As luck would have it, luck saved NYC's subway commuters

The New York City subway bombing plot was just five days away from being consummated when it was discovered.

The suicide attack, planned to mark last year’s anniversary of the September 11 attacks was to be the biggest plot in the US since 2001.

Previous reports had suggested that the men were under surveillance by the FBI for some time before their planned attacks but sources now say the plot came close to success.

The plot was only foiled when one of the men emailed an al-Qaeda fixer in Pakistan to ask for advice on mixing chemicals, security sources on both sides of the Atlantic have told The Daily Telegraph.

Three men were allegedly planning to strap bombs to themselves and attack the underground with coordinated explosions planned to emulate those on London five years ago.

The lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands of New York subway riders were saved by the faulty memory of a would-be jihadist and his failure to take notes.

The New York investigation began on September 6 2009 when an Afghan-born man brought up in Queen’s, New York also began emailing [the 'fixer'] Sohaib.

Najibullah Zazi was desperate to be reminded of his bomb-making instructions from a visit to Pakistan a year earlier.

He had already bought hydrogen peroxide and other bomb-making chemicals but wanted to know what proportions to use.

Luck is a good ally but a highly capricious one. Better to de-fang the Pakistani jihadi networks -- which may entail forcing their supporters in Pakistan's government and military to cut them off. As messy and difficult as that may be, it is likely a necessary precondition for stopping plots of this type at the source.

A child's garden of explosives

The only glimmer of light in this horrific story is that the Palestinians aren't trying to present this as an IDF attack on civilians.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A large explosion in northern Gaza on Tuesday killed an 8-year-old boy and his 6-year-old sister and injured five other children, Palestinian health officials said.

Witnesses said a group of children stumbled upon a homemade rocket or a mortar shell and began playing with it. The device exploded, injuring all seven children, two of whom died later of their wounds.

Moaiya Hassanain, a Palestinian health official, said the explosion occurred in the village of Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, and the wounded were evacuated to hospital.

If the Palestinian rejectionists continue to teach their youngest children to adore armaments and killing, there is scant hope for the future of the Palestinian people.

Security checkpoints create points of insecurity

Like any evolving system, predators adapt to exploit the very defenses their prey have developed.

Long queues for security and check-in made an "excellent target" for potential bombers, the Tory transport spokesman told MPs.

Julian Brazier, a former SAS soldier, said that jihadists might adopt similar techniques as those seen in Iraq, where civilians were often targeted at checkpoints.

"A bomber can simply walk into a terminal carrying or wheeling a large bomb in a suitcase," he said. "The plain fact is that long, densely packed queues represent a hugely tempting target to terrorists."

This amplifies the point I made in an earlier UFTS post. One successful bombing of a queue or crowd will make the entire system vulnerable to spoof bombs and empty bomb threats: authorities will have to clear the facilities under threat, regardless of how many threats prove hollow. The effect of one bomb will be multiplied many-fold and cripple Western economies.

Summer of (something other than) love

Forty years ago, it was flower power. In 2007, we hope it isn't flour power (chapati flour, that is). US officials are very nervous about the coming summer season, knowing how much al-Qaeda loves its summer avocation of blowing people up.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. counterterror officials are warning of an increased risk of an attack this summer, given al-Qaida's apparent interest in summertime strikes and increased al-Qaida training in the Afghan-Pakistani border region.

On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune that he had a "gut feeling" about a new period of increased risk.

He based his assessment on earlier patterns of terrorists in Europe and intelligence he would not disclose.

"Summertime seems to be appealing to them," Chertoff said in his discussion with the newspaper about terrorists. "We worry that they are rebuilding their activities."

Other U.S. counterterrorism officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, shared Chertoff's concern and said that al-Qaida and like-minded groups have been able to plot and train more freely in the tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border in recent months. Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding in the rugged region.

