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Web post urges jihadists to attack Alaska pipeline
BULLETS OR EXPLOSIVES: Nameless author claims to be acting on al-Qaida directives.
By WESLEY LOY
Anchorage Daily News
Published: January 19, 2006
Last Modified: January 19, 2006 at 02:24 AM
A recent posting on a Web site purportedly affiliated with al-Qaida urges attacks against the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and Valdez tanker dock, calling on jihadists to either shower the pipe with bullets or hide and detonate explosives along its length.
The unknown author encourages small cells of four or five mujahedeen, or Muslim guerrillas, living in the United States or in Canada or Mexico to mount the attacks.
The 10-page posting includes numerous links to Web sites providing maps and other basic information about the pipeline.
Attacking oil and gas targets in the United States and other countries is key to bringing down the economy of the "American devils," the author writes, saying the message was posted in response to calls from Osama bin Laden and his top al-Qaida deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.
The Arabic posting was discovered and translated in late December by the SITE Institute, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit organization that tracks international terrorists.
The "presentation of targets" essentially was a posting to a password-restricted Web forum known to be affiliated with al-Qaida, and there's no way to identify the author or know whether it could inspire an actual attack, said SITE director Rita Katz.
However, she said the posting was unusual and alarming in its length and detail.
Spokesmen for the FBI and other law enforcement and security agencies said Tuesday they were aware of the posting, but none would say whether it had prompted any extra security measures in Alaska.
Curtis Thomas, a spokesman for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the Anchorage-based oil company consortium that runs the 800-mile pipeline, said his company also was aware of the posting, but that "we're not aware at this time of any imminent threat" to the system. He said company policy is to not discuss security procedures, staffing levels or other issues...
