ABC has a video up on their website that is the surveillance video for the planners of 9/11:
Surveillance video of the World Trade Center, the New York Stock Exchange, Liberty Plaza and other downtown street scenes was released by Scotland Yard today shortly after the likely cameraman was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison.
Dhiren Barot and a friend took the video in April 2001, just a few months before the 9/11 attacks, though prosecutors did not charge Barot with direct involvement in the attacks.
But Barot clearly had his eye on the World Trade Center as a target..
Barot was a very experienced terrorist with definite anti-surveillence skills that made him almost impossible for the British to tail:
Before the July 7 suicide bombings, the investigation into the activities of terror-plotter Dhiren Barot was the largest and most demanding anti-terrorism operation that Scotland Yard had ever carried out.
Codenamed Operation Rhyme, it set new standards in terms of its scale and complexity, and forced police to confront new technological challenges and adapt their investigative methods to meet the challenges posed by a new brand of international terrorism.
Barot himself was nearly impossible to keep track of. An experienced terrorist, he was highly skilled in counter-surveillance techniques, and made it as difficult as possible for officers to gather the evidence they knew they needed if he was ever to be convicted in a court of law.
In the end, their hand was forced. When Barot’s terrifying plans were discovered on a laptop seized during a raid in Pakistan, detectives knew they had to arrest him immediately, despite the fact that there was almost no admissible evidence against him.
Barot was first identified and put under surveillance in the UK on June 15 2004. For some time, police had been aware that a “significant al-Qaida operative” was operating somewhere inside the UK, but until then they did not know who or where he was, or even what he looked like.
Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch devoted huge resources to identify him, but even when they finally did, keeping track of him was nigh impossible. “He was probably the most difficult individual to keep under surveillance that we have had in recent times,” a counter terrorism source said.
Barot was very security conscious. He was well versed in counter surveillance techniques, rarely stayed anywhere for more than a night, used a variety of different vehicles and hardly ever used mobile phones.
He would even perform sudden manoeuvres in heavy traffic or drive round and round roundabouts to make it harder for surveillance officers to tail him. Given that he had no obvious source of income so far as the taxman was concerned, and did not claim benefits, police believe that Barot must have had access to considerable resources to enable him to maintain his transient lifestyle.
He managed to maintain numerous bank accounts and credit cards, and it can only be assumed that his funding came from his well-documented terrorism connections. Whether, by the end of June 2004, Barot knew he was being followed is unclear. What is known is that he managed to disappear off the radar completely at the end of July.
Once the plot was discovered for another attack on Britian which he dubbed the “gas limos project” the British police decided they had to arrest him as soon as possible. Once he popped up on radar once again they did just that. Two years later he was sentenced to life in prison for the project he was planning.
Details of the operation are here:
The 34-year-old, who will now spend most of the rest of his life behind bars, detailed his proposals in a document entitled Rough Presentation For Gas Limos Projects.
The document was found on a computer following a raid by intelligence officers in Pakistan before Barot’s arrest in 2004.
Here is a summarised version of the entire document:
In his introduction Barot listed his “Primary Objectives”, which included wishes that the project would “be able to inflict mass damage and chaos”.
He also set out his plan to build an “improvised destructive device” using commercially available products and chose gas as his substance of choice.
He wrote: “Gas can, within certain perimeters, be employed to cause large scale damage to structures since many of them, gas types, are by nature, extremely flammable as well as explosive.”
He said many different types of gases available on the market were considered, although the “final choice” was narrowed down to propane, butane, acetylene and oxygen.
CHAPTER ONE: Improvised main charges.
Barot wrote that in order to “convince myself” of the devastating effects of gas, he studied case studies of actual gas disasters.
He also described that in order to “maximise on damage caused, one should still strive to cause the bottles to break apart in order to cause shrapnel damage much as a grenade would”.
He then went on to talk about how it was important to have a basic understanding of the science and not to leave “too much to chance”.
Mentioning one case study, he talked about the bombings in Kenya and Tanzania where “brothers” used some acetylene cylinders.
