Kahuna Travel Blog

Al Qaeda drive to recruit Westerners worries US

(AFP) – Apr 5, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Attempts by Al-Qaeda to recruit Westerners has sparked deep concerns among US national security experts, who fear the country could be infiltrated by attackers with Caucasian looks and European or North American identification.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller told a congressional hearing Tuesday that the Al-Qaeda terror network was focusing its attention of recruiting Westerners because its leaders believed that bearers of valid European of North American passports could enter the United States more easily than other nationals.

The statement came two days after Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden made a similar revelation that Al-Qaeda was recruiting and training terrorists of Western origin.

"They are bringing operatives into that region for training — operatives that, a phrase I would use, wouldn’t attract your attention if they were going through the customs line at Dulles" airport in Washington, Hayden told NBC television last Sunday.

The new recruits "look Western" and "would be able to come into this country … without attracting the kind of attention that others might," he said.

"They could be anybody," said Matthew Levitt, an expert with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Al-Qaeda could recruit radicals from Europe who would be able to come to the United States "on valid passports perhaps through visa waiver programs," Levitt said.

Ted Galen Carpenter, an expert with Cato Institute, believes it is very difficult to gauge the number of people open to such recruitment because it could involve Western-looking European natives like Muslims from Bosnia or Kosovo.

"How many people? That’s very hard to measure," the expert pointed out. You’re talking certainly thousands of people."

Carpenter said that Al-Qaeda is looking for ways to thwart any kind of profiling strategy that the US and other governments might employ to single out possible threats from the huge numbers of people entering their countries each day.

Osama bin Laden and his associates have spoken in the past of using Muslims from the Balkans who do not fit the Arab Muslim stereotype to infiltrate countries, he said.

"There certainly are not many sympathizers for organizations like that in the West," he explained. "But they don’t need many."

Levitt recalled that British national Richard Reid, who attempted in 2001 to explode a bomb concealed inside a shoe aboard an American Airlines plane, carried a western passport. He said there were other similar cases.

Levitt recently met in Paris with French counterterrorism officials whom he said have the same worries. "German officials and British officials are similarly concerned."

According to Newsweek, the CIA director’s statements were prompted by a German investigation of a terrorist cell linked to an Uzbek group led by Fritz Gelowicz, a German national who converted to Islam and is now imprisoned in Germany.

But Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert at Rand Corporation, believes that while while individuals coming into the United States could carry out terrorist attacks, "our greatest concerns right now are what I refer to as local home-grown terrorists — American citizens living right here."

"In the attacks in Turkey, in the attacks in Spain, in the attacks in London, in the plots that have been uncovered in Germany and Denmark, and other places, these were not teams of terrorists … being sent in from abroad, they were all from the inside," Jenkins said.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jd-qBgKEeQDGZapAfotfRM6crL7Q

Obama want do anything due to putting the interests of political correctness over the American people

We are flying to Ecuador via JFK and Miami with American Airlines. We have to wait for 9 hours in jfk and 9 hours in Miami. Will they send our luggage all the way to Ecuador? Will we be given all boarding passes to Ecuador in heathrow? Will we actually have to get out of the airport and check back in again in JFK? What about advance passenger information - what do we put if are entering usa just to sleep in airport!!

This is turning into a nightmare as each time I ring up american airlines no-one seems to know and they just make up the answer.

Has anyone ever done this crazy trip to south america with two stops in usa plus such long waits?

(for instance - for advance passenger information, it says that if your wait is less than 8 hours, just put "in transit". but our wait is longer!! )

Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your replies.
I have further queries though - we will be waiting in jfk overnight for 9 hours - from 9pm till 5 am. therefore can we go back into the departure lounge to wait?
what about the advanced passenger information address for first night in usa - what should we put - in transit, waiting in airport, or find a hotel near jfk even if we dont stay in it?

so I presume there is no transfer lounge for both domestic and international flights - i.e i will have to go out of airport and go thru security again - but the baggage, after being identified by me , will be automatically transferred to the next flight - is that right??

I assume the entire trip is on American Airlines (not my favorite!). Did you buy a single ticket for the whole trip or separate tickets. If the former, you should be able to check bags through to Quito (Guayaquil) at LHR. You will probably have to retrieve your bags at JFK and pass through US customs even though you are only staying in the US for a few hours. You will definitely need to go through passport control as you will be a domestic passenger to MIA. Usually the airline then immediately rechecks the bags so you do not need to deal with them beyond the customs area. If you have 2 or 3 separate tickets instead of a through ticket, you may have to check in and recheck your bags at JFK for the flight to MIA, and possibly again at MIA for the last leg.

You probably do not qualify as a purely transit passenger because of the domestic leg JFK-MIA. If you are not a US passport holder, check to be certain that you do not need a transit or other visa. Most Europeans don’t, but it is best to check well before beginning the trip, especially if you have other than a European passport.

