Disaster Teams Said Ready for Terrorism

[Terri]

Disaster Teams Said Ready for Terrorism

By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press
Newsday
December 25, 2003

WASHINGTON -- Disaster teams are ready to respond to any strike by the al-Qaida terrorist network and special equipment is monitoring the air for biological agents in some 30 cities, the Bush administration said Thursday.

Four days after the nation went to a high Code Orange status and turned up its vigilance against terrorism, the threat had not diminished. "Credible reporting suggests al-Qaida continues to desire to attack American interests," said Brian Roehrkasse, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.

"People have their antennas up," he said.

President Bush was spending Christmas at his mountaintop retreat at Camp David, Md., where he received updates from senior advisers and military aides, said White House spokesman Jim Morrell.

More (http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-terrorist-threat,0,4382286.sto ry?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines)

[lpara]

<span style='font-family:comic sans ms'>This is frightening. *Mansour Ijaz said the other night that he thought that the &quot;chatter&quot; http://www.gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/chatter.gif was mostly to see how we reacted to any alerts and where our weaknesses were. *If the people in the know are creeped out, I'm really creeped out!</span>

[pRIMrose]

I saw that too Laurie. But what good will it do us to panic? All we can do is stay alert and hope for the best. The big cities are in far more danger than the rural areas. And that's where they have concentrated their efforts on HS. Like one pundit said, &quot;we will never be 100% safe ever again.&quot; Those days are long gone. http://www.gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif

[Terri]

It's a matter of perspective. We thought we were safe before 9/11 but we were not. We were just ignorant of the threat and therefore blissful.

When we see what happens in other parts of the world my opinion of Homeland Security and Tom Ridge goes up a few notches.

For me, it's just an awareness and not a fear. I would still fly, still go anywhere that I planned to go without too much worry but I often think about how it must be for people in other parts of the world. It would be really tough to try to live a normal life in Israel.

[lpara]

<span style='font-family:comic sans ms'>Well, it hasn't kept me from &quot;shopping&quot; which is about the only thing I do out of the home http://www.gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin2.gif or church going, but it does make me concerned for close friends and family who frequently fly. I think it was Mansour who said that Al Queada usually sticks to whatever has worked for them in the past (planes). http://www.gopusa.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif</span>