Posted on 05/28/2004 9:03:44 PM PDT by FairOpinion
It is likely that an attack would be intended to kill thousands, though an attack remains conjecture at this point, based on intelligence gathered by our agencies and other nations.
Headlines tell us of government predictions that al Qaeda may intend to mount an attack on the US this summer. Soldiers in Iraq recently found an explosive in Iraq filled with Sarin, a deadly chemical capable of killing many people. The widely expressed doubt that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction should end.
In a recent Washington Times column by John McCaslin, he cited a poll by the National Association of Chiefs of Police, “Because of the ‘current political polarization’ in America today, the United States will suffer another ‘large scale’ terrorist attack within the next year."
McCaslin reported the poll revealed, “that 95 percent of the nation's police commanders and security directors expect a ‘catastrophic’ terrorist incident within the continental United States. "If Americans believe we're not being targeted for terror in the near future, they are fooling themselves," says NACP Vice President Jim Kouri, who predicts the killers, among other dastardly missions, will be attempting to influence this November's presidential election. It worked for them in Spain.”
It is the opinion of many counter-terrorism experts that al Qaeda will attack America again and many believe it will come before the elections in November. Their thinking is that the success it had in Spain can be repeated here and their aim is to elect Senator John F. Kerry. The objective will be to demoralize the resolve of Americans to support the occupation of Iraq until it can establish a democratic form of government.
It is likely that an attack would be intended to kill thousands, though an attack remains conjecture at this point, based on intelligence gathered by our agencies and other nations.
Here are some targets al Qaeda might have in mind.
If Al Qaeda wants to kill a lot of people to ratchet up our level of terror, New York remains a prime target and there are recent reports of empty suitcases showing up in its subways and other locations as a possible test run on the delivery of a WMD.
What other city would be a likely target? One answer is Los Angeles and, in particular, Hollywood. Radical Muslims regard the films and television shows coming out of Hollywood as a direct attack on their sense of moral superiority. A dirty bomb or bioterror in Los Angeles would have the desired effect. Remember, too, that a terrorist was caught in the run-up to Y2K when he crossed the border from Canada with a car full of explosives. His target, we were told, was the LA Airport.
Recently, Jordanians thwarted a plot to attack the US embassy and other targets there with poison gas. The estimated casualties are estimated to have been as many as 20,000. A similar target in the US would reap a similar result. Again, the belief that Iraq did not have WMDs should be put to rest. The belief that it was not cooperating with al Qaeda should have been dispelled by now. Supporters of the deposed Saddam Hussein are continuing their insurgency against our troops and would surely want to strike at the American homeland.
If I were Osama bin Laden, a trained engineer, what might be another likely target in America? One answer is oil refineries. There hasn’t been a new refinery built in the US since the 1970s and the ones we have are strained to capacity. When even one is closed down for routine maintenance, the price of gas spikes. Imagine if two, maybe three, were destroyed? The highways would empty out, followed by the office buildings and just about every other enterprise that depends on workers who drive to work. That includes schools, hospitals; just about everything, everywhere. America would have to declare martial law.
Another likely target would be the disruption of the aging electrical grid that distributes this vital source of energy around the nation. Remember when the grid failed a year or so ago? It shut down the entire East Coast from Ohio to New York. Destroy key components of the grid and people will be cooking dinner over an open fire in the backyard.
The plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9-11 had a destination about which we can only speculate. But let’s say it was the Capitol Building and a direct hit could take out a major number of Senators and Representatives? Our Constitution does not make provision for the killing of enough members of Congress to render it unable to function. Congress, however, is debating legislation that would allow for emergency elections in the event that should occur.
While America remains a target, so are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, England and just about every other nation around the world. We are dealing with people willing to kill anybody for their crazed notion of protecting a failed way of life, a belief that Islam must dominate the world and be practiced in a fashion Osama bin Laden dictates.
It should never be forgotten that bin Laden has already issued a fatwa, an Islamic edict, calling for the deaths of all Americans.
As our level of anxiety rises, al Qaeda has already achieved one of its objectives. The question, if an attack occurs, is whether Americans will deepen their resolve to destroy its enemies or seek to withdraw from the fight?
Alan Caruba is the author of Warning Signs, published by Merril Press. His weekly commentaries are posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center.
"As our level of anxiety rises, al Qaeda has already achieved one of its objectives. "
They only obtained their objective because the NYT and network news helped them.
