NEWS: Financial Buildings Targetted

POLITICS: Financial Buildings Targetted

The federal government has cried wolf plenty of times with its anticlimactic terrorist warnings that were followed by nothing. Everyone I know – including myself – shrugs when a new one is announced. That’s one of the problems with these things. The government must warn us if they think something bad is going to happen, but if they successfully stop or deter an attack they look like paranoids with bad information.

Still, the feds released a new warning over the weekend that’s a tad more serious than the usual fare. For the first time they singled out individual buildings.

The fact that this warning was announced in the first place probably means nothing will happen. If the warning isn’t bogus, any Al Qaeda nut with a blueprint and a bomb probably changed plans already.

It was apparently the capture of an al-Qaeda communications chief in Pakistan 2 weeks ago that led to this information.

Captured Qaeda Figure Led Way to Information Behind Warning
By DOUGLAS JEHL and DAVID ROHDE

ASHINGTON, Aug. 1 - The unannounced capture of a figure from Al Qaeda in Pakistan several weeks ago led the Central Intelligence Agency to the rich lode of information that prompted the terror alert on Sunday, according to senior American officials.

The figure, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, was described by a Pakistani intelligence official as a 25-year-old computer engineer, arrested July 13, who had used and helped to operate a secret Qaeda communications system where information was transferred via coded messages.

A senior United States official would not confirm or deny that Mr. Khan had been the Qaeda figure whose capture led to the information. But the official said "documentary evidence" found after the capture had demonstrated in extraordinary detail that Qaeda members had for years conducted sophisticated and extensive reconnaissance of the financial institutions cited in the warnings on Sunday.

One senior American intelligence official said the information was more detailed and precise than any he had seen during his 24-year career in intelligence work. A second senior American official said it had provided a new window into the methods, content and distribution of Qaeda communications.

"This, for us, is a potential treasure trove," said a third senior American official, an intelligence expert, at a briefing for reporters on Sunday afternoon.

The documentary evidence, whose contents were reported urgently to Washington on Friday afternoon, immediately elevated the significance of other intelligence information gathered in recent weeks that had already been regarded as highly troubling, senior American intelligence officials said. Much of that information had come from Qaeda detainees in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia as well as Pakistan, and some had also pointed to a possible attack on financial institutions, senior American intelligence officials said.

The American officials said the new evidence had been obtained only after the capture of the Qaeda figure. Among other things, they said, it demonstrated that Qaeda plotters had begun casing the buildings in New York, Newark and Washington even before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/politics/02intel.html?ei=5006&en=191a653487a53251&ex=1092024000&partner=ALTAVISTA1&pagewanted=print&position=

i hope they got that information from him by clamping jumper cables to his nut sack, and giving him some voltage.

Its all a rouse, its a dry run for the the RNC convention. If they can lock down the city with this latest terror threat, they will have no trouble controlling the protests that may arise.

In case you're not being sarcastic, a friend of mine who works for NYC's DA postedf this on another site

You probably won't see anything in the papers or on the news, but this is HUGE. Sorry, no details are going to be forthcoming right now. Here's what it is related to:

HOLLAND TUNNEL IS CLOSED

New York's Holland Tunnel Closing
Sunday, August 01, 2004

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The Holland Tunnel (search) was to close to commercial traffic heading to New York at 12:01 a.m. Monday, officials said Sunday evening.

The ban was "correlated to the warning about the downtown financial districts," said Tony Ciavolella, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (search).

He said commercial vehicles should use the Lincoln Tunnel (search) and George Washington Bridge (search) as alternative routes. The ban would definitely affect trucks, said Ciavolella, but it was not immediately clear whether commercial vans would be prohibited.

The ban was not slated to affect vehicles leaving New York City. No ending date for the ban was set.

"This plan is part of the Port Authority's continuing cooperation with federal, state and local agencies," Ciavolella said.

The Holland Tunnel runs from Jersey City, N.J., to lower Manhattan, near where many financial institutions are based.

Great. I actually know a few people who work for Citibank. Oh well, there's going to be more drinks being drunk.

honestly, does anyone really think thatt the goverment really knows what's happening? And even if they did, would they really tell us about it? NO! Do you really think Al Quadia is all we really have to worry about? Anyone remember Oklahoma CIty? Columbine? I think the threat is worse from people inside our country. Seal off the borders, fight the wars we have going on in our cities and then worry about the outside world. I'm sick of feeling like I livin in a war zone when the gangs go on a killing spree.

Try living overseas for a minute. You're _not_ living in a war zone. On the other hand, there are occasional threats. Yes, I said "occasional." Once every few months is not anything to get hysterical about. Read the information; if it pertains to you, apply common sense. If not, move along.

And no. Currently the threat from inside the country is much smaller than the threat from outside the country.

In my mind the actual threat is not as bad as the paranoia that surrounds it. Especially here in NYC. It's been so tense for so long that most any sane person has gone from beyond being tense to just "Oh well, whatever..."

evrything the gov. spews forth is meant to scare you and prevent you from thinking about the larger issues...namely the connections between the administration , enron and the saudies . I hope everybody votes this lunatic outta office...

Even if such an event indeed comes to pass, this sort of warning does not function as a preventative measure but more like the most organized game of "COA: Cover Our Asses" ever played.

Two worst scenarios. Either these are ineffectual warnings of dire events which will come to pass despite the warnings, or the warnings are meant to keep Americans on edge and voting for Bush.

hey guys! it's orange! no, wait, it's yellow! ooo, it almost went to red! no, now it's yellow again! wait, it went back to orange!

fuck it. just don't forget to stay afraid.

God, I love working in Midtown Manhattan!

Has anyone noticed that this terrorist warning, the most specific to date, is coming right after Kerry's bounce in the polls, right as Bush is slipping in the polls, and right before the Republican convention, AND it concerns the very city where the convention is going to take place, right where protesters from all over the country are planning to descend on the convention?

Doesn't it seem even just a little suspicious?

Ahem, you live in Rochester!...where the gangs all go on killing sprees?

Bwahahaha!

er, um, this information was um, actually over 4 years old. read more here