Al Qaeda again threatens New York, Washington and Los Angeles - Daily Terror Threat

Debka ^ | 11-3-2003 | Staff

[tubavil]

Monday, November 3, 2003

A new message was posted in the last few hours by the Jeddah-based al-Qaeda-linked Al-Islah (Reform) society calling on Muslims to flee New York, Washington and Los Angeles in advance of major al Qaeda attacks in those cities. This is revealed by DEBKAfile.

The message accuses the United States of predetermining its end (doom) by its policies. ?The Jews rule the Pentagon by remote control and (are the cause) of Muslims being killed in every corner of the world. The United States should therefore expect more blows.?

The message is signed on behalf of the al Bayan (The Threat) movement by ?your warrior brother, Abul Hassan al Khadrami?.

Our Muslim expert identifies the name of the signatory as belonging to a Yemeni from Hadhrameuth, the Bin Ladens? place of origin where Osama enjoys substantial tribal support.

DEBKAfile?s counter-terror sources stress that warnings appearing on these forums are taken both very seriously and with caution by the intelligence services keeping track of the terrorist network?s electronic traffic.

Last November, Jeddah-based fundamentalist forums addressed a message to an Al Qaeda member, saying whoever understands ? understands; whoever knows, knows, but we are marching towards an operation that will take us to Paradise. Three days later, the Mombasa Paradise hotel was blown up killing 12 Kenyans and 3 Israelis and a failed shoulder-launched Strela anti-air missile missed an Israeli airliner at Mombasa airport.

Link to Thread 2

[dirtboy]

Well, I've never given much credence to any warnings from AQ. They hit us on 9-11 without any public warnings and look what they accomplished. They've never broadcast their moves before. Why now if they're serious?

Al Qaeda actually has a very serious operational problem. They are quite fond of the spectular planned multiple-pronged attack. However, such an attack requires a tremendous amount of communication to carry out - and they have to be worried about our abilities to monitor their communications. This is why I am concerned about shipborne attack - the planning could be done in a foreign country and ships could come to this country and carry out a terrorist attack without further communications that could give them away, other than routine ship communications.

[freeperfromnj]

time to get out of dodge?

I've had the feeling that it was many times before and thankfully nothing ever materialized. It all depends on how coordinated they are and whether or not they have been able to plan, finance and come up with the number of suicide bombers they would need to pull off a significant simultaneous attack in the US. We know they will attempt it sooner or later. I just have an uneasy feeling about this Ramadan season.

[dirtboy]

Can't we just get them to hit San Francisco?

Nah, the only bombs currently in California are Ben Affleck movies.

[Sabertooth]

How long before 9/11 were some students in NYC mentioning that the towers would no longer be there?

Here are a few FR threads on the subject...

Trade Center warning baffles police - An urban myth turns out to be true but what does it mean?
			Posted by vannrox On 05/28/2002 7:42 PM PDT with 24 comments MS NBC ^ | NEW YORK, Oct. 12 2001 | By Jonathan Alter Trade Center warning baffles police An ‘urban myth’ turns out to be true — but what does it mean? By Jonathan Alter SPECIAL TO MSNBC NEW YORK, Oct. 12 — I went to Brooklyn this week in search of an “urban myth” about the World Trade Center attacks. What I came back with was no longer a myth — it was cold, chilling fact. But it didn’t clear anything up for me; that the “myth” was true only made matters murkier. Was word of the attacks on the street beforehand? I wanted to find out. YOU KNOW the “myths”...
Trade Center Warning Baffles Police
			Posted by honway On 10/18/2001 8:02 AM PDT with 59 comments MSNBC.COM ^ | 10-12-01 | Jonathan Alter Trade Center warning baffles police An ‘urban myth’ turns out to be true — but what does it mean? By Jonathan Alter SPECIAL TO MSNBC NEW YORK, Oct. 12 — I went to Brooklyn this week in search of an “urban myth” about the World Trade Center attacks. What I came back with was no longer a myth — it was cold, chilling fact. But it didn’t clear anything up for me; that the “myth” was true only made matters murkier. Was word of the attacks on the street beforehand? I wanted to find out. YOU KNOW the “myths” I ...
Post Here Evidence that Some in Muslim Community Had Prior Knowledge of 9-11 Attack
			Posted by honway On 10/17/2001 10:48 AM PDT with 56 comments Police: Student spoke of attacks before Sept. 11... News/Current Events Source: The Journal News Published: 10-11-01 Author: JEFFREY SCOTT SHAPIRO Posted on 10/11/01 10:37 AM Pacific by Demian BROOKLYN — Authorities are tracking numerous leads that some people, including members of the Arab-American community, heard rumors of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in the days leading up to the hijackings, law enforcement sources say. "There have been leads where someone has alleged to have heard someone else boasting about how the attack was going to happen before it happened," said Jim Margolin, a spokesman for the FBI ...
Police: Student spoke of attacks before Sept. 11...
			Posted by Demian On 10/11/2001 10:37 AM PDT with 226 comments The Journal News ^ | 10-11-01 | JEFFREY SCOTT SHAPIRO BROOKLYN — Authorities are tracking numerous leads that some people, including members of the Arab-American community, heard rumors of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in the days leading up to the hijackings, law enforcement sources say. "There have been leads where someone has alleged to have heard someone else boasting about how the attack was going to happen before it happened," said Jim Margolin, a spokesman for the FBI in Manhattan. In Brooklyn, a high school freshman who recently immigrated from Pakistan was investigated by federal agents after his teacher reported that he had predicted the Trade ...

