Blind Sheik's Illness Brings Terror Alert

FBI Warns Authorities To Be Wary Of Terrorist Attacks Should Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman Die

(CBS/AP)  The health of terrorist cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the Blind Sheik, is deteriorating — renewing fears that his death in prison could trigger an attack on the United States, officials said Thursday.

Sources tell CBS News that the bulletin is simply a reminder that Rahman has made that type of "general threat" in the past. There is no intelligence suggesting any attack is planned.

One security official told CBS News that this bulletin is the equivalent of saying "there are bad guys out there who still want to hit us."

In a two-page bulletin, dated Dec. 8, the FBI reported to federal intelligence officials that Abdel-Rahman had been rushed from prison to a Missouri hospital two days earlier for a blood transfusion. There, doctors discovered a tumor on Rahman's liver, according to the bulletin, which was described to The Associated Press by a law enforcement official.

But U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Tracy Billingsley said Abdel-Rahman's condition had stabilized, and he has since been moved back to prison.

"His condition has improved," Billingsley said.

Officials said the bulletin served merely as a reminder that Abdel-Rahman had called for retaliation by terror sympathizers if he died in prison. It cited a May 1998 news conference in which al Qaeda members distributed his last will and testament, in which Abdel-Rahman pleaded for followers to "extract the most violent revenge" should he die in U.S. custody.

The FBI did not have immediate comment on Thursday.

In a video in September marking the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahri, cited the continuing imprisonment of the sheik.

"I call on every Muslim to make use of every opportunity afforded him to take revenge on America for its imprisonment of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman," he said.

Abdel-Rahman was sentenced to life in prison after his 1995 conviction for his advisory role in a plot to blow up New York landmarks, including the United Nations.

His health has deteriorated in recent years, and he was transferred in September 2003 from the federal Supermax prison in Colorado, where the country's most notorious inmates are held, to the U.S. Medical Center for Prisons in Springfield, Mo. Prisons officials have said Abdel-Rahman has suffered from diabetes, which has threatened the loss of his limbs.

Terror expert Dia'a Rashwan said Abdel-Rahman's death would not be likely to incite huge attacks in the United States because he is closer to an Egyptian militant group than to al Qaeda and "does not enjoy such a status on international level."

Instead, "I expect some small and easy violent acts and attacks, especially in Afghanistan, in retaliation to his death and to keep the name of Omar Abdel-Rahman as a martyr," said Rashwan, an expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, Egypt.

[patriotic9]

chuchuzinho
Differences in opinions is not a bad thing at all rather it's a great way of learning and correcting oneself.There should be no problem in an intellectual debate and conversation provided that all the parties express their point of views with valid reasons.If anybody thinks I am saying something worng and that person brings a valid reason to prove his or her point,I'll change my point of view and correct myself accordingly.

[chuchuzinho-2009]

Wow,
You people are hostile.
Funny, I'm sure you are not like that face to face, just behind the anonymity of the internet.
In any event, it is quite unpleasant.

[patriotic9]

pojar1
That's great.So you think it's a truth that whatever AMERICANS do they will be GOD-NEGLECTED because the RACE they are born is NOT CHOSEN by GOD whereas those GOD CHOSEN ENEMIES of the GOD'S ONLY SON who don't believe in JESUS as MESSIAH and SON OF GOD and DENY VIRGINITY of his MOTHER MARRY are GOD-CHOSEN.The truth is that it's the RESPONSIBLITY of the GOD-NEGLECTED AMERICANS to work day and night to pay tax to our govt and it's the right of the GOD CHOSEN ENEMIES of the GOD'S ONLY SON to snacth more then $3B from the GOD NEGLECTED TAX MONEY which in turn results in the HATRED,TERRORISM and 9/11 agianst AMERICAN and when Americans give their lives on 9/11,GOD doesn't wake up to help them.The Truth is that WOMEN are EVIL and a WOMAN was responsible for a MAN to be kicked out of HEAVEN.
BIBLE teaches to ban embronic stem cell research to protect lives and to kill THOUSANDS of INNOCENT LIVES for the 2nd coming of CHRIST.Truth is that it's OK to discriminate ***,WOMEN and GOD NEGLECTED HUMANITY,when it comes to protect STRAIGHT,MEN and the GOD CHOSEN ENEMIES of the GOD'S only SON.

patriotic9

You are another spupid idoit who depends on science that holds no real fact either. The Bible is still the greatest source of truth like it or not. You can't prove science did much for humanity other than create atomic bombs and other ways of destroying mankind. They don't even have cures for deseases. New one's just keep popping up and like all other people misuse science their own gain.

