www.esryle.com
Posted on 06/07/2004 8:35:35 AM PDT by esryle
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Military officials and the FBI are investigating a series of suspicious phone calls to families of recently-activated Tennessee Army National Guard soldiers possibly bound for Iraq.
The wife of a soldier in the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment told WVLT-TV this week her daughter had taken strange calls from a man with an accent who questioned her about the unit's deployment itinerary.
R. Joe Clark, special agent in charge of the FBI's Knoxville office, said he was not aware of similar phone calls reported elsewhere in the country.
"It's not as much an investigation as it is a threat assessment analysis," Clark said. "We need to separate the fly specks from the pepper."
The man who spoke to the soldier's daughter said he was calling from Loudon, a nearby town. But the family's caller ID showed the number came from New Jersey.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force offices in Knoxville and Newark, N.J., are cooperating in the analysis. The task force is aware of at least two suspicious phone calls in which the caller asked for similar information.
The FBI said it's possible more dubious calls have yet to be reported to authorities.
Clark said the information, including the suspicious phone number, would be sent to FBI headquarters in Washington to be screened by terrorism intelligence analysts.
Capt. Allen Mingledorff, public affairs officer for the 278th, said the unit was unaware of the phone calls prior to the television report. "We have no way to verify or validate the calls," Mingledorff said.
Clark urged anyone else who receives suspicious phone calls to alert the unit's leadership as well as local law enforcement.
The 278th, which is the largest regiment in the state's Army National Guard, recently received orders for mobilization starting next week. A parade for the troops was held in Knoxville on Saturday.
Well, that's nice that the officials are splattering the information all over the news that they are trying to trace the calls, etc.
"But the family's caller ID showed the number came from New Jersey. "
Hmmm...no mention as to the type of accent. Could it have been a New England-sluured-by-Scotch accent? I would check the whereabouts of teddy kennedy at the time of the calls. I can easily visualize him when he is drunk and coked up making these types of calls to gather information to include in the packets of classified material he leaves in a dead drop at Harvard for the bin Laden associates still active there.
Anything to get those American casualties increased for use agaist President Bush in the election.
if it's a cell phone with a nj exhange, the call comes from anywhere ?
Hmmmm..... Things that make you go... Hmmmmmm
Why would someone make a call like that and not block their number from showing?
Muslim terrorist or just a rogue remnant of the defunct Gore "you might have voted for Buchanan by mistake" telemarketing campaign?
Maybe they are stupid?
Could also be a calling card. My parents in Texas use one sometimes to call me in Minnesota, and my caller ID always shows a number in the Atlanta GA area.
Might be just prank-calling. When my husband's ship would deploy, sometimes some of the wives (and families) would get similar calls. Once, a call was traced to the son of one of the crew.
Let me get this straight. TN guard is unaware of other phone calls to other units? Why is this is the news? I can't say why it shouldn't be but it shouldn't be.
Soros?
I don't know.
There is a wide variety of America-haters in this world.
Last year people were calling the families of Guard members deployed in support of OIF, claiming they were from the military and informing them of their loved ones' death.
I remember reading about that. Probably lefties supporting their guy in his spideyhole. I'm sure they'd say it falls under their right to free speech.
I don't know what to make of this.
You mean, a low IQ Muslim POS?
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