By Via OFK, comes this news that Al Qaida mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad planned to conduct terrorist attacks against US interests in Korea:
I was responsible for planning and surveying to hit American targets in South Korea, such as American military bases and a few night clubs frequented by American soldiers.
I think this is very possible and the Al Qaida number two man Alman al-Zawahiri has not been shy about his desire to strike South Korean targets:
“We should not wait until U.S., British, French, Jewish, South Korean, Australian or Polish forces enter Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen and Algeria before we resist,†said the tape. The tape called for indiscriminate attacks against the U.S. and its allies, saying “Let us start resisting now. The interests of America, Britain, Australia, France, Poland, Norway, South Korea and Japan are spread everywhere.â€
Also remember just two years ago USFK received specific intelligence in regards to terror threats against US interests in Korea. The threats caused USFK to implement a 2100 curfew and prevent soldiers from congregating in bars and public areas. The source of the intelligence on this plot is quite clear now and led to South Korea cracking down on third country nationals at the time and uncovered a foreign terror cell:
Since 2002, the National Intelligence Service has investigated 107 suspects in connection with six cases involving Middle East terror organizations, the agency said in a report to a legislator made public yesterday.
The intelligence service, according to Representative Won Hye-young of the Uri Party, said South Korea has not escaped involvement with terror attempts by radical Islamist groups.
According to the report, the service learned in May 2005 that an Iranian organization linked to Hezbollah, named by the United States and a few other nations as a terrorist organization, had been involved in wire transfers of cash amounting to about 60 billion won ($63 million).
The transfers had been disguised as trade transactions; it was not clear from the report if the money had been raised in Korea or had been routed through this country in an attempt to disguise its origins. One Iranian was sentenced to a year in prison here for violations of Korea’s financial transfer laws.In May 2004, the report added, the spy agency learned that people linked to Jemaah Islamiah, another Islamist group, were arriving in Korea to set up a base of operations here. Eight Moroccans were denied entry and turned over to Moroccan intelligence in October.
One Korean-American suspect was cited in the report; the agency said it and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation in March 2003 jointly tracked down a 30-year-old man affiliated with a Pakistani terror group.He was deported to the United States, where he received an 11.5-year sentence after being convicted of being a member of a terror organization and having received paramilitary training.
It is highly possible that the Jemaah Islamiah cell that was broke up in Korea was due to the intelligence given by Sheikh Mohammad at the time preventing a terror attack in Korea. This news makes me wonder if water boarding of Sheikh Mohammad was responsible for him divulging this information that may have foiled a terror plot? We will probably never know due to the classified nature of this information, but it just goes to show the moral complexities the United States finds itself in while conducting the War on Terror.Â
I have always felt that if Al Qaida was going to strike Korea they would target the subway system. As past Al Qaida attacks have shown they like to attack soft mass transit targets and Korea’s mass transit system is a big soft target that has the potential for many casualties which was evident by the 2002 Taegu subway fire which killed 130 people. This tragedy could unfortunately be a blueprint for a future Al Qaida attack.Â
Just for the record I feel that Korea is very safe from any terror attack. You have to remember that Korea has been a target of terror attacks for decades prior to Al Qaida becoming a household name due to the threat they face from North Korea. Korean authorities take external security threats very seriously and I’m confident they can continue to unravel any possible terror cells operating in South Korea.Â
8:25 pm on March 16th, 2007 1
Hmmm… a few thoughts on all this…
On Terrorism in Korea:
I sure hope the “terrorists” don’t attack South Korea. I enjoy living in a nation that is moving AWAY from being a police state, not toward one.
On Foolish Action by Terrorists:
One wonders if the “terrorists” sat down and studied Korean group mentality before they started plotting against Korea.
Right now, the Korean population seems to have lukewarm support for Korean soldiers dorking around building bathrooms, giving medical care to Kurds and quietly keeping their place as the THIRD largest member of the Coalition of the Willing (behind US and Britain)… (Y’all think of that before you make fun of Korea’s military contribution.)
Wanna blow up a subway and get pictures of bloodied Korean children crying for dead mommy all over KBS? Oooooo. “Kill the Raghead-noam!” will replace “Dokdo is Our Land!” and it will be heads-on-sticks Koreans on night patrol just like back in ‘Nam… with 47 million cheerleaders yelling , “Tae Han Min Gook Whiting!” And white, they will.
On USFK’s Constant and Unending Stupidity Masked as “Leadership”:
No. No. No. You are all smarter than this.
“Also remember just two years ago USFK received specific intelligence in regards to terror threats against US interests in Korea. The threats caused USFK to implement a 2100 curfew and prevent soldiers from congregating in bars and public areas.”
GI, when you write this kind of stuff (and believe it), I start to think Silly Sally is right and you ARE brainwashed.
Come on… if USFK truly believed there was any real risk of a terrorist threat, they would have done something more substantial than keep a few expendable guys out of basement nightclubs and hole-in-the-wall bars where a Middle Eastern guy in a trench coat might look out of place.
There was no prevention of congregation in public areas.
