Mansoor Ijaz on Greta Van Suesteren - Al Qaeda Planning on Hijacking Super Tankers!

Fox News - On the Record with Greta Van Susteren ^ | 10 Oct 03 | Mansoor Ijaz

[Alas Babylon!]

Mansoor Ijaz was on Greta's show, he gave a detailed analysis about some very disturbing accounts on the various sea lanes. He mentioned that the Straits of Mollucca, between Singapore, Indonesia, and Maylasia have always been a hotbed of piracy, but recent events have raised alarms. It seems like many ships have been hijacked in the last few months by Islamic radicals but rather than stealing the cargo or kidnapping the crews these terrorists have just wanted to know how to steer the big ships! He compared this to the 9/11 terrorists going to the various flight schools only wanting to know how to fly big jets--not wanting to land them.

Further, he mentioned that in this same area about 12 (?) tug boats have been pirated and have now dissappeared. He is concerned that they could be used to haul or pull a larger ship into position to cause some atrocity in one of our harbors. He also mentioned that several diving experts have been contacted to teach Islamicists on how to swim unnoticed underwater. Demolition charges planned?

He discussed with Greta his thoughts on all this. Is Al Qaeda planning another 9/11, but this time using large ships or super tankers to blow up an American city? He also stated that ships disabled or destroyed in certain waters could destroy the economies of many nations, such as the straits between the Agean and Black seas in Turkey, the Straits of Hourmuz in the Persian Gulf, the Straits of Gibraltar, etc, etc.

[CyberAnt]

I heard the report. Monsoor is one of the most competent sources ever. My first thought though was not a super tanker, it was a cruise ship .. because a cruise ship contains lots and lots of people.

You could still cause a disaster within a harbor .. but how about running the two together .. cruise ship and oil tanker .. you would then have the added extortion value of human beings. I'm glad I don't have a cruise planned.

This could get nasty.

I've also heard that there were plans to sink ships on the Mississippi River. To block that river could disrupt trade within the whole USA. Now that the economy is rebounding, I can see the plausibility of this kind of plan.

[mathluv]

Texas City was devastated in the early 1940's by the explosion of a ship in the harbor.

[bagman]

The September, 2003, issue of the Atlantic Monthly had a cover story on "Anarchy at Sea". A large portion of the article dealt with piracy. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available on-line. The article is certainly worth reading - I recommend a trip to your local library to find it.

[Palladin]

Bookmark.

Would this be feasible down in Galveston, where all the oil tanks are? How close could one of these ships get before our Air Force bombed them into oblivion?

[mathluv]

I did a google search - 1947.

[CyberAnt]

I believe he's from Iran. Great guy!! He's the guy who blew wide open the info that x42 refused to take custody of bin Laden at least 3 times (at least 3 times that Monsoor was involved).

[CyberAnt]

Really .. I thought he was from Iran. Hmmmm??

[Jorge]

Further, he mentioned that in this same area about 12 (?) tug boats have been pirated and have now dissappeared. He is concerned that they could be used to haul or pull a larger ship into position to cause some atrocity in one of our harbors. He also mentioned that several diving experts have been contacted to teach Islamicists on how to swim unnoticed underwater.

Bastards. We need to kill them before they kill us.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Ammonium Nitrate, wasn't it?

[CyberAnt]

How about cruise ships ..??

[goody2shooz]

...super tankers aren't explosive...

Wow! I didn't know that. Neither are nuclear power plants explosive.

[spodefly]

He actually said they were teaching divers how to go down....but not how to come back up.....sounds weird to me....

Funny guy.

[mathluv]

The Ship Channel in Houston would be a good place. Another explosion like Texas City near one of the refineries/chemical plants, etc, would be devastating.

[PISANO]

A supertanker could also hold a couple of nuclear devices. God forbid!

[mathluv]

In at least one of the ships that blew up. I thought that there had been an ammo ship involved, but it was after the war was over.

[Chad Fairbanks]

http://www.region.halifax.ns.ca/community/explode.html

[Chad Fairbanks]

Thursday, December 6, 1917, dawned bright and clear in Halifax. World War I raged in Europe, and the port city was busy with the movement of war ships carrying troops, relief supplies and munitions.
Around eight that morning, the Belgian relief ship Imo left its mooring in Bedford Basin and headed for open sea. At about the same time, the French ship Mont Blanc was heading up the harbour to moor, awaiting a convoy to accompany her across the Atlantic. A convoy was essential; this small, barely seaworthy vessel was carrying a full cargo of explosives. Stored in the holds, or simply stacked on deck, were 35 tons of benzol, 300 rounds of ammunition, 10 tons of gun cotton, 2,300 tons of picric acid (used in explosives), and 400,000 pounds of TNT.

