The story today about the guy smuggling explosives into the U.S. from Canada sends a chill down my spine. Stories about what he had with him conflict to some degree with one another. One report mentioned 200 pounds of white powder (10-20lb bags), some bottles and 15 pounds of white crystaline material. He also had a number of circuit boards which were believed to be timer/detonators and maps of the western states. If I understood the story in the news this eve right he also had an airline ticket to London for Saturday.

It's bad enough that we have some loonies from our own country run amok at times....I find it very, very chilling to consider terrorists from outside the U.S. coming to wreak their havoc here. This guy had enough explosives to kill a lot of people. I also have to wonder what became of the bag of white crystals and what it was. The FBI lab reported on the "100 pounds" of white powder...if the crystaline material were a biological agent, to be dispersed by the explosions, I don't think we'd hear about it anytime soon. If that hit the news it would create a lot of fear...possibly panic. That kind of panic could work to the benefit of forgein interests.

If the crystaline material was just sugar, fine, we'll likely never know or it was a mistaken report. The ticket to London leaving Saturday has me thinking this guy was a mule...a delivery boy. If terrorists wanted to strike on either Christmas or New Years they wouldn't be flying out Saturday. He may have been acting alone or might have been part of a team. In any case a bit of chaos before the holidays might have been the plan and he may have indeed been alone.

This sounds like amateur night folks. A loner/loser or a group of them. Their attempt to get the stuff in-country is almost laughable and their timing horrid (there's increased surveillance close to the holidays). I suspect more serious terrorists, if there are some here, had their cache of go-bangs on our soil long before this.

So. I think this tells us, in gaint 100 foot tall neon letters: Don't go to the city or be in large crowds and definitly be in a safe place on New Years Eve. I'm sticking close to home and not venturing any farther than I have to until at least mid-January. Stay safe, don't be there....

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), December 17, 1999

Answers

So. I think this tells us, in gaint 100 foot tall neon letters: Don't go to the city or be in large crowds and definitly be in a safe place on New Years Eve. I'm sticking close to home and not venturing any farther than I have to until at least mid-January. Stay safe, don't be there....

Hey Don, ever wonder if that's exactly the message they want you to come away with? I don't mean to sound cynical, but I'm all over it these days. The only angle of Y2K that consistently gets negative airplay is the "terrorist incident" bullshit. Sorry, I'm certain that there's plenty of millenial wackos around, I'm equally certain that if there weren't enough TPTB would make some up to encourage the good folks of USAville to stay the hell home New Years night. After all, who want's to start the new years off inhaling bio-agents?

I wonder how much is real and how much is scare tactics. Just the same, I won't be venturing out.

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), December 17, 1999.

Don,

Your admonishment to not be there is a point well taken. It would be a responsible public service for our federal and state officials to encourage everyone to stay away from large New Year's gatherings. But, it seems that they prefer to put thousands of lives at risk rather than panic the people. I guess panic can kill you, but terrorists can't?

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), December 17, 1999.

Sorry no link...stole this from a newsgroup...

Suspected Terrorist Appears in Court December 17, 1999 SEATTLE - A man was charged Friday with bringing two jars of the flammable, explosive oil nitroglycerine into the United States from Canada this week in a car that also had more than 100 pounds of potentially powerful explosives.

Ahmed Ressam, of Algeria, also was charged with having false identification and making false statements to U.S. Customs Service officials when he arrived Tuesday. An arraignment and detention hearing was set for Wednesday.

According to charging papers, Ressam had a reservation Wednesday on American Airlines flight from Seattle to New York, with a stop in Chicago, and a ticket for a connecting British Airways flight to London.

Magistrate David E. Wilson authorized the destruction of two 22-ounce jars of nitroglycerine, now in a bomb-disposal truck near Port Angeles, where he entered the country on a ferry from Victoria, British Columbia.

Defense lawyers wanted to test the material but the judge ordered its disposal, citing public safety concerns and the safety of the agents who have been icing the materials.

Ressam also had 10 plastic bags, totaling 118 pounds of the fine white powder urea, a legal substance that is also used in explosives. And he had two plastic bags containing about 14 pounds of a crystalline powder and four small black boxes containing circuit boards with Casio watches and nine-volt batteries.

``Preliminary analysis disclosed that when these materials are combined with a detonator, it would produce a large explosive device,'' charging papers said. Ressam had reserved a room Tuesday in a downtown motel just blocks from the Space Needle and the Seattle Center, site of the city's huge millennial New Year's Eve bash.

He tried to outrun agents Tuesday after they found garbage bags full of the urea and jars of nitroglycerine in his rented car, Customs Service agents said. They caught up with him near a ferry landing at Port Angeles, about 60 miles from Seattle, after he crossed over from British Columbia.

