September 30, 2000

ALARM OVER ANTHRAX

In the last couple of years, with great reluctance, "anthrax" has become a part of our vocabulary. There are literally hundreds of articles, news reports and websites dedicated to the topic. We heard whispers of anthrax used in Suddam Hussein's treachery during the Persian Gulf War.

In 1997, microbiologist and white supremacist Larry Wayne Harris again brought anthrax to the world's attention. He demonstrated how easily anthrax is obtained and cultured. Harris read in the newspaper where the last outbreak of anthrax had occurred in Ohio, took a sample from these dead cattle and produced a culture in 10 days. (Harris also received an 18 month probationary sentence for illegally obtaining three vials of the bacteria that causes plague.) The federal complaint against him stated Harris spoke of plans to spread bubonic plague through the New York subway and claimed while in Las Vegas, he had enough anthrax to "wipe out the city."³

We also read that same year about Iraqi women who smuggled vials of anthrax into the US hidden in their vaginal cavities. They had entered the country on student visas.


December 1997 brought the Pentagon announcement to inoculate 1.4 million active and 1 million reservist US troops against anthrax. Several factors prompted the inoculation program:

1. continued concerns over Saddam Hussein's "stash" and manufacture of biologicals
2. terrorist bombings aimed at U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia
3. vivid reminders of the Gulf War and its continued controversy
4. fears that Iraq and North Korea might use biological weapons

This is the first time ever that a military-wide inoculation program against germ warfare has been instituted. Considering the set of six shots for all US troops total $130 million, the Pentagon must be reasonably certain there is a need.

March 4, 1998, the vaccination program began. For Brits, it was optional. For Americans, it was mandatory. British Defence Secretary, George Robertson, strongly urged his troops serving in the Gulf to take the vaccine after having taken the first shot himself. Their program was slightly different in that it consisted of four shots total. Canada was also expected to follow suit.

U.S. troops were not supposed to be vaccinated until Summer 1998, but given the tension with Iraq, the inoculation program was moved up to March 1998.


VERY RECENT CONCERNS

May 28th, 2000 in an interview on NBC's Meet The Press, US Secretary of Defense William Cohen warned. "The likelihood of an attack on American soil, using either a chemical or biological or, indeed, a nuclear weapon, is quite, not only possible, but probable...We know that there are many nuclear weapons, small nuclear weapons that can be transported." Secretary Cohen urged that the country should prepared itself for an attack involving WMD.4 Pictured right: Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen holds a copy of

DoD photo by Helene C. Stikkel.

"Proliferation: Threat and Response" during a Pentagon press briefing on Nov. 25, 1997. Cohen released the second edition of the report which discusses theworldwide threat of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the Department of Defense response to counter these threats. Note the man to the left in full protective gear.


July 4th, 2000, authorities in the Big Apple took heavy precautions against terrorist attack. For the much publicized 1999 New Year's Eve celebration, New York required about 20,000 cops on duty. For this year's 4th of July bash, officials upped the "insurance" to 28,800 officers reporting to work. Police were advised to be particularly watchful of terrorist "trophy spots," -- bridges, tunnels, courthouses, churches, synagogues and temples. This marks the largest security force set up in the city's history.

July 2, 2000, the Washington Post reported that $3 million - a one-time expenditure - was needed to protect eight of America's national monuments from terrorist attacks. The funds would be used to bring communications and manpower up to speed.

2000 SYDNEY OLYMPICS PREPARATION It was mighty! No one could fault Australians for security measures taken yet questions rose about their ability to adequately protect everyone. New South Wales police chief, Peter Ryan, described the Sydney Olympics as "an almost irresistible magnet to terrorist groups". For two years, mock terrorist attacks drills were thoroughly practiced in Sydney.

Officials took no chances. Security forces were comprised of:

• 5,000 military personnel including the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and the reserve 1st Commando Company
  
• armored vehicles and Black Hawk helicopters to quickly transport security where needed
  
• all of Australia's Special Air Regiment (SAS) who had been trained in bio/chemical warfare
  
• thousands of New South Wales state police
  
• hundreds of Federal police
  
• scores of intelligence officers
  
• tens of thousands of Olympic volunteers with powers to search, remove and detain people
  
• security and intelligence agencies from the United States and Israel, including armed US and Israeli officers
  
• the warship USS Abraham Lincoln which holds 6,000 personnel stationed off the coast along with a destroyer and a submarine. The USS Abraham Lincoln's force included specialist units trained in anti-biological and chemical warfare with onboard hospitals to deal with victims of NBC attacks
• US Navy Seals to help handle terrorists and
  
• US FBI agents in Sydney
  

Why all the concern? Possibly the following is a clue.

This was excerpted from page 401 of Yossef Bodansky's 1998 book, Bin Laden: the Man Who Declared War on America. It specifically addresses terrorists' intentions for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and shows a willing cooperation between terrorists from Saddam Hussein's camp with those of Osama bin Laden. Yossef Bodansky is Director of the U.S. Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare for the House of Representatives.

"The threat from the Saddam-bin Laden cooperation was shown by the discovery of a joint terrorist operation in Australia being prepared for the Olympic Games to be held in Sydney in the year 2000. In mid-March, Hamoud Abaid al-Anezi, a senior commander of bin Laden's arrived in Melbourne, Australia, with a valid Saudi passport. There he made contact with a just-activated network of former Iraqi nationals, who as alleged defectors from the Iraqi army had been granted protective political refugee status in Australia in 1991.

Together they started combing the Muslim community for young militants ostensibly to join a jihad in Kosovo and Chechnya. The network was exposed in late April after al-Anezi and the Iraqis broke into the house of (left blank) and beat up a young Muslim who refused to join the jihad and threatened to inform the authorities. When arrested, Al-Anezi was carrying a Yemeni passport with another name."⁵

It is a sorry, sorry state of affairs when all this defense preparation is necessary in order to play games.


THE GOOD NEWS. . . AND THE BAD - MIXED BAG

Since 1998, trends in terrorism statistics complied by the U.S. State Department and the FBI, show that today's terrorists may be committing fewer acts, BUT, they are far deadlier than in the past.

"Individual acts themselves have grown more deadly, as illustrated by the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center bombings. In its annual terrorism report issued last April, the State Department sees a trend 'toward more ruthless attacks on mass civilian targets' and the use of more powerful weapons."⁶

According to the DoD, as many as 26 nations may possess chemical agents and/or weapons and an additional 12 countries may be seeking to develop them. We will look at who's got what in Part 5.


LOOSEY-GOOSEY BORDERS

It is simply too darned easy for terrorists to sneak through American borders. It says a whole lot when The American Patrol estimates the United States today is burdened by 6 MILLION illegal aliens. We have loose borders somewhere. To be sure, an estimated 300,000+ stream through the 2000 mile Mexican-U.S. border annually - a conservative figure. An article in the Sierra Times, July 8, 2000 states "more than 87 percent of people of Mexican decent now residing in the United States are not US citizens - holding instead resident alien status or illegal alien status."⁷

To put this problem in proper perspective, INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) only posts statistics for illegal immigrants apprehended along 205 miles of the U.S.-Mexico Rio Grande border known as the Del Rio Sector. This leaves 1800 miles unaccounted for and obviously does not include illegals who slip through undetected. This figure is estimated to be as much as eight times higher⁸ than those apprehended!

In 1999, INS captured 156,656 illegal aliens. These were all Mexicans except 4,799 listed as "others". Through just July of this year, 132,007 illegal Mexicans had been apprehended, plus another 5,640 "others".⁹ Extrapolating from the number of immigrants who slip through this border and elude authorities, America would have at least 1.25 million people entering the country illegally at the Southern border. Think how this number magnifies when the borders along New Mexico, Arizona and California are added!

The Canada-U.S. border is also a problem, which is, at best, described as "porous". Senator Dianne Feinstein presented alarming information to the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate on February 10th this year. The Canada-U.S. border is more than twice as long as Mexico's border yet there are only 300 border patrol agents compared to 8,000 for our southern neighbors. Some Canada-U.S. border areas are so poorly staffed between 10pm and the next business day, that the only "deterrents" in place are orange road cones. Those cones have got to be a mighty deterrent!

Of greater concern is the number of known terrorist cells happily settled in and organizing from Canada. Feinstein's report included the following startling statement:

"In 1998, the CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service - equivalent to the CIA) stated that it had active investigations into 50 terrorist groups and 350 individuals. These include virtually every terrorist group in the world -- including Hezbollah, Hamas, radical Islamic groups from Algeria and Iran, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, the IRA, Sikh separatists, the Kurdish WorkerÍs Party, Palestinian Force 17, and the Iranian intelligence service."

Senator Feinstein quoted from CSIS' 1997 report:

"Most of the world's terrorist groups have established themselves in Canada, seeking safe haven, setting up operational bases, and attempting to gain access to the USA.... [These groups] follow a familiar pattern of behaviour of ... making fraudulent use of false or valid travel documentation [and] arranging the illegal transit of members to the United States and other countries."¹⁰

Two good examples of easy terrorist access from Canada are Ahmed Ressam and Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer. Ressam, an Algerian native, arrived in Canada in 1994 with a French passport under another name. He was later arrested and deported. He then went underground and obtained a Canadian passport using only a Roman Catholic baptism certificate, a common practice in Quebec. He traveled freely in Canada and entered the United States illegally.

Ahmed Ressam, with ties to the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, was caught December 1999 smuggling a huge cache of bombing materials and equipment in his car trunk. Ressam's treasure chest consisted of:

• Two 22-ounce (650 ml) jars, each three-quarters full with nitroglycerin
  
• 10 plastic bags containing 110 pounds (50 kg) of a white powder identified as urea, a legal substance used to make explosives and fertilizers
  
• Two plastic bags containing about 14 pounds (6.3 kg) of sulfate, used as a desiccant to absorb water
  
• Four small black boxes containing homemade timers -- a circuit board with a Casio watch and a 9-volt battery.
  

