Posted on 09/22/2001 3:08:14 PM PDT by Reagan Man
Sources tell TIME that U.S. officials suspect that bin Laden conspirators may have been planning to disperse biological or chemical agents from cropdusting planes
Saturday, Sep. 22, 2001
New York -- U.S. law enforcement officials have found a manual on the operation of cropdusting equipment while searching suspected terrorist hideouts, government sources tell TIME magazine in an issue out on Monday, Sept. 24th.
The discovery has added to concerns among government counterterrorism experts that the bin Laden conspirators may have been planning — or may still be planning —to disperse biological or chemical agents from a cropdusting plane normally used for agricultural purposes.
Among the belongings of suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, sources tell TIME, were manuals showing how to operate cropdusting equipment that could be used to spray fast-killing toxins into the air.
The discovery resulted in the grounding of all cropdusters nationwide on Sunday Sept. 16th. The dusters have been allowed back up, but are not allowed to take off or land from what traffic controllers refer to as Class B airspace, or the skies around major cities.
One senior official cautions that because corroborative evidence is lacking the FBI does not place "high credibility" in the notion that the hijackers were in fact exploring the idea of stealing or renting cropdusters. However, the FBI is advising members of a crop-dusters' group to report any suspicious buys of dangerous chemicals in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks.
Last week, the National Agricultural Aviation Association, a crop dusters trade group, posted a message from the FBI to its membership: "Members should be vigilant to any suspicious activity relative to the use, training in or acquisition of dangerous chemicals or airborne application of same including threats, unusual purchases, suspicious behavior by employees or customers, and unusual contacts with the public. Members should report any suspicious circumstances or information to local FBI offices."
One group suggests deporting all arab nationals. That's great. You'll deport all the law-abiding ones and leave the others to blend in while enflaming the situation.
Having our cropdusters be watchful and carry a firearm is fine if we think they could overpower a large group intent on taking the plane anyway. I guess we're also assuming that Bob the cropduster eats, sleeps, and does his grocery shopping in the plane.
Additionally, cropdusters aren't the only way to do this. Any light aircraft will do, and it can be done less effectively in a thousand other ways by anyone sympathetic to their cause, regardless of their citizenship.
I don't think there's any defense once it's gotten to the point where a decision has been made to do it.
The only defense that makes sense to me is to strike those who we know intend to do this.
That means Iraq.
It also means striking bin Laden and all other terrorist groups by whatever means it takes.
If the vials of biological warfare are already in this country with orders to use them, then it will happen. You can't wear a gas mask 24 hours a day.
Remember those phony scenarios they had kids do?...'if you were in the middle of an ocean, and the boat was sinking, your father/your husband can't swim, you CAN but you can only save ONE of them, who would you choose'??? The above questions go along those same lines. What WOULD 'you' do???
Actually, that wouldn't work.
Not only do FAE bombs require a carefully calibrated mix of fuel and air to work properly (which would be impossible to achieve with a spray from a flying plane), but simply setting them off with a "flare" wouldn't work either. In order to achieve the "big boom" effect, the fuel-air cloud needs to be ignited by a high explosive -- it's the self-propagating high-speed wave front that makes an FAE bomb so devastating. If you just light it off with a match, you'll get a big fire and the kind of "whoomp" you get from gasoline vapors when you toss a match into a puddle of gasoline, but not the truly explosiving, shattering explosion that results from a traveling wave front of ignition.
If I was in the Chinese gummint, I would ask my buddies why in the h*ll they would want to smash our biggest source of dollars.
Now if this is a WILDCAT group, NOT associated with the Chinese gummint, then all bets are off.
By pulling #159, you may keep someone from being able to prevent a "Delta Gas Corp." truck in Braintree, Ma from doing something suspicious. IMO, this kind of stuff should be shouted from the rooftops and reported on TV.
The politicians are trying to be PC about this, but they're gonna have to forget that idiocy. This is war and it's a war on our homefront. We need all the eyes and ears we can get to be monitoring what's happening in their neighborhood so they can help out the FBI by reporting suspicious activity.
Between that and Bob's .45, that may be the best way to prevent this type of stuff until it's under control.
LOL. I see Chris Matthews must agree with me. He's talking about the cropduster material and has a lady from Time on right now.
I heard that smallpox used to be avoided by getting chummy with a cow that had cowpox. That somehow, the cowpox was survivable, yet gave you immunity to smallpox.
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