“The Al Qaeda and the American Hiroshima”

Gleanings on Global News at the Time of the End

By Robert Mock MD

robertmock@biblesearchers.com

www.BibleSearchers.com

September, 2005

 

Topics

Osama bin Laden and the Nuclear Threat

Preparation for a Nuclear Strike

Al Qaeda and the Land of Israel

Al Qaeda and the Search for Nuclear Weapons

The Invisible Osama bin Laden

The Al Qaeda Zarqawi Terror Network

Al Qaeda and the London Bombings

Al Qaeda and the Egyptian Bombings

 

Osama bin Laden and the Nuclear Threat

 

Al-Qaida's spectacular 'Ramadan Offensive' - Bin Laden plans for terrorist strikes against U.S., Europe next month – September 8, 2005
WASHINGTON  (World Net Daily) – Raising new concerns about the use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorists, al-Qaida is planning spectacular attacks next month against the U.S., Russia and Europe in what it is calling the "Great Ramadan Offensive." The offensive, designed to overshadow the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon, was first referenced in a May 30 letter written by al-Qaida's Iraq commander Abu Musab Zarqawi to Osama bin Laden. It is the subject of a report written by terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky, the former director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, to government officials. Bodansky's report was first exposed in a story by CNSNews.com reporter Sherrie Gossett.

 

Ramadan, the holiest period in the Muslim calendar, begins Oct. 4 this year and lasts a month. Zarqawi characterizes the attacks as a "fateful confrontation" with the U.S. and Israel. Airports in Italy and the Netherlands are referenced as specific potential targets, and Italy is already on high alert for possible terrorist attacks. A Zarqawi operative named Abu Abdul Rahman al-Jazaeri is considered a key figure in the planned Italy attacks. He is believed to be in the country, but eluding authorities. Details of the operation came from intercepted communications between top al-Qaida leaders about two weeks ago. "I think that the plan for the next stage that was drawn up has reached you or is on its way to you," said Zarqawi's letter to bin Laden. "O God. Make the expedition of Osama proceed toward its goal ... We await your orders as to the next stage of the plan."

 

Bodansky says plans for attacks against Europe are being finalized in the Balkans, while preparations for attacks on Russia are being completed in Chechnya. Attack plans against the U.S. are being directed from the tri-border area in Latin America. He also concludes that al-Qaida leaders have interpreted the devastation of the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina as a sign that Allah is pleased with their plans.

 

The alarming report comes weeks after WND and G2 Bulletin broke a series of stories on al-Qaida's "American Hiroshima" plan – 10 years in the design stages – to detonate one or more nuclear weapons in major cities in the U.S. Intelligence analysts and sources disagree on the details of the way bin Laden's "American Hiroshima" plan unfolds. Some G2 Bulletin sources emphasize bin Laden's commitment to re-enacting the 1945 attack on Japan with one nuclear detonation, followed by another days later. Paul Williams, author of "The Al-Qaeda Connection," however, sees a much more devastating, coordinated, all-out, surprise attack coming. "The next attack, according to al-Qaida defectors and informants, will take place simultaneously at various sites throughout the country," he writes. "Designated targets include New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Houston, Las Vegas, and Valdez, Alaska, where the tankers are filled with oil from the Trans-Alaska pipeline. To orchestrate such an incredible event requires not only the shipment of the nukes into the United States but also the establishment of cells, the training of sleeper agents, the selection of sites, and the preparation of the weapons without detection from federal, state or local law enforcement officials. Unlike 9-11, that cost less than $350,000, this event already has cost a king's ransom, and bin Laden will not waste the billions in expenditures, the years of planning and his coveted 'crown jewels' on an attack that is ill-planned, poorly timed and carelessly coordinated." Other sources interpret some of the same information, based on captured al-Qaida operatives and documents as well as defectors, differently. They project an escalating series of attacks, each followed by blackmail demands upon the U.S. government and the American people.

 

In any event, both kinds of spectacular nuclear terror attacks require pinpoint coordination and secure communication. Williams also says al-Qaida is determined to locate tactical nuclear weapons that were forward-deployed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. These weapons were reportedly buried at remote sites throughout the country for recovery by Soviet agents. "There is no doubt that the Soviets stored material in this country," says Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Research. "The question is what and where." Bin Laden may have a considerable head-start in the search given his predilection toward hiring former Soviet special forces officers whose job it was to know something about these plans. U.S. officials have reportedly ordered the excavation of several sites believed to be possible depots.

 

Russian defector Stanislav Lunev told congressional investigators nuclear suitcases had been buried throughout the U.S., and that he could not pinpoint the locations because Russian military leaders continue to believe a nuclear conflict with the U.S. is still "inevitable." He said the only hope of finding them would be if the Russian government disclosed the locations. During the same hearings, Belgian officials testified they found three secret depots containing tactical nukes buried by the Soviets in the 1960s.

 

As WorldNetDaily and G2 Bulletin have reported, al-Qaida has obtained at least 40 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union – including suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells and even some missile warheads. In addition, documents captured in Afghanistan show al-Qaida had plans to assemble its own nuclear weapons with fissile material it purchased on the black market. The plans for the devastating nuclear attack on the U.S. have been under development for more than a decade. It is designed as a final deadly blow of defeat to the U.S., which is seen by al-Qaida and its allies as "the Great Satan." At least half the nuclear weapons in the al-Qaida arsenal were obtained for cash from the Chechen terrorist allies. The plans for the devastating nuclear attack on the U.S. have been under development for more than a decade. It is designed as a final deadly blow of defeat to the U.S., which is seen by al-Qaida and its allies as "the Great Satan."

 

Osama's 'American Hiroshima' - Bin Laden developing nuclear plan to kill millions – July 8, 2005

Farah’s G2 Bulletin - As London recovers from the latest deadly al-Qaida attack that killed at least 50, top U.S. government officials are contemplating what they consider to be an inevitable and much bigger assault on America – one likely to kill millions, destroy the economy and fundamentally alter the course of history. According to captured al-Qaida leaders and documents, the plan is called the "American Hiroshima" but involves the multiple detonation of nuclear weapons smuggled into the U.S. over the Mexican border with the help of the MS-13 street gang and other organized crime groups.

Al-Qaida has obtained at least 40 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union – including suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells and even some missile warheads. In addition, documents captured in Afghanistan show al-Qaida had plans to assemble its own nuclear weapons with fissile material it purchased on the black market. U.S. military sources also say there is evidence to suggest al-Qaida is paying former Russian Spetznaz to assist the terrorist group in locating nuclear weapons planted in the U.S. during the Cold War. Osama bin Laden's group is also paying nuclear scientists from Russia and Pakistan to maintain its existing nuclear arsenal and assemble additional weapons with the materials it has invested hundreds of millions in procuring over a period of 10 years.

The plans for the devastating nuclear attack on the U.S. have been under development for more than a decade. It is designed as a final deadly blow to the U.S., which is seen by al-Qaida and its allies as "the Great Satan." At least half the nuclear weapons in the al-Qaida arsenal were obtained for cash from the Chechen terrorist allies. But the most disturbing news is that high level U.S. officials now believe at least some of those weapons have been smuggled into the U.S. for use in the near future in major cities as part of this "American Hiroshima" plan, according to an upcoming book, "The al-Qaida Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse," by Paul L. Williams, a former FBI consultant.

According to Williams, former CIA Director George Tenet informed President Bush one month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that at least two suitcase nukes had reached al-Qaida operatives in the U.S. "Each suitcase weighed between 50 and 80 kilograms (approximately 110 to 176 pounds) and contained enough fissionable plutonium and uranium to produce an explosive yield in excess of two kilotons," wrote Williams. "One suitcase bore the serial number 9999 and the Russian manufacturing date of 1988. The design of the weapons, Tenet told the president, is simple. The plutonium and uranium are kept in separate compartments that are linked to a triggering mechanism that can be activated by a clock or a call from the cell phone."

According to the author, the news sent Bush "through the roof," prompting him to order his national security team to give nuclear terrorism priority over every other threat to America. However, it is worth noting that Bush failed to translate this policy into securing the U.S.-Mexico border through which the nuclear weapons and al-Qaida operatives are believed to have passed with the help of the MS-13 smugglers. He did, however, order the building of underground bunkers away from major metropolitan areas for use by federal government managers following an attack.

Bin Laden, according to Williams, has nearly unlimited funds to spend on his nuclear terrorism plan because he has remained in control of the Afghanistan-produced heroin industry. Poppy production has greatly increased even while U.S. troops are occupying the country, he writes. Al-Qaida has developed close relations with the Albanian Mafia, which assists in the smuggling and sale of heroin throughout Europe and the U.S. Some of that money is used to pay off the notorious MS-13 street gang between $30,000 and $50,000 for each sleeper agent smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico. The sleepers are also provided with phony identification, most often bogus matricula consular ID cards indistinguishable from Mexico's official ID, now accepted in the U.S. to open bank accounts and obtain driver's licenses.

According to Williams' sources, thousands of al-Qaida sleeper agents have now been forward deployed into the U.S. to carry out their individual roles in the coming "American Hiroshima" plan. Bin Laden's goal, according to the book, is to kill at least 4 million Americans, 2 million of whom must be children. Only then, bin Laden has said, would the crimes committed by America on the Arab and Muslim world be avenged. There is virtually no doubt among intelligence analysts al-Qaida has obtained fully assembled nuclear weapons, according to Williams. The only question is how many. Estimates range between a dozen and 70. The breathtaking news is that an undetermined number of these weapons, including suitcase bombs, mines and crude tactical nuclear weapons, have already been smuggled into the U.S. – at least some across the U.S.-Mexico border. The future plan, according to captured al-Qaida agents and documents, suggest the attacks will take place simultaneously in major cities throughout the country – including New York, Boston, Washington, Las Vegas, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Los Angeles target in new 9-11 threat - Al-Qaida's latest recorded diatribe: 'Everyone of us is Mohammed Atta' – September 11, 2005
WorldNetDaily - Exactly four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror onslaught against the U.S., a brand new communiqué broadcast on ABC News is targeting Los Angeles for more attacks. "Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, God willing. At this time, don't count on us demonstrating restraint or compassion," the 11-minute tape warns. "We are Muslims. We love peace, but peace on our terms, peace as laid down by Islam, not the so-called peace of occupiers and dictators."

 

Al-Qaida agent believed to be Adam Gadahn of Orange County, Calif., threatens U.S. in new 9-11 tape

 

Intelligence officials believe the man whose face is partially covered to be Adam Gadahn of Orange County, Calif. Gadahn sent a similar tape for the al-Qaida terrorist network last year. "Don't believe the lies of the liars at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and 10 Downing Street," Gadahn insists. "They have dispatched your sons and daughters to die lonely deaths in the burning deserts of Iraq and the unforgiving mountains of Afghanistan."

 

According to ABC, Gadahn went from a typical southern California teenager who liked heavy metal music to an operative for al-Qaida in just a few years. He reportedly converted to Islam at an Orange County mosque, and was influenced by terrorists who brought him to Pakistan. Only a few years ago, Adam Gadahn was a southern California teenager with interests in the environment and heavy metal music.

His family says he converted to Islam at an Orange County mosque. There, officials say Gadahn came under the influence of militants who took him to Pakistan.

 

His latest message warns of an imminent attack on Americans unless the U.S. halts its military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also threatened are Great Britain and Australia. "We love peace, but when the enemy violates that peace or prevents us from achieving it, then we love nothing better than the heat of battle, the echo of explosion, and the slitting of the throats of the infidels," the tape says. "The statement broadcast this morning on Good Morning America should come as no surprise to anyone," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the city's police department in a joint release this morning. "The statement was meant to instill fear, and fear is the most important weapon the terrorists possess."

 

While local officials admitted L.A. is a terror target, they said there are no known, credible threats against the city, calling the tape propaganda. On the rest of the tape, Gadahn tries to dispel rumors that Osama bin Laden is dead, and he closes by mentioning the names of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers who flew planes into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "Everyone of us is Mohammed Atta," he says.

 

Three Continents Tense for al Qaeda Action to Mark 4th Anniversary of 9/11 - September 6, 2005

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report - While the Bush administration wrestles with the distress, turmoil and fury of Hurricane Katrina, US security and intelligence agencies, like their counterparts in Europe and the Middle East, are tensed nervously for some al Qaeda action to mark next Sunday’s fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.  The places believed most prone to attack are New York and Washington – again - as well as London, Paris, Rome, Warsaw, Moscow, Sofia, Cairo, Riyadh and Tel Aviv.

 

But DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources caution against predicting al Qaeda’s next moves. Osama bin Laden’s jihadists rarely strike when and where they are expected; more often than not, they catch their victims by surprise.

Nonetheless, a number of manifestations point to an imminent terror operation:

 

1. Intelligence data trickling out of Iraq in the past month depicts al Qaeda’s commander in the “Land of the Two Rivers” as spending most of his time preparing a terrorist spectacular. Most intelligence experts calculate that a strike, if masterminded by Zarqawi, will take place in Europe or the Middle East rather than the United States.

2. In the last few days, there is a fresh upsurge of coded electronic correspondence among the various al Qaeda branches which reflects an anticipatory buzz ahead of the anniversary. But what is afoot? Is it a ritual celebration or a death-dealing operation? This is not known.

3. Intelligence experts predict that the trouble besetting the Bush administration over the Katrina hurricane disaster will predispose al Qaeda to make a special effort to add to American suffering. A hint of this intention was found in Zarqawi’s communiqué of September 4. He thanked Allah for harnessing the elements of nature against America and swore to carry on from there.

 

But a sense of alarm was struck in the West earlier by a strange notice appearing on al Qaeda’s internal electronic network on August 24. DEBKA-Net-Weekly 219 ran the notice on Aug. 26 after it was picked up by its al Qaeda experts: Osama bin Laden, referred to in some sites as Sheikh Abu Abdullah, was reported injured in his left leg while taking part in an attack on a Spanish military base in Afghanistan. A four-hour long videotape of the expedition was promised and the faithful asked to pray for the Sheikh’s recovery.

 

The videotape was never aired.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s experts on al Qaeda offered these comments:

Osama bin Laden never fought Spanish forces in Afghanistan and therefore suffered no leg injury. Why then did al Qaeda publish this tall story, when the organization normally takes care to guard its credibility?

 

There are two optional explanations.

One, the great Osama bin Laden cannot show himself as less of a hero than his Iraq commander Abu Musab al Zarqawi who, after he was wounded in a US attack on al-Qaim region last June, continued to lead the faithful into battle against the Americans and is currently masterminding a terrorist offensive striking at points in Europe and the Middle East. To polish his image and dispel the impression that he is a fading force, bin Laden is disseminating the tale of an injury in battle. It is intended to show al Qaeda’s leader in the same glorious light as Zarqawi whose popularity in al Qaeda’s ranks threatens to rival his own.

 

Two, it may be Bin Laden’s way of informing his adherents that he has recovered from an injury sufficiently to launch a fresh round of jihad operations. The message, seen in this context, would presage high-profile attacks - personally commanded by the leader himself or his close lieutenants, who would pass onto him the kudos for their success. This second rationale would account for the timing of the communiqué in the third week of August, shortly before the Sept 11 anniversary. Even if that date comes and goes without a terrorist attack, the whole of September must be deemed a high-risk month.

 

Al Qaeda in Iraq issues virulent manifesto - Group calls for violence, destruction of 'American empire' – August 26, 2005

(CNN) -- Laying out its ideology in a broad manifesto, the group al Qaeda in Iraq -- which has been behind many of the worst attacks, beheadings and kidnappings in Iraq -- says the insurgency is in better shape than the United States acknowledges and vows to continue the insurgency and "destroy the American empire.""Every now and then, the schoolboys of the Pentagon and the adolescents of the Black House keep blasting our ears with talks of pure arrogance and conviction saying, 'We will not leave Iraq until we accomplish our mission.' This desperate catchphrase that they keep repeating is used to make the public believe that the mujahedeens are in bad shape, as if they are begging the Americans, saying, 'Please Americans, leave Iraq,' " the group says in an e-book, an extensive document on the Internet.

"We vow by the name of God that we are determined to destroy the American empire," it says.

 

The book, filled with calls for violence and hate for all but "true Muslims" -- a group that it says does not include Shiites -- surfaced on an Islamic Web site this week.

In the past, al Qaeda in Iraq has expressed itself through statements claiming responsibility for attacks and an on-line magazine. The e-book offers links to three issues of the magazine. Al Qaeda in Iraq also has given justifications for violence through audio comments from its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The e-book includes numerous sections totaling dozens of pages, covering such topics as how the Quran justifies beheadings and why democracy is wrong.

 

The document does not list an author. It refers to al-Zarqawi in the third person, possibly indicating he did not write it. The United States and the Iraqi government call the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi the most wanted terrorist in the country. The United States has posted a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture. While part of the document seems to have been written relatively recently, another part refers to to the government of Ayad Allawi, who had been interim leader in Iraq.

No date was given for the document.

 

Repeatedly, the book calls on Muslims to launch attacks against foreign forces in Iraq and people who cooperate with them. "The basics of our faith revolve around not harming true Muslims and not shedding one single drop of Muslim blood because one drop of true Muslim blood shed amounts to the demise of this whole world. So why do we carry out operations in Iraq against the Americans and their aides in the (Iraqi) army and police? First, to please God, who orders us to carry on this jihad and to force the occupiers to pull out of the land," it says, vowing to "spread the light of justice and glory all over the world." It cites "the glory that shines from our brothers, local and foreign fighters who left their countries, spouses and children and are sacrificing their blood for you to protect you and protect your families and honor, your women and children, forcing the occupiers to pull out of your country."

 

The document calls on Iraqi troops and police to turn their backs on the new elected government. "You who betrayed Muslims and in humiliation became one of many collaborators, a servant under the command of the cross, we ask you to return to your Islamic instinct or cutting your neck will be your only punishment for your treason against your religion and your people." It adds this warning: "Repent or else." The group says its "doctrine and mission are clear and they can be summarized as our agreement to believe in and fight for the religion of God. We believe that those who follow these beliefs and the provisions of faith are true Muslims and anyone who denounces any of these beliefs and conditions is an infidel even if he still claims to be a Muslim."

 

It calls the Shiite faith "a confession of polytheism and rejectionism." The document warns there will be no end to the insurgency. "The call for jihad goes on until doomsday, whether there is an imam calling for it or not." The central image of the e-book is the group's logo -- a globe with an open book, presumably the Quran. Coming out of the center of the Quran are a spear, a Kalashnikov rifle, a hand with the pointer finger sticking up -- a symbol of unity -- and a banner reading, "There is no God but God; Mohammed is the messenger of God." CNN's Octavia Nasr contributed to this report.

 

 

Al-Qaida's 'final' warning  - Something different about al-Zawahiri's videotape message  - August 4, 2005

Farah’s G2 Bulletin - There was something different about al-Qaida's videotape communique delivered by Osama bin Laden's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, say intelligence analysts and terrorism experts. "What you have seen in New York, Washington and Afghanistan, are only the initial losses," he said, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States for which al Qaeda claimed responsibility. "If you continue the same hostile policies you will see something that will make you forget the horrors you have seen in Vietnam."

Though it is not unusual for al-Qaida statements to suggest attacks more fearsome than 9-11 are coming, the reference to Vietnam suggests bin Laden and al-Zawahiri believe they can either wear down the U.S. in a protracted conflict in Iraq or demoralize the U.S. public with a continuing barrage of terrorist attacks.

