LONDON, Jan. 16, 2008
Chertoff Fears Homegrown Terrorism Abroad
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Worries Europe Can Be A Staging Ground For Future Attacks
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U.S. Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff told the BBC Wednesday Jan. 16, 2008 that Washington fears Europe may be a staging ground for terrorist attacks based on how easy it is for Europeans travel to the United States. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)
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Michael Chertoff said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio that his fears were based on how easy it is for Europeans travel to the United Sates. He said there was also evidence of homegrown terrorism in European countries.
"One of the things we've become concerned about lately is the possibility of Europe becoming a platform for a threat against the United States," Chertoff said.
Washington has no plans to start asking Europeans to apply for visas to travel to the United States but they could be required to register online before traveling, Chertoff said.
"We have the visa waiver program, which allows most Europeans who come to be tourists to come without visas - that means the first time we encounter them is when they arrive in the United States, and that creates a very small window of opportunity to check them out," he said.
The U.S. concerns are based on cases of homegrown terrorism in Europe - such as the March 2004 bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people, the deadly 2005 transport bombings in London and a failed attempt to blow up two commuter trains in Germany in 2006.
"We have watched the rise of homegrown terrorism," Chertoff said. "We are obviously mindful of the Madrid bombings, the attempted bombings in Germany, and that suggests to us that the terrorists are increasingly looking to Europe as both a target and a platform for terrorist attacks."
He said there was a "certain sense of complacency" about terrorism in the United States, suggesting the Bush administration had been a victim of its own success in thwarting any attacks since the Sept. 11 attacks.
"But when I lift my eyes and I look around the world, and I look at what happens in Britain, in Germany, in Spain, in Bali, in Pakistan, I don't see terrorism going away; I see an al Qaeda that's evolving," he said.
Still, as the fifth anniversary of the creation of his Homeland Security department approaches, Chertoff told the BBC, "Our ability to know who is coming across our borders, and to check them and to take their fingerprints now, is far better than it was five or six years ago. We have deployed almost twice as many border patrols as we had five or six years ago. We've put up literally hundreds of miles of fencing and barriers. All of these are very concrete steps forward that have made our security much better than it was."
© MVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 139 CommentsWe have 250,000 servicemen on disability from the first Gulf War....we have well over tens of thousands wounded from this war with no end in site.
Look at the flag-draped coffins coming home to Dover Delaware...the crosses spouting in cemetaries across the nation...the mistreated veterans...the price of oil...the enmity of the world...the police state and the solemn pronouncements by vacant eyed bureaucrats that is fine and dandy to rape children in front of their parents to get information.
Only the chuckle-headed say that "we" are winning... but they don''t tell us ''what'' we are winning...
and these fascist nazi terrorislamic muslim collaborators,,,
THEY ARE LOSING
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And all the repubs want to talk about is Edwards $400 haircuts!
Shame, Shame, Shame
And all the repubs want to talk about is Edwards $400 haircuts!
Shame, Shame, Shame
British Muslim computer geek, son of diplomat, revealed as al Qaeda''''''''s top cyber terrorist http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=508543&in_page_id=1770
hahaha
facist nazi terrorislam Motto " To Punish and Enslave "
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Now, do we see a pattern? Aryan Nations was headed by one...Elohim City when McVeigh, of OKC infamy, was in contact with the German agent that conveniently slipped out of the country...we saw this in the South with provocateurs the moving force in the Klan towards violence in many cases...we saw the FBI as being the driving force behind the 93 attack on the WTC...cooking the bomb, providing the detonator and timer, training the driver--and refusing permission in a taped telephone conversation--to their inside man to replace the explosives with a harmless powder...AND THE POLICE STATE is just finding its sea legs!
Impeach BUSH/CHENEY
Hang''em ALL
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Or is this a preview of terror alerts will be receiving as the election gets closer?
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Posted by larryhammick at 02:58 AM : Jan 17, 2008
+ report abuse
Why is it no one ever address''s the REAL issue here? Why is it no one EVER ask the question about why we still face the threat from Bin Laden, after 6 long years and Trillions of Dollars, he''s still out there and has rebuilt his organization to the strenght it was when he attacked us. Why blame OTHER''s? Especially the ONLY Ally we have left? Look George W. Bush is the fault of this mess and it''s time we all accepted it.
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