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Posted on 10/06/2002 2:48:46 AM PDT by Timesink
Prayers for all on board and prayers that Americans WAKE UP to the dangers lurking everywhere.
The demonrats are fiddling.......
The French are now backing off the claim of a terror attack:
Sun Oct 6, 8:02 AM ET
SAN`A, Yemen (AP) - A French oil tanker caught fire off the coast of Yemen Sunday, officials said.
Yemeni officials attributed the blaze to a leak from the tanker's load of crude oil. They said there was no indication of terrorism.
A French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Paris said it was too soon to say what caused the fire. She said the ministry was seeking details from its embassy in Yemen.
French President Jacques Chirac was following the situation closely, his spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said. The French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, told reporters it was "too early to comment" on the cause of the blast.
The Yemeni officials said 11 members of the crew of 25 were taken to shore in an initial evacuation while others stayed behind to fight the fire. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
"The situation aboard the ship is difficult, and the flames are rising from the burning oil barrels," said the official Yemeni news agency Saba, quoting an unidentified source.
The tanker caught fire about three miles from Yemen's Arabian Sea port of Mina al-Dabah and its captain issued a distress call to port authorities, the Yemeni officials said.
They said tanker was coming from the Iranian port of Khark carrying 397,749 barrels of crude and was to load more at Mina al-Dabah, 500 miles southeast of the capital San`a.
The port, 350 miles east of Aden, is relatively quiet and is mainly used by tankers to load oil.
In 2000, an explosion nearly destroyed the USS Cole during a refueling stop at Aden port. The blast killed 17 U.S. sailors and was blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network.
Security has since been tightened at Yemeni ports.
At least when the French surrendered they did so to a formidable military force. We on the other hand have surrendered our southern border to an invading force of unarmed civilians ;-)
Where's the media when you need 'em?
Now, how could this be considered terroristic?
Those French ... ya gotta' love 'em, eh?
Uhhhhh, Francois .... D'ye think ye might re-consider your anti American position an' join us in cutting the tree at its roots now?
""Liar, liar! Tanker's on fire!"
I about laughed my fool a$$ off! Thanks Friend!
Sun Oct 6, 7:45 AM ET
By Mohammed Sudam
SANAA, Yemen (Reuters) - An explosion ripped through a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen Sunday, igniting an inferno that French diplomats and Yemeni officials said could have been caused by leaking crude or a bomb attack.
Government officials said the Limburg, with 25 crew members on board, was coming into the southeastern Mina al-Dabah port in the Gulf of Aden when its hold leaked crude and exploded.
But an official source in Paris said France had strong indications that the blast was a deliberate attack.
"A very serious sign, solid information should permit us to support this view," said the source, who declined to be identified. "This is not a theory without any foundation."
Earlier, French Vice Consul in Yemen Marcel Goncalves said it was still too early to tell whether the explosion was an accident or was caused by a small boat laden with explosives ramming into the Limburg.
"So far, there are many contradictory reports." he told Reuters. "The ship is burning and sinking."
The Yemeni officials said the coastguard had so far rescued 17 crew members who are at a hospital in Aden. The rest of crew members were still on board the burning ship, they added.
Reports of a boat approaching the tanker raised the spectre of an incident in 2000 when suicide bombers rammed a boatload of explosives into the U.S. destroyer USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 servicemen.
The French military attache in Yemen, identified as Colonel Vial, told France's LCI television: "This explosion occurred at the same moment as a small boat approached the tanker, which could indicate it is not an accidental explosion."
But he added: "Other sources tell us it was an accidental explosion."
CONFLICTING REPORTS
A Yemeni official said the authorities were investigating the cause of the fire, adding they did not believe it was a terrorist act.
"The fire is still raging and the situation is very difficult," a government official in Aden said. "It is too early to say what caused the fire.
A Western military source familiar with the area also said he did not believe there had been an attack, saying:
"As far as we can tell, this does not appear to be terrorist-related. It is not unheard-of for such explosions to take place on tankers."
There has been a heavy U.S. Navy presence in the strategic waterways of the oil-rich Gulf since the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Last month, the navy warned oil tankers of possible attacks by al Qaeda. Naval spokesman Lieutenant Chris Davis told Reuters Sunday the Fifth Fleet, which covers the region, was not planning to step up its patrols after the Yemen blast.
"The U.S. Navy will continue with its state of readiness," Davis told Reuters from the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. "There are no specific moves yet to step up patrols."
The French attache, Vial, said there had been eight Frenchmen and 17 Bulgarians aboard the tanker.
A Yemeni oil industry source said the 157,833-ton Limburg was carrying 397,000 barrels of crude and that it had been coming into port from Iran to load more oil. A large amount of the crude had already leaked into the sea, he added.
Since the attack on the Cole, Yemen has been working to shrug off a image as a haven for Islamic militants.
Washington blames the attack on the Cole on Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden 's al Qaeda network, which it also holds responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.
Yemen has arrested more than 100 suspected members of al Qaeda network and other Islamist groups over the past year. The impoverished Arab state is bin Laden's ancestral home and many of the suspected Qaeda members arrested abroad also hail from there.
In January, Yemen launched the only military campaign against al Qaeda outside Afghanistan , where a U.S.-led strike ousted the Taliban government that sheltered bin Laden.
For the same reason the Soviets sent their own partisans to the gulags. Bite the hand that feeds you.
Was that before or after the Salvation Army kicked their frog butts?
Will the environmentalists now stay away from the jihad?
To them, it doesn't exist.
If they did we would never let them into port anywhere.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Different kind of boat, different number of terrorists Yemenis on board, different amount of explosives. Nope, nothing like the attack on the Cole.
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I guess you weren't thinking of LNG tankers, which also come in to port. If one of those babies went off, it would be devastating.
Ouch!!!
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