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NewsMax.com   Saturday, Feb. 8, 2003The Handshake Man Does it Again The Rev. Richard Weaver doesn't see a lot of George W. Bush, but when the spirit strikes him he manages to get up close and personal with the president. Not being invited to do so, fails to deter him. The call him "The Handshake Man" because the Rev. Weaver has made it his habit to approach the unapproachable, even when the ever-vigilant Secret Service is there to prevent such breaches of security. Two years ago Rev. Weaver managed to evade security authorities outside the Capitol and hand a note...

Fears of a catastrophic shuttle accident were raised last summer with the White House by a former Nasa engineer who pleaded for a presidential order to halt all further shuttle flights until safety issues had been addressed. In a letter to the White House, Don Nelson, who served with Nasa for 36 years until he retired in 1999, wrote to President George W. Bush warning that his 'intervention' was necessary to 'prevent another catastrophic space shuttle accident'. During his last 11 years at Nasa, Nelson served as a mission operations evaluator for proposed advanced space transportation projects. He was on...

A LITANY FOR TODAY God save New York. God save Washington, D.C. God save Houston. God save Chicago God save Boston. God save Philadelphia. God save Baltimore. God save Miami. God save Dallas. God save Denver. God save Detroit. God. save New Orleans. God save Cincinatti. God save Memphis. God save the Twin Cities. God save San Antonio. God save Seattle. God save Calgary. God save Portland. God save San Francisco. God save Pittsburgh. God save St. Louis. God save us all.

Blair says terror warnings are coming 'almost daily' By Andrew Grice Political Editor 12 November 2002 Tony Blair prepared the British public last night for the "pain" of terrorist attacks by al-Qa'ida but warned that the world would only defeat terrorism by political as well as security co-operation. The Prime Minister called for the Bush administration to be fully engaged in the wider problems facing the world as well as focusing on Iraq and terrorism. Despite an imminent election in Israel, Mr Blair renewed his call for an urgent initiative to kickstart the Middle East peace process. In his annual...

BANGKOK, Thailand, Oct 26, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Thailand's prime minister said Saturday his country's tourist resorts are not likely terror targets, despite warnings from neighboring Malaysia that eight suspected al-Qaida members may try to sneak into the country. Since the Oct. 12 bombings that killed 191 people - almost half of them Australians - on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, travel agents have said tourists would likely flock to Thailand's beaches and lagoons, hoping for safe holidays. But Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Saturday warned Australians to reconsider plans to vacation in Thailand, particularly on...

Deemed 'highly unlikely': Investigator says intelligence agencies failed to piece together evidence U.S. intelligence agencies received repeated reports and clues al-Qaeda terrorists were planning an attack against high-profile U.S. targets that might involve hijacked planes, congressional investigators revealed yesterday. Three years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the agencies had information about a group that planned to fly an explosive-laden plane from a foreign country into the World Trade Center, a U.S. congressional hearing was told. The information obtained in August, 1998, about the group of "unidentified Arabs" was passed to the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration, but the FAA...

The lead investigator for the joint House and Senate inquiry said in the committee's first public hearing Wednesday that Congress was warned that Osama bin Laden was planning a large-scale attack against U.S. or Israeli interests two months before Sept. 11, 2001. There was "a modest, but relatively steady stream of intelligence information indicating the possibility of terrorist attacks inside the United States," according to the joint committee's staff director, Eleanor Hill. "They generally did not contain specific information as to where, when and how a terrorist attack might occur and generally are not corroborated by further information," she said...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 — The United States intelligence community was told in 1998 that Arab terrorists were planning to fly a bomb-laden plane into the World Trade Center, but the F.B.I. and the Federal Aviation Administration did not take the threat seriously, a Congressional investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks has found. That August 1998 intelligence report from the Central Intelligence Agency was just one of several warnings the United States received, but did not seriously analyze, in the years leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks that were detailed today at a Congressional hearing. The existence of the 1998...

Europeans Sound Terror Warnings Friday September 6, 2002 10:50 PM LONDON (AP) - Lone bombers and gunmen unconnected to the al-Qaida terrorist network could use the Sept. 11 anniversary as a world stage to launch an attack for their own causes, a British anti-terrorist chief said Friday. David Veness, head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad, said there was no known threat to Britain, and encouraged people to carry on as usual. But he said mobile armed road blocks will be in place around London as a first point of defense on Sept. 11. In France, a terrorism expert said Osama...

