WASHINGTON - personal files of Osama bin Laden has revealed a brazen idea to divert oil tankers and jump at Sea last summer, creating explosions which he hoped would rattle the world economy and send the price of oil soaring, the United States, said Friday.
The newly disclosed plot showed that while bin Laden was still intrigues for the next great strike that kill thousands of Americans, he believed also that a relatively simple attack on the oil industry could create panic in the world, which would each time Westerners that they hear up to their cars.
The authorities American, said the idea of tanker, included in documents found in the compound where bin Laden was killed nearly three weeks, was little more than a fantasy of al-Qaida. But the FBI and Homeland Security Department has issued a confidential warning the police and of the energy industry Thursday. The alert, obtained by the Associated Press, said that al-Qaeda had requested information on the size and construction of oil tankers, had decided that spring and provided the best time to approach vessels, determined that it would be easier inside them explode and believed an explosion would create an "extreme economic crisis".
Osama bin Laden documents also disclose that in February 2010, the group identified terror New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Chicago as major cities should be attacked; and it in the eyes of the specific dates, including the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 11 September, Christmas, July Fourth, and the State of the Union, under a similar alert issued Friday, obtained by the AP. There is no information indicating that there are plots of these cities, dates, and current tactics.
"We are not aware of any specific indications or imminent terrorist attack plot against oil and natural gas sector overseas or to the United States," spokesman for security inner Matthew Chandler said Friday. "However, in 2010 he continued interest by members of al-Qaida targeting oil tankers and oil commercial infrastructure at sea."
With the supply of oil in the world half moving on the water, of industry and security experts have warned years that such an attack would be a jolt to world markets. This is particularly true if terrorists carried out it in a narrow waterways that serve as expedition of bottlenecks.
"You begin to bomb oil tankers at sea and you will start the lane closures, shipping", said Don Borelli, senior vice president of the security of the Sufan group firm and a former agent of the FBI to fight against terrorism in New York. "It will cause this huge ripple through the economy."
Still, even if al-Qaida were able to detonate one of supertankers that move oil around the world, it would barely dent the world oil supply, said Jim Ritterbusch, President of Ritterbusch and Associates, which has been commercial oil contracts since the opening of the futures on the Nymex in 1983. A tanker holds about 2 million barrels, or enough to feed the world demand for about half an hour.
The terrorist threat to the oil infrastructure is not new. Members of a British terror cell which hoped to divert the aircraft of the crossing of the Atlantic in 2006 had also made plans to attack targets of oil and gas in Britain. And the al-Qaeda to the Yemen franchise attacked pipelines.
Thurdsay alert was important primarily because it connected the system directly to bin Laden, which probably means the idea was circulated among the senior leaders of al-Qaida.
The Government has encouraged businesses to continue a random control, to warn employees about possible threats and to establish procedures for the activity reports suspicious. But no there was no immediate effect on oil markets and shippers and the security officials said that it is business as usual on the water.
"This was a possibility on every mind for some time now," said Bill box a spokesman for the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners. "Everyone is aware of what might happen."
Shippers have been especially alert threats of piracy grew along the African coast. In 2008, Somali pirates captured the supertanker Sirius Star and held for ransom. In 2007, the Golden Nori Japanese tanker was hijacked carrying 40,000 tonnes of highly explosive chemical benzene. Initially, responsible for intelligence was concerned that terrorists could try to plant the boat in an oil platform at sea or to use it as a giant bomb, but it has proved to be another attack by pirates who seek the ransom.
Then in 2010, the two groups of pirates is mounted in a shooting while arguing on the ransom for the Maran Centaurus, threatening to turn the ship into a huge ball of fire.
Pirates have succeeded with a fairly rudimentary strategy. They of fire to a ship to get it to slow, then pull alongside skiffs. With the aid of scales tied together or grappling hooks, the pirates climb aboard with firearms. Many owners of ships is reluctant to have armed guards on board, since the cargo is so flammable that sailors are even forbidden to smoke.
Somali pirates take ship money. Information from Ben Laden composed after that he was killed May 2 suggests al-Qaida was interested in this strategy to terrorize the adaptation.
In the United States, has warned for years that such an attack in a narrow channel, such as the Strait of Hormuz between Oman and the Iran would send immediately higher oil prices.
In Asia, concerns have focused on key oil used for the continent, the Strait of Malacca, located between the Indonesia, the Malaysia and Singapore. Last year, an Indonesian al-Qaeda affiliate set up a training at the beginning of the Strait camp, leading to speculation on an attack it and getting them to Singapore to issue a warning.
"The good thing is that the boats move that fast." "It gives you time to ban," said Cuss Crispian, Director of program to the Group of Olive, one of the largest private security in the Middle East. "If a ship was hijacked by an al-Qaida organization and proceeded to a major port, the authorities would not ship get anywhere near this port."
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