Also...

Claim:   A Dallas schoolboy predicted the start of World War III one day before the terrorist attacks on America.

Status:   Undetermined.

Origins:   This is another single-source anecdote, the source in this case being the Houston Chronicle, which reported on September 19 that:

The day before terrorists attacked New York and Washington, a fifth-grader in a Dallas suburb told his teacher World War III would begin the next day, school officials have told the FBI.

The boy was absent from school the day of the attacks, Sept. 11, and the following day, but has been at school since then, said Rhonda Lucich, a director of elementary education for the Garland Independent School District.

Lucich said the boy approached his teacher on the afternoon of Sept. 10 and casually told her:

"Tomorrow, World War III will begin. It will begin in the United States, and the United States will lose."

That was all the information the Chronicle provided in the article other than noting that the FBI had been informed. The article didn't report the boy's name or the school he attended, nor did it report whether the FBI investigated the tip and what they found if they did. From the information given, one could not rule out the possibility that the boy's teacher misremembered or misreported what he had said to her the day before, or that the boy typically made statements like the one quoted but no one ever paid much attention to him before. Sure enough, twelve days later, the Chronicle reported in a follow-up article:

Garland Police spokeswoman Stephanie Funk said today that FBI agents interviewed the child's teacher and decided no further investigation was warranted . . .

Steve Knagg, communications director for the Garland Independent School District, last week said the teacher later decided she could not be certain the boy had actually predicted World War III would begin on the same day as the terrorist attacks.

The Dallas boy's "prediction" appears to have been yet another case of general statements being misremembered or afforded greater significance than they merit in light of subsequent events. And even if the boy's words were recalled accurately by his teacher, he said nothing about terrorists or hijackings or New York City; the specifics in his statement — that World War III has begun, and that the "United States will lose" — have yet to prove true.

A similar incident involving a schoolchild was reported in Brooklyn, New York:

In Brooklyn, a high school freshman who recently immigrated from Pakistan was investigated by federal agents after his teacher reported that he had predicted the Trade Center's collapse a week before the towers were attacked.

The student pointed out a third-story window of New Utrecht High School toward the Trade Center and said, "Do you see those two buildings? They won't be standing there next week," according to three police sources and a city official familiar with the investigation. They said the comment came in the midst of a heated political discussion the student was having with his teacher in an English class for Arab-American students.

Once again, however, no follow-up information surfaced to indicate that the boy had any specific foreknowledge of the September 11 attacks:

Federal agents who visited the New Utrecht school questioned the student and his older brother, who also attends there, the sources said. Afterward, the agents tried to question their father, who chastised them for harassing his children, they said.

Police sources said that, after the interviews, the boy's father left for Pakistan. After his departure, investigators conducted a second interview with the boy and his mother, who told them that her son was having psychological problems.

Additional information:

      Trade Center Warning Baffles Police   (MSNBC.com)

Last updated:   12 October 2001

The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/rumors/predict2.htm

Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2003
by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
This material may not be reproduced without permission

---

Sources:

    Alter, Johnathan.   "Trade Center Warning Baffles Police."

    MSNBC.com.   12 October 2001.

    Ratcliffe, R.G.   "Boy in Dallas Suburb Predicts Start of WW III Day Before Attacks."

    Houston Chronicle.   19 September 2001.

