[Preacherman]

From the Arab newspaper Dar Al Hayat (http://english.daralhayat.com/arab_news/08-2003/Article-20030818-14bdd659-c0a8-01ed-0079-6e1c903b7552/story.html):

Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility For Power Blackout In U.S.!

Mohamad Saleh
Al-Hayat 2003/08/18 Cairo

A communiqué attributed to Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the power blackout that happened in the U.S. last Thursday, saying that the brigades of Abu Fahes Al Masri had hit two main power plants supplying the East of the U.S., as well as major industrial cities in the U.S. and Canada, "its ally in the war against Islam (New York and Toronto) and their neighbors."

The communiqué assured that the operation "was carried out on the orders of Osama bin Laden to hit the pillars of the U.S. economy," as "a realization of bin Laden's promise to offer the Iraqi people a present."

The statement, which Al-Hayat obtained from the website of the International Islamic Media Center, didn't specify the way the alleged sabotage was carried out. The communiqué read: "let the criminal Bush and his gang know that the punishment is the result of the action, the soldiers of God cut the power on these cities, they darkened the lives of the Americans as these criminals blackened the lives of the Muslim people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. The Americans lived a black day they will never forget. They lived a day of terror and fear… a state of chaos and confusion where looting and pillaging rampaged the cities, just like the capital of the caliphate Baghdad, and Afghanistan and Palestine were. Let the American people take a sip from the same glass."

It added: "we heard amazing statements made by the American and Canadian enemies which have nuclear physics universities and space agencies, that lightning hit and destroyed the two plants. And we are supposed to believe this nonsense. If the blackout occurred in one or two cities, their lie would have been credible. But the fact is that the blackout hit the entire East and part of Canada."

The communiqué continued: "one of the benefits of this strike is that the U.S. will not live in peace until our conditions are met, such as releasing all the detainees including Sheikh Omar Abdulrahman, and getting out of the land of the Muslims, including Jerusalem and Kashmir."

The authors of the communiqué said that the strikes aimed at "hitting the major pillar of the U.S. economy (the Stock Exchange)," considering that the operation was "a message to the UN, which is opposed to Islam, and is based in New York. It is a message to all the investors that the U.S. is no longer a safe country for their money, knowing that the U.S. economy greatly relies on the trust of the investor." They added: "seven major airports stopped working, which is a strike to airlines companies; nine nuclear reactors broke down, something that never happened before, and this is considered as a major economic hit for the nine reactors in the states of New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan. Means of transportation broke down: trains, cars and trucks, which resulted in great losses. The Internet stopped, leading to a freeze in trade transactions. The international banks headquartered in New York closed, not to mention the great losses incurred by the insurance companies, and the massive deployment of the police and security forces."

The communiqué mentioned that some economists said the blackout in the U.S. and Canada would cost the U.S. Treasury no less than ten billion U.S. dollars and in order to "break the hearts of U.S. officials, just know that the cost paid by the Moujahideen to sabotage the power plants was a mere seven thousand dollars. Die of sorrow!"

The communiqué ended with: "we tell the Muslims that this is not the awaited strike, but it is called the war of skirmishes (to drain the enemy), and that the American snakes are enormous and need to be consumed and weakened to be destroyed. We tell the people of Afghanistan and Kashmir that the gift of Sheikh Osama bin Laden is on its way to the White House; then the gift of Al Aqsa, and do we know what is the giftof Al Aqsa, where and when? The answer is what you are seeing!"

__________________________________________________________


And if you believe that, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you... cash only, please, and in small bills! :D

[Bruce H]

I see they have learned to yell" me too".

[durango]

Just heard... they're now taking credit for Gigli !!

[4570Rick]

http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/lach.gif

[HBK]

They wish.:rolleyes:

[Sergeant Bob]

Hilary said Bush caused the blackout???:rolleyes:

[Kharn]

And I tried to claim that I won the $100mil Powerball the other week, but that doesnt mean I actually did.

Just heard... they're now taking credit for Gigli !!
Now thats a war crime! Get the UN! There's a whole lot of WMD (Weapons of Massive Dumbness (yes its lame, but its early and I cant think up any better ones)) in there.

