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Gold9472
10-09-2005, 09:22 PM
Officials: NYC terror plot uncorroborated

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/consumer_news/12861498.htm

10/9/2005, 8:34 p.m. ET
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A reported plot to bomb city subways with remote-controlled explosives has not been corroborated after days of investigation, law-enforcement officials said Sunday amid an easing sense of concern.

Interrogations of suspects captured in Iraq last week after an informant's tip about bomb-laden suitcases and baby carriages have yet to yield evidence that the plot was real, officials said.

"The intelligence community has been able to determine that there are very serious doubts about the credibility of this specific threat," Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said. "This is after ongoing review and analysis."

Homeland Security officials have been skeptical about the threat since it was publicly announced Thursday, but officials who were more assertive about the potential danger last week also appeared to be softening their assessment.

"I believe in the short term we'll have a much better sense of whether or not this has, you know, real substance to it," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said on CNN's Late Edition.

A Homeland Security memo said the attack might have been planned to take place on or around Sunday.

The city has no immediate plans to pull extra officers out of the subway system or reduce the number of bag searches, according to Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Police doubled the number of daily bag checks and sent thousands of extra officers into the transit system, some in plainclothes and many others in uniform.

Bloomberg said he had no regrets.

"We've got to take every threat seriously and that is what we are going to do," he said.

The mayor said he planned to ride the subway to Yankee Stadium Sunday night for Game 4 of the American League Divisional Series.

The informant who prompted the plot investigation has provided a mix of true and false information in past investigations, Kelly said on CNN. Asked whether the informant had passed a polygraph test, he replied, "That source was deemed to be, yes, believing in the information that was put forward."

The commissioner said he remained confident that the city acted properly.

"This threat was very, very specific. It had specific time, specific object and modality. So, you know, we had to do what we did," Kelly said.

The informant, who had spent time in Afghanistan, told U.S. intelligence that a group of men were plotting to attack New York subways with timed or remotely detonated bombs in strollers and bags. U.S. forces in Iraq arrested two plotters Thursday, prompting Bloomberg, Kelly and the FBI's New York office to announce security was being increased in the subways. A third suspect was arrested Friday.

beltman713
10-09-2005, 09:39 PM
They were saying it was supposed to happen today. I think Al Qeada would do it on a business day when the subways were packed with people going to work, rather than on a Sunday when there weren't as many people on it. If they were going to do it at all.

Gold9472
10-09-2005, 09:40 PM
I'm HAPPY nothing happened, but is this another example of "Terror Threats" to induce fear? Another abuse of power?

beltman713
10-09-2005, 09:54 PM
I'm HAPPY nothing happened, but is this another example of "Terror Threats" to induce fear? Another abuse of power?
Yeah. But I think that these terror threats are having a smaller and smaller effect every time they do them. Sort of like The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Gold9472
10-09-2005, 09:55 PM
Yeah. But I think that these terror threats are having a smaller and smaller effect every time they do them. Sort of like The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

This one was "over the top" though... Almost like that time that building was shut down in Newark New Jersey... This one had a specific time, place, type, etc...

beltman713
10-09-2005, 10:05 PM
The thing that should scare people though, is the fact that I think they realize that these warnings are losing their effect too, and they may feel the need to do another real attack to get everyone's paranoia back up.

Gold9472
10-09-2005, 10:11 PM
Well yea... that's what I'm waiting for... "something" to scare us permanently.

princesskittypoo
10-10-2005, 05:12 PM
i see nuclear bomb or some disease as coming next....