Jeunes Canadiens, (choqués, les pauvres, par le traitement mondial des musulmans par les infidèles et les croisés !) arrêtés pour la détention de 3 tonnes de nitrate d’ammonium achetées pour jouer à… Oussama a dit !
Chef des opérations de Ben Laden & co qui déclare à ses interrogateurs de Gitmo qu’ils se seraient inspirés du remake de Godzilla de 1998 (voir ci-dessous) montrant l’attaque du Pont de Brooklyn et de la Statue de la Liberté …
Détonateurs et GPS comportant les données d’un réacteur de recherche nucléaire trouvés en 2004 par la police suisse dans le coffre d’une voiture arrêtée à la frontière lors d’un contrôle de routine…
Existence, comme l’a montré l’empoisonnement du leader ukrainien Viktor Ioutchenko à l’automne 2005 et confirmé un ancien agent du KGB, d’un laboratoire dudit KGB spécialisé dans la création de nouveaux poisons biologiques indétectables …
Libération accidentelle d’anthrax dans l’atmosphère lors d’une erreur de manipulation dans un laboratoire de guerre biologique russe à Sverdlovsk en 1979 (soixantaine de morts sur une distance de 50 km) …
Equipe de scientifiques australiens qui, lors d’une recherche sur la variole en 2003 détruisent par erreur le système immunitaire de toutes leurs souris …
Déréalisation et virtualisation produites par la pratique de plus en plus intensive des jeux vidéos et de simulation de type militaire parmi nos jeunes et qui apparait comme une bonne préparation aux activités les plus violentes et peut-être pas seulement pour nos soldats …
Diffusion sur Internet ou en boucle sur nos diverses Jihad-TV’s de décapitations filmées, voire de fausses comme celle de ce déjanté producteur de jeux vidéo américain en 2004, qui font se demander si la mode actuelle de la diffusion de virus informatiques ne pourrait pas un jour se transformer en diffusion de virus bien réels …
Sans parler de la déliquescence d’Etats entiers et de la rapacité de scientifiques sous-payés ou sans emploi comme en regorge l’ex-Union soviétique (ou fanatiques comme le tristement célèbre atomiste pakistanais Dr Khan).
Ou de l’appétit insatiable des médias pour le nouveau et le sensationnel et de l’inextinguible capacité humaine à reproduire et renchérir sur les actions de ses congénères (le principe, vieux comme le monde, du « monkey see-monkey do ») …
Autant de cette infinité de petits faits épars et variés dont est faite notre actualité et, selon le mot de Thérèse Delpech, notre « ensauvagement » et déhumanisation quotidienne. Et que se doivent de prendre en compte nos services de sécurité occidentaux et face auxquels, comme le montre l’article suivant, ils apparaissent bien… désarmés.
Part of the reason they do it is the CYA [cover your ass] attitude. The government has been criticized for not connecting the dots. Yes, you are dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t.
Has FBI cried wolf once too often?
Accused by critics of failing to issue terrorist alerts before Sept. 11, the FBI since has released a stream of vague warnings that most Americans are ignoring
Timothy W. Maier
Insight on the News
August 26, 2002
If you were to take to heart every single FBI warning in the aftermath of Sept. 11 you might come to the conclusion that you are not safe anywhere. That kayak dealership might be renting you a boat in which dynamite is hidden. That cute teddy bear might go « boom » when you embrace it. Planning on taking in a ball game? If so, when you are not watching the field, keep an eye on that stranger sitting next to you.
On second thought, maybe you would be wise to cruise on home, being careful to stay away from trucks and bridges that might be booby-trapped or sabotaged. And even once you get home, especially if you live in an apartment, town house or condo, be very careful. The FBI has issued a warning to be on alert for suspicious neighbors who might attack your building with explosives.
With all these vague but hyperbolic FBI alerts, it’s as if the G-men are characters in a Dr. Seuss book, says a Maryland resident who recently received a warning that her Greenbelt apartment complex might be targeted. « It’s like this, » she explains: « The terrorists could be at the mall. They might be playing ball./They could be walking a dog. Or hiding behind a log./They could be in your school. Or swimming at your pool./ They might be in a shack. Or hiding behind your back. »
Syndicated columnist and CNN commentator Bill Press put it this way in a recent column: « Next thing you know, they’ll be warning us to watch out for terrorists masquerading as barnyard animals. Quick! Run down that cow crossing the road. It could be an al-Qaeda member disguised as Daisy. »
For example, when Americans were warned about attacks on financial institutions, nothing happened except for the temporary closing of a few banks. Then shopping malls and stadiums were announced as likely targets. Again nothing happened. Soon the FBI attempted to be more specific and claimed the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statute of Liberty might be on the target list. The government shut them down and waited, but again nothing happened.
