Posted on 09/22/2001 7:05:01 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
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."
Dear admins, if this is in wrong category please reclassify instead of nuking. Thanks.
I think the scenario was that the Taliban would use those crop dusters against the Northern Alliance and U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Many fire supression planes in Canada, Spain and S.France that would be easy access to these guys.
Now is autumn and pilots head for rest and recreation...
...Delivery system and payload!A bin Laden with the first name of Yahia M.A. of 2 rue Charles Bonnet 1206 Geneva, Switzerland owns 13.52 % of a Cambridge company known as Hybridon.
It messes around with things like DNA,AIDS,HPV and viruses!
As in front company for biological warfare?
Camille Chebeir,President of Sedco Services,Inc which manages the investments of the Bin Mahfouz family of Saudi,is on the Board of Directors.
Mahfouz is one of the funders of our boy Osama!
...
Boy, I hope Bush's wake up call was in the nick of time and not too late.
Then, imagine a location on a nearby highway that you know of that is a bottleneck to traffic, such as the beltways that circle a major city.
Just before rush hour, in a coordinated fashion, they dump the school buses on their side, and set them on fire (maybe they have some extra diesel fuel, which burns slowly and is less explosive). Now, the city is clogged, there is no way to drive in or out of the city. If there is a decent rail system, that is easy enough to block using the same method.
Mix in the diesel fuel some of the bad stuff, as it burns a lot of it will be burned off, but their will be enough that is not burned off but just becomes airborne.
Take a few more diesel vehicles with engines that spit out blue smoke (poor tuning, rings shot, whatever). Add the aerosol delivery system to the exhaust, not the fuel, so that as the truck burns off fuel, mixed in the exhaust is the bad stuff. Some of the vehicles are stuck in traffic, and infect the people in cars. Some of the vehicles drive around the city in an ambling fashion, using city streets (since the highways are closed anyways).
You can buy used buses and diesel trucks (cube vans, whatever) for less than $5k each - so $100,000 will get you 20 of them.
Scared yet? (I reposted from thread 1 since I didn't see the pointer to Thread 2).
I will be posting some more info in the next hour or two about possible ways to combat or detect chemical/bilogical warfare toxins.
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