CNN/Reported on this "New" warning in April 2002!

[Carni]

This is the same stupid warning issued over two years ago.
The below is from CNN but they still question that this was old news?

http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:OLXY6fG-QaUJ:www.cnn.com/2002/US/04/19/fbi.terror.threats/+2003+terror+alert+issued+financial+institutions&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


Sources: al Qaeda linked to bank threat


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI announced Friday that the government has received a new, unsubstantiated terrorist threat against U.S. financial institutions -- a threat, sources said, that was to be carried out by al Qaeda operatives.

"Unspecified terrorists are considering physical attacks against U.S. financial institutions in the Northeast, particularly banks, as part of their campaign against U.S. financial interests," the FBI said.

Sources said the information indicated a possible mode of attack was suicide bombing.

The information that led to the alert, the sources said, came from a variety of intelligence sources, including al Qaeda detainees captured as part of the ongoing war against terrorism. Law enforcement learned the information in the last couple of days, the sources said.

One U.S. official told CNN that Abu Zubaydah, the highest ranking al Qaeda leader in U.S. custody, was a key source in providing the information about the threat. Zubaydah -- al Qaeda's head of operations and man in charge of recruiting -- was arrested in Pakistan earlier this month, handed over to U.S. custody and is being held at an undisclosed location.

[slinkerwink]

1. unfuckingbelievable!

[Carni]

3. Yet they've pushed the "surprise" nature of this BS all day

Why doesn't Time Warner just complete the sale to Murdoch and call it a freaking day! This takes the cake!

[Jacobin]

2. BWAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

They junta and its Pravda can't keep their stories straight.



:bounce:

[Bluebear]

4. Kick

[Jacobin]

5. Deserves a kick and should be IM'd to Will Pitt who is

in the middle of drafts of an article for TruthOut on this thing. He might find it useful

[pookastew]

7. kick

Great find.

[VolcanoJen]

6. What a fantastic find, Carni!!

I expect to read this on the front page of tomorrow morning's New York Times... if their reporters are as diligent as you are.

Thank you for this!!

[Gin]

8. what a great find...thanks

g

[Carni]

10. Thanks it has taken me all afternoon LOL

I THINK (not sure) that this is the guy that looked like he was rousted out of bed (while on a binge) when they captured him...

He had wild hair and was wearing a sleeveless white t-shirt?

Does anyone remember that guy?

I am still looking for the photo of the person I am thinking of...
to see if the names match!

I'll post anything else I can find on this! :)

[RedEarth]

12. Well, what took so long.........lol

thanks for the post and good work!

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[buycitgo]

15. that was my thought, exactly

and have you seen the photoshopped version, with dumbo there instead?

it's quite amusing

used to have it saved

[VolcanoJen]

14. Carni, do you mean this guy? Khalid Shaikh Mohammed?

He was captured March 1, 2003, in Pakistan, so I'm not sure if he fits into your scenario...? If this is the guy you were thinking of, that is.

[VolcanoJen]

18. Carni, here's a photo of Abu Zubaydah.

Keep up your research... this is so interesting!!

[Carni]

21. Yes, turns out that's the bank threat detainee!

I guess that photo of the other guy just stuck with me it was so memorable!

[Carni]

19. I was wrong... but that's the guy I was picturing!

He was a DIFFERENT number one man to bin laden.
(There must be 50 number one men to bin laden!)

[VolcanoJen]

26. It's amazing how many high-ranking officials al-Qaeda has.

Carni, this is an amazing thread, and I really, really think you're onto something here.

Let's keep this kicked!

[wishlist]

9. Their manure pile is getting deeper by the minute

Thanks for the link!

[AntiCoup2K4]

11. Has there ever been a picture published of this Zippitydoodah guy?

This supposed Al Qaeda leader who's singing like a canary for the PNAC'ers, but whose never been seen, at least that I know of.

[gatorboy]

16. Heh!!! That's great!

Seriously, no one does better reporting then you guys! What are those knuckle heads getting paid for????

