http://news.excite.com/news/r/991215/17/y2k-violence

U.S. girds for feared Y2K violence Updated 5:00 PM ET December 15, 1999 By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - U.S. officials are preparing for the possibility that the much-heralded Year 2000 computer bogy may turn out to be the least of their problems on New Year's weekend -- overshadowed by political, cult or racial violence.

As officials grow more confident that U.S. infrastructure will emerge relatively glitch-free, they appear increasingly concerned about those who might try to wind up the century with a kind of bloody exclamation point.

The chairman of a Senate panel that studied the Year 2000 technology challenge, Robert Bennett, said the United States and its allies should be on guard for both physical and computer-generated attacks timed to coincide with the new year.

"We think there may be terrorist groups planning to ride in on the Y2K wave," the Utah Republican, who receives intelligence briefings, told Reuters. "There is the potential for these groups to commit acts that may be mistakenly attributed to Y2K."

Apart from any risk from overseas, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned local police of the danger of violence by cults seeking to spark an apocalyptic battle and by those fearing a supposed conspiracy to impose world government.

"In the final analysis, while making specific predictions is extremely difficult, acts of violence in commemoration of the millennium are just as likely to occur as not," the FBI said in a "strategic assessment" last month.

Last week the State Department said it had "credible information" that guerrillas were planning attacks on U.S. citizens including at festivities to usher in the 21st century.

"The information indicates that attacks could be planned for locations throughout the world where large gatherings and celebrations will be taking place," said the advisory -- the fifth "worldwide caution" of its type since Aug. 4.

The Pentagon said on Tuesday U.S. forces were taking "a number of appropriate actions" to defend themselves against the threat cited by the State Department.

They will be "very well-postured in every conceivable way to deal with any threats that occur around the change of the year," Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon told reporters.

"We have a lot of intelligence focusing on events that could occur around the turn of the year, and I think commanders are very determined to be aggressive in force protection," he said.

The United States has told the ruling Taleban militia of Afghanistan that it would hold them responsible for any anti-U.S. attacks by followers of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden.

It served notice on the Taleban on Monday after the arrest in Jordan of 13 people, including alleged bin Laden followers, on suspicion of planning guerrilla attacks. A U.S. official said on Wednesday that suspected guerrilla plotters had been arrested elsewhere in the Middle East as well.

Bin Laden, who lives under Taleban protection, has been indicted by a New York grand jury in the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 220 people.

Susan Lloyd of the FBI's Washington field office -- which set up a special counterterrorist unit on Sept. 15 -- said she had no "hard intelligence" of any attack planned in Washington.

But she added: "We'll have people on standby in various locations around the city in order to better respond if there is a terrorist incident" during the big New Year's Eve bash that President Clinton is to address on the national mall.

Although mainly devoted to domestic threats, the FBI study said Israeli officials were extremely concerned about possible violence in Jerusalem, a holy city for Christians, Muslims and Jews.

White House officials have set up an "information coordination center" to track Y2K events, including any violence that might prompt a federal response.

"The unique thing about Y2K is we're going to have things going on internationally and domestically possibly at the same time, and we will have more of them going on than normal," Clinton's Y2K aide, John Koskinen, said Monday.

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@AOL.COM), December 15, 1999

Answers

Hhhmmm, not taking the Don't Know cop-out.

Copping In:
"Apart from any risk from overseas, the FBI has warned local police of the danger of violence by cults seeking to spark an apocalyptic battle and by those fearing a supposed conspiracy to impose world government.
"In the final analysis, while making specific predictions is extremely difficult, acts of violence in commemoration of the millennium are just as likely to occur as not," the FBI said in a "strategic assessment" last month.

That article once again plainly spells Deliberate Terrorist Blame Subbing for Y2K.

and Expect Violence

-- doomer .gov (they@are.radical), December 15, 1999.

And just what type of umbrella should we be buying for a three day storm with terrorist attacks sprinkled inbetween?

I have to say, although these assholes might make a big splash with some type of event, it doesn't add up to me that they would risk it on a night when security will be so tight you'll be able to hear the sound of the swat teams puckering up for miles and miles.

Unless of course, I wanted to scare the shit out of the general populace forcing them into their homes, all cozy by the fire, so that they're not out stranded in times square when the godamn lights go out...

Two possibilities:

1. These reports are real and we're in for some serious shit.

2. They're false and the problems we're anticipating are so bad that the admin has to resort to scaring us off the streets.

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), December 15, 1999.

I'm really sad over these last few years. This country is going more and more to shit. I used to love my country...tried to get into the Corps three times. Even used college ROTC to try and open the fucking doors. [I'm diabetic and deaf] Now I'm hearing the fucking Hackers are going nuts and the terrorists and the cults...and my own Gov is full of shit as well. My Dad was in 'Nam. My granfather in WW2. Fuck this and fuck everyone else. I hope and pray that if all I get is one shot that I can take at least one of these fucking shitheads with me. Blow the shit out of them. Actually, I hope I can take a bunch of 'em. The more the merrier. Why don't some of these fucking mental cased motherfuckers take a gun and eat the damn thing. You don't like it here-go to another damn country. Anyone bombs or shoots or kills someone I care about and I'll hunt them for the rest of eternity. I will go to other countries and burn cities to the ground. You exist and you can be found. I can't get you I'll get your momma or your kids. I'm tired of this shit from the Gov and the rest of these mental idiots. Fuck you. I'm taking a stand.

-- Satanta (tiredOfYourCr@p.com), December 16, 1999.

Good on you, Fantana. LOVE these intelligent, rational posts

-- Asking (Asking@a question.com), December 16, 1999.

BTW the stand you should be taking is in front of the men in white coats who say, "Sorry Fantana, it's the stiff coat for you"

-- Asking (Asking@a question.com), December 16, 1999.

Hey, "Assking"...first off- you need to 'ask' for a dictionary or 'read' a little better. There's no 'F' anywhere in the name...I do understand you might be trying to provoke me and my answer to that is ~Yawwwwnnnnn~. Second...there is only one 'N' and it's after the 'T'. You know like SATAN with a 'TA' on the end of it. What's the matter 'Assking' you afraid to spell the word "Satan"? And anything that has the word S-A-T-A-N in it is bad??? Religeous quandry got you down? Guess what 'Assking'...the name is "Sa-Tanta" and it means 'The Whitebear'.

And I'm not mad at you- I don't get mad at stupid people- just pity them.

I just want people with spines to say "Enough of this crap." and get out and do something. Vote. Take part in your city/local politics and such. Shoot a criminal. So 'asking'...You got it in you to do something to make it better or you just another faceless idiot behind a computer cowering in your bedroom?

-- Satanta (AskingYouToSt@ndUp.com), December 16, 1999.