Posted on 02/11/2002 4:54:53 PM PST by rumrunner
Go figure........
That's exactly why it's impossible to take these "alerts" seriously! They haven't begun to demonstrate that THEY are serious.
All Muslims who are able are required to make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in their life. This is called the "Hajj" (sometimes spelled "Haj").
Mecca is in Saudi Arabia. Supposedly, the Saudis are expecting 2.5 million people on the Hajj this year.
The exact date it starts is apparently dependent on some kind of heavenly sign (I could not get a good answer to this on Islamic sites). Muslims are supposed to get info from their local Mosque.
The general time frame is from about now through sometime in the first week of March. Given Islam's emphasis on celestial signs, it is possible that the new moon (tomorrow) officially starts the season.
A huge riot was started in Mecca a few years back during the Hajj. It was apparently planned (Iran?), and scared the Saudis a lot. (I know, easy to do...)
Perhaps some Freeper who knows can help out?
If I understand correctly, it's an annual religious festival in Mecca. Every Muslim is to make a pilgrimage to this festival at least once in their life. I thought the pilgrimage itself was called Hajj, but I could be mistaken. It is a big event in Saudi Arabia; a lot, hundreds of thousands of people, show up for this every year.
Eid-al-Adha:The new moon birth on February 12, 2002 is at 7:42 Greenwich/Universal Time OR 2:42 am, Eastern Standard Time OR February 11, 11:42 pm Pacific Standard Time. On February 12, this moon cannot be seen in North America, nor any place east of American continent. You can see the visibility curve.
On Feb 12, this moon will not be far enough from the sun, nor high enough above the horizon to be spotted anywhere except Hawaii. Although, it remains above the horizon for 30 minutes after sunset on west coast, and the age will be up to 18 hours, it cannot be seen even by telescope, because of the scattered sun light on the horizon being greater than the reflected crescent light.
See Jordon's ICOP site also
Therefore, 1st Zul-Hijjah will not be on Feb 13 anywhere in the world except Hawaii. In North America, 1st Zul-Hijjah will be on Feb 14, and 10th Zul-Hijjah will be on Feb 23, 2002 (Saturday). According to consensus of Ulamaa' for 14 hundred years, Eid-al-Adha has been on 10th Zul-Hijjah and not on the day after Arafah. This consensus has been practiced all over the Muslim world, and also adopted by Shurah Council of North America. Therefore, Eid-al-Adha in North America cannot be on any other day, but Feb 23, 2002 (Saturday), no matter what Hajj date is announced by Saudi Arabia.
I'll tell you wednesday. Thje last time I went flying they spent 15 minutes searching me while a boatload of Middle Eastern men carrying AK47's and Hand-grenades walked through the metal detectors unmolested. Geez, they even had a 20 year old white stewardess being friskded by a Middle Eastern looking woman. (She was probaably gay). The guy who frisked me looked like an Indoesian muslim extremist and he could hardly speak a word of English. (Maybe he was gay-- he asked me to undo my belt and pull down my pant lining.)
I feel like wearing a turban filled with tin foil and see if they make me take it off, or if they are afraid they might upset my Islamic sensibilites.
BTW the part about the AK47's was hyperbole. But I do think they all had hand grenades.
My money's on New Orleans, too. Something big that takes out a lot of evil infidels and cripples our economy.....
like a bridge that blocks all traffic on the Mississippi River for a long time.
I hope I'm wrong.
_____________________________________________-
Thursday, January 31, 2002
WASHINGTON The government put nuclear power plants on high alert last week, acting on a tip from an Al Qaeda operative that terrorists may be planning an airplane attack on a power reactor, government officials said Thursday.
The alert, sent by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said "the attack was already planned" and three people "already on the ground" were trying to recruit non-Arabs to take part, a government source said.
Meanwhile, the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center issued a "high-importance" bulletin warning about potential terrorist threats to American water-supply systems.
The alert was issued after a computer owned by an individual indirectly linked to Usama bin Laden was found to contain several software programs used for structural engineering of "dams and other water-retaining structures."
The NRC's warning to nuclear power plants stemmed from information obtained during questioning of an "Al Qaeda senior operative," prompting the FBI to issue a warning to its field offices, said one government source, who spoke on condition of not being identified further.
"We do not discuss the details of any of our [security] advisories," said NRC spokesman William Beecher. He said that since the Sept. 11 attacks more than 20 advisories have been sent involving potential threats.
On Jan. 23, the NRC followed up with an advisory to operators of all 103 commercial nuclear reactors at 63 sites across the country, emphasizing that the information had not been corroborated or otherwise authenticated.
The advisory said the Al Qaeda operative had told the FBI "there would be a second airline attack" in the United States and "the plan is to fly a commercial aircraft into a nuclear power plant."
The FBI had been told that "three individuals were on the ground ... recruiting non-Arabs to take part in the attack" and they would choose the reactor to be targeted, the advisory said.
"The plan would include diverting the mission to any tall building if a military aircraft intercepts the plane," said the advisory, according to a source familiar it.
Security at nuclear power plants was increased immediately after the New York and Washington attacks, although federal and industry officials have acknowledged that the threat of an attack using a commercial airliner has never been specifically addressed.
