ANOTHER TRY: Terrorists tested liquid explosives on a jet in 1994 (lots of v interesting info!)

SFC ^ | Aug. 11, 2006 | Simon Reeve,

[FairOpinion]

Descriptions of the alleged plot uncovered by British authorities have distinct echoes of the so-called Operation Bojinka, an attempt by supporters of al Qaeda in the mid-1990s to simultaneously destroy airliners over the Pacific using liquid explosives.

The explosives, which can be hidden in a small bottle, like those used for contact lens solution, are hard to detect, and were originally developed by Yousef, whose uncle, Mohammed, was the chief architect of the 9/11 attacks.

In December 1994, Yousef tested his device using a fraction of the explosives planned for the main bombs. Halfway through the short flight, Yousef disappeared into the toilet, took off his shoes and assembled his bomb.

Haruki Ikegami, a 24-year-old Japanese businessman returning home from Cebu, took Yousef's former seat. Two hours later the tiny device exploded, nearly tearing Ikegami in two, killing him and injuring five others. The blast blew a hole in the floor and severed the cables that controlled the plane's flaps.

[FairOpinion]

"Bojinka" means "explosion" in Serbo-Croat.

I never knew that.

I also didn't know that they invented the liquid explosives and actually did that test back in 1995.

[FairOpinion]

PING

[Spirited]

Bump

[xxyyxx]

Isn't it about time we start attacking whatever mass transportation they have in Iran, Syria etc.? M aybe we can take out some mules.

[FairOpinion]

We need to learn the lessons of WW II.

I leave it to the deductive powers of the readers as to which specific actions we need to remember and how those actions helped end the war.

[Peach]

The book The New Jackals by Simon Reeves is about OBL and Yousef. The FBI said of Yousef that he was the most experience bomb maker they'd ever come across. And he trained lots of jihadists before his ultimate arrest.

[ladyinred]

This must not be true. You see Senator Kennedy and other leading democrats say that the terrorist plot is because of President Bush's bad policies in Iraq. This must just be right wing propaganda.

[cripplecreek]

I leave it to the deductive powers of the readers as to which specific actions we need to remember and how those actions helped end the war.

Short answer. We didn't fight a proportional war, We went in with overwhelming force and an intent to kill as many of the enemy as possible until they surrendered according to whatever conditions we set.

[gaijin]

I REMEMBER TWA FLIGHT 800.

[FairOpinion]

Notice this was in 1994 and what did Bill Clinton do about it?

Remember, he keeps telling us, how serious he was about pursuing Al Qaeda.

[george76]

 

[Wiggins]

I wonder if the FBI looked into a liquid explosive on TWA Flight 800? Maybe this is why there was no explosive residue found.

[COEXERJ145]

Liquid explosives were used by a North Korean agent to bring down a Korean Air jetliner in 1987. She planted the bomb on direct orders of Kim Jong-Il.

[Capt. Tom]

I also didn't know that they invented the liquid explosives and actually did that test back in 1995.

That's because it wasn't Bush's fault. It didn't get a lot of press coverage.- tom

[gaijin]

In fact, they DID find bomb residue on '800:

The gov't searched about for any airport at which a bomb detection exercise had been run, got the name of the dog-handling agent and got him to claim he'd gotten the residue all over the place in an exercise he'd run.

Can you guess how many reporters talked to the agent? ZERO. Yep.

But one tenacious journalists poured through the documentation and discovered that indeed that agent HAD run such an exercise --on a DIFFERENT airliner.

[samadams2000]

What about that monkey that was on the Houston flight with the detonator in his hollowed out pc about 2 months ago?? Sure it was just a big misunderstanding...

[gaijin]

I forgot to mention --the stewardess who stole the piece of seat cloth from '800 that SHOWED that there had been bomb residue?

Our government convicted her of her "THEFT", and nearly put her in PRISON.

It was a suspended sentence of 5 years, or something, and a colossal legal headache.

They also threatened her husband.

[gaijin]

Nearly forgot:

Remember that after 9-11, incredibly they STILL had middle-eastern teams of guys scoping out airliners?

The guys would be all nervous, lining up to go into the bathrooms in careful sequence, one after the other, like they were practicing the assembly of some bomb that had previously been in components, one per kook...

The FBI detained the guys who turned out to be TRAVELING ON FALSIFIED PASSPORTS, and then incredibly...?

LET THEM GO.

[Wiggins]

In fact, they DID find bomb residue on '800:

That's right. I remember that now.

[vidbizz]

When was this? Any link?

