Al Qaeda again threatens America (Thread 3) Daily Terror Threat

World Tribune ^ | Thursday, February 5, 2004

[Mossad1967]

SANAA, Yemen, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A purported statement by al-Qaida in Yemen warned Saturday of a "major strike" soon in the United States.

The statement, distributed by the Yemeni Tagamoo Party for Reforms, said: "A major strike, a big event will take place in America soon," reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks.

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Previous threads

[WestCoastGal]

Just had to post this. :-)

[WestCoastGal]

If OBL was captured, how did they miss al-Zwawhiri? I thought they were joined at the hip.

[jerseygirl]

This came up under google news for today- from PHX news: Interesting, it was under " a message to Democrats."

"Terror strike at key harbor could cripple the U.S. economy"
Posted by PHX

- Sen. Jon Kyl on Sunday February 8, 2004
Admittedly, it's a worst-case scenario: a rudimentary nuclear device is successfully smuggled into Los Angeles harbor and detonated. Thousands, even millions are killed instantly or severely sickened by radiation poisoning. All commercial traffic into L.A is halted for an uncertain period - at least weeks, but perhaps much longer. The shockwaves from such an attack panic millions of Americans and cripple our economy.

It is for just this kind of "doomsday scenario" that our new Department of Homeland Security and federal law enforcement officials must be prepared. And the federal government's effort to inspect cargo and protect our nation's seaports from such an attack was the subject of a recent hearing I held as chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security.

I called this hearing for several reasons. For one, I wanted the Coast Guard to address concerns raised about security at key U.S. harbors. The Los Angeles Chief of Police went so far as to claim that L.A. harbor was "wide open" for a terrorist strike. Just as important, I wanted to see what more Congress could do to help the Coast Guard, FBI, and other relevant agencies ensure that all that can be done is being done to prevent a terrorist strike of such a horrific magnitude.

Currently, the federal government inspects just 5.4 percent of the more than six million containers that enter America's roughly 370 seaports. And, in almost every case, all of these inspections occur after the containers arrive. As was pointed out at our hearing, just one such container can contain up to 60,000 pounds of explosives - more than 10 times the amount used by Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City. A single container could be used to explode a key bridge, carry a radiological "dirty bomb," or spread infectious and deadly disease.

No matter how well-equipped we are, it's simply impossible to inspect every single container without crippling economic activity and commercial travel. Federal resources are finite; homeland security officials must therefore make difficult decisions on how best to deploy funds and personnel to address what they deem the most serious threats to our homeland.

With that in mind, I was encouraged by the level of seriousness with which officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard, and FBI take the threat of a terrorist attack. As one FBI witness noted at our hearing, ports are very vulnerable and terrorist groups are looking for any holes in the port security system to exploit. Recently discovered al-Queda training manuals explicitly mention attacking seaports.

Working with local port authorities, federal officials have spent a considerable amount of time since 9/11 on upgrading security at harbors, increasing inspections of cargo, and conducting more thorough checks of those seeking entry into seaports. Their efforts were greatly aided by seaport security legislation signed by President Bush in 2002.

Nonetheless, I believe we can - and should - do more. For this reason, I am cosponsoring legislation that improves physical security at our seaports; implements minimum federal security standards at all American seaports, including restrictions on access to private terminal areas; and requires customs inspectors to have personal radiation detection devices.

Though we cannot inspect every container entering the U.S., we can ensure that we improve our profiling systems used to conduct random searches. Our legislation establishes a risk assessment plan for the Customs Service that focuses on high-risk cargo and containers and increases fines and penalties for those supplying inaccurate or false information about ship manifests. We would require high security seals and a universal tracking number on all containers coming into the U.S. and mandate that all U.S ports provide space to Customs officials for non-intrusive inspection technology.

Lastly, we would increase penalties and close loopholes related to terrorist acts at seaports.

Of course, it's an immutable fact of life that smugglers will continue to try to traffic goods and weapons into the United States, just as they have since the dawn of our Republic.

But the war on terror doesn't give us as much margin for error; we can't afford to allow al-Qaeda or other terror groups to be lucky even once. Taking action now will help turn the odds in our favor and protect our country from a catastrophe of unimaginable magnitude.

[WestCoastGal]

Thanks for the Concord info, sounds different than the report on those websites, wonder who is correct?

Here is something a little different on Mursi aka Abu Khabab speaking of planes and bombs etc. Someone asked if there was any new news on him, this is old but a few additional pieces of info on his capabilities....

"Sources said documents found at the camp and at al Qaeda safe houses in Afghanistan and Pakistan also included what one intelligence official called "very innovative designs for explosive devices" - some designed to be carried aboard airplanes without being detected.

Some documents indicated Mursi was exchanging information with Palestinian and Hezbollah bomb makers - including some who helped design the shoe bomb carried aboard a Paris-to-Boston flight by Richard Reid in 2001, sources said."

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/44708.htm

[jerseygirl]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...rror_dirty_bomb

U.S. Terror Expert Warns of Dirty Bomb
By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Terrorists have the will and some of the expertise to make a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapon, and are "doing everything they can" to acquire the materials, the U.S. State Department's top anti-terror official said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Cofer Black, U.S. ambassador at large for anti-terrorism, told The Associated Press that al-Qaida is still dangerous even though more than two-thirds of its leaders from the time of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks have been killed or arrested.

Speaking at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Jakarta on Saturday, Black said he and other U.S. officials are "killing ourselves" to make sure terrorists don't get a so-called "dirty bomb" or other unconventional weapons, but the threat remains.

