Song of the Day .....Get down off your throne...and leave us po folk alone........Steve Winwood
(dedicated to Jorge W. Bush)

In Season: Lying

I received this story in a food safety egroup I belong to. Despite the National threat level lowered to "yellow", are we really safe from terrorism? Not!

AL-QAIDA THREAT TO U.S. WATER SUPPLY
May 28, 2003
Associated Press
Shaun Waterman
WASHINGTON -- Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj, a spokesman for al-Qaida has, according
to this story, told the London-based Arabic-language al-Majallah news
magazine that the terror group is planning to try and use poisons to attack
the United States, specifically threatening to contaminate the nation's
water supply, adding, "We will talk about (these weapons) then and the
infidels will know what harms them. They spared no effort in their war on us
in Afghanistan. They should not therefore rule out the possibility that we
will present them with our capabilities."
The story says that the interview was published in the latest edition of
al-Majallah, dated May 25.
Some U.S. officials play down the threat, but others point out that al-Ablaj
had communicated with the magazine prior to the suicide attacks earlier this
month in Saudi Arabia, warning that al-Qaida was about to stage a major
offensive in the kingdom.
Ben Venzke, a counter-terrorism analyst who consults with U.S. government
agencies, was quoted as saying, "The consensus (in the intelligence
community) seems to be -- and I concur -- that (al-Ablaj) is credible and
does have a connection with al-Qaida. The statements he makes should be
taken seriously, especially in light of his apparent prior knowledge of the
Riyadh bombings."
A U.S. intelligence official, who would not comment on al-Ablaj's
credibility, played down the threat to U.S. water supplies, stating, "It is
very difficult to covertly poison a reservoir. It would take many truckloads
of poison, which would make it difficult to do secretly. That is not really
a viable threat."