Kharn

[Leatherneck]

What horseradish. Story this morning is that a series of minor events like sagging power lines in Ohio, plus the programmed responses of several operators led to the failure. In the real world, most accidents are the result of a fragile chain of insignificant events, any one of which, if corrected, would have prevented the mishap.

TC
TFL Survivor

[greyhound]

Insh'allah, people, Insh'allah. Remember when Mullah Omar said that Allah was soon going to cause America to crumble into dust? These wackos don't have to make any sense.

Anything to rally more to their cause.

And are we sure Baghdad Bob didn't issue this statement?:D

[2dogs]

Al Qaeda also claims to have slammed two airliners into the World Trade Center buildings- sheesh those guys will take credit for anything.

No, I don't see conspiracy under every rock- but given that no plausible explaination has yet been given for the blackout why is everyone so ready to dismiss terrorism out of hand?

Do I believe Al Qaeda was responsible- I have no idea at this point. Do I believe the government when they say they have no idea what caused it, but they know it wasn't terrorism- excuse me for being a bit skeptical.

Can they show me that it could NOT have possibly been terrorism?

The WTC was so blatant it could not be denied- and I think the goverment has a vested interest in denying as much as they can (except in those cases where admitting something works to their advantage).

OK- feel free to snicker. :)

[JohnBT]

Did Al Qaeda also cause the previous major blackouts in the U.S. or were they just accidents like this one?

John

[whitebear]

2dogs -

to my mind, the greatest evidence that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with the blackouts is that nothing else happened - no bombings, no mass asassinations of civilians, no poisoning of the water supply while all of the early warning and alarm systems were out of commission.

If Al Qaeda were behind the blackouts, don't you think that there would have been suicide attacks in the middle of the massive crowds walking out of midtown Manhattan?

Inquiring Minds Want To Know! :)

[geekWithA.45]

The grid goes plotz on us every 10 years or so, and it doesn't seem to need any help, so I'm fairly skeptical myself.

[2dogs]

Did Al Qaeda also cause the previous major blackouts in the U.S. or were they just accidents like this one?

OK, that's a fair question and the likely answer is no.

However, you now have a group of committed (and apparently insane?) terrorists who have shown that they are willing to die to kill our people and destroy our country. They have shown that they have the ability to kill our people, and have caused severe economic damage. They have stated that they wish to destroy this country economically. They now claim responsibilty for the blackout and nobody has demonstrated that they could NOT have done it.

I say the unreasonable position is to dismiss terrorism as a cause- at least at this time, and until it is shown that there was (as nearly as possible) a specific cause and a specific reason to rule out terrorism.

Why is it so hard to believe that an Al Qaeda operative in this country put a bullet or two into some vital piece of the grid?

[El Tejon]

"My tinfoil to me!":D

[Tamara]

I'm waiting for a local news reporter, covering a convenience store stick-up, to conclude her report by breathlessly concluding "There seems to be no connection to terrorism!" ;)

[Sean Smith]

I can see Al-Qaeda causing a blackout by sabotage.

What I can't see is Al-Qaeda causing a blackout by sabotage, then not going out and using the resulting chaos to kill lots of people and blow things up.

[2dogs]

What I can't see is Al-Qaeda causing a blackout by sabotage, then not going out and using the resulting chaos to kill lots of people and blow things up.

Good (albeit unfortunate) point.:(

[2dogs]

Not that I care much for this guy- a RINO if ever there was one, but at least I'm not the only fool.;)


Tuesday Aug. 19, 2003; 9:20 a.m. EDT
Rep. King: Terrorism Shouldn't be Ruled Out as Blackout Cause

Congressman Peter King, R-NY, is warning that terrorism should not be ruled out as a possible cause for the eight state blackout that left 50 million Americans in darkness Thursday night.

"So long as that possibility is there, we should not rule it out," King told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg on Sunday, adding, "I think all of the facilities of the U.S. government should be used to totally rule this out."

The New York Republican explained that even if terrorism had nothing to do with the blackout, "we can learn a lot about how to prevent this from happening in the future if terrorists do plan this. If they didn't do it this time, they'll try to find a way to do it the next time."

