:: IslamistBlog ::

:: Monday, November 24, 2003 ::

LNG

Liquid natural gas is also capable in large quantities of causing a firestorm so large that, if set off in a highly concentrated population area, could kill many tens of thousands.

Not as bad as a nuke, but plenty bad.

WorldNetDaily: Homeland Security to cops: Prepare for Qaida car bombs
:: Mullah 8:47 PM [+] ::
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Imminent Attack

According to Debkafile Al Qaeda is warning Muslims to leave the United States as an attack is imminent and will be so surprising, swift, and powerful that troops in Muslim countries will be cut off from the United States.

The only attack that could do such a thing would involve a hit on the nerve center of the US military, the Pentagon and/or the Washington DC area.

And what could be done?

Only a fission device detonated in the air (eg a suitcase nuke -- which the Islamists are reputed to have via numerous paths) could cause such calamity for America, flown into range in a small plane.

Chemical weapons have never been adequate over large areas, a delivery system like a truck or plane would be stopped before it paralyzed the entire city.

A nuclear assault via a fission device would likely cause close to 100,000 immediate deaths, as the bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima did.

There is no other way to lay waste to American command and control.

I would predict that if there is an assault of that kind AND it is to happen soon then they will try for Thanksgiving, as they know it is a holiday in the US and such a blow during a fairly religious holiday in a Christian nation could be advertised as the harsh judgement of Allah on the unbelievers.

Heaven forbid there are 100,000 American casualties in a Muslim A-bomb attack on United States soil.

There would be -- and should be -- relentless military counter strikes in the fallout, and I would predict that the Middle East and Islam would be changed forever. The Middle East because the US would no longer play softball with the regimes in Syria, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia (or the tribal regions of Pakistan and Yemen, the Sudan and Somalia), but might actually launch major offensives to rid those region of theocratic regimes.

As for Islam the message would simple: No more rifles, no more car bombs, no more Jihad. No more of that if you want to live.

If the world finds Bush's policies too aggressive after the attacks of 9/11, just wait until a nuclear assault is carried out against America. Then there really might be a war of Christians against Muslims, the Islamists bringing their own propaganda into sad reality.


from Debka:
Al Qaeda: Countdown for “biggest operation yet inside America”.

Monday, November 24, Al Qaeda marked Eid al Fitr, the festival closing the Muslim festival of Ramadan, with a dramatic warning. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources reports that a message published over al Qaeda’s electronic channels and websites declared that the countdown has begun for the biggest operation ever carried out in the United States. “The big blow will fall very shortly. It will consist of a series of surprise attacks that will cut America off from communication with its armies in Muslim countries.” The reference is clearly to US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The largest number, around 115,000 soldiers, is present in Iraq.

Muslims living in the United States are urged to “take advantage of the short time left” to escape the country and harm’s way.

Some of the messages say that a new Osama bin Laden videotape will soon be out. It will also carry statements by al Qaeda members who executed the last suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia and adherents who died in clashes with Saudi security. They will be shown describing how they were prepared for action. Bin Laden will intersperse these cuts with comments explaining the selection of Saudi targets.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that some of the new messages are signed by Abu Assam al Yamani, who also threatens to murder Abdul Rahman Rashid, editor of the Saudi London-based paper Sharq al Awsat. Al Yamani says the al Qaeda passed sentence of death against the editor because he not only met President George W. Bush in the British capital last week but interviewed him and appeared with the president in a joint photo.



:: Mullah 8:04 PM [+] ::
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The times, they are a changin'

Well, maybe they are.

I wanted to post some links to analysis about democracy in the Middle East. I have often felt that US foreign policy was not truly guided by an interest in spreading democracy. US foreign policy, like that of all European states, and all other states I've investigated, is driven by an opportunism of the moment. One can see that in our foreign policy of the past regarding Chile, where CIA and state department officials (like Henry Kissenger ...) were involved in fomenting an authoritarian overthrow of a democratic government. That was an idiotic mistake, paid for by the blood of many Chileans. And the reason was economic or political favoritism (a reaction to Allende's nationalization of copper mines, owned and operated by US interests). There are other examples (Iran, for instance).

It is high time to reverse such behavior. The US needs stick to the advancement of democracy and make that a significant if not overriding factor in its foreign policy.

That is why I welcomed Bush's speech at the National Endowment for Democracy
on November 6th.

Critics BLAST this man because he is a "simpleton", a "moron", an "idiot", etc and so forth. Perhaps so. But I like the simple ideas and goals he holds to, even if I have issues with the way he has chosen to accomplish them.

What, is it supposed to be a BAD THING that the peoples of the Middle East should have civil liberties?

Osama bin Laden thinks so. Civil liberties, according to him (and Islamists in general), are the defining mark of the infidel.

I also note that many people lambast Bush for this speech without ever having bothered to read it. We become so emotionally attached to our political positions that we shut our eyes.

Regularly.

Here's a link to the text (video feed) for those who can still open their brains:

WhiteHouse: President Bush Discusses Freedom in Iraq and Middle East

Here's some analysis of that speech:

DefendDemocracy: Ahead of the Curve

I read the speech, and, frankly, with a naive reading can find nothing to object to. Of course America haters across the globe will call it hipocracy and point to CIA missions and state department policy of the past that are in contradiction. But the key phrase is: OF THE PAST.

And there are the many who do not believe democracy is a good thing at all: Islamists, other theocrats, monarchists, and statists of the faschistic, socialistic or some other persuasion.

Only time will tell if the Bush administration and subsequent US administrations, Republican, Democrat, or other, hold true to the principles laid down in the speech. I believe that there will be no lasting peace in this world unless government is made to bend directly or indirectly to the will of the people, rather than the other way around.

There is no significant history of democracies attacking other democracies.

Al Qaeda Manual

Here's a link to some analysis of the Al Qaeda manual. It's an interesting start, some of it I find quite compelling, though I'm less interested in the attempts to discredit certain monotheisms in comparison to other monotheisms.

TheTulsan: Al Qaeda Training Manual Analysis
:: Mullah 11:30 AM [+] ::
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I haven't posted in ages mostly because I thought the last post, which dealt with the world the Islamists offer secular societies vs. their world remained pertinent.

There's a translation of a recent interview by a purported Islamist operative in Iraq, near Fallujah. It's a worthwhile read, as it predicts 100,000 American deaths in an attack that is supposed to happen within this Ramadan.

You'd think that would hurt Muslims and Islam more than it would help.

But the other interesting aspect of the interview is that he plainly states what the Islamist goal is.

Memri: A Terror Attack Against the U.S. With 100,000 Deaths is Imminent; We Ordered the Riyadh Bombing
:: Mullah 2:50 PM [+] ::
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