NYC in terrorists' crosshairs again?

[SueNC]

NEW YORK - Authorities stepped up security Thursday after receiving what city officials called a credible threat that the New York subway could be the target of a terrorist attack in coming days. But Homeland Security officials in Washington downplayed the threat, saying it was of "doubtful credibility."


Despite the differing takes on the seriousness of the threat, New York officials mobilized police officers to begin looking through commuters' bags, briefcases, baby strollers and luggage.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called it the most specific terrorist threat officials had received to date. No one in New York had been arrested or detained, he said during a nationally televised news conference alongside Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

"We have never had before a specific threat to our subway system," Bloomberg said, adding that he still felt secure enough to take the subway home Thursday night. "Its importance was enhanced above the normal level by the detail that was available to us from intelligence sources."

A law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the threat was "specific to place, time and method," which was a bombing. The official said the information resulted from the arrest of al-Qaida operatives in Iraq.

But in Washington, Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said "the intelligence community has concluded this information to be of doubtful credibility. We shared this information early on with state and local authorities in New York." Knocke did not elaborate.

A counterterror official, who was briefed about the threat by Homeland Security authorities, said the intelligence was considered doubtful because it did not reflect "on-the-ground, detailed" information. Rather, the official, who also insisted on anonymity, said the intelligence was similar to "what can be found on the Internet and a map of New York City."

The law enforcement official in New York said that city officials had known about the threat at least since Monday, but held the information until two or three al-Qaida operatives were arrested in Iraq within the past 24 hours. Once the arrests were made, officials felt they could go public, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Authorities are concerned, the official said, that there might be al-Qaida operatives in New York City connected to the plot. They have no hard evidence of that, but are investigating.

The U.S. military spokesman's office in Baghdad had no information on the operatives' arrests. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he had seen no indication of a U.S. military operation to round up al-Qaida suspects.

The law enforcement official said the CIA, FBI and the military were involved in the operation in Iraq.

New York authorities said they wanted to leave nothing to chance in beefing up mass transit security. Gov. George Pataki said the state would call up hundreds of National Guard troops and seek help from law officers in Connecticut and New Jersey to patrol commuter trains.

Some commuters took the threat in stride.

Paul Radtke, 45, of Hoboken, N.J., said he has heard similar warnings before and found it hard to take them all seriously.

"Unless it's something dramatic that's happening, I've got to go to work," Radtke said after getting off a subway train at Penn Station. He said the only travel habit he is changing is trying not to make eye contact with police officers so they won't search his bag.

An estimated 4.5 million passengers ride the New York subway on an average weekday. The system has more than 468 subway stations. In July, the city began random subway searches following the London train bombings.

Leila Fullerton was about to board a subway for Brooklyn after leaving work, where she had gotten word of the threat. "I'll think about it, but I'm not scared, really," she said.

But she added that since the London bombings, she has felt nervous at times and found herself scanning the subway car at times looking for suspicious characters.

"It's a terrible feeling going down there sometimes," she said, gesturing at the subway stairwell.

New York City has been on high alert — or code orange — on the nation's terror threat advisory system since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. There are no plans to raise its alert level in wake of the threat, Knocke said, nor are authorities considering changing the nationwide elevated threat level, or code yellow.

Bloomberg said there was no indication the threat was linked to this month's Jewish holidays.

___

 

[Evil Dead]

Things like this make me feel even better that I killed some of these fuckers with my barehands.

 

[Arg_Hamster]

They never give up do they?

 

[JLJ The Icon]

Dont get this shit flipped, we get a neato terrorist alert anytime the government wants to divert our attention away from something else...In this case the fact that Carl Rove will be called to testify under the grand Jury.

 

[johnnieCzech]

Things like this make me feel even better that I killed some of these fuckers with my barehands.

Did you?