[JSteff]

Hmm. Liquid explosive would also explain why there was no "explosive" residue on any panels from Flight 800.

[Tammy8]

Loose lips sink ships, and unconditional surrender would help.

[SeaBiscuit]

Must of been the Iraq war that made the terrorists try that. /sarc

[gaijin]

"TERROR IN THE SKIES" by Anne Jacobsen:

Does the accumulation of four years without further terrorist attacks make you feel safer when you fly? It shouldn't. The Bureaucratic Bunglers are out in full force and with them in charge you don't have a prayer. Or rather, all you do have is prayer.

According to Annie Jacobsen, we'd better do our homework on this one because there is no one watching out for us. Back in April,Gates of Vienna posted on Ms. Jacobsen's tenacity and her willingness to follow this story wherever it led. That post, "Silence of the Sheep," proved that the author is a sheepdog indeed. Her interviews with other passengers, with government agencies, with the House Judiciary Committee, with airline personnel, and with individual people who bear the day-to-day hazard of working in this field, have made her case. The tale of her experiences is documented well in "Terror in the Skies".

This is a top-down problem. The guys in harm's way - the pilots and flight attendants - know the problems but they have no more power to address them than you do. Less than two percent of pilots are armed. Want to know why? Because in order to actually carry a firearm on board, the firearms training must be done on the pilot's own time and it has to be done in a place far from home, squeezed into his holiday time or vacation.

And flight attendants? Again, they have to arrange self-defense training on their own time, at their own expense and without the cooperation of the airlines themselves. Think of it this way: what if Brink's hired drivers and gave them no training in handling attempted robberies? What if they expected their employees to get training - if any - on their own time and their own dime? How long do you think Brink's would be in business?

That's the situation we have in the friendly skies of America. When you add to that the cruel joke of the Federal Air Marshals, the lackadaisical behavior of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the farce we all know as the Department of Homeland Insecurity, it's enough to make you want to stay home and do your business by long-distance and email.

Let's take just one: FAMS. This is bureaucratese for the Federal Air Marshal program. You know the old joke that goes "you're ugly and your mother dresses you funny"? Well, for this program, the first part may or may not be the case, but for the second premise - being dressed funny - you can count on FAMS. Due to the boneheaded policies of those in charge, Federal Air Marshals are required to wear sport coats and collared shirts. Yes, that's right: they must look like Federal Air Marshals at all times because they are a reflection of FAMS and dressing in a slovenly disguise would somehow bring disgrace to the organization. Comments about being a lovely corpse would be appropriate here.

Then there's what they do after they're up and dressed. Remember, they're carrying guns, right? So obviously they can't go through security. However, there's a second obvious thing they can do - they can fight the current and walk through the exit lanes for deplaning passengers. How's that for subterfuge?

Let's see, what other behaviors might they carry out to make themselves more obvious? Pre-boarding is one trick they have down well. So is always riding in first class.

And there you have the FAMS spotter information: check out the guys in first class in the sports coats who got on the plane before you. But don't worry. Any terrorists on board sussed to their tricks a long time ago. They know exactly who they have to take out first, provided that any "taking out" is even necessary. If you're going to detonate in the restroom, what do you care where the Federal Marshals are? They're coming with you anyway.

Annie Jacobsen makes a good case for the fact that her flight, 327 on Northwest Airlines, was a "probe," a dry run practice. And she backs up her contention with:

* eyewitnesses who were on the plane with her,

*a four hour FBI interrogation in which they admitted her intuition was correct,

* contact from other passengers on other planes who decry the lack of security and the lack of follow-up in their cases, and

* communications from frustrated and fearful pilots, flight attendants, and others in the business who know the skies are anything but safe, that they are being probed all the time, and that it is only a matter of time before planes fall from the sky.

Near the end of the book Ms. Jacobsen recounts a conversation with an air marshal. She asked him to explain what he meant when he said "it was all for show." Here' what he told her:

"You know how youd go to the airport, before 9/11, and an agent there, somebody who worked for the airlines would say to you, 'Did you pack your own bags?' Well, it was all for show. Those agents weren't trained in detecting whether or not someone was lying. The procedure was there to make the flying public feel good. That's what happened with 327. They all came running like in the movies, but it was all for show. Who interviewed the men? FAMS. We're not trained in interviewing terror suspects. We don't know what to look for. And the FBI at the airport? I won't go there. Who really should have been there? ICE. Period. ICE. But they weren't. Why? Because management says probes aren't happening on airplanes. The guys were there to make the passengers feet good, nothing more, nothing less. Two years ago, I had a probing incident. It may have been one of the first. After it happened, no one knew what to do, there was no protocol. The guys involved in the incident sailed off into the crowd. What was I going to do? Run up, tap the guy on the shoulder and say, 'I almost shot you, now I'd like to interview you?'

