Posted on 01/01/2006 6:41:58 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
Weapons of Disruption
C 2006 Frederick J. Cowie, Ph.D.
Whereas we have no masses, it certainly would be seriously challenging to deliver a "weapon of mass destruction" in the vast majority of geographical areas in the American West, as well as in many areas in the East and South. For instance, Montana is approximately the size of Germany, yet the population hovers only around a million (we have one representative in the House). There is no "metropolitan" area anywhere around, though Spokane is about three hundred miles away. Wyoming has more sheep than people. Utah has Salt Lake City and a few nearby populous areas. Nevada has two populated regional areas, Las Vegas and Reno. North and South Dakota have, well, a few folks here and there. Idaho folks are few and far between. I swear you can drive from San Antonio to El Paso without seeing a city policeman, because I've done it several times. Then there are Arizona, New Mexico, eastern California, inter alia. The point is we have a few population points, while the rest of the states are empty excepted for isolated small communities.Thus, out West we probably need to talk more about "weapons of disruption." (Some folks say "weapons of mass disruption," but we have no masses!)
You must ask yourself: What would I do if I were a terrorist (or a terrorism preparedness instructor) looking into the ramifications of launching a rural terrorism attack? Personally, I would concentrate on considering the consequences of disruption rather than mass destruction. Here are a few scenarios you might want consider when your local rural emergency management/response group gathers to discuss terrorism exercises.
1) Wildland Fire Incidents: Incendiary (mostly wildland) warfare has been used by military strategists for at least 2500 years, over a thousand years before the use of gunpowder. The western U.S. is disrupted, seriously disrupted, every year by wildland fires. Quite a few are started by humans, accidentally and purposefully. Starting dozens of major fires in a dozen western states could be a brilliant line of attack if militants wished to disrupt America. Thousands of security personnel could do nothing and the perpetrator/s would probably never be implicated, much less captured. Are you prepared?
2) Railroad Chemical Incidents: Many railroad main lines go through tunnels. A few strategically placed armor-piercing shells in a series of chlorine cars, along with appropriately staged derailments leaving the leaking cars in the tunnels, could shut down many main line routes in the West. Spin-off scenarios are numerous. Ready?
3) Flammable Liquid Incidents: Bridges are not easily brought down from below and approaches to bridge support structures are often highly visible and randomly monitored. However, on CNN we all have seen many tanker truck accidents involving burning hydrocarbons which have made bridge structures unusable. How hard would it be to have a few terrorists steal trucks and drive them (as opposed to hijacking planes and flying them) to strategic bridges over wide rivers or narrow gorges, ignite the gasoline (or diesel or crude), block the approaches with other incendiary or chemical releases, and make the structures extremely dangerous and impassible to highway traffic? Gotcha!
There are many variations of these themes. You probably have or can make up many more plausible, novel, and easily implemented rural-specific attack scenarios. Design exercises around them. If you want to stop terrorist events you must think like a terrorist and quit fighting last year's war!
Peace, thanks, Fred
Please check out my website at fredcowie.com
To find recent presentations, Google (with quotation marks) "Fred Cowie"
Frederick J. (Fred) Cowie, Ph.D. E-mail: fredcowie@aol.com Phone: (24 hr cell) 406-431-3531 Website: fredcowie.com
PING
Effective strategies for rural mayhem, but if your chlorine tanks in tunnels only kill some groundhogs, squirrels and deer......
I'm sorry, but I believe they will target the cities. Reno and Vegas are probably in their sights, along with all of the large Pacific coast cities.
I can probably think of dozens of ways for mass murder and mayhem with minimal resources, but I'm not going to post them where a terrorist might see them.
If we already know, they do too. I hate to say.
