Posted on 08/02/2004 2:17:34 PM PDT by Republican Red
Police searched trucks, blocked streets and posted machine-gun toting officers outside financial landmarks Monday, a day after the government's chilling warning that terrorists might target the buildings with bombs.
Thousands of employees at some of the largest financial institutions in the country stood in line to get to work, patiently showing identification tags.
"You realize that's the world you live in, and you deal with it," said Kenneth Polcari, a trader at the New York Stock Exchange, one of five buildings the government says al-Qaida operatives have studied.
Recent intelligence - including photos, drawings and written documents - indicates terrorists have focused on the stock exchange and The Citigroup Center in Manhattan, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington and Prudential Financial Inc.'s headquarters in Newark, N.J., officials said.
"What we're talking about here is a very serious matter based on solid intelligence," President Bush said.
excerpt-
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. George Pataki rang the opening bell at the stock exchange to show confidence in the city's security response.
"America and New Yorkers are pulling together here, and they're not going to be cowed," Bloomberg said.
He and Pataki visited the Citigroup building with First Lady Laura Bush and her twin daughters in the afternoon.
"I want to thank people for coming to work. I'm really glad to be here today," the first lady said as she stopped to chat with some office workers at the 59-story skyscraper in midtown Manhattan.
Peter Manzi, a banker from suburban Long Island, said seeing the high-profile entourage at Citigroup was "very encouraging."
"You can't let the bad guys win," he said after briefly meeting the president's family
(Excerpt) Read more at breakingnews.nypost.com ...
I think this sends a great message. I hope NYers know how to decipher it.
BTW: way to go NYSE! I had fully expected a beating on the markets today. Proud to be an American!
I have my own bs alert system:
1. Does the threat level actually go to red?
2. Does the likes of Mayor Bloomingasbag immediately appear and tell people to go about their business like nothing was going to happen? remember this is the guy who came out in the blackout last yr and told us " We don't
know the cause of the blackout, but it's not terrorism". This within a half hour of the event!
3. Does it involve an obvious, identifiable target that can be readily protected with a few g men with rifles, making the govt look like it's doing something? My favorite was the terror alert involving the Brooklyn Bridge, where some raghead was going to cut the cables and bring it down with a hacksaw!
4. If the above is too complicated, consider this: how many
minutes transpired betweeen the announcement of a press conference and the actual press conference announcing a terrorist alert? If Ridge, at 1:45 pm wants a press conference at 2:00 pm...pay attention. If, at 10 am, he asks for a press conference to raise the terror alert at 2 pm, it's a stump speech, not a terror alert!
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