[patriotic9]

If EUROPEANS were not brought into PALESTINE after WWII to occupy the land of PALESTINIAN PEOPLE by force when PALESTINIANS had nothing to do with the CRIMES comited by HITLER because THOUSANDS of YEARS OLD NON-SENSE BIBLE said so,Alqaeda would not get enough recruits to CRASH planes into building as KORAN says so.Nobody has been fooled in the whole world like people of USA on the name of CHRISTIANITY and a GOD whose esixtance is not proven by any scientific evidence.
Only purpose of the creation of a GOD-NEGLECTED AMERICAN LIFE is to be a SLAVE,SERVANT and PROTECTOR of those GOD CHOSEN ENEMIES of the GOD'S ONLY SON who don't believe in JESUS as MESSIAH or SON OF GOD and deny the VIRGINITY of HIS MOTHER "MARRY" and accuse her of comiting FORNICATION.How our whole country has become so SENSE LESS as a result of this PSYCHOSIS called CHRISTIANITY.
As long as we are willing to SACRIFICE GOD-NEGLECTED AMERICAN MONEY, AMERICAN LIVES and UNHOLY LAND USA for the GOD-CHOSEN ENEMIES of GOD'S ONLY SON,Islamic Radicalism will become more and more POWERFUL and we'll have to loose millions of our citizens just like we lost thousands on 9/11 and the GOD who was sleeping on 9/11 will keep on sleeping as AMERICANS are not his CHOSEN PEOPLE.

[patriotic9]

Inarguable
"then thinking and planning LONG-TERM is not only prudent,but is an absolute requirement to secure our way of life"
If you think ISLAMIC RADICALS hate our way of life and that was the reason of 9/11 attack,then why those European countries where WOMEN are TOPLESS in public,PROSTITUTION is legal,GAY MARRIAGE is legal,some of those countries even allow a man to marry his real sister,were not attacked by ALQAEDA.Why Alqaeda didn't attack those countries of REAL FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY and why did they attck UNITED STATES where the current BUSH GOVT believes in the same HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS which RADICAL ISLAMIST BELIEVE like the right of GAY PEOPLE to MARRY just like their fellow HETEROSEXUAL CITIZENS,allowing man to be TOPLESS in PUBLIC but to arrest a woman for comiting same action(GENDER BASED DISCRIMINATION)violating women's right to choose PROSTITUTION as a profession(those countries where prostitution is legalized have a better control on STDs as the prostitutes need to be confirmed by a physician as free from STDs).
The main reason whcih helps ISALMIC RADICALS to find recruits is the RADICAL CHRISTIANS'S support to the EUROPEAN INVADERS IN PALESTINE on the cost of AMERICAN MONEY and AMERICAN LIVES since AMERICANS are GOD-NEGLECTED and the NON AMERICAN EUROPEAN INVADERS IN PALESTINE are GOD-CHOSEN.
The most important tool to fight ISLAMIC RADICALISM is to throw CHRISTIANITY out of our POLITICS.

[baldfrog-2009]

inarguable, working and studying in terrorism is just self justification for yourself.The Bush Administration said the would talk about and take this up next year Mr. Current events.How many more are going to die while they are *** around?Wait til next year.Bush said it!
Meanwhile studying and working in the field of intel and terrorism is self promoting just like the administration tactic to get votes and scare the country.Your talking to yourself to justify your pay by saying there are boogieman where there are not because it pays the rent and is for money for yourself.Being a Soldier,Marine,Airman,or Corpsman in a war has nothing to do with some chicken made up self promoting intel job.The only terror is in the Administrations Paranoid Head's and the rest of you Fear Potatoes if you really believe yourself?
It can not be solved militarily,we had 500,000 on the ground in Nam and used more ammo then in all of WWII.Like I said go over and fight they use Intel Analyst they would welcome your help In Al ANBAR.
Bring Em Home Now!Stop Killing Our Guys For Your Lies!

[inarguable]

baldfrog - you end by saying "wait till next year", and that is your clear problem. You can only seem to be able to think a year ahead of the game, which is standard fare for those too myopic and simplistic in their arguments to demonstrate that they have actually put the study in and taken the time to gain a true and open-minded foundational base of knowledge on the subject matter before they jump to juvenile conclusions. Having worked and studied in the field of terrorism analysis for almost ten years, i can tell you the absurd complexity and nuance involved in this entire conflict is mindboggling to the uneducated. Because the vast majority of the free world is totally uneducated about this enemy, and because they are also far too short-sighted to see the size and danger of the LONG-TERM threat we face from fundamentalist Islam. It would be nice if everyone on Earth migrated to 'Planet Alec Baldwinia' where we all hold hands and sing kumbaya, but this is an evil and complex world, and in an era were an enemy has vowed our destruction and has or is on the cusp of acquiring N/B/C and radiological 'dirty weapons', then thinking and planning LONG-TERM is not only prudent, but is an absolute requirement to securing our way of life.

