Al Qaeda Planning More Hijackings, Officials Warn

[Pale Blue Dot]

U.S. officials said yesterday that they have learned of credible threats of possible new airline suicide hijackings by terrorists planned for the latter part of the summer.

The information was developed in recent interviews with one or more high-level al Qaeda captives and corroborated separately by other means, including electronic intercepts, officials said. They described the possible scenarios as similar to the hijackings of four U.S. airliners on Sept. 11, 2001, that were crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in western Pennsylvania.

"The U.S. intelligence community has received information related to al Qaeda's continued interest in using commercial aviation here in the United States and abroad to further their cause," said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "The Department of Homeland Security issued an advisory regarding this information over the weekend to the appropriate airline and security personnel."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59284-2003Jul28.html

[leesa]

1. Booga, Booga...Bush is in trouble...be afraid at all times please

[dragonquest8]

2. Chimpy ordered another attack?

[AndyTiedye]

10. We Know Something Is Going to Happen

Chimpy's reelect numbers are under 50%!

[soleft]

3. Just when I was starting to chill out when seeing planes overhead

This morning on way to work I saw a low flying plane over Manhattan and the andreline went a little spikey. This isn't of course sending me screaming into the arms of the GOP, but the chemical reaction they want was definitely achieved.

[punpirate]

4. Hmm...

... isn't there a Bush vacation at the ranch on tap soon, and will there be a new product roll-out in September?

Remember, watch who visits the ranch in August....

[Nancy Waterman]

6. If there is an attack

Bush will be toast. There will be a huge outcry that he hasn't done enough for Homeland Security, first responders, etc. I would think another attack would be the death knell of his adminitration since his supposed capacity to keep us secure is his biggest trump card over the Dems. OTOH, he has a great deal to gain from keeping us scared shitless!!

[noonwitch]

8. I agree-this is disinformation to keep us scared

And I'm sure that they are hoping it will get people to vote republican. I would think al Queda wouldn't use the plane technique again-they like the element of surprise and shock.

[Trek234]

12. This could VERY easily

go just the other way and give him Hitler like powers. 9/11 did just that, and a small minority went against him.

I believe another attack will only benefit Bush.

Logically you can NOT stop all potential terrorist attacks. We will likely be making this very argument when a dem is in the white house if such a thing happens.

[Athame]

14. Right, AND

that will give the excuse to attack Saudi Arabia, establishing the connection with the expurgated pages of the 9-11 report. :scared:

[psychopomp]

15. dumbya or whatever comes next, that is...

Even if, as Nancy said, another attack *did* sink the idiot kid president, he would likely be replaced by something else at least as horrid.

Nothing is off the table, obviously. These maniacs have been pulling the most outrageous stunts and nobody seems to give a damn.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Boy, W sure knows how to stimulate the economy.

Not.

So now that we conquered Iraq, aren't we safe from future terroist attacks? I though W smoked 'em out, had 'em on the run. I thought they had caught all the important people, except Osama and Saddam. Can't have that now, can we?

[Stuckinthebush]

7. Well, great...

I have to fly to DC at the end of the summer.

This is going to make me nervous on that plane.

[AndyTiedye]

9. Take the Train

If Congress hasn't shut Amtrak down by then.

[kayell]

18. I'm flying into a major city this week

:scared: damn * would probably do anything to stop the slide in his polls/cement his hold on the dictatorship.

[aquart]

11. Gosh, then maybe we should seriously secure our airports.

Of course, I wouldn't want to be the terrorist who thinks he can take a plane these days.

He wouldn't live long enough to commit suicide.

[Bozola]

13. You mean to say that...

The hundreds of billions spent, the countries invaded, the implementation of paranoid security, and the lives lost were all in vain?

You mean to say, Georgie Dear, that even with our security and intelligence services at maximum alert, even after we've destroyed all of their training facilities, interrupted their funding, and killed a majority of their members, they're more dangerous than ever?

Golly! The war on terr'ah has failed!

[Bluzmann57]

17. One thing I know

is that Chicago is about 180 miles from here, and it now quicker to drive there than to fly because of all the safety checks. So how would a terrorist get away with getting anything that appears lethal on board a plane? Especially a person that looks Middle Eastern? I mean even a terrorist wouldn't be stupid enough to carry a knife or gun on board a plane if they know that they can't. And I would have to believe that if a hijacking were tried by an un-armed person, that person would get the beating of their life. I would even be willing to kick some butt in a situation like that, and I am basically a pacifist.

[Bozola]

20. may fav bit of stupidity....

Is the .50 cal armed Coast Guard escort vessels for the Washington State Ferrys. The idea is to stop terrorists from ramming the ferries with a boat packed full of explosives.


Think of it: A ferry boat packed full of uninspected gasoline filled SUVs. Yeah, those Coastie chumps are sure going to be effective against a terrorist armed with an icepick and a lighter.

[SOS]

19. Discovery/NYT

television has a show running called Al-Qaeda 2.0. In the real world, as opposed to the fantasy world Bush lives in, A-Q is booming. 50 camps in Indonesia, 20 in Bangladesh, high-level conferences taking place in Thailand. Recruitment is booming. Thousands are being trained, 4 months at a time, all waiting for the call. Pakistan has 250,000 refugees who fled the US bombing. The kids are being schooled in fundie madrassas. One 10-year-old said he lives for revenge against the US. He said he only wants to "slit America's throat" in revenge for the bombing.
There are 10s of thousands of these kids.
Also, our ports are inspecting 2% of cargo, 22 months after 9/11. Former Soviet stockpiles of chem and bio and nuclear material sit unguarded.
Former mid-east CIA man Robert Baer says that Bush's "war on terror" will yield catastrophic results for the US.
There is NO comprehensive strategy. Dropping bombs on two countries is all these idiots could come up with.

[jeanmarc]

16. Al Queda future shares are going up, up, up!

C'mon, buy into the terrorism! Get your Al Queda shares here! They're going up! Help out intelligence community by investing in Al-Queda!

Why that felon Poindexter can hold a job in gov't again is beyond me.

Any one feel safer now that we've learned the current cast of cronies don't even do their jobs and read the security briefings they've been given?

[the masses against the classes]

21. london, giddy london

i'm flying to london in september (and then taking a flight to amsterdam from london...and a flight to manchester from london as well)...i'm not worried about this though...last year i took two flights with air india (and since we know these racist republicans can't tell the difference between indians and arabs...) and they had extra security- once you arrived at your gate, people searched your bags by hand and checked your body for metal with those thingies...

[gasperc]

22. with chimp in TX , August around the corner and rebate checks in the mail

it's a baddddddddd brew

[Emboldened Chimp]

23. I didn't need to see this

I'm flying Thursday night. Haven't flown since the year '00. Thanks for the heads up!

:scared:

[Missy Vixen]

24. Maybe it's time for the American public

to mail the above link to every airline CEO, along with the very real fact that millions of us have no problem deciding not to fly.

I didn't like to fly under the best of circumstances before September 11, 2001. It is almost impossible for me to get on a plane now. Since DH flies several times per month, we have an amazing number of FF miles. We're supposed to go on a trip in the upcoming future. I am wondering, frankly, if I even want to go.

Do the airlines realize that one more incident basically means that millions of Americans will not fly anymore? When will they get serious about airport safety?

Julie

[umcwb]

25. Locking - Dupe

Please continue here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=39750&mesg_id=39750&page=



Thanks,
UMCWB
DU LBN Moderator