But the next sentence contained a word, omitted in some Western translations of the speech, not seen or heard in previous al-Qaida messages. "Our message to you is clear, strong and final: There will be no salvation until you withdraw from our land, stop stealing our oil and resources and end support for infidel, corrupt (Arab) rulers," he said.  The word "final" was the word that jumped out for intelligence analysts and terrorism experts contacted by G2B. As if to underline that word portending a punishment of some kind, the next sentence suggested urgency also not common in al-Qaida messages. "There is no way out for Washington except by immediate withdrawal," said al-Zawahiri. "Any delay in this decision means more killing and losses. If you don't withdraw today you will inevitably withdraw tomorrow, but only after tens of thousands are killed and injured." The words "immediate," "any delay" and "today" stand out to intelligence analysts as suggesting an imminent attack of grand proportions. The tough rhetoric from bin Laden's right-hand man is raising more concerns about the possibility of an attack involving weapons of mass destruction – the attack referred to by so many U.S. officials, including President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney – as inevitable.

As G2B has reported, for more than a decade, al-Qaida is known to have been planning what is referred to as an "American Hiroshima" attack on the U.S. involving nuclear weapons. Bin Laden has spent billions of dollars on the successful purchase and development of nuclear weapons – money his al-Qaida terrorist network earned by directing poppy cultivation in the fields of Afghanistan, right under the noses of U.S. occupation forces, G2B has reported. The findings are confirmed by the investigative work of journalist Paul Williams, author of the upcoming book, "The Al Qaeda Connection," and international terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky, author of "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America." Bin Laden used the vast drug fortune to help al-Qaida smuggle some of those nuclear weapons – along with thousands of sleeper agents – over the Mexican border with the help of the MS-13 criminal street gang, say the sources.

Al-Qaida has obtained at least 40 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union – including suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells and even some missile warheads. In addition, documents captured in Afghanistan show al-Qaida had plans to assemble its own nuclear weapons with fissile material it purchased on the black market. Besides trying to detonate its own nuclear weapons already planted in the U.S., military sources also say there is evidence to suggest al-Qaida is paying former Russian special forces officers to assist the terrorist group in locating nuclear weapons formerly concealed inside the U.S. by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Osama bin Laden's group is also paying nuclear scientists from Russia and Pakistan to maintain its existing arsenal and assemble additional weapons with the materials it has invested hundreds of millions in procuring over a period of 10 years.

The plans for the devastating nuclear attack on the U.S. have been under development for more than a decade. It is designed as a final deadly blow of defeat to the U.S., which is seen by al-Qaida and its allies as "the Great Satan." At least half the nuclear weapons in the al-Qaida arsenal were obtained for cash from the Chechen terrorist allies. At least nine major U.S. cities, including New York and Washington, have been mentioned as prime targets for the al-Qaida nuclear terrorists.

 

Bin Laden's favorite dates  - Numbers important to al-Qaida  - July 30, 2005

Farah’s G2 Bulletin - Intelligence gathered from captured al-Qaida documents and interrogations of captured operatives has provided the U.S. with some specific information about Osama bin Laden's favored dates for his "American Hiroshima" nuclear attack. One of the most frequently cited dates is Aug. 6, the anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of that attack, so this Aug. 6 would have special significance.

This year, however, falling on a Saturday, as it does, some G2B intelligence sources say it is highly unlikely a major nuclear attack will occur. Al-Qaida operatives have made it clear they prefer an attack during the daylight during the week to wreak maximum havoc and to be sure the entire world views the images of burning U.S. cities. An amateur sleuth, Michael Matuszak, points out, for instance, that Saturday would also mark the 1,426 days since Sept. 11, 2001. He points out that, in the Islamic calendar, this is the year 1426 – and that Aug. 6 would be the first day of the seventh month, the exact midway point of the year 1426. "It is as if Bin Laden started by scheduling 'American Hiroshima' for 8-6-2005 and then worked backwards to arrive at 9-11-2001 as the precursor," he speculates.

Perhaps, but there are several other favored dates mentioned by bin Laden operatives in association with this planned mega-attack on the U.S. Paul Williams, author of the upcoming book "The Al Qaeda Connection," acknowledges that, according to U.S. military analysts, bin Laden places a great deal of significance on dates. He believes Sept. 11 was chosen because it represented the fifth anniversary of the conviction of Ramzi Yousef for the World Trade Center bombing.

The bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, occurred Aug. 7, 1998, the eighth anniversary of the 1990 U.S. commitment to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia. Williams says his sources also point to two dates in October as significant. Oct. 2 is the anniversary of the federal court conviction of blind Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, "the spiritual mentor of bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Another date of significance is Oct. 7, the day of the launching of Operation Enduring Freedom. But bin Laden also craves the element of surprise. Therefore, the more attention specific dates are given, the more it reduces the likelihood that they will be chosen for the ultimate terrorist attack.

 

Al-Qaida nukes: Why wait? - Attack plan complex, coordinated, devastating – July 26, 2005

Farah’s G2 Bulletin - Skeptics of al-Qaida's ability to detonate nuclear weapons inside the U.S. most often suggest the problems with maintenance and technical attention. Some suggest Osama bin Laden may have purchased duds on the black market. Others point out that the triggers on suitcase nukes decay rapidly and have short half lives. The nuclear cores, after a time, fall below the critical mass threshold, say the optimists. Even the shells are subject to contamination over time if not properly maintained, they say.

Unfortunately, finds Paul Williams, author of the upcoming book, "The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse," there's little point in assessing the possibilities with rose-colored glasses. "The belief that bin Laden simply purchased these weapons for millions of dollars and stored them within his cave without concern for maintenance has its basis in the erroneous and prejudicial notion that he is a backward Bedouin warrior without knowledge of sophisticated weaponry, rather than a highly trained engineer and one of the most gifted military tacticians in the annals of modern history," he writes.

Williams dismisses suggestions that bin Laden hasn't taken into account some obvious problems with nuclear weapons. "Bin Laden has been extremely mindful of proper maintenance," he writes. "As soon as he obtained the weapons, he paid an amount estimated from $60 to $100 million for the assistance of nuclear scientists from Russia, China and Pakistan. From 1996 to 2001, bin Laden also kept a score of Spetznaz technicians from the former Soviet Union on his payroll. These technicians had been trained to open and operate the weapons in order to prevent any unauthorized use. To simplify the process of activation, the scientists and technicians came up with a way of hot-wiring the small nukes to the bodies of Muslim agents who long for immediate martyrdom and immediate elevation to the seventh heaven."

Other skeptics ask: "If bin Laden has nukes, why hasn't he used them? Why would he wait? If he has successfully smuggled them into the U.S., why haven't any gone off yet?" Williams and other G2 Bulletin intelligence sources explain that one of bin Laden's defining characteristics is patience.  "He started plotting the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania when he was in Sudan in 1993," points out Williams. "The attack on the USS Cole was more than two years in the making; and 10 years passed between the first attack on the World Trade Center and the second."

Williams said recruits at al-Qaida training camps are instructed to repeat this throughout the day: "I will be patient until Patience is outworn by patience." Intelligence analysts and sources disagree on the details of the way bin Laden's "American Hiroshima" plan unfolds. Some G2 Bulletin sources emphasize bin Laden's commitment to re-enacting the 1945 attack on Japan with one nuclear detonation, followed by another days later.

Williams, however, sees a much more devastating, coordinated, all-out, surprise attack coming. "The next attack, according to al-Qaida defectors and informants, will take place simultaneously at various sites throughout the country," he writes. "Designated targets include New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Houston, Las Vegas, and Valdez, Alaska, where the tankers are filled with oil from the Trans-Alaska pipeline. To orchestrate such an incredible event requires not only the shipment of the nukes into the United States but also the establishment of cells, the training of sleeper agents, the selection of sites, and the preparation of the weapons without detection from federal, state or local law enforcement officials. Unlike 9-11, that cost less than $350,000, this event already has cost a king's ransom, and bin Laden will not waste the billions in expenditures, the years of planning and his coveted 'crown jewels' on an attack that is ill-planned, poorly timed and carelessly coordinated."

Other G2B sources interpret some of the same information, based on captured al-Qaida operatives and documents as well as defectors, differently. They project an escalating series of attacks, each followed by blackmail demands upon the U.S. government and the American people. In any event, both kinds of spectacular nuclear terror attacks require pinpoint coordination and secure communication.

Williams also speculates that the delay in launching attacks with weapons already smuggled inside the U.S. could be due to reports al-Qaida is determined to locate tactical nuclear weapons that were forward-deployed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. These weapons were reportedly buried at remote sites throughout the country for recovery by Soviet agents. "There is no doubt that the Soviets stored material in this country," says Rep. Curt Weldon, R-PA, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Research. "The question is what and where." Bin Laden may have a considerable head-start in the search given his predilection toward hiring former Soviet special forces officers whose job it was to know something about these plans.

U.S. officials have reportedly ordered the excavation of several sites believed to be possible depots. Russian defector Stanislav Lunev, told congressional investigators that nuclear suitcases had been buried throughout the U.S., and that he could not pinpoint the locations because Russian military leaders continue to believe a nuclear conflict with the U.S. is still "inevitable." He said the only hope of finding them would be if the Russian government disclosed the locations.  During the same hearings, Belgian officials testified they found three secret depots containing tactical nukes buried by the Soviets in the 1960s.

G2B previously reported, based on captured al-Qaida leaders and documents, that the terrorist group has a plan called "American Hiroshima" involving the multiple detonation of nuclear weapons already smuggled into the U.S. over the Mexican border with the help of the MS-13 street gang and other organized crime groups. Al-Qaida has obtained at least 40 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union – including suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells and even some missile warheads. In addition, documents captured in Afghanistan show al-Qaida had plans to assemble its own nuclear weapons with fissile material it purchased on the black market.

The plans for the devastating nuclear attack on the U.S. have been under development for more than a decade. It is designed as a final deadly blow of defeat to the U.S., which is seen by al-Qaida and its allies as "the Great Satan."  At least half the nuclear weapons in the al-Qaida arsenal were obtained for cash from the Chechen terrorist allies.  A follow-up report in G2B said at least nine major U.S. cities, including New York and Washington, are prime targets for the al-Qaida nuclear terrorists. Osama bin Laden's preferred dates for attacks include Aug. 6, the anniversary of the Hiroshima nuclear bombing in 1945, Sept. 11 and May 14, the anniversary of the re-creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima attack will be marked next month.

 

A Nation in Peril?  - July 12th, 2005

There is a significant likelihood that the United States is going to experience a nuclear attack. This attack will probably take the form of the destruction of more than one American city, and will be designed to cause maximum casualties. This seems inevitable because the steps necessary to prevent it have not been taken, and perhaps cannot be taken. While some efforts have been made by Homeland Security to secure our borders and ports against the importation of illegal nuclear materials, the reality is that a determined enemy will eventually get such things through.

But who has both the motive and the means? Certainly, al Quaeda would appear to have the motive, as would any number of other terrorist groups, Islamic and otherwise. There is more to it than that, though.

While I cannot prove it with documentary evidence, I can speculate that there is a hidden group, not really organized in any overt way, that, taken together, possesses both the motive and the will to engage in this horrific act. The reasons for this are many, chief among them the fact that there would seem to be elements within the United States government who are deeply committed to destroying this free society, and rendering it powerless to prevent their larger aims in the world, which are to fulfill a modified version the racial and social objectives that were formed in Germany during the twenties and thirties of the last century.

 

The power centers of this group are three: Saudi Arabia, Munich, and Texas. Elements of these three communities are connected by a secret bond of loyalty that was forged during and after World War II, in the German prisoner of war camps in South Texas, in the Islamic Center of Munich, and among Texas oil men and the Saudi kingdom.

 

Beginning in 1942, the British began to be unable to house all the German prisoners they were taking in North Africa, then, as the war wound down, in Europe. By late 1944, the western Allies were refusing the surrender of German soldiers, and simply disarming them and sending them home. The Russians were briefly interning them and then killing them like cattle. Prior to this 650,000 German prisoners were sent to internment camps in the United States. A number of these camps were located in Texas, in Hearne, in San Antonio and other places, mostly in South Texas, because the soldiers had been captured in North Africa and the Geneva Convention required that they be interned in areas similar to those in which they had been captured. Soldiers in these camps were governed by their own officers, which meant that a powerful Nazi presence existed in the camps. In fact, they were run by Nazis, with the full co-operation of the US government. Again, it was required under the Geneva Convention that officers of captured troops be allowed to remain responsible for the welfare of their prisoner-soldiers. Also in South Texas was a substantial settlement of Germans who had come as a result of the urging of an early colonist of German extraction, Fredrick Diercks. At present, there are about 2.5 million Texas Germans, located mostly in the hill country north of San Antonio, San Antonio itself, and throughout south Texas. I am, myself, a Texas German, and I do not mean to imply by anything that follows that I think that the majority of Texas Germans are in any way disloyal Americans, or even that people of German descent in Texas form the core of the present post-Nazi group I am discussing here.

 

However, Naziism was brought to Texas by Germans, and it has taken root there, not as a conscious ideology, but as a set of beliefs, attitudes, and political methods that amount to the same thing. At least, this is my belief. I cannot provide documentary evidence, only that of my own experience and memories of what went on in Texas before and during the war, as told me by my father. Prior to World War II, there was a significant Nazi movement in the United States. The FDNA, the American Nazi Party, was run from Germany until 1936, when it became the German-American Bund, an American-run replacement that was designed to be less unpopular with the American people.

 

In South Texas, there were about 2,000 registered Bund members when war broke out between Germany and the US. Most of them were in south Texas, specifically in San Antonio and the counties to the south and east of that city. Some of them were interned in camps in Crystal City and Kenedy, Texas, along with German aliens who had been in the United States at the time war was declared. This was done to prevent them from sending money to Germany via Mexico. Like the more public Union Bank, which had been created by Prescott Bush with the support of influential Germans, the purpose of this was to enable Germany to replenish its gold reserves, which had been severely depleted after World War I. After WWII began, Germany’s need for gold became more urgent, because of the demands of the war.

There was much communication between German nationals and US Bund members interned in Kenedy and Crystal City, and Nazi officers interned at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. This was monitored by US Army officers who moved between the three groups trying to find out how US dollars were moving from South Texas to Mexico, where they were being used to buy gold to send to Germany.

 

Profoundly loyal relationships were developed between some Texans, Germans and others, and members of the Nazi party interned in the various camps. These relationships survived the war, and after it was over, the overseers of Project Paperclip, which was a program that brought German scientists of use to the United States into this country, determined that Air Force installations near San Antonio would be a good place to base such scientists, who would find a relatively more receptive community in which to live. At the same time in Germany, an event was taking place that would form the basis for the connection between Saudi Arabia and the Nazis and, ultimately, oilmen among the Texas Germans, who have brought their loyalties forward, at this point, two generations.

 

During the war, large numbers of Red Army soldiers deserted to the Wehrmacht, and many of these soldiers ended up in West Germany after the war. As they learned more about Nazi ideology, they discovered in its occult roots a connection to Islam that drew them toward that religion, but not entirely because they believe in the words of the Prophet in the same sense that an ordinary Muslim does. By 1958, ex-Nazis founded a mosque in Munich, which, on the surface, was a place of Moslem worship, but which was also a center for Nazi recruitment and maintenance of the Nazi organization throughout the world. It is my belief that there was a need for funding, and this was found by following the traces of the old gold path back through Mexico to the Texas Germans. The movement took on its Moslem appearance and character when it became clear that existing Arab ad-hoc financial systems, which primarily involved cash transfers based on coded telegrams, would be an ideal means of funding substantial activities, which included, by that time, very extensive political operations throughout Latin America, as well as a slow process of infiltration of the American political system.

 

Information about how to access these Arab financial systems, and how to gain the confidence of the Saudis was provided by representatives of ARAMCO, the Arab-American Oil Company, Texas Germans who were sympathetic to the larger aims of the Munich group. The infiltration of the American political system was accomplished by reconstructing the links that had existed before the war between the German-American Bund and the followers of Father Charles Coughlin, an influential Nazi sympathizer of the thirties. Originally a supporter of the New Deal, by the late thirties Father Coughlin had abandoned his National Union of Social Justice and created the Christian Front, which is the foundation, in one way or another, of many modern extremist political organizations that characterize themselves as Christian.

 

Increasingly, in the late thirties and early forties, Father Coughlin became more pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic. An FBI raid on Coughlin’s headquarters in 1940 revealed evidence that the group planned the murder of many Jews and other political leaders, and Father Coughlin faded from the national scene.

After the war, many of Father Coughlin’s followers sought other means of expressing their anti-Communism and anti-Semitism, and their relationships with members of the German-American Bund. There is no structured organizational link between the old Bund, Father Coughlin, and modern extremists on the left and the right in the United States who, mostly without realizing it, are members of groups that support the larger objectives of Naziism, which is a vitally alive and active, if concealed, political presence in the modern world.

 

However, when you see members of the left claiming that they are “anti-Zionist,” not anti-Semitic, and sometimes defending blood-soaked forgeries such as the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a fabrication created in the late nineteenth century by elements of the Okrana, the Czarist secret service, to justify economic expropriation of Jewish assets by cash-strapped Imperial Russia, you are seeing unconscious Nazis doing the work of the larger group, which remains to eliminate democracy as a form of government, and to eradicate the Jewish race. Similarly, when you see radical Christian groups claiming that the Nazi stronghold Colonia Dignidad in Chile had innocuous aims, and calling for the replacement of the American republic with a “Bible republic,” you are seeing groups carrying out, for the most part unconsciously, the objectives of world Naziism.

 

Modern Nazis do not express their sympathies openly. The American Nazi Party, for example, has no more to do with them than do publicly visible racist organizations in Germany and Russia. Rather, they are Nazi by their sympathies and their beliefs, not in name or by virtue of membership in political organizations. In fact, most of them would argue strenuously that they were not Nazis, despite the fact that there had been Nazis in their pasts. Whether conscious admirers of Hitler or not, these people, with their shared beliefs and loyalties, and their successful avoidance of discovery by the press, have come very close to Hitler’s objective, which is world domination by a central authoritarian government that would function as an umbrella over all other governments. However, there is a difference now. In order for such a profoundly inhuman, not to say inhumane, organization to control the life of man, it would need to be a deep secret. In fact, it would need almost to be tacit, an organization of shared beliefs and agreements, rather than anything on paper. This is what it is, in fact. Its members, at this point, are bound more by family ties and a belief that they have a superior ability to govern, than by any sentimental connection to Adolf Hitler. They are Nazis, however, in that their personal ideology is authoritarian and racist in the same ways, and for the same reason, that Nazism was authoritarian and racist, and arises from the same deep currents of fear, personal arrogance and tribalism that gave rise to the Nazi movement.

 

The link with Saudi Arabia has three roots: money, Islam and anti-Semitism. The mosque in Munich appears now to be a thriving center of radical Islam and anti-Semitism, carefully concealed to avoid violating German law. Money travels freely around the world, borne on the tide of an ancient system of finance that is cash based and, at this point, completely untraceable. It gets its cash from the Saudis and from counterfeiting operations located throughout the world, most notably in Syria, Iran and Myanmar. Indeed, counterfeit dollars are at this point so perfect that they cannot be distinguished from real currency at all. Nobody knows how much American cash is fake, but billions of dollars a year are poured into the world economy in the form of artificial American cash.

 

Returning to the roots of Nazi influence in modern America, and why this is leading to a nuclear attack on the United States, it is necessary to explore the current situation, so that we can understand why these people, as close as they are to goals they have been pursuing for generations, would suddenly feel so threatened.

