RE: MARTIAL LAW - US CITIES TURNING INTO FORTRESSES

[Mrs. Sharon B. Hodge]

MTV Martial Law Warnings


MATT ROTHSCHILD EXPLAINS INFRAGARD BUSINESS ELITES granted by FBI SHOOT TO KILL DURING MARTIAL LAW




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Security Makes U.
S Conventions Virtual Fortresses
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Bloomberg
By Jeff Bliss

http://www. bloomberg. com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aJ...

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Two U.S.
cities will become virtual fortresses during the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions, protected by airplanes, helicopters, barriers, fences and thousands of police officers, National Guard troops and Secret Service agents

In Denver, where Democrats assemble next week, police are spending $18 million on equipment alone and will be bolstered by National Guard troops and hundreds of officers from surrounding suburbs. In St. Paul, Minnesota, site of the Sept.
1-4 Republican nominating convention, police are calling on 80 law- enforcement agencies to provide 3,000 officers to supplement the city's 500-person force

Congress earmarked $100 million for security at the two meetings, where federal and local authorities are trying to guard against any dangers to candidates or convention-goers

....We are constantly looking at what threats could harm us,'' said Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the U.S.
Secret Service, which is overseeing security operations

Safeguarding the quadrennial gatherings is difficult, in part because so many public officials are among the thousands of people in attendance, said Andrew O'Connell, a former Secret Service agent who runs the Washington office of New York-based Fortress Global Investigations & Security. ....It will be a challenge,'' he said

Offices Evacuated

The federal money, $50 million for each convention, is being spent for security measures such as fencing and high-tech camera-surveillance systems.
The security costs will roughly equal the amount the two cities' host committees plan to raise for other convention costs

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign offices in Denver and in Manchester, New Hampshire, were evacuated yesterday after a Denver employee opened an envelope containing a threatening letter and white powder.
The New Hampshire office received a letter addressed in similar handwriting, which wasn't opened

Powder in the Denver envelope was harmless, and the letter was traced to an inmate in the Arapahoe County, Colorado, jail the Denver Post reported

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will be on ....heightened alert'' to track potential threats, said Russ Knocke, a department spokesman

....We're really making sure we're amping up our focus,'' Knocke said

Tight Security

Security in St.
Paul and Denver will be so tight that former Secret Service agent Chris Falkenberg said terrorists searching for a target might look elsewhere

....The possibility of having a major attack is very, very slim'' at the convention sites, said Falkenberg, president of New York-based Insite Security Inc. ....It would be a good time to pull off an attack in Chicago, Boston''

Security in St. Paul focuses on the Xcel Energy Center, where Republicans will meet to nominate Arizona Senator McCain.
In Denver, where most convention activities are scheduled for the Pepsi Center arena, security officials had to adapt their plans when Illinois Senator Barack Obama decided to accept his party's nomination at the 76,000-seat Invesco Field at Mile High

....I'm not going to sit here and say, ..Oh, it was a piece- of-cake,''' Secret Service Assistant Director Nicholas Trotta said of Obama's move. Still, he said the Secret Service wasn't thrown by the change because agents often ....have to modify, change, add and subtract when we get to a venue''

Highway Closed

The Colorado Department of Transportation will close Interstate 25, the main north-south route through the state's biggest city, during the Aug. 28 stadium event.
Trucks carrying hazardous cargo are prohibited from using I-25 near downtown Denver for a week, starting tomorrow

Federal, state and local officials have been planning security precautions since last year, consulting on details such as motorcades for VIPs and road closures

More than 1,000 National Guard troops will help with communication and supplies in Denver, said Captain Robert Bell, a spokesman for the Colorado National Guard.
More than 1,000 Minnesota National Guard troops will help provide security at sites outside the Xcel Center that are being used by convention participants, said Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Olson, a guard spokesman

Air Cover

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, will participate. Lieutenant Desmond James, a spokesman, wouldn't give specifics about Norad's involvement.
At previous conventions, Norad has provided medical and planning assistance as well as air cover, James said

