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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Iranian Navy May Threaten U.S. East Coast:

Iranian Navy May Threaten U.S. East Coast;


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  • The U.S. Navy has a new threat coming its way, and this time it will be right off the U.S. Atlantic coast.

    The head of the Iranian Navy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, told the official news agency IRNA that Iran expects to deploy ships off the coast of the U.S. Sayyari did not specify what type or how many ships, nor did he suggest when such a deployment would occur, but the Iranian navy only recently sent ships through the Suez Canal for the first time. They are believed to have extremely limited blue water capabilities.
    The U.S. Navy consists of 281 warships of various sizes -- the largest blue water military force in the world -- and does not include substantial Coast Guard assets that protect the U.S. coastline or any ships that are used for coastal defense only. In other words, Iranian naval forces have little capability to directly threaten the U.S. now or in the foreseeable future. Rightfully, the U.S. had no immediate comment about the threat.
    By contrast, the Iranian navy is basically a coastal defense force, with an marine force that GlobalSecurity describes as "outdated and in need of substantial modernization" and little ability to support an extended deployment across the Atlantic Ocean. They have no refueling capabilities. No foreign bases. No treaties that grant naval port calls in a foreign harbor.
    While no specific numbers are available on Iranian ship composition or numbers, they are not believed possess any significant number of ocean capable ships -- let alone anything that could pose a threat to U.S. cities from the sea. Sayyari's threat is more baseless propaganda from the Islamic Republic and gains nothing in the global community.
    It is precisely this type of posturing that keeps Iran and the U.S. from ever beginning to normalize diplomatic relations. These military threats, along with the constant U.S. bashing by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in public speeches and international forums only widens the gulf of political differences between the long-term adversaries.
    There have been no formal diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Iran since the 1979 overthrow of the Shah of Iran's government and the seizing of the American embassy in Tehran. That's a long time to hold a grudge on both sides. Despite a long war, the U.S. and Vietnam were able to re-establish diplomatic relations and have since become strong trading partners. That will not happen with Iran until the threats stop.

    Could model airplanes become a terrorist weapon?:

    Could model airplanes become a terrorist weapon?

