another attack

[Shy Tall Guy]

How can it be breaking news when it hasn't broken on the news or any major news websites. Just the Drudge?

Well, in the past, the Drudge website has broken valid news, that other news orgs have ignored for months - but just the same, they are a highly sensationalist website with an agenda, and I wouldn't necessarily believe anything they have to say until it is verified elsewhere. Of course, the same can be said about the speculative news reporting many mainstream and more orthodox news orgs have done in the past, especially TV news orgs.

Either way, so what? We have already had our biological attacks - what do you call the anthrax letters? What are we going to do, all go out and wear hazmat suits for the next few weeks?

 

[JennyOmanHill]

???

Sad to say, what can we do about it? So "don't worry, be happy" and make every minute count.

 

[Rubyfruit]

What are we going to do, all go out and wear hazmat suits for the next few weeks?

I just look awful in orange.

 

[Spinaroonie]

Ok if he does not believe it then no one should.

Damn right!

 

[Angel]

Well, in the past, the Drudge website has broken valid news, that other news orgs have ignored for months - but just the same, they are a highly sensationalist website with an agenda, and I wouldn't necessarily believe anything they have to say until it is verified elsewhere. Of course, the same can be said about the speculative news reporting many mainstream and more orthodox news orgs have done in the past, especially TV news orgs.

Either way, so what? We have already had our biological attacks - what do you call the anthrax letters? What are we going to do, all go out and wear hazmat suits for the next few weeks?

True, although I still think one of our own personal homegrown American Psychopaths are responsible for the Anthrax letters.

 

[scylis]

True, although I still think one of our own personal homegrown American Psychopaths are responsible for the Anthrax letters.

why is everybody looking at me like that?!? i use EXPLOSIVES, for christ's sake!

*several completely unoccupied credit company buildings implode and fall down in the background*

umm.... can i get back to you all? i hear Tahiti calling my name....

*runs like hell*

 

[WriterDom]

It seems the Drudge isn't always wrong.

American Taliban says biological attack near-report


WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - An American Taliban fighter being held by Marines in Afghanistan has told U.S. intelligence officials the al Qaeda extremist network plans to launch a biological attack against the United States within days, the Washington Times reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. intelligence officials.

John Walker Lindh, 20, captured with other Taliban fighters near Mazar-i-Sharif earlier this month, told intelligence debriefers at a Marine Corps base near Kandahar where he is being held that "Phase II" of al Qaeda's war on the United States would occur at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the report said.

Ramadan ends on Sunday.

The third phase of al Qaeda's war would lead to destruction of the entire United States, he told interrogators, it said.

The first phase of that war came on Sept. 11, when hijacked commercial jetliners plowed into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington and rural Pennsylvania.

The officials told the Times they questioned the credibility of Lindh's claims because of his apparent low-level status within the Taliban, which is loosely affiliated with al Qaeda, led by Saudi-born Islamic militant Osama bin Laden.

Commenting on the story, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, Kenton Keith, said, "We certainly have no indication that this report is based on fact. We don't have information on that."

"Where John Walker stood in the hierarchy of al Qaida is I guess for us to learn. It doesn't strike me that he would be on the inner circle of Osama bin Laden and (Ayman al-) Zawahiri and people like that, but I could be wrong," Keith said.

Lindh's claim was one of several reports that led the Bush administration to issue a public warning last week about a possible impending terrorist attack, the report said.

U.S. officials have not yet decided how to handle Lindh, a convert to Islam who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area before departing on a religious pilgrimage to the Middle East and eventually volunteering to fight with the hard-line Islamic Taliban movement in Afghanistan.

The American could be charged with treason.

No further details of Lindh's debriefing were available, according to the Washington Times report.

 

[LukkyKnight]

Link

There is an article on the Washington Times site which tends to corroborate the subject, Click me.

 

[KillerMuffin]

No one bothered to clink the link in the drugde report besides WriterDom.

Aren't we just a board of conclusion-hoppers. LOL

 

[LukkyKnight]

Well, KM, my instinct was to go seek another source rather than re-read the one cited. It wasn't too hard to find at the Times (though I do not consider them to be the epitome of careful journalism) but then I felt I had to actually read it, too...

So can I hand back my "I'm a hopper" sticker?

 

[KillerMuffin]

You can give back the hopper sticker. You didn't actually have to hunt for the article, just clicked the huge drudge headline under the big picture. Take you right to the article at the Times.

I never saw the drudge before, doubt I'll look at it again, but at least their sources are more respectable than first given credit for.

