Posted on 07/12/2004 3:59:33 AM PDT by kattracks
Fringe elements are hoping to spark major disruptions at the Republican National Convention with a series of sneaky tricks - including fooling bomb-sniffing dogs on trains bound for Penn Station, the Daily News has learned.
Internet-using anarchists are telling would-be troublemakers to decoy specially trained Labrador retrievers with gunpowder or ammonium nitrate-laced tablets in a bid to halt trains or even spur the evacuation of Madison Square Garden.
Top cops are girding against the attempt to foil strong anti-terrorist strategies aimed at protecting conventiongoers - including President Bush - as well as peaceful protesters during the Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 GOP fete.
"Where is the legitimate protest in trying to endanger the public?" an angry Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told The News.
"It is the height of irresponsibility," he added. "These hard-core groups are looking to take us on. ... They have increased their level of sophistication and violence."
So in addition to guarding against the most vile, organized and destructive of terrorists, Kelly and company have to combat a shadowy, loose-knit band of traveling troublemakers who spread their guides to disruption over the Internet.
The dog decoy ploy is the among most insidious in the fringe groups' bag of tricks - which includes throwing marbles under the hooves of police horses and using slingshots to pelt the animals.
"They're trying to use up our resources with false alarms. ... The sensitive dogs would become burned out with too many alerts," said a police source.
Preliminary plans call for state and city cops with the dogs and hand-held chemical detection devices to board commuter and subway trains one stop before they reach Penn Station, under the Garden.
The trains will be swept for suspicious packages and terror suspects before being allowed to continue into the station - the country's busiest, with about 600,000 passengers on a regular workday.
"We're going to make certain there is absolutely no disruption of the train," Kelly said in announcing the procedures on April 28.
Two days later, an Internet posting detailed how to stoke disorder by miscuing the bomb dogs.
The posting instructed people to "go to a rifle, pistol or skeet shooting range, spend an hour shooting to saturate clothing with smell of gunpowder, go directly to a New Jersey Transit, LIRR or subway train headed for Penn Station.
"Try to have at least two people on a train in different locations, sit or stand near the doors as the train approaches the station, try to get near police and dogs, loiter as long as possible around the dog, try to pet it if possible.
"If the dog alerts on your scent, do not leave or resist; the situation will cause a major disruption of the train schedule. ... If there is more than one person on the train that causes a dog to alert, you can bet that the train will not be going anywhere for a long time ... neither will any trains behind it."
The message instructs to "Play dumb for as long as possible" before telling the police you unwittingly got the gunpowder on your clothes at a shooting range. "It is important that the police call in all possible resources to investigate the situation. ... With any luck, Madison Square Garden will be evacuated."
"Rush hours are ideal, the final night of the convention, very good, too," the posting said.
After being alerted to the gunpowder posting, investigators uncovered Internet mentions of dispersing traces of ammonium nitrate on the trains.
Ammonium nitrate is one of the most common farm fertilizers in the world. The dogs are trained to detect the fertilizer because it has been used in major bombings, from the 1993 World Trade Center attack to Oklahoma City to Bali, Indonesia.
The NYPD also is preparing for possible "Black Bloc" tactics by small groups of anarchists, in which demonstrators wear black clothing and bandannas over their faces - and wield pipes, bottles and commit acts of vandalism against corporate "enemies" such as the Gap, Starbucks and McDonald's.
Cops have been trained to isolate violent individuals among peaceful protesters, and will employ an 1845 law that prohibits people from wearing masks in street gatherings, except for masquerades.
The NYPD has sent cops to Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Miami, sites of previous political conventions, and to Boston, which will host the Democratic convention this month, to collect intelligence.
"There is the same hard-core element that we have seen move from city to city where violence has marred protests," another police source said.
Trail of global mayhemHere's a look at major events in recent years that were disrupted:
- SEATTLE, December 1999: Tens of thousands of protesters storm into the usually laid-back city to protest global economic policies at meeting of the World Trade Organization. The ragtag group of anarchists, students and labor organizers takes cops by surprise, fights pitched battles with riot police and derails the opening ceremony.
- QUEBEC CITY, April 2001: Riot police fire water cannons and rubber bullets to keep 25,000 demonstrators at bay during the Summit of the Americas aimed at creating the world's largest free trade area. The leaders of 34 nations meet behind a 2.3-mile fence as protesters besiege summit site, but fail to derail meeting.
- GENOA, ITALY, July 2001: A protester is shot dead as more than 100,000 rock-throwing demonstrators battle cops at the G8 summit of wealthy nations. Heavily armed cops even mount predawn raids on the media center and protest organizers, arresting dozen of leaders.
- MIAMI, November 2003: Cops use tear gas and overwhelming force to break up throngs of hundreds of labor activists gathered at a free-trade summit. The police keep a lid on protests with mass arrests, but critics say they fueled anger by overreacting.
