Jordan 'was chemical bomb target' (WMDs al-Qaeda)

BBC ^ | Saturday, 17 April, 2004, 16:40 GMT 17:40 UK | Staff

[Anti-Bubba182]

Jordan 'was chemical bomb target'

Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists planned a chemical attack on Jordan's spy headquarters that could have killed 20,000 people, officials have said.

Earlier this week King Abdullah said a massive attack had been thwarted by a series of arrests, but named no target.

Now unnamed officials say the suspects have confessed to plotting to detonate a chemical bomb on the Amman HQ of the Intelligence Services.

The plot was reportedly hatched by al-Qaeda suspect Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi.

Washington has accused the 38-year-old Jordanian radical of masterminding a string of spectacular suicide bombings in Iraq.

'Deadly gas'

An official involved in the inquiry in Jordan told AFP news agency: "We found primary materials to make a chemical bomb which, if it had exploded, would have made nearly 20,000 deaths ... in an area of one square kilometre.

"The target of this bomb was the headquarters of the Intelligence Services," situated on a hill in the western suburb of Amman, he added.

The official said another operation planned by the network was to use "deadly gas against the US embassy and the prime minister's office in Amman ... and other public buildings in Jordan".

'Divine protection'

On Tuesday, in a letter thanking his intelligence chief for uncovering the plot, King Abdullah said Jordan had "lived through an extremely delicate situation in recent days".

"But divine protection has thwarted the plans of these criminals and saved the lives of thousands of civilians in what would have been a crime never before seen in the kingdom," he argued.

The intelligence chief General Saad Khair said the group used religion as a pretext for its actions, but their plans were anything but religious.

He thought that they wanted to attack Jordan's position on upholding Arab causes, especially Palestinian rights. He said mop-up operations were continuing.

Two weeks ago the authorities in Jordan said they had found cars carrying explosives by an underground group planning to attack US interests in the kingdom.

[Anti-Bubba182]

See also:

King Abdullah: Al Qaeda WMDs Came From Syria

This is huge,if true, about the "chemical bomb" or WMD device. The story is percolating through the net and there has been mention of a Syrian connection. I haven't seen reports of this on TV News yet.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

King Abdullah: Al Qaeda WMDs Came From Syria

Courtesy of Saddam I bet.

[DannyTN]

"...the group used religion as a pretext for its actions, but their plans were anything but religious. He thought that they wanted to attack Jordan's position on upholding Arab causes, especially Palestinian rights. He said mop-up operations were continuing. "

I don't understand the angle here. They were attacking Jordan because Jordan supports Palestinian causes??? That doesn't make sense. Unless they were going to blame it on the Jews.

[Inyokern]

the suspects have confessed

Jordan is very successful at pursuading suspects to confess. I wonder how they do it.

[Inyokern]

I haven't seen reports of this on TV News yet.

Gee, I wonder why.

[Anti-Bubba182]

"I don't understand the angle here. They were attacking Jordan because Jordan supports Palestinian causes??? That doesn't make sense. Unless they were going to blame it on the Jews."

The angle is that Jordan was too friendly to the US. The Palestinian faction and their Al-Qaeda allies have long wanted to take control in Jordan.

[Anti-Bubba182]

If WMDS(chemical weapons) were involved there really is no other likely place than Syria to provide them.

[jwfiv]

They attack Jordan to destabilize it with hope and intention of transforming it into an Islamokazi state ... which is why they also attack the Saudis.

[FairOpinion]

"King Abdullah: Al Qaeda WMDs Came From Syria

Courtesy of Saddam I bet."

===

Exactly.

Any sane person of any political persuasion should ask themselves whether they will feel safer with Bush or Kerry at the helm of our nation during these perilous times.

[camas]

i don't think jordan likes the palestinians. i once had a captain from their intell outfit tell me "if you lock 2 lifelong palestinian friends in a room that within 1 hour they will be trying to kill each other" pales are a pain in everones back side.

[FairOpinion]

"Jordan is very successful at pursuading suspects to confess. I wonder how they do it."

==
Clue #1:

Well, the don't have ACLU and the Democrat party looking out for the terrorists' interests!

[Shermy]

Isn't it true that the first WTC bombers added certain chemicals to their mix make their work a chemical bomb too - but that part failed?

[Inyokern]

I don't understand the angle here. They were attacking Jordan because Jordan supports Palestinian causes???

The Palestinians HATE the Hashemite government of Jordan. They assassinated Abdullah's great-grandfather (also named Abdullah) and they made numerous attempts on the life of Abdullah's father, King Hussein. King Hussein killed more Palestinian radicals than the Israelis ever have.

[Anti-Bubba182]

I think that could well be the case.

The main thing here is that Al Qaeda used WMDs and they probably came from Syria, which may very well have got them from Iraq.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I've heard that before and I don't know how true it is.

