.com: California Fire Smokescreen
• Fox News Reports, Networks Ignore Consequences of Not Clearing Brush
  

  Fox News, just as Glenn Beck previously, picked up on an observation that the rest of the mainstream media largely ignored: brush left in place under environmental groups’ pressure fueled much of the fires in southern California.

Twitter: A Great Disaster Preparedness Tool

• In Disasters, Everyone, Not Just Bloggers, Should Use Twitter
• Get News Updates: Follow kpbsnews on Twitter
• Twitter 101

Stein hoist to Jenn Sierra on FHK!

California Fire News and Information:

• MODIS California/Great Basin Active Fire Map
• KPBS News San Diego
• • KPBS Fire News
  • Interactive Map: Evac areas, shelters, fire updates
  • Follow kpbsnews on Twitter
  • Email your photos to KPBS
  • Blog: San Diego County wildfires (comments open)
• City of San Diego Emergency Fire Information
• San Diego County Emergency Homepage
• San Diego Fires Wiki
• Sign On San Diego Fire Blog
• Sign On San Diego Fire Scenes
• Welcome to Cal Fire
• San Diego News 8 Wildfire Coverage
• Sacramento Bee: Southern California Fires, Day Four (photos)
• San Bernardino Scanner Blog
• SoCal Mountains Scanner and GPS Resources
• San Diego State Univ. Dept. of Geography (fire maps)
• In the twinkling of an eye (fire maps)
• Suspected California arsonist shot dead
• Officials: Arson Behind Santiago Fire
• Fema sorry for “fake” conference
• The Heart-Warming Fire Stories You Aren’t Seeing
• Boker Tov, Boulder: Fire!
• Wildfire Relief Fund – Chabad Jewish Center
• LGF: That Afternoon, We Prayed With a Little More Intensity
• Iraqi Troops Donate $1000 to California Wildfire Aid, Media Mum
• Poynter Online – Tracking Fire Coverage

Anyone with information about the cause of the Santiago fire (Orange Co) is asked to call a tip line at (800) 540-8282. If you see something, say something!

Stein hoist to Bobibutu and Stuck-in-CA on LGF!

US Fire News and Information

• USDA Forest Service MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program
• National Interagency Fire Center
• Incident Management Situation Report (PDF)
• US Fire Administration: Learn About Fire – The Nature of Fire

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Also see: California Fire News Updates

We have asked this question before:

Wildland Fires in Greece Blamed on Terrorism – Could it Happen in the US?

1389 Blog has been tracking this issue, and we will continue to do so as we await a more definitive answer.

Others are asking the same question too:

• California fires spark suspicion of terror again

  Fire officials in Orange County said today the Santiago Canyon Fire is an arson and offered a $50,000 reward to find the arsonist.

  Officials said the massive fire, which has caused an estimated $10 million in damage, had three separate points of origin. Two were on one side of the road and the third was on the other.

  “Whoever did this knew what they were doing,” said Kris Concepcion, a fire authority battalion chief, who noted the blazes traveled three miles in just the first 20 minutes on Sunday.

  Authorities are reporting five deaths in the blazes so far.

  The National Terror Alert Response Center report said, “We are NOT implying that the California fires are an act of terrorism; however, the threat of pyro-terrorist attacks pose a significant risk to the U.S. and the fires in California and Greece earlier this year should be a wake-up call.”

• The Amboy Times: Suspicious Activity at California Fire Stations

  During the last week of July, fire officials in the Bay Area city of Campbell reported that two men had been seen videotaping routine activities at a fire station.

  The men were reportedly in their 20s or early 30s, and one was using a sophisticated news media-style camera.

  When firefighters attempted to talk with the men, they reportedly jumped into a waiting car and sped off.

• The Amboy Times: Southern California Fires
• Right Truth: Terrorist talked about arson as weapon in U.S.
• Homeland Security Money Improving California Fire Agencies
• Yahoo! Answers – Open Question: Are the cause of the California wild fires an act of terrorism?
• California Fire Battalion Chief – Whoever Did This Knew What They Were Doing
• California OES (Office of Emergency Services): Emergency and Disaster Related Legislation Chaptered After June 21, 2007
• Suspected California arsonist shot dead
• Officials: Arson Behind Santiago Fire
• Setting Fires in California
• The Wild Fires of Pyro Terrorism

Anyone with information about the cause of the Santiago fire (Orange Co) is asked to call a tip line at (800) 540-8282. If you see something, say something!

Malicious motives:

• American Muslim: California Fires Are Allah’s Retribution on Infidels

  An American Muslim in Charlotte, North Carolina, named Samir Khan, chimes in on the great is Allah punishing the infidels in California debate:

  Most Muslims in America shy from discussing the natural disasters that occur to America especially in light of Allah’s anger. They get this strange idea somehow that Allah’s wrath and anger has nothing to do with the great natural disasters…..

