'We Are Going to Get Hit Again'

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20466414/site/newsweek/

Retired Vice Admiral John Scott Redd, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, says, "We have very strong indicators that Al Qaeda is planning to attack the West."




Web exclusive
By Mark Hosenball and Jeffrey Bartholet
Newsweek
Updated: 4:14 p.m. CT Aug 27, 2007
Aug. 27, 2007 - Al Qaeda has an active plot to hit the West. The United States knows about it but doesn’t have enough tactical detail to issue a precise warning or raise the threat level, says Vice Admiral (ret.) John Scott Redd, who heads the government’s National Counterterrorism Center. In an interview at his headquarters near Washington, D.C., Redd told Newsweek’s Mark Hosenball and Jeffrey Bartholet that the country is better prepared than ever to counter such threats. But he also believes another successful terror attack on the U.S. homeland is inevitable. Excerpts:



NEWSWEEK: People in various agencies have said that since Tora Bora in 2001, they at no time have had even 50-percent confidence that they knew where Osama bin Laden was on any particular day, and therefore they have been unable to mount any operations to go get him. Is that wrong?
Redd: What I’ll tell you about bin Laden is if we knew where he was, he’d either be dead or captured. It’s that simple. obviously a tough target. That whole area is a tough target. And my standard answer on OBL is: remember Eric Rudolph. Nobody likes to hear it but, I mean, here’s a guy in the United States of America. We had unlimited access—the FBI, local law enforcement—and the guy hid out for an awful long time just by keeping a low profile. One reporter said the other day, “Well, gee, you’ve got all this great overhead stuff and various surveillance things.” I said, “Yeah. I’d trade those for about three great human sources.”

Why do people believe bin Laden’s still alive?
Well, I guess the question is, why do you believe he’s dead? I think we’re into the longest period we’ve gone without hearing from him, but we’ve done this before. Back in ’05, I think may have been a week shorter than now. So, yeah, we haven’t heard from him . People are starting to say, “He’s dead. He’s dead.” Quite frankly, we think that if he had died it would have become known. It would be very hard to keep that from leaking out.

Also, there are periodic rumors about him suffering from this disease or that disease, needing dialysis, having to get some exotic drug. Is any of that credible?
The short answer is, we don’t know. There are those sporadic reports indicating illness, indicating incapacitation, but nothing firm.

[spanone]

1. we've been fighting the wrong war for five years.

sure we're gonna get hit.

[EstimatedProphet]

45. We've been fighting the wrong war since just after WWII

[driver8]

2. Shut the fuck up.

Enough with the fear mongering. If you can't give us details, keep your mouth shut.

Jesus, I hate these people.

On edit -- I am NOT referring to the OP!!

[SeattleGirl]

3. We know something you don't know, and we won't tell you what it

is, but we want you to be very, very afraid while you're out shopping. :eyes:

[irislake]

9. Shouldn't they be assigning a color to this?

Like orange with purple edges or something just to to give CNN something to rave about in "The Situation Room?"

Not that I watch CNN. I have an antenna. But a friend finds CNN hilarious. When they first got "The Situation Room" she phoned me roaring with laughter to tell me about it. This grave matter is certainly worthy of being discussed in "The Situation Room." I only wish I could enjoy it along with yu'all.

[SeattleGirl]

14. I think it should be something really flashy, like neon green, yellow,

and read, rotating colors, with accompanying bells and whistles. :7

[texpatriot2004]

46. I think that color choice nails it nm

[hootinholler]

49. Color coded threats are so 2004!

Get with the program.

Sheesh!

-Hoot

[bdamomma]

15. that is all they are feeding us, fear the way to control people.

in the meantime we have a psychopath in the WH he is our biggest threat, the enemy within. Started to read Armed Madhouse and read the part on how * sells us fear everyday.

[Cha]

4. Why does that guy remind me of

all the buSHITS? They can't protect us..GET THEM OUTTA HERE!

[youngdem]

5. Of course we are.

The ONLY way a Repuke is gonna win is if we are attacked again.

Bin Laden and Bush are LONG TIME allies.

