Posted on 07/09/2002 7:18:28 AM PDT by freeperfromnj
ALGIERS (Reuters) - The al Qaeda network will strike U.S. targets in America and around the world soon, an al Qaeda spokesman said in an interview published Tuesday.
"Our military and intelligence networks are assessing and monitoring new U.S. targets that we will strike in a period of time which is not long," spokesman Sulaiman bu Ghaith told the Algerian Arabic daily newspaper El Youm.
The United States blames Saudi-born Islamic militant Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda for the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington that killed more than 3,000 people.
"Our suicide militants are ready and impatient to carry out attacks against U.S. and Jewish targets inside (America) and abroad," the spokesman added.
El Youm director told Reuters the newspaper received on Monday by e-mail taped answers to questions that had been sent Sunday to al Qaeda's Internet Web site. Bu Ghaith warned America to "fasten its seat belts" because his organization "will hit, with God's willing, from where they will not expect."
"America knows we are men of action and not men of words," he went on, saying that attacks were also being planned against the "puppet government" of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Bu Ghaith, in a tape aired last month by Qatar-based al Jazeera television, said al Qaeda was behind a suicide attack on a Tunisian synagogue in April that killed 21 people, including 14 German tourists.
He told El Youm that Washington's war on terrorism since Sept. 11 had not affected al Qaeda's military, intelligence, economic and information infrastructures and reiterated that bin Laden was going about his work.
A spokesman for international forces hunting al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan has dismissed as "wishful thinking" such claims that the network is still virtually intact.
I will say this much I hope that I'm proven wrong, and you're proven right. In this instance I will gladly be wrong!
Al Qaeda
Nidal's long dormant organization
Sheik Rahman's group Al Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Al Jihad
All these at one time or another threatened and attempted to attack US interests. Two of them have struck on US soil.
Some of the big guns of Arab terrorism, such as HAMAS, Hizzbullah threatened to attack the US at a time more than 6 years ago. Operation wise they have not been inclined to attack US targets in recent years and show no interest of doing so in the future. The remnants of the IMU after Namangani was killed also show no interest in the US. For that matter the multiple terror organizations based in Pakistan attacking India seem mostly interested in attacking India. There are some elements of the organizations there that have been responsible for the consulate, church and French bus bombings. They don't currently pose a threat to our interests here in the US.
You really ought to know better than to assume that the radical Muslim groups have no interest in attacking the U.S. You've been on Free Republic long enough to have read those threads that I'm referring to in my previous posts.
There were reports from our own senate intelligence committee back in May that claimed Islamic groups like Hezbollah and Egyptian-based Islamic Jihad also could be planning attacks in the U.S. Al Queda is not our only enemy. Our support for Israel and our military presence in Afghanistan has probably strengthened their resolve. A few months back C-SPAN ran live feed of a Palestinian rally in our Capital. There were pro-Palestinians openly calling for Jihad here in America. I try to catch Steve Emerson and Daniel Pipes every chance I get. Steve Emerson's book is a real wake-up call.
Avoid large groups of people, and, get a concealed carry permit. Oh, the "nuke" pills and water aren't really enough; a "Go-Bag" list has some suggestions.
You're right; worrying excessively and curtailing our American way of life is exactly what the Bad Guys want. Let's not give them the pleasure!
I agree wholeheartedly. So far Herr Hitler, in spite of his ravings, has only annexed Austria -- and he didn't have to fire a shot to do that. It was really all a big bluff. And he's publicly assured us that Austria was all he wanted. So there's no need to worry about any problems on that score.
So far he and his brownshirts have only threatened and bullied and passed discriminatory laws against Jews, and the mentally retarded, and the physically deficient.
There's nothing to worry about. Imagine, a few of the Jewish people are so paranoid they're actually moving to Israel. Sheesh. Go back to sleep.
bump!
I'm really not trying to bait you. After 9/11 I also thought "things will change now." But in all honesty, nothing much has changed (provided you don't have to fly in and out of airports.)
Nothing's different at work, nothing's different at home, nothing's different at the supermarket, nothing's different at the gas station, nothing's different at the DMV, nothing's different at the beach over the weekend, my fovorite resturant hasn't changed one bit, little league baseball games didn't change (neither did the lousy rent-a-umpire,) the same ole folks can still be found at the local watering-hole after work having a beer and watching the game, etc. etc.
Things just have not changed anywhere near as dramatically as I would have first thought.
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