Officials warn: Terror threat is 'significant'

USA Today ^ | 2/11/03 | Mimi Hall and Jack Kelley

[JustPiper]

WASHINGTON

[judicial meanz]

I'm in your same situation. None of the rooms in my house are without windows, so I decided that if I needed to, I would shut the doors to the other rooms, and tape them as well, so that we had the hall and the bathroom, which made enough room.

I just had to make sure I had enough plastic ( I bought that plastic shrink stuff that you can use a blow dryer to shrink and make an airtight seal) and duct tape.

My plan also includes sleeping bags and air mattresses in the hall, food and water stores along with it, and living area is not close to the bathroom for sanitation. I have 10 milk cartons full of water frozen in my freezer that I could move there in no time, and they wold help to keep my food frozen if it needed to be. Also took a can of bleach, which can kill germs or purify water ( 2 drops per gallon) if needed.

Also I can use the shower to add oxygen ( as someone pointed out above, your water lines can add oxygen because water systems are oxygenated unless you have a well)

I also included every gun in the house. I dont want looters coming in and gaining possession of my weapons, and I od want to protect from them.

I plan on 5 hours, to a max of 24 hours. I also included the radios mentioned above, all battery powered.

Hope this helps.

[GOPJ]

Are you saying Florida? Why Florida?

"The ironic thing is if they hit us in this way, they would effectively be shooting themselves in the foot. Likely targets are in areas where resides their allies, the inept chad punchers."

[Cicero5]

Even though you might not be directly affected by the attack you could experience shortages of supplies. If you live far outside the city all of the stuff you buy (including fuel) has to be trucked in. Be prepared for food and fuel shortages.

[happymom]

Thank you, those are good ideas, especially the shrink wrap. I'll have to get a couple rolls of that.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

My wife and I are going out tonight to get our supplies. We live about 25 miles outside of DC close to Dulles Airport. In preparing for this, we planned on using a room in the basement that is underground with no windows. Would it be better for us to stay in the upstairs master bedroom 3 stories up or in the basement? The oxygen thing is starting to make me wonder if we stay in the basement. Our townhouse is an end unit with extra windows in the master bedroom though. Ideas anyone?

Bio/chem = bedroom; nuke/radiological = basement.

[judicial meanz]

Anytime. Good luck to you guys!

[Stefan Stackhouse]

Then I got to thinking. Ok. So we're all prepared. Now if there is an attack, wouldn't it be more "terrific" if it's carried out in the middle of the day? Think about it. Families are separated: parents are at work, kids in school. Separated for days. The terrorists aren't going to drop a dirty bomb at 6:30 p.m. while we're all settled down together for dinner.

You've got a good point. When people are in their homes, the population is at its maximum dispersal. That is why I wasn't all that worried about Thanksgiving day and Christmas day.

[Dixielander]

BTTT

[section9]

TGS is gonna be wiping a lot of egg off of his face in two weeks. After he pulls his foot out of his mouth...

No, not necessarily. It is not unreasonable to suppose that Saddam might have invested some money and time in a biowar deterrent planted in the United States. Were that so, however, we would have found out about it through defectors some time ago, and you would not have seen Bush taking the political risk to ramp up for war only to have to go through a humiliating climbdown. Or, Bush might have figured that whatever the risk, 'tis better to act now than later when the odds might be longer.

What all this tells me is that even if Saddam invested time and money in that deterrent, it has not worked.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Trust but Verify]

At the top of this hour, a local radio station in Milwaukee broadcast a breaking news story that said:

US intelligence agencies say they have authenticated a new message from bin laden in which he orders all muslims to kill Americans and Jews everywhere 'in secret ways'. I have looked everywhere and not found any mention of this story anywhere else.

Has anyone else heard this? They did not cite another news source, so who knows where they got it from.

[TheBattman]

Bum for later...

[SerpentDove]

All we are saying, is

[TheBattman]

Realllllllyyyy...... So you say Al Qaeda is a Myth. I beg to differ. Al Qaeda is a reality. The fact that it is a puppet organizatin for radical Muslim groups (and insane individuals like Saddam). I feel certain that Al Qaeda is much like a mercinary organization. They do the bidding of whoever is paying them. I do believe that Saddam is "signing their checks" right now.

[Dixielander]

The TACDA JOURNAL OF CIVIL DEFENSE for Dec. 2002 featured an excellent article on preparation for a bioterrorism attack. It contains information on how to ventilate your safe room and also how to measure carbon dioxide levels if you don't have ventilation. The article was written by Kevin Briggs, Director, US Disaster preparedness Institute (USDPI). Suggest you procure a copy of the article for details. It is quite informative.

[Stultis]

You bought the crapola, I take it?

Your an intelligent guy, and I enjoy reading your posts, but your central theory -- that, if I read it right, al-Qaeda exists as nothing but a Saddamite proxy -- is so staggeringly counterfactual as to be "crapola." And no, I don't buy it.

I have no doubt that Saddam (and/or his sons and/or Iraqi intelligence) is significantly involved in terror. He tried a terror attack on ex-President George Bush. I consider it likely he contributed to the recent Ricin plot in Europe. I would not be surprised at all if he contributed to the 911 plot. But to pretend that he is essentially the only leading figure behind global terrorism, or even just the Sunni part, is absurd.

Also, contrary to your own conclusions based on this particularistic thesis, if Washington really believed this (they don't) then they would be all the more likely to attack Iraq, even if they knew we would get our nose bloodied from bio-terror. Likewise, to suggest that Washington would use 200K troops as a "bluff," with the inherent possibility that the bluff might called, providing Saddam with a huge victory over the U.S., and lifting the morale and enthusiasm of terrorists globally, is absurd to the point of constituting "crapola."

[Dixielander]

CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2)caution

Never exceed a CO2 percentage in a room by 3%. To determine how long you can stay in an enclosed room use this rule of thumb formula: length x width x height of room in feet x .03 (number of people in room) = Safe Stay Time (SST) in hours.

[nina0113]

>>Bush might have figured that whatever the risk, 'tis better to act now than later when the odds might be longer.

What all this tells me is that even if Saddam invested time and money in that deterrent, it has not worked. <<

There was something about the way he said "America will not be blackmailed" in the SOTU address that I REALLY didn't like. So I did all our supplies a couple of weeks ago - I didn't bother with the plastic, I live in the country.

[Bill Davis FR]

get to know your neighbors...report suspicious middle easteners to the police...

[44magnum]

I also live in the Dulles VA area. I take the Greenway from Leesburg to work in Chantilly every morning. Has any one else notices that the percentage of middle eastern looking toll takers has doubled in the last year? I can't remember the last time I paid my toll to someone other than a ME. What caught my attention is the proximity of the toll booths to the north end of the runways. When the planes are averhead thay are at no more than 300ft Alt. I sure hope the FBI or whoever has checked these people out.

[itssoamusing]

Thats what I was thinking as well.

It's one thing to be ready at home with supplies, but how will we know what to do as it's happening. What are the chances of even making it home and knowing what type of attack it was?