Some grim thoughts about terrorism

[MikeWaters]

This was forwarded to me. Part 1.

This article from www.policeone.com.

Mass slaughter in our schools: the terrorists’ chilling plan

Part 1 of a 3-part PoliceOne.com series

By Chuck Remsberg
Senior PoliceOne Contributor
Sponsored by Blauer

Probably the last place you want to think of terrorists striking is
your kids’ school. But according to two trainers at an anti-terrorism
conference on the East Coast, preparations for attacks on American
schools that will bring rivers of blood and staggering body counts are
well underway in Islamic terrorist camps.

• The intended attackers have bluntly warned us they’re going to do it.

• They’re already begun testing school-related targets here.

• They’ve given us a catastrophic model to train against, which we’ve
largely ignored and they’ve learned more deadly tactics from.

“We don’t know for sure what they will do. But by definition, a
successful attack is one we are not ready for,” declared one of the
instructors, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. Our schools fit that description
to a “T”—as in Terrorism and Threat.

Grossman, the popular law enforcement motivational speaker, and Todd
Rassa, a trainer with the SigArms Academy and an advisory board member
for The Police Marksman magazine, shared a full day’s agenda on the
danger to U.S. schools at a recent three-day conference on terrorist
issues, sponsored by the International Assn. of Law Enforcement
Firearms Instructors (IALEFI) in Atlantic City.

They reminded the audience that patrol officers, including perhaps some
with their own children involved, will inevitably be the first
responders when terrorists hit. And they documented chilling
descriptions of the life-or-death challenges that likely will be faced.

In Part 1 of this two-part report on highlights of their presentations
we focus on what’s known about the threat to our schools to date, why
terrorists have selected them as targets, and what tactics you’re
likely to be up against in responding to a sudden strike.

In Parts 2 and 3, we’ll explore Grossman’s and Rassa’s recommendations
for practical measures you and your agency can take now to get ready,
including some defensive actions that don’t require any budget
allocations.

Why schools?

Two reasons:

1. Our values. “The most sacred thing to us is our children, our
babies,” Rassa said. Killing hundreds of them at a time would
significantly “boost Islamic morale and lower that of the enemy” (us).
In Grossman’s words, terrorists see this effort as “an attempt to
defile our nation” by leaving it “stunned to its soul.”

2. Our lack of preparation. Police agencies “aren’t used to this,”
Rassa said. “We deal with acts of a criminal nature. This is an act of
war,” but because of our laws “we can’t depend on the military to help
us,” at least at the outset.

Indeed, Grossman claimed, “the U.S. in the one nation in the world
where the military is not the first line of defense against domestic
terrorist attacks. By law, you the police officer are our Delta Force.
It is your job to go in, while in most other nations cops will wait for
the military to come save their kids.”

School personnel, Rassa said, “are not even close” to being either
mentally or physically prepared. “Most don’t even have response plans
for handling a single active shooter. Their world is taught to nurture
and care for people. They don’t want to deal with this.”

The American public, “sticking their heads in the sand, can’t be
mentally prepared,” he said. “They’re going to freak when it happens,”
their stubborn denial making the crisis “all the more shocking.”

Noting that “sheep have two speeds: ‘grazing’ and ‘stampede,’” Grossman
predicted that “not a parent in the nation will send their kids to
school the next day”—perhaps for many days—after a large-scale
terrorist massacre. If day-care centers—“also on the terrorists’
list”—are hit as well, “parents will drop out of the work force” en
masse to protect their children and “our economy will be devastated.”

How we know they’re coming.

Al-Qaeda has publicly asserted the “right” to kill 2,000,000 American
children, Rassa explained, and has warned that “operations are in
stages of preparation” now. He played vivid videotapes confiscated in
Afghanistan, showing al-Qaeda terrorists practicing the takeover of a
school. The trainees issue commands in English, rehearse separating
youngsters into manageable groups and meeting any resistance with
violence. Some “hostages” are taken to the rooftop, dangled over the
edge, then “shot.”

“Any place that has given [Islamic terrorists] trouble, they’ve come
after the kids,” Grossman said. Muslim religious literature, according
to Rassa, states clearly that the killing of children not only is
“permitted” in Islam but is “approved” by Mohammed, so long as the
perpetrators “are striving for the general good” as interpreted by that
religion.

He cited instances in Indonesia where girls on their way to school have
been beheaded and in other countries where children have been shot,
mutilated, raped or burned alive.

In this country this year [’06], Rassa said, there have been several
school bus-related incidents involving Middle Eastern males that raise
suspicion of terrorist activity. These include the surprise boarding of
a school bus in Florida by two men in trench coats, who may have been
on a canvassing mission, and the attempt in New York State by an Arab
male to obtain a job as a school bus driver using fraudulent Social
Security documents. The latter gave an address in Detroit, home to a
large colony of fundamentalist Muslims.

