Osama Bin Laden in an audiotape makes threats to the US

[Lindaloo]

No HD... I was referring to the fact that atheists do not believe in God or people that hate God. Everything about God is being attacked these days. IMO, their morals are that they do not want God nor the Ten Commandments anywhere in our society.IMO!! It is morally wrong.

Thanks for the info about the jet BEER. I seem to remember something about the airliner disappearing. I thought they had recovered it. Sure is a scary thought.

[BEER980]

Toni-574 that quote was intercepted from a message board used by Islamic Jihadists. Here is another one: :8:

2. The occurrence of a lunar and a solar eclipse during Ramadan. This is a cosmic sign and is the one that questions are answered by Allah who is the only one capable of the specification of its fall 's time by the minute and the second. And from an official source there will be the occurrence of an eclipse in day 15 of Ramadan and definite by the hour and the minute and the second and also the occurrence of an eclipse at the end of Ramadan and a definite by the hour and the minute and the second.

[BEER980]

Here you go Lindaloo :

`A perfect flying bomb' disappears
Aged Boeing 727 last seen in June

Authorities cast nervous eye on the sky

NICOLAAS VAN RIJN
STAFF REPORTER

An aged Boeing 727 stolen in May from a sleepy African airport could have been rigged as the ultimate flying bomb before it disappeared, authorities say.

The theft, in a post-Sept. 11 world, has sparked a continent-wide hunt for the missing jetliner. And now, with U.S. President George W. Bush making a swing through Africa, authorities are keeping a nervous eye on the skies. Bush flies back to Washington this weekend after stops today in Uganda and Nigeria.

"We don't have any reliable assessments about what this portends, what it could be, who may be behind it," said White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer. "But it is an issue that is being worked on."

While the theft may be as simple as an ownership dispute, officials are especially concerned because the 727, which can carry up to 190 passengers, has been retrofitted as a fuel tanker, ostensibly to ferry aviation fuel into remote African air strips.

"That makes it the perfect flying bomb," said an employee of an aircraft charter company in Miami, which is abuzz with talk of the missing plane.

"Of course it may be nothing more complicated than a repo job. But it's the other things you can do with it that has people worried, especially after 9/11," the employee said, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States in which planes were used as flying bombs.

The 28-year-old Boeing disappeared from its parking place at the airport in Luanda, Angola, on May 25, setting off a continent-wide search involving sophisticated satellite surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency, aviation authorities across Africa, and intelligence agents operating on the ground for several Western nations, including the U.S. and Britain.

Bob Strother, a Canadian pilot who flies humanitarian aid into Africa for Air Serv International, made the last known sighting June 28, when he spotted the three-engine jetliner parked at Conakry airport in the West African nation of Guinea.

"The aircraft was here in Conakry June 28," Strother said in an e-mail Wednesday to his company headquarters in the United States. "We walked close to it on our way to file our flight plan and check the weather. We noticed the old registration had been removed and a Guinea registration painted over, 3X-GOM.

"We could see clearly 44AA, the last part of the old registration, just at the end of the new," Strother said. "Also, the white strip on the side was new paint. A fellow that works in the flight plan office said it belonged to a Lebanese who was going to fly cargo from Beirut to Guinea."

[Toni - 574]

Hey Beer, the stolen 727 smells like Osama. This is some right down scary stuff. How long is Ramadan? Is our skys forecast to do any funky stuff during this time? Sounds like they are talking a double whammy here. Think about this for a minute, all the guesses that we are coming up with of what or where the belly of the eagle could be, just tells me of all the different areas that we need to watch very closely...

[ColdFront77]

I remember hearing about this airplane being missing several months ago. I don't believe I heard news reports about it being an "Osama Bin Laden connection."

[JetMaxx]

Let's just say I plan to avoid large crowds during the holidays - parades and tree lighting ceremonies in large cities; sports arenas...and all shopping malls -- just as a precaution.

I've said for several years that a coordinated terrorist attack on only 5 crowded suburban shopping malls around America the Friday after Thanksgiving would cause more terror (not to mention economic chaos from lost Christmas sales) among the average American citizen than 10 airliners into NYC skyscrapers -- because WE ALL live near and visit malls. I've never been within 500 miles of either New York City or Washington DC.

