http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000154642417163&rtmo=3qwqBBmM&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/99/7/11/npois11.html

ISSUE 1507, Sunday 11 July 1999

Police foil Irish plot to poison England's water, By David Bamber, Home Affairs Correspondent

A THREAT by a breakaway Irish Republican terrorist group to poison England's water supply has been foiled by the police and a suspect arrested in Dublin.

Detectives said last night that the previously unknown Republican Revenge Group had threatened to put large quantities of weed killer into drinking water supplies in England unless the Government pledged a total British withdrawal from Northern Ireland.

Letters warning of the campaign were sent on June 10 and 11, but Special Branch and MI5 imposed a news blackout for fear of causing panic among the general public, and also in a bid to avoid prompting the attack. David Veness, the assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said the blackmailer's aim was the "threat of mass murder".

Mr Veness said the threat letters pointed to a calculating and intelligent individual who was acting in a controlled manner, rather than viciously or psychotically. He said: "The blackmailer appears to be not unintelligent and not of the paranoid psychopathic variety. He does not display venomous ruthlessness."

Yesterday members of the Republic's National Bureau of Criminal Investigation arrested a man, described as a "maverick Irish republican", in Dublin's Harcourt Square under the Irish state's anti-terrorist legislation. Irish police would confirm only that a man in his fifties had been arrested and was being detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Mountjoy station in the north of the capital.

The arrest was the culmination of a month-long investigation after warning letters were sent to Archbishop Luciano Storero, the Papal Nuncio in Dublin, Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, through the British Ambassador in Dublin and the water industry's regulator Ofwat in Birmingham. They demanded a commitment to a "total British military and political withdrawal" from Northern Ireland by June 16.

The police took the threats seriously because a detailed document outlining how the mass poisoning would be carried out accompanied the threatening letters. All the letters said the terror operation would involve tampering with an unspecified number of fire hydrants and using a commonly available weed killer to poison the water supply.

The police decided that surveillance of one million hydrants was an impossible task. Meanwhile, Government experts deemed there was little risk to public health except to kidney dialysis patients who would be known to water companies and offered alternative supplies.

The water industry put in place "tried and tested" contingency measures for dealing with the situation, with tankers and bottled water among a number of ways of securing alternative supplies. A spokesman for Water UK said companies would have been able to provide 10 litres of emergency water per person per day throughout any emergency.

Fleet Street editors were called to a special meeting at the Cabinet Office on June 15 - the day before the ultimatum ran out - and asked to comply with a news blackout for fear of spurring the terrorist into action.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), July 10, 1999

Answers

"Letters warning of the campaign were sent on June 10 and 11, but Special Branch and MI5 imposed a news blackout for fear of causing panic among the general public,..."

Well.... I am shocked... TRUELY SHOCKED!!!

You mean to tell me that government representatives could dictate to the news media that they COULD NOT warn the public of a possible threat to their health and safety? For fear of causing panic???!!!

I never would have believed it. Shocking. How can I ever trust the media again?

Oh yeah... I don't now.

Situation normal.

If anyone out there is thinking this has anything to do with Y2K though, you are mistaken. In THAT case the don't-worry-be-happy-reports are really the gosh darn truth. Everything will be compliant in time... well, not EVERYTHING exactly, but the really important stuff... well, not COMPLIANT exactly.. but ready (which is still a really good thing)... well, not READY exactly, more like ready-with-exceptions... but those exceptions are nothing to worry your pretty little heads about (which is why we won't even bother mentioning them to you or to the DOE. But honest engine if there was a real threat to public health and safety from Y2K you can count on the gov't - or at least the free press - to give you plenty of warning.

[and thanks Old Git for another reminder to not take our tap water for granted]

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 10, 1999.

Terrorist attacks against water supplies is certainly exciting. Wow, just like in the movies!

Meanwhile, there's an awful lot of mundane things that can mess up the water. Water treatment is complex. Chemicals are added for many purposes, in carefully measured amounts. Cross-connections (direct interfaces between drinking water and wastewater) are constant dangers. Adding too much of something, or not enough, or at the wrong stage in the process, and the water supply is compromised. It still comes out of the tap, and still looks fine, but may make you sick.

I'd recommend not drinking tap water from a few days before rollover until it's known to be safe (maybe a week later). Nor would I trust 'official' reassurances that it's just fine. Once it becomes clear that people aren't getting sick from it, then I'll start drinking it again. Not before.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), July 10, 1999.

"Nor would I trust 'official' reassurances that it's just fine." - Flint.

Now I am truely, truely shocked!

You mean that even if an OFFICIAL *reassures* you that it's just fine, it might not be?

Shocking. What is this world coming to.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 10, 1999.

Personally I haven't "trusted" my tap water ever since I heard that some bright individuals decided to dose us all with floride (sp?) because it was just so darn good for everyone. Just goes to show you that in a self ruled society there will always be a select few that determine what is good for the whole group.

Last I heard floride is used as a cow tranquilizer in a similar form. I'm not a chemicals expert nor a water treatment supervisor and I don't jump to conclusions when I hear unfounded rumors. But the fact is If I wanted floride in my diet I could just take a supplement pill. I don't need anyone to put it in my water for me. And if they can make a decision like that then who knows what else they are dumping in there because "it's just so darn good for everyone".

I wouldn't paranoid if there wasn't a conspiracy against me. Sounds crazy but I assure you I am not. All I ask is that they either A.) provide alternate water for those of us who don't want to blindly take what is handed to us, or B.) spell out WHAT they are doing and WHY they are doing it in a one or two page letter. Doesn't sound too unreasonable to me. Oh yeah I know, not cost effective, blah blah blah.

