Session: Human incubators and other upcoming al-Qaeda attacks

The next big Bin Laden attack could occur on the 10-year anniversay of 9/11, according to John Cloonan, president of Clayton Consultants and a 25-year veteran of the FBI who's personally interrogated the al-Qaeda member who brainstormed the plane attacks into the World Trade Center.

On that 10-year anniversary, he said, the attack is likely to be one meant to cripple our already beaten-down economy, perhaps one involving biochem. He explained that al-Qaeda is already experimenting with using human "incubators"--suicide "bombers" infected with some painful, debilatating, deadly vector who then are sent on a tour of America -- up elevators, through malls, into subways, onto airplanes -- all in an effort to spread the bio weapon into as much American airspace as possible before they themselves succumb to it. Imagine that.

You should. According to Cloonan, it is going to happen. Not if. When. It was a horrible session that Cloonan spoke at -- Tuesday afternoon in RMG305: Terrorism 2008 Update: Domestic to Al-Qaeda.

Not horrible in the sense that Cloonan was clueless. He knew exactly what he was talking about. And it was terrifying. You had the sense that the audience was in pain, in silent anguish, hearing what they knew to be true but, as Americans, living in American la-la land, we'd rather not think about, let alone enunciate in public.

It's been the only session I've attending where no one left mid-session. We couldn't. We were trapped, stuck, listening to some Nostradomus-esque prediction of how our society will be battered, slashed, sucker-punched, pricked, slapped, bled, generation after generation. Religious, ideological terrorism is a risk that we have no answer for. This is coming from an intel expert who specializes in handling kidnap and ransom situations, interrogations and other terrorism-related situations.

"They think very very long term," he said. "They will take years to get revenge, and they will get it."

The problem for commercial interests, and the risk managers who protect them, is that this revenge is targeting upon business and public victims, as much as it was on military and governmental ones.

The other problem is -- and before I say this, let me report that Cloonan did a very delicate and excellent job of staying apolitical when discussing the war on Muslim fundamentalism -- and I repeat, the other problem is we are NOT good at stopping terrorists.

"We're not that good," he said, adding that more terroristic attacks have occurred since 9/11 than before.

We have 36 FBI agents who speak Arabic beyond a vocab of five words. Our embassy in Baghdad has 6 staff who speak Arabic. Our human intel capabilities, in other words, suck. And we're fighting an organization, a movement, an idea based entirely on killing Americans and their allies.

If it makes you feel any better, Cloonan recalled how, when eavesdropping on Bin Laden during phone conversations with his mother -- yes, Cloonan is a bad ass --he'd heard the most wanted man in the world complain to his mom about sore throats and other nonsense that grown men still call their moms to whine about.

"He's a momma's boy," reported Cloonan.

Yes, a momma's boy who helped to launch a movement of thousands dedicated to killing Americans, destroying their businesses and properties, and sinking our economy and our society.