Posted on 09/07/2006 6:56:44 PM PDT by blam
Mastermind of 9/11 had 'plot to hit Heathrow'
By Duncan Gardham
(Filed: 09/09/2006)
The mastermind behind the September 11 attacks on America went on to plan a hijack plot to attack London, it was alleged yesterday.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh was tasked by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to recruit operatives in Saudi Arabia for an attack on Heathrow Airport
Four men in Saudi Arabia had already been recruited to fly aircraft into Heathrow airport when the plot was allegedly thwarted, according to United States sources.
President George W Bush suggested that the Canary Wharf tower in London's Docklands might also have been a target.
The details emerged as the American government revealed for the first time some of the information it has gained from what it terms its "High Value Terrorist Detainee Programme".
Among those held are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 plot, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, the alleged go-between for the hijackers in America and al-Qa'eda in Afghanistan.
According to documents from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Sheikh Mohammed met Ramzi in Karachi, Pakistan, after the attacks in 2001 to begin work on the plot.
Ramzi, 34, originally from Southern Yemen, was alleged to be one of the intended September 11 pilots but failed to get a visa for America and instead allegedly fed them money and information from his base in Germany.
He fled first to Afghanistan and then to Karachi, where he met Sheikh Mohammed and where the Americans allege they began working on "follow-on plots against the West, particularly the Heathrow plot".
The documents said Ramzi was a "lead operative in the post-September 11 plot conceived by Sheikh Mohammed to hijack aircraft and crash them into Heathrow Airport".
They added: "He was tasked by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to recruit operatives in Saudi Arabia for an attack on Heathrow Airport and, as of his capture, had identified four operatives for the operation."
Among those who fled to Karachi in 2001 and 2002 was Walid bin Attash, 27, known as "Khallad", who allegedly acted as a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden before organising the attack on the USS Cole. The Americans allege he helped the leaders with recruiting volunteers in Saudi Arabia for the Heathrow hijack plot.
Ramzi was captured in 2002 and Sheikh Mohammed in 2003, at which stage the latter's nephew Ammar al-Baluchi, 29, allegedly took over responsibility for the plot.
Ammar had allegedly already been a "key lieutenant" in the September 11 plot and an intermediary for the British shoe-bombers Richard Reid and Saajid Badat.
The Americans allege that he decided to delay the Heathrow plot to carry out a plan to bomb Western interests in Karachi but was captured.
In February 2003, armoured personnel carriers were deployed at Heathrow Airport but this is the first time a detailed description has been given of what may have been planned.
I remember that.
I could read between the lines.
The only reason this information is coming out now has to be that we have extracted and exploited all the information there is in these guys.
BTTT
Yup. That's why they're going to Gitmo. We're already working on the next batch, hopefully.
Bush better make sure they are treated nicely. It is more important to respect their rights than get the info we need to save innocent Americans. /sarcasm (just in case the sarcasm tag was needed)
They've been out of the loop long enough that they have no useful information. String 'um up.
I got the rope.
Nothing new -- common knowledge back then.
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