"We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that a number of these groups, if they had it, would use it," said Black, who accompanied U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to an Asia Pacific anti-terror summit on the Indonesian island of Bali last week.

"They've got the will. A lot of these guys seek the expertise, and there's a reasonable amount of that out there, but what you're really looking for is the coming together of all the factors: the will, the expertise and the materials," he said.

Authorities fear terrorists could create a dirty bomb, which would use conventional explosives to disperse a plume of radioactive dust over a city. Unlike a nuclear weapon, a dirty bomb would not ignite an atomic chain reaction and would not require highly enriched uranium or plutonium, which are hard to obtain. The materials could be a lower-grade isotope, like those used in medicine or research.

Black's comments follow recent revelations that the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, sold equipment related to centrifuges, used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons, to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Experts say the same black market that enabled those countries to obtain nuclear weapons technology might also have supplied bomb components or plans to terrorists.

"If al-Qaida were to put together a radiological device, they're going to use it," Black said. "We know that they have the determination, they've killed large numbers before, their objective is to kill more, they're doing everything they can to acquire this type of weapon and we are working to try to prevent it."

He said that anti-terror officials use the initials CBRN to rank the threats' order of probability: "chemical, bacteriological, radiological and nuclear — chemical the most likely and nuclear the least."

Al-Qaida's apparent interest in acquiring nuclear technology came to the fore in 2001 when two Pakistani nuclear scientists were arrested after meeting Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan on suspicion of giving away secrets. The scientists were later released without being charged.

Al Qaida, said Black, has been badly damaged since Sept. 11 and now has "less leadership personnel with which to plan and validate operations" but "that still doesn't stop them from being very dangerous."

"We are concerned about the next generation, guys seven to 12 years younger, who are flush with disturbed radical emotion but less well-trained," he said.

Government officials attending last week's anti-terror summit on Bali — site of a devastating attack in 2002 by the al-Qaida linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group — called on Asia Pacific states to work to prevent the illegal movement of nuclear, chemical and biological materials.

But delegates said the threat of unconventional weapons falling into the hands of terrorists was not discussed at any length during the two-day event.

Black said he believed Jemaah Islamiyah remains the most dangerous terrorist threat in this region because of its "association with al-Qaida, the substantial training received in Afghanistan, their contact and connection to these radicalized groups in the Middle East."

[WestCoastGal]

At last count I think AQ had about 29 ships, don't know how we keep track of them or even if we can. It seems as though all the ships coming into the harbor would be checked by their registry. But, that doesn't stop anyone from putting something in cargo which for the most part is not checked.

[TexKat]

Look I don't disagree - there is no love lost between the chechens and the Russians - let's not fight about it. Just pointing out that we have to consider sources of articles/

Fight is not my intention. I agree with you on this issue. I am just trying to research it for what truth can be found after reading a post that states something different than what I recall. A post such as the one which includes the following: I also see a bogus operation last year at a Moscow theater where Russian SOF/OMON forces ensured there were no survivors. They killed 'em all, "terrorists" and civilian hostages alike with Chemical weapons. They also shot them all point blank in the head just to make sure.

Hostages saved, terrorists dead, theatre cleaned of mines

Crack Federal Security Service forces have the premises in control, survivors are being removed.

Other Chechen operations in Moscow include the October 2002 seizure of 700 theater-goers at the Dubrovka theater. A total of 129 hostages and 41 Chechen guerrillas were killed when Russian troops stormed the theater to end the siege after three days.

[jerseygirl]

What they are doing, surreptitiously (as in Frederick MD. fairgrounds being a planned decontamination/refugee center for D.C.) or overtly...speaks louder than any color code.

[jerseygirl]

liz44040- Here's the latest from Daleel on "It's happening" forum.


daleelAlmojahid
la elaah elaa alaaah

Registered: Dec 2003
Location:
Posts: 112
Shakh Osama Is and will be protected with our blood
but if you still want to know where he is i can tell you hes in the front lines and one more information for you, he goes out with the mojahideen from time to time for an operation on the heads of the americans in afghanistan!!

and dont ever expect him to come out and to give us a speech to bring up our morale he will come out when there is a messege to pass to us we dont need a speech from him for that we have a whole book of speachs from whos greater than Shakh Osama, we have the Quran which keeps our head always up and our souls always fighting with our bodys till death.


alaah akbaar
daleel_almojahid


__________________
alaaah akbaar
Daleel_Almojahid

[eastforker]

This is my last post to this thread, I have gotten a lot of info here. Some good, some bad. It is not Islam we have only to fear but also the environatzi's and PETA. It is my belief we are also being attacked from within. I will lurk , now and then, but I will not respond. Thanks for all the heads up guys.

[Revel]

Reminds me of smelly airplanes if you know what I mean. Lets just hope this is not some sort of contageous biological agent with a long incubation period.

[Revel]

"Currently, the federal government inspects just 5.4 percent of the more than six million containers that enter America's roughly 370 seaports. And, in almost every case, all of these inspections occur after the containers arrive."

To bad we import all this stuff. Too bad we don't make our own stuff anymore. It would save all of this trouble. We could still import an inspectable amount of stuff. Globalism is a bad deal for a nation like ours in more than one way.

[jerseygirl]

I don't know- haven't looked at EOM since several people here warned that going to the Current News and Views site led their computer to crash.

I believe Daleel is a bored student, enjoying his brief moments of fame; however- some of what he writes is chilling. It's more than the usual we-will-kill-the-infidel stuff. In one of his posts awhile back, he softened his stance and was discussing how children should be raised, with a woman who had posted on IH. He actually praised her.