The cost of security
- The security tab for the Police Department is about $76 million, most of which will be reimbursed.
- Nearly $50 million will go toward overtime for the 10,000 officers around Madison Square Garden, and the cops who fill in for them.
- Almost $12 million is being spent on training in counterterrorism, as well as in First Amendment rights of protesters and media.
- Some $17.5 million is being spent on equipment, such as the construction of Delta barriers - metal lift plates - around the Garden area to stop trucks for inspections.
The words on Web that incite hatred
Here are excerpts from an Internet posting advising how to trick bomb-sniffing dogs:
- "Go to a rifle, pistol or skeet shooting range, spend an hour shooting to saturate clothing with smell of gunpowder, go directly to a New Jersey Transit, LIRR or subway train headed for Penn Station.
- "Try to have at least two people on a train in different locations, sit or stand near the doors as the train approaches the station, try to get near police and dogs, loiter as long as possible around the dog, try to pet it if possible.
- "If the dog alerts on your scent, do not leave or resist; the situation will cause a major disruption of the train schedule. ... If there is more than one person on the train that causes a dog to alert, you can bet that the train will not be going anywhere for a long time ... neither will any trains behind it.
- "It is important that the police call in all possible resources to investigate the situation. ... This will result in the maximum disruption. ... With any luck, Madison Square Garden will be evacuated.
- "Rush hours are ideal, the final night of the convention, very good, too."
Originally published on July 11, 2004
This is a must read, more terrorists at work.
File this story under: The mystery of iniquity. We ought to send the bill to their parents for any damages their Me-ocratic tantrums cause.
Hats,bats and horses bump.Club em all,let triage sort em out.
The sewer 'Rats are heading home...
I would expect that these groups' cooperative efforts extend across the Atlantic to our crazies as well.
I'll bet Saddam's money found it's way to some on our side of the pond as well.
Certainly there's an island somewhere in the Aleutians that is fairly empty that needs a large number of young people with lots of energy to colonize it and make it more habitable.
Talk about a revolution!
This will backfire enormously.
The tactics may have changed but the sentiment is the same as the sixties and people no longer tolerate that type of behavior.
If they act up and this turns into an armed siege, all bets are off and the election is a landslide for President Bush.
(snip) ...Italian police are investigating the IPA, whose members originally were Iraqi communist dissidents living in European exile. Their leader, Abdul Jabbar Kubaisy, reconciled with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in February 2003 and committed the group "to confront American imperialist aggression." Mr. Kubaisy returned to Baghdad when the United States invaded Iraq, leaving his deputy, Awni al Kalemji, to organize anti-American propaganda, according a senior official of the Italian military intelligence organization SISMI.Source: -- "Al Qaeda seeking funds in Italy," By John Phillips, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, June 12, 2004
Mr. Kalemji took part last summer in the "Anti-Imperialist Camp," a weeklong gathering of communists and other leftists including revolutionaries from Iraq, the Philippines, Nepal, the Palestinian territories and Venezuela. The camp was held in the Umbrian hill town of Assisi, home of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), patron saint of animals and the environment and founder of the Franciscan Order of monks.
Also present were radical intellectuals such as Franco Cardini, a leading expert on medieval history who says that recent videos of Osama bin Laden are fakes distributed by the CIA to foster anti-Islamic sentiment.
Another participant was the Rev. Jean-Marie Benjamin, a French Roman Catholic priest who in February 2003 organized a visit to the Vatican by then Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz. Father Benjamin's name appeared on a list of 270 persons and organizations that received suspect vouchers under the U.N.-run Iraqi oil-for-food program, the subject of several investigations. Organizers of the Anti-Imperialist Camp still are collecting funds for the IPA, asking for the equivalent of $12 from each participant, Libero reported recently. It said the contributions were going into a special bank account but did not say where they went from there.... (/snip)
My thoughts too, but I'm sad to say that you will find some on even this forum that will consider that an abuse of the Patriot Act. IMO, anyone who does what is suggested is in the same category as a terrorist and anything that happens to them is just fine.
It seems to me that these so called "pranks" would be equivalent to screaming FIRE in a crowded theatre.
Will there be charges for such antics?
Also, seems counterproductive, especially if they target Republican convention and not the Democratic convention.
Democrats could be seen as "anarchist" friendly, and thus not targets.
Also,I've seen some Animal Rights and Green websites that are pro-Palestinian,anti-Jewish.Following links from one site to the next can be enlightening.
There's quite a twisted web of different groups tied to terrorists in one way or another.
The NYPD in this city is in no mood to play games with these nitwits and are not going to be gentle with these scumbags when they apprehend them. The cops in NYC have been looking for an excuse since 9/11 to unload on someone. That, and the fact that almost every cop I know in this city is a Bush supporter.
Soros and his ilk has really been spreading the cash around...
Shoot them dead on sight. Should have started doing so years ago.
Anarchists Suck *ping*
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