Millennial Challenges: Public health strategies- Lessons of the attempted London Bombing to Millennium Organizers in Addis, Ethiopia

Dear Patriotic Global Citizens and Friends of Britain and Ethiopia:

Re: Lessons of London for Addis Millennium Celebrations

Supervigilance and Pre-emptive intelligence.

Challenges of private and public health

Public health in the 21st century and specially at the dawn of the 8th Millennium demands special attention of public security as well as individual behavior change in response to the challenges of man made and ecological disasters.

Man made and natural challenges

The recent series of insurgency activities that utilizes explosives that can be discharged both from humans in suicide format and remote control or vehicle carrier mode are increasing causing serious damage only to be excelled by hurricanes, and earth quakes and wild fires in California region. As the challenges change over time, our public health prevention strategies should evolve too.

Man made challenges

The news in London, England, Great Britain of a potential explosive divice found in a Mercedes Benz Car in a very crowded and public area is clear indication that unfortunately, "The Perverted Criminal and Terrorist" minds amongst us are still active and super vigilance at all levels is the only protection with a proactive intelligence infrastructre at all levels of our private and public lives.

Security is vital.

It is critical that we should not be fooled by perods of silence and put off our guards. The liberal media and activists such as Empowerment Initiative, etc would like to distract us by making an issue for the human rights of terrorists which is a serous challenge to the security of 6.5 Billion people across the worled.

The lesson from immune deficiency syndromes.

We cannot be naive nor callous about security issues as some fools, who expect that the world will be Secure and Peaceful just because we are kind, benevolent and rather distracted to it. Every body has to reconsider and make a serious deliberations about security and intelligence. We should think again and again.

The human immune deficiency syndromes both innate and acquired ones are the best analogy to understand the current challenge of terrorism in the world. The solution is boost the natural immune system with appropriate diet, healthy life styles and when necessary to take apporpropriate supplements and therapeutic medications.

In the realm of public health crisis from terrorist activities, emergency preparedness, survillance, vigilance and most of all effective timely communications are critical.

The New Labor Leadership will give lots of respect to their predecesor Tony Blair now they are on target themselves. The cabinet that is reshuffled and especially the first female Home Secretary has her work cut out for her. Who knows, the Sacred Feminine may have a better insight on security and intellgience rather than the warrior male whose track record is questionnable!

This experience is going to be a great lesson for the Millennial Celebration organizers in September 12, 2007 in Addis Ababa. No doubt the regional terrorist celles currently being organized by the AFD, Eritrean and Somali Terrorists will be actively plotting and the government should be highly careful while it gives visas , and other accommodations with vigilance at the entry point in Addis and through out historical sites in the country and in celebration activities through the Millennium Year across the world.

European and US as well as African Friends of Ethiopia should be aware that Ethiopians have to do every thing under their power to protect their citizens and their guests in the upcomong Millennial Celebrations.

In tbhe end, good intelligence, vigilence and a proactive and pre-emptive strategy of security is the only protection that will make a difference in a world full of terrorists and criminals ready to attack unsuspecting public.

At this special time of need, we are praying for the new government and Scotland Yard and the Great people of Great Britain and say thank God! the explosives never exploded.

May the Lord protect all of us and make us more sensitive to those disturbed amongst us and help us help them before they help themselves in their destructive mission.

GodSpeed, Great Britain and Addis in the new Millennium

with regards

Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH
www.SolomonicCrown.org;
www.Globalbelai4u.blogspot.com




Monsters and CriticsUK
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Update on the London Scare and Discovery of a Second Bomb Mercedes! This guys have no problem with money and cars!


UK News
Brown faces first terror test after car bomb discovery (Roundup)

British police cordon off The Haymarket in central London after a explosive device was found in a Mercedes vehicle, 29 June 2007. The area will be closed to the public for most of the day until the area is confirmed to be secured. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Jun 29, 2007, 10:11 GMT


London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Friday faced his first major security challenge after a suspected car bomb was defused in central London, in an incident that could be linked to the upcoming second anniversary of the suicide bombings on July 7, 2005.


Speaking before an emergency meeting of the cabinet's crisis committee, Cobra, Brown said Britain remained under 'serious and continuous threat' from terrorism.

He urged the public to stay alert and maintain 'vigilance over the next few days,' in what was considered a clear reference to the upcoming anniversary of the 2005 attacks, in which 52 people died and more than 700 were injured.

Anti-terrorism officers in forensic suits were seen Friday removing the silver Mercedes car in which the device was found and defused it early Friday morning.

Witnesses said door staff at a night club in Haymarket, in the heart of London's Westend, alerted police after the car was driven into a rubbish bin and the driver ran off.

A witness told Sky television that the large silver car was being driven 'erratically' before the minor crash. The driver was not stopped. Another witness reported seeing gas canisters being removed from the car.

Earlier this month, a court in London sentenced seven men, said to have links with al-Qaeda, who had allegedly planned to use explosives-packed limousines for attacks in Britain.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw said the government was informed early Friday of the discovery.

'Sadly, in the world we live in, these things happen,' Straw told the BBC in an interview. 'The government was told much earlier,' added Straw in a comment on the news just made public.