King was reacting to comments from former White House terrorism adviser Richard Clarke, who told ABC News on Friday, "Anybody who says they know what happened last night is lying. If it were a cyber-attack you wouldn't know it right away. And you might never know."

In separate comments to the network, Clarke also noted, "Three weeks ago, the Homeland Security Department announced that there was a potential cyber-security threat, that hackers might be going after critical infrastructure sometime in August."

King said that early pronouncements by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Bush that the blackout was definitely not caused by terrorism were "poetic license." What they meant, he said, was that "there was no evidence of terrorism."

"But on the other hand, we can't rule it out," he insisted.



http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2003/8/19/92637

[Gmac]

Well of course they're responsible! They also caused my heart attack in 2000!

[seeker_two]

A communiqué attributed to Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the power blackout that happened in the U.S. last Thursday...

While not ruling out the validity of the statement, I'd also like to add...

!!!I CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR UDAY & KUSAY'S BLOODY& VIOLENT DEMISE!!!

...and I invented the Internet, too... :evil:

[Art Eatman]

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75805

:D, Art

[buzz_knox]

No, I don't see conspiracy under every rock- but given that no plausible explaination has yet been given for the blackout why is everyone so ready to dismiss terrorism out of hand?

Because there is a plausible explanation. It's called cascade failure. We have an overworked, inadequate, and antiquated power grid. When one part fails (as it is all too likely to do), those portions it is connected to must take steps to protect themselves, which often requires shutting down or dropping out of the grid. That leads to blackouts.

That explanation has been offered on nearly every newschannel I've seen, so I can't believe you haven't encountered it. If you have seen the explanation, is it possible you didn't want to believe it?

[MJRW]

AQ claiming they did it does not make me believe it at all. However, what I found interesting was how quick, like in the first hour, our Dept of Homeland Defense was to say it wasn't terrorism. Yet, for everything else that clearly isn't terrorism, earthquakes, car crashes, etc, it seems to take them days to say it wasn't terrorism.

Then again, if this was AQ, they're losing their touch. Their plan is to make lots of people slightly uncomfortable for a few hours? "Ah-ha! No amereecas funniest home veedios or cool refreshing pepsis for you, you imperial pig dogs!" It just seems slightly underwhelming.

[buzz_knox]

what I found interesting was how quick, like in the first hour, our Dept of Homeland Defense was to say it wasn't terrorism.

Because utility companies are fairly rapidly able to figure out what went wrong. We have to be quick in order to fix it. The fingerpointing and refusal to acknowledge what went wrong is what takes a while.

[grampster]

Bright move on the part of Al Quaida. They are too stupid to realize it of course, because most of them only know the difference between the back and front of a camel, but the American Sheeple will tremble in their boots over this announcement.

Al Quaida, if they had any brains at all would take credit for Uncle Bob's flat tire and it would have a deleterious effect on the comfort of the Sheeple.

But, then, that would be a good thing as maybe the Sheeple will unfold themselves from their fetal position and support, once and for all, a unmistakable message to the radical Islamo liars and murderers to "Don't Tread On Me".



:fire:

[2dogs]

Because there is a plausible explanation.

Yes, that is a plausible explaination- as is a terrorist attack. Anyone who at this point wants to choose one over the other can probably do so.

As for the "experts" on TV- last week it was a lightning strike; oh, so sorry there wasn't any lightning, it couldn't have been that.

But, but it's all over tv and radio- it must be true. Oh yeah, the geniuses of the press ferreting out the real story.:rolleyes:

[2dogs]

US electrical grid 'vulnerable to terrorism'

WASHINGTON - A growing number of security experts in and out of the US government are worried that potentially hostile states and even a rebuilt Al-Qaeda could wreak havoc through simultaneous and coordinated assaults on sensitive points on the electrical grid.

In an extraordinary manuscript translated by the CIA, two young colonels in China's People's Liberation Army wrote in 1999 that the United States had become so powerful militarily that waging conventional war against the superpower would be suicidal.


Instead, they argued in their book, Unrestricted Warfare, that in the event of war, China should take the battle to the US home front and assault its critical infrastructure and economy.

'If you're charged with imagining that you are in the crosshairs of the United States and your job is to prepare some war plan, the logic these guys came up with is pretty compelling,' said Mr Steven Flynn, a senior fellow on the Council on Foreign Relations who directed its independent task force on homeland security.