 

[Marxist]

Rueters is reporting the Washington Times' story. The Moonie-owned The Wahington Times is super reliable.......lol


I'll just wait to read it on the AP wire or NYT or USA Today, thanks.

 

[LukkyKnight]

Cool. thanks Marxist

I had no idea they'd become reputable. Here all these years I've thought they were sort of sub-standard, but with your endorsement in mind I will add them to my bookmarks.


Not!

~ROTFL~

 

[WriterDom]

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/12/ret.walker.attack/index.html

Maybe you'll believe CNN (Clinton News Network).

 

[Cherry]

Take another look at the drudgereport ...

It's a great source to referrence other news sites. Also, there are links to news media all over the world, and by writer ... down the bottom of the page.

That site earned a bad reputation during the Clinton expose because they were extremely biased; but, I have found it to be worth a daily peek for news updates since ... if only a starting point to other sites. They seem to have the latest breaking news SOONER than reported elsewhere.

Here's another good one: (Matt Drudge's father does this one)

http://www.refdesk.com/

 

[Marxist]

Writer Dom is quite possibly the smartest man on the board. However, his eyes are closed tighter than a new born kitty. The CNN report simply cites The Washington Times report and discounts it. Here, read it for yourself.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The American recently captured with Taliban fighters said another al Qaeda attack on the United States will happen in days, sources familiar with the interrogation said Wednesday.

However, a senior Bush administration official said it is doubtful that John Walker knows much about what al Qaeda is planning.

Officials said Walker spoke of additional attacks in phases, but they expressed skepticism about what he might know of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda's designs.

"These are tales told around the campfire," said one U.S. official, adding the information is "interesting" but hardly points conclusively to any action. The official likened Walker to a foot soldier talking about what a senior general has in mind -- saying the American was unlikely to know.

The official noted that on a tape expected to be released Wednesday the al Qaeda leader admits even his top lieutenants were unaware until September 11 what would happen that day.

The Washington Times reported Wednesday that Walker said the second phase of al Qaeda's war against the United States will take place at the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that concludes Sunday. The newspaper cited U.S. intelligence officials who debriefed Walker.

While the Times report said that the attack will involve a biological weapon, one government source said he was not aware of Walker saying anything of the kind.

The newspaper said the information was among intelligence reports that led the Bush administration to issue a new public warning last week about a possible terrorist strike.

The Times also said that Walker told intelligence officials the third phase of al Qaeda's war will result in the destruction of the entire country.

A senior administration official with access to the daily "threat matrix" said now is a "very serious time" because of concerns relating to the end of Ramadan. "The traffic is very high," the official said, referring to all kinds of intelligence reports.

But the official discounted the Times article.

"I don't think anyone views this guy as someone who is plugged in to al Qaeda," the official said. "Are we concerned about a potential biological attack? Sure. But, because of anything Walker says, no.

"People are talking and listening to him, but I would be careful about considering him to be a credible source about al Qaeda planning."

Walker, 20, who was captured last month at a fortress holding Taliban prisoners near Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan, was questioned at a U.S. Marine Corps base near Kandahar, where he is being held.

He was discovered after he survived a prison uprising in which hundreds of non-Afghan Taliban fighters had been taken prisoner after surrendering at Konduz.

In the future, keep this shit to yourself until a credible news source has something to say about it.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I think the Times and CNN share about the same level of credibility. The Times article gathered quite a bit of info from Reuters, it seems.

I'm not too sure about senior administration officials either. Do they have any credibility?

I'm not so sure. How much of this do they know? How much do they think they know? How much do they simply choose not to share in there interests of the word "classified?"

I have a great distrust of our government regarding military things.

As far as the original intent of the thread goes, this is what I think.

Walker probably does think he's part of the Al Qaeda pipeline. He's probably a font of misinformation that's been handed down simply because it's feasible that as an American he would be captured rather than shot. I wouldn't believe a word that man said.

When one makes sweeping statements about further attacks coming, a credible source is needed.

An unacceptable source is the drudge.

A semi-credible source is a new agency. The Times (pick one), CNN, Reuters, AP, whatever.

A highly-credible source is the government. And they lie. Frequently.

So what's to be done? Nothing more than has already been done, really. How do you prepare for a bioterroristic attack? You don't. Commercially sold gas masks will not protect you from bio or chemical warfare agents. They're good from things like CS gas.

You do things like not panicking. You don't spread panic to others. Herd mentality is bad. You turn off CNN, you unsubscribe to the paper, and you quit surfing any internet "news" site you read because you're not doing yourself any good. You get on with your life because face, we all gotta die someday, right? Color me fatalistic.

