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Al-Qaeda blueprint exposed (Found out before they got us!)
The Mercury ^ | December 29, 2003 | Ben English, Ian Gallagher and Jef Sommerfield

Posted on 12/29/2003 12:57:57 PM PST by EsclavoDeCristo

Al-Qaeda blueprint exposed By Ben English, Ian Gallagher and Jef Sommerfield 29dec03

AL-QAEDA has turned its terror sights to the sea, targeting luxury cruise liners in an expansion of its "jihad" against the West.

Owners of the recently launched $1.3 billion Queen Mary 2 yesterday confirmed threats of terror hang over its maiden voyage early next year. The Osama bin-Laden terrorist group is also adopting new tactics to destroy commercial aircraft.

British MP Patrick Mercer has revealed Saudi authorities arrested two Islamic suicide pilots. He said the pilots were preparing to crash two light aircraft into a packed British Airways passenger jet while it was still on the tarmac at the airport in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Both light planes had been crammed with explosives. And Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he had received reliable intelligence of a Christmas Day plan to assassinate the Pope and destroy the Vatican by flying a hijacked plane into it.

News of the terror plots emerged after US authorities upgraded their national terror alert status before Christmas.

US intelligence officials also found evidence Al-Qaeda was planning to attack the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal as it passed through the Gibraltar Straits en route to the Gulf War earlier this year.

Plans for the attack emerged after a US spy plane discovered scores of acoustic sea-mines had disappeared from a naval base in North Korea.

US intelligence services believe the mines could be aboard 28 "terror ships" Osama bin Laden has assembled in the past year. The capture of Al-Qaeda's chief of naval operations, Ahmad Belai al-Neshari, has helped to reveal the extent of the organisation's maritime ambitions.

Al-Neshari was found carrying a 180-page dossier that listed "targets of opportunity". These included large cruise liners sailing from Western ports.

Anti-terrorism expert and former Sydney Olympics security chief Neil Fergus said yesterday that he was not convinced Al-Qaeda could launch sea attacks.

"I don't know where Al-Qaeda would have got the armada. The Tamil Tigers (separatist fighters in Sri Lanka) have a fleet of about a dozen ships but they are in an island enclave and that was a difficult exercise," Mr Fergus said.

"I also don't think anyone would have a clue about sea mines from North Korea regardless of U2 flights or satellites."

An Australian aviation industry official said stealing a light aircraft was "as easy as stealing a car if you know what you are doing".

In Australia there have been two recent examples of light planes being stolen – one at Parafield in Adelaide and one in Alice Springs. A light plane was also hijacked in central Queensland.

However the official said it would be "extra-ordinarily difficult" for a light plane to crash into a large passenger plane due to collision avoidance systems in larger airliners.

A P&O spokesman last night said exactly the same standard of security for the airline industry was applied for cruise ships.

privacy © Davies Bros


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaedastrategy
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To: 11th Earl of Mar
I was wondering the same thing. What good is TCAS going to do a fully-loaded British Airways 747 taxiing around at Riyadh, when some Islamonutburger in a suicide Cessna dives on it?

Now in the air, that's another matter. Between air traffic control and TCAS--assuming the controller is fast on the switch when he realizes he's got a plane with no transponder return running around in his airspace and puts 2 and 2 together--a passenger jet would have a chance to evade.

}:-)4
41 posted on 12/29/2003 7:27:05 PM PST by Moose4 ("The road goes on forever, and the party never ends." --Robert Earl Keen)
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To: HiJinx; ASA Vet; BlackbirdSST
He likely also believes you guys only took pictures.

Mr. Fergus may also believe it was an airborne/aerial asset...

Not fair to tease.

Or is that info still classified... ?

42 posted on 12/29/2003 7:48:32 PM PST by happygrl
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To: happygrl
Are you bullet-proof?

Actually, I'm referring to having human assets (CIA) on the ground, or shared intel from another party, or something else that we don't even know about.


43 posted on 12/29/2003 7:58:41 PM PST by HiJinx (INSCOM Alumnus)
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To: bvw
A "Catholic" hard IRA man or two has appeared beside Muslim terrs at places throughout the world, in active and support roles.

And, another example is the Japanese Red Army attack, done on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine at Lod Airport in Tel Aviv...

During the 70s and 80s, if I recall correctly, the former Soviet Union sponsored terror camps all over the mid east that trained the IRA, Shining Path, Palestinian groups, and the various european red armies etc...

44 posted on 12/29/2003 8:02:27 PM PST by Chad Fairbanks (What am I rebelling against? Well, what do ya got?)
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To: thoughtomator; bvw
I can appreciate that that does exist, but in this particular case you will find it impossible to establish any links. If you think you can, be my guest. The fact remains that the conflict in Sri Lanka is an exclusively local one that is neither imported nor exported.

Actually, the Tamil Tigers have well-documented links to terror groups in the Middle East - many veterans were trained by Yasser Arafat's P.L.O., for example - and, more importantly, they operate an armament delivery service for other militants around the world.

45 posted on 12/29/2003 8:06:14 PM PST by Chad Fairbanks (What am I rebelling against? Well, what do ya got?)
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To: thoughtomator
Tamil is not Hindu or Christian, they are Tamil.
46 posted on 12/29/2003 8:39:13 PM PST by RaceBannon
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To: RaceBannon
"Tamil" is an ethnicity, like "Slav", not a religion. Tamils in Sri Lanka are, in general, Hindu, Christian, or Muslim.
47 posted on 12/29/2003 8:42:34 PM PST by thoughtomator ("I will do whatever the Americans want because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid"-Qadafi)
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To: Chad Fairbanks; bvw
Here is the 2003 CFR report on them, for what it's worth. Ties to Arafat are from the 60s and are not contemporary. Arms trafficking is a problem, indeed, but it is not on the order of, say, France's, since the cargo trafficked is light arms and not heavy weaponry.

