US Issues Travel Alert For Americans In Europe

The US State Department issued a travel alert on Sunday for American traveling in Europe after Western intelligence agencies last week uncovered an Al Qaeda plot to wage attacks on European cities. The US State Department issued a travel alert Sunday to urge Americans traveling to Europe to use caution and vigilance in the wake of a terrorist plot uncovered last week to attack major European cities.

"Current information suggests that Al Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks," warns the alert. "US citizens should take every precaution to be aware of their surroundings and to adopt appropriate safety measures to protect themselves when traveling."

The alert also warns that terrorists might attack public transportation systems and "tourist infrastructure."

The alert is not a travel warning, which would advise Americans from traveling to Europe. But it underlines how seriously officials are taking the recent Al Qaeda threat against Europe.

The Associated Press reports that the US did not meet strong opposition from European leaders when it informed them of the plan to issue the alert. But the New York Times reports that European officials have been worried about the effect such an action could have on tourism and student travel to Europe.

Al Qaeda plot

A US official told the AP the travel alert is “a cumulative result of information the US has received over an extended period.” But it comes after the revelation last week that Western intelligence agencies had uncovered an Al Qaeda plot to wage attacks on European cities. The Monitor reported that the plan was reportedly to mimic the style of the deadly attack on Mumbai in 2008, with small teams of heavily-armed militants moving in teams to capture and execute Westerners in Britain, France, and Germany.

Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan were reportedly behind the attack, and intelligence agencies have said that Osama bin Laden was possibly involved personally. The plot may have been uncovered when authorities detained a German terror suspect in Afghanistan in July.
Link to drone strikes in Pakistan?

Media reports have linked the plot to US drone strikes in Pakistan. But it is unclear whether the Al Qaeda plot was an attempt to respond to the drone strikes, or whether the strikes were intended to disrupt the plot – or both. The Wall Street Journal reports that the number of reported drone attacks in Pakistan doubled in September, up to 22.

Regardless of the reason for the reported plot to attack Europe, officials appear to be reacting with seriousness.

In addition to the travel alert, Sweden announced Friday that it has raised its terror alert to the highest status, reports The Guardian. France has been hit particularly hard: the Eiffel Tower in Paris was evacuated twice in September after bomb threats and a warning was issued about a female suicide bomber targeting public transit. The Monitor reported that France has been unusually shaken by the recent threats.

The terror warnings have put Europe on alert and caused France, which prides itself in taking something of a phlegmatic view of the threat of terrorism, to increase its terror alert to “red plus” – the second-highest level. France's uncharacteristic cautiousness could signal the seriousness of recent threats, say security analysts, and suggests a new attitude emerging in France toward security.

www.csmonitor.com

Ground Zero Mosque Protest Planned

The Coalition to honor Ground Zero is set to hold a rally on Sunday, August 22, in order to prevent construction of the planned mosque.

President Obama's support for the construction of a mega-mosque and Islamic center two blocks from ground zero in lower Manhattan has sparked public outrage and bipartisan condemnation. The controversial plan would place a 13-story mosque where Islamic terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people on 9/11. The Coalition to Honor Ground Zero will rally with patriotic Americans from all backgrounds near the World Trade Center site on Sunday, August 22nd to protest construction of the mosque and make clear the message that they want no stealth jihad or brutal Shariah Islamic Law in America.

Among those who will be represented at the Sunday rally are blue-collar workers who have united and are taking a "Hardhat Pledge" - promising not to take part in the building of the mosque. In addition, firefighters, veterans, the families of 9/11 victims, first responders, human rights and women's rights leaders, and residents of the Ground Zero neighborhood will be present in support of the rally this Sunday.

"The Coalition to Honor Ground Zero, the 9/11 Families and first responders are heartened by the support of the many patriots from around America who will be joining the Coalition on Sunday to seek the truth about this mosque, its Imam, and his financial supporters," stated Tim Brown, a firefighter who was at the World Trade Center on 9/11 as the buildings came down and who lost 93 friends that day.

"The Coalition will continue to pursue why our State Department is sending an Imam around the country and abroad who stated that 'United States' policies were an accessory to the crime that happened [on 9/11]' and that '...in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA.'"

Andy Sullivan, a construction worker who was at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and who created the Hardhat Pledge, states: "Our opposition to the Ground Zero mosque is not about freedom of religion but about respect and human decency."

www.postchronicle.com

Obama Supports Mosque At Ground Zero

WASHINGTON (AP) - After skirting the controversy for weeks, President Barack Obama is weighing in forcefully on the mosque near ground zero, saying a nation built on religious freedom must allow it.

"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," Obama told an intently listening crowd gathered at the White House Friday evening to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," he said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."

The White House had not previously taken a stand on the mosque, which would be part of a $100 million Islamic community center two blocks from where nearly 3,000 people perished when hijacked jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Press secretary Robert Gibbs had insisted it was a local matter.

It was already much more than that, sparking debate around the country as top Republicans including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich announced their opposition. So did the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group.

Obama elevated it to a presidential issue Friday without equivocation.

While insisting that the place where the twin towers once stood was indeed "hallowed ground," Obama said that the proper way to honor it was to apply American values.

Harkening back to earlier times when the building of synagogues or Catholic churches also met with opposition, Obama said: "Time and again, the American people have demonstrated that we can work through these issues, and stay true to our core values and emerge stronger for it. So it must be and will be today."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent who has been a strong supporter of the mosque, welcomed Obama's words as a "clarion defense of the freedom of religion."