Bin Laden & Company are very savvy about how American politics work. They provoked us into self-destruction with 9/11.

Bin Laden et al can easily see the political reality in America, and know if they want us to continue to destroy ourselves by spending our military, treasury and prestige on illegal wars and Israel they have to attack us again.

The timing couldn't be better. I suspect a Christmas attack. Now is the time for them to try and make this into a religious war, and to isolate the US and Israel fully from the rest of the world.

An attack is inevitable. And our dumbfuck Dept of Homeland Security couldn't prevent anything if they wanted, as they are run by fools.

[SeattleGirl]

6. Well, my silly little brain wants to know how they would be seen as

strong on defense IF WE GOT HIT FOR THE SECOND TIME DURING THEIR WATCH????

Call me crazy, but this makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

The Pukes are in charge in the White House, so how would getting attacked again make them look strong?

Oh hell, never mind.

I'm being logical here. :eyes:

[youngdem]

19. Logic has nothing to do with how a crowd reacts to fear, as you know.

Republicans have not been the better party on national defense in a long time, yet if you polled the public today, a majority of Americans would say that Republicans are stronger on defense. No logic at all, but remember most Americans are WOEFULLY uninformed on the issues.

Remember that Bush was on vacation for a month after being warned of the 9/11 attacks, and after he failed to protect us he was rewarded with an 84% approval rating for a month or two afterwards. Then, he failed to 'protect' us again when the anthrax attacks occurred, but instead of rejecting his leadership and questioning his decisions, the fucking Congress passed the Patriot Act and ratified and funded his choice to attack a COMPLETELY INNOCENT country!

People aren't sane. Especially when it comes to things that scare them that they know nothing about.

[Kool Kitty]

26. I agree with you.

I'm more inclined to think that if we get attacked again, they will use it as an excuse to declare Martial Law and not have an election.

[liberal renegade]

34. that's the plan....

[OnionPatch]

37. One of their lines has been that there hasn't been another attack

since 9-11. I've heard a lot of conservative friends/relatives saying this is evidence that Bush is keeping us safe. I think if we're attacked again, after all the money we've spent on defense, the GOP is toast. Could be wrong, I guess, but it makes sense to me, too. Then again, if there were to be a thwarted attempt with Bush coming out as the hero.....:shrug:

[NanceGreggs]

39. Being logical myself ...

... I have no choice but to agree with your common sense assessment of things.

Is there some kind of rehab place we can go to get de-logicalized?

[JTFrog]

22. What kind of bullshit is that?

Why are you pushing Clinton's ridiculous point of view that another terror attack helps the republicans? How the fuck is that even possible? It's the most ridiculous thing in the world to say that the party that was on watch for 9/11/katrina/torture/wiretapping/etc.etc.etc. would benefit from shit hitting the fan yet another time. The only way that it will benefit the republicans is if dumbass actually tries to cancel the elections.

People really need to quit perpetuating that shit.

[youngdem]

25. It's just my opinion. Sorry, almighty one.

I feel what I said was correct.

I guess we will see who is right.

Care to place a friendly wager that we are attacked domestically in a significant event prior to the election?

[JTFrog]

27. I'm not a damn fortune teller

or prophet. My point obviously had nothing to do with whether or not there would be an attack. My point is that you do a disservice to the democratic party by repeating that bullshit that Clinton spouted about some imaginary advantage it would give the thugs.

[frogcycle]

7. well of course he's right

it might be ten years, or twenty, or a hundred - or three days. And we will run out of gas in a couple of decades. And the icecaps will melt and civilization as we know it will be largely destroyed.

And some day a comet will strike the earth, and in about 4 billion years the sun will swell up into a red giant and swallow all the inner planets.

what say we stop dicking around and start working on a solution to the real problems

[The Vinyl Ripper]

8. Sometime just after Labor Day..

2008

That's when they'll hit.

Almost certainly a blue state and a blue city.

[Earth_First]

10. Nice I.D. lanyard...

Sure would be a shame to hear you got it caught in a paper shredder as you 'build' your case while eliminating the 'counter' counter-intelligence...

