Archived material Access restricted Article
Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Fri 11/28/2008 View Thu 11/27/2008 View Wed 11/26/2008 View Tue 11/25/2008 View Mon 11/24/2008 View Sun 11/23/2008 View Sat 11/22/2008
1
2008-11-28 Home Front: WoT
Al Qaeda's Goal: Cripple Amtrak's N'east Corridor
Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.
Posted by Fred 2008-11-28 09:04|| || Front Page|| [6 views ]  Top

#1 Have we still not smote them down adequately? Oh well, back to the salt mines.
Posted by bigjim-ky 2008-11-28 11:09||   2008-11-28 11:09|| Front Page Top

#2 Living out west, it's difficult for me to imagine that any significant volume of passengers ride Amtrak. They sure don't out here.
Posted by Richard of Oregon 2008-11-28 13:00||   2008-11-28 13:00|| Front Page Top

#3 Rich,

Amtrak, NJ Transit, LIRR and others all share infrastructure - tracks and stations. An attach on one is an attack on all commuter rail into and out of NYC and the NE corridor. And there ain't much other ways of getting into or through NYC. buses and car traffic are already at their limit.
Posted by Hellfish 2008-11-28 13:30||   2008-11-28 13:30|| Front Page Top

#4 Vulnerable you say? Phuech'em, they could have had McCain and Palin.
Posted by Besoeker 2008-11-28 13:33||   2008-11-28 13:33|| Front Page Top

#5 Terrorists hit Japanese subway with poison gas some years back - limited effect. Then Islamic terrorists hit the London subways - limited effect. In general, Americans, even New Yorkers, are less pacified than either of those populations, so why should we think a terrorist hit on NY rails should be anything close to crippling?
Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore  2008-11-28 15:28||   2008-11-28 15:28|| Front Page Top

#6 Those bastards! Joe Biden rides that train, lunchpail in hand
Posted by Frank G">Frank G  2008-11-28 16:03||   2008-11-28 16:03|| Front Page Top

#7 "Joe Biden rides that train"
That's "The Honorable Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., Vice President Elect of The United States of America" to you, Frank.
Posted by Darrell 2008-11-28 16:18||   2008-11-28 16:18|| Front Page Top

#8 "plausible but unsubstantiated"
That pretty much covers anything the MSM puts in print these days.
Posted by Darrell 2008-11-28 16:19||   2008-11-28 16:19|| Front Page Top

#9  "plausible but unsubstantiated"
That pretty much covers anything the MSM puts in print these days.


Except for the "plausible" part, that is.
Posted by Jolutch Mussolini7800 2008-11-28 17:23||   2008-11-28 17:23|| Front Page Top

#10 LOL, Darrell. As soon as motor mouth can say that without segueing to some lying anecdote, I'll adopt it. Until then, he's Joe "Plugz" Biden, champion of Iraqi Shiitestan
Posted by Frank G">Frank G  2008-11-28 17:41||   2008-11-28 17:41|| Front Page Top

#11 Vulnerable you say? Phuech'em, they could have had McCain and Palin.

Just when I start thinking that you're not a dispschidt...
Posted by Pappy 2008-11-28 17:58||   2008-11-28 17:58|| Front Page Top

#12 why should we think a terrorist hit on NY rails should be anything close to crippling?

Because it will tank a major economic, transportation and communication hub for the country. You don't have to like the NYC metro area to realize what an effect a successful dual attack on the underground transfer centers at Penn and Grand Central would have. Billions of dollars of infrastructure damage, a huge economic hit and very high casualties from those stations alone. Add in several rail overpasses along the main Amtrak lines outside the port and the result would hit YOU in the wallet fast and hard.
Posted by lotp 2008-11-28 21:30||   2008-11-28 21:30|| Front Page Top

#13 I thought that it read "Al Qaeda's Goat"
Posted by classer 2008-11-28 22:03||   2008-11-28 22:03|| Front Page Top

#14 ZAWAHIRI has reportedly dared the US to send a new army into PAKISTAN to be defeated or destroyed by Islam. IMO ZAWAHIRI'S DARE INDIRECTLY PROVES MY CONTENTION THAT RADICAL ISLAM IS OUT TO DESTABILIZE AND BREAK UP IFF NOT DESTROY PAN-ASIAN ORDER AMAP ASAP, i.e. RUSSIA, CHINA, INDIA, + LARGE PARTS OF THE SMALLER OR LESSOR ASIAN NATIONS [e.g. PHILIPPINES, THAILAND, etc.].