The Federal Bureau of Investigation plans to use a new version of a computer network that lets all its branch offices build leads on cases

....We've got the capability of communicating instantaneously on case-specific matters,'' said Ray DiNunzio, the FBI's acting section chief for domestic terrorism and response

The Coast Guard will monitor the Mississippi River near the Xcel Energy Center

Protest groups say they expect large demonstrations. The American Civil Liberties Union's Colorado chapter filed suit challenging police plans to limit marches and protests to designated areas.
A federal judge upheld the restrictions

Mark Silverstein, legal director of the ACLU in Colorado, said he's afraid that crowd-control officers from a hodgepodge of different police departments might not all respond appropriately to protesters

....Denver is getting reinforcements from dozens of other law-enforcement agencies,'' Silverstein said. ....When the visiting officers come, do they play by the visiting team's rules or by the home team's rules?''

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Bliss in Washington at [e-mail]

If this is not some crazy martial law preparation for a total Wall Street financial collapse which deadly riots lootings and killings would ensue, I dont know what is! People better get prepared for the coming September 30th fiscal year meltdown





FLASHBACK - NY Daily News - April 24th 2008 - Counter-terror cops t...


nypd's 'operation sentinel' to track everything - August 12, 2008 WCBS: The NYPD is working on a plan to track every single vehicle that enters Manhattan, The initiative, called "Operation Sentinel," is aimed at preventing terror attacks, With the use of cameras and radiation sensors, police plan to track anything and everything that enters the Big Apple


Aug13, 2008 - Fortress New York: New Security Measures Planned - total city lockdown

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NYC Holds Largest Ever Counterterror Exercise
*****************************************************

Multiple Law Enforcement Agencies Put Choke Hold On New York Harbor As Part Of 'Operation Sentinel'

Aug 15, 2008
WCBS
http://wcbstv. com/topstories/Counter. Terror. Exercise. 2. 796595....

NEW YORK (CBS) ― On Friday, the largest counterterrorism exercise in New York history took place

The NYPD and 10 other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies mounted a drill in New York Harbor to see if new high-tech equipment can detect terrorists with bombs on the high seas

Along with the US Coast Guard, there were law enforcement units from Westchester, Perth Amboy and Union County, the New York City Fire Department and the NYPD

"The exercise is to find a reported nuclear device on a vessel coming into the harbor," NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said of the event

All told, 10 agencies and 17 vessels put a so-called choke hold on traffic coming into New York Harbor under the Verrazano Bridge If you attempted to sail or boat through the area, you were searched

"We're trying to further develop our concept of operations as a region in protecting the waterways and ports of NYC from any acts of terrorism," said Deputy Chief Joseph McKeever, the commanding officer of the counterterrorism division

Lots of boats were boarded and searched, and the NYPD also got to test its two $750,000 high-tech radiation tracking boats that have gear so top secret CBS 2 HD wasn't allowed to shoot pictures of some of it

They are the only two like it in the country and they can detect radiation even before they board the boat

When the NYPD "Tracs" boat pulled up the to "The Last Dollar," a recreation speed boat, cops knew from their top secret devices that they would find a radiation device on board

"It was a gamma-based source," McKeever said "It could be used in what we term a dirty bomb today"

Friday's exercise was part of the larger "Operation Sentinel," which puts a 50-mile buffer around New York City

The hope is that while working with cops in other jurisdictions, terrorists with bombs, whether on land or sea, will be stopped well before they reach New York City



Operation Sentinel: The High-Tech Police State Takes Shape – Global...



