10:38 Witnesses: Gunfire, explosions near U.S. embassy in Damascus

You said -- "I thought the noon whistle was a fire department test, since it was used to call in our voluntary fire department whenever there was a fire in town. It was also used for tornado warnings."

Well, the noon siren was once a week, and I believe it was on Friday (if I remember correctly). And it was in downtown Houston, Texas. And everything stopped in downtown Houston -- traffic, people, etc. I can't remember how many years they continued the practice, but I do remember thinking about how all the traffic just stopped in Houston (at least for one minute).

And..., talking about using the sirens for tornado warnings, I've been in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the last few months (off and on) and I've heard those tornado sirens a number of times, over the Spring months. One time a tornado did come within a mile of where I was. They also test the sirens every Wednesday.

I know I've seen a lot of those community sirens in Oklahoma. I guess they get quite a few tornados. It seemed that during the Spring, every time I came up to Tulsa, there was always a tornado around, somewhere within 30 miles of where I was.

When I was down in Galveston, on August 29, 2005 (the day that Katrina hit New Orleans) a tornado went right over the top of a building I was in, at the end of a pier. Fortunately it was a weak one and only blew out windows and doors and sucked up carpet off the deck of an observation platform and threw furniture out into the ocean. But, it was the only tornado I've actually been in -- with a direct hit of the building I was in.

And you said -- "I remember the fallout shelter signs in the schools, but I don't remember doing any fallout drills."

Now, the school drills were in Dallas, Texas. It was an elementary school. I can't remember how often it was done. It might have been every month or so.

Back then, there were bomb shelters on display at the Texas State Fair in Dallas. I remember those. I remember an aunt and uncle installing one of those bomb shelters at their house in Tulsa. You climbed down a ladder to get into it, from one of the rooms in the house. It was lower down than a basement would have been.

It was definitely something that was on everyone's mind in Texas, that's for sure. I would also imagine that these things would vary from community to community and also in different states.

Regards,
Star Traveler

381 posted on 09/12/2006 1:13:47 PM PDT by Star Traveler

To: Star Traveler

The noon whistle sounded on a daily basis in the town I grew up & I know that was at least into the mid-seventies. My ex was a city kid & he asked me about it, cuz the whistle wasn't tested like that in Milwaukee. I had to tell him to watch for private cars with flashing lights when the siren sounded in town, cuz the cars of volunteer firemen didn't have sirens, just the lights.

I lived through a tornado when I was four. We rode it out in a *tent*. My mom had gone out of the tent to rescue her new swimsuit from of the clothes line & then couldn't get the tent's zipper closed again. When the tent's heavy wooden center pole was snapped, the table with all of our food was knocked over. Water was rushing in & the food was floating around, while we were standing there holding up the heavy canvass. With all of the huge trees knocked down, I don't know if anyone was hurt. Out in the sticks there's no warning.

As I'm writing this, there's thunder rumbling & there's a flash flood warning. I live in an area without any warning sirens these days. I know conditions aren't right for twisters today, yet I have an ear to the radio. I'm glad my area is covered by doppler radar & while it sends me to the basement way too often, I don't care. The closest tornado to touch down in my area since I moved here about eighteen years ago was this year & it was about five miles away. There were also two other roof removing events that were closer during that time, plus a tiny twister formed over my next door neighbor's house.

382 posted on 09/12/2006 1:56:26 PM PDT by GoLightly

383 posted on 09/12/2006 2:18:50 PM PDT by Cindy

This seems to me a "faint" by Syria. Kind of like "hey let's set up a fake US Embassy attack" so we can look good (FAKE OUT THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY) while we resupply Hezbollah through the back door. Just my opinion.

384 posted on 09/12/2006 3:02:56 PM PDT by PEACE ENFORCER

From AP via Yahoo!

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian guards foiled an attempt by suspected al-Qaida-linked militants to blow up the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday, exchanging fire outside the compound's walls with gunmen shouting "God is great" who tried to storm in with automatic weapons and hand grenades.

No Americans were hurt and the embassy was not damaged in the brazen, midmorning attack, which came amid high tension between Washington and Damascus. But the assault could highlight the Syrian regime's weakening grip on militants, who have battled Syrian security forces repeatedly in recent years.

Sunni Muslim extremists such as al-Qaida fiercely despise President Bashar Assad's regime because of its secular ideology and because his father, the late President Hafez Assad, led a crackdown on Muslim fundamentalists that killed thousands in the city of Hama in 1982. They also reject Assad's rule because he belongs to the Shiite Alawite sect of Islam.

