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.
“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.”
The reason why the President did not call LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is because Villaraigosa was NOT Mayor of Los Angeles till 3 years AFTER the the planned Incident and 2 years AFTER the Terrorist was arrested.
Villaraigosa was elected mayor of Los Angeles in a run-off election on May 17, 2005, in which he defeated incumbent mayor James Hahn. Prior to that, he was a state Assemblyman for the 45th district, the Speaker of the California State Assembly, and the Los Angeles City Councilman representing the 14th District.
in 2002, Villaraigosa was embroiled in a sucession movement by Hollywood and the San Bernadino vally and was smoozing left-wing doners to pony up to the bar and pay for his run for City Councilman of the 14th District in preparation to run a second time for mayor after a failed attempt in 2001.
The President of the United States, nor is Homeland security going to call some unknown political Assemblyman or Councilman and inform them of pre-empted attacks on the city, the President and Homeland Security will Call the Governer, the State Emergency people, and possibly the Mayor of the city if warranted..
So Mayor Villaraigosa can show as much “Amazement” and “Astonishment” and whatever else that will get his name in the news all he wants. But People know BS when they see it..
Especially Left-Wing BS.
Ay Caramba!
There really ought to be an AP idiocy ping. They serve up so many items so badly and in so skewed a text, they almost deserve to be collected.
That's irresponsible journalism to omit those facts.
Radio news report says White House informed Mayor's office before speech. Guess somebody didn't get the message.
Now we have a good sense of who the leakers are... indignate ignorants with big egos to quench and big constituencies to drag down to their level.
Throw this blindsided moron out of office, it was well know that the terrorists wanted to send a plane to CA.
Hello Dumba$$!! You weren't mayor then. No need to tell you now.
Sickening misrepresentation -- absolute partisan slander.
He probably would have pulled a Nagin and not taken any action anyways.
He's complaining that he wasn't informed of a plot that didn't take place when he wasn't mayor because the guy who planned it was already in custody?..............totally stupid.......
He goes to work every day knowing he is a target? Let's put him out in the desert for a few days, then.
Why would the President reveal this sensitive information to the LA Mayor. It would only be compromised and destroy any investigatory procedures. These people are known idiots and do not deserve the honor of having such information shared with them.
The AP certainly wouldn't want to check and see if the Mayor's office was notified or if news reports mentioned this in the past.
Perhaps he and Ray Nagin can start a new club: clueless majors of rocky road cities.
Nice work. This is the reason I read FR.
Of course he got it but it plays better for him to lie. This guy is the hispanic Bill Clinton. He bullies and intimidates his staff, using them up like tissue. He needs to be watched like clinton.
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