Terrorism: May 2004 Archives

Terrorists planning "October surprise"?

| | TrackBacks (0)

I guess I'm not surprised, but still, not good news:

Sources: Major terror attack planned this summer

(CNN) -- Several U.S. officials said Tuesday that unnamed terrorists, possibly al Qaeda operatives, are in the United States and planning a major attack on U.S. soil this summer.

And Iraq is the front in the war on terror, Mr. President?

Scary.

|
 I don't buy it myself, but one can plausibly argue that 37 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank have made Palestinians so crazy that scores of them would have volunteered for suicide bombing missions over the last few years. But the U.S. "occupation" of Iraq is only a year old, and the suicide bombings started there within a few months of U.S. forces' arriving, to liberate the Iraqi people from Saddam's warped tyranny. So what does that mean? It means that some group or groups have the ability to recruit a large pool of people willing to kill themselves in attacks against American or Iraqi targets on short notice — and we don't have a clue how this process works.

 We don't know who these people are — although reports suggest they are coming from Europe, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia — how the underground railroad that gets them from their local mosques to Iraq operates, how they connect up with the operating cells in Iraq and how they get wired and indoctrinated for suicide missions.

O.K. so I'm not ready to write Thomas Friedman off yet.

"Ugly Job" in Gaza

|

This is the kind of sentiment that makes me feel slightly queasy:

It’s not easy to sit in front of the TV and watch homes of Palestinians refugees being demolished, and read reports that more than 35 Palestinians were killed. Yes, we know that some of those killed are terrorists. Yes, we know that some of the homes demolished had hidden tunnels where weapons were imported from Egypt. But we also know that some of those killed or left homeless were innocent civilians.

That is why we must remind ourselves of all the bus bombings we have witnessed in Jerusalem, where carnage has been strewn on downtown streets. The children and working folks who died on those buses were innocent civilians as well.

Bush NOT Tough on Terror

| | TrackBacks (0)

MSNBC published a story in March by Jim Miklaszewski saying that Bush had several chances to wipe out the terrorist organization of Abu Musab Zarqawi, but kept squashing the Pentagon plans for action. Don't remember who this Zarqawi dude is? He's the one responsible for the beheading of Nick Berg.

In June 2002, U.S. officials say intelligence had revealed that Zarqawi and members of al-Qaida had set up a weapons lab at Kirma, in northern Iraq, producing deadly ricin and cyanide.

The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp with cruise missiles and airstrikes and sent it to the White House, where, according to U.S. government sources, the plan was debated to death in the National Security Council.

*snip*

Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe.

The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it. By then the administration had set its course for war with Iraq.

*snip*

In January 2003, the threat turned real. Police in London arrested six terror suspects and discovered a ricin lab connected to the camp in Iraq.

The Pentagon drew up still another attack plan, and for the third time, the National Security Council killed it.

Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi’s operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam.

I'd like to see a push poll about this. "Would you be less likely to support Bush if you knew he'd let a dangerous terrorist organization continue operating?" Then send them a copy of this article.

Unbelievable.

Music I Listen To

 

Link Roller

Powered by Movable Type 4.2-en

Photos

DSCN4807.JPG DSCN4808.JPG DSCN4810.JPG DSCN4812.JPG DSCN4813.JPG DSCN4816.JPG

Books

Widget_logo

About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Terrorism category from May 2004.

Terrorism: April 2004 is the previous archive.

Terrorism: June 2004 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.