From daemon@mars.galstar.com Tue Feb 03 11:27:34 1998 Received: from mars.galstar.com ([204.251.80.4]) by THE-SPA.COM with ESMTP (IPAD 2.03) id 4074500 ; Tue, 03 Feb 1998 11:27:33 EST Received: (from daemon@localhost) by mars.galstar.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) id JAA19869 for piml-mail; Tue, 3 Feb 1998 09:41:04 -0600 (CST) Received: from heir.sea.sikorsky.com (heir.sea.sikorsky.com [140.76.12.10]) by mars.galstar.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id JAA19859 for ; Tue, 3 Feb 1998 09:40:58 -0600 (CST) Received: by heir.sea.sikorsky.com (AIX 4.1/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA17382; Tue, 3 Feb 1998 10:40:40 -0500 Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 10:40:39 -0500 (EST) From: "R. Cooke" To: pimlmars Subject: piml] Islamic Attack Scenario in New York Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Errors-To: piml-owner@mars.galstar.com X-bmw: Black Marble Wombat Version 5.1 Galstar Secure Hack From: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services Friday, August 29, 1997 Vol. 3 - 241 ISLAMIC TERRORIST GROUPS OPERATING IN THE UNITED STATES By Steve Macko, ERRI Risk Analyst Very few people realize it, but at this very moment, militant Islamic groups that have been officially described as international terrorist organizations -- such as Hezbollah, HAMAS, Palestine Islamic Jihad and others -- are operating very quietly within the borders of the United States, from New York City to San Diego. What these terrorist groups do is acquire money in the U.S. to send back to their parent organizations overseas. They also use their U.S. addresses in order to purchase U.S. equipment, use U.S. internet sites to communicate and U.S. universities to meet and plan. John O'Neill, the man who formally headed the FBI's counterterrorism unit until 1996 and who now heads those efforts in New York City, said, "Almost every one of these groups has a presence in the United States today. A lot of these groups now have the capability and the support infrastructure in the United States to attack us here if they choose to do so." By many Islamic militants, the United States is seen as the "Great Satan." And the U.S. has now become a key part of their terrorist network. In the Middle East, you have some bitter rivalries such as Sunni vs. Shi'ite. Or Iranians vs. Arabs. These type of individuals have now eased into America's famed "melting pot." This issue is a difficult one for law enforcement. Almost all of the estimated 6 million Muslims in the United States are law-abiding citizens. But how do you use some investigative tactics without infringing upon the rights of innocent people? Here is a nightmare scenario that keeps some risk analysts awake at night: A Hezbollah terrorist attaches a lightbulb to the rail track of a New York City subway. Within minutes, a train passes and smashes the light- bulb. The deadly toxin anthrax is then released into the subway system carried away by ventilation fans and causes the death of 100,000 people or more. Peter Probst, a analyst at the Pentagon, said, "The death toll would be horrific. You could cripple the country." Probst wrote a similar scenario in his classified report entitled: "Terror 2000." He added about the anthrax scenario, "And you can't bury the victims. You have to burn them. There would be funeral pyres throughout the city." A 1996 U.S. Senate report said that a terrorist attack with anthrax or sarin gas or a World Trade Center-type bomb that was "dirtied" with nuclear material is almost inevitable. Most experts say that sooner or later, it's going to happen. U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen said about the same thing at a terrorism conference in April. He said: "This scenario of a nuclear, biological or chemical weapon in the hands of a terrorist cell or rogue nation is not only plausible, it's really quite real." The U.S. has already seen such efforts toward these kinds of terrorist attacks. The group of men involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people and injured more than 1,000 included militants from Palestine, Sudan, Egypt and even U.S. citizens converted to the radical Islamic fundamentalism craziness. That same group convicted of the World Trade Center bombing also planned to bomb other New York City landmarks. The mysterious Ramzi Yousef who is currently on trial for his part in the World Trade Center case, has already been convicted of conspiring to bomb a dozen U.S. airliners in a single day. U.S. authorities worry about what are called "sleeper cells" of terrorists who await orders from the crazy mullahs in Iran or zealots who have been influenced by jailed Egyptian "cleric" Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. Who was given a life sentence for his part in the World Trade Center bombing. Rahman still has his followers even though he is behind bars in a federal prison. It is known that U.S.-based HAMAS militants have been involved in surveillance operations against prominent Jewish people in the Chicago area. What could their intentions only be? Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet says that such terrorists "are expanding their networks, improving their skills and sophistication and working to stage more spectacular attacks." Currently, the U.S. Customs Service is said to be investigating a network of U.S.-based Islamic foundations who may be funding Middle East terrorists. One of the foundations under investigation is in Florida. The Customs Service is reportedly searching for evidence in stacks of Arabic documents, encrypted computer files and bank records that have been seized. The foundation is believed to using the cover of a Mideast think tank that was, at one time, affiliated with the University of South Florida. Counterterrorism analysts say that what is different about Islamic extremists is the radical crazies who consider the United States to be the "Great Satan." An enemy to Islam that must be punished. And they are quite fanatical about it. World renown terrorism expert Brian Jenkins of Kroll Associates said, "The fact they are using the United States as a launching pad, a depot and a bank is not new. What is different is the fact it is done so with an open hostility toward the U.S. government and U.S. society."