  1389 wants to know: Has the FBI gotten around to asking Samir Khan and his associates just how much they know about who set those fires in California?

Past evidence of arson and pyroterrorism:

• Many California fires believed to be arson (October 30, 2003)
• FBI: al-Qaeda detainee spoke of fire plot (7/11/2003)

Other Factors:

Are drought and dry winds to blame?

The answer? Yes, but only up to a point. Drought provides the dry fuel for widespread fires, but it doesn’t provide the trigger that ignites the actual flames. Of course, there’s always room for research to improve the state of the art in firefighting, and for organizational improvements to deploy firefighting resources as efficiently as possible. But none of that explains what ignited the fires in the first place!

• Fabled Santa Ana Winds Fuel Wildfires In California
• Resources ‘outstripped’ battling California blazes

Population, terrain, and fuel:

In densely populated areas, more homes and other buildings are exposed to destruction by fire. It is also more difficult to evacuate threatened areas, to protect existing structures, to create firebreaks, and to do controlled burns to remove the dry fuel that allows wildland fires to go out of control.

• Homes Spared, Lost in Fires’ Random Destruction
• The Great Divide – Man and Nature: Learning Brushfire Lessons From America
  

  With bushfire season fast approaching, a contingent of Australian and New Zealand firefighters have recently returned from North America, where they took lessons from their counterparts in managing extreme bushfires.

  The Department of Sustainability and Environment’s Richard Teychenne was a member of the group who journeyed from Canada, down the west coast of the USA and into Mississippi, in the south.

  “The tour went for about 32 days, we travelled about 60,000 kilometres, took about 16 flights, three bus trips and ended up back at home about a week and a half ago,” Richard told ABC Gippsland’s Gerard Callinan this morning.

  . . .

  He said issues of population also hampered American firefighters’ ability to conduct fuel-reduction burns in fire-prone areas.

  “With a population of over 300 million, compared to Australia’s population over 20 million, the issues that they are facing is how can they actually do fuel reduction burning?”

  “In LA they haven’t done burning in two years,” Richard said.

• Fox News Reports, Networks Ignore Consequences of Not Clearing Brush
  

  Fox News, just as Glenn Beck previously, picked up on an observation that the rest of the mainstream media largely ignored: brush left in place under environmental groups’ pressure fueled much of the fires in southern California.

Copycat arson or accidental fires:

• Officials: Boy with matches started fire

  According to the article, this particular individual has admitted to starting the Agua Dulce fire, which consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes.

  There were numerous separate fires in California; no one is suggesting that all of them were ignited in the same way. One possibility is copycat crime, which is likely whenever high-profile lawbreaking has been reported or even suspected.

  In addition, when weather conditions facilitate the rapid spread of fire, it’s all too easy for someone to lose control of a small bonfire or debris fire that was never intended to spread. One carelessly tossed cigarette butt or match can be enough to start a major fire.

Innovations on the horizon?

• New Fire-Retardant Gel Can Save Homes

  HOT SPRINGS, S.D. (AP) – It was the most intense fire ever recorded in the Black Hills National Forest, but nearly all homes coated with a slimy gel were saved while dozens of houses nearby burned to the ground.

  The gel was a super-absorbent polymer that can hold many times its weight in water and clings well to vertical surfaces and glass. It is mixed with water and then can be sprayed on homes with a truck-mounted hose or a backpack apparatus, or dropped from a plane.

  The substance is relatively new to firefighting, having been developed about a decade ago, and is not widely used. But some firefighters who have tried it are impressed, saying it offers longer-lasting protection than the foam retardants that have been around for many years.

More Fire News and Information:

• California Fire News Updates
• National Interagency Fire Center

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Where’s our system for tracking unexplained incidents and connecting the dots?

Read this article from the Northeast Intelligence Network:

If there were numerous precursor events and actual events of terrorism going on all over the United States of America with neither the national mainstream media nor the government you elected were acknowledging their occurrence would you know those events had occurred? No, you would probably not, unless you read this website often or had been told by your friends about it via word-of-mouth or an email with a link. Otherwise these events are untitled terrorism, they do not exist.

The article recounts some truly alarming patterns. Why are we not tracking them?

We must form a private organization to get this done.

I’ve discussed this before. I know it isn’t a simple project. But we obviously cannot rely on the government to do this for us, so we must find a way to get it done ourselves as a “grass roots” effort.

The people who maintain the Global Terrorism Incident Map have some useful software and could provide immensely valuable assistance, but they don’t have the funding to carry the whole project on their own.

Can any of you help to get this project rolling?

Comment here, or use this form to contact us.

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If you saw the earlier article in this blog, Greek Wildfires Blamed on Arson – Evidence of Terrorism, you might be wondering whether the same thing could be happening in the U.S.

