http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070316/ap_on_re_us/school_bus_extremists By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 16, 7:07 PM ET WASHINGTON - Suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said, "Parents and children have nothing to fear." Asked about the alert notice, the FBI's Rich Kolko said, "There are no threats, no plots and no history leading us to believe there is any reason for concern," although law enforcement agencies around the country were asked to watch out for kids' safety. The bulletin, parts of which were read to The Associated Press, did not say how often foreign extremists have sought to acquire licenses to drive school buses, or where. It was sent Friday as part of what officials said was a routine FBI and Homeland Security Department advisory to local law enforcement. It noted "recent suspicious activity" by foreigners who either drive school buses or are licensed to drive them, according to a counterterror official. Foreigners under recent investigation include "some with ties to extremist groups" who have been able to "purchase buses and acquire licenses," the bulletin says. But Homeland Security and the FBI "have no information indicating these individuals are involved in a terrorist plot against the homeland," it says. The memo also notes: "Most attempts by foreign nationals in the United States to acquire school bus licenses to drive them are legitimate." Kolko said the bulletin was sent merely as an educational tool to help local police identify and respond to any suspicious activity. One counterterror official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the government felt it was likely that the foreigners investigated were merely employed as bus drivers, and did not intend to use them as part of any terror plot. A second official said the government felt it prudent that the backgrounds of all those who come in contact with school children be checked. Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the government has no credible information to suggest terrorists are "involved in buying school buses or seeking licenses to drive them." He said there was no indication of any immediate threat to the country. ___ Associated Press reporters Katherine Shrader and Beverley Lumpkin contributed to this report.
No history? Do us a favor - go Google the word "Beslan." Then if you have the stomach for seeing dead children, click on a few of the links or the Google images. Hey FBI Spokesman? There's your history. I wonder how the hell the FBI ever gets anything done right. You want to know what the next terror attack is going to be? It's going to be in one of America's grade schools. Or on a bus full of children. Not a high school. And you want to know how it will probably go down? Gunmen storm a school, killing on site security (if any) and any number of adults on scene. Any males who might be perceived as a problem will be summarily executed as a warning to anyone else who might cause problems, especially anyone perceived as a security threat. Children will be rounded up from the classrooms from where they have been locked down to "protect" them from rampaging gunmen. The locks will prove no obstacle to the hostage takers and they'll grab 30 to 40 children at a time who have been so conveniently boxed up for them Any other males will be forced at gunpoint or by a few more summary executions to fortify/secure defensible positions, such as an interior library, office or gymnasium. Upon completion of the fortifications, these males will also be executed. Should the situation run any length of time, adult females and some adolescents will be separated from their students for two purposes: to increase the uncertainty and fear among the children and to provide "entertainment" for their captors. Once an unrealistic set of demands are issued, children will die. Plain and simple. Lots of children will die. Teachers, too. And probably more than a few policemen. This is almost EXACTLY how the Beslan school event occurred. Or how about this scenario? A bus route, manned by one or more of these "extremists" who the FBI claims there is nothing to fear from, fails to deliver one or more busloads of children to school on time. The GPS that is supposed to be in the bus has mysteriously been deactivated. While police are called and the bus company contacted to determine who the driver is, what the bus number may be, what was the route taken, who was the last child picked up, etc., somewhere behind a warehouse or on some deserted railroad tracks or in some abandoned building, "extremists" are making snuff films for internet distribution to completely shock and frighten America. For pete's sake, the Army is recovering floor plans for American schools in Iraq and no one covers it. http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/homeland.php?id=724891 Beslan. On American soil. We don't often hope to be wrong or completely mistaken, but this is one of those times. No one is near ready for something like this.
Thanks so much for this information...Not that I want to live in constant fear, but we were overconfident and thought that nothing could happen on American soil and then we had 9/11... sadly, I'm afraid that we'll have to have something else happen before the media and our leaders pull their heads out of the sand and take these threats seriously...
