Posted on 01/24/2004 6:54:06 AM PST by buffyt
FREEPORT Port officials are looking into reports that al-Qaeda scouts may have sojourned into Freeport before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
A story in the May 26 issue of Newsweek reported that in March 2001, the scouts came to Texas to case a major port in Freeport, Texas, as well as look at President Bushs ranch in Crawford. The information came from the FBI, according to the story.
Were seeing what that might mean, said Pete Reixach, executive director of Port Freeport.
Were trying to qualify the language in this article with the FBI and Homeland Security offices.
Port security was high Tuesday, Reixach said, but it was not because of the report.
The nationwide terror alert level was raised from yellow to orange, so the security was heightened to the level it was at the start of the war in Iraq, he said.
The possibility that terrorists were in the ports back yard is somewhat sobering, Reixach said, but it only reinforces a trend toward heightened security after the terrorist attacks.
Weve all been in a state of alert since shortly after Sept. 11, Reixach said.
Our operations have increased their activities tenfold since then.
The port also has received federal grants to enhance its security since the attacks.
Tobey Davenport, chairman of the ports board of commissioners, said he was surprised by the report. While a fueling ship could be a possible target, Davenport said, there is little else in the ports jurisdiction that could cause mass devastation if attacked.
All we have on the navigation district property is warehouses, Davenport said. We have a rice mill and freezers full of bananas. What are they going to blow up?
Of course, the major port in Freeport could include much more than just district property, Davenport said. It could include waterfront sites that are not port-owned, such as facilities owned by ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical Co. and BASF, he said. Ammonia tanks could be a much more attractive target than bananas, Davenport said.
Like Reixach, BASF officials said the report only renews their commitment to securing their sites. Security and safety of our employees and neighbors in the community are our highest priority, said Jonathan Evans, a BASF spokesperson in New Jersey. We have taken steps to address emerging security issues at our sites, and we continue to work closely with government and industry partners to address this important issue.
I bet my wife this was the case.
She owes me.
Security guard wounded outside chemical plant tells his story
KHOU-TV
Robert House goes home from
the hospital Monday afternoon.05:48 PM CST on Monday, January 26, 2004
The security guard whose shooting at the BASF ammonia plant this weekend in Freeport that set off questions about terrorism is telling his story to 11 News.
As Robert House left the hospital the mystery of what happened to him has only deepened. "Gentleman was pointing a pistol towards my chest," he says. "I turned a little bit trying to tell him, 'No, no don't shoot me,' when he shot me."
The shooting happened in a muddy lot outside a Freeport chemical plant Saturday.
House was working security when he said he noticed the suspect sitting in a white pick-up truck taking pictures of the lights around the facility.
Hours after House took a bullet in the shoulder FBI agents showed up in his hospital room to give him a lie-detector test. "The test was telling him that I shot myself," says House. "And I told him that I didn't and he said that he could see it in my eyes that I was crying out for some type of help."
So 11 News then asked the Freeport police chief if this case now seems fishy. "I'm not going to answer that," says Chief Henrietta Gonzalez.
Investigators say that House does not have a criminal record. And police are still investigating his initial story. "Sure, we're believing what he says at this time," says Gonzalez. "And we're following up with what he told us."
Five years ago the shooting of a security guard outside of a chemical plant probably wouldn't have even made news, but House's allegation in this post 9-11 environment has attracted a lot of attention.
Freeport police are working closely with the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI in an attempt to get to the bottom of this.
House is back at home and has hired an attorney. He wouldn't say when he would return to work, and wouldn't answer specific questions.
The FBI maintains that the shooting does not have any connection to terrorism.
Polygraph = voodoo snake oil
This story is getting bizarre.
Why do people always hire an attorney???
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