 

[SueNC]

Dont get this shit flipped, we get a neato terrorist alert anytime the government wants to divert our attention away from something else...In this case the fact that Carl Rove will be called to testify under the grand Jury.

doubtful. the Karl Rove thing has been going on for awhile. it's not even that heated, at this point. if they were going to throw this out there because of Rove, they'd have done it months ago.

 

[Evil Dead]

Did you?

I've shot afghans, iraqis and generic arabs But they all shot first!:Shedevil:

 

[JLJ The Icon]

doubtful. the Karl Rove thing has been going on for awhile. it's not even that heated, at this point. if they were going to throw this out there because of Rove, they'd have done it months ago.

I just dont put anything past any administration who uses fear as much as this one....AND IM A REPUBLICAN.

John Connelly from Nuclear Assault "We become the enemy when freedom dies for security"

crazy huh

 

[SueNC]

I just dont put anything past any administration who uses fear as much as this one....AND IM A REPUBLICAN.

John Connelly from Nuclear Assault "We become the enemy when freedom dies for security"

crazy huh

no offense, but

honestly, to inject 2000 - thinking in a post-2001 world just doesnt work.
these are not the same, oblivious times we lived in from 9/10/01 and back. 9/11 actually happened. that wasnt a made-for-tv movie. it was real life. real people died and the way we live was altered.

maybe if the previous administration had used a little fear we could have avoided the tragic events of 9/11.

 

[JLJ The Icon]

Fear is used to keep peoples minds off of the real problems going on here in the states. No amount of fear however can or will stop a terrorist plot here in the states, sure 9/11 was terrible and no matter how much I fucking hate NYC I still think its tragic, but that being said, Im not about to duct tape my house up or head to the basement everytime the government changes the Threat Color.

From Anthrax (the chemical not the band) to now Subway Terror alerts there has been far too much crying wolf and its desensitizing how people will react to real threats.

But you can follow the bouncing ball of The Bush Presidency using elevated Terror alerts and threats to take the heat off when they need it.

Im not going to namecall or say anyone is on drugs, we can agree to disagree.

 

[MyHatred]

Exactly what JLJ said.. You do remember Pearl Harbor, right? Pretty much the same thing only a different enemy. Only that administration didn't try to take as many personal rights away and try to make people as fearful as the current administration is trying to do.

They attacked WTC trying to cripple the U.S. financially(which Bush is doing perfectly on his own) and take some government offices and civilians along with it. At Pearl Harbor they took out alot military ships, service men and also innocent civilians. Jawas flew planes into the WTC. The Japanese when their plane was hit they would try to fly them into offices, ships or anything they could get near.

I work in a government office but I refuse to work in fear because Dubya wants me to be scared all the time that some evil jawa around the corner wrapped in C4 is going to blow me up. If it happens then "oh well". It was my time.
It doesn't matter who was in office when the attack on the WTC happened because they had been trying to do it for years now. Bush knew that. Clinton knew that. We knew that. They just got craftier and devised a new way to attack us and we didn't see it coming. Much like we didn't see what was going to happen at Pearl Harbor.

There will be war and conflict till the end of time but I will be damned if I don't live my life free to do what I want just because Dubya disapproves of it. I refuse to be some Howard Hughes crazy ass looking outside of my duct taped windows for years because my TV says the threat level is a different color of the rainbow. Also like JLJ said I'm not trying to piss you off or call you names. Just offering my .02

 

[JLJ The Icon]

according to Bin Laden the fundamental difference between the US and the Muslims is the US loves life and the Muslims love death, pretty interesting.

 

[say10]

Fear is used to keep peoples minds off of the real problems going on here in the states. No amount of fear however can or will stop a terrorist plot here in the states, sure 9/11 was terrible and no matter how much I fucking hate NYC I still think its tragic, but that being said, Im not about to duct tape my house up or head to the basement everytime the government changes the Threat Color.

From Anthrax (the chemical not the band) to now Subway Terror alerts there has been far too much crying wolf and its desensitizing how people will react to real threats.

But you can follow the bouncing ball of The Bush Presidency using elevated Terror alerts and threats to take the heat off when they need it.

