Top terrorist figures met in South America to plan new attacks on U.S. targets.

http://www.cnn.com ^ | 11/7/2002 | CNN.com

[caa26]

Top terrorist figures met in South America to plan new attacks on U.S. targets, intelligence sources tell CNN. Details soon.

[caa26]

Just a banner right on CNN.com homepage. Waiting for details...

[cmsgop]

Thats a little close to home. Was Lula there ?

[caa26]

I'm curious to know what country. Also if there are Muslim terrorists operating in South America, it would be very easy to enter the USA through Mexico.

[Mitchell]

I haven't seen anything but the headline yet, but there's a wild area around where Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina meet that is said to be out of the easy reach of the governments and is used by both terrorists and drug dealers for meetings. It wouldn't surprise me if training and other preparation occurred there too.

[twigs]

If we know about this meeting, can't we do something about the terrorists meeting there?

[backhoe]

-The Fire Down South...( Latin America--)--

The Web of Terror

Castro, the Carribean, and Terrorism

Jihad! Across the World....

[colorado tanker]

True, although I'm thinking rebel held areas of Colombia. The rebels there are also active in the drugs for arms trade.

[Cindy]

CNN.com: "SOUTH AMERICA'S 'TRI-BORDER' BACK ON TERRORISM RADAR" (110702)
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/americas/11/07/terror.triborder/index.html

[js1138]

We need to be reminded that a large number of Central and South American countries were Nazi allies in WWII, as were the arabs. They share the Nazi tolitarian political ideology and anti-semitism. Still do.

[js1138]

Columbia is full of "former" German Nazis and their offspring. I went to high school with some of their kids.

[kinghorse]

Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina have Pro-Al Qaeda youths. This is my belief. I see kids on brazilian servers (gaming) and they use terrorist names and say ugly things when you point out your American and don't appreciate it. They hate the USA because they can't live here. Same old same old.

[Angelus Errare]

The "triple border" area in South America is a nest for Hezbollah, which has carried out two major attacks against Israeli targets in Argentina. Hezbollah answers directly to Iran, and we know that the Iranian government (their liberal apologists to the contrary) is harboring a large number of a top al-Qaeda, including Saif al-Adel, the group's top military commander.

Also, Abu Musab Zarqawi (Abu Zubaydah's successor as global operations chief) was supposedly in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley (Hezbollah's HQ) after leaving Baghdad (he was checking on the progress of al-Qaeda's apparent WMD program in Iraq) in August. He may have headed to South America after that to meet with other members of the group from Europe, Africa, and North America.

If this is true, it's pretty interesting information.

[caa26]

Then let Brazil bail itself out of their economic sinkhole. No IMF funds for them. But I'll take their women...

[cmsgop]

No wonder all of the Hot Brazilian Ladies want out of there.....

[Bobby777]

if there are Muslim terrorists operating in South America, it would be very easy to enter the USA through Mexico.

nah, the Mexican border's not a problem ... [/sarcasm] .... National Guard troops in the Southwest should be stationed 25 feet apart on rotating shifts 24 hours per day along that border ... Humvee's with .50 calibers, motorcycles and dune buggies ... now Canada, well might have to use thermal / motion detection along those (more thermal detectors because there are some portables they carry) ...

[colorado tanker]

"Columbia is full of "former" German Nazis and their offspring" Lovely.

[Publius Maximus]

Looks like time for a little

STRATEGERIE

followed by some serious

PRE-EMPTION

As in, "Call in the Drone and drop a little Hellfire whoop-ass on the crazies."

Or do we need Kofi's OK first?

[Angelus Errare]

South America's 'tri-border' back on terrorism radar
From Mike Boettcher
CNN
Thursday, November 7, 2002 Posted: 4:28 PM EST (2128 GMT)

The tri-border region's Cuidad del Este, Paraguay, is seen from across the Rio Parana.

CNN's Mike Boettcher reports on what sources say was a meeting of terrorist operatives in a remote jungle area of South America -- and why antiterrorist experts are taking another look at activities there. Watch "Wolf Blitzer Reports" at 5 p.m. EST Thursday.

CIUDAD DEL ESTE, Paraguay (CNN) -- The area of South America known as the tri-border region, which drew the attention of antiterrorism experts after September 11, has again become a point of concern.