I wonder why all this wasn't in the Farmer's Almanac. They're supposed to have everything in it.

 

[WriterDom]

OK, my tan friend, here's your AP story. And I'm not saying John Walker is credible, only that the story is. But since you are the smartest man on the board, you already knew that. You'll have to research the NY Times yourself.

Officials Doubt Walker Knows Secrets

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
.c The Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) - American Taliban fighter John Walker told interrogators an al-Qaida attack on the United States was imminent, but U.S. officials say they have little reason to believe he would have specific information about impending terrorism.

Walker said an attack using biological weapons sometime before the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was possible, said a U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. But officials think it most likely that he was only passing on rumors heard in the Taliban trenches.

American Muslims will generally celebrate the end of Ramadan Sunday morning.

Defense and other officials described Walker as a foot soldier within the Taliban, and said he would have no reason to be privy to details of future terrorist attacks by al-Qaida, a somewhat separate organization. One likened it to a sailor on an aircraft carrier claiming to know the mind of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Another official noted Osama bin Laden is known for closely guarding information about future terrorist attacks, even among his closest associates. The as-yet unreleased videotape of bin Laden talking to a Saudi sheik shows the terrorist leader poking fun at one of his senior lieutenants who did not have advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

CIA officers interviewed Walker at Mazar-e-Sharif after his capture during fighting in northern Afghanistan. CIA paramilitary officer Johnny ``Mike'' Spann was killed a short time later in the prison uprising.

Since, Walker, 20, has been taken to the Marine base of Camp Rhino in southern Afghanistan, where the military is interviewing him. He spoke there of possible al-Qaida attacks.

The Marines said Walker, the sole detainee at the base, was recovering from dehydration and a gunshot wound in the leg. It is believed he is being held in a heavily guarded green metal shipping container, about 10 feet high, 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep.

Walker has been providing useful information, and no final decision had been made on his fate, officials have said.

The FBI and new Office of Homeland Security have issued three warnings about impending attacks. Bin Laden is also seeking weapons of mass destruction, including biological weapons, but U.S. intelligence doesn't think he has the technical ability to deliver a biological weapon attack that would cause widespread casualties.

More likely, officials say, is that bin Laden could conduct such attacks with conventional weapons, or with primitive chemical weapons like chlorine or phosgene gas.

 

[Cherry]

Whether they can actually pull it off ...

remains to be seen ... but, the demonstration of intent is certainly there.

The third phase, mentioned in Walker's statement relating to the total destruction of the United States, may be heresay from the trenches ... however, it is corroborated by a previous statement by Omar:

Mullah Omar claimed, "The plan is going ahead and, God willing, it is being implemented. It is a huge task which is beyond the will and comprehension of human beings. If God's help is with us, this will happen within a short period of time: keep in mind this prediction. We are hopeful for God's help and, God willing, America will fall to the ground,"

Lends itself to some credibility.

 

[JazzManJim]

No one bothered to clink the link in the drugde report besides WriterDom.

Aren't we just a board of conclusion-hoppers. LOL

I clicked around it when the thread was first started. I also clicked around a few other news sites also, looking for references to this, or a story related to it, and there wasn't anything. That was about 1 AM Eastern.

 

[Marxist]

The Washington Times, Drudge, etc... are the Right Wing equivalent of a student newspaper. People that read their crap and accept it whole hog deserve to read those sources and believe them. Wanna know about the owners of the W.T.?

http://www.realjournalism.net/times.htm


Or you can look them up on FAIR. I'm sure they have a lot to say about the accuracy of The Washington Times as well as NPR.

 

[oakleyx4]

Please tell me your joking.

 

[Marxist]

Please tell me your joking.

What do you mean?

 

[JazzManJim]

Or you can look them up on FAIR. I'm sure they have a lot to say about the accuracy of The Washington Times as well as NPR.

Agreed. When it comes to journalistic balance, I usually put the Washington Times on one side of the see-saw and the Washington Post on the other. At least that way I can have the biases cancel each other out. Most of the time.

My meat and potatoes news site, at least for politics is the Political News Daily , which is bacisally a headlines clearing house. They go heavy on the Post and Times, along with wire news from Reuters and AP. You also get some Fox News. They lean toward the conservative when it comes to foreign affairs, but, in all, it's pretty fair. Their link list on the left side of the page is worth the page, if nothing else (again, heavily conservative, but some worth-while links for most).

 

[paganangel]

oakley

i got ya real article RIGHT HERE!!!


bitch.