[baldfrog-2009]

Hmm ,inarguable, Are your another one of the chicken littles that bought the package Rove,his puppets,and the Admin liars who got us into this mess.Why don't you go over to Iraq and point out to our troops who the bad guys are and then we can round them all up.It's civil war now and a lot of the islamic countries are hating us for our posture,thank you current administration.And if you think I am going to live in fear because of all the terror scenarios that can happen,we have already lived through the Cold War,and any CBA specialist knew many of these scenarios and we devised quite a few of them with germs and chemicals.Nothing new dude.Now I am thinking at some time if they do something really bad to us they are going to end up eating nuclear mushrooms.If it comes to that it will be sad but a low yield up in Afghanistan when we after Bin Laden and the rest his cockroaches,the real guys responsible for this,it would have ended it right there.If you really belive yourself go volunteer for the Armed Forces,they are in a world of hurt.Let the Chicken Hawks back here including the chain of command demonstrate and enlighten us how this should be handled for the billionth time.Meanwhile we have guys dying and being wounded in a civil war while the leaders sit around twiddling their indecisive little fingers.Wait till next year we'll get em.Yup wait till next year.

[inarguable]

aintaken - yes, war is an inevitablity. It is simple human nature - as is myopic thinking, and i think you are being incredibly shortsighted in your approach to this war. The term 'War in Iraq' is a misnomer. The US is engaged in a 'Battle in Iraq', a battle that is simply the second step in a much larger war (Afghanistan was the first). The Bush Administration is in fact acting proactively in Iraq, with (to be incredibly simplistic) the goal of setting the stage and making it far easier to fight the battles in the years and decades to come within the Middle East theater. Militant Islam is FAR more dangerous than even Soviet Communism was, because at least with the USSR, there was a functional Politburo and Premier heirarchy in place to negotiate diplomatically with. Islam, by the faith's very construction, has no such heirarchy in place that speaks for the followers (unlike Christianity with its rigid 'Deacon, Priest, Bishop, Cardinal, Pontiff' command and control structure). Getting Bin-Laden is not the End Game. There is no forseeable End Game in sight, because militant Islam has been built and is evolving into a force that truly believes it is approaching a position from which to recreate a Caliphate that will grow to encircle the globe and leave the citizens of the planet a simple option (as laid out in the texts), adhere to the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Mohammad, or face annihilation.

[inarguable]

Ainttaken - To steal the old saying, "opinions are like a--holes, everyone has got one". I would expand that by adding, "If you believe that your opinion is absolutely correct but you lack the knowledge base to cohesively support and explain your conclusion, or if you cannot present suitable facts and evidence to effectively counter an opposing opinion, then you are an A--HOLE."
Many like you are totally blinded by a pre-formed political bias, and also form CONCRETE mindsets on anything and everything to do with the fundamentalist Islamic faith and its potential of threat to us, even if you have never read the Holy Qur'an, the Hadiths, or Shar'ia, or cannot even give a basic explain of the faith%u2019s belief structure without having to Wiki it first. Many engage in vicious verbal altercations and name-calling regarding how or how not to wage this war, but they cannot demonstrate they possess any real understanding of the operational art of military warfare and intelligence gathering. It all comes down to this: if one cannot cohesively explain how they have achieved their opinion utilizing supporting FACTS and EVIDENCE, then they should never consider their opinion to be concrete and unmovable, and neither should they even consider their opinion to be an accurate one.

[inarguable]

Janem - You will not like the answer to your query. Sadly, 9/11 was not appreciated as a wake-up call, but more like a snooze alarm, because our myopic society has fallen back into a foolish slumber after there being no successful strikes against the coninential US since. We will be recieving a hell of a wakeup call in the future however, because more attacks will come; it is a certainty. I just pray the strike does not come in the form of a mushroom cloud over Manhattan, or a Sarin gas cloud at an NFL football game in Houston, or bubonic plague released over LA, but it probably will. In this day and age of weapons that can decimate a city and its occupants with a single bomb, and in the face of an enemy that has proclaimed and recieved absolute religious justification to use them (read the 25-page May 21st, 2003 well-recognized Fatwa by Sheik Nasar bin-Hamid al-Fahd, entitled "A Treatise on the Legal Status of using Weapons of Mass Destruction Against Infidels" if you wish to challenge that statement), we have to take the proliferation of these weapons with the utmost seriousness, and deal pro-actively, sometimes with extreme prejudice, with those who openly and proudly threaten their use on us.

