Just 2 Seconds (86 page)

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Authors: Gavin de Becker,Thomas A. Taylor,Jeff Marquart

1453-AA.
Date: August 12, 2008
Target: Provincial Governor Raad Rashid al-Tamimi
Location: Baquba, Iraq
Details: A female suicide bomber detonated as Tamimi's convoy was approaching her. Two people were killed, but Tamimi was not injured. The bomber triggered her explosives prematurely, reportedly because guards had spotted her.

1454-AA.
Date: August 21, 2008
Target: Presidential Candidate (Senator) John McCain
Location: Denver, Colorado
Details: An inmate in the Arapahoe County Jail named Marc Ramsey sent McCain a threatening letter containing white powder. The letter stated: "Senator McCain, If you are reading this then you are already dead! Unless of course you can't or don't breathe..." The substance was found to not be hazardous.

1455-AA.
Date: August 23, 2008
Target: Deputy Minister Kamal Shyaa Abdullah
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Abdullah and his driver were killed by gunmen as they drove along a highway. The Deputy Minister had declined to have bodyguards and security precautions.

1456-AA.
Date: August 24, 2008
Target: Presidential Candidate (Senator) Barack Obama
Location: Denver, Colorado
Details: White supremacists Shawn Adolf, Tharin Gartrell, and Nathan Johnson were arrested in Denver during the Democratic National Convention on weapons charges and for possession of amphetamines. Their reported plan was to shoot Obama "from a high vantage point using a rifle sighted at 750 yards" during his acceptance speech at the convention. Police found two scoped rifles, one with a silencer, two wigs, three fake IDs, camouflage clothing, a bullet-resistant vest, two walkie-talkies, and 4.4 grams of methamphetamine in Gartrell's truck. Gartrell implicated Adolf and Johnson, who were staying at a nearby hotel. Adolf was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and had eight active warrants for his arrest. Although police say the group talked about assassinating Obama, they were not charged in connection with that threat.

1457-AA.
Date: August 26, 2008
Target: U.S. Diplomat Lynne Tracy
Location: Peshawar, Pakistan
Details: Tracy was traveling in an armored car, accompanied by a bodyguard and her driver. A vehicle blocked the road and a gunman opened fire on the car with an AK-47-style weapon. Tracy's driver reversed, backing into a rickshaw, and escaped. The attackers escaped.

1458-AA.
Date: August 27, 2008
Target: Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Former PM Tony Blair
Location: London, England
Details: Five Muslim men were arrested in connection with threats to kill Brown and Blair. Anti-terror teams had spent months investigating warnings on a recognized jihadi website by a group calling itself "Al-Qaeda in Britain." Police determined there was no evidence of any active plot.

1459-A.
Date: August 30, 2008
Target: Republican National Convention (RNC)
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Details: A man named Matthew DePalma was arrested by the FBI for possession of Molotov cocktails he reportedly intended to use to attack the RNC. DePalma had allegedly told an FBI source he intended to "make some bombs" and "blow up" things during the RNC. DePalma obtained supplies, and manufactured and tested Molotov cocktails. He was arrested in a Minneapolis apartment on August 28 for possession of five Molotov cocktails.

1460-A.
Date: September 3, 2008
Target: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
Location: Ralwalpindi, Pakistan
Details: Shots were fired at Gilani's motorcade en route to the airport to pick him up. Paskistani TV showed a Mercedes with two bullet marks on the driver's bullet-resistant window. No one was injured.

1461-AA.
Date: September 5, 2008
Target: U.S. Capitol
Location: Washington, DC
Details: A man pulled his vehicle up to a Capitol policeman to ask directions and the officer noticed a rifle case in the back seat. Police discovered an IED, a rifle, and ammunition, and the man was arrested.

1462-AA.
Date: September 7, 2008
Target: Singer Noel Gallagher (of the band Oasis)
Location: Toronto, Canada
Details: Gallagher's band was performing when a man rushed onto the stage. He pushed Gallagher off the stage. Security guards apprehended the man and arrested him for assault. Gallagher was taken to the hospital, and released without serious injuries.