'They say, categorically, no way can we marshal resources or technology to conduct conventional warfare. We have to adapt, take it to the enemy, target their critical infrastructure.'


UNDER THREAT
• Terrorist organisations could shut down the entire grid with a few computer keystrokes.

• No spare transformers if they are blown up, and it will take two years for a fresh supply

• If turbines which feed gas to power plants are destroyed, several plants would be disabled


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PROTECTIVE MEASURES
• No hacking attempt was successful last year despite 60 per cent of the power companies experiencing such attacks

• Post-Sept 11 security has been improved with more guards, better fences and sensors

• Cyber security, such as passwords and firewalls, has improved


The Pentagon has conducted secret simulations which concluded that foreign powers or technologically sophisticated terrorist organisations could, with a few keystrokes on a computer, shut down the entire electrical grid.

Industry officials said that during the second half of last year, 60 per cent of the country's power and energy companies experienced hacking attacks. None was successful.

The Sept 11, 2001 attacks have also driven the industry to beef up conventional security by hiring more guards, building better fences and installing more sensors.

And during the past several years, cyber security has improved significantly. Passwords at power plants are changed routinely, anti-virus software is often upgraded and firewalls are getting better.

Counter-terrorism experts said the dissipated Al-Qaeda and associated terrorist organisations are unlikely to marshal the time and resources to launch a sophisticated attack on America's infrastructure.

But if allowed to reconstitute, these groups could be a threat, said Mr Flynn and others.

The authorities discovered an Al-Qaeda safe house in Pakistan last year that was devoted to training terrorists for computer hacking and cyber warfare.

The former director of the CIA's counter-terrorism centre, Mr Vincent Cannistraro, said on Saturday that a number of Al-Qaeda terrorists captured in the past two years were 'very advanced...computer specialists'.

The grid has many other vulnerabilities, Mr Flynn said.

If the electrical transformer for the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California were blown up, for instance, it could take months, even under a crash programme, to bring electricity back to the vital port facility, which handles more than 30 per cent of the nation's imports in terms of dollar value.

There are no spare transformers, he said, and it normally takes two years from order to delivery for a new one. Most are built in South Korea.

Similarly, he said, if the turbines in the western provinces of Canada that feed gas through pipelines to numerous electric power plants in the American West were destroyed, several of the plants would shut down.

This would overload the system and result in brownouts, 'for a long, long time as you try to find replacement capacity', Mr Flynn said. -- LAT-WP


http://straitstimes.asia1.com/world/story/0,4386,205339,00.html

[JohnBT]

www.mt.net/~watcher/ufoniagarafalls.html

The secret they won't tell us...power outages are caused by UFOs...

They have facts to back this up, not just a silly communique from evil losers.

John

[Soap]

Al Qaeda invented the internet. :p

[2dogs]

Well, I'm just stunned by you all's omniscience.:p

Hope you're right.

[buzz_knox]

It's not omniscience. It's just a familiarity with how power systems operate, the all too frequent history of brownouts/blackouts in this country, and the fact that in the absence of evidence of terrorism, you don't jump to that conclusion.

[2dogs]

in the absence of evidence of terrorism, you don't jump to that conclusion.

Assuming you mean me, I didn't jump to any conclusion- what I said was terrorism should not be ruled out- seems to me the conclusion jumpers are those who INSIST at this point that it isn't terrorism.

Ya know?:D

[LawDog]

If there had been a big noise and a large fireball, followed by smoking pieces of vehicle parts dropping out of the sky in counties surrounding a power plant, then I would start to suspect Al Queda.

Al Queda pretty much limits itself to the flashy-loudenboomen-high-speed-disassembly area of terrorism - subtlety just doesn't seem to be those boys' forte.

LawDog

[DaveB]

If there had been a big noise and a large fireball, followed by smoking pieces of vehicle parts dropping out of the sky in counties surrounding a power plant, then I would start to suspect Al Queda.

Al Queda pretty much limits itself to the flashy-loudenboomen-high-speed-disassembly area of terrorism - subtlety just doesn't seem to be those boys' forte.