**************************************************************
City Would Photograph Every Vehicle Entering Manhattan
and Sniff Out Radioactivity
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New York Times
By AL BAKER
Published: August 11, 2008

The Police Department is working on a plan to track every vehicle that enters Manhattan to strengthen the city’s guard against a potential terror attack, the department’s chief spokesman said

The proposal — called Operation Sentinel — relies on integrating layers of technologies, some that are still being perfected It calls for photographing, and scanning the license plates of, cars and trucks at all bridges and tunnels and using sensors to detect the presence of radioactivity

Data on each vehicle — its time-stamped image, license plate imprint and radiological signature — would be sent to a command center in Lower Manhattan, where it would be indexed and stored for at least a month as part of a broad security plan that emphasizes protecting the city’s financial district, the spokesman, Paul J Browne, said If it were not linked to a suspicious vehicle or a law enforcement investigation, it would be eliminated, he said

“Our main objective would be to, through intelligence, find out about a plot before it ever got to a stage where a nuclear device or a dirty bomb was coming our way,” Mr Browne said “This provides for our defense after a plot has already been launched and a device is on its way”

The proposal is one element of a 36-page plan for security, mainly focused on the site of ground zero, that Police Commissioner Raymond W Kelly and his counterterrorism bureau commanders have shared with the director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

For months, Mr Kelly and his command staff have been urging the creation of a London-style surveillance system for the financial district that relies on license plate readers, movable roadblocks and 3,000 public and private security cameras below Canal Street, all linked to a coordination center at 55 Broadway Known as the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, the center is to open in September

At the same time, a federal Securing the Cities program is going forward: The police are creating links with law enforcement agencies within a 50-mile radius around the city That plan includes outfitting officers with radiation detectors to stop a nuclear or radiological threat as far from the target as possible

Operation Sentinel would combine strategies from the security initiative and Securing the Cities and use them at choke points into Manhattan

Read The Rest HERE


Machine Gun-Toting Officers To Patrol NYC Subway - M4 Carbine Rifles, MP5 Submachine Guns & Bomb Sniffing Dogs Part Of New "Torch Team" Anti-Terror Efforts - WCBS April 24, 2008

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NYC's Plan To Track Everything That Moves
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ChannelWeb
By Kevin McLaughlin

Aug 15, 2008

http://www. crn. com/security/210100235

New York City authorities are in the process of building a multi-layered security system that will allow police to keep tabs on every vehicle that enters the city using the latest imaging and radiation detection technologies But some security experts don't believe the project, believed to cost in excess of $120 million, will actually improve the Big Apple (NSDQ:AAPL)'s security posture
According to a report earlier this week in the New York Times, the project -- called Operation Sentinel -- will help protect lower Manhattan by capturing vehicle license plate numbers with photo and video cameras mounted on all city bridges and tunnels The system will also include radiation detectors aimed at preventing terrorists from being able to sneak nuclear materials -- or a radiological 'dirty bomb' -- into the city

"Our main objective would be to, through intelligence, find out about a plot before it ever got to a stage where a nuclear device or a dirty bomb was coming our way," Paul J Brown, New York City Police Department spokesperson, told the New York Times "This provides for our defense after a plot has already been launched and a device is on its way"

Operation Sentinel combines multiple security technologies into an integrated, IT-style anti-terrorism 'solution' that gathers data and feeds it back into a centralized command center for analysis But while the solutions-oriented approach has been effective for businesses, some security experts believe that Operation Sentinel is as much about psychology as it is about technology

Bruce Schneier, chief security technology officer of British Telecom, sees Operation Sentinel as an example of what he calls 'security theater', a term of his own creation that refers to measures authorities put in place to make the public feel safer, even though they don't really boost security

"Someone has thought up a movie plot in their head of bad guys driving trucks into New York City," Schneier said "While I'm sure there are some scenarios in which this makes sense, spending for security based on movie plots is only effective if you guess the plot correctly"

Steve Hunt, principal at Hunt Business Intelligence, an Evanston, Ill-based security research firm, said video cameras themselves are powerful deterrents, even when they're not turned on "The presence of a video camera, even if it's a fake one, is very often enough to change peoples' behavior," Hunt said

That's not to say that technology won't be critical to the success of Operation Sentinel Steady advancements in video capture technology have made license plate scanning possible, but camera placement must be perfect, and the task of analyzing images is fraught with challenges, according to security experts