One hopes (probably in vain) that the Lal Masjid takedown in Islamabad has opened the door to more counterterrorism operations on the Pakistani side of the Pak-Afghan border.

One also hopes (probably also in vain) that the al-Qaeda cells operating in the USA at present are as inept as the 7/21 bombers in Britain, who couldn't get their recipe right.

Four men who were given sanctuary in Britain after leaving their war-torn countries were yesterday found guilty of a plot that would have killed hundreds of people on the London transport system two years ago.

Muktar Ibrahim, 29, the leader of the suicide gang, was seen by officers on at least four occasions before the bombings, Woolwich Crown Court had heard and was on bail after being arrested on suspicion of extremism.

London was saved only by Ibrahim's lack of basic arithmetic. A scribbled note found at the bomb factory showed that Ibrahim, who had failed maths GCSE, had wrongly calculated the ratio of ingredients, rendering the bombs harmless.

Despite having a criminal record, he was given British citizenship even as he plotted the potentially murderous attacks.

And certanly one hopes -- perhaps with a bit more realism -- that the police in the USA are currently doing a better job of tracking suspected terror cells than the British were doing prior to the 7/21 plot, even after the successful 7/7 bombings.

The fact that they came so close to causing carnage when they had been known to the police will raise fresh questions over the value of the intelligence available to the security services and whether it was properly acted upon.

In January and August 2003 Ibrahim was seen with Mohammed on police surveillance video at Finsbury Park Mosque, where Omar and Osman also attended regularly.

In May 2004, police watched all four bombers on a camping trip at a farm in Langdale in the Lake District running up and down carrying rucksacks. In October the same year, Ibrahim was arrested by police for breach of the peace while handing out extremist literature in Oxford Street.

He jumped bail and a letter was sent to his flat saying: "Come to us before we come to you."

In December, Ibrahim was stopped by Special Branch officers at Heathrow airport before boarding a flight to Pakistan. They found his luggage included cold weather clothing, a sleeping bag and a video camera along with £2,000 in cash. One of his companions had £2,200, a military first aid kit and a manual on how to deal with ballistic injuries.

A Port Stop Request form recording the incident was filled in but the three men were allowed to go on their way.

Ibrahim flew to Pakistan, where he is said to have learned his bomb-making skills alongside Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shezhad Tanweer.

And, of course, closing the circle, San Francisco certainly has to be on the short list of potential targets for al-Qaeda in the USA. Not only is it the city whose mores are most likely to offend Muslim funadmentalist values, but its political leadership is all but dismissive of the threat of Islamofascist terror.

'Spooky' how some jihadist doctors threatened terrorist acts -- and then other jihadist doctors did them

'Spooky'? A jihadist claiming to represent a cell of 45 doctors posts a threat to commit terrorist acts in the USA, and the only way the authorities can describe the parallel to the London and Glasgow attacks is 'spooky'?

Anti-terrorist police found details of the discussions on a jihadi site run by one of a three-strong “cyber-terrorist” gang.

They were discovered at the home of Younis Tsouli, 23, Woolwich Crown Court in south east London heard.

One message, thought to have been sent on February 12 2005, read: 'We are 45 doctors and we are determined to undertake jihad and take the battle inside America.

“The first target which will be penetrated by nine brothers is the naval base which gives shelter to the ship Kennedy.”

This is thought to have been a reference to the USS John F Kennedy, which is often at Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville, Florida.

The message discussed targets at the base, adding: 'These are clubs for naked women which are opposite the First and Third units.”

It also referred to using six Chevrolet GT vehicles and three fishing boats and blowing up petrol tanks with rocket propelled grenades.

Tsouli replied to the message by saying “He needs the recipe for making car bombs,” and a “recipe” was supplied by one contributor, including gas cylinders as one ingredient.

Investigators have found no link between the Tsouli chat room and the group of doctors and medics currently in custody over attempted car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.

However, sources said it was “definitely spooky” that the use of doctors for terrorist purposes was being discussed in jihadi terrorist circles up to three years ago.

