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Tracking Al Qaeda’s ‘Navy’
While it is quite apparent that Al Qaeda has the means available to them to track and monitor US military activities on both land and sea, the US does not.
Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside Al Qaeda, Global Network of Terror," has been studying maritime anti-terrorism efforts and was quoted in the New York Daily News as stating, "Unless the international community invests more resources to monitor and track terrorist ships today, we are likely to suffer another 9/11 inside a port like the New York Harbor in the coming months." (www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_…3p107611c.html)
From the same article, the writer states that, "Terrorism experts fear that the world’s oil tanker, sea lanes and major ports are dangerously vulnerable to 9/11-scale attacks that would cripple world trade. They cite an alarming combination of factor, including terrorist-connected Southeast Asian rebels involved in piracy, the difficulty of tracking suspect vessels in the murky worlds of commercial shipping, and an Al Qaeda fleet that could be as large as 300 vessels."
Piracy Linked to Terrorists?
Piracy of vessels is not something that is widely reported here in the US, but to give you an idea of how widespread it is, and how it is on the rise, look at the following maps for the first six months of 2003, and where some of these intrusions of maritime ships have occurred:
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Could it be that the Al Qaeda network is trying to acquire more ships or vessels? Your guess is as good as mine. But here is what this analyst has found out…..
Some Facts on Piracy
- There are more than 120,000 merchant vessels worldwide making it very difficult to monitor them all by anti-terrorism forces
- The Gulf of Aden in Yemen (where the USS Cole and the French line Limburg were attacked) remains a hot spot for terror attacks and piracy
- The Strait of Malacca, at the tip of the Indonesian Island of Sumatra, which is waged in a bloody civil war with rebels, is one of the most vulnerable sea-lanes in the world according to George Friedman, head of
Stratfor.
In fact, the International Maritime Bureau issued warnings to shippers on 2 September 2003 that attacks and piracy in this region were on the rise.
The attacks that they have been seeing are similar to attacks waged by the Free Aceh Movement, which has been linked to Jemaah Islamyah. (The group charged with the two Bali Bombings last October)
Group 272 (who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan) has plans reportedly in place to destroy an oil tanker in the Strait of Malacca.
Japan has become so concerned that they have sent a fleet to help bolster security.
- According to the International Maritime Bureau, any vessel not making a scheduled stop in Somalia and that stops close to the Somalia coast risks being boarded by armed militia. The chances of this occurring have increased in risk assessment from a possibility to a certainty.
- Hijackings of vessels in the year 2002 alone increased from 16 to 25 incidents, and looks to be a number even greater for 2003.
- US and British Intelligence fear that there will be high sea terror by bin Laden’s vessels
- Al Qaeda’s Suicide Navy is a real threat according to military officials in Britain
- Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning of underwater attacks
- Intelligence as early as March 2003 suggested that Al Qaeda was planning an attack on a US warship on 9-11 in the Persian Gulf by a freighter packed with explosives
US Department of State Warning
Last month the US Department of State warned citizens that the threat of terror attacks was still great despite the passing of the second anniversary of September 11th. The State Department’s warnings all seem to be the same, but this one was different….they included the threat of maritime terrorism.
The report further stated that they believe Al Qaeda is striving for attacks on a much grander scale than that of 9-11, possibly involving chemical or biological agents, and that a second catastrophic attack in the US cannot be dismissed.
Now, this leads me to the next "horrific reality...While you might still be asking how all of the above is tying into al Qaeda's Navy, I assure you that by the end, all the pieces of this frightening puzzle will fit together.
Suitcase Nukes, Tectonic Bombs and the Link to Terrorists
Anyone that thinks that the US is immune to being struck by a nuclear device in our lifetime, maybe should think again. The threat is real, the means is there, and possibly already in place, and the pieces of Al Qaeda’s Terrorist Network are starting to fall into place. And, God knows I hope I am wrong.
