Sunday, February 15, 2015
Frog Dog - Many warriors go their separate ways after war !
Some SEALs carry ladders, comm gear, breaching tools, explosives and other various kit items specific to the specialty they bring to the fight. Whether Trevor Marshek was rappelling off a cliff, parachuting off the back of a plane, or scaling a wall, his special piece of kit came in the form of a 110-lb. dog with 2" canines. Many warriors go their separate ways after war, but Trevor brought his buddy home with him.
Denmark: Investigators Uncovering Possible Link Between Islamic State and Free Speech Event Shooter
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish police shot and killed a man early Sunday suspected of carrying out shooting attacks at a free speech event and then at a Copenhagen synagogue, killing two men, including a member of Denmark’s Jewish community. Five police officers were also wounded in the attacks.
“Denmark has been hit by terror,” Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said. “We do not know the motive for the alleged perpetrator’s actions, but we know that there are forces that want to hurt Denmark. They want to rebuke our freedom of speech.”
Jens Madsen, head of the Danish intelligence agency PET, said investigators believe the gunman was inspired by Islamic radicalism.
“PET is working on a theory that the perpetrator could have been inspired by the events in Paris. He could also have been inspired by material sent out by (the Islamic State group) and others,” Madsen said.
Islamic radicals carried out a massacre at the Charlie Hebdo newsroom in Paris last month, followed by an attack on Jews at a kosher grocery store, taking the lives of 17 victims.
At a news conference Madsen also said investigators have identified the suspect and that he is someone who had been on the agency’s “radar.” He did not reveal his identity.
Denmark’s Chief Rabbi, Jair Melchior, identified the Jewish victim as Dan Uzan, 37, a longtime security guard for the 7,000-strong community. He was guarding a building behind the synagogue during a bat mitzvah when he was shot in the head. Two police officers who were there were slightly wounded.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decried the attack and said his government plans to encourage a “massive immigration” of Jews from Europe.
“Again, Jews were murdered on European soil just because they were Jews,” Netanyahu said at the start of his Cabinet meeting Sunday. “This wave of attacks is expected to continue, as well as murderous anti-Semitic attacks. Jews deserve security in every country, but we say to our Jewish brothers and sisters, Israel is your home.”
Other leaders also condemned the attacks, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU President Donald Tusk,
“The shootings in Copenhagen are an appalling attack on free speech and religious freedom,” Cameron said. “Two innocent people have been murdered simply for their beliefs and my thoughts are with their loved ones and all those injured at this tragic time.”
The first shooting happened before 4 p.m. Saturday when the gunman used an automatic weapon to shoot through the windows of the Krudttoenden cultural center during a panel discussion on freedom of expression featuring a Swedish artist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad. The artist, Lars Vilks, was whisked away unharmed by his bodyguards but a 55-year-old man attending the event was killed, while three police officers were wounded, authorities said.
The attack at the synagogue occurred hours later, shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday.
About four hours later, the shooter was confronted by police as he returned to an address that they were keeping under surveillance. Investigators described him as 25 to 30 years old with an athletic build and carrying a black automatic weapon. They released a blurred photograph of the suspect wearing dark clothes and a scarf covering part of his face.
Oliver Larsen, 26, who lives in a building above the street where the suspect was shot dead, said he was awoken at 5 a.m. by the sound of shooting.
“I looked out of the window to see what was going on and I saw a lot of policemen and a guy lying on the street; he was probably dead,” Larsen told the AP.
Vilks, a 68-year-old artist who has faced numerous death threats for depicting Muhammad as a dog in 2007, told The Associated Press he believed he was the intended target of the first shooting, which happened at a panel discussion titled “Art, blasphemy and freedom of expression.”
“What other motive could there be? It’s possible it was inspired by Charlie Hebdo,” he said, referring to the Jan. 7 attack by Islamic extremists on the French newspaper that had angered Muslims by lampooning Muhammad.
The depiction of the prophet is deemed insulting to many followers of Islam. According to mainstream Islamic tradition, any physical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad — even a respectful one — is considered blasphemous.
