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Happy Threat Day! Al Qaeda Tries to Rattle L.A.
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 Oh, never mind. Update below.
London and Madrid already got theirs. Los Angeles and Melbourne are next, if we're to believe a videotaped threat by a purported Al Qaeda member that ABC "Good Morning America" aired this weekend.
I think we have good reason to be anxious, today being the fourth anniversary of the unprecedented attacks on New York, the Pentagon and an aircraft that was hijacked but never reached its destination. But then that's what terrorism is about. Sowing fear that shreds everyone's nerves and - supposedly - wears down our resolve so that we give in to whatever the terrorists' ill-defined and ceaseless demands happen to be at the moment - which never happens.
While Mayor Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief William Bratton popped a joint statement saying they know of no credible, specific threat against Los Angeles, AP describes this threat from the saber-rattler, a former Californian apparently turned Al Qaeda operative:
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The man on the tape, wearing a black turban with most of his face covered, calls the attacks of four years ago "blessed events" before making a threat against the U.S.
"Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, Allah willing. And this time, don't count on us demonstrating restraint and compassion," the man says during the 11-minute tape.
The man on the tape goes on to call President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair "liars" and issues a warning.
"We love peace, but when the enemy violates that peace or prevents us from achieving it, then we love nothing better than the heat of battle, the echo of explosions, and slitting the throats of the infidels," he says. I don't know about you, but we're big on peace, too. We're planning on having another family over for playtime and takeout Indian food while under this imminent threat.
I've already called repeatedly for the removal of Bush from office for being far worse than a mere liar, so that's all the aquiescing to terrorist demands I care to do today.
How are you spending your time under the threat of imminent attack?
(Spotted at LAObserved)
UPDATE:
Never mind. He's a converted metalhead from Orange County - who may have served in an Al Qaeda training camp, but should we really believe he speaks for the terrorists?
Roderick provides this update: Yahiye Adam Gadahn, the al-Qaeda associate suspected of threatening Los Angeles in that videotape over the weekend, is well-known to readers of CityBeat. The paper profiled him last year and discovered that before Adam Pearlman (as he was born) turned to Islam, he was a metal head whose family moved from Orange County to a Riverside goat farm: "His father, acclaimed ’60s underground psychedelic musician Phil Pearlman, was the one who chose the name Gadahn. Phil Pearlman founded the West Coast group Beat of the Earth, a band often compared by critics to their East Coast counterpart, the Velvet Underground."
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| Posted by: Mack_Reed on Sunday, September 11, 2005 - 04:11 PM
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