Free Republic

American intelligence officials have worried about suicidal belt bombers for at least two years, since a report raised fears that Osama Bin Laden might send them after the President of the United States.The possibility of a suicide attack on the President was contained in a September 1999 study that also predicted Bin Laden might send kamikaze pilots to slam airplanes into the Pentagon.The report by the National Intelligence Committee to CIA Director George Tenet describes Bin Laden's growing "martyrdom battalions" as consisting of "human bombs training to carry out spectacular terrorist operations."Intelligence estimates at the time put Bin Laden's...

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI are investigating a possible terrorist plot to kill Gov. Jeb Bush with a truck bomb in Tallahassee, law enforcement officials confirmed Thursday. The governor, who had been out of state on a fundraising trip, was due to return to Tallahassee late Thursday. Agents have been conducting 24-hour surveillance on at least four South Florida men with Arab names who may be suspects in the case, officials said. The information about the plot was based on a tip from a jailed confidential informant that the men were trying to contract someone to ...

Man accused of threatening Gov. Bush, Collier judge in letter acts as his own lawyer Tuesday, January 8, 2002 By CHRIS W. COLBY, cwcolby@naplesnews.com Unlike what happens with most people in the bright orange Collier County Jail uniform, Larry Parks' day in court Monday didn't go half bad. Parks insisted on wearing the jumpsuit instead of dress clothes and turned down a judge's advice that an attorney be appointed to his case. Instead, he acted as his own lawyer, despite the risk of facing up to 10 years in prison if convicted of threatening Florida's governor and a Collier judge. ...

Authorities questioned four men Friday for possible involvement in an alleged plot to kill Gov. Jeb Bush and held two others on immigration charges, but by day's end they had all but wrapped up the case after their most promising lead collapsed. The lead: a van investigators thought might contain traces of explosives after bomb-sniffing dogs reacted to it. Late Friday night, residue tests proved negative. Investigators already were skeptical of information provided by a jailhouse informant that four South Florida men with Arab names had plotted to blow up the governor in Tallahassee Friday. Additional information about the inmate ...

ASHINGTON, Sept. 25 — The president of Egypt and the deputy prime minister of Italy say that Osama bin Laden's network of Islamic terrorists threatened to kill President Bush and other leaders of the industrialized world when they met at a summit meeting in Genoa last July. The White House, in line with longstanding policy not to discuss threats on the president, declined to comment today. In an interview on French television on Monday, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt spoke in specific terms about the threat, saying that "on June 13 of this year, we learned of a communiqué ...