Coast Guard Announces 25 Terrorist Stowaways Loose in US

Fox News | May 13, 2002 | Fox News

[Miss Marple]

Fox News is reporting that 25 Islamic Radical terrorists have entered the country since March, as stowaways on cargo vessels of major carriers, docking in Miami, California, and I believe Virginia. They will brief law enforcement officials tomorrow in a classified briefing about the reliability of their information.

I am hoping I have not duplicated a post. I haven't seen anything on line yet about this. Fox has discussed it three times in the last half hour.

[Diddle E. Squat]

No.

[Miss Marple]

I am saying that there is every possibility of a nuclear blast, or a dirty bomb. Yes, the bureaucracy is slow to react. This, however, seems to be from a source that is reliable enough that they are briefing law enforcement people tomorrow on the source and its reliability. This is NOT the same as the "general alerts" put out a few months ago.

I think an intelligent discussion of security at the borders and ports is in order. I have wondered about cargo containers ever since those AK-47's were found in Long Beach. Those, you may recall, were NOT of Middle Eastern origin.

The borders are also a problem. We MUST get the Mexican and Canadian governments to assist us, because despite what some people say, we cannot put up impenetrable barriers on our northern and southern borders. We also have thousands of miles of coastline to protect as well.

I think it would be good to have a well-defined policy, with priorities set and an explanation given to the American people. I have not seen this yet, but I am hopeful that we will eventually get one.

There is a fine line between getting the people to be alert and panicking the population to the point that we have vigilante action and a paralyzed economy.

I guess I am a bit short-tempered about this today, and I am not seeing much humor in it. Joke away, if you feel it helps. I am just crabby.

[eno_]

No? Really? No rail acciedents in Florida or California lately? No other suspicious rail accidents in other countries with large Moslem populations? No towelheads giving warnings about soft target terrorism? You're sure?

[elfman2]

Not to be overconfident, but these earthworm eating peasants have about as much chance of doing notable damage during this nation's heightened awareness as I have of winning the lottery. There are probably 100 times that many 'terrorists' in the US, right now. And they're all scared, confused and just trying to stay alive. Don't lose any sleep over this.

[tomball]

Amazing. The big boys have made it so that they can strip search Ray Charles at an airport at any time in the name of "security", and force life-long American citizens to go through police state search tactics and monitoring. But 25 terrorists can enter the country without even being noticed. Where is our national security?

[P8riot]

Locked and loaded.

[janetgreen]

Some Chinese stowaways were caught a few nights ago at the Maersk terminal in Long Beach. Haven't seen it in the newspaper yet.

[deport]

KHOU TV

Fire at Shell refinery Olefin plant 05/13/2002 By Carolyn Campbell / 11 News DEER PARK (KHOU.com) -- Flames and thick black smoke could be seen for miles as emergency crews worked to put out a blaze at the Olefin-3 unit at the Shell Deer Park Chemical Plant. The fire started about 10:45 Monday morning, and had been brought under control by Shell emergency responders before noon. The plant is located in the 5900 block of Highway 225. Shell Oil officials say there have been no reports of injuries, but the City of Deer Park called for a temporary shelter-in-place for residents near the plant as a precautionary measure. Deer Park Independent School District is also securing students at schools near the plant. Meanwhile, a team of specialists continues to monitor the air inside and outside of the plant. Initial results of the air testing showed there were no detectable levels of any material that would be cause for health concern. Traffic has been shut down on streets near the plant, including Highway 225. There is no word yet on the cause of the blaze. The Olefin unit produces ethylene and other chemicals used in the manufacturing of plastics, pharmaceuticals, detergents and other products. The last major explosion and fire at this Shell facility was on June 22, 1997. The explosion could be heard and felt for miles. Several workers were injured. The blast knocked out windows and caused extensive damage to the plant. The Environmental Protection Agency concluded after its investigation that the explosion was caused by a faulty check valve. The EPA determined that the valves Shell used were inappropriately designed for their usage. Shell Chemical Company agreed to pay a $350,000 fine for infractions that led to the explosion. But the company maintained it was a defective valve, not its work practices that caused the explosion.

Fire Breaks Out At Shell Plant Shelter-In-Place Alert Issued Posted: 11:02 a.m. CDT May 13, 2002 Updated: 1:16 p.m. CDT May 13, 2002 DEER PARK, Texas -- Firefighters battled a blaze Monday morning at a Houston-area chemical plant. The fire broke out shortly before 11 a.m. at the Shell Chemical Plant, located near the intersection of state Highway 225 and Center Street in Deer Park, which is about 20 miles east of Houston. State Highway 225 was closed in both directions between Beltway 8 and Center Street for 45 minutes, and then reopened. Emergency officials have issued a shelter-in-place alert for people living near the plant. When a shelter-in-place is issued, residents should: Go inside Shut all doors and windows Turn off air conditioners to prevent outside air from getting inside Turn on the radio or television and listen for instructions Hovering over the scene, NewsChopper2 showed that flames and heavy smoke could be seen billowing from the plant. Shell company officials told News2Houston that the fire is burning in the olefins-3 unit of the plant. "The olefins unit produces ethylene and other chemicals that are used in the manufacture of plastics, pharmaceuticals, detergents and other products," Shell spokesman Dave McKinney said. McKinney said that a team of specialists continues to monitor the air inside and outside of the plant, and that initial results of the air testing showed there were no detectable levels of any material that would be cause for health concern. "The material believed to be burning is gas-oil, which is partially refined crude oil," McKinney said. No injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The plant suffered heavy fire and smoke damage. According to its Web site, that plant operates a fully integrated refinery, petrochemical facility, and lubricants plant 24 hours a day, and has 1,800 employees.

