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U.S. Preps for Possible Showdown With North Korea

Posted: 08 Jun 2009 08:49 PM PDT

The U.S. military is stepping up training and reviewing target
sets in case the North Koreans decide to go to war.

As we learned last week, North Korea looks to be prepping for
another long-range missile test, and South Korea has reportedly outlined
plans to strike back if North Korea targets its warships. The U.S.
military is also preparing for the worst; Aviation Week ace reporters Amy
Butler and Dave Fulghum have an excellent rundown of stepped-up military
preparations in the event North Korea follows through on its belligerent
rhetoric.

Fulghum, reporting from Osan Air Base, South Korea, notes that
the U.S. Air Force is identifying critical training fixes for close air
support and air-to-air combat — two missions that would be critical in the
first 72 hours of the fight. He also takes a close look at a
first-day-of-the-war mission for joint tactical air controllers: XATK
(pronounced “ex-attack”), the mission to destroy long-range, North Korean
artillery.

Pyongyang has a lot of artillery tubes and rocket launchers
parked north of the DMZ that could wreak havoc on Seoul. Col. Rick
Forster, commander of the 607th Air Support Operations Group, tells
Fulghum: “We’ve got a very good idea of where most of their pieces are …
We’ve had 60 years to watch [the emplacement of North Korean artillery]
and they can only put them in so many places.”

Forster would be the chief air liaison officer in the event of
war; it would be his job to help coordinate air strikes before North
Korean artillery can concentrating fire on South Korea’s capital.

via U.S.
Preps for Possible Showdown with Pyongyang Danger Room
Wired.com.

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FBI Director Defends Use of Informants in Mosques

Posted: 08 Jun 2009 07:54 PM PDT

FBI Director Robert Mueller says his agency will continue to
use informants inside American mosques, despite complaints from Muslim
organizations.

Mueller told reporters Monday in Los Angeles that
investigations in places of worship will be respectful of First Amendment
rights, but will continue if warranted by evidence of possible
wrongdoing.

A Muslim organization has asked the Justice Department to
investigate complaints that the FBI is asking followers of the faith to
spy on Islamic leaders.

Source

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Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

Nukes Can Fall Into Talibans Hands

Posted: 08 Jun 2009 07:49 PM PDT

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari has said there is a
possibility that its nuclear arsenal could fall into the hands of the
Taliban if democracy “fails” in his country and the world doesn’t
help.

“If democracy in this country fails, if the world doesn’t help
democracy — then any eventuality is a possibility,” he said in an
interview to German newspaper Der Spiegel when asked whether he, like his
late wife Benazir Bhutto, feared that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could
fall into the hands of Islamist extremists.

“But as long as democracy is there, there is no question of
that situation arising. All important installations and weaponry are
always under extra security,” Zardari said.

“Nuclear weapons are not Kalashnikovs - the technology is
complicated, so it is not as if one little Taliban could come down and
press a button,” he said.

“I want to assure the world that the nuclear capability of
Pakistan is in safe hands,” he said, referring to growing concerns in the
West over safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

via ‘Nukes
can fall into Taliban’s hand’: India Today - Latest Breaking News from
India, World, Business, Cricket, Sports, Bollywood..

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