Posted on 02/16/2003 2:55:47 PM PST by FairOpinion
The US has credible intelligence that al Qaeda had an attack or multiple attacks set to begin at some point last week and that members of the Congress could have been the terrorist outfit's likely target, a media report said today.
Counter-terrorism officials were today quoted as saying that they had received a phone tip that members of the United States Congress could have beene targets of assassination attempts by Islamic fundamentalists.
Intelligence reports gathered from human and electronic sources around the world suggested what intelligence officials had suspected for weeks- al Qaeda operatives "Are in the execution phase of some of their operations," a senior US offficial was quoted by 'Time' magazine as saying.
Officials said the intelligence specifically mentioned that the likely targets were New York City and Washington on February 12.
Even though the feared attacks failed to materialise, the anxieties did not subside and inside the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fears of a devastating attack are as high as they had been in months, particularly because of the possibility that "other tools" or biological and chemical weapons could be used, it said.
The Homeland Security has increased the level of alert.
Telephone calls and e-mails exchanged between several suspected terrorists and intercepted by the US and foreign intelligence agencies pointed to a plot inside the US using nerve gas, poisons or radiological devices.
"It was'nt just chatter," said Republican Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It was a pattern." (more)
A senior Administration official tells the magazine that domestic law-enforcement agencies are investigating a report that Islamic fundamentalists in this country are trying to acquire parts to build an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) abroad-the kind of machine that terrorism experts believe could be deployed to spray chemical agents over populated areas.
The fear is that a UAV assembled overseas could be used against U.S. Assets there, Time says.
The US has credible intelligence that al Qaeda had an attack or multiple attacks set to begin at some point last week and that members of the Congress could have been the terrorist outfit's likely target, a media report said today.
Counter-terrorism officials were today quoted as saying that they had received a phone tip that members of the United States Congress could have been targets of assassination attempts by Islamic fundamentalists.
Intelligence reports gathered from human and electronic sources around the world suggested what intelligence officials had suspected for weeks- al Qaeda operatives "Are in the execution phase of some of their operations," a senior US official was quoted by 'Time' magazine as saying.
Officials said the intelligence specifically mentioned that the likely targets were New York City and Washington on February 12.
Even though the feared attacks failed to materialise, the anxieties did not subside and inside the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fears of a devastating attack are as high as they had been in months, particularly because of the possibility that "other tools" or biological and chemical weapons could be used, it said.
The Homeland Security has increased the level of alert.
Telephone calls and e-mails exchanged between several suspected terrorists and intercepted by the US and foreign intelligence agencies pointed to a plot inside the US using nerve gas, poisons or radiological devices.
"It wasn't just chatter," said Republican Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It was a pattern."
A senior Administration official tells the magazine that domestic law-enforcement agencies are investigating a report that Islamic fundamentalists in this country are trying to acquire parts to build an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) abroad-the kind of machine that terrorism experts believe could be deployed to spray chemical agents over populated areas.
The fear is that a UAV assembled overseas could be used against U.S. Assets there, Time says.
At a closed-door briefing Thursday a group of Senators grilled Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge about whether they should clear their families out of the capital in anticipation of an attack.
Ridge counseled them against it, but when pressed by the Senators for the odds of an attack on U.S. Targets at home or abroad in the next several weeks, Ridge, according to one source familiar with the meeting, put the probability at "50 per cent or greater."
In private, Time says White House officials sounded almost resigned to the inevitability of catastrophe. "All we can do," Vice President Dick Cheney told a gathering of top administration officials to discuss bioterrorism, "is ask ourselves, Have we done everything we can to prevent an attack?.."
The U.S. Still doesn't have a "credible and comprehensive system" in place to cope with such attacks, the magazine said.
"The other reason is that after this supposed "backdown" from Frist, there was not a dem media conference laughing at the repubs for backing down; which is their usual style."
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Agreed. And good point. FRegards,
Dog, the stationing of missle batteries in the Capital would weigh heavily on a 'flying' weapon being a real threat to try and counter. Along with those batteries, the ground alert CB teams were put on alert for rapid response (should a vehicle, manned or otherwise, carrying chem or bio weapons be brought down).
Leni
Maybe this might give you some indication?
Hillary Accepts Contributions from Boston Area Muslim Terrorist Supporters
Thanks Dog. Quite creepy.
Does anyone here have access to RollCall.com? Mort has a very relevant column there called "If Al Qaeda Strikes, Will Nation Unite – Or Point Fingers?", but you're not allowed to read it unless you shell out $200. Of course, you can have it for free if you're so much as a janitor on Capitol Hill, the jerks...
This article looks interesting too: It’s Business as Usual in Most Offices, Despite Elevated Fears"
MR. RUSSERT: Before you go, Time magazine reports that members of Congress were targets of assassination attempts and that there were several multiple attacks that the FBI believed planned for Wednesday, for February 12th. Can you confirm that?
DR. RICE: Well, there has been a lot of chatter about the period of time, and there was some concern that the terrorists might try to use the end of the hajj in this way. But we are working to disrupt these terrorist networks every day. This is something that didn’t begin yesterday, and it’s not going to end just because the hajj is ending. This is the primary preoccupation of the United States government.
Saddam has a strategic objective and a strategic plan in place.
The strategic objective is the defeat of America. Since Saddam knows an Iraqi defeat of America is an impossibility, his strategic plan is to initiate a war between Islam and America.
I believe Saddam is prepared to sacrifice the Iraqi people to achieve his goal.
If Saddam and his surrogates attack first, then the next battle will remain between Saddam and the U.S. and most Muslim nations will respect the United States right to defend itself.
If, however, the U.S. attacks in the next several weeks absent a U.N. authorized resolution(China will veto any attempt to get another resolution authorizing force), Saddam may be successful in igniting a war between the U.S. and a significant portion of Islam, after Israel becomes involved.
Had the Bush Administration been truthful from the start and told the world that Saddam was behind 9-11 and the anthrax mailings and asked for a Declaration of War from Congress and invoked our right of self defense,I don't believe world opinion and old allies be opposing us the way they are today. I believe many in the Islamic world would have respected the United States' right to wage war in self defense.
This PR nightmare of a preemptive war is a tough sale in the world and it plays right into the strategic plan of Saddam , in my opinion.
I believe there will not be another major attack from Saddam's surrogates on U.S. soil until a major offensive against Iraq begins.
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