Combine these ingredients with the addition of a detonator and voile! - a very large explosive.

Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, a Palestinian, claimed Jordanian nationality. He applied for refugee status after arriving in Canada in 1993, which permitted him to remain in that country despite two criminal convictions there. As an asylum applicant, Mezer was also entitled to free legal counsel, welfare payments, and full access to the health care system. Because Canada lacks something like the U.S. Expedited Removal System, which allows quick deportation, an applicant such as Mezer could stay in Canada at government expense for a year or longer. This gave him enough time to try to sneak into the U.S. -- which, as he later admitted, was exactly why he went to Canada in the first place.

Mezer made three attempts to enter the U.S. illegally. The third time was not a charm and he was picked up by the Border Patrol in Bellingham, Washington. INS attempted to remove him but a judge released him on $5,000 bond, in part, because the judge mistakenly believed the State Department had checked its records and found no evidence tying Mezer to terrorism. Mezer moved to Brooklyn to set in motion his plan to bomb a busy New York subway station. His plan was to bomb the "B" line which travels through Jewish sections of Brooklyn to protest Israel's "harsh treatment of the Palestinian people."

A few hours before Mezer, 23, and another man, Lafi Khalil, 22, intended to carry out their attack, police raided the terrorists' apartment, shot and wounded them. In their rundown apartment, police found a photo of a cleric who planned to blow up New York City landmarks and a note threatening violence against U.S. and Jewish targets. Before his conviction in July 1998 and subsequent life imprisonment, Mezer testified that the goal of his suicide attack was to kill as many Jews as possible.¹¹

Additionally, Senator Feinstein reports that the U.S. is so easily accessed via Canada, that border patrol agents have recently reported an upsurge in Mexicans flying to Canada to illegally enter the U.S. Obviously this would only be the ones with enough capital to afford plane fare, but underscores the need for tighter security.

While Canada and the U.S. work closely and share intelligence regarding illegals and possible terrorists, "the world's largest border" remains very poorly protected.

With tensions tightening around the world, countries breaking up and reestablishing themselves, fighting over borders, religious and environmental "statements", or just having issues for which people seek justice in their own eyes, we are ripe for targeting. In the following issues of this series, we will look at who the players are; who's got what weapons; nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; and how we can protect ourselves.

With affection,
Holly and Stan
Seismo and Taco

Taco: Seismo! Why are you digging that big hole under the fence?!!!... We'll get in BIG trouble with The Parents when they get back from America!.....

Seismo: (with red dirt mounded on his nose and clods falling from his paws) Didn't you hear them talking about the threat of biowarfare in America before they left?

Taco: Yep...... so.o.o.o.o... ?

Seismo: Well, you DO remember they're taking you and me with them when they move back to the States?

Taco: Quick, Seismo!... Move over! We can escape quicker if we both dig!....

Sources:
1"The World Trade Center Bomb: Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why It Matters"; Federation of American Scientists; Laurie
Mylroie; http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iraq/956-tni.htm
2U.S. News and World Report, Nicholas Horrock, May 12, 1997, http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/970512/12biow.htm
3"Anthrax attack is said to be thwarted by FBI"; US News & World Report; March 2, 1998
4"US Faces 'Quite Real' Threat Of Terrorist Attack: Cohen"; May 29, 2000;
http://english.hk.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ world/afp/article.html?s=
hke/headlines/000529/world/afp/US_faces__quite_real__threat_of_terrorist_attack
__Cohen.html
5"Sydney 2000: An Olympic Terror"; The Sleeping Giant; http://geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/7663/olympics.htm
6US News and World Report; http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/chemhigh.htm
7"Mexico: Will we ever wake up?"; http://www.sierratimes.com/arsa070800.htm
8"Rancher calls for Military Intervention at Border"; J.J. Johnson; June 7 2000; http://www.sierratimes.com/arjj060700.htm
9INS; http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/lawenfor/bpatrol/sectors/delrio/FY2000.htm
http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/lawenfor/bpatrol/sectors/delrio/FY1999.htm
10Statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein Hearing before the Subcommittee on Immigration; Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate on "Enhancing Border Security"; February 10, 2000; http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/210200df.htm
11Ibid
12U.S. Army's Domestic Preparedness; http://dp.sbccom.army.mil/fs/fs_120c.html


Additional Research
"Foreign Terrorism in the United States: Five years After the World Trade Center"; EmergencyNet NEWS Service;
http://www.emergency.com
"Terror Comes To America; Steve Macko; July 30, 1996; http://www.emergency.com
"Two Seconds Under the World' Dwyer, Kocieniewski, Murphy and Tyre; Crown Publishing, Inc. New York; 1994
FEMA Backgrounder on Terrorism; January 10, 1998
Canadian Security Intelligence Service Reports, 1997,1998,1999;
http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/eng/publicrp/pub1997e.html; http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/eng/publicrp/pub1998e.html;
http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/eng/publicrp/pub1999e.html