FBI Warns That Terrorists Could Make Simple, Deadly Chemical Weapon

AP -TampaBayOnline ^ | March26, 2003 | Curt Anderson

[FairOpinion]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI is warning police that terrorists could construct a simple but deadly chemical weapon out of materials readily available. "Little or no training is required to assemble and deploy such a device due to its simplicity," the FBI said Wednesday in its weekly intelligence bulletin to about 18,000 law enforcement agencies.

The bulletin provides no details of a specific threat or possible location of an attack. It does say that terrorists could take advantage of building ventilation systems, air intakes or enclosed areas to disperse toxic chemical gas.

Law enforcement officials previously have warned that al-Qaida or other terrorist groups might target subways and targets such as hotels and office buildings rather than heavily guarded government installations.

In addition, material collected in Pakistan after the March 1 capture in that country of senior al-Qaida planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed provided further proof that operatives experimented with various forms of chemical, radiological and biological weapons, law enforcement officials say.

The FBI bulletin says hydrogen cyanide or chorine gas could be produced by combining liquid and solid materials, possibly using a canister such as a paint can with holes pierced into it. The materials could be combined using either a blasting cap or some kind of delayed switch.

"When combined, this creates the toxic gas that would emerge through the holes," the bulletin says.

Such a device would be most effective in an enclosed space, the bulletin adds, because it would be dispersed too quickly in larger areas or out in the open to kill or injure many people. But police, firefighters and medical personnel could be imperiled when responding to an attack because "the device may reactivate when it is disturbed."

In January, the FBI told police to beware of possible attacks using ricin, a toxic substance derived from the castor bean plant. That warning followed the arrests last year in Britain of 11 North African men on terrorism charges stemming from an alleged attempt to develop a ricin weapon.

The bulletin came as the FBI continues to interview Iraqis living in the United States at the rate of about 1,000 a day, with a goal of reaching 11,000 by the end of this week.

The interviews, focused on those who have recently traveled to Iraq or have ties to the Iraqi military, are intended to discover the identities of any terrorists and spies in the United States and also to find any information that might be helpful to U.S. forces in Iraq.

The bulletin also repeated the FBI's search for Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a 27-year-old Saudi-born man who may be an al-Qaida operative. El Shukrijumah left the Miami area in May 2001 for Morocco, according to his family, but law enforcement officials say they do not know his whereabouts.

El Shukrijumah was identified in part by information collected after Mohammed's capture in Pakistan.

In addition, the bulletin asks police to look for Dr. Mohammed Khan, 33, and his estranged wife, 31-year-old Aafia Siddiqui, both of whom the FBI wants to question about possible terrorist ties.

Siddiqui, who has a doctorate in neurological science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, may be in Pakistan, FBI officials say. She lived in Boston while attending MIT and also recently traveled in Maryland.

The bulletin provided no further information about Khan.

---

On the Net:

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov

[Eala]

According to the report, simple household chlorine, when added to a crusty black pantsuit, would give off toxic fumes capable of producing severe nausea and vomiting in anyone within a 2-square mile area.

Hm. Chlorine diminishes the effect then. Yesterday that crusty black pantsuit, in Washington D.C., was producing severe nausea and vomiting all the way out here in Washington State.

[Eala]

But as a war weapon, it would not be very useful. Takes too long to work. Lots of easier stuff to use.

How about as a terror weapon?

[Poohbah]

Bleach and Lime-Away do the same thing.

We had a Marine mix the two in a swab bucket and damn near kill himself. Lucky for him a couple of us were coming back from our annual gas mask confidence exercise; we donned, cleared, and checked in under seven seconds, then got his carcass out of the space he was swabbing.

[F16Fighter]

The bulletin came as the FBI continues to interview Iraqis living in the United States at the rate of about 1,000 a day, with a goal of reaching 11,000 by the end of this week.

They can start with Iraqis. It's quite possible the thousands of Saudis, Bosnians, Syrians, and Pakistanis might just be as much, if not MORE of a threat....

But then again, we may as well just interview ALL MUSLIMS.

[LadyDoc]

You asked: How about as a terror weapon?

You could use it as a terror weapon, but other things would be easier. For example, black mold can cause ergotism. Ever hear of the St Vitus dance epidemics in the middle ages? Ergot poisoning, with LSD type hallucinations and gangrene of arms and legs.

Castor beans can make ricin. Anthrax is in millions of barnyards. Histoplasmosis is common in chicken poop. Coccidiomycosis in the desert. If you want to cause cancer, just spray benzene (causes bladder cancer).

