Al Qaeda again threatens New York, Washington and Los Angeles (thread 2) Daily Terror Threat

DEBKA ^ | 11/03/03

[Mossad1967]

Al Qaeda again threatens New York, Washington and Los Angeles

Link to Thread #1

[eastforker]

Oh yea, and about that air marshall, when the POS plucks the kid from mom and the screaming starts, the AM will give himself away. Two POS plucking two kids and the other two POS can get the drop on him.

[varina davis]

For the life of me, I can't figure out why they don't just swarm the bad guys after they get on the planes.

That's why I'm inclined to think it's a diversion and the security officials know it.

[eastforker]

We may not know their identity, only that they will be on a specific flight. With the recruitment of blue eyed chechnians, they might be hard to spot. I watch foreign TV news at times and it amazes me how many people from countries that mean harm to us look and sound just like us.

[labolarueda]

"Three doubles? That's six right?"

LOL! But...not suprised at all.

[JustPiper]

Seven Flights To, From U.S. Are Canceled
7 minutes ago

By BETH GARDINER, Associated Press Writer

LONDON - British Airways and Air France on Saturday announced the cancellation of seven flights to and from the United States because of security concerns.

BA canceled four flights between Heathrow Airport and Washington on Sunday and Monday and one from Heathrow to Miami on Sunday. Air France canceled two Paris-to-Washington flights.

There are no plans to raise the terror alert in the United States because of the latest threats, Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

"We remain concerned about al-Qaida's desire to target aviation, especially international aviation," said Roehrkasse said.

"The U.S. intelligence community continues to gather specific credible threat information on international flights, as we have done in an ongoing basis in the past few weeks. We have shared this information with our international partners, and will work with them to put in place the appropriate security measures."

BA Flight 223 to Washington's Dulles airport will not fly on Sunday or Monday, but was to have departed Saturday afternoon, said an airline spokeswoman. Flight 222 from Washington Dulles to London also was canceled Sunday and Monday, the airline said.

The Saturday flight from London to Washington appeared to be running behind schedule, but no extra security was seen around the jet.

Dennis Lopez, 48, a lawyer from Tampa, Fla., boarding the plane, said the cancelations were unnerving.

"I'm a little worried and if I had another flight arrangement right now that could take me there I would definitely take advantage of that," he said.

He added that he had just arrived from Kuwait, and "I breathed a sigh of relief when I landed in London, thinking I was out of the area of most concern. ... It hadn't occurred to me that this flight could be a possible target."

BA Flight 207 to Miami will not fly on Sunday, the airline said, but had departed Saturday morning.

Air France canceled its Flight 026 from Paris to Washington on both Sunday and Monday "for reasons of security," spokeswoman Veronique Brachet said.

The BA spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, said BA had made its decision on the advice of the British government. She cited security fears but gave no further details.

"The safety and security of our operations is our absolute priority and will not be compromised," the airline said.

BA's Flight 223 had been the subject of concern early in January, when it was canceled twice because of security fears and then delayed for hours several more times.

Six Air France flights were canceled between Paris and Los Angeles on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day after security talks between U.S. and French officials.

U.S. officials said Friday that new intelligence indicated Flight 223 and Air France flights from Paris to an unspecified U.S. city could be terrorist targets.

"We remain concerned about al-Qaida's desire to target aviation, especially international aviation," U.S. Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. "The U.S. intelligence community continues to gather specific credible threat information on international flights, as we have done in an ongoing basis in the past few weeks."

The department said it could not immediately say why the flights were canceled, or specify the source of the intelligence — U.S., British or another government's — that led to BA's decision.

A British Department for Transport spokesman said only that the decision to cancel the flights was made "in the light of information received."

"Aviation security measures are adjusted from time to time, and occasional cancellations may be necessary," he said on condition of anonymity. "The first priority is always the safety of the traveling public."

[TexKat]

Pakistan sacks "father" of nuke programme

Sat 31 January, 2004 15:47

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has sacked top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan as scientific adviser to the prime minister amid a probe into the sale of nuclear technology to Iran and Libya, a government official says.

A government statement said Khan had "ceased to hold the office" of special adviser to the prime minister on the strategic programme, which holds the status of federal minister.