It was revealed later that 'enhanced security measures' had been put in place at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster in the wake of the incident.

Earlier, Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism unit launched an investigation following the discovery of a suspected bomb in a parked car.

Officers carried out a 'controlled explosion,' as parts of the area near Piccadilly Circus were cordoned off, causing major disruption.

London's theatre venues and and the shopping areas of Regent Street and Piccadilly are nearby. The underground (Tube) station at Piccadilly was closed as a result.

Anti-terrorism officers were called to investigate a 'suspicious vehicle' at around 2 am (0100 GMT).

There had been no warning, and no arrests had been made.

The size of the 'potentially viable explosive device' was not known.

It was unclear whether the device was 'being transported' to another location or ready to be exploded where it was found.

The timing of the discovery could be linked to the change of government in Britain this week, commentators said.

Sentencing in the trial of four suspects accused of planning a follow-up attack on tubes and buses in London on July 21, 2005, is expected in the next few days.
Explosives-packed cars found in London By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press Writer
38 minutes ago



LONDON - Police in London's bustling nightclub and theater district on Friday defused a car bomb that could have killed hundreds after an ambulance crew spotted smoke coming from a Mercedes filled with a lethal mix of gasoline, propane and nails. Hours later, police confirmed a second explosives-rigged car was found nearby.

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The first car bomb, found near Piccadilly Circus, was powerful enough to have caused "significant injury or loss of life" at a time when hundreds were in the area, British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke said.

Clarke said Friday evening that the second car — another Mercedes — was originally parked illegally on nearby Cockspur Street, but had been towed from the West End to an impound lot near Hyde Park.

"The vehicle was found to contain very similar materials to those that had been found in the first car," he said. "There was a considerable amount of fuel and gas canisters. As in the first vehicle, there was also a quantity of nails. This like the first device was potentially viable."

The discoveries came just ahead of the second anniversary of the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings that killed 52 people on three London subways and a bus, and two days after Gordon Brown became Britain's prime minister.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bombs.

"We are currently facing the most serious and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism," Britain's new home secretary, Jacqui Smith, said after an emergency meeting of top officials.

Police were examining footage from closed-circuit TV cameras, Clarke said, hoping the surveillance network that covers much of central London will help them track down the drivers of the cars.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee who was briefed on the investigation, said British authorities had recovered a cell phone that they believed was to be the trigger for the explosion.

"They found a cell phone and it was going to be used to detonate the bomb," he said.

The events unfolded when an ambulance crew — responding to a call just before 1:30 a.m. about a person who had fallen at a Haymarket nightclub — noticed smoke coming from a car parked in front of the building, Clarke said.

The crew alerted police, and a bomb squad manually disabled the device, Clarke said.

Photographs of the metallic green Mercedes discovered first show a canister bearing the words "patio gas," indicating it was propane, next to the car. The back door was open with blankets spilling out. The car was removed from the scene after a bomb squad disabled the explosives.

The Haymarket thoroughfare is packed with restaurants, bars, a cinema complex and West End theaters, and was buzzing at that hour. "Phantom of the Opera" is playing at Her Majesty's Theater down the street.

It was ladies' night Thursday, nicknamed "Sugar 'N' Spice," at the Tiger Tiger nightclub, a three-story venue that at full capacity can pack in 1,770 people and stays open until 3 a.m.

The discovery of the first bomb triggered a series of security scares across central London, and police closed Park Lane, Fleet Street and nearby Chancery Lane to investigate other suspicious vehicles.

Brown, who succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister on Wednesday, called it a reminder that Britain faces a serious and continuous threat of terrorist attacks: "I will stress to the Cabinet that the vigilance must be maintained over the next few days."

There had been no prior intelligence of planned attacks from the al-Qaida terror network, a British government official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

Londoners seemed relatively unfazed by the news. People crowded onto buses and subway trains during the afternoon rush hour, shopping streets were busy and sidewalk cafes did brisk business.

"Sure, it's disturbing, and obviously it reminds everyone of 7/7," said Ian Hiskos, 32, eating at a cafe across the block from the police cordon on Haymarket. "I try not to think about these things."

The terror threat level in Britain has remained at "severe" — meaning a terrorist attack is highly likely — since last August. But Metropolitan Police sent more officers into the streets of central London on Friday, and authorities also stepped up security at Wimbledon.

One analyst said the bombers could be trying to send Brown a message.

"It's a way of testing Gordon Brown," said Bob Ayers, a security expert at the Chatham House think tank. "It's not too far-fetched to assume it was designed to expedite the decision on withdrawal (from Iraq)."

The U.S. government urged Americans abroad to be vigilant but officials said they saw no potential terrorist threat in the United States ahead of the July 4 Independence Day holiday. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said there were no immediate plans to raise the U.S. national threat level, currently at yellow, or elevated.

New York strengthened its already tight security as a precaution, putting additional police in Times Square and the mass transit system.

"We're going to ramp up a little bit, but nothing dramatic," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "We'll take a little bit of extra precaution. Some of you will notice, some of you won't — but we have to be cognizant."

___

Associated Press writers Raphael G. Satter in London and Matt Apuzzo and Katherine Shrader in Washington contributed to this report.