Al-Qaeda threat to Trafalgar fleet

Uk Sunday Times ^ | April 24, 2005 | Michael Smith

[FairOpinion]

SECURITY chiefs fear Al-Qaeda terrorists trained as scuba divers could mount attacks against a royal review of the fleet being held to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar.

A senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) police officer has disclosed that militants using techniques learnt in western diving schools to attack Royal Navy ships are considered the main threat to the event.

Officials fear Al-Qaeda divers could attach bombs to the hulls of the ships, detonate explosives strapped to their bodies in suicide attacks or even board vessels and kill some of those on board.

The Queen, in her office as Lord High Admiral, will review about 40 ships from the navies of nations including France and Spain. She will be on the deck of one of the Royal Navy ships.

The review of the fleet, which takes place on June 28, is the first in a series of events celebrating the 200th anniversary on October 21 of the battle in which Nelson destroyed the Franco-Spanish fleet.

...

A number of Royal Navy vessels now have machineguns mounted on their decks to defend ships against possible “swarm attacks” by terrorists in boats. That measure was taken in 2002 in the wake of the arrest, during a joint UK- Moroccan operation, of an Al-Qaeda cell based in Morocco that was planning to attack Royal Navy vessels in the Straight of Gibraltar.

[FairOpinion]

Be sure to go to the link and read the article. The article spans two pages, be sure to read both, a lot of interesting info on the 2nd page too.

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

FOX NEWS.com: "ANTI-U.S. TERROR THREAT GROWS IN PHILIPPINES" by Dan Springer (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "After his arrest, Baharan told authorities he took scuba lessons so that he could learn to attach explosives to the hull of a ship. He told FOX News that his orders came from someone outside the Philippines who spoke Arabic. "All I know is, they hate America," Baharan said of his superiors.") (April 21, 2005) (Read More...)

JIHAD WATCH.org: "US WARNS PHILIPPINES SOUTH COULD BECOME 'NEW AFGHANISTAN'" (April 15, 2005) (Read More...)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE - Bureau of Consular Affairs - Travel Warning: "PHILIPPINES" (Read More...)

ICC-CCS.org: "THE WEEKLY PIRACY REPORT" (Read More...)

SAAG.org - Paper no. 1312: "MINI SUBMARINE - A VESSEL OF CHOICE WITH DRUG CARTELS AND TERRORISTS" - Guest Column by Dr. Vijay Sakhuja (March 30, 2005) (Read More...)

MichelleMalkin.com: "TERRORIST SCUBA ATTACKS?" by Michelle Malkin (March 21, 2005) (Read More...)

[nmh]

"The suggestion that Al-Qaeda might attempt swarm attacks using men trained in diving skills is not new. For the past three years, the FBI has been investigating reports of Middle Eastern suspects approaching scuba diving clubs in America and inquiring about training. "

When they publicize the threat, then I'm alittle less concerned.

[Americanexpat]

I came home on vacation from Kuwait on 10 December when I woke up the next morning and turned on the TV there was an airplane sticking out of the twin tours. As I watched thinking it surely had to be an accident my mind screamed terrorists. A few minutes later the second plane hit the other tower.

I am afraid that one morning I will wake up to another terrorist attack and thousands will have perished. I just pray that I a, wrong.

[WestCoastGal]

scuba ping

[FDNYRHEROES]

I came home on vacation from Kuwait on 10 December when I woke up the next morning and turned on the TV there was an airplane sticking out of the twin tours. As I watched thinking it surely had to be an accident my mind screamed terrorists. A few minutes later the second plane hit the other tower.
I am afraid that one morning I will wake up to another terrorist attack and thousands will have perished. I just pray that I a, wrong.

Yeah, December 11th is a date none of us will ever forget...

[Americanexpat]

Sorry about that my friend, though I had edited it before posting.

[msf92497]

Looks like these critters have a use after all:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/02/20/MN223264.DTL

[nmh]

I know ... my daughter was two years old. We went up to the bedroom. I shoved in a video that she'd dance around to but when I turned on the TV to the "video" channel and I froze. There was dead silence and a I saw a plane going into what looked like a tall building. It wasn't registering. THEN a reporter started talking and I nearly fainted. I was mesmerized, in horror and disbelief. My daughter had no clue ... she asked what was going on ... I told her it was a "movie". I turned it out and called my Mom. I couldn't believe what was going on ... as I spoke to her my Mom screamed, OH NO!!! The second building was hit. I hung up and cried.

I used to work up there. I knew people in those buildings. I used to spend allot of time in that building - especially Windows of the World after work. It was sooo horrible.

"I am afraid that one morning I will wake up to another terrorist attack and thousands will have perished. I just pray that I a, wrong."

We can't be right 100% of the time. It will happen. I just don't know when or to what degree. Their hatred of us, motivates them and gives them the patience they need to do a number on us. It is impossible to be right 100% of the time.

[Trimegistus]

I know that the Fleet Review might seem like a tempting target, BUT: attacking a bunch of heavily armed naval vessels really does seem too stupid even for Al-Qaeda. They could hit the Cole because nobody was expecting anything (and the Clintons were dealing with terrorism by pretending really really hard that it didn't exist). Now the situation is a little different.

Of course, if they try it, then the anniversary of Trafalgar can be an exciting live-fire reenactment...

[FairOpinion]

Terror/Al Qaeda ping

[FairOpinion]

A very interesting article here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1390369/posts

Annie Jacobsen Gets a Visit from the Feds

This is Part XIII of the ongoing series entitled "Terror in the Skies".

[Bars4Bill]

militants using techniques learnt in western diving schools

The tip-off is they asked only to be taught to dive, not surface.

[nw_arizona_granny]

It might be interesting to google for the logs of the
Search and rescue teams that work on the water in the area,
makes me wonder if there have been any practice runs?