Straw poll: how many of us believe this is going to happen?

"It will consist of a series of surprise attacks that will cut America off from communication with its armies in Muslim countries."

Uh-oh! Them wiley al-queda types is gonna take down th' innernut AND all them satterlite thingies, maw!

I think that if Al Qaeda could have pulled one off in the USA they would have done it by now. DEBKA is notoriously unreliable.

Muslims living in the United States are urged to “take advantage of the short time left” to escape the country and harm’s way.

Please, oh Muslim brothers and sisters, please heed this warning and flee, flee, flee our benighted land. And please, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Yes a great opportunity for Muslims to flee the country!

It will consist of a series of surprise attacks that will cut America off from communication with its armies in Muslim countries.”

Is it even technically feasible for them to do that? I don't think so.

If they ruin my turkey dinner this week or mess with the football games, I will seek revenge!!

Y-A-W-N! Another week, another hysterical DEBKA headline warning us of Apocalypse Soon.

P.T. Barnum would have loved these guys.

(Well, right up till the moment that they shot his infidel ass, anyway.)

Debka is the equivlent of a tabloid in the intelligence world. So always take them for what they are: A gossip rag. With a grain of salt, that is. Anyhoo, my bet is Turkey again, or perhaps a US military installation in the Gulf somewhere. The calls for attacking America are just bluff and distraction.

Jeez, you mean all those muslims evacuated New York and LA two weeks ago for nothing?!? There are gonna be some seriously pissed off muslims out there.

I guess it goes without saying that "the countdown has begun" is about as open-ended a phrase as you can get. Technically, the countdown has also begun for the day that the sun expands in a violent supernova and vaporizes the earth.

I put this right up there with 2003 Cleveland Browns Superbowl victory...

#1 scott in east bay

I seriously doubt it, but would not be too surprised.

#4
#5

SIMCHAJGC
(Sitting in My Chair Having A Jolly Good Chuckle)

#12 It is about as meaningful as our Orange and Yellow alerts, or our government's warnings to us to "be vigilent."

#4 & #5

Do they need help packing their belongings?

Contributions toward one-way airline tickets?

Bon voyage parties?

Please! I WANT to help this migration OUT of the U.S. as much as possible...

booker:

damn that was funny..

I think they are full of crap. Hopefully they will flee in droves.

Dave J

Technically, the countdown has also begun for the day that the sun expands in a violent supernova and vaporizes the earth.

You know the Zionist already own the only decent rock orbiting Proxima Centuri.

Zzzz...

They keep talking about these surprise attacks. Will anyone actually be surprised?

cut America off from communication with its armies

'Cars of death' to attack telegraph poles?

===

OT - I saw Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan interviewed yesterday - Don't know why, but I have the feeling he is going to be a very important player in the War.

3 Joel 11/24/2003 08:33AM PST

DEBKA is notoriously unreliable.

The exact opposite is true.

But this DEBKA report can also be found on mainstream outlets, so I give it a 50/50 chance.

#3 Joel - Exactly. Those Al-Qaeda creeps don't think twice about murdering other Muslims in pursuit of their twisted supremecist goals. There's no way that they would warn of a "surprise" attack. That's why they were able to pull off 9/11.

Lest we forget the immensely heart-felt words of Victor Davis Hanson:

After 30 years of listening to nauseating chanting from Teheran to Islamabad to Nablus, hearing the childish rants about "The Mother of All Battles" and "The Great Satan," and witnessing presidents from Carter to Bush burned in effigy, the ritual torching of the American flag, the misspelled banners of hatred, the thousands of paint-by-the-numbers posters of psychopaths from Khomeini to bin Laden, televised threats that sound as hideous as they are empty, Nazi-inspired anti-Semitism, embassy takeovers, oil-boycotts, hijacked planes, cars, and ships, lectures from unelected obese sheiks with long names and gold chains, peacekeepers incinerated in their sleep, murders at the Olympics, bodies dumped on the tarmac of airports, shredded diplomats, madmen in sunglasses in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, demented mullahs and whip-bearing imams in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, continual televised murders of Americans abroad, our towers toppled, our citizens butchered, our planes blown up, hooded Klansmen in Hamas and Hezbollah, killers of al-this and Islamic-that, suicide bombers, shrill turbaned nuts spouting hatred on C-SPAN broadcasts, one day the salvation of Kuwait, the next sanctions against the swallower of Kuwait, the third day fury against the sanctions against the swallower of Kuwait, the fourth day some grievance from 1953, the fifth another from A.D. 752; and all the time sanctimonious fingerpointing from Middle Eastern academics and journalists who are as bold abroad in insulting us as they are timid and obsequious under dictators at home in keeping silent, I've about had it. No mas. The problem is you, you, you, not us ...

I tire of the shrill turbaned nuts

GoatGuy

They're just begging for massive retailiation if they do anything.

Is it really genocide if they're all out to kill you?

I saw the end of the movie Pearl Harbor yesterday. After the attack a commander is handed a telegram stating "Attack from Japan immenent".

Sharpen your knives. Hopefully we'll just carve a bird this week.

Could they be assuming that an attack against our command center in Qatar would cut off all communication with our armies?

One of these days the al Qaeda a$$hats won't be blowing smoke, but what is this, about the 99th warning of the mother of all attacks?

I think they just want to get the color code up to orange for a few weeks during "The Nonreligious Winter Festival" season to try to put a damper on our economy.

When has al Qaeda worried too much about innocent Muslims killed in their attacks?

When the dog stops barking is when I'd get nervous. If I was the head terrorist dude, I'd tell my people to stay quiet for a while, to let security in the US get lethargic. Of course, I may be smarter than your average splodeydope.

#23 That was breathtaking and wonderful. Which article did that come from? So totally true and on the mark.

If they want to cut off our troops in the ME from the US, they'd have one heck of a time - after all the ol' Soviet Union tasked hundreds of nukes to attempt a decapitation strike - and we had airborne commands set up to ensure that we'd be able to launch counterstrikes.

However, if they want to send a message that they could 'cut off' our troops, they'd probably attack our command structure in Qatar (where CentCom relocated) or go after Tampa (where CentCom was primarily located) or the Pentagon again.

Debka may not be 100% correct - heck it may even be 50-50 at best, but how is that any different than some of the mainstream (New York Times)? Anyone bother to check on whether the Times gets all of its scoops right?

Muslims living in the United States are urged to “take advantage of the short time left” to escape the country and harm’s way.

*sigh* So I suppose we're going to have to listen to them whine about "Right of Return" when this attack is an abject failure too?

8 Dirk Diggler 11/24/2003 08:36AM PST

Y-A-W-N! Another week, another hysterical DEBKA headline warning us of Apocalypse Soon.

Minimizing DEBKAs reliability has become almost a reflexive cliche, and usually by people who don't even read the site.

DEBKA is certainly not less reliable than any mainstream media outlet passing on false terror alerts from the Dept. of Homeland Security.

Those are truly yawn-inducing.