The problem with having a country with unlimited Liberty is that everyone is quick to take those "liberties" and run with them.

(rant mode off)

-- (just@lurking.now and then), July 10, 1999.

One more...

"Once it becomes clear that people aren't getting sick from it, then I'll start drinking it again. Not before." - Flint

Once we pass the first month of the new year without any glitches, then I will believe that there is no problem. Not before.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 10, 1999.

Linda:

We'll have glitches. Lots of them. I expect the news to be filled with them, for a lot longer than a month. It'll be a comedy of errors (with a good dose of tragedy of terrors here and there). I don't expect any wide scale meltdown, but a lot of grinding inefficiency that will affect us all, to one degree or another.

I just don't believe in taking unnecessary chances. The water supply will probably be just fine, and so will the banks. But why not let someone *else* test them first, eh?

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), July 10, 1999.

"I just don't believe in taking unnecessary chances. The water will probably be just fine, and so will the banks. But why not let someone *else* test them first, eh?" Flint.

Yes, indeed. But happens when the first 2% percent of CD holders (those crazy old retirees with their stories of the 30's)demand cash and the teller's faces turn pale white? At that point you will know what you should have done 2 minutes ago, along with everyone *else* in line. The upcoming *test*, and have no illusions about it, for the banking system is the near mathematical certainty of bank runs. The only why to prepare for this is to be at the head of the line. Or at least start saving some pennies.

-- Sure M. Worried (SureMWorried@bout.y2k.coming), July 11, 1999.

Sure:

If the problem is bank *runs*, there's lots of things that can be done to minimize them. Increase currency supplies (already in the works), limit withdrawals, issue cashier's checks, right up to declaring a bank holiday. Provided the banking system is reasonably solid, these measures are both temporary and not particularly inconvenient for most people (and exceptions can be made as required).

However, if the problem is wholesale errors in banking software, it's a different story. In that case, some government body (FDIC?) gets beefed up with a lot of people and a lot of emergency legislation and regulations, and we struggle along with whatever these things cause. And they'll be reactive and rushed, so they might do more harm than good.

I'm trying to keep a close eye on banking tests. Sure, they'll all be depicted as "no problem, don't worry" tests, we know this. But we might get some feel for the *coverage* of these tests (how many banks, systems, countries, interfaces, etc. being tested). If there are real software problems, bank runs can only make things worse.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), July 11, 1999.

"But honest engine"

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 10, 1999.

Linda, I believe the term you meant to use is "honest Injun". A very non-PC term refereeing to the "fact" that Indians are untruthful by nature. This is complete BS (and I'm no Indian, Irish and Prussian actually). Indians in general were scrupulously honest. Some tribes were fantastic liars, but those few exceptions can be used to prove the rule.

-- PC I ain't (midwestmike_@hotmail.com), July 11, 1999.

PC I ain't... thanks for the correction. Must've been past my bedtime. Sorry.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 11, 1999.

Flint commented:

"I'd recommend not drinking tap water from a few days before rollover until it's known to be safe (maybe a week later). Nor would I trust 'official' reassurances that it's just fine. Once it becomes clear that people aren't getting sick from it, then I'll start drinking it again. Not before. "

Flint, would you trust "official reassurance that there will even be water available"?

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), July 11, 1999.

Ray:

No.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), July 11, 1999.

Flint, thank you for the concise answer!!

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), July 11, 1999.

(1) It just makes sense to attack weak points...and water supply is one.

(2) I knew there was a reason why I'm stocking wine...in vat quantities.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), July 11, 1999.

In a bizarre twist:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000154642417163&rtmo=VwM6qwDK&atmo =99999999&pg=/et/99/7/12/nwar12.html

ISSUE 1508, Monday 12 July 1999

Ex-soldier held over poison threat, By Jim Pride

A MAN arrested by police investigating threats to poison English water supplies with weedkiller was identified yesterday as a former British Army soldier turned extreme Scots nationalist.

Adam Busby, leader of the Scottish National Liberation Army and based in Dublin, was seized in a joint operation by Gardai and Scotland Yard officers on Saturday. Letters demanding the withdrawal of British troops from Northern Ireland by June 16 had been sent to Tony Blair, the Papal Nuncio in Dublin and Ofwat, the water regulator.

Purporting to be from the previously unknown Republican Revenge Group, they said paraquat would be pumped through fire hydrants if the deadline was not met. Government officials imposed a news blackout to prevent panic during a month-long investigation involving the National Criminal Intelligence Service. It was quickly calculated that the plot would pose a "negligible risk" to the public.

Busby, 50, a fugitive from British justice for 16 years, joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a teenager. He recently left prison after receiving a two-year sentence from Dublin's Special Criminal Court for sending "messages of a menacing character" to the Scottish media.

Detectives were continuing to question him in Dublin last night. Under anti-terrorism laws he could be held until tomorrow morning without being charged.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), July 12, 1999.

Since fluoride is a poison and so can't be dumped in the waste/sewer systems without violating EPA regs, and being subject to fines, that the companies generating it have paid off local politicians to allow them to dump it in our drinking water, instead. And get paid to do it that way, instead of getting fined. Pretty slick, eh?

BTW -- the justification for it is usually FOR THE CHILDREN (sob, sniff -- barf!). To protect their precious little teeth. Hasn't anyone heard of fluoridated toothpaste? Since most toothpaste is fluoridated, now you're getting a double dose. And most filters can't remove the fluoride, where they can remove chlorine, for example.

Your government -- to protect and serve. (WHO?)

-- A (A@AisA.com), July 12, 1999.