What's 'spooky' is that this discovery didn't prompt British authorities to tighten their scrutiny of Muslim physicians in Britain two years ago. The jihadists have a track record of doing the things they brag about planning. Shouldn’t the authorities have learned long since to take these kinds of threats seriously?

How to cripple an industrialized economy - no bombs required

A suspicious package forced the closure of a terminal at Heathrow Airport and cancellation of over 100 flights.

The departure lounge has been partially evacuated

Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4 has reopened after a suspect bag sparked a security alert.

The Metropolitan Police said it was dealing with the item which was found at the terminal just before midday.

But thousands of departing passengers are facing long delays as airport officials begin re-screening them.

All international flights from the terminal were cancelled until the evening while all European flights have been cancelled until further notice.

The alert comes after failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow....

A spokesperson said: "We have had to cancel 108 flights in total.

"Our flights to and from Terminal 1 at Heathrow are operating, but with some delays."

Isn't that swell? But wait - there's more!

Earlier on Tuesday a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspect device near Hammersmith Tube station.

During the morning rush-hour the station in west London and surrounding roads were closed when a suspect device was found at about 0825 BST.

There was an unconfirmed report the suspect objects had turned out to be three abandoned fire extinguishers.

Up to 8,000 commuters were forced to find alternative routes into work as Hammersmith and Barons Court stations were closed for an hour.

There were also severe delays for motorists as Hammersmith Broadway was closed between King Street and Shepherd's Bush Road as well as Hammersmith Bridge.

What does it all mean? Well, it means that all the Islamofascists have to do to shut down Britain's capital is to leave knapsacks and briefcases casually unattended in airport terminals and at Tube stations. No bombs required: the extra precautions that these suspicious packages will trigger will shut down transport and cost the economy billions of pounds.

This is hella confusing

The car parked outside a Glasgow mosque "did not constitute a threat." But the police blew it up anyway?

Officers investigating failed car bombings at Glasgow airport and London were called to the Forth Street Mosque at about 2230 BST on Monday evening.

Strathclyde Police confirmed the car was linked to the airport attack but said there had been "no specific information" that it was a threat.

There was no sign that the vehicle had contained any dangerous materials.

Superintendant Stuart Daniels, of Strathclyde Police, said the bomb squad had been called in as a precaution.

He added: "The car did not constitute a threat and we will shortly move into the phase where we will start the forensic examination, firstly with the car in situ, and then later the car will be removed for a full forensic examination."

Seems to me it must have been a threat of something to somebody -- otherwise, why set off demolition charges?

Every little bit helps

Some good news from Pakistan.

The eight-member gang led by former fighters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group was based in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, a senior police official said.

They used to collect materials and volunteers from the central province of Punjab, the official said, requesting anonymity.

The suspects were arrested in Punjab over the past few days.

The police are crowing.

"During the interrogation they confessed to having carried out a series of suicide bombings and bomb blasts against foreign forces in Afghanistan over the past several years,'' he said.

He identified the gang leaders as Mufti Saghir Ahmed, a veteran of the 1980s war against invading Soviet troops in Afghanistan, and wanted militant Mohammad Safeer.

Both are members of the Jaish group, he said.

Safeer was wanted over an attack on a church in the Pakistani town of Taxila in 2003.

"The suspects were preparing remote-controlled devices for the Taliban in Afghanistan,'' the official said.

"It's a major breakthrough in the fight against terrorism and reflects Pakistan's strong commitment to fight militancy,'' a senior security official said.

But the question remains: if these suspects were known, wanted men, why weren't they stopped last year, or the year before, or the year before that? Who else is doing the same thing in Pakistan and yet won't be stopped this year, or next year, or the year after? I still get the feeling that Pakistan is trying to placate both sides, rather than treating Islamic fundamentalism as an existential threat.

What clues do you need?

The authorities in the UK don't seem to be very imaginative in predicting terror threats.

