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View Full Version : July '02 threats against embassies



wrbones
01-25-03, 07:23 PM
July 27, 2002

A "spokesman for Osama Bin Laden" said the terrorist organization would destroy all US embassies in Islamic nations during the upcoming week.

Calls were received at "The Associated Press, CNN and other news organizations over a few hours' span" Thursday July 25. AP received a second call Friday July 26, 2002.

The caller to the AP said he was with bin Laden on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Asked if he really was speaking for the Saudi expatriate [terrorist], the caller replied, "Muslims don't lie." [AP report]

Although the calls have not been "substantiated", the US State Department alerted all overseas diplomatic posts.

In a related incident, AP reported today that

"The U.S. military has in custody a man who law enforcement officials believe directed an al-Qaida plot to destroy the American Embassy in Singapore" [LINK]

Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a 20-year-old Kuwaiti traveling under a Canadian passport, has admitted to directing the al-Qaida plot to blow up government buildings in Singapore and making a video of the targets. He was arrested in Oman and is now being held in the United States.

Carl Schwenger, a Canadian Foreign Affairs spokesman in Ottawa said,

"(We) were able to confirm that there was a passport issued to person bearing that name, so we have some passport information on the individual. But other than that, we're still seeking information about his whereabouts," and that a department case worker would follow up Monday.

The lack of security at the Canadian border and Canada's open door policy to anyone claiming refugee status is a major problem with terrorists operating out of North America. This is another example of the failure of immigration policy and enforcement in the open societies of the US and Canada.

Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, 31, an Indonesian, was arrested in the Philippines in January 2002 with over 2000 pounds of explosives he said were for terrorist attacks in Singapore on the US Embassy, U.S. Navy vessels, a shuttle bus carrying American soldiers and the offices of U.S. companies. He traveled under a Philippines passport using the name Alih Randy.

Shortly before July 4, 2002, an al-Qaida spokesman on Al-Jazeera television threatened terrorist attacks on US soil or against US overseas interests. On July 4, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, with links to al-Qaida, killed two people at the EL AL ticket counter, Los Angeles International Airport. The FBI has refused to officially label this a terrorist attack.

Certainly al-Qaida can operate more freely in Islamic countries, so threats against US embassies and overseas interests must be taken very seriously.

At the same time, we commend the authorities in Oman, Singapore, the Philippines and the United States for pre-empting the attacks in Singapore and pray them Godspeed.