Al-Qaida likely planning unprecedented attack by sea, analyst says

The Associated Press ^ | 3/17/04 8:27 AM | D'ARCY DORAN

[Fellow Traveler]

I am sure that some of them have been tagged and sent back into the wild to determine their patterns.

[traumer]

on the second thought - forget an oil tanker...

ANY cargo vessel with ONE 'bad' container in the harbor.
You cannot screen it while still on ship !

[Eric in the Ozarks]

They carry a Microsoft chip inserted under their scalp...

[FlatLandBeer]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Privateers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[Fishrrman]

Capriole writes:
You know, there are times when I look at stories like this and think, How can they ever be defeated? There are a billion of 'em, and any one of them could by a sleeper agent bent on destruction. I look around me, just living in a pleasant suburban neighborhood, and I can see a million opportunities for an evil person to commit mass murder and destruction. How can this ever be stopped?

Here's an analogy for you:

In my backyard, there are two apple trees.

Each autumn, the rotting apples fall to the ground, and I have to clean them up and toss them out.

I can clean them completely from my property this year, but _next year_, they will only be back again.

If I want to get rid of my "apple problem" once and for all, what must I do?

The Islamics who attack us are but "this season's bad apples". We can get rid of them for now, but what about _next_ season?

If we want to end their attacks once and for ever, what must be done?

When you can answer this question (as I have in my heart), you will know where the solution lies....

Cheers!
- John

[Check_Your_Premises]

"When you can answer this question (as I have in my heart), you will know where the solution lies...."

Yep. Right now we are pursuing the most humane course, we are trying to offer these people the chance to join the modern civilized world.

The only other alternative is to kill them until the survivors all can see only two choices, complete submission or the complete destruction of their "civilization". It worked for the Japanese, Nazi Germany. It will work for these nut-jobs.

And historically speaking, getting your ass kicked by the Americans is a great "career move".

MDP

[Wonder Warthog]

"..but also iron resolve for all civilized nations (even us Wussie Pussies) to crush them underfoot."

Note I said "much of", not "all of" Europe. Some folks in your neck of the woods realize what is at stake, even if most appear not to. The dividing line appears to be those countries which have seen the "jackboot heel" of tyrrany up close and personally most recently.

The simple fact is that the rest of the world simply does not understand the US. Do a web search on the term "Jacksonian Tradition" and "Walter Russell Mead"to see what REALLY makes us/US tick (I'm at work, so don't have access to my library of links).

[Capriole]

Killing a billion people, including women and children, is a pretty daunting task. I don't know how you go about doing that.

[Fellow Traveler]

I doubt the microchip. I was reffering to turning some of them and tracking who they meet with, where they get money, where they go etc.

[finnman69]

I'd bet money we have a way of tracking each of these guys....

Hoepfully painful anal probes.

[expatpat]

Yes, you are right, mostly. However, the tankers going into Philly go up the Delaware river to S. Philly.

[Aquinasfan]

- suppose there is an oil tanker by the US shore FULLY loaded - behaving suspiciously...

It's loaded with crude, isn't it? In that case, it wouldn't explode. Liquified natural gas is another story. LNG tankers still enter Boston harbor.

[bayourod]

Numerous ships have been refused entry into US harbors since 9/11 because of information that they might be used by terrorist.

OBL owns a fleet of ships.

[bk1000]

Anybody see 'The Sum of all Fears'? They sneak a nuke into Baltimore in a cargo ship. Very effective in the movie.
Of course, we won't begin to search all incoming cargo even after such an event. Much as we won't profile pasengers after 9-11. We need to blame PC for our impending demise as much as the terrorists.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Do you see the really big tankers up the river (Phily Naval Yard area)?
I've flown in dozens of times and looked down at this anchorage. More than a few old Navy girls parked there.

[Toespi]

As far as smuggling containers or people into a harbor, they do not need a cargo ship to do so. I am far more concerned about smaller cruisers/yachts being used. There are NO inspections of these boats coming into ports. As I have mentioned several times on other threads, we freely navigate Lake Erie to Canadian water ports, wuch as Windsor and only have to CALL into customs with a float plan. When we return to the US, we don't have to do anything, we simply return. We could stow anything or anyone on our vessel and no one would know the difference.

[swarthyguy]

I'd pick a major Euro port.

The unprecedented success of AQ in Spain's election emboldens them.

Other Euro targets are in their crosshairs as they seek to press their advantage.

Ports in Italy, France and the Netherlands - Rotterdam come to mind. The Dutch PM was in DC and they are in Iraq.

[mumbo]

I was reading the cover of "USA Today" this morning, and the front page article is focused on the air lines spotting sick people in the passenger waiting areas.

I started thinking.

Now imagine instead of a suicide/homicide bomber, a suicide/homicide Ebola victime traveling on as many flights as possible. It would work, wouldn't it?

[Enduring Freedom]

Al Qaeda is getting funding from nation states.

There is no other way this could happen.

Bush is exactly right to take a country from the Islamonazis for every attack.

A cultural wake-up call is the only way to end this, as it worked in Japan.