Time to invade, since there apparently is a terrorism problem in Germany:
The police in Germany have arrested three Islamic militants suspected of planning large-scale terrorist attacks against several sites frequented by Americans, including discos, bars, airports and military installations.
The suspects — two German citizens and a Turkish resident of Germany — were in advanced stages of plotting bombing attacks that could have been deadlier than the terrorist strikes that killed dozens in London and Madrid, police and security officials said Wednesday. They said the possible targets included the busy Ramstein air base and the Frankfurt international airport.
“They were planning massive attacks,” the German federal prosecutor, Monika Harms, said at a news conference, outlining a vast six-month investigation. She said that the suspects had amassed huge amounts of hydrogen peroxide, the main chemical used to manufacture the explosives used in the suicide bombings in London in July 2005.
Plus, I am pretty sure the folks at the Weekly Standard are still pretty pissed about those Reagan-era anti-Pershing protests that got pretty heated in Germany. Hell, anymore, a few terrorists and a decade old neo-con grudge is casus belli for a full-scale invasion. Let’s bring freedom and democracy to Germany as we fight them over there instead of over here and do for Germany what we did for Iraq!
For non-snarky updates on this, there is a link-fest at memeorandum. The usual “ZOMG TERRORISTS ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL TIME TO GIVE BUSH MORE POWER” suspects are all in full-scale investigative mode, so have fun.
cleek
see! this proves that the surge is working!
Gus
The two German citizens were converts. Why do I get the feeling that these guys would have been skinheads 15 years ago? I’m guess that they were just looking for an excuse to perpetrate some violence, and they were just looking for the ideology that would give them an excuse. Losers.
Davebo
It is indeed a problem John.
Perhaps, at some point, you’ll decide it’s a big enough problem that you should stop using your quite popular blog to fund the works of Michael Leeden.
Just sayin.
salvage
Buh buh… flypaper! Fight them there so we don’t have to fight them someplace else!
Hey Davebo somehow I doubt Ballonjuice fund Leeden all that much; I suspect John gets more out of the deal.
David
Timing. It’s all about the timing. Too coincidental. I smell a rat.
The GAO report is just beginning to get widespread coverage in advance of Petraus, and we suddenly get a huge terrorist bust to divert the media’s attention?
OxyCon
Kerry was right!
=====================
Some are skeptical that the war on terror is really a war at all. My opponent said, and I quote, “The war on terror is less of a military operation, and far more of an intelligence-gathering law enforcement operation.” I disagree—strongly disagree. … After the chaos and carnage of September the 11th, it is not enough to serve our enemies with legal papers. With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States of America, and war is what they got.
—President Bush, March 25, 2004
capelza
Bader Meinhoff group anyone? The Red Brigade. Or more closely to home, the Weathermen and the SLA.
Zifnab
Hardly. For starters, if this was all a big media timing blitz, we’d see something a bit more trivial and non-sensical, like Paris Hilton flashing half of down town LA while scarfing down a burger at the In-And-Out. Or a group of Hispanic bartenders in Alabama being arrested and beaten to death for suspected illegal use of
crown and cokehighly flammable chemical weapons. Or… oh, I don’t know… a senator coming out of the closet in a small podunk northwestern potato state.Europe has been taking a legitimate share of terrorist attention, and I don’t have a hard time believing this is for real. That said, Europe has suffered – what? 5 or 6 serious bombings or assaults? – since 9/11. We’ve suffered an idiot who tried to light his shoe on fire and eight wanna-be members of the Wu Tang Clan getting busted in Florida.
Jake
If these MASSIVE PLOTS EXPOSED are meant as Distract-O-Vision, they aren’t working. I saw this a brief mention of this story when it broke and promptly forgot about it:
The average bedwetter could give a cold fuck about what happens in Foreignstan or they’d be dead of dehydration from all the bombings in Pakistan etc. Anyway, MPE it isn’t necessary. Bush’s Pet Raeus is scheduled to testify on Sept 11th. Distract-O-Vision will be another round of dancing with corpses, non-stop images of the WTC buildings falling and continued conflation of Iraq 2007 with Al-Quaida 2000.
