Al-Qaeda blueprint exposed (Found out before they got us!)

The Mercury ^ | December 29, 2003 | Ben English, Ian Gallagher and Jef Sommerfield

[EsclavoDeCristo]

Al-Qaeda blueprint exposed By Ben English, Ian Gallagher and Jef Sommerfield 29dec03

AL-QAEDA has turned its terror sights to the sea, targeting luxury cruise liners in an expansion of its "jihad" against the West.

Owners of the recently launched $1.3 billion Queen Mary 2 yesterday confirmed threats of terror hang over its maiden voyage early next year. The Osama bin-Laden terrorist group is also adopting new tactics to destroy commercial aircraft.

British MP Patrick Mercer has revealed Saudi authorities arrested two Islamic suicide pilots. He said the pilots were preparing to crash two light aircraft into a packed British Airways passenger jet while it was still on the tarmac at the airport in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Both light planes had been crammed with explosives. And Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he had received reliable intelligence of a Christmas Day plan to assassinate the Pope and destroy the Vatican by flying a hijacked plane into it.

News of the terror plots emerged after US authorities upgraded their national terror alert status before Christmas.

US intelligence officials also found evidence Al-Qaeda was planning to attack the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal as it passed through the Gibraltar Straits en route to the Gulf War earlier this year.

Plans for the attack emerged after a US spy plane discovered scores of acoustic sea-mines had disappeared from a naval base in North Korea.

US intelligence services believe the mines could be aboard 28 "terror ships" Osama bin Laden has assembled in the past year. The capture of Al-Qaeda's chief of naval operations, Ahmad Belai al-Neshari, has helped to reveal the extent of the organisation's maritime ambitions.

Al-Neshari was found carrying a 180-page dossier that listed "targets of opportunity". These included large cruise liners sailing from Western ports.

Anti-terrorism expert and former Sydney Olympics security chief Neil Fergus said yesterday that he was not convinced Al-Qaeda could launch sea attacks.

"I don't know where Al-Qaeda would have got the armada. The Tamil Tigers (separatist fighters in Sri Lanka) have a fleet of about a dozen ships but they are in an island enclave and that was a difficult exercise," Mr Fergus said.

"I also don't think anyone would have a clue about sea mines from North Korea regardless of U2 flights or satellites."

An Australian aviation industry official said stealing a light aircraft was "as easy as stealing a car if you know what you are doing".

In Australia there have been two recent examples of light planes being stolen – one at Parafield in Adelaide and one in Alice Springs. A light plane was also hijacked in central Queensland.

However the official said it would be "extra-ordinarily difficult" for a light plane to crash into a large passenger plane due to collision avoidance systems in larger airliners.

A P&O spokesman last night said exactly the same standard of security for the airline industry was applied for cruise ships.

privacy © Davies Bros

[EsclavoDeCristo]

"I also don't think anyone would have a clue about sea mines from North Korea regardless of U2 flights or satellites."

Who do we believe, Mr. Fergus or U.S. intelligence services?

[BlackbirdSST]

Who do we believe, Mr. Fergus or U.S. intelligence services?

hehe! You said U.S. Intelligence. Blackbird.

[thoughtomator]

The Tamil Tigers wouldn't assist AQ. They are Hindu and Christian, exactly the kind of folks AQ wants dead.

[Pearls Before Swine]

However the official said it would be "extra-ordinarily difficult" for a light plane to crash into a large passenger plane due to collision avoidance systems in larger airliners.

Do these collision avoidance systems work when the airliner is taxiing on the runway? I didn't think so.

Can't these journalists think a little before they dribble out inane feel good (or bad) pronouncements?

[ASA Vet]

Seems Mr. Fergus thinks the U-2 (TR-1) is our only airborne intel asset.
He likely also believes you guys only took pictures.

[Redcloak]

Also, the collision avoidence systems he's talking about assume that neither pilot involved wants a collision!

[smith288]

They work while taxiing... Itll beep all day instructing Mr Pilot that an insane islamunist is heading directly at them with no intention to stop...

They are force fields.... "Journalists" are morons.

[HiJinx]

He likely also believes you guys only took pictures.

Might as well take it one further. Mr. Fergus may also believe it was an airborne/aerial asset...

[I_love_weather]

Why isn't the US talking about this?


If I am reading this article correctly it sounds like they arrested the terrorists? The planes were already loaded with explosives?

[diamondjoe]

Plans for the attack emerged after a US spy plane discovered scores of acoustic sea-mines had disappeared from a naval base in North Korea.

I'm no expert, but isn't it just as likely that the mines were just moved somewhere else?

[tgbluesky]

What kind of "armada" do they think is necessary to achieve some kind of damage to a naval vessel? Wasn't the attack on the USS Cole done with an inflatable boat loaded with explosives? That proves it doesn't take much in the way of equipment, just killers looking for any opportunity.

[HiJinx]

You read right. Why isn't the US talking about it?

Don't know, but here's some speculation. We don't talk about what we know from the intel community. Jimmy Carter did it with satellite imagery once, and the community has never forgiven him for it.

We do share some things with our foreign allies. Although we expect them to be circumspect in their use of US Intelligence reports, we cannot force them to be so. It's quite possible somebody felt the need for average citizens to know what we had stopped outweighed the need to keep the intel sources secret.

Mind you, this is merely speculation on my part and in no way is it to be construed as an official position...

[Fester Chugabrew]

. . . acoustic sea-mines . . .

The kind that make noise?

[HiJinx]

Yes, it's just as likely...unless a US Navy P-3 Orion discovered those mines in the Straits of Gibraltar.

Again, just my opinion. But confirmation is generally key to releasing intel.

[HiJinx]

No, the kind that are triggered by noise.

Supports the P-3 speculation...they use sonobouys that make noise. I don't know if they make enough to detonate the mines, though...

[Florida_Freeper]

no silly..the kind with a hole in the middle and make a nice sound when you strum them.

[bvw]

You don't know what a bond one murderer comes to share with another, no matter what "religious" convection they hast. It's a club. A "Catholic" hard IRA man or two has appeared beside Muslim terrs at places throughout the world, in active and support roles.

Even with Kennedy, do you think it was all protestants and atheists that allied to shoot him? I do not. I'd guess a few Catholics in the bigger conspiracy to kill one of their own.

[in the Arena]

However the official said it would be "extra-ordinarily difficult" for a light plane to crash into a large passenger plane due to collision avoidance systems in larger airliners.

You've got a good point. It would not be difficult for a more agile 'light plane' to target a passenger jet.

The collision avoidance systems (TCAS) issues Traffic Advisories (TA) and Resolution Advisories (RA) to the pilot. The TA is a warning to the pilot and the RA is recommended pilot action...this all is dependent on the fact that both aircraft need to have their Transponders turned on and working and the pilots have to take action.

The TCAS provides safety information for the pilot, it will not prevent a collision if pilot action is not taken and it will not prevent a collision if another aircraft is 'purpose' flown into it.

[Fester Chugabrew]

O, I see. Those "kinder, gentler" sea mines.

[ikka]

He said the pilots were preparing to crash two light aircraft into a packed British Airways passenger jet while it was still on the tarmac at the airport in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Both light planes had been crammed with explosives.

Not trying to toot my own horn, but I did predict almost exactly this scenario, though I assumed they would aim at the fuel tanks (some airports store up to a million gallons of jet fuel near the hangars). Thank goodness that they caught it in time.