So when the mainstream media gets it wrong, its ho hum, no big deal. But if DEBKA gets it wrong, it's "oh there goes DEBKA again, up to it's old unreliable ways..."

But I've actually found DEBKA to be more reliable than our trusted Dept of Homeland Security's "alerts". I've seen stuff come out of DEBKA that the mainstream media only reports on MONTHS LATER. I don't remember the exact reports, but I do remember it making that impression on me more than on one occassion.

Last year Debka had the same level of warning and some missles were fired at an Israeli jet in Kenya.

Then before that he warned of a major attack in Israel. Then a tanker almost blew up a massive complex.

No doubt, I will not be in the area of a major city this t-day weekend. Some $hit is going down, the question is how big or will it succeed?

Debka's right more times than it is wrong.

I visit the site daily.

#23.Goat

please post link to that..its great

and see this

[Link: www.gravett.org...]

I think we should be more worried about this than we are. This could mean the destruction of the US as we know it. Before you think I am a crackpot (OK, I am a crackpot), let me explain.

When the Arab armies were set to invade Israel after she declared independence, they sent out a warning to all the Arabs squatting in Israel to get out so they could just waltz in and murder the infidels. But since the Arab armies were really just a bunch of pansies, these Arabs that listened to their brothers call to flee became refugees. These refugees are now demanding a nation of their own on the lands they willingly abandoned and much of the world supports this.

Now if the Arabs listen to their brothers and flee before an impending attack, they will become refugees from America and will get their very own UN agency that will pay for all their terrorist activity against the US until the US gives into their demands of a nation of their own in North America with half of Washington DC as it's capitol since it is mentioned so many times in the Koran as the 4th holiest site in Islam. (That's the worst runon sentence I have ever written)

Oh, another big attack that will greatly wound the great Satan? Just like the last one? Huh? That last one didn't pan out? Well...

I'm really not worried about this. If they wanted to make a huge attack, they would've by now, and there'd be no warning. All this message is is an attempt to psyche us out (which won't work) while making them still look tough (which they aren't).

Mark Steyn is right: these guys are all turban and no Jihad.

#35 abu BIG

they will become refugees from America and will get their very own UN agency that will pay for all their terrorist activity against the US until the US gives into their demands of a nation of their own

Where will the UN get this money, after we withdraw and push them out of New York?

Anybody seen droves of mid-easterners on the airports getting on international flights?

It does not seem that we are in luck.

But the idea ... of slipping somehow a very reliable looking message through the islamist channels that the attack is really imminent and they need to leave... sounds mighty nice.

RoR? Denounce or convert. Period.

Perhaps JDAMing the meteorite at the time would be of a decisive benefit.

#32 Charles Martel:

Well, of course if you predict some kind of attack in Israel every week you're going to be right fairly often.

I repeat: 9-11 took 10 years of planning and had to be scaled back repeatedly. And that was before half of their ruling echelon was crushed under heavy rocks and their international financing chain pestered.

After 9-11, I expected car bombs and explosives detonated on aircraft in flight would be the next wave. So far, nada. If they can't pull of small scale attacks against soft targets in the USA, how are they going to pull off a massive attack?

Al-Qaeda is blowing smoke. The Intelligence services are puffing it up to justify their budgets and so they can say "I told you so" if, not when, another attack occurs.

#37 BH

Where will the UN get this money, after we withdraw and push them out of New York?

Don't you think the Euros would glad pay several million Euros just to stick it to the US? The voting in the GA would be something like 193-4 against the US. Hell, the State Department would probably fund it themselves.

If they succeeded, I don't think they'd be very happy with what happened afterward.

Within the context that another major terrorist attack is as inevitable as the sun setting, it's a bit hard to laugh this off.

It's only a matter of time...
 

36 PatrickM 11/24/2003 09:08AM PST

All this message is is an attempt to psyche us out (which won't work) while making them still look tough (which they aren't).

That's quite possible. On the other hand, I do believe terrorists are actively plotting to repeat 9/11.

So, if 9/11 has not yet been repeated, is it because they have not tried? or is it because our security agencies have thwarted them?

And another question I ask myself is whether our security agencies reveal such thwarted plots to us, or do they keep them secret so as not to cause fear in the population.

I wonder how much goes on that we don't have the slightest clue about.

#40 abu BIG:

I think when you consider the cost of relocation, plus the fact that they won't have US money, PLUS trying to figure out how to budget the cost of all their other endeavors without US, they won't have a lot of extra cash, time, or manpower to get right on that.

#12 Dave J wrote:

Technically, the countdown has also begun for the day that the sun expands in a violent supernova and vaporizes the earth.

If I'm not mistaken, the sun is not big enough to end in a supernova, only a regular nova.

Just my obsession for accuracy for LGF.

Victor Davis Hanson can be found at the National Review, but the article that I shamelessly snipped the center of is:

1930's Again...

The more I read of his stuff, the more impressed I am that he has it totally, 101% right. A former professor at Fresno University, now a writer...

GoatGuy

39 Viking the Kitten 11/24/2003 09:11AM PST

The Intelligence services are puffing it up to justify their budgets and so they can say "I told you so" if, not when, another attack occurs.

That's just slightly cynical. Especially because our intelligence agencies don't appear to be puffing anything up at all, but rather in many cases passing on Al-Quaida's messages word for word. But I hope you're right.

"Muslims living in the United States are urged to “take advantage of the short time left” to escape the country and harm’s way."

Sounds good to me. Can I be of assitance perhaps?

#46 GoatGuy

thanks, great article

If there is yet another attack on this continent, would it be too much to ask that it occur in the NYT front office? Actually this would make perfect sense in twisted muslim anti-logic.

As it relates to Debka's reliability, what I've noticed is that they get much less reliable the farther they get from Israel. When they are talking about terror, the PA, Hamas, et al, I tend to believe everything they say--often they will make some prediction about Arafat and the PA, and then news outlets will report that very thing a month later. But as their reports get farther afield, they really, really get inaccurate. Their reporting on Afghanistan, for instance, was laughable at best. I take their reports on the US with an entire salt shaker.

Are we vulnerable?

9-11 took 10 years of planning and had to be scaled back repeatedly.

9-11 took a handful of fanatics who bought some airline tickets and box cutters...
 

After 9-11, I expected car bombs and explosives detonated on aircraft in flight would be the next wave.

Remember this?

CNN
November 12, 2001

Moments after [American Airlines flight 587] took off, witnesses said they saw what appeared to be an explosion. Parts of the plane began breaking away and wreckage was found in at least four locations, Giuliani said.

Monday's crash site in Rockaway was home to many New York city firefighters and police officers killed in the attack on the World Trade Center, which prompted an emotional response from the mayor.
[Link: www.cnn.com...]

(At least a dozen witnesses continue to state they saw an explosion while the plane was in flight.)

So far, nada. If they can't pull of small scale attacks against soft targets in the USA, how are they going to pull off a massive attack?

It could be that limited resources within the country are too valuable to "waste" on a minor mission...
 

