CIA acts on fear of al-Qaeda plot to hit in Europ e

[maddezmom]

Source: WaPo

By Greg Miller
Wednesday, September 29, 2010

A sharply escalated campaign of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan is aimed in part at al-Qaeda units suspected of planning terrorist attacks on targets in Europe, a threat that U.S. officials described as "credible but not specific" enough to allow authorities to anticipate precisely where or when a strike might occur.

The intensified bombing of targets in North and South Waziristan represents an expansion of the secret drone program from its origins as a weapon used in a selective hunt for high-ranking operatives to one now delivering a barrage of strikes in the hopes of disrupting a still-murky plot.

A U.S. official said that President Obama and congressional leaders have been briefed extensively on the European threat in recent weeks and that the warnings are considered ominous enough to warrant preemptive strikes.

American intelligence agencies have had "to work backwards, with your starting point being individuals you believe are involved in plotting, even when you don't have the full outlines of the plot itself," the U.S. official said. "That's why we have been striking - with precision - people and facilities that are part of these conspiracies."



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/28/AR2010092806935.html

[ClarkUSA]

1. It's too bad Clinton didn't do this to Osama bin Laden after the USS Cole bombing.

Ditto with Bush prior to 9/11 after he received that August 6, 2001 PDB on Osama bin Laden. Both presidents were negligent in their duties as CIC. I'm glad President Obama has learned from the tragic mistakes of his predecessors and is proactively handling imminent terrorist threats.

I'm pretty sure EU leaders are very grateful to President Obama for taking steps to protect their citizens, too.

[Turbineguy]

2. When Clinton tried to deal with it, Republicans blocked it.

As it is, he did do a few cruise missiles.

[Nihil]

3. Was that the strike that hit the aspirin factory?

Or am I getting it mixed up with another "precision" missile attack?

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

5. Aspirin factory...

... if a factory can synthesize aspirin, it can also synthesize much more dangerous chemicals/compounds. Just thought I would interject some facts.

[COLGATE4]

6. As I recall, Clinton fired off several missile strikes. One hit

Afghanistan at a spot where Bin Laden had been only a matter of hours before. The 'aspirin factory' strike was in Somalia. Claim there was that it was a dual-use factory that could be used to make chemical weapons. No more strikes were authorized because these coincided with the movie "Wag the Dog", and the Rethugs had a field day suggesting that Clinton was just doing it to divert attention away from Monica.

[Nihil]

7. Thanks (and to .5) for jogging my memory.

> One hit Afghanistan at a spot where Bin Laden had been only a matter of hours
> before. The 'aspirin factory' strike was in Somalia.

Thanks - I couldn't remember whether the "aspirin factory" was an attempt to
get Bin Laden or a "some other reason".
:hi:

[Art_from_Ark]

10. Actually, the aspirin factory was in Sudan

but everything else you wrote is accurate

[irislake]

4. Yeah, yeah.

Sure sure. Bomb the rat-shit out of them. The floods aren't bad enough.

[TheWatcher]

8. More Fake Theater in the Cheap B-Movie called "The War On Terror."

And with a weak-willed, cowed, soft, easily led population that has become completely submissive, compliant, and go-along with the myth and the fantasy that is sold to them, it will never end.

An Oligarch's Eternal Wet Dream.

Pathetic.

[indepat]

9. Surely we the people can roughly measure where we are today as a nation, a people, an economy

in comparison to the day junior uttered "you are either with us or you are agin' us" and realize just how much liberty and freedom have been sacrificed for a little supposed security at an astounding cost, a concept one of the founding father (BF?) spoke of. :shrug:

[TheWatcher]

14. No, they can't.

America's core problem is they cannot be bothered to be a free people anymore.

They would rather live a lie.

And so, we get what we get.

it's amazing anyone is still surprised by it.

