re post 1360..."alaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah akbaaar"
I think it is a disSTRESSSSSSSSED signal of some kind.
Found the original post about those cargo ships here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/846384/posts http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/993456/posts http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/991310/posts http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1000145/posts http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1013687/posts http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/999236/posts http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/998800/posts More on Al Qaeda and Ships:
http://hollings.senate.gov/~hollings/statements/2002618C03.html TRANSPORTATION:
Sen. Hollings' Floor Statement
on Port Security
November 28, 2001
Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, as requested by our leader, this matter of port security is really a very serious concern. Very few people realize this. The Financial Times and the Times of London, reported back in early October, almost 2 months ago, and I quote:
Intelligence actions across the world are examining Osama bin Laden's multimillion dollar shipping interests. He maintains a secret fleet, under a variety of flags of convenience, allowing him to hide his ownership and transport goods, arms, drugs, and recruits with little official scrutiny.
Three years ago, nobody paid much attention to a crew unloading cargo from a rusting freighter tied up on the quayside in Mombasa, Kenya. The freighter was part of Osama bin Laden's merchant fleet and the crew were delivering supplies for the team of suicide bombers who weeks later would blow up the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Bin Laden's covert shipping interests were revealed at the trial of the bombers, but until now security services have been slow to track down how many vessels he operates.
Going further, Madam President, we heard that a suspected member of the al-Qaida terrorist network in October tried to stow away in a shipping container heading to Toronto, Canada. The container was furnished with a bed, a toilet, its own power source to operate the heater and recharge batteries.
According to the Toronto Sun, the man also had a global satellite telephone, a regular cell phone, a laptop computer, cameras, identity documents, airport maps, security passes for airports in Canada, Thailand, and Egypt, and he also had an airline mechanic's certificate. He is being held now as a suspected member of the al-Qaida group and bin Laden's movement.
The threat is real, there is not any question about it. Let me emphasize, when the FBI said there was no threat to the Golden Gate Bridge, that was nonsense. It has been reported in the news that four of these so-called martyrs can operate an oil tanker and run it right into the bridge. So we have to be on the lookout for terrorist attacks with respect to the ports of the United States.
Fortunately, my distinguished colleague from Florida, Senator Graham, has led the fight to institute seaport security. In 1999, Senator Graham got President Clinton to appoint a commission, and they did a study on this issue. At the local level, this bill will mandate that all ports and waterfront facilities promulgate a comprehensive security plan approved by the Secretary of Transportation.
That is going to be a difficult task. There is not any question we have some 361 entities rated as ports. Some are privately operated, some are semi-privately operated and leased like in New York. Other ports are operated entirely by the State like in my own hometown of Charleston, SC. None of them has any security plan. Fifty of these three hundred and sixty-one ports account for 90 percent of all tonnage going to and from the United States.
The bill requires that the Customs Service, the port authorities, the Coast Guard, the controllers of ports, whether it be a private lessee or publicly run by the State or otherwise, get together and start coordinating and promulgating a security plan approved by the Secretary of Transportation.
The bill for the first time will require that we know more in advance about the cargo and crew members coming into the United States. The more we know about a ship's cargo and where it originated, the better our Customs agents and other law enforcement officers can target suspicious containers and passengers.
In fact, I heard from one port official that these measures would cause a delay. No, it is going to be delayed at the port if they do not know ahead of time what to look for. It is going to take more time.
The bill requires that ships electronically send their cargo manifest to the port before gaining clearance to enter. Since it is going to take money to enforce the provisions of this bill, the bill provides $390 million for grants to upgrade security infrastructure, another $166 million to back the issuing of $3.3 billion in loans and loan guarantees over 4 years for port security and infrastructure upgrades, another $168 million to purchase nonintrusive screening and detection equipment for the U.S. Customs Service, $145 million to increase the number of Customs personnel screening the cargo and to update the Customs computer systems, and $75 million to develop weapons screening technologies for use at the seaports.
Talk about money; we spend billions and billions for an anti-ballistic missile defense system, and a cargo container can be delivered anywhere in the United States for $5,000. The enemies of the United States can easily afford $5,000 to import a container which could contain up to 60,000 pounds, 30 tons of materials. They could bring in a container of that size uninspected at Bayonne, NJ, full of anthrax, take it on up to Times Square, and blow it there. We talk about the thousands who were lost at Ground Zero in New York. The number will go into the millions with an attack like this.
At Tijuana, agents will actually tear apart car seats searching for drugs and other items, but thousands of truck-size cargo containers are being dumped on to the docks of the United States without any inspection whatsoever.
We are not playing games. The threat is serious, and it has to be paid for.
I particularly thank Senator Graham for his leadership in this regard. It was the year before last that we introduced a bill. We had hearings last October. Following the hearings last October, we reintroduced the bill. It is a bipartisan bill.
I thank my ranking member, Senator McCain, and particularly Rob Freeman of Senator McCain's staff who worked very hard on this legislation. I think the bill is in very good shape. We have coordinated time and again with the White House on this measure. They know the contents of it. I do not know their disposition at the present time, but I do not think we ought to adjourn this year without passing this well-considered bill, which has been developed over the past 3 years. We ought to get moving on this bill.