U.S. Officials Fault French on Terror Alert (France Screws the Pooch Again)

Reuters ^ | Dec. 26, 2003 | Jim Wolf

[stradivarius]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One or more terror suspects may have escaped due to a premature disclosure in France of the security concerns behind the cancellation of Christmas flights to Los Angeles, U.S. officials said on Friday.

Six flights between Paris and Los Angeles were canceled on Wednesday and Thursday at the urging of Washington after U.S. officials spotted what they believed were suspicious names on lists of those due to board the planes.

Air France made clear at the time the cancellations had been ordered for security reasons.

U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials had hoped all the suspects could be detained as they showed up for the flights, said a senior U.S. official familiar with the situation who did not want to be identified.

The official said "a chorus of groans" from the Department of Homeland Security to the White House went out when the French disclosed the reason for the flight cancellations.

Washington believed that the longer publicity could have been avoided, "the greater the chance to catch anybody else who was suspected of being involved," he said. "The French announcement caught everyone off guard."

Nine people on the passenger list for Air France Flight AF068 to Los Angeles on Dec. 24 -- the first flight grounded -- were questioned and released.

One was French and the others were four Americans, two Germans, an Algerian and a Belgian, a French Interior Ministry spokesman said.

A source close to French anti-terror investigating judges told Reuters in Paris: "We have not detected passengers with the profile of people belonging to a radical Islamic group... All the checks so far have come to nothing."

U.S. concerns centered on passengers whose names matched those on a U.S. terrorism watch list, but who failed to show up for the flights, officials said.

Among them was a Tunisian passenger reported to be a licensed pilot and suspected of having ties to al Qaeda, which is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked airliner attacks on the United States.

The French news agency, Agence France-Presse, quoted a French anti-terrorist police source as saying the Tunisian had been the focus of a U.S. intelligence warning, but the man was still in Tunisia, not France, and was unknown to French police.

Another senior U.S. official said it was too early to say whether a terror plot had been thwarted.

"It's still being looked at with this whole situation," the official said. He said crew members were of concern to U.S. investigators along with the no-show passengers.

U.S. officials have not publicly discussed the issue of whether potential hijackers would be likely to check in under names known to U.S. intelligence.

Air France resumed service to Los Angeles on Friday, though the initial flight, AF068, was delayed for nearly three hours by security checks amid heightened airline vigilance.

Asked about France's handling of the cancellations, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "We appreciate the assistance being provided by our international partners."

A French embassy spokeswoman in Washington declined to discuss any suggestion the French authorities might have let the cat out of the bag prematurely.

"We cooperate on a daily basis with our American counterparts in the fight against terrorism," said the spokeswoman, Natalie Loiseau. "This time it was made more public because there were flight cancellations."

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in an interview with CNN on Friday that U.S. collaboration with the French was "great" "We ... decided it was in the interest of the safety of the passengers, given the information that we shared, that we canceled those flights," he said.

The United States has been on heightened alert for attacks since Sunday after what the U.S. intelligence community described as a sharp jump in intercepted communications about a possible attack during or after the Christmas holidays. (Additional reporting by Cyrille Cartier)

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The "premature disclosure" was probably on purpose to warn the hijackers off.

After all, the Frogs believe we attacked the twin towers ourselves.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

"We cooperate on a daily basis with our American counterparts in the fight against terrorism," said the spokeswoman, Natalie Loiseau. "This time it was made more public because there were flight cancellations."

Translation,
"We collaborate on a daily basis with our large Muslim population because we are afraid of terrorism," said the spokeswoman, Natalie Loiseau. "This time is was really easy because we could make public the flight cancellations."

[Cicero]

I'll say it again. Time to start playing hardball with the French. I speculated that this might have been what happened a couple of days ago. We HAD to notify the French and trust them to do the right thing, because the alternative would be to severely endanger the passengers and perhaps an American city. As we have learned to expect, the French betrayed us.

[sarasmom]

What is the legal bag limit for frogs?
Or is there one?

[thoughtomator]

The French strategy is to collaborate with both sides, just enough not to get bombed.

[San Jacinto]

The official said "a chorus of groans" from the Department of Homeland Security to the White House went out when the French disclosed the reason for the flight cancellations.

What difference does it make that the reason for the cancellations was announced? The fact that the cancellations were announced based on any reason at all would be sufficient for the terrorists to no show. The better practice would be to let everyone board the flight, taxi out to the tarmac, and then unload everyone on to busses, wouldn't it?

On the other hand, I am glad that we are not letting the apparent lack of cooperation go unchallenged.

[MediaMole]

The French news agency, Agence France-Presse, quoted a French anti-terrorist police source as saying the Tunisian had been the focus of a U.S. intelligence warning, but the man was still in Tunisia, not France, and was unknown to French police.

Was this guy on the passenger list? The French say he was in Tunisia and had no plans to leave. Then why was he on the passenger list?