While many Muslims have expressed disgust at the deadly assault on the Charlie Hebdo employees, many were also deeply offended by its cartoons lampooning Muhammad.
The attacks took place two days after Denmark and its partners in the European Union agreed to dramatically boost cooperation in the counter-terrorism field as a result of the January attacks in Paris, which claimed the lives of 17 victims.
The EU’s law enforcement agency, Europol, said Sunday it was in contact with Danish authorities and proposing its help to find out as much as possible about the Copenhagen gunman and whether he was acting alone or in concert with others.
“We are offering our expertise and capabilities from our anti-terrorist unit including access to our databases,” said Europol spokesman Soeren Pedersen.
ISIS and Boko Haram Are Teaming Up For Terror
Extremist groups Boko Haram and ISIS are growing increasingly connected in ways that could magnify their abilities to inflict violence and terror, a senior intelligence official revealed Thursday.
National Counterterrorism Center Director Nicholas Rasmussen drew attention to “the increased intercommunication between Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the northern part of, the northwestern part of Africa, and even with ISIL” during a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
He then pointed out that these extremist groups were broadening their reach through mutual contact.
“All of that just adds to the picture of an interconnected terrorist network with the ability to share resources, personnel, expertise, and tradecraft in a way that serves as a multiplier to their own capabilities, and that’s a disturbing trend,” Rasmussen told the panel.
Boko Haram has previously been known to mirror the so-called Islamic State’s online media campaigns and push for a land grab, in a way that could have paved the road to future coordination.
But this is the first time that the intelligence community has acknowledged that there was some degree of communication and interconnectivity between the two groups.
As recently as last week, two intelligence officials were playing down the prospect of cooperation between Boko Haram and ISIS. “There is no known tactical cooperation or leadership communication,” an intelligence official said at a briefing last week with a group of reporters. The officials held the briefing on the condition of anonymity.
The U.S. government is arguing that its coalition against ISIS is succeeding in slowing the extremist group’s momentum on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria. But from a strategic vantage point, ISIS has been able to expand its reach through additional affiliations in Africa and even South Asia.
“ISIL has reached out and developed affiliated relationships, endorsement-like relationships with groups outside of Iraq and Syria, including in North Africa, including in Algeria, and including in, I believe, Yemen as well,” Rasmussen said.
“All of that just adds to the picture of an interconnected terrorist network with the ability to share resources, personnel, expertise, and tradecraft in a way that serves as a multiplier to their own capabilities, and that’s a disturbing trend.”
Boko Haram’s emerging connections with ISIS could have implications in a war-authorization bill that Congress is now considering. In a draft version submitted to Congress by the White House, the president requested authority to use military force against the Islamic State “and associated forces,” without geographical limitations.
The administration’s acknowledgement of their mutual communication could hypothetically open the door to the authorization to use military force in West Africa against Boko Haram.
The AUMF draft proposed by the White House “likely allowed to the possibility that other networks… might align themselves with ISIL,” Rasmussen said Thursday. The language allows for the “development of new alliances, new alignments that we can’t foresee today.” Rasmussen did not specifically address whether the proposed AUMF could be used to target Boko Haram.
The so-called Islamic State, which recently announced the death of U.S. hostage Kayla Mueller and is responsible for the deaths of several more American hostages, has been undergoing a period of rising notoriety. It announced an expansion in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, and Saudi Arabia in November. Last month, it confirmed the formation of a South Asian affiliate.
Boko Haram, meanwhile, has been sowing terror in Nigeria—a campaign of “unprecedented violence,” according to Rasmussen. It has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings of five Westerners, positing a threat to American and Western interests, and in the past year captured military outposts in the northeast of Nigeria, giving it access and influence over a 380-mile portion of Nigeria’s international borders. Further, Rasmussen said in his testimony, Boko Haram’s violence has displaced over one million people within Nigeria.
Told by Rasmussen about the increasing connections between ISIS and Boko Haram, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner said the Senate Intelligence Committee should “keep our eye on” this issue. But Rasmussen had raised one difficulty regarding Boko Haram in previous testimony: “This is a part of the world where we do not the largest resource footprint,” he said.
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