It is first necessary to understand that they began the process of gaining control of the United States back in the fifties, when they began to act, behind the cover of an extensive and cancerous system of “classification,” through which all important information was routinely withheld from the public, to consolidate their power within the military, the cutting edge of space science, and the human behavioral arm of the intelligence community.

 

Dwight Eisenhower was well aware of this problem, and in his last speech as president of the United States warned against the growth of the very “military-industrial complex” that has come to dominate American society, and has preserved itself past the cold war by manufacturing an artificial atmosphere of crisis, without regard for the welfare of the nation or the lives of its citizens, or those of any other nation. After John F. Kennedy was elected to office, Eisenhower warned him that these people had taken over a small piece of American soil called No-Name Key, where the International Penetration Force was being trained. Kennedy accordingly put a stop to activities on No-Name Key and aborted the planned invasion of Cuba. This outraged a group of right-wing Texas oilmen, among them H. L. Hunt and others, who began to seek the assassination of Kennedy. Whether they succeeded or not remains a source of controversy, but certainly they wanted Kennedy dead.

During the fifties, also, various CIA-sponsored mind control experiments, among them Operation Bluebird, MK-ULTRA and others, sought to create, and did create, assassins, of whom Robert Kennedy’s murderer, Sirhan Sirhan, was almost certainly one.

 

The Kennedys were killed not only because of Cuba, but because they did not intend to extend American operations in Vietnam, and, above all, were aware of the fact that people with what were essentially Nazi sympathies were getting involved in the American political process, most particularly in Texas. There are deep sympathies among some Texas, especially connected to the oil industry, that coincide with the interests of the Munich mosque, the Saudis, and American authoritarians who seek to establish a world government that controls local puppet states across the planet, without regard to how they function locally, as long as they act toward the great corporations that are the real seat of elite power, as they are bidden to act.

 

Over time, the objective of this elite is to establish itself as a kind of international royalty that will rule a planet of what will essentially be pacified slaves. In general, human beings will no longer be able to move between countries freely, will no longer have access to a free exchange of ideas, and will be caught in an economic trap from which, without any meaningful organizations among the general population to balance the power of this authority, there will be no escape. As was true when the Roman republic collapsed, the appearance of free government will be maintained. The Roman senate continued to sit, and apparently to govern a republic, for hundreds of years after all power had, in fact, passed to the emperors. City officials continued to be elected as before, throughout the empire. But, in fact, it was not a free society, and eventually succumbed, as this new one will, too, to the cumbersome inefficiencies of authoritarianism.

 

Sadly, we will face, on a larger scale, the same fate that befell the Romans, who celebrated in the streets when the brutal imperial tax collectors came no more. Within two generations, most of the western Roman empire had degenerated into starved and miserable communities isolated from each other by a lack of roads, by the decline of Latin into a polyglot of slangs, by the isolation of government to the point that the only real order any leader could impose, for example, in Gaul, extended only as far as a soldier could march in a day. Money was forgotten to the point that, when it began to be reintroduced a few hundred years later, it was regarded as a form of magic. Literature, the arts and science declined into a confusion of superstitions that led to the dictatorship of the church, a malign barbarism that lasted a thousand years.

 

It is impossible to estimate just how much mankind lost of hope and freedom when the Roman republic collapsed, or how much more with the collapse of the empire, but certainly we are as we are today, mired in this strange and malignant state of wars, alarms, disasters, and concealed leaderships because we have never managed to truly democratize, to finally establish an economic and governmental system that flows from the individual and not the various institutional forms that have arisen, in endless variety, over the millennias-long struggle of this species to free itself from those who would impose the will of the few on the many.

It may seem a long leap from there to the Kennedy assassinations, the shoot-down of TWA Flight 800, 911, the London bombings and the threat to Carl Rove that has emerged in recent months, but it is not. It is difficult not to think that this silent, almost ad-hoc movement of authoritarians is not deeply invested in the United States military and in the government, and acting to further its objectives from positions of power, that are protected by the political leadership because it is no longer powerful enough to dislodge them, or does not care to do so, or cannot find them.

 

Despite the absurd explanation for the presence of a missile track in a video of the Flight 800 disaster offered by the CIA after the event, it still remains true that the plane was shot down. The one vessel known to be in the area at the moment the plane exploded that was probably involved—a small boat that headed out to sea at high speed immediately after the incident—was the only craft not investigated by the FBI. The CIA’s explanation of the missile track is childish propaganda, as silly as the explanation for why the 757 that struck the Pentagon on 911 mysteriously vaporized. It is my belief that Flight 800 was shot down by elements operating within the United States government, and using its facilities and resources, in order to prevent documents that had been placed aboard the plane from reaching Kennedy associate Pierre Salinger in France. I fear that these documents would have proven connections between people like Roy Hargraves of No-Name Key fame, H. L. Hunt, and a number of other Texas millionaires who have been heavy political contributors over the years to both US political parties, both of which have accepted this tainted money and become its victims.

 

Judging from his statements at the time, Mr. Salinger was well aware of what was coming his way, which was why he so vociferously maintained that the plane had been shot down. He knew it, I suspect, certainly, but was led, through a lack of sophistication, into making a fool of himself over the matter. What happened on 911 is that a consortium involving the Bin Laden family and their friends in Texas engaged in an operation that was, to an extent, co-opted by the errant Bin Laden brother into a much more extensive attack than the rest of the conspirators had expected. They did not count on suicide bombers, nor on the fact that the World Trade Center could be entirely destroyed. They sought a spectacular and terrifying event, not a catastrophe on the scale that actually unfolded. However, they did receive the benefit of the event, which was exactly the same benefit that Adolf Hitler received after the burning of the Reichstag in 1933: a transformation in popularity inspired by public fear.

 

I do not know if the president--or any president, for that matter--has been consciously aware of the existence of this malign structure. I'm not suggesting that the Bush administration would engage in an act of terrorism to boost its popularity. What I am suggesting is that there are elements who operate within the government, subverting and misusing its power, who might well do that. It is possible that some of these people are close to the administration, and using it, without its knowledge or full understanding, to carry out very malign aims. This could have happened during any previous administration from Eisenhower's on.

If the public wakes up, a vast historical change could then begin to unfold. As ordinary people across the world realize that the whole system of beliefs, dogmas, ideologies, hostilities, battles and rivalries by which we live are an illusion created by a cynical leadership, and do not emerge out of the hearts of the people, it could be that mankind will refocus on the only thing that has ever mattered, from the beginning of history: that each individual obtain sufficient prosperity and happiness, in a peaceful context, to express all of his potential into the world, and taste of this life to the fullest.

 

This desire is the great current of human life, the vast, unstoppable river, as it were, of souls seeking to ascend into a new realm of freedom. Standing against it, and thinking of themselves as carrying the banner of a desperate elite against the torrent of a despised horde, are the inheritors of the traditions of race and entitlement that go as deep, and were briefly given voice by Adolf Hitler. If these people do not get what they need, and fast, they are going to falter. The US midterm elections will be a catastrophe for the Christian right, and thus also for them, for they hide themselves among the many good and sincere people who give that movement its importance by their loyalty to it. This will result in a new congress, one that is about evenly divided between moderate Republicans and Democrats, that will be willing to pursue investigations that must not be pursued, if the elite is to continue to hold sway. It will lead to a revitalization of the press, which has been in thrall to the power of government since 9/11. It will lead, in short, to the destruction of a system that has, from the assassination of Kennedy to 911 and beyond, come within inches of the goal it has held for generations, which is domination of this planet.

 

Another small terrorist attack in the US will not be sufficient to stop the unraveling that is threatened. In fact, that will only weaken an administration whose one area of popularity remains its effectiveness against terrorism. No, something much larger is needed now, and the sudden expansion of discussion about the possibility of nuclear terrorism should be taken as a sign and a warning. There is great peril now. If the administration begins to collapse, and that does not seem far off, given Mr. Rove’s troubles, a gigantic terror attack on American soil would seem to be one way this malign presence might choose to shore it up. The president will act as he did last time, doing everything he can by his own lights to help the people, and, I would hope, never imagining for a moment that elements within the government were involved in the catastrophe, any more than Bill Clinton knew that Flight 800 was an act of terrorism, or that this fact was protected by a skillfully disempowered FBI investigation. We can only hope that they will hesitate to pull the trigger until it is too late for them to do so, in the event, by the grace of God, that time might come.

 

Preparation for a Nuclear Strike

 

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Your top priority right now, though, is preparing for your own immediate family survival!

 

WHAT TO DO IF A NUCLEAR DISASTER IS IMMINENT!

 

This guide is for families preparing for imminent terrorist or strategic nuclear attacks
with expected severe destruction followed by widespread radioactive fallout downwind.

 

In a national crisis of imminent nuclear weapon attacks, read all the way through this guide first,

THEN TAKE EFFECTIVE PROTECTIVE ACTION WITH CONFIDENCE... FAST!

 

#1 - STAY OR GO?

You must decide FIRST if you need to prepare where you are, or attempt evacuation. The nature of the threat, your prior preparations, and your confidence in your sources of information should direct your decision. If you know already you will be preparing to stay at your own home or, at least, the immediate local area, go now to #2 below.

If you are considering evacuation, your decision requires a very high confidence that it is worth the risk. You do not want to get stuck between your current location and your hoped for destination, as there will probably be no easy getting back. If you fail to get to your destination, you may be exposed without shelter, in a dangerous situation with little effective law enforcement, perhaps among panicked hordes of refugees. Whatever supplies you have may be limited then to what you can carry on foot. IF you are in a big city or near a military target, AND you have relatives or friends in the country that you know are awaiting you, AND the roads between you and them are clear, AND the authorities are not yet restricting traffic, AND you have the means and fuel, evacuation may be a viable option for a limited time. DO NOT attempt evacuation if all of the above is not clearly known, or if the situation is deteriorating too quickly to make the complete trip. You do not want to get stuck and/or become a refugee being herded along with panicked masses. If evacuation is truly a viable option, do not wait - GO NOW! Do so with as many of the supplies listed on the last page as possible. Better to be two days too early in arriving than two hours too late and getting snagged mid-way, potentially exposing your family to a worse fate than having stayed where you were. Because of the very real danger of getting caught in an evacuation stampede that stalls, almost all families will be better off making the best of it wherever they currently are.

 

#2 - WHAT YOU NEED TO DO FIRST

Because time is of the essence, you need to first delegate and assign to different adult family members specific tasks so they can all be accomplished at the same time. Your first priorities to assure your family survival are Shelter, Water, and Food/Supplies. While some are working on the water storage and shelter at home, others need to be acquiring, as much as possible, the food and supplies.

 

#3 - FOOD/SUPPLIES

Because much of the food and supplies listed on the last page of this guide may quickly become unavailable, quantities restricted, and/or the streets and stores may become un-safe soon, you need to assign someone NOW to immediately go to the stores with that list! Get cash from the bank and ATM's first, but try and use credit cards at the stores, if at all possible, to preserve your cash.

 

#4 - WATER

With one or more adults now heading to the stores with the list on the last page, those remaining need to begin storing water IMMEDIATELY! Lack of clean water will devastate your family much more quickly and more severely than any lack of food. Without water for both drinking and continued good sanitary practices in food preparation and for bathroom excursions (which will inevitably be much less sanitary than normal), debilitating sickness could rampage through your household with little hope of prompt medical attention. That is a highly likely but, avoidable, disaster, ONLY IF you have enough water.

Every possible container needs to be filled with water RIGHT NOW! It will be very hard to have stored too much water. When the electricity/pumps go down or everybody in your community is doing the same thing, thus dropping the water pressure, that's it, what you've got is all you might be getting for a very long time. Empty pop bottles (1-3 liter) are ideal for water storage, also filling up the bathtub and washing machine. (Remember, later you'll have some in your hot water tank.) If you have any kiddie pools or old water beds, pull them out and fill them up, too. (Water from a water bed should be used only for bathing or cleaning, not for drinking as it may contain traces of algicide and/or fungicides.) Anything and everything that'll hold water needs to be filled up quickly RIGHT NOW!!

One of the shopping items listed on the last page is new garbage cans and liner bags which you'll also use for storing water. If you can't get any more new cans, you could clean out an existing garbage can and scrub it throughout with bleach, then put in a new garbage bag liner and fill it with water. (Use two liners if they are very thin/flimsy.) Choose well where you fill up garbage cans with water because they won't easily be moved once full and many of them together could be too heavy for some upper floor locations. Ideally, they need to be very near where your shelter will be constructed and can actually add to its shielding properties, as you'll see below. BE ASSURED, YOU CANNOT STORE AND HAVE TOO MUCH WATER! Do not hesitate, fill up every possible container, RIGHT NOW!

 

#5 - SHELTER

The principles of radiation protection are simple - with many options and resources families can use to prepare or improvise a very effective shelter. You must throw off the self-defeating myths of nuclear un-survivability that may needlessly seal the fate of less informed families.

Radioactive fallout is the particulate matter (dust) produced by a nuclear explosion and carried high up into the air by the mushroom cloud. It drifts on the wind and most of it settles back to earth downwind of the explosion. The heaviest, most dangerous, and most noticeable fallout, will 'fall out' first close to ground zero. It may begin arriving minutes after an explosion. While the smaller and lighter dust-like particles will typically be arriving hours later, as they drift much farther downwind, often for hundreds of miles. As it settles, whether you can see it or not, fallout will accumulate and blow around everywhere just like dust or light snow does on the ground and roofs. Wind and rain can concentrate the fallout into localized 'hot spots' of much more intense radiation with no visible indication of its presence.

This radioactive fallout 'dust' is dangerous because it is emitting penetrating radiation energy (similar to x-ray's). This radiation (not the fallout dust) can go right through walls, roofs and protective clothing. Even if you manage not to inhale or ingest the dust, and keep it off your skin, hair, and clothes, and even if none gets inside your house, the radiation penetrating your home is still extremely dangerous, and can injure or kill you inside.

Radioactive fallout from a nuclear explosion, though very dangerous initially, loses its intensity quickly because it is giving off so much energy. For example, fallout emitting gamma ray radiation at a rate of 500 R/hr (fatal with one hour of exposure) shortly after an explosion, weakens to only 1/10th as strong 7 hours later. Two days later, it's only 1/100th as strong, or as deadly, as it was initially.

That is really very good news, because our families can readily survive it IF we get them into a proper shelter to safely wait it out as it becomes less dangerous with every passing hour.

What stops radiation, and thus shields your family, is simply putting mass between them and the radiation source. Like police body armor stopping bullets, mass stops (absorbs) radiation. The thicker the mass, the more radiation it stops. Also, the denser (heavier) the mass used, the more effective it is with every inch more you add to your fallout shelter. The thickness in inches needed to cut the radiation down to only 1/10th of its initial intensity for different common materials is: Steel 3.3", concrete 11", earth 16", water 24", wood 38", etc. The thickness required to stop 99% of the radiation is: 5" of steel, 16" of solid brick or hollow concrete blocks filled with mortar or sand, 2 feet of packed earth or 3 feet if loose, 3 feet of water. You may not have enough steel available, but anything you do have will have mass and can be used to add to your shielding - it just takes more thickness of lighter wood, for example, than heavier earth, to absorb and stop the same amount of radiation. Increasing the distance between your family and the radiation outside also reduces the radiation intensity.

The goals of your family fallout shelter are:

·                     To maximize the distance away from the fallout 'dusting' outside on the ground and roof

·                     To place sufficient mass between your family and the fallout to absorb the deadly radiation

·                     To make the shelter tolerable to stay in while the radiation subsides with every passing hour

While a fallout shelter can be built anywhere, you should see what your best options are at home or nearby. Some structures already provide significant shielding or partial shielding that can be enhanced for adequate protection. If you do not have a basement available, you can still use the techniques shown below in any above ground structure, but you'll need to use more mass to achieve the same level of shielding. You may consider using other solid structures nearby, especially those with below ground spaces, such as commercial buildings, schools, churches, below ground parking garages, large and long culverts, tunnels, etc.. Some of these may require permissions and/or the acquiring of additional materials to minimize any fallout drifting or blowing into them, if open ended. Buildings with a half-dozen or more floors, where there is not a concern of blast damage, may provide good radiation protection in the center of the middle floors. This is because of both the distance and the shielding the multiple floors provide from the fallout on the ground and roof.

Bottom Line: choose a structure nearby with both the greatest mass and distance already in place between the outside, where the fallout would settle, and the shelter inside.

 

If you have a basement in your home, or at a nearby relatives' or friends' house that you can use, your best option is probably to fortify and use it, unless you have ready access to a better/deeper structure nearby. For an expedient last-minute basement shelter, push a heavy table that you can get under into the corner that has the soil highest on the outside. The ground level outside ideally needs to be above the top of the inside shelter. If no heavy table is available, you can take internal doors off their hinges and lay them on supports to create your 'table'. Then pile any available mass on and around it such as books, wood, cordwood, bricks, sandbags, heavy furniture, full file cabinets, full water containers, your food stocks, and boxes and pillow cases full of anything heavy, like earth. Everything you could pile up and around it has mass that will help absorb and stop more radiation from penetrating inside - the heavier the better. However, be sure to reinforce your table and supports so you do not overload it and risk collapse.

 

 

 

 

It's really not so difficult to build an effective family fallout shelter, not to get it done... RIGHT NOW!

 

#6 - ESSENTIAL DETAILS

If you've accomplished the above; securing your supplies, stored water, and built your family fallout shelter, CONGRATULATIONS! You have now succeeded in improving the odds of survival for your family 100-fold, or more! Now, you need to expand your knowledge and fine-tune the tactics that will make the most of your family survival strategy.

·                     Government information and guidance is a vital resource in your response to a nuclear crisis, but for many reasons it may be late, incomplete, misleading or simply in error. While evacuation might be prudent for individuals who act quickly in response to a threat, governments will be slow to call for mass evacuations because of their potential for panic and gridlock. As the recent government calls for duct tape and plastic sheeting led to sold-out stores, anxiety, and derision from the press, there will be great reluctance to issue similar alarms. If you want to assure that you have adequate food and supplies for your family you must act BEFORE the panic without first waiting for government instructions that may never come or as urgently as warranted. You alone are ultimately responsible for your family.

·                     Filtering the air coming into your basement shelter won't be required. Air does not become radioactive, and if your basement is reasonably snug, there won't be any wind blowing through it to carry the radioactive fallout dust inside. Simply sealing any basement windows and other openings prevents significant fallout from getting inside. To improve both the radiation shielding inside the basement, and to protect the windows from being broken and letting fallout blow in later, you should cover them all with wood, and then with sandbags or solid masonry blocks or earth, etc. on the outside and inside too, if possible. If the basement air gets seriously stale later on, you could re-open a door into the upper floors of the still closed house, or secure a common furnace air filter over an outside air opening leading into your basement.

·                     Regarding fallout contamination, any food or water stored in sealed containers, that can later have any fallout dust brushed or rinsed off the outside of the container, will then be safe to use. As long as the fallout dust does not get inside the container, then whatever radiation penetrated the food/water container from the outside does not harm the contents. If you suspect that your clothes have fallout on them, remove your outer clothing before you come inside and leave them outside. A cheap plastic hooded rain poncho that can be easily rinsed off or left outside is very worthwhile. Have water and baby shampoo near the entrance (hose and containers) to wash and thoroughly rinse any exposed skin and hair. Exposure to fallout radiation does not make you radioactive, but you need to assure that you don't bring any inside. If any are stricken with radiation sickness, typically nausea, it is when mild (<100 Rads) 100% recoverable and cannot be passed on to others. Before fallout arrives, you might also try to cover up items you want to protect outside for easier rinsing off of the fallout dust later when it's safe to come out and do so. For instance, if you have a vegetable gardening spot, you might try covering much of it with plastic or tarp and weighting them down.

