Extremists sign up to drive school buses

[deep]

FBI: Extremists sign up to drive school buses

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said "parents and children have nothing to fear."

Asked about the alert notice, the FBI's Rich Kolko said "there are no threats, no plots and no history leading us to believe there is any reason for concern," although law enforcement agencies around the country were asked to watch out for kids' safety.

The bulletin, parts of which were read to The Associated Press, did not say how often foreign extremists have sought to acquire licenses to drive school buses, or where. It was sent Friday as part of what officials said was a routine FBI and Homeland Security Department advisory to local law enforcement.

It noted "recent suspicious activity" by foreigners who either drive school buses or are licensed to drive them, according to a counterterror official who read parts of the document to The Associated Press.

Foreigners under recent investigation include "some with ties to extremist groups" who have been able to "purchase buses and acquire licenses," the bulletin says.

But Homeland Security and the FBI "have no information indicating these individuals are involved in a terrorist plot against the homeland," it says. The memo also notes: "Most attempts by foreign nationals in the United States to acquire school bus licenses to drive them are legitimate."

Kolko said the bulletin was sent merely as an educational tool to help local police identify and respond to any suspicious activity.

One counterterror official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said it was likely that the foreigners investigated were merely employed as bus drivers, and did not intend to use them as part of any terror plot.

How can any of you not support this Administration?

Do you not realize what the stakes are?

All this attacking the Administration and A G Gonzales is just playing into the hands of terrorists.

 

[BVS]

This is a strange story. They somehow know they are members of an "extremist group"(does that include extreme sports?) and they know they have transit license, but they don't know anything else? Well hell isn't that more than most at Gitmo? Lock em up!

I also found it interesting that they say "recent suspicious activity by foreigners who either drive school buses or are licensed to drive them"... Don't you have to be a citizen in order to get a bus license? How long are you still considered a foreigner after you become a citizen?

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

What kind of background checks do school bus drivers have to undergo? It would vary state to state, but I assume they are usually pretty stringent since they have contact with children. But then again considering the way such things go sometimes, probably not.

What exactly qualifies as an "extremist group"?

 

[Vincent Vega]

Belief in Allah.

 

[INDY500]

Belief in Allah.

It's the belief that martyring yourself for Allah puts you on the fast track to paradise.

 

[LyricalDrug]

How can any of you not support this Administration?

Do you not realize what the stakes are?

All this attacking the Administration and A G Gonzales is just playing into the hands of terrorists.

I don't support this administration because I don't think they have a clue as to how to win the war on terror. Bush stood on that aircraft carrier with the "Mission Accomplished" banner behind him, in a flight suit, and told the world that the major combat in Iraq was over. And here we are, still, years later, losing the war.

Bush is losing the war in Iraq and he doesn't seem to have any idea how to win the war. At this point, his credibility is shot. He keeps saying that the reason we aren't winning is because America lacks resolve. No, Mr. President, the reason we're not winning the war is because there is no intelligent strategy to win in Iraq. And as the leader of the armed forces, that's the President's job.

 

[Vincent Vega]

It's the belief that martyring yourself for Allah puts you on the fast track to paradise.

I know, but some are lacking this very important difference.

 

[verte76]

Belief in Allah.

That's only the Wahhabists.

 

[A_Wanderer]

^Yeah because there are no Shiite fundamentalist groups.

To say that Islam is a false religion is a fallacy, Islam is pure religion and those who are willing to die for it show the utter forfeit of reason inherent to belief.

 

[DaveC]

Sounds to me like this is just trying to make moms scared of their kids' brown school bus driver.

 

[ntalwar]

Bah - another "duct tape and plastic sheeting" scare.