[Lindaloo]

Thanks for the info BEER!

[janswizard]

FYI, Ramadam starts October 27 this year.

[Lindaloo]

Have there been any threats on Halloween this year?

[cycloneye]

I haven't heard so far of any threats in halloween.

[BEER980]

Ramadan does start on the 27th this month and it lasts for a month. I will go you one better JetMaxx. What if a ship or shipping container were to be detonated in the following ports with a dirty or very large charge? How about Boston, NYC, Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, Houston, San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. Those 12 ports would shut dow this country for quite awhile if no ships could get into port. Now Osama has at least 15 cargo size ships and may have a total of 300 boats of various sizes under his control.

[GalvestonDuck]

Yup, Beer -- that's one of the reasons why there won't be a bridge between Galveston and Port Bolivar (off the east end of Galveston) any time soon. If we had one, it would give us a second, faster access to the mainland for hurricane evacuations. Right now, there's just a ferry going that way. But the fear is that if a bridge across the bay were blown up by terrorists, it would block the port for months.

[Lindaloo]

Ramadan does start on the 27th this month and it lasts for a month. I will go you one better JetMaxx. What if a ship or shipping container were to be detonated in the following ports with a dirty or very large charge? How about Boston, NYC, Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, Houston, San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. Those 12 ports would shut dow this country for quite awhile if no ships could get into port. Now Osama has at least 15 cargo size ships and may have a total of 300 boats of various sizes under his control.

So why did he go through so much trouble to fly airliners into buildings if he could use ships to do damage to the ports and kill hundreds of thousands of people?

[Stephanie]

I don't think it really matters to him how his point is made, either with car or truck bombs, boats loaded with explosives or using an airplane. He's targeting our most vulnerable points.

[GalvestonDuck]

I'd like to make a point to him...in the form of a knife in my hand!

[BEER980]

Lindaloo maybe the jets into buildings was plan A. It's no secret that we have increased airline security. Plan B could be ships or shipping containers. Plan C might be backpack/suitcase nukes or dirty bombs. Plan D would be bio or food/water poisoning. Lets not forget that the grid could be taken down again as well. Less then 5% of all shipping containers are ever searched. Closing all the major ports would cripple this country for quite awhile. I read somewhere that 60% or 70% of our goods come through the ports. How much of the stuff we buy is made in: China, Taiwan, Philippines, Japan, etc. Not to mention imported oil and out of season fruits and vegetables. Personally I think that the chances of an attack before the end of the year is above 50% and there is a very good chance it will be shipping this time.

[Lindaloo]

I don't think it really matters to him how his point is made, either with car or truck bombs, boats loaded with explosives or using an airplane. He's targeting our most vulnerable points.

So true!!

BEER... I was also thinking that and I hope our security is good enough to prevent PLAN B or whatever else he has in store for the United States. I would rest alot easier if this guerrilla is caught SOON!!

I also watched a documentary about our ports and how they are vulnerable. The focus of this film was about how ships that come into our ports are not searched to prevent intrusion. Our ports are sitting ducks.

[j]

I agree with the coordinated shopping mall hit. Certainly this would accomplish the main goal of Terrorism since it would touch everyone's life. (no skyscrapers where I live...plenty of shopping malls however)

Economic disaster?? You bet. Would it effect the Stock Market like 911 did? Probably not, but consumer spending would all but come to a halt if the attacks were carried out during the X-mas rush.

[BEER980]

I would bet it would effect the market quite a bit. Maybe not as much as 911 but it would take a good hit. I would not put a bio past them during the holidays. There is plenty of stuff that could spread about a mall by a few people, Smallpox is one that comes to mind.

[JCT777]

I agree with the coordinated shopping mall hit. Certainly this would accomplish the main goal of Terrorism since it would touch everyone's life. (no skyscrapers where I live...plenty of shopping malls however)

Economic disaster?? You bet. Would it effect the Stock Market like 911 did? Probably not, but consumer spending would all but come to a halt if the attacks were carried out during the X-mas rush.

That's a scary thought, j. Hopefully something like this doesn't happen.