[Lazamataz]

so... would that be why AQ would choose forest fires?

Not sure why; however, El-Queso ... I mean, Al-Qaeda operatives caught last summer definitively stated that starting fires in the west was in their plans.

[hotpotato]

This story has morphed into a story which omits that AQ was going to be setting fires in the summer.

And I would never say "definitely" about anything passed on from a journalist via what someone who may or may not have been connected with interrogation within military confounds might have said. Hardly seems to be the basis for rounding people up. I'd rather point at legislators who aren't doing their job and instead are being intimidated by environmentalists who "persuade" them to put property and lives in jeopardy over thinning trees.

[tbird1]

I'm waiting for them to find that there were missing bolts on those transmission towers in Colorado. The news was that they went over in high winds.
tbird1

[hotpotato]

From the Washington Times (note, California was not mentioned)Wildfires and security sparks:

On June 25, the FBI's regional office in Denver sent a memorandum to state and local law enforcement agencies warning them of a plot to start forest fires in the western United States using timed incendiary devices. The FBI learned of the plot from a senior al Qaeda detainee, who told investigators he had developed a plan to set forest fires in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.

and this:

"The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies," said the FBI memo, a copy of which was obtained by the Arizona Republic.

Poor guys. What's happened instead of getting the "credit for mass destruction" is that Gray Davis is getting a lot of the blame for not acting quickly as well as the environmentalists. Policies on Iraq are not going to change but it does look like we are seeing action from Washington finally in the form of getting forests cleared. And this is a one-time shot. Once the fuel is burned, it's burned for a long time.

I saw a guy hold up the diamond from his wife's wedding ring found in the rubble of their completely leveled home. Since they have a pretty good idea where these fires originated, seems an timed incendiary device would be found in the charred brush.