·                     If without sufficient time to acquire radiological instruments of your own, like Geiger counters and dosimeters, you'll need to be extra sure that your portable radios function properly from inside your shelter and that you have plenty of fresh batteries stocked for them. Without radiological instruments, listening for official guidance about the radiation threat levels in your particular area will be the only way you'll know when it's becoming safe to venture out. It might also be the only way you'll know when you first need to take your initial maximum protective action. When not in use, they should not be attached to any outside antenna or even have their own antenna extended. And, they should be wrapped in any non-conducting insulation, like layers of paper or bubblewrap plastic and then stored in a metal container or wrapped in aluminum foil to minimize the potential of EMP ruining the electronics. Having back-up radios would be very prudent. With extra radios, you can have one always tuned to the closest likely target city and, if it suddenly goes off the air, that could be your first indication of an attack.

·                     If close to a target, your first indication of a nuclear detonation may be with its characteristic blinding bright flash. The first effects you may have to deal with before radioactive fallout arrives, depending on your proximity to it, are blast and thermal energy. Promptly employing the old "Duck & Cover" strategy will save many from avoidable flying debris injuries and minimize thermal burns. Those very close will experience tornado strength winds and should quickly dive behind any solid object or into any available depression, culvert, basement, etc. A 500 kiloton blast, 2.2 miles away, will arrive about 8 seconds after the detonation flash with about a 295 mph wind blast that lasts about three seconds. An even larger 1 MT (megaton) blast, 5 miles away, will arrive in about 20 seconds. Hopefully, you are not near any target area 'ground zero' and will only, like the vast majority, have to deal with just the fallout later.

·                     When fallout is first anticipated, even though it has not yet arrived, have anybody still outside begin wearing their dust protector filter masks and hooded rain ponchos. Everyone should begin taking their Potassium Iodide (KI) or Potassium Iodate (KIO3) tablets for thyroid protection against cancer causing radioactive iodine, a major product of nuclear weapons explosions. If no tablets available, you can topically (on the skin) apply an iodine solution, like tincture of iodine or Betadine, for a similar protective effect. (WARNING: Iodine solutions are NEVER to be ingested or swallowed.) For adults, paint 8 ml of a 2 percent tincture of Iodine on the abdomen or forearm each day, ideally at least 2 hours prior to possible exposure. For children 3 to 18, but under 150 pounds, only half that amount painted on daily, or 4 ml. For children under 3 but older than a month, half again, or 2 ml. For newborns to 1 month old, half it again, or just 1 ml. (One measuring teaspoon is about 5 ml, if you don't have a medicine dropper graduated in ml.) If your iodine is stronger than 2%, reduce the dosage accordingly. Absorption through the skin is not as reliable a dosing method as using the tablets, but tests show that it will still be very effective for most. Do not use if allergic to iodine. If at all possible, inquire of your doctor NOW if there is any reason why anybody in your household should not use KI or KIO3 tablets, or iodine solutions on their skin, in a future nuclear emergency, just to be sure.

·                     When you know that the time to take protective action is approaching, turn off all the utilities into the house, check that everything is sealed up and locked down, and head for the shelter. You should also check that you have near your shelter additional tools, crow bars, and car jacks for digging out later, if required. Also, any building supplies, tools, sheet plastic, staple guns, etc. for plugging any holes from damage. Your basement should already be very well sealed against fallout drifting inside. Now, you'll need to seal around the last door you use to enter with duct tape all around the edges, especially if it's a direct to the outside door.

·                     You don't need to risk fire, burns, and asphyxiation trying to cook anything in the cramped shelter space, if you have pre-positioned in your shelter enough canned goods, can opener, and other non-perishable foods, that are ready-to-eat without preparation. More food, along with water, can be located right outside your crawl space entrance that you can pull in quickly as needed when safe to do so.

·                     For lighting needs within the shelter have many small LED flashlights or LED head-lamps to stretch your battery life. Try not to have to use candles if at all possible. Bring in some books for yourself and games for the children. Maybe throw in a small/thin mattress, some cushions, blankets, pillows, etc.

·                     Toilet use will be via the 5 gallon bucket with a seat borrowed from one of the house bathrooms, if you did not purchase a separate one. Garbage bag liners, hopefully sized for it, should always be used and a full-size and bag lined garbage can should be positioned very close to the shelter entrance for depositing these in when it is safe to do so quickly. Hanging a sheet or blanket will help provide a little privacy as shelter occupants 'take their turn'. The toilet needs to have its new 'deposits' sealed up tight with the plastic liner after each use. Use a very secure top on the bucket and position it near the wall with the outgoing upper air vent.

·                     Pets, and what to do about them, is a tough call. Letting dogs run free is not a humane option, both for their potential to die a miserable death from radiation exposure outside and/or to be a danger to others, especially if they get diseased and/or run in the inevitable packs of multitudes of other abandoned pets. Caring for them is ideal, if truly realistic and not a drain on limited resources, while 'putting them down' might eventually become a painful, but necessary reality.

·                     Boiling or bleach water treatments will be used for cleaning your stored water later for drinking. (This is for killing bacteria, not for radiation contamination, which is never a concern for any stored and covered water containers or even sealed food.) Tap water recently put into clean containers won't likely need to be purified before using. To purify questionable water, bring it to a roiling boil and keep it there for 10 minutes at least. If you don't have the fuel to boil it, you can kill the bacteria by mixing in a good quality household bleach at the rate of 10 drops per gallon, and letting it sit for at least 1/2 an hour. The bleach should be at least 5.25% pure, like Clorox, but be sure it has no additives such as soap or fragrance. You can later get rid of the flat taste from boiling, or some of the chlorine taste when using bleach, by pouring it from one container to another several times.

·                     There's much more that can be learned to better understand what you are up against and to acquire to help your family survive and endure it. While time permits, and if the Internet is still up & running, task somebody with getting and printing out additional prep information.

 

If there is not enough time to order/receive a radiation meter, then print out the plans for the home-makable KFM (Kearny Fallout Meter) that shows how to build at home, from materials commonly found there, an effective fallout radiation meter. Get the free plans for the KFM here...

http://www.ki4u.com/free_book/s60p792.htm

 

If there is enough time to both order, and be shipped, your own radiation detection and monitoring instruments, potassium iodide anti-radiation tablets, Nuclear Survival handbooks, etc., check first for remaining availability at these links...

http://www.radmeters4u.com/package.htm
http://www.nukalert.com
http://www.ki4u.com/products1.htm
http://www.survivalunlimited.com/completekit.htm

 

For readily understandable, practical and more detailed information on nuclear bomb blast, thermal, and radiation effects, EMP, radioactive fallout, radiation health effects and first-aid, nuclear survivability and myth-busting facts, along with livestock protection and numerous Do It Yourself fallout sheltering tips, print out all three parts of this web site below, which is where this guide originated from...

http://www.radshelters4u.com
http://www.radshelters4u.com/index2.htm
http://www.radshelters4u.com/index3.htm

 

If at all possible, also check out this live prep forum, as they will be covering all the latest crisis news, interpreting the government pronouncements, and discussing the best practical survival preparations families can still do...

http://www.timebomb2000.com

 

·                     BOTTOM LINE:

When the TV or radio program switches abruptly to an terse announcement saying: "We Interrupt This Program For This Special Bulletin!", and your kids look up to you with questioning wide-eyes and eager for assurances, know then that you are confidently ready for them with your own Plan of Action ready to go! That's what this is all about... our children!

This guide was purposely designed with the sober realization that the overwhelming majority of our fellow Americans would not be compelled to read such a guide until a nuclear crisis was imminent and, unfortunately, their preparation options and time to prepare then would be very limited. At www.ki4u.com/who.htm we know that, at that time, we will again be quickly sold-out, as we were after 9/11, both by the public and the Federal govt., and that this guide then will be the best/only help that we can offer. If you are fortunate enough to be exploring your family preparation needs and options before such a future national crisis, there is much more that you can and should do now to insure that they are even better prepared.

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them;
the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences." - Proverbs 22:3

LIST OF SUPPLIES TO ACQUIRE LOCALLY

If stores are still at all stocked, and safe to go to, try to buy as many of the following items as possible... IMMEDIATELY! There are no quantities listed here on the food items below as family size varies and because, as the emergency and panic widens, many items will become quickly sold-out or quantities restricted and you'll need to try to get more of what does remain on the shelves. At a minimum you should be looking at two weeks of provisions, but much better to be aiming for two months or more. The reality is, if/when we get nuked, it will be a very long time before anything is ever 'normal' again, especially at any grocery stores. Florida hurricane victims can attest to the prolonged misery and disruptions from even a localized disaster, even with the rest of the country still able to help out. Nobody can begin to imagine how bad the suffering will be, and for how long, if nukes have gone off... and in multiple locations!

The half-dozen top listed and UNDERLINED food items below are primarily for use while in the shelter. They are mostly ready-to-eat that requires no cooking or preparation, just a can opener at the most. (The iodine solution is included here because of its importance for its thyroid-blocking topical use detailed above, but it's NEVER to be ingested or swallowed.) The other foods listed below there are better cost/nutrition staples for later use during the extended recovery period. Then follows general non-food supplies, tools and equipment.

 

Go Acquire It All Now QUICKLY!

It's much better to risk being a little early when securing your families essential food and supplies, rather than a few hours too late...

Canned goods (pasta, soups, chili, vegetables, fruit, tuna, meats, lots of peanut butter, etc.)
Ready-to-eat foods (pop-tarts, raisins, cheese, granola/energy/protein bars, snack-paks, etc.)
Some perishable foods (breads and fruits like bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, etc.)
Assorted drink mix flavorings (with no cold drinks, just plain water, kids will appreciate it!)
Plenty of potent Multi-Vitamins, Vit C, etc.
Iodine solution, like Betadine (16 ounces)- NOT TO BE INGESTED OR SWALLOWED!

Multiple big boxes of dried milk (Could include/use some inside shelter, too.)
Multiple big boxes of pancake and biscuit mix & syrup
Largest bags of rice
Largest bags of beans
Largest bags of flour
Largest bags of potatoes
Largest bags quick oats and other grains
Largest bags of macaroni
Large bag of sugar
Large jar of honey
Large 2 gallons or more of cooking oil
Baking powder & baking soda & spice assortment pack
Bottled water (especially if home supplies not secured yet)

Paper or plastic plates/bowls/cups/utensils
Quality manual can opener, 2 if you don't already have one at home
Kitchen matches and disposable lighters
New garbage cans and lots of liner bags (water storage & waste storage)
5 gallon bucket and smaller garbage bags sized for it (toilet)
Toilet seat for the bucket (or use one from inside the house)
Toilet paper and, if needed, sanitary napkins, diapers
Baby wipes (saves water for personal hygiene use)
Flashlights (ideally LED) and more than one portable radio
Plenty more batteries, at least three sets, for each of the above
Bleach (5.25%, without fragrance or soap additives)
Alcohol and Hydrogen Peroxide
Aspirin/Tylenol/Motrin, Pepto Bismol, etc.
Prescription drugs filled, and as much extra as possible
First aid kits
Fire extinguishers
Plenty of dust mask filter protectors
Cheap plastic hooded rain ponchos for everyone
Water filters and all other camping type supplies, such as Coleman cook
stove and fuel, ammo, etc., if any sporting goods stocks still available.
And, of course, rolls of plastic sheeting, duct tape, staple guns, staples, etc.

 

Everyone is invited to copy, post, print, and distribute this 'WHAT TO DO IF A NUCLEAR DISASTER IS IMMINENT!' guide anywhere, as long as they do so without charging anything for it. It must be reproduced in entirety, including this notice, and not be altered or edited. To contact the author with comments and suggestions, e-mail: Shane Connor at webmaster@ki4u.com. This guide will be continually 'fine-tuned' so, before distributing it, download it fresh from http://www.ki4u.com/guide.htm or to print out, use this PDF version here http://www.ki4u.com/guide.pdf
Last Update: 7/16/2005

 

Author says prepare for nuclear terror - Former official: Not trying to cause panic, but prevent it – August 10, 2005
WorldNetDaily - U.S. officials should get serious about nuclear terrorism by urging Americans to prepare for disaster by stockpiling food, water, building shelters and planning evacuation routes, says an author and former member of the Indiana House of Representatives. In response to reports al-Qaida is planning an "American Hiroshima" nuclear attack on the U.S. using weapons and operative already smuggled into the country, Don Boys, author of "Islam: America's Trojan Horse," says he is not trying to panic the public.

 

"In a few days or weeks, everyone who has not prepared for disaster will panic," he says. "I would like for you to realize that you may have already waited too long to properly prepare, and if you wait much longer, it will be too late to buy gold, guns, and groceries. ... The name of the game will be survival, only survival. Forget the job since it will be gone. Your Social Security or pension check? Don't count on it. Protection from local authorities? Probably not. You will be on your own."

 

Boys bases his advice on the words of U.S. officials – from President Bush to Vice President Dick Cheney to the directors of the FBI and Homeland Security – who have said nuclear terrorism is the greatest threat facing the nation and a virtual inevitability at some point. "If U.S. officials are wrong and there is no danger from terrorists ... then breathe a sigh of relief, thank God for His mercy and continue with your life," he says. "However, if you are wrong (and U.S. officials are right), you and your family will be cold, hungry, and dependent on others to provide for your basic needs. Is it wise to take such an unnecessary risk?"

 

Boys suggests Americans purchase non-electric tools, guns, ammunition, food and toilet paper. He says it would be wise to set aside small bills as well as quarters. "A few boxes of No-Rad (potassium iodide anti-radiation tablets) will be more valuable than gold if you are in a contaminated area," he says. "Get a supply today." WND has reported that captured al-Qaida leaders and documents outline plans for a devastating terrorist nuclear attack on the U.S. – plans that have been under way for more than a decade. The reports are confirmed by author Paul Williams in his upcoming book, "The Al Qaeda Connection."

Intelligence analysts and sources disagree on the details of the way bin Laden's "American Hiroshima" plan unfolds. Some G2 Bulletin sources emphasize bin

 

Laden's commitment to re-enacting the 1945 attack on Japan with one nuclear detonation, followed by another days later. Williams, however, sees a much more devastating, coordinated, all-out, surprise attack coming. "The next attack, according to al-Qaida defectors and informants, will take place simultaneously at various sites throughout the country," he writes. "Designated targets include New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Houston, Las Vegas, and Valdez, Alaska, where the tankers are filled with oil from the Trans-Alaska pipeline. To orchestrate such an incredible event requires not only the shipment of the nukes into the United States but also the establishment of cells, the training of sleeper agents, the selection of sites, and the preparation of the weapons without detection from federal, state or local law enforcement officials. Unlike 9-11, that cost less than $350,000, this event already has cost a king's ransom, and bin Laden will not waste the billions in expenditures, the years of planning and his coveted 'crown jewels' on an attack that is ill-planned, poorly timed and carelessly coordinated." Other sources interpret some of the same information, based on captured al-Qaida operatives and documents as well as defectors, differently. They project an escalating series of attacks, each followed by blackmail demands upon the U.S. government and the American people.

 

CDC gets serious about nuke terror - Begins distributing guide on radiological attack for health-care professionals – September 7, 2005

WorldNetDaily - WASHINGTON – Saying "the chance that an overt or covert terrorist attack involving radioactive materials will occur is an unfortunate reality in the United States today," the Centers for Disease Control is putting a new emphasis on preparing the public and health-care professionals for nuclear terrorism. Amid extensive resources published prominently on the CDC website is a new two-page brochure that can be printed titled, "Radiological Terrorism: Emergency Management Pocket Guide for Clinicians." The brochure was posted yesterday. "CDC would play a key role in protecting the public health during and after an emergency involving radiation or radioactive materials," the agency explains.

 

The website includes information for the general public, first responders and medical professionals. "Because of the terrorist events of 2001, people have expressed concern about the possibility of a terrorist attack involving radioactive materials," the agency says in explaining its own role in such an emergency. "During and after such an incident, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would assist state, local, and territorial authorities in protecting people’s health and offer advice on steps that people can take to reduce their exposures to radiation."

 

The CDC says it would assist and advise state and local health departments on recommendations on how to protect people from radioactive fallout and contamination, how to safely use food and water supplies in an affected area, assess the dangers in areas hit and monitor people for exposure to radiation. "If necessary, CDC would also deploy the Strategic National Stockpile, a federal store of drugs and medical supplies set aside for emergency situations," says the report.

 

The report also includes answers to frequently asked questions about nuclear blasts and provides information that will be familiar to those who lived through the Cold War. The website also includes a description of Prussian Blue, a blue dye that was first developed in 1704 that can remove certain radioactive materials from people's bodies. The CDC cautions it should only be used under a doctor's care. The CDC also recommends the public purchase KI – or Potassium Iodide tablets – for use in a radiological emergency. "Local emergency management officials will tell people when to take KI," says the CDC. "If a nuclear incident occurs, officials will have to find out which radioactive substances are present before recommending that people take KI. If radioactive iodine is not present, then taking KI will not protect people. If radioactive iodine is present, then taking KI will help protect a person's thyroid gland from the radioactive iodine. Taking KI will not protect people from other radioactive substances that may be present along with the radioactive iodine." The CDC points out the Food and Drug Administration recommends taking KI as soon as a radioactive cloud containing iodine from the explosion is close by and says KI may still have some protective effect even if it is taken three to four hours after exposure to radioactive iodine.

 

Al Qaeda and the Land of Israel

 

Palestinian terror organizations poised for imminent large-scale attacks on Israeli troops and West Bankers  - August 26, 2005

Debka Exclusive - The small-scale strikes this week were the preface for assault plans thoroughly prepared behind the screen of the terror slowdown in recent weeks.

Thursday, Aug 25, Palestinian spokesmen seized on the killing of five armed Palestinians resisting arrests in a Tulkarm shootout as a convenient pretext and provocation. However, Israel’s dismantling of Gaza communities was constantly accompanied by Hamas vows to pursue its violent campaign until the last Israeli was dead or out of Palestine and al Qaeda-Palestine’s publication of five threatening communiqués. The night before the Tulkarm clash, Shmuel Matt, 21, from London, was stabbed to death in the Old City of Jerusalem in an attack on three Yeshiva students that was claimed by al Qaeda-Palestine, a new player on the expanding anti-Israel terror stage.

 

DEBKAfile’s military sources reveal that Hizballah’s triple rocket attack on northern Israel Thursday, Aug. 25, was no accident, as some Israeli sources have claimed. The rockets of 240mm caliber were fired from a Hizballah site in Wadi Salouki near Majdal Silam, northeast of Bint Jubeil. They caused no casualties One hit the Moshav Margiot henhouse, a second landed opposite Kibbutz Yiftah, while the third exploded on the Lebanese side of the border.

 

Our military experts see in this attack the launch of Hizballah’s post-disengagement strategy according to a new rulebook. The Lebanese terrorists were retaliating for the Israeli raid in the West Bank town of Tulkarm. At least two of the Palestinians killed were either Hizballah agents or Fatah-Al Aqsa Brigade operatives which the outside group controlled and funded. By striking back on behalf of its Palestinian partners, the Hizballah lets them continue to claim they are observing a partial lull.