One potential stumbling block has to do with transmission of video from cameras to the command center "The underlying network infrastructure will be susceptible to the same hiccups and shortcomings of any networking and storage architecture," said Hunt "The quality of license plate images is so easily degraded that complete accuracy is unlikely"

Operation Sentinel is similar to 'London's Ring Of Steel' security monitoring system, which was implemented in the early 1990s in response to a rash of IRA bombings, and uses curved roads to guide cars past closed circuit television checkpoints for monitoring purposes

But because European license plates are standardized in terms of width, height, and font, they're much easier to scan than US plates, says Willem Ryan, product marketing manager at Vancouver-based surveillance systems vendor Extreme CCTV, a member of the Bosch Group

"In North America, license plate fonts and colors vary from state to state, and writing software that capable of accounting for these differences is very difficult The challenge is developing a powerful algorithm to account for the massive variety of plates," said Ryan

However, the technical challenges of Operation Sentinel pale in comparison to those of digging through the mountains of data that surveillance systems generate on a daily basis to find actual terrorists, according to Ken Phelan, CTO of Gotham Technology Partners, a solution provider based in Montvale, NJ

"I think the real issue with incident response is how much data you have to go through to find something interesting That analysis is going to be the key challenge," said Phelan


OPERATION TORCH April 25, 2008 - Militarized police armed with M4 carbine rifles and MP5 submachine guns are coming to the New York subways to save us from the terrorists - costs $151 million

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NYPD's "Operation Sentinel" Will Photograph
Every Car Coming to Manhattan
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Gothamist
August 12, 2008

The NYPD is serious about security in this post-9/11 world, and, amongst many elements in a proposal called "Operation Sentinel,"is the plan to photograph every single car coming into NYC The NY Times reports that the goal is to "strengthen the city’s guard against a potential terror attack" Vehicles would be photographed, license plates scanned, and checked for radioactivity

Cameras would be set up at bridges and tunnels.
The NYPD says that if a vehicle does not appear suspicious (after running it through a databased), the information will be deleted Previously, the NYPD has mentioned its Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, which would ultimately have 3,000 cameras in place; now the NYPD has released details of how security would be tightened up around Ground Zero Those plans include a dozen guard booths, specific areas where tour buses can drop off and pick up passengers, and a bomb screening center for service and delivery trucks to the World Trade Center

There are some questions about whether this is too much A doorman told 1010 WINS, "There's a balance that needs to be had, and that needs to be constantly upheld How much safer is that really going to make us? We're getting closer and closer to a police state How much are civil liberties going to be encroached upon in the name of quote-on-quote security?"

http://gothamist. com/2008/08/12/nypds_operation_sentinel_will_phot...







..
Black Helicopters - Free videos are just a click away

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Unmarked chopper patrols NY city from high above
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Associated Press Writer
May 23, 2008
By TOM HAYS

http://www. breitbart. com/article. php?id=D90RIHF00&show_artic...

NEW YORK (AP) - On a cloudless spring day, the NYPD helicopter soars over the city, its sights set on the Statue of Liberty

A dramatic close-up of Lady Liberty's frozen gaze fills one of three flat-screen computer monitors mounted on a console Hundreds of sightseers below are oblivious to the fact that a helicopter is peering down on them from a mile and a half away

"They don't even know we're here," said crew chief John Diaz, speaking into a headset over the din of the aircraft's engine

The helicopter's unmarked paint job belies what's inside: an arsenal of sophisticated surveillance and tracking equipment powerful enough to read license plates—or scan pedestrians' faces—from high above the nation's largest metropolis

Police say the chopper's sweeps of landmarks and other potential targets are invaluable in helping guard against another terrorist attack, providing a see-but-avoid-being-seen advantage against bad guys

"It looks like just another helicopter in the sky," said Assistant Police Chief Charles Kammerdener, who oversees the department's aviation unit

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said that no other US law enforcement agency "has anything that comes close" to the surveillance chopper, which was designed by engineers at Bell Helicopter and computer technicians based on NYPD specifications