Instead, I filed a report about my probing incident. Basically I was told 'it didn't happen.' Well, it did happen. Probes have been happening ever since. I doubt anybody ever even remotely considered you'd attract the kind of press you did. But you did. That's a good thing."

Now you know. Annie Jacobsen's intuitions about Flight 327 were correct. But you know even more: the official response to 9/11 is all for show - boondoggle and brouhaha and folderol and CYA.

Perhaps we should fly the friendly skies of El Al. They know security; they take it in with their mothers' milk.

[Hoplite]

The word "bojinka" exists as pronounced in Arabic, as "boginka" in Egyptian, but the closest in Serbo-Croat is the Croat "Bochnitsa".

You tell me - why would a word that exists in Arabic need to come from anywhere else?

To play "pin the tail on Bosnia", of course.

[mentor2k]

"Isn't it about time we start attacking whatever mass transportation they have in Iran, Syria etc.? M aybe we can take out some mules." -xxyyxx

errr . . . do you mean camels?

[gaijin]

That "Terror in the Skies" summary is by a woman who was on the plane when those Islamofascists were practicing assembling the bomb in the airplane lavatory.

Sorry, nothing at Amazon gave a good summary of her great book.

The funny thing was that when she (and about a million people on the plane) reported it to the FBI, it was like they kept TELLING her what HER story was, only it was all changed around.

It was like they weren't ASKING her what happened up there, but TELLING her what she should instead THINK about the events.

And she was just flabberghasted and extremely suspicious.

And then they started telling folks she was NUTS.

[P-40]

I also didn't know that they invented the liquid explosives and actually did that test back in 1995.

Project Bojinka was one of the most underreported events of the nineties. We were just a matter of months away from an event that would have rivaled 9/11. When I say that the government is now starting to do what it should have started a decade ago with regards to liquid explosives on airlines, this incident is what I am referring to...as it is exactly the same situation then as now.

[stylin19a]

maybe Annie Jacobsen wasn't as nuts as the Feds made her out to be....

[gaijin]

The explosive was RDX or something, a common explosive that would also have been part of a missile.

So missile, or bomb? No one really knows.

My feeling is it was a missile, since trawlers hired by the FBI to trawl in the combat flight radius described by most MANPADS missiles did find an MANPADS ejector can on the floor of NY harbor.

Oh, and the 100-or so EYEWITNESSES (including an experienced military HELO PILOT...!

[fso301]

I wonder if the FBI looked into a liquid explosive on TWA Flight 800? Maybe this is why there was no explosive residue found.

I don't see where an explosives expert would be much of an expert if they only tested for nitrates.

My inclination has always been that someone on the ground crew planted an incindiary in or on the tank.

[gaijin]

I heard Anne Jacobsen interviewed on the radio. Her experience was really chilling. She couldn't stop talking about it --lots of detail.

To sum it up, people were praying, basically kissing their a$$es goodbye, the larger dudes onboard were fully in conspiratorial, "let's roll" mode, chicks were crying...

Can you imagine?

And partly due to PC considerations, and the fact that the caught dudes hadn't technically DONE anything (other than the small infraction of travelling on FALSE PASSPORTS), they just

LET THEM FRIGGIN GO.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

This is a top-down problem. ... Want to know why? Because in order to actually carry a firearm on board, the firearms training must be done on the pilot's own time and it has to be done in a place far from home, squeezed into his holiday time or vacation.

And flight attendants? Again, they have to arrange self-defense training on their own time, at their own expense and without the cooperation of the airlines themselves. Think of it this way: what if Brink's hired drivers and gave them no training in handling attempted robberies? What if they expected their employees to get training - if any - on their own time and their own dime? How long do you think Brink's would be in business?

Sounds like sour grapes to me. Pilots are supposed to fly an airplanes. Stewards are supposed to serve the customers. Think of it this way. Many Americans out of concern for personal safety study martial arts at their own expense on their own time. Think of it this way Anne, try asking your boss to pay for your training. If he doesn't die laughing, he may kick you out the door. What a ditz Anne Jacobsen.

[lilylangtree]

I was thinking the same thing when I saw 1994. Another bubba clintoon debacle. yet the clintoons want the voting public to put them both back in office. Good God! I pray that the American public won't.

[FairOpinion]

Terror in the Skys Series by Annie Jacobsen

http://www.womenswallstreet.com/series/series.aspx?cid=9


You are referring to the article she wrote, that she turned into a series by adding articles about other strange happenings.

