Bin Laden proposed attacks on U.S. military base in Turkey, but militants switched targets

SFGate ^ | 12-17-03 | Associated Press

[yonif]

Osama bin Laden proposed attacking a Turkish military base used by the United States, but militants stymied by tight security bombed civilian targets instead, killing Muslims and upsetting al-Qaida leaders, Turkish officials told The Associated Press.

The information came from interrogations of a top suspect in last month's deadly bombings in Istanbul that authorities believe were carried out by Turkish militants trained by al-Qaida in Afghanistan, according to the officials.

[yonif]

Ping.

[ovrtaxt]

Yitiz said he heard from Aktas, who had fled to Iran before the attacks, that al-Qaida "considered the bombings as a failure because it mostly killed Muslim Turks," the intelligence official said.

But people were still killed. How is that a failure in the eyes of anti-human Islam?

[zarf]

Being interrogated by the Turks is not my idea of fun.

[Timeout]

...Aktas, who had fled to Iran before the attacks ...

Is there anyone left who doesn't believe bin Laden is a "guest" in Iran?

[ovrtaxt]

I noticed that too. Iran's days are numbered. We have made a terrorist sandwich with Iraq and Afghanistan.

[kabar]

Sounds like al-Qaida spin. The proposition that Osama didn't want any Turks killed is probably a response by al-Qaida to the Turkish reaction to the bombings, which al-Qaida miscalculated. They are trying to save their own skins.

[a_Turk]

Unemployment is a big help to those who recruit people and turn them into terrorists. I wish we could have better trade relationships with our allies and consequently less unemployment.

Thanks for the ping..

[OldFriend]

As President Bush stated, OBL isn't leading any parades these days. Little by little we make their lives hellish forcing them to make mistakes that lose them support.

[angkor]

killing 62 people, mostly Muslims... Almost all of the world's terrorist attacks ... have taken place in Muslim countries ...

I'll bet if someone were to tally the dead and injured victims of these psychos since 9/11, they'd be overwhelmingly Muslim.

At the Jakarta Marriot, 11 dead and 30+ injured Muslims, in Turkey 100+ dead and 750+ injured, again predominantly Muslim.

[FreedomPoster]

>>We have made a terrorist sandwich [of Iran] with Iraq and Afghanistan.

How would you like to be Syria, hemmed in by Turkey, Iraq, Israel, and the Med? Jordan isn't much of an outlet.

Taking down Iraq was a very smart, long term move against the dictators and mullahs of the region. The Bush team is playing chess here.

[AmericanVictory]

Exactly. Whatever else we have here, we have one monumental strategic blunder, one that will reawaken the spirit of Attaturk's revolution and cause Turkey to take on the Wahhabbi in a far more extensive way.

[sarasota]

Yes they are and they're very good at it. A president with a strategy and one that will stick. Unlike the willow in the wind Clinton.

[Mr. Lucky]

I figure he's a guest in Hell. Pretty close to the same thing, actually.

[b4its2late]

I figure he's a guest in Hell.

Agreed.....

IMHO (but of course it's only an opinion), Bin Laden is buried in a mountain, deader than a doornail, which occurred on 12-15-2001.

[expatpat]

No. I bet ALL the terrorists arrested by Turkey confess.

[RinaseaofDs]

I agree.

If this is true, the Bin Laden knows he's screwed already. He should have thought about staying away from civilian targets a couple of years ago (9/11).

I'm surprised he wasn't sharing a dirt condo with Saddam the other day. Talk about the odd couple.

Who is Felix in that situation?

[Timeout]

I don't have time to post excerpts of THIS Washington Post article right now. Suffice it to say it's based on information from Italy...showing a connection between al Quaeda and Ansar-al-Islam (Iraq) BEFORE WE ENTERED IRAQ! (The dateline I noticed is on the 2nd page...a man arrested in March disclosing connections he witnessed between the two.)

I'm sorry to say, the Wash Post ran this on page A35...can't get much more buried than that unless your a certain former dictator!

Gotta run. If you find this as intriguing as I do...somebody put up a thread on it...let the word go out! Thanks.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Agree. How many hundreds of moslems were killed in the Embassy bombing, Algeria, Bali and throughout the Philipines over the last few years.

[From The Deer Stand]

militants stymied by tight security bombed civilian targets instead, killing Muslims and upsetting al-Qaida leaders

You know you're going to have a bad day when your terrorist subordinates bomb the wrong places....