Posted on 05/21/2002 6:04:31 AM PDT by vance
Washington predicts further attacks, heightens cooperation with Israel
By JANINE ZACHARIA
WASHINGTON FBI Director Robert Mueller predicted yesterday that suicide bombers, similar to those afflicting Israelis, would soon strike in the US.
Mueller's warning came a day after Vice President Dick Cheney made a similar assessment.
"I think we will see that in the future, I think it's inevitable," Mueller said in response to a question about the possibility of suicide bombings in the US. On Sunday, Cheney said there is a "real possibility" the US and other open societies would suffer suicide bombers, like the one which killed three in Netanya on Sunday.
The State Department condemned Sunday's terrorist attack in Netanya "in the strongest possible terms," and extended condolences to the victims' families.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher noted Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's condemnation of the bombing and that "he has issued instructions to his people not to be involved in any violence, and to confront terror attacks before they occur." "Those have been positive developments, but we continue to look to Chairman Arafat to exercise more leadership and to take further steps to stop the violence from occurring," Boucher said.
CIA Director George Tenet is considering meeting with Palestinian security officials this week in Washington, to discuss plans to reform the Palestinian security services, sources here said. "It's still in the works, what kinds of consultations will take place," a senior administration official said.
Muhammad Rashid, Arafat's chief economic adviser and an ally of Gaza Preventive Security Service chief Muhammad Dahlan, was here last week to meet with officials.
Before Mueller spoke yesterday, Senator Bob Graham (D-Florida), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said another terrorist attack inside the US "is almost a certainty" and that Islamic terrorist groups like Hizbullah and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, not only al-Qaida, pose a risk.
"Our enemy is not al-Qaida alone. There are several international terrorist groups which have abilities, in some cases greater than al-Qaida, and a similar desire to attack the United States," Graham told NBC's Today show. He named Hizbullah and Egyptian Islamic Jihad by name. The US and Israel share intelligence on such groups. Last week, a delegation of senior Israeli intelligence officials met discretely with their US counterparts in Washington, in hopes of deepening counter-terrorism cooperation.
"The purpose is to talk quietly, to improve the cooperation, primarily regarding tracking funding for Palestinian terrorist groups and money funneled by the Saudis to Hamas," one diplomatic source said.
The source said US officials have shown a greater willingness post-September 11 to deepen bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation.
US officials asked the Israelis last week for information which could help the US develop its case against the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
The Islamic charity's assets were frozen and the its offices shut down last December, after the Bush administration accused the group of being a front for Hamas. The charity denies the charges and is working through the courts to reverse the decision. The US is trying to gather enough evidence to ensure the decision stands. The Israeli delegation met with, among others, Cheney's chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Deputy National Security Adviser for combating terrorism, retired Gen. Wayne Downing, and Richard Newcomb, director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
As the US warns of another major attack on the US, the State Department today will release its annual Patterns of Global Terrorism report, a catalogue of terrorist events around the world last year.
The report is expected to describe Palestinian terrorist activities, but, as was the case in a report issued last week on PLO compliance with signed accords, does not draw a link between the Palestinian senior leadership and the attacks. Israel criticized the State Department's "PLOCCA Report," which said there is no conclusive evidence that senior PA or PLO leadership have been involved in planning or approving specific attacks. Evidence to the contrary is clear, Israel says, particularly from documents seized during Operation Defensive Shield.
Boucher said such evidence would not have affected the most recent report, which covers the period of June through December of 2001.
"This report covers the period up to December 15. It's prepared on the basis of the information we have when we prepare the report, up to December 15. So as far as responsibility beyond that point and further additional information that might become available beyond that point, we would cover that in future reports," Boucher said.
The American people will not tolerate further terrorist attacks within the U.S.
If nations and territories that harbor these terrorist organizations do not destroy them, the the U.S. will destroy these nations and territories. The U.S. is at war and will conquer the enemy--no matter what it takes.
Preventive measures will be swift and terrible.
The American people are patient, kind, and slow to anger, but there is a limit to the amount of provocation we will abide.
AMERICA'S ENEMIES: BE FOREWARNED!!
Be Seeing You,
Chris
if we need to know how to avoid suicide belt bombers, let us not take any tips from the israelis, 'k?
No one is more vigilant, more prepared, and more watchful than Israel. They don't talk about their successes, except peer-to-peer.
The real war is the War on Decadence, manifest mainly as "Liberalism".
