Posted on 07/23/2005 10:00:02 AM PDT by SLB
Three men described as Middle Eastern-looking were seen aiming a rocket launcher at a low-flying B-1 Bomber near Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.
Air Force security pursued the suspects, who got away, but left behind their rocket launcher, according to a July 14 Air Force staff directive obtained by WND.
The three suspects were observed outside the perimeter of the air base, looking through binoculars and aiming the weapon at chest level, according to the report.
The FBI and Air Force security are investigating the incident, which suggests a threat to military and commercial flights within the U.S. from rocket launchers or MNAPADS, Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, as they are called.
According to Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center, "MANPADS form part of the arsenal of weapons available to almost 30 insurgent and terrorist groups worldwide, their apparent proliferation on the black market making them relatively easy and, depending on the model in question, cheap to acquire."
U.S.-made "Stinger" missiles were widely distributed by the Central Intelligence Agency among rebel Mujahedeen groups fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980s. Given the weapon's record against agile military aircraft at least 270 confirmed kills the threat that such an advanced system poses to much slower civil aviation is obvious. Conservative estimates state that at least 100 such missiles are still in the country out of around 900 originally supplied.
Raimondo and his doting fan club members posted whacko and sicko information on FR, also.
Leni
UPDATE: The story has disappeared from both worldnetdaily.com and g2.wnd.com
Leni
"A false analogy."
False anology? Blumenthal was actually slandered by Drudge's false report. So it was worse than this, if this is actually untrue. So if Farah had slandered someone that would be ok?
And BTW, should we now start banning anything Dan Rather says? I really hope not. If Rather says something else stupid, I want to know.
I see. Reporting that family members still think loved ones were imprisoned by the Soviets, so fervently that Senator Jesse Helms looked into it, that is an object of ridicule? I'm glad someone is raising questions about that. But others want me to quit reading Farah because of reports like this? For goodness sake! Next they're going to say that Ken Starr did a good job investigating Vince Foster, and Reno was right to burn down Waco.
How many bodies were shipped back to the US from the 007 crash? Was there a single one? If not, why not?
"David Hackworth reported the same thing . . ."
He did?
I thought he was dead.
Poor Michelle got snagged too.
Old Chicago City Room (newspaper) sign. "If your Mother says she loves you; check it out!"
She also should have read FR.
It sounds very much like WND misinterpreted an old bulletin that *was* sent out to our air bases back in 2003. In that case, the rocket was found outside a Saudi airbase.
This entire saga is 1000000% BS with about 1% of credible truth.
The problem is this looks (at least to me) to be a product of a type of security exercise and nothing more. They could have at least gotten the roads right.
Semper Gumby!
Northeast Intelligence Network Investigation
Northeast Intelligence Network
Twisted Saga of Middle Eastern Men, Rocket Launchers, Denials & "Damn Denials"
By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director
28 July 2005: In late 2003, Sean Osborne, Senior Analyst and Military Affairs Expert previously wrote about shoulder-fired missiles being a potential threat in the U.S. on this web site and in our newsletter. In part, that is why we found the news about the sighting of 3 men of Middle Eastern appearance carrying what appeared to be a shoulder-fired rocket launcher near an air force base in Oklahoma City disturbing, but certainly not surprising.
Last year, the FBI arrested two imams in Albany, N.Y., in connection with a sting operation involving laundered funds that the defendants were led to believe were proceeds from the sale of a missile launcher to be used in a New York City terrorist plot.
Albany, NY Mosque: Masjid As-Salam
The Northeast Intelligence Network also investigated this story and detailed our findings within our HQ INTEL-ALERT investigative newsletter in May. There is a definite threat to commercial aviation as Islamic terrorists in the U.S. strive to obtain various weapons, including rocket launchers.
When we publicly broke the story on July 22, 2005 of three Middle Eastern men seen with what appeared to be a rocker launcher near Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City, OK, we had no idea that this article would cause strong but carefully worded denials by government officials, and cause the major media even the Internet news media to accept the official denials at their face and declare the whole story as a "hoax."
Journalistic integrity still exists, we found, when Michelle Malkin, a syndicated columnist and the author of Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores performed her own investigation and wrote the following (excerpted):
"Be on the lookout for Middle Easterners carrying rocket launchers."
"Yup, that's right. Many readers have e-mailed me about a recent report floating on the Internet that reveals military concerns about a suspicious trio of Middle Eastern men who apparently pointed a rocket launcher at low-flying aircraft near Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma earlier this month. It's authentic."
"Tinker AFB staff and FBI officials remain tight-lipped about the incident. But Capt. Sean Carter, a public affairs officer at Hill AFB, verified the directive for me."
The threat to commercial aviation in this country continues. Except for Michelle Malkin and other journalists with the same tenacity for the truth, the threat to journalistic integrity continues as well, as does the dissemination of truth to the American people. The United States has a problem with Islamic terrorists four years after 9/11 and 3,000 American dead later. Political correctness is a contributing factor to our war on terrorism as pointed out by Ms. Malkin herself: "This week, New Jersey Transit officials joined the New York Police Department in performing hapless random searches of Granny's knitting bag and Junior's Thomas the Tank backpack to prevent the next al Qaeda attack."
Unfortunately, the Islamic terrorists are using and exploiting our own laws against us, laughing as they continue to board our airplanes, infiltrate our infrastructure, and tell us how improper it is to engage in "profiling." At some point, someone must say "enough is enough," don't deny the undeniable, and tell the American people the truth.
Michelle Malkin's column is syndicated by Creators Syndicate and appears in about 100 newspapers nationwide. She maintains a web log at michellemalkin.com.and is the bestselling author of Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores and In Defense of Deternment. Click on above books for her site & book information.
the threat is there. No one is denying that.
but this DIDN'T happen.
To be continually talking about a WORLDNUTDAILY story is just proof that we are bored.
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