NYC Subway Terror Plot May Threaten Holidays, Feds Warn

From the AP:

Police bolstered security in subways and trains Wednesday after the government warned that al-Qaida suicide bombers were contemplating an attack on New York's mass-transit systems during the holiday season. An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press says the FBI has received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system.

The internal bulletin says al-Qaida terrorists "in late September may have discussed targeting transit systems in and around New York City. These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway/passenger rail systems," according to the document.

"We have no specific details to confirm that this plot has developed beyond aspirational planning, but we are issuing this warning out of concern that such an attack could possibly be conducted during the forthcoming holiday season," according to the warning dated Tuesday.

A person briefed on the matter, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the intelligence-gathering work, said the threat may also be directed at the passenger rail lines running through New York, such as Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road, which are particularly busy with Thanksgiving holiday travelers.

A federal law enforcement official said there's no indication that anyone involved in the planning is in the United States. That official also spoke on condition of anonymity because it involved intelligence-gathering.

CBS New York has more details on the possible attacks:

Uniformed officers, including this NYPD Counter Terrorism Squad members and Amtrak cops with M-16s, flooded Penn Station Wednesday after the FBI said it had received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that Al Qaeda operatives discussed a plan two months ago to bomb New York City's mass transit system.

The report said: "These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway/passenger rail systems."

Sources told CBS 2 HD the plot involved the Long Island Rail Road. If the explosion went off in Penn Station, the source said, it would affect transportation of Amtrak's northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, LIRR service and New York City subway service.

"This is definitely linked to Al Qaeda and they had very significant details about exactly how they would carry out the attack, where they would carry it out -- that's what makes it sound so plausible," Rep. King said.

The NYPD and Metropolitan Transportation Authority said they were on high alert and adding extra manpower.

Comments

[ccarmona]

Another in the long line of right wing talk to keep paranoia at its proper level.

[Big0725]

But of course there's a terror alert! Would it be a holiday without one?

[Lukester]

Which other civilized government in the Western world treats its people this way?

"MAY have discussed" - well, did they or didn't they? We spent billions of dollars on counter-terrorism and yet the administration can't figure out if people are actually talking about something?

"Aspirational planning" - you mean daydreaming?

Peter King, a typical republican alarmist, says they know "who it is and where the conversation took place and who conducted it." Why no arrests then?

[darthdarcy]

Maybe we should have captured and or killed bin-Laden and Zawahiri at Tora Bora instead of giving them a truce and allowing them to escape as Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld did..!

[onepartysystem]

There wasn't a chance in the world to catch Bin Laden in Tora Bora. He had been dead for some time by then.

[beelzabubbleboy]

So what color is this threat? Should I be orange afraid or red afraid?

This is a protection racket folks. You need to give up more of your liberty so they can save you.

[DMcMillan]

W administration has used this tactic throughout the last 7 years on the public with great success. Whether or not anything happens NY or elsewhere, Americans must wake up to this fact for there to be any hope of not allow further abuses of power by the gov.

[STUPIDgit]

Why would they want to attack "Unreal America" again? Haven't they learned where "Real America" is Leave us liberal/commie/hippie/elitist/anti-American New Yorkers alone.

[Marmann]

Ah, the annual "George W. Bush Happy Holidays Terror Alert."

I will miss it.

I had poison ivy once.

I miss that, too.

[JulieSA]

Don't worry. There will plenty of terror alerts after the Obama administration takes over.

[brrichter]

oh yeah? are you a gambling woman? wanna make a wager?

[prabbit]

Home-grown right wing crazies like McVeigh, perchance?

[ZimboChick]

oh of cause...what with all the 'hunters' a gathering??

[zizyphus]

On 911 about three thousand people lost their lives. As a result we have been terrorized into giving up our constitutional rights.

Last year, over 30,000 people were slaughtered on our highways in auto accidents. Yet, where are the calls for a safe vehicle? Or lower speed limits?

Every day we get into a car weighing tons, and tootle around, risking death and dismemberment. A moment's inattention can cause endless pain, suffering and damages.

The odds of being in a terrorist attack are about the same as getting hit by lightning. The odds of getting killed in a car wreck, or worse, being kept alive as a breathing vegetable are much greater.

I never, ever think of terrorists, but I do realize that driving is life and death scenario every single day.

You are willing to be strip searched to board a plane now. What else will you be willing to submit to in the future? Cavity searches to get on a bus? How much indignity can we allow to be imposed upon us before we say - "Enough." ? We are now expecting that our children will be tasered into submission in school. We are being conditioned to expect surveillance, intimidation, fear, as our daily bread.

Something is very wrong with our priorities in this country.

