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Top 1625. Apr 21, 2002 12:19 PM

» Steven_Russell - Clayton Lee Waagner convicted - again

Cininnati, Ohio

Anthrax link conviction, April 18, 2002

Clayton Lee Waagner was convicted Thursday April 18, 2002 in Cincinnati, Ohio on separate firearms and car theft charges. A US District Court jury dleiberated just 40 minutes before finding Waagner guilty of all six charges. He faces 15 years to life in prison and fines of up to $250,000 on each count. Federal authorities say he could get life without parole because he has been convicted of several other violent crimes.

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467 Clayton Lee Waagner ---------------------- US PRISONER, faces 15 years to life, convicted April 18, 2002 in Cincinnati, Ohio US District court on separate firearms and car theft charges; arrested at a Kinko's in Springdale, Ohio Dec 5, 2001; mailed anthrax letters to Planned Parenthood November 2001; stalkings and threats to kill 42 low-level abortion industry employees up to November 23, 2001; carjackings in Tunica and in Robinsonville, Mississippi and firearms violations in Memphis, Tennessee September 7, 2001; wanted for bank robbery in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania May 2001; escaped from DeWitt County Jail February 22, 2001; arrested after crossing into Illinois with his wife and eight children in a stolen Winnebago in September 1999; sentenced to 4-10 years for attempted robbery in 1992
On FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List, September 21, 2001 #467
http://www.usdoj.gov/marshals/wanted/waa...
He was born in North Dakota on August 25, 1956, and uses numerous aliases.

-- posted by Steven_Russell

http://www.nydailynews.com/2002-04-21/Ne...

Top 1626. Apr 21, 2002 1:23 PM

» Steven_Russell - French soldier shot and wounded, Kabul airport, Fri. night

Shots, Plots in Afghanistan
Frenchman hurt, threat to king

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KABUL, Afghanistan

The fragile nature of Afghanistan's peace was evident yesterday as French peacekeepers were shot at, a plot to assassinate the returned king was uncovered and parents were threatened with death for educating their children.

Despite the turmoil, Afghan refugees continued streaming home by the tens of thousands from camps abroad, perhaps the best indication that many believe their country is moving away from decades of war.

One French soldier suffered a slight leg injury Friday night when gunmen opened fire on his patrol near the Kabul airport, said Capt. Serge Khun, spokesman for the 18-nation, 4,500-member international peacekeeping force responsible for security in Kabul, the capital.

The French patrol fired back, but the four attackers escaped, Khun said. The wounded peacekeeper resumed his duties yesterday, another spokesman said.

At Bagram air base, 40 miles north of Kabul, British Royal Marines said yesterday they received reports that assassins posing as journalists might try to kill former Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah, who returned Thursday from 29 years of exile in Rome.

"There is a threat against the king," spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Harradine said.

Harradine gave no more details, other than to say there are "many factions" that would like to kill the former king.

U.S. military spokesman Capt. Steven O'Connor said he was unaware of any threats on Zahir Shah's life. An aide to the deposed king, Azim Nasser-Zia, shook his head and walked away when asked whether he had heard about a plot.

Also, leaflets threatening death to parents who send their children to school were found in Kandahar, once the spiritual headquarters of the deposed Taliban regime, which restricted education, an Afghan official said yesterday.

Khalid Pashtun, spokesman for Kandahar Gov. Gul Agha, said the leaflets were an attempt to sabotage the interim regime that succeeded the Taliban in December. The leaflets say parents who send their children to school will be killed and their homes burned down.

Original Publication Date: 4/21/02

-- posted by Steven_Russell

Top 1627. Apr 21, 2002 9:12 PM

» JenL_2 - Re: The New Arsenal

More from the Defense Spending Report in WSJ:

<img src="http://www.suite101.com/files/mysites/je..." width=204 height=228 align="left">Still Playing: Star Wars

A look at the Pentagon's latest hopes -- and obstacles -- for missile defense

By GREG JAFFE

The rancorous debate over whether or not to build a missile shield has quieted and the dollars are flowing.

But will the billions the Bush administration plans to spend produce a system that can intercept ballistic missiles and protect the U.S. homeland as well as American soldiers and allies abroad?

For years missile-defense backers have complained that the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which bans development of a national missile defense, was crippling U.S. efforts. Late last year, President Bush gave the Russians notice that he would withdraw from the treaty in six months. That means that on June 13, the Pentagon will be able to test and build any system it wants. It already plans to run as many as 30 different tests of ground, sea and airborne systems this year, as well as explore possible space-based technologies.

Missile-defense spending will continue rising as well. The administration intends to spend about $7.8 billion developing missile-defense technology in 2003, a 60% increase over what the Clinton administration spent in its last defense budget. The goal is to have some rudimentary "emergency" systems fielded by 2004. And the Pentagon projects the missile-defense budget to hit $11.1 billion by 2007.

The Pentagon currently divides its missile-defense systems into three categories, or phases, based on what stage of missile flight the system is supposed to target. In the boost phase, the target is a missile soon after takeoff; midcourse systems shoot at missiles after they've left the atmosphere and are hurtling through space; and a terminal-phase defense is supposed to stop missiles as they fall back through the atmosphere toward their target.

None of these systems are ever likely to be foolproof. Rather, Pentagon planners hope that by "layering" the three systems and taking shots at enemy missiles in each of their three stages of flight, they'll be able to increase the chances of success.

"We think we can have a good capability in a relatively short period of time by pursuing a layered defense," says Air Force Lt. Gen. Ron Kadish, who heads the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.

Gen. Kadish works out of a small office in Arlington with a view of the Pentagon. On a small table near his desk are buttons that caution "No Whining" and "No Whimpering." On another table are bottles of "Arrogant Bastard Ale."

A thick skin and at least a touch of arrogance are probably essential for anyone trying to build a national missile shield -- an endeavor often likened to trying to hit a bullet with a bullet. "There is nothing that the Department of Defense has done that is as difficult as missile defense," says Philip E. Coyle, the Pentagon's chief tester until last year and now a senior adviser at the Center for Defense Information, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit defense think tank.

Here is a look at the options the Pentagon has and the challenges it must surmount in each of the missile-defense categories it's currently pursuing:

Boost Phase

The big advantage of attacking a missile in its boost phase -- the first four minutes after liftoff -- is that the missile is a big, bright and comparatively slow-moving target. Also, in this phase there's only one target to shoot at -- the rocket -- since decoys or other countermeasures are released only after the missile leaves the atmosphere.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon asked defense contractors for their best ideas on attacking a missile in its boost phase. So far, it has received more than 50 proposals, which are in the process of being reviewed. Right now the Pentagon is actively exploring three systems that attack a missile in its boost phase.

Gen. Kadish says the most promising in the near term is an airborne laser. "It's within our grasp at this point," he says. The first complete test of the chemical laser, affixed to a specially modified Boeing 747 jetliner, will take place in 2004. Cleveland-based TRW Inc., which is working on the laser technology, and Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md., which is developing the equipment to direct the laser beam, as well as Chicago-based Boeing Co., have received a total of about $1.5 billion in research funds over the past three years.

Because the boost phase is so brief, the laser, which shoots through the sky at the speed of light, is a big advantage. Still, problems remain with the technology, particularly whether clouds will distort the beam and make it miss its target. The enemy might also be able to foil the laser by placing reflective coating on its missiles. And critics warn that the 747, which must fly into enemy air space to get close enough to destroy the missile, would be vulnerable to attack itself.

Another boost-phase option would involve modifying a Navy Aegis cruiser, designed to defend ships against short-range cruise missiles, to attack ballistic missiles as they are lifting into space.

A ship-based boost-phase system is a favorite of missile-defense backers who argue that it could be accomplished in only a few years and for just a few billion dollars. Gen. Kadish is skeptical, noting that because the boost phase is so short, the ship carrying the interceptors must be close to an enemy launching pad to be sure of catching it in time.

"The cost trade-offs…don't seem to be compelling enough," he says. "Geography counts in boost phase. You have to be right around the spot where the boosting rocket is."

There's no question that such an Aegis-based system, which would be built by Lockheed; Raytheon Co., based in Lexington, Mass.; General Dynamics Corp., of Falls Church, Va.; and Northrop Grumman Corp., based in Los Angeles, has some real drawbacks. None of the missiles in the Navy's current arsenal are fast enough to catch a missile in its boost phase, Mr. Coyle says. "You need a missile that's about twice as fast as the one they've got," he says.

But the biggest limitation is geography. The system might work well against a small country with a long coastline like North Korea, but a larger country such as China or Iraq could thwart it by moving its missile launchers farther inland.

The only sure way to overcome the problem of geography would be to put interceptors in space. One option is to revive "Brilliant Pebbles," a program that dates back to the Reagan administration. It was conceived as a system of about 1,000 miniature satellites that circle the Earth searching for any enemy missile that is launched. If one is spotted, the satellites would release a kill vehicle to race down from space and collide with the missile before it leaves the atmosphere.

Building a network of 1,000 miniature, low-orbit satellites equipped with sensors and kill-vehicles probably wouldn't be cheap or easy, Gen. Kadish concedes. It would also face fierce opposition from U.S. allies and rivals opposed to militarizing space.

Midcourse Phase

The system furthest along is a continuation of the Clinton administration's land-based missile-defense program, which has been in a research and testing stage that wasn't prohibited by the ABM treaty. It is initially being built around a small number of ground-based interceptors, topped with a "kinetic kill vehicle" designed to smash into an enemy warhead as it hurtles through space.

If testing is successful, the Pentagon goal is to have a rudimentary ground-based system of four or five interceptors at Fort Greely, Alaska, by 2004 that could be used for more advanced testing or to defend the U.S. in the case of an emergency.

The Fort Greely missile silos, about 150 miles from Fairbanks, Alaska, won't be used for testing the ground-based interceptors, but rather for storing them. During tests the missiles will be launched from a separate site on Kodiak Island off the coast of Alaska. Boeing is the lead contractor in this system and makes the booster rocket. Raytheon is developing the kill vehicle and the radar, and TRW is building the software to knit it together.

After failing to hit its target in two of its first three tests, an early prototype of the ground system now has struck targets three times in a row. But big questions remain. A host of critics, including 50 Nobel laureates, have challenged the system's ability to distinguish between real missiles and decoys intended to fool the system. The most recent test of the system, conducted March 15, was successful and included three decoys, compared with only one in the previous three tests.

Gen. Kadish, however, concedes that the decoys in the experiment aren't exact replicas of what an enemy might deploy, and at some point more realistic decoys will need to be tested. "We're still in the data-gathering phase," he says. "What this shows us is how the kill vehicle reacts to the decoy. Does it slow it down?"

The fate of the midcourse system may ultimately be tied to the fate of the Pentagon's low-orbit Space-Based Infrared System, or SBIRS Low, a constellation of satellites that is supposed to help sort out warheads from enemy decoys. The program, which has been marred by repeated delays and cost overruns, saw its funding cut by about $800 million in the latest 2003 budget proposal.

"We've been at SBIRS Low for 18 years," says Gen. Kadish, who acknowledges that the program has been a struggle. "It's still an important part of our sensing-suite requirements. It's an important part of our system."

There is also some hope that midcourse interceptors could be launched from ships. The Pentagon is exploring whether the Navy's theater-wide system, designed to protect ships and soldiers in battle, could be modified to protect the U.S. from missile attack. Lockheed is making the ship-based radar for that system and Raytheon its booster and interceptor. In a January test of the Navy theater system, an interceptor launched from Lake Erie was able to strike a missile.

The main appeal of the Navy system is its mobility. Because it's based on a ship, it can be moved almost anywhere in the world, allowing the U.S. to extend missile protection to allies in Europe and Asia.

But there are still major technological challenges. Several scientists say that the target in the initial Navy test was much larger than a typical missile, making it easier to hit. Also, to adapt the theater-based system to protect the nation, which is a far larger swath of territory, the Navy would have to build a much faster missile, which is no easy task. And even if it could build a faster ship-based missile, the system would have the same problem distinguishing an enemy's missiles from its decoys as the ground-based system, say critics.

Another midcourse option is the space-based laser, which is currently being developed as part of a demonstration program by Lockheed, Boeing and TRW. The goal is to put an experimental laser in space by 2012. Because a laser can fire again and again for relatively little money, it could take multiple shots at an incoming missiles and decoys. Lasers, which are often distorted by clouds or rain, are likely to be more effective in space.

The technology is the most blue-sky of any of the systems, however, and could take decades to develop and cost tens of billions of dollars to field, according to Pentagon officials.

Terminal Phase

The PAC-3, the latest version of the Patriot air-defense missile, is the first antimissile system to enter full-scale production, and is beginning to be deployed. It has been through 11 tests, all of which have been at least moderately successful.

The problem with the PAC-3, which is designed to hit a missile after it has passed through space and is hurtling back toward Earth, is its very limited range. Because the terminal phase is so brief -- less than three minutes -- such a system at best can protect only an airfield or a few thousand troops on a battlefield. Adapting it to cover major cities or larger areas might well be impossible because it would have to be located near the target and it's too difficult to predict where the missiles would come down.

--Mr. Jaffe is a staff reporter in the Wall Street Journal's Washington Bureau.

Subscribe to WSJ Online @ http://www.wsj.com

....Jen

-- posted by JenL_2

Top 1628. Apr 22, 2002 6:35 AM

» Kirk - Reflective Coatings

In response to message posted by JenL_2:

Billions of dollars to build this "defense system" and a can of reflective spray paint could "foil" the whole deal?

The enemy might also be able to foil the laser by placing reflective coating on its missiles

"Might?" how about "this will foil the system if they know the frequency of the laser."

-- posted by Kirk

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=st...

Top 1629. Apr 22, 2002 7:27 AM

» Kirk - Third Blast in Philippines

Third Blast in Philippines, Arroyo Vows Offensive
Sun Apr 21,10:36 PM ET

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (Reuters) - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news - web sites) called on Monday for a new offensive against Muslim guerrillas linked to al Qaeda after a third bomb in two days rocked the south of the country.

Photos

Reuters Photo

A man who said he represented the Abu Sayyaf Muslim group told a radio station on Monday that they were responsible for planting two bombs that killed 14 people in the southern city of General Santos on Sunday to protest against the U.S. military presence in the region.

He warned more violence would follow.

No one was hurt in Monday's bomb blast on a motor boat moored at a fishing village on the outskirts of General Santos, police said.

U.S. troops are training Philippine troops hunting Abu Sayyaf guerillas on their headquarters of Basilan Island, 215 miles west of General Santos on the island of Mindanao, which has a sizeable Muslim population.

Arroyo said a new offensive was needed against the rebels after Sunday's bombings, which also injured around 50 people, and said she would fly to General Santos on Monday for talks with local, military and police officials there.

"This is a grave showing again of terrorists. That's why we really should not give them even an inch of space in this world," Arroyo told a radio station.

-- posted by Kirk

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-0...

Top 1630. Apr 22, 2002 8:21 PM

» Steven_Russell - 300,000 Afghans returned home in past 7 weeks

The UN expected 400,000 over ten months. But it looks like folks are racing to get back home, some after 20 years.

300,000 Afghans Return Home From Pakistan in Seven Weeks

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xinhuanet 2002-04-22 19:16:41

ISLAMABAD, April 22 (Xinhuanet) -- A total of 300,855 Afghans have returned home from Pakistan in seven weeks alone since the UNHCR initiated its repatriation operation at the beginning of March, the UNHCR Islamabad office said on Monday.

It said in a press release that "When repatriation assistance started on March 1, the UNHCR anticipated a total of 400,000 refugees to return from Pakistan during 10 months. These planning figures have to be revised as the 10 months target is most likely to be reached in less than three months of operation."

"UNHCR workers have seen a great vriety of people returning. There is no such thing as a 'typical returnee'. Registration clerks see destitute families but also well-off Afghans who give up their jobs or business to go home. Uneducated people as well as intellectuals are heading home. Some have been refugees for as long as 20 years, others have been in Pakistan only for a few months," said the press release.

The two most popular destinations in Afghanistan are the capital of Kabul and Nangarhar with some 100,000 returns each, despite the fact that returnees are altered to the still precarious security situation in Nangarhar.

-- posted by Steven_Russell

Top 1631. Apr 22, 2002 8:40 PM

» JenL_2 - Re: 300,000 Afghans returned home in past 7 weeks

In response to message posted by Steven_Russell:

Steven - good to see that they want to go home and help rebuild Afghanistan. Wonder how many Afghani-Americans will want to return? I heard that there's also Afghani refugee camps in Australia. 'twill be interesting to see how Afgnani expatriates that have spent 20 years in the west get along with those that have been there all along......Jen

-- posted by JenL_2

Top 1632. Apr 22, 2002 10:34 PM

» JenL_2 - Yemen Terror Alert

In response to message posted by BPyles:

This from 4/22 MSNBC.com:

U.S. citizens put on alert in Yemen

Embassy warns Americans of possible terror attack

MSNBC NEWS SERVICES

In the latest of a string of alerts in recent months, the U.S. Embassy in Yemen warned Americans living there of of a possible imminent attack. The warning came as U.S. forces arrived in the north African country for the first time in an effort to train local forces to flush out terrorists believed to be taking refuge there.

“THE EMBASSY HAS received information that a terrorist attack against U.S. interests in Yemen might occur on or about April 23, 2002,” the embassy said on its Web site.

“While there are no details as to the possible target in Yemen, the Embassy is taking a number of additional security measures,” it added in a so-called warden message.

The embassy said that it was suspending immigrant visa and routine citizen services to the public Tuesday and that it would be open only for emergency citizen services.

The embassy has repeatedly warned Americans to avoid areas where pro-Palestinian protests were taking place in the capital, San’a, and itself became a target of anti-U.S. sentiment March 15 when a Yemeni man threw two devices at the embassy wall. They exploded but caused little damage.

Yemeni authorities have launched a U.S.-backed purge on supporters of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network, which is blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks that killed about 3,000 people in the United States.

The United States believes that followers of bin Laden are in hiding in remote parts of Yemen, where the U.S. destroyer Cole was attacked in 2000.

The embassy urged Americans to be vigilant, keep a low profile, vary routes and times of travel, avoid large crowds and demonstrations, and lock their doors and shut their windows while driving.

U.S. ADVISERS ON THE GROUND

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in an interview published Sunday that U.S. military advisers had begun training Yemeni troops hunting remnants of al-Qaida. “There are not more than around 40 [advisers] to train our anti-terrorist security units,” he told the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa.

It was the first official confirmation that the U.S. advisers had arrived in the poor Arab state, expanding the U.S.-led war on terrorism, which has already seen U.S. troops deployed in the Philippines and includes a plan to send special forces instructors to the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Yemen, trying to shed its image as a haven for Islamic militants, has cooperated closely with Washington after Sept. 11 and launched the first military offensive against al-Qaida militants outside Afghanistan.

When U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney met Saleh in Yemen last month to discuss plans for Washington to send military personnel, an aide to Saleh said that there was popular support for stationing U.S. military trainers there as long as they did not take part in actual military operations.

In a separate report Sunday, a U.S. team was reportedly in Yemen to install a sophisticated monitoring system at airports and border crossings in an effort to catch members of al-Qaida members.

The system, which includes computers and cameras, will link Yemeni air and sea ports and land crossings to a central office in San’a, the official said.

The Yemeni official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not give the size of the U.S. team or say how long it had been in the country or when it was scheduled to leave.

A U.S. Embassy official said on condition of anonymity that the team was helping Yemen computerize its immigration points of entry and exit as part of a terrorist interdiction program.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

the team was helping Yemen computerize its immigration points of entry and exit as part of a terrorist interdiction program.

Would that we could do the same for our immigration points of entry & exit!....Jen

-- posted by JenL_2

Top 1633. Apr 23, 2002 6:03 PM

» BPyles - OBL's Spain fundraiser

Tuesday, 23 April, 2002, 20:32 GMT 21:32 UK , BBC
Spain detains 'al-Qaeda fundraiser'

Abu Talha: Sixteen al-Qaeda suspects are held in Spain

Spanish police have arrested a man thought to be a key figure in financing Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Syrian-born Spaniard Muhammad Galeb Kalaje Zouaydi, also known as Abu Talha, was detained in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

The arrest follows the detention in Barcelona last week of Algerian Ahmed Brahim, who is suspected of being al-Qaeda's chief accountant in Spain.

The capture brings to 16 the total number of al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Spain since the 11 September attacks on the US.

Abu Talha is believed to have channelled money to a number of countries including Germany, where the suicide bomber, Mohammed Atta, had been operating before 11 September.

Mohammed Atta is known to have visited Spain twice in the months leading up to the United States bombings.

Under surveillance

Other countries believed to have been part of Abu Talha's money web are Belgium, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, China, Turkey, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

Abu Talha allegedly used a business in housing construction and sales as a cover.

Other arrests in Spain include Abu Dahdah, allegedly in charge of the group's infrastructure, and Abu Ilyas, who was resident in Germany and in close contact with Mohammed Atta.

The group had been under surveillance in Spain for almost two months before 11 September.

Observers say Spain's increasing use as an entry point for immigrants from the Muslim world makes it an ideal place for Islamic militants to operate in secret.

-- posted by BPyles