An attack is coming that's for sure. If it must happen, let it be Hollywood and it's liberals.
"What other city would be a likely target? One answer is Los Angeles and, in particular, Hollywood. Radical Muslims regard the films and television shows coming out of Hollywood as a direct attack on their sense of moral superiority. A dirty bomb or bioterror in Los Angeles would have the desired effect. Remember, too, that a terrorist was caught in the run-up to Y2K when he crossed the border from Canada with a car full of explosives. His target, we were told, was the LA Airport. "
that depends- that actual decontamination would be pretty easy...getting raio-phobic americans to work there might be difficult.
yup.
Recently we had two mental midgets with a "sniper rifle"....cause alot of havoc. A few teams of professionally trained snipers could create mass confusion, IMO. Hit Wall St. & Whacker St. a time or two...and that would cause some market disruption. Use your imagination...we are "target rich".
May God bless us....but another thing I fully expect....is "murdering bombers". A bus here...a church there. It ain't pretty.....but this is war..And these people are not going to stop.
FRegards,
That comment was out of line.
Sorry you feel that way. Do you think his post to me was out of line?
How about his second post to me? How about the obnoxious tagline?
If you think his post on #60, was okay then your opinion doesn't mean all that much to me.
His referrals to the "white race" multiple times in post 60 sounds like my KKK Imperial Wizard grandfather.
I hate him for that. Why sound I ignore that sort of behavior from a stranger?
Stupid? No, that label doesn't apply to me.
You must not be very old.
I don't think you can talk the terrorists into attacking Hollywood, their most ardent supporters live there.
"I did a google on "black wind" and found it to mean radioactive fallout. "
===
Thanks. I didn't know. Well, we do seem to worry about "dirty bombs". Putting my tinfoil on, or maybe I don't even need to -- and having read some articles about both the missing Russian nukes, and the Pakistani nuclear scientists having worked with Al Qaeda, I think it's not outside the realm of possibilities, that the terrorists have and plan to detonate real nukes, not "just" a dirty bomb.
I think this scenario is being downplayed to avoid panicking people, and the dirty bomb excuse is being used to look for both the dirty bomb and the real thing -- you look for them the same way, with radiation detectors.
There is also a lot of talk about the shipping containers -- they could easily have smuggled any kinds of bombs in via that route.
A person should be judged by what he or she has done, not by his or her race.
"What other city would be a likely target? One answer is Los Angeles and, in particular, Hollywood. Radical Muslims regard the films and television shows coming out of Hollywood as a direct attack on their sense of moral superiority." ... Uh, Dudes, the Islamic Satanists wouldn't attack their close ally in the corruption of America ... Hollyweird is safe.
..."Congress abdicated". Yer right. That is the argument that I use for the lack of a "formal declairation of war" from congress. If it goes right, they take the credit, if it goes wrong, they blame the president...
Thanks for the pictures. I can certainly believe that the terrorists are targeting the few political leaders who recognize the danger they pose and are fighting them.
They also know that the rest of the so-called leaders will just roll over for the terrorists, and by the time, they finally will catch on, it will be too late.
It is also scary, that in the entire world, we have so few leaders -- and they constantly have to battle the terrorist lovers inside their own countries -- who have a clear vision and are working on eliminating the terror threat.
"The question, if an attack occurs, is whether Americans will deepen their resolve to destroy its enemies or seek to withdraw from the fight?" It has already been announced by the presumptive candidate of the dnc that our forces will be withdrawn from the Middle East a.s.a.p. (which, if Kerry's four months malingering in Vietnam is any indication, will be less than half of a year). More over, our forces, our treasure and our sovereignty will be turned over to the corrupt U.N. to use as that body of despots and crooks sees fit (now that's ckintonesque leadersdhip for ya). The Democrat party seems to think that withdrawing from the fight (and thus accepting gas prices to top $4.00 per gallon and out of control inflation in the U.S.) is a viable option. I am convinced that if the DNC came to power now, in less than three years they would be lobbing nukes toward the Middle East, if they didn't capitulate to the Islamicists completely in French style (and we know how the dnc worships the corrupt French!).
Ping
You're welcomed. Thanks.That first pic - the collage of the Coalition leaders - was taken from a site that had quite a few pics of the 4 Americans whose bodies were horribly treated in Iraq just prior to the Coalition Fallujah operation. They were celebrating the torture - those folks are monsters.
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