Take a deep breath, say homeland officials

US News and World Report ^ | February 14, 2003 | Paul Bedard

[ewing]

Indications from government sources are that the already heightened Code Orange security alert Washington D.C. is operating under may be increased to 'Code Red' in the next 24 hours because of a heightened concern about a possible terror attack.

Whispers learns that lawmakers are being encouraged to send their families back to their home states.

Other government sources are freely talking about the increased security alert possbily coming as soon as Friday.

Also, Equipment that can detect chemical and biological weapons has been deployed in Washington.

And some government workers have been warned that if terrorism strikes, agencies might not be able to provide enough food water or clothing.

[FreepLady]

"round up ALL muslims and confine them immediately. I don't give a crap if a small fraction of them are innocent. I want them OUT of my country! Islam is evil, PERIOD!!!!"


AMEN!!!!!!!!!

[firebrand]

Since we only have one pathetic vertical "mall," I would guess it's for others.

[Diddle E. Squat]

The accord is still rolling. Subsequent pictures would show it pulling forward, reversing, and smashing the nose of the grunting hairy-armpitted smells like wurst BMW.

[firebrand]

We are waiting to welcome you guys. The bestest!

[First Amendment]

as was perfectly communicated by Mohammed, his only prophet.

Slight mistake here - the Koran accepts all the Old Testament prophets, and accepts Jesus as a prophet as well. They just say that Mohammed is the last prophet. And one has to admit that in the Old Testament there are some rather bloodthirsty sounding parts.

Only silly people will think I am supporting terrorism or fanatical Muslims. In fact they do have a horrific terrorist track record, in Europe in the past and in India starting 1000 years ago. But certainly they are not all evil, and the name Allah is another name for the one Supreme Father of all.

That said, it is sorry that very few Muslims have spoken up against terrorism and fanaticism.

[Salgak]

I'm quite aware of that. What bothers me is that Congress has been told to get their families out of DC, but what about the rest of the citizens around DC ? To them, it's still Code Orange. The way **I** see it, Congress ought to keep their families in DC until the vast majority of the citizens have been warned to go elsewhere.

Oh, I forgot: the Imperial Congress has rights and privledges not available to us mere peasants^H^H^H^H^H^H^H taxpayers. . .

[Salgak]

Actually a foot of snow would pretty much defeat a chem, bio, or radiological attack. People would mostly be in their homes, and not moving about outside.

[riri]

I'm getting tired of having to reassure them that they aren't going to be killed

Not that I was your average kid, but I was a cold war kid. I remember those years vividly and grew up with the expectation that I would probably not see adulthood. Granted most kids don't know what is going on, as most adults have their heads up their a**es. But in my house heated political discussions were pretty common, the news was on and my dead grew up in Nazi Germany-so I was always pretty aware of these things. My point is this stuff certainly can have a detrimental effect on kids.

Also, I agree with you that this is BS. I will probably get flamed for this but it is how I feel. I can not believe that we are supposed to accept living like this. My anger is quickly going from being directed at the terrorists to our officials. It has been a year and a half. We are spending billions of dollars, we have intelligence sources all over creation and we are no safer than we ever were. The ONLY answer is to get these people out of our country, to stop educating them and to stop allowing any of them to come here for any reason. Other than that the only result is going to be more and more and more dead Americans.

[Quicksilver]

Buried deep, the last sentence:

Officials said other intelligence has been validated and that the high level of precautions is fully warranted.

Would you bet your life, or the lives of thousands, on the result of a lie detector test?

[johnb838]

Slight mistake here - the Koran accepts all the Old Testament prophets, and accepts Jesus as a prophet as well.

Slight mistake here -- Jesus is not a 'prophet', he is the only and eternal Son of the Living God, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. John 14:8

[clamboat]

...when the next national alert is announced, everyone will ignore it as groundless, and the terrorists could well sink one of their WMD's into action.

Oh puuuleeze. I'm already ignoring it. And so should anyone with even half a brain. This is like a really bad game of telephone, but with serious consequences and great expense. By the time the message reaches the media, or even the administrative levels of homeleand security, it has been so hopelessly mangled that it might say just about anything. "Al Queda Sneezed!" becomes "AlQueda is going tok plant a dirty bomb in Washington....no, a biological attack on New York.....No, I mean an attack against tunnels...No, shopping malls". What a bunch of crap.

[Salgak]

That 85-98% of Muslims have been awfully quiet about the other 15% and 2%. If they'd stood and denounced Osama et al in 2001, fine. But I recall surveys taken at AMERICAN Muslim schools showing primary allegiance to Islam, not America.

Well, American Muslims, the time to choose is here. Choose wisely. . .

[johnb838]

AMERICAN Muslim schools madrassas

[DugwayDuke]

A very good explanation, Sarge. The only thing I would add is that bleach is an excellent decontaminate, just plain old household bleach. And, it's quite useful in water purification as well.

[Conservative4Ever]

Blessed be the accordians--for they shall be of one accord

Play an accordian - go to jail - it's the law.

Red

[upchuck]

It was only after the threat level was elevated to orange — meaning high — last week, that the informant was subjected to a polygraph test by the FBI, officials told ABCNEWS.

They just blindly believe anything these dirtbags say? Hullo??

And, apparently, based on this, they raise the threat level? What a great way to denigrate the system. This is turning into a joke. I feel like we're in the middle of a Keystone Kops episode and can't get out.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Good insight.

Where do you think the next major attack will be, when, and in what way?

[Salvation]

**Maybe this is Bush's way of trying to end the Estrada filibuster... :^)**

LOL! Whatever works!

[SlickWillard]

Then why have 99.99999999% of Muslims in the US never harmed an infidel in their lives?

I'll throw out two possible explanations; you're welcome to float your own:

1) Because THEY'RE NOT MUSLIMS!!! If they were Muslims, they would have seized us and killed us already. By analogy: Why do Roman Catholics murder the unborn child in the womb [and vote for politicians who champion those murders] at rates far in excess of other denominations, despite their pontiff's pronouncements to the contrary? Why did Maimonides go out of his way to provide excuses for the murder of the unborn child in the womb, despite Jehovah's clear and explicit commandment, Thou shalt not kill? Why did the ostensibly Methodist Christian, William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, twice veto the ban on the partial birth murder of the child emerging from the womb? The answer, of course is that none of these people actually believe in the things they purport to believe in. If "99.99999999% of Muslims" were, in fact, "Muslims in Name Only" [MINOs], it seems like the world would be a helluva a lot nicer place than it is.

-OR-

2) Because they're biding their time. If you doubt this explanation, Google on Taqija, or Al-Taqiyah, or lying to infidels [and make sure you set your Google Preferences to "Do not filter my search results."]

Finally, I'll give you a piece of time-saving advice, which you're welcome to ignore: The remainder of your life would be better spent defending The Communist Manifesto or Mein Kampf than defending the Koran or the Hadith.

[rwfromkansas]

I would still like to hear about some occassional thwarted attacks. Otherwise, the public doesn't know. Of course, they should not give info about every thwarted attack, just perhaps once a year or so.