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. How much did those cost to make up

Can I get one at the "Counterterrorism Online Store"?

[backscatter712]

11. Or does he mean:

We are going to be LIHOPed again...

[Mr Rabble]

12. These clowns know absolutely nothing.

About anything, it seems. He says, "Well, gee, you’ve got all this great overhead stuff and various surveillance things.” I said, “Yeah. I’d trade those for about three great human sources.”.

Is this guy joking? As a nation we spend maybe 3/4 of a Trillion dollars a year on this "intelligence" crap, and you have no clue where this guy is?

Well then just fucking give up, and stop wasting our money.

You people are all fired!

I cant believe that you have the gall to show you fucking face in public with a record of "success" like this.

[warren pease]

16. I'm going to be morbid and predict the next black op will happen in Portland, OR...

Based on several factors, one of which is this thing they ran last week called Operation Noble Resolve. This from local Indymedia:


"The U.S. military "experiment" known as "Operation Noble Resolve 07-2" begins today in Portland, with command centers in Virginia, Texas, Guam, Korea and two locations in Oregon: Salem and Portland.

"Despite the assurances of the US Joint Forces command that the exercise is "purely a computer-based simulation of an earthquake scenario in Portland", many people in the area are extremely concerned.

"Some have mentioned the possibility of the simulation "going live", as happened with the Vigilant Guardian exercise on September 11, 2001. But even without it "going live", there is the little fact that the US military is NOT the organization commissioned by Congress to respond to disasters, and by doing so, as they did in New Orleans following Katrina, they violate the long-standing tradition of 'posse comitatus', which forbids the military from engaging in domestic policing activities."

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/08/3...


Factor two: Bush is absolutely detested in Portland. His daddy called the city "little Beirut" for the vehemence of protesters (back when protesting wasn't a federal crime). And Bushie Jr. has been the subject of mass protests and some fairly serious cops/protester confrontations both times he's shown up since his 2001 coronation. Same with Cheney and anybody else in this administration who tries to slither into town for a zillion-dollar fundraiser. Blue state, blue city.


Factor three: From the Portland Oregonian:

"Operation Noble Resolve is actually a rolling series of exercises -- "experiments," in the parlance of the U.S. Forces Joint Command -- taking place over two years in multiple jurisdictions. The command conducted one centered in southern Virginia in April, basing it on a simulated terrorist attack. It's all a preamble to a more complex exercise called TopOff that will take place in Portland this fall."

So TopOff, eh? Keep your eyes on that one.


Factor four: Note that these reptiles have plenty of experience at this sort of thing. We already have two cases on the record in which supposed exercises depicting a specific scenario went live during the exercise: on 9/11/01, Rumsfeld was running an alleged training exercise which conveniently tied up both NORAD intercepts and the air traffic control system for the critical hours between 8:30 AM and 10:30 AM EDT; and the London train bombings on 7/7/05, in which that precise scenario was being gamed by MI-5 and MI-6 and even included the same stations where the bombs went off. For added excitement, a bus that was blown up in the scenario was, in fact, blown up in London that day.

The Madrid bombings are still under scrutiny for false flag status but, as in London, the explosions were blamed on terrorists who boarded the trains with bombs concealed in backpacks. However, again as in London, the explosions came from underneath the cars, as evinced by the metal floors being bent upward toward the interior of the cars rather than downward, as would be the case had the explosions come from inside the cars.


Factor five: I live around Portland, so the TopOff scenario plays into the paranoia I've developed over the past 6.5 years. I may be nuts, but at least I'm paying attention.



wp

[seemslikeadream]

18. TOPOFF 4 exercise this coming October.

http://www.kuam.com/news/23962.aspx

The fourth project will likely be used by the federal Department of Homeland Security, as officials have requested to use a portion of the Ypao Point lot for the upcoming TOPOFF 4 exercise this coming October. Borja says the CLTC has yet to develop a memorandum of use with the feds, but will likely seek some sort of compensation. "The commission is looking for some arrangement where we can benefit from it at the very least, indemnification of insurance purposes. This is nothing new to the feds, when Government of Guam uses federal lands we're required compensation, we're required for indemnification and that's something that's just part of the process," he said.

[libodem]

35. we nuts need to stick together

takes one to know one, and I don't think you are far off the mark. This Administration is noted for calling 'conspiracy theory' when they are under the microscope, as a way of denying, culpability. Usually they ARE doing exactly what the theory is implying.

[Morereason]

38. Yep, Top Off seems scary given that attacks have ocurred during two of these exercises

On 9/11 one of these exercises was occurring, and there was one when the train attack ocurred in Europe.

[Ilsa]

41. Your first link didn't work for me, but I found this on the LonStar Iconoclast:

http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=1753&z=165

The writer mentions a computer-sim nuke attack on Portland scheduled for Aug 20-2, but things got touchy and bizarre. They mentions Bush*'s pres. Directive 51 (become a dictator), how they tried to get more info, that it changed from a nuke to a volcano erupting, etc.

[warren pease]

43. Sorry about the first link...

I'll see if I can fix it. Meantime, that post you cite is not quite accurate. Operation Noble Resolve was originally set to simulate a nuclear attack. When it's next reported on, in the local rag the Whoregonian, it's morphed into an earthquake scenario, with no mention of its previous incarnation. Also, it lasted the entire week, from 8/20 to 8/24 -- and may still be going on for all I know.

Thanks for the new link and info, btw.


wp

On edit: Found a better Portland Indymedia link: http://tinyurl.com/2j3xca

Be sure to read the comments after the article, too.

[AllyCat]

17. Okay, so are they going to ignore this warning too?

We don't want to catch bin Laden. He's just as big a part of the Saudi wing of the Mob as Shrub is of the BFEE. We just have to keep paying him off to not do or do things that benefit us and the Saudis. I'm sure * just wants to make sure the west coast gets hit to punish them for being blue states. Notice Al Qaeda never seems to want to attack Houston? Or Miami?

[Philosoraptor]

20. Undoubtedly.

[Perry Logan]

21. I predict all these predictions will be proven wrong.

[michaz]

23. But....we are fighting the war there so we won't here!

[graywarrior]

24. The Whitehouse is willing to share this info with us, but everything else is protected by executive

privilege.

And if they have this info, why are they doing something about it? Brings the troops back here if we are in so much danger.

I hate this administration. Lying sacks of money grubbing fucks.

[Gabi Hayes]

29. just the latest catapulting. it's all they have left

[upi402]

28. CIA hands are pissed or we would've by now

just a hunch...

[sendero]

30. Of course we are...

... because we've been wasting our time and money on everything but actually fighting Al Quaida.


Even if we did, we WILL get hit again. That is the nature of terror. Every country in Europe has been hit repeatedly and they didn't go off the deep end.

[libodem]

31. It couldn't have been pulled off the first time without inside help

I don't get how 9/11 was pulled off from a cave in the mountains?

[JuniperLea]

32. This should be illegal... like yelling fire in a theatre!

I'm so sick of this whole batch of assholes in power right now.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

33. nothing firm, nothing solid, that's helpful, how much do our tax dollars pay him?

MKJ

[bamacrat]

36. Well, there you have it. Everyone from Dallas to the west watch out.

This is insane, if and when we do get "attacked" it shouldn't help the republicans. This should hurt them. They warned us saying they know something will happen and if it still does doesnt that mean they are bad at what they are doing?

[in_cog_ni_to]

40. I know when we'll be attacked. August, September or October, 2008. n/t

[Initech]

42. Yeah, that makes me sleep easier at night! God damn it!

:banghead:

[autorank]

44. People with this attitude should be fired. Reminds me of Cheney after 911.

Same crap. Fine, you're f'ing fired. Get out!

And of course! K*R Just the story is enough. Nicely done!

[FormerOstrich]

47. No worries...because we are more prepared than ever....

let's review....

Plastic Saran Wrap in Bulk check
Duct Tape & more Duct Tape check
Tuna under bed check
Dried Milk under bed check

There ya go....we've got it covered. No problem.

[WinkyDink]

48. Oh, we might get "hit", but by WHOM is the question. For some.