Truck bombs are a' comin'

KenpoEMT

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Link to the below article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1734148,00.html
US warns of new attacks on London
DAVID LEPPARD
read the document
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2087-1733874_1,00.html) [<---edited in by Theban_Legion. Link in original was not functioning. This link is to the report of leaked intelligence by US.]

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AMERICAN intelligence chiefs have warned that Al-Qaeda terrorists are plotting to drive hijacked fuel tankers into petrol stations in an effort to cause mass casualties in London and US cities in the next few weeks.

NI_MPU('middle');The leaked warning, contained in a bulletin issued by the US Department for Homeland Security last week, says the attacks aim to create catastrophic damage at about the time of the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The warning came as it emerged that the British Department for Transport had for the first time issued guidelines ordering a tightening of security around the UK road tanker fleet.

The US warning has been circulated among law enforcement agencies and fuel transport agencies. Although a preamble states that “no other intelligence exists to corroborate this specific threat”, the intelligence report is highly specific.

It says: “Al-Qaeda leaders plan to employ various types of fuel trucks as vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED) in an effort to cause mass casualties in the US (and London), prior to September 19. Attacks are planned specifically for New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It is unclear whether the attacks will occur simultaneously or be spread over a period of time. The stated goal is the collapse of the US economy.”

The document goes on to suggest that the proposed methods will involve suicide drivers: “Some of the vehicles used will be hijacked. The type of vehicle may be anything from gasoline tanker trucks to trucks hauling oxygen and gas cylinders. Water trucks filled with gasoline or other highly combustible material may also be used. The detonation of the vehicles will be carried out by driving them into gas stations or ramming explosive-laden vehicles into the trucks carrying the fuel.”

The intelligence report says that the terrorist cells thought to be planning the attack will “execute the plan upon receipt of an order”. It goes on to speculate that the videotape released last week by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader, may have been meant as “the activation signal to the cells”. In the video al-Zawahiri warned that attacks would continue in Britain until it pulled out of Iraq.

The report says that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the alleged masterminds of the September 11 attacks, has told US interrogators that he had developed plans for targeting petrol stations. This was “due to their apparent vulnerability and the potential destructive force of a fuel-driven explosion”, it says.

The use of petrol tankers as mobile bombs has been a well-tested Al-Qaeda tactic in the Middle East. Terrorists in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have all used large fuel tankers against military and civilian targets.

A fuel tanker attack on the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996 killed 19 US servicemen. Four weeks ago terrorists exploded a fuel tanker in a busy market town 25 miles south of Baghdad killing nearly 100.

Although the specific threat of a tanker attack on London is thought to be new, Scotland Yard and MI5 have long feared that Al-Qaeda would try vehicle attacks on key targets in the capital.

Last year police disrupted an alleged plot to bomb a “soft target” — thought to be a Soho nightclub — with a truck bomb. More than half a ton of fertiliser, which can be used to make explosives, was recovered in a raid in north London.

Security sources say that fears about the use of fuel tankers has led to them being closely monitored when they enter the City of London.

Concrete security barriers have been placed in other key locations across the capital to stop vehicles packed with explosives reaching buildings such as parliament.
It would not be at all difficult for terrorists to hi-jack any HAZ-MAT commercial vehicle. With so many millions of trucks on the interstates at any given moment, we cannot possibly be protected against this threat.

I say that in America we should federalize the trucking industry and mandate that all truckers should train and qualify to carry firearms. We can call them the 'road marshals':) . That would at least give them a chance at fighting off a hi-jacking.

Yes, I know...unrealistic. Well, what should we do then? The government absolutely cannot admit that it is nearly powerless against this kind of threat.
 

MA-Caver

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A lot of truck drivers do carry CWP's as well as the right to carry a shotgun or three in their cabs... mainly because since many of them have sleepers they can be considered a residence and thus they have the right to protect their "homes" and likewise the cargo they're carrying.
A driver would have to be caught completely off guard (i.e. from behind as he is getting into his truck) so that their vehicle can be taken.
Federally mandate trucking... all I can say is don't identify yourself too readily with that statement beyond this forum... you might end up with some pissed off truckers running you off the road ala "Duel." They have enough mandates on them already that is restricting their work.