TEAK111
The report is so breathless, makes me suspicious. “Massive attack” “Immeniant attack” “links to Al Quida” “large scale”
“sites frequented by Americans” “Hatred of Americans” “attacks within days” What are they selling, Iran? And these terrorist take downs seem to peter out in court when all the facts are know.
srv
More likely a Dieter-version of the Star-of-David crowd.
In a few months, we’ll find out it’s a bunch of losers run by an intelligence asset who insists Dr. Zawahiri traipsed around the Rhine with him after leaving Lodi in the 90s.
Steve
I assume the European authorities don’t share our predilection for inflating the deluded designs of a couple homeless guys into “the next 9/11” so we can crow for days about the huge plot we stopped, but I’ve been burned so many times on this stuff…
michael
it’s more to do with German internal politics. Interior minister Schäuble has been trying to get support for his wide-scale snooping measures (including installing trojans onto suspects computers) for quite some time now. This is all too timely for him. Plus of course, somewhere in the media report, they first say that of course the group was quite a long time from actually having explosives. So far, they had legally acquired some over-the-counter chemicals that _could_ be used to make explosives. And they were taped talking about detonating a bomb somewhere. Now don’t get me wrong, they were most likely violent and idiots, but to claim that there was imminent danger .. well .. duh.
Dennis-SGMM
Gadzooks! It’s clear to me that the only way to defeat the terrorist menace is to suspend the Constitution, dissolve Congress, declare G.W. Bush Dictator for Life and then nuke the entire Middle East.
I’m so scaaaaaaaared!
P.S. We should nuke most of Europe and Catalina Island as well – just so that we can be really, really safe.
Dreggas
MESSAGE TO DHS:
This is how this shit is supposed to go down. Note the suspects were under investigation for over a year and were being watched until such time as there was HARD EVIDENCE that they intended to do something. What does this mean? It means, jackasses, that some bunch of rastafarians in florida living on the street with no means to carry out any form of attack are not enough to go OMG TEH TERRORISTS ARE IN OUR BASES!
Unfucking believable.
Wayne
I can’t get anywhere near a U.S. airport with a ticket and a passport and a driver’s license without the TSA proctologists stopping me. How were these guys going to get enough hydrogen peroxide near enough a German airport to pose a threat? And does anyone believe three guys were going to take on an Air Force base? Sounds like a good reason to monitor the sale of hydrogen peroxide to the general public. I already have to sign a register to get cold medicine (in case they need to bust down my door to see if I’m making meth), and I can no longer buy ammonium nitrate fertilizer for my vegetables without setting off red flags, and only three ounce bottles of shampoo on planes, blah, blah, blah.
whippoorwill
Yes but not right away. First we need for someone speak at the UN Security counsel and blow sufficient amounts of smoke up the worlds ass. Then the neocons have to get the message out about how sometimes it’s necessary to kill people in order to save them.
Jim Treacher
ROVE!!!
Paul L.
It is obvious that the presence of American troops in Germany is creating these freedom fighters/insurgents from the normally peaceful population.
We must now close down the US bases in Germany and bring our troops home before we inflame them more!!!!1!
Zifnab
Fixed, for historical accuracy and financial common sense.
Why does the US have bases in Germany again?
Dennis-SGMM
To keep the rascals from invading France?
Andrew
For the good beer and bratwursts?
Rusty Shackleford
Isn’t Ramstein the Air Command Headquarters for NATO?
Helena Montana
I think our troops would prefer the weather in Germany to the weather in Iraq.
Punchy
A bunch of Krauts with really bad acne get busted on terrorism charges. Unfuckingbelievable.
Dave_Violence
To the victor go the spoils, MF.
Cyrus
That’s ridiculous. You liberals obviously don’t know your history if you really think we have bases in Germany because of World War II. Funny how you’re supposed to be the “reality-based” party.
We have troops there to keep the USSR from invading, moonbat.
Dennis-SGMM
It will come out at the trial that these guys were amassing all of that hydrogen peroxide so that they could bleach their hair to Aryan perfection in hopes of getting laid.
Davebo
Formal agreements with NATO. But since NATO really has no reason to exist anymore, it might be a good time to rethink those agreements.
jnfr
Hey, I used to know some of those anti-Pershing German organizers back in the days when I was doing anti-Cruise missle organizing! Now, that’s nostalgia. Good thing I don’t hang out at the Weekly Standard.