[DonaldDuke]

This is huge,if true, about the "chemical bomb" or WMD device

Well, now we know where another bit of Saddam's stuff went. We already know that all his botulinum toxin were hidden in John Kerry's forehead.

[metalcor]

"He said mop-up operations were continuing."

I hope he is talking about the interrogation room. They are likely collecting the final thoughts of the prisoners with a squeegee.

[Inyokern]

Isn't it true that the first WTC bombers added certain chemicals to their mix make their work a chemical bomb too - but that part failed?

Well, if they had, Clinton would have surely gone after them, right? According to Richard Clarke, Clinton made terrorism a top priority.

I am sure he would have sent Jamie Gorelick out there to personally find those chemical weapons.

[reed_inthe_wind]

Sounds like BS. Jordan is pointing the finger at Syria, because they fear being inplicated in any future WMD fiasco.

[Shermy]

This Salon article says the poison story in the WTC bomb was an unfounded rumor:

The billion-dollar rumor

[TexKat]

Prayers for our troops in Iraq. There were also 2 to 3 trucks and drivers still missing when these others were foiled. Also Sadr's followeres have been passing out leaflets in Iraq informing Iraqis to stay off the roads between now and April 23.

[Anti-Bubba182]

LOL.

So far, we don't know if the chemical weapons came from Iraqi supplies or from those of the Syrians. The former is more likely because if it is possible to distingush one formulation from another and determine the origin of manufacture, the presence of Syrian material is an act of War against Jordan.

I am sure that the Syrians are indifferent to that as an actual fact, but would rather not have to explain themselves. On the other hand, if the stuff is all the same and you can't tell from the composition where it was made, the point is moot.

[Anti-Bubba182]

That has nothing to do with this story.

[Anti-Bubba182]

I don't agree, there is too much chance a false story on something like this would blow up in their faces.

[steveegg]

They attack Jordan to destabilize it with hope and intention of transforming it into an Islamokazi state ... which is why they also attack the Saudis.

Unless there's been items in Saudi Arabia I missed, the only al-Qaida attacks have been against Western interests (kind of shoots holes in the original claim that they're against the House of Saud).

[steveegg]

Why do I get the feeling that the stash found by Jordan originated due east of their country (i.e. Iraq)?

[Dog]

We need to find Zarqawi.......soon.......he is trying for the mega-terror attack....and sadly it will be only a matter of time before he succeeds.

[Fedora]

Isn't it true that the first WTC bombers added certain chemicals to their mix make their work a chemical bomb too - but that part failed?

Yes--got a link on that somewhere as I was just reading about that a few days ago, I'm about to head out but I'll post it when I get back, if someone else hasn't done so by then.

[Dog]

Remember how our country reeled in the days after 9/11.....three thousand dead.....imagine a smaller country like Jordan have 20,000 dead.

[Syncro]

If WMDS(chemical weapons) were involved there really is no other likely place than Syria to provide them.

Correct.

If Saddam could send several Semi's loaded with $100 bills to Syria with out being seen before we came into Iraq, he for sure was for months sending his WMD's to Syria and other Arabic Nations.
(you know the ones Iraq didn't have...)

Arafat destroyed his welcome in Jordan as described in a post above.

The "Palestinians" are just pawns to the rest of the Arab Muslim world.

They are just supporting them to help them destroy Israel...They are the redheaded stepchildren of the Arabs.

If not, well history shows that if there is really a "Palestine" it is mostly Jordan.

Dern those pesky Israelis...trying to take over the whole ME:

[Gothmog]

al qaeda cowards using WMD from a state sponsor to launch and attack against their enemies? That would never happen.

[steveegg]

Remember how our country reeled in the days after 9/11.....three thousand dead.....imagine a smaller country like Jordan have 20,000 dead.

That would make even the terror attacks against Israel pale in comparison.

[Ophiucus]

I don't understand the angle here. They were attacking Jordan because Jordan supports Palestinian causes??? That doesn't make sense. Unless they were going to blame it on the Jews.

Publicly, the Jordanian government will make the occasional conciliatory statement to the "Palestinians." In reality, they are harsher to the "Palestinian" refugees than what Israel is accused of doing. Also, the Jordanian intelligence community has been very helpful and productive in the anti-terror efforts.

[Anti-Bubba182]

When I posted this story, the oldest one I found on the net
on this was 3hrs old. It may yet get to TV.

[TexKat]

April 13, 2004 Jordan's King: ''Unprecedented'' attack thwarted in kingdom

April 14, 2004 King Abdullah: we foiled unprecedented terrorist plan, Jordan would have never witnessed

[Ophiucus]

Jordan is very successful at pursuading suspects to confess. I wonder how they do it.

