According to this the terrorists might possibly be thinking about using scuba divers to attack the US.
Yeah, and the thought exists that they might smuggle a nuke into the US or use a crop duster to spray bio-toxin over major metropolitian areas, and they might try to hijack more planes, and they might do Goddess knows what else. Guys, I’m really getting tired of this shit. If you’ve got evidence that they are actually going to do something, then go after the fuckers!!! But if all you’ve got are “maybes” then keep them to yourself, wouldja?
I’m getting the sneaking suspicion that the guys being held prisoner in Guantanamo Bay are making this shit up as they go along.
Ahmed: Psst! Ackbar, you tell them that we’re planning on smuggling plutonium in under our turbans, and next week I’ll tell them that we’ve got a thousand guys, who’ve had their nuts replaced with high explosives!
Ackbar: Good idea! Can’t you just imagine the looks on the security people when they find out they’ve got to start grabbing guys by the balls and looking for surgical scars?
Do they have much choice? Imagine if they DON’T provide warnings for the one possible terrorist threat that turns out to be legit.
There are three possibilities: We can all either run around panicking at the drop of a hat, we can ignore the threats at the risk of some other big-time destruction, OR we can accept the warnings as exactly what they are - mere warnings - and keep that knowledge in mind.
I mean, I’m pretty sure the government is just making up these threats for shits and giggles.
I don’t know if the average person could ID a SCUBA diving terrorist from a non-terrorist SCUBA diver. I would hate to be walking across the hot sand with a tank on my back and dive weights around my waist wearing a full wet suit and suddenly look up to guns drawn down on me by guys/gals in SWAT jackets.
I can think of lots of reasons why al-Qaida wants SCUBA divers. Planting explosives on bridge pillars and on dams, sabotaging ships, and smuggling.
The smuggling part worries me. I’ve often thought that the best way to get a nuke into the U.S. would be to bring it on an international ship, then push it over the side into shallow water a mile or two out. Then a day cruiser (which is never searched) could go out a week later and retrieve it. You’d need divers for that.
It’s another worrisome development. BTW, I think the government knows a little more than we do, and they are VERY worried. There has been a parade of government officials lately saying that another huge attack is inevitable, and more than a few saying that a nuclear attack is inevitable. Everyone who is getting these security briefings is coming out white as a ghost. Scary.
Yes, they have a choice. They can try to act like the adults they claim to be, and do some analysis of the credibility of the various threats before they go shutting down the banks and bridges and highways and parks of America. If they are wrong, they can stand up and take there fucking lumps like everyone else. When they report every wild-ass thing some bonehead says to jerk us around, they end up ceding control of the nations security apparatus to the terrorists.
The official government anti-terror warning mantra:
“He told us the truth once, so everything he says now is credible”
Is bullshit. :mad:
I’d like to point out the current flap about the government not issuing warnings before Sept. 11. People are calling for congressional hearings, etc. Look at the heat the administration is taking for being ‘secretive’.
As long as that atmosphere continues, you’re going to see them issuing warnings on a regular basis.
And yet, oddly enough, with all of these “warnings”, we are still at Yellow alert.
The Bushistas are trying to take some of the heat off thier collective ass. Period. I am not prepared to accept the premise that their intelligence gathering methods have somehow improved, as if by magic.
But scuba terrorists? Give me a fucking break! What possible value can result from warnings like this? Are we to be on the alert for suspicious bubbles?
We got two possibilities here: either they’re morons or they think we are.
Come on, guys. You can criticise Bush for lots of things, but if they have evidence that al-Qaida is trying to develop SCUBA capability, clearly it’s valuable to warn the public.
You can’t go diving without a tank of air. That means you have to go to a certified dive shop to get your tanks filled. You don’t think it might be valuable for those shops to know that terrorists may be trying to get tanks filled?
How about training? Don’t you think the people running the training courses might find this information useful?
I’m having a hard time understanding the objections you guys are raising, other than that it’s yet another opportunity to bash the Bush administration.
Or try to answer this question honestly - If a bridge it blown up by SCUBA sappers, and it turned out that they rented tanks from the local SCUBA shop, what would you say if you found out that the govenment knew that terrorists might be trying to use SCUBA but didn’t tell anyone? Be honest.
I think you’d be all over the administration for that. And now you’re all over them because they ARE telling people.
Among some people, Bush and his administration will never be able to do the right thing. They’ll get criticized no matter what decisions they make.
No Spoofe, I’m drawing conclusions based on the evidence that is openly available. Much of it looks like this: NYC Police: Warning Has ‘Credibility’
Notice the use of the word “uncorroborated” in the above quote. That means that nobody was able to verify anything. It turns out that the guy who made the threats has been in custody for months now. Maybe he’s clairvoyant or telepathic, or has some other super-secret powers of communication, but for most people being behind bars would put a real crimp in their ability to stay up to date with the latest plans.
There’s a chance that there’s some sort of secret corroboration of some particular threat, but this past week we’ve been inundated by one threat after another. Each with a very weak claim to credibility. One such threat might turn out to be accurate, but chances are good that most of the claims are bullshit. So it seems likely that the government has deliberately embarked on a policy of feeding the populace horror fantasies straight from the mouths of terrorists. Beyond that, they’re closing parks and bridges and airports and thus disrupting the lives of citizens and the weakening the economy. I’m sure that the terrorists like that, and would like to cause even more such disruption. With such a big helping hand from the administration, I’m sure they’ll get what they want.
Hell, even the director of homeland security seems to understand that these threats are nothing but a sham for political purposes. The national threat level remains at yellow this week, just like it was last week, and the week before that. Or is Ridge just totally out of touch with reality on this ?
No, Sam, its not merely an opportunity to bash the Bushistas. There is never any famine in that regard. It’s an opportunity to point out the cupidity and incompetence of the Bush Admin. Those are marginally more rare.
But just as you say, lets assume there is credible evidence, coming from some source apparently unavailable until now. (What source? That’s confidential. Trust us. We know what we’re doing.)
What to do? Hmmmmmm. Ponder, ponder. How’s about surviellance over the scuba gear shops and schools? What the fuck we got some thousands of FBI officers for? (Though we might be better off arming a few dozen school crossing guards.)
And if you are going to lay a trap at the scuba places, why in the name of Leaping St. Beryl would you announce your awareness?
I’m not pissed at Bush, et al. for alerting us to a potential danger, I’m pissed at the way they’re doing it (or at least the way the media’s presenting it). Okay, the guys we’re holding prisoner in Cuba, have told the Feds that there’s been plans made to pull off this or that kind of operation in the US, assuming that all we have to go on is their word, then why not publish a list, say, once a week or so of the kind of operations which they claim to have made plans for, with no “Danger! Danger! Will Robinson! Danger! Danger!” tags on it. That way, the public can be informed, but isn’t subject to the constant, “Be aware that some guys could do something, somewhere at some point.” messages we’re getting now on an almost daily basis.
