Terror Link to Blackouts?

Intelligence sources see power grids vulnerable, recall bin Laden threat

September 3, 2003
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

International intelligence sources are skeptical that the major unexplained power outages in the United Kingdom and United States occurred within weeks of each other by mere coincidence.

New York and much of the rest of the Eastern U.S. were hit first with a blackout. Then, last week, London was the center of the latest outage. New York and London are the West's major economic centers. The UK and U.S. are the two principal nations leading the war against Islamic terrorism on a global scale.

London's blackout was unprecedented. The U.S. event was the worst in history. Within minutes, in each case, the governments were emphatically claiming terrorism was not the cause – though the cause is still to be determined.

Here's what Osama bin Laden said in a statement released last October in threatening "U.S. economic interests": "The youth of Islam are preparing something to strike fear in your hearts and will target the vital sectors of your economy until you renounce your injustice and hostility."

In a message directed to the American people and released through Al-Jazeera television, the al-Qaida terrorist network leader offered this statement: "I advise you in all sincerity and call upon you to follow Islam, which stands up for justice and opposes injustice and crime. I also call upon you to seize the messages of the conquests of New York and Washington, which was the response to a part of your past crimes.

"However, the criminal gang in the White House, those agents of the Jews, are preparing to attack the Muslim world and carve it up, without you dissuading them, meaning that you have not learnt anything. I tell you, as God is my witness, that if America does not cease or reduce the scope of this tension, we will respond in kind, God willing."

Now, more intelligence experts familiar with electrical infrastructure weaknesses are acknowledging major vulnerabilities to sabotage, though not concluding terrorism was involved.

"What's puzzling," said one terror expert, "is how these government officials rule out terrorism just minutes or hours after an outage hits, yet days and weeks later they still can't pinpoint the actual cause."

Despite the early and public denials of terrorist connections to the separate blackouts, there was precious little media discussion even of the obvious possibility of sabotage.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone said late last week there was no suggestion that the major power cut that hit the capital of Britain was a terror-related incident. But neither was there any reason to believe it was not a terror-related incident – particularly when no other explanations are forthcoming.

During the East Coast blackout, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other government officials ruled out terrorism within the first hour of the outage.

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