    BOSTON (AP) — Model airplanes are suddenly on the public's radar as potential terrorist weapons. A 26-year-old man from a Boston suburb was arrested Wednesday and accused of plotting to attack the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives.
    These are not balsa-wood-and-rubber-band toys investigators are talking about. The FBI said Rezwan Ferdaus hoped to use military-jet replicas, 5 to 7 1/2 feet long, guided by GPS devices and capable of speeds over 100 mph.
    Federal officials have long been aware of the possibility someone might try to use such planes as weapons, but there are no restrictions on their purchase — Ferdaus is said to have bought his over the Internet.
    Counterterrorism experts and model-aircraft hobbyists said it would be nearly impossible to inflict large-scale damage of the sort Ferdaus allegedly envisioned using model planes. The aircraft are too small, can't carry enough explosives and are too tricky to fly, they said.
    "The idea of pushing a button and this thing diving into the Pentagon is kind of a joke, actually," said Greg Hahn, technical director of the Academy of Model Aeronautics.
    Rick Nelson, a former Navy helicopter pilot who is now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Ferdaus would have had to hit a window or other vulnerable area to maximize damage, and that would have taken precision flying.
    "Flying a remote-controlled plane isn't as easy as it actually looks, and then to put an explosive on it and have that explosive detonate at the time and place that you want it add to the difficulty of actually doing it," he said.
    Ferdaus, a Muslim American from Ashland, was arrested after federal agents posing as al-Qaida members delivered what he believed was 24 pounds of C-4 explosive, authorities said. He was charged with attempting to damage or destroy a federal building with explosives. A federal affidavit claims he began planning "jihad" against the U.S. in early 2010 after becoming convinced through jihadi websites and videos that America was evil.
    Ferdaus had a physics degree from Northeastern University and enjoyed "taking stuff apart" and "learning on my own," according to court papers.
    The model planes Ferdaus eyed were the F-4 Phantom and the F-86 Sabre, small-scale versions of military jets, investigators said. The F-4 is the more expensive of the two, at up to $20,000, Hahn said. The F-86, one of which Ferdaus actually obtained, costs $6,000 to $10,000 new.
    Ferdaus' plan, as alleged in court papers, was to launch three such planes from a park near the Pentagon and Capitol and use GPS to direct them toward the buildings, where they would detonate on impact and blow the Capitol dome to "smithereens." He planned to pack five pounds of plastic explosives on each plane, according to prosecutors.
    James Crippin, an explosives and anti-terrorism expert, said that much C-4 could do serious damage — a half-pound will obliterate a car. But he said getting a stable explosive like C-4 to blow up at the right time would have been hugely difficult.
    And there were slim prospects of causing any serious damage to buildings like the Pentagon and Capitol, which are undoubtedly hardened to withstand explosions, according to Crippin, director of the Western Forensic Law Enforcement Training Center.
    "Basically, I think he's suffering from delusions of grandeur," he said.
    Hahn said the heavier of the two models Ferdaus was allegedly planning to use could carry a maximum of two pounds of plastic explosive before malfunctioning. That's not including the weight of any GPS system, he added.
    "It's almost impossible for him to get this done," he said.
    Remote-controlled aircraft have been considered by terrorists before. In 2008, Christopher Paul of Worthington, Ohio, a Columbus suburb, pleaded guilty to plotting terrorist attacks in the U.S. and Europe using explosive devices. Prosecutors said he researched remote-controlled boats and a remote-controlled 5-foot-long helicopter.
    And after Sept. 11, federal agents asked the Academy of Model Aeronautics' 143,000 members to watch for any fellow enthusiasts who might be buying planes with bad intentions.
    Well before the Massachusetts arrest, police in Montgomery County, Md., put out a terrorist warning to hobby shops to be aware of customers "who don't appear to be hobbyists" buying model airplanes with cash and asking how they can be modified to carry a device.
    The Federal Aviation Administration is devising new rules for model airplanes and other unmanned aircraft, but the restrictions are aimed primarily at preventing collisions. Under current FAA rules, such planes are generally limited to flying below 400 feet and away from airports and air traffic.
    Massachusetts prosecutor Gerry Leone, who handled the prosecution of would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid, said terrorists are always building bombs out of common, legitimate items, and imposing restrictions on buying model aircraft would not make sense simply because of this one case.
    But he said law enforcement might want be more vigilant about such purchases.
    Similarly, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said recent advances in model airplane technology could make them more attractive to terrorists. But he said the answer is better intelligence, not trying to regulate hobbyists and their toys.
    "Kids have them, people fly them, groups are organized just to engage in this type of pastime activity," the congressman said. "It would be almost impossible to regulate the little engines and things, propellers."
    ___
    Associated Press writers Denise Lavoie in Boston and Chris Hawley in New York and AP broadcast correspondent Sagar Meghani in Washington contributed to this report.

    Frank and Louie, the cat with two faces

    In this Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 photo, a cat with two faces, named Frank and Louie, one name for each face, is held by the cats owner, who identified herself only as Marty, at their home in Worcestenext


    Facebook TV Show Stars You & Your Friends:

    Facebook TV Show Stars You & Your Friends:
      Warner Bros. will launch an experimental live-action show next month that will run exclusively on Facebook and incorporate information from your profile to put you and your friends into select scenes.
      The show, called Aim High, is story of a young man who is a high school student by day and a government operative by night. McG, of Charlie's Angels fame, will direct the series, which makes its debut on October 18 on Facebook and Cambio.com.
      Claiming to be the first-ever "social series" by a Hollywood studio, Aim High will employ Facebook technology so that your photos, friends and other information in your profile shows up in the background scenes. It's a feature that has been used by Mentos, and True Blood, among others. For example, in some scenes, your photo might appear in a student body election poster and your name might be scrawled in graffiti on the bathroom wall. Viewers can also share comments and tweets about the show.
      While more networks are trying their hand at so-called transmedia storytelling, using Facebook as a test bed for new properties may be smart. But incorporating profile data could distract from the action more than it adds to it.
      Would you watch a show on Facebook? Does the profile info angle interest you? Let us know in the comments.
      This story originally published on Mashable here.