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Topic: Terrorists looking at theatres
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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99
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posted 03-13-2005 06:14 PM
Qaeda Ally May Target U.S. Theaters, Schools
quote:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's chief ally in Iraq, may be planning attacks on "soft targets" in the United States including movie theaters, restaurants and schools, Time magazine reported on Sunday.
White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley would not discuss the specific warning, which Time said was circulated among U.S. security agencies last week in a restricted bulletin.
But he said the administration was concerned about reports -- "which we think are very credible" -- that Zarqawi is working more closely with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization.
Hadley said movie theaters, restaurants and schools "are the kinds of targets we know that al Qaeda has traditionally been concerned about."
"But we, at this point sitting here, do not have evidence of a specific operation by Zarqawi's organization targeting those kinds of targets. We just don't have that kind of information at this point," Hadley told CNN's "Late Edition."
The warning comes two weeks after President Bush, in a rare public mention of the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said stopping bin Laden from a new attack on U.S. soil was "the greatest challenge of our day."
Time said the bulletin was based on the interrogation of a member of Zarqawi's organization.
It cited Zarqawi's belief that "if an individual has enough money, he can bribe his way into the U.S.," by obtaining a visa to Honduras and then traveling across Mexico and the southern U.S. border.
But the magazine quoted intelligence agencies as saying there is no evidence that Zarqawi's agents have infiltrated the United States.
Bin Laden has eluded U.S. efforts to hunt him down, and he occasionally surfaces in a video or audiotape to show followers he is still alive. U.S. intelligence agencies believe he is hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Zarqawi, blamed for orchestrating insurgent attacks against U.S. forces and Iraqis, has become the most hunted man in Iraq. In December, an audiotape message purportedly from bin Laden formally named Zarqawi as the head of al Qaeda in Iraq.
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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!
Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 03-13-2005 11:47 PM
Still, nothing one can really do about the vulnerability in a free society. It's probably best to adopt a public attitude similar to how the Israelis deal with this. It happens, do the best you can to prevent it, but in the end accept that it will happen every now and then. Clean up the mess and press on. Life for the survivors goes on. Refuse to be cowered by the fanatics. May have to change some laws to prevent lawsuits involving suicide bombings (except for suing the families of the bombers), since they could be considered "acts of war".
Check out the January/February 2005 issue of The Atlantic Monthly for a future scenario by Richard Clarke about the coming second wave of al-Qaeda attacks on US soil. Starting this summer, casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, a certain ocean park in San Diego, and certain mouse-themed resorts in Florida and California are the first targets of the second wave in that scenario. All low-tech suicide bombings, by either individuals with backpacks, or drivers in RVs. All of the bombers are non-Arab but still fanaticized Muslims, freely able to enter the US from Canada and Mexico.
In the same issue is an outline for a containment strategy for the age of terror entitled Success Without Victory. Provocative reading.
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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99
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posted 03-14-2005 02:36 PM
quote: Pravin Ratnam
I doubt the Oklahoma and WTC incidents created a fear in a significant amount of people working in public buildings or skyscrapers.
Actually, there were quite a few people who, aftre 9/11, were scared of working in skyscrapers and even more who were very hesitant to fly. Remember the federal loans to airlines to keep them solvant post 9/11?
Irregardless of whether or not you can prevent all terrorist activites, companies have ethical and legal responsibilites to their staff and customers to do everything they can to prevent them from being the target. Taking a defeatist attitutde such as "well we can't do anything about it, so we will do nothing" only makes society as a whole more vulnerable.
Just like with crimes such as burglary and robbery, target hardening is the key. If you make it harder to hit you than the night club down the street, then the perp will, most likely, go to that night club down the street and leave you alone.
Oh, and Pravin, having worked at a theatre that was on the recieving end of one of the Chicago union's chemical weapons, I can tell you that the financial impact is severe. Our attendance did not recover for months even though not one customer was injured. Just the idea that terrorists were targeting this chain was enough to keep the public away.
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