LA Times: Al Qaeda To Attack Major Cities and Remote Areas (excerpted)

LA Times via azcentral.com ^ | 12-23-03

[My Favorite Headache]

WASHINGTON -- Al-Qaida operatives may be plotting several unrelated attacks in the United States, targeting not only major cities but also remote bulwarks of the

[alnick]

There's nothing new about the fact that chatter was heard prior to 9/11. You've uncovered no scandal here.

[AdmSmith]

Roger Cressey, a former senior Bush administration counter-terrorism official, said the current intercepts have officials so concerned because they so closely mirror the conversations picked up before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Uhhmm....so they DID know?

Well, it was in the computers, but no one was studying it as it was not presented to human analysts. If you do not know what to look for you can not see it. After the attack it was possible to search the databases for phonenumbers, names etc and then it was possible to get a clear picture. This means that it is possible now to search for signal patterns that mirror the conversations picked up earlier.

Thus you can not say that they DID know.

[Poohbah]

Poohbah, what's your explanation for why all such haven't been obliterated instantly as soon as they are sited?

"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't." Terrorist training doesn't require a lot of infrastructure. Bombing the camps would encourage the terrorists to use other methods to conduct their training. But terrorist camps that are fixed can be watched--and that gives us our best "order of battle" information. "Order of battle" is a term of art to denote what forces are assigned to which organizations. For example, the Order of Battle of the CENTCOM theater includes, but is not limited to, the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and so on. It's important for identifying who is behind a particular event--or who's trying to pull off an attack.

[OldPossum]

5. The trained pilots story that was out tonight that are working for foreign airliners. Flying them into stadiums on national TV.

I couldn't help but notice that the author of this post referenced foreign airliners. Sure, that's what the terrorists would go after, knowing with one hundred percent confidence that those pilots would not be armed. Of course, thanks to that sorry ass Mineta and his minions, just a small percentage of American pilots are armed.

And don't count on the passengers saving the day. If the terrorists are able to hide firearms on the plane and then retrieve them for their "work" how many people would attack them even with the sure knowledge that they are going to die anyway. It takes a lot of courage to go up against a group of men with .45's. Don't you think?

[newcats]

You know, those families who lost police officers who walked into those buildings at the WTC on 9/11 would not appreciate your flip comments about the donut shops.

FYI...I was a volunteer fire fighter for 12 years till I had to quit do to medical problems, and have two cousins that are LEOs. Both of them enjoy a good "donut shop" joke.

[Peach]

Okay. I was on a thread the other night and MANY Freepers were seriously condemning police officers and those of us who were on that thread are a little touchy.

[Quix]

i WONDERED if there wasn't some such I wasn't thinking of.

But figured you'd have it all scoped out.

THANKS MUCH.

[RetiredArmy]

Some possible remote targets of interest: Howard Dean's campaign office; Algore's former campaign office; LA Slimes office; NY Slimes offices; Atlanta Constipation offices; CNN; ABC; CBS; NBC; MSNBC; naw, on second thought, why would they attack their friends in the liberal media. Never mind.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

NEVER FORGET

In 1992 WTC Tower 2's Head of Morgan Stanley Security RICK RESCORLA predicted ahead of time the 1993 Bombing Attack on Tower 2.

In 1993 RICK RESCORLA predicted another Attack on Tower 2, this time from the air, after he and his lifelong friend & Terrorism Expert DAN HILL had personally tracked down the Brooklyn Mosque's blind muslim cleric who masterminded the Bombing of the World Trade Center and turned him over to Authorities.

The CLINTONS went on to take all the credit on TV for nailing that blind muslim cleric, selling it to the American People as THE example of their not being soft on Terrrorism during the 1990's when in fact THEY WERE...

...denying us OSAMA bin LADEN 3 times in the process.


To sign our U.S. 7th Cavalry's Petition for BUSH to award our fellow Battle of IA DRANG-1965 Veteran RICK RESCORLA the Presidential Medal of FREEDOM see:


http://www.lzxray.com


Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer / Vet-U.S. 7th Cavalry's Opening Days of the Vietnam War 1965-66

http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm
(Battle of IA DRANG-1965 Photos)


NEVER FORGET

[princess leah]

Well, looks like I need to add some duct tape and water to my Christmas list of things yet to buy!

[ravingnutter]

Lebanon?

Yes...Lebanon...

Report: U.S suspects Iraqi WMD in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley

[justshutupandtakeit]

Ssssh, don't disturb the paranoia.

[Gucho]

Breaking on Fox New............New terrorist threat issued for Americans in Bahrain.

[Sender]

The nukes we have are quite dirty- exploding several of them at the same time would overwhelm the planet with radiation

I believe they would overwhelm a limited area downwind of the site(s) with radiation, but would only bring trace increases to the vast majority of the world. There would be localized problems in the affected area(s) for years, with contamination of crops and the water supply, but the idea of the whole planed being irreparably poisoned by a limited nuclear strike is simply not true. Too bad for the folks in the immediate vicinity, though.

[Dixie Pirate]

"I also find Gaddafi's recent willingness to discard his WMD program very suspicious"

It's also possible the Libyan dirtbag got rid of his incriminating stuff by slipping it to AQ, then acting all innocent to us. Classic backstab.

[Paulus Invictus]

Our response to any attack shoud be swift and echo President Bush's warning after 9/11, that we would go after any nation sheltering or giving aid to terrorists. A simple message in the clear to Syria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Iran or Pakistan or Indonesia etc. saying that they have 10 days to prove they have completely eliminated the terrorists in their nations, halting all aid of any kind to terrorists or face the consequences, then make it happen if they do not respond well. Methinks that Iran and Syria shold be first to get the warning

[biffalobull]

I'm thinking this is an elaborate headfake, not without some effect, at very little or no cost to al Queda. I'm skeptical they have the operational wherewithal to conduct multiple snych'd ops stateside, al Queda style. JMO.

I think you are right on the money, witness. We are being terrorized and their not risking one life.

[macrahanish #1]

Attacks on rural churches on Christmas Eve.
Our church will have 500 worshippers.
2 Islamowhackos with machine guns could kill 400+ people
in less than 5 minutes and escape.

[Sender]

I too think that an attack on the UK would 'steel their resolve' and result in even closer cooperation between us and the Brits.