Free Republic

Recent reports outlining what Time magazine has called the "untold story" of a cancelled al Qaeda plot against the New York subway system have excited considerable media hype and public consternation. The account is part of Ron Suskind's new book, The One Percent Doctrine, that was excerpted in the June 26 edition of Time. According to Suskind, al Qaeda developed a "revolutionary new WMD device" that would generate cyanide gas, and these weapons -- which he refers to as "mubtakkar" devices -- were to have been planted on subways by operatives who were in place and preparing to act in...

The New York Times, The Providence Journal-Bulletin, Friday, August 1, 1997, page A-1, A-8 -- As heavily armed agents stood guard, a federal judge presided over the arraignment of two suspects charged with conspiracy to blow up a New York subway station and possession of explosives. Other investigators were seeking a reason behind the alleged plot. Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, 23, and Lafi Khalil, 22, both from Israel's West Bank, were charged late Friday as they lay in their hospital beds recovering from gunshot wounds suffered during a shootout with police at their Brooklyn apartment . The men were arrested...