Posted on 10/31/2001 5:31:15 AM PST by testforecho
Wednesday, October 31, 2001
FBI looking to question 6 men
BY MARTIN MERZER,
LENNY SAVINO
AND SUMANA CHATTERJEE
Knight Ridder Newspapers
--
WASHINGTON - As the nation again stands on high alert, the FBI is searching for six men stopped by police in the Midwest last weekend but released - even though they possessed photographs and descriptions of a nuclear power plant in Florida and the Trans-Alaska pipeline, a senior law enforcement official said Tuesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed new flight restrictions around nuclear plants nationwide Tuesday, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission advised the nation's 103 nuclear plants late Monday to fortify security.
The FAA temporarily banned all flights near New York's Yankee Stadium, where President Bush stood before a huge crowd at a World Series game Tuesday night and - wearing a New York City Fire Department jacket - tossed the ceremonial first pitch.
"It helps to keep the fabric of our country strong," said spokesman Ari Fleischer.
Meanwhile, an administration official said the urgent terrorism alert sounded Monday evening by Attorney General John Ashcroft was based largely on a message transmitted Sunday night by an Osama bin Laden supporter in Canada to Afghanistan.
That message referred to a major event that was going to take place "down south" this week, the official said.
Knight Ridder reported Monday that American officials feared that members of bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network had been unleashed to launch attacks without specific permission from their superiors.
On Tuesday, agency spokesmen said the FAA's flight restrictions and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's security recommendations were based on Ashcroft's general alert rather than a specific threat. Ashcroft warned that Americans at home or abroad could be struck by another terrorist attack this week.
The incident in the Midwest apparently contributed to the new terror warning. The six men stopped by police were traveling in groups of three in two white sedans, said the senior law enforcement official, who requested anonymity.
In addition to the photographs and other suspicious material, they carried "box cutters and other equipment," the official said. They appeared to be from the Middle East and held Israeli passports.
They were let go after the Immigration and Naturalization Service determined the passports were valid and that the men had entered the United States legally, the official said.
A spokesman for the INS called the report unfounded.
I do.
That's why I want information not a vague story.
When the FHP officer had the anxiety attack last week, we knew exactly where it happened - the road, the mile marker. We knew - not just the color of the car, but the make and tag #. It was traced to an address and owner. We knew what direction it was traveling, etc...
What is it about this story that would scare a "LEO" into NOT telling us similiar information? What would be the concern in telling something as basic as whether they were traveling N, S, E, or W?
The answer? Well, starting in the "midwest"... the CENTER, picking a direction narrows the fear by 75% thus greatly narrowing the impact of the "UL".
For the same reason that bin Laden switched to using couriers after our signals intelligence about him got better. Time magazine reported that some of the 1,000+ people arrested had their phones tapped a few hours after the WTC crashes and were taped making congratulatory calls to one another. If you are any kind of Muslim extremist, you have to figure everythings tapped.
I do.That's why I want information not a vague story.
Look, I live in DC. I want reliable information about threats, too. But all I can do is offer an explanation of why the report is so vague. As another poster suggested, if you were in charge of this investigation, would you want to accept public responsibility for a potential screw-up of this importance? No, which is why whoever the law enforcement source is wanted to stay anonymous.
Or, maybe the FBI wanted these men released so they could track them. And someone wasn't let in on the loop, and leaked this because they thought the public should know about it.
. . . the FBI is searching for six men stopped by police in the Midwest last weekend . . . The six men ... were traveling in groups of three in two white sedans
How many patrol cars were involved in the stop? Did a single patrol car pull over two vans at once, or was more than one patrol car involved?
If so, what would prompt a stop by multiple cars?
If not, how did the single car stop two vans and why were they stopped?
Thanks for putting this up again.
View from a sheeple:
I mentioned this to a guy I work with, his reaction?
"Oh, I thought the new [anti-terrorist] law would stop all of this!!!"
uh, yeah.
Can you believe the INS? And the Congress wants us to federalize the airport security. If federalized airport security is as efficient as the INS or the IRS, for that matter, we'll be in much more trouble.Does this bother you more than the fact that 80% of the
current employees are not US Citizens? Anything to save
a buck, I guess.
PLO alert!!!!!
Perhaps we should have a Palestinean state. It should be bordered with barbed wire. No air field. No exit. Otherwise, FORGET IT!!!
Absolutely seneseless decision. What the hell wrong with these officers? How can they let them go?Ever hear of the ACLU? Internal Affairs? League of whoever...
Senator Graham is a TRAITOR with that kind of talk. People dying of anthrax, 6 guys with box cutters and plans of nuke facilities are let go by INS,And we would never let anymore middle easterner's in here for pilot training either, by gum. Wake up and smell the coffee.
SHHH, we don't want to awaken Tom Ridge...
The biggest red flag is the bit about Israeli passports. Oh, suuure the terrorists are coming over on Israeli passports. It is clearly the Zionists behind all this after all aren't they behind everyyything?
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