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.
And in Texas people shoot back..
it figures these terrorists jerks would be the kind of guys who would shoot into your foursome and not even have the courtesy to yell: fore!
Just like if the 9/11/01 attacks had all been postal and had all targeted military bases.
Take 9-11. That was totally unexpected. That is why the passengers in the first two planes did not fight; they thought it was a conventional highjacking. Suicide pilots were not part of our imagination. When the passengers on the third plane learned about the destruction of the first two planes, they “got it” and fought back.
Sniper attacks are not part of the previous pattern. But consider the results of the sniping. It provides an insight into motive. There is no pattern to the victims, so it’s not personal. The shootings include four murders in a single day, indicating more than one shooter and the desire to make a news impact. This is not the known M.O. of previous spree killers. There are no known claims of responsibility, indicating that the sniper does not want the authorities to do anything, such as the release of a prisoner or the payment of a ransom.
The conclusion: the purpose of the sniping spree is either pure terrorism, or teenagers playing a live version of a video game. One eye witness reports that the driver of a van leaving the scene of the latest shooting appeared to be agitated and dark skinned.
To dismiss the possibility of this being a Middle Eastern terrorist is not reasonable.
If we were talking about ICBMs, you'd be right. But many "weapons of mass destruction" these days can be made, acquired, or stolen (like a 737, for example) right here in the U.S.
Also, friendly states provide them places to disappear and means to launder money.
The most serious threat comes not from those terrorists who want to disappear, but from those who don't want to disappear. And no country in the world is a better place to launder money than the United States.
We didn't "welcome" them into the US military. They went in under false pretenses.
We "welcomed" them into the U.S. military simply by failing to keep them out. How anyone who isn't a U.S. citizen born in the United States can get into the military is beyond me.
Wrong. I did not assume you were a liberal democrat because you "don't buy the Al Qaeda connection." I don't think there's evidence to conclude that one way or the other. I made that assumption because you took a cheap shot at FR in general:
Gotta love FR, where the boogie man is lurking around every corner.
Remember that one?
Anyway, I never argued that the tape constituted "proof" of Al Qaeda involvement. In fact, I agree with your statement that it may or may not be a ME terrorist.
What I was arguing against was your seeming dismissal of the relevancy of this tape. The tape certainly isn't conclusive, but it certainly is relevant because it refutes one of the reasons you gave for this probably not being attributable to Al Qaeda:
Moreover, this pattern does not fit anything that al Q has done....they are in for shock value and big head counts....
The tape shows that Al Qaeda has trained in methods other than "big head counts", including random attacks on civilians and drive-bys. So your argument that "this argument doesn't fit anything that Al Qaeda has done" is made significantly weaker by the tape. That's why its relevant, and that's why your flippant dismissal of FR as a haven for people who believe in the boogie man was weak as well.
A caller into Hannity's show yesterday said that he had talked to a PG County cop, telling him, "I hope you catch him, and soon."
The cop replied, "I hope Virginia gets him first."
Why, you may ask? Because that cop knows -- while Maryland ain't got the death penalty, Virginia does, and isn't afraid to use it.
Tell that to General Shalikashvili (sp?)
In any case, a 737 is not a weapon of mass destruction. It was a weapon that killed a massed formation. US artillery could have as effectively killed that many people massed in one location. They love to see them massed like that. In fact, estimates of the "softening" phase of Gulf War have 10's of thousands of Iraqis being killed.
Smallpox...now there's a weapon of mass destruction. You don't need 50000 people in a stadium for it to kill 50000.
That's precisely my point. He's living comforatably in retirement, I presume, instead of in the military brig at Leavenworth.
In any case, a 737 is not a weapon of mass destruction.
In the days immediately following 9/11, the U.S. government worked feverishly to compute the destructive power of those airplanes and translate them to a megaton-equivalent. Their goal was to see if this attack represented a an attack with "weapons of mass destruction" under some kind of international treaty, which would apparently have justified some kind of large-scale U.S. response. Against what, I have no idea.
but it isn't to me. it's a weapon against mass formations....for example...how many ON THE GROUND did the one that crashed in Pennsylvania kill ?
Discipline plus he likely didn't see him. This guy predetermines his spots and waits for a target to move into posistion. The officer wasn't at the place he predetermined.
And the 737 that crashed in Pennsylvania only killed the passengers and crew because it didn't reach its intended target.
For whatever that's worth . . .
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