Posted on 06/20/2002 9:21:03 AM PDT by max_rpf
NYC on Alert for Emergency Vehicle Car Bombs
N E W Y O R K, June 20 — Police and fire officials in New York are being warned that terrorists may be trying to acquire surplus or replica emergency vehicles to use as car bombs that could be planted near government buildings or landmarks without drawing attention.
A law enforcement source confirmed a report in The New York Daily News today that officials were alerted to the plot when two unidentified Middle Eastern men tried to buy a replica ambulance at a northern New Jersey shop that builds copies of emergency vehicles, police cars and fire trucks.
The owner of the shop became suspicious when the men tried to pay cash, and the pair fled without leaving any identification, the source told the News.
"This is a real concern. Terrorists have used ambulances to sneak suicide bombers into areas," the souce told the newspaper.
Among the sites officials fear could be targeted are City Hall, FBI offices, police department headquarters and even fire department facilities.
Fire department and police investigators have already begun efforts to ensure that unauthorized people cannot gain access to facilities where emergency vehicles are stored or repaired, fire department sources told the News.
"We've been told to watch our vehicles, all our vehicles," a fire department source said. "It's the vehicles that can get into areas that we are really concerned about. Who is not going to let a patrol car pass, or an ambulance, especially if we are in a state of emergency?"
The alert comes as the city is gearing up for July Fourth festivities, which generally draw huge crowds to fireworks displays around Manhattan.
These terorists are probably very upset with them for stealing their agenda.
A little "fresh pork" would probably solve a LOT of our terrorist problems!
After all that, I found out he had made it onboard with an aerosol can, something which is verboten.
Sometimes I think we're like the French, always preparing to fight the last war over again. The enemy is thinking of new tactics.
Ah, well, somewhere in the Middle East there are villages missing their resident idiot.
Well, with all due respect to you and your very self centered observation remember that the above charecterized people caused 9-11 and the highly civilized, intelligent with all the modern & sophisticated technology people on our side couldn't stop them.
I think that the reason multiple planes were hijacked was because they figured some might be thwarted, but not all. And indeed, some were thwarted (one in Canada, I think, and one in London, not to mention Flight 93 in Pennsylvania). Bin Laden was probably delighted that his plan succeeded to the degree it did. And that only emboldens his minions to try again. Now they believe we can be hit hard, and by surprise attack, on our own soil. Before it was the lame attempt in '93 at the WTC, which caused damage and a few deaths to be sure, but did not achieve the aim of knocking the towers down.
The problem that we have is that far too many Americans see the things that make these lowlifes really stick out as things that we need to just tolerate more. Too many Americans think they just need to understand these people more, as opposed to being suspicious of their behavior. Just look at the woman from Dept of Ag. that was approached for a loan by Mohammed Atta. She said that his threatening her life, demanding cash so he could build a cropduster, throwing money on the desk demanding the photo of DC, etc. as just cultural differences that she just needed to be more understanding of.
These people are typically dumb as rocks but unfortunately the PC crowd has brainwashed too many Americans to overlook the obvious so that it probably works in their favor. We were lucky that in the first WTC bombing back in 1993 that the clerk at the Ryder truck rental place was alert enough to contact police when the brain surgeon came back for the deposit on the truck he had just blown up. If the terrorist back then had the sense to just not go back, we probably never would have caught any of them. The more outrageous the behavior, the more we aren't supposed to notice.
Hospitals.
It's great to see that The Government Experts and The Authorities finally are getting wind of a possible scenario that should be obvious to even the most doddering movie-goer or member of a "thriller" book club.
But, then, none of the aforementioned oracles and geniuses were able to envision and anticipate the deployment of the most devastating WMD accessible to bearded goblins, despite the fact that -- at least the last time I noticed -- such flies directly over or near Manhattan or Washington, D.C. enroute to landings at one of at least three major airports many times during every day of the week.
Go figure....
And like the original ROUSs, they live in the Fire Swamp and are extremely dangerous!
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