CNN has learned from coalition intelligence sources that several top terrorist operatives met recently in the area -- where the borders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay intersect -- to plan attacks against U.S. and Israeli targets in the Western hemisphere.

Sources said the meetings, which took place in and around Ciudad del Este, were attended by representatives of Hezbollah and other groups sympathetic to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network.

Two weeks ago, Argentina's security agencies issued a strong terrorist warning.

"We had intelligence that pointed to increased terrorist activity," said Miguel Toma, who runs SIDE, the Argentine equivalent of the U.S. CIA. "It is not unrealistic that there could be some action to prevent or to react to an attack on Iraq. So we need to react because of the global conflict."

Other indications of the threat came from intelligence sources in the Middle East, who told CNN of a new terrorist effort aimed at U.S. and Israeli interests and coordinated by a man named Imad Mugniyeh.

The sources say Mugniyeh -- working from his bases in Iran and Hezbollah-controlled areas of Lebanon -- is directing the activities of terrorists in South America, planning to hit U.S. and Israeli targets if the United States attacks Iraq, or if Israel is drawn into the conflict.

Mugniyeh is suspected of being the mastermind in a long list of attacks against U.S. and Israeli targets over the past 20 years -- including the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, and the 1992 car bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Argentina's Toma met recently with intelligence officials in Washington to discuss the possibility of a new terrorist offensive launched from South America.

"This was a central theme discussed in recent trips to Washington," Toma said. "There is a direct correlation between terrorism here and the U.S."

Imad Mugniyeh

Argentine authorities have connected Mugniyeh to such groups as Hezbollah, Gamaa al Islamiya, and Islamic Jihad, all of which have been identified by the U.S. State Department as terrorist organizations.

Argentine intelligence documents obtained by CNN last year spell out links between those groups and mosques and businesses in the area.

Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are Arab-based groups which have directed the bulk of their activities against Israel. Gamaa al Islamiya, an Egyptian group, has publicly allied itself with al Qaeda.

Warnings about terrorist activity in the tri-border region are not new. The lush jungle region is known for its porous borders and thriving black markets.

The region quickly fell under the anti-terrorism dragnet cast after September 11. Ten days after the attacks, police in Paraguay raided several businesses and rounded up 20 suspects, 14 of whom were later released.

In a second raid in October 2001, Paraguayan police attempted to capture Assad Ahmad Barakat, whom Argentine and Paraguayan prosecutors said was the regional operative for Hezbollah. Prosecutors believe he played a major role in the Israeli Embassy bombing in Buenos Aires.


The Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was bombed in 1992.

Barakat evaded capture and is believed to be hiding in Brazil or to have escaped to Lebanon.

Argentine officials point to more evidence they say indicates terrorist activity in the tri-border area -- thousands of U.S. dollars bearing stamps from Lebanese currency exchange banks, tens of thousands of dollars in phony bills, and receipts from wire transfers made between the tri-border area and the Middle East.

While international intelligence agencies have focused on the tri-border region since the war on terror began, many of the people they were looking for may have moved on.

Argentina's counter-terrorism police assert that terrorist operatives have dispersed east, to the remote jungles of Brazil and to Brazil's financial capital, Sao Paulo; and west, to the free trade zone of Iquique in Chile's northern desert.

Last year, U.S. officials requested that Chile investigate terrorist activity in Iquique. Police there recently seized 48 fake Pakistani passports, which they believe were destined for use by terrorists.

CNN's Ingrid Arnesen contributed to this report.


Gaama al-Islamiyyah is Ayman al-Zawahiri's group and Mugniyeh is Iran's top military commander for Hezbollah. Put this together with the reports of thousands of Saudis preparing for jihad and today's news from the Philippines and it looks like al-Qaeda is planning a three-way offensive against the US so they can say that they're the only Muslims with the guts to stand up to the US.

FYI to Tehran, you're next on the US hit list.

[AdamSelene235]

Also if there are Muslim terrorists operating in South America, it would be very easy to enter the USA through Mexico.

It might be easy for them to enter, but I doubt they would be armed. Its hard to travel 100 miles in Mexico without being stopped by the military and searched.

[js1138]

Argentina was settled mostly by Germans. Many South American countries were "neutral" in WWII. My instinct tells me there is a natural affinity between Islam and Nasism.