U.S.: ‘Credible threat’ of major attack in Italy

MSNBC.COM ^ | Updated: 5:56 p.m. ET Dec. 17, 2003 | MSNBC

[Smogger]

St. Peter's Square, Leaning Tower of Pisa get special attention

Italian authorities have clamped unprecedented security coverage over the Vatican and other Christian landmarks after receiving a "credible threat" of a Christmastime terrorist attack, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Over the past two days, officials within the Vatican and elsewhere in Italy have increased security near major Christian symbols, including St. Peter's Square. The step was taken based on a warning from the Mossad, the Israeli security service, that there was a "high index of probability" that "an important symbol of Christianity" would be the target of an attack between Christmas and New Year's, senior officials told NBC News on condition of anonymity.

Italy has increased security around 8,000 or so sites, which are guarded by a 12,000-member security force, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told Agence France-Presse.

"There is a legitimate concern, a credible threat," one of the U.S. officials told NBC's Robert Windrem. "Italian police are taking the appropriate precautions."

[mlmr]

It seems to me at times that the whole of Africa is at war. I don't know whether people see the Vatican as the center of Christianity but if the Vatican, or the good Italians are attacked, we should expand our little war. This is WWIII, and it is starting in slow motion, but it will get big soon.

[arasina]

Terrorism threat ping.

[chiller]

I'm waiting for these bastards to attack something like the Vatican. At some point the whole damn rest of the world will decide Islam is not fit to live on this earth. They will be crushed out of existance. F'em, and I'm not even Catholic.

[chiller]

Isn't it weird that we're probably in the middle of another Holy War....like we have read about and thought could never happen again. Times have changed, but not very much.

[Edmund Burke]

If they hit the Vatican, perhaps the Pope will declare a Crusade and Ossama, Arafat, and Sharon will all be put out of business.

[prairiebreeze]

I read the imams stuff. I wonder how big the Mulim population is in Italy. I know it's considerable in other European countries but haven't really paid attention to stats for Italy.

I'd say they are achieving their objective of taking over Europe through preaching and conversion. But to single out Rome....is symbolic I suppose.

Prairie (thanks for the info on that Romiyya)

[prairiebreeze]

Hard to know we are in a war or fight one if it's politically incorrect to identify the enemy.

Prairie

[arasina]

This could be relevant...or not.

James Baker met with Italy's Prime Minister today. (Berlusconi has been an ally in the War on Terror, but evidently he is also a strong supporter of the European Union and was disappointed with the recent failure of their constitutional convention.)

December 17, 2003
U.S. special envoy James Baker has met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in his effort to obtain Italy's support for a debt relief program for Iraq. Mr. Baker has already secured a pledge from France and Germany to cooperate in the debt-relief program.

Talks between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the U.S. president's special envoy, James Baker, lasted nearly an hour at government headquarters in Rome. Neither side commented afterward.

The Italian center-right government led by Mr. Berlusconi backed the war against Iraq from the start. Rome sent in troops and aid workers at the end of the war to help in the country's reconstruction.

[AlbionGirl]

You're right about that. It would be seen by all (except the democrats, and of course, certain cardinals in the Vatican) as validation that a liquidation must occur.

I think you have to remember that a cause or revolution sometimes makes its greatest noise while dying. Hopefully, that's the case for this particular brand of Islam.

[Shermy]

Read this from MEMRI about Romiyya

Leading Sunni Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi and Other Sheikhs Herald the Coming Conquest of Rome

[tubavil]

Mossad bump.

[Domestic Church]

I can't help but wonder if that nutty Cardinal is out there as a psych ops deflector shield...a cardboard cut out of Fr. Guido Sarducci would do as much good.

[Maigrey]

The times have changed, and so have the weapons, but one side of the battle hasn't.

I guess I need me a battle axe or a scimitar to go after these people. Nah. I'll just settle for a nice gunpowder-powered arsenal. 8-)

[Graymatter]

What about the important symbols of Christianity in the Holy Land?
Seems unlikely that terrorists would open up a new front at the Vatican.

[Fitzcarraldo]

"Saudi Sheikh: "We Will Control the Land of the Vatican"
The Saudi Sheikh Muhammad bin Abd Al-Rahman Al-'Arifi, imam of the mosque of King Fahd Defense Academy,[5] discussed this Hadith in an article posted on the Kalemat website. Under the headline "Don't be sad, Allah is with us," the article read: "… We will control the land of the Vatican; we will control Rome and introduce Islam in it. Yes, the Christians, who carve crosses on the breasts of the Muslims in Kosovo - and before then in Bosnia, and before then in many places in the world - will yet pay us the Jiziya [poll tax paid by non-Muslims under Muslim rule], in humiliation, or they will convert to Islam…"[6]

[Fitzcarraldo]

Sudanese Sheikh: "Rome Will be Conquered"
In a sermon at a mosque in Khartoum, Sudan, Sheikh Muhammad Abd Al-Karim said: "…The Prophet said that the Muslims would take India, saying: 'Allah saved two groups of my nation from the fire of Hell: one group that would attack India and a second group that would be with Jesus the son of Mary [in the battle of Judgment Day].' The Prophet Muhammad told us of the conquest of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine state, and of the conquest of Rome, where the Vatican is situated… Some of what the Prophet said has already come to pass. The Muslims conquered Persia, the Muslims conquered Byzantium… the Muslims attacked India and Allah conquered it for us, until they reached the borders of China. The Muslims conquered Constantinople, where Eastern Christianity is situated, and in the future, a mighty king will arise for the Muslims; through him, Islam will spread and Rome will be conquered…"[10]

[Peach]

Not to re-start an argument, because I respect your position, but my husband just reminded me that the Bishop who made his shameful remarks yesterday is the VATICAN SPOKESMAN.

As a result, it does not seem beyond the pale to condemn the entire Vatican for not condemning those remarks.

[Grampa Dave]

The first Christmas after 9/11 was rather intense in S. Italy re the possible al Qaeda violence against Rome, the Vatican and the ports in S. Italy.

Some very good friends had a daughter over in Italy when 9/11 happened. Things got so intense between Thanksgiving and Christmas, on her own, she went from the Rome area to N. Italy. She was over for some college language course for a year, and she could be any place.

She said it was like a different world in the Tuscany area versus the Rome area. The Italians in that area like Americans, and disliked the French and the Germans. She stayed about 8 months to finish her year.

She said that S. Italy was really scary with the alerts and the Italians there were resenting Americans as the cause of the alerts. She never got that message/feeling in N. Italy.

[DManA]

Has the Vatican disavowed that silly cardinal?

Please don't describe a single Cardinal's viewpoint as representative of the Vatican as a whole or the Holy See in paticular

[TBall]

Well put!