Customs officials at the ferry crossing became suspicious when his itinerary showed he had come from Vancouver and was heading to Seattle, a 140-mile drive that does not require a trip to Vancouver Island, a ferry ride or a stop in Port Angeles, said FBI spokesman Pat Jones in Washington, D.C.

When the inspector asked about his roundabout route, Ressam became nervous, Jones said, and was told to get out of his car. When inspectors searched his car, they found the plastic bags of white powder, Jones said. He fled and was caught several blocks away.

Cathy McMurrin, manager of the Best Western Loyal Inn in downtown Seattle, said someone using the name Benni Norin called Best Western's national reservations center on Tuesday and made a reservation for that evening.

Norin never showed, Ms. McMurrin said, and never attempted to make another reservation. The FBI has seized records from the hotel, she said.

The timing of his arrival  shortly before the millennial New Year's Eve  ``is very interesting,'' said Jesse Chester, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. ``It raises a lot of questions in a lot of our minds as far as motive.''

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), December 17, 1999.

Thank you for the post, and thanks to others for additional information.

It is entirely possible that this is a warning.

It is much more effective at planting a subtle fear which can motivate one (and many ,I venture to guess) into subtle action. An extra can of this, here, an extra bottle of water, some candles.

I think that you are definitely on to something when you say this, Don.

"Their attempt to get the stuff in-country is almost laughable and their timing horrid (there's increased surveillance close to the holidays). I suspect more serious terrorists, if there are some here, had their cache of go-bangs on our soil long before this."

But consider this: if the guard had not been taking seriously the advice to be extra wary, use additional caution. This guy may have gotten through. How many others already have? There are certainly other, more effective ways to transport material like that in to the country. This point has been proven many times.

There is a positive side to people avoiding large events and instead staying at home with family and friends this new year. Reconnecting with the unity of a kinship-group can be very "grounding." We may beed to rely on one another and trust.

God help us all.

RW

-- rw (ridleywalker@aol.com), December 17, 1999.

Thank you for the post, and thanks to others for additional information.

It is entirely possible that this is a warning.

It is much more effective at planting a subtle fear which can motivate one (and many ,I venture to guess) into subtle action. An extra can of this, here, an extra bottle of water, some candles.

I think that you are definitely on to something when you say this, Don.

"Their attempt to get the stuff in-country is almost laughable and their timing horrid (there's increased surveillance close to the holidays). I suspect more serious terrorists, if there are some here, had their cache of go-bangs on our soil long before this."

But consider this: if the guard had not been taking seriously the advice to be extra wary, use additional caution. This guy may have gotten through. How many others already have? There are certainly other, more effective ways to transport material like that in to the country. This point has been proven many times.

There is a positive side to people avoiding large events and instead staying at home with family and friends this new year. Reconnecting with the unity of a kinship-group can be very "grounding." We may need to rely on one another and trust.

God help us all.

RW

-- rw (ridleywalker@aol.com), December 17, 1999.

I have to wonder why they didn't just Fedex everything ahead of him except the nitro. He had to be going *somewhere*. From what it sounds like none of the other stuff would raise a concern (it's all legal). If Bin-Laden is so rich and smart why use a guy like this who's likely to get caught? Very strange (or very stupid).

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), December 17, 1999.

Taking the border incident at face value, one must ask themselves "Do I feel lucky?" Do we really think that this was the ONLY guy and the customs people have now caught "all of them?" I am afraid this was just one of the dumb ones that got caught. As the earlier poster said, its just too easy to use a shipping company to bring the stuff in.

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), December 18, 1999.

It's very nice that they caught this wacko. But the whole thing, except maybe the plane ticket, screams amateur. Bad guys with serious intent of inflicting damage will do so in less obvious ways, using smaller and more dependable tools. They're the one's to worry about. It could be this man was meant to be caught, and keep a few officers busy in the proccess.

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), December 18, 1999.

This sounds too much like a classic smuggling feignt to me ...

Growing up on the Texas/Mexico border, among the many things I learned was that smugglers are real good at sacrificing a small shipment at the border to detract attention long enough to get a massive shipment thru. Every now and then, INS would get lucky.

Usually when the BIG shipments were found, the cargo tended to be human, and the reason was, after being locked into sealed freight carriers, they had all died. Sometimes over a 100 at a time - and usually hundreds, sometimes a thousand or so, miles from the border.

This line of reasoning leads to SCARY THOUGHTS !!!!! :-(

I think we may have all fallen victim to that old Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times!"

-- hiding in plain (sight@edge. of no-where), December 18, 1999.

Turns out (according to CBS network news this morn) he actually was apprehended last Tuesday, planned to leave Wednesday and did have an accomplice. At least one. Guess I can understand why they might not release this info immediatly (just heard about it Friday and I listen to the news constantly these days) but, as usual, I find it suspicious.

Yep, agreed it might have been a diversion...

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), December 18, 1999.