These scenarios don't make any sense. A terrorist act isn't a terrorist act if it can be confused for a natural event (such as forest fires). Terrorists *want* to be able to claim credit for their attacks. Otherwise, the attack is worthless. A terrorist act must also be unusual, not something that can happen every day by accident (such as chemical leaks). The attack must reveal some fundamental flaw in the security structure of the nation (again, not something that could easily happen by accident). Otherwise, the terrorists cannot hope to affect our behavior, which is the aim of terrorism. No single attack could do any real physical or economic damange to our nation, short of a nuclear or radiological detonation in one of the major cities.
You got that right. When I think of the hundreds of millions of dollars available to the terrorists, and the thousands of people willing to die for the cause, and the tens of millions of supporters,plus the unawareness of the targeted infidels, and the lack of ability of the infidels to defend themselves, or take action against the Muslim killers, or identify the problem (Islam) -I have concluded we are lucky to have such incompetent people trying to kill us.>
They even made there move on us years too early without having established cells for future attacks in this country.
We were clueless and had they waited about 3 more years we could really have been in trouble.
I can think of many inexpensive terrorist operations that could be done easily. I am sure many Freepers can also. Like you, I don't want to give them any ideas either.
I remember when the attacks started I said to my wife, they can't possibly have any infidel white traitors advising them because they made major bungles in the way they went after us Infidels especially the way they came after us Americans.
We should be thankfull for their - incompetence. - tom
> Here are a few scenarios you might want consider ...
Have, and would never have posted them in public as you did.
Wars are often won because the loser is more incompetent.
Our enemies are idiots, but dangerous idiots. They don't
need people giving them ideas in public.
Both the DNC and the Cutthroat Cult read this site.
They don't need help in their death-to-America campaigns.
Good read...
Make no mistake: Terrorist attacks have hit home
As each day passes, more Americans deal with loss
December 31, 2005
On this last day of 2005, we have one request: To never, ever again hear something justified because "we" have not been attacked by terrorists since Sept. 11, 2001.
Last week, the topic was spying on Americans and the speaker was Vice President Dick Cheney. "It's not an accident that we haven't been hit in four years," he told reporters while traveling in Pakistan.
But the same notion comes up again and again to excuse other actions. When the speaker is hard-put to find something good to say about detaining suspects without trial, or torturing prisoners, or curtailing Americans' civil rights, there's always this: Terrorists haven't struck the U.S. in four years.
But of course they have.
Those improvised explosive devices may be going off in Fallujah and Baghdad and Ramadi. But they are ripping holes in America's heart just as surely as planes did that day in 2001.
Day by day this year, the death toll has risen: from Jan. 1, when Army Spc. Jeff LeBrun, 21, of Buffalo, N.Y., was killed by an IED in Baghdad, to Thursday, when the same fate befell a still-unidentified soldier in the same city.
Word speeds back to places like Elgin, Ore., Muskegon, Mich., and Bradon, Fla. Mothers and fathers weep. Parents try to comfort their children. Brothers, sisters and friends pore over the last photo, the last e-mail, the last memory.
In Oregon, Gov. Ted Kulongoski composes another short tribute and orders flags flown at half-staff. A former Marine, he rearranges his schedule to attend the funeral if he can. A new photo and biography appear on the "Oregon's Most Honorable" Web site, telling of decorations and hobbies and children left behind.
When the twin towers fell, it triggered weeks of funerals in concentric circles around lower Manhattan. Now, by contrast, the sounds of "Taps" echo across America; no state is spared.
In 2001, terrorists had to work hard to enter the United States, live here undetected and lay plans to hijack jet airliners. In 2005, America delivered its best men and women to them in Iraq, one and two and 10 at a time.
This fall, the number of confirmed military deaths in Iraq passed the 2,000 milestone. By Thursday, it had reached 2,178.
Will 2006 bring it close to 2,973 -- the number believed to have died in the ruins of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Flight 93?
We fervently hope not.
Whether or not it does, we are certain: Terrorists are hitting us where it hurts, at home.
http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051231/OPINION/512310306/1048
Thanks good post CT. You are so right on.
