My comments to an offlist msg.
Stunningly obvious, but I guess the word hasn't gotten out. Or they
had some column inches to fill...
> FBI, CIA Warn Congress of More Attacks;
<snip>
(full text at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8418-2001Oct4.html
)
> "The investigative case has to take a back seat to preventing the
> next terrorist act," a senior law enforcement official said. "That
> comes right from the top, from the president of the United States on
> down."
"[P]reventing the _next_..." I rollick with mirth at their merry jape.
By definition, this is of course impossible. Oh tempura, oh morays--
which can be loosely translated as "dangle enough food, you'll get bad bites".
> In preparation, the FBI has a plan in place to go "full tilt" for 72
> hours whenever the president decides to make a move against bin
> Laden, al Qaeda or Afghanistan's ruling Taliban government, the
> official said. At the investigation's command center in FBI
> headquarters, a team of analysts and agents has been working around
> the clock sifting through reports of potential threats since Sept. 11.
>
> U.S. officials acknowledge it is difficult to understand the
> motivation behind some of the threats they have learned about.
>
> In response to threats from bin Laden's network that were detected in
> June and July, for example, officials made decisions to abandon some
> U.S. embassies and to move Navy ships in foreign ports out to sea.
> Now, officials have concluded, the threats may have been
> disinformation designed to occupy officials' attention, or to allow
> bin Laden operatives to observe American counterterror lockdown
> methods, a knowledgeable source said.
Welcome to war. Idjits. *Sigh*. We need a buttload of small units with
their own tactics. In a word, no huge Federal spasm of response, rather
our old buddy the unorganized militia. This will take years to ramp up,
but "how old will you be in 4 years if you _don't_...?"
> Shelby said law enforcement agencies believe terrorists will do
> something unexpected, and thus the agencies are trying to think "out
> of the box" in anticipating what might be ahead. However, he noted,
> bin Laden has been known to return to the same targets repeatedly,
> such as the World Trade Center, which terrorists with possible ties
> to bin Laden's group bombed in 1993.
No shit, Sherlock.
> A senior government official said yesterday that if al Qaeda follows
> its normal pattern, "other attacks are in various stages of
> planning." The U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which were
> bombed in 1998, were first surveilled as targets in 1994, according
> to court testimony earlier this year.
No *fscking* shit, Sherlock.
> The government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity,
> said bin Laden's terrorist organization "likes to mix tactics and
> targets." Under that theory, more airplane hijackings seem less
> likely, because security has been increased. Ground-based operations,
> he said, seem more probable.
Pish and tush. Squeeze a balloon, a bulge appears above and below.
Water is wet, the USA is the most target-rich environment for partisans
in the world. This is news?
-- Job One: MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL. If you're not part of the solution, what are you doing scumming up the bottom of our beaker? --MMB "Let's roll." --Last words heard over Todd Beamer's cell phone before the counterassault aboard UA93, 02001.09.11.~10:10EDT
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