Al-Qaeda issues fresh threat

The Age (Austrialia) ^

[BurbankKarl]

(not posting to breaking)

Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden will issue the next of his video messages after a massive attack on US territory, Saudi weekly Al-Majallah quotes an official of the terror network as saying, in its next edition.

Quoting an e-mail received from a man who goes by the name of Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj, the weekly reports that "an emissary of bin Laden has informed me that the al-Qaeda chief's (next) appearance (on video cassette) will come after a deadly, far-reaching operation on American territory.

"In the video, bin Laden will evoke the success of his backers in once again striking the United States to the core and America's failure (in its anti-terrorist campaign) both outside and inside the country," the al-Qaeda official was reported as saying in the e-mail.

"Bin Laden will also reaffirm al-Qaeda's determination to continue its war against America, until its defeat," said the message from Ablaj, who last February announced to the Saudi weekly that bin Laden would release a video statement after the US-led war in Iraq.

The most recent message alleged to be from bin Laden was an audiotape broadcast last week by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel, but its Qatar-based rival Al-Jazeera said the tape was the same one it had aired more extensively on October 18.

Both Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, the leading Arab news channels, have been accused by US officials of inciting violence by airing such tapes of al-Qaeda leaders as well as those of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein before he was captured by US forces on December 13. They have denied the charge.

A day before the alleged bin Laden tape was aired, Al-Jazeera broadcast a tape purported to be from bin Laden's right-hand man Ayman al-Zawahiri, in which he said the Americans were beginning to stagger under the blows of al-Qaeda.

A US intelligence official said in Washington that CIA analysts had concluded that the Zawahiri tape was "most likely" authentic.

The report in the Saudi weekly came as Americans celebrated a nervous Christmas under heightened terrorist alerts and tight security nationwide.

[Monty22]

We need to start full yield tests though, and to hell with the peace lemmings..

Just start testing again, hardcore and show the world.

[FreedomCalls]

So we have a few hundred nukes.

A few hundred? According to the chart we have 5,974 nukes. Can you name 5,974 potential targets?

[FreedomCalls]

IRBMs on ships, on land, etc. and bomber-based nukes are the (big!) middle layer, and tactical nukes are the rest.

All IRBMs and tactical nukes were destroyed under the terms of the INF Treaty. What is in the chart is all we have.

[risk]

It could easily take thousands to strike al Qaeda in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as other remote and suburban sites. And yes, I'm sure SAC has thousands of al Qaeda targets ready to go.

[hoosiermama]

Do you think the attempted assassination of the Pakistani leader will give them the "excuse" to start firing?

[FreedomCalls]

It could easily take thousands to strike al Qaeda in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as other remote and suburban sites.

You don't use nukes for those targets. Why would you use a nuke for a remote site? You use nukes for Damascus, Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Islamabad, Riyadh, and Tehran. You use conventional HE weapons for small groups of individuals hiding in a mountain cave.

[risk]

We would have used conventional HE (high energy?) weapons already if we knew exactly where to use them. Nuclear strikes would be the only thing that could possibly hit them without better intelligence.

And no, I don't think even a successful attempt on Musharraf's life will immediately trigger a first strike on Pakistan's nuclear forces. A successful junta might, though. But there may be other ways to accomplish the disarmament of Pakistan should it become a necessity. Let's hope the Pakistani army remains under the control of the modernists.

[garjog]

If wonder if our nuclear weapons are going to help us much in this war. Let’s say that next week LA is hit with a plague attack and 100,000 people are infected. Who do we nuke?

Do we blast all Islamic nations that harbor terrorists even if we can't prove that they were connected to the attack? That would be a rather large war.

[eno_]

You are correct aboutthe IRBMs being gone. But, IIRC, many of the nuclear devices are stored, not destroyed. I also don't know about bombs, etc., that are not counted as strategic weapons. While this is according to Carnagie Endowment for Peace - not the kind of people I usually hang out with - the U.S. has about 9000 nuclear weapons, which is about 4000 more than we have strategic nukes.

[eno_]

Terrorists don't do it for fun, and can't do it for very long without help from governments.

The former governments of Iraq and Afganistan were among those governments that helped terrorists. Iran is almost certainly one, too. I would bet our government has the ability to get specific about who is behind a terror attack if they had to be specific.

[eno_]

Terrorists don't do it for fun, and can't do it for very long without help from governments.

The former governments of Iraq and Afganistan were among those governments that helped terrorists. Iran is almost certainly one, too. I would bet our government has the ability to get specific about who is behind a terror attack if they had to be specific.

[Doc Savage]

He's dead! End of story.

[Ragirl]

Bin Laden has bin dead. D-E-A-D. The only "new" video I will believe is current Bin Laden....is a pile of bones.

[risk]

Let’s say that next week LA is hit with a plague attack and 100,000 people are infected. Who do we nuke?

A good question, for which I have no immediate answer. While pondering the price of not responding at all, against any nation (although we have an entire Axis of evil from which to choose), a related question is what to do in the meantime. Since we have not had a WMD attack on our soil, we should be working against them in the future. But what is the cost of failure?

Some cogent writing on this topic appears here:

• Belmont Club: Three Conjectures
• den Best responds

Meanwhile, my personal view is that there is a concerted effort from the evil Axis to derail western democracy. And there are European interlopers including France and Russia who think they can play the two sides against each other. Call it geostrategic war speculation on their part.

If there is an evil axis, and if it does want to destroy American power, and if terrorists attack us here, then what should stop us from massive retalliation against the entire axis? I cannot answer that question, and I am not ready to advocate any particular response. Our President and his cabinet will be in the appropriate position to decide when the time comes, and I will support any decision they make, so long as they can explain it in terms of preserving the republic and the Constitution for American citizens.

Most days, I think China, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia should be added to the list of the evil Axis countries. If China sees its unrestricted warfare allies smoldering in ruins, then I don't think we need to take this up to a fullscale world war between superpowers. They'll take a hint and back off. So will France and Russia.

[JRios1968]

So Osama Bin Blown-up will issue a new video after Al Qaida's next attack on the US? Wow, that's what I call a long (LONG!) lead time, seeing how hell will freeze over before their next attack.

[hillary's_fat_a**]

If something like suicide bombings starts on U.S. soil, I expect a bloody revenge -- Americans will demand it.

If something really big happens, I predict Bush will respond with limited nuclear weapons. Bush won't take this crap at all.

[Travis McGee]

Who do we nuke?

There are only three targets that matter a damn to the insane murder cultists. Not Cairo, Damascus, or Teheran, they are just martyr bait for Allah.

Mecca, Medina, and Q'um.

Mecca above all, the site of Mad Mo's Mojo, the black moon-god rock that all devout muslims lay down and pray to 5X a day. The black moon-god meteorite chunk that Mohammed retained from the desert tribes' pagan gods to ease their conversion to his newly fabricated murder cult. The black rock that is the physical presense of allah on earth for muslims. That's what they really care about.

After they take out a city, or let loose smallpox or something else on that scale, we will drop the PC pretending, and put the real targets on the table.

We're going to find out, sooner or later,

If Osama will pray, to a glowing crater.

[tet68]

Hear me Almojahid! for I am the voice of Allah speaking through YOUR mouth!

Always keep in your mind that what goes around comes around.
Always remember how a great nation dropped nuclear weapons without any kind of sympathy what so ever on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing millions of children, men, and women who warred against them. So don't be surprised if God decides to send you the same revenge for your war on innocents!! God is fair don't you think!

[NeonKnight]

IRBM's were dismantled, not destroyed.