FYI
Officials Beef Up Port of Houston Security
(snippet)
An al-Qaida Trail
Several al-Qaida-linked terrorist suspects have lived in Houston A terrorist threat to Houston is also a major concern for Fred Burton, a former terrorism expert with the Department of State who now works as an analyst for Strategic Forecasting, a risk-assessment firm based in the Texas state capital of Austin.
He says his years of studying al-Qaida and its leader, Osama Bin Laden, give him reason to worry about an attack on Houston and its vital oil and gas industry.
"Bin Laden's goal is the economic devastation of America, and so if you can hit targets that from an economic perspective bring our country down or make it so miserable, that type of venue such as Houston would be a prime target," says Burton.
Burton says there is also evidence that al-Qaida and other terrorists have been in Houston and that it is reasonable to think they might still have people living in the city, perhaps looking for an opportunity to act. He says FBI investigations after the first attack on New York's World Trade Center in 1993 led to Houston.
"Several of the suspects actually lived and safe-havened in Houston and until this day we do not know where. You also have a location that has a very large Muslim population and, for whatever reason, al-Qaida is comfortable with that," says Burton.
http://www.bloggernews.net/static/archive000001120.html
Rising Violent Crime in the US Sparks a Search for Answers
http://www.voanews.com/english/Crime2006-08-02-voa11.cfm
THANKS Velveeta for the info.
http://www.bloggernews.net/static/archive000001120.html
"Officials Beef Up Port of Houston Security"
By Greg Flakus
Houston, Texas
02 August 2006
http://www.voanews.com/english/Houston2006-08-02-voa56.cfm
"Officials Beef Up Port of Houston Security"
By Greg Flakus
Houston, Texas
02 August 2006
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