If he had no plans to leave, did he have a ticket on the flight? Why would this Tunisian buy a ticket from Paris to LA and have no plans to travel?

Furthermore, I sure hope these people haven't been allowed to fly to the US on a later flight.

[frmrda]

Among them was a Tunisian passenger reported to be a licensed pilot and suspected of having ties to al Qaeda, which is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked airliner attacks on the United States

Gotta love Reuters. Al Queda was "blamed for" the terrorist attacks, not "who has taken credit for and celebrated".

[E. Pluribus Unum]

What is the legal bag limit for frogs?

I apologize. It was very disrespectful of me to refer to the French as "Frogs."

The proper terminology is "cheese-eating surrender-monkeys."

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

F-U France. We should immediately up the limit to twelve German Tank Divisions before we even answer the phone next time.

[Hodar]

Now, let's think this through.

This was an Air France flight.
The flight would have had some number of Frogs on-board
This was not a single attack, but a dual one. France would have suffered too.

So, thankfully these terrorists did not succeed in taking Amerian lives. They are still roaming around France, with a wish to kill as many innocents as possible. With any luck, they will exterminate a few hundred frogs; thus not only vindicating the American stance, but may actually persuade the few mentally competent citizens in France that they have been behaving in a cowardly manner to the best ally a country could possibly have. And I hope we p*ss on their pleas for help, like they did for us.

[Klein-Bottle]

The potential problem, of course, is that the attack may not be canceled, but only delayed.

[Guillermo]

Well, since the French are on the side of the Mohammedan terrorists, they probably gave them passports and cash to flee the country.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The French strategy is to collaborate with both sides, just enough not to get bombed.

If they enable another 911 on American soil, their strategy will "blow up in their faces," to coin a phrase.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

One of the most difficult things for people to grasp is that changing circumstances can radically affect their perceptions given their past pre-conceptions. Regarding the WOT, our relationship with France must be reconsidered. IMO the French should AT THE VERY LEAST be classified as enemy sympathizers.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The potential problem, of course, is that the attack may not be canceled, but only delayed.

That's what happens when you alert suspected terrorists and they get away.

[Positive]

"The better practice would be to let everyone board the flight, taxi out to the tarmac, and then unload everyone on to busses, wouldn't it?"

I too considered this very question. My concern would be that this tactic could end up as a hostage/murder situation.

I concluded that a better tactic would have been to announce a slight delay of the flight(s) then carefully filter out the suspects before they ever boarded (including the crews).

[PhilDragoo]

A blast from the past:

The lawyer and fiancee of the man known as Carlos the Jackal said today that she will represent Zacarias Moussaoui, the French citizen indicted for conspiracy in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Paris lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre said she would defend Moussaoui's rights as a French citizen, such as trying to protect him from the possibility of the death penalty, which France opposes.

Moussaoui, a 33-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent now in U.S. custody, was named Tuesday by a federal grand jury in the first indictment directly linked to the suicide hijackings. He was charged with six felonies, including four that carry the death penalty.

``I am a French lawyer, he is French. So I am going to do everything in my power to ensure his rights as a French citizen,'' Coutant-Peyre said in a telephone interview. Moussaoui already has a lawyer in the United States.

Coutant-Peyre said Moussaoui's mother, Aicha, asked her to represent her son.

Two months ago, Coutant-Peyre said she would marry Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, who is serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informer. The Venezuelan-born Ramirez, who was arrested in Sudan in 1994, is also under investigation for three terrorist attacks in the 1980s.

A Muslim convert, Ramirez recently told the France Soir newspaper that he felt ``relief'' at the Sept. 11 attacks. In 1998, Ramirez told France Soir that he wished good luck to Osama bin Laden, who had been indicted for the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Coutant-Peyre said she hoped Moussaoui will be brought back to France. She said she has not yet spoken with Moussaoui, nor does she know where he is being held.

Coutant-Peyre suggested Moussaoui has been made a scapegoat.

``There is, in the end, a big manipulation to designate him as one of those responsible for what happened on Sept. 11,'' she said.

``It is normal, of course, that the American authorities are charged with looking for those responsible for what happened - but not to find a public scapegoat.''

The French government said yesterday that it would object to the death penalty for Moussaoui, and Justice Minister Marylise Lebranchu said France would provide him consular protection - meaning it would work to assure he has a fair trial according to French standards.

~~~

In other news, the U.S. Navy shot down TWA Flight 800, the Rumsfeld Cabal arranged the attack on the World Trade Center in concert with Mossad agents, the Pentagon was not hit by an airplane, and the Israeli Embassy in Paris simply burned to the ground as a result of spontaneous conjunction.

~~~

Just in--Chirac has surrendered to an audiotape of Osama bin Laden.

[SAMWolf]

Just in--Chirac has surrendered to an audiotape of Osama bin Laden

LOL! What took him so long?