Posted on 07/22/2004 10:47:47 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Key points • Terrorists thought to have targeted at least two US flights in dry-run attacks • 9/11 Commission warns attack worse than Twin Towers 'probable' • Cameras caught 9/11 terrorists setting off security alarms prior to hijacking
Key quote "Every expert with whom we spoke told us an attack of even greater magnitude is now possible and even probable. We do not have the luxury of time" - Tom Kean, chairman 9/11 commission
Story in full DEVASTATING new evidence has emerged that terrorists are preparing another attack on the United States, with air marshals and flight crews reporting a series of dry runs for attacks on aircraft in mid-air.
At least two flights are thought to have been targeted so far by groups of Middle Eastern men who appear to be forming a plan of attack.
On one flight an air marshal reportedly broke into an onboard toilet to find that a mirror had been removed and that a Middle Eastern man was trying to break through a wall to the cockpit.
One air marshal told the Washington Times newspaper yesterday: "No doubt these are dry runs for a terrorist attack."
The revelation came on the day a major US report into the 11 September attacks warned that another attack was likely.
The commission recommended an overhaul of the country’s intelligence services to prevent al-Qaeda launching more deadly plots against America.
Warning that an attack "of even greater magnitude" than the one that killed almost 3,000 people in 2001 was "probable", the commission accused the Clinton and Bush administrations of failing to have sufficient imagination to have envisaged al-Qaeda’s lethal plot.
Tom Kean, the chairman of the commission, said: "Every expert with whom we spoke told us an attack of even greater magnitude is now possible and even probable. We do not have the luxury of time.
"We must prepare and we must act. The al-Qaeda network and its affiliates are sophisticated, patient, disciplined and lethal."
Airline staff and passengers have catalogued repeated incidents that suggest new attacks are in preparation.
"It’s happening and it’s a sad state of affairs," one pilot said.
On one flight last month, 14 Syrian men on a flight between Detroit and Los Angeles boarded the flight, sitting apart. They pretended to be strangers, according to those on board, but once airborne they started filing in and out of the plane’s toilets. When the plane was about to land, the men shot up to different toilets, arousing the suspicions of air crew, passengers and air marshals.
However, air marshals who monitored the incident said there was no "legal basis on which to take enforcement action".
In another incident, the Washington Times revealed, a flight attendant reported a passenger using a long lens to take photographs of the cockpit door.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Islamic militants had found a new way to circumvent security systems at airports. Instead of trying to take bombs onto aircraft, they would place the components on board, which they can then assemble in mid-flight.
Security sources told newspapers that the tactic had already been tried out, again in dry-run form, on flights between the Middle East, North Africa and western Europe.
As early as November, the FBI was warning that "terrorists are considering the use of improvised explosive devices assembled on board to hijack an aircraft".
Security agencies around the globe are now trying to track down the militants that have been trained to carry out such attacks.
The activities are a terrifying echo of the meticulous planning of the hijackers involved in the 11 September plot, which was comprehensively detailed in yesterday’s report by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
The 567-page final report issued by the ten-member commission pointed to "deep institutional failings" and missed opportunities to thwart the hijackings carried out by al-Qaeda operatives.
"Terrorism was not the overriding national-security concern for the US government under either the Clinton or the pre-9/11 Bush administrations," the report said.
It said that on at least nine occasions, chances were missed that might have led to the uncovering of the plot.
Overnight, US television networks broadcast a newly released surveillance video from Washington’s Dulles International Airport on the morning of the attacks that investigators view as one of the missed opportunities.
The video shows five hijackers passing through security checkpoints. Four of them repeatedly set off alarms but were quickly cleared to board the flight that later crashed into the Pentagon. It was not clear what set the alarms off.
The commission was sweeping in its recommendations for change.
It proposed the appointment of a national intelligence director and the creation of a national counter-terrorism centre to better co-ordinate and share information about future terrorist threats.
"The national intelligence director should oversee national intelligence centres to provide all-source analysis and plan intelligence operations for the whole government on major problems," the report said.
The commission also said the US government must do more domestically to guard against future terrorist attacks, including measures such as setting national standards for issuing drivers’ licences and other identification, improving "no-fly" and other terrorist-watch lists and using more biometric identifiers to screen travellers at ports and borders.
Other recommendations included declassifying intelligence spending, upgrading the computer technology used by US intelligence and reorganising congressional oversight.
Given new warnings about al-Qaeda’s desire to strike again on a mass scale, James Thompson, commission member, said all US leaders would be wise to take the commission’s findings to heart.
"If it happens and we haven’t moved, then the American people are entitled to make very fundamental judgments about that," he said.
The commission’s vice-chairman, Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman, appealed for political unity at the heights of America’s power. A "shift in mindset and organisation" within the US intelligence apparatus and a smoother transition between presidencies were also necessary, he said, to ensure "that this nation does not lower its guard every four or eight years".
"The US government has access to vast amounts of information but it has a weak process, a weak system of processing and using that information," Mr Hamilton said. "Need to share must replace need to know."