I agree that they moved too soon.
But they most likely thought (incorrectly) that Bush would be as ineffective as Clinton was.
They misunderestimated him!
Analysis: Al-Qaida's new focus on Israel
By DORE GOLD
Reports that an al-Qaida cell in Lebanon fired Katyusha rockets on northern Israel would not be the first sign that Osama bin Laden's organization is moving into the neighborhood.
For some time, Israeli officials have noted that groups identifying with al-Qaida - or the global jihad - are determined to acquire operational footholds close to Israel's borders. Actually, the most dramatic sign of this development was the November 9 suicide bombing of three Jordanian hotels in Amman by "al-Qaida Mesopotamia" - the organization led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian insurgency leader fighting the US in Iraq.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1135696362358&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Divers find junk, not explosives off coast
By: PTI
December 30, 2005
New Delhi: The security agencies' glee over the 'detection' of the missing explosive containers yesterday was shortlived as they found it to be a 'huge junk'.
Despite the failure, 40 deep sea naval divers operating from three war ships continued to hunt for the 100 metric tonnes of explosives loaded in six containers which went missing from a Honduras-registered merchant ship off the Mumbai coast on December 22, official sources said.
http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2005/december/127310.htm
Russia's Nuclear Chief to Travel to Iran
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3556070.html
AJC Launches International Campaign to Stop a Nuclear Iran
http://www.ajc.org/site/c.ijITI2PHKoG/b.851561/apps/nl/content2.asp?content_id=%7B1CC294C0-8EB1-44D2-AA03-FD613A60AF57%7D¬oc=1
Mossad: Iran Soon To Have Nuclear Weapons
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/30/112612.shtml
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~WOE!
Paintings, not people, to be whisked to safety in nuclear holocaust plan
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=2474172005
Britain and Money Laundering
This Day (subscription) - Apapa,Lagos,Nigeria
... Until the tragic events of September 11, 2001 when terrorists massively attacked the United States, the problem of money laundering didn't quite figure in the ...
Money laundering booms as tax cheats target UAE
Turkish Daily News (subscription) - Ankara,Turkey
Money laundering is flourishing in the United Arab Emirates, where fraudsters can pull off complex tax scams or buy speedboats with paper bags of cash with ...
Bin Laden's silent year sparks speculation
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=131314&Sn=WORL&IssueID=28285
Christians go on patrol to combat crime
http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0225croydon/tm_objectid=16530369&method=full&siteid=53340&headline=christians-go-on-patrol-to-combat-crime-name_page.html
Chemicals, gun seized in raid
From: AAP
December 30, 2005
A QUANTITY of chemicals and a handgun have been seized in a police raid on a western Sydney home.
Officers raided the home at Doyle Place, Baulkham Hills, about 5.30pm (AEDT), uncovering a stash of chemicals and the pistol.
Police said the search of the premises was continuing.
A 32-year-old man, arrested at the home, is helping police with their inquiries.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17697283-29277,00.html
A terrorist strike: Dharam Singh - Sophisticated arms were used
by K.V. Subramanya
Friday Dec. 30, 2005, BANGALORE: Karnataka Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh has confirmed that Wednesday's attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here was the handiwork of terrorists.
http://indiamonitor.com/news/readNews.jsp?ni=9898
Terrorist attack was predicted
Architect of Lashkar's Akshardham temple attack had visited Bangalore
* Officials, institutions were slow to address vulnerabilities
* Bangalore has been on the Lashkar's list of targets for a while
http://indiamonitor.com/news/readNews.jsp?ni=9897
Russia Refutes Israeli Reports of Hezbollah Using Russian Missiles
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/12/30/russiatoisrael.shtml
Putin, Khodorkovsky and the trial that rocked Russia
By Margreet Strijbosch*, 30 December 2005
The trial of Russia’s richest businessman, Mikhail Khordokovsky this year sent renewed fear through Russian society with claims that the case was politically motivated.
http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/currentaffairs/region/easterneurope/rus051230?view=Standard
Eight Dead in Latest Indonesia Muslim Terrorist Bombing
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=11151
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Thank you, good work.