Next trip to Ecuador from the UK, I recommend either flying Delta nonstop to Atlanta, Continental nonstop to Houston, or some airline nonstop to Miami from LHR.There are then nonstop flights from those US cities to Quito. Or fly nonstop to Washington Dulles (IAD) where COPA, the Panamanian airline offers inexpensive fares to South America. Another, and perhaps better, option is KLM from Amsterdam to Quito (with a stop in Aruba, I believe) or Iberia nonstop from Madrid. Those latter flights avoid the hassles in the US.

Seth Macfarlane came close to getting killed on september 11th!!!!!
From Wikipedia:

On the morning of September 11, 2001, MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston, Massachusetts. Suffering from a hangover from the previous night’s celebrations, and an incorrect departure time from his travel agent,[81] he was unable to board the flight as the gates had been closed. Fifteen minutes after departure, American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked, and was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, obliterating the airplane and later destroying the building.

Thank god for hangovers haha

you should make a blog with random tidbits like this!!

Seth Macfarlane came close to getting killed on september 11th!!!!!
From Wikipedia:

On the morning of September 11, 2001, MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston, Massachusetts. Suffering from a hangover from the previous night’s celebrations, and an incorrect departure time from his travel agent,[81] he was unable to board the flight as the gates had been closed. Fifteen minutes after departure, American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked, and was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, obliterating the airplane and later destroying the building.

Thank god for hangovers haha
To that girl USA: First off Im not upset about anything I was just stating something that happened. And Im not saying his death was would have been worse than anyone elses, Im just saying that I never realized he almost died. And yeah I think its pretty amazing to cheat death like that no matter who you are.

wow! i never would’ve realized that ever either! i am so glad he’s still alive! otherwise there would be no more family guy ever! without family guy, there’s just not too much comedy in tv at all. he’s an amazing voice actor!

Hi, first of all I would like to say that I get very nervous on planes, so normaly before flying, specialy when I fly airlines I don’t know, I try to do research.

Well, I am flying airlines I do know this time around, except I am flying more than ever in just two months. I will be using a lot of airlines and some of them I really don’t know a lot, others I do.. so I would like it if you people could calm my nerves and tell me if they have good, modern planes and is a safe airline etc..

The first airline is Aeromexico

Next up is Mexicana

then Delta Airlines

then Virgin

then Air France (gulp…………………..)

then Korean Air (south korea)

then american airlines

Thats pretty much it.

I do know all these airlines are part of one of those big alliances, either oneworld or skyteam, which is good news I guess

as stated dont use any unknown airlines

Air France …dont gulp just because there was a recentish accident.

American airlines flight attendants are professional.

korean Air is great, however if u need to know some planes were shot down a LONG time ago because Russia was communist at the time so…yay but russia isnt any more

Aeromexico- safe
mexicana- old and safe airline
delta- safe
virgin-never taken

What do the smart people think?

I think we do because we educated people cannot believe that humans can be so ignorant.

Do you realise that Apollo was an American enterprise and still the greatest acheivement of mankind, but the greatest number of disbelievers are Americans. How can that be?

Well, it is easy – education. For instance. a great percentage of American schools teach creationism as a science. When you have this level of ignorance then anything can be pumped into young minds. Many kids and adults simply haven’t got the education to be able to see through what charlatans feed into their minds.

Without a rounded education, people are unable to even think for themselves and stop and think “wait a minute 400,000 people worked on Apollo, how could they all be scammed – how could they not talk? Or ‘wait a minute, if it was missiles that hit the WTC, who would keep the airlines quiet when they have supposedly lost 4 planes and hundreds of passengers”.

It really doesn’ take much for people with a bit of science and some kind of anti-establishment agenda to pull the wool over the eyes of young impressionable minds.

By the way, a new orbiter that NASA has surveying the moon has just taken pictures of the landing sites – it shows the equipment left behind and even the trails left by the astronauts as the moved around the area.

But I suppose the fools who believe in the hoax will see this is a another hoax.

The point is that if you argue with a creationist how millions of species could have been squeezed into boat built by a primitive farmer, and many of those animals having to come from Australia, South America, the Arctic, etc etc, and you still can’t get through to them, then what chance have we got to convince those that are obviously more excited by what they believe is a conspiracy, rather than be excited by the sheer magnificance of the achievement of the Apollo missions.

They are people who mix bleach and ammonia to clean the bathroom & happen to survive.

I just tell them they’re wrong & move on. Not worth the effort.

May 23 is the 143rd day of the year (144th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 222 days remaining until the end of the year.