Israel has so far made no response to the dangerous evolution of the terror front as an interlinked and transnational organism.

 

The Palestinians were by the same token testing Israel’s military reflexes when they fired two missiles that missed Sderot on the same day as the Hizballah shooting. When the IDF failed to respond, the Hamas, the Jihad Islami and the al Aqsa Brigades decided to go forward with their pre-charted campaigns to start hitting Israeli soldiers and West Bank residents in the very near future.

 

Al Qaeda’s Triple Warning to Israel Ahead of Gaza Pullout – August , 2005

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report - At an urgent weekend consultation, US, British, Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli intelligence and counter-terror officials concluded that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s terror teams now pose an imminent threat to Israel. The Katyusha rocket which landed harmlessly near Israel’s Eilat airport across from Jordanian Aqaba on Friday, Aug 19, was not a stray from the volley aimed at the two US naval vessels docked in the Jordanian Red Sea port. It was Zarqawi’s first direct attack against Israel and it was aimed at its southernmost airport. The fact that the rocket missed its target was neither here nor there according to their common assessment.

 

Jordanian soldier at Katyusha firing site in Aqaba.

 

Since those attacks, Jordan, Egypt and Israel have put their sea and air ports and essential installations on high terror alert. Washington quietly barred new danger zones to US diplomats and military officers serving in those countries: Aqaba, all of Jordan south of Amman up to the Saudi border, the Jordan River bridge crossings between Israel and Hashemite kingdom, the southern Israeli highway to the Red Sea port of Eilat across from Aqaba, and the Eilat resort. All these locations are now rated as high risk of terror attack. According to incoming intelligence data, the Zarqawi network has pumped fresh terror teams into Jordan. They are supported by an extensive local logistical structure in place that is composed mostly of Palestinians together with Iraqi, Egyptian and Syrian nationals.

 

Earlier, US officials were ordered to stay out of Sinai. In addition to last week’s bombing attempt against the US-led Multinational Observer Force, DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report four unpublicized shooting attacks on vehicles traveling on northeastern Sinai roads near the Israel border. Zarqawi’s men are obviously in command of free routes between Iraq, Jordan, Sinai and parts of Israel’s southern and eastern Negev. Local gangs of gunrunners are hired along the way to secrete them across borders to reach their targets. Our sources add that anti-terror agencies infer from the different names under which al Qaeda communiqués refer to its latest operations as indicative of another alarming development: Zarqawi’s followers fighting against Americans forces in Iraq call themselves “Al Qaeda’s Forces in the Land of the Two Rivers.” The attacks in Jordan and Sinai are claimed by “Al Qaeda in Egypt and the Levant.” The al Qaeda branch just set up in the Gaza Strip is referred to as “Jihad Brigades in the Border Districts.”  These titles are more than braggadocio; they are the names of the regional commands into which Zarqawi has divided the fronts of his terrorist offensive for synchronized operations.

 

Initial official attempts to discount the rocket firing against Eilat were quickly scotched by al Qaeda’s claim of responsibility on the day it was staged.

Friday, Aug 19, the Abdullah al-Azzam Brigades of the al Qaeda Organization in the Levant and Egypt, announced over the Internet its “fighters” had fired three Katyusha rockets at “US vessels in Jordan and at (Israel’s) Eilat port… before returning safely to base.” This group also claimed the bombing attacks on Sharm el Sheikh in July and Taba last year, which together killed more than 100 people. After warning the Americans to “expect even more stinging attacks”, the group went on to state: “The Zionists are always a legitimate target. We bombed you at Taba and will soon reach Tel Aviv.”

 

One of the three rockets fired Friday killed a Jordanian soldier and injured another, landing on the Emir Haya base parade ground during a drill practice; a second whizzed past the USS Ashland landing craft to land on a quayside warehouse. No members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard were hurt. The third partially exploded near a taxi 150 meters from Eilat airport, slightly hurting the driver. “This is our debut operation in Jordan,” boasted the Abdullah al-Azzam Brigades. “As we have begun to destroy the throne of the Egyptian tyrant (the Sharm al Sheikh, Taba bombings), we warn the Jordanian tyrant to release our jailed brothers and abdicate before we force you to go.”

 

This was not the first al Qaeda communiqué of late. Since the second week of August, three warnings to Israel have been released. The first appeared on August 9, a week before the dismantling of Israeli locations in the Gaza Strip began. It was signed “The Ashura Council of al Qaeda-Palestine.” Addressed mainly to the Palestinians, it consisted of an attack on the democratic process Washington seeks to inculcate in Palestinian governance as a means of weaning Hamas and the Jihad Islami away from terrorism. This message decries democracy as anti-Islamic and a violation of the Ashura Council mode enshrined in Islamic law. It also tempts the faithful to elect representatives who enact laws contrary to the Shari code.

 

Al Qaeda sees the Islam-versus-democracy issue, largely waved aside by the Sharon government, as of prime importance and the key ideological justification for attacking both the Jewish state and the Palestinian Authority. At the same time, the communiqué allows pragmatic tactics: “Living as we do in a period in which heretics (the Palestinian Authority) and true believers are mixed together, fighting the Jews (Israelis) and the Crusaders (the Americans and their allies) must take the highest priority.”

 

Two days later, on August 11, a second Internet notice was signed the “Jihad Brigades of the Border Districts,” another name for al Qaeda-Palestine. It was a transparent effort to ascertain that Israelis and Palestinians alike were apprised of the new organization in the Gaza Strip. The third warning appeared on August 16. By then, the Israel army and police had begun evicting Israelis from the Gaza Strip. This four-page missive consisted of a list of oaths of allegiance sworn by the Jihadist Brigades in the Border Districts (Palestine) to the Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who is termed “Emir of the Faithful and Head of the Islamic Caliphate.”

 

The three messages reveal a carefully calibrated al Qaeda operation of four steps, designed to parellel the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip:

 

1. August 2: The Al Qaeda-Palestine branch makes its debut in the Gaza Strip with a public announcement of its launch.

2. August 9: The new Palestinian branch elaborates its ideological-religious platform as validation for the terrorist campaign to come.

3. The al Qaeda-Palestine Web site is unveiled, inaugurating the official outlet through which the group will claim responsibility for future operations.

4  August 16: The fighters’ oaths of allegiance are published, indicating that al Qaeda’s brigades are ready to launch terrorist operations.

 

Israel’s response

First: Official spokesmen first shilly-shallied, asserting it is impossible to know if the messages and warnings warrant serious attention and to identify the hand behind them. This skeptical vagueness came across in Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz’s comment on the Katyusha rocket that landed outside Eilat airport.

Second: An effort to keep the al Qaeda Internet warnings and moves in the Gaza Strip far from public attention. Mofaz and the chief of staff, both of whom are totally committed to Israel’s military and civilian pullback, were reluctant to heed any suggestion that the withdrawal might in fact be exploited to open the door wide for al Qaeda to walk in and join forces with Palestinian terrorists. But al Qaeda’s threat to reach Tel Aviv after the rocket attacks last Friday came through loud and clear. It is hard to wave away the strong Palestinian element in the Abdullah Azzam Brigades which staged that attack, a branch of the same terrorist organization as the Jihad Brigades of the Border Districts. This manifestation was first reported by DEBKAfile on August 3, 2005. To see the article, click HERE.

 

Al Qaeda may hit Asian financial hubs-French judge – August 25, 2005

LONDON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda could be planning an attack on Asian financial centers to try to undermine investor confidence in the region, a senior French anti-terrorism judge said in an interview on Thursday. Speaking to Britain's Financial Times newspaper, Jean-Louis Bruguiere said an attack on Tokyo, Singapore or Sydney would be symbolically important for al Qaeda. "We have several elements of information that make us think that countries in this region, especially Japan, could have been targeted," Bruguiere said without elaborating on the intelligence or nature of the threat.

 

He said several Asian countries were less prepared for an attack than the United States or Europe, which have both been targeted by Osama bin Laden's network.

U.S. authorities stepped up security after the September 11, 2001 attacks, while police have been on alert in Europe since deadly bombings in Madrid in 2004 and in London on July 7. "We are somewhat neglecting the capacity or desire of the al Qaeda organization to destabilize the southeast Asia region," Bruguiere said, according to a transcript of the interview on the newspaper's Web site (www.ft.com). "We forget that the al Qaeda organization is sharpening its strategy, more than just focusing on so-called soft targets it is looking to hit economic and financial centers."

 

Asked where he saw the next threat coming from, the magistrate said there was also a "serious danger" of more violence stretching from the Caucuses through central Asia to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He warned that people had underestimated the dangers. "There is not enough public consciousness of the terrorist risk," Bruguiere said. "There is more work to be done to sensitize the public to the threat."

 

He said the Iraq war had raised the threat of attacks in Europe by boosting al Qaeda recruitment and propaganda. "The incontestable catalyst of this upsurge is Iraq," he said. "Since 2003 we have seen an increase in propaganda and recruitment by al Qaeda organizations using the Iraq problem as an extremely powerful lever to justify the amplification of the jihad (Islamic holy struggle)."

 

DEBKAfile Exclusive earlier named the Palestinian who led al Qaeda bomb teams against Taba and Sharm el Sheikh. – August 15, 2005

Debkafiles - Iyad Said Salah, a Palestinian who lived in the northern Sinai town of El Arish, is named in an Egyptian intelligence summary as the ringleader of two serial Qaeda attacks in Sinai: the Taba blasts that left 32 dead last October and the bombing strikes at Sharm al Sheikh on July 27 that killed 64.  That summary of its investigations into the attacks was circulated to anti-terror authorities in the United States, Israel and the UK, none of whose governments has revealed its contents. DEBKAfile’s counter terror and intelligence sources disclose key elements for the first time.

 

The Egyptians also reported that 16 members of the bomb teams (the Egyptians prefer not to name al Qaeda) were captured and 5 killed, including Iyad Salah, in battles that took place near Jebel Hilal in central Sinai. Two of the captives were interrogated. The Egyptian summary contains the following conclusions:

 

1. The network was local and anti-Egyptian.

2. It had no links outside Sinai, namely with al Qaeda or its Iraq commander, Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

3. The Egyptian roundup liquidated the terrorist teams operating in Sinai. The threat has now been eliminated.

 

Five days after Cairo circulated this summary, all three conclusions were proven false.

 

Monday, Aug. 15, two explosive devices were planted against a multinational force vehicle at the al Jora air base in northern Sinai. One exploded, slightly injuring two Canadian women sergeants of the force. The second was discovered in time to be safely disarmed. They were laid so that the second bomb would blow up and hit the rescue teams rushing to the scene of the first explosion and so maximize the casualty count. The dominant MFO contingent is American. Its commanders did their utmost at first to pretend that there had been no terrorist attack only “damage to a vehicle.”  While one of the purposes of the terrorist attack was to kill Americans, another object was to demonstrate that the Egyptians had not liquidated the al Qaeda networks in Sinai as they claimed. Cells are still operational in the north and maybe even new networks. By targeting the MFO, the terrorists also proved they were no local anti-Egyptian networks but part of an international jihads ring that went after Americans, Israelis, Britons and other foreigners, as they did in Taba and Sharm al Sheikh. By singling out the American-led MFO, the terrorists were shouting out loud they were al Qaeda.

 

Neither the Egyptian not the Israeli governments has admitted any of this in public because some embarrassing questions might be asked, especially in Israel.

For instance, if Egyptian security and intelligence forces are incapable of rooting out one or more al Qaeda terror networks led by a Palestinian in northern Sinai, Is it responsible for the Israel government to relegate Gaza-Sinai border security along the Philadelphi strip to Egyptian border forces? Is there any guarantee that those networks will not penetrate the Gaza Strip and join up with the al Qaeda cells already present there and the Hizballah units due to be shipped in from Lebanon upon completion of Israel’s pull-out?

 

Al Qaeda-Iraq claims mortar and machine gun attack that killed 1,000 “Shiite heretics at the Kadhimiya mosque” in Baghdad - August 31, 2005

August 31, 2005, 11:35 AM (GMT+02:00)

Most of the victims were women, children and old people. DEBKAfile Exclusive: Three explosives-vested suicide bombers, one an Afghani, and two bomb cars were captured after the deadly attack. The captives named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as plotter of the atrocity. It was engineered in stages – first mortars shelled the edges of the million-strong procession at the Imam Mousa al Kadim mosque, then Katyusha rockets were fired from afar, finally rumors of suicide bombers.

 

Al Qaeda and the Search for Nuclear Weapons

 

How Osama bought bomb - Al-Qaida directs poppy farms under U.S. nose – July 22, 2005

Osama bin Laden has spent billions of dollars on the successful purchase and development of nuclear weapons – money his al-Qaida terrorist network earned by directing poppy cultivation in the fields of Afghanistan, right under the noses of U.S. occupation forces. That is the finding of G2B intelligence sources as well as the investigative work of journalist Paul L. Williams, who documents the stunning revelation in his upcoming book, "The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse." The vast drug fortune has also aided al-Qaida in smuggling some of those nuclear weapons – along with thousands of sleeper agents – over the Mexican border with the help of the MS-13 criminal street gang, say the sources.

 

According to captured al-Qaida leaders and documents, bin Laden's terrorist network has a plan called "American Hiroshima" involving the multiple detonation of nuclear weapons already smuggled into the U.S.
Al-Qaida has obtained at least 40 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union – including suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells and even some missile warheads. In addition, documents captured in Afghanistan show al-Qaida had plans to assemble its own nuclear weapons with fissile material it purchased on the black market.

Besides trying to detonate its own nuclear weapons already planted in the U.S., military sources also say there is evidence to suggest al-Qaida is paying former Russian special forces officers to assist the terrorist group in locating nuclear weapons formerly concealed inside the U.S. by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Osama bin Laden's group is also paying nuclear scientists from Russia and Pakistan to maintain its existing arsenal and assemble additional weapons with the materials it has invested hundreds of millions in procuring over a period of 10 years. The plans for the devastating nuclear attack on the U.S. have been under development for more than a decade. It is designed as a final deadly blow of defeat to the U.S., which is seen by al-Qaida and its allies as "the Great Satan."

At least half the nuclear weapons in the al-Qaida arsenal were obtained for cash from the Chechen terrorist allies.
At least nine major U.S. cities, including New York and Washington, are prime targets for the al-Qaida nuclear terrorists. Bin Laden's preferred dates for attacks include Aug. 6, the anniversary of the Hiroshima nuclear bombing in 1945, Sept. 11 and May 14, the anniversary of the re-creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima attack will be marked next month. Some skeptical of the alarming news have suggested bin Laden could never have achieved such results with his limited funds and a personal fortune estimated by the FBI and CIA at around $250 million.

In truth, Williams reports, bin Laden had lost his family fortune before he ever got to Afghanistan in 1996. Some of that money had already been spent in his quest for the weapons of mass destruction he believed he needed to wage a successful jihad against the greatest superpower on the planet. That search began by 1993 when al-Qaida is believed to have purchased weapons-grade uranium purloined from South Africa. But, with the help of Taliban leader Sheikh Mullah Omar, bin Laden created a much bigger fortune by taking control of the Afghan poppy fields, refining the heroin into the highest quality and striking deals with Turkish drug lords and the Albanian Mafia to distribute it worldwide.

According to Yossef Bodansky, former director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare and author of "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America," by the late 1990s, under bin Laden's direction, Afghanistan was selling $7 billion to $8 billion worth of drugs in the West each year. "When Americans buy drugs, they fund the jihad," he said. Nothing has changed with the U.S.-led occupation of Afghanistan – except that the flow of heroin has increased.
In 2004, according to the United Nations, opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rose by two-thirds, climbing to 320,000 acres and producing a yield of 4,200 metric tons. "Prior to bin Laden's exile from Sudan, the heroin that came out of the Golden Crescent was low-grade No. 3," reports Williams in his upcoming book. "It was a product that was good only for smoking or snorting."

But Omar and bin Laden recognized there was a growing worldwide market for No. 4 heroin that could be shot into veins. "To meet the demand for this product, bin Laden established sophisticated laboratories near Kabul and recruited chemists from Pakistan, China and the former Soviet Union," writes Williams. By 1997, the revenues from the poppy harvest poured into the Taliban economy to the tune of somewhere between $5 billion and $16 billion annually.

The sale of drugs to the West served a double purpose in the eyes of bin Laden:
• it helped to poison the infidel enemy;
• it paid for the acquisition and development of nuclear weapons – the ultimate means of destroying the United States;

As a direct result of this extraordinary development and the intersection of terrorism and narcotics sales, Williams, a former FBI consultant on organized crime matters, came, for all intents and purposes, the end of the Italian Mafia – La Cosa Nostra.  Those who filled the vacuum left after arrests and convictions of many of the top crime family leaders were bin Laden's Albanian allies. "In 2004, the FBI announced that among ethnic Albanians, there is a group of radical Muslims who have replaced La Cosa Nostra as the 'leading crime outfit in the United States,'" writes Williams. The Albanian Mafia, due to their incredible propensity for blood-letting, gained supremacy over the long-entrenched LCN families in every major city along the Eastern seaboard. It isn't just about money with the Albanian Mafia. There is a religious twist to their bloodletting and mayhem.

When Italian police tapped the phones of Agim Gashi, Milan's leading drug lord, he was overheard telling his Turkish suppliers to continue sending shipments of heroin during Ramadan, despite the Quranic injunctions against it. It was necessary, he said, for the sake of the bigger picture, "to submerge Christian infidels in drugs." In another conversation, he said: "We have discovered that drugs are not only a source of wealth but a tool to weaken Christendom."

 

The Invisible Osama bin Laden

 

Is bin Laden in China? - Foreign Intel sources point to Beijing-terrorist pact – July 24, 2005

Farah’s G2 Bulletin - While U.S. intelligence sources suggest Osama bin Laden has likely been hiding in Pakistan or Iran since being chased from Afghanistan, foreign agents tell G2B they believe the al-Qaida terrorist leader may be concealed in China – with the full knowledge of the Beijing government. These sources suspect – but have no documentary proof – that bin Laden may have struck a deal with China. He gets safe refuge, and China's own large Muslim population doesn't make trouble for the government. There is even the possibility, they say, that China has a more complex sponsorship role with al-Qaida – seeing it as part of its own overall asymmetrical, anti-West strategy.

One needs only glance at a map to understand why China needs to be considered as a possible hiding place for bin Laden. There are places in Afghan and Pakistan that border China. It happens to be the one place where no one is really looking. No one dare look there without creating an international crisis. It is a small strip of land between Tajikistan and Pakistan and the land terrain, even more rugged than most of Afghanistan, would make it exceedingly difficult to find any one. The Wakhan Corridor from Afghanistan to China is an ideal place for Osama Bin Laden to hide specially within Chinese territory, say G2B sources.

China, always concerned about jihadist uprisings, has a sizable Islamic population in that area. Then there is the matter of Beijing policies before Sept. 11 and after. Prior to the world's largest terrorist attack, China maintained good relations with al-Qaida and the Taliban – even supplying Afghanistan with weaponry. At the time, analysts believed China supported al-Qaida and the Taliban as a way of keeping peace with its own Muslim population. But now there are suspicions among some geo-strategists that there was always more to the story. Indeed, a decade ago, China's Muslim population was more disquiet. Today, while Islamic terrorist attacks affect neighboring Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere, China's Muslim population is relatively docile.

