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.
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Look outside (nonchalantly) - is there a big silver disc in your back yard?
The “Dog” referred to is none other than the Dog Star, Sirius. Sirius is the star that marks the head of the constellation Canis Major, the Big Dog. Sirius is the brightest star (other than our own Sun) as seen from the Earth. The “dog days” is talking about the hottest time of the year when Sirius is barking the brightest in the night sky.
Ah geez! You are one twisted puppy, Randog!
:^D
Why do I picture NK pulling them out of the water and putting a big red bow on the mines when they "gave" them to Al-qaedia.
Recent hearings by my subcommittee on terrorism have exposed the growing dominance of a radical sect of Islam in the United States.
This sect, commonly referred to as Wahhabism, preaches jihad against Christian, Jews, and Muslims who don't toe the Wahhabi line. All 19 of the September 11 hijackers were followers of Wahhabism, as is Osama bin Laden. This violent perversion of Islamic faith has been responsible for terrorist attacks against innocent civilians — both Muslim and non-Muslim — all over the world.
As a movement, Wahhabism has established publishing operations, schools, and charities in many countries. The self-labeled "educational outreach" of this movement — financed largely by the wealth of Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabism is the official, and only state, religion — foments jihad and a fundamentalist theology to young people internationally, including in the United States.
And there have been a increasing number of instances in which Wahhabists have successfully penetrated key U.S. institutions, such as the military and our prison system. As several recent media reports have noted, the two groups that accredit and recommend Muslim chaplains to the military — the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences and an organization under the umbrella of the American Muslim Foundation — have long been suspected of links to terrorist organizations by the federal government. The Graduate School and another group accused of ties to Islamic extremists — the Islamic Society of North America — also refer Muslim clerics to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Just this week, one of the key architects of the U.S. military's chaplain program, Abdurahman Alamoudi, was arrested and charged with an illegal relationship with Libya, long a state sponsor of terror. Federal investigators also have detained a Muslim clergymen who was once stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — Captain James Yee — and is being investigated for potential ties to al Qaeda.
The New York State prison system promoted a Muslim cleric to a position that allowed him to supervise the hiring and firing of all prison chaplains. He was later removed from his job when officials discovered he was an al Qaeda sympathizer who incited prisoners against America. Jose Padilla, a terrorist accused of trying to build a "dirty bomb" to unleash in the United States, was exposed to radical Islam in the U.S. prison system. Richard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber," was converted to fundamentalist Islam while serving time in a British prison.
On Tuesday, I chaired a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security that analyzed the procedures used by the military and prison system to recruit Muslims, particularly focusing on the cleric program. We also examined whether the instances of Wahhabi infiltration at key U.S. institutions may be part of a larger pattern. We heard from government witnesses on steps they are taking to confront these challenges and outside experts attesting to terrorists' efforts to exploit a free society to conduct the wide range of activities necessary for effective terror operations.
In response to our Senate inquiry, groups whose terror-related activities are being scrutinized by my subcommittee as well as the federal government have been quick to accuse investigators of Muslim bias. Falsely charging "bigotry," however, is simply not an acceptable response to serious allegations of criminal activity. Terrorists should not be allowed to disguise their hateful, violent activities under the banner of religious freedom. The fear of being falsely accused of prejudice, coupled with political correctness, may be part of the reason we got into the situation we're in right now.
America is a welcoming nation, and Americans are respectful of all faiths. It's time we confront the evil that has distorted and victimized the peace-loving, mainstream Muslim community. In the Senate, we intend to do just that.
— Senator Jon Kyl is a Republican senator from Arizona.
I hadn't heard about this capture. Have you guys? Goin' Googlin'!
"the DARO and Air Force are to address three additional issues that will increase utility of the SR-71 contingency force. The Air Force should reinstall, on both platforms, the ELINT improvement program retired with the aircraft; integrate the SR-71 ASARS downlink with current intelligence exploitation and dissemination architectures;"
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