Terrorist threats to destroy US city posted on internet

UK Herald ^ | Jan. 15, 2004 | IAN BRUCE

[FairOpinion]

US and British intelligence services are investigating a series of alleged al Qaeda internet warnings predicting a terror attack which would "destroy an entire American city".

The messages, posted on a number of Islamic websites over the last week, say the countdown to attack has already begun.

They claimed it would be "an even stronger strike than nuclear weapons".

They also warn that unless the US and its allies withdraw immediately from Iraq, Afghanistan, and all other Muslim countries, the terror network has ordered the elimination of American leaders and their supporters. The post of most concern to Western intelligence has appeared three times in three days on a radical Islamic internet forum called the Mujahideen Network.

It claimed to be "from the Islamic nation to the American people" and boasted that its forces now had the ability to wipe out an entire city.

A security source said last night: "There is no way of determining whether these warnings are genuine or wishful thinking on the part of extremists. "But there are disturbing parallels with the background threat-level chatter which preceded the September 11 attacks in 2001."

The investigation came as the UN said almost 100 countries should be "named and shamed" for failing to enforce international sanctions against known members of al Qaeda and its Taliban allies and to block the flow of money and arms to the groups.

[Quix]

A fellow US NAVY man involved in highly classified research at a highly guarded CA site noted one day quietly

that we had

11

weapons systems EACH ONE OF WHICH WERE MUCH MORE DEVASTATING THAN ATOMIC WEAPONS.

That was more than 32 years ago.

[Mike Darancette]

The city of Frostbite Falls is on full alert, Chief Moose and Mayor Squirrel know that any city completely destroyed by the Rags will have to be really small.

[John H K]

One would have to be a profound moron to claim that there will NEVER be another AQ attack ever again. What else would you expect the FBI director to say?

From glancing at the 10,000 post thread it's fairly clear it's largely driven by people who (largely subconsciously) are getting increasingly frustrated at the failure of AQ to do anything at all in the US for the last 2 1/2 years. And people certainly seem to enjoy wallowing in fear.

Did finally see someone explicitly call for the extermination of all Muslims on earth in that thread, something I think dozens and dozens think but manage to restrain themselves from posting.

[FairOpinion]

"We went back to mindless sleep far too much and far too quickly after 911"

==

I agree -- some people prefer denial to reality, but unfortunately, wishing the threat away doesn't make it so.

Only crushing it and eliminating every single terrorist and countries supporting them will eliminate the threat.

[PLMerite]

"Pure, absolute nonsense."

Concur. Gas could kill a goodly number of people in an enclosed area (Super Bowl, etc.), but the amount of even Nerve Gas that it would take to kill "millions" is beyond AQ.

Now, if they have Smallpox...

[Polycarp IV]

hmmmmm

[sinkspur]

The threat is not over.

Yes it is.

If they could do more than talk about it, they would.

[Bobby777]

Muslim extremists and illegal immigration

the borders are how the terrorists will get in ... almost certainly ...

[PoorMuttly]

PM to AQ :

Why don't you greasy little bastards get over yourselves, and shove this big-talk "terrorism" up your little spider-holes....it may "terrorize" you...but the nearer we Americans were to your big success in N.Y.C. and D.C....the LESS we respect, regard...and...(snort in derision) "fear" little desert pissants like YOU...specifically.

It will take you 1000 years of cultural development to comprehend this...but thankfully...the residents of your own villages are much less deluded than you.

John Wayne is coming...and you know what he does to garbage like you.

May FREEDOM RING...and be kicked up your butt by your highly amused neighbors...and their afflicted (by you) children.

[Prime Choice]

US and British intelligence services are investigating a series of alleged al Qaeda internet warnings predicting a terror attack which would "destroy an entire American city".

Well, they're going to need some serious firepower to do that, and it'll have to be an aerial detonation. Even with the Hiroshima bomb, we didn't annihilate an entire city. We sure made a mess of what wasn't vaporized, but we didn't destroy it entirely.

Unless, of course, they're talking about a "city" on the scale of Sierra Madre (which is only 3 square miles). In that case, I would probably recommend Pomona, California. Hell, it'd probably do about $2 billion in improvements...