Strathclyde Police Chief Constable Willie Rae confirmed the attack was being linked to two car bombs found in London on Friday.

He also revealed a suspect taken to the city's Royal Alexandra Hospital was found to have a suspect device on him....

"There was no prior intelligence to suggest that Scotland was going to be the target of a terror attack," he added.

How about this: the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is a Scotsman -- what additional clues would you need to know that Scotland would be a prime target for a terror attack?

As they will do with every change of government in the West, the Islamofascists will test the resolve of the new administration with terror attacks. Clinton was tested with the first World Trade Center bombing and the Mogadishu Black Hawk Down incident, and Clinton proved wholly spineless. Bush was tested with the 9/11 attack, and proved resolute. Spain was tested with the 3/11 attacks and proved spineless. Britain will be tested again and again, and one hopes that they will pass each test.

Basque terrorists desperate for the limelight

For people who hate and fear swine so deeply, the Islamofascist terrorists sure are attention hogs. Over in Spain, the Basque terrorist group ETA really hates to be ignored.

Police have used a controlled explosion to detonate a suspicious package at Spain's Ibiza airport shortly authorities evacuated the building.

Spain's airport authority closed the airport, on one of the country's most popular holiday islands, after a telephoned bomb warning in the name of the Basque separatist movement ETA.

Europa Press news agency, quoting witnesses, said that an explosion of "medium strength" rocked the airport following its evacuation.

A spokeswoman for the AENA airport authority, which controls Spain's airports, said the airport had been closed to outgoing and incoming flights due to a security alert but would not say if it was a bomb alert.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 people were evacuated from the building.

advertisementThe websites of Spanish dailies El Mundo and La Vanguardia said three warnings had been received by Basque newspaper Gara, which the separatist group often uses as a conduit for bomb warnings.

The irony of the Basque separatist terror is that it is aimed at liberating the Basque homeland from Spanish rule -- so that it can become a vassal state of the EU, ruled from Brussels. The Catalans have a much better plan, in that they are getting all of the benefits of home rule without the messy bloodshed and boring paperwork.

Yes, Prime Minister... there really are terrorists in London

A gift for the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who's been in office for under 48 hours:

Police have defused a bomb found in a car parked in London's West End.


Explosives officers were called to The Haymarket, in the heart of theatreland and close to Regent Street's popular shopping area, following reports of a suspicious vehicle left there.

They discovered a "potentially viable explosive device" which they made safe.

The area, including Piccadilly Underground station, has been cordoned off and will remain closed for most of the morning, police said.

A terrorism investigation has been launched.

Contrary to rumor, the bomb in question was not the new stage production of The Lord of the Rings: The Musical.

The BBC has more:

One police source said the bomb was a "big device" and posed a real and substantial threat to the area around The Haymarket, which is in London's theatreland.

A witness reported seeing gas canisters being removed from the car, believed to be a silver Mercedes, at around 0400 BST (O300 GMT).

Bouncers from a nearby nightclub said they saw the car being driven erratically before it crashed into a bin. They said the driver then got out and ran off.

The authorities are taking this very seriously and it's disrupting life in London:

Police say The Haymarket is likely to remain closed for some time and severe travel disruption is predicted.

Piccadilly Circus Tube station is closed and trains are not stopping, while local bus services are being diverted.

The BBC's Daniela Relph, at the scene, said the heart of London was completely closed off and police officers were concentrating on keeping people away.

Thousands of commuters have been unable to get to work.

Sadly, we'll now find out if the UNIFIL commander is right

The operating environment for UNIFIL in southern Lebanon has become dramatically "non-permissive."

At least five Spanish UN peacekeepers were killed and three others wounded in an attack on a UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon on Sunday afternoon.

The incident took place near Al-Hijam, south of Marj Ayoun, on the eastern part of the border with Israel. UNIFIL forces were on route to the site of the attack to investigate.

