CNN has yet to elaborate on its week-old “breaking news,” but it appears the new development is that the terrorist at the center of the plot has confessed on Jordanian state television.
The would-be mass murderer, Hussein Sharif, says “he was acting on the orders of a man believed to be al Qaeda’s chief of operations in Iraq,” according to CBS News. He also revealed that the terrorists were hoping to kill 80,000 people, rather than the meager 20,000 previously reported.
A quote from Tony Blair in October 2001 — back when we still thought the 9/11 death toll was around 7,000 — comes to mind: “They have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the innocent. If they could have murdered not 7,000 but 70,000, does anyone doubt they would have done so and rejoiced in it?”
CORRECTION & UPDATE: It previously said above that Azmi al-Jayousi is the terrorist whose confession was aired today. In fact, al-Jayousi is the alleged (and still wanted) mastermind of the plot, but it is Hussein Sharif whose confession was aired.
Anyway, CNN’s full article is finally up:
Jordanian authorities said Monday they have broken up an alleged al Qaeda plot that would have unleashed a deadly cloud of chemicals in the heart of Jordan’s capital, Amman.
The plot would have been more deadly than anything al Qaeda has done before, including the September 11 attacks, according to the Jordanian government. …
U.S. intelligence officials expressed caution about whether the chemicals captured by Jordanian authorities were intended to create a “toxic cloud” chemical weapon, but they said the large quantities involved were at a minimum intended to create “massive explosions.” …
At issue is the presence of a large quantity of sulfuric acid among the tons of chemicals seized by Jordanian authorities. Sulfuric acid can be used as a blister agent, but it more commonly can increase the size of conventional explosions, according to U.S. officials.
Nevertheless, U.S. intelligence officials called the capture of tons of chemicals that together could create several large conventional explosions “a big deal.”
Hussein Sharif himself says that the mastermind, al-Zarqawi, “told me that this will be the first chemical attack that al Qaeda will execute.” Of course, one always has to take terrorists’ own statements with a grain of salt.
But according to CNN, “Jordanian authorities said the attack would have mixed a combination of 71 lethal chemicals, which they said has never been done before, including blistering agents to cause third-degree burns, nerve gas and choking agents.”
It strikes me that mixing a whole bunch of chemicals together would actually have rather unpredictable results… wouldn’t it? Might various chemical reactions — catalyzed by the heat of the explosion — change the nature of the “chemical cloud” in ways that the terrorists themselves probably wouldn’t be able to anticipate?
Ah, well, blame it on the “fog of war.” It at least seems clear that the Jordanians believe there was more than sulfuric acid involved here. I wonder what is causing the apparent disconnect between their assessment and ours.
In other WMD-related news, there was some rather suspicious goings-on in Iraq today. A booby-trapped chemical weapons compound, perhaps?
|
Categories: News: Terrorism & War
|
April 26th, 2004 at 1:42:51 pm
Well, conflicting reports & confusion over ID’s aside, it’s nice that the gentle Jordanians were able to employ Moral Suasion to convince the lads to confess. :> (It’s good for the Soul, y’know…)
“…The Jordanian government said the videotapes were made with the full cooperation of the suspects and their attorneys.” I’m just Sure.
“…mixing a whole bunch of chemicals together would actually have rather unpredictable results… wouldn’t it? Might various chemical reactions — catalyzed by the heat of the explosion — change the nature of the “chemical cloud” in ways that the terrorists themselves probably wouldn’t be able to anticipate?”
YO! MIKE!! A little Help, here. :) [Our Man at Stanford is perhaps more expert at analyzing Bioweaponry but I bet he can Shed Light anyway.]
FWIW, the article states that
“A Jordanian government scientist said the plot had been carefully worked out, with just the right amount of explosives to spread the deadly cloud without diminishing the effects of the chemicals. The blast would not burn up the poisonous chemicals but instead produce a toxic cloud, the scientist said, possibly spreading for a mile, maybe more.”
April 26th, 2004 at 2:12:09 pm
Re your Other WMD-related news, there was something Fishy about that Baghdad building, all right. / If it wasn’t booby-trapped, somebody may have, tragically, done something that set off the blast by accident.
And while we’re on such Wonderful developments, he ya go: Call to Jihad in Europe.
April 26th, 2004 at 11:04:40 pm
Unfortunately, without the specifics of which chemicals are involved in the “cloud,” I can’t make a reasonable statement. Ayum Shinri Ko managed a sarin release in the Tokyo subway, which while admittedly horrible resulted in far less deaths than you’d expect from a nerve gas released in a crowded metropolis, but the number of deaths hoped for here seems absurd from a chemical attack. It is, of course, entirely possible that multiple chemicals released at once could render each other ineffective. Chlorine gas can suffocate you, and elemental sodium can set fire to water, but combine them together, let the electrons shuffle, and you end up with table salt. It’s also possible that they can make things worse. I’m not a big fan of the smell of either bleach or ammonia, but I greatly prefer either of them alone than the result of mixing them together, as I don’t want to suffocate in a cloud of chlorine. I’m guessing the lack of more detailed information in the news report is due to a) the writer not being terribly familiar with the workings of chemistry, and b) a desire to keep the disgruntled-yet-lazy from doing it themselves… :)
April 27th, 2004 at 6:37:42 am
“Bart! you know what happens when you mix acids and bases don’t you!?!”
“yes”
[Boom]
April 27th, 2004 at 8:57:32 am
While I think it is certainly reasonable for us to doubt the veracity of some elements [ahem] of this story, it’s important to remember that we’ve been training and educating potential terrorists for years. The West, specifically Canada, Europe, Australia, and the U.S., have had (and some still have) particularly lax laws on student visas. We don’t really screen these guys that well, so who knows how many of Iran’s nuclear scientists we’ve trained, or to how many al-Qaeda terrorists we’ve given chemistry majors.
April 27th, 2004 at 9:03:10 am
Who knows… how many al-Qaeda terrorists we’ve given chemistry majors.
Biology majors, too. I hope somebody’s keeping an eye on that Mike Wiser kid. I always thought he was a rather suspicious character. I mean, just look at him. He’s got “seventh member of the Lackawanna Six” written all over him. :)