Battles continue to rage across northern Iraq, pitting jihadist group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant against Iraqi security forces and their allies. The growing reach of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has escalated an already brutal campaign in Iraq. Alarmingly quick advances by the militants across an important region of the Middle East could draw in regional powers as well as the United States.
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Archive for category Threat Watch
Are Mass Shootings More Common Or Is The News Reporting It More?
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 18/Jun/2014 07:38
From The American Spectator:
Homicide in America is far more common than it ought to be. But mass shootings — defined as four or more murders in the same incident — constitute a minuscule share of the total, as I discuss in “The Shooting Cycle†in the most recent edition of the Connecticut Law Review
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that from 2002-2011, 95 percent of total homicide incidents involved a single fatality, 4 percent involved two victims, 0.6 percent involved 3 victims, and only .02 percent involved four or more victims. Another study performed between 1976 and 2005 yields similar results — that less than one-fifth of 1 percent all murders in the United States involved four or more victims. In other words, the bottom line is that out of every 10,000 incidents of homicide, roughly two are mass killings.
Iraqi Security Forces Routed By Islamists
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 17/Jun/2014 12:37
From The Daily Mail:
The Iraqi government policemen and soldiers in Mosul abandoned their weapons and uniforms with barely a fight against the army of black-clad killers from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terror group.
The gunmen quickly laid their hands on a mass of abandoned U.S. military equipment to add to their massive arsenal, ranging from Humvee vehicles to night-sights and body armour.
The Intrigue Lying Behind Iraq’s Jihadist Uprising
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 17/Jun/2014 11:16
“The Intrigue Lying Behind Iraq’s Jihadist Uprising is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
By Reva Bhalla
Events in Iraq over the past week were perhaps best crystallized in a series of photos produced by the jihadist group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Sensationally called The Destruction of Sykes-Picot, the pictures confirmed the group’s intent to upend nearly a century of history in the Middle East.
In a series of pictures set to a purring jihadist chant, the mouth of a bulldozer is shown bursting through an earthen berm forming Iraq’s northern border with Syria. Keffiyeh-wrapped rebels, drained by the hot sun, peer around the edges of the barrier to observe the results of their work. The breach they carved was just wide enough for the U.S.-made, Iraqi army-owned and now jihadist-purloined Humvees to pass through in single file. While a charter outlining an antiquated interpretation of Sharia was being disseminated in Mosul, #SykesPicotOver trended on jihadist Twitter feeds. From the point of view of Iraq’s jihadist celebrities, the 1916 borders drawn in secret by British and French imperialists represented by Sir Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot to divide up Mesopotamia are not only irrelevant, they are destructible.
Today, the most ardent defenders of those colonial borders sit in Baghdad, Damascus, Ankara, Tehran and Riyadh while the Europeans and Americans, already fatigued by a decade of war in this part of the world, are desperately trying to sit this crisis out. The burden is on the regional players to prevent a jihadist mini-emirate from forming, and beneath that common purpose lies ample room for intrigue. Read the rest of this entry »
President Denied Requested Airstrikes Against al-Qaeda In Iraq
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 14/Jun/2014 12:25
From The New York Times:
As the threat from Sunni militants in western Iraq escalated last month, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki secretly asked the Obama administration to consider carrying out airstrikes against extremist staging areas, according to Iraqi and American officials.
But Iraq’s appeals for a military response have so far been rebuffed by the White House, which has been reluctant to open a new chapter in a conflict that President Obama has insisted was over when the United States withdrew the last of its forces from Iraq in 2011.
Worsening Violence in Iraq Threatens Regional Security
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 13/Jun/2014 14:37
“Worsening Violence in Iraq Threatens Regional Security is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
Summary
Analysis
Using hit-and-run tactics, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIL, has sought to keep Iraqi security forces dispersed and under pressure. ISIL has achieved this by striking at areas where security forces are weak and withdrawing from areas where Baghdad has concentrated its combat power. The jihadists have been working hard to improve their tradecraft by developing skill sets ranging from staging complex ambushes to using Iraqi army equipment effectively in surprise raids. ISIL has also sought to better develop its ties with local Sunni communities. Read the rest of this entry »
Islamists Taking Over Iraq
Posted by Brian in Threat Watch on 12/Jun/2014 16:20
From MilitaryTimes:
Experts say ISIS totals no more than 10,000 fighters throughout Iraq and Syria, while the force that specifically seized the city of Mosul this week probably totaled about 800 fighters. That force overpowered two Iraqi Army divisions totaling about 30,000 troops.
Taliban Attack Karachi Airport
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 12/Jun/2014 12:23
From The New York Times:
A squad of militant commandos, disguised as government security forces, stormed Karachi’s international airport after dark. They carried food, water and ammunition, apparently in preparation for a long siege, and big ambitions: perhaps to hijack a commercial airliner, government officials said Monday, or to blow up an oil depot, or to destroy airplanes on the tarmac.
Actress Has Armed Bodyguard At “Gun-free” University
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 9/Jun/2014 07:42
From Fox News:
A Brown University rep says he is unable to answer questions about why Emma Watson had an undercover armed guard with her during graduation ceremonies.
Justice Department Using FDIC To Hurt Gun Retailers
Posted by Brian in Law, News, Threat Watch on 24/May/2014 07:46
From The Washington Times:
Since 2011, regulators have increased scrutiny on banks’ customers. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2011 urged banks to better manage the risks of their merchant customers who employ payment processors, such as PayPal, for credit card transactions. The FDIC listed gun retailers as “high risk†along with porn stores and drug paraphernalia shops.
