Posted on 06/05/2006 4:14:43 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
U.S. officials believe Canadian arrests over the weekend and three recent domestic incidents in the United States are evidence the U.S. will soon be hit again by a terrorist attack. Privately, they say, they'd be surprised if it didn't come by the end of the year, reports CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart.
The first of the domestic incidents, all of which drew little attention at the time, began with the holdup of a string of Torrance, Calif. gas stations last summer. Muslim converts who bonded together in prison planned to use the robberies to finance attacks on 20 Army recruiting stations.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton admits they stumbled on the plot during a search.
"Make no mistake about it," Bratton said. "We dodged a bullet here — perhaps many bullets."
Police in Toledo, Ohio, busted another cell in February. This one consisted of three men training to attack U.S. forces overseas. Once again, luck played a role. When they tried to enlist someone in their mosque to help, he turned them in.
"These individuals are often hiding in plain sight in cities like Torrance and now Toledo," says John Pistole, a FBI deputy director.
Two months ago, a pair of Atlanta men, one a Georgia Tech engineering student, were arrested not long after communicating by e-mail with two of the suspects arrested in Canada over the weekend. The Atlanta men are charged with videotaping domestic targets, including the U.S. Capitol and the World Bank.
Analysts now conclude similarities between all the cases were dramatic: All were self-financed, self-motivated, and in each case the men were seeking out others to join their cell.
In short, Osama bin Laden didn't pay for these plots, recruit for them or even know of them. They were all totally homegrown — even amateurish. But if four, including the one in Canada, have been uncovered in just 11 months, officials fear there are inevitably other plots that have not been and are maturing even now.
The next attack here, officials predict, will bear no resemblance to Sept. 11. The casualty toll will not be that high, the target probably not that big. We may not even recognize it for what it is at first, they say. But it's coming — of that they seem certain.
I thought that "we're fighting them over there so that we don't have to fight 'em over here"?
I'm shocked, well not really. I thought I knew of the Islamic temples in the area. Not like I'm keeping an eye on them or anything but I have noticed a couple.
Plainfield was the scene for a lot of unrest in the late 60's with the various civil rights demonstrations coupled with riots and looting. Plainfield was headed for some re-development but the local policios can't ween themselves from the public tit. Now we are some freakin' sanctuary for illegals. We are destined to repeat our mistakes.
Personally I have been astounded that we have not had any suicide bombing events here on our soil.
I remember right after 911, and the subsequent ANTHRAX attack, I told my wife that we are now on the front lines and that there will be many more less spectacular attacks in short order. I was referring to suicide bombers in malls, theaters, casinos and the like.
When [not if] they happen, if they are coordinated in a methodical fashion with TERRORIZING our citizens as the PRIMARY PURPOSE, who knows how our nation will respond?
Surely it will TEST our METTLE as a nation. I have little faith we will come together, however, because it only took 3 weeks after 911 for the LEFTISTS to start their incessant COUNTER ATTACKS, not on the enemy BUT on conservatives in general and the President in particular.
WE WILL SEE!!
Which branch of the government is behind that policy and how do we change it? Is the quota mandated by Congress?
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