Analysis: Al-Qaeda Changes Focus of Its Terror Attacks
Jim Kouri, CPP
July 09, 2006
New Yorkers and New Jerseyites last Friday awoke to the news that a terrorist plot to inflict death and devastation on them by bombing tunnels used by over a hundred thousand commuters each day was thwarted before the terrorists could not enter the United States and implement their diabolical suicide-bombing plan.
Eight suspects -- including an Al-Qaeda loyalist arrested in Lebanon and two others in custody elsewhere -- were planning their coordinated attacks as close to September 11 as possible. But special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation counterterrorism unit, working with their counterparts in several other countries, intervened.
"It was never a concern that this would actually be executed," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff during a press conference. "We were, as I say, all over this."
Initial reports said that the terrorists wanted to attack the Holland Tunnel, a major thoroughfare for cars entering and leaving Manhattan. But officials later said the group had specifically mentioned only the PATH train tunnels.
"This is a plot that involved martyrdom and explosives" and focused on the "tubes that connect [New] Jersey and lower Manhattan," said FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon.
Federal agents and NYPD Intelligence Division detectives decided in recent weeks that the "plotting for this attack had matured to a point where it appeared that the individuals were about to move forward," Mershon said during a press conference on Friday.
"They were about to go to a phase where they would attempt to surveil targets, establish a regimen of attack and acquire the resources necessary to [launch] the attack."
A New York City law enforcement official told this writer that the suspects hoped to inflict damage on the US ECONOMY, first and foremost. And that fact was the key to understanding the terrorists' shift in the types of targets they seek for their maniacal suicide missions. The terrorists want to have a devastating impact upon this nation's economy.
This fact shows the terrorists have a keen understanding of the US political climate and the American people.
According to one NYPD intelligence officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the terrorists believe if they can hurt the American economy that more people will turn against the Commander-in-Chief and his plan of taking the fight to the enemy.
The terrorists know that another 9/11-style attack will only serve to strengthen Americans' resolve to beat back the radical Muslim hordes.
However, if the damage of a terrorist attack causes a downturn on Wall Street and prices of products to soar while unemployment increases, Americans will blame the president because they will because they instinctively know that's where the buck stops -- in the Oval Office.
Eight suspects -- including an Al-Qaeda loyalist arrested in Lebanon and two others in custody elsewhere -- were planning their coordinated attacks as close to September 11 as possible. But special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation counterterrorism unit, working with their counterparts in several other countries, intervened.
"It was never a concern that this would actually be executed," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff during a press conference. "We were, as I say, all over this."
Initial reports said that the terrorists wanted to attack the Holland Tunnel, a major thoroughfare for cars entering and leaving Manhattan. But officials later said the group had specifically mentioned only the PATH train tunnels.
"This is a plot that involved martyrdom and explosives" and focused on the "tubes that connect [New] Jersey and lower Manhattan," said FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon.
Federal agents and NYPD Intelligence Division detectives decided in recent weeks that the "plotting for this attack had matured to a point where it appeared that the individuals were about to move forward," Mershon said during a press conference on Friday.
"They were about to go to a phase where they would attempt to surveil targets, establish a regimen of attack and acquire the resources necessary to [launch] the attack."
A New York City law enforcement official told this writer that the suspects hoped to inflict damage on the US ECONOMY, first and foremost. And that fact was the key to understanding the terrorists' shift in the types of targets they seek for their maniacal suicide missions. The terrorists want to have a devastating impact upon this nation's economy.
This fact shows the terrorists have a keen understanding of the US political climate and the American people.
According to one NYPD intelligence officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the terrorists believe if they can hurt the American economy that more people will turn against the Commander-in-Chief and his plan of taking the fight to the enemy.
The terrorists know that another 9/11-style attack will only serve to strengthen Americans' resolve to beat back the radical Muslim hordes.
However, if the damage of a terrorist attack causes a downturn on Wall Street and prices of products to soar while unemployment increases, Americans will blame the president because they will because they instinctively know that's where the buck stops -- in the Oval Office.
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