1463-AA.
Date: September 13, 2008
Target: Governor Abdullah Wardak
Location: Kabul, Afghanistan
Details: Wardak's vehicle had departed his residence when a remotely-detonated mine buried in the road destroyed his car, killing him and three bodyguards. Police found wires leading from the bombsite up a nearby hill.

1464-AA.
Date: October 7, 2008
Target: Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Two mortar rounds struck near the Foreign Ministry Building in the Green Zone, as Negroponte prepared to hold a news conference inside. Five civilians were wounded, and vehicles were damaged. Negroponte was not injured.

1465-AA.
Date: October 21, 2008
Target: Former President Bush Aide Karl Rove
Location: San Francisco, California
Details: A Code Pink anti-war protester confronted Rove on stage as he was speaking to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The female protester unsuccessfully attempted to handcuff Rove for what she called a "citizen's arrest." She and four other protesters were removed.

1466-AA.
Date: October 22, 2008
Target: Presidential Candidate (Senator) Barack Obama
Location: Alamo, Tennessee
Details: White Power Skinheads Paul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart were arrested after making numerous threats to kill Obama. They reportedly planned to "drive their vehicle at Obama while shooting out of their windows." The attack was to follow a murder spree in which they were to "kill 88 African Americans by gunfire at a black school, then behead 14 of them." They decorated their car with a swastika and the numbers "88" and "14" (numbers important in the white supremacist movement). They shot out a window at a black church in Tennessee and were subsequently arrested by police. Police seized a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols.

1467-AA.
Date: October 24, 2008
Target: Government Minister Phil Woolas
Location: Manchester, England
Details: Woolas was speaking at Manchester University when a protester charged on stage and smashed a cream pie into his face. Woolas was taken off stage and cleaned up, and returned to finish the debate. Members of Manchester's No Borders group claimed credit for the attack.

1468-AA.
Date: November 4, 2008
Target: Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Details: Mourino was in a Learjet 45 that crashed into rush hour traffic, killing all eight people on board. The plane had just left the state capital's international airport. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

1469-A.
Date: November 11, 2008
Target: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Details: One of Blair's bodyguards accidentally fired his handgun outside the terminal building at Ben-Gurion International Airport. No one was injured.

1470-AA.
Date: November 11, 2008
Target: Governor Charlie Crist
Location: Sarasota, Florida
Details: A plane carrying Crist made an emergency landing after experiencing a mechanical problem. No one was injured.

1471-AA.
Date: November 26, 2008
Target: Mayor Vitaly Karayev
Location: Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia
Details: A single shot reportedly fired by a sniper hit Karayev as he was getting into his car at his residence. He died at the hospital.

1472-AA.
Date: December 9, 2008
Target: President-elect Barack Obama
Location: Belfast, Maine
Details: Responding to a report of a shooting, police found James Cummings dead, allegedly killed by his wife. Also found was a cache of radioactive materials, with which Cummings was apparently trying to build a "dirty bomb." Police also discovered a membership application for the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement. Authorities reported Cummings was "very upset" by the election of Obama.

1473-AA.
Date: December 14, 2008
Target: President George Bush
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: During a press conference an Iraqi reporter threw both of his shoes at Bush, who ducked and was not struck. Secret Service agents arrested and removed the man.

1474-AA.
Date: December 16, 2008
Target: President-elect Barack Obama
Location: Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
Details: Kody Brittingham, a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, was arrested with four others on attempted robbery charges. A search of his barracks at Camp Lejeune reportedly turned up white supremacist materials and a journal written by Brittingham, containing plans to kill Obama. Brittingham was indicted for threatening the president-elect.

1475-AA.
Date: January 16, 2009
Target: President-elect Barack Obama
Location: Brookhaven, Mississippi
Details: Secret Service agents arrested Steven Joseph Christopher after he posted statements on a website about his plans to assassinate Obama in Washington "as a sacrificial lamb." He wrote, "It's not because I'm racist that I will kill Barack, it's because I can no longer allow the Jewish parasites to bully their way into making the American people submit to their evil ways."

1476-AA.
Date: March 6, 2009
Target: UK Business Secretary Lord Mendelson
Location: London, England
Details: As Mendelson got out of his car, a female "anti-Heathrow-Expansion" protester threw a cup of green custard in his face. Mendelson immediately moved into the building, and no arrest was made.