1430 – Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne.
1498 – Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy, on the orders of Pope Alexander VI.
1533 – The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
1568 – The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.
1568 – Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, brother of William I of Orange, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Aremberg and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years’ War.
1609 – Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.
1618 – The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years’ War.
1701 – After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
1706 – Battle of Ramillies: John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeats a French army under Marshal Villeroi.
1788 – South Carolina ratifies the Constitution as the 8th American state.
1805 – Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned King of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in the Cathedral of Milan.
1813 – South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador ("The Liberator").
1844 – Declaration of the Báb: a merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that would later be brutally crushed by the Persian government. He is considered to be a forerunner of the Bahá’í Faith, and Bahá’ís celebrate the day as a holy day.
1846 – Mexican-American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
1863 – Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.
1863 – The Siege of Port Hudson takes place.
1863 – American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner.
1873 – The Canadian Parliament establishes the North West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
1907 – The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
1911 – The New York Public Library is dedicated.
1915 – World War I: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.
1923 – Launch of Belgium’s SABENA airline.
1929 – The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse, "The Karnival Kid", is released.
1934 – American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Black Lake, Louisiana.
1934 – The Auto-Lite Strike culminates in the "Battle of Toledo", a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.
1939 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.
1945 – World War II: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, committs suicide while in Allied custody.
1945 – World War II: The Flensburg government under Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are captured and arrested by British forces at Flensburg in Northern Germany.
1949 – The Federal Republic of Germany is established and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is proclaimed.
1951 – Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with the People’s Republic of China.
1958 – Explorer 1 ceases transmission.
1960 – Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann had been captured.
1967 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran and blockades the port of Eilat at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, laying the foundations for the Six Day War.
1970 – A fire breaks out in the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait in north Wales contributing to its partial destruction and causing approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage.
1977 – Two terrorist actions unfold in The Netherlands: several dozen hostages are taken on board a train, and about 100 others (mostly children) are held at a school. The train siege lasts until June 11.
1984 – Methane gas explosion at Abbeystead water treatment works near Lancaster, England kills 16 people.
1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building are imploded.
1995 – The first version of the Java programming language was released.
1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.
2002 – The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
2004 – Part of Paris-C

as much knowledge as this posses…this doesnt have much to do with wrestling

There is this foundation called fihankra.The ghana government has given a big and wide land to all african americans so that we can go and build our city called the fihankra township.we now have 28,000 people lready registered worldwide.u will be provided free airline tickets to the motherland of africa.and evrything will be given to u for free on arrival.Black people, lets all unite and know our heritage.Our head office is in South korea.for membership plz send an email with the subject urgent to zimzam2005@yahoo.com. and u will get to know what to do to become a member.see u all black people.

DId you know that black Africans actually resent the fact that black Americans with African heritage call themselves "African Americans". They find it offensive that people who have never walked in their shoes try to associate themselves with a lifestyle and culture they know nothing about. Your probably getting mad right now but it must be true, I saw t on a documentary where a group of young Americans went to Africa on a boat to get in touch with their roots. It was the first thing they were told when they got there.

I know theres alot of conspiracy’s out there some actually state fact and realism. On a CNN broadcast of the flight that went into the south tower, you see a small explosion happen just before the plane hits, added to that the plane doesnt look like a passenger airline either. In another footage you hear a woman specifically say "That was not an american airline". But if it was a conspiracy why would all those people ring home to their family to tell them the plane had been hijacked, also one phone call coincides with a few minutes before the plane crashed into the tower.

Discuss

9/11 happens to be a terrorist’s conspiracy. Many people or so-called terrorists who hate the U.S. happen to work for our government. Or else they wudn’t have been able to go through the security. Bush gave the access to foreign politicians so that they could work for the U.S. Although the U.S. wud not murder 3,000 people just in one day to go to war, many culpable things Bush did led up to the horrible event. I believe that whoever crashed the planes made a big deal out of nothing after the thoroughful studies being done on pre-9/11 events. Girl, I don’t know about the type of airplane, but there were definitely bombs. The plane that crashed into Camp David made a big, obvious crater indicating that something exploded right in there, like no other planes can as if they crash on the land. You also saw the explosion when a second plane flew into the building. The WTC buildings made of steel couldn’t collapse easily; it took more than just one plane to seal the fate of people. It’s too obvious. What’s the modern terrorist without a human bomb?

9/11 is both tragedy and conspiracy.

I’m going from North Carolina, to Miami, to St. Lucia.. I’ve never flown in anything before except a helicopter and parasailing.. I’m really nervous.. Also American Airlines.. can you reassure me they’re okay.. Sandals booked them in our package..

If you’ve been parasailing and riding a helicopter, then you should have no fears. Flying American Airlines from N. Carolina to Miami to St. Lucia is nothing. Couple of naps and your there. Warm, cozy, and smooth. Listen to music, watch a movie, read a book. Have a good trip.