Posted on 06/05/2006 4:14:43 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
U.S. officials believe Canadian arrests over the weekend and three recent domestic incidents in the United States are evidence the U.S. will soon be hit again by a terrorist attack. Privately, they say, they'd be surprised if it didn't come by the end of the year, reports CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart.
The first of the domestic incidents, all of which drew little attention at the time, began with the holdup of a string of Torrance, Calif. gas stations last summer. Muslim converts who bonded together in prison planned to use the robberies to finance attacks on 20 Army recruiting stations.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton admits they stumbled on the plot during a search.
"Make no mistake about it," Bratton said. "We dodged a bullet here — perhaps many bullets."
Police in Toledo, Ohio, busted another cell in February. This one consisted of three men training to attack U.S. forces overseas. Once again, luck played a role. When they tried to enlist someone in their mosque to help, he turned them in.
"These individuals are often hiding in plain sight in cities like Torrance and now Toledo," says John Pistole, a FBI deputy director.
Two months ago, a pair of Atlanta men, one a Georgia Tech engineering student, were arrested not long after communicating by e-mail with two of the suspects arrested in Canada over the weekend. The Atlanta men are charged with videotaping domestic targets, including the U.S. Capitol and the World Bank.
Analysts now conclude similarities between all the cases were dramatic: All were self-financed, self-motivated, and in each case the men were seeking out others to join their cell.
In short, Osama bin Laden didn't pay for these plots, recruit for them or even know of them. They were all totally homegrown — even amateurish. But if four, including the one in Canada, have been uncovered in just 11 months, officials fear there are inevitably other plots that have not been and are maturing even now.
The next attack here, officials predict, will bear no resemblance to Sept. 11. The casualty toll will not be that high, the target probably not that big. We may not even recognize it for what it is at first, they say. But it's coming — of that they seem certain.
CBS revving up its engines to blame Bush.
I will not be surprised by another attack. I wish it weren't so, but our enemy is not wishy washy like we are. This nation has lost the will to wage war, but the enemy never will.
They left out the two Saudis who boarded the Tampa School Bus..
Unfortunately, it will take another attack to remind folks of what we are up against..
What gets me is that we hobble the administration at every turn, kvetch about all kinds of things, distract and complain, armchair quarterback...and then when we end up with an actual attack we have the unmitigated gall to blame the president.
I wish I could say it was just the press. I used to think so. But now I realize we are all culpable. Frankly, I'm disappointed in us.
The Pakistani reporter who was the last person to interview bin Laden has stated that Al-Qaeda has another sleeper cell in place in the US and is simply waiting for a massacre of muslims somewhere in the world in order to "justify" an attack.
If we hear a bin laden tape in the next couple of weeks mentioning "Haditha", watch out.
Partly, it's because nobody (or almost nobody) believes we're actually AT war. Life since 9/11/01 has seemed so normal, for most of us. I sometimes wonder if the Bush admin (and/or other powers that be) made a mistake in return the nation to normalcy so quickly. In WWII, we always KNEW we were at war, and likewise, in most ways, with the "cold war." People might get the stomach for war if they believed it was urgent that they do so. At least some would--not counting 'Rats, of course.
I pray that we don't have another terror attack, but if we do and it's shown that the terror suspects slipped across our Southern border, there will be hell to pay for the thumb-twiddling, whistling-in-the-wind politicians, repubs and dems, in D.C. Those idiot Senators calling themselves Americans won't be able backtrack quickly enough without falling all over themselves to "secure our borders".
If only there was some common element between all these terror groups...
Attack before November congressional elections to get dem vote out to take over House and thus win the purse strings and cut off funding for Iraq, or
Attack after elections to keep conservatives from saying "I told you so."
yitbos
Arson. Chemical leaks. Plant explosions. Just one man alone can cause plenty of mayhem if he tries.
Bet we see a lot of wildfires in the Western US this summer.
Whine, whine, whine. You missed your stop. Skinner would love your support.
The sad thing is a lot of people here on FR will blame Bush for the next terrorist attack.
I hope the liberals feel as stupid as they appear for whining about the NSA's surveillance of emails and phone logs of suspected terrorists....as evidenced by the Atlanta perp.
Is the color code system still active?
I am surprised it does not come every day. Sad to say - from the looks of the political landscape, it's gonna take another kick of American, on OUR turf to wake the Sheeple up.
It's time to for John Q citizen to let these people know that we will not tolerate their evil ways any longer. We will not let them destroy our country. Either they police thier own ranks or we will do it for them.
Semper Fi'
Jarhead
So true. No matter who is in office it will be downplayed.
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