I have to side with Dave J on this.

That's just slightly cynical. Especially because our intelligence agencies don't appear to be puffing anything up at all, but rather in many cases passing on Al-Quaida's messages word for word. But I hope you're right.

I find a measured cynicism to be a useful tool in analyzing big institutions, especially government.

And I try to keep it balanced. I am just as cynical that those CIA analysts who keep releasing reports showing no link between Saddam and al-Qaeda are just covering their asses about their earlier failures.

#51 Dave J.
2 buckets, in my case.

Good lord... I've just looked out my window here in Washington, DC, and... it's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man!

For the DEBKA-bashers, did DEBKA claim that a major attack was going to happen shortly, or did they just pass on what info they gathered from Al Qaeda websites? There's a big difference. I don't back DEBKA particularly, but think they warrant giving at least half a listen to.

I don't exactly know what an "Al Qaeda" website is though. Sounds like a pretty dangerous thing to run, unless you wanna get nabbed by some scary SpecOps dudes. Heck, it could be a false flag operation designed to make AQ look emasculated and untrustworthy. Humiliation, anyone?

Although Drudge did have something recently where the mayors of huge cities were being urged by the feds to ratchet up their alert level locally, without the nation going on higher alert.

Of course I don't want to jinx anything, but remember that we're dealing with a fantasy ideology. The same mindset that sees the trouncing in the Six Day War as a victory for their side. Somehow. Setting of a dozen roman candles in Knoxville would be a great and glorious yadda yadda.

I'm not saying that _all_ of the Muslims have abandoned New York, but for the last two days of last week (thursday and friday) muslims were simply not showing up for their jobs as drivers at the town car companies that we use at my company. Causing major major delays and staffing shortfalls.

They said it was a Muslim holiday.

The credibility problem with this warning is the following. If this attack is imminent, how do they expect so many Muslims to get out of the USA so soon without the rest of us noticing?

There are at least 2-3 million Muslims in the USA. How long would it take for them to get out of the country?

If even 1/4 of them got in cars and headed for our Mexican and Canadian borders, I think we would figure out that something is up.

Maybe a whole lotta them stayed behind as a ruse, sacrificing themselves so that nobody gets suspicious?

Clever death-loving bastids.

59 Cowardly Pundit

I'm thinking that's because of the end of Ramadan. But it doesn't hurt to be careful in NYC these days...

In the immortal last signal from Herr Hitler in the bunker...

"Wo ist Steiner?"

After the Saudi bombings, I was afraid after I read the reports of an "imminent attack" by Al Qaeda. But, after seeing nothing happen except the flea-bitten dogs bite the hands that feed them, I can safely say that I don't in any way feel the least bit threatened by such an "imminent warning."

#60 fireman

Doesn't that assume that these people are aware of what is being posted on what are, for most people (including muslims I suppose), rather obscure web sites?

#59

They are probably celebrating EID. A lot of Muslims take a day off or two for that.

Well, they've made threats before and nothing's happened (it would be nice if that meant our intelligence & covert ops people were stopping them beforehand).

On the other hand, it would be just like them to keep crying "wolf" long enough for us to ingore them, then try something spectaculary awful...

Here's my warning:

I am going to be dating Heidi Klum as of this weekend. Tremble in your boots, mighty America, as I bang this beauteous supermodel. All other males who were dreaming of doing so, get lost now.

I give my warning about the same odds as theirs.

Here's the real question. Will all the Muslims who, as a result of this warning, leave the States be allowed to return to their homes in accordance to international law? I will not be surprised if the Left will lobbies this one as well.

#3

Can you give examples of how Debka has proven to be unreliable? Just because there is a warning that never materializes does not mean that Debka is unreliable. Looks like you are shooting the messenger.

Okay. I'll admit to being a little worried. I went on Internet Hagenah and read about the report on natural gas tankers and what an explosion would do in a harbor and how far the fire would spread, etc., plus, here in LA, we're on Fire Alert , supposedly because of the low humidity.

Time to go stock up on Two Buck Chuck.

Our military communication systems were designed to withstand a first strike by the USSR, I don't think Al Qaeda can take them out. Even if they did, it wouldn’t change anything short term. Our military doesn’t check with HQ for daily instructions unlike the Arab armies who were trained by the Soviets. We trust our guys, they don’t.

The thought has been in my mind for sometime that Al Qaeda isn’t very smart. It’s stupid to underestimate your enemy, so I have resisted that idea, but the evidence keeps piling up. An attack like this is just stupid for them to even consider.

I haven't read all the comments yet this time, but my immeadiate reaction was "oh, horsesh t!" I get so tired of these small time arses and their bs. But of course, we still have to sort of potentially take it seriously. DAMN.

You know the Zionist already own the only decent rock orbiting Proxima Centuri.

Actually, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star that doesn't have a life zone. The Zionists (or anyone else for that matter) would want a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, which is a yellow star like our own.

#74 Les:

Aha! That's what we want you to think! Remember: All your telescopes are belong to us, and we also control the shover robot!

#68 - you 0wn.

Smoke or not, it's screwed up. We're all saying we're not quaking, which I'm not, personally, but I can't say that nothing drastic will ever happen again. Are they going to take out CentCom or use a big EMP that Morpheus left behind outside of Zion (wouldn't that be ironic) to shut down all electronics, only to have manual labor (donkey carts) pulling their catapults around town to throw boiling oil at our soldiers? What are we talking about here. Fort Monmouth in NJ seems to look the same as it did yesterday, so I'm not expecting anything different.

Minimizing DEBKAs reliability has become almost a reflexive cliche, and usually by people who don't even read the site.

Actually I did read the site...

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources reports that a message published over al Qaeda’s electronic channels and websites declared that the countdown has begun for the biggest operation ever carried out in the United States. Some of the messages say that a new Osama bin Laden videotape will soon be out. It will also carry statements by al Qaeda members who executed the last suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia and adherents who died in clashes with Saudi security. They will be shown describing how they were prepared for action. Bin Laden will intersperse these cuts with comments explaining the selection of Saudi targets.

So someone with Arabic skills on DEBKA's staff surfed a few known al-Qaeda web sites and found some cryptic (and contradictory) warnings of a catastrophic attack and, as always, the promise of a fresh OBL video. How many times have we witnessed this same exact scenario since 9/11?

Well, the last time they pulled off a 'major' operation, they got two of our buildings.

In the two years since, we've gotten two of their countries.

I know nothing of DEBKA's credibility, but I do know that if they attack, they've just signed the death warrants of Syria and possibly Iran.

OT: I should have done this in my first post:
Thank you Charles.
I don't know about the record of Debbka but...Didn't al quada say something to the effect that they had destroyed our economy after 9-11. I think their definitions of destroy, "cut off communicaations" etc. are less precise than ours.

Actually, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star that doesn't have a life zone. The Zionists (or anyone else for that matter) would want a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, which is a yellow star like our own.

Geek.

(O.K. Admittedly, I had exactly the same thought.)

History repeats itself.

