Posted on 08/27/2005 10:47:55 PM PDT by FairOpinion
SEOUL: Al Qaeda has listed the United States and Australia as prime targets for attacks this year along with Britain, South Korea’s spy agency has reported, according to a lawmaker on Saturday.
South Korea, Japan and the Philippines are secondary targets, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told parliament this week, quoting a “senior” Al Qaeda member arrested last month.
“According to NIS, this terrorist testified that South Korea, Japan and the Philippines are secondary targets, while the United States, Britain and Australia are the prime targets for this year,” a lawmaker told AFP. NIS did not reveal the name of the Al Qaeda member, where he was arrested or what country handed over the information, according to the lawmaker sitting on the National Assembly’s intelligence committee, who requested anonymity. The comments come after the Financial Times quoted French investigating magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere as saying that an Asia-Pacific financial centre such as Sydney, Tokyo or Singapore could be targeted by Al Qaeda extremists.
NIS told the committee that security officials were on alert for attacks in South Korea, which is hosting an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the southern port of Busan in November.
South Korea, Japan and the Philippines have all contributed troops to the US-led war in Iraq. South Korea, which like Japan hosts US military bases, has 3,600 troops in Iraq, the third-largest contingent after the United States and Britain.
Britain has already been targeted by extremists this year with 56 people dying in the July 7 bombing of three subway trains and a double-decker bus in London. Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard on Friday acknowledged his country was a possible terror target as he responded to the Financial Times report.
“I have said for a long time this country can’t imagine that it’s free from the prospect of a terrorist attack,” he said.
“We are, in my view, well prepared. But the important thing is not to have an effective response mechanism after the attack, the aim is to try and stop it occurring in the first place.” In the interview published on Friday, Bruguiere, France’s top terrorist investigator, said Asian financial centres could be targeted to undermine investor confidence.
“We have elements of information that make us think that countries in this region, especially Japan, could have been targeted” by the Al Qaeda network, he said. “Any attack on a financial market like Japan would mechanically have an important economic impact on the confidence of investors. Other countries in this region, such as Singapore and Australia, are also potential targets.” Asia-Pacific financial capitals reacted calmly to the report but officials said the region was prepared for the worst.
There are several articles about this in the foreign press, but it didn't hit our MSM yet. Covering every word of Cindy Sheehan is more important to them. :(
^
And we should be on record that, following any attack on our soil by muslims, every mosque in the territorial USA will be burned to the ground. Following that, every muslim will be incarcerated and/or executed as an enemy combatant.
In other news, sun rises in the East.
Well US authorities have quietly been picking up several suspects in the last month, some In LA, and some in NY state.
So we may have foiled something without actually ever hearing about what it is.
Still there are risks to be borne, and I'm more worried about Australia than the US. Either country could be hit, but I suspect our intelligence is better than theirs. They tend to be a pretty laid back bunch.
While the general population of Australia may be laid back, their miltary and special forces are first rate.
(Australian) SPECIAL FORCES TASK GROUP DEPLOY TO AFGHANISTAN
http://www.blackanthem.com/TheAllies/2005082405.html
Australiaapproves monitoring inside mosques
Canberra - Australian Prime Minister John Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spies monitoring the nation's mosques.
He was speaking just hours before bidding farewell to a unit of Australian elite troops heading for combat duty in Afghanistan in a deployment sure to further upset many Muslims here.
A day after holding a summit with 13 moderate Australian Islamic leaders, Howard said the government had a right to know if parts of the Islamic community supported or preached violence, and he favoured infiltration of mosques and schools if needed.
But what about their home turf? What they do in Afganistan is not the issue, its how good their police are at home.
All indications from reading the Ozzie press is that Political Correctness is still alive and well there, unlike Britian where its pretty much beaten into submission for the moment, and the US where its starting to reserge after being pretty quiet for a while.
And still the borders are wide open. If there's an attack and it can be shown that they walked across, the reaction will be volcanic.
The 9-11 terrorists entered the US legally.
We've been targets for a long time. That doesn't mean they're going to get away with much. Be vigilant, but don't live in fear. Fear feeds the sick bastards.
PING
The population may be laid back and complacent, but you can bet John Howard isn't going to stand idly by anytime soon as long as he is the PM. I hate to say this but between the US, Britain and Australia, I'd say AQ is probably looking more closely at Australia, since they haven't hatched an attack on Australian home soil as of yet, even though the Bali bombing did hit pretty close to "home" for Australia.
Absolutely. Fear is the terrorist's biggest weapon.
For starters, the terrorists were here legally, with legitimate, proper documentation. Hell, Atta was mailed a notice by the INS that his work visa was about to expire 3 months after 9/11.
Technically, I guess. There was an article in National Review a couple of years ago on the passports they used. I can't find it on google (and I don't know that it was ever on the website; I read it in the print edition), about how at least a number of them never should have been allowed in on the basis of their applications. The only example I remember is that one put for his prospective USA address "California" (!). IIRC, the article made the point that those applying for entry on a Saudi passport got in pretty automatically. Wish I had hung on to that issue!
FairOpinion, what would be the advantage to AQ to take on Tokyo or Singapore? It's hard to see why they would bother...
""And we should be on record that, following any attack on our soil by muslims, every mosque in the territorial USA will be burned to the ground. Following that, every muslim will be incarcerated and/or executed as an enemy combatant.""
delusional...as much as you may wish, we will not have a krystalnacht followed by a final solution
""Either country could be hit, but I suspect our intelligence is better than theirs. They tend to be a pretty laid back bunch.""
having lived there I can tell you that you are emphatically wrong
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