Condi Debunks Myth of Clinton Millennium Plot Success

NewsMax.com ^ | 4/08/04 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told the 9/11 Commission Thursday morning that it was an alert Customs agent - and not the Clinton adminsitration "shaking the trees" for intelligence on al Qaeda - who deserves credit for foiling the December 1999 al Qaeda plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.

"It's questionable to me . . . that somehow shaking the trees was what broke up the Millennium [Plot]," Rice told the 9/11 probers, referring to claims by Clinton terrorism czar Richard Clarke that White House alerts had the nation's security apparatus on the lookout for trouble.

In fact, said Rice, Clarke himself admitted that Clinton administration's warnings had nothing to do with the apprehension of Millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam.

"After Sept. 11, Dick Clarke sent us the after action report that had been done after the Millennium Plot," Rice told the Commission. "And their assessment was that Ressam had been caught by chance."

What's more, at the time Clarke said the White House had gone to "battle stations" based on intelligence an attack was coming, the Customs Bureau received no warnings from Clinton officials about potential al Qaeda attacks.

"I've checked with Customs," said Rice. "And according to their records, they weren't actually on alert at that point."

Instead, said the top Bush official, a Washington State-based Customs agent and her partner deserved credit for saving LAX.

"It was because a very alert Customs agent named Diana Dean and her colleague sensed something about Ressam," Rice explained.

"They saw that something was wrong. They tried to apprehend him. He tried to run. They then apprehended him, [then] found that there was bomb-making material and a map of Los Angeles in his car.

"Dick Clarke would say you got a lucky break," Rice told the Commission. "I would say you had an alert Customs agent who got it right."

[cripplecreek]

I pointed that out to a liberal moron earlier today.

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[Lucky2]

"Dick Clarke would say you got a lucky break," Rice told the Commission. "I would say you had an alert Customs agent who got it right."

The quote of the day, perhaps.

[VRWCmember]

"It was because a very alert Customs agent named Diana Dean and her colleague sensed something about Ressam," Rice explained.

WHAT?!!!! Could this be a case of racial profiling with a successful outcome?! Somebody please notify CAIR.

[Gerasimov]

I remember when this happened ... and I remember the news coverage. ANYONE who remembers it should recall that it happened exactly the way Condi reported: That customs agent alone is a hero responsible for saving hundreds or thousands of lives...

Democratic revisionism never fails to amaze me.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Nice post!

[Grim]

That customs agent alone is a hero responsible for saving hundreds or thousands of lives...

Standard Clintonian operating procedure. Take credit that's not deserved and deflect blame that is.

[GulliverSwift]

I got so annoyed hearing the phrase "shaking the trees" today. Was that a Clarke idiocy?

[piasa]

DECEMBER 14, 1999 : (MILLENIUM PLOT : RESSAM CAUGHT BY US CUSTOMS SERVICE) "Thanks to the quick response of US Customs Agents to behavior deemed suspicious at the Canadian border in Port Angeles on December 14, 1999, Ahmed Ressam was caught trying to smuggle RDX explosives. A wide-ranging investigation, unprecedented in its sweep and scope, succeeded in identifying and arresting other members of the hitherto unknown terrorist cell to which Ressam belonged. A plot to bomb and destroy targets in the United States, although still not publicly identified, had been narrowly averted." - PREPARED TESTIMONY OF STEVEN EMERSON, TERRORIST EXPERT AND INVESTIGATOR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TERRORISM NEWSWIRE, INC. BEFORE THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION AND CLAIMS SUBJECT - INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM AND IMMIGRATION POLICY, January 26, 2000

Up to this point the Clinton administration and Clarke had only general warnings and threats but no specifics. They knew there was a code out there involving the phrase 'big wedding' but that's about it. They couldn't do a thing to figure out the Millenium Plot.

Diana Dean and her associate acting not on warnings from Clarke, or warnings from all those brilliant Clinton administration officials, but acting on her own instincts, took a closer look at Ressam.

Because of that customs agent, the Feds were able to question ressam, and from there break up other millenium plots in Jordan, etc.

In spite of breaking up this 1999 plot, in spite of the seriousness of what was planned in Jordan against our people there, the response from the Clinton administration was simply to treat Ressam and others like common criminals instead of treating the terrorists as enemies in war.

[shhrubbery!]

I've been pointing this out too, but I'm just a little person sitting in front of a computer.

Glad Dr. Rice took this opportunity to smack down that little Clintonoid fantasy.

I missed this part of the hearing. Anybody know on which commissioner's precious time this statement was made (or was it in the opening statement)?

[GeorgiaYankee]

I mentioned this on 3/28. Clarke, Ben-Veniste and other Clinton apologists have been counting on the public having short memories, and for the media to cover for them.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1106797/posts?page=73#73

I've heard Clarke claim several times that all the meetings in the Clinton Admin in Dec 1999 stopped the Millenium Bomber. So that's what stops terrorism--MEETINGS!

I think he's referring to the AQ terrorist bringing explosives into the US from Canada.

I've seen several news stories about how he was caught. An alert border guard noticed that the guy was sweating like a pig (in December!) as she asked him the routine questions. A search of his car revealed explosives in the trunk.

Clinton has tried to take credit for this, too.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1106797/posts?page=75#75


http://www.cnn.com/1999/US/12/17/border.arrest.03/

Itinerary set off alert

Customs officials at the ferry crossing became suspicious when Ressam's itinerary showed he had come from Vancouver, British Columbia, and was heading to Seattle -- a 140-mile drive that does not require a trip to Vancouver Island, a ferry ride or a stop in Port Angeles, said FBI spokesman Pat Jones in Washington, D.C.

When the inspector asked about his roundabout route, Ressam became nervous, Jones said.

Ressam entered the United States on Tuesday around 6 p.m. PST (9 p.m. EST) in a rented Chrysler aboard a ferry from Victoria, British Columbia. His car was the last vehicle off the ferry, officials said.

According to the affidavit, he identified himself as Benni Antoine Noris, and when authorities asked him to get out of the vehicle "he was uncooperative."

Suspected bomb-making material

While conducting a search of the vehicle "inspectors lifted up a mat to inspect the spare tire well. The well did not have a spare tire," the affidavit says.

Instead, authorities say they found:

* Two 22-ounce jars, each three-quarters full with nitroglycerin
* 10 plastic bags containing 110 pounds of a white powder identified as urea, a legal substance used to make explosives and fertilizers
* Two plastic bags containing about 14 pounds of sulfate, used as a desiccant to absorb water
* Four small black boxes containing homemade timers -- a circuit board with a Casio watch and a 9-volt battery.

"Preliminary analysis disclosed that when these materials are combined with a detonator, it would produce a large explosive device," the affidavit says.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/trail/inside/cron.html

Dec. 14, 1999 + Ressam arrested near Seattle

Ressam says that on the morning of Dec. 14, he called Meskini and told him he would be in Seattle that evening. That afternoon, he took a ferry from Victoria, B.C., to Port Angeles, Wash., with more than 100 pounds of explosives stashed in the wheelbed of the trunk of his rental car. His accomplice, Dahoumane, did not travel with him.

At Victoria, U.S. immigration pre-clearance agents were mildly suspicious of Ressam. They made him open his trunk, but saw nothing. He presented his fake Canadian passport, and the computer check turned up no previous convictions or warrants in the name of Benni Noris. Ressam drove his rental car, with its concealed bomb, onto the ferry heading for Washington state.

Upon his arrival at Port Angeles, a U.S. customs agent became suspicious of his hesitant answers to her questions, and she asked for identification. Agents began searching the car. As they discovered the explosive materials -- which they at first took to be drugs -- in the trunk of the car, Ressam tried to run away. He was caught and arrested.

[LadyDoc]

"It was because a very alert Customs agent named Diana Dean and her colleague sensed something about Ressam," Rice explained.

He was acting "suspicious", and the customs inspector thought he was smuggling drugs from Canada...

You aren't allowed to "profile" arabs, you know. But a good "cop" will notice behavior and act on instinct.

Heck, even Actor James Woods spotted the 911 hijackers on a practice flight, and notified the stewardess. Alas, they couldn't do anything for fear of being sued for discrimination, so they let the guys go. Two weeks later, 911 occurred.

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[bmwcyle]

Too little too late but it is Bush now that is taking action.

[talleyman]

"Go, Condi!" Bump!

[nutmeg]

ping!

[painter]

"It was because a very alert Customs agent named Diana Dean and her colleague sensed something about Ressam," Rice explained."

I read the story about this event in Readers Digest before 9-11.The story was about a customs agent Diana Dean acting own her own with her colleague caught this guy trying to cross the border with this stuff.

[MediaMole]

The question I have about stopping the 9/11 attacks is -- What do you arrest the plotters for?

Imagine if there was specific intelligence pointing to Mohammad Atta as the leader of a terrorist plot. FBI agents go to his home and find -- what?

He was training as a pilot, he had flight manuals -- nothing illegal there.

He had box cutters -- another legal item.

Perhaps they could hold him for investigation. He isn't going to give up his co-conspirators. Eventually, the Feds would release him, and there's a chance he wouldn't even be deported.

If they put him on trial, CAIR and the usual suspects would start the PR campaign about how the Feds are targeting an innocent, pious young man because of irrational prejudice against Muslims.

Look at the farce the Moussaoui case has become. They got no info from him and they have little that can be admitted in a criminal court.

Even if the FBI had caught several of the hijackers, it would only have delayed the next attack. There was no national will to destroy the terrorists before 9/11.

[Western Phil]

" Four small black boxes containing homemade timers -- a circuit board with a Casio watch"

This was what Ramzi Yousef (an apparent Iraqi agent) was planning on using to trigger the explosives to bring down the dozen airliners in the Pacific a few years before. They probably made a quantity purchase somewhere.