Torture is not always a bad thing. Some scum need to be convinced to talk in a manner that they understand.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Hmmm, I was looking at Google news. That's too bad. If the story is that old it should have been on TV, if it was going to. I am suprised Fox didn't jump on this one.

[okie01]

"Isn't it true that the first WTC bombers added certain chemicals to their mix make their work a chemical bomb too - but that part failed?"

Correct. The first WTC bomb included a significant amount of cyanide, I believe it was.

However, the heat of the explosion consumed the cyanide, rendering this feature harmless.

Surely, the terrorists were aware of this failure and had taken steps to correct it -- either a different chemical or some kind of dispersal system. It would be worth knowing what, exactly.

[TexKat]

Something to pay close attention to:

Anti-U.S. insurgents disrupt Iraq road network

BAGHDAD, April 17 (Reuters) - Insurgents blew up bridges over a main highway from Baghdad to southern Iraq, further disrupting the country's battered transport system, witnesses said on Saturday.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Also: This is the search I was looking at.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Al Qaeda warning by king of Jordan Abdullah says his forces thwarted major bomb plot

"..The monarch said his security services had followed the trail of the suspects and captured five trucks packed with 17.5 tons of high explosives, which apparently were intended for an attack on the Jordanian prime minister's office and the intelligence ministry. "It was a major, major operation," Abdullah said. "It would have decapitated the government." Casualties would have been "in the thousands," he added. "It couldn't have been more sinister." Abdullah said European anti-terrorism experts were aiding the Jordanian police investigation, but details were still sketchy -- including a solid identification of the type of explosive the suspects were carrying.

He said that although the trucks had come from Syria, "I'm completely confident that Bashir did not know about it," he said, referring to Syrian President Bashir Assad, whom U.S. officials have accused of allowing terrorist groups to use his country's territory. .."

Rats, sketchy details! Probably another snipe hunt on WMDs, unless the "European anti-terrorism experts" find something..like their butts with both hands!

[TexKat]

King Abdullah: Al Qaeda WMDs Came From Syria

Jordan's King Abdullah revealed on Saturday that vehicles reportedly containing chemical weapons and poison gas that were part of a deadly al Qaeda bomb plot came from Syria, the country named by U.S. weapons inspector David Kay last year as a likely repository for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

"It was a major, major operation. It would have decapitated the government," King Abdullah told the San Francisco Chronicle. Jordanian officials estimated that the death count could have been as high as 20,000 - seven times greater than the Sept. 11 attacks.

Abdullah said that trucks containing 17.5 tons of explosives had come from Syria, though he took pains not to implicate Syrian President Bashir Assad in the al Qaeda plot, saying, "I'm completely confident that Bashir did not know about it."

In his testimony before Congress last year, Mr. Kay said U.S. satellite surveillance showed substantial vehicular traffic going from Iraq to Syria just prior to the U.S.attack on March 19, 2003 attack.

While Kay said investigators couldn't be sure the cargo contained weapons of mass destruction, one of his top advisors described the evidence as "unquestionable."

"People below the Saddam-Hussein-and-his-sons level saw what was coming and decided the best thing to do was to destroy and disperse," said James Clapper, in comments reported by the New York Times on Oct. 29. Clapper heads up the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.

Israeli intelligence has long believed that after the U.S. delayed invasion plans to allow U.N. weapons inspectors time to search for Iraq's WMDs, Saddam moved the banned weapons to Syria, the only other country where the Ba'ath Party ruled.

On April 1, Jordanian officials announced the arrest of several terrorist suspects, saying they were still hunting for two cars filled with explosives.

Five days later, the State Department revealed the attackers were linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-based terrorist considered to be one of al Qaeda's most dangerous. One of Zarqawi's targets was the U.S. embassy in Amman.

By Saturday morning European news services were quoting an unnamed Jordanian official who revealed that the al Qaeda plotters planned to use weapons of mass destruction in the foiled attack.

"We found primary materials to make a chemical bomb which, if it had exploded, would have made nearly 20,000 deaths ... in an area of one square kilometre," the official told Agence France Press.

Another operation planned by the network was to use "deadly gas against the US embassy and the prime minister's office in Amman," he added.

A car belonging to the al Qaeda plotters, containing a chemical bomb and poisonous gas, was intercepted just 75 miles from the Syrian border.

[okie01]

Salon article says the poison story in the WTC bomb was an unfounded rumor

Perhaps, so. But we also know that al-Qaeda and its terror cells have had an extraordinary and continuing interest in cyanide. However, in reading the Salon article, I came across this passage -- opening up another line of questioning.

