Did al-Qaeda plan to hit Itaewon?
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al-Qaeda plot against USFK
This entry was written by Robert Koehler, posted on March 16, 2007 at 3:38 pm, filed under Asides, Ministry of Barbarian Affairs, ROK-US Issues. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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17 Comments
KSM = Jon Lovitz.
Yeah, Itaewon, that’s the ticket.
He also had detailed plans to hit the 3rd Moon of Jupiter and the Lost City of Atlantis.
They are going to use Nigerians with wooden elephants stuffed with C4. Stay clear of the Steff dog shop. You know the one next to the photo-shop, big picture of a baby with his gochu showing.
I plan to hit Itaewon. Does that make me al-Qaeda?
I’m sure one of their tactics when interrogated by the enemy is to make bold and hopefully scary false claims.Watch for USFK to jump all over this one.
Didn’t they deport a couple of muslims who were found to have been taking notes outside Geckos?
You know, after all the stuff he was confessing to I was starting to think it a bit riddiculous too, until now. Though I still think he’s playing loose with the word “resposible”, I don’t think he’s pulling this stuff out his ass.
I strongly suggest you guys give this one some creedence too… I’ll go one further - beleive this man. If I could only write one comment here, this would be it, take this guy seriously.
That aside…
Be careul in Itaewon, and don’t go to the clubs there. It’s common sense, if you were a radical terrorist where would you try to blow up you sworn enemy?
While they are:
A. Without their weapons, not behind their walls, vulnerable and unprotected by any guard
B. Concentrated in the largest group possible, a hundred plus officers and enlisted, packed in a building where they couldn’t escape
C. Unaware, indulging in the Alcohol and loose women you view and unholy and vile
What if you could have your cake and eat it too? Welcome to Itaewon.
I remember the reports from 2001. A couple of months after the fact, the Korea Herald had reported a dozen or more suspects on the U.S. watch list had entered Korea, just before Sept. 11. Never heard anything else about it afterwards though.
FYI, here’s the link to an article I wrote two years ago about the Islamic fundamentalist threat in South Korea. It should answer some questions.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com.....id=2611515
“hijackers have not always sought booty”
Only when they blow themselves up, right Mingi?
How would Itaewon be attacked? Where would they get explosives? This whole story stinks on ice.
And if you don’t think that the mosque in Itaewon is under constant electronic surveillance, then can I interest you in the latest in penis extension technology?
The USFK facilities in Yongsan, and the bars/restruants that USFK personnel frequent in Itaewon are juicy targets for Al-Qaeda.
As for the modus operandi, a fanatic might try to ram an explosive laden KIA van through the gates of the Yongsan base or leave an explosive laden backpack inside one of the bars.
Ironically, there was a story in the TV news, a few days ago,about ROK military issue explosives that somehow found its way into a building in Seoul. The ROK military is investigating how they got there and a woman who works at the building was interviewed and she was frightened at the fact that while she was working, she was practically sitting on an explosives dump.
Also, the KNP in the Yonsan/Itaewon area are more geared to countering leftist protestors and US servicemen who had had a too much to drink, so not much security to boot either.
> Where would they get explosives?
Easy, from all the construction & mining sites… Pakistani day-laborers working there…
> How would Itaewon be attacked?
Walk into a crowded dance-club at midnight, dressed as a GI… what could be easier?
I’m another who’s always wondered why it didn’t happen years ago. 20 years ago, i was wondering why the Norks didn’t do it. I can only conclude that the SK CIA has been preventing it very effectively, and quietly. Hats off to them…
If you can’t figure out how to make explosives yourself, and if you really beleive this james bond crap about the USFK or Korean government being competent enough to electronic surveil even a splotch of poo, then you should take a look at using that technology yourself. Especially if it helps you sleep at night.