Now to see what else the world is blowing up.
You have freep mail.
I hope you don't mind I am using your info. Also Ping to new a thread.
RUSSIAN ORGANIZED CRIME (ROC)
Various
Posted on 01/01/2006 9:34:28 AM EST by Calpernia
Russian organized crime has become a significant problem for California law enforcement agencies. During the past several years, some Russian emigres have established a growing number of loosely structured criminal networks in this state that are involved in sophisticated criminal activities. The law enforcement intelligence community has also become aware of at least four structured Russian criminal organizations operating in California.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1550144/posts?page=5
A Little history, I have snipped the top of the article, as
it came to me from a group that I read......granny
Bin Laden's phone
Inside the Ring
By Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough
Washington Times December 30, 2005
(snipped portion)
writing that he used such a phone, we thought there was another
plausible
reason: August 1998 was when the U.S. tried to kill bin Laden in an air
strike. Such events would likely make the terrorist leader change his
methods.
Anyway, we came across a speech, delivered in April 2002, that
reveals
the U.S. continued to gain valuable information by eavesdropping on al
Qaeda
members after August 1998.
The speech was delivered by U.S. District Court Judge Royce
Lamberth.
Judge Lamberth presided over the special court that administers the
Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The FISA court approves warrants
for
searches and intercepts of foreign agents in this country. It was the
first
speech on FISA ever delivered by a judge who sat on the special panel.
Of that time in August 1998, Judge Lamberth said, "On the night of
the
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Africa, I started the first emergency
hearings in my living room at 3 a.m. From the outset, the FBI suspected
bin
Laden and the surveillance I approved that night and in the ensuing
days and
weeks all ended up being critical evidence at the trial in New York
last
year in which several of bin Laden's associates were convicted on
numerous
charges relating to those bombings."
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20051230-120736-8311r_page2.htm
January 1, 2006 Anti-Terrorism News
Palestinian Gunmen Kidnap, Release Italian
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,180308,00.html
Insurgents Explode 12 Car Bombs in Iraq
http://interestalert.com/story/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/01010000aaa04cc3.ap&Sys=siteia&Fid=WORLDNEW&Type=News&Filter=World%20News
Indonesian Police Probe New Year's Bombing
http://interestalert.com/story/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/01010004aaa0158f.ap&Sys=siteia&Fid=WORLDNEW&Type=News&Filter=World%20News
Converts take on larger roles in militant Islam
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10667277/
Trial of French radical sheds light on latest recruits to terror organizations
(Arkansas) Prosecutors Ready, But Don't Oppose Trial Delay
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2005/12/31/news/fayetteville/02fzjaber.txt
Arwah Jaber, 33, faces charges of knowingly attempting to provide material support to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, considered by the government to
be a terrorist organization.
5 Sudanese Hostages in Iraq Freed
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-fg-kidnap1jan01,1,2593057.story?coll=la-iraq-complete&ctrack=1&cset=true
(German Media:) 'US planning strike against Iran'
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1135696369601&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
The United States government reportedly began coordinating with NATO its plans for a possible military attack against Iran.
Clerics defy Musharraf order to expel foreign students
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/01/wpak01.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/01/ixworld.html
Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who heads Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, known for close ties to Taliban regime: “We’ll do our best to keep the
students with us and prefer arrest to giving the foreigners to police.â€
Three traders arrested with foreign currency for terrorists (India-Kashmir)
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=345582
Three persons arrested and bag seized containing currency notes of several countries allegedly meant for funding terrorists
Palestinian gunmen blow up U.N. club in Gaza City
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060101/ts_nm/mideast_un_dc
(Israel) Terrorists Succeed in Rocketing Jezreel Valley
http://www.arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=95826
(Palestine) Islamic Jihad: We're Back
http://www.arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=95800
Iraqi, U. S. Troops Capture Terrorists, Weapons Caches
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2005/20051231_3801.html
"Iraqi and U.S. soldiers captured 23 suspected terrorists who were the targets of three raids Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 in northern Iraq."