At this same time when GI Joe couldn’t have a beer and a dance after the magic terrorist-awakening hour of 21:00, officers’ wives and children were packing Songtan’s glass-fronted McDonalds and Burger King from lunch to dinner time, obliviously standing in line with backpack-toting South/West Asians of unknown subspecies, watching trucks deliver LPG tanks on the “no traffic allowed” main street, etc etc etc.
If one wants to get the attention of the American public, hurt the United States military and create “terror”, which is better? An easily-accessible American corporate icon, with 10 meters of glass and no door guard, filled with women, children, and a cross-section of USFK leadership… or a few low-ranking GIs in a Korean whore bar which doesn’t allow backpacks or non-Americans?
That curfew was all about LaPorte trying to get more control and little-to-nothing about “force protection”.
Sadly, so many buy into the whole “force protection” excuse for every curbing of their freedom without considering the legitimacy of the restrictions or determining if any force is actually being protected.
J!
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9:53 pm on March 16th, 2007 2
It isn’t over,either.The grab for control of civilians that is.I keep getting afflicted with new and smellier crap almost daily.There’s ALWAYS the extortion/threat of “losing base access”.There are so many ate up losers over here,that those of us who resent the police state are outnumbered.And now they can fall back on the old threat fantasy again.
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10:40 pm on March 16th, 2007 3
I looked at that first picture and thought it was Ron Jeremy after he had fallen on hard times.
The legendary porn star is a terrorist mastermind? Who knew.
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5:32 am on March 17th, 2007 4
Chickenhead, you may find this hard to believe but not everything USFK does is related to Human Trafficking and Prostitution. That particular curfew was implemented after a number of things that happened that I’m not at liberty post about on this blog. There was consideration of keeping everyone locked on post for awhile like what happened after 9/11, which would have sucked for the soldiers and caused a shitstorm with the business owners.
Fortunately that course of action was chosen especially since it appeared the ROKs had broken up the terror threat, thus it was decided the 2100 curfew was a way to get people’s attention for awhile and put an emphasis on force protection.
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6:17 am on March 17th, 2007 5
Tsk, tsk… I do not believe everything relates to HT&P (although there is SO much money and power involved that more relates to it than many want to believe).
…but, I must say I am now even more confused.
If the threat was serious enough to consider locking everyone on post, why were the desires of Korean business owners any concern? What does that mean?
Further, nothing explains why a packed McDonalds, arguably a fantastic terrorist target, was not placed off-limits… or any other small, realistic steps were taken that would have greatly improved force protection over an arbitrary curfew and a narrow and ineffective off-limits policy… which simply pushed a lot of Osan airmen off into Real Korea where there was no curfew or off-limits restrictions… or even the superficial appearance of force protection.
Whatever reasons anyone wants to claim, these are not the actions and procedures of leadership truly concerned with force protection… unless a clueless USFK leadership was truly floundering and knee-jerking above their normal rate.
While I am not privy to classified security briefings, such as “terrorists will hit clubs but never fast food,” I still see no reason to believe this was anything but a LaPorte power play… and an attempt to gain more control over civilians and dependents.
GI, I greatly respect many things you say… but sometimes, I feel like you champion misguided causes, rationalize poor decisions and support asinine leadership with a little too much indoctrinated enthusiasm.
Nothing personal, dude, but this is one of those times.
J!
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6:29 am on March 17th, 2007 6
Chickenhead wrote:
At this same time when GI Joe couldn’t have a beer and a dance after the magic terrorist-awakening hour of 21:00, officers’ wives and children were packing Songtan’s glass-fronted McDonalds and Burger King from lunch to dinner time, obliviously standing in line with backpack-toting South/West Asians of unknown subspecies, watching trucks deliver LPG tanks on the “no traffic allowed†main street, etc etc etc.”
I nearly spat a mouthful of tea all over my keyboard after reading that.
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9:47 am on March 17th, 2007 7
Chickenhead, you are missing my point. The curfew wasn’t about preventing terrorist attacks it was about sending a message and raising awareness about it.
If things were treated as business as usual no one would take the threat seriously. The actual threat of an attack was low since the ROKs did a good job busting the cell, but it was important to raise awareness in the ranks about the force protection threat. The measures taken then definitely raised awareness both within the ranks and in the villes. Business owners in the villes were practically ran out all third country nationals out of the ville every time they saw them during that period.
A lot of regulations in Korea are directly related to human trafficking and prostitution but decisions made during the period in question had nothing to do with human trafficking and prostitution.
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12:02 pm on March 17th, 2007 8
GI,
Love your blog, but Chickenhead is actually making more sense than you are.
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2:04 pm on March 17th, 2007 9
i have always said just like in bali, korea even more so because of the number of troops is a good target of this activity
geckos on a saturday night
helios on thursday night
packed with gi’s and expats from many countries
unless they ban middle-eastern customers or check everyone that comes in it wouldnt be hard to carry out
the only hard part for them would be to get the materials locally to make a bomb
unless they had a korean buy it for them which i think in the past there were reports that koreans were helping middle-easterners get into the country under the pretense for carrying out attacks on US bases and forces
that was a couple of years ago when suspected al-qaeda agents supposedly visited here with the help of SK nationals
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4:09 am on March 18th, 2007 10
Hmmm…
I think I didn’t miss the point… I just can’t understand it (them, not you).