[gaijin]

No, no...the government just wanted to APPEAR in a position as having done something.

The pilots couldn't get the training at the local range, or whatever. It had to be specially licensed for PILOTS.

In all of the US, there was like ONE training center, in the middle of the USA, and it was far, far, from any airport.

It was totally nuts, from what I read about the program. And it was expensive as hell, too.

Basically the Bush admin didn't really even WANT pilots (or a good number of them) to actually be carrying.

[samadams2000]

Are...you ..kidding..me?

[FairOpinion]

I think Mineta's hand was in that.

Mineta also issued orders to screeners to not single out Arabs at airports about two days after 9-11.

[FairOpinion]

I think Mineta's hand was in that.

Mineta also issued orders to screeners to not single out Arabs at airports about two days after 9-11.

[gaijin]

No, no kidding. The course was like $1500 or more, at ONE location, for I don't know how many thousands of pilots scattered all over the country, and there were all kinds of requirements.

And this is for a man who, if he was nuts or whatever, could simply slam the aircraft into the nearest mountain, or whatever, and kill you dead and good that way, of course...

And they'd have to stay overnight there at this Podunk place for like 10 freaking days, and lots of other BS.

[gaijin]

My own sneaking suspicion was that it had something to do with wanting to avoid a highly unsightly demonstration of the INSANITY of gun-control.

Let's say we armed ALL PILOTS overnight, and OVERNIGHT all attempts at hijacking came to a screeching halt.

The natural extension from that evidence is another question:

WHY RESTRICT ANY LAWFUL CITIZEN FROM CARRYING? Or owning...

But that's just my opinion.

[FairOpinion]

October 12, 2001

Carrying Out Transportation Inspection and Safety Responsibilities
In A Nondiscriminatory Manner

http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/rules/20011012.htm

This is a reminder to Department of Transportation (DOT) employees and those carrying out transportation inspection and enforcement responsibilities

Do not subject persons or their property to inspection, search and/or detention solely because they appear to be Arab, Middle Eastern, Asian, and/or Muslim; or solely because they speak Arabic, Farsi, or another foreign language; or solely because they speak with an accent that may lead you to believe they are Arab, Middle Eastern, Asian, and/or Muslim.

Discriminating on the basis of national origin or religion includes discriminating against someone based solely on an appearance or dress that is associated with a particular national origin or religion. For example, selecting a woman for an inspection solely because her hair is covered or she is wearing a veil, as some Muslim women do, is illegal discrimination. Selecting a man for an inspection solely because he is wearing a long beard or hair covering, as some Muslim men do, is unlawful discrimination. Likewise, selecting a man for an inspection solely because he is wearing a turban, as some Sikh men do, is unlawful discrimination.


Be aware of inspection/search practices that might be offensive: during an inspection, asking a woman to remove her veil or hair covering may be offensive and could violate her religious tenets and asking a Sikh man to remove his turban could violate his religious tenets.


=====

Let's search randomly 80 year old GrandMothers instead.... (/sarc) But the above is the actual text -- check the link.

[piasa]

The explosives, which can be hidden in a small bottle, like those used for contact lens solution, are hard to detect, and were originally developed by Yousef, whose uncle, Mohammed, was the chief architect of the 9/11 attacks.

1989 : (PHILIPPINES : YOUSEF SETS UP LINKS BETWEEN AL QAEDA & ABU SAYYAF) Yousef - known as "the chemist" - became crucial to al Qaeda's spread into Asia, setting up links as early as 1989 with Abu Sayyaf extremists in the Philippines. - "Powell's mission: to link Saddam with terror," theage.com.au, February 1 2003 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804523375.html.

SEPTEMBER 1992 : (YOUSEF TRAVELS TO US ON IRAQI VISA UNDER FAKE ID, WAS GRANTED ASSYLUM) In September, 1992, Yousef travelled to the US on an Iraqi visa, and under a false identity. He was granted asylum after claiming to have been beaten by Iraqi soldiers. - "Powell's mission: to link Saddam with terror," theage.com.au, February 1 2003 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804523375.html.

FEBRUARY 26, 1993 : (WTC 1 PLOT : YOUSEF, FORMERLY A COLLABORATOR DURING IRAQ'S OCCUPATION OF KUWAIT, PLANNED WTC1 ATTACK) Ramzi Yousef is serving 240 years in a US prison for masterminding the 1993 attacks. Raised in Kuwait, he is known to have collaborated with Iraq during the occupation of Kuwait. - "Powell's mission: to link Saddam with terror," theage.com.au, February 1 2003 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804523375.html.