Quick trivia: When was the last bioterror attack on the US? (i.e. before Anthrax): answer, when an Oregon cult added germs to the local salad bar, aimiing to make enough people sick that they could steal the election. Originally, the epidemic was blamed on failure of hand washing in the restaurant staffs.

Also the Germans tried to send foot and mouth disease to the US in 1917.

Another trivia: A foodworker with open TB gave TB to 100 people in congress accidentally 20 years ago.

And then there is HIV: 50 percent of the first 1000 cases could be traced back to a handsome air steward.

So yes, it could cause a lot of headlines to terrorize people. In cambodia, people were terrified about yellow rain. But many of the deaths reported in the US medical literature blamed on yellow rain were probably a type of cardiomyopathy that is common in Orientals, causing sudden death in young healthy men. But since few MDs treated Orientals, they didn't recognize the syndrome.

[LadyDoc]

But then again, we may as well just interview ALL MUSLIMS.

Sorry, but there are 5 million Muslims here. Then there are Black Muslims. Then there are Christian Palestinians. Then there are nut cases. And don't forget the IRA and colombian narcoterrorists.

The chance of (say) a secular Iranian Pediatrician being a terrorist is probably low.

And the wholesale questioning of one's patriotism due to profiling causes resentment that could last for years. One of our family stories is my grandfather being picked up and interrogated as a spy during World War I: A neighbor reported him for singing German songs. We remember this 90 years later, with a resentful laugh. He was a good American. So excuse me if I don't think a person should be judged by his group.

Now, if you want to do routine policework to check on small political groups, fine. You want to bug mosques? Fine. They did this to some Prolife groups. Caused bad blood, but probably necessary. But don't lable all Catholics and prolife Christians as terrorists because a few nut cases kill abortion doctors. (statistically it comes to one abortiondoctor murderer per 20 million prolife people) any more than a having 200 possible jihadists amongh 5 million Muslims make all them guilty.

[F16Fighter]

"But don't lable all Catholics and prolife Christians as terrorists because a few nut cases kill abortion doctors. (statistically it comes to one abortiondoctor murderer per 20 million prolife people) any more than a having 200 possible jihadists amongh 5 million Muslims make all them guilty."

I'm sorry I don't share in the validity of your statistics.

The day a pro-life "nutcase" and his "pro-life" organization is found to have plotted and conspired against the wholesale slaughter of thousands of people of the United States of America -- as has Islam -- is THE day your ill-founded analogy works.

Furthermore, no one can deny that as long as there is an Islamic presense, this threat will remain in America ad infinitim.

"American" Islam lies in the reeds like a cobra biding its time.

[SSN558]

"How 'bout ammonia and chlorox?"

When your mother inlaw makes comments about the state of your bathroom, you can tell her that you have a new cleaning agent for her to try out. Phosgene reacts with the moisture in the eyes and airway passages to produce Hydro Chloric Acid.

[Eva]

I remembered from chemistry class that it was bad, but I couldn't remember exactly what happened if you mixed them. I'll remember to tell that to my mother-in-law.

[eno_]

I have to disagree with you.

Too many "middle class" Arabs have become radicalized. Too many doctors, professors, etc. now spew Osama-isms. We have to treat these people, if they have radical Islamist sympathies, like we did Nazis and Communists - yank their visas and revoke citizenship if we must.

Atta had a high quality university education. The illiterate foaming at the mouth ones LOOK scarier, but in practice they could terrorize a few goats.

[Eala]

Ugh. Well, I asked so I deserve it.

[Nita Nuprez]

Thank you for the ping. I'm trying to keep up with this particular topic.

[HiTech RedNeck]

You get chloramines, though from household strength ammonia and bleach you don't get anything significant except in a closed area. Once years ago, when a kid with a slightly twisted mind, I poured a cup of each into a bowl in the middle of the back yard expecting it to generate a huge yellow-green cloud of noxious gas or something. The result was not even enough to smell.

[Shermy]

Bump.

[Dog]

In addition, the bulletin asks police to look for Dr. Mohammed Khan, 33, and his estranged wife, 31-year-old Aafia Siddiqui, both of whom the FBI wants to question about possible terrorist ties. "

Khan has been located.......but they are keeping it quiet.

[Dog]

See post 35..

[IamConservative]

Fill a plastic bottle full of little wads of tinfoil, add drain cleaner and screw the cap on tightly. a.k.a."The Works Bomb." Nothing nefarious, just scares the crap out of people.

[mewzilla]

But Shukrijumah is still on the loose, right? Is he the one who spent some time in Canada?