Some suspect China may have received a pledge from bin Laden never to attack China in exchange for safe harbor – or for helping to conceal him in the Wakhan Corridor. Bin Laden is believed to be accompanied by Ayman al-Zawahiri, his primary adviser and personal physician. Al-Zawahiri, a surgeon, educated in Cairo, accused of plotting to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak, was condemned to death for rebellion. After bin Laden, he is the second most wanted terrorist worldwide. In addition to having broad support among the Muslim population of China, bin Laden is well-regarded by many other Chinese, too. Following the recent spate of London terror bombings, Chinese Internet chat rooms were filled with reaction – much of it outright hostile to the victims of the attack.

Many of the postings on China's largest portal, Sina.com, suggested the attack in London was justified in retaliation for the high-profile British involvement in the Iraq war. "This is a gift to the imperialists who imposed hegemony upon others," said one posting. "The British are as evil as Americans. Thank God for the attack!" said another.

One participant in the chat session who was disturbed by the tone of the discussion surveyed a sample of the 27,000 postings, and reported that about one-third had expressed positive sentiment about the attack. Following the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., China appeared – officially, at least – to be sympathetic to the plight of the U.S. When the U.S. was moving into Afghanistan, China announced it would not let bin Laden enter its territory across the 70 kilometer border. But there were also credible reports China continued to aid the Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists as they battled U.S. forces for control of Afghanistan. Another intelligence news service, STRATFOR, reported China sought the return of ethnic Uighurs from northwestern Xinjiang province who were captured while fighting with the Taliban. The U.S. reportedly refused to turn them over, but there has never been any official acknowledgement of the prisoners. There were other unconfirmed reports of Chinese casualties in the fighting.

In addition, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirmed large quantities of Chinese-manufactured ammunition were discovered in the Tora Bora cave hideouts of bin Laden. The arms cache included mortar shells, anti-tank rockets and ammunition for various types of automatic rifles and machine guns of Chinese manufacture, abandoned by fleeing al-Qaida men. One of the most remarkable developments in the history of Chinese-Taliban relations came on an auspicious date – Sept. 11, 2001. That was the very day Beijing and Afghanistan chose to announce a new cooperation pact between the two nations. "If you look at the Chinese strategy book, 'Unrestricted Warfare,' they talk about using terrorism and drug dealing as means by which to defeat the United States," Al Santoli, an Asian military and security expert as well as national security adviser to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said. Chinese leaders haven't "come right out and said they were doing so, but they've talked about people like bin Laden as one of their heroes," Santoli said. "You can see by their relationship with the Taliban that China is not averse to dealing with terrorists. Also, China is the primary military ally of Pakistan, a country that is the benefactor of the Taliban and bin Laden."

Richard D. Fisher Jr., a senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, a non-partisan Russia and Asia think tank, agreed that "Unrestricted Warfare" was a book well-respected by China's military and political hierarchy. "There are elements in the PLA (People's Liberation Army) who admire the tactics of Osama bin Laden," Fisher said, noting that the two Chinese army officers who wrote the strategy manual "were quite clear in their admiration for" the dissident Saudi-born terrorist leader.

Some experts have seen a historical connection between Beijing and rising world terrorism. One seasoned analyst and reporter, Gordon Thomas, author of "Seeds of Fire," goes further than drawing links between China and al-Qaida. He contends Beijing had an actual role in the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. He claims Beijing "was prepared to infuriate America and its allies in supporting bin Laden and the Taliban because Afghanistan fitted into China's own long-term strategic plans." China, of course, is an ally of Iran and other terrorist-supporting nations.

Internet analyst Dan Mahony, who is persuaded bin Laden is in China points out that bin Laden bemoaned his fate in being forced out of Sudan, in part, because of his agricutlural projects – including cotton farming. Xinjiang, the Muslim stronghold many believe is concealing the terrorist leader today, happens to be the largest cotton-producing area in China. There are reports that the explosives used in the most recent London bombing were manufactured in China. Beijing has denied the report.

 

Bin Laden 'in good health' – July 15, 2005

BBC News - An influential Arabic newspaper editor has been told that Osama Bin Laden is still alive - the second such report in a week. Abdel-Bari Atwan says the leader of the al-Qaeda network is in good health, but had been wounded in an attack on his base in Afghanistan last December.

 

Bin Laden "still the figurehead" of his al-Qaeda network

 

Mr Atwan, editor of the London-based Al-Quds newspaper, said Bin Laden's followers had told him that he would not make more video statements until his group launches another attack on the United States.

Bin Laden is alleged by the US to be behind the 11 September attacks in New York and Washington, which killed about 3,000 people.

 

Shrapnel

Mr Atwan is one of few journalists to have interviewed Osama Bin Laden before the US attacks. He said he had started his hunt for news of Bin Laden's whereabouts after the latest video footage showing the al-Qaeda leader - who is left-handed - barely moving his left arm. "His [Osama Bin Laden's] people said he was wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel. He is in good health now," Mr Atwan said on Monday. He said the injury was sustained during a US-led assault on his headquarters in the Tora Bora mountains in eastern Afghanistan in December. "They [Bin Laden's followers] also said Bin Laden would not appear in a video and just speak words. He will make another appearance only after his people attack the Americans again," Mr Atwan said.

US officials have made several warnings about a possible attack against American targets, by members of al-Qaeda. US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told American troops in Afghanistan on Monday that the organisation remained active despite the successes of the US-led campaign. "We have taken out maybe half of the top al-Qaeda and almost half of the Taleban leadership," Mr Wolfowitz said. "It's going to be a long struggle," he added.

 

German evidence

 

Last week, the head of Germany's foreign intelligence agency also said Osama Bin Laden was alive and believed to be hiding in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

 

Bin Laden's group has threatened more attacks

 

August Hanning told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that the wanted Saudi dissident was still very much a key figure within the al-Qaeda terror network. "Given the information we have we are convinced that Bin Laden is still alive," he said. "He is still the figurehead of al-Qaeda, but doesn't appear to move around very much." Mr Hanning said that an estimated 5,000 al-Qaeda operatives still remained in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while others had returned to their countries of origin to plan new attacks.

"They are preparing new attacks from their new locations," he said.

 

Bin Laden Said To Be Healthy – June 15, 2005
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CBS)  - Osama bin Laden is alive and in good health, as is fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar, a purported senior commander of the ousted Afghan religious militia said in a TV interview broadcast Wednesday. Pakistan's Geo television broadcast the interview with a man it identified as Taliban military commander Mullah Akhtar Usmani, a former Afghan aviation minister who said he still receives instructions from Omar.

Osama bin Laden and fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar  (Photo: AP / CBS)

 

Asked whether bin Laden is hiding in areas of Afghanistan that are under Taliban control, the man said he would not specify where the terrorist mastermind was hiding. "Thanks be to God, he is absolutely fine," the man said. The man wore a black turban to shield his face, making it impossible to recognize him or verify his identity. He wore a gray jacket, and an AK-47 rifle was propped next to him as he spoke in front of a red-patterned, Afghan-style rug.

Geo said the interview was recorded last week, but declined to say where. A senior journalist at the independent station said on condition of anonymity that the interview was done near the Afghan town of Spinboldak, which is close to the Pakistani border. The interview was conducted in broken Urdu, Pakistan's main language and the language in which Geo broadcasts most of its programs. Most senior Taliban speak Pashtu. The man said the Taliban are still organized and senior Taliban leaders hold regular consultations. "Our discipline is strong. We have regular meetings. We make programs," the man said.

He said Omar does not attend the meetings but "decisions come from his side." He did not say where those meetings take place. In speaking about Omar, the man referred to the Taliban chief by his self-proclaimed title of "ameerul momineen" — "leader of the faithful." "Ameerul momineen is our chief and leader. No one is against him. Our ameerul momineen is alive. He is all right. There is no problem. He is not sick. He is my commander. He gives me instructions," the man said. Asked whether he has direct contact with Omar, the man said: "I will not say whether I meet with him or not. But he is giving instructions."

A U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taliban in late 2001. The offensive was launched after the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden and dismantle al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

 

Al Qaeda and the London Bombings

 

Bin Laden did it - Al-Qaida hand seen behind bombings in London, Egypt – July 23, 2005

WASHINGTON – Al-Qaida is sending a message that it is still in business with the bombings in London and Egypt, say terrorism experts in the U.S. and abroad. The pattern of attacks, they say, and the similarity of in methods suggest Osama bin Laden or his inner circle were behind the attacks. In Sharm el-Sheikh, where the death toll rose to 90 people, attention centered on an al-Qaida affiliate blamed for a similar attack last October at Taba, another Red Sea resort. In London, where 52 people were killed in the subway and on a bus, police have identified three of the four presumed suicide bombers as British natives with suspected connections to Pakistani radicals.

Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt

Intelligence officials and terrorist experts said they suspect that bin Laden or his lieutenants may have directed both operations. The analysis by diverse sources in the U.S. and abroad suggest the Bush administration's assessments that al-Qaida is on the run may be optimistic. Some senior U.S. officials have argued that bin Laden has been effectively bottled up since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and question whether al-Qaida still has the ability to plan major operations such as the Sept. 11 attacks. In April, the State Department concluded in its annual report on terrorist activity around the world that al-Qaida had been supplanted as the biggest threat by unaffiliated local groups of Islamic radicals acting on their own. The pattern of attacks in 2004, the report said, illustrates "what many analysts believe is a new phase of the global war on terrorism, one in which local groups inspired by al-Qaida organize and carry out attacks with little or no support or direction from al-Qaida itself."

One U.S.-based intelligence analyst said the fingerprints of al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are all over the attack in Egypt. Al-Zawahiri is known to be obsessed with toppling President Hosni Mubarak in the largest Arab country. The latest bomb attack ripped an upscale hotel, a local market and a parking lot beginning shortly after 1 a.m., a synchronized series of blasts that witnesses and the authorities said had occurred about five minutes apart. Citing police officials, Reuters reported that 35 people had been arrested, though it was not clear if they were suspected of close ties to the bombers or whether it was part of a general roundup.

Several hours after the bombings an extremist group claimed responsibility on an Islamic Web site. The group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades of al-Qaida in Syria and Egypt, also claimed to have carried out a similar series of bombings that killed 34 people last October at and near the resort town of Taba. Within hours, a second group, which identified itself as the Holy Warriors of Egypt, claimed responsibility in a fax to newspapers and gave the names of five people it identified as the bombers. Neither claim could be verified. "This cowardly, criminal act is aimed at undermining Egypt's security and stability and harming its people and its guests," said Mubarak. "This will only increase our determination in chasing terrorism." The dead and injured included significant numbers of European tourists and Egyptians, with at least 240 people wounded, said Essam Sharif, director of emergency medicine in Sharm el Sheik. The foreign casualties included Spaniards, British, French and Italians, as well as Qataris and Kuwaitis.

 

Did Britain appease terrorists? - Blair wants answers about coddling of extremists -  July 23, 2005
Following the second wave of attacks on London’s transportation system and the failure of MI5 and Scotland Yard to predict and prevent more Islamic terror attacks, Prime Minister Tony Blair is demanding explanations from the chiefs of the British intelligence community. G2B has learned from reliable sources in London cabinet members in Blair’s government were surprised to learn classified information on what one MI5 operative described as “an old live-and-let-live policy.” According to the source, British governments reached several agreements of understanding with many radical Islamic groups, including a variety of mujahedeen, Kurdish groups, Libyan dissidents and many others.

Tony Blair – Prime Minister of England

 

The nature of these understandings was that the organizations would be allowed to operate freely in their propaganda as long as there were no terror attacks in Britain. In reality the relative calm enjoyed by the British in the last 10 years was achieved by accepting terrorist presence in the kingdom.  The practice of “live and let live” began in the '60s when a number of Palestinian Liberation Organization groups attacked Israeli targets and cooperated with the Irish Republican Army. The most spectacular case of live and let live was demonstrated in the case of a failed El Al plane hijack on Sept. 6, 1970, by Laila Khaled, the most famous Palestinian female terrorist and hijacker, and a Nicaraguan terrorist. After overpowering the attackers and killing Khaled’s partner, El Al 219 from Amsterdam to New York was diverted to London. The British arrested Khaled and released her in October of the same year.

Blair is planning to overhaul the entire counter-terror system of the U.K., a must according to intelligence experts who describe the attacks in London as an unacceptable failure of the British intelligence and the live and let live policy.

Who shorted British pound? - Currency fell 6% in 10 days before London terror – July 16, 2005

In the 1988 Hollywood hit "Die Hard," starring Bruce Willis, a group of "terrorists" take over a Japanese banking institution in Los Angeles, hold hostages and make demands for release of "political prisoners." But it turns out the terrorists aren't really terrorists. They are bank robbers trying to make off with the fortune in the bank's vaults. Could it be Osama bin Laden has seen "Die Hard"?

That is a question Scotland Yard and other law enforcement agencies are actually asking themselves following the July 7 London transit system attacks that killed 54 and injured scores more as they continue to scour the planet for evidence and additional conspirators. Why? Because it appears some profited by short selling the British pound in the 10 days leading up to the attacks.

The pound fell about 6 percent (approximately 1.82 to 1.72) against the dollar for no apparent reason – until, of course, the terror attacks sent the British markets reeling still further. "This was an almost unprecedented weakness and far too sharp to be a coincidence," one economist with more than 35 years of experience in the investment industry, told G2B. "That is, after all, an annualized rate of loss of well over 100 percent." The fall did not go unnoticed by investigators, who are wondering whether the terrorist masterminds behind the attacks decided to make some money on their action or whether other investors with inside information about possible attacks took advantage of that knowledge. "Currencies of establish countries simply do not fall that fast based upon any kind of economic or financial analysis," said the economist. "Somebody – somewhere – knew something. Or maybe I should say 'somebodies.'"

Could it be the terrorists have learned to make their attacks self-funding operations? Could it be the terrorists are actually motivated by factors other than Islamic fanaticism? These are some of the questions law enforcement agencies are asking – but they're not really expecting to get answers. The problem is that short selling of this kind can be done with near total anonymity. "Trade currency futures through a Swiss or Austrian bank via an offshore company incorporated in Crete and you have a totally untraceable transaction," the economist noted. "No one will ever know who made the really big money off this situation, but I guarantee you this – someone did." It's not the first time suspicion about terrorists – or someone – profiting from short-selling prior to an attack.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S., David Ruder, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1987 to 1989, raised the question of whether terrorists may have gotten away with profiting from their attacks by short-selling shares in the U.S. markets. Then U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill confirmed the government was investigating possible short selling, but was not optimistic those responsible would ever be found. Short selling allows investors to bet that stocks will fall by borrowing and selling shares in the hope of buying back at a lower price.

After Sept. 11, Chicago Board Options Exchange data showed 1,575 put options purchased in United Airlines' parent company five days before the attacks. On an average day, only 390 such put options are purchased. Investors bought 2,258 put options in American Airlines parent company, compared with 220 on a typical day. Insurance and other stocks also experienced and upswing in short sales. Investigators never revealed how much money was bet, but short sellers could have made 30 times what they invested, given the huge plunge in the stock prices of those companies.

http://www.g2bulletin.com/article/articleview/849/1/4/

 

The real train terror threat  - West missing boat on ultimate dangers? – July 14, 2005

Farah’s G2 Bulletin - Railway terror does not always target passenger train systems like last week's attack on the London underground. World dependency on railways as a means of mass transportation of goods, including hazardous materials, at times in quantities high enough to level a city block, are a matter of routine in thousands of cities worldwide. Oil, gas, ammunition, military equipment and weapons of every kind are transported daily from one place to another. It is quite easy to imagine the outcome of an attack on such train cars, not only with horrendous results to human lives and the environment, but also to superstructures such as bridges vital to the overall transportation system.

A major rail terror event in such oil hubs as Rotterdam or Galveston can create an enormous disaster both in life and material. Following Sept. 11, there was much discussion in North America about the safety of freight trains owned by more than 500 U.S. and Canadian companies. But when comparing the dollar amount allocated for airline security to that for the railway system the only conclusion to be drawn is that railway security is not very high on the priority list.

It is important to differentiate between railroad safety and railroad security. A publication of the Association of American Railroads dated June 23 tackles the problem. Tom White of the AAR states in the article: "The risk to the nation of transporting hazardous materials is minimized by permitting railroads to carry such cargo on routes where time in transit will be minimized." An AAR press release is titled: "Key Congressional leaders oppose hazardous material ban: Ban would 'increase exposure to possible terror action.'"

The politicians, it seems, are at odds with the U.S. departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Transportation, all searching for ways to minimize terror risks in connection with hazmat transportation. However, those who oppose the ban are actually dealing with safety issues not necessarily with dangers posed by terror. The claim that trains carrying hazardous materials will increase terror risks when by-passing urban centers raised the eyebrows of a number of counter-terror and intelligence analysts contacted by G2B. Freight train safety records are currently not the main problem. North American railroad systems have a much higher safety record than other means of transportation. Most hazardous materials reach their destinations without any problem. On the other hand, from the point of view of terrorists, the reasonable location to attack a train is precisely that of urban centers, marshalling yards, oil refineries and other industrial complexes with railway links.

One such example is Winnipeg, a major North American railway hub in Canada, where freight trains crisscross the city day and night, some close to a scientific center where some of the most deadly germs and viruses are stored and studied. Hundreds of rail cars are parked within a stone's throw from that center or from the heart of downtown Winnipeg. Winnipeg is a typical example often used in studies on socio-economic data of major North American cities. Currently there are some 800,000 people living in Winnipeg. This fact by itself raises the matter of railway intelligence and the need to keep information on cargoes and their schedules as classified as possible, undoubtedly a major difficulty in today’s cyber world.

A January 2002 hazmat derailment in Minot ND is an example of how things can go terribly wrong. Thousands of people were endangered and many had to be evacuated from their homes. This alarming event occurred near one of the most important U.S. Air Force strategic command bases in a state known to have housed WMDs in missile silos during the Cold War. A legal firm’s website, Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi, describes the incident: "A total of 31 cars derailed in the incident. Fifteen (15) tankers were carrying the Anhydrous Ammonia, each carrying 30,000 gallons, at least seven of the tankers completely ruptured, releasing over 200,000 gallons of Anhydrous Ammonia. Much of the chemical vaporized in the sub zero air, forming a toxic cloud that drifted over much of Minot in the early morning hours." One person died and numerous others were treated for a chemical exposure. According to the article, "A large number of residents living near the derailment site were evacuated."

Some basic data can highlight the complexity of railway security needs in North America. In the continental U.S. there are 228,464 rail kilometers and 29,049 stations, 48,909 in Canada which has 6,711 stations and 19,510 in Mexico. Together there are almost 300,000 rail kilometers in need of safety and security protection, certainly not an easy task. By comparison there are 40,039 rail kilometers in Germany, 17,186 in the U.K. and 87,157 kilometers in the Russian Federation plus 30,000 kilometers in Russian industrial facilities. Twenty-five million passengers used the U.S. Amtrak railway system during 2004, a substantial increase compared to years prior to 9/11.

North American railways carry more passengers per day than the entire airline industry combined. Some railway infrastructure data is important to understand the magnitude of the problem which, although it should be addressed with efforts and budgets comparable to the airline industry, is literally left exposed. Should terrorists decide to take on a train in or outside of a railway station, somewhere in the
wilderness, in a small town or a major city center, they will have an easy job in obtaining the information required to plan their assault. A selected target could be a parked train, easily accessible by terrorists looking to plant a bomb or a WMD on a train car or in a container and then set the timing for the explosion.

