Posted on 10/19/2001 7:13:42 AM PDT by spycatcher
Israelis Capture Man With Radiological Backpack Bomb 10-19-1
ISRAEL - Israeli security last month arrested a man linked to suspected terrorist coordinator, Osama bin Laden, armed with a radiological backpack bomb.
The man was arrested in the last week of September as he attempted to enter Israel from the Palestinian Territories at a border crossing point at Ramallah, according to U.S. government officials.
"There was only one individual involved. He was from Pakistan," a government official said.
An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to give the exact date of arrest. Two other sources interviewed by United Press International confirmed the incident, but also declined to give further details.
"People know how to walk a dog back," one said, meaning that relating too exact an account could lead to the identification of the source of the information.
Another source said U.S. officials believed that the suspect had probably reached the territories by way of Lebanon.
Information on the arrest went immediately to President Bush and a close circle of advisers, another U.S. official said. He described the appearance and character of the top-secret report circulated among the Cabinet members and signed by each official present.
Former Pentagon terrorism expert Peter Probst described a radiological bomb as a device with a small explosive core that is encased in radioactive material. "It would not kill a great many people, but it would contaminate a considerable area with radiation," he said.
A U.S. government expert said that the weapon captured by Israel was a backpack device that CIA officials learned about through Russian intelligence agents in place in 1995. He emphasized it was not a so-called nuclear suitcase bomb.
Backpack bombs were designed for Russian Spetznaz special forces and have such an intricate and complex system of activation that the ability of a terrorist to detonate one would be incredibly limited, according to one U.S. government official.
"There is such a complicated sequence you have to perform that some terrorist isn't going to be able to get it to work. You have to be very highly trained," an intelligence official agreed, describing the chances that the device could have been activated as "practically miniscule."
Probst is nevertheless convinced that radiological bombs are still a danger for New York City. "Bin Laden is fascinated by Wall Street. My fear is that he will attempt to smuggle in some "dirty" bomb that wouldn't kill many people but would dangerously contaminate the area," he said.
Hear ye hear ye hear ye, it has nothing to do with a Palestinian state covert protection of terrorists, but Lebanon.... (sarcasm)
Anything found on Rense is at least stupid. Most of it is malignantly stupid, and some is even bizarrely malignantly stupid.
Jeff? Rense is broken. He broke his mind a long time ago, falling off an UFO.
Well, on 9/10, if someone had posted a theory that soon two planes would crash into the WTC and bring the buildings down, there would have been lots of tin foil comments there, too...
Mark W.
/SARCASM
MM
I plead guilty. I've stopped. What bothers me more now is defeatism.
Now we need to figure out how the story got buried. Is UPI no longer a reliable news organization?
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