– Great piece in the Sunday Times of London on the Jihad Encyclopedia of bin Laden with volumes of exact instruction on how to wage terror: where to place bombs on suspension bridges… how to poison medicine so there is no security…. how to poison frozen food… how to target symbols (e.g., the Statue of Liberty) and infrastructure (e.g., nuclear plants) and people….
– Surprise, surprise: In a Times poll, British Muslims are against us. So much for the idea of moderate Muslims…
– But real Brits support our war.
– 80% of Turks oppose sending their troops to fight for us.
– Maureen Dowd (a star columnist in this war) on the need to bring together a Manhattan Project against terror: “We’re sophisticated; they’re crude. We’re millennial; they’re medieval. We ride B-52’s; they ride horses. And yet they’re outmaneuvering us.”
– The U.S. smallpox plan takes shape.
– Details of the hijackers’ logistics from the NY Times.
– The NY Times reports today that the FBI is stumped by the anthrax attacks and they ask US for help. This does not inspire confidence. It inspires fear. And it seems like a piss-poor criminal strategy: letting the bad guys know that they’re getting away with it. Watch Columbo, damnit: You should try to shake the criminals and let them think you’re breathing down their necks; that’s when they crack and do something stupid. Arrrgh.
– Anthrax raid in New Jersey. Man taken into custody on immigration issues. Another sign that this is not a domestic right-wing thing.
– More NJ anthrax: They found anthrax in the office mail bin of the civilian who got anthrax in NJ. Pick your bad news: Either civilians are now getting anthrax letters. Or — more likely — her mail was “cross-contaminated” with the mail in the Trenton post office, which means that any mail in any of the many contaminated post offices that was then sent to any of us is now suspect. Says the Washington Post: “This could sharply increase the number of people at risk.”
– More worries: ventilation systems are vulnerable, says Thompson.
