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Al-Qaeda: Is the Past Prologue? (New info on Planned Attacks & Recap)
JINSA ^ | May 27, 2004 | Jessica Altschul

Posted on 05/31/2004 12:52:37 AM PDT by FairOpinion

An FBI bulletin issued between May 17-21, 2004 urged local law enforcement officials to keep especially alert for suicide bombers and people dressed suspiciously. One counterterrorism official, told the Washington Post on condition of anonymity that al-Qaeda is planning an attack designed to kill as many people as possible, and is focusing on soft targets such as passenger trains and commercial centers.

Additionally, al-Qaeda has threatened to poison drinking water in major U.S. cities. In fact, the terror network may have tried to poison an American embassy in early 2002. The Al-Majallah news magazine, published in Britain, reported that Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj, a spokesman for al-Qaeda, threatened that the group is capable of using contaminants to kill Americans in their homes with their drinking water, in the May 25, 2003 edition. “Al-Qaeda [does not rule out] using sarin gas and poisoning drinking water in U.S. and Western cities... They should not therefore rule out the possibility that we will present them with our capabilities,” al-Ablaj said. Although some U.S. Department of State officials discount the information conveyed by al-Ablaj, other officials from many U.S. agencies point out that the spokesman contacted the magazine just weeks before the Riyadh bombings, warning that al-Qaeda was about to carry out multiple attacks against the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“It is very difficult to covertly poison a reservoir. It would take many truckloads of poison, which would make it difficult to do secretly. That is not really a viable threat,” said one U.S. intelligence official, speaking to the Washington Times also on the condition of anonymity. The official also played down even the risk of an attack on a single office building. “It’s more feasible if they try to poison a specific building, but even then, the volume of water already going through the system would dilute whatever was introduced. It would be very difficult to kill anyone. What would happen would be that people would get sick, which would cause panic.” However, in February 2002, Italian police arrested four Moroccans in Rome believed to be al-Qaeda supporters. They were carrying nine pounds of cyanide and maps of the capital’s water supply marking the U.S. Embassy’s location.

According to Thomas Sanderson, Deputy Director of the Transnational Threats Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, waging an attack of this magnitude is not possible. “I don’t think it’s feasible at all; our water is constantly treated and tested,” he said. However, Sanderson asserted that there are ways to scare the public into believing that an attack was carried out. “They can plant materials elsewhere to create a panic. For instance, planting empty barrels that are marked ‘cyanide’ near a water supply.”

According to Daniel Pipes, author and the executive director and founder of the Middle East Forum, the amount of Islamist-sponsored terrorism in the U.S. is sure to increase dramatically in the next few years. Pipes asserted that with each successful attempt, Islamists would continue to believe that the U.S. is weakening and will be further demoralized. “I think that the U.S. is going to be more and more determined and therefore be ready to combat these attacks,” said Pipes. He also said that the main problem with which American officials must grapple is not Islamic fundamentalists coming in from the Middle East and Europe, but monitoring the extremists who already live in the U.S., “utilizing American resources against us.”

It appears that al-Qaeda might be shifting its focus from hijackings to well-planned assassinations of world leaders and Western diplomats, as well as bombings of “soft targets.”

Another fairly new focus for al-Qaeda is economic targets.

(Excerpt) Read more at jinsa.org ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alablaj; counterterrorism; futureattacks; jihadinamerica; russianorthodox; summerattack
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To: RaceBannon
I'm talking radioactive. Glowing. You're right, it would take truck loads of anything not radioactive. I was agreeing with another persons comments that we need to keep an eye on water supplies. But for different reasons than he stated. Radical islamist combine suicide with mass killings and that's out of the box thinking for westerners. Westerners think of poisoning water with poison. Using radioactive materials would kill the person doing the deed, so it's outside our traditional way of thinking. Radical Islamist are a death cult, so many of the most damaging things they come up with are not things we would normally consider threats.

The act of putting 250,000 gallons into a 2 Million gallon res are extremely remote!

It would take over a full day to pump that much chlorine for one thing, and the other would be the dilution effect.

It would not kill everyone who drank it, just make us buy bottled water for no more than 2 weeks.

21 posted on 05/31/2004 7:30:04 AM PDT by GOPJ (NFL Owners: Grown men don't watch hollywood peep shows with wives and children.)
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To: Lockbar

No need to fly them in. Glendale Hts and Oaklawn have more then 4k!


22 posted on 05/31/2004 7:36:52 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (Sane, and have the papers to prove it!)
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To: baltodog

Won't work. You forgot that these guys are kamikazis.


23 posted on 05/31/2004 7:52:25 AM PDT by expatpat
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To: expatpat; baltodog

I think baltodog was planning on using the muzzie as the canary in the coal mine. As soon as it keels over, sound the alarm.


24 posted on 05/31/2004 7:58:49 AM PDT by gitmo (Thanks, Mel. I needed that.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I know, we have that fine Islamic center on Bloomingdale Rd. in the western suburbs.


25 posted on 05/31/2004 8:24:56 AM PDT by Lockbar
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To: Gritty

Here is another informative article (with a couple more in the posts on that thread):


Pirates on the prowl (Al Qaeda linked to attacks in Malacca Straits)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1145053/posts


26 posted on 05/31/2004 8:51:06 AM PDT by FairOpinion (If you are not voting for Bush, you are voting for the terrorists.)
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To: FairOpinion

datum.


27 posted on 05/31/2004 9:41:28 AM PDT by King Prout (the difference between "trained intellect" and "indoctrinated intellectual" is an Abyssal gulf)
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To: RaceBannon

Cl2 in the H2O is not the worry, it is other contaminates.

CL2 is toxic as is, all the need to do is cause a leak/tanks ruptured and they will have created havoc.


28 posted on 05/31/2004 10:54:20 AM PDT by ChefKeith (NASCAR...everything else is just a game!(Except War))
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To: gitmo

Oh.....gotcha.


29 posted on 05/31/2004 11:08:10 AM PDT by expatpat
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To: FairOpinion

bump


30 posted on 05/31/2004 7:31:46 PM PDT by GOPJ (NFL Owners: Grown men don't watch hollywood peep shows with wives and children.)
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To: vanmorrison
We just don't have the will to win this war.

What we don't have the will to do "yet" is kick the crap out of our fellow Americans restraining us from pursuing effective policies.

31 posted on 05/31/2004 8:00:29 PM PDT by Woahhs (America is an idea, not an address)
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To: Woahhs

bump


32 posted on 05/31/2004 8:02:36 PM PDT by txhurl
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To: GOPJ

Even radioactive compounds get diluted. You might be surprised to find out often the only treatment radioactive contaminants receive is dilution before being released.


33 posted on 05/31/2004 8:36:53 PM PDT by Woahhs (America is an idea, not an address)
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