BIG APPLE RESPONDS - New York City Readies Defenses, Sends Support to Spain

abc ^ | 3-11-04 | Richard Esposito

[doug from upland]

March 11— The rush-hour bombings on commuter lines in Moscow and in Madrid are a worst-nightmare scenario for authorities in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago.

In New York City today, bomb squad members rushed to Grand Central Station, Penn Station and other hub stations to remind authorities at those locations of the squad's ability to respond. Extra uniformed officers were placed on patrol, police said.

Also, the city's response level was stepped up a notch. If any suspicious packages are found in transit locations, bomb technicians will respond before it's confirmed as a specific device. Normally an Emergency Service Unit team or other specialist unit would make that determination before the bomb squad is called.

The actions came after terrorist bombs exploded along commuter trains and stations in the Spanish capital, killing around 200 people and wounding 1,200 more. On Feb. 6, a blast tore apart a train car in the Moscow metro, killing dozens. Russian officials blamed Chechen separatists for that attack.

At the New York Police Department Transit Bureau, police officials in charge of counterterrorism reviewed the measures in place — extra security cameras, track sweeps at night, random patrols by trained dogs, radiation pagers and chemical detectors — and alerted the uniformed patrol force to be "extra vigilant." The New York City subway system has 4 million riders per day.

Police officials said two Intelligence Unit detectives were being dispatched to Madrid to observe post-blast analysis and obtain firsthand forensic information on the devices used in the attacks and intelligence information on the bombers.

The NYPD and the FBI last attempted to send a team overseas immediately following the Moscow blast. However, red tape delayed the mission to the point where it would have served little purpose.

[The_Reader_David]

Alas it won't help if they use suicide bombers: a suitcase carried by a well-dressed swarthy gentleman is not a suspicious package.

(And no I won't use the idiotic Fox-News neologism 'homocide bombers': unless the bomber calls ahead to have the area cleared, all bombers are homocide bombers. The distinctively odious Islamic practice is properly called 'suicide bombing' to emphasize their contempt for human life, valuing their own youth as no more than guidance systems for bombs.)

[Tunehead54]

OK - Millionaire idea given away for free - Can't we devlop a kevlar blanket to throw over suspicious packages/objects til the bomb squad arrives? Something that would minimize the blast? No doubt ineffective for a bio attack but these "standard" explosive's destruction might be minimised if noticed prior to detonation?

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Maybe not original but I just had to throw it out there ...

TH54

[Tunehead54]

Oops! Forgot the bump - ;-)

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[political1]

Just a question, but are we entering into some kind of world war?

[The_Reader_David]

No, we've been in it since the 7th century. Unless you lived in the Balkans it just got very quiet after the last seige of Vienna was turned back.

The dirty secret no one want to talk about is that al Qaeda really represents the dominant strain of Islam which takes Jihad as literal warfare against non-muslims, has always held that land conquered by muslims is rightfully muslim in perpetuity, and that the later verses of the Koran which speak of fighting against Christians and Jews superceed the earlier ones which advise friendship. The is not to say all Muslims are enemies: there are minority schools of interpretation which take a mystical view of the Koran (the Sufis for instance) and there are millions upon millions of Muslims who are no more faithful to the call to literal warfare than childless married liberal Roman Catholics are to the papal teachings on birth control, even when their imams are of the dominant school. Nonethless Islam is the enemy in the same sense that Shinto was the enemy in the Pacific War during WW II.

[Nebr FAL owner]

Been takin a nap for last several years have we 8^) yes we are in a global conflict that is for the most part a global religious war between Western civilization & what for the most part is fanatical orthodox to ultra-orthodox Islam.

The current idea behind this nations military actions in the Mesopotamian theatre of operations can be roughly summed up as the idea "It's easier to banish a habit of thought than knowledge of facts ". If we in the west are successful we will drag the muslim world kicking & screaming from the 7th century to somewhere in the region of the late 19th - early 20th century . If we fail the possibility that a majority of the arab & muslim world will end up as tiny radioactive dust particles floating around the upper atmosphere cannot be dismissed.

[doug from upland]

I think that world war started in 1993 when the WTC was attacked for the first time.

[Bonaparte]

Most of NYC will vote for Kerry, which is the same as a vote for Al Qaiada.