The Jan. 23 advisory heightened industry awareness, but did not prompt any dramatic, new security measures.
Beecher said the nation's nuclear power plants have been "on the highest level of alert" since the Sept. 11 attacks and that has not changed.
FBI Director Robert Mueller on Thursday said there had been no new terrorist threats or warnings in the last few days.
On Wednesday, U.S. officials released an unclassified report that said they had uncovered rudimentary diagrams of nuclear weapons in a suspected Al Qaeda safehouse in Kabul, providing further evidence of Al Qaeda's efforts to acquire such weapons to use in terrorist attacks.
The unclassified report, submitted by CIA Director George Tenet to Congress, said that the "diagrams, while crude, describe essential components uranium and high explosives common to nuclear weapons."
The report added that the terrorists aren't believed to have a functional weapon.
Other evidence obtained in Afghanistan shows that Al Qaeda operatives have fallen for a number of scams in their attempts to acquire nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, a senior government analyst said.
Much of the terrorists' interest centers on chemical weapons, such as cyanide salts, that could be used to contaminate food and water supplies and assassinate individuals, the Tenet report says.
Further evidence uncovered from sites in Afghanistan includes diagrams of American nuclear power plants showing Al Qaeda's interest in striking these targets, but it's unclear how far along those plans were, a defense official said.
Fox News' Carl Cameron and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Yep. I was on highest alert following September 11, until I was told I was being both insensitive and intolerant for being wary of Middle Eastern men. I was told that it was wrong to profile and my job was to be patient and understanding of the situation.
And tonight I am told to be on the lookout for Yemeni men?!?!? Pardon my confusion with the situation. Are we to be tolerant or alert?
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The following information was disseminated to appropriate law enforcement agencies around the United States and throughout the world. Photographs will shortly be made available on FBI.GOV: AS A RESULT OF U.S. MILITARY OPERATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN AND ON-GOING INTERVIEWS OF DETAINEES IN GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA, INFORMATION HAS BECOME AVAILABLE REGARDING THREATS TO U.S. INTERESTS. RECENT INFORMATION INDICATES A PLANNED ATTACK MAY OCCUR IN THE UNITED STATES OR AGAINST U.S. INTERESTS IN THE COUNTRY OF YEMEN ON OR AROUND 02/12/02. ONE OR MORE OPERATIVES MAY BE INVOLVED IN THE ATTACK, INCLUDING FAWAZ YAHYA AL-RABEEI, ALSO KNOWN AS (AKA) FURQAN. AL-RABEEI IS BELIEVED TO BE A YEMENI NATIONAL BORN IN SAUDI ARABIA IN 1979. HE MAY BE TRAVELING ON YEMENI PASSPORT 00452004. OTHER AL-RABEEI AKA'S INCLUDE FAWAZ YAHIA HASSAN ARIBII, FAWAZ AL-RUBAI, FAWAZ YEHIA HASSAN AL-RABIE, FAWAZ YAHYA HASAN AL-RABI'I, FAWAZ YAHYA AL-RIBI (AL-RUBA'I, AL-RABIA'I, AL-RABI'I), FORQAN AL-TAJIKI, FURQAN AL-TAJIKI, FURGAN AL-TAJIKI, FURQAN THE CHECHEN, FARIS AL-BARAQ, SA'ID, MUSHARRAF, AND SALEM AL-FARHAN. AL-RABEEI'S CURRENT WHEREABOUTS ARE UNKNOWN. NO PHYSICAL DESCRIPTORS FOR AL-RABEEI ARE AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. BELOW ARE KNOWN ASSOCIATES OF AL-RABEEI. CURRENTLY, NO PHYSICAL DESCRIPTORS ARE KNOWN. NAME/POB, YEAR/NATIONALITY AHMAD AL-AKHADER NASSER ALBIDANI/YEMEN, 1977/YEMENI. ALYAN MUHAMMAD ALI AL-WA'ELI/YEMEN, 1970/YEMENI. BASHIR ALI NASSER AL-SHARARI/YEMEN, 1970/YEMENI. BASSAM ABDULLAH BIN BUSHAR AL-NAHDI/SAUDI ARABIA, 1976/YEMENI. ABDULAZIZ MUHAMMAD SALEH BIN OTASH/SAUDI ARABIA, 1975/YEMENI. MUSTAFA ABDULKADER AABED AL-ANSARI/SAUDI ARABIA, UNKNOWN/SAUDI. OMAR AHMAD OMAR AL-HUBISHI/SAUDI ARABIA, 1969/YEMENI. AMMAR ABADAH NASSER AL-WA'ELI/YEMEN, 1977/YEMENI. SHUHOUR ABDULLAH MUKBIL AL-SABRI/SAUDI ARABIA, 1976/YEMENI. SAMIR ABDUH SA'ID AL-MAKTAWI/SAUDI ARABIA, 1968/YEMENI. ABDULRAB MUHAMMAD MUHAMMAD ALI AL-SAYFI/UNKNOWN/YEMENI. OTHER ASSOCIATES, WITH NO PHOTO AVAILABLE, INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS: NAME/POB, YEAR/NATIONALITY
ALL INDIVIDUALS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.
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