Sudanese hostages released in Iraq: report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051231/wl_mideast_afp/iraqsudankidnap_051231191658
Truce with Israel ends midnight - Islamic Jihad
http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=801648
ETA members arrested in France appear in court in Paris
http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_1725.shtml
Youths burn more than 400 vehicles in scattered New Year’s Eve unrest in France
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North Korea gathers kit for nuclear bombs
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1965140,00.html
North Korea is working to restart a reactor that would produce enough plutonium to make 10 atomic bombs a year, a leading American nuclear
scientist has revealed.
Granny's note: I consider the Arizona attack a terrorist attack...............has all the right signals, a muslim, and a Quran.............
German hostages freed in Yemen
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/31/germans.yemen/index.html
7 killed in Baghdad, Khalis bombs
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/31/iraq.main/index.html
(Indonesia) New Year parties allowed in Palu despite bombing
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051231100846&irec=0
8 dead in Indonesian market blast
http://interestalert.com/story/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/12300000aaa01ad0.ap&Sys=siteia&Fid=WORLDNEW&Type=News&Filter=World%20News
Eight people have been killed and more than 45 hurt by a bomb blast in a market in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province; the province's Christians have been repeatedly targeted
in recent attacks blamed on Muslim militants. Police officials said the bomb was packed with nails and ball bearings.
(Indonesia) Christians threatened with terror attack
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48140
Jihad group warns of 'same bomb blasts as Bali' New Year's Eve
Bangladesh arrests Islamic militant
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17703722%255E1702,00.html
Arrested Zaiur Rahman, also known as Sagar, and accused Sagar in a statement of being "the divisional second in-command of Jamayetul Mujahideen".
New threat for Bangalore: Suicide bombers
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1586623,0015002100000000.htm
The police on Friday said they have received a letter warning of terror attacks by human bombs on New Year’s Eve. The targets: the chief minister’s residence and a five-star
hotel near it.
Commentary: Al-Qaeda threat in Asia hard to combat
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=26077
(Canada) Judge denies bail to alleged al-Qaida sleeper Mohamed Harkat
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=c7c38b8e-0f4f-4c7d-84a4-c8a949a13e8d&k=15919
(Canada) Family patriarch aided al-Qaeda recruits
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=7307f868-a1f6-4073-b758-e405b4579ed0
The head of Canada's Khadr family was involved in helping terrorist recruits gain entry into Afghanistan's training-camp system, according to a court decision released yesterday.
(Russia) Warnings of Major Terrorist Attack Appear on Moscow Buildings
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/12/30/terroradvert.shtml
People from western districts of the Russian capital have found flyers warning about a major terrorist attack planned for New Year’s Day on their homes
(Russia) Would-be suicide bomber blows himself up in Russia
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-russia30.html
A man blew himself up in what appeared to be an attempted suicide bombing Thursday near a mosque in the Russian province of Dagestan, killing himself and injuring another
person, police said
Justice Dept. to probe leak of spy program
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10651154/
Bush had called disclosure a "shameful act"; N.Y. Times reported NSA story
(Arizona) Muslim in 'personal attack' on Home Depot
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48139
Crashes through store with Quran, Palestinian flag in trunk, igniting an explosive blaze in the stores' paint section
Germans to put Muslims through loyalty test
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=ISMTGOZSITBKRQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2005/12/31/wtest31.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/12/31/ixportal.html
(Turkey) Five Terrorists Surrender In Sirnak
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=94407
Russia Refutes Israeli Reports of Hezbollah Using Russian Missiles
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/12/30/russiatoisrael.shtml
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