Daily News: Well-connected were informed early about terror threat

[jumptheshadow]

From the NY Daily News today:

The city's rich and well-connected were tipped off to last week's subway terror threat days before average New Yorkers, the Daily News has learned.

snip

At least two E-mails revealing the purported plot were sent to a select crowd of business and arts executives early last week by New Yorkers who claimed to have close connections to Homeland Security and other federal officials, authorities said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/355272p-302744c.html

[henslee]

1. Quick everyone... evacuate to the Hamptons.

[mattclearing]

2. Does this really surprise anyone?

Everyone knows that rich people's lives are more important than everyone else's.

[FreedomAngel82]

3. Oh of course

Go figure.

[jumptheshadow]

4. These e-mails went out before the Mayor's office was informed

>>One of the E-mails was dated Oct. 3 with a 6:05 p.m. time stamp, about 90 minutes before Bloomberg was fully briefed on the threat, a police source said.<<

Pretty shoddy leakage here.

[Mutley]

5. That's nice.

I'm so glad our individual lives are worth about the same as our bank accounts. My life isn't worth a whole hell of a lot then...

[Stephanie]

6. Outrageous!

[Divernan]

11. This identifies Chief of Intelligence for US Coast Guard as source.

not exactly someone who runs with the Wall Street crowd. He warned a childhood friend. The other source was someone who warned his son & daughter in law. I think each of us would do the same for our close friends or family members if we thought they were in harm's way. I bet people at every level who knew of this early warned their friends and family who might be in Manhattan during that time period.

The problem is that to make a public announcement can cause panic. It's a real dilema. On the one hand, if the officials are going to announce it, they should do so immediately and not wait several days. On the other hand, this puts the perpetrators on guard and they can quickly change their targets. So there's no good answer. The best we can hope for is that whoever makes the decision is a well trained, experienced, level-headed professional, and not some politically appointed hack/Bush crony.

[jumptheshadow]

13. Here is my concern

First, thank you for your very reasonable post. However, I am concerned about this entire incident, and for reasons that I haven't seen explained on DU yet.

If you read the NY Times editorial yesterday (which I already posted about), you will see them mention that the Feds were making snarky remarks about local officials and last week's alert *off the record.* In fact, the Times noted that these officials were almost gleeful in their criticism.

If true, then this is outrageous, given the fact that the alert may have been triggered by leaks from the Feds themselves.

I have other concerns, as a New Yorker who, shaking like a leaf, rode the trains on 9/12/01 to take care of meaningful human business. And as a New Yorker who has been very dedicated in my efforts to aid in the rebuilding of our city.

1) Obviously, there is bad blood between the Feds and the locals. This isn't anything new, and there always seem to be turf wars in law enforcement and public security. But New York's security calls for good communication and a feeling that everybody is on the same team.

2) I am concerned that the Bushistas are up to old tricks and that the chain of events was a political move aimed at embarrassing the Mayor, who has publically criticized George Bush lately. The Mayor is a big boy, but if this false alert happened because of politics and devalued the next alert, which could be the real thing, then New Yorkers were screwed.

3) I am concerned that the false alert was intended to put the squeeze on NY's police department -- another unethical strategy that ultimately endangers all New Yorkers.

There seems to be a lot to this.

[elehhhhna]

7. Takes a day or two to buy those puts & calls, folks.

Can't profit if you don't know in advance.

[berni_mccoy]

8. "Oh, you didn't get the email?"

:sarcasm: "How silly of me, poor people can't afford computers."

[johnnie]

9. Interesting

I wonder if these were the same people who were tipped off before September 11th 2001. :shrug:

[McCamy Taylor]

10. Rat bastards at Homeland Security started the panic deliberately!

They "tipped off" Bush cronies, who in turn "tipped off" others, framing it as a real terror threat. A few days later, when the NYC authorities start hearing rumors from their own citizens that Homeland Security has been warning Bush cronies to flee the city, who are they gonna believe, the Dept of Homeland Security which is now telling them "It is cool, man"? or its own wealthy citizens who have been advised to get the hell out of Dodge?

YOu know that at least some people in NYC have to wonder if Bush and Co. allowed the WTC to be bombed for political reasons. Now, they have to wonder if Bush and Co. are going to allow a subway bombing, again for political reasons.

So, when Homeland Security tells the rich to flee and everyone else to stay put, the better part of valor is to treat it as real.

NYC was set up.

[opihimoimoi]

12. Many of Bushies Peeps flew on PRIVATE JETS just before 9/11???

Makes one wonder....

[DemoTex]

15. John A$$croft stopped flying on the airlines in July, 2001.

I was an MD-80 captain at that time, and that announcement made me very nervous. In retrospect, the bastards LIHOP (minimum).

[opihimoimoi]

16. YUP, very suspicious indeed.....

[ck4829]

14. If they were warned about this...

Why is it crazy to think that nobody was warned about 9/11 in advance?