Dennis-SGMM
Yep, them ol’ Russkies are just bound to invade Germany. It would make perfect sense for them to start a war with all of their best customers for oil and natural gas.
Luckily this won’t happen because George W. Bush is not premier of Russia.
Dreggas
Actually when I was in, and some others I knew were in, Germany was one of our “dream destinations” for a new duty station.
Dreggas
they were amassing a large quantity and preparing to “boil it down” to be used as an explosive that would have equaled around a ton if TNT if I remember correctly, thos must have been some real nasty zits…
Jake
Due to the beer, the Autobahn and the weather, dad only leaves Germany when ordered to do so. (And I suspect they have to hitch is ass to a tank to haul him away.)
JohnTh
Jeez, John, will you stop giving these lunatics ideas? It was hard enough invading them the first time, and that was with the Russians doing most of the heavy lifting…
Jay C
Apparently, from what I’ve read, the German authorities had these wannabee-terrorist bozos under surveillance – tight enough so that they were able to substitute 600 or 700 kilos of 35% hydrogen peroxide (which when mixed with acetone makes a quite credible HE) with barrels of the 3% stuff (good only for disinfecting wounds). And the would-be bombers never noticed.
Of course, how this squares with their assertions that the plot was “foiled” “within days” makes little sense if the plotters were being watched so tightly – but at least they were busted: and by good old-fashioned police/CI work, too.
BTW, Seemingly, Ramstein AFB and Frankfurt Airport weren’t themselves, the terrorists’ targets: AFAICT, the bombs were intended to be used at clubs, restaurants, markets, etc. nearby: better concentration of potential casualties.
JWW
That is a pretty disrespectful opening John. You may want, just maybe to read that again without your BS emotions. A lot of people died to create the Germany as we know it
rachel
This is the point →
↶ And that was JWW, missing it.
merlallen
I lived in Germany while the Bader Meinhof gang was blowing shit up.
I remember when they committed suicide by shooting themselves in the back of the head with 9 mm pistols.
In prison.
jake
I thought you banned Just Wanking Wildly?
Jürgen Hubert
Today, US bases in Germany remain for two reasons:
– For the USA, Germany represents a convenient half-way base to more troubled reasons, such as the Middle East. For example, many injured soldiers are flown to Rammstein instead of directly to the USA.
– For German politicians, especially on the local level, the bases represent a nice source of additional revenue. All those US soldiers on leave have to spend their money somewhere, after all – and the bases are dependent in other ways on the local infrastructure which spreads some cash around.
But make no mistake – WWII has been over for more than 60 years, and those bases do not represent an “occupation force” or anything like that. Germany has been a fully sovereign nation ever since reunification. And most of the US bases in Germany have been dismantled after the Cold War ended.
There used to be a US base in my hometown of Erlangen, and I still remember the sound of machine gun fire in the distance in the evenings from their shooting range. But these days the base has closed, and all sorts of university departments and medical research facilities have moved in there.
Andre Hemker
To my fellow Americans:
It´s allways guaranteed fun to look up ridiculous political utterances of bored American rednecks who hang around the internet to give the planet daily evidency about their lack of political and/or historical knowledge, politeness and the ability to differ between various parts of the world.
Ok, these oppinions, for instance Mr. Coles aren´t good for
anything. Maybe for that laugh I was talking about. But that´s fair enough.
It´s great to have the freedom of talking the most awful nonsens, isn´t it Mr Cole?
This doesn´t apply for the American´s I personaly know, which are far from beeing silly. But they have all been over here.This seems to make them stick out of the general american society. Cheers mates! ..And if you plan to invade my precious country, make shure to come round for a coffe at my house!
huckfinn
I’m stunned that no one has yet mentioned a part of the NY Times account that practically jumped off the page at me:
“An American intelligence official said that the United States helped German authorities track the location of two of the German suspects by EAVESDROPPING [emphasis added] on their cellphone conversations as they moved out of training camps in Pakistan”
How long before the next shoe drops and we learn they did this without a warrant, or running it by the FISA court?
I say again, Where is the OUTRAGE?
Jürgen Hubert
Well, it’s about time we received some benefit for having all our business emails read by ECHOLON…