Three attackers and a Syrian guard were killed in Tuesday's attempted bombing in a heavily guarded neighborhood of Damascus where several foreign embassies and Assad's office and residence are located. A fourth attacker was wounded and arrested.

The rapid response by Syrian guards won rare praise from the United States, which accuses Assad's government of supporting terrorism in its backing of Hezbollah guerrillas and Palestinian militants. The U.S. withdrew its ambassador from Damascus last year to protest Syria's alleged role in the assassination of a prominent politician in Lebanon.

"I do think that the Syrians reacted to this attack in a way that helped to secure our people, and we very much appreciate that," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

White House spokesman Tony Snow also thanked Syrian officials and called for Damascus to "become an ally and make the choice of fighting against terrorists."

But Syria responded with a sharp criticism of the United States, blaming its policies in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories for increasing Islamic militancy.

"It is regrettable that U.S. policies in the Middle East have fueled extremism, terrorism and anti-U.S. sentiment," the Syrian Embassy in Washington said in a statement. "The U.S. should ... start looking at the root causes of terrorism and broker a comprehensive peace in the Middle East."

It curtly said that Syria "performed its duties" under the Geneva Conventions to protect the embassy.

Anti-American sentiment has been rising across the Middle East since Israel's 34-day blitz of Hezbollah in Lebanon that ended nearly a month ago, on top of turmoil in Iraq that many here blame on the United States.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suspicion immediately fell on a little-known al-Qaida offshoot called Jund al-Sham, Arabic for Soldiers of Syria.

Syria's ambassador to the U.S., Imad Moustapha, told The Associated Press it was too early to say but "it's logically possible" Jund al-Sham was responsible.

If confirmed, it would be the boldest and most sophisticated attack yet by Jund al-Sham.

At the State Department, deputy spokesman Tom Casey said: "Clearly, it was an organized terrorist attack on our embassy. But exactly who was responsible for it and who they might be affiliated with and what their motives are, are things that we'll just have to look at as the days go on."

The attackers came in two cars, one of them an explosives-laden pickup truck. The first car pulled up in front of the embassy's entrance and three gunmen burst out. Shouting "Allahu akbar" — "God is great" — they threw hand grenades and fired automatic weapons toward the gate and a Syrian guard post, sparking a 15-minute gunbattle.

At the same time, the truck — filled with pipe bombs rigged to gas canisters — pulled up to another gate on the other side of the triangle-shaped compound. But when the shooting erupted, the driver ran away without detonating it. The driver was shot and arrested, and the truck did not explode.

After the attack, blood was splattered on the sidewalk outside the embassy, along with the burned-out car used by the gunmen.

The three attackers, who were all killed, tried to throw their grenades over the embassy's white 15-foot-high walls, but none made it over. One blast peppered the wall with pockmarks.

Three Syrian security agents were wounded as well as 10 civilians and a Chinese diplomat who was watching the gunbattle from the rooftop of the Chinese Embassy across the street.

The U.S. Embassy has about 40 staffers, but no ambassador. The United States withdrew its ambassador several days after the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a Beirut car bomb — an attack his supporters blamed on Syria. Damascus has denied any role, but the attack has further soured U.S.-Syrian ties.

Tuesday's attack raised the question of how strong militant groups have grown in Syria — where the highly closed government rarely releases information on security issues, making assessing the terror threat difficult.

Assad has warned of an increasing Islamic threat against his country, saying al-Qaida militants are taking refuge in neighboring Lebanon.

But some opponents of his regime have claimed he is hyping the threat to score support with the United States, defuse international pressure and provide a pretext for Syrian meddling in Lebanon.

Syrian security forces have battled several times in the past two years with gunmen believed to belong to Jund al-Sham.

In June, anti-terrorism police fought militants near the Defense Ministry in central Damascus in a clash that killed five people and wounded four. In 2004, four people were killed in a gunfight between police and a team of militants believed to plotting to bomb the Canadian Embassy.

Jund al-Sham was established in Afghanistan by Syrians, Palestinians and Jordanians with links to slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Syria is a major crossing point for militants from around the Arab world — including Syria and Lebanon — to slip into Iraq to fight in the insurgency. In the face of U.S. pressure, Damascus has insisted it is doing all it can to stop the infiltrations but that the long desert border is too difficult to seal.

385 posted on 09/12/2006 3:39:32 PM PDT by BJClinton (What happens on Free Republic, stays on Google.)

FWIW, the Marines are not the security force at the embassy or consulate entrances and parameters. That security is contracted and usually local talent is screened and hired. The Marines usually get involved if they get past them.

386 posted on 09/12/2006 3:45:24 PM PDT by RDTF ("We love death. The US loves life. That is the big difference between us two.” Osama Bin laden)

To: wildandcrazyrussian

I grew up in northern NJ. In second grade, when I was 7, 1963, we had drills where we had to kneel against the wall in the hallways, facing the wall and cover our heads. That was the only year we did it.

387 posted on 09/12/2006 8:32:02 PM PDT by tina07 (In Memory of my Father - WWII Army Air Force Veteran)

To: alice_in_bubbaland

were you in NJ then also?

388 posted on 09/12/2006 8:34:16 PM PDT by tina07 (In Memory of my Father - WWII Army Air Force Veteran)

It's still Stewart Air Force Base!

389 posted on 09/12/2006 8:37:21 PM PDT by tina07 (In Memory of my Father - WWII Army Air Force Veteran)

I looked it up:

"Stewart Air National Guard Base The 105th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard is based at Stewart Air National Guard Base. The former Stewart Air Force Base is also known as Newburgh-Stewart IAP and Stewart International Airport. Stewart IAP (ANG) is located in Newburgh, New York."

We moved in '72, at that time the plan sounded like it was to become a civil airport to take commuter traffic off of NY & NJ international airports.

Looks like its both National Guard (not AF) and civilian.

Thanks and FReegards!

390 posted on 09/12/2006 9:39:00 PM PDT by two23

I thought it was Newburgh, I was going to look it up too!...I picked up my 3 nephews from Tennessee at Stewart back in '93 to avoid a trip to Newark! I've still never driven to Newark Airport myself, too much crazy traffic for me.

391 posted on 09/12/2006 10:07:16 PM PDT by tina07 (In Memory of my Father - WWII Army Air Force Veteran)

I see you're in Georgia, lucky! I hope to some day get out of NJ too, cost of living is insane here.

392 posted on 09/12/2006 10:08:54 PM PDT by tina07 (In Memory of my Father - WWII Army Air Force Veteran)

To: CaliGirlGodHelpMe

If this is an attack on our embassy, they'll find George Bush's response somewhat different from the one they learned to count on from Clinton.

Looks like the Syrians "put out the fire" themselves!

They knew if NOT, the possibility of "Don't Mess With Texas" would come down on them!!

If anything would have happened to the US Embassy, it would NOT have been handled like pea-nut jimmuh carter's inability to act in Tehran in 1979!!!

393 posted on 09/12/2006 10:22:22 PM PDT by danamco

Not after we destroy everything they have to shoot at em.

394 posted on 09/13/2006 12:15:19 AM PDT by Lancer_N3502A

He me the (his) story when I was 20.

Fascinating--thanks for posting it.

395 posted on 09/13/2006 8:07:45 AM PDT by American Quilter (You can't negotiate with people who are dedicated to your destruction.)

To: American Quilter

'He me' = 'He told me......'

Sorry about the omission. Had to run after the post. Anyway, I can remember the look on Dad's face when he left that Sunday....I'll never forget it. He had already been briefed upon the military ramp up on both sides... a lot more than the public knew at the time.

396 posted on 09/13/2006 12:55:21 PM PDT by RSmithOpt (Liberalism: Highway to Hell)

To: backhoe; piasa; All

ON THE NET...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=syria

http://www.memri.org/syria.html

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UPDATE...

Note: The following post is a quote:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1700964/posts

Men involved in attack on US embassy Syrian nationals
BBC Monitoring ^ | September 13 2006 | SANA

Posted on 09/13/2006 3:00:22 PM PDT by knighthawk

Damascus, 13 September: The Syrian news agency, SANA, has learnt that the 4th terrorist who took part in the terrorist attack which targeted the US embassy in Damascus yesterday has died as a result of the serious injuries he sustained in the clash between the anti-terror squad and the armed terrorist group.

The serious health condition of the terrorist, who was being treated at hospital, did not allow the relevant authorities engaged in investigating this terrorist operation to interrogate him.

According to initial information, the four terrorists who carried out the terrorist attack on the US embassy were Syrian nationals.

397 posted on 09/13/2006 3:04:01 PM PDT by Cindy

Thanks for sharing, I found this very interesting...and thank your Dad for his service to our Country for me.

398 posted on 09/13/2006 4:57:52 PM PDT by AprilfromTexas

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