In Israel's war of independence, arabs told fellow arabs to flee Israel because the onslaught would be fierce and they could be caught in the crossfire. So they left.

Now they want to return and blame Israel for their misfortune.

Idiocy rules. It seems we at LGF are the only ones on the oasis of truth, justice, and reality.

CAIR and their ilk should leave and never come back.

One story from Debka that never materialized was Saddam's underground fortresses and movable bunkers. These have not yet been exposed by the "real" media. Also, Debka repeatedly gave us warnings of Mega terror attacks in Israel, attacks of unprecedented ferocity... they no longer refer to these sensational and ominous stories the past couple months.

While they can cut we Americans off from each other, I really don't see how they can cut off military-to-military communications.

What are they going to do, take out all the satellites?

Sever underwater cables?

Massive DOS attack?

Are the armed forces on our power grid?

77 Dirk Diggler 11/24/2003 10:35AM PST

How many times have we witnessed this same exact scenario since 9/11?

I understand your skepticism. But DEBKA is only reporting to you what the enemy is saying. If the enemy is full of shit, does that make DEBKA "unreliable"?

DEBKA reports it's findings, provides some insight, but basically leaves it up to you to decide.

What else do you expect from a news source?

This report is 99.9% B.S. assuming that the DEBKAfile report is accurate.
Bluff and bluster is an integral part of the Arab/Mideast mindset. As has been noted, it makes no tactical sense to warn your enemy before you hit them.
This threat sounds like Hitler's last days in his bunker. He was making grandiose plans and issuing them to imaginary armies that would crush the Allied advance on Berlin and herald the triumph of the Third Reich.

Things to think about:

1. Muslims start to actively leave the US, or at least major cities. That should be a big indicator. Remember how there were rumours just after 9/11 that members of the Muslim community knew something was going to happen.

2. Debka should be treated with caution and respect. They have made some huge mistakes over the years, but at the same time have beaten the major media sources by weeks in reporting certain stories.

3. Alpha Centauri B also has a life zone, although it is smaller because it is an orange star, a type A IIRC. The real question is whether or not stable planetary orbits can form in a binary system like Alpha Centauri.

why the discussion over whether or not Debka is correct on this? all they're doing is relaying information from the islamakiddos on the message boards.

The last paragraph should be rebroadcast from one end of the USA to the other: Muslims, take this opportunity to leave and save yourselves!

#3 Neo_Con

DEBKA is unrelaible. Much of what they reprot is way over the top.

#22 David Simon

My point exactly. If they were going to conduct a terror attack they would do it and not even warn fellow Muslims as all life is cheap to them.

82 GNIDA 11/24/2003 10:48AM PST

One story from Debka that never materialized was Saddam's underground fortresses and movable bunkers. These have not yet been exposed by the "real" media.

These DEBKA reports were confirmed after the war.

Also, Debka repeatedly gave us warnings of Mega terror attacks in Israel, attacks of unprecedented ferocity... they no longer refer to these sensational and ominous stories the past couple months.

These DEBKA reports were also confirmed.

re: Alpha Centauri, where are the globular clusters???

Debka is usually on. Read the site carefully. Yes, there is always a "massive attack looming" because they are always planning a massive attack.

As a rule of thumb, when debka makes that grey box, it is serious. Look at the site today. The two other times he did there there were attack attempts within a few days.

Someone will probably try something. If nothing happens it means some diaperhead screwed up and didn't get it off.

Use debka before planning vacations.

Actually, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star that doesn't have a life zone. The Zionists (or anyone else for that matter) would want a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, which is a yellow star like our own.

Yeah, true but I like to say Proxima.
Of course they also said the Negev desert didn't have a life zone.
;>

#91

I'm checking out your links. Reviewing...

Actually perhaps we shoudl consult with Yair about life in the near stars.

Blah Blah Blah...more shit spewed by little men who believe that they need to get right with Allah to get back to the good times of the 7th century. Almost laughable...almost...except for a few flies in the proverbial ointment.

What if they get lucky? Remember they dont need to hit us very often to achieve some terrible results. Exactly what will be the results say if they are able to detonate a Nuke in say...Washington DC? Yea I know we immediatly turn much of the ME into glass...then what? We all know that wont have killed the terrorists who caused the conflagaration in DC. Exactly how confident would YOU be staying in a large city after that? Confident enough to bet your kids?

Btw were they to manage an explosion of a Nuke Device in DC that would effectively fufill their threat to disconnect our soldiers from their command and control. Which if you think about it is exactly their threat. Being that we are such a practical people we just assumed they mean to knock out the Satellites and such...but if they manage to separate our leaders into disparate Radioactive Atoms they achieve a "better" result from their perspective. They only have to get lucky once...

We havent got time to get cocky...kill them faster please.

PAPA DOC

#53 William

Remember this?

And remember this?

Lisa Michelson remembers the moment she saw the CIA’s video animation
depicting TWA Flight 800’s death throes and the seconds in which her son
was dying aboard the Paris-bound jumbo jet in July 1996.

“I don’t understand aeronautics but when I saw the CIA film of the
nose coming off and the plane climbing over 3,000 feet I wanted to vomit,”
the West Hills, California mother said. “I thought, ‘How can they pull this
off?’

“In my own naïve way I thought about a hunter shooting a bird and
hitting it in the head and him going back to the lodge and telling his
hunting buddies how he shot this bird and it started flying up, up, up. I
wonder how many of his buddies would have believed that fable. I didn’t
believe the CIA either. I’m not a scientist but I do know what does and
doesn’t make sense.”

On Dec. 15, a Los Angeles Federal Court judge will hear arguments
about how much evidence U.S. officials must reveal to support their claims
that a decapitated Boeing 747 could soar thousands of feet after 80,000
pounds of nose and cockpit were blown off. The suit seeking the information
comes six years after the FBI presented the CIA-produced animated
hypothesis of Flight 800’s last seconds and the National Transportation
Safety Board subsequently presented its own versions.

The issue is important because the FBI, using the CIA’s analysis,
and the NTSB concluded that hundreds of witnesses did not see a missile
streaking toward the TWA jumbo jet off New York’s coast on July 17, 1996.
The agencies’ officials said that what the witnesses saw was flaming fuel
from the crippled airliner as it soared upward after its nose was blown off
by a hypothetical catastrophic series of mechanical mishaps.

[Link: twa800.com...]

I never board a plane without thinking about it.

Did anyone else see the story on Fox this past weekend where someone said that OBL is in Iran, northwest of Tehran? He is said to be protected by the Iranian regime. He is also said to be involved in the IRANIAN actions that are producing the attacks against our troops in Iraq and the bombings in Turkey. Now, if he is there, then the situation has gotten much worse. If he is advising the Iranians, it is bad enough. But the thought that they are developing nuclear weapons, and that they already have missles that can hit Israel and Europe. I saw yesterday that Israel has issued another warning that it will strike the Iranian nuclear facilities if they think they are a threat. This could be getting bad.