"Liberalism" has weakened the Western Democracies to the extent that a two-bit petty tyrant like bin Laden--comperable to Charlie Manson, Jim Jones, or Richard Speck--can pose a serious threat.
"Liberalism" is bin Laden's enabler. It is directly responsible for the Sept. 11 attack.
I think that the terrorist threat will force Americans into sobriety and that they will do the things I described if the provocation continues. Time will tell.
What do you think?
yes, that is my solution. it isn't giving into terrorists though. that is a setup that you have bought into. don't feel bad. it's a GD epidemic.
the typical USAn psychology is meaningless. that is a fairy tale of your own invention (if i'm reading you right?).
RightWhale wrote - No one is more vigilant, more prepared, and more watchful than Israel. They don't talk about their successes, except peer-to-peer.
so it's even worse than we've been led to believe? interesting. thwarting attacks usually calls for a feather in the cap of somebody. they really must be different over there.
we don't need MORE cooperation with israel. that is one of the main reasons we are seen as the enemy. first, we need to convince them to leave the occupied territories, to at least get them to abide by international agreements. then we'll see about other stuff.
What America's enemies didn't count on is the stregth and vitality of the Heartland.
It is doubtful that the "Liberals", in America or Europe, have the will or the energy to survive. And this is what emboldened the terrorists. The Chinese also recognized this and concluded that the West is in deep decline--and if anyone know the signs of decay from grim experience, it's the Chinese.
However, the brilliance and decisiveness of George Bush's reaction to Sept. 11 and the energy of the reaction of the American people shocked our foreign enemies.
Bush immediately realized the meaning of the attack: that the U.S. is at war. His immediate declaration of this was both courageous and brilliant. He has shown magnificent leadership, and it has come from the heart--meaning that his leadership and courage come from the truth and benevolence that he honestly believes, not from politics or concern with appearances.
I think that the American people realize that, to paraphrase Bush, we are a loving people, but we have a job to do, and I think we'll wind up doing "what we must", as you so eloquently phrased it. I'm cautiously optimistic because I am convinced that the American spirit and genius are alive and florishing in the Heartland and will prevail.
--The Beast
We will continue to be subjected to attacks by terrorists and will continue to abridge the rights of free citizens in this Country until we are no longer a free nation, while bombings and attacks will not be eliminated, and the terrorists will have achieved their goal of destroying a free society.
The solution? Simple.
TREAT ISLAM AS THE CULT IT IS AND STOP EXTENDING TO IT THE SAME PRIVILEGES GRANTED TO A LEGITIMATE RELIGION.
1. Deny immigration to any Muslims.
2. Forbid travel in the U.S., on U.S. territory, or in U.S. aircraft by Muslims.
3. Deport all non-citizen Muslims.
4. Intern all citizen Muslims unless they wish to renounce citizenship and agree to be deported, or convert to a genuine religion.
Simple.
Islam is NOT a religion. It is a cult. A cult is a belief system which propagates itself by the use of terror, threats, force and violence. A cult is a belief system which kills individuals who seek to escape that belief system. Islam meets all those criteria. Further, it is a particularly virulent cult as it seeks, like a virus, to sieze control of the mechanism of government, by instituting a theocratic state, in order to use state power to carry out its violent and brutal tactics.
Compared to Islam, the recent Communist threat was small change.
The U.S. should but out of the Palestinian situation and allow Israel to deal with the problem anyway it sees fit, and provide Israel with any support it may need.
The U.S. should direct its activities immediately to execute an invasion and seizure of Iraq and overthrow and destroy Saddam's production of weapons of mass destruction. By establishing a strong military presence in that area and demomstrating to the primitive minds of the Islamics there our capability and willingness to employ overwhelming force against them, we will bolster the power of those few rational governments in the area, since they can be reasonable assured of U.S. assistance against their own home grown extremists. At the same time, we will destabilize nearby terrorist states like Iran by encouraging progressive and dissident elements among them. If the present government in Iran fails to collapse and be replaced by a more rational regime, we should then move against them.
These people only understand and respect power. They will never love us, but they can be taught to fear and respect us, which is enough in my book. I don't particularly care whether they love us or not.
Most definitely it does. I find myself listening to his timeless music most often when I listen to classical music. The sanity, sense of order, and appeal to humanity's highest inpulses, never fail to satisy. Even though I listen to Bach most often, I have many other favorites. I rank three composers on a par: Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, realizing full well a plethora of other greats reside on a plateau only slightly below the aforementioned. Excuse the departure from this thread, just responding to the Beast.
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