ATF Is Really After Customer Data Not Gun Parts
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 23/May/2014 12:44
From Townhall.com:
Ares Armor CEO Dimitrios Karras, who served his country honorably as a Marine, was more than willing to meet the ATF halfway regarding the EP Armory parts in his possession.
He was willing to provide the ATF with thousands of the EP Armory parts for safekeeping until the company had its day in court. He even segregated them in a locked room and offered the ATF the only set of keys.
Where Karras drew the line was in providing the customer data that proved to be the ATF’s real focus. He filed an injunction to stop the ATF from seizing his customer data.
Al Qaeda Inspire Magazine Encouraging Lone Wolves
Posted by Brian in Threat Watch on 21/May/2014 12:51
From SOFREP:
The first section of the article was aptly named “OSJ Bomb School†and provided step-by-step instructions on how to make a car bomb “…even in countries with tight security and surveillance.†The explanation was simple, the individual parts and pieces don’t raise concern when purchased or acquired but, when assembled they can create a devastating explosive device. The list of items that are said not to raise suspicion when bought individually include: epoxy, Christmas lights, barometers, gas grill propane tanks, and oxygen cylinders.
Cartel Uses MS-13 As Hit Squad In Minnesota
Posted by Brian in Threat Watch on 17/May/2014 12:12
From Fox Latino:
The three enforcers were allegedly sent from Los Angeles to St. Paul on orders from the Sinaloa cartel to find the people who stole 30 pounds of methamphetamine and $200,000 from a stash house in St. Paul. The two teens that the cartel hit men snagged were tortured, had their lives and that that of their families threatened and were told to find the missing drugs or come up with $300,000 to compensate the cartel, according to court documents obtained by the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune newspaper
.
Borderlands: The New Strategic Landscape
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 16/May/2014 07:00
“Borderlands: The New Strategic Landscape is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
By George Friedman
I will be leaving this week to visit a string of countries that are now on the front line between Russia and the European Peninsula: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Azerbaijan. A tour like that allows you to look at the details of history. But it is impossible to understand those details out of context. The more I think about recent events, the more I realize that what has happened in Ukraine can only be understood by considering European geopolitics since 1914 — a hundred years ago and the beginning of World War I.
In The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman wrote a superb and accurate story about how World War I began. For her it was a confluence of perception, misperception, personality and decisions. It was about the leaders, and implicit in her story was the idea that World War I was the result of miscalculation and misunderstanding. I suppose that if you focus on the details, then the war might seem unfortunate and avoidable. I take a different view: It was inevitable from the moment Germany united in 1871. When it happened and exactly how it happened was perhaps up to decision-makers. That it would happen was a geopolitical necessity. And understanding that geopolitical necessity gives us a framework for understanding what is happening in Ukraine, and what is likely to happen next. Read the rest of this entry »
$10,000 Reward Offered By ATF and NSSF For Felon
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 14/May/2014 12:50
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) New Orleans Field Division is offering a reward, along with the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms industry, for a total of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of convicted felon John Ross Harold for stealing a firearm from a licensed dealer, receiving stolen firearms, and felon in possession of firearms.
On Feb. 27, 2014, at approximately 1:40 a.m., police attempted to stop a suspicious vehicle in the city of D’Iberville, Miss. The vehicle attempted to elude police and after a short pursuit, the driver, identified as Kevin Parfait, was taken into custody. The passenger, identified as John Ross Harold, is still at large. A search warrant was executed on the vehicle and 25 firearms were recovered. These firearms were subsequently identified as being stolen from Cooks Gun Shop, 4515 Popps Ferry Road, D’Iberville, Miss., on the same night. In addition, on April 1, 2014, Harold forced entry into a residence located in Terrebonne Parish, La., and shot a resident. The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office has issued an arrest warrant on Harold for the crimes of attempted murder and home invasion. Harold is believed to be armed and dangerous in the Houma, La., area.
“Mr. Harold and his co-conspirator orchestrated a robbery that ended with an innocent citizen being shot,†said Special Agent in Charge Phillip Durham. “Their greed-motivated reckless behavior led to another person being injured. ATF will continue to do all we can to curb violent crime and take those dedicated to violence off our streets.â€
Anyone with information about this crime should contact ATF at 1-800-ATF-GUNS (800-283-4867) or the U.S. Marshals Service at 202-307-9100. All calls will be kept confidential.
To view the ATF wanted poster for John Ross Harold, click on the link:www.atf.gov/content/john-ross-harold.
This reward is part of a larger national cooperative initiative between the NSSF and ATF in which NSSF matches ATF rewards in cases involving the theft of firearms from federally licensed firearms retailers. ATF works closely with members of the firearms industry to curb the criminal acquisition and misuse of firearms.
ATF is the federal agency with jurisdiction for investigating firearms crimes. More information on ATF can be found at www.atf.gov.
Harold is a 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, black male with black hair and brown eyes. He also has multiple tattoos on his chest and arms. Anyone with information regarding the crimes or Harold’s whereabouts can contact the ATF at 1-800-283-4867, or the U.S. Marshals Service at 202-307-9100.
Citizen With Gun Stops Purse Napper
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 6/May/2014 07:14
From KHOU: