To Sumac & Everyone else,
Please read these articles. They are updated and credible news sources concerning the unknown chemicals and bombs used in the Jordanian bomb plot. You guys might want to read these news sources from the NYTimes and Washington Post. It might shed some light to your questions.
NYTimes- Police in Jordan Kill 4 It Says Plotted Against It and the U.s.
Quote:Police in Jordan Kill 4 It Says Plotted Against It and the U.S.
By JUDITH MILLER and DESMOND BUTLER
Published: April 21, 2004
At least three militants were killed in a firefight yesterday as the Jordanian police continued to round up suspects in what authorities have described as a major plot to bomb American and Jordanian government targets, according to officials in Jordan's capital, Amman.
Three weeks after security forces uncovered the plot, stopping five trucks filled with explosives, Jordanian and American officials say interrogations of some of the 15 men arrested suggest that the operation may have been sponsored by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian terrorist linked to al Qaeda. The Bush administration has accused Mr. Zarqawi of supporting anti-American operations in Iraq.
Jordanian and American officials said the scale of the bombing plot compared to Qaeda's foiled attempt to mount simultaneous attacks on Jordanian hotels and tourist sites over the millennium celebrations. Jordan is an American ally in the Middle East and has a large American presence.
"This would have been a huge attack," said one American official, who recently returned from Jordan. "The security that I saw in the wake of the plot was intense. From Aqaba to Amman. The situation is bad."
The firefight yesterday came after the police, acting on a tip, surrounded a house in a poor district of Amman, officials said. In addition to those killed, three men were detained.
Jordanian officials first reported the foiled operation on April 1, but with few details, saying only that several militants had been arrested in connection with a bombing plot. But as the arrests have mounted, more information has come out, and in an interview last week with the San Francisco Chronicle, King Abdullah II of Jordan, said the five trucks, packed with more than 17 tons of explosives, had entered his country from Syria.
The security of Syria's border is already the source of considerable tension between Washington and Damascus. In recent days, Syrian and American officials have disagreed about whether Damascus is committed to tightening its borders with Jordan and Iraq.
Richard Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said Monday that President Bush had sent a letter urging the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, "to work closely with the rest of the international community to promote a stable Iraq." Another official said that the administration was also concerned about terrorist infiltration into Jordan.
But Syrian officials and a former American ambassador to Syria said that Damascus had gotten no response from recent overtures to work more closely with the United States on border security.
"I believe the Syrians have on at least two occasions indicated a desire to discuss cooperation across its borders in a serious way," said the former ambassador, Theodore Kattouf, who met with President Assad in Damasucs last month. "I'm unaware that the administration has accepted such an offer." He said Mr. Assad had told him that within the last year Syria had arrested 1300 people for trying or helping others try to cross the border into Iraq.
An American official acknowledged the Syrian overtures but said the administration was not convinced of their seriousness.
The Bush administration is preparing to impose new sanctions against Syria, which it says is a supporter of terrorism. Several officials said yesterday that the administration could announce the sanctions as soon as this week.
Two weeks ago, the administration sent another signal of its displeasure when the Pentagon transferred jurisdiction for Syria and Lebanon, in which Syrian forces have been stationed for years, from its European command to the Central Command, which coordinated the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq.
"It was a not very subtle signal," one defense department official said.
Imad Moustapha, Syria's ambassador to Washington, denied that Damascus had sanctioned, or had prior knowledge of the planned terrorist attacks in Jordan. He also stressed that Damascus desired a "constructive relationship" with the United States and would try to pursue closer ties even if the administration imposed sanctions.
"Those elements," he said, referring to the suspects in Jordan, "were probably members of fundamentalist groups. So they are our enemy too."
American officials described the explosives that the plotters were planning to use as similar to the bomb used in the Oklahoma City attack in 1995. One American intelligence official said that in addition to diesel fuel and explosives, the Jordanians found "garden-variety" chemicals that they believe were probably intended to help ignite and augment the bomb. He said Jordanian police found hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid in the trucks.
Pay close attention to the end of this article.
Quote:American officials described the explosives that the plotters were planning to use as similar to the bomb used in the Oklahoma City attack in 1995. One American intelligence official said that in addition to diesel fuel and explosives, the Jordanians found "garden-variety" chemicals that they believe were probably intended to help ignite and augment the bomb. He said Jordanian police found hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid in the trucks.
Hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid are not even close to being classified in the same category as WMDs. I guess if terrorists were able to get tons and tons of these chemicals, it might come close. Compare that to small amounts of
real WMDs doing the same job for more disastrous and lethal results.
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Washington Post & Associated Press- By Jamal Halaby April 20, 2004
Quote:Jordan Police Kill Four Terror Suspects
By JAMAL HALABY
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 20, 2004; 3:55 PM
AMMAN, Jordan - Authorities stormed a basement in a poor neighborhood of the Jordanian capital Tuesday, killing four men believed to have ties to an al-Qaida-linked cell that plotted simultaneous bombing and chemical attacks against the U.S. Embassy and other targets.
Three other men were detained at the hide-out, according to an Associated Press photographer at the scene.
It was not immediately clear what relationship the detained men had with the slain terror suspects. Three of the dead were foreigners, government spokeswoman Asma Khader said without giving their nationalities.
The bomb plot was disclosed earlier this week and was said to have been foiled following the arrests of several suspects in two raids in late March and early April. Had the chemical bomb exploded, it could have killed at least 20,000 people and wrecked buildings within a half-mile radius, government officials say.
Jordan, a moderate Arab nation with close ties to the United States and a peace treaty with Israel, has been targeted by al-Qaida and other groups.
The nearly four-hour operation began in Tuesday afternoon when hundreds of policemen, acting on a tip, surrounded a one-mile area around the one-story, white-brick building in the eastern Hashemi district of Amman, a predominantly Palestinian area.
Police called for the suspects to surrender, but they responded with gunfire, the statement said.
About 2 1/2 hours into the operation, police fired several volleys of tear gas at the hide-out.
"Open the door! Surrender!" shouted a Special Forces security man in black uniform through a loudspeaker after police arrested one of three men trying to escape from the back of the house.
Shortly afterward, about six Special Forces men wearing gas masks stormed the house, breaking down the door with an iron bar. Smoke, apparently from a tear gas canister that was fired by the security forces, was seen rising from the basement.
Two men, one bearded, were dragged out of the house. Authorities handcuffed them and forced them to lie on their bellies on the ground next to the first suspect. An official in civilian clothes slapped the men on the face and screamed abuse at them.
Joyful women on balconies of nearby buildings ululated and boys clapped and whistled as police took the three away. Some security forces were slightly injured in the operation.
A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AP that the four killed were believed to have links to a group that plotted to detonate a powerful chemical bomb against Jordan's secret service, and use poison gas against the prime minister's office, the U.S. Embassy and other diplomatic missions.
"Information made available to security authorities pointed to the presence of an armed group which had plotted to carry out terror attacks," the police statement said.
The U.S. Embassy in Amman declined comment on Tuesday's shootout. But other Western diplomatic officials contacted by AP said they believed there was a link between the al-Qaida-linked terror threat and the slain suspects.
Authorities have said the suspects in the earlier raids entered Jordan from Syria, which denies the allegation.
Police said several of the terror suspects arrested last month confessed that the plots were hatched by Jordanian militant Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, thought to be a close associate of al-Qaida boss Osama bin Laden.
U.S. officials have offered a $10 million reward for al-Zarqawi's capture, saying he is trying to build a network of foreign militants in neighboring Iraq to work on al-Qaida's behalf.
Twenty-two Arab men were convicted in a plot that targeted U.S. and Israeli tourists in the 2000 millennium celebrations in Jordan.
Associated Press reporters Hussein Malla and Shafika Mattar contributed to this story.
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BBC- Jordanian police kill 'militants'
Quote:Jordanian police kill 'militants'
Wednesday, 21 April, 2004, 10:50 GMT 11:50 UK
Jordanian police acted after a tip-off
Police in Jordan have killed four suspected militants in a shoot-out in the capital Amman, officials say.
Those killed are believed to be linked to a terror cell operating in Jordan.
The cell is alleged to have been plotting simultaneous bombing and chemical attacks against several targets - including the US Embassy.
The Jordanian authorities said last Saturday they had thwarted an attack on the intelligence headquarters by suspected militants linked to al-Qaeda.
Jordan, which has a peace treaty with Israel and strong ties with the US, has been targeted by militants in the past.
'Chemical bomb'
On Tuesday police stormed a hideout in eastern parts of Amman where the suspects had been hiding, the statement said.
Zarqawi has been condemned to death in absentia in Jordan.
Officers urged those inside to surrender, but they replied with gunfire, it added.
It is not clear how many suspects were involved in the shootout, or if any escaped.
An official said two of those who died were foreigners.
Another official told the Associated Press news agency that they were linked to a group that had plotted to destroy government buildings with a powerful chemical bomb.
Had the bomb exploded, it would have killed at least 20,000 people and wrecked many buildings, government officials told AP.
The group is also believed to have been planning attacks against the US embassy and other diplomatic missions in Amman, the agency says.
Earlier this month, a Jordanian court sentenced to death eight Muslim radicals for killing a US government official in Amman in 2002.
Among those convicted was the suspected al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was sentenced in absentia.
I hope you guys find these CREDIBLE news sources helpful. Apparently, there were chemical bombs in the plot. But can you qualify nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide as WMDs? I don't think so. I believe professional security experts would agree with me on that.
