Friday, February 16, 2007

Nuclear Strike on US Imminent?

About a month ago, an article appeared in the Middle Eastern news source Gulf Times entitled Al Qaeda leader warns Washington of 'Islamic rage' (dated January 25, 2007); here is the key quote:

Published: Thursday, 25 January, 2007, 08:39 AM Doha Time

DUBAI: Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri warned Americans of a reprisal "far worse than anything they have seen" if Washington did not change its policies towards Muslim states.

"You are facing the Islamic rage ... what awaits you, should you press on (with current policies), is far worse than anything you have seen," Zawahri said in a video posted on the Internet yesterday.

Leaders of the militant group, which carried out the September 11, 2001 aircraft attacks against US cities, often argue that its "terrorism" is justified as a way to change pro-Israel US policies and to punish Washington for its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I will talk to you in a language you understand; If you want to live safely you have to accept reality and reject the illusions that (US President George W) Bush is trying to deceive you with," he said in the video.


Why are they warning us? Why don't they just attack?

There are two reasons.

First, Bin Laden is planning something bigger than 9/11. He was criticized by many elements in the Islamic world for launching that attack without sufficiently warning the United States about what it faced. Such warnings now could give ("could have given", in the case of 9/11) America a chance to comply with Bin Laden's demands; realistically, though, "adequate" warnings will deflect ("would have deflected", in the case of 9/11) some criticism of Bin Laden from Muslims and clueless liberals. If the coming attack is really bad, much worse than 9/11, even many in the Muslim and liberal worlds will condemn it; but, if adequate warning is given, that will help establish a moral equivalency in their eyes, and neutralize some of the critics.

Second, there may very well be a sincere desire on Bin Laden's part to avoid "fratricide" or "friendly fire" incidents, so supporters of his cause don't get cooked in the fire he's about to light. Don't place too much value on this, however, as, in his world view, Muslims are either willing to be martyred for his cause, or are takfir and deserve to die as much as the infidels.

What is this big attack going to look like? The clues have been out there for years.

Late last summer in WorldNetDaily, an article appeared entitled Al-Qaida warns Muslims: Time to get out of U.S., posted September 17, 2006. Some key information:

The new al-Qaida field commander in Afghanistan is calling for Muslims to leave the U.S. – particularly Washington and New York – in anticipation of a major terror attack to rival Sept. 11, according to an interview by a Pakistani journalist.

Abu Dawood told Hamid Mir, a reporter who has covered al-Qaida and met with Osama bin Laden, the attack is being coordinated by Adnan el-Shukrijumah and suggests it may involve some form of weapon of mass destruction smuggled across the Mexican border.

"Our brothers are ready to attack inside America. We will breach their security again," he is quoted as saying. "There is no timeframe for our attack inside America; we can do it any time."

As WND has previously reported, el-Shukrijumah is a trained nuclear technician and accomplished pilot who has been singled out by bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to serve as the field commander for the next terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

The terrorist was last seen in Mexico, where, on Nov. 1, 2004, he allegedly hijacked a Piper PA Pawnee cropduster from Ejido Queretaro near Mexicali to transport a nuclear weapon and nuclear equipment into the U.S., according to Paul Williams, a former FBI consultant and author of "The Dunces of Doomsday."

"He is an American and a friend of Muhammad Atta, who led 9/11 attacks five years ago," said Dawood. "We call him 'Jaffer al Tayyar' (Jafer the Pilot); he is very brave and intelligent. (President) Bush is aware that brother Adnan has smuggled deadly materials inside America from the Mexican border. Bush is silent about him, because he doesn’t want to panic his people. Sheikh Osama bin Laden has completed his cycle of warnings. You know, he is man of his words, he is not a politician; he always does what he says. If he said it many times that Americans will see new attacks, they will definitely see new attacks. He is a real mujahid. Americans will not win this war, which they have started against Muslims. Americans are the biggest supporters of the biggest terrorist in the world, which is Israel."


That article references an article in Canada Free Press from the previous day, Next Attack Imminent: Muslims ordered to leave the United States.

Final preparations have been made for the American Hiroshima, a major attack on the U. S.

Muslims living in the United States should leave the country without further warning.

The attack will be commandeered by Adnan el Shukrijumah ("Jaffer Tayyer" or "Jafer the Pilot"), a naturalized American citizen, who was raised in Brooklyn and educated in southern Florida.

The al Qaeda operatives who will launch this attack are awaiting final orders. They remain in place in cities throughout the country. Many are masquerading as Christians and have adopted Christian names.


Ominously, the following quote appears later in the article:

The American people probably will be treated to a final audio message from Osama bin Laden which will be aired some time later.


This could refer to the warning mentioned at the beginning of this post.

But, is this credible?

FrontPageMag.com about a month later addressed the credibility of nuclear threats to the US in an article entitled Symposium: Al Qaeda’s Nukes, dated October 27, 2006.

The most dangerous connection is not between al Qaeda and the Chechen, or other mafias, but between al Qaeda and the former (or current) members of the Russian Intelligence. And this connection is an established fact, right on American soil. If the Russian Government wanted to convince the U.S. Government of their clean and non-hostile intentions, let them expose the locations of the KGB and GRU nuclear demolition charges, hidden on the territory of the United States. This act could be a great help to the American anti-terrorist activity, and to the protection of the American people.


The article provides a background on how the former Soviet Union, during the days of the Cold War, produced small, portable nuclear weapons for use by saboteurs, and then established hidden repositories for those weapons in the US; supposedly, the Russian Federation still has information on these sites, but will not share that with the US. It is possible that Moscow believes they may yet need such a capability in a future war against America. Later on in the article, it states:

Regarding the question of buried nukes, Curt Weldon (R-PA), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee, announced in 1999 that the Soviets had planted a number of such weapons at strategic locations throughout the U. S. These weapons, Weldon argued, were to be recovered when the Cold War became hot and were to be used for the blowing up of dams, power stations, telecommunications centers, and landing strips for Air Force One. "There is no doubt that the Soviets stored material in this country," Weldon said. "The question is what and where."


The deployement of such Soviet Cold War nukes is confirmed to have happened elsewhere:

Belgian officials, however, testified that they had found three secret depots with radio sets and tactical nukes that had been buried in Belgium by the Soviets during the Cold War.


Bin Laden is believed to have bought some small nuclear weapons, possibly from organized crime figures in Chechnya. Importantly, Chechen fighters, whatever their true motivations and issues regarding Russia, have received "assistance" from radicalized Mujahideen, along with a certain amount of hijacking of their cause in an attempt to roll it into a worldwide jihad against all infidels. [More on that topic in subsequent posts; meanwhile, research it if you have time.] Certain elements in Chechnya (as well as pretty much anywhere else there is an Islamic insurgency) have ties to radicalized Wahhabi terrorists, including Al Qaeda.

It is vital to note that this isn't just a bunch of backwards tribesman running around in the mountains with something they may not be able to use. Bin Laden is anything but unintelligent and unsophisticated in his thinking. We know he is very well-funded, and he has significant support in Saudi Arabia, not just from the Wahhabi extremists, but among the Saudi Royal family, which is related to Wahhab, the founder of Wahhabist Islam. [For details on the ties between the Saudi royal family and Wahhabism, see Hatred's Kingdom, by Dore Gold (2003), published by Regnery Publishing Inc, ISBN 0-89526-135-9.]

Bin Laden contracted technicians and other personnel from the former Soviet Union to maintain his nuclear weapons and advise him regarding them. It would be quite foolish to assume that all these weapons are "duds" or that for some other reason Bin Laden can't pull this off. The 9/11 attack probably seemed quite unimaginable to many until it happend.

Why hasn't he struck us already? If he can do it, why hasn't he done it? It's possible that all the necessary preparations aren't completed. One preparation is adequate warning, and that is likely one of the last preparations to be made; we're seeing that now.