You state leadership’s true goal was “sending a message and raising awareness about it (force protection)”… and not about preventing terrorist attacks.
O.K., then, I won’t bitch about leadership being ineffective, I’ll bitch about them being asinine.
To bring this “awareness”, Draconian restrictions were put in place which greatly, yet needlessly, affected lower-ranking GIs’ and contractors’ freedom but had little affect on leadership who were mostly home with their command sponsored families after 9pm. Not exactly a demonstration of caring leadership… and it was noticed.
Then, while leadership was fake-hyperventilating over “force protection” and “imminent terrorist threats” to the point where enlisted careers were ended and contractors were fired over arbitrary new rules, leadership showed their true concern over the “threat” by allowing their families to gallivant around the bar/shopping districts (before 21:00) as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Not exactly convincing… and it, too, was noticed.
So, what kind of message was supposed to be sent, exactly? Do they think all GIs are stupid… or just indoctrinated enough to buy into such nonsense? (Remember, they marketed it as a real threat and not an “awareness” campaign.)
At the time, everybody knew the “threat” didn’t exist… because, if it really did exist, “leadership” would have told their families to stay the hell at home long before word trickled down to GI Dogface that the Ville was dangerous after 21:00.
The little general who cried, “Terrorist!” And everybody knows it. And everybody resents it.
GI, this type of situation is a “cause” for me because I see it tearing our country apart. Substitute “force protection” for “homeland defense” and you get a bloated government agency which oversells fear to the American population to reduce opposition to the erosion of the foundation of many basic American rights… while offering expensive and inconvenient half-assed solutions to non-existent problems. I’ll go on about this another time.
As for human trafficking and prostitution, I’m not sure why you continue to bring this up. I, in no way, related this situation to HT&P. To clear this up, allow me to state that I believe this was a power grab by LaPorte and not related to the small minority of corrupt leaders who support the open and obvious HT&P industry or the majority of careerist leaders/followers who ignore HT&P and USFK’s de facto support of it (including yourself).
I hesitated to write this reply because I was hoping more people would comment… but I guess reruns of CSI were on.
I know there are some strong feelings out there about this event and LaPorte’s failed attempt to control civilians. I know this because it seems this 21:00 curfew’s biggest legacy is a 350 million dollar class action lawsuit by civilian workers who had their freedom restricted… which USFK will probably lose to some great extent. USFK apparently already tried to settle quietly for 22 million.
We sure didn’t need that money to buy night vision and body armor for GIs busting their ass in the Desert or mold-free rooms at Walter Reed when it could be better spent raising “awareness” of non-existent terrorist threats in an attempt to control people who were doing just fine in the first place.
Great fucking message, USFK!
jag,
Do tell more! I am under the impression that many new contracts are including clauses which say contractors have to do what Big Mamma USFK tells them to… combined with the new concept that contractors fall under the UCMJ. Doesn’t look good, does it? Next time USFK ays you gotta smoke dick twice a week, they might have the legal backing to keep hold of contractor’s ball hair for real. And the “ate up losers”(LOL) will take it, too… ’cause they ain’t got no choice. I watched some of them living in true fear of being caught out after 21:00 and they would lose the best job they ever had (or will have).
mcnut,
Buying bomb-making materials is beyond easy. Apart from missing LPG trucks or stolen welding equipment, you could probably build a small, suitable bomb with chemicals in your home right now.
When one sets up an anodizing line in one’s machine shop, one might buy 20 liters of nitric acid to clean aluminum parts and 20 liters of sulphuric acid to anodize. If one was so inclined, glycerin is available at a pharmacy and ice is in the freezer. Total cost would be less than a hundred bucks to make more nitroglycerin than one would want to take jogging… and 10 minutes on the Internet would teach one how to stabilize it long enough to get it to it’s target.
When one make acrylic casts from liquid MMA, one uses small amounts of methyl ethyl ketone peroxide as a polymerizing initiator (also used for fiberglass). While kinda explosive all by itself, when mixed with acetone it can form acetone peroxide (aka Mother of Satan) all by itself… or one can make it in quantity from acetone, hydrogen peroxide and a bit of sulphuric acid left over from one’s nitroglycerin project.
In case nobody noticed, Mother of Satan is nail polish remover hair dye battery acid ice = BOOM! That is why it is popular with the jihad crowd… although it takes hours to make and is not really possible to mix unnoticed or unsmelled on an airplane as our government and toothpaste-confiscators would have us believe.
None-the-less, all these chemicals can be bought in most countries without question… including America and Korea.
And, of course, the terrorists already know this.
J!
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10:28 am on March 18th, 2007 11
Ye are a sage, Chickenhead.
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10:59 am on April 22nd, 2007 12
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