Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Seven

The Washington Times ^ | 4-26-04 | Bill Gertz

[JustPiper]

"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat"

Two Chinese diplomats, away from their Los Angeles consulate improperly, recently sped their vehicle past a Los Alamos National Laboratory guard post near classified facilities in what U.S. officials think was an intelligence mission, The Washington Times has learned.

[WestCoastGal]

Here it is Liz:

N.Y. SUITCASE SCARES SPUR TERROR 'DRY RUN' FEAR

By AL GUART

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May 2, 2004 -- EXCLUSIVE

Police fear five empty suitcases left at Penn Station, New York FBI headquarters and other security hot spots in early April were a test by terrorists bent on a Madrid-type attack on commuter rails, The Post has learned.

A confidential Metropolitan Transit Authority police bulletin, titled "Possible Surveillance Testing Tactics," reveals K-9 cops are on edge over a "suspicious packages pattern" they encountered between the last week of March and the first week of April.

"During the past week and a half, the K-9 Unit has responded to approximately five calls for unattended/suspicious packages which they cleared," the confidential bulletin stated.

"However, uniquely, all cases involved empty suitcases.

"These cases appear to be unusual because in most cases of an unattended bag/package there is something in the container, whether personal belongings, clothes or other items."

At Penn Station, a beat-up suitcase was found in the main waiting room at 9:40 a.m. on April 1, sources said.



The bulletin, sent to New York State Police and Westchester County cops on April 5, asked them to report "any similar cases" to the MTA's counterterrorism task force.

"We were called to an unattended bag at Penn Station, the area was cordoned off and a bomb-sniffing dog was brought to scene," MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said. "No explosives were detected. This was an unusual event because the bag was empty."

Another empty suitcase turned up at 26 Federal Plaza, sources said. Officials have not ruled out the chance the bags were left by pranksters or derelicts.

MTA cops and state troopers ride commuter trains in and out of the city and are expected to step up security aboard commuter trains headed into Penn Station during the Republican National Convention this summer, NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly said last week.

An army of up to 3,000 police with bomb-sniffing dogs from various agencies will sweep the nearly 3,000 subway and commuter trains that enter Penn Station each day, Kelly said.

Rather than stop trains at checkpoints, cops will seek unaccounted-for baggage on rolling Metro-North and LIRR trains and on platforms, while heavily armed NYPD Hercules units will turn up at stations unannounced.


http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/23505.htm

[null and void]

From our empty suits to their empty suitcases...

[Lucy Lake]

Our enemies to (do) not intend to occupy us. They intend to remove us from the world scene in about 60 minutes time. I am not saying each and every one of these places will get nuked. An airburst and the resulting EMP also would shut things down just as effectively.

Thanks. Your list is more comprehensive than the lists posted earlier.

[Letitring]

Reminds me of that spurt of water filled bottles that turned up in the subways. They were found sitting in various places, for no particular reason.

[texasbluebell]

Long, but very interesting, article.

Jihad in London: Muslims fear backlash as police intensify crackdown

In his lecture, he [Bakri, a London "cleric"] makes clear that Al Qaeda will strike European cities if bin Laden's recent offer of a truce -- in return for foreign troops pulling out of Iraq within three months -- isn't accepted.

He insists he doesn't want to see attacks in Britain, although he rejects everything about the country.

"Any Muslim that joins the British army, the police or parliament -- he becomes an apostate," says Bakri, who wants to see Britain transformed into an Islamic, Taliban-style state.

"There's no legislator but God. That's why Muslims do not follow, obey or submit to anyone but almighty Allah."

Referring to Tony Blair, he says: "You can call yourself prime minister, but in my eyes you are kuffar" -- a non-believer and non-Muslim.

[texasbluebell]

Here we go. An article written by the moslem member of the Hamtramck, Michigan, city council which no doubt through his strong-arm tactics, was convinced that this was a great idea.

(And it comes out somewhere in that article that that town is now 30% moslem.)

Cities should treat all religions the same; Muslim broadcasts are just like church bells

[cgk]

Delta uniforms stolen? I missed that - is it on this thread or one of the previous?

[Donna Lee Nardo]

Hmmmm... But the Islamic killers who want so much to kill us while killing themselves will simply bring the suitcases aboard.

[sissyjane]

>>And I saw somewhere and can't refind it an article about 5 suitcases - all empty - having been found scattered around NYC and the theory was that it was an alq test run. Sorry have no time to find article.<<

FOX News reported this as well..The main reason they think it may be a dry run, is because the suitcases were all empty. Who carries an empty suitcase??

Found at Penn Station and FBI Headquarters in Manhattan.

[texasbluebell]

An important interview with Daniel Pipes:

The End of American Jewry's Golden Era

Pipes quotes a moderate moslem in America, who says that the extremists have taken over 80% of American mosques.

"...it is important to understand the motivations and world of thought of extremist Muslims. Pipes defines an Islamist as one who believes Islam is the solution to every problem. "In America, an Islamist would be somebody who wants to replace the constitution with the Qur'an.2 It is a totalitarian movement that has much in common with fascism and Marxism-Leninism." He estimates that about 10-15 percent of Muslims in the world are Islamists, which is tantamount to well over a hundred million people. Pipes adds that the percentage is probably in the same order of magnitude among U.S. Muslims."

"...Pipes in particular expresses regrets "that there are few voices of moderate Islam. They are often intimidated, not well organized, and in retreat." He believes militant Islam has to be destroyed and marginalized like fascism and communism were, and sees this as a process that may take several decades. Part of this effort, he says, is assisting those who want to construct a moderate, anti-Islamist version of Islam."

[WestCoastGal]

check 1641

[Oorang]

Thanks rickylc but I did a google search and found enough info to job my memory of the discussion here.