A senior Lebanese official in Beirut said a mine may have caused the explosion. But another security official based in southern Lebanon said the explosion was caused by a bomb that was placed on the side of the main road where the UNIFIL APC was travelling.

The attack late Sunday afternoon was the first ever against UNIFIL forces in the region.

No organization claimed responsibility for the attack, but forces affiliated with al-Qaida were cited as the possible initiators of the attack, an analyst speaking on Israel Radio said moments after the explosion.

Previously, in an interview with the Jerusalem Post, the UNIFIL commander was quite confident about his command's effectiveness.

'In my area of operations there is no open hostile activity, and we also do not see a rearmament happening,' he said. 'We are physically patrolling every corner of southern Lebanon, and if there were a bunker [system], we would have found it'
- Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano

Forgive the pun in poor taste, but it looks like that assessment has been blown all to Hell. Forgive the silly pun, but Gen. Graziano has a rocky road ahead.

Gen. Graziano also told the Post that his soldiers are willing to put their lives on the line in the cause of peace.

As a testament to the way Graziano envisions his mission, perhaps, are his remarks that his men believe strongly enough in their mission of preventing hostilities in southern Lebanon that they are willing to sacrifice their lives on Israel's behalf.

"Our job is to defend peace, and it is a value-based job for soldiers," he explained. "There are people who will offer their lives for higher values like peace, security and stability."

Sadly, we will now find out whether his assessment of his troops' commitment is correct, or whether their home countries will pull them out to put their safety ahead of the peace, security and stability they are supposed to maintain.

Another backwards news story

Non-news from Iran about their latest stalling tactic:

Iran is ready to provide answers on past suspicious nuclear activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency within the next few months, the agency's head said Friday after meeting with the country's top nuclear negotiator.

But the Iranian official suggested the offer was conditional to an end of U.N. Security Council involvement in Iran's nuclear program. The council has already imposed two sets of sanctions on the Islamic republic over the past half year for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment and is poised to impose new penalties.

Why can't we see a news story like this?

Coalition forces are ready to cease bombing sorties against Iranian military and nuclear development facilities within the next few months, the U.N. Secretary-General said Friday after meeting with the country's top nuclear negotiator.

But the U.N. official suggested the offer of a cease-fire was conditional to the end of the Iranian nuclear program. The Islamic Republic has already escalated its nuclear program many times in response to the U.N. Security Council's sanctions for that program and says it is ready to rebuild its program when the bombing stops.

It would be refreshing, to say the least.

Time to shatter the centrifuges

Iran says it has enough uranium in a form enriched enough to be within months of building a "Little Boy" bomb.

Iran claimed today to have stockpiled 100kg of enriched uranium, enough in theory to create two nuclear bombs of the kind that destroyed Hiroshima.



A war exhibition held in Iran in 2005

The news will once again stoke fears that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime is seeking to build a nuclear weapon.

Iran would need 50kg of weapons-grade uranium in order to make one nuclear weapon equal in power to the one dropped by the Americans in 1945.

So far, the regime’s uranium has only been enriched to the level needed for generating electricity in civilian nuclear power stations.

But if Iran chooses to enrich it to 84 per cent purity, it would reach weapons-grade level and become the essential material for building a bomb.

The United States possesses conventional bombs, MOABs, that can cause massive concussion. By creating a large artificial earthquake in Natanz, it should be possible to vibrate the centrifuges there enough to send them off-balance and cause them to shatter from their own momentum. Israel might be able to do the job with more conventional bombs, but I would rather see 18,700 pounds of high explosive in one fell swoop rather than nine 2,000-pound explosions in series.

UPDATE:

Hey! No take-backs!

Iran's Interior Ministry denied a report Friday quoting the minister as saying Iran has produced 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of enriched uranium. The ministry said he was misquoted.

The semiofficial ISNA news agency reported that the minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, also said Iran now has 3,000 hooked-up centrifuges actively enriching uranium.

