STORM2K

By JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Saturday, December 27th, 2003

WASHINGTON - Officials are girding for a possible terrorist act on New Year's Eve, replaying fears of Al Qaeda's unsuccessful millennium plot to blow up Los Angeles Airport.
"We're still concerned," a senior U.S. law enforcement official said yesterday. The official cautioned that the passing of Christmas without an attack had not diminished heightened fears of terrorism on U.S. soil.

But ringing in the new year under a terror threat against large public gatherings is only one of the scenarios that have counter.terrorism agents worried.

"There's a lot of little pieces of information that we've been able to obtain, and we're in the process of analyzing that intelligence and ascertaining what it may mean," a senior law enforcement official told the Daily News.

"Some of it was associated with New Year's Day," the source added.

Other U.S. intelligence officials said that the volume of terrorist chatter overheard or intercepted yesterday had changed little since Christmas Eve.

One source said a few days ago that the volume of excited talk among extremists had declined somewhat from its peak last weekend, when the fourth Code Orange alert this year was announced by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

Yesterday, Air France resumed service to Los Angeles after six flights set to depart Christmas Eve or Christmas Day were canceled because of U.S. suspicions that terrorists could attempt an attack on a U.S. city.

The first Air France flight to L.A. was delayed for nearly three hours because of extra security checks, officials said.

Meanwhile, the latest issue of Al Qaeda's Internet magazine, The Voice of Jihad, hit the Web Thursday and included praise for a Dec. 19 audiotape by Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the terror network's second in command under Osama Bin Laden.

The site claimed "America is falling [in] just a matter of time."

The message in the magazine - which came a day after Al Qaeda thug Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj E-mailed threats against the U.S. to a Saudi weekly - is worrisome because the group's attacks often follow high-profile communications, said Rita Katz, author of "Terrorist Hunter," who obtained the screed.

"It definitely indicates the latest Zawahiri tape was very important to Al Qaeda members," Katz said. "It appears they were actually waiting for messages like this."

Source

Well..there's nuthin' like bringing in the New Year with a BANG!!! I swear, ALL these *threats* ~shakes his head~.......makes me wonder why we're not all on Valium!

Dennis

I fear that something is going to happen but it may not be at new years eve however at a date that the security community meaning the cia will not watch for and also in a place that the people are not watching for an attack to happen like smaller cities or towns.

ROTFLMAO...

LOL Bringing in the new year with a BANG huh.. Well be careful what you wish for.

We gotta wait and see what happens

Just heard from a security commentator on FoxNews...whether we "get" Usama, al-Zawahiri, al-Douri, etc. or not, we can expect attacks like this for YEARS to come.

Hate to say this, but we have to "get used to it".

Muslims hate us for what we have, but even their own faith is prohibitive of the dynamism, openness, and entrepreneurship that MADE us what we are...and, also according to the Q'u'ran, they must hate themselves for wanting what we have.

It's the 7th Century vs. the 21st, folks.

I think that the muslim faith recognizes Jesus Christ as a prophet, don't they? Perhaps that's why nothing was done on Xmas?

We'll have to start getting more of an Israeli mentality - always under seige. Shades of the cold war! Life is always fragile. One more danger to add to the list. Can't stop living our lives, we all have to die of something. I suppose that in the history of mankind, peace is an abberation. It should give us more of an appreciation for what we have and live each day as if it could be our last.

Try this one...in recorded history, the longest period of "peace" was within the "Pax Romana" during the rule of the Roman Emperors...and it lasted but 12 years.

Good point there, coriolis; Muslims see Israel as having been "forced" on them by the West, and regard Israel as the "51st State" of the US. Its original 1948 borders were refereed to as the "knife" cutting the Islamic states in two parts, and that belief has not diminished.

Of course our way of life is worth fighting for. After my kids are grown up, I just may become militia-ready. (You know what I mean Beer and Bill). However at this time, the greater risk to our lives would be an accident. So in assessing all the risks, I am not armed at this time.

Arms and defensive measures are but ONE of the steps you should take...ask me, and I will lay it all out for you.