[Big0725]

Crap! I've been hit by lightning!

[dakotawoman]

Supremely well said, zizyphus!!

And worse than that, we have all be implicated in an unprovoked and illegal war against an innocent people who have paid with thousands and thousands of their lives, while we pay with billions and bilions of our dollars.

Priorities, indeed.

[manualfordemocracy]

"Is no one willing to give the Bush 'regime' credit for diverting homeland attacks over the past 7+ years? It would seem something has been going right. No?"

Short answer, no.

Most of, if not all, of the Terror Threats thwarted by the Bush administration were not real. They came from torturing people who made up claims to make the pain stop. After being tortured for days they made statements likes “we plan to blow up the NY subways” then the terror alert is raised, two weeks later Bush and Bloomberg make a statement to the affect “the time of the threat has passed”.

Other times thwarted attacks were in concept only, such as the group that ‘planned’ somehow to attack Fort Dix disguised as pizza delivery man, somehow cut the power, somehow kill heavily armed and well trained solders, then somehow escape, that was a complete BS 24-like fantasy.

[AmbivalentGuy]

W's kept the tigers away too!

[pepenero]

The whole point of shouting 'wolf!' is to shout it until it becomes meaningless. Then shout "wolf!' and strike!

[pepenero]

One of the first things that the subway people should do is get those black trash containers out off of the platforms and out of the subway, they are an open invitation for anyone planning on doing harm to subway passengers.

[happycat]

As a NYC resident, I don't let these threats get to me. We hear the same warnings repeated every holiday season. We all just have to live our lives.

[Attilatheblond]

'Pay no attention to the man with the big team of sane problem solvers coming to town! Terra Terra Terra!. Stay scared so we can keep baffling you with bullshit! booga booga, hide and quake! '

[Bad actor]

Why would a terrorist group strike when our country has been reduced to a puking shambles from within. It would make more sense for them to apply for some of that bail-out money and buy the subway system.

[ReasonBased]

CULTURAL RELATIVIST LEFT WING NUT JOBS

who chose to bury their heads in the sand, deny the seriousness of the muslim problem the world is facing and laugh at the very real prospect of a terror plot being carried out in New York are even more despicable than the right wing christian fanatics who are, thankfully, vacating the white house.

[mcfried]

It appears most of them are foreign. Simply check their profiles. They seem to find it amusing that New yorkers are in danger - not sure what that's about.

[ZimboChick]

I for one am Zimbabwean. I am in real danger.

[seatea1967]

If people are laughing at this "terror alert" it's because the Bush administration has misused them so often for political purposes over the last 7 years as to be laughable.

Nobody wishes for a terror attack, and everyone wants a safe holiday, but many are tired of having their chain yanked for purely partisan purposes.

[ZimboChick]

thank you!!

[ReasonBased]

and what could possibly Bush be using this now for?? Your irrational all consuming hatred for Bush is blinding you. Is it possible that Bush is not involved? Or could even an idiot like Bush be right once in a while? The comments are because people on the far left truly don't believe there IS SUCH A THING as a terrorist problem. They think America IS the terrorist, not Islamic faith based groups who carry out attacks in the name of "god"

[Roafer]

No one is denying that terrorism is a serous thing, but to call it a Muslim problem goes a bit too far.
Laugh? Nope. But I'm laughing at those that are buying into the fear propaganda put forth by the Bush Regime. After lies for eight years why take anything they say seriously?

[DMcMillan]

Do you believe "we are the good guys, they are the bad guys" bs that W has been selling for 7 years to further a political, economic, mil power agenda?

[ReasonBased]

No. But I also don't think, for a New York second, that there is a moral equivalency between what the U.S. is doing and what the faith based religious terrorists are doing. It is this bogus moral relativism that worries me as much as the right wing neocon one dimentional thought process because it fails to acknowledge the source of the real problem. And it is NOT American foreign policy, it is a religiously obsessesed sexually repressed young men who want to get laid in what they believe is "heaven" and would do anything including blowing themselves and possibly YOU to pieces.

[Marmann]

Actually, I think this terror attack has half a chance of happening. Bush is almost legally out of office. He NEEDS a terror attack, combined with the crumbling economy he created (and maybe nuking an innocent country just for aesthetics) in order to declare martial law and become "Dictator-in-Chief."

[mcfried]

I don't let it consume my life. I also don't find it particularly funny when others are in danger either.

[mcfried]

Sorry - glitch, this was meant as a response to Zimbo Girl looks like we have tech issues in our discussion

[ZimboChick]

Ok Mcfried, I am happy that it doesnt consume your life. You got me worried for a bit right there