Posted on 02/16/2003 2:55:47 PM PST by FairOpinion
The US has credible intelligence that al Qaeda had an attack or multiple attacks set to begin at some point last week and that members of the Congress could have been the terrorist outfit's likely target, a media report said today.
Counter-terrorism officials were today quoted as saying that they had received a phone tip that members of the United States Congress could have beene targets of assassination attempts by Islamic fundamentalists.
Intelligence reports gathered from human and electronic sources around the world suggested what intelligence officials had suspected for weeks- al Qaeda operatives "Are in the execution phase of some of their operations," a senior US offficial was quoted by 'Time' magazine as saying.
Officials said the intelligence specifically mentioned that the likely targets were New York City and Washington on February 12.
Even though the feared attacks failed to materialise, the anxieties did not subside and inside the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fears of a devastating attack are as high as they had been in months, particularly because of the possibility that "other tools" or biological and chemical weapons could be used, it said.
The Homeland Security has increased the level of alert.
Telephone calls and e-mails exchanged between several suspected terrorists and intercepted by the US and foreign intelligence agencies pointed to a plot inside the US using nerve gas, poisons or radiological devices.
"It was'nt just chatter," said Republican Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It was a pattern." (more)
A senior Administration official tells the magazine that domestic law-enforcement agencies are investigating a report that Islamic fundamentalists in this country are trying to acquire parts to build an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) abroad-the kind of machine that terrorism experts believe could be deployed to spray chemical agents over populated areas.
The fear is that a UAV assembled overseas could be used against U.S. Assets there, Time says.
The US has credible intelligence that al Qaeda had an attack or multiple attacks set to begin at some point last week and that members of the Congress could have been the terrorist outfit's likely target, a media report said today.
Counter-terrorism officials were today quoted as saying that they had received a phone tip that members of the United States Congress could have been targets of assassination attempts by Islamic fundamentalists.
Intelligence reports gathered from human and electronic sources around the world suggested what intelligence officials had suspected for weeks- al Qaeda operatives "Are in the execution phase of some of their operations," a senior US official was quoted by 'Time' magazine as saying.
Officials said the intelligence specifically mentioned that the likely targets were New York City and Washington on February 12.
Even though the feared attacks failed to materialise, the anxieties did not subside and inside the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fears of a devastating attack are as high as they had been in months, particularly because of the possibility that "other tools" or biological and chemical weapons could be used, it said.
The Homeland Security has increased the level of alert.
Telephone calls and e-mails exchanged between several suspected terrorists and intercepted by the US and foreign intelligence agencies pointed to a plot inside the US using nerve gas, poisons or radiological devices.
"It wasn't just chatter," said Republican Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It was a pattern."
A senior Administration official tells the magazine that domestic law-enforcement agencies are investigating a report that Islamic fundamentalists in this country are trying to acquire parts to build an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) abroad-the kind of machine that terrorism experts believe could be deployed to spray chemical agents over populated areas.
The fear is that a UAV assembled overseas could be used against U.S. Assets there, Time says.
At a closed-door briefing Thursday a group of Senators grilled Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge about whether they should clear their families out of the capital in anticipation of an attack.
Ridge counseled them against it, but when pressed by the Senators for the odds of an attack on U.S. Targets at home or abroad in the next several weeks, Ridge, according to one source familiar with the meeting, put the probability at "50 per cent or greater."
In private, Time says White House officials sounded almost resigned to the inevitability of catastrophe. "All we can do," Vice President Dick Cheney told a gathering of top administration officials to discuss bioterrorism, "is ask ourselves, Have we done everything we can to prevent an attack?.."
The U.S. Still doesn't have a "credible and comprehensive system" in place to cope with such attacks, the magazine said.
I do not buy for one second that our fed is born again just because Bush sits in the big chair. The more threats, the more there is a distraction, the more our individual liberties go down the crapper.
I do not trust them anymore than I did after Waco, Ruby Ridge and the rest. I do not trust them because no crimanal of yesterday in our Gov is being held accountable today. All we are hearing is about the newest thraet. I'm a little deeper than most I guess.
SR
I was listening tonight to Chris Core on WMAL. He said he felt God sent us all this snow. I feel the same way. The past week hit a new level of tension here in the DC area. The terrorists are snowbound with the rest of us right now. It's so very nice and quiet. Still snowing. Thank you, God.
