BUMP TO THREAT ALERT FROM JUNE-JULY 2001 TIME PERIOD

Folks: Here is an interesting read ( or shall I say, reread ) from 7/01 detailing the general terror threat made public in or before June 2001 and again in July 2001 pertaining to Islamic terrorists. The article copied below (and there are many other ones bearing different pre-911 dates) shows that the general threat of terrorism wasn't kept under lock and key like many are claiming today. Even though this specific article focuses on the threat in the Arabian peninsula in particular, I remember reading other articles that took the focus off that region of the world, and instead ...

Read only if you are prepared tp get really steamed! In a related vein, here's an article from Jan. 2001 concerning the 2000 Cole Bombing and the FBI and other obvious intelligence lapses that failed to prevent it even though one Islamic dude was arrested and started singing 2 years before the Cole Bombing happened. In this case, it seems there were no dots to connect, the singing Islamic bird was straightforward. This article is actually very specific, citing failure by all official agencies and personnel except, curiously, I see no mention of clintoon, the country's commander in chief at that time. Hmmmm. No one is pointing a finger at "the beast" in this article at all. "It" is never even mentioned even though "it" held the same position as GWB does right now. Hmmmm. < SARCASM, HEAVY SARCASM > Boy, is the press always this stupid and unfair? < /SARCASM >

Yemen Attack Warning: Terror Suspect in 1998 Allegedly Told of Plans Against a U.S. Warship

News/Current Events Front Page News

Source: ABCNEWS

Published: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 Author: By John McWethy

Posted on 01/31/2001 01:26:43 PST by JohnHuang2

W A S H I N G T O N, Jan. 30 — In the days after the August 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Mohamed Al-Owhali was arrested by Kenyan authorities and interrogated by the FBI.

He told the FBI he participated in the attack and had deep ties to alleged terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, according to court records in his trial, in which FBI documents claim he personally asked bin Laden for an assignment and got Kenya.

ABCNEWS has learned he also provided details of a plan to attack an American warship in Yemen. Al-Owhali, whom bin Laden has hailed as one of the martyrs in American jails, said it would be a Katyusha rocket attack conducted by a terrorist cell and it would come in the next few months, ABCNEWS has learned.

This plan may have been the seed that later grew into the USS Cole attack.

Roughly two years later, on Oct. 12, 2000, a small boat carrying explosives bombed the Navy warship USS Cole in Yemen's Aden harbor, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39. Eight months earlier, on Jan. 3, sources tell ABCNEWS, terrorists had attempted to attack the USS Sullivans in the same harbor but their boat sank.

Following an investigation into security precautions taken prior to the Cole attack, then-Defense Secretary William Cohen on Jan. 19 faulted himself and the entire chain of command for insufficient protective planning ahead of the attack. Cohen told reporters U.S. intelligence needed to be improved and he noted that conspirators had watched for a year prior to the Cole attack to see how U.S. warships refueled in Aden.

The Navy, in its own investigation, concluded that security lapses on the Cole itself were not serious enough to warrant punishing the commanding officer, Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, or any of his crew.

Opening statements in Al-Owhali's embassy bombing trial could begin as early as next week. A U.S. federal judge on Monday decided not to throw out Al-Owhali's confession on the embassy bombing, which Al-Owhali, 24, argued in court papers had been coerced.

Classified Message Was Sent

The morning after Al-Owhali told of the planned attack, Aug. 26. 1998, the FBI sent out a classified message under FBI Director Louis Freeh’s name warning of a plot to attack "a U.S. Navy ship" in Yemen.

The FBI message went to three Pentagon agencies and, as a result, the visit of one American warship to Yemen was canceled.

It also came as Gen. Anthony Zinni was finalizing an agreement for refueling ships in Aden. But it apparently left no lasting impression with Zinni.

"And in fact, Aden never had a specific terrorist threat," Zinni said at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 19. "All the other ports that have been mentioned here that we should have considered as options have had specific threats."

Was It Received?

So what happened to the FBI warning?

CIA officials say they never received either the warning or details of Al-Owhali's interrogation. FBI officials say they did copy the CIA.

Another problem: The FBI warning gave no source for its information and said it was "uncorroborated" information of "undetermined reliability."

Military officials say it would have been extremely helpful to know that the FBI warning came from a man who was already arrested for allegedly committing a major act of terrorism, who had been granted partial immunity to provide more details and who had deep ties to Yemen — having briefly lived there and repeatedly telephoned an operative there after he'd left.

Officials are still trying to figure out why such crucial information seemed to disappear within the bureaucracy.

It might not have prevented the attack on the USS Cole, officials say. But it could have made all 28 U.S. ships that refueled there much more cautious and that could have saved lives.

1 Posted on 01/31/2001 01:26:43 PST by JohnHuang2

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