#70 FB

To give a specific instance of DEBKA's unreliability is not doing it justice. It constantly predicts medga attacks, new atrocities, etc. which fortunately have not come true. As a previosu poster mentioned, its predicitons on Afghanistan and Iraq ahve thankfully been a joke. According to DEBKA Arafat should already dead by now.

A listing of DEBKA unrelaibilty reliability of [Link: www.debka.com...]

100 Joel 11/24/2003 11:18AM PST

your archive link is bad.

Screw Alpha Centauri. Procyon is where the real action is.

99 scott in east bay

Its bad already, do you look around and see people who look like a people at war? Do you see people who think that its all over now...? President Bush is carrying a terrible load right now..HE KNOWS. Everyday he wakes up wondering when its gonna happen because he knows its gonna happen. Iran wasnt put into the Axis of Evil for kicks...lots is going on that we cannot should not know. Or else how would our government ever surprise anyone? President Bush knows...and his one minor failing is not conveying adequately enough the danger we are all in. Maybe out of concern of our sanity his administration decided not to make much of it. But to act on it...act on it in the most terrible speed possible.

Faster please is a refrain from Michael Leeden that I happen to think sums it up perfectly.

PAPA DOC

We should be heartened by Debca's record of 100% unreliability...it's as if they were economists.

#100

Once again, some of the threats and forward-looking analysis have materialized, and some have not. It does not make the source unreliable. Predicting the future is tricky and is difficult to do with 100% accuracy. What was Debka's prediction on Iraq and Afghanistan? I find BBC's prediction to be a joke, not Debka's.

Also, I find their analysis of the arrest of Khodorkovsky in Russia more than plausible. I wonder if Debka actually has people on the ground and how they get their info.

#101 neo_con

Here it is in print. it is blog about intelligence and rates the various websites.
Saddam invades Jordan!

An example of what I am talking about.

Saddam Invades Jordan!!!

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL, July 27, 2001 (Web Today)—One of the most reliable international intelligence sources, the Debka File, is reporting the invasion of Jordan by up to 15-hundred Iraqi commandos.

According to the report, reprinted at World Net Daily, Jordan’s king has invoked a secret military pact between his country and Israel, allowing IAF planes to drive off supporting Iraqi jet fighters.

Jordanian forces reportedly attempted to encircle and repel the invading infantrymen, unsuccessfully.

Here is a better versionof DEBKA being totally wrong This is form July 2001.

FROM DEBKA INTELLIGENCE FILES Iraq's war move in Jordan Troops secretly infiltrate in preparation for attack on Israel

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has secretly dispatched troops across the frontier in Jordan in preparation for an attack on Israel, according to the intelligence sources of DEBKA-Net-Weekly.

OT: Anyone have the link to Internet Hagana?

So no takers for my Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man-attack theory?

#97 PAPADOC

Yes, they could get lucky. They could have gotten luckier with the first World Trade Center attack or they could have gotten through to the Capitol or the White House and the 9/11 devastation would have been much much more serious. So we must take them seriously even though there's evidence we have put the hurt on Al Qaeda.
Still, I'm covering up my rather weathered "Y2K Is For Real" bumper sticker with a new one which says, "Vote No Next Terrorist Attack".
If...God forbid...something horrible happens, the liberal press, which ignores these warnings, will blame the president for not warning us.

@23 Goat Guy

That excerpt from Hansen is on target. My sentiments and feelings exactly.

I think "NO MAS" is the exactitude, symbolic and deepest feeling motto we can start to chant back at these shrill inept screaming shills.

Bush is darned if he does, darned if he doesn't as far as the mainstream media is concerned.

I'm interested by the plan to cut the government communications to troops in Muslim countries, which sounds like a poor plan if I'm a jihadi. On the other hand, if I'm a US commander in a Muslim country and an attack disrupted communications with the government, I'd be pretty much on my own, feeling a bit liverish, and in temporarily unfettered charge of massive amounts of ordnance. Assuming the worst, I might decide to unleash devastation the DoD might, in the aftermath, call excessive.

106 Joel 11/24/2003 11:42AM PST

I'm checking the link...verifying.

Papadoc-I am in the World Heritage Site for old hippies, the Bay Area. People in this part of the country are among the most clueless human beings to walk to planet. Everyone here seems to think it is 1973, and all our problems would go away if we would just stop being racist, classist, ageist, sexist, ableist, and any other -ist you can think of. When the Bay Bridge or the Port Of Oakland, or BART goes down, they will call for peace rallies and "understanding" and "stop the hate" rallies.

interestingly enough, our friends at Yahoo! Groups don't seem to exist anymore.

106 Joel 11/24/2003 11:42AM PST

Saddam Invades Jordan!!!

This is not a DEBKA headline. This is from a different web source.

DEBKA reported that an Iraqi incursion into Jordan was detected by Israeli reconnaissance planes and the Ofek 3 and 5 spy satellites.

But I have found no additional confirmation that it ever happened. I concede that DEBKA does not have a perfect track record.

DEBKA may get 50% for factual accuracy, but I give them an A for thriller fiction:

"Azzam Azzam (an Israeli Druze in Egyptian prison) is now charged with using his job (in a Cairo underclothing factory) to lure Egyptians to high class hotels in Eilat where they were allegedly offered sex by Israeli girls in front of hidden cameras. Upon their return they were threatened with exposure..."

Azzam was "sentenced to 15 years with hard labor for receiving underwear soaked with invisible ink..."

Holy knickers! Ludlum or Clancy couldn't do better than that.
Victoria's Secret, are you reading this?

#74 Les

Actually, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star that doesn't have a life zone. The Zionists (or anyone else for that matter) would want a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, which is a yellow star like our own.

Red? Dwarf? Perfect for the dem prez candidates.

Scott in East Bay, Did you see this:

You Know You're in San Francisco When . . .

- You're not angry because Al Gore's not the president; you're angry because you think Ralph Nader should have won.

- You're an unemployed dot-com refugee and college dropout with no job prospects, and you think it's the president who is stupid.

- The homeless are offered conveniently located outdoor urinals (also known as door entryways), soup, medicinal pot, spare change and acoustic entertainment.

- There is an extreme housing shortage, but the political establishment responds by not allowing builders to build.

- Your contractor is gay, but your hairdresser is straight.

- The city government, with a budget of $5 billion -- larger than nearly 40 out of 50 states -- can't balance its checkbook and still complains that the taxes for corporations and the rich aren't high enough.

- The name of your child's second-grade teacher is Flipper, and he has more nose rings and bloody body piercings than a bull in Tijuana after the bullfight.

- The only Republicans you know are President Bush and your deer-hunting uncle in Minnesota, and you hate 'em both.

- You won't cross a picket line, and you proudly display your "Buy Union" bumper sticker on your imported car.

- You think that the rest of America is replete with a bunch of screwed-up hillbillies, factory workers, farmers, hunters and veterans -- and that their only redeeming quality is that they pay taxes for the many social programs you, an unemployed artist, can enjoy.