"Yes, he has been removed from this post," the official told Reuters on Saturday.

Khan's removal is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where he is revered as the "father" of the country's and the Islamic world's atomic bomb, seen by many Pakistanis as a vital deterrent to nuclear rival India.

The decision coincided with a meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA) chaired by President Pervez Musharraf. The NCA is made up of military, political and scientific officials and controls Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

The military repeated former general Musharraf's assertions that any illegal proliferation was carried out by rogue scientists without official involvement.

"The NCA... reiterated Pakistan's strong resolve and commitment in adherence to international agreements of non-proliferation," a statement said.

"The government condemns and distances itself in categorical terms from individual acts of indiscretion in the past."

But Pakistani experts and Western diplomats doubt whether top scientists could have traded secrets abroad without the knowledge of senior military and intelligence officials.

KHAN'S SECURITY ENHANCED

Pakistan has questioned Khan, several of his colleagues and former military officers in recent weeks after a U.N. nuclear watchdog began investigating links between Pakistan's nuclear programme and those of Iran and Libya.

Hours after government's decision to remove Khan, the military said security had been enhanced for the founder of country's nuclear programme.

"It is done because the government is concerned about his security," Major General Shaukat Sultan, top military spokesman, told Reuters. "There are allegations and things are under investigation...that's why his security has been enhanced."

Western diplomats have said Pakistani scientists might also have sold nuclear technology to North Korea.

The Pakistani investigation is nearing a conclusion.

Musharraf, a general who first took power in a bloodless October 1999 coup is also a key U.S. ally in its "war on terror". He said earlier this month it appeared Pakistani scientists had sold nuclear secrets abroad and that he would deal harshly with anyone found guilty "because they are the enemy of the state".

Musharraf's critics say the military as a whole should be held accountable, not the odd scientist or mid-ranking officer who might have known about any black market nuclear secrets trade.

"He (Musharraf) has omitted to note the most critical factor... the unaccountable status of the Pakistan army as the guardian of the nuclear programme and its overbearing control of civil society," the weekly Friday Times said in an editorial.

The military statement said that since the formation of the NCA in February, 2000, no illegal peddling of nuclear technology had taken place "and there was no chance of such acts taking place in the future".

But it added that Pakistan would not curtail its nuclear weapons programme as a result of the investigation and the intense media spotlight on Pakistan.

"Far from roll back or freeze, Pakistan would continue to undertake qualitative and, if necessary, quantitative upgrades with the objective of consolidating the national deterrence in line with its minimum deterrence needs," it said.

[JustPiper]

Karzai: Bin Laden Alive, Still in Region

By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan - Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) is alive and may be hiding somewhere along the Afghan border, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday.

Also, a statement purportedly from fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Omar accused the U.S.-backed Afghan government of destroying Islamic values in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and said the hard-line movement soon would triumph over U.S forces.

"The spell of American oppression will be broken to pieces," said the statement, which was faxed Saturday to The Associated Press in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar by Taliban spokesman Hamid Agha.

{{{It was not possible to independently confirm the authenticity of the statement, delivered ahead of the start of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice. }}}

In his comments about the al-Qaida leader, Karzai said optimism among the U.S. military that he will be caught soon means bin Laden is probably still in the region — maybe along the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border.

"His exact location is not known," Karzai told reporters at his Kabul palace. "Inside or outside the (Afghan) border, it is not clear."

Karzai said recent videos showing bin Laden demonstrated that he was still alive. "Everyone can see those videos," he said.

The U.S. military said this week it is confident of catching bin Laden, as well as Mullah Omar, by the end of the year.

Defense officials in Washington said this week that the Pentagon (news - web sites) is planning a spring offensive against Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts.

More than 80 people have died in Afghanistan in violence in January alone, much of it blamed on holdouts from the hardline Islamic regime ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.

The U.S. military has said it will try to improve security in the troubled south in time for national elections slated for June. Karzai, who enjoys strong support in Washington, is favored to win the presidency.

Mullah Omar has been at large since a U.S.-led force ousted his hard-line Islamic regime from Afghanistan in late 2001 for harboring bin Laden, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the statement, Mullah Omar accused the U.S.-backed Karzai government, which replaced the Taliban, of "throwing dust into the eyes of the people" by adopting a new constitution and planning elections.

