U.S. Navy Says al-Qaida Poses Major Threat from Sea

[Anubis]

Als de Golfregio de slagader is van de wereldeconomie, snap je niet dat men geen voor deze taak uitgeruste schepen ontwerpen. Nee, NL bv geeft ze liever weg.

[KapiteinRob]

Ja, werk aan de winkel voor onze toekomstige maritieme trots, de P-bootjes....  ::)

[Lex]

Een mooi artikel voor de NL politiek 
Misschien is er nog hoop voor de KM 

[Lex]

U.S. Navy Says al-Qaida Poses Major Threat from Sea

By STEFANO AMBROGI, REUTERS, LONDON Posted 07/03/06 14:07

The threat of an al-Qaida attack from the sea remains an "absolute concern" and could intensify as operations on land are countered, the U.S. Navy's top commander in the Gulf told Reuters on July 3.
Since the September 11 attacks on the United States, governments and security experts have repeatedly voiced fears about the vulnerability of the maritime industry, which carries more than 90 percent of the world's traded goods.
"I don't think there is any question that as we thwart their attacks and disrupt their operations on land, that we should expect them to turn to the sea," Vice Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, who is in charge of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said in an interview.
"It is something that is an absolute concern and focus for us, and I will not rest easy in this job (until it is checked)," he said, speaking by telephone from Manama in Bahrain.
Walsh said al-Qaida, which is well known to have a maritime arm, was very adept at blending into the maritime environment.
"I don't take the threat for granted at all, we have had attacks thwarted in Saudi Arabia on land, and to take any other approach to our operations would be irresponsible," said Walsh, who is also head of the Fifth Fleet.
He said al-Qaida had shown its capability a number of times in the past, with a series of high profile marine attacks, while many others had been foiled.
Walsh cited the attack on the war ship the USS Cole off Yemen in 2000 in which 17 U.S. sailors died, the attack on the oil tanker Limburg in 2002, again off Yemen, and a foiled attack on Iraq's Basra oil terminal in 2004.

ENERGY SUPPLIES

He said the unsuccessful attack on Saudi Arabia's huge Abqaiq oil facility, the world's biggest oil processing plant, in February made him especially wary.
"When I look at that, my first reaction is that they (al-Qaida) are going to turn to the sea. I recognize that when they are thwarted in one direction they turn to another."
Walsh said he was "very concerned" about the role al-Qaida had played in the energy sphere and its intention to disrupt global energy markets.
"It continues to be significant, and so I don't think that we can ever sit back on this mission," he said.
He said al-Qaida's stated intention to disrupt energy supplies was all the more worrying when one considered how finely balanced, in terms of supply-demand, energy markets were.
"There is absolutely no surplus in this industry at all, whether it's in drilling, distribution or transportation and so any disruption of world energy reserves would have wide implications regardless of where it had taken place."