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Domestic
Security Sky-Rockets as New Al-Qaeda Target List Uncovered
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barricades and police officers surround the historic
Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City
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WASHINTON,
Feb. 2 (IslamOnline) – Security in the United States is at an all
time high as news agencies reported that a new Al-Qaeda target list
citing several U.S. and European tourist attractions as possible new
targets has surfaced.
The
11 volume, 5000 page manual is reported to have been turned over to
an Associated Press (AP) journalist in Afghanistan by a
“disenchanted Taliban member.”
The
manual allegedly calls for the new target sites to have “high
human intensity” and “sentimental value.”
Included
in the list were major landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty in
New York, Big Ben in London and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
In
addition, the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, set to host
75,000 people for Sunday’s SuperBowl XXXVI was also reported to
have been named in the document.
Associated
Press reported that “the chapter on foreign operations in the
11-volume ‘Manual of Afghan Jihad’ also recommends targeting
sites of ‘sentimental value’ such as the Statue of Liberty, Big
Ben in London and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Such landmarks, the
two-page chapter noted, would generate intense publicity with
minimal casualties.”
Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials have repeated
calls for vigilance in recent days, warning that large terror
attacks could still take place.
Documents
found in Afghanistan have included diagrams of American nuclear
power plants, intelligence officials have said, news agencies
reported.
"There
must be plans in place for hitting buildings with high human
intensity like skyscrapers, ports, airports, nuclear power plants
and places where large numbers of people gather like football
grounds,” AP reported the chapter as saying.
The
chapter, entitled "External Pressure," reads like a
blueprint for the September 11 attacks, in which four hijacked
airliners crashed into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon
and a field in Pennsylvania, AP reported.
"The
strikes must be strong and have a wide impact on the population of
that nation," the essay said. "Four targets must be
simultaneously hit in any of those nations so that the government
there knows that we are serious."
The
fourth plane used in the September 11 attacks was downed in
Pennsylvania before it could reach its target, believed to be in
Washington D.C.
The
chapter did not elaborate on ways to attack the targets, nor did it
give any indication that specific operations were in the works.
Fred
Francis, an Arab American journalist for MSNBC, reported that he was
detained near the SuperDome in New Orleans, saying security is so
tight that the area has been closed off for a three block radius.
He
was released after 35 minutes with help of top secret service
officials from Washington D.C. He said that he did not consider his
detention to be a result of racial profiling.
Security
has also been stepped up at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York as
3,000 world leaders attend the World Economic Conference. It is
reported that 10,000 security officials are guarding the hotel and
surrounding venues.
The
Winter Olympics, set to take place in Salt Lake City, Utah next
week, has also forced an increase in security in the area. Two
million visitors are scheduled to attend the event over its 9-day
duration and the official event site covers a 900-mile radius.
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