Posted on 11/14/2004 7:50:11 AM PST by rang1995
Bordering On Nukes? New accounts from al-Qaeda to attack the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction By ADAM ZAGORIN
A key al-Qaeda operative seized in Pakistan recently offered an alarming account of the group's potential plans to target the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction, senior U.S. security officials tell TIME. Sharif al-Masri, an Egyptian who was captured in late August near Pakistan's border with Iran and Afghanistan, has told his interrogators of "al-Qaeda's interest in moving nuclear materials from Europe to either the U.S. or Mexico," according to a report circulating among U.S. government officials.
Masri also said al-Qaeda has considered plans to "smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, then operatives would carry material into the U.S.," according to the report, parts of which were read to TIME. Masri says his family, seeking refuge from al-Qaeda hunters, is now in Iran.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
There's no reason to believe they would not have done so already if they had them. And there's no reason to believe that the first terror nuke will go off anywhere other than Tel Aviv.
There was no reason to believe the first major attack by Al Queda would be other than Tel Aviv either.
Just a thought.
Could someone tell me why senior U.S. security officials would choose to divulge this info to TIME?
Full Disclosure: I live in Phoenix...
there,here,london,(not france,who cares) we all have to be worried and Vigilint and Attack first
I don't differentiate between different Islamic groups. I think they're all effectively one highly decentralized group working from the same playbook. The first modern conventional terror was carried out against Israelis. 9/11 was decades into the evolution of that mode of terrorism. 9/11 wasn't even the first attack by AQ against America. The first terror attack against America wasn't done by AQ. AQ is a pretty late arrival into the game, and frankly, I think that particular subgroup of Islamic fascism is pretty well devastated.
Given the history of the modern world, that any totalitarian first targets the Jews, it would be a severe abberation from the historical pattern to expect the first terror nuke anywhere but Israel, and Tel Aviv would be the logical choice due to its population and lack of religious significance to Muslims.
agree 100%..they are all trouble and you can't use israel as an excuse look at the Phillipines,thailand even in some places in South America yes s.a.
Wherever there are muslims there is trouble!!!
My thesis is this. Terrorists find their way to Cuba, maybe, over Madrid, in ones and twos and asemble in Cuba. There they rest and train, maybe learn some words of Spanish and of English. Then they are transported to Mexico where Mexicans thieves, criminals and government employees help them move to key points on the border. The cross the border, often carried by Mexican army vehicles, carrying, what?, 40 - 50 pounds of gear. They get together in an American target area and wait for an OBL tape to be played by friendly US media, with instructions on target & timing.
Had Kerry been elected, we'd have an attack at any time, just to attract his attention and get him to the bargaining table. No attack is appropriate with Bush because they KNOW how he'd respond, probably occupying Iran or Syria, in spite of the Eurinals.
Our southern border continues to be a great, great source of danger and this President refuses to do anything about it. His whisper of the word "amnesty" is sufficient incentive to move millions northward, just in the remote event they might qualify. SEAL THE BORDER, SAVE OUR NATION!!!
ping
Clintonista CIA rogues trying to discredit Bush's efforts.
Al-Qaeda suspect visitied Brazil
09 March 2003 15:53
Top al-Qaeda suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, arrested in Pakistan last week, spent 20 days in Brazil as a tourist in 1995, Brazilian federal police have said.Mohammed travelled to Sao Paulo's international airport on December 4, 1995 on a Pakistani passport. On December 24 he left for the Netherlands, police records show.
According to intelligence sources within the federal police, there is an investigation under way to verify if Mohammed visited the triple border area where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet.
The area has a strong Moslem community and has been suspected of harbouring terrorist fundraising activity.
Police are going to comb the area 'to see if there is any possible link between Mohammed and local groups,' one source said.
Mohammed's capture has been trumpeted as the biggest coup in the US-led, 18-month war on terrorism and has given al-Qaeda hunters a treasure trove of data.
According to Pakistani officials, Mohammed was taken to the US-held airbase of Bagram in Afghanistan.
The Netherlands are slowing waking to the reality of Islamofanaticism, too, after the filmaker Van Ggth's murder recently.
or this
Al-Qaida said to recruit in Latin America
Region on alert amid growing evidence of terrorist presenceThe Associated Press
Updated: 6:46 a.m. ET Aug. 22, 2004MONTERREY, Mexico - Governments throughout Mexico and Central America are on alert as evidence grows that al-Qaida members are traveling in the region and looking for recruits to carry out attacks in Latin America — the potential last frontier for international terrorism.
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The territory could be a perfect staging ground for Osama bin Laden’s militants, with homegrown rebel groups, drug and people smugglers, and corrupt governments. U.S. officials have long feared al-Qaida could launch an attack from south of the border, and they have been paying closer attention as the number of terrorism-related incidents has increased since last year.
The strongest possible al-Qaida link is Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a 29-year-old Saudi pilot suspected of being a terrorist cell leader. The FBI issued a border-wide alert earlier this month for Shukrijumah, saying he may try to cross into Arizona or Texas.
In June, Honduran officials said Shukrijumah was spotted earlier this year at an Internet cafe in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Panamanian officials say the pilot and alleged bombmaker passed through their country before the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in May singled out Shukrijumah as one of seven especially dangerous al-Qaida-linked terrorist figures wanted by the government, which fears a new al-Qaida attack. A $5 million reward is posted for information leading to his capture.