Link

Just to play devil's advocate here, this is what MSNBC/Newsweek was reporting over the weekend:

On Friday night, FBI Director Robert Mueller called police chiefs in Washington, New York and Los Angeles, while Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge called the mayors. “We’re asking you to go to a higher state of alert,” said Mueller.

[Link: www.msnbc.com...]

So, either our assets have found some information that validates the noises we were hearing from Debka a couple weeks ago, or our assets are so clueless that they feel the need to act on Debka level reliability, just in case. Niether viewpoint seems very reassuring.

Lone Star #52 - thanks, here's more of the same:
"There are 13 "root name servers" worldwide and without them the Internet would not be able to work. Of these, ten are located in the USA, one in Asia and two in Europe."
[Link: www.isc.org...]

From Oct. 22, 2002
"An unusually powerful electronic attack briefly crippled nine of the 13 computer servers that manage global Internet traffic this week, officials disclosed Tuesday. But most Internet users didn't notice because the attack only lasted one hour...
Although the Internet theoretically can operate with only a single root server, its performance would slow if more than four root servers failed for any appreciable length of time."
[Link: www.wired.com...]

Engineer #72 - I agree that the military would be able to communicate regardless... but a cyber-attack combined with physical attacks on these facilities would be crippling. I think that our communications and power infrastructure is dangerously insecure.

djspicerack #76 - hey! I used to work at Ft. M and 'live' (out of hotels) in Red Bank. I loved NJ because it was so much like Alabama; nice people, the shore - we call it the beach - your water is too cold though, pretty countryside (I also worked around Picatinny - NW NJ has heavily wooded mountains and lots of water).

Take a look at this interview, John Hawkins talking to Congressman Tom Tancredo:

John Hawkins: Now you're on the "Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights" so you should certainly be qualified to talk about any terrorist related issues. To begin with, how strong do you think Al-Qaeda is today compared to it's level of strength on 9/11?

Tom Tancredo: What we have been able to do is to disrupt their command and control process. Their numbers are growing, their devotion to the cause is intensifying, and all they are trying to do is essentially regroup. What I mean by that is to establish their command and control process. We have been enormously lucky -- lucky maybe isn't the right word -- I believe John Ashcroft has done a great job. Many men and women in the Justice Department deserve medals of honor for what they've done. Frankly, well, I'm telling you right now, there are things that could have happened to this country since 9/11 that would have been just as disastrous, if not moreso.

Now, the good Congressman might well be talking out of his ass, trying to impress Mr Hawkins, or any number of things. But it sounds as if major attacks on US soil have been thwarted. If you don't read the interview, I'll point out that Tancredo doesn't comment ("It's classified?" "Yes.") on the nature of the attacks.

That said, chances are that major attacks have been thwarted. And the likelihood is that one attack will succeed sooner or later, and I don't mean a jihadi shooting up an El Al counter.

Does that validate DEBKA's report? No. But it's food for thought. AQ have been yanking our collective chains for over two years, but we've seen that they are definitely not all talk.

In fairness to DEBKA, watching jihadi web chatter is a worthwhile action. We've all read how AQ have had to use the 'net to talk to each other. If DEBKA ignored the heightened web chatter, they'd be pretty stupid. If they report it, as they have, then they're accused of scare-mongering. Do I need to remind you guys about the colour-coded threat levels in the States?

Of course AQ are talking themselves up. As others have pointed out, this:

“The big blow will fall very shortly. It will consist of a series of surprise attacks that will cut America off from communication with its armies in Muslim countries.”

isn't possible without knocking out every communications system in the continental United States. That's what jihadis do.

Well, after all that, I don't know what to think. I don't dismiss this warning, but I won't let it get to me.

"DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that some of the new messages are signed by Abu Assam al Yamani, who also threatens to murder Abdul Rahman Rashid, editor of the Saudi London-based paper Sharq al Awsat."

Both an fbis translation of the al-Rashid interview of President Bush and State Department transcript of the interview here.

Wow. I really ought to Preview.

"Muslims living in the United States are urged to “take advantage of the short time left” to escape the country and harm’s way."

Hold on a minute. . .I'll call my travel agent to help ya'll out. . .

I think it would still be fairly easy to do some major attacks in the U.S. I can think of many ways. I won't enumerate them in case the terrorists haven't thought of them yet.

I hope the U.S. government has prevented some attacks and has not told us about them. I also hope they've eliminated the terrorists without letting the other jihadis know what is going on.

Most of the war on terror has to be fought secretly.

#117 observer

In fairness to DEBKA, that's what Azzam is charged with.

V the K #119-I deal with it every day. And being a gay, Republican, anti-jihad, anti-moonbat I scare half of my co-workers to death. (The other ones are more like me but not yet ready to come out of the p.c. closet)

To lighten up the mood a little bit

Stupid Ku Klux Klan Tricks.

V the K #119-I deal with it every day. And being a gay, Republican, anti-jihad, anti-moonbat I scare half of my co-workers to death. (The other ones are more like me but not yet ready to come out of the p.c. closet)

So, uh... are ya seein' anybody?

"Crush the lesser races! Conquer the Galaxy! Incredible power, unlimited rice pudding!"

V the K--yes, for about 14 years.

SIEB: I was joking, but forgot to emoticon.

East Bay?

I've consumed beer in Oakland, Hayward, San Leandro, Berserkly, and, of course, Alameda.

Ahh, the days of drinking heavily on Webster.

Speaking of gays in the Bay Area, besides the guy in my company who started "dating" one of the married guys one cruise (amazing what 110 days w/o woman will do to a man), and our division officer, LT Patty O'Furniture ( we called him that because he was of Irish ancestry) who was about as mellow as an officer could get, and MM2 Andy T., who flamed, but was so good at what he did in the days before "don't ask, don't tell", nobody ever said anything (he wound up with a job at the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard before he got out), there were these other Machinist Mates from RM Division, who invited me along to San Francisco, and wound up taking me to a club called "The I-Beam".

Considering how clubs come and go, that probably isn't there.

Nor the Mabuhay Club, where I saw a guy hold a lighter to Henry Rollins crotch for about 15 seconds while Henry just sang, before Henry just leaned down and punched the guy with the mike in hand ( cool sound effect ). Or the Farm, some kind of hippy socialist co-op near Potrero, that had concerts to raise money to buy supplies for the Sandanistas. I saw the Dead Kennedy's there.

Still, I could not live in a place where I am required to wear a heavy sweater in July. Just too cold there.

My wife things I'm homophobic because I think "Queer Eye" is a one joke show.

But I'm not, really.

#130 Viking the Kitten:

{turning green with envy}

;)

I've been to the Bay Area three or four times, and I always come back wondering how the hell anybody could live there. I don't mind the climate, I'd love to live in Alaska or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but between the traffic, the cost of living, and the aggressive, urine-marinated vagrants all over the place... no way.

I just saw President Bush on Fox News speaking to the troops at Fort Carson. He gave a motivating and inspiring speech while at the same time, tearing up when talking about the fallen soldiers. He seemed sad and at the same time resolved.