[cthrumatrix]

17. Lying liars and the liars that cover them .... CNN/Fox & the WH

a perfect group of money hungry power mungers who don't give a dam at what it takes to manipulate people to get their way

[VolcanoJen]

20. Carni, here is another link (MSNBC) about Abu Zubaydah and his "info."

How Good Is Abu Zubaydah’s Information? Intelligence officials say they’re not sure why he’s talking, but that some of his tips make sense - MSNBC

Excerpt:

Because Zubaydah’s information appeared to be supported by intelligence from other sources, the Administration last week issued two domestic terrorism warnings. One concerned possible attacks on banks or financial institutions in the Northeastern United States. That warning appears to fit with repeated statements by Al Qaeda leaders about the need to attack the U.S. economy, a mission that Osama bin Laden himself touted in a recently discovered home video. Another tip from Zubaydah warned that Al Qaeda operatives could be planning attacks on U.S. supermarkets and shopping malls. Some U.S. intelligence analysts for months have been quietly warning officials of potential suicide bombings at malls, where federal security experts say anti-terrorism precautions are lax to non-existent. These analysts believe the possibility of suicide attacks on U.S. shopping malls has only been increased by the recent standoff between Israel and the Palestinians, and Abu Zubaydah’s information has bolstered their arguments.


U.S. officials say that a third piece of information from Abu Zubaydah, about Al Qaeda’s interest in obtaining or manufacturing a crude atomic device known as a “dirty bomb,” also matches up with earlier U.S. intelligence. For the past several years, U.S. intelligence has been collecting evidence about the bin Laden organization’s efforts to obtain both the know-how and materials to make primitive atomic weapons. U.S. officials do not seem to believe that Al Qaeda was anywhere close to acquiring or making a real atomic bomb. But Zubaydah has told U.S. interrogators that the bin Laden network was deeply involved in efforts to put together a “dirty bomb” (known to U.S. atom scientists as a “radiological dispersal device”), a simple atomic weapon in which radioactive materials of any kind are packaged together with ordinary high explosives and then detonated. Such a weapons would cause limited immediate casualties, but spread fear and disruption due to the radioactive contamination of a wide area. Zubaydah’s information about Al Qaeda’s interest in “dirty bombs” dovetails with other evidence gathered by U.S. forces from terror camps and hideouts inside Afghanistan.

[Carni]

24. Unreal!

You would think they would have at least made up something that no one has heard before!

[Carni]

22. Hey I found another reference in TIME

I posted it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2148658

[VolcanoJen]

23. And another CNN story about Abu Zubaydah, from June 12, 2002:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/06/12/inv.zubaydah.tips/

Since his capture by authorities in Pakistan in late March, senior al Qaeda official Abu Zubaydah has provided U.S. officials with information that has led to threat alerts and the arrest of terrorist suspects -- most recently, suspected "dirty bomb" plotter Jose Padilla.

While saying they hope his statements will help prevent future terrorist attacks, authorities concede much of what Zubaydah tells them might be false or deliberately vague.

[VolcanoJen]

25. ... and here's a skeptical essay about Abu Zubaydah...

... from CommonDreams, fascinating stuff in this article:

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0428-03.htm

Excerpt:

The first week it was banks and financial institutions in the East. While Tom Ridge did not change our color-coded Homeland Security warning level (it's still yellow), the FBI did issue an official alert based on the alleged Zubaydah revelation. The alert included the helpful advice to citizens to be on the lookout for suspicious persons while doing our banking.

Next, the unnamed government spokespeople chose to confide to the U.S. news media that Zubaydah had shared al Qaeda's plans for dirty bomb attacks. Then, late last week, word somehow leaked out from that secret interrogation spot that Zubaydah had added shopping centers (or possibly supermarkets) to his string of targets.

With each disclosure has come a flurry of unattributed quotes about the veracity and value of Abu Z's reported ramblings. Typical was this in Time from "one U.S. official familiar with Zubaydah's remarks":

"If he could screw with our heads he probably would."

Or, in the same story: "How do you know he's not just jerking us around? You can make a case either way."

Yet another "American official" mused to the New York Times: "Do we make this public when it's quite possible that he's lying through his teeth? This could all be mind games on his part."

Indeed it could. So why, given who Zubaydah is -- al Qaeda's chief of operations and a sworn enemy of the United States -- is the Bush administration so eager to leak his every utterance? And to the hated U.S. news media, no less?

It couldn't possibly be to stir up confusion and insecurity, could it? To keep much of America where it's been since the horrors of Sept. 11: scared and buying anything the White House sells?