But some victims' advocates and Republicans were quick to pounce.

"Barack Obama has abandoned America at the place where America's heart was broken nine years ago, and where her true values were on display for all to see," said Debra Burlingame, a spokeswoman for some Sept. 11 victims' families and the sister of one of the pilots killed in the attacks.

Building the mosque at ground zero, she said, "is a deliberately provocative act that will precipitate more bloodshed in the name of Allah."

Added Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.: "President Obama is wrong. It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero."

Entering the highly charged election-year debate, Obama surely knew that his words would not only make headlines in the U.S. but be heard by Muslims worldwide. The president has made it a point to reach out to the global Muslim community, and the over 100 guests at Friday's dinner in the State Dining Room included ambassadors and officials from numerous nations where Islam is observed, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

While his pronouncement concerning the mosque might find favor in the Muslim world, Obama's stance runs counter to the opinions of the majority of Americans, according to polls. A CNN/Opinion Research poll released this week found that nearly 70 percent of Americans opposed the mosque plan while just 29 percent approved. A number of Democratic politicians have shied away from the controversy.

Opponents, including some Sept. 11 victims' relatives, see the prospect of a mosque so near the destroyed trade center as an insult to the memory of those killed by Islamic terrorists in the 2001 attacks.

www.wavy.com

NO Anti Terrorism Training Center To Be Built On The Eastern Shore

The federal government has abandoned plans to build an anti-terrorism training center on the Eastern Shore, a project that attracted determined opposition from local residents and conservationists.

Already running behind schedule, the $100 million-plus security facility — which was to have included test tracks for evasive driving manuevers, shooting ranges, a bomb explosion pit and a mock urban neighborhood for counter-terrorist drills — faced the prospect of additional delays and an approval process that could have taken years.

"After further analysis," 2,000 acres of farmland in Queen Anne's County "will no longer be considered" for the State Department's diplomatic security facility, the head of the government's real-estate arm wrote in a letter Monday to Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, an early supporter of the plan.

General Services Administrator Martha Johnson said preliminary environmental studies "showed that, among other potential concerns, there would be a significant change in land use and considerable noise and traffic impacts."

Those objections, and others, were raised at the outset by critics of the project. It was to have been built in Ruthsburg, a quiet rural crossroads about 30 miles from Annapolis and half an hour from the eastern end of the Bay Bridge.

In the letter, Johnson singled out the "input" of Queen Anne's County citizens during a six-month review process and said she was "confident it led to the proper conclusion."

No new site — or timeline for selecting one — has been announced. Mikulski's office said she still wants it built in Maryland and has spoken with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about considering other locations in the state. Speculation about possible alternate sites includes Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harforn O'Malley.

In a statement, Kratovil expressed disappointment that the decision to pull the plug on the security center meant his district had "lost out on this economic opportunity."

Opponents say the facility should be built on existing federal property in the capital region.

But federal officials settled on a collection of privately owned grain fields across from Tuckahoe State Park as the preferred site. As recently as January, top Washington officials expressed confidence that they would begin acquiring land for the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center within six months.

It soon became clear that those expectations were unrealistic. Members of the Queen Anne's County Commission reversed course in the face of citizen opposition and dropped their support for the campus-like facility.

"Some of us felt a little bamboozled," said Eric Wargotz, a county commissioner and Republican Senate candidate against Mikulski, who was among those who switched sides after having worked to attract the federal facility.

"Jobs are important," he said. "But it was the wrong place for this project."

Mikulski met privately in Ruthsburg Monday with about 15 local critics of the project to inform them personally about the decision. In a prepared statement, she said she had "fought hard for this process to work and for the voices of the residents of Queen Anne's County to be heard."

Late last year, she hailed selection of the site as "good news for three reasons: jobs, jobs and more jobs for Maryland." But after bureaucrats from Washington bungled an initial Queen Anne's public hearing in January, the senator condemned their performance as an "unmitigated disaster."

Kratovil and others also backed away as the controversy threatened to become an election-year issue.

Republican senators, eager to target the issue of budget deficits, recently singled out the Ruthsburg project as an example of politically motivated pork-barrel spending and sought unsuccessfully to remove the funding from the stimulus program.

The announcement that the Shore location had been dropped came 10 days after a federal judge ordered the government to expedite processing of a demand by project opponents for release of internal documents about how the site was chosen.

Among the requested documents are communications between key decision-makers in the executive branch and three Maryland lawmakers, Mikulski, Kratovil and Rep. Steny Hoyer, the number two official in the House.

It was not immediately clear whether the decision to pull the plug on the Ruthsburg site would alter the requirement for a quick release of documents about the selection process.

"I think there is a reason that the government has continued to stonewall us on our requests. And I think there is a reason that, even after we filed a lawsuit, there are obviously things they don't want to disclose," said Jay Falstad of the Queen Anne's Conservation Association, which successfully sued the government over the information.

"We have every expectation that those documents will still be produced," he said. "We want to see how Ruthsburg came to be the preferred location."

Federal officials say they searched throughout a 150-mile radius of Washington for a suitable site before settling on Ruthsburg. Officials assured local residents that they would protect the sensitive environment of the Eastern Shore in building the facility.

But in March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — which had been excluded from a formal review of the proposal — warned that it "may adversely affect" the Chesapeake Bay environment, including wetlands and, posssibly, endangered species.

It urged the State Department and GSA to conduct a more thorough study that would have required a lengthier review, increasing the chances that the project might never be built there.

www.baltimoresun.com