« The FBI alerts, in fact, » Press writes, have been issued with such frequency lately that nobody takes them seriously anymore. There is after all something to that old tale about the boy who cried wolf. The FBI cried wolf too many times. »
With so many alerts « it is a little mind-numbing, » says Richard Chasdi, assistant professor of political science at the the College of Wooster and author of two books on terrorism: Serenade of Suffering: A Portrait of Middle East Terrorism 1968-1993; and Tapestry of Terror: A Portrait of Middle East Terrorism 1994-1999. « The idea is to mobilize the entire country to have a watchful eye, » Chasdi says, « but when you cry wolf so much no one pays attention. »
Neal Rawls is a security consultant in Palm Beach, Fla., and author of Be Alert, Be Aware, Have a Plan: The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Home, Your Family. He says that while he would prefer alerts be issued to specific agencies and not the general public, there has as a result been a greater awareness of dangers among the public, especially airline passengers, in the aftermath of Sept. 11. « Passengers are the biggest asset on planes now, » he says. « Hijackers know they can’t get away with it because passengers will turn on them. The plane that crashed in Pennsylvania and the passengers who captured the shoe bomber changed hijacking forever. It’s not going to happen anymore. No one is going to hijack a plane. »
Asked if the alerts have made the Greenbelt, Md., tenant more suspicious and watchful of her neighbors, she replies, « I did notice my next-door neighbor grew a scraggly beard, stole my cat food, put a poisonous white powder on the outdoor plants and spat on my car. Other than that, nothing has happened here. Oh, except after 9/11 the Greenbelt Police Department rolled out a U.S. Army tank to make residents feel more safe. But all they really succeeded in doing was to give residents a good laugh. »
Don’t laugh. Terrorists have invaded Greenbelt before. Several of the Sept. 11 hijackers kept themselves fit at a local gym; one even was treated by a Greenbelt physician. So the Washington suburb might be on the terrorist map, and many law-enforcement agencies and security firms are worried that the abundance of FBI alerts will have a negative impact on how people in small and large cities react in the future when a specific and legitimate alert is issued.
While none of these alerts ever materialized into a deadly act, it is known to authorities that terrorists have in fact actively considered some of the means outlined in the FBI warnings. For example, two suspected al-Qaeda terrorists recently were arrested in Afghanistan in possession of detailed plans to poison U.S. water supplies. So far, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) reports, of the 752 people detained after Sept. 11, 81 remain in custody and 38 have been deported. The rest either have been released or transferred out of INS custody to another detention center. How many were apprehended because of the alerts is hard to tell because the federal authorities have kept a lid on who, why and where these individuals have been caught.
If the alerts have had no effect on the public, why issue them? Perhaps, as Press suggests, the FBI is being taken for a ride by al-Qaeda prisoners held at Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who simply are making up stories. The main source behind these alerts appears to be Abu Zubaydah, who was Osama bin Laden’s chief of operations. He is the one who warned about al-Qaeda plans to attack shopping malls and apartment complexes. And, so far, he hasn’t been right about anything.
Even so, the FBI continues to pass on his warnings. He recently suggested terrorists might be taking clues from the 1998 remake of Godzilla, prompting the federal gumshoes to run to Blockbuster, rent and review the flick, and then tell authorities to shut down the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. « Meanwhile, Zubaydah must have been laughing out loud in his cell, » Press observes.
Other FBI critics say the real reason the bureau continues to issue these warnings is to deflect attention from its failure to issue alerts before Sept. 11. « Part of the reason they do it is the CYA attitude, » says former FBI profiler Greg McCrary, who spent 25 years in the bureau. « The government has been criticized for not connecting the dots. Yes, you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. »
While the FBI justifies its actions by claiming the warnings are thwarting possible attacks, McCrary says issuing these vague alerts is « placing undo panic on the public. You are crying wolf when you give out so many warnings. I think the right way to handle it is to keep a lot of it within law enforcement. » Besides, McCrary adds of the public warnings: « You are not going to stop them from targeting a bridge. They will just switch the target. »
Fern Reiss, author of Terrorism and Kids: Comforting Your Child, says of the warnings, « They are causing more harm than good. They are too vague to give you insight into how you could possibly protect yourself or your family, and incredibly tension-inducing for most Americans–particularly children. » The Reiss book notes that children who see terrorism on television are as traumatized as if they had been there physically.
In fact, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the more TV news kids watched on Sept. 11 and shortly thereafter the higher their stress levels were. « In general, » Reiss adds, « the more kids watch trauma, including terrorism trauma, on TV, the more fearful they become. »
While Reiss says the FBI may believe these alerts are necessary, « they are also heightening the national post-9/11 anxiety and are particularly stressful to children, many of whom are still reeling from the original attack. » The bottom line is that these vague alerts « are keeping the issue and the resulting terror alive, » Reiss believes.
