Again
By The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT)
In 1995 I was flying back to the US from Bangkok via Tokyo when airport authorities turned our plane back from the runway, took us into a room where they told us to empty our carry-ons and confiscated all liquids. Growing mountains of contact lens solution, shaving cream, hand lotion, perfume, toothpaste, shampoo and deodorant filled the room. Some passengers were strip searched behind screens and individuals traveling with babies were made to taste the baby formula before letting them move on. This just a small consequence of the attempted Operation Bojinka as described in Evan Kohlmann’s post. Like we take off our shoes today, this may become standard practice.
While we do not know yet who is behind this plot, Al Qaeda and its affiliates have a history of trying to rectify their failures. After being nabbed at a Bin-Ladin guest house in Pakistan in 1995, Ramzi Yousef was being transported by helicopter to lower Manhattan, as they flew over the World Trade Center, one of his FBI escorts pointed out the buildings to him and commented that they were still standing to which Yousef replied: 'It wouldn't be if I had enough money and enough explosives.' Six years later they apparently did.
One positive development in potentially stopping the cash flows to such operations might be yesterday’s announcement by Swiss authorities that they will provide U.S. investigators with bank account details. Switzerland’s highest court finally approved a 2002 request by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Virginia. The request was part of an investigation into some 100 charitable organizations "which are providing by means of complex financial transactions support to terrorist operations."
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By Tamar Tesler
In 1995 I was flying back to the US from Bangkok via Tokyo when airport authorities turned our plane back from the runway, took us into a room where they told us to empty our carry-ons and confi... [Read More]
