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Bush: U.S. Foiled at Least 10 Terror Plots
ap on Yahoo ^ | 10/6/05 | Tom Raum - ap

Posted on 10/06/2005 10:44:36 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Thursday the United States and its allies had foiled at least 10 serious plots by the al-Qaida terror network in the last four years, including plans for Sept. 11-like attacks on both U.S. coasts.

In a speech designed to revive flagging public support for the war in Iraq, the president also said the U.S. and its partners have stopped at least five more efforts by al-Qaida to case targets or infiltrate operatives in the United States.

"Because of this steady progress, the enemy is wounded, but the enemy is still capable of global operations," Bush said. "Our commitment is clear: We will not relent until the organized international terror networks are exposed and broken, and their leaders held to account for their acts of murder."

Bush said Islamic radicals are seeking to establish a "radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia" with Iraq serving as the main front. He singled out Iran and Syria as "allies of convenience" for Islamic radicalism.

Pentagon officials released a letter Thursday evening they said was written from one terrorist leader to another that they said confirmed administration assertions that Iraqi insurgents have a detailed plan to force U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and create an Islamic state there.

The White House initially would not give details of the 10 plots that Bush mentioned in his morning speech before the National Endowment for Democracy, saying some information remained classified. But in the evening, the White House released a fact sheet with a brief, and vague, description of each.

Three targets cited were in the United States, including plans to use hijacked airplanes to attack the West Coast in mid-2002 and the East Coast in mid-2003. The White House said at least one planner of the West Coast attack was a key figure behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

The third was the case of Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member who converted to Islam and allegedly plotted with top al-Qaida commanders to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a U.S. city. Padilla, whose plot never materialized, was designated an enemy combatant by Bush and is being held without criminal charge at a Navy brig in South Carolina.

The White House said the other seven attacks included plans to:

• Bomb several sites in Britain in mid-2004.

• Attack Westerners at several places in Karachi, Pakistan, in spring 2003.

• Attack Heathrow Airport using hijacked commercial airliners in 2003.

• Carry out a large-scale bombing in Britain in spring 2004.

• Attack ships in the Arabian Gulf in late 2002/2003.

• Attack ships in the Straits of Hormuz, a narrow part of the Persian Gulf where it opens into the Arabian Sea, in 2002.

• Attack a tourist site outside the United States in 2003.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman would only broadly characterize the intercepted letter that the Defense Department released, which he said was written by Osama bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahri to the leader of al-Quaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He would not say where, when or how it was obtained, or who intercepted it, but he said the Pentagon is confident it is authentic.

Whitman said the letter demonstrates "that there is this detailed planning and intent on the part of the insurgents in Iraq to one day control that country and to really try to extend their extremism to neighboring countries. It demonstrates to me they clearly understand the importance and significance of the battle in Iraq right now."

In the letter al-Zawahri urges Zarqawi — who has declared war on Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority — to avoid bombing mosques and slaughtering hostages to avoid alienating the masses, Whitman said. He also said that al-Zawahri asked Zarqawi for some financial support.

Polls show declining American support for the war that has thus far claimed the lives of more than 1,940 members of the U.S. military. Bush's policy faces a crucial test in Iraq's Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution, a vote that Bush has said terrorists will try to derail.

In remarks clearly aimed at those seeking a withdrawal of U.S. troops, Bush said: "There's always a temptation in the middle of a long struggle to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder."

"We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory," he said.

Democrats challenged Bush's arguments on the Iraq mission. "The president went into Iraq under a false premise, without a plan, and has totally mismanaged our involvement," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "Now he is trying to justify his actions with a series of excuses."

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said Bush "continues to invent a false link between the war in Iraq and the tragedy of Sept. 11." Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Bush "has offered America a false choice, between resolve and retreat."

Bush said Islamic extremists hope to use "the vacuum created by an American retreat" to gain control of Iraq and use it as a base for launching attacks against other countries.

"The murderous ideology of the Islamic radicals is the great challenge of our new century," he said. "Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy teaches that innocent individuals can be sacrificed to serve a political vision."

"The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region, and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia," Bush asserted.

"Against such an enemy, there's only one effective response: We never back down, never give in and never accept anything less than complete victory," Bush declared.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: atleast; bush; foiled; gwot; iraqspeech; jihadinamerica; plots; terror; unitedstates; wot
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In remarks clearly aimed at those seeking a withdrawal of U.S. troops, Bush said: "There's always a temptation in the middle of a long struggle to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder."

"We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory," he said.

Democrats challenged Bush's arguments on the Iraq mission. "The president went into Iraq under a false premise, without a plan, and has totally mismanaged our involvement," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "Now he is trying to justify his actions with a series of excuses."

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said Bush "continues to invent a false link between the war in Iraq and the tragedy of Sept. 11." Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Bush "has offered America a false choice, between resolve and retreat."

1 posted on 10/06/2005 10:44:37 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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Kerry, Durbin, Pelosi...

The 3 Stooges (which is an insult to the original 3 Stooges,, but..)


2 posted on 10/06/2005 10:45:37 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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'false' seems to be the talking point to refute President Bush's decision to take on IslamoFascists over there and not here.

Classless, to say the least, imo.


3 posted on 10/06/2005 10:47:37 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: NormsRevenge

President Bush speaks before the National Endowment for Democracy at the Reagan Building in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2005. Bush said Thursday that Islamic radicals are seeking to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world, and called that a prime reason not to cut and run in Iraq. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)


4 posted on 10/06/2005 10:48:46 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: NormsRevenge

Pfffft, he nominated Miers, nothing else matters. (do I really need the sarcasm thingy?)


5 posted on 10/06/2005 10:53:07 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
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To: NormsRevenge

There is so much more going on in this war. Maybe when we are very old we will learn about it. I think most of what we see is only the tip of the iceberg.