But others see the alerts as simply providing the public with valuable information to better measure the risks and make appropriate decisions. Harold Copus, who spent 10 years in the FBI before leaving to run Atlanta-based Investigative Solutions Inc., a security firm, applauds the administration’s decision to become more open, even if it means passing on vague threats. « You give me the information and I think I can make a decent judgment call, » says this professional. « I don’t have trouble with the policy at all. »
Quite a difference from the old school of thought in which the FBI often had detailed information but never disclosed it. This was even more apparent after the Robert Hanssen spy case exploded when it was decided FBI information should be kept compartmentalized to reduce access even within the bureau in the name of protecting national security.
Although Copus admits the FBI has been issuing so much information that « we are becoming numb to it, » he says the public may not be aware of the beneficial consequences. Issuing alerts has provided insight for firms looking to protect employees and assets from a terrorist attack, Copus says. In fact, when the FBI noted that terrorists might use heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems to release some type of poisonous gas into the atmosphere, companies learned to keep a watchful eye on their ventilation systems.
« One client had stores nationwide and we had some probes at some of their locations where people were caught taking videos of the HVAC systems, » Copus points out. « We had to assume someone was trying to tamper with the systems. This was not an isolated incident. Because of such incidents these alerts mean something to us and our clients. »
For companies conscious of security, some of the alerts have indeed provided useful information. But Reiss advises the general public not to dwell so much on the dangers but to look at the warnings as advice to « put on a seat belt before going on car trips–a precaution that hopefully will not be needed. »
RELATED ARTICLE: Some FBI false alarms.
9/13/01: Possible attacks on the cities of Alexandria and Richmond in Virginia, though no specifics mentioned.
9/18/01: Communities warned that terrorists might steal ambulances or fire trucks to use as bombs.
9/20/01: Hollywood movie and TV studios at risk of being attacked.
10/08/01: Attacks planned against emergency agencies.
10/11/01: Warning that a terrorist attack could happen somewhere, sometime in the next few days.
10/29/01: Warning that a terrorist attack could happen somewhere at some point. Attorney General John Ashcroft says nation should be on « highest alert. »
11/01/01: Nuclear power-plant plans taken by men with valid Israeli passports. Detainees are captured, but later mistakenly released by authorities. They have yet to be recaptured.
11/02/01: Fake Coast Guard boats found traveling on a West Virginia river and « lurking around power plants and chemical facilities. »
11/03/01: California Gov. Gray Davis reports that West Coast bridges are in danger, ignoring the advice of the FBI and other West Coast governors. FBI stresses that the information is « uncorroborated. »
11/27/01: FBI warns that terrorists would « attack North American natural-gas pipelines and facilities if Osama bin Laden is captured or killed. »
12/03/01: Warning that a terrorist attack could happen somewhere in the world at some point.
12/13/01: Two men « may be conspiring » to attack a Texas school.
2/11/02: Warning that Yemeni national Fawaz Yahya Rabeei planned an attack against the United States or U.S. interests in Yemen but not the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Rabeei’s whereabouts were unknown, as he might have been deceased at the time of the alert.
2/13/02: Teddy bears in the Southwest purchased, possibly, to make bombs.
3/17/02: Warning that a terrorist attack might happen somewhere in the world at some point.
4/20/02: Banks in the Northeast may be a target of terrorist attacks.
4/24/02: U.S. shopping malls targeted, though no cities or states are specified.
5/19/02: Terrorists may be planting explosives in apartments to destroy housing complexes. Various apartment buildings and businesses all react to the threat differently due to vague instructions.
5/19/02: Warning that a terrorist attack might happen somewhere, Ashcroft says there has been « enhanced activity of concern, » but with no indication that any plans have gone « beyond discussion stage. »
5/20/02: Alert about possible attacks involving rail and transit systems. Law-enforcement official states, in detail, that the warning « involves rail and transit systems … and is about possible attacks. »
5/24/02: Small crop-dusting planes may attack apartment buildings and major New York City landmarks.
5/24/02: Terrorists are working to « develop an offensive scuba-diver capability. »
5/30/02: Al-Qaeda found to be in possession of antiaircraft missiles.
6/08/02: Suspicious group of men purchase four kayaks capable of carrying 850 pounds of cargo for possible attacks on ships or waterfront facilities.
6/08/02: Poison gas may be used to attack subway stations.
6/09/02: « Dirty bomb » may be detonated on an unspecified location.
6/09/02: FBI says to keep an eye out for anyone who might have taken scuba-training courses and quit midway.
6/21/02: Fuel tankers may be used against Jewish neighborhoods and synagogues or fuel depots.
6/30/02: Warning that a terrorist attack might happen somewhere on the Fourth of July. FBI held « no information indicating a specific and credible terrorist threat. »
7/04/02: Persons who may have ties to terrorist groups viewed layouts of stadiums such as the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis and the RCA Dome in Indianapolis on the Internet.
7/12/02: Texas oil refineries possibly targeted for attack, though « no specific threat » was mentioned.
jcdurbant 