The Nunn-Lugar bill, which included $235 million for training local "first responders" to a chemical or biological attack, passed 100-0. But that was merely the gateway to a mushrooming federal anti-terrorism crusade that now costs upwards of $1 billion a year -- and perhaps twice that, according to some experts -- and that last week led to the creation of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which will "spend hundreds of millions of dollars in research for better sensors and technology to detect biological and chemical weapons," according to the Associated Press.

Did not Jamie Gorelick chair the Defense Threat Reduction Agency? So, Salon's "unfounded rumor" was responsible for creating yet another Jamie Gorelick entree to counter-terrorism.

Ms. Gorelick seems to have served as a one-woman "first line of defense". Whether for the U.S. or the Clinton administration is yet to be determined...

[Anti-Bubba182]

I saw that earlier from World Net Daily. The BBC article of this thread says:

"..the suspects have confessed to plotting to detonate a chemical bomb.."

The SF Chronicle excerpt in my post 41, doesn't mention the confession. Of course, it is a different source, the King may not have know about this at the time.

[Fedora]

Here's where I was reading about that the other day:

Solomon Bell, QUAGMIRE OF SPIN: SADDAM’S LINKS TO AL QAEDA

We know that Ramzi Yousef, the convicted bombmaker in the plot, was known by his fellow conspirators as “Rashid the Iraqi”. We know that the other known bombmaker, Abdul Rachman Yasin, was an Iraqi living in Baghdad just before the bombing and that he was harbored back in Iraq soon afterwards. We know that Yasin is an expert in a notorious Iraqi specialty—souping up the post-blast killing power of bombs by lacing them with hydrogen-cyanide gas—which is exactly what he did with the Trade Center bomb. Only a miscalculation in the force of the blast, which resulted in most of the gas being incinerated upon detonation, saved untold lives when smoke filled the tower.

I'm not sure of the reliability of that source as I'm not too familiar with the site, so here's a couple other references:

World Trade Center bombing

The bomb: Yousef's complex 600 kilogram bomb was made of urea pellets, nitroglycerin, sulfuric acid, aluminum azide, magnesium azide, and bottled hydrogen. He added sodium cyanide to the mix as the vapors could go through the ventilation shafts and elevators of the towers. The van that Yousef used had four 6 m (20 ft) long fuses, all covered in surgical tubing. Yousef calculated that the fuse would trigger the bomb in twelve minutes after he would use a cheap cigarette lighter to light the fuse. He wanted to prevent smoke from escaping the towers, therefore, catching the public eye by poisoning people inside. He foresaw Tower One collapsing onto Tower Two after the blast would occur.

Dave Williams, "The Bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City", International Criminal Police Review, No 469-471 (1998)

The main explosive charge consisted primarily of approximately 1,200 to 1,500 pounds of a home-made fertilizer-based explosive, urea nitrate. . .through toll records and receipts, a safe house or bomb factory was located on Pamrappo Avenue, in Jersey City. A search of this bomb factory revealed that acids and other chemicals had been used at that apartment to manufacture explosives. Traces of nitro-glycerine and urea nitrate were found on the carpet and embedded in the ceiling. It appeared that a chemical reaction involving acid had occurred in the apartment. At the same time, telephone toll records from Salameh and Ayyad showed that calls had been made to a self-storage center not too far from the bomb factory. . .During the search of the storage room rented by Salameh, many chemicals and items of laboratory equipment were located. Among the items seized was 300 pounds of urea, 250 pounds of sulfuric acid, numerous one-gallon containers, both empty and containing nitric acid and sodium cyanide, two 50-foot lengths of hobby fuse, a blue plastic trash can, and a bilge pump. While examining the trash can and bilge pump, a white crystalline substance was found. A chemical analysis identified urea nitrate. While inventorying the materials in the storage center, six 2-quart bottles of brown liquid were discovered. The liquid was identified as home-made nitro-glycerine, very unstable in the condition in which it was found.

BTW, while I was searching for that first link, I found this article I'd forgotten about:

Cyanide Salt Block Found in Iraq

[Arkinsaw]

This is huge,if true,

It's true, you can bet the BBC would not have reported such a thing unless they had to.

[PokeyJoe]

Jordan is very successful at pursuading suspects to confess. I wonder how they do it.

They make the bad guys put their hand on the Koran, because everybody knows that they belong to the religion of piece.

errr... sorry. peace.

[RandallFlagg]

AHEM!

[expatpat]

I wonder if this is the "black wind" they've been ranting on about for the US.

[Celtic Conservative]

i don't think jordan likes the palestinians. i once had a captain from their intell outfit tell me "if you lock 2 lifelong palestinian friends in a room that within 1 hour they will be trying to kill each other" pales are a pain in everones back side

If I recall, didn't a group of pali refugees try overthrowing the Jordanian monarchy in the 1970's? I seem to recall that the jordanians killed palis in the thousands, and have had no love lost between them since. freepers help me out if i'm wrong on this.

CC