NordP
Posted on 05/25/2004 4:52:15 PM PDT by Wolfstar
17 minutes ago (at time of posting) The intelligence does not include a time, place or method of attack but is among the most disturbing received by the government since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a senior federal counterterrorism official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Tuesday.
Of most concern, the official said, is that terrorists may possess and use a chemical, biological or radiological weapon that could cause much more damage and casualties than a conventional bomb.
"There is clearly a steady drumbeat of information that they are going to attack and hit us hard," said the official, who described the intelligence as highly credible.
The official declined to provide any specifics about the sources of the information but said there was an unusually high level of corroboration.
Despite that, the official said there was no immediate plan to raise the nation's terrorism threat level from yellow, or elevated, to orange, or high. The threat level has been at yellow — midpoint on the five-color scale — since January.
Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller plan a news conference Wednesday to outline an intensive effort by law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security officials to detect and disrupt any potential plots. And the FBI plans to dispatch a bulletin to some 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies warning of the threat.
Beginning with Saturday's dedication of the new World War II Memorial in Washington, the summer presents a number of high-profile targets in the United States. They include the G-8 summit in Georgia next month that will attract top officials from some of America's closest allies, the Democratic National Convention in Boston in July and the Republican National Convention in August in New York.
The FBI and Homeland Security Department also are concerned about so-called soft targets such as shopping malls anywhere in the United States that offer a far less protected environment than a political convention hall.
U.S. authorities repeatedly have said al-Qaida is determined to mount an attack on U.S. soil, in part to announce to the world that it remains capable of doing so despite the money and effort that has gone into homeland security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
There also is concern terrorists might try to mount an attack to coincide with the November election. The political fallout from the March 11 train bombings in Spain taught al-Qaida that an attack timed to an election can have a major impact. Spain's former ruling party was ousted in the voting that followed the bombing, which killed 191 and injured more than 2,000.
The official did not say how many suspected al-Qaida or other terrorist operatives are believed in the country, whether they made their way into the United States recently or have been here for some time. The FBI has warned in the past that Islamic extremist groups may attempt to recruit non-Middle Easterners or women for attacks because they would be less likely to arouse suspicion.
Special security attention already is being focused to the nation's rail, subway and bus lines. The FBI last week sent out an intelligence bulletin to law enforcement agencies urging vigilance against suicide bombers, who have been used by terror groups worldwide to devastating effect but not so far in the United States.
Separately, Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief Michael Garcia told reporters Tuesday that some 2,300 of its agents are being deployed to assist in security for the high-profile events scheduled this summer in the United States. These include as many as 20 agents each day working with the Secret Service to protect the campaigns of President Bush (news - web sites) and Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), the Democratic presidential candidate.
Garcia said his agency also is working to "tighten the investigative system" to ensure that terrorists do not enter the United States by way of human smuggling operations or through the vast, largely unprotected border with Canada.
Which we should expect in a nation built on individual liberties. We are, however, wholly unequipped to deal with an enemy that strikes from within, and I don't think we could possibly change that until every person here sincerely feared for their lives.
Realistically, we don't. Sure, we fear that DC or NYC could be a target again, but even then it's always going to be the other guy who gets it.
But when the average housewife fears going to the grocery store, the political landscape will change. Not for the better, I think. I don't want to see cops with submachineguns patrolling our sidewalks like we see in so many countries today. But it might happen. And I think it will happen when the terrorists strike Main Street USA.
There is also a Mosque in Denver, and that is where my daughter and family live. :(
Maybe if a canister of sarin gas goes off in the ventilation system of the New York Times or the Democratic Convention in Boston.....or if the IDT security systems surrounding Spielberg's or Streisand's mansions are overwhelmed by a bunch of determined Jihadists, just before they cut their throats, they might start to come around.
Name reporters with air or column space are not sitting aound the justice department with live feeds just in case there might be a press conference.
When they announce the press conference they have to tell them what is is about or they may not cover it.
If the annoucement and what the conference is about and what they will say is on the record, then the conference it's self will not be covered.
The source of this story was likely Ashcroft. But he can't let the lower level reporters who cover the DOJ get the story or the Name Reporters who only show up for the BIG stories would trash him a lot worse than usual. So most of what he tells the low level reporters today is in the form of an annoucement about a news conferency and is off the record and not to be sourced.
Handling the media is a lot about handling giant egos.
If we are in fact attacked with a chemical weapon....what kind of weapon would we use to retaliate? Would we use a chemical weapon or biological weapon or even a nuclear weapon.
Al Quaida Bush Relection Committee...
These terrorists mistake America for Spain...what idiots.
If you ever get there, send for me. Sigh.
....they will come around.
The sad part is they won't and will continue the same old sob story....they don't like us because of Bush.
Exactly. I think AQ will try here, just to show they can, but Europe in general and UK in particular are more vulnerable, lots of crazies already active there.
Hopefully the PC nonsense will not interfere this time around.
NordP
Wait until we hear from Pelosi Galore! She'll say that this was all planned out.Oh, yeah !
Bullwinkle: Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat!Rocky: That trick? That NEVER works!
Exposed: Pelosi's Socialist Ties
Pelosi leader of 'Progressive Caucus'
From those links, these excerpts ...
"DSA/USA, the 'Democratic Socialists of America' are the U.S. arm of the Socialist International. They share the symbol of the fist holding the rose, and they share the tasks to be accomplished — in our case, an altogether different America ...
"Some time ago — the date is missing from the descriptions — 58 members of the U.S. House of Representatives formed a subdivision of the Democratic Socialists of America and called it the Progressive Caucus. Their statement of purpose, as well as their membership list, formed an integral part of the dsausa Web site (www.dsausa.org ). The membership list appeared on the screen with the continuous background of the fist holding the rose, should anyone have missed the connection with the Socialist International."
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the likely [she is now] new minority leader in the House of Representatives, serves on the executive committee of the socialist-leaning Progressive Caucus, a bloc of about 60 votes or nearly 30 percent of the minority vote in the lower chamber.
The Democratic Socialists of America's chief organizing goal is to work within the Democratic Party and remove the stigma attached to "socialism" in the eyes of most Americans.
"Stress our Democratic Party strategy and electoral work," explains an organizing document of the DSA. "The Democratic Party is something the public understands, and association with it takes the edge off. Stressing our Democratic Party work will establish some distance from the radical subculture and help integrate you to the milieu of the young liberals."
I thought the FBI had a suspect. A disaffected scientist or something?
I'm not so concerned about an anthrax attack, although supposedly the anthrax that was delivered to the Speaker's (or was that to Daschle?) office was weaponized and could have killed many thousands. I think I heard a hundred thousand? But it didn't. Such an attack will take too long to "spin up" methinks, to be an effective primary strike. However, it would serve well as a "follow-on" attack to another type of strike and which would serve to disrupt responses to the first. Kind of like the good old "albanian doublecross" where a bomb goes off and there is a delay while the rescuers gather and then the second device goes off. But on a massive scale.
Exactly!
I have no doubt that the liberal media and many Dems attacking Bush on Iraq has emboldened the terrorists to hit us as hard as they can in an attempt to influence the election...knowing these creeps will blame Bush.
If it happens, I hope/I believe it will backfire and cause Americans to wake up to the fact that Bush is the #1 leader in war on terrorism, and we need to reelect him for our own good.
Sadly I think much of this could be avoided if the borders were heavily militarized.
I just wish Bush would do it. The technology exists that could enable us to count every mosquito or gnat that fly's over the border.
We watched the Soviets for so many years…it is time to start watching our borders.
I am very suspicious of the word "diversity."
I too miss the good ol' days when all you had to worry about was getting to work on time and making it to Friday.
Yes, and what to wear out on Friday night. :)
I have been a military "brat" and dependent all my life. So military matters are embedded in my head.
Makes me want to just give it all up and move deep into the mountains of Eastern North Carolina, Tennessee or Kentucky. I like to think that in some quiet country mountain pocket there exists a peaceful time and place that our parents knew when they were children.
I live north. WAY north. Potato fields and all that. I am thankful to live where I do today. There isn't enough money to make me move back to the big cities. No way.
actually no - if we are hit with nerve gas, you will immediately see the stories of the WMD being moved into Syria before the war. The media and the Dems will be screaming that Bush knew the WMDs were sent to Syria, and did nothing. We have been talking about this on some of these threads about Syria - its a no win situation for Bush, if he comes out now and says the stuff was moved to Syria, the media attacks him and says its the same faulty intel that led us to Iraq.
The political situation in the country makes it impossible to do the right thing - a pre-emptive strike on Syria. This is what the media and the Dems have done to us with their lies.
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