[Poohbah]

The plan has been thoroughly laid out and is ready to be implemented, and the phone call was made simply to inform another member of al Quaida. Not that hard to believe.

Al-Qaeda is effective because they have good OPSEC. That means NOT discussing stuff this explicitly over a cell phone--they'd just say something like "Yo, Abdul, your car's fixed. Pick it up at the shop."

This reads more like a bad piece of fiction (a ripoff of Sorry, Wrong Number, to be exact).

And I still find it amazing that this piece of crosstalk JUST happened to hit the phone of a guy who speaks Arabic, and that it was understandable.

My paranoid side says that the guy is deliberately inserting a false alarm to distract or decoy law enforcement.

[ProudEagle]

Al-Qaeda is effective because they have good OPSEC. That means NOT discussing stuff this explicitly over a cell phone--they'd just say something like "Yo, Abdul, your car's fixed. Pick it up at the shop."

Bingo. They are very well disciplined. They know better than to discuss ops through an insecure means.

The thought occured to me that WE may have leaked (or fabricated) this story to throw THEM off for whatever reason. But I'm probably all wet (too many Clancy novels lately). Myself, I intend to have a glorious 4th, eating and visiting with family and friends whilst extending a warm middle finger towards Mecca.

[rwfromkansas]

I don't think it is Al Queda. I think it is a small cell of a couple people perhaps....probably very loosly organized, if it is real at all. However, I have a hard time believing this guy would make this up, let his name be released, talk to the FBI, all knowing he could be charged with making a false threat if he is found to be lying.

As people have stated on here with their examples, it is possible to get crosstalk on your cellphone, especially in the LV area.

It certainly seems awfully convenient that this was picked up by an Arabic guy, but stranger things have happened. Heavens, Lincoln foresaw his own death. Several of the founding fathers died (forgot who) around the same time on a significant holiday. Just because something is a little weird does not make it a lie.

Could this be a lie and a way to get some 15 minutes of fame? Yes. But, it could be real and I am going to wait to see what the investigation reveals before I call this guy a liar.

[SerpentDove]

>>And I still find it amazing that this piece of crosstalk JUST happened to hit the phone of a guy who speaks Arabic, and that it was understandable. <<

That I agree with.