So, it rules out Al Queda if it's not

1: box cutters,
2: airliners, and
3: NYC?

You don't give them much credit, do you?

db

[4v50 Gary]

Their dupes will believe them. Remember, a lot of folks in Germany believed Propaganda Minister Goebbels.

The propaganda isn't aimed at us but towards their followers or others in the Islamic world.

[Thumper]

DB,

So, it rules out Al Queda if it's not
1: box cutters,
2: airliners, and
3: NYC?



He didn't imply that at all.

He said "Al Queda pretty much limits itself to the flashy-loudenboomen-high-speed-disassembly area of terrorism."

That's pretty much true.

Is 9/11 the only Al Queda related incident you're familiar with?

[buzz_knox]

AQ's mentatility, as evidenced by its standard MO, is to go for maximum exposure/maximum damage types of attacks. WTC Parts I and II, the embassy bombings, the Cole, all point to a particular kind of attack. And while there is some possibility of its changing its style, there would still be evidence of the original pattern (i.e. serial killers change their methods but key identifying traits remain the same because they are symptoms of the underlying psychosis). So, an attack against a critical infrastructure would be by crippling it explosively, and going for permanent damage. That wasn't what occurred here.

[LawDog]

DaveB:

June 25, 1996: Dhahran, Saudi Arabia - Al Queda - truck bomb

August 7, 1998: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - Al Queda - truck bomb

August 7, 1998: Nairobi, Kenya - Al Queda - truck bomb

October 12, 2000: Aden, Yemen - Al Queda - boat bomb

September 11, 2001: United States - Al Queda - fuel-filled airliners

April 11, 2002: Djerba, Tunisia - Al Queda - truck bomb

October 6, 2002: Gulf of Aden, Yemen - Al Queda - boat bomb

October 12, 2002: Bali, Indonesia - Al Queda - car bomb

Now, slap me on the snout and call me naive, but am I the only one who sees a pattern here?

LawDog

[2dogs]

AQ's mentatility

Are you calling Islamofacists morons? Islamic's idiots? For shame, for shame , for shame- implying those folks can't learn. ;)

Duh, lemme blow it up boss, lemme blow it up!

And I don't suppose we could ever expect them to LEARN HOW TO FLY AIRLINER's now could we? :rolleyes:

Let's not worry about anything but big airplanes- that is the only method they have ever used to hit in this country.

Yep, that's some fancy synapses firin' there.:neener:

[grampster]

Daniel Flory: Is Al Quaida Al Gore's brother?

:D :D :neener:

[Sheslinger]

They are also trained in disruption of our everyday lives, such as knocking on the door in a "Truman Show" type suburban community and barging in and killing the family to instill terror in masses.

Granted, most of their attacks in the past have been the big "booms" but unless it is proven that terrorists had nothing to do with the blackout, it is possible.

The questions is - would I admit such vulnerability if I was the US government? Not sure. By the way, was there ever a conclusion in the investigation of the plane that went down in Brooklyn a month after Sept 11th? If it was a shoulder-fired missile, would they tell us?

Not putting on a hat or anything but just trying to be honest.

Sheslinger

[Thumper]

Are you calling Islamofacists morons? Islamic's idiots? For shame, for shame , for shame- implying those folks can't learn.

2dogs, by saying that they successfully caused the blackout, then didn't take advantage of it, you're doing the underestimating.

[2dogs]

saying that they successfully caused the blackout

OK, one more time for the hearing impaired (from now on, wear those ears at the range):

I

DID

NOT


SAY


THAT

THEY


DID IT



ONLY


THAT


IT


IS


FOOLISH


TO


RULE THAT OUT



:rolleyes:


:D

[HBK]

Lawdog might be on to something.
Oh yeah, one of the things I love about my P-99 is that it still gives me access to 17 rounds and shoots just as well when the power is out. It even has night sights for that occassion.:neener:

[DaveB]

by saying that they successfully caused the blackout, then didn't take advantage of it, you're doing the underestimating

What do you think AlQs (or any other terrorist group's) actual goal is? The military defeat of the USA? I think not.

The killing of all US citizens? Probably not.

The destruction of, say, Cleveland? Why?