1477-AA.
Date: March 10, 2009
Target: U.S. Capitol
Location: Washington, DC
Details: A man named Timothy Whitfield asked a Capitol Police officer for directions. The officer became suspicious and a search of the car revealed two rifles, three handguns, a sword, and several other "items of concern." Whitfield was arrested and charged with several firearms violations.

1478-AA.
Date: March 23, 2009
Target: Mayoral Candidate Boris Nemtsov
Location: Sochi, Russia
Details: Nemstov was attacked outside his campaign headquarters by 3 men who reportedly sprayed ammonium chloride in his face and then fled.

1479-AA.
Date: April 25, 2009
Target: President Barack Obama
Location: Walton County, Florida
Details: Joshua Cartwright, a Florida National Guardsman, allegedly shot to death two Okaloosa County sheriff's deputies as the officers attempted to arrest him on domestic violence charges. After fleeing the scene, Cartwright was fatally shot during a gun battle with pursuing officers. Cartwright's wife later told investigators her husband was "severely disturbed" that Obama had been elected president.

1480-AA.
Date: April 30, 2009
Target: Dutch Royal Family
Location: Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
Details: Members of the Royal Family were riding in an open-top bus in a parade. A man drove his car through people lining the street, leaving 8 dead and 10 injured before crashing into a monument.

1481-AA.
Date: June 9, 2009
Target: BNP Leader Nick Griffin
Location: London, England
Details: Griffin was holding a press conference outside Parliament when protesters charged them, screaming and waving signs. Bodyguards evacuated Griffin to his car and drove him away. Griffin was struck with at least one egg, and one of Griffin's cars allegedly struck a protester.

1482-AA.
Date: June 10, 2009
Target: Jews and President Barack Obama
Location: Washington, DC
Details: Eighty-eight-year-old James von Brunn, a longtime neo-Nazi, walked into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (a few blocks from the White House) and reportedly shot to death a security guard before he was himself shot and wounded by officers. Von Brunn, had previously served six years in connection with a 1981 attempt to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board at gunpoint. A search of von Brunn's car after the museum attack turned up a list of other apparent targets, including the White House, the Capitol, the National Cathedral and The Washington Post. A note reportedly left by von Brunn in his car read: "You want my weapons; this is how you'll get them ... the Holocaust is a lie ... Obama was created by Jews. Obama does what his Jew owners tell him to do. Jews captured America's money. Jews control the mass media." Von Brunn was charged with murder.

1483-AA.
Date: June 9, 2009
Target: Greek Tycoon Giorgos Mylonas
Location: Thessaloniki, Greece
Details: Mylonas was kidnapped at gunpoint from his car outside his home. He was released unharmed after 13 days, reportedly for a ransom of 12 million Euros. Five people were reportedly involved in the abduction: three gunmen, a driver, and the mastermind.

1484-A.
Date: June 12, 2009
Target: Lawmaker Harith al-Obaidi
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: After delivering a sermon at a mosque, Obaidi, an aide, and three bodyguards were shot and killed.

1485-AA.
Date: June 22, 2009
Target: President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov
Location: Nazran, Ingushetia
Details: Yevkurov was being driven to work when a suicide bomber in a car packed with explosives swerved into his motorcade and detonated. Yevkurov was seriously wounded, as was his brother. His driver and one or more of his bodyguards were killed.

1486-A.
Date: July 12, 2009
Target: U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill
Location: Dhi Qar, Iraq
Details: A small roadside bomb exploded as Hill's convoy drove past, narrowly missing his vehicle. No one was injured.

1487-AA.
Date: July 14, 2009
Target: Mayor Hector Meixueiro
Location: Namiquipa, Mexico
Details: Gunmen shot and killed Meixueiro as he drove to work in his SUV. The attack was believed to be revenge for a mass arrest of cartel hit-men.

1488-AA.
Date: July 15, 2009
Target: U.S. Capitol
Location: Washington, DC
Details: A man refused to stop his car at a checkpoint about two blocks north of the Capitol complex. The man drove the wrong way down a street and struck two police officers with his car. He then crashed his car into a barricade and jumped out with a pistol. He was shot and killed by officers after refusing to drop his weapon.

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