Posted on 02/09/2006 9:00:20 PM PST by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2006 – Al Qaeda terrorists were planning to fly a plane into the tallest building on the West Coast not long after they'd launched the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, President Bush said here today.
The terrorists' target was a notable Los Angeles office building, he said during a speech given at the National Guard Association of the United States' headquarters.
The 73-story Los Angeles office building, the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River, was called the Library Tower at the time of the terrorist plot. It was renamed US Bank Tower in 2003.
Bush said the scheme involved terrorists using shoe bombs to hijack an aircraft that would then be flown into the skyscraper. The plot was thwarted in early 2002, Bush said, when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key al Qaeda operative who was in on the plan.
"Subsequent debriefings and other intelligence operations made clear the intended target and how al Qaeda hoped to execute it," Bush said. "This critical intelligence helped other allies capture the ringleaders and other known operatives who had been recruited for this plot."
Bush said the ringleader of the West Coast plot was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was al-Qaeda's military chief at the time. Mohammed was later captured in Pakistan in March 2003, Bush said.
Mohammed had planned to employ members of JI, an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group located in Southeast Asia, for the Los Angeles operation, Bush said. The al Qaeda chief wanted young South Asian men rather than Arabs to conduct the operation, he said, so as not to arouse as much suspicion.
Bush said the leader of JI was a terrorist called Hambali who'd recruited key operatives for the plot who'd been trained in terrorist camps in Afghanistan. The recruits met with Osama bin Laden to get their marching orders, he said, and then began preparations for the ill-fated West Coast attack.
"The West Coast plot had been thwarted," Bush said. "Our efforts did not end there. In the summer of 2003 our partners in Southeast Asia conducted another successful manhunt that led to the capture of the terrorist Hambali."
Today, al Qaeda and its affiliates remain determined and dangerous, but they are weakened thanks to cooperative anti-terror operations like the one that exposed the West Coast plot, Bush said.
"It took the combined efforts of several countries to break up this plot," the president said. "By working together, we took dangerous terrorists off the streets.
"By working together, we stopped a catastrophic attack on our homeland."
The president, a former Texas Air National Guard fighter pilot, also viewed the unveiling of a bronze bust cast in his image that was presented in his honor at the event.
Guess that should shut Boxer and Feinswine up. What am I saying; they'll never shut up!!!!!!
They might if a building falls on them.
Fineswhine called this story a rumor. Actionable intel is a rumor to the Dems. Imagine that.
"...that should shut Boxer and Feinswine up."
Somehow I don't think it will. Running off at the mouth is a common democrat afliction. And quite incurable.
The mayor is upset for not knowing. Dang it. I'm sure he could have gotten a clearance for the briefings. Or are their some issues. That's like Barney Fife whining why someone didn't tell him that Otis was in his jail cell without him knowing. "CITIZEN's ARREST, CITIZENS ARREST"
Are you kidding? Unlike Rudy, who moved towards the scene of the attack on the morning of 9/11, Boxer and Feinstein would probably hightail it to their own safe havens very quickly .......
Just heard the mayor of Los Angeles, on the radio, say that, "I was blindsided". Jeez!
The Mayor of LA can sit on a 2.5 inch diameter broken tree stump as far as I'm concerned.
What, the NSA and CIA didn't pick up the phone and call the "high school dropout and son of the barrio who once sported a tattoo that proclaimed "Born to Raise Hell."" and let him know what was going down????!!!! What was Bush thinking?
This is true....wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit. LOL!
I heard a clip of Frankenstein on the radio tonight saying the President called it the Liberty Tower, but that is wrong it was called the Library Tower, which is now called something or other.
The news guy, or was it the guy filling in for Laura Ingram, laughed because Frankenstein didn't get the name of the building right either! LOL
Funny thing...the mayor of LA was NOT the mayor of LA back in 2002 when this happened. What a moron!
Of course not we talking about DI FI and Botox Barbara LOL!
LOL!! Good seeing you, Just. No one ever said he was bright.
That Mayor of LA is RIGHT - his SIDE is BLIND! ALl of those democrats are....
How are ya?
Working 7 days a week with a new payroll system. Very different, and many more steps. LOTS of extra steps.
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