Im not going to namecall or say anyone is on drugs, we can agree to disagree.

Well Fuckin Put.........

 

[say10]

I work in a government office but I refuse to work in fear because Dubya wants me to be scared all the time that some evil jawa around the corner wrapped in C4 is going to blow me up. If it happens then "oh well". It was my time.
It doesn't matter who was in office when the attack on the WTC happened because they had been trying to do it for years now. Bush knew that. Clinton knew that. We knew that. They just got craftier and devised a new way to attack us and we didn't see it coming. Much like we didn't see what was going to happen at Pearl Harbor.

There will be war and conflict till the end of time but I will be damned if I don't live my life free to do what I want just because Dubya disapproves of it. I refuse to be some Howard Hughes crazy ass looking outside of my duct taped windows for years because my TV says the threat level is a different color of the rainbow. Also like JLJ said I'm not trying to piss you off or call you names. Just offering my .02

Also Well Put.........

 

[SueNC]

Fear is used to keep peoples minds off of the real problems going on here in the states. No amount of fear however can or will stop a terrorist plot here in the states, sure 9/11 was terrible and no matter how much I fucking hate NYC I still think its tragic, but that being said, Im not about to duct tape my house up or head to the basement everytime the government changes the Threat Color.

From Anthrax (the chemical not the band) to now Subway Terror alerts there has been far too much crying wolf and its desensitizing how people will react to real threats.

But you can follow the bouncing ball of The Bush Presidency using elevated Terror alerts and threats to take the heat off when they need it.

Im not going to namecall or say anyone is on drugs, we can agree to disagree.

i dont recall anybody asking that you duct tape yourself inside your house, in this instance.

the main problem is, people say they dont want their 'rights' taken away because of this, but what they really mean is, saving lives isnt worth being inconvenienced.
i dont see how looking in bags on the subway is taking away anyone's 'rights.' afterall, if you dont have anything to hide, it shouldnt matter.

people have forgotten 9/11. before that, nobody thought something like that could happen to us.
for about a month, everybody was on guard... now, everybody acts like it was a made-for-tv movie.
if something were to happen again, the same people slamming the administration for being ultra-cautious would be slamming the administration for not doing more to keep us safe.

 

[Mxgonzo]

It's not that Bush admin. is trying to put fear into anyone but if they don't say something and a bomb goes off then you'll have the Bush haters screaming "YOU KNEW ABOUT IT AND DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT". No win for the President either way.

 

[SueNC]

It's not that Bush admin. is trying to put fear into anyone but if they don't say something and a bomb goes off then you'll have the Bush haters screaming "YOU KNEW ABOUT IT AND DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT". No win for the President either way.

EXACTLY!

 

[JLJ The Icon]

i dont recall anybody asking that you duct tape yourself inside your house, in this instance.

the main problem is, people say they dont want their 'rights' taken away because of this, but what they really mean is, saving lives isnt worth being inconvenienced.
i dont see how looking in bags on the subway is taking away anyone's 'rights.' afterall, if you dont have anything to hide, it shouldnt matter.

people have forgotten 9/11. before that, nobody thought something like that could happen to us.
for about a month, everybody was on guard... now, everybody acts like it was a made-for-tv movie.
if something were to happen again, the same people slamming the administration for being ultra-cautious would be slamming the administration for not doing more to keep us safe.

We are slowly signing over our freedoms in the name of being safe, its a slippery slope that ends in zero rights and complete government control. Carrying a bag in a public is no reason for a search, airports are one thing its to be expected, but where do we draw the line, now its subways, when will it be city streets? your own house? when that happens itll be too late

 

[say10]

We are slowly signing over our freedoms in the name of being safe, its a slippery slope that ends in zero rights and complete government control. Carrying a bag in a public is no reason for a search, airports are one thing its to be expected, but where do we draw the line, now its subways, when will it be city streets? your own house? when that happens itll be too late

Exactly, take the Patriot Act.