Al Qaeda Operative Threatens Japan with Attacks

Scoop ^ | Tuesday, 18 November 2003, 11:39 pm | Al-Manar Television

[risk]

Al Qaeda Operative Threatens Japan with Attacks Tuesday, 18 November 2003, 11:39 pm Press Release: Al-Manar Television Al Qaeda Operative Threatens Japan with Attacks, Claims Responsibility for Istanbul and Nassirriya Bombings

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyib Erdogan said claims that al- Qaeda carried out the synagogue bombings in Istanbul on saturday are being studied closely. The Turkish cabinet convenes to discuss the issue after reports the government had been warned in advance about possible strikes.

An alleged Al Qaeda source also warned Japan not to sent troops to Iraq and claimed the bombings against Italian forces in Iraq last week. In response to one of the most specific threats to date to be made by the al Qaeda network on Japanese interests, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday Japan must not give in to so called terrorists who are making threats everywhere in the world.

Japanese foreign ministry said Japan was investigating the credibility of the threat after the London-based Arab-language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi said that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network was planning car bombings against the United States and its allies, including Japan.

The weekly said it had received the message from an al Qaeda operative who said the group would strike in Japan if Tokyo sent troops to Iraq. However, Japan's chief government spokesman played down al Qaeda’s threats.

Despite the government's playing down of the threat, Tokyo markets were spooked. Japan's Nikkei average fell over three percent and was below 10,000 for the first time since August.

Economists said should the reported threat be supported by evidence, the yen’s fall would become much faster. Meanwhile, Nippon television network said based on a telephone poll released Monday almost three quarters of Japanese are against sending troops to Iraq.

The ratio of opponents to the proposed dispatch of Japan's Self- Defence Forces to Iraq in the nationwide poll jumped by 22 percentage points to 71 percent compared with a survey conducted last August.

-- Al-Manar TV Statement: “A Lebanese TV station that aims to preserve the islamic values and to enhance the civilized role of the Arab and Islamic Community.

“Al-Manar is the first Arab establishment to stage an effective psychological warfare against the Zionist enemy.

“Political, cultural and social affairs are of special importance o the station's programs. Most important is the struggle with the Zionist enemy. In its course of work, Al-Manar focuses on live talk shows and dialogue programs in which it makes sure to bring out different thoughts and beliefs, in addition to the participation of the viewers in the dialogues.

“The Station was licensed by the Lebanese government in 1997.”

[risk]

Ikezawa Natsuki wrote recently that Japan should avoid al Qaeda's wrath by setting an independent course in its relationship with Iraq. Appeasement?

[risk]

appeasement ping

[Mortimer Snavely]

Have you a link with Ikezawa's comments?

[Uncle Miltie]

Mohammed Al-Goatbugger will blend right into the Tokyo scene, doncha think?

[risk]

Have you a link with Ikezawa's comments?

Sorry, no. Please post if you find anything.

[Billthedrill]

Well, there isn't a particularly large network of mosques in Japan, and I'm thinking that dusky fellers with beards and turbans might stand out just a little from the local population. Al Qaeda would have to try to ally with some of the domestic nut-cases, not that there aren't any of those (the guys gassing the subways come to mind) but I wouldn't lose any sleep over this one. Al Qaeda has threatened apocalypse in the U.S. for over two years now and its sum total of success is a little less than intimidating. They've been too busy talking big and dying elsewhere.

[risk]

It seems that the elected Japanese government is behind us. But there is a division much like ours in America there between relinquishing the mideast to the islamofascists or standing up and fighting terrorism. Another few elections will tell which side is going to win. I hope Japanese people realize that they are now in the western world order and it benefits them (in fact might save them) to defend it.

[Mortimer Snavely]

If he hangs out in the major cities, yes.

[sushiman]

There is a substantial number of Iranians , Pakistanis , and other members of the Islamic faith living and working in the Tokyo/Kanagawa/Chiba / Saitama megalopolis . How many are connected with Al Quaeda is anybody's guess .

[AmericanInTokyo]

If the Japanese police authorities had any brains, and could think 'pre-emptively', they would recruit foreigners living in Japan to infiltrate the Mosques and find out through counter intelligence just who among the Middle Easterners / Crescent community is getting prepared for acts of violence in Japan.....

A Japanese would be spotted more easily. A foreigner "interested in Islam" would blend it better and could penetrate these supposed 'cells' in Japan and help shut them down quickly, or a least cause suspicions and make it more difficult for them to gather.

I have always thought Japan should use 'good foreigners' in Japan to uncover, combat and expel 'bad foreigners'.

As some old timer 'good foreigners' in Japan read this forum, I am sure they are just as disgusted with me about how recently arrived 'bad foreigners' have been ruining the place and helping cast doubt by Japanese on all foreigners.

[AmericanInTokyo]

"disgusted 'as' me....."

[sushiman]

" If the Japanese police authorities had any brains, "

If they had an ounce of brains they'd be dangerous . Totally useless as you undoubtedly know . Japan definitely ripe for a terrorist attacks , and you know it is going to happen in Tokyo or Yokohama .

Generally speaking I think Caucasians in Japan are not looked upon as dangerous or suspicious .

[AmericanInTokyo]

If there is a concerted attack by some foreigners in Japan--even if just three or four of them--then I guarantee you Japan will no longer be a fun or interesting place to work, study or reside for ALL foreigners.

The whole archipelago will turn irretreivably xenophobic in a New York minute, the drawbridges of the Japanese mass psyche will go up immediately.

If it is North Koreans who do the shooting and bombing and gassing, you can expect a huge, violent backlash against ALL Northeast Asian foreigners in Japan: Chinese, Korean (both South and North), Taiwan, Mongolia.

The sleeping giant of paranoid xenophobia will have been fastidiously awakened. I wish the Japanese law enforcement and domestic intelligence authorities could anticipate this...but alas, I wish for a lot of things that don't come true.......

[Lazamataz]

Al Qaeda Operative Threatens Japan with Attacks

Not smart.

[sushiman]

I hear what you're sayin' man . I remember well when the AIDS scare first reared its ugly head in Tokyo back in the late 80's . I was on a train with my pal Barry heading out of Shinjuku for points north , when a middle age salaryman sitting down in front of us out of the blue pointed at my buddy and shouted out " AIDS ! " , as if to say all " gajins " had it . Not to long after this I was alone on the same Saikyo line heading home , when a woman whose kid was standing very close to me told her son in Japanese ( she assumed I couldn't understand Japanese ...she was wrong ) , " Don't stand too close to the foreigner , he might have AIDS . " Wild , huh ?

[AmericanInTokyo]

I experienced that same phenomenon on various train lines in Tokyo for much of the 1983 and 1984 time period...i.e., some Japanese stealthily moving away, for fear of "AIDS from the gaijin-san/foreigner". It was odd. I don't know if was not excusable. It was not fun, though....

....I think that if America were a similar physical and cultural island, and if there was a deadly epidemic among non-Americans and then we had some of them as visitors/residents in our crowded US trains, we might have shyed away from them, too--as so little was known about that disease at that time. Clearly, many Japanese went overboard in the xenophobia department, no doubt.

[hasegawasama]

You may be right about the ripe for terrorist attacks, but if it happened, Japan would quickly regroup and become a fierce foe to terrorism.