    Shapiro, Jeffrey Scott.   "Police: Boy Spoke of Attacks Before Sept. 11."

    The [Westchester] Journal News.   11 October 2001.

    Houston Chronicle.   "FBI Dismisses Tip on Child Who Predicted WWIII."

      1 October 2001.
Snopes.com - Young Nostradamus

[mel]

I know I feel the same way, however, never underestimate your enemy

[sarasota]

I can't read Arabic. What does it say that is so scary?

[My Favorite Headache]

Agreed on this particular Ramadan..things just don't "sit"right in my stomach about it. Almost like a dark gloom about it all.

[Mo1]

They let him go??

Isn't this a guy they caught red handed starting a fire?

[Charles Martel]

FYI:

Arabic-English translations online

[sarasota]

Don't think this doomsday scenario is going to come to pass.

[Calpernia]

Ping

[sarasota]

Sounds like the same old mumbojumbo they've repeated since 9.11 (and probably a long time before). I just don't feel afraid anymore.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I would be curious to know if Muslims in these cities appear to be heeding the warning?"

If recent events in Iraq are any indication, the terrorists have no qualms whatsoever about killing other Moslems.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Okay, since I guess you wanted me to post this again, here goes:

WARNING! ALERT! Gratuitous Debka ridicule detected! WARNING! ALERT!

[swarthyguy]

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/5/29/71547.shtml

Cairo, Egypt in August 2001.
While on vacation in Cairo last August, Connecticut banker Richard Dennison says a shopkeeper in the bazaar told him in detail about planes that would be flown like bombs into the World Trade Center by Arabs in September or October. Furthermore, according to the shopkeeper, the coming attack was a prime topic of conversation at his mosque.

Dennison, an executive with American Savings Bank, told NewsMax, "I called the FBI about a week after the attack and was transferred to another FBI agent who listened to my story and indicated that I might hear back from another agent in the future. I did not.


From this thread....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/703915/posts

[dirtboy]

Okay, since I guess you wanted me to post this again, here goes:

Go ahead and post it all you want, it makes an excellent marker. It's akin tracking a bear with a radio collar, except in this case we're tracking people who don't care about journalistic integrity.

[Mo1]

"Agreed on this particular Ramadan..things just don't "sit"right in my stomach about it"



Check this post out

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1013758/posts?page=94#94

[aristeides]

Britain fought well after the Blitz. Germany continued fighting hard certainly into December 1944 (Battle of the Bulge), after many major cities (e.g., Hamburg, Cologne) had been bombed to bits. And Russia fought hard and won after losing many major cities (e.g., Kiev, Minsk, Kharkov, Rostov, Smolensk).

[ravingnutter]

Looks like everyone knew except us.

Heck, it was announced in the newspapers in the Arab world

In in 1998, an Arab intelligence officer, who knows Saddam personally, predicted in Newsweek: "Very soon you will be witnessing large-scale terrorist activity run by the Iraqis." The Arab official said these terror operations would be run under "false flags" --spook-speak for front groups--including bin Laden's organization.

Then there were the predictions by an Iraqi with ties to Iraqi intelligence, Naeem Abd Mulhalhal, in Qusay's own newspaper several weeks before the attacks that stated bin Laden would “demolish the Pentagon after he destroys the White House and ”bin Laden would strike America “on the arm that is already hurting.” (referencing a second IRAQI sponsored attack on the World Trade Center). Another reference to New York was “[bin Laden] will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra everytime he hears his songs.” (e.g., “New York, New York”) which identified New York, New York as a target. Mulhalhal also stated, “The wings of a dove and the bullet are all but one and the same in the heart of a believer." which references an airplane attack.

The Arabic language daily newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabic also cited the cooperation between Iraq, bin Laden and Al December 1998 editorial, which predicted that “President Saddam Hussein, whose country was subjected to a four day air strike, will look for support in taking revenge on the United States and Britain by cooperating with Saudi oppositionist Osama Bin-Laden, whom the United States considers to be the most wanted person in the world.” This info is in the link provided in the para above.

[Steve_Seattle]

"They hit us big again like 9/11 and all but the most idiotic of anti-war folks are going to start supporting an all out attack (by us)."

You still don't understand the Left. If there's another attack, they'll blame it on Bush. They will say (1) that the attack was a response to the war in Iraq; and (2) that the war in Iraq distracted Bush from his primary responsibility, homeland security. Hillary has already rehearsed these talking points.