Counter-terror experts know the North American railway system, both passenger and cargo, is a target waiting to be hit by terrorists. Ignoring security issues and focusing mainly on safety will play into the hands of terrorists. Undoubtedly billions of dollars need to be invested by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, almost without delay. Not to do so, however, puts the lives of millions at stake.

Train terror is actually far more common than airline terror. A 1980 bomb attack on the railway station in Bologna, Italy, where 75 people were killed and 200 wounded, was the first of this magnitude in Europe since the end of World War II. It was also significant due to the fact it was carried out by a new Italian fascist terror group. Twenty-three years later came the attacks on a Madrid-bound commuter train where 191 people were killed and some 1,000 wounded. On this occasion the perpetrators were members of a North African Islamic jihadi group linked to the overall Jamaa Islamiah ideology and more loosely to Osama Bin Laden. The investigation and arrests following this attack are still on-going some 27 months after the crime occurred. Last week’s Islamic terrorist attack on London’s underground railway is the most recent of such savage attacks but most probably not the last, perhaps even not the worst considering the unsatisfactory security situations in most railway settings.

Trains and railway installations have been terror targets, often of strategic value, in almost every conflict since rail lines were put into service. The London underground, the first of its kind in the world, was opened in 1863. Today the Tube, as it is nicknamed, carries more than three million passengers a day who get on and off at 253 stations across the 1,579 kilometers long above and under ground rail lines. The attack in London is also a serious blow to the U.K. political and economic capital which is one of the most important cultural and financial centers in the world. Selecting the exact location for the target probably was not much of a problem for the terrorists. A well calculated and important factor, enabling the terrorists to carry or plant a relatively small weight charge, was setting the blasts in a confined underground area thus increasing the explosives' killing effect. On the other hand, the bomb detonated above ground on the double-decker caused the force of the explosion to tear the thin roof and sides of the bus but left many passengers and by-standers unharmed.

An egg-faced British intelligence community, predominantly the MI5 establishment, immediately tried to find a politically appropriate explanation for their failure to prevent the attack in a city, at times dubbed Londonistan for its reputation as one of the most important hubs of Islamic militant rhetoric. This term was used by Rita Katz and Michael Kern in their Site Institute Internet publication and by others in a number of intelligence and counter-terror agencies around the world. As experts continue to dwell on the overall impact the jihadi milieu has on England, the more singular importance of railway security is heightened. The London and Madrid attacks are but another milestone in the seemingly extremely difficult task of safeguarding thousands of kilometers of lines. According to some studies such as that of Jim Kouri, CPP, VP of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, NACP, between 1988 and 2003 alone there were 181 attacks worldwide. Taking into account the 1980 Bologna event, and other incidents which occurred during the following eight years, as well as those in the period from 2003 to date, the total number of attacks on the overall rail industry in the past 25 years, is close to 300. Many events do not make world headlines, however, they do succeed in shutting down services and creating an atmosphere of fear even when there were no casualties. Such situations occur almost weekly in the Caucasus and Central Asia where six events in June and early July hit hard the rail transportation between Chechnya, Dagestan and Moscow. Colonel Vadim A., an officer with the Russian railway force, a special branch of the Russian army, told G2B in a conversation held in the wake of the London attack: "All our forces are involved in protecting railway lines, all of our lines are vital. You have to be prepared for a ripple affect when an explosive charge is discovered somewhere near a railway line in Dagestan forcing a quick reaction and an immediate, spree of the moment decision making process, what and where to shut down and which trains need to be rerouted without causing too much of a delay in the overall system."

Similar situations can be seen in many countries where railway terror has occurred. The list includes even seemingly unlikely targets such as Switzerland and Austria in the Alpine regions where bombs were discovered and dismantled last year in a rapid train route leading to the Tyrol. Spain, Germany, Russia, the Ukraine, China, India, Pakistan, Venezuela, Colombia and Israel, are just a few countries where rail terror attacks occurred since the end of World War II. A senior Egyptian security official with the Egyptian railways contacted by G2B admitted his task is becoming more difficult by the day. The official who had recently returned from a study trip to Europe said: "I felt uneasy taking the Channel train from France to London. The bombs in the tube are the cause of many white hairs appearing on the heads of our Cairo underground personnel."

Excluding attacks on trains during wars, a first glance analysis of rail-terror events demonstrates the variety of deadly options available against targets which on a daily basis carry more passengers and cargo than any other means of land transportation. The March 1995 Sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway by a Japanese doomsday cult called Aum Shinrkyo killed 12 people and injured 5,000 , the May 1977 South Malaccan terrorist coordinated attack on a school and a passenger train in Holland where 60 hostages were held on the train until rescued by Dutch marines and stopping trains, removing and executing passengers such as a number of Sikh attacks in India, are a few examples proving train terror is neither new nor has it been insignificant in the past. -- G2B contributor Yoram East

 

The Al Qaeda Zarqawi Terror Network

 

Osama bin Laden and “The Terror Network” – a CBS Interactive

 

US, Britain, Egypt and Israel Are Lost for Answers to Mounting al Qaeda Offensive – July 23, 2005

DEBKAfile Special Analysis - Al Qaeda’s first coordinated bomb attacks on London’s public transport which shocked Britain on July 7 were mounted at the same time as the G8 summit in Scotland. The death toll rose to 56 with 700 wounded and an unknown number of victims still missing. The Islamists not only directed their destructive urge against London, but addressed a graphic threat to the 20 leaders of the world’s industrialized nations headed by US president George W. Bush who were meeting at Gleneagles. Since the failed September 11 2001 attempt to bomb the White House, this was the closest al Qaeda terrorists had come to key Western leaders gathered in one place.

 

Yet, strangely enough, all those leaders lined up to consign the attack to the British arena, as though it came from problems in British-Muslim relations rather than being an assault on the West. The string of bombings at Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm al Sheikh July 23, two days after the second round of London bombings, also coincided with the Middle East trip of the US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to Jerusalem and Ramallah. (She popped over to Beirut in between.)

 

Here too there was method in al Qaeda’s timing.

The distance between London and Gleneagles is comparable to the distance between Rice’s Jerusalem hotel and the Egyptian Red Sea resort. Al Qaeda chose its moment to devastate the Sharm paradise when the US, Britain, Egypt and Israel were immersed in an intense effort to clear away obstacles to Ariel Sharon’s evacuation of Israelis from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, and make sure it will be free of Palestinian terrorist violence. By hitting Sharm al Sheikh, Osama bin Laden hammered home to Egyptian, British, American and Israeli leaders: We are now sitting on your doorstep. Get Sharon’s plan off the ground and you will find us entrenched on the map of Sinai next door to the Gaza Strip. In October 2004, we landed in northern Sinai, blowing up the Taba Hilton on the Egyptian-Israeli border and other resorts and killing 34 people including 13 Israelis. Now we have arrived at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, Sharm al-Sheikh. The Gaza Strip is our next destination. Just as our fighting men reached Iraq from all over the Middle East and the Muslim world, nothing will stop us pouring into the Gaza Strip from Egypt the moment Israel hands the border crossing over to the Egyptians and the Palestinians. We will then be in forward bases for fighting Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority just as we fight the Americans in Iraq.

 

Al Qaeda makes no secret of its plans. It is looking forward to the free ride to its first Mediterranean base afforded by the Israeli prime minister’s much-praised evacuation-disengagement plan, which goes into effect from mid-August. The terrorist group will also win a springboard to Israel and Europe across the water.

Yet the only controversy in Israel over the pros and cons of the pull-back operation is confined to the domestic, political plane, the dispute between so-called “right” and “left”. Even the arguments put forward by its most avid opponents lack strategic depth. Washington and London, aside from certain anti-terror experts, are blind to the fact that by exiting from Gaza, Israel will open the Mediterranean basin to al Qaeda’s spreading campaign of terror. They are pushing Israel and the Palestinians as hard as they can to make sure that Gaza’s handover takes place. Rice arrived post-haste to make sure the revival of Hamas suicide attacks would not delay the operation and that the Israeli government stays squarely on course for the home run.

 

American and British spokesman keep on reiterating that Israel’s first evacuation of complete communities will, as day follows night, cool the flames of Middle East terrorism – Palestinian and Iraqi alike. They insist that the more land Israeli cedes - on the West Bank too - the faster terrorist violence will disappear. The facts on the ground in London, Baghdad and Egypt in a single week fly in the face of this theory. As the date of the pull-back draws near, the flames of Islamic violence climb higher. This should be no surprise to any Western or Israeli decision-makers following al Qaeda’s broadcast messages. The group claiming the Sharm el-Sheikh bombings, for instance calls itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades of Egypt and the Levant (Syria and Lebanon). It is named for the Palestinian terror ideologue who was Osama bin Laden’s early mentor in 1986-1987. The name is a pointer to the Palestinian link and the countries targeted. The timing of the attack rounds off the picture of al Qaeda’s motivation. Al Qaeda has never concealed its long term operational strategy. But its operational plans have been hidden well enough to miss being thwarted by the counter-terror agencies.

 

In the article in the opposite column, DEBKA-Net-Weekly and DEBKAfile’s terrorism experts offer new information on how al Qaeda is getting organized for action in the Middle East. The world Islamist organization is now active not only in Sinai south of Israel, but also in Jordan across from the Jewish state’s heartland, in the north in the Levant and among the Palestinians who live cheek to jowl with Israelis. Israeli officials are so busy second-guessing Hamas and trying to decide whether the radical Muslim group will shoot or hold its fire during the pull-backs that no one thinks of asking what will happen after it is over, when Al Qaeda’s bombers move over from Iraq – and from Sinai - to join forces with the Hamas and likeminded Palestinian terror groups sworn to destroy Israel - the Jihad Islami, and the radical Palestinian fronts. The blueprints drawn up in Washington, Jerusalem, Cairo and London, for securing the evacuations and their aftermath provide American, British and Egyptian assistance for setting up Palestinian intelligence and security bodies untainted by terrorism. This plan looks impressive – until it is examined in the light of the latest events in London and Egypt.

 

It may be recalled that five years ago, DEBKAfile’s analysts predicted in its first editions that a Palestinian-Israel war would erupt by the end of that year, 2001.

Four and a half years ago, the first issues of DEBKA-Net-Weekly warned that Osama bin Laden was preparing an attack in America and named New York’s Twin Towers. Two years ago, just before the US-led invasion of Iraq, we reported that Saddam Hussein, his sons and the Baath leadership were preparing a vicious guerrilla campaign against American forces. Now, in July 2005, DEBKAfile’s counter-terror analysts believe that, as soon as the last Israeli leaves the Gaza Strip towards the end of the year, and the northern West Bank in early 2006, al Qaeda’s networks will move in.

 

 

Zarqawi Dilutes Iraq Network, Leads New Al Qaeda Offensive in Europe and Middle East  - July 23, 2005

DEBKAfile’s terrorism sources note Al Qaeda struck in Sharm al Sheikh Friday night, July 22, just 24 hours after US secretary of state Rice landed in the Middle East. At least 59 people were killed, 200 wounded in a series of al Qaeda car bomb attacks minutes apart. Britons, Dutch, Spaniards, Qataris, Kuwaitis and Egyptians were among the casualties. One Israeli was initially reported with minor injuries. Egyptian police say there were 4 to 7 car bombs – starting at the Old Market area and following in Naama Bay near the Ghazala Gardens and Moevenpick hotels. The bars and market were packed. People fleeing from one explosion were trapped in another.

 

Last October, al Qaeda struck resorts in northern Sinai resorts including Taba Hilton killing 34, among them 13 Israelis.

On July 15, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 214 reported that al Qaeda was diluting its Iraq force for a major terror offensive in Europe and Middle East engineered by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and on its recommendation.

 

The countries targeted were named as Britain, Italy, France, Denmark, Russia – with the UK and Italy at the top of the list; and, In the Middle East, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Zarqawi in one recent release: Israel is in our sights – and very soon.

 

Al Qaeda’s ability to carry out tightly coordinated strings of attacks very close together in different parts of the world has shocked many terrorism experts. According to our sources, the organization’s networks are now operating across the Middle East, Europe and West Africa from a headquarters established by Zarqawi in Iraq’s western province of Anbar. This large area bordering Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia has passed under his control. To relay operatives, instructions, explosives and funds to the bomber teams on the ground, the Jordanian terrorist is working with Middle East criminal smuggling rings linked to European and African mafias.

 

The car bombs blown up at Sharm el Sheikh bore Egyptian customs marks, indicating they were imported from outside Egypt. One fairly easy route would be the sea car ferry connecting Sharm el Sheikh to the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

 

Exerpts from DEBKA-Net-Weekly July 15.

While the Bush administrations prepares a troop buildup in Iraq, al Qaeda is engaged in the elaborate logistic process of shifting 1,000-1,200 terror combatants out of Iraq and getting them ready to fight on new warfronts. Everything is done in total secrecy. The terrorists are first repatriated to their countries of origin and provided with new passports and identities, before going on to join networks in Europe and the Middle East. Reporting exclusively on these surreptitious movements, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s Al Qaeda and counter-terror experts estimate that the terror group has already kicked off its new offensive. The coordinated bomb blasts on three London Tube trains and a bus on July 7 was one of its initial strikes – although not the only one - and there are more are to come.

 

At least two major attacks already carried out in London and Damascus herald the new terror offensive:

The Syrian authorities have never released any figures or details of this attack. Scores are believed to have died and hundreds injured, including holidaymakers from Gulf Arab states, when a busload of armed men opened fire on the teeming cafes and restaurants of the Mount Qassioun resort overlooking the Syrian capital. DEBKA-Net-Weekly reveals here for the first time that it was the work of a Jordanian crime mob known as the Semadi Gang. They were aided by several al Qaeda adherents who were resting in Syria from their terrorist activity in Iraq.

 

Our counter-terror experts describe the Mount Qassioun attack as a landmark in al Qaeda methods as well as marking the onset of its Middle East offensive.

The gangster Muhammed Sharif Semadi who planned the operation has a lurid past. He spent time in a Jordanian prison where he got together with inmates associated with al Qaeda. After his release, he took his mob to Iraq and joined up with a fellow Jordanian, al-Zarqawi and persuaded him to press Jordanian criminal elements into service for the first time as terrorists. This influx would boost the terrorist network’s ranks while making use of the gang’s far-flung connections with crooks across the Middle East and Europe.

 

This experiment work so well, that DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s counter-terror experts report that Zarqawi has hooked up with another three large Jordanian crime outfits.  One is the Jerabiya Gang, which based in the south Jordanian town of Maan, a notorious stronghold of Muslim extremists. Another is the Mustafa Abu Roman Gang from Salt and a third is a mixed Palestinian-Jordanian group called the Kuwait Returnees, which engages in criminal activities to support adherents, but whose basic philosophy is religious and extremist. Most of its members are Palestinians deported from Kuwait in 1992 after the Gulf War for collaborating with Saddam Hussein. One sub-faction calls itself “Disappointed with the Palestinian Revolution” and is dedicated to overthrowing Mahmoud Abbas.

 

Zarqawi designed an ambitious multiple attack for Jordan as his crowning venture. It did not come off. The scheme had four parts: One, to blow up the Iraqi-Jordanian oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Zarqa; two, to torch the hundreds of American and Jordan tanker trucks waiting outside Jordanian pumping stations including H4. The Jordanian-Iraqi border terminals were to have been attacked at the same time and the villages around the terminals and oil pipeline set on fire.

Four would have emanated from the first three: the cutoff of the main energy lifeline from Jordan to the US army in Iraq and Baghdad. Jordanian intelligence got wind of the danger in time and aborted the plot.

 

DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s anti-terror sources reports that Zarqawi placed one of his lieutenants, Abu Abd al Raham al-Afghani in charge of this operation. His real name is believed to be Ismail Abu Awda. The man on the ground in Jordan was to have been Fahd Faiqi, a Saudi Arabian aged 26, who lives in Jordan and acts as Zarqawi’s main contact with Jordanian crime gangs. It was not the only success chalked up by Jordan’s intelligence services. However, the information elicited from the dozens of detained members of Zarqawi’s networks and the frequency of the major attacks thwarted – an average of one every three or four weeks - sheds a sinister light on the Jordanian master terrorist’s immediate plans. He and al Qaeda are edging the focus of their operations out of Iraq into new arenas.

 

The extensive operational network al Qaeda and its top-flight operations chief have laid down in Jordan is matched in Syria. This organization, according to our sources, goes under the name of The Organization of Syrian Fighters” (Tanzim Jund al Shem). Many of its Syrian members fought in Afghanistan in the late 1980s and early 1990s and have joined the terror war against US forces in Iraq.

 

Al Qaeda-Syria has two commanders: Abu Rida al Shemi, a Syrian extremist close to Zarqawi. He was falsely reported killed in battle in the west Iraqi Anbar Province; and Abu Huzeifa, about whom nothing is known. All Qaeda’s Syrian logistical infrastructure depends largely on pacts its Iraq commander struck with elements of the two Iraqi tribes, the Rawi and the Dulaim, which straddle the two countries and whose sub-groups are scattered around the Middle East.

 

According to intelligence estimates, Zarqawi holds on to Anbar – a territory roughly the size of Texas - with a little more than 5,000 men, of whom roughly 1,000 are Saudi and Yemeni zealots, 300 Jordanian and an unknown number of Syrians, Moroccans and Palestinians. His firm grip on Anbar persuaded the al Qaeda hierarchy in Pakistan and Afghanistan that 1,000 men could be expended from other parts of Iraq and diverted to the new terror offensive outside Iraq.

 

In a message to his superiors, revealed here for the first time, Zarqawi offered his estimate that after three years of joint combat, Iraqi insurgents ought to be capable of running the guerrilla war against the Americans on their own. He therefore recommended reducing the terror organization’s involvement in Iraq to the minimum needed to retain its control and focus on preserving al Qaeda-Iraq’s grip on Anbar Province for use as a territorial base and springboard for attacks in other parts of the Middle East and Europe. These attacks will aim at engulfing additional territories in the region and toppling regimes. The onset of the new al Qaeda offensive in London, Syria, Jordan and now Egyptian Sinai, indicates that Zarqawi’s superiors gave him the go-ahead.

 

Gunmen kill fourth Afghan cleric – July 13, 2005

BBC News - Suspected Taleban militants have shot dead a pro-government cleric in southern Afghanistan, the fourth such killing in the past two months.

Maulvi Saleh Mohammad was shot by gunmen on a motorcycle in Lashkargar, the capital of Helmand province. A leading cleric in Paktika province and two in Kandahar have also been killed in recent weeks.

 

Separately, the US military said it had killed 17 suspected militants in two days of clashes in the south. Maulvi Saleh Mohammad was the head of the powerful clerics' council, or ulema, in Helmand. No one has yet said they carried out the attack, but Haji Mohammed Wali, spokesman for the provincial governor, blamed Taleban fighters. "He was on his way home from the mosque after prayers and he was shot and martyred by two gunmen on motorcycles," Mr Wali said. "The attackers fled the area."

 

Zabul fighting

The killing follows the murder of leading cleric Agha Jan and his wife in south-eastern Paktika province last Friday.

On 3 July, Maulvi Mohammad Musbah was shot dead in Kandahar and in late May gunmen there killed another supporter of President Hamid Karzai, Maulvi Abdullah Fayaz.

 

Taleban spokesman Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi said its fighters carried out the three attacks. On Wednesday, the US military said it had killed 17 suspected insurgents in two days of fighting in southern Zabul province. Six more suspected militants were captured and 23 other people were being questioned, a US military statement said. The fighting took place in mountainous terrain close to where the US said it killed more than 70 suspected militants in fighting last month. Violence linked to the Taleban has risen this year ahead of parliamentary elections in September. More than 500 people, most of them suspected militants, are estimated to have lost their lives in bloodshed in the south and east in the past four months.

 

Al Qaeda and the Egyptian Bombings

Sharm el-Sheikh body count hits 90  - Jun 24, 2005

The death toll from three bombs at this Red Sea resort rose sharply on Saturday. The Egyptian authorities said at least 90 people had been killed in an attack strikingly similar to one that tore apart resorts farther up the coast of the Sinai Peninsula nine months ago.

 The latest attack, the worst in Egypt, ripped through an upscale hotel, a local market and a parking lot beginning shortly after 1 a.m., a synchronized series of blasts that witnesses and the authorities said had occurred about five minutes apart.Citing police officials, Reuters reported that 35 people had been arrested here Saturday, though it was not clear if they were suspected of close ties to the bombers or whether it was part of a general roundup.

Several hours after the bombings an extremist group claimed responsibility on an Islamic Web site. The group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades of Al Qaeda in Syria and Egypt, also claimed to have carried out a similar series of bombings that killed 34 people last October at and near the resort town of Taba. Within hours, a second group, which identified itself as the Holy Warriors of Egypt, claimed responsibility in a fax to newspapers and gave the names of five people it identified as the bombers. Neither claim could be verified.

After the Taba attacks, the government made sweeping arrests throughout the area, saying local Bedouins were involved. Three men have been charged in the attacks and are facing trial, though there are widespread suspicions that the attacks were organized by a sizable, well-organized network. Egypt's interior minister, Habib el-Adly, who visited the latest blast sites on Saturday, said those behind the Taba explosions "could be linked" to the ones here. President Hosni Mubarak visited the wounded and later addressed the nation on television, vowing to track down those responsible. World leaders quickly condemned the bombings. "This cowardly, criminal act is aimed at undermining Egypt's security and stability and harming its people and its guests," Mr. Mubarak said. "This will only increase our determination in chasing terrorism."

The dead and injured included significant numbers of European tourists and Egyptians, with at least 240 people wounded, said Essam Sharif, director of emergency medicine in Sharm el Sheik. The foreign casualties included Spaniards, British, French and Italians, as well as Qataris and Kuwaitis. The bombings were all the more devastating as they provided a blunt coda to a month in which suicide bombers have also struck in Iraq, Israel and Britain, lending to the impression of a rising tide of terrorism.

Iraqi cities have seen a surge in bombings in recent weeks, including one by a suicide bomber who blew up an oil tanker last weekend in a small town south of Baghdad, killing at least 71 people. Londoners had barely been relieved of the shock of the first suicide bombings in Europe on July 7, when four more suspects apparently failed in trying to set off a new series of bombs on the city's transportation system on Thursday. Even as the London police released videotaped images of those suspects, the attacks in Egypt, two of which were carried out by suicide bombers, added fresh scenes of carnage to the already grisly tableau.

The first of the three explosions on Saturday was apparently set off by a suicide bomber in a car between the town's Old Market and a new shopping center, killing several people.

The second and worst of the bombings took place along the main strip of beachfront hotels when a bomber drove a small truck through a plate glass window and into the lobby of the Ghazala Gardens hotel. The entire entrance of the two-story building was reduced to rubble.

Ghazala Gardens Hotel – Sharm el Sheik at the Red Sea

The third and least damaging of the bombs exploded in a bag in a parking lot where there were relatively few people. Sharm el Sheik hosts many tourists this time of year, but the bombing sites were less than packed because of the late hour.

The bombings came about nine months after attacks in Taba and Nuweiba, north of Sharm, and south of Israel's border, which also included three closely timed explosions. Those bombs were aimed at popular sites for vacationing Israelis - among the only places in the Arab world where Israeli tourists traveled in large numbers. Egypt allowed Israeli ambulances and military units to cross the border at Taba to help with the rescue and forensic efforts.

While Saturday's bombings were similar in style, the target was somewhat different. The bombers attacked the largest resort city in a country heavily dependent on tourists from Europe and other Arab nations. The attacks could scare away visitors as happened in the 1990's with a previous round of terrorism. There have been recent indications of the possibility of pending attacks. In June, Mr. Mubarak told the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot that his security forces had broken a cell that was planning to attack Israeli vacationers in the Sinai.

Sharm el Sheik has more than 100 hotels with more than 20,000 rooms - some for backpackers, some for Persian Gulf royalty. Most of the big hotel chains are represented there. The attacks came as Egypt was preparing for its first multicandidate presidential elections, to be held in September. Mr. Mubarak, who has served for 24 years, is expected to seek his fifth six-year term. The president says he has kept Egypt stable in a turbulent region; critics say he has undermined opposition.

The White House issued a statement saying that "the United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the barbaric terrorist attacks in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, that killed and injured scores of innocent civilians from many nations and religious faiths." The statement said that President Bush spoke with President Mubarak on Saturday and offered his condolences and the support of the American people.

Egypt and Mr. Mubarak have been fiercely criticized by Al Qaeda and its adherents for supporting American policy, as well as for its peace treaty with Israel. Egypt has also tried to crush or severely restrict Islamic political movements. The No. 2 man in Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is an Egyptian who was chief of Al Jihad, which helped produce a wave of violence in Egypt from 1991 to 1997. The bombings last fall ended a long period without large-scale attacks. The last major attack had been in 1997, when militants killed 58 foreign tourists and 4 Egyptians outside Luxor. An Israeli government spokesman, Avi Pazner, said Israel was closely monitoring the situation in Egypt but saw no reason now to call on the 10,000 or so Israelis vacationing in the Sinai to return home.

Yuval Steinitz, a Likud legislator and a sharp critic of Egypt, called the bombings a major failure by Egyptian intelligence. As the chairman of the Israeli Parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, he has access to intelligence."At first sight, it looks like a failure on the intelligence and security front of the first degree," Mr. Steinitz told Israel radio. "There was a terrible attack less than a year ago in similar circumstances and all the red lights should have been flashing. The population of the entire southern Sinai is only in the thousands. In such a small population, in contrast to London, you should be able to control the intelligence situation."

On Saturday, a video posted on the Internet showed Egypt's envoy to Iraq, who was kidnapped in Baghdad on July 3 and is believed to have been killed, discussing the Israeli presence in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. A statement with it said, "In the land of Egypt the Jews have taken possession of its Sinai and dominated its Muslims through the services of the Egyptian tyrants," according to a translation by the Site Institute, which translates statements made by terrorist organizations. One of the Europeans killed in the attack was Sebastiano Conti, a 34-year-old Italian. He was in the last days of a vacation with his wife, his brother, and his brother's girlfriend, an Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera reported. The others were injured. Mr. Conti worked at a shopping center in Riposto; his wife is a cashier there. The Italian newspaper quoted a friend of the Contis as saying that they usually vacationed in Spain, "but this year they chose Egypt because it cost less." Mr. Conti leaves behind two children, who had remained in Italy with their grandparents.

 

Bombings in Egypt's Tourist Resort: 88 Dead – July 24, 2005
Zaman - As the shockwaves from the London blasts continue, terror this time turned Egypt's renowned tourist resort of Sharm al Sheikh into a blood bath on Saturday July 23.

 

Three simultaneous blasts in the Egyptian Red Sea resort killed at least 88 and injured 200. An al-Qaeda linked terrorist organization calling themselves the Abdullah Azzam Brigades have claimed responsibility for the attacks. Three blasts that are believed to have been two suicide car bombs and a bomb in a suitcase damaged neighboring buildings and buried several under the debris. It was announced that eight out of 88 dead were foreigners. A 26 year-old Turkish citizen whose name was reported as Cagla has been seriously injured but there is no information on the other four Turkish nationals yet. World leaders sent their condolences and offered aid to Cairo. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the fight against terrorism was international and added, "Their fight is ours, our fight is theirs."

 

Movenpick Hotel at Sharm al Sheikh

 

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "I condemn the attacks and repeat our call to the entire world for a common fight against terror."

Reportedly, seven bombs were used in the attacks. The first explosion was set off by a suicide bomber in front of a cafe between the Old Market and a new shopping center. Twenty people, most of whom were Egyptians, were killed in the explosion and their bodies were unrecognizably burned. Fifteen minutes after the first explosion at 01:15 local Egypt time, two more explosions were heard at Naama Bay where Western tourists stay at luxurious hotels. The two explosions one in front of the entrance of Ghazala Hotel and the other in the autopark of Movenpick Hotel caused many causalities. The Ghazala Hotel was ruined after the explosion and front wall of Movenpick Hotel, where a heavy duty bomb exploded, was completely destroyed. The hospitals in the city were not sufficient to care for the injured so they were sent to Cairo.

 

It was interesting that the attacks in the town took place prior to the first multi-candidate presidential elections in the country and especially on the National Day of Egypt. Tourism, which is the most important income sector of Egypt, rapidly developed in Egypt after the tsunami in southeastern Asia. A lot of tourists, among whom there are also Turks, began to return to their countries after the explosions. Egyptian Security sources noted that there are 2 English, 2 Italians, 1 Ukrainian, 1 Russian, 1 Dutch and 1 Israeli Arab among the victims. The attack, that shocked Egypt, has also exceeded the Luksor carnage in 1997 which caused killed 58 tourists and 4 Egyptians. President Mubarek ended his vacation immediately and visited the region after the explosions. He said: "This wretched attack, which aims to destabilize Egypt, will empower our determination to struggle against terror."

 

The blasts damaged the surrounding buildings and created panic among the public. Witnesses asserted that the blasts "rocked buildings within a 10-kilometer distance." A witness describing the blast in front of the cafe said, "the blast turned the cars into metal skeletons, demolished the walls of the buildings nearby, and flung glass fragments hundreds of meters away." Other bloody terror incidents that took place in Egypt, besides those of Luxor and Sharm Al Sheikh were: the killing of 18 Greek Tourists mistaken for Israelis by radical militants near the pyramids on April 18, 1996, the killing of 9 German tourists and an Egyptian driver in Cairo by armed men on September 18, 1997, the bomb attacks targeting the Taba Hilton Hotel near the Israel border and two beaches in the south that killed 34 people including 10 Israelis.

 

Tourists Run Away

Following the attacks that hit the famous tourist resort, tourists begun to leave Sharm al Sheikh. European tour operators canceled tours to the region. The bomb loaded car that exploded in the Gardens Hotel's entrance ruined the hotel building. Movenpick Hotel's facade where valises of explosives were detonated was completely destroyed. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who interrupting his vacation to visit the site of the incident said the attacks that "targeted Egypt's stability" would not affect the fight against terror. Mubarek was vacationing in a Villa ten kilometers away from the Ghazala Gardens Hotel.

 

Oslo, improved (From Movenpick Hotel at Sharm al_Sheikh) - Prime Minister Sharon, who viewed the Oslo process as a national disaster, is now trying an even more far-reaching version. – April 2, 2005

 Haaretz - Through the windows of the Movenpick Hotel at Sharm al-Sheikh, the Straits of Tiran are visible - the waterway that, in 1967, sparked the Six-Day War and Israel's lightning victory, resulting in the prolonged occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It was on this shore that the Egyptians perched the cannons that threatened Israel's freedom of navigation to Eilat. Nowadays the fruits of peace are planted here, in the form of rows of hotels and vacation resorts, and thus is Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's favorite place to host visiting dignitaries outside Cairo. Security arrangements at Sharm are simpler than in the crowded capital. A chain of policemen is stationed from the airfield, which was upgraded during the period of Israeli rule, to the convention center, and the Israeli journalists check to see whether blue-and-white flags have been hoisted along the way. That is the "red carpet index" in official trips to Egypt.

Movenpick Hotel at Sharm al_Sheikh)

The last visit of an Israeli leader to Sharm al-Sheikh was in October 2000, when Mubarak hosted Ehud Barak, Yasser Arafat and U.S. President Bill Clinton, who flew in specially, in an effort to stop the violence that had been raging between Israelis and Palestinians for three weeks. The effort failed. Now, after thousands of casualties, mutual attrition and new leadership on both sides, the Israelis and the Palestinians are returning to Mubarak's backyard for a highly publicized event that will herald a new era in the relations between the two nations and symbolize the end of the Palestinian intifada. King Abdullah of Jordan, host of the last Red Sea summit - held at Aqaba in June 2003 - will this time participate as the junior invitee.

Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) will this time be at center stage, without Arafat to pull the strings, as at Aqaba. The Palestinian leader in the suit and tie is the great hope of the international community and the favorite of U.S. President George W. Bush, who called him "President Abbas" in his State of the Union address on Wednesday - no longer "chairman," as Israel still insists on calling him. Alongside him will be Ahmed Qureia, the senior vestige of the Arafat regime.

"The Abu's," architects of the Oslo accord, will be facing Ariel Sharon, who viewed the Oslo process as a national disaster and is now trying an improved version. In fact, it may be even more far-reaching than the original: Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak did not dare to evacuate settlements. Sharon is moving to disengage from the Gaza Strip and from northern Samaria, and in return is getting his first invitation to visit Egypt, as a down payment.Thus Sharon, too, like his predecessors, has arrived at the moment when he will hand over security responsibility to Palestinian hands. And he too is making a pilgrimage to Mubarak, a move that "the old Arik" would surely have savaged. The press releases in the past few days recall those of the Oslo period. Cabinet ministers who only yesterday were competing over who would be the first to expel Arafat are now lining up to meet with Salam Fayad, Saeb Erekat and Mohammed Dahlan. Next they'll be fighting over the seats on the plane to Sinai and over the places in the joint photo.

A month and a half ago, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom suggested that a "summit meeting on the Aqaba model" be convened, with the participation of Egypt. Appalled by the idea, the Prime Minister's Office immediately issued an acidly worded statement to the press that ruled out any such "international conference." Sharon also humiliated British Premier Tony Blair by rejecting his invitation to the London conference. Now Sharon has accepted without hesitation the surprising invitation he received from Omar Suleiman, the "number two" in the Egyptian leadership, who dropped in on Wednesday. Sharon is going to a quadrilateral summit, and in an Arab state, too. Just like Rabin and Barak. "It is not an international conference," Sharon's aides say. "All we did was to move the Sharon-Abbas meeting from the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem to Mubarak." In the preparatory talks held by Sharon's adviser Dov Weisglass with senior Palestinian officials Erekat, Dahlan and Hassan Abu Libdeh, an argument broke out over whether the summit meeting would include speeches by the leaders or only a brief photo opportunity. Abbas lost points among the Palestinian public when he spoke at a podium on which was engraved a menorah, the Israeli symbol, when he visited Sharon as Palestinian prime minister. Mubarak solved the problem for everyone - they will all speak under the wings of the Egyptian eagle.

Liberation in the British sense

From Israel's point of view, the Sharm al-Sheikh summit is a "security event" that will focus on the cease-fire. Sharon will mumble something about his commitment to the "road map" - the international plan for a Palestinian state - and will express the hope that the next steps will pave the way to the big plan. But the messages that will emanate from the summit will focus on security arrangements and Israel's confidence-building measures. Abbas will declare an end to acts of terrorism against Israel, and Sharon will respond with a declaration of the end of Israeli military operations in the areas of the Palestinian Authority (with the exception of neutralizing "ticking bombs"). Five West Bank cities will be transferred to Palestinian responsibility, security coordination between the sides will resume, Israel will release hundreds of prisoners, "launder" the wanted individuals and let West Bankers who were deported to the Gaza Strip return home.

Will it all succeed? Sharon sounded suspicious, as is his wont, in a meeting with journalists this week. His confidants say they are not sure the Palestinians will honor the agreements, but they are convinced that they have to play out the current opportunity to the hilt. The risks are not great, they say, and the steps Israel will take are consistent with those that were offered to Abbas in the summer of 2003, when Arafat was still in power.The most sensitive items in the package have to do with the prisoners and wanted individuals. To the Palestinians' question of how many prisoners they would get, Weisglass replied "a couple of hundred." The Palestinians were taken aback: "Only 200?" Weisglass replied, "I meant `a couple' in the British sense, meaning between 200 and 900." After the meeting, Erekat and his colleagues let it be known that Israel would release 900 prisoners. Later this was confirmed by the Israelis, who said they would be released in two stages.

The extreme line in Israel was expressed, as always, by Avi Dichter, chief of the Shin Bet security service. At a night meeting in the office of Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Wednesday of this week, Dichter spoke ardently against the release of prisoners "with blood on their hands." There is no such intention, he was told, and then he objected to the initiative to stop the hunt for wanted individuals. To this, IDF (Israel Defense Forces) officers retorted, "If we go on pursuing them how will the cease-fire be implemented? If the wanted person is about to perpetrate a terrorist act, we will strike at him as a ticking bomb, but what will we do if he is sitting quietly at home? Arrest him?" Dichter: "Why not?" The officers: "Then what kind of cease-fire will it be, when the Palestinians stop the terrorism and we continue with the raids?" Dichter, who will soon be stepping down, appears to have lost his usual ally, Mofaz, this time, the defense minister now leaning toward a more moderate posture. Mofaz learned a lesson from the failed negotiations with Abbas and Dahlan in the previous round, when Israel came across as too stingy.

The Americans observe from afar
The U.S. administration remains in the background. Jerusalem had been concerned that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who arrives on Sunday for her first visit, would want to mediate between Sharon and Abbas and tie up the loose ends ahead of their meeting. Hearing the enthusiastic backing for Abbas from Washington, the Sharon aides figured that nothing good would accrue to Israel from Rice's mediation. Urgent calls to the White House drew a reassuring reply: Rice doesn't want to intervene. From the Americans' viewpoint, the Sharm al-Sheikh summit is pure profit, even if they view it from afar, via CNN. Bush will be able to tell the Europeans that the peace process is being renewed and neutralize the criticism that the Americans have "given up on" the subject.Bush announced increased aid for the PA, and the administration will also promote an initiative - which originated in conversations between Weisglass and Fayad - to pay $100 a month to every Palestinian living below the poverty line. Under this idea, which was discussed this week in the Weisglass-Rice meeting in Washington, the Americans will press the rich Gulf states to assist their indigent Palestinian brethren.

The Sharm al-Sheikh summit will be the high point of a week of multiple events, beginning with the Rice visit and ending with the government's decision in the evacuation of the settlements in the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria. Sharon will introduce many controversial moves during the week, and thus try to thwart the criticism. Everyone will get carrots and sticks. One of the upcoming cabinet meetings will approve the route of the separation fence in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of Jerusalem, which would annex thousands of Palestinians and a great deal of Palestinian land (and will probably not get past the High Court of Justice), and with it the section of the Mount Hebron area that will be attached to the Green Line. The summit atmosphere and the attendant embraces are meant to silence Palestinian outcries that their land is being plundered. In the next few days attorney Talia Sasson will submit her report on the illegal settler outposts, which is going to rankle the settlers. The report is meant to satisfy the U.S. administration and show that Sharon is keeping his promises. During the week, the Evacuation-Compensation Law will be submitted to the Knesset, ahead of the government's approval. And hovering in the background are the Knesset's approval of the budget and coalition talks with the Shas party.That's a lot of activity and a great many power centers and pressure spots. Sharon is gambling on his ability to maneuver among all of them and catch the balls he has thrown into the air without their landing on his head. The joint photograph with the Arab leaders on the shores of the Red Sea should give him a shot of energy, shunt the political rivals aside and show the public that he is keeping his old election promise that "only Sharon can bring peace."

 

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