Their aim, as I understand terrorism, is to make the USA become something that it's not. Fearful populace, martial law, onerous internal security, etc, etc - until the citizenry dope slaps the government and says - "We're sick of all this. Pull the Army out of trashcanistan NOW!" (or whatever political goal they want)

To observe that they "didn't take advantage" is irrelevant. What they want in continuous fear, and continuous uncertainty.

They've almost gotten it, and out 'government' plays the game with the best of them - closing embassys, issueing alerts, etc.

Another way to freak people out is to repeat "It wasn't terrorism!" over and over.

Even if they had nothing to do with the blackout (I don't think they did - our unregulated utilities are perfectly capable of screwing the pooch without help from BGs), they benefit from it.

db

[buzz_knox]

Fine. Great. It could be terrorism. On Friday, much of Blount Co., Tennessee, was in a blackout. Now, they are claiming that the power system was shorted by a problem, but we shouldn't rule out terrorism.

A guy cut me off in traffic and made me nervous. Could have been a terrorist. Can't rule it out.

There's a cloud on the horizon. Looks like rain and could ruin my afternoon. Maybe AQ has been seeding the clouds.

I was a wee bit sick last night. Maybe AQ has been poisoning the food supply. Or maybe the cafeteria workers at the federal power utility that I work for may just be incompetent. Hmm. They actually might be AQ infiltrators. Better go waste them.

Anyone ever thought that seeing terrorists everywhere is exactly what they were hoping for by claiming responsibility? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

[Thumper]

What they want in continuous fear, and continuous uncertainty.
The've almost gotten it.

See...that's the point. No they haven't.

except among you who see a terrorist behind every mishap.

Quit bein' skeered.

[Sergeant Bob]

I fail to understand why most people think that terrorists are only capable of causing large scale death and destruction. A powerline here, a gas line there, just generally disrupt our lifestyle and economy. I'm not saying they did it! but, to attack our infrastructure with low level actions like these would be relatively easy, and wouldn't require alot of money or manpower to execute (death of a thousand cuts?) Then again it would be a great way to probe our infrastructure to guage our reaction and find out how much economic damage could be caused.
How many Billions of dollars were lost in NY and seven other states due to the blackout?
How many Billions is the government talking about to upgrade the power grid? I heard someone bouncing around the figure of 40 billion. We know how good the govt is at giving estimates.
I'd say we were a little more than just inconvenienced .

I'm with 2dogs (who also isn't saying this was done by terrorists) on this one.

[Sheslinger]

Fine. Great. It could be terrorism. On Friday, much of Blount Co., Tennessee, was in a blackout. Now, they are claiming that the power system was shorted by a problem, but we shouldn't rule out terrorism.

A guy cut me off in traffic and made me nervous. Could have been a terrorist. Can't rule it out.

There's a cloud on the horizon. Looks like rain and could ruin my afternoon. Maybe AQ has been seeding the clouds.

I was a wee bit sick last night. Maybe AQ has been poisoning the food supply. Or maybe the cafeteria workers at the federal power utility that I work for may just be incompetent. Hmm. They actually might be AQ infiltrators. Better go waste them.

Anyone ever thought that seeing terrorists everywhere is exactly what they were hoping for by claiming responsibility? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?


I am not saying everything should be questioned as being a terror act, so your sarcasm is for no reason. The main reason we are even discussing this is because they came out and claimed responsibility. If it could be easily disproven, I doubt they would have done so.

Sheslinger

[bountyhunter]

Our dog peed on my wife's new throw rug, too. I'm pretty sure Al Quaida was behind that somehow.

[bogie]

Well, I'm not an islamabamaboomaawhapbamboomnutcase, but hey, if I _really_ wanted to cause a lot of problems, I'd get 20-30 operatives, and have 'em go around trashing power substations. And keep at it.

Cut off the power for more than a coupla days, and I don't care how nice-nice the new yawrkers played this past time, things would get VERY ugly...

I'm really startled that they haven't done anything else - they work low-tech (they don't buy cruise missiles - they steal 'em), which doesn't require a lot of $$ - just initiative and martyrs...

I can see several scenarios...

Sniping attacks around major cities, shutting down commerce and travel.

