WEBCommentary Contributor

Author: Jim Kouri
Date:  July 8, 2006

Topic category:  Other/General

Analysis: Al-Qaeda Changes Focus of Their Attacks and Here's Why

by Jim Kouri, CPP

New Yorkers and New Jerseyites awoke to the news that a terrorist plot to inflict death and devastation on them by bombing tunnels used by over a hundred thousand commuters each day was thwarted before the terrorists could not enter the United States and implement their diabolical suicide-bombing plan.

Eight suspects -- including an Al-Qaeda loyalist arrested in Lebanon and two others in custody elsewhere -- were planning their coordinated attacks as close to September 11 as possible. But special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation counterterrorism unit, working with their counterparts in several other countries, intervened.

"It was never a concern that this would actually be executed," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff during a press conference. "We were, as I say, all over this."

Initial reports said that the terrorists wanted to attack the Holland Tunnel, a major thoroughfare for cars entering and leaving Manhattan. But officials later said the group had specifically mentioned only the PATH train tunnels.

"This is a plot that involved martyrdom and explosives" and focused on the "tubes that connect [New] Jersey and lower Manhattan," said FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon.

Federal agents and NYPD Intelligence Division detectives decided in recent weeks that the "plotting for this attack had matured to a point where it appeared that the individuals were about to move forward," Mershon said during a press conference on Friday.

"They were about to go to a phase where they would attempt to surveil targets, establish a regimen of attack and acquire the resources necessary to [launch] the attack."

A New York City law enforcement official told this writer that the suspects hoped to inflict damage on the US ECONOMY, first and foremost. And that fact was the key to understanding the terrorists' shift in the types of targets they seek for their maniacal suicide missions. The terrorists want to have a devastating impact upon this nation's economy.

This fact shows the terrorists have a keen understanding of the US political climate and the American people.

According to one NYPD intelligence officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the terrorists believe if they can hurt the American economy that more people -- with the help of many Democrats and some Republicans in collusion with the mainstream news media -- will turn against the Commander-in-Chief and his plan of taking the fight to the enemy.

New York cops love President Bush. They endorsed him and they support him. So perhaps that detective's analysis is a bit biased.

But I wholeheartedly agree with that detective. The terrorists know that the Democrat Party leadership -- either as willing accomplices or useful idiots -- will continue their daily assault on President George W. Bush and the war on terrorism. The terrorists know that their friends in the news media -- who provide them with useful intelligence by printing leaked classified information on counterterrorism programs -- will harp on the doom and gloom stories should a terrorist attack cause harm to the US economy.

Just look, for example, what happens when gas prices go up. The socialists in the Democrat Party assail corporations and make unsubstantiated accusations of "price gauging" that are repeated by their lapdogs at the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CNN and the rest of the usual suspects who control the daily flow of information which is shoved down the throats of busy, hardworking Americans. These Americans do not have the time to analyze every story being reported, and so deceptive reporting goes unquestioned by most citizens.

Then the Democrats and the news media connect the rise in the prices of gasoline to the Bush White House and soon Americans practically spit when they hear the name Bush.

The terrorists know that another 9/11-style attack will only serve to strengthen Americans' resolve to beat back the radical Muslim hordes. However, if the damage of a terrorist attack causes a downturn on Wall Street and prices of products to soar while unemployment increases, Americans will blame the president because they will be directed by the terrorist cohorts in the Democrat Party and the mainstream news media to do so.

And no matter what the Democrats and their flunkies say to the contrary, they are weak on national security. A Democrat Party victory in 2006 will place in motion the beginning of the cut-and-run leaders taking over the US government, and the eventual withdrawal of military troops who are fighting terrorists on their own soil. After all, Senator John Kerry let it slip out during one of his many speeches that he believes the war on terrorism is a crime problem to be solved by playing cops & robbers with the terrorists. And while the New York Times may disagree with my assessment, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups know its right on.    

Jim Kouri
Chief of Police Magazine (Contributing Editor)


Biography - Jim Kouri

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for a number of organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. He writes for many police and crime magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer, Campus Law Enforcement Journal, and others. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com, Booksamillion.com, and can be ordered at local bookstores. Kouri holds a bachelor of science in criminal justice and master of arts in public administration and he's a board certified protection professional.


Copyright © 2006 by Jim Kouri
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