However, it will be months if not years before such recommendations can be implemented. Yet many terrorism experts fear that al-Qaeda is planning a terrorist attack in the next four months, in the run-up to the November presidential elections.
"They [the 11 September hijackers] penetrated the defences of the most powerful nation in the world," Mr Kean said. "They inflicted unbearable trauma on our people, and at the same time they turned international order upsidedown."
Mr Kean said the US was "faced with one of the greatest security challenges in our long history".
No, it's right on target, and the "bigotry" is well-represented in the Koran, the Hadiths, sharia, the Saudi and Iranian religious police, and the Taliban.
"Bigoted" indeed.
The only "bigotry" is the presumption that "a stoneface look" from a Muslim male means that he's a terrorist.
Is that what you believe?
While I feel sorry for ME'ers and Muslims who would not get into these clubs, what can you do? They need to exert more pressure on their sick brethren.
I think she was being sarcastic.
Think again. I have fought terrorists before, and seeing PC dingbats such as yourself make excuses is appalling.
How many terrorists have you killed in your life? I have killed many in my military service, and I am fairly confident that you cannot say the same. Now bugger off, lest I have to spank you a second time.
Bump for future reference.
Suuuure you did. And, again, why does threatening to hit a woman make you feel like a man?
PC dingbat? You know NOTHING about me, yet feel free to attack me -- and in the most ludicrous manner.
Now, are you going to apologize for threatening to hit me, or do I have to take care of this in another manner?
Ludicrous? Hardly. It is people like yourself that got us into this mess in the first place. If you cannot connect-the-dots re: muslims, Islam, and ME men, then you should NOT be here. Off with you.
Some people never learn until its too late, when a Muslim is about to slit their throat on a plane.
RE -
"...a Middle Eastern man was trying to break through a wall to the cockpit. "
I don't suppose that Muchmed the Magnificent was even expected to pay for the mirror, was he?
Wouldn't want to "offend" anyone, now would we?
Isn't it a good thing that Norm MINETTA, the same political hack who sues the airlines for millions if they check more than two of the same ethnic type per planeload, has seen to it that darned few if any of the pilots are armed, despite a "law" that gives them the right to be?
They might actually HURT one of Norm's little PC Jihad buddies as he busts into the cockpit!
We can't have that now, can we?!
Sadly, PC Normie will still be in charge of Transportation, actively aiding and abetting our enemies, (much less offending them) even after the next "big one", I'm afraid.
RE: "...if you see a group of foreigners acting suspiciously...YOU DAMN WELL SAY SOMETHING!!!"
Right.
Then stand by for arrest for disorderly conduct as soon as you land, and a hefty lawsuit on top of that, in all probablility.
So I guess that any Passenger who is feeling threatened by a bunch of "Middle Eastern" types who decides to take some initiative and intervene, does so entirely at their own risk.
Of course, if it ends up saving the plane and some intended target, it may well be worth it. But if no HARD evidence of a terrorist operation can be recovered, his / their butts are going to be in a serious sling for a long time.
But then, if someone can provide sufficient leadership presence among a planeload of terrified passengers, he might be able to convert all of that "fright" primal instinct into a collective "fight" adrenaline rush, and instigate a general onboard riot in which everyone who even LOOKS Arabic gets pummelled to a pulp, and the plane has to make an emergency landing at the nearest airbase in order to quell the melee, put out the fires, and sort out the wounded from the dead.
If God is really good to America, there will be a few New York Irishmen on board. H#ll; about any Irishman will do!
What fun, eh?
If it turns out that our American Hero screwed up and it was a false alarm, at least he'll have plenty of company in jail!
Why would you face such charges for merely saying "Hey, what are you guys doing over there? Hey Stewardess...something fishy is going on!"
Oh, well never mind then. Just a former Koran reciter and a backup band of 14 Syrian nationals, with one-way tickets and expired visas, moving around the airplane abruptly in groups intimidating the passengers. Nothing to worry about.
"Do people think you are silly because you're a girl? At Women's Wall Street we understand hysteria (take my wife - Please) and won't judge you"
"You are encouraging people to IGNORE suspicious people, who may be terrorists."
FO you are right. What needs to be remembered that right up till the time the 9/11 hijackers took over a plane they were just architects, cab drivers, cooks, students, musicians, unemployed bums... what ever. The second after the slashed the first attendants neck with a box cutter they were terrorists.
Up until then they were practicing. If it looks suspicious it should be treated as such. I am sick of being too PC. Prevention of a terrorist incident is far less costly than reaction to an actual hijacking.
Perhaps to your surprise, I fully agree with you.
For some reason that I can't understand, througout this thread I have been attacked for espousing a position that I don't hold and never espoused.
I suspect that lots of folks just aren't very good readers.
Suspicious behavior should NEVER be ignored.
"Simple solution? Let everyone carry concealed. The airlines can mandate a low power frangible ammo that you have to purchase at the check in counter if they want to."
One more rule that would need to be made is NO ALCOHOL SERVED to carrying passengers. The two don't mix well at all.
Bump
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