From the point of view of US national security, the LTTE is a non-factor.

48 posted on 12/29/2003 8:57:03 PM PST by thoughtomator ("I will do whatever the Americans want because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid"-Qadafi)
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To: thoughtomator
Well, I been there, and spoke to them. I agree that they are mostly considered an ethnicity, but they are NOT Hindu or Christian in their concerns for their 'independence'.

In fact, I got to speak to some of the founders of the Tamil Tigers.

49 posted on 12/29/2003 9:47:24 PM PST by RaceBannon
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To: thoughtomator
Go to Google Home Advanced Search    Preferences    Language Tools    Search Tips 
 
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Searched the web for tamil + religion Results 1 - 10 of about 422,000. Search took 0.06 seconds.

Category:    Society > Religion and Spirituality > Hinduism  

tamil: Religion Against the Self: An Ethnography of Tamil Rituals
... Looking at Tamil religious practices, Isabelle Nabokov reveals that Tamil religion
is primarily concerned with transformations of identity and subjectivity ...
bookstore.deviceindian.com/n_0195113659.htm - 24k - Cached - Similar pages

tamil: Religion Against the Self: An Ethnography of Tamil Rituals
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Tamil Annam - Tamil Religion
Religion. Onkaram Ashram - Hindu Onkaram Ashram - Tamil Nadu, India - describes the
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Yahoo! Groups : CTamil Messages : Message 611 of 831
... From: "naga_ganesan" <naga_ganesan@h...> Date: Tue Feb 12, 2002 5:06 pm Subject:
Ancient Tamil religion. ... 613, Re: Ancient Tamil religion, lsrinivas, Wed 2/13/2002, ...
groups.yahoo.com/group/CTamil/message/611 - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

Yahoo! Groups : CTamil Messages : Message 632 of 831
... From: "naga_ganesan" <naga_ganesan@h...> Date: Wed Feb 20, 2002 4:44
pm Subject: Re: Ancient Tamil religion. NG> I found a collection ...
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English Commentaries, Translations of Tamil Works, Religion
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Devotion to Murukan
... synthesis. Murukan is not the god of a single culture. On a basis of Tamil
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Description: Overview of the doctrines, history and symbols of Murugan worship.
Category: Regional > Asia > ... > Tamil Nadu > Society and Culture > Religion
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50 posted on 12/29/2003 10:06:03 PM PST by RaceBannon
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To: RaceBannon
I speak to Tamils every day. What you're talking about is a polyglot spirituality that borrows from all the neighboring religions. There is no such thing as a Tamil religion. Having asked hundreds of Tamils what their religion was (to fill out applications of their behalf), only one has said to me anything other than "Hindu" , "Christian", or "Muslim". (That one said he didn't have a name for what he believed.)

It is true that, on the Tamil side at least, the war in Sri Lanka is not a religious one, though Tamil Muslims are a separate community from the rest of the Tamils.

51 posted on 12/29/2003 10:26:28 PM PST by thoughtomator ("I will do whatever the Americans want because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid"-Qadafi)
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To: RaceBannon
See? Click on the links... they all reference either Hinduism or Christianity.
52 posted on 12/29/2003 10:27:56 PM PST by thoughtomator ("I will do whatever the Americans want because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid"-Qadafi)
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To: bvw
There's an article somewhere on FR (read it this morning or last night - had a hard day today so brain is fried) detailing just that. I THINK it was from WNDaily. Explaining how terrorists of all different ideologies seem to be ganging up, since they all hate the US.
53 posted on 12/29/2003 10:32:47 PM PST by little jeremiah
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To: I_love_weather
They aren't going to announce everything they know for security reasons. There is no telling how much is known. I understand why it is not told to us while we are investigating. They want to catch as many of them as they can.
54 posted on 12/29/2003 10:34:04 PM PST by ladyinred (God Bless our Troops!)
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To: EsclavoDeCristo
WOW
55 posted on 12/29/2003 10:34:23 PM PST by ladyinred (God Bless our Troops!)
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To: EsclavoDeCristo; SJackson; MeeknMing; JohnHuang2
All aboard for a HUGH DISCOUNT on the Queen Mary II maiden voyage - courteousy of Al Qaeda - ping!
56 posted on 12/29/2003 10:42:53 PM PST by Happy2BMe (2004 - Who WILL the TERRORISTS vote for? - - Not George W. Bush, THAT'S for sure!)
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To: dirtboy
"But Howie Dean thinks we're less safe now and losing the battle against terrorism."

Dean also claims the Soviet Union is aiding Iran's nuclear weapons program.

57 posted on 12/29/2003 10:44:42 PM PST by Happy2BMe (2004 - Who WILL the TERRORISTS vote for? - - Not George W. Bush, THAT'S for sure!)
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To: thoughtomator
"I speak to Tamils every day."

Do they ever speak back?

58 posted on 12/29/2003 10:46:46 PM PST by Happy2BMe (2004 - Who WILL the TERRORISTS vote for? - - Not George W. Bush, THAT'S for sure!)
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To: bvw
I'd guess a few Catholics in the bigger conspiracy to kill one of their own...

Kind of like when he conspired to kill the brothers Diem, fellow Catholics?

the infowarrior

59 posted on 12/29/2003 10:52:55 PM PST by infowarrior (TANSTAAFL)
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To: Happy2BMe
When they can speak English, yeah... otherwise they speak to the translator, who speaks to me.
60 posted on 12/29/2003 11:02:16 PM PST by thoughtomator ("I will do whatever the Americans want because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid"-Qadafi)
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