The chopper is named simply "23"—for the number of police officers killed in the Sept 11, 2001, attacks

The $10 million helicopter is just part of the department's efforts to adopt cutting-edge technology for its counterterrorism operations

The NYPD also plans to spend tens of millions of dollars strengthening security in the lower Manhattan business district with a network of closed-circuit television cameras and license-plate readers posted at bridges, tunnels and other entry points

Police have also deployed hundreds of radiation monitors—some worn on belts like pagers, others mounted on cars and in helicopters—to detect dirty bombs

Kelly even envisions someday using futuristic "stationary airborne devices" similar to blimps to conduct reconnaissance and guard against chemical, biological and radiological threats

Civil rights advocates are skeptical about the push for more surveillance, arguing it reflects the NYPD's evolution into ad hoc spy agency

"From a privacy perspective, there's always a concern that 'New York's Finest' are spending millions of dollars to engage in peeping tom activities," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union

Police insist that law-abiding New Yorkers have nothing to fear

"Obviously, we're not looking into apartments," Diaz said during a recent flight "We don't invade the privacy of individuals We only want to observe anything that's going on in public"

The helicopter's powers of observation come from a high-powered robotic camera mounted on a turret projecting from its nose like a periscope The camera has infrared night-vision capabilities and a satellite navigation system that allows police to automatically zoom in on a location by typing in the address on a computer keyboard

The surveillance system can beam live footage to police command centers or even to wireless hand-held devices

"The commander on the ground can see what we're seeing," Diaz said

On this flight, the helicopter used the camera to look for signs of trouble at several key transportation sites: the decks of Staten Island ferry terminal, the stanchions of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the giant air vents feeding the Lincoln Tunnel All of them passed inspection

Without leaving Manhattan airspace, the chopper also was able to get a crystal-clear picture of jetliners waiting to take off from LaGuardia Airport and to survey Kennedy International Airport's jet fuel lines, which were targeted in a plot uncovered last year

The chopper has helped track down fleeing suspects, including a recent case of a gunman who had shot his wife in Queens As officers on the ground worried about how to approach the suspect's car, the camera in the sky hovered overhead, peeked inside the vehicle and found that he had already shot and killed himself

During Pope Benedict XVI's recent visit, 23 patrolled the skies, at one point receiving a call from officers who had spotted a suspicious man with a camera on a rooftop near the pontiff's residence Diaz radioed back that it was a false alarm

"There was a modeling shoot going on," he said




August 13, 2008 - Denver officials weren't planning to reveal details about where activists would be detained in the event of mass arrests during the Democratic National Convention until after the event had started, but those plans were quickly dashed this week when CBS 4News reporter Rick Sallinger not only revealed that protesters would be locked up in a city-owned warehouse, but he also obtained clear video footage inside the facility, a building that includes barbed wire-topped cages and signs warning of stun-gun use

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News crew crashes Denver's DNC 'concentration camp'
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Raw Story
Stephen C Webster
Friday August 15, 2008

http://rawstory. com/news/2008/News_crew_crashes_Denvers_DNC_massde...

UPDATE: RAW STORY has obtained a letter from ACLU Colorado, sent to the Denver Police Department regarding the protest detention facility Read it here

During the 2004 Republican Nation Convention in New York City, over 1,700 protesters were taken into police custody in one of the most sweeping mass-arrests in US history.
Many were held in Manhattan's Pier 57, inside a warehouse which was contaminated with lead and asbestos Some were held for days, and without proper access to food, water, outside communication or legal counsel

In Denver, police are preparing what a local political organizer calls a 'concentration camp,' laying in wait for mass arrests anticipated during the upcoming Democratic National Convention

On Wednesday, a Denver CBS affiliate sent a news crew to crash the police department's improvised detention facility, found in a warehouse owned by the city on the north-east side of town