Sniping attacks against interstate transport, ditto

Sniping/missile attacks against airplanes, ditto

Theft/subsequent detonation of trucks carrying explosive/flammable substances (flashy, and IMHO, most likely)

Large-scale hostage taking/execution, a la what they did in that Moscow theater.

[standingbear]

alqueda...they would claim resonsability for my "latrine" clooging up if they knew it would get attention.

[Waitone]

I think AQ's claim of responsibility for the blackout is a measure of how much its capabilities to mount a significant operation against CONUS have declined. It costs nothing to make the claim and there may be sheeple somewhere who actually believe it.

I suscribe to the theory that says if it was AQ there would have been other things that happened. A blue gazillion NY'ers hoofing it home past lots of parked cars and not a one blew up.

Now can the power grid be attacked? Yep. Fact is the pentagon has a team of hackers that successfully entered the US command and control system and simultaneously attack and drop the entire west coast power grid. Did it happen this time? Nope. I think it was a combination of aged equipment, procedure failure, and screwups.

[SkunkApe]

I'm really startled that they haven't done anything else - Bogie

This puzzles me, also. More and more as time goes on without any more attacks.

Think about it. How hard would it be?

Assuming you were 100% committed to what you believe to be a moral and just cause, and you had no fear of death, wholeheartedly believing that an eternity in paradise would be your reward, how hard would it be to murder and terrorize a huge number of people before you were captured or killed?

A little rat poison in the salad bar, another Tylenol scare, random tossing of roadflares in parched forest areas, a remote-controlled bomb on a tanker truck crossing the bridge at rush hour? Why haven't these things happened?

[Thumper]

Possibly because you happened to be confined in a pigpen at Gitmo? :D

[SodaPop]

Don't forget we have other enemies.

China

North Korea


I've longed feared that just about any of our enemies could set a nuke off in this country and we'd spend the next 10yrs trying to figure out who to retaliate against.

[jimpeel]

I guess I called it when I posted at:

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35835&perpage=25&highlight=claim&pagenumber=2

You wanna know how easy terrorism is to exploit?
All that would need to happen is for the terrorists to issue a claim for anything and everything that goes wrong to reduce the faith the people have in their government.

Every time there is an explosion issue a "Yadda,yadda, we did it!" claim.

Every time there is a fire issue a "Yadda,yadda, we did it!" claim.

Every time there is a train wreck issue a "Yadda,yadda, we did it!" claim.

Every time there is a sinking issue a "Yadda,yadda, we did it!" claim.

Every time there is a power outage issue a "Yadda,yadda, we did it!" claim.

Every time there is a launch failure issue a "Yadda,yadda, we did it!" claim.

How long would it take for the people to start discounting the "This is not a terrorist act" claims of their government? The "terrorists" wouldn't even have to leave their tents and caves.

Ya think Usama is reading THR?

[buzz_knox]

I am not saying everything should be questioned as being a terror act, so your sarcasm is for no reason.

No reason? Hmm. We have a credible explanation, yet people say "come on, how credible is it that a screwup can cause all this? We have to reject that explanation and keep thinking about terrorism." I think that warrants a wee bit of sarcasm. And it wasn't directed at you.

If it could be easily disproven, I doubt they would have done so.

Really? Multiple terrorist groups routinely claim responsiblity for the same act. Usually, we can identify which did or did not do it. Why would they claim responsibility if we can do that? Oh, I forgot. Because people will associate them for at least a moment with the act and give them more credit than they deserve. Further, it will confuse the populace, leading to more terror.

Further, the people who want to see terrorism in this (and yes, I think there is a desire to see terrorism involved for several reasons) will not believe any other explanation. It will always be an AQ strike, proving our weakness, even if there's a wealth of evidence proving what really happened. All the evidence will be part of a gov't conspiracy to cover up how vulnearable we are.

[Master Blaster]

I'm goin out on a limb and I'll say that its the power industries most feared sabateur that caused the big outage.

O'Squirrela Bin Chewin, suicide wire eater, I know he's been training on my phone lines for a few years.

When they trace it all down it will be a burned furry body on some substation that caused the short/ overload/fluctuation that precipitated the whole thing.

Some one feel free to put up a photoshoped picture of a squirrel with a turban and an AK-47.