MARCH 1993 ?: (YOUSEF FLEES THE US ; HIDES IN THE PHILIPPINES, PLANS OPERATION BOJINKA) Six months later [after he arrived in the US in Sept 1992], Yousef fled, having constructed the truck bomb that fellow Islamic extremists drove into the basement of the trade centre. While in hiding in Manila, [Yousef] then drew up plans to bomb 11 American passenger airliners over the Pacific. - "Powell's mission: to link Saddam with terror," theage.com.au, February 1 2003 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804523375.html.

1995 : (WTC PLOTTER YOUSEF ARRESTED IN PAKISTAN NEAR IRAQI EMBASSY AND IS HANDED OVER TO US) The Bojinka plot misfired, and in 1995 he [Yousef] was arrested in Islamabad, near the Iraqi embassy, and handed over to the US. - "Powell's mission: to link Saddam with terror," theage.com.au, February 1 2003 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804523375.html.

1995 : (PHILIPPINES ARRESTS 9 ABU SAYYAF MEMBERS UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF KSM : 6 WERE IRAQI AGENTS) When police in the Philippines arrested nine members of Abu Sayyaf in 1995, they identified six of the nine as Iraqi agents. They believed this cell had operated under instructions from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, one of bin Laden's senior lieutenants. - "Powell's mission: to link Saddam with terror," theage.com.au, February 1 2003 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804523375.html.

OCTOBER 2002 : (THE PHILIPPINES : ZAMBOANGA BOMBING KILLS AMERICAN GREEN BERET; See ABU SAYYAF & IRAQI DIPLOMATS) ...“The intelligence report on the links of the Abu Sayyaf and the second secretary of the Iraq Embassy in the Philippines came about when NICA traced cell-phone directories that [established the] link between the Iraqi second secretary and the Abu Sayyaf group that engineered the bombing in the area of Malagutay in Zamboanga City,” said Ople. He explained that an Abu Sayyaf member made the call to Hussain right after the bombing in Zamboanga City, which occurred in October last year [2002]. “The intelligence reports are very detailed [but] I’m not allowed to disclose the details because it will compromise the assets of the intelligence community,” said Ople, stressing, “These allegations are serious and I have to ask the Iraqi chargé d’affaires about it.” Ople also told Bolus that the military and the police will continue to monitor the activities of Iraqi Embassy officials in the Philippines. ------ " Iraqi diplomat linked to Philippine bombing," By ESTRELLA TORRES, TODAY Reporter , Japan Today , 2/11/03

... reminder from the top of the post again:

1989 : (PHILIPPINES : YOUSEF SETS UP LINKS BETWEEN AL QAEDA & ABU SAYYAF) Yousef - known as "the chemist" - became crucial to al Qaeda's spread into Asia, setting up links as early as 1989 with Abu Sayyaf extremists in the Philippines. - "Powell's mission: to link Saddam with terror," theage.com.au, February 1 2003 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804523375.html.

Burma Shave

[samadams2000]

There's gonna be a scrotum check at the airports soon if we dont muscle up and and eliminate these koranimals.

[Eagles6]

http://www.nationalreview.com/email_friend/email-friend.p

[Korvac]

The 9/11 cell was carried out by terrorist veterans of the Bosnian Muslim jihad army. Freepers long exposed (even pre 9/11) the links to al-Qaeda with the Bosnian and Kosovo Muslims. In Croatian, "bocnica" translates into English as "boom".

[Eagles6]

OOPS! Can Admin Moderator remove my last post?
This is more better!
http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200312150842.asp

[FairOpinion]

Thanks for posting the link to this revealing info!


December 15, 2003, 8:42 a.m.
On the Interrogation List
How did Saddam help 9/11 happen?

http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200312150842.asp



Very interesting!


"Also, Indiana-born, Iraqi-reared terrorist Abdul Rahman Yasin was indicted for mixing the chemicals in the bomb that exploded beneath One World Trade Center, killing six and injuring some 1,000 New Yorkers. Indicted by U.S. prosecutors in August 1993 as a conspirator in that plot, Yasin is on the FBI's Most-Wanted Terrorists list. ABC News confirmed on July 27, 1994, that Yasin had returned to Baghdad, where he traveled freely and visited his father's home almost daily. Richard Miniter reported September 25 on TechCentralStation: "U.S. forces recently discovered a cache of documents in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, which shows Iraq gave Mr. Yasin both a house and a monthly salary."

[FairOpinion]

Thanks for the timeline!