200 visits to the White House and for sure they were not cementing an Arab/Israeli peace agreement !
If a single nuke ever goes off within the US or on any US territory, every Muslim capital would receive two nukes and, in addition, three cities (which shall remain nameless) on the Arab peninsula.
And that would not be a threat, it would be a promise. So show us how committed you are to total and permanent cultural suicide.
Many of you have pointed out the many flaws in this supposed plan. But the point isn't whether or not such a plan would "work" or whether or not it made sense. The point is whether or not the AlQaida people believe that this plan (or something like it) will work. If they are operating under a plan that they believe will work, then that is the plan we need to be operating against, whether it makes sense or not, and whether it is effective or not.
I truly doubt that any guy who really knows the full plan is just going to blab the whole thing to some reporter. There is a considerable amount of disinformation and propaganda in here. But there are probably also nuggets of truth, especially where their war aims and broad strategy are concerned. The talk about a plan to do grave damage to our economy is probably genuine. Whether they can succeed or not is not the point -- the point is, this is apparently their intention. Why didn't they just let loose with everything at once? While that might have been the thing that makes the most sense to us, that is not the point. The point is that THEY believe that doing a little bit at a time is what makes sense to THEM, so that is what they ARE going to do.
About the nukes: Getting some stuff from the Russian Black Market is credible. I am more doubtful about the claim that they have gotten anything from Pakistan, mainly because I suspect that the Paks need every single milligram of everything they can get their hands on. They are engaged in an arms race with India and are struggling hard to keep up. It is simply not credible that they are going to let a couple of precious warheads out of their hands. The Russians are another matter. They have more than they can use, and more than they can keep secure, so it is not out of the realm of possibility that AlQaida has indeed gotten a few.
It is also not out of the realm of possibility that AlQaida has snuck these into the US, especially pre-9/11/01. Let's admit it, we were pretty naive, sloppy, and negligent back then. We still haven't completely gotten our act together even now.
Again, while there might be considerable disinformation in this article, this guy might also have let some things slip. We have been very worried about the old Soviet "Suitcase Bombs", but that is apparently NOT what they have. What they have is not that portable and concealable. The good news is that we probably don't need to worry that they are going to put one of these things in the back of an SUV, throw a blanket over it, and drive right up to an especially critical target. The bad news, however, is that we are apparently looking at a considerably larger device. I wouldn't necessarilly presume that they are just using the Soviet devices as-is. My guess is that what they got on the black market were devices minus some critical parts. They may have had to put devices together by combining components obtained from multiple sources. They probably have people with the electronics expertise to develop their own control mechanisms. Several people on this thread have talked about Tritium and its short shelf life. This would be a critical issue with a suitcase bomb; it is less of an issue if they got hold of some of these big guys. They could have canibalized and refabricated into something that would have a much lower yield but still ruin many a person's day. Also, we should not take everything said here as the gospel truth. It could be that contrary to what the guy has said, the devices are not kept ready to go off at any moment, but instead are waiting to be charged with fresh tritium just before being deployed -- tritium that even now they might be able to smuggle in. The talk about the bombs being set up with multiple triggering mechanisms may just be disinformation to discourage the FBI & NEST from tracking them down -- something that they should be urgently doing immediately.
Plenty plausible to me.
I suppose the naysaywers will think otherwise.
We'll be kickin their arse for the rest of foreseeable history. They best they can ever hope for is to shi+ on our boot.
That's where the plan falls apart. The economy might crash, but it won't turn to crap. All it would take is a few Executive Orders to stop the process, keep the basic food and fuel moving, and force everyone to sit and cogitate for a while. The FedGov has plenty of power, a surplus of power, a supernova of power to step in and control the situation. When they might decide it would be safe to step out and let the country resume its business is another question and we'll worry about that later when we don't all die from the crash.
Hmmmm. So Asia times now says the article is based on an interview now a hoax. Interesting.
Regardless, the scenario is not that far fetched from what AlQaeda might have authentically asserted.
They are certainly of that mentality. Some evidence indicates they are of that means. We shall see.
later
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Apocalypse Now, or Alottanukes Soon
NOTE: This article has been pulled from the news source, but you can read it
here. Asia Times feels the article is a hoax, but there is still much of value
contained within it. Read and judge for yourself. To date, there has been no
denial of the tape's validity sent to Al-Jazeera. -Steve Quayle
November 15, 2002
By Pepe Escobar, THE ROVING EYE
At a time when a tape handed over to the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera
television station has received widespread expose for its purported
comments by Osama bin Laden in praise of recent terror events
around the world, another al-Qaeda message released to the same
station has received little coverage.
Al-Jazeera was granted an interview with one Mohammed al-Usuquf,
allegedly al-Qaeda's number three. Al-Usuquf is said to be a doctor in
physics and to hold a masters degree in international economics. A
copy of the interview was sent to the prestigious Arab-language daily
Al Quds Al Arabi, edited in London, but it was not printed.
Asia Times Online has obtained a copy of the interview, and
reproduces excerpts here, with the caveat that the identity of the man
has not yet been confirmed, nor has his membership within al-Qaeda.
Al-Usuquf says that al-Qaeda's Kuwaiti spokesman, Sulaiman Abu
Ghaith, and bin Laden himself, suggested that he grant the interview.
Bin Laden, he says, is "alive and healthy, along with his commanders
Mohammed Atef, Khalid Shaik Mohammed and Mullah Omar".
Al-Usuquf starts by criticizing Washington's disrespect of the Kyoto
Protocol on climatic change, the International Criminal Court and the
Palestinian cause, as well as the "financial greed" engendering
speculative gains over Third World countries. He also criticizes the
manner in which America wastes wealth, like US$80 billion a year on
gambling. "They [have] lost the notion of spirituality and only live in
sin."
For this reason, America must be destroyed, and al-Usuquf insists that
"aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and spy satellites will be
worthless in the next war".
Al-Qaeda, according to him, has 5,000 first rank operatives and
around 20,000 all over the world. Of all the prisoners in the US, only
"20 or 30" are al-Qaeda, and all of them "second-rank". Confirming
Asia Times Online information, he swears that there are no first-rank
prisoners in Guantanamo in Cuba. Al-Usuquf says, "We have more
than 500 first-rank and 800 second-rank [operatives] inside the US."
"First rank" are considered ones that have lived in the US for more
than 10 years, most of them married with children. "They have an
idea about the plans, and they are just waiting for a call."
"Second-rank" operatives arrived in the past five years and "have no
idea about the plans". They are all willing to die.
Al-Usuquf insists that September 11 "was just the beginning. It was a
way to call the world's attention to what's going to happen." He then
details a plan to destroy the US by "attacking the heart of what they
consider the most important thing in the world: money".
"The American economy is an economy of false appearances," says
al-Usuquf. "There's no real economic weight. American GNP is
something around $10 trillion, but only 1 percent comes from
agriculture, and only 24 percent from industry. So 75 percent of its
GNP comes from services, and most of it is financial speculation. For
someone who understands economics, and apparently America's
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill does not, or cannot, the US as a whole
behaves like an immense dot.com, and dollars are its stocks. The
value of stocks from a given company is directly proportional to its
profitability. When a company only provides services, but does not
produce goods, the value of its stocks depends on its credibility. What
I'm saying is if US credibility is affected, its stocks - the US dollar - will
fall at tremendous speed, and the whole American economy will
collapse."
Al-Usuquf is absolutely positive, "because, in a smaller scale, this is
exactly what big financial conglomerates do with Third World countries
to collect profits in one month that no Swiss bank would guarantee in
four to five years". Al-Usuquf says that al-Qaeda could do the same by
"provoking a deficit of $50 to 70 trillion, the equivalent to five to seven
years of the GNP of the US". How? By "destroying America's seven
largest cities and some other measures". The means? "Atomic
bombs." Al-Usuquf's most startling revelation is that the bombs "won't
be launched, they are already there". "Seven nuclear heads have
already been positioned on American soil, before September 11, and
they are ready to be detonated. Before September 11, American
security was a fiasco, and even later, if we needed, we could position
the bombs there. They arrived through seaports, as normal cargo. A
nuclear head is not bigger than a fridge, so it can easily be
camouflaged as one. Thousands of containers arrive at a seaport
every day, and even with very efficient security, it's impossible to
check and examine each one of them."
Al-Usuquf says that the bombs were bought on the black market: five
from the former USSR and two from Pakistan. The five Russian heads
"are from T-3 missiles, also known as RD-107, and their power is
around 100 kilotons each, that is five times the Hiroshima bomb. The
Pakistani ones are less powerful, something around 10 kilotons each."
Each of the Russian bombs would have cost around $200 million.
Al-Qaeda was able to raise the money "because we have many
sponsors. Many countries sponsor us, and also some very rich
people." And not all of these are Arab countries. "Some European
countries as well are also interested in the fall of the US." As to the
"rich people", they are "people who are also tired of seeing the US
bleeding the rest of the world."
And Iraq's Saddam Hussein, says Al-Usuquf, is not one of these
people, "but just a collaborator, represented by Abdul Tawab
Hawaish, his vice prime minister and responsible for Iraq's arms
program".
Al-Usuquf says that the bombs cannot be detected by US authorities.
"Even if they are old, they were modernized and are very well hidden.
Even if they were located, they have autodetonation mechanisms in
case something or someone gets close. Even an electromagnetic pulse
is not capable of deactivating them." The bombs allegedly cannot be
detected because "they are enveloped in thick layers of lead". They
could be detonated "by various methods - cellphone call, radio
frequency, seismic shock or by their regressive clock".
Al-Usuquf details the whole plan. "First, one head would be detonated,
which would cause the deaths of 800,000 to 1 million people and a
chaos never seen before. During this chaos, two or three planes,
which are now disassembled inside barns near empty roads in the US
countryside, would take off in suicide missions to pulverize another
two or three big American cities with chemicals. Once the disease was
identified, all seaports and airports would be quarantined. Land
borders would also be closed. No plane, boat or car would enter or
leave the US. This would be total chaos." The first target would be the
city "that would offer the best conditions, for example bright sky and
winds of eight or more miles an hour blowing towards the center of
the country, so radioactive dust can contaminate the largest possible
area".
This attack would not knock out the US, recognizes al-Usuquf, "But the
process would be initiated. As with the World Trade Center, it would
be just a question of time for the whole economic structure to be
turned to dust. If the objectives are reached with one bomb and
diseases, probably we will save the lives of other people, but it's risky,
and probably six more bombs will be detonated, one a week, and
more attacks with chemical weapons will be launched." According to
estimates made by al-Usuquf "and Ayman al-Zawahiri", al-Qaeda's
number 2, about 15 million people would die, victims of the bombs
and the radiation. Among those contaminated by diseases, "25
percent will die, a figure around more than 5 million, plus many others
due to the chaos and disorder".
Al-Usuquf does not fear an American military response. "Even if five or
10 cities are chosen at random to be destroyed, it will still be a small
price to pay. The problem is that the economic despair will be so great
that even if it saves [money] by not using weapons, American liquidity
will be near zero, and the US will make more money selling a
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier to Turkey or Italy for $5 billion, because
they will urgently need to recapitalize. But it will be too late.
Moreover, what will remain of an American soldier's morale to fight
knowing that his whole family died and his country ceased to exist? To
fight for what?"
The world economy would not collapse, says al-Usuquf, although "in
the beginning, it will be very difficult. But without the US the world will
soon rise in a more just and fraternal manner. Nothing can stop the
plan."
And whatever America does, "it's too late". When will the attack
begin? "I can't tell."
(©2002 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact
content@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication
policies.)
http://atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/DK15Aa01.html
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