Iraq TV Says U.S. Will Be Attacked in Mid-November
02-Nov-2001
The following story was read in Arabic over the official Iraqi government TV network on November 1st:
“Saudi opposition sources announced yesterday that Al- Queda activists, led by Saudi opposition figure Osama Bin Ladin, said by telephone that an attack is being prepared against the United States that will take place before mid November.
“This comes at a time when the United States announced a state of maximum alert. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft warned on Monday [October 29] that armed terrorists may launch an attack on the United States itself or on American interests abroad within a few weeks.
“Saudi opposition sources said that activists from Al-Queda in Saudi Arabia remain in touch with their comrades in Afghanistan thanks to telephone links via satellite, so that they can avoid being intercepted.
“The sources added that these people that the United States will be the target of a new attack before the beginning of Ramadan on November 17 and added that the attack that is being prepared will target the United States itself and a U.S. target abroad.
“The supporters of the Saudi opposition figure Osama Bin Ladin in Saudi Arabia were told by their comrades that the Taliban movement and Al-Queda have already taken around 40 Americans as hostages since the beginning of the U.S. aggression against Afghanistan on October 7th.
“It is noteworthy that the U.S. Attorney General spoke on Monday about receiving credible information to the effect that fresh attacks will possibly take place inside the United States and against U.S. interests during this week. He added that this information does not give details about what sort of attacks they will be or about the targets of these attacks, pointing out that U.S. security has been placed at a state of maximum alert.”
Meanwhile, Lithuanian experts say that traces of anthrax were found in at least one mailbag in the U.S. embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, making this the first case of anthrax terrorism in Europe. “Following tests, we can say with a 95, maybe even 98% certainty, that we found anthrax in at least in one of the five mailbags,” says Kazimiera Rutiene, head of the microbiology laboratory of the Lithuanian Public Health Center. Mice injected with the suspected anthrax died.
Five bags were delivered to health center earlier this week as part of worldwide routine tests of the mail sent to U.S. embassies. Four other bags are still being tested. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher says that the embassy mail room has been sealed, and that antibiotics will be made available to any embassy employees who want them.
The bags passed through the State Department’s mail system in the U.S., which is known to have been contaminated with anthrax. Diplomatic pouch service to Lithuania has been suspended as of October 24th.
In other cases outside the U.S., a case of anthrax has been confirmed in Peru. A package sent to an American businessmen in Kenya turned out not to contain anthrax..
24 hours before the mail bag tested positive, Rutiene criticized the U.S. embassy for “spreading panic” by saying that particles similar to anthrax spores had been found in the bags.
This leads us to believe that the threats that have been made against “U.S. targets abroad” may mean that terrorists will attack U.S. embassies in foreign countries, either by sending anthrax to them through the mails or by more direct means.
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