"This is a building filled with metal holding cells," described reporter Rick Sallinger, introducing the segment "We showed up at the facility unannounced today, the doors were wide open, and we managed to shoot for several minutes until a Denver sheriff's captain asked us to leave"

Footage of the warehouse revels tall, chain-link fence capped by barbed wire, and segmented pens each bearing an identifying letter at about shoulder height

The news crew was not invited, nor welcome.
Cpt Frank Gale of the Denver Sheriff's Department called the facility "a secured area," and worried that information related to the site would be used "by people who are potentially trying to be disruptive"

"Each of these fenced in areas is about five yards by five yards," said Sallinger. "There's a lock on the door.
How long those arrested will be kept here is not known A sign on the wall reads, 'Warning! Electric stun devices used in this facility'"

"If 300 people are taken to Denver’s temporary detention facility within a short time frame, processing those persons at the rate of 30 to 50 per hour would take at least 6 to 10 hours," notes a letter from ACLU Colorado, sent to the Denver Police Department.
"During the Republican National Convention in New York City in 2004, nearly 1,100 people were arrested in a four-hour period If a similar situation occurred in Denver, it would take at least 22 to 36 hours to process those persons"

Area activists are not amused at the news CBS carried its footage of the newfound jail to Adam Jung, with Tent State University, and Zoe Williams, a Code Pink organizer

"Very reminiscent of a political prisoner camp, or a concentration camp," said Williams

"I mean, that's how you treat cattle," added Jung. "... It's a meat processing plant"

The detention site was supposed to be a secret, said Sallinger

"At the temporary facility, Denver will of course also be required to provide for detainees’ basic human needs, such as adequate food and drinking water; access to toilets and facilities for washing; and access to medical care if necessary," the ACLU insisted "Detainees must also be allowed the opportunity for bodily movement, including release from handcuffs or flexicuffs

"Denver must establish a system to ensure that detainees are assured of access to medically necessary prescription medications they may be taking. Some arrestees will need prescription medications that are in the possession of family members who were not arrested.
Denver will have to arrange a system to receive the medications from family members and then deliver them to the appropriate prisoner Failure to deliver appropriate and necessary medications could result in serious deterioration and damage to a detainee’s health"

A call by RAW STORY to the Denver Sheriff's Department seeking information on this facility was not immediately returned

"This facility will not be used for long-term detention," stated a Denver police department letter to area residents. "Arrestees who are processed at this facility will be there for no more than the few hours it requires for processing.
Water, bathrooms, medical staff and phones will be available to them The facility will be fully staffed to ensure its safe and secure operation"

ACLU Colorado is currently pressing the police department for further information

The following video was aired by Denver's CBS 4 News on August 13, 2008


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Police: Pound Of Cyanide Found In Denver Hotel – Martial Law PsyOp?!
*************************************************************





Canadian Man Had Been Dead For Days Inside Burnsley

Denver ABC 7 News
August 13, 2008

http://www. thedenverchannel. com/news/17181011/detail. html?rss=de...

DENVER -- The Denver coroner said Thursday a man found dead in a downtown hotel room with a pound of highly toxic sodium cyanide nearby died from cyanide poisoning

However, the medical examiner's office could not say if 29-year-old Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, of Ottawa, Canada killed himself

His body was found Monday inside Room 408 at The Burnsley Hotel, which is about four blocks from the state Capitol

Police spokesman John White identified the white powder as sodium cyanide, the crystal form of cyanide.
Fire officials say they found a bottle containing about a pound of the white powder, or between a pint and a quart by volume An expert told the Denver Post that the amount of cyanide is enough to kill hundreds of people

White said Dirie had been dead for several days Friends told The Ottawa Sun that he was dead six days before he was discovered

Foul play is not suspected and his death appears to be an isolated incident, White said

Dirie's sister told CanWest News Service that her brother had been on medication for the past three years to treat his schizophrenia, but that he was not a terrorist

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is assisting in the investigation but FBI spokeswoman Kathy Wright said the incident has no apparent connection to terrorism

"You have a suspicious substance that was found in a hotel room in conjunction with person being a foreign national, and we have a lot of questions and that is why we are assisting," Wright told the Post

An online threat posted in July by a man with a similar name warned of death.
The blog discussed the killing of Christians in Somalia by Islamists The person who posted on the blog was a Muslim who appeared to condemn Christians

"Having the bible in one hand, and a bread in the other hand, is not a correct thing! Kill Them , Kill them, Kill them, that is my massage (sic),!" read the posting by Abdirahman Dirie on the 'Solmali's for Jesus' Blog

It was not clear if Abdirahman Dirie and Saleman Abdirahman Dirie are the same person

The Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St.
Paul, Minn, said connecting Dirie's death to terrorism "is a rush to judgment"

On Tuesday, firefighters and hazmat crews joined the FBI at the hotel, where they cordoned off the neighborhood surrounding the hotel for a second time, and used the case as a "training exercise" in preparation to the Democratic National Convention

The upscale Burnsley Hotel is about two miles away from the Pepsi Center, where the DNC will be held from Aug. 25-Aug.
27 However, it is not on the list of hotels where delegates are staying

The last day of the DNC will be held at Invesco Field at Mile High, which is three miles away from the hotel




Democratic Republican National conventions Secret Weapons - CNN July 7, 2008


Todd Marriott, left, and Greg Melson of Presbyterian/St Luke's Medical Center spray down volunteer Louis Kennedy in a decontamination tent Tuesday morning in a drill meant to simulate a chemical attack at the Pepsi Center(Andy Cross, The Denver Post)


Todd Marriott's hazmat suit gets the tape treatment from a co-worker at a hospital disaster drill Tuesday The exercise revealed some problems to be worked out but one official said that was its purpose

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Hospitals hold disaster drill
*******************************

Hospitals, "victims" role-play Pepsi Center disaster as convention looms

The Denver Post
By Christopher Sanchez
06/11/2008

http://origin. denverpost. com/politics/ci_9544375

Eight Denver hospitals held drills Tuesday to test their abilities to respond to a disaster that would injure thousands of people

The mock exercise — a "dirty bomb" explosion at a Pepsi Center packed with 20,000 people — was one of the largest-ever cooperative drills for the city's hospitals, organizers said

It comes just two months before the Democratic National Convention, when the city will host thousands of people from around the world

About 140 volunteers participated in the citywide drill, many of them acting as victims

Though the hospitals knew there would be a drill, the details became known only as the scenario unfolded

The Office of Emergency Management alerted hospitals about 9 am that a chemical bomb had exploded at the arena

At Presbyterian/St Luke's Medical Center, staff members began setting up a decontamination tent outside the emergency room as soon as they received word of the explosion

Shortly after, about 10 volunteer "victims" lined the wall outside the emergency room, waiting to be hosed down

The victims wore tags detailing their injuries and symptoms Jodi Rodgers' tag said she was a 2-year-old boy whose right arm was broken

Rodgers, a nurse at St Joseph Hospital, said she volunteered to make a difference

"In the event of a true disaster, it'll make sure we're prepared," she said

The staff herded victims through the tent, hosing them down with water

They were then sent to the emergency room to receive treatment

Though the hospital was able to set up the tent in just 30 minutes — 15 minutes less than previous drills — the exercise wasn't perfect

Julie Baumer, director of education at the hospital, said the drill revealed some kinks that need to be worked out

For example, the chemical explosion prompted the hospital to spray down patients before they could enter the hospital But some need immediate treatment, such as one "victim" who was in labor

"She'd be screaming bloody murder," Baumer said "And that baby is not going to wait for decontamination So we need to figure out what we'd do right away"

Each hospital will receive an evaluation for Tuesday's exercise

The point of a drill is to identify areas for improvement, said Stephen Cantrill, project director of Colorado BNICE WMD Training Center, which helped organize the effort

"If you have a drill that goes perfectly, no one learns," Cantrill said

Christopher Sanchez: 303-954-1698 or [e-mail]