In other words -- and this is for the al Qaeda creeps -- shut yer freakin' pie holes. You're all a bunch of wussified cowards whose existence only verifies the presumed love that Hitler had for water buffalo. Kiss my American butt.

[Quix]

MUCH AGREE.

THanks.

[FairOpinion]

If you really follow that other thread, with an open mind, you would have seen that things discussed there became major news days or weeks later, meaning that the info posted there was indeed based on correct information. Obviously there is also a lot of speculation and brain storming going on, which is part of trying to figure things out.

The article from Debka, dated November 3, "Al Qaeda again threatens New York, Washington and Los Angeles" was ridiculed by some at the time, only to be confirmed, when we went on orange alert nearly two months later.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1013726/posts

People who are only interested in reading about events that happened, may or may not be interested in that thread (although people post related news articles too), but those who are interested in trying to put bits and pieces of info together, or reading about others' attempts at doing so, may be interested.

As I pointed out earlier, the info about the jihadi chatter has been discussed there for some time, and it just made it to the mainstream news.

[FairOpinion]

"If they could do more than talk about it, they would."


===

They are certainly still trying, or have you forgotten the recent orange alert.

The fact that so far we haven't had any attacks is not because they are not trying, it's credit to God, luck and our intel services and law enforcement for preventing and foiling them.

[FairOpinion]

Another interesting article:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1058280/posts

Oil and Gas: Terror's Next Target?

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Attacks on the West's oil and gas infrastructure -- from production facilities to pipelines and tankers -- are likely to be the next "mega" target of terrorists, and could wreak havoc with the world's economy, according to an in-depth analysis of the susceptibility of the energy industry featured in the latest Journal of International Security Affairs (Winter 2004).

Terrorist groups with global reach -- in particular, al Qaeda -- have identified the world's energy system as "a certain way to deliver a blow to America's oil dependent economy, as well as to the global economy at large," writes Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. He notes that such attacks have already become frequent, though little reported, against oil targets in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and that Saudi Arabia's oil system, upon which much of the West depends, remains "target rich and extremely vulnerable."

[sinkspur]

The boast that they can destroy an entire city is just bullshit.

Stay on guard, but al-Qaeda has shot its wad. The fact that we've foiled them proves it.

[Lady of Liberty]

Extermination of all Arabs is going a bit far isn't it? I mean, you sound like them when you say such things.

However, it is frustrating to feel like no real justice is being done where Al Qaeda is concerned. I know more is probably happening than we know, but it is that frustration and helplessness that keeps people edgy.

I really wish a major break would happen, like with Saddam and some major inroads could happen. Preferably before they launch another attack.

[FairOpinion]

I certainly agree that they try to magnify their capabilities, but our intel must KNOW that the terrorists DO have certain potentially devastating capabilities, or they wouldn't have NEST (Nuclear Emergency Search Teams) scouring major cities, looking for nuclear or dirty bombs, and owuldn't have been putting sensors all over cities to detect biological or chemical agents in the air.

[roadcat]

One thing potentially stronger, would be poison gas. Completely 100% wrong.

Okay, I admit I may be wrong. But keep in mind that 19 years ago, an accidental explosion in Bhopal, India at a Union Carbide pesticides factory released poison gas and 5,000 people died that night and a half million people were injured. Today 50,000 remain disabled from their injuries. This was from one single factory, one incident.

According to federal government sources, there are 123 chemical facilities nationwide that could kill at least one million people if they were attacked by terrorists. And some of these are in major American cities and can put 8 million lives at risk.

So I may be wrong. Just repeating some of what I've read elsewhere.

[FairOpinion]

"According to federal government sources, there are 123 chemical facilities nationwide that could kill at least one million people if they were attacked by terrorists. And some of these are in major American cities and can put 8 million lives at risk."

==

I've read similar things as well.

The threat is real and could be devastating -- the way to prevent it is exactly by recognizing it and foil it and prevent attacks, not by pretending there is no threat, as some are doing.

[xm177e2]

They claimed it would be "an even stronger strike than nuclear weapons".

Thousands of Mohammedan boys j*** off to this sort of thing--it's nothing but Islamically-correct pornography (because, you know, wimmins are dirty). I wouldn't worry about it.