'The alert has been sounded'
Mexican and U.S. border officials have been on extra alert, checking foreign passports and arresting any illegal migrants. In a sign of a growing Mexican crackdown, eight people from Armenia, Iran and Iraq were arrested Thursday in Mexicali on charges they may have entered Mexico with false documents, although they did not appear to have any terrorist ties.
Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexico’s top anti-crime prosecutor, said Mexican officials have no evidence that Shukrijumah — or any other al-Qaida operatives — are in Mexico. But Mexican authorities are investigating and keeping a close eye on the airports and borders.
“The alert has been sounded,” Vasconcelos told The Associated Press last month.
In Central America, Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez said officials have uncovered evidence that terrorists, likely from al-Qaida, may be trying to recruit Hondurans to carry out attacks in Central America. He did not offer details.
El Salvador authorities last week reinforced security at the country’s international airport and along the borders after purported al-Qaida threats appeared on the Internet against their country for supporting the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. President Tony Saca, undeterred, is sending the country’s third peacekeeping unit — 380 troops — to Iraq.
Terrorists have struck in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the United States. Latin America could be next, analysts say, especially as it becomes harder to operate elsewhere.
“If there is a crackdown, they are going to pick up shop and move,” said Matt Levitt, a terrorism analyst and senior fellow at the Washington Institute.
Officials worry the Panama Canal could be a likely target. In 2003, boats making more than 13,000 trips through the waterway carried about 188 million tons of cargo.
Earlier this month, the United States and seven Latin American countries — including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Peru and Panama — carried out a weeklong anti-terror exercise aimed at protecting the canal.
In South America, U.S. officials have long suspected Paraguay’s border with Brazil and Argentina as an area for Islamic terrorist fund-raising. Much of the focus has fallen on the Muslim community that sprouted during the 1970s, and authorities believe as much as $100 million a year flows out of the region, with large portions diverted to Islamic militants linked to Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
But Mexico remains a concern for U.S.
The more immediate concern is Mexico, which shares a porous, 2,000-mile border with the United States and is the home to widespread organized crime.
In December, Mexican officials canceled two Aeromexico flights from Mexico City to Los Angeles, and a third was forced to turn around after takeoff because of terrorism concerns.
At the time, the United States, Canada and Interpol told Mexico that officials suspected terrorists might be using Mexican soil to plan an attack, Vasconcelos said.
Concerns increased this summer about whether Mexico was doing enough to screen international visitors after a 48-year-old South African woman arrived in Mexico with a passport that was missing several pages and then waded across the Rio Grande into Texas.
Farida Goolam Mahamed Ahmed was arrested July 19 while trying to board a flight in McAllen, Texas. She pleaded innocent Friday to immigration violations and was under investigation for links to terrorist activities or groups. Court testimony indicated she traveled from Johannesburg on July 8, via Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to London, then to Mexico City on or about July 14. The countries she traveled through do not require South Africans to have visas.
Mexican officials said Ahmed was not stopped upon entering Mexico because her name did not appear on any international terrorist watch-lists.
Mexican officials say they are closely scrutinizing visa requests from the Middle East and have heightened surveillance at the nation’s largest airports since Sept. 11.
“The requirements for a visa for people from the Middle East have not changed, but all requests are being checked more thoroughly,” said Mauricio Juarez, a spokesman with Mexico’s Migration Institute.
The country is a popular U.S. entry point for people trying to sneak into the United States, and the majority — 46 percent — of all people arrested on immigration violations in Mexico come from Brazil. The rest are largely from the Americas, China or Singapore.
It has become nearly impossible for people from Muslim countries to get visas to come to Mexico since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Fayesa Amin, a 37-year-old Pakistani, started the process to get a Mexican visa two months before she was to attend a wedding in Mexico. The Mexican consulate in Karachi asked her to fill out several forms and to turn in copies of her credit card and bank statements for a full year.
Amin, who runs three beauty salons in Pakistan, said Mexican authorities told her a visa had been approved and it could be picked up in London. But Mexican officials there said her visa was being held in Ankara, Turkey. In the end, she ended up spending her holiday stranded in London.
“I knew it would be hard to get to that part of the world and that everything had become more difficult,” Amin said in a telephone interview from Islamabad. “But I didn’t realize how hard it could be.”
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
I agree with you, Islam is an Empire. The fact that they change names and all have members from different states show that clearly.
The main reason they are attacking America less is they are afraid of us, and with good reason. The attack by Oslama caused the destruction of two Islamic States. Very stupid move by that boy and by the teachings of Islam he is a shame to Islam.
However, they will save their best for America. It is a pride thing. They get a Nuke and you can bet it will go off in the US, not Israel.
Israel will fire nukes back. The United States most likely will not as we do not have a target. Israel has plenty of targets. Nuking the US is much safer for Muslims, and they know it.
Makes sense.
I don't think they see the US as a safer target; rather I think it the other way around. One attack on the US cost them control of two terror-sponsoring Muslim nations. Decades of attacks on Israel cost them nothing, which is why they keep doing it.
Time will tell. Al Queda is saying they have backpack nukes bought from Russia. Fox is trying to say they only have "nuclear materials".
Move along folks, nothing happening here...
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