My biggest fear is they might assassinate a couple of Republican senators and then the Socialists would be in the majority unless the Govs reappoint some real Republicans to replace them. - Tom
Boy... You'll get the kudos from the bleecher creatures for that one...
Just because the cheerleaders are saying "Hooray for Our side" does not mean one stops thinking on his own. Judging by the date of your arrival, tells me you're on the tail end of the true meaning of tin foil. There was a time when it was used properly, not as a rebuttle.
SR
I agree. Everybody I know who has to go down to Capitol Hill for work on a regular basis was worried this week, and with good reason. But the terrorists are not any better at driving in two and a half feet of snow than native Washingtonians are, and no doubt they're holed up in their miserable apartment somewhere in the DC suburbs, frustrated because they can't kill anybody--there's nobody available to kill since none of us can get our cars out of the driveway.
Chris is a good and godly man, and his insight is very wise. With George Bush at the helm of this country, God is with us.
***FBI.gov: "Statement for the Record of Robert S. Mueller, III Director Federal Bureau of Investigation on War on Terrorism Before the Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate Washington, D.C." (STATEMENT SNIPPET: "The al-Qaeda network will remain for the foreseeable future the most immediate and serious threat facing this country. Al-Qaeda is the most lethal of the groups associated with the Sunni jihadist cause, but it does not operate in a vacuum; many of the groups committed to international jihad -- including the Egyptian al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya, Lebanese 'Asbat al-Ansar, Somali al-Ittihad al-Islami, and Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) --- offer al-Qaeda varying degrees of support. * FBI investigations have revealed a widespread militant Islamic presence in the US. * We strongly suspect that several hundred of these extremists are linked to al-Qaeda. * The focus of their activities centers primarily on fundraising, recruitment, and training. Their support structure, however, is sufficiently well-developed that one or more groups could be ramped up by al-Qaeda to carry out operations in the US homeland. Despite the progress the US has made in disrupting the al-Qaeda network overseas and within our own country, the organization maintains the ability and the intent to inflict significant casualties in the US with little warning. * The greatest threat is from al-Qaeda cells in the US that we have not yet identified. The challenge of finding and rooting out al-Qaeda members once they have entered the US and have had time to establish themselves is our most serious intelligence and law enforcement challenge.") (February 11, 2003)
***CIA.gov: "DCI's Worldwide Threat Briefing (As Prepared for Delivery) The Worldwide Threat in 2003: Evolving Dangers in a Complex World" ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Mr. Chairman, as you know, the United States Government last week raised the terrorist threat level. We did so because of threat reporting from multiple sources with strong al-Qa'ida ties. The information we have points to plots aimed at targets on two fronts -- in the United States and on the Arabian Peninsula. It points to plots timed to occur as early as the end of the Hajj, which occurs late this week. And it points to plots that could include the use of a radiological dispersion device as well as poisons and chemicals. The intelligence is not idle chatter on the part of terrorists and their associates. It is the most specific we have seen, and it is consistent with both our knowledge of al-Qa'ida doctrine and our knowledge of plots this network -- and particularly its senior leadership -- has been working on for years.") (February 11, 2003)
***WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "ARRESTS OF THE AL QAEDA TERRORISTS DISRUPT PLANS FOR ATTACK" by Bill Gertz (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Mr. Tenet said more terrorist attacks are being planned by al Qaeda and that every captured al Qaeda member has confirmed that more strikes are planned. He noted that recent al Qaeda recordings threatening attacks on economic targets and U.S. allies were "unprecedented in their bluntness and urgency."") (February 4, 2003)
***CNN.com: "AL QAEDA TERROR STRATEGY TURNS TO ASSASSINATION" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Coalition intelligence sources tell CNN that al Qaeda plans to target Western diplomats and other public officials wherever it can.") (012203)
Hey, okay...I'll say it! The emporer has wonderful clothes!!
SR
Really. If they're not in session they can't pass laws that hurt us. Whose side is Al Queda REALLY on....
This is repeated commonly, and is extremely wrong.
What if they cannot get the weapon to the target easily?
What if they are waiting to use the weapon(s) at a certain time/event or place?
"All we can do," Vice President Dick Cheney told a gathering of top administration officials to discuss bioterrorism, "is ask ourselves, Have we done everything we can to prevent an attack?.."
Obviously not.
Open borders, anyone?
Also coming at the end of his reign.
The Hitler analogy to the islamofascist OBL continues to hold water.
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