6 posted on 10/06/2005 10:56:18 PM PDT by Names Ash Housewares
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To: Names Ash Housewares

It does seem a lot of folks do have a complacency about them, a sense of false security, perhaps.

If they really knew or were privy to the skinny behind these and other incidents, they might think twice about how tenuous an existence we lead on old terra firma.


7 posted on 10/06/2005 10:59:11 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: NormsRevenge

Bad news for the MSM...


8 posted on 10/06/2005 10:59:30 PM PDT by citizencon
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To: Names Ash Housewares

"I think most of what we see is only the tip of the iceberg."

I agree with that, and sometimes I wonder if the dems see even that tip. Pelosi is a fool.


9 posted on 10/06/2005 11:00:35 PM PDT by hsalaw
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To: nutmeg

BTTT


10 posted on 10/06/2005 11:01:02 PM PDT by nutmeg ("We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." - Hillary Clinton 6/28/04)
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To: Names Ash Housewares

I have never been able to understand the carping idiots who do not realize that much of this war, by necessity, is going on in secret. They mindlessly criticize the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, with no consideration of the fact that any one of them may right now be under grave threat, or may have yesterday skillfully helped foil a plot which could have cost the lives of thousands.

This has become a nation beleagured by completely clueless backseat drivers.


11 posted on 10/06/2005 11:13:41 PM PDT by JennysCool (Non-Y2K-Compliant)
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To: JennysCool; All

The 24 hour 7 days a week news grinder does nothing but allow for more time for these idiots to spout off and then have it rerun over and over again proving how idiotic they are..

I know there's a silver lining in that but .. it still grates many folks to no end that they just don't shut up and grow up.

G'Nite All!


12 posted on 10/06/2005 11:17:17 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Names Ash Housewares
There is so much more going on in this war. Maybe when we are very old we will learn about it.

Which is this president greatest failing. He's leading in private. A country needs a public leader in times of war.

His behind the scenes leadership style and lack of communication with the public is creating a disconnect between the citizens and the warriors as well as being unhelpful in keeping the public focused on what's at stake.

13 posted on 10/06/2005 11:28:04 PM PDT by zarf
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To: NormsRevenge

"series of excuses"

Like that we are capturing terrorists in Iraq and they are revealing plots against us that we are foiling. That's all well and good, but that wasn't the reason Bush said we were going to Iraq now, was it.....

Stupid is as Stupid Does.

Pelosi -- Stuck on Stupid before it was Popular.


14 posted on 10/06/2005 11:32:58 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Names Ash Housewares
"There is so much more going on in this war. Maybe when we are very old we will learn about it. I think most of what we see is only the tip of the iceberg"

Put this in you book !

There are many non-American people in the US and in europe who just disappear. They are scooped up and taken away because they are deemed a threat.

There have been hundreds of attacks that have been stopped but we won't learn about them for another 20 years !

15 posted on 10/06/2005 11:37:03 PM PDT by america-rules
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To: NormsRevenge
Now that President Bush has betrayed conservatives, my level of trust in him is way down. Like the terror alert today. Strange how it occurred the same day of his speech. Is this administration becoming wickedly deceptive, or I'm I just becoming really, really cynical?
16 posted on 10/06/2005 11:38:22 PM PDT by HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath (My Homeland Security: Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper)
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To: NormsRevenge

Vaporize Damascas for entertainment value. AND so state. Send Iran a memo: "Unconditional surrender works best if you do it while you are still you."


17 posted on 10/06/2005 11:44:47 PM PDT by Waco
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To: NormsRevenge
Pelosi is not a stooge, she is a RINO impersonator :-}



18 posted on 10/06/2005 11:54:11 PM PDT by msnimje (If you suspect this post might need a sarcasm tag..... it does!)
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To: JennysCool
Remember right after the attacks on 9/11 ?

Were we had the Liberal talking heads, the MSM, and the Democrats all in one voice saying "
what is Bush doing ?
why is it taking him so long to do anything about these terrorist ?
we want action now ! "

remember ?

About a year ago, or more, I saw a program on TV ( must have been on the History channel or something like that ) were they had a special on about our special forces and what happen before we went into Afghanistan.

President Bush already had special forces on the ground either near Afghanistan or in Afghanistan ( 24 - 48 hours ) after the attacks on 9/11 gathering information.

The moments right after 9/11, President Bush and his team, and the Pentagon was already in action, to take action against the terrorist, it's just ? we don't see sometimes what goes on, and for good reason.

Back in 2001, the MSN, and the Democrats were not seeing any ( visible ) action , but, rest assured, there was something going on.

But, if you look back then, and look at what is happening now, the only motive that is in the Liberals , MSM, and the Democrats drivel talking point is ? to make President Bush and the Republicans look bad.

Back then, right after 9/11 ,
do you really think the Liberals/MSM/ and the Democrats really cared about the USA ?
and really wanted to go after the terrorist with their propaganda and drivel and what they were saying after 9/11 ? weeks before we actually saw any action by our military in the publics eye ?
I doubt it.
The same motives by the Liberals/MSM/Democrats are still here now, to make President Bush and the Republicans look bad, so they can gain power once again in Washington.

Make no mistake about it,
that is what the Liberals/MSM/Democrats are after, POWER - IN CHARGE once again.
They don't care about the welfare of this country and it's people, they only care about their lust for POWER.
19 posted on 10/07/2005 12:01:15 AM PDT by Prophet in the wilderness (PSALM 53 : 1 The FOOL hath said in his heart , There is no GOD .)
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To: HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/holidays/july4/winter.htm


20 posted on 10/07/2005 12:08:50 AM PDT by Prophet in the wilderness (PSALM 53 : 1 The FOOL hath said in his heart , There is no GOD .)
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