American Children - Next Terrorist Target?

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:52 am

Read this and be aware, VERY AWARE!

Storm Track Infiltration: American Children - Next Terrorist Target?
http://the-gathering-storm.blogspot.com/#links

JR over at A Keyboard and a .45 recently wrote a chilling post. He speculated on some worrisome information and events that could lead to mass slaughter in our schools by terrorists.

Consider these points:

According to two trainers at an anti-terrorism conference on the East Coast, preparations for attacks on American schools that will bring rivers of blood and staggering body counts are well underway in Islamic terrorist camps.
The intended attackers have bluntly warned us they're going to do it.
They're already begun testing school-related targets here.
They've given us a catastrophic model to train against, which we've largely ignored and they've learned more deadly tactics from.
According to an article from PoliceOne.com, "We don't know for sure what they will do. But by definition, a successful attack is one we are not ready for," declared one of the instructors, Lt.Col. Dave Grossman. Our schools fit that description to a "T"-as in Terrorism and Threat."

How do we know that the terrorist are targeting our schools? Todd Rassa, a trainer with the SigArms Academy and an advisory board member for The Police Marksman magazine, shared a full day's agenda on the danger to U.S. schools at a recent three-day conference on terrorist issues, sponsored by the International Assn. of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI) in Atlantic City.

Al-Qaeda has publicly asserted the "right" to kill 2,000,000 American children, Rassa explained, and has warned that "operations are in stages of preparation" now. He played vivid videotapes confiscated in Afghanistan, showing al-Qaeda terrorists practicing the takeover of a school. The trainees issue commands in English, rehearse separating youngsters into manageable groups and meeting any resistance with violence. Some "hostages" are taken to the rooftop, dangled over the edge, then "shot."

In this country this year ['06], Rassa said, there have been several school bus-related incidents involving Middle Eastern males that raise suspicion of terrorist activity. These include the surprise boarding of a school bus in Florida by two men in trench coats, who may have been on a canvassing mission, and the attempt in New York State by an Arab male to obtain a job as a school bus driver using fraudulent Social Security documents. The latter gave an address in Detroit, home to a large colony of fundamentalist Muslims. Rassa claimed that floor plans for half a dozen schools in Virginia, Texas and New Jersey have been recovered from terrorist hands in Ir aq.

A "dress rehearsal for what terrorists plan to do to us" has already taken place, Rassa and Grossman agreed. That was the brutal takedown in 2004 of a school that served children from 6 to 17 years old in Beslan, Russia. Some 100 terrorists were involved, nearly half of whom were discreetly embedded in the large crowd of parents, staff and kids who showed up for the first day of school; the rest arrived for the surprise attack in SUVs, troop carriers and big sedans. Across a three-day siege, 700 people were wounded and 338 killed, including 172 youngsters.

What is the likely means of attack upon a school in the United States?

Probably not so many terrorists involved at a single location. Moving that big a contingent into place would likely attract too much attention and thwart the attack. Grossman describes a more likely possibility, in his opinion: Terrorist cells of four operatives each will strike simultaneously at four different schools. They'll probably pick middle schools with no police officers on site, where the girls are "old enough to rape" but students are not big enough to fight back effectively.

The targets will probably be in states "with no concealed-carry laws and no hunting culture" and in communities where "police do not have rifles." Rural areas may be favored, where 30 minutes or more could be required for responders to arrive in force.

The attackers will "mow down every kid and teacher they see" as they move in to seize the school. They'll plant bombs throughout the buildings, and " rape, murder and throw out bodies like they did in Russia." Emergency vehicles responding and children fleeing will be blown up by car bombs in the parking lot.

In all, 100 to 300 children could be slaughtered in a first strike. Terrorists capable of this are already embedded in communities "all over America," Grossman and Rassa agreed. More will probably gain entry surreptitiously from Mexico, making southern California potentially a prime target.

Does Hezbollah ring a bell?

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:26 am

http://wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54975

Police ill-equipped to defend against an American Beslan

Authorities fear the school massacre that shook Russia a few years ago may be a dress rehearsal for what al-Qaida plans to do in America – only on a grander scale, launching multiple school attacks simultaneously across the country.

In 2004, Chechen terrorists associated with al-Qaida seized a school building in Beslan, Russia, and slaughtered 338, including 172 children.