What a heavy burden he must carry!

Debka is not predicting the future. Debka is reporting the information that is recieved by them. It is up to the reader to believe or not believe and to check for verity.

Al Qaeda may be crying 'wolf', and it could be a perpetual red herring, to keep us from seeing the next attack coming at us. We need to be alert, this means on a local level for all of us. Just like the sleepers that became the terrorists on 9.11, we do have confirmation there are still sleeper cells in this country waiting for their own chance at the 72 raisins.

#133 VTK:

/green

;)

LGF's Frank: Not sure what that means, but it's probably apt.

SiEB

You got weird jihadis on the west coast (from Fox). BTW, I think Judge Jones doesn't get it.

Patrice Lumumba Ford (search), 32, and Jeffrey Leon Battle (search),33, had pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to levy war against the United States.

Both said that in trying to reach Afghanistan, they were fulfilling their Islamic duty to defend fellow Muslims.

"The attack on Afghanistan killed and maimed thousands of people without achieving its objective," said Ford, who had traveled to China in an unsuccessful attempt to reach Afghanistan. "I refuse to stand passive in the face of such policies."
Ford, once an intern at Portland's City Hall, said he felt obliged as a Muslim to defend his fellow Muslims against "President Bush's cruise-missile diplomacy."
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones admonished Ford by saying: "You do not represent the Muslim faith. Muslims do not engage in the activities you engaged in. You are an insult to that faith."

Battle, a former Army reservist, also spoke of his obligations as a Muslim and concluded by singing a 10-minute song he said he had written in prison. The courtroom was silent during the song, which ended with the stanza, "Free, free, free, for all humanity, release me."

Battle, a former Army reservist, also spoke of his obligations as a Muslim and concluded by singing a 10-minute song he said he had written in prison. The courtroom was silent during the song, which ended with the stanza, "Free, free, free, for all humanity, release me."

What the story left out was that the first ten minutes of the song consisted of:

"Set me free, why don't you babe
Get out of my life, why don't you babe
But you don't really love me
You just keep me hangin' on..."

143

Chuckling silently at work (CSAW)

Debka is right (sooner or later )about 70 per cent ..there may be part truths or 1/2 but they at least go out on a limb..thats what i read it for...would you rather hear nothing and then something happens?? they were right about sadddam being alive how he esdcaped,bin-laden and numerous other items WMD shipped before the war by way of syria into bekka valley..What they all just went POOF and disappeared..yes read it with a grain of salt...but READ IT

I must admit that I'm nervous. Living in NYC, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop for 2+ years now.

I am firmly convinced that al Qaeda has lots more up its voluminous sleeves; the cells have been in place for years, they are well-funded by our Saudi friends, and they have, no doubt, scoped out many targets, including bridges, tunnels, shipping containers, nuclear facilities, oil refineries, freight trains, trucks coming in from Mexico and/or Canada, the Capitol, the White House and numerous others at home and abroad (embassies, corporate offices, consulates, etc.).

We can't watch everything all the time without becoming a total police state, and they know it. They see our free way of life as our weakness, and they plot day and night as to how best to exploit it.

As for warning the Muslims to leave, that part doesn't ring true. They had no compunctions about killing Muslims in Riyadh or Istanbul or anywhere else. However, I hope that the warning, whether authentic or not, has its intended effect. Ta ta, folks! Give my regards to the black cube.

I believe that we may see where it was that Saddams WMD's went...soon enough. The panic this will cause in this country will be astounding and the destruction it will cause in the ME will be historic. Sad days ahead.

One rule I have always found true when looking for something, never stop because stuff just doesnt disappear. The foolish belief that Saddam destroyed his weapons or that he never had them is just a pipe dream. The exist. Where is the question. Lets hope not in NYC as my Sister refuses to move away.

Though I chastise some for not acting like there is a war going on, I cant blame them. After all how long can a person go on waiting for an attack before they believe its not gonna happen. Al Queda/Saddam have this worked out extremely well. They know that all they have to do is wait for us to relax.

Heaven forbid that a President like Dean gets into office.

PAPA DOC

#127, Colt

So he is. But what a weird world:

In Egypt you get 15 at hard labor for receiving invisible ink soaked underwear, in Germany you can't be charged with cannibalism because it ain't a crime.

What is it? An alternative lifestyle?

Prosit, Meine Herren.

#148 observer

In Egypt you get 15 at hard labor for receiving invisible ink soaked underwear

If you're an Israeli, I bet you get 15 years hard labour for a lot of things :-/

in Germany you can't be charged with cannibalism because it ain't a crime.

...really? Wow.

What is it? An alternative lifestyle?

LOL! Apparently, yes.

Prosit, Meine Herren.

My schoolboy German is failing me... What does that mean?

I'm interested by the plan to cut the government communications to troops in Muslim countries, which sounds like a poor plan if I'm a jihadi. On the other hand, if I'm a US commander in a Muslim country and an attack disrupted communications with the government, I'd be pretty much on my own, feeling a bit liverish, and in temporarily unfettered charge of massive amounts of ordnance. Assuming the worst, I might decide to unleash devastation the DoD might, in the aftermath, call excessive.

I'd turn on Fox News Channel or Sky News first, then I would unleash massive force.

#149, Colt

I was referring to the case of the German gent who "met" a willing victim on an internet site for cannibalism and, as they say, one thing led to another...but he couldn't be charged with that because cannibalism is not on the books in the Vaterland as a crime. So they are charging him with "murder because of sex" or something like that.

Prosit, Meine Herren=To your health, gentlemen, a German toast.

By the way--invisible ink on underwear: WHO thinks this stuff up? I shouldn't ask--I live close to the guys who tried to get Castro with a cigar.

Dfenstrate
"I know nothing of DEBKA's credibility, but I do know that if they [al Queda] attack, they've just signed the death warrants of Syria and possibly Iran."

My thoughts exactly.

I hope every police officer, border patrol or airline security guard (to name a few) is prepared to do whatever it takes to stop an attack, should one get the chance.

On another note, in the event of an al Queda attack, I truly believe some dipshits STILL wouldn't get it: that this war will only end when one side is destroyed or incapacitated.

#134--no, the I Beam is long gone. When I first moved to SF, the space where it would appear was above a Masonic Lodge on Haight St. A friend of mine was the guy who opened I Beam. He was a PhD in Astronomy from Berkeley who liked to dance, Sanford Kellman. As to the sweater, well who knows. A couple of weeks ago here it went from 60 to 93 in 10 days. You never know. We live with entire wardrobes in backpacks here.

#121 Bourgeois Reactionary, I work about five minutes from Ft. M, and live in Northern NJ, near NYC. I spend some time out in NW/NJ, as the fiancee's parents live out that way. Pretty cool, and it's actually dark at night, unlike living just outside of the city.

Not sure where this is going to go overall, but I did find it interesting that Mueller and Co. did seem to feel like they'd be "crying wolf" if they raised the terror level and nothing happened. That's been the criticism the whole time. Oh well.