FR no. a3827bca028a8 (old style FR URL, no longer post-able): Russia: Chechens offer asylum to Osama Bin Laden as Taliban Leader Warns U.S., ABC [News], November 8, 1999, by Kathy Gannon (posted November 8, 1999 by Yuri). P.S.: The Russians were perhaps trying to tell us something(?), just prior to Sept. 11, 2001: FR no. 520735: Taliban slammed by Russia for naming Bin Laden as Commander in Chief (Supressed in the US?), UPI, August 30, 2001 (posted September 11, 2001 by libertarian_usa). FR no. 520055: Russians threaten US P-3 ..., Drudge Report, September 10, 2001 (posted September 10, 2001 by...

<p>WASHINGTON — Two unusual items were included on this week's FBI intelligence bulletin, sent to some 18,000 law enforcement organizations nationwide, Fox News has learned.</p> <p>The first item is on Al Qaeda training in the construction of explosive lightbulbs, while the second item illustrates that the bureau is still tracking missing airline uniforms and ID cards.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) --  The government was monitoring a series of electronic attacks launched early Tuesday against U.S. Internet providers, hours after European authorities passed warnings to the FBI predicting the attacks.</p> <p>The impact from the attacks appeared limited, and there were no reports of outages or even delayed e-mails.</p>

Terrorists Spoke of Attack More Devastating Than September 11 A series of intercepted telephone conversations between suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network prompted George Bush's decision to order a general terror alert for the United States on Monday, reports said yesterday. The calls indicated an attack against America that would be even more devastating than the 11 September assaults. The CIA and the FBI presented the information to President Bush and his national security team on Monday morning. While the intelligence from the telephone calls was chilling, officials wrangled for hours over whether the public should hear about ...

<p>CAIRO — Terrorists are still active in Afghanistan and have sleeper cells in the United States waiting to strike out, President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview in which he called for extreme vigilance and close international cooperation against the scourge.</p>

ALEXANDRIA, VA. (AP) -- Walk-in suicide bombers like those who have attacked public places in Israel will hit the United States eventually, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Monday. ``I think we will see that in the future, I think it's inevitable,'' Mueller said in response to a question during a speech to the National Association of District Attorneys meeting in suburban Alexandria, Va. Mueller said the degree of fanaticism an informant must exhibit to get into the inner circle of a terrorist group makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to penetrate such organizations and prevent such attacks. ``I wish...

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion. MOROCCAN AL-QA'IDAH FIGHTER REPORTEDLY FORECASTS THIRD, MORE POWERFUL ACTION Source: La Vanguardia web site, Barcelona, in Spanish 10 Feb 02 Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire BBC Monitoring International Reports February 10, 2002 Rabat: Hamed Abderrahaman Ahmed, the young man from the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta captured in Kandahar by the USA as a suspected Al-Qa'idah member, cultivated his fundamentalism in Islamist circles in the north of Morocco, the Spanish police suspect. Also from Morocco was Najib Chaib, who ...

WASHINGTON, May 18 — American intelligence agencies have intercepted a vague yet troubling series of communications among Al Qaeda operatives over the last few months indicating that the terrorist organization is trying to carry out an operation as big as or bigger than the Sept. 11 attacks, according to intelligence and law enforcement officials. But just as last summer's threats left counterterrorism analysts guessing about Al Qaeda's intentions, and believing that the attack might be carried out overseas, the new interceptions are so general that they have left President Bush and his counterterrorism team in the dark about the time,...

Three Al-Qaida Suspects Detained in Spain; One Had Elaborate Video of Twin Towers, Other SitesBy Jerome Socolovsky Associated Press WriterPublished: Jul 16, 2002 MADRID, Spain (AP) - Three al-Qaida suspects were taken into custody Tuesday, including one who had videotaped several American landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sears Tower, the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center. Police said they were convinced the footage, taken during a 1997 visit to the United States by one of the detainees, was much more than "tourist curiosity." At least one suspect was recruited by a man whom Spanish authorities say...

The federal government keeps warning us about terrorist threats. They include supposed threats against national monuments, nuclear power plants and bridges. Well, so what? What are we supposed to do? Call up our local power plant and volunteer to guard the nuclear generators? Should we form a human ring around the Statue of Liberty? Should we maintain 24-hour-a-day sit-ins on the Brooklyn Bridge? Fact is, there is nothing we ordinary folks can do about alleged terrorism. About 90 percent of this war on terrorism is turning out to be pure eyewash. The director of homeland security, Tom Ridge, has zero...

Finger of blame points directly at the FBI for ignoring warnings that might have averted 11 September By Rupert Cornwell in Washington 25 May 2002 Campaign against terror We call it being wise after the event. In the US there is a more vivid expression, "Monday morning quarterbacking". It refers to the conversations people have around office water coolers discussing the previous day's televised American football games, and the performance of the quarterback, the key player who directs the strategy of his team. This month, as the country pores in anguish over the missed signals that might have warned that...