How far back do you want to go?
Posted on 02/09/2006 1:31:15 PM PST by Thanatos
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday he was blindsided by President Bush's announcement of new details on a purported 2002 hijacking plot aimed at a downtown skyscraper, and described communication with the White House as "nonexistent."
"I'm amazed that the president would make this (announcement) on national TV and not inform us of these details through the appropriate channels," the mayor told The Associated Press. "I don't expect a call from the president _ but somebody."
Bush has referred to the 2002 plot before but he publicly filled in the details Thursday.
Bush said Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks who was captured in 2003, had begun planning an attack to fly a commercial airplane into the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast, the Library Tower in Los Angeles, since renamed the US Bank Tower.
Instead of recruiting Arab hijackers, Southeast Asian men would be used, Bush said, because they were less likely to arouse suspicion. He said they would use shoe bombs to blow open the cockpit door.
The president said the plot was derailed when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key al-Qaida operative. Bush did not name the country or the operative.
"I go to work every day knowing that we are a target," Villaraigosa said.
The mayor said homeland security needs better funding, including for the protection of high-risk targets in Los Angeles. He said some funding could be redirected from the war in Iraq, but he did not advocate an immediate withdrawal of troops.
Link to Villagrosa's official bio:
http://www.lacity.org/mayor/bio1.htm
Especially Left-Wing BS.
Many liberals choose to be completely blind to whether something is BS...if it fits into their ideology they gobble it up.
Speaking as someone who lives in grearter LA-LA land, hizzoner wants to be president some day. When the time is right, he plans to run for governor and from there, if he has his way, to run for president.
OK, no problem. Thanks!
Because you never know exactly how the public is going to receive this information and the idiot mayor is after all ultimately responsible for public safety. Gives him the opportunity to meet with his staff and determine if any action is required. None was, but you never know.
LOL! Hi there. I was just trying to get them to think about what they were saying .. but I know it's difficult for them to reason.
LOL
That's hard core.
Maybe they've eliminated the "Press 9 for English" option on the mayor's phone system. .
El Alcalde was too busy hanging with his campadres in the gangs, to notice something so minor as a threat from oppressed practitioners of the ROP with a righteous grievance, to the buildings,of the Capitalist Exploiters anyway
How far back do you want to go?
It was a presidential speech, not an action report. It was about an incident that happened years ago, not a current threat. There was no need to give Mayor V. a heads-up about what the President's remarks were going to be in that speech.
Heck, GWB didn't even give the speech in Los Angeles. Is he supposed to give advance notification to the mayors of all cities he happens to mention in various speeches? Every time he talks about New Orleans, for example, is he supposed to get Nagin on the phone beforehand?
Besides, if I understand what Carl Cameron of Fox News has reported, White House aides did contact the California Dept. of Homeland Security to give them a heads up. The state agency supposedly called the mayor's office.
How do we even know Tony V. is telling the truth that no one mentioned it to him? He is an extremely ambitious political hack who is most definitely not above exploiting an important presidential speech to serve his own ends.
Thanks for the clarification. The Administration, if not the White House, informed His Honor the Mayor, who still seems clueless.
Tell me about it, I live here.
Just heard D. Finstein say on the radio that this was old news that everyone knew and Bush was just trying to scare everyone by bringing it up. I guess everyone doesn't include the mayor.
If everyone knew, how could it scare anyone (except the Mayor of course)?
From Fox News:
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said California officials were indeed notified.
". . . my understanding was that we did reach out to officials in California and Los Angeles to let them know, I think it was yesterday, that the president would be talking about this. And the word I heard was that there was great appreciation for the notification that we provided," he said during a White House briefing.
>>>The most dangerous place in L.A.<<< 
Quick, someone tell the present mayor of Pearl Harbor that the Japanese once planned to attack it!
Right. And he seems to be on more covers of magazines than anyone but Jenn Aniston. "The camera loves him." Or at least that is what he thinks.
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