The Interior Ministry later issued a statement denying Pourmohammadi made the comments reported by ISNA. The minister "only spoke about Iran's nuclear achievements and he did not mention amount of enriched uranium and the number of installed centrifuges," said the statement, carried on the Web site of the state broadcasting company. "The recently published report is denied."

Is this the old bluff-and-deny strategy? Probably not -- sounds more like the old I-showed-my-hand-too-soon blunder.

Good thing Lebanon's version of OSHA doesn't inspect the refugee camps

Earlier I asked, "Who would bomb terrorists?" Turns out, it's themselves:

The real story, according to Lebanese security officials, is that the explosion occurred while the extremist militants of Jund al-Sham tried to prepare a bomb in the tire shop. The Lebanese security officials said that some of Jund al-Sham members were extracting TNT from a 107 mm shell, apparently to use it in making a bomb.

Among those lightly wounded was a leader of Jund al-Sham, Shehadeh Jawhar, also known as Abu Omar, according to residents and Abu Sharif, the officials said.

Residents said the two dead men were the shop owner ... Jawhar's uncle ... and his nephew.

Also wounded was a Lebanese man named Mohammed Ghuneim, whose brother, Shadi, has been held for months in Saudi Arabia for suspected links with al-Qaida, the security officials said.

Since the Lebanese army and security personnel cannot enter the Palestinian refugee camps, based on the absurd "Cairo agreement" that was agreed on in 1969, the camps have become breeding grounds for terrorism. A number of small, little known Islamic militant groups proclaiming a Jihadist (holy war) ideology have arisen in recent years in Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps, which have long been home to numerous Palestinian militias.

Jund al-Sham, which is Arabic means literally "Soldiers of Damascus", is a splinter group from another Palestinian militant group called Asbat al-Ansar based in Ein al-Helweh.

Gotta love those "work accidents."

Now who would bomb terrorists?

Those who kill by the bomb die by the bomb.

Breaking News: 2 killed and 1 wounded in explosion in Lebanon camp
Monday, 18 June, 2007 @ 5:18 PM

Sidon- An explosion in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el Helweh near the city of Sidon in south Lebanon killed 2 people and wounded one according to the Lebanese National News Agency .

The explosion was caused by a bomb.

Shehadah Jawhar , one of the leaders of Jund el-Sham is reportedly one of the victims . Jund el-Sham launched an attack against the Lebanese army about 2 weeks ago to weaken the army in its attack on the Fatah al islam terrorists holed in the Nahr el-Bared camp.

Update:
The blast was apparently caused by the explosion of an oxygen canister , security sources said and not by a bomb as reported earlier.

They said the explosion happened in a tire shop in the Taamir area at the entrance of Ein al-Helweh camp.

Taamir is the stronghold of a small Islamist militant group, Jund al-Sham ( which translates into 'Soldiers of Damascus')

Update :
The blast was not caused by was not caused by the explosion of an oxygen canister , as security sources have reported earlier.

The blast was caused by a bomb that was placed inside a tire in the tire shop.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

Iran's President has some important news for the rest of the world!

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday extolled what he described as Iran's self-sufficiency in producing army equipment and said Iran was so powerful now, no other country would dare launch a military strike against it.

"We have passed our point of vulnerability," Ahmadinejad told state television during a visit to an Iranian defensive equipment exhibition. "This means nobody would dare stage a military assault against our nation."

Ahmadinejad said possible adversaries were aware of Tehran's defense capabilities and said that Iranian national unity was also a key factor as to why no other country would attack Iran.

Where have we heard that before? Oh, yeah:

"The Ruhr will not be subjected to a single bomb. If an enemy bomber reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Hermann Goering: you can call me Meier!" - Reich Marshal Hermann Goering

Given his propensity to surreal flights of fancy, I propose that, if an enemy bomber reaches (say) Natanz, we should be able to call Iran's President "Aronofsky."