Al Queda may already be commercial pilots flying planes

[ringmastery]

Now this is scary as hell.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ID/3775771/

Authorities raised the terrorist threat assessment over the weekend after new intelligence indicated that operatives of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network, possibly trained and licensed to fly passenger jets, may now be pilots for some foreign airlines, ideally positioning them to carry out suicide attacks, U.S. officials told NBC News on Monday.

Reinforced cockpit doors intended to thwart hijackers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks would now protect any terrorist pilot at the controls, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

Authorities would not describe the terror threats in detail publicly, but the U.S. officials told NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski that the threat alert would remain at “orange,” or high, through the end of January, which they said was an indication of its seriousness.

[arcane1]

1. good thing we took care of Saddam! We don't need those troops here anyway

:crazy:

[barbaraann]

2. They want us to be afraid.

But there is nothing scarier than the future they BFEE envisions for us if Bush is reelected. Nothing.

[mmm]

3. I don't buy a word of it

[Cocoa]

6. me neither

anonymous U.S. officials.

Then the dirty bomb crap again.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Notice The Dirty Bomb Story Has Now Changed?

Now, the claim from "experts" is that a dirty bomb doesn't do that much damage, won't contaminate that wide an area, and can be cleaned up.

On MSNBC this morning, they actually reported that even if one is exposed the cancer rate would only increase by 1 person in 10,000 exposed to the debris, above the normal cancer rate!

No, now the point of the dirty bomb is to cause panic and fear. So, now dirty bombs aren't really all that dangerous and deadly, it's strictly psychological. That's VERY different than the story when dirty bombs first came up. (Think the Padilla story, for instance.)

Well, if the point of a dirty bomb is to spread fear and panic, then aren't the gov't folks helping the terrorists by bringing it up again. What way to spread fear and panic would be better than by talking about a weapon intended to spread fear and panic?

Duplicitous nonsense.
The Professor

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. This is one of the few times

someone is telling the truth. A dirty bomb in an urban area will not do that much 'damage'. I have posted about this in the past. The whole dirty bomb thing is right up their with the small pox vacinations that W wanted everyone to buy.

If a dirty bomb is detonated in an urban area, there won't necessarily be a big spectacular explosion. It will not be the same kind of made for TV event like 9-11. More likely there will be little physical damage to see. However, the buildings themselves will act like a mountain range, so the area of contamination will likely be relatively contained. Hopefully, the people in the area will be evacuated quickly. Most people will just get a 'small' dose from the exposure, probably no worse than what many of us were exposed to in the 50's and most of us are still here. Of course, anyone who is in close proximity of the damn thing will likely be killed or injured and in a crowded urban area that could be a significant number. The point is that you will have to be very close to the thing to be directly impacted.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. You & I Are Of Like Mind

I wrote in past threads (back when dirty bombs were a story) that they were more bluster and impact. So, we completely agree on that.

The thing is find telling is now the media and gov't experts are saying the same thing you and i were saying a year ago. That's it not really that big a deal, from a damage and exposure perspective.

Well, if it's so that the real point is to create panic, then talking about it when there's really little we can individually do to stop it is exacerbating the panic. So why talk about it at all?

The gov't is doing the terrorists' job for them. Of course, that is the way they want things. Everyone cowering behind their curtains in fear of the big bad bogey man!

Me, i like to think that the average american is a little more couragious than that. The idea that we should all be cowering in fear is an insult to the citizens of the this country. Why these cowards who vote for Republicans can't see that they are the ones shaking in their boots, and not people like me, is beyond me.
The Professor

[DoYouEverWonder]

33. Actually it's a man named Jim Reynalds

who is doing the terrorists job for them.

Here's the link to the thread that I posted over in GD about him:

Code Orange: So where is all this chatter really coming from?

[ProfessorGAC]

34. Thanks

The Professor

[Muddleoftheroad]

27. Wrong

A dirty bomb would succeed on many fronts:

* First off, it is a weapon of terror. As such, since it is "nuclear" or "radioactive" it will cause great terror.
* Next, it is a major attack and, as such, would score a major terror victory.
* Lastly, it would cost a fortune to get rid of the radioactive dust and lost revenue from wherever was attacked. We are talking billions, plus damage to stocks, etc.

[ProfessorGAC]

31. Seems You Missed The Point

What a surprise!
The Professor

[Muddleoftheroad]

32. Didn't miss the point

What a surprise.

They make a ton of an impact. And could well cause every building in the area to be torn down and replaced. That's a big impact, especially with a historic site.

[ProfessorGAC]

35. You Have NO Idea What You're Talking About

The Professor

[Loonman]

24. That's always been the case, not changed information

People just accepted the panic and fear mongering and misinformed reports early on.


Maybe they're saying - "this is a psychological weapon, meant only to cause fear and panic" so people will know not to panic.

Stupid people will panic, anyway.

[ProfessorGAC]

25. You Missed My Point

The gov't is now saying it! Before, all we heard and saw from gov't and media was the range of the contamination maps, the danger of these weapons, the destruction they would wreak.

Now, they're admitting that they wouldn't do that much damage. So, that means they lied the first time. Nobody is calling them on it. But, they lied.