[inarguable]

Talk to most experts in the field of terrorism analysis, and they will tell you that if anything, the true threat potential of radical Islam has been 'downplayed' by the Bush Administration in their effort to remain somewhat P/C on the issue. For those in the west who do not recognize the long-term and very real threat of militant Islam, or who actually think of this massive enemy as a cohesive entity with a solid command and control structure that can be diplomatically reasoned with, then their mindset exhibits a clear misunderstanding (or, more likely, lack of understanding) of the cultural, religious, and historical controls that govern and guide the posturing and actions of this enemy. I work in the field, and i have lived throughout the Middle East, and what consistently amazes me is how very ignorant fundamentalist Islam is of our way of life, and how absurdly ignorant we are of theirs. With modern-day ROE in place, we have to understand and appreciate (not respect) an enemy before we can defeat them militarily and/or politically. At this point, we don't understand, and sure as hell don't appreciate, what we are up against in this struggle.

[rharrin1]

juliehg

duh! We keep other secrets don't we?
Not with this administration the titanic would have gone down faster than the iceberg with all their leaks in their circle.
When he dies hang him upside down at the end of a bridge and have a block party.

[baldfrog-2009]

And Congresswoman Pelosi and members of the House
Please Do Your Job To Save the Country!
I beleive Neil Young Said It All
Let's impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door
He's the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war
Let's impeach the president for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones
What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government's protection
Or was someone just not home that day?
Let's impeach the president
For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected
Thank god he's racking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There's lot of people looking at big trouble
But of course the president is clean
Thank God

[chuchuzinho-2009]

The FBI is part of the executive branch of government headed by Bush. Specifically a part of the Justice Department.

Sure, I don't doubt that this man said that, it sounded like he expected to be given the death penalty so this health related national death would not apply.

The point is that educated liberals realize that Bush, Cheney (Mr. Nuclear Winter) and Rove can all attempt to manipulate the public through scare tactics for political gain whether there are threats or not. Political manipulation and actual terrorist threats, thwarted or not, are not mutually exclusive.

[inarguable]

Janem4 - Without the slightest shadow of a doubt, there are indeed tens and tens of millions of people in the Islamic world who appreciate that we in the west are the 'Infidel'. Appreciating that fact doesn't mean they 'respect' us however, as the Islamic texts are VERY clear on the way the faithful should deal with Infidels and Apostates. We are most certainly not fighting a 'small and obscure radialicalized segment' of the Islamic faith today (as some media outlets in the west still attempt to claim). We are at war with a massive segment of the 1.3 billion strong (and growing dramatically) Muslim faith today who ardently believe that they are in the midst of a true Holy War - a Jihad al-asgar (Lesser Jihad) against those who do not understand, follow, appreciate, respect, and adhere rigidly to the Holy Qur'an, Hadiths, and Sharia. The problem is that our society in our safe little world in the west still remains blissfully ignorant of the dark storm clouds of Militant Islam on the horizon that are growing blacker and more powerful with each day. We will HAVE to fight militant Islam in the future; of that there is NO doubt, and we will be fighting them for decades to come.

[notblue]

To all the liberal oblivions out there who think this is just more right wing scare tactics, what will it take to make you see the reality of our world situation. Iraq didn't cause the Islamic world to hate America, they attacked and hated America before we went to Iraq, remember 911? President Clinton was in office during several attacks so it isn't all Bush's fault.The threat of Islamic extremism is REAL, not some Republican conspiracy concocted to facilitate the removal of our civil liberties like the left would like us all to believe. In this country the greatest ally the terrorists have is the left wing press, and people who subscribe to that dangerous ideology. Wouldn't it be ironic that the liberal way of thinking would be the direct cause of freedoms defeat.

[juliehg-2009]

Dear timhalyna:

With all due respect, I did read the article and SHOUTING at those who have a differing opinion doesn't necessarily make you right. Are you as disrespectful to your parents or your grandparents or your boss or your clients? Please spare us the theatrics.

By the way, I do have a job, I do go to work, and I do pay taxes. Today just happens to be my day off.

"I have to get back to work because Bush MAKES my boss keep me productive."

Okay, so what's your excuse for surfing the internet while you're on the clock? Please explain your productivity to me. Ooops, I know...you must work for the government. Right? If not, I have a bridge and a war for sale.

If you reply, please be respectful; regardless of my opinion, I'm probably old enough to be your mother and we all know you wouldn't dare be disrespectful to her now would you?

[themooniac]

if they could have attacked the U.S. they would have acheived that goal a hundred times over by now. I'm going to worry about this guy dying? This guys death won't make a difference. Bye, see ya. He can go party with Zahrgawi and Atta in Islamic bliss. Another one bites the dust. No world wide Islamic caliphate for you....