[P8riot]

This is BS...how did they know they were terrorists...how did they know how many...if they knew it why did they let them in. This sounds really silly. I have heard these type things before but it never pans out to be anything. Whatever...

Something about crying "WOLF!"?

[dglang]

too many burritos?

[Redbob]

"This blaze is in an olefin unit. That makes plastics, pharamceuticals, and other non-fuel stock. It shouldn't have any effect on gasoline prices."

Surely you don't think the oil companies would pass up a chance like this to raise prices?
Yes, I know your name is not "Shirley"

[henbane]

OK, so do the terrorist stowaways, just go down to Western Union and wait for their wire transfer?

How about if the specially-trained terrorist stowaways meet some friends at a spot near the warm-water docks and are then transported to one of the nearby facilities indicated on the map ?

There, in the security of loving fellowship, they will have all the food, shelter, money and tactical support that they could ever possibly need.

[browardchad]

Joke away, if you feel it helps

I wasn’t joking -- It’s been eight months since the horror of 9/11, and we have yet to plug the security holes that are attainable. We still grant visas to Middle Easterners – although we have added a question asking if an applicant belongs to a terrorist organization, with the footnote that a “yes” answer does not necessarily disqualify the applicant. We still have the European visa waiver program, although many of these countries are overflowing with radical Islamists (remember Richard Reid?). As soon as the small plane ban was lifted, we have had a steady stream of Middle Easterners entering the U.S. to take flying lessons, and we did nothing to halt the stream of foreign students during these eight months. The student visa tracking program was just enacted into law, and it will take at least six months to get it operative (probably longer, given the level of incompetence continually demonstrated by the INS). On our borders, we have daily stories of every nationality crossing illegally, many due to lack of personnel, but many also due to the unwillingness of security personnel to do their job, because the INS has become a “welcome wagon” instead of a security agency. We have a bill pending in Congress that would limit visas from nations that sponsor terrorism – and Saudi Arabia isn’t included. We are so afraid of alienating any ethnic group that we resist profiling at airports, but instead we have screeners pushing the panic button which routinely cripples airports, or frisking grandmothers and businessmen while ignoring the most obvious suspects.

Given all these failings, do we really believe that these 25 are the only potential terrorists who have entered the country since 9/11? We failed to be proactive before 9/11, and we have failed since then.

The irony of this current “warning” is that no one who’s been awake since 9/11 can honestly believe that scores of potential terrorists have entered our country since 9/11 – with no “warning” issued.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

I just wonder whether the highly-adaptive terrorists have made arrangements to supercede the current crackdown on suspicious funding sources within the U.S. and from overseas. Perhaps these "chameleons" are now equipped with pockets or suitcases of U.S. cash before they even board the shipping containers from their points of origin. Also -- unlike the long-term planning and training time necessary for the terror of 9/11 -- less funding would be needed for the stowaways who arrived here in March if their estimated timeframe for another act of terrorism is in July.

[1234]

tx for your post #73-cannot be repeated enuff-gonna take more severe events before US GETS SERIOUS 'bout internal security and starts 'scrutinizin' MID EAST types.

[Miss Marple]

You make some good points. On the other hand, they have instituted a sweeping change of the student visa program, with tracking REQUIRED for the universities. This is good.

It seems to me that what is going on is that we have a really serious situation, but that the Administration made the decision to do a lot of changes back-burner, for fear of tanking the economy with a panic.

If they had announced every single thing they knew, most of us would probably have gone into Y2K bunnker mode, and then we would have had a recession for sure.

There are many good things that are being done...and also some things that should be done that are not yet in action. Some of the things being done we will not know about. Do you really expect the FBI to announce that they are tracking all Arab visitors? Or that they are investigating every Arab business? I would imagine this is being done, but you aren't going to hear it on the news. How do you think they get the names of those groups that get put on that list?

As far as searching grandmas, here is my opinion, as a grandma myself. If they want to search me at the airport, they are welcome to do so. Grandmas should not be exempt, or terrorists will start disguising themselves as grandmas. That sweet little old lady ahead of you in line could be the mother-in-law of an Arab who put a bomb in her carryon. She could be a terrorist DISGUISED as a grandma. So they are welcome to search me, and I am sure most people would agree.

Once you say that only Arabs are searchable, you end up with terrorists using non-Arabs for their dirty work.

Anyway, I don't think we know all that is going on, and I am confident that they are working hard to stop these people. If they weren't doing anything, how did we find out about the 25? Why did they announce it?

[fivecatsandadog]

"Where is our national security?"

Slurping down coffee and donuts at Denny's - while our country is going to you-know-where in a hand-cart. I'm afraid it's going to take something a whole lot bigger and louder than 9/11 to finally get some people off their you-know-whats. All this yack about "improved" security - show me the evidence. Prove it. As long as people of a particular persuasion are sneaking across borders, sleeping in freight containers, passing fake IDs, and taking advantage of our govt's reluctance to PROFILE these types, I will never be convinced that national security has improved since Sept 11.

[HadEnough]

There, in the security of loving fellowship, they will have all the food, shelter, money and tactical support that they could ever possibly need.

Oh, come on, do you really think there are thousands of peaceful, Allah-loving Muslims on our soil who would spit on their new found freedom to aide and abet a bunch of terrorists?????

(tongue-deep-in-cheek)

Just bought another case of IMI SS109 at the gun show this weekend. Can't wait to see some of those AP tips blowing out the chest of an Islamkazee! Are the rest of the sheeple ready to give them some??

[mhking]

What is our current color-coded alert status and does it match what I wore to work today?

Chartreuse always works...