Flights From Paris to U.S. Cancelled

MSNBC | December 24, 2003

[Dog]

AQ's MO is to have a multi layered attack.....there has to be other componets to this plot.

[TexKat]

Way to go Homeland Security. Steve Emerson just reported on MSNBC just reported that more flights may be cancelled on Friday.

[livius]

I'm sure there are other levels. Stay tuned.

[Dog]

LOL!

I'm typing in the dark here....I should turn the light on...:-)

[aristeides]

AQ's MO is to have a multi layered attack.....there has to be other componets to this plot.

So, does the failure of one part of it mean that the rest gets called off?

[FairOpinion]

"We never know what we prevent when this kind of alert is raised,then people complain because nothing bad happens!

Thank you to all who stand duty, covering our backs."

===

I agree. We should be very grateful to those who are working very hard to prent the attacks -- many of which we never hear about.

The reason we haven't had any attacks the past few years, thank God, was not because AQ hasn't been trying, it's because we have been able to prevent and foil those attacks, with enhanced vigilance and a lot of hard work.

[Dog]

Strange that AQ wants to hit LAX so badly....wonder what is up with that.

[Steve_Seattle]

"We're spending Christmas in Oak Harbor with our daughter and Navy husband. I much prefer summers up here."

What's wrong with the winters here? Do you have a problem with six consecutive months of clouds and rain? :-)

[RandallFlagg]

I'm on my way out of the house right now for the same...*ugh* is right. They're both flaming liberals...

[Dog]

Three flights today were cancelled....three tomorrow.

There is the plot....a first strike today....and a follow on tomorrow.

[doug from upland]

Being in S. Cal since I was 5, this is a little different.

[MediaMole]

There is the plot....a first strike today....and a follow on tomorrow.

More likely we don't know which flight will be the strike. If they attack today, the airspace would be shut down tomorrow.

[Steel Wolf]

First of all there are a lot of non-liberals in CA - that's how we elected Arnold. :)

Second of all, CA is on high alert, especially LA -- with the serious, credible threat to LAX

You're right. I'm from California, and I know that it's not nearly as liberal as it is painted by the rest of the country. I also know that most Californians are very self absorbed and a bit dim on their understanding other states, much less the outside world. (Except for Vegas, of course.)

I think that a major terrorist attack would affect the psyche of Los Angeles (or San Francisco) far more than it did the psyche of New York. That's just my assessment of the local cultures and mood. People who are reflexively emotional and self centered would react very powerfully to a 9/11 type attack.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Don't underestimate us! We're tougher than you think.



Now, I sincerely PRAY that we never have to prove it.....

Merry CHRISTMAS, Steel Wolf.

[MediaMole]

I would suspect the air attack would be the trigger for follow up attacks using other methods. Drop a jet into a significant target, then follow up with suicide bombings and a dirty bomb panic.

IMHO, the goal is to goad the US into a horrific counterstrike which will start the real jihad.

[Steel Wolf]

I know you are! Merry Christmas to you, Brad's Gramma!

[TomGuy]

There is the plot....a first strike today....and a follow on tomorrow.

I thought the same then I heard 3 and 3 over 2 days. But, immediately after the events of 9-11 became obvious, all flights were grounded. Thus, if the 3 flights for day#1 strike were successful and the planes were the actual instruments, the day#2 planes wouldn't get off the ground anyway.

So, something else is in the works. Maybe day#2 flights were intended as "missiles" and day#1 was positioning personnel (land and deplane in LAX, possibly with specific "contents" on board) for bio/chem.

We can only hope the authorities (HS, FBI, CIA, etc.,) have much more information about the nature of the potential plot.

[WestCoastGal]

They specifically mentioned carriers coming in from

Mexico

. Here is the latest on the Air France story:

LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Air France canceled several flights to the United States after U.S. officials, on heightened alert for terror attacks over the holiday, passed on "credible" security threats involving passengers scheduled to fly to Los Angeles on flights from Paris, U.S. and European officials said Wednesday.

U.S. officials were in intense security talks with officials from several other countries, too, as intelligence concerns about possible plans by the al-Qaida terror network to use aircraft to attack American targets again intensified.

A spokesman for French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said the decision to cancel the six Air France flights came early Wednesday after American authorities notified France that "two or three" suspicious people, possibly Tunisian nationals, were planning to board the flights.

A senior U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "people were going to be on the flights that they (French officials) did not want entering the country."

The French Interior Ministry said the flights were canceled at the request of the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

French television station LCI reported that American authorities believed members of al-Qaida may have been planning to board the planes. The Interior Ministry declined to comment on whether any al-Qaida members figured into the incident.

The FBI (news - web sites) was taking the potential threats "very seriously," LCI said.

The United States handed French authorities the names of suspicious people who may have intended to board the flights but no people by those names went through airport security checks, the Interior Ministry said, adding that no arrests were made.

[Shermy]

Strange that AQ wants to hit LAX so badly....wonder what is up with that.

To make up for past failure, perhaps. Still, I don't know if LAX was the target...or something on theway there.