* SAME/TOPIX > US: PAKISTAN [IMO read, EAST-SOUTH ASIA]HAS REPLACED IRAQ AS AL-QAEDA'S TARGET [primary War Front/Focii]/IRAQ IS NOW A "REAR-GUARD" ACTION.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-11-28 22:49||   2008-11-28 22:49|| Front Page Top

#15 lotp, I usually yield to you, but as far as tanking GCT or Penn, it would take some serious boom stuff, not the kind of thing a team can hand-carry. An attack of the 'normal' terrorist type would be physically pretty minor (those old buildings are SOLID) - the impact would mainly be psychological. The London and Tokyo rail hubs are every bit as vital to those major cities as are the NYC hubs. For that matter, the junction under the WTC was an important one and it was destroyed, and the city adapted. Terrorist attacks are mostly about the head, not the infrastructure, and they are only as effective as the victims are vulnerable (weak, wussy, etc.) - I think New Yorkers would turn out to be pretty tough once they were forced to be (except for the useless twits who think they're all so wonderful and important, and in a crisis nobody would even notice them - silver lining to the dark cloud.)
Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore  2008-11-28 23:03||   2008-11-28 23:03|| Front Page Top

#16 And then theres WORLD MIL FORUM [paraph = Google Chinglish translation] > MULTIPLE ISLAMIST AND ETHNIC REGIONAL TERROR GROUPS ARE INTENTIONALLY FOSTERING GEOPOLITICAL AND ETHNO-SECTARIAN CONFLICTS AND TENSIONS ALL OVER SOUTH ASIA. Despite noteworthy or selective successes and multilateral intensive efforts, INTER-NATION SOUTH ASIAN ANTI-TERROR COOPERATION HAS MOSTLY BEEN A FAILURE???

Also, INDIA: REGIONAL TERROR GROUPS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE CONFRONTATIONISMS WID STATES' MILITARIES, POLICE, AND GOVT FORCES.

* WAR OUTSIDE OF IRAQ > Again, the US is now engaged vee Radical Islam in a struggle for DE FACTO CONTROL = DOMINATION OF LARGE PARTS OF THE ASIAN MAINLAND + AFRICA [Eurasia in long-term, East-South Asia + Africa in near-term].

* ISLAMIC/MUSLIM MIL HISTORY > once nuclearized + weaponized, Radical islam will likely return to IRAQ, etc. TO REFIGHT THE BATTLE/WAR FOR IRAQ AND REGAIN MUSLIM-PERCEIVED "LOST HONOR".
Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-11-28 23:07||   2008-11-28 23:07|| Front Page Top

#17 MIL FORUM POSTERS > INDIA CANOT HOPE TO BE A GREAT POWER IFF IT CANNOT EFFECTIVELY OR SUCCESSFULLY HANDLE AND RESOLVE THE MUMBAI CRISIS AND HINDU-MUSLIM SECTARIANISM.

Ditto CINA wid its UIGHURS ETC.; + TURKEY wid its KURDS [majority of World's Kurds live in Turkey].

E.g. MIL FORUMS > A PREVIEW OF WHAT THE FUTURE TO COME: THE KURDIZATION OF TURKEY, + THE IRANIAN MOUNTAINS ARE ALSO THE CAUCASIAN MOUNTAINS.

See PRAVDA > "KILL THE RUSSIANS/SLAVS" INTER-ETHNIC STUDENT VIOLENCE AT MAJOR RUSSIAN UNIVERSITIES-TRAINING SCHOOLS.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-11-28 23:15||   2008-11-28 23:15|| Front Page Top

23:49 James
23:31 Bigfoot Shailing3039
23:29 JosephMendiola
23:22 JosephMendiola
23:15 JosephMendiola
23:07 JosephMendiola
23:04 Glenmore
23:03 Glenmore
22:57 logi_cal
22:50 Skunky Glins 5***
22:49 JosephMendiola
22:41 DarthVader
22:38 JosephMendiola
22:14 phil_b
22:03 classer
22:02 phil_b
21:59 phil_b
21:45 crazyhorse
21:39 James
21:30 lotp
21:24 phil_b
21:18 3dc
20:49 Alaska Paul
20:37 Alaska Paul









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com