A defining characteristic of bin Laden is patience. His favorite Islamic verse is as follows: "I will be patient until Patience is outworn by patience."

He started plotting the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania when he was in the Sudan in 1993; the attack of the USS Cole was more than two years in the making and eight years passed between the first attack on the World Trade Center and the second.

The planned American Hiroshima is enormous in scope. It requires not only development and (in some cases) rebuilding of the weapons along with codification for detonation but also forward deployment, site preparation and precise strategic coordination with scattered cells.

Why the wait? Bin Laden will not allow the attack to take place unless there is certainty of success. His entire resources (including the gains from the poppy fields) have been spent on this operation.


Hinted at here is Bin Laden's ties to the resurgence of heroin production, which has grown tremendously since the Taleban were ousted. Bin Laden is hot-and-heavy into narcotrafficking to fund his terrorist operations. The rise of a worldwide Islamic Narcoterrorist Mafia, with activity throughout Europe and Asia, is not the subject of this post. Suffice it for now to say that 1) the sale of illegal drugs in the infidel world hurts infidels, so, in a way, is a form of jihad; 2) drug sales are lucrative, and are good for business; 3) proceeds are going to fund the jihad against the infidels. Satan himself couldn't have done this better.

Later on in the article some interesting comments were made by Hamid Mir, who is

a Pakistani journalist who has more than 18 years experience in covering conflicts and wars in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Bosnia, Chechnya, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Lebanon. He has interviewed Osama bin Laden three times. He is an expert on Al Qaeda's nuclear ambitions and has travelled to Russia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Syria in his research work. He is currently working with Geo TV in Islamabad and writing for Jang Group of Newspapers.


Mir said:

I am always very careful in speaking and writing about "American Hiroshima". I am against making sweeping statements. I don't have any evidence that Al Qaeda has access to Russian WMDs hidden in the U.S., but I have met more than two Al Qaeda operators who were involved in the purchase of suitcase nukes from Russia between 1998 and 2001. I am sure that Al Qaeda is prepared to organize new attacks inside USA not only with some suitcase nukes but also with some dirty bombs. I don't want to repeat my mistake of 1998.

What was that mistake? OBL told me in May 1998 that he will attack the U.A.
[sic? U.S.A.?] I just ignored his threat. Within three months of my second interview with him, he attacked U.S. embassies in Africa in August 1998. I thought that this was the end but then he attacked the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000. Finally he organized 9/11. Now he is saying that he will attack USA again. I will not underestimate him this time. He is definitely making claims of new attacks after some preparations.


Key comment: "He is definitely making claims of new attacks after some preparations."

Already as far back as 2005, this was beginning to surface; in another WorldNetDaily article, Al-Qaida nukes already in U.S., dated July 11, 2005, this was discussed:

According to captured al-Qaida leaders and documents, the plan is called the "American Hiroshima" and involves 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.


Now we understand the need to secure our border. It's not just against poor Mexican and other illegal immigrants from Latin America, who are just looking for a chance to work and improve their lives in the Land of Opportunity; it's not just against those who may be looking to come here and freeload; it's not even against drug-traffickers, although that's quite important. It's against Islamic nuclear terrorism!

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 Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse," by Paul L. Williams, a former FBI consultant.


If this is true, why haven't we been officially warned by our own government?

If this is true, why are we tied up in Iraq?

Let me address the second question first.

Muslims of different kinds have been killing each other since Islam was born. I wish that they could live with each other -- and WITH US! -- peacefully. Given that they can't or won't, who cares if they fight amongst themselves? In fact, so much the better for us; let the radical Shiites and the radical Sunnis fight; the more of each other they kill, the safer the rest of the world is.

