Posted on 10/16/2002 5:04:39 AM PDT by xzins
HOMELAND INSECURITY
New al-Qaida training tape shows another side of terror Captured video reveals plans for home break-ins, killing police, drive-bys, golf course assassinations
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: September 4, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Joseph Farah © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
An al-Qaida training videotape, captured in Afghanistan, shows Osama bin Laden's terrorists are not only planning attacks with weapons of mass destruction but are preparing to kill Americans with drive-by shootings and home break-ins, through ambushes of law-enforcement officers and targeted assassinations on golf courses, WorldNetDaily has learned.
The videotape was produced, U.S. analysts believe, for al-Qaida's internal use and did not appear to be an external propaganda device.
U.S. intelligence considers the tape much more significant in what it reveals about al-Qaida's modus operandi than the highly publicized video purchased and broadcast last month by CNN. U.S. forces found a cache of 64 al-Qaida tapes while combing caves and hideouts in Afghanistan. Analysts were surprised by some of what they saw in the latest video and believe they employ terrorist tactics and techniques meant for export to America and other nations.
"None of these training scenarios depicts the type of fighting that al-Qaida engages in within Afghanistan," noted John Holschen of Insights Training Center, who produced a report on the tape for military and law enforcement officials.
The training video shows al-Qaida operatives practicing the following kinds of assaults:
using pickup trucks with shooters concealed in the bed of the trucks; using motorcycles as a shooting platform for drive-bys and assassinations; execution of prisoners; ambushes of law-enforcement officers; residential assassinations; assassination on a golf course using a rocket-propelled grenade and rifle fire; drive-up kidnapping of target walking on a street; use of tunnels, storm drains and sewers for infiltration during urban raids; rappelling from rooftops of buildings to make entry on upper floors; use of motorcycles for grenade attacks; and raids on buildings with large numbers of occupants – perhaps schools or office buildings. Analysts point out that all scenarios involving prisoners and hostages ended in execution. None included plans for negotiated settlements for escape by terrorists.
"They plan to kill the prisoners and die in place," wrote Holschen.
The "perfect day" as seen by al-Qaida would combine attacks designed to produce a maximum number of casualties with attacks that would give them the opportunity to get "face time" on the news channels to deliver their rhetoric, explained Holschen.
"The major take-home lesson here is that although the enemy is known to be seeking the ability and opportunity to use weapons of mass destruction and of an unconventional nature, such as hijacked airliners, they are also spending a lot of time training to carry out attacks the old-fashioned way – attacks executed by small groups of dedicated personnel equipped with little more than small arms," explained Holschen.
Hostages, prisoners and anyone else identified as a target or problem by al-Qaida terrorist operatives will be killed, say those who viewed the tape. There is no point in complying with orders, they say. Those who do not resist ultimately will be rewarded with ritual execution in front of television cameras, according to the tactics and techniques captured on this video.
In one scenario on the video, terrorists pretend to be stranded on a six-lane highway, their vehicle disabled. When a police officer stops to assist, the driver blows his horn. Another occupant of the vehicle opens fire on the police officer with a rifle. In other scenarios, shooters were concealed in the trunk of the car. When the terrorists were picked up by accomplices in a getaway car, the original vehicle was blown up, apparently to destroy evidence.
In another scenario, an innocuous-looking terrorist knocks on the door of a residence, standing in view of the resident and answering questions through a closed door. When the resident opens the door, the terrorist immediately draws his weapon and fires, emptying his weapon into the victim.
In the golf course assassination, the target was on the green, near the hole. A rocket-propelled grenade is fired at a vehicle adjacent to the green, perhaps a security detail. Then the target of the assassination is killed with rifle fire.
When asked if these techniques are intended for use in the U.S., one military intelligence operative said without hesitation, "Yes."
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Joseph Farah is editor and chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com.
This is an older article by Farah.
Osama bin Laden's terrorists are not only planning attacks with weapons of mass destruction but are preparing to kill Americans with drive-by shootings
Written on Sept 4, the killings by the Maryland Sniper began afterwards. Has anyone seen this tape reported anywhere in the media? If not, then I'm thoroughly convinced that the "terrorist connection" is being played down by law enforcement officials.
Can anyone imagine why law enforcement would "play down" the terrorist connection? Fear of mass hysteria? Political reasons?
Feeling Lucky, Mohammed?
Make My Day.
You're right. There is no good reason for not just being straight with folks. PC would be a horrible reason for not being honest.
Gotta love FR, where the boogie man is lurking around every corner.
Whether it is a non-American or American terrorist, the facts remain that these people are attacking us for our beliefs, and it goes past being American, or Democracy, or a free society; I think it is from their corrupt source of belief system which pushes them to kill the foundations of our people, that being based on Christianity. I guess that's my rant for the day. The fact we are referred to as the "great satan" and they hate the God we serve, I guess, gives me that opinion.
There could be tons of reasons. The angle from the location chosen by the shooter to the officer may have been poor. There may have been a tree or something obscuring the line of sight. My guess is that the shooter picked a spot that gave him a clear sightline to the pumps, knowing that someone would drive up sooner or later. That's the shot for which he planned, so that's the shot he took. Or, if the goal is to create terror among the civilian population, then hitting a cop would be less valuable than hitting a civilian.
Gotta love FR, where the boogie man is lurking around every corner.
For some, that may be true, and I don't think it constitutes firm proof that this is something planned by Al Qaeda. But, this type of evidence certainly is relevant to the issue of whether or not this may be terrorism, particularly because some have argued that the random killing of individual civilians isn't Al Qaeda's "style". This tape shows that it is one of their tactics, so they should not be excluded from consideration.
It may or may not be the "boogie man". I suspect that even if the boogie man was caught red-handed, though, some would insist it was probably a Bush conspiracy anyway. Some of you guys are just as wedded to your liberal conspiracies or refusal to see the truth as are some conservatives.
There is a very strong base of circumstantial evidence leading to an al-Qaida connection.
Who do you think did it? 'Trailer trash white guy,lone nut', theory has almost no credibility based on the known evidence.
"Make My Day."
I heard that!
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