Conspiracy theories

[Hey Bubu]

So I was talking about the San Diego fires last night and the mentioned something about a possible terrorist act.....

Paranoid? yes, no, maybe so?

At least it got me thinking about all possible scenarios.

Last I heard on the news they (the goverment agencies involved) believed that this was caused by an arsenist.


What do you all think?

[bfp]

While Southern California law enforcement authorities investigate an eyewitness report of arson in at least one of the major wildfires that have killed at least 17 people, destroyed 567,000 acres and more than 1,600 homes, there is new evidence terrorism was behind other recent wildfires in Europe and Australia.

The San Bernardino Sheriff's Department reported it was seeking two men, both around 20, who were seen in a van on a road north of the city of San Bernardino last weekend. A witness saw one occupant throw something on to the roadside brush that started a fire. The witness said the van made a U-turn and fled the scene.

Meanwhile, in devastating forest fires that swept through the Maures mountains near the French Riviera in late July, investigators found Molotov cocktails, or gasoline bombs, were used to ignite the blazes that killed at least four and destroyed 50 homes.

Luc Jousse, the mayor of Roque-Sur-Argens, called the fires "a new form of terrorism." President Jacques Chirac threatened those responsible with "sanctions of an extraordinary gravity."

The fires in France were the worst ever in the region.

In addition, southern Italy was also hit last summer with devastating wildfires also believed to be the result of arson.

In August, Australian authorities launched an investigation into reports al-Qaida planned to spark brushfires in a new wave of devastating terror attacks.

A June 25 FBI memo to United States law enforcement agencies revealed a senior al-Qaida detainee claimed to have developed a plan to start midsummer forest fires in the U.S.

The terrorist hoped to mimic the destruction that devastated Canberra last summer, killing four people and destroying more than 500 homes, as well as in other parts of Australia.

The memo, obtained by the Arizona Republic newspaper, said the unidentified detainee revealed he hoped to create several large, catastrophic wildfires at once.

"The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies," the memo said.

The detainee told investigators his plan called for three or four operatives to travel to the U.S. and set timed explosive devices in forests and grasslands.

"Australian security authorities are aware of reports that al-Qaida has considered starting brushfires in the U.S. as a form of terrorist attack," said a spokeswoman Australian Attorney General Daryl Williams. "Arson attacks are just one of a wide range of scenarios which have been considered as part of our investigations into al-Qaida's ability to conduct attacks in Australia."

In fact, Arab terrorists in Israel have started dozens of major forest fires over the years.

As far back as 1988, Israeli police caught more than a dozen Palestinian adults in the act of setting fires, while other Arabs confessed to arson after arrest. Some fires followed specific calls by underground Arab terrorists. A leaflet issued by the Palestinian uprising's underground leadership called for ''the destruction and burning of the enemy's properties, industry and agriculture.''

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said at the time: ''The need to set fires, which also leads to murders, is in my eyes worse than fundamentalism.''

Israeli nature reserve authorities said 408 fires in May and June of 1988 destroyed 400,000 acres of land, nearly seven times the acreage burned from 1974 to 1986.

Last year, Gilad "Gidi" Mastai, chief ranger in the Galilee region of Israel, told the Jerusalem Post: "It's extremely hard to find arsonists, just like it's hard to close off the Green Line to terrorists. The forests here are on the front line."

But, he said, the vast majority of deliberate fires are started by Arabs with political motives.

Forest rangers often need the help of the Israel Defense Forces to battle the terror blazes.

Arson cases account for one-third of Israeli forest fires. "Political" arsonists cause the most with negligent hikers a close second.

[Hey Bubu]

Source?

[johnny861]

One man. A Camel. A box of matches. And a mission.

[zymote]

No doubt... I've got friends that are park rangers in the national system, and they're severely undermanned. A lot of the time, they've got to cut off access to huge areas of backcountry because they just can't ensure the safety of their visitors.

In other news... The Iraqi National Park system just recieved $10 billion from the U.S. government to build gold-plated visitors centers at every park. This move is expected to combat terror, as the owner of the company contracted to build the visitors centers is close friends with the Bush family. Terrorists worldwide are quaking in their boots.

[johnny861]

Originally posted by WarLord
Terrorists want maximum exposure and publicity for their actions. If they don't do it publically, they at least want their membership and donors to know of it as this is how they get their message, whatever it may be, out. In a nation the size of the U.S., fires, albeit damaging, do not offer the kind of punch, headline-wise, as say....knocking down two of the tallest buildings in the world.

Lol.. just like Capitalism... You've gotta please your investors..

[bfp]

Originally posted by WarLord
Terrorists want maximum exposure and publicity for their actions. If they don't do it publically, they at least want their membership and donors to know of it as this is how they get their message, whatever it may be, out. In a nation the size of the U.S., fires, albeit damaging, do not offer the kind of punch, headline-wise, as say....knocking down two of the tallest buildings in the world.

Just as with the power outage earlier in the year, this has more to do with our government's strange obsession with spending money to build things we do not need, like the new multi-force jet fighter (to fight an enemy that does not exist at this time) than spend it on infrastructure repairs (such as the power grid) and human services (such as funding the U.S. Park Service so there are more rangers to cover those vast and empty expanses of national parkland).

when did al-qaeda come forward and take responsibility for the 9/11 attack's right after the attack's took place? they repeatedly denied responsibility when the bush administration accused them for the attack's(until we had hard evidence). giving the intel that has been released as of late, one would have to think that it could be al-qaeda, being that they were planning on starting forest fires in the western united states.

and let's not blame this on the evil capitalist administration. if anything, the blame goes toward's the environmentalist wacko's for not letting us "kill tree's", even if they were dead. companies in pennsylvania have taken part in thinning out forest's throughout their state for the past several years to reduce the number of fires, and have been successful with these method's, rooting out brush and old trees which are kindling for massive fires. the democrats with the help of the environmentalist lobby have stopped legistlation, just as they have with the energy issues as well, having to do with the power-grid, thinking bush is filling the pocket's of huge companies, ie energy giant's and logging companies. whether they are right or not, the delay of these bill's have shown that it create's chaos in the end.

[c double]

it's a lot more likely that terrorists claim responsibility for something they had nothing to do with than be silent about something they did... if they started these fires it would be all over Al-Jazeera...

[El Cártel Malo]

This shit happens every couple of years. Theres no need to give them something to rejoice over. Now a fucking plane crashing into a building is a differnt story.