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| More on al-Qaeda targeting rural Virginia |
| 2003-12-24 |
| Intelligence gathered by the U.S. government indicates that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his top deputy personally approved a suspected terrorist attack plan that would strike targets far from major cities, U.S. officials say. Officials in two rural areas of Virginia have been alerted to the possibility of attack. Code Orange, or high, the FBI sent a warning to Rappahannock County Administrator John W. McCarthy. âThey are aware of some sort of threat,â McCarthy said Tuesday. âThey had intercepted some sort of phone conversation where the word Rappahannock popped up.â The Los Angeles Times, citing unnamed federal officials, reported Tuesday that intelligence that led to the heightened security warning included broad references to large urban areas, including New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It said other pieces of intelligence cited much smaller locales, including Rappahannock, a county of 7,000 about 185 miles northwest of South Hampton Roads. McCarthy said that could mean anything. âThereâs also the Rappahannock River and the town of Tappahannock,â he said. âWeâre not altogether sure it has anything to do with us.â In fact, the superintendent of the Virginia State Police said Tuesday that state police and the FBI were working closely with officials in the town of Tappahannock, which is about 85 miles northwest of South Hampton Roads. The FBI opened its command center at its Norfolk headquarters, but officials said they have no credible information that a specific location in Tappahannock has been targeted. The regional Joint Terrorism Task Force received the threat information from Washington and is monitoring the situation. âWe noticed the increased presence of the state police,â said Tappahannock Councilman Edward Barry. âBut it seemed like people were, for the most part, going about their daily lives with little concern, for now anyway.â NBC and MSNBC reported Tuesday evening that U.S. officials said the rationale for attacks on smaller locales would be to spread fears that no one was safe, even in small-town America. Intelligence indicates that bin Laden himself approved the most recent plan for major attacks, along with Ayman al-Zawahiri, his deputy, NBC said. Officials told NBC that al-Qaida seemed particularly interested in Tappahannock, a town of 2,016 people that has no military base or major infrastructure. Similarly, Rappahannock doesnât have any high profile-target for terrorists. It is best known for the Inn at Little Washington, and the closest military installations are miles away at the Marine Corpsâ Quantico Reservation and at the Armyâs Fort A.P. Hill. Snip. One official cautioned that most of the reports were uncorroborated â some were from only a single informant or communications intercept â and may be unconnected to a larger al-Qaida plot. But local officials boosted security at many such facilities, including the Port of Valdez, where armed Coast Guard patrol boats were more visible and ship boardings were on the increase. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Yorktown has an ammo dump and Dahlgren has a research installation. Rappahanock seems like it's a red herring unless soem Jihadi got poor service at a diner in that area.. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-24 4:32:24 PM |