Terrorism: US Homeland Security Warning Airlines to Beware of Possible Shoe Bombs

US Homeland Security is warning airlines to beware of possible terror shoe bombs. Hmm, haven’t the Islamists already tried this?

According to accounts, there is no specific threat or known plot, but obviously the NSA must have overheard someones cell phone conversation or read their emails. As reported at NBC News, several officials familiar with the advisory that “very recent intelligence” considered credible warns of possible attempts to attack passenger jets using explosives concealed in shoes. One would have thought after the failed attempt by Richard Reid, that the cat would have been out of the bag as to this method of delivering a bomb. Sadly, these terrorists are persistent on killing innocent people in the name of Allah.

Hmm, I guess Al-Qaeda is not on the run, they might even be in the friendly skies.

CNN:

The U.S. government has warned airlines to pay particular attention to the possibility of terrorists attempting to hide explosives in shoes, a result of new intelligence, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The officials stressed there is no specific threat or known plot.
Intelligence collected by the United States and other countries has indicated terror groups have been working on new shoe-bomb designs, the sources said Wednesday.

That knowledge prompted the Department of Homeland Security to warn airlines to be on the lookout for explosives hidden in shoes on flights from overseas to the United States, they said.

A separate intelligence official underscored the warning was issued out of a sense of heightened caution.

“This threat is not specific or credible enough to require a specific response. DHS often issues these alerts out of an abundance of caution, but this does not necessarily rise to the level of facilitating a response,” the intelligence official said.

With Terror Threats Ahead of Sochi Winter Olympic Games, American Athletes and Americans Urged Not to Wear Anything that ID’s them as Americans in Public

Sorry, but if this is what the Olympics has come to, then the terrorists have won …

The Olympic represent the pinnacle of National pride for the host country and for the athletes who represent their own countries competing in the games. But as reported by CBS News, Americans might be hard pressed to find the stars and stripes and team USA logos in Sochi. The Olympic committee told the US athletes not to wear anything that identifies them as American in public. Sadly, the gutless Barack Obama/John Kerry State Department agrees. So athletes and fans are not supposed to show pride and patriotism in the US, they are supposed to cower in fear. Why even go if that is the case? This speaks volumes of our current federal government an namely Barack Obama, doesn’t it!!!

It would appear that the motto of the Olympics of Citius, Altius, Fortius  (faster, higher, stronger) has been changed to take part in your sport under the cloak of anonymity and hide from those who would kill you.

So let’s understand this, the US is succumbing to the threats of terrorists?  Really? We are allowing terrorists to dictate what we do and how we act? What a gutless government we have.  Sorry, but if the Olympic committee was really serious about any of this they would have never granted the Winter Olympic games to be held in the middle of a terrorist hot bed. How bad is it that athletes who have trained their entire lives for this one moment in time have to ask their families to stay how for safety reasons? What the hell was the IOC thinking in granting these games in the first place? Hey, I say the Summer games should be held in Egypt, Syria or Iran next. It makes about as much sense.

Has anyone ever told the IOC, Barack Obama and the State Department that you do not appease bullies, you stand up to them? Terrorists pride themselves upon fear and sadly Obama is showing that he is just that weak.

Video Surfaces Threatening Terrorist “Surprise Package” for the Winter Olympics in Sochi … Are the Olympics Safe from Terrorism?

A new video was posted Sunday on a Chechen terrorist extremist web site threatening terror attacks for the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. The video threatens jihad and that, “We’ll have a surprise package for you,” one of the men said in the militants’ video. “And those tourists that will come to you, for them, too, we have a surprise.” This comes on the foot-heals of two terrorist bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd. One was a suicide bombing at a train station killing 14, and the other aboard a trolley bus.

Citing a new “surprise package” for Russia and Olympic spectators, Islamist militants in the North Caucasus Sunday launched a new threat to the Sochi Olympics with a purported “martyrdom” video by two suicide bombers who attacked a transit hub 400 miles away.

The video posted on a Chechen extremist site considered a credible platform for militant statements featured two unidentified men before the black flag of jihad and cradling AKMS rifles.

The duo — dressed in street clothes and without the usual trappings of jihadis — casually explained that Russians and those attending the Winter Games next month will not be safe as long as forces sent by President Vladimir Putin occupy the North Caucasus region near Sochi, Russia.

“We’ll have a surprise package for you,” one of the men said in the militants’ video. “And those tourists that will come to you, for them, too, we have a surprise. If it happens [the Olympics], we’ll have a surprise for you. This is for all the Muslim blood that is shed every day around the world, be it in Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, all around the world. This will be our revenge.”

VIDEO – CNN

The American Thinker asks, Can the Russians pull off a terror-free Olympics? My personal opinion is I sure hope so; however, I have to agree with TAT, I don’t trust the Russians to be competent enough either. Also, these Muslim, Islamist, Chechen extremists are highly motivated and off the chain insane when it comes to martyrdom in the name of Allah.

I don’t trust the Russians to be competent enough to prevent attacks and protect the Olympics. To me, it’s not a question of “if” but “when” an attack will happen. People are willing to die to make Putin look bad. That does not bode well for the safety of tourists or athletes at the games.

The U.S. State Department today urged Americans traveling to the Winter Olympics in Sochi in southern Russia to be “vigilant and exercise good judgment” during the Games because of the continuing terrorist threat to the region.

The Russian government is devoting considerable resources to ensure the Sochi Olympics are safe and incident-free.  Large-scale public events such as the Olympics present an attractive target for terrorists, as did the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.  Travelers should expect increased police presence and enhanced security measures in and around the Olympic venues.

Acts of terrorism, including bombings and hostage takings, continue to occur in Russia, particularly in the North Caucasus region.  Additionally, between October 15 – December 30, 2013 there were three suicide bombings targeting public transportation in the city of Volgograd, two of which occurred within the same 24-hour period. Other bombings have occurred at Russian government buildings, airports, hotels, tourist sites, markets, entertainment venues, schools, and residential complexes.  There have also been large-scale attacks on public transportation including subways, buses, trains, and scheduled commercial flights.

UPDATE I: Putin pledges stepped up security.

Putin has pledged that visitors to Sochi for the Winter Olympics will be kept safe.

“We will try to make certain that the security measures are not intrusive or too conspicuous, so they are not too noticeable for the athletes, the Olympics’ guests or journalists,” Putin said, according to the interview transcript.

“But at the same time, we will do our utmost to ensure that they are effective.

UPDATE II: Just curious, how in the hell did Sochi actually get awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics when it was in such a terror rich environment? How does the Olympic comity even contemplate a place like this in a hot bed of terrorism as the location for an Olympics?  Sochi is due west of Grozny, Chechnya, and is about a 13 hour drive. Also, the Boston Marathon bombers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which neighbors the Chechnya region in southern Russia. What’s there next pick, Iran, Palestine, how about Syria?

Freelance journalist Ilya Mouzykantskii (@ilyamuz) has put together a map of all terrorist attacks near Sochi since Russia was awarded the Olympic games

Another EPIC FAILURE for Barack Obama: Al Qaeda Takeover of Fallujah in Iraq … Thanks Barack

And the Barack Obama failures keep coming … This one was just as predictable as Obamacare.

Thanks to President Barack Obama and his premature withdrawal of American military forces out of Iraq in 2011, it would appear that the vacuum left is now being sucked up by Al Qaeda affiliates over-running parts of Iraq, including the city of Fallujah. So who did not see this coming when Obama withdrew US troops? Once again Obama’s foreign policy in the Middle East has been 100% wrong.  As The Gateway Pundit reminds us, when George W. Bush left office the War in Iraq was won. Now, just 5 short years later all of the US gains in Iraq have been lost and the Al-Qaeda flag now flies above Fallujah. But I guess Obama and Democrats will attempt to blame this on W as well.

Black-clad Sunni militants of Al Qaeda destroyed the Falluja Police Headquarters and mayor’s office, planted their flag atop other government buildings and decreed the western Iraqi city to be their new independent state on Friday in an escalating threat to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whose forces were struggling to retake control late into the night.

The advances by the militants — members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS — came after days of fighting in Falluja, Ramadi and other areas of Anbar Province. The region is a center of Sunni extremism that has grown more intense in reaction to Mr. Maliki’s Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad and the neighboring civil war in Syria.

Donald Douglass at American Power is 1000% correct and this Obama failure is going to hurt the United States for many years, decades, “This is specifically a result of the Obama administration’s foreign policy, and it’s going to come back a bite the U.S. and our allies for years to come”.

FOX News: McCain, Graham blast Obama for Al Qaeda-related takeover of Fallujah, call situation ‘predictable’.

Republican senators on Saturday blamed the Obama administration for Al Qaeda affiliates over-running parts of Iraq, including the city of Fallujah, which the United States secured before President Obama removed all U.S. forces from that country in 2011.

Sen. John McCain, Arizona, and Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, called the recent turn of events “as tragic as they were predictable” and suggested Obama misled Americans into believing that Iraqi leaders wanted U.S. forces out of their country.

“While many Iraqis are responsible for this strategic disaster, the administration cannot escape its share of the blame,” the senators said in a joint statement. “When President Obama withdrew all U.S. forces … over the objections of our military leaders and commanders on the ground, many of us predicted that the vacuum would be filled by America’s enemies and would emerge as a threat to U.S. national security interests. Sadly, that reality is now clearer than ever.”

The Al Qaeda-affiliated fighters took over Fallujah on Friday after a bloody three-day battle, raising their flag over government buildings as a sign of victory, according to The Washington Post.

I really hope that Barack Obama is proud of himself for his ignorant and Pollyanna foreign policy decisions like Iraq where Obama has pulled defeat from the jaws of victory. As stated by the Ace of Spades says, all those “American troops spilled their guts fighting Al Qaeda in Fallujah in 2004.” And with this rank amateur president in office, it now seems all that precious American lives were for nothing.

How is America and the world going to survive three more years of this failed a$$ clown?

Second Suicide Terror Bombing in Less Than 24 Hours in Volgograd Russia Kills 14 People Trolley Bus

Just ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi Russia … What will security be like for the Winter Games?

A second terrorist suicide bomb in Volgograd Russia in less than 24 hours ripped through a trolleybus Monday morning killing 14 and injuring at least 28 people. The bomb detonated in a trolleybus, packed with morning commuters, at about 8:10 a.m. local time and was the second suicide terror attack in less than 24 hours. Just yesterday a suicide bomber at a train station in Volgograd killed at least 14. The latest updated number of deaths fronm the train station is now at 16. As reported at USA Today, no one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Volgograd, but it came several months after Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called for attacks against civilian targets in Russia, including the Sochi Games.

VIDEO – CNN

A fatal bomb explosion ripped apart a trolleybus in Volgograd on Monday morning, killing at least 14 people and injuring 28, in the second terrorist attack in the southern Russian city in less than 24 hours.

Several of the wounded, who officials said included a six-month-old infant, are in serious condition.

Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said that investigators believe a male suicide bomber carried out the attack, which he said was linked to another fatal bombing in the city on Sunday afternoon.

Authorities believe the first explosion, which killed 17 people and injured more than 40 at the Volgograd-1 railway station, was also the work of a suicide bomber.

Markin said that remains of both suspected bombers, which were recovered at the scenes, are undergoing DNA testing.

Monday’s blast marks the third such attack in Volgograd in two months, and comes just weeks before Russia is due to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in February in the city of Sochi.

The bomb detonated in a trolleybus, packed with morning commuters, at about 8:10 a.m. (0410 GMT), the Investigative Committee said.

UPDATE I: Successive suicide bombings in Russia kill over 30.

Together more than 30 people were killed in the explosions, putting the city of one million on edge and highlighting the terrorist threat Russia is facing as it prepares to host February’s Winter Games in Sochi, President Vladimir Putin’s pet project. While terrorists may find it hard to get to the tightly guarded Olympic facilities, the bombings have shown they can hit civilian targets elsewhere in Russia with shocking ease.

Volgograd, located about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northeast of Sochi, serves as a key transport hub for southern Russia, with numerous bus routes linking it to volatile provinces in Russia’s North Caucasus, where insurgents have been seeking an Islamic state.