"The only target of this is to destroy the unity of Afghanistan and eliminate its Islamic values. Their leader America wants to justify its illegal occupation," it said.

Mullah Omar, who is believed to be in hiding some place along the rugged border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan also accused the Afghan government of stalling on democracy.

"The American, shaky transitional government in Afghanistan has completed its two years but so far it has not achieved anything," Omar said. "Where is the democracy that was to accompany peace, freedom, human rights and reconstruction?

"For Muslims, that fraud democracy is bringing the gifts of killings, bombings, destruction of homes, the spread of obscenity and imposition of infidelity that you see in the country's capital and its provinces," he said.

A persistent insurgency by Taliban remnants and their allies against Afghan government targets, aid workers and international forces — that include thousands of U.S. soldiers — has recently become more bloody.

Two suicide attacks killed two international peacekeepers from Britain and Canada in the capital Kabul in the past week. Another Taliban spokesman had claimed responsibility for the blasts, and said it was the start of a bombing campaign across the country.

[JustPiper]

I did leave, found that out, put CNN International world on, they had news, the only one!

[JustPiper]

no, you wait a month like they did and try again

[FairOpinion]

I am posting the article you posted about the bomb found in Moscow on this thread -- people here follow such things more closely.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1068838/posts

Bomb Found
AP/Moscow Times ^ | 31 Jan 04


Posted on 01/31/2004 12:15:00 AM PST by RussianConservative


MOSCOW (AP) -- Residents of an apartment building in central Moscow discovered a bomb in a corridor early Thursday, police said.

Federal Security Service agents evacuated 17 residents of the building at 18 Bolshaya Sukharevskaya Ulitsa, Interfax and NTV television reported.

Sappers found that the bomb, consisting of two sticks of dynamite, a detonator and wires, was not set to explode.

====

[JustPiper]

Miami is not far from NY and it is there where they could meet up with some 'boats'

[JustPiper]

Also just remembered duh, another Bush is Governor of that state

[milkncookies]

Anyone care to try and assess what the economic impact is or might be just from disrupting air transportation as the AQ are apparently doing?
Could it be that is their primary goal with these air threats? Disruption? Economic impact?

[labolarueda]

"Then, in late November, many Christian families across Iraq received a threatening letter from the country's main Shia group. It warned Christians that if they didn't convert to Islam, they would be raped, kidnapped, tortured or killed."

What a religion of compassion, forgiveness, peace and tolerance islam is NOT!

A religion that requires persecution and forced conversion to sustain it is a religion of the devil.

[WestCoastGal]

Hi JP, just getting up and haven't read the posts I missed overnight. I did see the AirFrance flight "Unspecified". Why won't they tell us which one?? I'm going to check if any go to Houston. I hope I'm not doing research that someone has done already. Airfrance #68 was the LA flight in question last time.

I saw posted and just heard many BA & AF flights are canceled for Sunday and Monday. Super Bowl?? and our dates we have been watching!!! Seven flights canceled per MSNBC just now. There are 5 BA 3 AF canceled. 026 to Washington, 223 to Dulles (of course) which went today late. 207 did leave today but canceled tomorrow to Miami. Af doesn't seem to mention which ones, probably mad at us from last time when they were accused of spilling the beans.

Puzzling why not canceled today, conjecturing that may just be that air marshalls wouldn't fly. I doubt that, but that what Charles Sabine said. This time apparently it's the flight numbers and not the passenger manifest like last time with the Air France flights to LA.

[eastforker]

They need to take khan out back and shoot him like the rabid dog that he is.

[JustPiper]

Maybe it is a good thing we are a day off -sigh- These jihadists have no original thought, have to use even our own movies against us

[JustPiper]

Please give us that big sigh of relief when she gets in!

[TexKat]

Saddam to be handed over to special court: Bremer

[eastforker]

JP IMHO this is disinformation to get the cockroaches moving. I do not believe BL is in Afghanistan, I think he is in Iran.Trouble is, there is so much propaganda out there right now, he could be anywhere.