The only saving grace is that who ever might perpetrate such an act would realize that if a bomb were to go off, it would kill many koreans as well and asuming the media doesn’t ostracize the victims as whores for partying with foreign men, the zenophobic backlash could be pretty strong…
That mosque had quite a few bomb threats against it when Kim Sung Il got his head cut off.
The folks down at the mosque are sensitive to terrorism. They were sweating bullets after 9/11. They do not want the attention. What I worry about is all of the Nigerians loitering about with nothing but time on their hands.
An attack in Itaewon was something I thought about years ago, actually prior to September 11. I thought that if terrorists (Islamic or leftist) could target Americans in European clubs, bars, or restaurants, why wouldn’t they do the same in Korea? The potential targets that came to mind included the same ones mentioned by others. (Though last time I was in the King Club there were probably more Muslims there than GIs!)
Anyway, a few years on and I don’t take it as seriously as I did before. Possible yes, likely no. My reasoning may be flawed, but I don’t think there are any more potential Islamic terrorists here than in the US or most other countries. Probably less, in fact.
You see, I was half expecting a wave of smaller attacks in the US after September 11, sort of like the ones Israelis have experienced over the years. A guy with a backpack full of explosives, maybe an assualt rifle too, walking into a Walmart, McDonalds, or other public space and killing some people. Then, there would be a claim of responsibility from the usual turds from their cave in Waziristan. And seeing that scenario repeated every few weeks.
Couldn’t imagine very many things scarier than human bombs and/or gunmen attacking people out of the blue. One day Kansas City, a couple of weeks later San Jose, etc. Hasn’t happened, nor has another big one. I may be totally wrong, but the terrorists who hypothetically might carry out such attacks A) don’t exist at all or exist in very small numbers in the US B) don’t have the logistics or C) lack the balls or aren’t radicalized to the point to going through with such an attack.
I also think it would be harder to do in Korea. Foreigners - especially south Asian or middle eastern ones - tend to stand out. Kind of makes it difficult to operate in obscurity. Foreigners tend to elicit suspicion just by being foreigners.
Not to say that I have great faith in the local keystone cops here either, but intelligence authorities in Korea have had a lot more experience with domestic terror threats courtesy of the norks than the US had to deal with until recently. Korean law enforcement can certainly give the impression of being inept, but I know of a few people who’ve being nailed for drugs or immigration violations where the surveillance - recordings, photos, undercover cops - was pretty impressive by anyone’s standards.
Most importantly I think, most local Muslims - Koreans or non-Koreans wouldn’t be interested in an attack, and would definitely want to avoid the backlash of a terrorist attack here, whether the attack in question happend to kill and maim foreigners or Koreans. (A separate case, but the recent terrorist plot in Canada that sought to, among other objective, blow up the Toronto Stock Exchange, attack Parliament in Ottawa, and behead the Prime Minister, was in part foiled by Muslim informants who, while in some instances were quite radical characters, still weren’t about let that kind of crap happen in their own backyard.)
Now I don’t doubt that a few guys have come through - or could be sleepers here - to scope out Osan AB, Itaewon, or the Hump. My point is that the absence of an attack up to this point could suggest an inability or even unwillingness to pull one off.
We need to be wary I think, but not be overly paranoid. If we go the latter path, we let the bad guys win.
“Couldn’t imagine very many things scarier than human bombs and/or gunmen attacking people out of the blue. One day Kansas City, a couple of weeks later San Jose, etc. Hasn’t happened, nor has another big one. I may be totally wrong, but the terrorists who hypothetically might carry out such attacks A) don’t exist at all or exist in very small numbers in the US B) don’t have the logistics or C) lack the balls or aren’t radicalized to the point to going through with such an attack.”
Looking at how the US government has been handling things–spending billions upon billions in Iraq and Afghanistan (and the can of worms that opened)–and how fear of subsequent attacks has led to the erosion of personal freedom in the name of ‘homeland security’, I’d say it’s not worth wasting their ressources just yet. They just have to sit back and enjoy the show.
“hijackers have not always sought booty”
72 virgins are not booty?