The Imo, a much larger and faster ship than the Mont Blanc, passed into the Narrows. She was travelling fast, and too close to Dartmouth when the Mont Blanc first spotted her. The Mont Blanc, not flying the regulation red flag to indicate she was carrying explosives, signalled that she was in her correct channel; the Imo, however, signalled that she was intending to bear even further to port, closer to Dartmouth and further into the Mont Blanc's channel. The Mont Blanc signalled again that she was still intending to pass to starboard; she was by this time very close to the Dartmouth shore and travelling "dead slow."

The Imo, however, did not swing towards Halifax, as the Mont Blanc expected; she signalled instead that she was maintaining her course. The Mont Blanc, perhaps wrongly, saw only one course open -- to swing to port, towards Halifax, across the bows of the Imo, and thus pass starboard to starboard.

Perhaps the ships might have passed without incident, but the Imo signalled "full speed astern." So did the Mont Blanc, but it was too late. Reversing her engines caused the Imo's bow to swing right, and it struck the Mont Blanc -- missing the TNT, but striking the picric acid stored directly beneath the drums of benzol on deck. The impact cut a wedge in the Mont Blanc's side, and struck deadly sparks.

The crew of the Mont Blanc, aware of their cargo, immediately took to the lifeboats, screaming warnings that no one heeded. They rowed for Dartmouth, leaving the now furiously burning ship to drift towards Halifax, propelled in that direction by the Imo's impact.

The Mont Blanc drifted by a Halifax pier, brushing it and setting it ablaze. Members of the Halifax Fire Department responded quickly, and were positioning their engine up to the nearest hydrant when the Mont Blanc disintegrated in a blinding white flash, creating the biggest man-made explosion before the nuclear age. It was 9:05am.

Over 1,900 people were killed immediately; within a year the figure had climbed well over 2,000. Around 9,000 more were injured, many permanently; 325 acres, almost all of north-end Halifax, were destroyed.

Much of what was not immediately levelled burned to the ground, aided by winter stockpiles of coal in cellars. As for the Mont Blanc, all 3,000 tons of her were shattered into little pieces that were blasted far and wide. The barrel of one of her cannons landed three and a half miles away; part of her anchor shank, weighing over half a ton, flew two miles in the opposite direction. Windows shattered 50 miles away, and the shock wave was even felt in Sydney, Cape Breton, 270 miles to the north-east.

There were about 20 minutes between the collision and the explosion at 9:05. It was enough time for spectators, including many children, to run to the waterfront to watch the ship burning, thus coming into close range. It was enough time for others to gather at windows, and thus an exceptionally large number of people were injured by flying glass -- 1,000 unfortunate survivors sustained eye damage.

Not surprisingly, hospitals were unable to cope with so many wounded. There was also a desperate need for housing, and the misery was compounded by the blizzard that struck the city the following day, dumping 16 inches of snow over the ruins and their sooty, oily covering.

With astounding speed, relief efforts were set in motion. Money poured in from as far away as China and New Zealand. The Canadian government gave $18 million, the British government almost $5 million, but most Haligonians remember the generosity of the state of Massachusetts, which donated $750,000 in money and goods and gave unstintingly in volunteer assistance through the Massachusetts-Halifax Relief Committee. To this day, Halifax sends an annual Christmas tree to the city of Boston in gratitude.

Gradually, Halifax was put back together, though nothing could compensate for lost lives. Within two months over 1,500 victims had been buried, some unidentified; the remaining victims were discovered only in the spring as excavation was made easier. A relief committee was set up to provide clothing, money and furniture, and this committee existed for almost 59 years. There are still a few survivors of the blast receiving pensions from the Relief Committee's fund.

Three thousand houses were repaired in the first seven weeks; in January, temporary apartments were being constructed at the rate of one every hour. Rebuilding continued apace, and a few months later, construction started on 328 houses in the area bordered by Young, Agricola, Duffus and Gottingen Streets. The houses were built from cement blocks known as hydrostones, and (with a design unusually forward-thinking for the time) had gardens with trees in front, and modern plumbing and electricity. This area, still known as the Hydrostone, is considered one of the more attractive and desirable parts of Halifax in which to live.

On Dec. 6, 1992, the Halifax Fire Department erected a monument in front of Station 6 (corner of Lady Hammond Road and Robie Street), in honour of the nine members who died attempting to fight the fire on the Mont Blanc.

Seventy-seven years later, there are few survivors left to tell their stories. But Halifax has not forgotten, and every Dec. 6 at 9am there is a service by the Memorial Bells at Fort Needham, close to where the Mont Blanc exploded.

[AmericaUnited]

Yawn... If we all had a nickel for every "threatened threat", we'd be richer than Bill Gates.

[John H K]

Every large ship entering a US port gets an American pilot.

And the original story wasn't about cruise ships, it was a about the supposed "supertanker" threat.

[Alas Babylon!]

While supertanker is in my thread title, Ijaz mentioned super tankers, but was also talking about many kinds of ships.