Rassa claimed that floor plans for half a dozen schools in Virginia,
Texas and New Jersey have been recovered from terrorist hands in Iraq.

The terrorists’ tactical model.

A “dress rehearsal for what terrorists plan to do to us” has already
taken place, Rassa and Grossman agreed. That was the brutal takedown in
2004 of a school that served children from 6 to 17 years old in Beslan,
Russia.

Some 100 terrorists were involved, nearly half of whom were discreetly
embedded in the large crowd of parents, staff and kids who showed up
for the first day of school; the rest arrived for the surprise attack
in SUVs, troop carriers and big sedans. Across a three-day siege, 700
people were wounded and 338 killed, including 172 youngsters.

If a similar assault were launched against a school in your
jurisdiction, how would you and your agency respond? Consider this
modest sampling of challenges that were deliberately planned or arose
from the ensuing chaos at Beslan, as outlined by Rassa:

• The school was chosen because it was one of the taller buildings in
the area and had a very complicated floor plan, making a rapid and
effective counter-assault by responders extremely difficult. Offender
weaponry included AK-47s, sniper rifles, RPGs and explosives, with
everything the terrorists needed carried in on their backs. RPGs were
fired at a responding military helicopter and at troops.

• More than 1,000 men, women and children, including babies, were
penned in an unventilated gym and a cafeteria. As the days passed
without food or water and inside temperatures rose to 115 degrees,
survivors were eating flowers they’d brought for teachers and fighting
for urine to drink out of their shoes in desperation. Women and some
children were repeatedly and continuously raped.

• Adult males and larger male students were used as “forced labor” to
help fortify the building, then shot to death. Bodies were thrown out
of an upper-story window, down onto a courtyard. Attempts at
negotiation by responders were used by the terrorists strictly as an
opportunity to buy time to solidify their fortifications.

• Surviving hostages were surrounded by armed guards standing on
deadman switches, wired to explosives. All entrances to the building as
well as stairwells and some interior doorways were booby-trapped.
Youngsters were forced to sit on window sills to serve as shields for
snipers. “Black widows” (potential suicide bombers) were rigged so
their bomb belts could be detonated by remote control when leaders
considered the timing was right. The terrorists stayed cranked up on
some type of amphetamine to keep awake.

• Armed, outraged parents and other civilians, some of them drunk,
showed up and started “rolling gunfights” outside in a futile effort to
defeat the takeover. The crowd identified one embedded terrorist and
“literally ripped him apart.” The media was everywhere, unrestrained.
So many people were milling around that responders often could not
establish a clear field of fire.

• When troops finally stormed the school in a counter-assault on the
third day, “pure pandemonium” reigned. Soldiers and the kids they were
trying to rescue were gunned down mercilessly. Explosions touched off
inside started multiple fires.

• Responders who made it inside had to jump over trip wires as they
“ran” up stairs under fire from above. By then terrorists were holding
hostages in virtually every room. Rescue teams were subjected to
continual ambushes. Gunfights occurred predominately within a 6-ft.
range, with some responders having to fight for their lives in places
so cramped they couldn’t get off their hands and knees.

• Some children successfully rescued from the building were so crazed
by thirst that they ran to an outdoor spigot and were killed by a
grenade as they filled their hands with water.

[MikeWaters]

Part I continued:

• Terrorists who escaped during the melee ran to homes of embedded
sympathizers who hid them successfully and were not immediately
suspected because they were considered “non-strangers” in the
community. Some townspeople who volunteered to help as stretcher
bearers for the injured were, in fact, embedded terrorists.

• During the siege “at least four people or agencies claimed to be in
charge. Actually, no one was in charge and no one wanted to be.”

“Osama bin Laden has promised that what has happened in Russia will
happen to us many times over,” Grossman warned. “And Osama tries very
hard never to lie to us.”

[For more details on this siege, Grossman recommends the book, Terror
at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America’s Schools , by
John Giduck.]

What’s likely here.

Probably not so many terrorists involved at a single location. Moving
that big a contingent into place would likely attract too much
attention and thwart the attack. Grossman describes a more likely
possibility, in his opinion:

Terrorist cells of four operatives each will strike simultaneously at
four different schools. They’ll probably pick middle schools with no
police officers on site, where the girls are “old enough to rape” but
students are not big enough to fight back effectively.

The targets will probably be in states “with no concealed-carry laws
and no hunting culture” and in communities where “police do not have
rifles.” Rural areas may be favored, where 30 minutes or more could be
required for responders to arrive in force.

The attackers will “mow down every kid and teacher they see” as they
move in to seize the school. They’ll plant bombs throughout the
buildings, and “rape, murder and throw out bodies like they did in
Russia.” Emergency vehicles responding and children fleeing will be
blown up by car bombs in the parking lot.

In all, 100 to 300 children could be slaughtered in a first strike.

Terrorists capable of this are already embedded in communities “all
over America,” Grossman and Rassa agreed. More will probably gain entry
surreptitiously from Mexico, making southern California potentially a
prime target.

No time for despair.

It’s a grim picture, for certain. “But if we think there’s nothing we
can do to prepare, that is a defeatist mentality,” Rassa said. “We
ought to be trying. If we’re not trying, we’re failing. We may as well
give up our guns and surrender now.

“I can’t think of a better thing to train up for than protecting our
kids. If we try but fall short, look at how much else we’ll still be
able to handle than we can now.

“What made most of us do active-shooter training? The killings at
Columbine. Are we going to wait for something far worse than that
before we do the most that we can to stop the terrorists who are coming
for our schools?”

[MikeWaters]

Here is Part 2:

Part 2 of a special PoliceOne.com 3-part series
By Chuck Remsberg
Senior PoliceOne Contributor
Sponsored by Blauer
[Editor’s Note: In Part 1, we documented the plans of Islamic
terrorists to strike U.S. schools in murderous raids, claiming the
lives of hundreds of children, as reported at a recent anti-terrorism
conference, sponsored by the International Assn. of Law Enforcement
Firearms Instructors (IALEFI). In Part 2, we summarize countermeasures
proposed by one of the conference instructors, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman,
author of the popular books On Killing and On Combat.]
As Instructor Todd Rassa pointed out in our first installment, if we
are not trying to prepare for and thwart the daunting terrorist threat
to our schools and children, we are, in effect, conceding defeat and
surrendering without a battle to those who would obliterate us.
There is no simple master plan for an easy victory. But the cumulative
effect of many seemingly small countermeasures, effectively applied on
a large scale by individual officers and their agencies, can have a
powerful impact.
Here are some of the practicalities that Trainer Dave Grossman
suggested we consider in beginning to address the critical problem of
terrorists coming for our kids.
First mission.
That’s overcoming denial. And where schools and terrorist attacks are
concerned, denial abounds.
U.S. schools continue to take extensive and overt measures to guard
students against the threat of fire, with drills, alarms, sprinkler
systems, building codes, etc.—even though there has not been a single
child killed by fire in any American school in the last 25 years,
Grossman declared.
In contrast, well over 200 deaths have occurred from school violence by
active shooters and other non-terrorist offenders over the last dozen
years, and Islamic fundamentalists are believed to be plotting attacks
that will claim hundreds of child casualties in a single blow. Yet
efforts to significantly harden schools as a target of violence have,
for the most part, been slow, timid or nonexistent.
“We need to treat the threat of violence like the threat of fire. But
if you try to prepare for violence, people think you’re crazy,
paranoid,” Grossman said.
“Denial is the enemy. It’s a big, fluffy white blanket we pull up
over
our eyes to convince ourselves the bad men are never going to come. And
while we pull that blanket up, bad guys come and kick us in the groin.
“Let’s face the lessons terrorists have already taught us in blood
and
lives. They are coming, and they may well come for our schools, our
kids. We’ve had all the warning in the world. And if we continue
living
in denial, then all the lives they’ve claimed to date have been
sacrificed for nothing.”
Grossman’s 4 Ds.
Besides working to eliminate the big D (denial), Grossman cited four
others we need to focus on:
1. Deter.
An armed police presence in a school can provide strong deterrence
against attack, Grossman argued. “Terrorists are willing to die, but
they desperately don’t want to die for nothing, without completing
their tactical objective. They want a body count.”
To squelch would-be attackers, some Israeli schools deploy on-site
police at squad-level strength, and armed guards accompany all class
fieldtrips, usually one per 10 students. But even with a single armed
officer in a school, “the prospects of a massacre go way down,”
Grossman said.
Having unarmed security in or around schools is both pointless and
ethically derelict, in his opinion. “Don’t give someone
responsibility
for human lives and not give them the tools to do the job. You
wouldn’t
give a firefighter just a hat, uniform and badge, and no hose or
water.”
Should teachers be armed? At least two states (Utah and New Hampshire)
now authorize concealed-carry permits in schools, according to
Grossman, and the Federal Safe Schools Act allows for it. Faculty with
military experience and a willingness to receive additional training
could be a starting point.
“Even one or two armed teachers in a school can make a difference,”
Grossman said. But given the current American mind-set, “you have to
push this envelope very gently.”
2. Detect.
“The ultimate achievement is a terrorist takeover that doesn’t
start,”
Grossman said. And officers being suspicious—“doing what cops
do”—are
well positioned to interrupt attack plans before they culminate.
Follow good criminal patrol procedures on traffic stops, for instance,
by asking probing questions and being alert for contradictions,
inconsistencies, irrationalities, unduly nervous behavior and other
indicators of deceit and guilty behavior. Be aware of what you can see
inside vehicles or on subjects that may merit closer investigation.
Watch for signs of static or mobile surveillance of potential targets.
Terrorists “always conduct a recon,” which may involve
photographing or
videotaping a prospective site, Grossman said. Don’t limit your
suspicions just to persons who fit the stereotypical terrorist profile.
“There are terrorists who are blond and blue eyed.”
Inform schools to report any calls from people inquiring about
security. Someone claiming to be a concerned parent wanting to know if
any armed officers are on the premises may in fact be an operative
gauging the vulnerability of the location. The staffer taking the call
should jot down the caller ID number and note the precise time and the
phone line the call came in on to facilitate further checking. “Any
time terrorists bounce off a hard target is a chance to catch them.”
3. Delay.
If terrorists do strike, “one man or woman with effective fire from
behind cover inside the school can hold off a group of attackers for 5
minutes,” saving lives by buying time until police responders “can
get
in the door,” Grossman claimed.
Meantime, at the first hint of trouble, teachers and children should
kick in to a preplanned and frequently rehearsed three-step
“lock-down
model,” he recommended. “Sheltering” children in place, as has
been
attempted in various school shootings, is more likely to be dangerous
than protective. Instead, Grossman advises potential victims to:
• Move away from violence, which otherwise tends to be “mesmerizing
and
paralyzing”
• Move to a pre-selected secure location, someplace “secure enough
to
keep the bad guys out until the cops come in”
• Move again if you have reason to feel threatened at that spot.
“Lock-down does not mean hunker down and die,” Grossman said.
“As a last resort,” there may be times when a teacher would need
the
courage to “go toward an attacker.” Grossman cited a case in which
an
active shooter broke a window in a classroom door and reached through
to release the locked knob. Teacher and students cowered inside and
just waited, whereas a teacher might have “grabbed a chair and
attacked
his hand” and possibly have delayed or deterred a fatal assault.
Plans on paper “mean nothing,” Grossman reminded. “You have to
get the
schools to rehearse” anti-terrorist scenarios. “Principals have
been
fired for not doing fire drills,” and yet the terrorist threat these
days is so much greater. Where are our priorities?
4. Destroy.
As a responding officer, you have to be fully prepared, mentally and
physically, to use deadly force to stop the threat. “It is your job
to
put a chunk of steel in your fist and kill the sons-of-bitches who are
coming to kill your kids,” Grossman declared in an emotional
crescendo
in his presentation.
“Fight from the very beginning. Don’t wait, thinking you’ll fight
later.” Referring to the terrorist massacre at the school in Beslan, Russia, which we described in Part 1 of this series, Grossman said:
“Every minute the Russians waited, the target got harder.” If you
hesitate in responding, “you’ll die with a bullet in the back of
your
head in front of children.”
NEXT: Four critical terrorist counter-measures that will cost an agency
nothing, plus more tactics for street cops in protecting our schools.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Charles Remsberg
Chuck co-founded the original Street Survival Seminar and the Street
Survival Newsline, authored three of the best-selling law enforcement
training textbooks, and helped produce numerous award-winning training
videos. His nearly three decades of work earned him the prestigious
O.W. Wilson Award for outstanding contributions to law enforcement and
the American Police Hall of Fame Honor Award for distinguished
achievement in public service.
This column is sponsored by Blauer. Blauer has been a leader in
protective uniforms and outerwear for law enforcement and fire/EMS
professionals for sixty nine years and three generations of family
members. Blauer is committed to law enforcement and to keeping officers
safe.

[RockyBalboa]

That is horrifying.

[il Padrino Ute]

And the Democrats who now control congress want to withdraw troops.

As Mike stated in another post, we need to make this move that Bush has proposed. I'll take it a step further - we need to make this move and if necessary, use all we have to kill all the terrorists.

[BigFatMeanie]

I'm conservative. A fan of firearms. A "let's kick some terrorist ass" kind of guy. A believer that we're inching closer and closer to Armageddon. That being said, you've got to consider the source.

Blauer and SigArms definitely have an agenda. They are in the business of selling handguns and police equipment. They are definitely going to paint the worst picture possible in an effort to encite cities to beef up police forces and to encite civilians to buy firearms.

As a responding officer, you have to be fully prepared, mentally and physically, to use deadly force to stop the threat. “It is your job to put a chunk of steel in your fist and kill the sons-of-bitches who are coming to kill your kids,” Grossman declared in an emotional crescendo in his presentation.

They are obviously trying to play on emotions. Should schools make a plan? Absolutely. Should law enforcement officers be trained? Absolutely. Should weaknesses be assessed and strengthened? Absolutely.

Should we run out in a panic and buy a firearm and petition our city council to hire more policeman? That's exactly what Blauer and SigArms are hoping we'll do.