Bin Laden is not in Iraq; Bin Laden is the one with his finger on the nuclear trigger. Western troops, especially American troops, in the interest of defending the society that they exist to defend, ought to be all over Bin Laden, and not keeping the Shiites and Sunnis from killing each other in Iraq. To me, that seems to call for a redeployment away from the hot zones in Iraq, and into Afghanistan -- and, quite possibly into Pakistan. Get Bin Laden!! Later on, come back to the failed artificial state of Iraq as its civil war is ending, and, if need be, stomp the winner! And, let's not forget about the Islamic University of Medina, the Saudi Royal family, & company. That's where most of this is getting started, that's where it's getting its funding; that's where it needs to be dealt with. "IT'S THE REGIMES, STUPID!"

So, we've been warned by Al Qaeda; why haven't we been warned by our own government?

Perhaps our elected officials, in their wisdom, which we know exceeds ours (pardon my sarcasm), are concerned that they might panic us.

NEWS FLASH: Attention politicians! Americans are their own leaders.

Stop treating us like children, and treat us like adults. And, act like adults yourselves. We are not a problem to be managed, but a resource to be utilized. Inform the public about what is going on, and then invite public input into policy. This holds especially at the local government level, where local communities need to be proactively involved in planning for terrorist attacks, so people will 1) know what to do when an attack occurs, and 2) have confidence in the planned response.

Do our elected leaders have the answers?

Do they even know what the questions are?

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, suggests the attacks will take place simultaneously in major cities throughout the country – including New York, Boston, Washington, Las Vegas, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles.

5 comments:

beakerkin said...

The United States should be proactive and explain that a nuclear strike on our soil wll cause the immediate leveling of Mecca, Medina, Quom, Tehran and Islamibad.

Let the ISI and the Saudis know what will hapen. This story had been aired in a different form on Batchelor and Alexander.

Anonymous said...

This is one hell of a good blog. Good work.

I believe that bin Laden is dead, but that doesn't make al-Qaida not dangerous. I too believe that elements are already in place and thanks to Russian insecurity about their nuclear materials, al-Qaida already has nukes.

If I vaguely recall, US troops found empty, but radioactive containers in a cave located in Tora-Bora. I wish I could find that article again. This was years ago.

Yankee Doodle said...

Beakerkin,

It is tempting to agree with you about leveling select locations, but most of the people in those cities are innocent, every bit as much as the people in America whom the terrorists wish to kill.

As Benjamin Netanyahu once told the media (borrowing from Clinton's 92 campaign): "It's the regimes, stupid."

The people living under those regimes are often our best allies. They know the evil of radical Islam better than we do -- they live with it every day, they die by its hand every day. Give them half a chance, and they will win the war for us.

But you're absolutely right that we need to be proactive, and you certainly named some cities where a little proactivity would be a good thing.

Steve,

Thanks!

Unfortunately, I think he's still alive. But, your comment is right on the mark anyway -- Al Qaeda is morphing, and they don't need him. Salami Bin Aladdin is just an associate of Saudi intelligence; the network has been developing for decades, and it's everywhere. Furthermore, they are working hard on decentralizing jihad, so anyone who feels like it can take independent action that will contribute to their goal.

This is an ideological war, and we're treating it as a military one. We need to kick some ass in a few places, but those are only battles; the ideological campaign is what will win the war.

KG said...

"This is an ideological war, and we're treating it as a military one"
Exactly. And if we continue on this course we are going to lose.

Aurora said...

Yankee Doodle, this is a thorough and excellent analysis. I may have to come back and borrow some of your research here for another post.
However, I'm with KG here. If you look at wars in the past, hard decisions were made for the greater good (i.e. hiroshima). Had the U.S. not taken that action, the war would have dragged on much longer resulting in more and more casualties. For just one example, there were a group of POWs who were days away from execution in Burma who were saved by that drastic action. It saved Korea from Japanese colonial rule as well and helped to institute a very pro-American, entrepreneurial and vital country in the region, South Korea.
If we continue to tie our arms and legs by unrealistic demands on our warriors, we will eventually have situations where winning wars will become all but impossible.