[zaj]

27. HEY FOLKS! DON'T RUN AROUND PIMPING THIS ONE...

... you'll look silly.

The latest round of information seems to have confirmed and detailed the general intel of Zubaydah.

I'm skeptical about these guys too... but I'm trying to point out flawed arguments, so that we are caught preaching an easily dismissed message.

We need to get it right... it's what makes us different from them.

[VolcanoJen]

29. Well, looking silly never stopped anyone from being right.

Nobody knows what the latest round of information has or has not confirmed.

It's normal, and healthy, for us to skeptical of anything this Administration floats out there. I think this line of thinking should be brought up, and investigated. I feel that reporters should ask Ridge what the "new" data has in common with the laundry list of "data" that Zubaydah presented two years ago.

I'm more afraid of turning a blind eye than looking silly.

[Trajan]

30. You are continually running around here trying to SHUSH us ....

We have a RIGHT to speak .....

[LoZoccolo]

39. So does he.

And you've got to be able to criticize your own stuff before you let someone else do it.

[bobbyboucher]

31. Hey folks, speak for yourself.

It's easier.

[Trajan]

28. Sent to CNN feedback line

To wit: From CNN dated April 20, 2002.

That is over 15 months ago: CNN published this: http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/04/19/fbi.terror.threats/

Sources: al Qaeda linked to bank threat
April 20, 2002 Posted: 6:15 AM EDT (1015 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI announced Friday that the government has received a new, unsubstantiated terrorist threat against U.S. financial institutions -- a threat, sources said, that was to be carried out by al Qaeda operatives.

"Unspecified terrorists are considering physical attacks against U.S. financial institutions in the Northeast, particularly banks, as part of their campaign against U.S. financial interests," the FBI said.

Sources said the information indicated a possible mode of attack was suicide bombing.

The information that led to the alert, the sources said, came from a variety of intelligence sources, including al Qaeda detainees captured as part of the ongoing war against terrorism. Law enforcement learned the information in the last couple of days, the sources said.

-snip-

Note that this is essentially the SAME threat against the SAME 'targets' ... based on the same dated information.

CNN has been on a disgusting rampage of PRO GOP sycophancy ....

I will not watch CNN again: not until it returns to sanity and moderation ... Good luck doing that ....

You have SERIOUSLY miscalculated ... You have lost us.

Good Bye,
xxxx

[John_H]

32. Everyone should be ridiculing Kelli Arena NOW!!

[e-mail] <[e-mail]>

She reported this two years ago, and she didn't think to mention it in her current report!! What a Gumshoe!! Memory like an elephant!!! GOP elephant, that is!!

[Jacobin]

33. They should have AT LEAST tied this "new" stuff to the earlier

reports.

Oh, and on LBN right now two unnamed officials have stated that there is NO imminent threat.

[sonias]

34. Great research job Carni!

Excellent work. Send this info on to the most viewed blogs and to Al Franken at Air America Radio. We have got to get this information out. This new info is just recycled with new packaging. The intelligence community should have caught that.

Sonia

[sonias]

35. Here's the link on CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/04/19/fbi.terror.threats/

Let's send this around. Does this story sound familiar?

Sonia

[ElementaryPenguin]

36. WOW! Did Will Pitt get to see this before his article was published?

Jaw hitting the floor for the umpteenth time!

:wow:

[MooPie]

37. Ha!

I just sent the 2002 CNN article to Keith Olberman as he talked about the "alert" and it's validity just a few minutes ago. Let's see if it gets any air time.

[struggle4progress]

38. I hear they've got some old intel on Pearl Harbor, too. eom

[scottxyz]

40. Sounds like the same threat to me

In this article on CNN from 2002 it sounds like they're targeting the same financial institutions they were supposedly targeting in the "new" post-Dem-Convention terror warning.

Sounds like the exact same threat to me.

Too bad CNN can't even check its own archives to see if they're repeating old news.

What a bunch of losers.

[Dem2theMax]

41. Did anyone send this to Howard Dean?

He hasn't had any problems getting air time to discuss *'s latest alert. I'd LOVE to see him go on CNN (but I'm not watching it, I PROMISE) and bring this up. :evilgrin: