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| Axis of Evil |
| Troop transports to Persian Gulf threatened with attack |
| 2003-01-13 |
| Troops and weapons moving toward the Persian Gulf have come under threat of possible attack, according to senior military officials, who said they are more alert than ever to the risks. Within the past three weeks, U.S. intelligence gathered what officials described as credible evidence of a planned bombing of a passenger airliner contracted to fly troops and freight for the military. To counter what senior commanders call the growing threat of attack on those mobilizing for a possible war with Iraq, the U.S. military has begun for the first time to share classified intelligence warnings directly and quickly with commercial transportation companies ferrying U.S. forces toward the Middle East, the senior officials said. For example, in the case of the suspected bombing plan, the military had intelligence identifying a specific civilian airline company, a specific airport in the United States and a specific date and time of a possible attack, military and intelligence officials said. They refused to discuss details, citing security considerations. Military officials removed from the report details that might have revealed the source of the warning or the methods by which it was gathered. Then, rather than risk any delays from working through domestic law enforcement authorities or federal transportation safety agencies, the military gave the secret threat assessment directly to the private airline company. Bypassed the FBI and Homeland Security Office, did they? That's going to piss off the pencil pushers. Bravo! Security officials at the company took pre-emptive steps, including changing the date and time of the flight and the route it followed. A number of other new steps to share intelligence warnings with the private freight and passenger sector -- including a password-protected Web site -- are being formulated at Scott Air Force Base, where the U.S. Transportation Command coordinates the movement of every person and piece of equipment in the armed services. Gen. John Handy, the Air Force chief of the Transportation Command, said that since the military must rely on planes, trucks, rail cars and ships operated by private carriers, "We do everything we can to keep them well informed." Handy said that even classified reports from the U.S. intelligence community must be made available -- at least in censored form --to the private sector. Part of his job, he said, is to make that happen quickly. "Our request at my level is to keep pressing to share as much as we possibly can," Handy said in an interview at his headquarters. Nice to hear we still have a few people who know what they are doing. In case of a full mobilization for war, more than 90 percent of the troops deploying would fly aboard private air carriers contracted by the military, officials say. Commercial rail and trucking companies would help in hauling armored vehicles, fuel and food to domestic ports. The Bush administration, responding to criticism of intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has consciously chipped away at a number of walls that previously separated domestic law enforcement, international intelligence gathering and the armed services. The Transportation Command plans to establish the restricted-access Web site for 24-hour posting of new intelligence warnings that can be read by freight carriers and the airlines. Too bad they don't trust the rest of us with this info. We're not all mindless sheep who panic at the slightest warning. The issue is especially acute as tens of thousands of troops receive orders to deploy toward the Persian Gulf with their weapons and the fuel and munitions to sustain any offensive that President Bush might order against Iraq. Troop movements have accelerated in the past few days, and more are to come, according to Pentagon officials. During the mobilization for the war against Iraq in 1991, the government did not have such significant fears of strikes against transportation hubs or bases in the United States and overseas. Should there be another war with Iraq, officials said, the prospect of such attacks would rise above any of the elevated terrorist threat levels since Sept. 11. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 Everything is falling into place. |
| Posted by: Pundit 2003-01-14 07:22:12 |
| #1 In the case of one major staging area - Turkey - only 13% of the populace support the war. That is a problem. If I hear one more pundit say - "everything is falling into place" - I will upchuck. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-01-13 13:07:38 |