Posted on 05/20/2002 10:34:49 AM PDT by Dog Gone
ALEXANDRIA, VA. (AP) -- Walk-in suicide bombers like those who have attacked public places in Israel will hit the United States eventually, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Monday.
``I think we will see that in the future, I think it's inevitable,'' Mueller said in response to a question during a speech to the National Association of District Attorneys meeting in suburban Alexandria, Va.
Mueller said the degree of fanaticism an informant must exhibit to get into the inner circle of a terrorist group makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to penetrate such organizations and prevent such attacks.
``I wish I could be more optimistic,'' he said.
Mueller's prediction follows Vice President Dick Cheney's warning Sunday that because no specific information is available, the United States is finding it difficult to respond to the latest intelligence hints that al-Qaida may be planning another attack.
Mueller said law enforcement has been somewhat successful in combating acts of terrorism in Northern Ireland by developing sources who could provide information about terrorist plans and by using electronic surveillance.
But he said the difficulty of getting informants inside terrorist groups targeting the United States makes it much harder to obtain advance information.
Cheney said Sunday he sees ``a real possibility'' that walk-in suicide bombers may hit the United States if those who have attacked Israel succeed in changing the situation in the Middle East.
``Terrorism is an evil, pernicious thing, and it is one of the biggest challenges we've ever faced as a nation,'' Cheney said.
At the prosecutors meeting, Mueller said the FBI now believes that ``an al-Qaida bomb maker'' constructed the shoe bomb that Richard Reid had when he was apprehended aboard a flight from Paris to the United States in December.
Mueller made the comment in describing how the FBI is increasing its recruitment of scientific experts to help in terrorism investigations and is ``centralizing analytical capability'' to coordinate evidence gathering.
Mueller also said the arrest of Abu Zubaydah, a top al-Qaida operative, during raids in Pakistan in March was the result of a joint FBI-CIA operation. He cited the raids as an example of how the traditional wall between the FBI and the CIA is coming down as the two agencies battle terrorism.
It's only inevitable if we let them come here and pussy foot with those already here.
George!! Colin!! You listenin' here ??
Again more muddled thinking. Don't infiltrate them. Deport them! Drain the swamp instead of swatting at mosquitos.
A pasty white high school kid who didn't speak arabic or have any islamic background accomplished what your agents cannot. Learn from this.
So are mass deportations and internment camps.
I think there's a little more to it. The FBI is merely stating the obvious.
The 9/11 hijackers were suicide bombers. Richard Reid was a suicide bomber. It's certainly not a stretch to suggest that more will follow.
That's not to say that we're likely to see a suicide bomber blow himself up in a K-Mart, but I could see someone hijacking a CNG tanker and crashing it into a facility, or a suicide carrier of a bio-weapon attempting to infect as many people as possible.
I don't think we can continue to support this current form of government, the way things are being run. While Mueller says there's nothing he can do, I wonder how many leads the FBI has gotten today that they will choose to ignore. The person who carries out the next suicide attack in America will not be unknown to the FBI. Most of the potential suicide bombers in databases and are are even on wanted lists, and the FBI just doesn't care to track them down.
But that's not how it will happen. We have to connect the right dots and be careful. The explosive belt- style bomber was developed in Israel because the sight of someone infiltrating Israel carrying a gun would attract attention.
So what will they do? Look at the attack on the Parliment bldg. in India. Look at the ending of the movie The Matrix. Terrorist get their ideas from movies. The suicide attack will be a squad of 6 terrorists armed with military style weapons. It will occur in a city where people are guaranteed to be unarmed.
Just another in a long list of reasons for me to thank God that I live in Texas.
Way past time
How many have to die first?
A whole bunch of people. Tragic, that it'll take that sort of thing to bring people to their senses.
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