U.S. Officials Expect Catastrophic New Terror Attacks -- Drudge Headline

Washington Post ^ | 12/24/2002 | By Barton Gellman / Washington Post

[ex-Texan]

Retired Army Gen. Wayne A. Downing, former deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism, said of al Qaeda: "I expect they're going to go back to Washington and . . . I expect they're going back to New York . . . because of the symbolic impact."

Late last year, in secret, the Bush administration erected a provisional defense against nuclear terrorism in the nation's capital.

[ex-Texan]

Retired Army Gen. Wayne A. Downing, former deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism, said of al Qaeda: "I expect they're going to go back to Washington and . . . I expect they're going back to New York . . . because of the symbolic impact."

Gee, I've said the same thing ... even before 9/11.

[Mr.Clark]

Really frightening stuff. Doesn't make Tommy Franks look good at all. Hope we can really put the heat on these bastards soon.

[TennTuxedo]

We will continue to be vulnerable until we use the military to close and police our borders. The enemy within has to be cut off and eradicated. Until then, nothing to do with the threats will change.

[Dengar01]

We will continue to be vulnerable until we use the military to close and police our borders. The enemy within has to be cut off and eradicated. Until then, nothing to do with the threats will change.

we all know that won't happen until the politicians quit pandering to the mexican lobbyists a la "La Raza".

[MJY1288]

The last line in this post says it all,

"a difference that tends them to opposite views on whether the war on al Qaeda will be enhanced or set back by war against Iraq."

This article is just another "We Can't Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time" screed by the Washington Post. The Title of this should read "Ex U.S. (Out of the Loop) has been Experts Chime in"

[hole_n_one]

.....and it's not even Sunday night!

[Always A Marine]

Doesn't make Tommy Franks look good at all.

One of those disastrous "no fire" incidents was well publicized at the time. Central Command's Staff Judge Advocate (yes, a damned lawyer) objected to firing on the target on the grounds that it violated the rules of engagement -- and the general deferred. Though the ROE were later amended, OBL's son-in-law got away.

Peacetime instills an overriding emphasis on safety and caution which is hard to shake, and it took a while for military bureaucracies to realize that they were really in a fight. Hopefully, such hesitancy is a thing of the past.

[185JHP]

Franks is a political/admin general, not a warrior, IMO. Not that everyone that prospered in X42's Ring needs to be closely scrutinized for slipperiness...

[Grampa Dave]

Typical Washington Compost story..

Wonder how much their buddy Soddomite paid them to write this POS.

It is really amazing how often the NY Slimes and Compost are cited as the real knowledge by __________ so called conservatives.

[ex-Texan]

Well, there is a serious 'flip side' to your argument .... I learned months ago that OBL made his decision to attack the U.S. right after Billy Blowjob's launch of cruise missles on that Sudanese aspirin factory.

Billy was just doing a 'Wag the Dog' because impeachment talk ... and he managed to kill close relatives of OBL ... Ergo, one enraged super terrorist freaks out and 9/11 happens.

The 'flip side' is if the Central Command's Staff Judge Advocate had given the Green Light to attack, and if we had killed OBL's son-in-law, then, no doubt, we would have been picking up more dead innocents months ago ....

I thank God we have adults in the White House now, and not another bunch of 'Pizza pie throwing, crack smoking weenies looking for kiddie porn on the Internet. Time to take a deep breath and count our blessings.

[P-Marlowe]

Maybe we can head this thing off. Does anybody know where those Indians went with our beads? Maybe we can sell it back.

[ChicagoRepublican]

Hopefully this article won't spawn a cavalcade of doomsayers.I can already see some of the comments: "Christmas is coming up, odds are terrorists will try to strike on that day," or "Did you guys see how distressed Bush(Rumsfeld,Powell etc.) looked in that press conference?."

[Always A Marine]

The 'flip side' is if the Central Command's Staff Judge Advocate had given the Green Light to attack, and if we had killed OBL's son-in-law, then, no doubt, we would have been picking up more dead innocents months ago ....

There's no real argument, since DOD and CENTCOM changed the ROE after missing that opportunity. OBL's son-in-law was Mullah/Sheikh Omar, chief poohbah of the Taliban, and was a legitimate, big-time target. The SJA now speaks when he is spoken to, and has no red light authority; General Franks and his J-3 have a real war to run.

I thank God we have adults in the White House now... Time to take a deep breath and count our blessings.

Amen to that.

[FreeTheHostages]

Uh-huh. I wish Drudge, when he would post these things, would please consider the fact that I am playing speed chess on another server even as I post on Free Republic often. And I'm likely to be the victim of a nastly knight fork or something when I'm distracted by the weekly "someday there will be a volcanic eruption" story. I'm losing chess rating points 'cause of this guy. He should source his stuff elsewhere and let the Post live in its own increasingly private fantasy world.

[bybybill]

I`m baffled as to how slime bag lawyers got involved in war fighting. Maybe as targets but not as decision makers.

[maestro]

[....Counterterrorism, said of al Qaeda: "I expect they're going to go back to Washington and . . . I expect they're going back to New York . . . because of the symbolic impact."]

Right!

We all know London is safe!

[Grampa Dave]

Drudge is starting to lose his effectiveness with these Compost "Horror Stories" with the NY Slimes and other worthless left wing mediot scare stories.

Remember all the horrible things that would happen to us before Desert Storm One and before we killed most of the Tally Bunnies and al Qaeda goat humpers in Afghanistan.

This is another of the same old same old POS articles written by drugged out old hate American hippies working for the old hippies controlling the media.

[FreeTheHostages]

Remember all the horrible things that would happen to us

Yes, I do. Christopher Hitchens has a lovely turn of phrase about the Democrats' ability to forget things. I believed he used it in the context of their willingness not to remember that Al Gore used the "race card" against Dukakis in the South in the presidential primaries. The phrase is: "What every Democrat knows but does not remember."

All things in this set are omitted from the Washington Post. And those few stories of great interest are one paragraph on page 15.

[Maximum Leader]

Every day, Ann "Deport them all" Coulter looks more and more prescient. Scariest part of this article:

The strongest expression of that view came in very personal terms from a participant in efforts against al Qaeda whose office is adjacent to Pennsylvania Avenue.

"They are going to kill the White House," the official said. "I have really begun to ask myself whether I want to continue to get up every day and come to work on this block."