:D

[rick_reno]

I was in an elevator the other day and someoe farted. I'm waiting for them to claim responsibility for this act of terror too.

[2dogs]

Well, looks like none of the know-it-alls on this board were right.:neener: ;)



Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2003 9:30 p.m. EDT
Psychic Weighs In on Electric Failure

Just hours after the electricity went out across the Northeast and parts of Canada last Thursday, Elizabeth Baron of elizabethbaron.com, a lady with some psychic insight, sent us her explanation of what had happened.


While we don't put much credence in such paranormal views of the world, we remember that this same spirtualist was on Phil Paleologos' national talk radio show while the hunt for the snipers was on last fall, saying that federal authorities had it all wrong: There were two snipers, not one, and they were driving a blue car, not a white van.


That statement was made by Baron some two days before John Lee Malvo and John Muhammad were captured in a blue sedan.


In contact with the "other side" Thursday evening, Baron reported: "No one will believe this but this is the work of a 15-year-old boy with the mind of a genius with the computer. He has studied so much about electricity and how it works across the country. As this happened, there was a stoppage when two men stopped that chain of reaction. If they had not intercepted, it would have gone all the way over to Oklahoma and all the way down to Florida. But this was not an act of terrorism but the act of a 15-year-old boy who did much of this without touching anything within a plant whatsoever."

She continued: "Much of this was done by a computer. It is very dangerous to have computers in the hands of deranged people because genius is close to insanity and this person lives in Canada. The individual will be traced down and will be found out but it is doubtful that any public information will be given out about this young man because it would start copycat destruction in our country."


Well, could she have been right? Who knows – but her opinion may be as good as Uncle Sam's these days.



http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/8/19/212609.shtml

[DaveB]

I was in an elevator the other day and someoe farted. I'm waiting for them to claim responsibility for this act of terror too.

Why didn't you kill everybody on the elevator - and you call yourself a patriot - ?:neener: :neener:

db

[JohnBT]

I'm just a simple country boy (with a couple of college degrees), so...

When I look out the window at a blown transformer and see a fried squirrel hanging on the line I think...hmmm...dinnertime.

When I look out the window at a blown transformer and see a fried camel hanging on the line I think...hmmm...time to arm the neighbors.

Who did it?

Why not wait on some evidence?

And a communique from some sorry bunch of evil losers does not qualify as evidence.

John

P.S. - This bears repeating just for grins - "It is very dangerous to have computers in the hands of deranged people because genius is close to insanity and this person lives in Canada."

[Sergeant Bob]

She continued: "Much of this was done by a computer. Well, could she have been right? Who knows – but her opinion may be as good as Uncle Sam's these days.
Now 2dogs , that's just crazy! Psychics....computers.....:confused:

COMPUTER WORM THWARTS POWER SYSTEM REPAIR IN CANADA (http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1.htm)
Tue Aug 19 2003 20:33:34 ET

TORONTO (CP) _ A computer worm designed to eliminate an earlier virus brought computer networks to a standstill Tuesday, hindering efforts in Ontario to recover from last week's power outage and forcing Air Canada to check passengers in manually across the country. Vancouver International Airport reported huge delays and long line ups in the international departures terminal as the virus slowed Air Canada's check-in computer system.

Air Canada spokeswoman Laura Cooke said the virus affected the airline's call centre in Toronto and check-in systems across the country.


``It is causing delays in processing customers at airports,'' she said.

The worm also slowed Ontario's efforts to repair the hydro system from last week's blackout.

``The system is under attack from the virus, and we've had more problems with this particular virus this afternoon than any other previous virus in Ontario,'' said Terry Young, a spokesman for the Ontario's Independent Electricity Market Operator.

The worm is swamping network systems with traffic and causing denial of service to critical servers with organizations.:what:

[jimpeel]

I was in an elevator the other day and someoe farted. I'm waiting for them to claim responsibility for this act of terror too.A great gag is to get one of these remote control fart machines and secret it behind the handrail of the elevator at the mall. Wait until the elevator fills up and the doors are three inches from being closed and push the button.

Talk about terror! As their imaginations run wild, they can actually smell it. Watching them get off at the next level is a riot.