Still if it were me, as a terrorist with that kind of idea... better to coordinate strikes at refineries and other holding places to cut our supplies down than to randomly hit this or that gas-station and blowing that up... most casualties you'd probably get outta that is about 20... yes, twenty too many but better to cut the goose's throat than clipping it's wings one at a time eh?
 
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KenpoEMT

KenpoEMT

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My words on federal regulation were only half serious.
A lot of truck drivers do carry CWP's as well as the right to carry a shotgun or three in their cabs... mainly because since many of them have sleepers they can be considered a residence and thus they have the right to protect their "homes" and likewise the cargo they're carrying.
I've never seen a law enforcement agency that considered a sleeper as being your residence.
I looked into getting a CCW while on the road, and the fact is that only certain states recognize other states CCW permits. You could get a CCW in Texas, and you could travel pretty freely between Texas and Oklahoma. When I checked it out, only 13 other states recognized Texas' CCW permit as valid. The problem arises when you cross a state line that does not recognize your CCW. Having a New York state trooper search your rig and find a Glock is not a good thing. Also, depending on the company, you never know when your next load will go to Canada or Mexico. That's a bad time to be armed.

A driver would have to be caught completely off guard (i.e. from behind as he is getting into his truck) so that their vehicle can be taken.
I think it was about a year or year and a half ago down at the old pilot(or was it old petro? don't remember) off of I-20 in Dallas that a Trucker was murdered, while sleeping, by some individuals who busted his window out and got into his cab and shot him to death in front of his wife. They robbed the truck. They let the wife live (I don't know why, but I'm glad they did). You could probably find it in an archive. I remember that it was talked about quite abit at the time. I heard about it the day after it happened while I was several states away (TN). I got on the news site to checkit out...saddest story.

Anyway, the point is that the terrorists don't need the driver to be alive.

Still if it were me, as a terrorist with that kind of idea... better to coordinate strikes at refineries and other holding places to cut our supplies down than to randomly hit this or that gas-station and blowing that up... most casualties you'd probably get outta that is about 20... yes, twenty too many but better to cut the goose's throat than clipping it's wings one at a time eh?
Yeah, hitting the refineries would be the logical way to wage a war. I think that these guys want the flash of the newscamera to be pointed at a pile of smoking bodies.


 

hardheadjarhead

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Gas trucks? Doesn't sound like an effective way to do it.

Now PROPANE...that might cause some hate and discontent. Ammonium nitrate (fertilizer), sure. But gasoline will blow upward, burn, and not spread that far.



Regards,


Steve
 
B

Booie_101

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i have driven for a living in the u.k,not gas tankers but haulage and still have friends in the business.....everyone of them has a stick/bat/tire wrench in the cab were it can be reached.....the trouble is being in england it is a crime to defend yourself so whats a driver to do?


personaly i'll take my chances with a stick.
 

theletch1

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I'm a trucker and I'll tell ya we're already under gov't control...DOT,FMCHSA,DHS and all that other alphabet soup. DO NOT get caught with a handgun in your truck. That's a big no-no. Doesn't matter whether you stay in one state or run the lower 48, last I checked class 8 commercial vehicle drivers were not allowed to keep a weapon in their truck (and depending on the DOT officer even a freakin' club will get you in trouble). A sleeper is not considered a home and as such is subject to the same search and seizure rules as anyones car or pick up.

The process for obtaining a haz-mat endorsement on your liscense just went from being a quick test to a lengthy 45 to 90 day process. Sure, like a terrorist is gonna go get a license first. The last thing the trucking industry and truckers need is for these jack asses to start using trucks as bombs. We already put up with so much crap from folks that honestly believe the country would be better off with zero trucks because of the actions of that bottom 10% of every industry that give the rest of us a bad name that it isn't even funny.

As for having to catch a driver completely unaware to take his truck...I know guys that park their truck (running, doors unlocked) and go into a truck stop for hours to shower and eat. Not hard at all to get hold of a truck. Fuel, even propane (man what a bang that would be) is a very mild "filler" for the truck bomb compared to a lot of the stuff that's being trucked up and down the road.
 

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