[FairOpinion]

N.Y. SUITCASE SCARES SPUR TERROR 'DRY RUN' FEAR
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/23505.htm

"During the past week and a half, the K-9 Unit has responded to approximately five calls for unattended/suspicious packages which they cleared," the confidential bulletin stated.

"However, uniquely, all cases involved empty suitcases.

===

SIMILAR INCIDENTS IN LOS ANGELES -- The Media is not making the connection, I hope the FBI does.


Police Detonate Suitcases Near High School (Los Angeles)

POSTED: 5:02 pm PDT April 29, 2004
UPDATED: 7:31 pm PDT April 29, 2004


LOS ANGELES -- Thursday, a day when a terrorist threat against Westside shopping malls had people on edge, authorities took no chances when they were alerted to a couple of abandoned suitcases on a Glendora street and blew them up.

Actually, Glendora police spent more than three hours trying to find the owner of the bags, a dispatcher said.

They also called the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which dispatched a bomb squad.


When the owner could not be found, the bomb squad blew up the suitcases, then determined they had been empty.

Police found the suitcases at Palopinto and Rodeo roads, south of the Glendora High School, about 1:30 p.m., a police dispatcher said.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/3252298/detail.html

[cgk]

Just an accident, involving fuel tankers, and Afghanistan.

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At Least 25 Killed in Afghan Explosion : KABUL, May 02: Two fuel tankers exploded today in a bustling marketplace in western Afghanistan, killing at least 25 people in what appeared to be an accident, the Afghan government said. A provincial official said 32 were killed. Up to 40 more people were reported injured in the blast in Azizabad. Herat provincial government spokesman Ghulam Mohammad Masoum said repair work on a tanker truck appeared to have triggered the devastating blast. ``The driver stopped in Azizabad to get some welding done on the vehicle,'' Masoum said. ``It must have ignited the gas. There was another fuel tanker parked nearby, and it exploded too.'' The blasts ignited more fuel at a nearby gas station. The explosions destroyed cars and shops, and bodies were scattered across the marketplace. Most of the injured were rushed to hospitals in the city of Herat, 50 miles to the north. Masoum said 32 people were killed and 35 injured. In Kabul, a statement from President Hamid Karzai's office said at least 25 people were killed and 40 injured and that the president was ``deeply saddened by the news of the terrible accident.''    (Guardian) (Posted @ 23:15 PST)

[mindspy]

We had the two suitcases in Glendora, CA at the Grove Mall last week after they had issued a threat warning for malls on the west side. Never heard whether or not the suitcases were empty but the bomb squad blew them up. Also note, Glendora is on the east side.

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Hadn't looked at this in a while Doomsday Clock Still looking for storage, keep getting sidetracked.

1990 | Ten minutes to midnight
The clock, redesigned in 1989, reflects democratic movements in Eastern Europe, which shatter the myth of monolithic communism; the Cold War ends.

1991 | Seventeen minutes to midnight
The United States and the Soviet Union sign the long-stalled Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and announce further unilateral cuts in tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.

1995 | Fourteen minutes to midnight
Further arms reductions are stalled while global military spending continues at Cold War levels. Nuclear “leakage” from poorly guarded former Soviet facilities is recognized as a growing risk.

1998 | Nine minutes to midnight
India and Pakistan “go public” with nuclear tests. The United States and Russia can’t agree on further deep reductions in their stockpiles.

2002 | Seven minutes to midnight
Little progress is made on global nuclear disarmament. The United States rejects a series of arms control treaties and announces it will withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Terrorists seek to acquire and use nuclear and biological weapons.


http://www.thebulletin.org/clock.html

[FairOpinion]

Speaking of Afghanistan:

'Terrorists' poisoned schoolgirls (in Afghanistan)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1128319/posts

The Afghan president has blamed "terrorist elements" for the poisoning of three schoolgirls in the eastern province of Khost. Hamid Karzai said they were poisoned by people opposed to girls attending school, and described the perpetrators as inhuman.

I will not call anyone an Afghan or a Muslim who poisons an eight-year-old... because she is school-going," he added.

He said the girls were in critical condition.

However, a local official told AP news agency that they had recovered.

The official said the incident happened five or six days ago outside the city of Khost's only girls' school.

"A woman gave poisoned fruit powder to the girls and told them to mix it with water and drink it," he said.

"After a couple of minutes, they were unconscious."

Reports say a woman has been arrested in connection with the attack.

Correspondents say extremists have mounted arson attacks on girls' schools in the past, but direct attacks on students are rare.

[mfccinsd]

Have you guys read through the thread on the empty suitcases/missing tanker that's come up in some other posts? Saw the post about it, but wasn't sure the link was here.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1128295/posts

Fox is sounding much more serious about this than they have about other strange events that they 'gloss' over...wonder if there's more we're not hearing.

[mfccinsd]

I ::think:: this was in the previous thread...I believe it was Chicago that they had disappeared from? Or was that two other airlines? I'm almost sure it was from the Chicago area...it was right around the time that a few airline stocks were raising questions and we were looking at whether both those airlines flew out of both Midway and O'Hare.

I'll see if I can find it if someone else doesn't beat me to it!

[mfccinsd]

Ok, this isn't the same incident b/c this is from August 2002, but it is Delta in this case...let me keep looking for the more recent one.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/911/showcase/chi-0208110422aug11,0,3364076.story

The Transportation Security Administration has warned airlines to be on the lookout for impostors wearing stolen uniforms trying to gain access to planes or airports, citing a series of recent thefts from flight crews.

In the incident last month in New York, two Delta flight attendants returned home after several days away to find that someone had entered their Queens apartment and stolen airline uniforms, a key that opens storage compartments on board a plane, crew-bag tags, flight attendant wings, a flight book and a Delta ID card.