After all, we have had a serious problem with fires in the U.S. earlier in 2007 (see Florida Drought, Wildfire, and Storm Preparedness News Roundup and Storm and fire updates).

According to this article, the answer is yes.

In 2003 an FBI memo alerted law enforcement agencies that an al-Qaeda terrorist being held in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States.

It was reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country.

“The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies,” the memo said.

(Quoted from National Terror Alert Response Center: Pyro-Terror: Are Greek Wildfires An Act of Terrorism?)

From a firefighter’s perspective, with some spectacular photos, see:

Greek Wildfires: Terrorism or Lack of Firefighting Resources?

This site makes the valid point that, as with Hurricane Katrina in the U.S., the disaster revealed poor emergency preparedness. Inadequate firefighting equipment was a major factor in the delay in bringing outbreaks of fire under control.

Update 9/2/07:

• Greek fire toll rises to 64, as PM urges revamp

Update 9/17/07:

• Pyro-Terrorism – The Threat of Arson-Induced Forest Fires as a Future Terrorist Weapon of Mass Destruction
• The War Against the Greek State
• Greece: The Political Fall Out Begins

Update 10/24/07:

• Is there a terrorist connection with the California wildfires?

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Arson by cell phone?

We don’t have all the evidence in yet, but we need to be asking a lot more questions. Just because a few of the local outbreaks of fire appear to have been caused by simple carelessness does not mean that all of them were.

Greek broadcasting station SKAi reported that arson devices triggered by cell phones were found. Where have we heard of that before?

• Wildland Fires in Greece Blamed on Terrorism – Could it Happen in the US?
• Who is setting Greece on fire?
• Greek Fires Blamed on Arson, Olympic Antiquities Saved
• Are Greek Fires a Terrorist Attack?
• Greek government points to arson for fires
• 63 dead in Greek forest fires
• Foreigners help fight Greek fires
• Greek fires blamed on “culture of arson”

Photos from Space

Here are some photos from space, showing how widespread these fires are:

• Scientific Blogging: The Fires In Greece As Seen From Space
• My Way News Photo: Greece Fires
• Der Spiegel: Satellite Photos of the Greek Catastrophe

Updates:

• Wildland Fires in Greece Blamed on Terrorism – Could it Happen in the US?
• Is there a terrorist connection with the California wildfires?

Technorati : Greece, Islam, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, photos, terrorism, trees, wildfire
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Ever wanted a behind-the-scenes view of how professionals approach hurricanes, tornados, dust storms, wildfires, and other dangerous but exciting phenomena? Here you are:

• Wildfires are an ongoing problem. Wildfires at Jacksonville.com offers an entire section of up-to-date information.
• The U.S. National Interagency Fire Center offers wildland fire maps and firefighting information.
• The Weather Channel blog offers the personal experiences of the weather forecasters themselves, as well as the scientific background explained in layman’s terms.
• For storms in the U.S., check out the NOAA Storm Prediction Center.
• The MODIS Rapid Response System offers new satellite views of extreme weather and fire events worldwide, including some spectacular photos of smoke from the recent Florida wildfires.
• TheStormTrack.com offers updated satellite views and current information on hurricanes and tropical storms worldwide.
• For information about winter storms, snow and ice, avalanches, and cold-climate regions, check out National Snow and Ice Data Center.
• For those of you who live Down Under, there’s Australia Severe Weather.
• For storm-chasing buffs, Stormtrack.org offers a library of storm-chasing information, including maps of recent severe weather phenomena.
• Professional storm chaser Warren Faidley’s Stormchaser.com offers data, links, and media information about severe weather and storm chasing, along with some truly wild photos.

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Lots of news lately, most of it rather worrisome:

• The National Interagency Fire Center website indicates that some wildfires are still burning in Florida and Georgia. No surprise there; smoke is still visible (and smellable) in south Florida.
• An earlier story explained how the fires got so bad in the first place: Strong winds could fan massive wildfire along Florida-Georgia line.
• Florida’s cities scramble to shield scarce fresh water from ocean water contamination.
• Drought forces tighter water use restrictions in Broward, Palm Beach Counties.
• On top of the drought, we’ve got leaky pipes.
• Fines begin for Florida water wasters.
• There’s also dissention among the ranks of U.S. government weather officialdom, as well as disputes about where the money is going; see NOAA confirms cut in Hurricane Hunter funding.
• Not all of the news is bad. Prominent forecasters, including the Florida Power & Light hurricane specialist, are getting ready to launch a one-stop storm help website.

To help prepare yourself, see:

• Learn the fascinating secrets of storm-tracking, extreme weather, and wildfire fighting
• Top ten reasons why South Floridians should prepare for hurricane season

Technorati : Florida, Florida Power & Light, disaster preparedness, drought, hurricane, storm chasing, tornado, water, weather, wildfire
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