[indepat]

15. You've nailed America's core problem: now if only an antidote can be found

:shrug:

[The abyss]

17. I believe they are waking up – slowly

It is a rather big beast and well fed with nonsense. However segments are awakening due in no small part to people like you.

Keep posting, keep stating the truth!

Don't underestimate the power of your words and the fact that many read those words every day.

[Turborama]

11. Yeah, the people who have been affected by terrorist attacks are "easily led"

Because...

What they witnessed/experienced/are experiencing was a myth and fantasy .

Their friends and family aren't really dead.

They, their friends and/or family weren't really injured.

Their businesses, professional and/or personal lives were not negatively affected, sometimes destroyed.

Because all the terrorist attacks that have happened over the past decade were just "myth and fantasy".

(By the way, I'm one of the above)

[Nihil]

12. And the number that have *actually* been affected compared to the number that are just scared sheep?

I don't believe that the poster who you replied to was implying that
"all the terrorist attacks that have happened over the past decade were
just myth and fantasy".

Neither do I believe that those attacks have directly affected any
significant fraction of the (very large) number of people who are
mindlessly following the "Boo! Terrorists Everywhere!" agenda of the
"leadership".

It is the latter group who are (correctly) characterised as "easily led",
not those who *have* been affected so, although I obviously can't speak
for that poster, I really don't think that you were being bad-mouthed.

:shrug:

(Strangely enough, it is usually the same "unaffected but easily led" group
who are so ambivalent about the far larger numbers of innocent victims of
the "collateral damage" that results from their fearful lust for "vengeance".)

[TheWatcher]

13. You would be wise not to put words in my mouth or make a personal assessment of me that isn't true.

You'd best tread VERY carefully here.

I lost a dear friend on 9/11, and i have lost several friends and loved ones because of these fake fucking wars, so do not preach to me about loss or attempt to paint me as something I am not.

Do I make myself CLEAR?

That being said, if you truly buy into this whole "Men In Caves" who are "Out to get us" because "they hate us for our freedoms", then you need to WAKE UP, and I have nothing further to discuss with you.

This whole FAKE War On Terror has been used expertly by the US and UK Governments to fear monger their respective populations into submission and carry out agendas that have nothing to do with stopping terrorism, the greater good, or right and wrong. (PNAC, for example)

Are there real terrorist groups who carry out real terrorist attacks?

There most certainly are.

There is NOWHERE in my posts that I have said differently or tried to promote or infer that there aren't

But the BIGGEST terrorist Group of all has been successfully selling you their Bullshit for the past 10 years, and you and far too many other Americans are still buying it.

How much of your freedom, your rights, and your country are you willing to give up for this fantasy?

How much of our blood and treasure are we going to allow to be sacrificed in the name of a LIE?

You needn't answer that because unfortunately I already know the answer.

The majority of people in this country would fight and die for a lie rather than face even the HINT of a difficult truth.

Until the people of this nation can WAKE UP and FACE what is really happening, and what their government has been and IS up to regarding this Cheap Reality Show NONSENSE they have played on them for the past 10 years, NOTHING will ever change, and this is what our lives will be like. And the sacrifice of rights, liberty, and treasure will continue to EXPAND until we STAND UP and say

NO MORE.

You have my deepest sympathies if a senseless act has taken a loved one or friend from you, but you and sadly MILLIONS of other Americans and individuals from the UK need to stop buying the lies your governments are selling you.

Now, with all due respect, we'd best agree to disagree on this issue.

If you believe in this ridiculous fantasy they have created for you, then live in fear, and live in a lie.

You and I have nothing to discuss.

Good Day.

[Turborama]

16. As you suggested, I stopped at "I have nothing further to discuss with you"

Your laughable hypocrisy about "putting words into people's mouths", "making personal assessments" and the angry/arrogant/threatening tone was already putting me off, and I was about to stop reading before your suggestion anyway.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[defendandprotect]

18. Looks like Cheney is up and around again ---- ????