Barot went on in the chapter to detail how easy it was to obtain gas cylinders from locations such as petrol stations or gas factories.
He concluded that gas explosions from cylinders, if carefully orchestrated, could be as powerful as exploding TNT.
CHAPTER TWO: Arson (deliberate fire).
In this chapter Barot set out his belief that causing a fire around the gas cylinder would help to cause an explosion.
At one point he made reference to the September 11 attacks.
He wrote: “That’s the best example of how a building can be totally gutted by an inferno (blaze) and more was that of the WTC (World Trade Centre).
“Here the fire temperature due to the burning of kerosene became so hot that it caused an entire metal melt down.”
He went on in the chapter to discuss various fuels that could be used to start a fire, including napalm.
In the case of napalm, Barot graphically talked about the “horrific injuries” that could occur and referred the reader to the Vietnam war.
Later, in a passage on petrol, he pointed out that as well as being legally available at forecourts, petrol cans could be filled with sharp metal nails during an attack to maximise damage.
He then referred to this technique being used during the Soho and Brick Lane bombings of 1999.
~~~CHAPTER SIX: EXECUTION (PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER)
Barot stressed that the project should be limited to being carried out indoors as an attempt on an outdoor location “will fail”.
He discussed the best criteria for possible targets before adding that a selection of locations had already been chosen, although he did not stress what they were.
He then talked about how the gas cylinders would be transported and gave some facts about limousines, which he said he had concluded would be the “most feasible option”.
He went on to propose placing 12 to 13 full size cylinders in each limo and spraying them yellow to “spread terror and chaos when the emergency service teams arrive”.
He added that at least one pipe bomb should be taped to each cylinder and weapons such as grenades and Uzi rifles should be brought to the scene to “aid security” and as a “final recourse” to help fracture the cylinders by shooting at them. In the chapter, he also referred to him “personally” using explosives against soldiers in Kashmir.
CHAPTER SEVEN: MANPOWER AND COSTS
Barot here concludes that a minimum of a six-man team would be required for the limo’s project – three delivery drivers and three “armed” decoy drivers.
He estimated the total cost of the project to be £60,000: up to £15,000 for the purchase of each limousine, £5,000 for the renting of property, £5,000 for buying the explosive devices and £10,000 for purchasing of weapons.
He added that the project should ideally be carried out around autumn time, when the days are short but the weather is not freezing (because this could harm the gas cylinders).
CONCLUSION/EVALUATION
Barot wrote: “The gas cylinder project has the potential to be a very good one (Inshalla), so long as certain ground rules are adhered to.
“It was selected by applying methods and parameters that I learnt from observing senior planners, i.e. to make use of that which is available at your disposal and to bend it to suit your needs, (improvise) rather than wasting valuable time becoming despondent over that which is not within your reach.”
He added: “Finally this project forms the main cornerstone (main target), of a series of planned attacks that have been prepared for synchronised execution on the same day, at the same time.
“That is to say projects are planned to be co-ordinated back to back as they were with 9/11, thus forming another memorable black day for the enemies of Islam and a victory for the Muslims (Inshalla) by the mercy of Allah.”
The document then went on to discuss his additional plans for a “dirty bomb” and other attacks.
But hey, according to Pelosi the war on terror is ONLY in Afghanistan:
“Do you not think that the war in Iraq now, today, is the war on terror?” Stahl asks.
“No. The war on terror is the war in Afghanistan,” Pelosi says.
“But you don’t think that the terrorists have moved into Iraq now?” Stahl continues.
“They have,” Pelosi agrees. “The jihadists in Iraq. But that doesn’t mean we stay there. They’ll stay there as long as we’re there.”
This kind of thinking is so dangerous it’s just plain mind-boggling. She actually thinks that if we left Iraq all the terrorists would leave! They would just pack everything up and head home. Doesn’t matter that the stated goals of Al-Qaeda is to form a state with them in control. A “true Islamic state” would be Iraq if we left before the Iraqi’s could defend themselves.
Take a look at the true war on terror: (click to enlarge)
Scary to think she may be the next Speaker…..just plain scary.
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