Before you can understand the reality of it, you need to know what we are dealing with. The following is a brief description of some of the types of bombs that pose a very real threat to us and the world….but before reading further, ponder this thought…imagine a few cans of coffee in New York City…..could you find them? Probably not, and that is what the Intelligence communities are dealing with….read further:
Backpack Weapons
Originally made by the Soviets in the early 60’s. The backpack nuclear system consists of "three coffee-can size aluminum canisters, which must be connected before detonation. The weapon was formally in the custody of the Ninth Directorate of the KGB, close to Soviet leadership. The Directorate having custody of the weapon is similar to a nuclear device being in the custody of the Secret Service."
According to info provided to the CIA, three aluminum canisters are placed in a green canvas case with pockets on the outside. All three must be connected to make a single unit for it to explode. The detonator is about 6 inches long and carried in a "knife like sheath". Depending on the efficiency of the explosion, it has a 3 to 5 kiloton yield and powdered during storage by a battery line connected to the canisters.
Reports state that the system is very small, and it is not necessary to carry it in units…meaning that one person can carry and use this weapon.
Peter
Probst, a former Department of Energy intelligence official of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict stated that if " bin Laden were going nuclear, a backpack weapon is the way to go."
The backpack nuke weapon and suitcase nukes are not the same….
Suitcase Nukes
Suitcase nuclear bombs are much larger than backpack nukes.
The suitcase bomb is as "large as two footlockers, has dimensions of approximately 24"x16"x8, a yield of one kiloton, and are difficult to set up.
"A small current of power is needed to store the weapon safely near its detonation site. This means that the operator of the weapon would need to run a fine wire up to a power pole. The wire is so fine that if discovered and someone tried to walk back to the source, it would break.
The Soviets had programmed these weapons to the point that if the battery was running low, a signal would be sent to a Soviet satellite or the nearest consulate, and if tampered with, the nuclear weapons disabled
Former Soviet military intelligence officer, Stanislav Lunev has confirmed that the Soviets had even made small nuclear weapons "that look like rocks".
If you have reached this point, you are still wondering how this all ties in to bin Laden and Al Qaeda, correct? Please read on….
Nuclear Suitcase Bombs Missing In Russia
Al-Watan
al-Arabi, an Arabic language newspaper well organized terrorist’s smuggled nuclear warheads out of Russian territory via secret routes through Uzbekistan. These warheads were said to have been bought with opium and cash from the Russian Mafia..
In Uzbekistan, Soviet scientists removed the active uranium and placed it in backpack-sized nuclear bombs for transportation to the West, undetected.
Sources say that bin Laden has used two tons of Afghanistan opium and $ 30 million cash to buy over 20 nuclear warheads. He has hired rogue nuclear scientists working underground at a ‘base’ to convert these warheads to backpack size nukes that he can distribute all over the world. Analysts believe that he would use them, See more about this at www.newsmax.com/hottopics/Al-Qaeda.shtml other links will be listed at the end.
The public first knew the version that I am talking about in 1997. One of these bombs has an explosive charge equivalent to a thousand pounds of TNT. To give you an idea of the impact of one of these bombs hitting Manhattan, look at this diagram below and the areas it would affect. Please also note that the winds could carry the nuclear fallout all over New York City and parts of New Jersey within hours.
Former Russian National Security Advisor Alexandr Lebed has made allegations that there are 100 of these portable bombs that are unaccounted for and have been since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. He has also said that these bombs can be activated by a single person and can kill as many as 100,000 people.
"These bombs were developed initially for the KGB and only ‘for terrorist purposes’, and were only to be used by specially trained units to destroy key targets such as power plants during wartime."
Dirty Bombs
Now, ‘dirty bombs’ consist of waste by-products from nuclear reactors, wrapped in conventional explosives. On detonation, these bombs can spew radioactive material into the environment.
Elements such as caesium, cobalt, plutonium or uranium can be oxidized into respirable-sized particles and then disbursed.
The particles would settle as dust and be very difficult to detect and clean-up, leaving many areas inhabitable.
Experts say that the ultimate dirty bomb is a nuclear power station that could serve as a target for a terrorist attack.
Crashing an aircraft into the cooling pool that holds spent fuel could have a devastating effect on the nearby population and the environment.
This is the end of Part One. Part Two begins with tectonic bombs, what they are, and how all of this ties into Al Qaeda’s Navy.
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