"Screw Alpha Centauri. Procyon is where the real action is."

Personally, I always liked Rigel 12. Lots of great hotels, and those green exotic dancers...

Dave J. warns:

Technically, the countdown has also begun for the day that the sun expands in a violent supernova and vaporizes the earth.

And when it does, it will be the fault of The Jews™.

Let's rate our native muslim contributions to the counter-terror war on the domestic and international fronts. Given their total opposition to intervention in islamania, and their noisy campaigns against any national security policies that effect muslims, on a ten-point/ either-way scale, with zero being absolutely worthless, I would rate their participation in the counter-terror war at: -9. They are just one step away from open terrorism.

These carpet-humping wastes of human flesh even hate each other:

[Link: www.allaahuakbar.net...]

ISLAM IS TERROR; MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS

155

is Rigel 7 a real planet/system or is that Star Trek talk again?

Personally, I always liked Rigel 12. Lots of great hotels, and those green exotic dancers...

Feh. That place is an overpriced dump. Twelve quatloos for a beer! Ridiculous.

If you want really good green slave girls, Orion is the place to go.

Beam me down to Orion City
Where the girls are green
And the grass is pretty

Oh, won't you please beam me down!

Anyway, don't care much about Debka myself, and as far as the al Qaeda threat, it's the ones we DON'T hear about that worry me, not the usual "Infidel blood will run in the street and the American pigs will pray for death blah blah blah" that we usually hear. I think that if they could have hit us like that, they would have without announcing themselves this blatantly. I guess we'll see.

What was the name of that game where Evil Otto would pop out to the hair raising warning of "Intruder Alert!".

#158:

Rigel is a real star, as far as I know; I don't know if it has any planets.

But yes, it's from Trek. As is 'Locutus', the name the Borg gave Captain Picard when they assimilated him.

I've found that most every real-life situation can be explained by/compared to/illustrated by something from Star Trek.

sentenced to 15 years with hard labor for receiving underwear soaked with invisible ink

Were they able to make this "invisible ink" actually appear, or is the fact that it is totally invisible, absolute proof of its diabolical presence?

I wonder if this is in any way related to the "disappearing penis" phenomenon?

Locutus -

Yes, Rigel is the star in Orion's "left foot" (stage right). No evidence for any planetary system yet.

Rigel 7 was featured in the Star Trek/TOS episode "Wolf in the Fold" - it was the home of the host of the spirit of Jack the Ripper (aka Mr. Peterson from "The Bob Newhart Show").

ooh... I'm so scared.

Short of smuggling a low-yield nuke into the US I can't picture any scenario where these losers can pull off anything strategically big. A car bomb on a soft target with a large number of casualties is about the most damage they could do, and all of their terrorist BS tactics can’t affect the US’s ability to wage war in the least.

#106-107 (Debka says, July 2001, that Iraqi commandos "invade" Jordan)

From "The High Cost of Peace" by Yossef Bodansky, p488-489:

"Emboldened, the Iraqi teams continued to infiltrate into Jordan so that by the end of July they had 1,200 to 1,500 troops there... Shielded by the Palestinians, they were able to evade the Jordanian security forces... When Amman sent off heliborne hunting parties against them, Iraqi fighter planes appeared near the Jordanian border. The moment the Iraqis flew too close, the Israeli Air Force scrambled fighters and anti-SAM strike aircraft, which darted to meet them. The Iraqi fighters withdrew before contact was made." etc.

Bodansky notes Debka in his bibliography, along with a zillion other news sources. It would be of interest to know if there's any third-party verification that Israel did indeed send its aircraft out on that day.

So what would happen if they got lucky and actually pulled off an attack with WMD?

[Link: www.newsmax.com...]

I read with a smile all the positive happy laughter at the turbanheads but as a New Yorker, I too was not too worried after the attack on the WTC. I felt like, you want me, come and get me MFer.

But now I am concerned. I am concerned that low level radioactive hostpital grade waste can be used in a bomb to create panic.

Even worse, I'm concerned about the effective dispersal of biologicals via aerosol transmission or similar. That damage would be quite harmful.

I hope I'm wrong.

#168 American Dreamer

Please disregard this message if you don't believe in this sort of thing. My accuracy rate for dreams runs at about 0.5 percent, so I have trouble believing in it too.

Let's do a quick survey:

How many LGF'ers had a dream involving a collapsing building in August of 2001? (My hand is raised here.)

How many LGF'ers had a vision of Saddam inspecting an underground construction project? (My hand is still raised.)

I personally take the vision thing a lot more seriously now than before 9/11.

I've found that most every real-life situation can be explained by/compared to/illustrated by something from Star Trek.

I'm going to assume Star Trek is a forbidden topic, but quickly posit that while NextGen was relentlessly PC, Voyager slipped in some subversively conservative/right-wing themes in its later years. Shame no one was around to watch.

Besides which, I've found that most every real-life situation can really be explained by/compared to/illustrated by something from The Simpsons.

#168 American Dreamer, #169 Les -

I didn't have any dreams, or any concrete visions, just a relentless premonition, starting in the last half of August 2001, that there was going to be some sudden, drastic change in my life - I didn't know whether it would be for good or for ill. All I knew was that I had to be ready for it.

Last night I had a dream about trains going into tunnels (ahem).

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...

The person who posted above as "American Dreamer" is a troll who was previously banned from LGF, who sneaked back in with a different ISP. What it thought it was accomplishing with that comment is anybody's guess.

Ooops!!! But I meant what I said in my #171.

All of them leave? We can only hope.

Ed:

What was the name of that game where Evil Otto would pop out to the hair raising warning of "Intruder Alert!".

That was "Berserk," where I got my namesake from. "Chicken, fight like a robot!"

I suspect they could the maximum amount of economic disruption for the minimum effort by arranging for an exploding float at the Macys Thanksgiving Parade.

I hope Macys has increased security.

Not to sound too conspiratorial, but there was a communications impacting event of unknown cause:
Cable failure hits UK Internet traffic

Bullshit.
Bull- shit.
Bulllshit.

They didn't talk smack before 9/11. They just did it.

One question though. Charles posted a warning last week from a muslim nut in the UK that there was going to be an attack on the 20th. It wasn't in Britain, but in Turkey against the consulate. Did the police pick this guy up for questioning?

Number of Muslims in the world:
Estimates of the total number of Muslims in the world vary greatly:

0.700 billion or more, Barnes & Noble Encyclopedia 1993
0.817 billion, The Universal Almanac (1996)
0.951 billion, The Cambridge Factfinder (1993)
1.100 billion, The World Almanac (1997)
1.200 billion, CAIR (Council on American-Islamic relations)

At a level of 1.2 billion, they represent about 22% of the world's population. They are the second largest religion in the world. Only Christianity is larger, with 33% of the world's inhabitants.

Islam is growing about 2.9% per year. This is faster than the total world population which increases about 2.3% annually. It is thus attracting a progressively larger percentage of the world's population.