U.S. fears Al Qaeda involvement in tanker hijacking

U.S. fears Al Qaeda involvement in tanker hijacking

www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- U.S. military officials expressed concern Monday that Somali militants believed to be potentially affiliated with al Qaeda may become involved in the hijacking of a supertanker off eastern Africa.

The supertanker Sirius Star is loaded with 2 million barrels of oil believed to be valued at $100 million.

Five armored vehicles loaded with al-Shabab fighters arrived in the central Somali coastal town of Harardhere this weekend, near where pirates are holding the massive Saudi Arabian oil tanker Sirius Star, said Ahmed Mohamed, a local resident.

The fighters told residents they would battle the pirates because the tanker, loaded with 2 million barrels of oil worth about $100 million, is owned by a Muslim country and should not have been taken, Mohamed said.

The al-Shabab militia is an offshoot of an Islamic party that ruled much of Somalia in the second half of 2006 and aims to impose Islamic sharia law in Somalia. It was forced from power by Ethiopian troops but continues to fight for control.

The U.S. State Department included the group on its register of foreign terrorist organizations in March of this year -- and declared it had links with al Qaeda.

"Al-Shabab is a violent and brutal extremist group with a number of individuals affiliated with al Qaeda," the department said on its Web site. "Many of its senior leaders are believed to have trained and fought with al Qaeda in Afghanistan."

(visit the link for the full news article)

There have been multiple cases in recent years of oil tankers (though none this big) being taken by pirates and for all intent and purposes the ship, crew and cargo disappeared.

Before everyone starts on about aliens abducting them the C.I.A. believes that it is the work of pirates affiliated with Al Qaeda.

The running theory the last I heard was that the oil is sold on the black market, the crew is killed and the ships disappear to one of the east Indian and Bangledeshi ship chop shops.

Since Somalia was the site of the first known Al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. made famous in the film "Black Hawk Down" and considering that there is no functioning government there...

It wouldn't surprise me one iota to find Al Qaeda reconstituting itself there...

And given there is no proof Osama Bin Laden and company are still in the Hindu Kush... maybe we should start looking for them in places like Somalia where the could operate pretty much in the open.

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

If Al-Qaeda have control of the tanker, those guys that are hostages will get their heads chopped off.

They do that to make a statement...

Hijacking these ships... IF they are involved is a money making enterprise not a statement.

Meh, little to no evidence.

This is just the US Government reminding everyone that AQ is the big bogeyman and that he's still a threat to the American way of life.

Really, I'm fed up with being told everything bad is down to AQ, and everything good is because the US made it so. It's a boring, predictable line that any intelligent person can see through.

If an earthquake his LA tomorrow, you can guarantee the US Gov't would somehow find a way to blame AQ, and remind everyone what it is they are scared of!

Doesn't matter. They'll just chop their heads off and then threaten to blow the boat up unless they get the money.

Wow . . . I can see how the CIA and other US organizations would find it difficult to follow this itty bitty little vessel to the hidden lair of Bin Laden and his cohorts . . . and how the itty bitty little thing could just simply disappear.

C'mon . . . we've got technology that can spot a booger in a fly's nose from outer space and we're supposed to buy the notion that these tankers just disappear.

Just go in and shoot the bastards . . . yes there will be casualties on the ships, but during this whole search for Bin Laden thing, the US has suffered casualties, too.

Sometimes life sucks.

Get a helmet . . .

Good article. Somalia is certainly a perfect spot to reorganize geographically and politically. Cash is king in Somalia and people will do anything to control it.

The ship breaking yards of Bangladesh are amazing and deadly. They can take down freighter in a matter of days.

Some cool pics

www.guardian.co.uk...

reply to post by GoalPoster


Have you ever been at sea?

I remember thinking how big it was when I first saw the ship I was stationed on until I went out on the ocean for the first time... then it became tiny indeed.

Even big things can disappear very easily in this world.

And yes they can see a fly on the nose but they got to know where that nose is first.

Next it will be "AQ are responsible for the death of Jesus" or "We suspect AQ involvement in the run up to WW2 and the Holocaust"..

It's all getting a bit tired now, like the boy who cried wolf. AQ has never been a seriously dangerous terrorist organisation, yet they seem to get the credit for almost all terrorism these day's, even when it's a local group doing it.

They just attach the moniker "AQ in...>insert region struck by terrorism

Here is an interesting blog concerning some of the skirmishes in Somalia and you can see how this can spread throughout Africa.

Africa is the "new" ticking time bomb and everybody wants a piece of the action. We have Europe, China, India, US, Russia all wanting a piece of the pie.

www.rinf.com...

The thread is also related....www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by grover
reply to post by GoalPoster

 

Have you ever been at sea?

I remember thinking how big it was when I first saw the ship I was stationed on until I went out on the ocean for the first time... then it became tiny indeed.

Even big things can disappear very easily in this world.

And yes they can see a fly on the nose but they got to know where that nose is first.

Dude . . . if the media can spot it, film it, put it on CNN for all of us to see . . . certainly we know where it is.

With today's technology . . . GPS . . . UPS . . . . PMS . . . GWBS . . . hell, we should be able to track it.

My original post was somewhat in jest, though . . . kinda tacitly pointing to my belief that somehow if my Rice Crispies don't crackle tomorrow morning, it will all be the fault of AQ . . .