Here is some more believe it or not: bin Laden supposedly planned attack on 9/11/11

[liberal N proud]

Qaeda planned 9/11 anniversary rail attack: US

Washington: Some of the first information gleaned from Osama bin Laden's compound indicates al Qaeda considered attacking US trains on the upcoming anniversary of the September 11 attacks. But counter-terrorism officials say they believe the planning never got beyond the initial phase and have no recent intelligence pointing to an active plot for such an attack.

As of February 2010, the terror organization was considering plans to attack the US on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. One idea was to tamper with an unspecified US rail track so that a train would fall off the track at a valley or a bridge, according to a joint FBI and Homeland Security bulletin sent to law enforcement officials around the country on Thursday. The al Qaeda planners noted that if they attacked a train by tilting it, the plan would only succeed once because the tilting would be spotted the next time.

The warning, obtained by The Associated Press, was marked for "official use only."

Information on the train plot appears to be the first widely circulated intelligence pulled from the raid this week on bin Laden's secret compound in Pakistan. After killing the terror leader and four of his associates, Navy SEALs confiscated a treasure trove of computers, DVDs and documents from the home where US officials believe the al Qaeda chief had been hiding for up to six years.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/qaeda-plotted-911-anniversary-rail-attack-us/151390-2.html

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. Holy Shit! We better start bombing the shit out of Belgium as a response

to this extremely scary scenario.

[intheflow]

2. I traveled by train a bit last year and was surprised at the lack of security.

Not that I'm complaining; I chose that mode of travel to avoid the invasive bullshit of air travel. But considering how OTT airport security is, it seemed rather incongruous.

[liberal N proud]

12. Security boarding the train is kind of senseless

All anyone would have to do is sit along the tracks somewhere and wait for the train to pass by to execute an attack. The tracks cannot be secured from point to point.

[intheflow]

17. Good point! n/t

[MadHound]

3. Sounds more like the same old scare tactics that we've seen over the past decade

Be afraid, be very afraid, so that we can better invade your privacy and fondle your children, no matter where you go, no matter how you travel.

[Ohio Joe]

4. Be afraid?

Of an abandonded plot? Who would be afraid of that?

[MadHound]

5. Oh, this will be used to tighten security at railroads,

The narrative will go something like, "We narrowly averted this by killing bin Laden, but it could still happen, so we need to tighten up security and install TSA scanners and security at every train, plane and bus station."

[Ohio Joe]

6. um... yeah

:eyes:

[texanwitch]

7. Yep.

Always a new scare to take away more rights.

[Ohio Joe]

8. Yeah but umm... Don't you need the scare?

This seems to have been abandoned before we got OBL... There is nothing scary here.

[texanwitch]

10. Today I took Greyhound bus to Austin, Tx for the day, a fun trip.

Just wanted to save some gas.

I was sitting in the waiting room watching the tv and the news was on.

The report was about possible attacks on trains.

I was thinking the next time I a take a bus to Austin will it be like the airport.

I am more afraid of my government, not some make believe scary bad guy.

It wont't be long before the scanners everywhere.

[alarimer]

11. The timing is certainly convenient.

Gotta keeps us all scared and compliant, while our rights go up in smoke. Somewhere Osama is laughing his ass off because he won.

[Shagbark Hickory]

9. It never got past the "initial stage" cuz they discovered that we don't actually have passenger rail

[liberal N proud]

13. I guess the republicans are keeping us safer

The block all funding for rail travel so we don't have to worry.


:sarcasm:

[mmonk]

14. Yep. This isn't Europe.

[Shagbark Hickory]

16. Or Argentina, Or China, Or Japan, or Russia, Or just about every other developed country.

Except Canada of course.

[Warren Stupidity]

15. al-q plans lots of attacks

they just don't much get past the planning stage. They got very lucky on 9-11 (and lets not discuss just how very very lucky they got.) Since then we have had a few serious attacks (London, Madrid, Bali) not up to the scale of 9-11 but pretty serious, and a lot of basically comical bullshit. Shoe bombers, thong bombers, water bottle bombers, times square not-really-a-bomb bombers. They do not appear to have the organization strength to do anything of real significance outside of the islamic world.