Flights Cut on Fear of al Qaeda Attacks (NEW info: WMD use on planes planned by AQ)

Washington Post ^ | FEb. 1, 2004 | Sara Kehaulani Goo and Dana Priest

[FairOpinion]

Intelligence indicating that al Qaeda terrorists are seeking to release a chemical or biological agent aboard an airliner, or transport a radiological device in cargo, prompted the cancellation of six international flights scheduled for today and tomorrow, senior administration officials familiar with the reports said yesterday.

The possibilities, as described by three intelligence officials, include releasing an undetectable biological agent such as smallpox or anthrax aboard a plane that passengers would then unknowingly spread; releasing a chemical agent to debilitate the passengers and crew so the plane could be hijacked, and sneaking a radiological device aboard a plane inside a piece of luggage.

Small amounts of chemical, biological or radiological material would be difficult to detect.

[mr.pink]

Minor nit - you can't transmit anthrax from person to person - it isn't "contagious"

You're not suggesting that if someones clothing had a high level of anthrax present (via exposure as described in the threat) that you would be willing to share a taxi with that person from La Guardia to Manhattan?

Would you even knowingly get on the same bus with that person even you were way in the back and that person in the front?

I agree it's not "contagious"...like a cold, but it's highly transmitable none-the-less.

[FairOpinion]

"we can trust carry"

==

Of course I meant Kerry -- my fingers seem to have a mind of their own, it's been a long day.

[GeronL]

yes, there was a thread actually.

[Indie]

States "ready" for smallpox? BWA HAHA!! Can you imagine the lines and fights at every vaccine facility? They'd need martial law friends.

I have an idea..let's PRE-EMPT the risk by allowing these NOW! [aaawww too simple]

[BiffWondercat]

Why don't your medevil minds build ICMBs? That's right, y'all can't read anything besides the Qu'ran, Haddiths, Sha'Ria, whatever....

Well, we have thousands of thermonuclear warheads left - far more enough to turn this planet uninhabitable. We will always maintain the power to destroy this planet. This ain't 670ad. Welcome to the 21 Century.

Get with the program before we encode a retrovirus to remove you idiots from the planetary genome and erase any memory of your "culture". Just a freindly suggestion from your neighborhood Kaffir!

[pax_et_bonum]

What courageous warriors of Allah.

[dawn53]

This is somewhat off the subject of the planes, but very much on topic of bio agents.

I watched a program on Discovery Health channel tonight about outbreaks of Tularemia pneumonia on Martha's Vineyard.

Started in the summer of 2000 with 15 cases (average yearly diagnosis is 200 cases) yet they had 15 cases in one summer. They continue to have outbreaks each summer, but not as many as the first year.

They have never been able to identify the exact origin of the disease, wondering if it was ticks, or small animals.

I had not realized what a powerful bio agent it would be until it was discussed on the show tonight.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

[Small amounts of chemical, biological or radiological material would be difficult to detect.]

Small amounts also would'nt do much harm. IMO the WMD angle is a misnomer. I beleive they would much more prefer to crash an airliner into a high value target. This has been their only "claim to fame" so far.

[FairOpinion]

That would put it to Feb. 3rd midnight PST. Could that indicate an attack on the West Coast, since that's where it will be midnight when the clock runs down.

I really think they are planning something spectacular for the West Coast.

Of course that doesn't mean they aren't planning other things for the East Coast, but the West Coast can't be complacent, thinking that they wouldn't hit us here.

[BiffWondercat]

Often it is rabbits. As a learning hunter/trapper, my father told me to wear surgical gloves when skinning rabbits and if they had "bumps under the hide" to go ahead and toss them into a hot fire. This was known even before the 30's.

[FairOpinion]

"States "ready" for smallpox? BWA HAHA!! Can you imagine the lines and fights at every vaccine facility? They'd need martial law friends.
I have an idea..let's PRE-EMPT the risk by allowing these NOW! [aaawww too simple]"

===

I agree completely. They are putting the lives of millions of people, OUR lives in danger, by not making it available, when people could get the vaccine, BEFORE there is an attack, and panic.

[FreedomCalls]

[FairOpinion]

"Small amounts also would'nt do much harm."

==

Just think of a couple hundred people with smallpox running around, going to various cities in the US, and giving it to others -- thousands would be infected, before they figure out what's happening.

[KQQL]

Yes, why aren't we at Orange alert!?!

"I think there has been an exaggeration," Mr. Kerry said when asked whether President Bush has overstated the threat of terrorism.
SC Dem Debate 01/29/04

[FairOpinion]

Continental cancels flight amid terror alert

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/01/1075570283534.html

"It was also announced today that Continental Airlines had cancelled today's 12.15pm (23:15AEDT) Flight 17 from Glasgow, Scotland, to Los Angeles with an intermediate stop in Newark, New Jersey.

British Airways and Air France yesterday cancelled seven flights to and from the United States after US officials said they had new intelligence pointing to an al-Qaeda plot to target the planes. "

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/01/1075570283534.html

[cyncooper]

I wonder why they have'nt raised the alert status?

When they lowered the alert level for most areas a few weeks ago, I believe the airports remained at level orange.

[dawn53]

They mentioned rabbits, but the CDC couldn't seem to come up with infected rabbits.

Interestingly enough, most people had mowed their lawn prior to the time they came down with the illness, but when they collected mowed grass from the same lawns, they found no tularemia in the collections.

[FairOpinion]

Expert warns of smallpox danger from terrorists
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1075371473273850.xml

01/29/04

JOSH KELLEY
For The Birmingham News


AUBURN - A leading expert on bioterrorism warned Tuesday of the dangers of smallpox and other pathogens that rogue nations and terrorist groups could be developing.

Richard Preston, a fellow at the Council on Humanities at Princeton University and author of three best-selling nonfiction books on emerging diseases and pathogens that could be used as bioweapons, spoke to a group of about 500 at the Auburn University Hotel and Dixon Conference Center.

"You will have no doubt that smallpox is an extremely grave disease," he said before showing slides of victims with blisters covering their faces and hands.

Smallpox is a highly contagious virus that kills 30 percent of its victims, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Preston said he fears that nations such as North Korea and even groups such as Al-Qaida could have access to the smallpox virus despite its eradication in nature 30 years ago. By 1980, the World Health Organization believed the only samples of the virus remaining in the world were at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and at the State Center for Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo, Russia. But Preston is not convinced the virus is in safe hands.

"The experts are deeply concerned that we don't actually know where the smallpox ... is today," he said.

He fears smallpox was grown at a lab in the former Soviet Union in Siberia and stockpiled for possible weapons.

"Some of these Soviet scientists went off the grid. They went off the map," he said. Preston is worried the scientists ended up in North Korea.

Preston also warned that despite having developed a stockpile of smallpox vaccine, the United States is not prepared to administer the vaccine if the virus spreads rapidly.

"Most hospitals haven't even thought about that," he said.

President Bush recently received a smallpox vaccine in a demonstration of its safety after ordering military personnel to begin receiving the vaccination.

Preston said that the exploding world population could lead to the rapid spread of viruses, particularly in locations the United Nations has identified as future tropical super cities. Dhaka, Bangladesh, for instance, is estimated to have a population of 35 million by 2015. That's roughly the population of California in one city.

[arete]

Sure as heck looks like more administration fear mongering. Got to keep the sheepster thinking they are under attack while the crooks rob the bank. Anyone who thinks that AQ is going to jump on a plane from Paris to NYC when they can fly to Mexico and walk across the border anytime they want just isn't thinking. Rove needs to hire a new batch of fiction writers. Some of this stuff is getting stale.

Richard W.