You can check the archives. I wrote over a year ago that i thought the whole dirty bomb scare was much ado about nothing. I went into some technical detail about the ease (relatively speaking, compared the perceived threat) of clean up and the low probability of being contaminated in a way that would shorten one's life.

The issue i'm pointing out, here, is that even the gov't has radically changed its tune. I knew before. You knew before. But, they scared people into believing it was a VERY dangerous weapon. (Remember the "poor man's nuke" analogies?)

Now, they're admitting it is simply a panic weapon. They lied a year ago. Now, they tell the truth about these bombs. Seems to me that if one now admits that the point of the weapon is to spread panic, that the point is TO SPREAD PANIC! This is evidence, IMO, that the gov't doesn't want us more vigilant. They want us more scared!

The Professor

[radwriter0555]

29. BOO!

This is the stupidest, most bogus story I have ever seen concocted by the bush regime YET.

I just busted a gut laughing, and ruined my keyboard!

[madrchsod]

4. no problem

only white anglo-saxons are allowed to fly into the united states..problem solved

[xray s]

5. like Timothy McVeigh types?

[madrchsod]

9. we are not suppose to talk

about them,you know,they are white americans.the brown shirts i think is a good description....

[Cannikin]

18. Go ahead and require that they be Christians also..

[gate of the sun]

7. does anyone belive this crap?

I don't it was just when George was going to come under fire for 9-11. well this is ridiculous and so convenient....maybe we will be attacked soon but I wouldn't blame the infamous Al-Queida.

[mikehiggins]

8. Wow. Amazing. It took them this long to figure that out?

Boy, we're sure getting our money's worth from all the bucks the Bush regime is spending on security.

Here's another clue: check the Saudi pilots and see how many of them are regular visitors to the Wahabi (sp?) mosques. Most of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi's and so is OBL himself.

Amazing.

[DemBones DemBones]

10. Anderson Cooper was saying tonight that

there's "increased concern" about cargo planes being hijacked -- and no passengers with cell phones to tell us what's happening.

Pretty convenient how Barbara Olsen managed to make a cell phone call, alright. We never would have known about the box cutters without her call.

[RamboLiberal]

11. I gonna be a DU'er who could buy in to this

I could buy in to their ability to have a couple of Al Qaida fundamentalist pilots, especially on a cargo jet pulling off something like this.

I did find that report chilling and what a perfect way to use a plane as a weapon. Imagine a plane flying in from overseas to DC, NYC, LA or SF. Proceeding as normal, no hijack warning and then at last second veering off to take out a nearby target. Could happen before US could shootdown.

I've always wondered if EgyptAir may have been a rehearsal for such a plan.

[zulchzulu]

12. Real confidence builder for Christmas travellers

What a bunch o' propoganda...

[Gloria]

13. This news certain reinforces Clark's (and others) premise that Bush

diverted attention from the real war on terror to go into Iraq!

I expect to see/hear a lot of butt kicking soon....

[Zero Gravitas]

28. Bush's BIGGEST Screw-up

Bush has screwed up big time so many times, but the biggest of them all has to be neglecting going after al Qaedia to pursue the paper tiger of Iraq. If, God forbid, another terrorsit attack does occur in the US, Bush will be responsible. With only so many Arabic speakers and regional experts available to the US, he diverted much of those resources to go after Saddam who did not pose any threat to the US and neglected the real threat.

[Must_B_Free]

14. Al Batouti

Remember him? said Allah Akbar before he plunged the plane into the sea?

[Fescue4u]

15. Egypt Air anyone?

Theres a mountain of evidence that this has already happened with the Egypt air crash several years ago.

Remember the pilot, who intentionally dove the aircraft into the sea, while chanting Muslim versus's? In addition cockpit evidence suggest there was a struggle between the murder pilot and the other pilots.

Now I don't believe this is organized terror per se. But if one nutty Islamic pilot can do it on his own, he can certainly do it for others if incented (i.e. virgins, or money for his family etc)

[hedda_foil]

16. Oh for heavens sake!

Like ... more than 2 years after 9/11 ... they don't have the capability of doing heavy-duty background checks on commercial airline pilots if they feel like it?

The sheer inane stupidity of the propaganda can be described in a single word ...

DRIVEL!

[Yupster]

17. I don't know

Do we have any control over who pilots foreign cargo jets into America?

[ProfessorGAC]

22. I Think So, Yupster

A flight plan still has to be filed in order to bring a plane into U.S. airspace. A flight plan includes the names of the pilots and crew. (As well as the manifest.) The FAA would simply be able to disallow entry to any plane flown by someone for whom the background check was not completed. And, if there were questions about the background, they could disallow that flight as well.

So, i think that while those air cargo firms could hire anyone they darn well please, that doesn't give them clearance to fly into the United States.
The Professor

[Roon]

23. or how about..

pilots that immigrate and live here in the US. Surely there are some middle eastern pilots that work for United, Frontier, UPS, Fed-EX, etc. Going to work every day, raising families, middle class lifestyle. Then they get the message in their e-mail instructing them to carry out a plan that was conceived years ago. One jet crashed into a packed sports stadium would probably kill more people than 9-11.

[manic]

26. Perhaps these were the chaps that spotted Bush flying into Iraq?

After all, nobody's owned up to doing so... yet.

;)

[leesa]

30. What garbage. The only terrorists you need to worry about

right now are the ones squatting in the WH.