Three years later, schools and local police in this country are still unprepared to deal with such an assault, experts warn. Most don't have response plans for handling a single active shooter, let alone a cell of trained terrorists launching a large-scale attack.

Yet terror cells secreted inside America may be planning to use buses, as well as other vehicles and methods, as a Trojan horse to infiltrate school campuses and massacre students and teachers.

The FBI and Homeland Security Department last month distributed a bulletin to law enforcement across the country warning that Muslims with "ties to extremist groups" are signing up to be school bus drivers. They also noted "recent suspicious activity" by foreigners who either drive school buses or are licensed to drive them.

"The enemy is infiltrating us at all levels, and certainly school bus drivers are one area to look at," warned retired Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, president of Killology Research Group, an anti-terror consultancy that trains the FBI and other law enforcement. "And how about high school, middle school and elementary school cafeteria workers? Janitors? Delivery people?"

Grossman says some school district security officials he works with have expressed concerns about some of the Muslim employees schools are hiring.

"But no one dares profile them," he told WND.

"Islamic terrorists are already in place in the U.S. and, yes, that includes bus drivers, cafeteria workers and also airport workers," added Grossman, a former Army Ranger and West Point professor.

(Story continues below)

Floor plans for schools in Virginia, Texas and New Jersey have been recovered from terrorist hands in Iraq, he notes. Videotapes confiscated in Afghanistan show al-Qaida terrorists practicing the takeover of a school.

Simultaneous attacks on schools in multiple states would follow Osama bin Laden's goal of crippling the U.S. economy. If multiple schools were hit, Grossman says, parents would drop out of the work force en masse to protect their children. A prolonged labor disruption would cost businesses billions of dollars in lost revenue.

The 9/11 mastermind now in custody at Gitmo recently suggested al-Qaida may be targeting school children. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said in his confession before a military tribunal that while he may not like killing kids, they're fair game in jihad. He claims U.S. forces bombed and killed the children of bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and arrested and "abused" his own children.

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, an al-Qaida spokesman has claimed Muslims have the right to kill up to 2 million American children in retaliation for Muslim children killed in Muslim lands.

"Osama bin Laden has promised that what has happened in (Beslan) Russia will happen to us many times over," Grossman said. "And Osama tries very hard never to lie to us."

Experts say terrorist cells are aided by many facilitators inside American cities who canvass targets and perform other logistics for such attacks.

"They are in the U.S., in all aspects of life, including the schools – and not just as bus drivers," Grossman said. "And American school children may pay the price," if schools and local law enforcement fail to implement counterterror plans.

Recent events come on top of several other school bus-related incidents involving Mideast men that raise suspicion of terror activity.

They include last year's surprise boarding of a school bus in Tampa, Fla., by two Saudi men dressed in trench coats. Authorities suspect they were making a dry run to see how easy it would be to hijack or blow up a school bus filled with innocent American students.

Previously, an Arab man from Detroit was caught trying to obtain a job as a school bus driver in New York using fake Social Security documents.

Experts also worry about terrorists operating independently of al-Qaida. "There are many lone wolves and self-starters out there who could attack at any time," Grossman warned.

Muslim gunman Sulejman Talovic was loaded for bear in February when he opened fire on shoppers in a Salt Lake City mall. He was armed with a shotgun, a .38 pistol and a backpack full of ammunition. He killed five and would have kept killing if an alert off-duty police officer hadn't returned fire and helped stop him.

If the 18-year-old Bosnian immigrant had targeted his old high school in a similar rampage, the number of body bags would have been horrific, experts say. Such a scenario is local law enforcement's worst nightmare, because school resource officers, or SROs, are ill-equipped to handle such assaults.

Homeland security consultants recommend arming all SROs and training them in SWAT tactics to repel such attackers.

"The time may come when that one cop will have to keep several adults at bay, preventing them from prosecuting their assault plan on our kids until support arrives," said John Giduck, president of Archangel Group, an antiterror training service.

Recent attacks on children in schools in Athens, Ga., Bailey, Co., Red Lake, Minn., and Nickel Mines, Penn., occurred in the absence of armed SROs.

"We can't think that Columbine will be the worst tactical circumstances our SROs will face," warned Giduck, author of "Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America's Schools."