Posted on 01/22/2007 12:16:37 PM PST by maquiladora
Edited on 01/22/2007 12:29:11 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
ABC NEWS: DOCS SEIZED IN IRAQ REVEAL INSURGENT PLAN FOR ATTACK IN U.S.
Suspects, Reportedly Tied to Al Qaeda in Iraq, Sought Student Visas
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2007 — Mimicking the hijackers who executed the Sept. 11 attacks, insurgents reportedly tied to al Qaeda in Iraq considered using student visas to slip terrorists into the United States to orchestrate a new attack on American soil.
Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, recently testified that documents captured by coalition forces during a raid of a safe house believed to house Iraqi members of al Qaeda six months ago "revealed [AQI] was planning terrorist operations in the U.S."
At the time, Maples offered little additional insight into the possible terror plot. ABC News, however, has learned new details of what remains a classified incident that has been dealt with at the highest levels of government.
Watch the full report tonight on "World News with Charles Gibson."
Sources tell ABC News that the plot may have involved moving between 10 and 20 suspects believed to be affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq into the United States with student visas — the same method used by the 19 al Qaeda terrorists who struck American targets on Sept. 11.
U.S. officials now require universities to closely track foreign nationals who use student visas to study in the United States. University officials must report international students who fail to arrive on campus or miss class regularly.
In August, the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement alerted intelligence agencies and state and local law enforcement about 11 Egyptian students who had failed to report to their classes at Montana State University. The students were ultimately apprehended.
Still, despite the heightened precautions, some security analysts fear that skilled terrorists — handpicked because of their clean records and because they are carefully trained — could still slip through an academic setting.
The plot was discovered six months ago, roughly the same time that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by coalition forces. Sources tell ABC News that the suspects involved in the effort to launch the U.S. attack were closely associated with Zarqawi.
The plan also came only months after Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2, had requested that Zarqawi attempt an attack inside the United States.
"This appears to be the first hard evidence al Qaeda in Iraq was trying to attack us here at home," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, former chief counterterrorism adviser on the U.S. National Security Council.
The plan was uncovered in its early stages, and sources say there is no indication that the suspects made it into the United States. Officials also emphasize that there is no evidence of an imminent attack.
The hunt for suspects continues, however, and some fear that al Qaeda recruits in Iraq could be easily redirected.
"Anyone willing to go to Iraq to fight American troops is probably willing to try to come to the United States," Clarke said.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2813235&page=1
Well, I for one, ALSO don't believe there will be any attack on American soil. The initial attack by Al Qaeda operatives on 9-11 was to get the ball rolling. Then the existing political organizations are exploited, and instinctively figure out that they have to find their own place in the overall long-term future of Islam in America, then the multi-layered infiltration slowly takes shape and perfects itself, then Islam as a way of life becomes politically influential, and , well, you can well imagine the rest of the scenario. An attack on American soil by Jihadists would IMMEDIATELY undo ALL that other , distinctly "political" work. And while I acknowledge there are possibly DOZENS of warring factions of radical Islam, I think all of them are canny enough to know they are not going to be allowed to fight their "civil wars" on our soil, either, like they are presumably doing in Iraq/ NO. I am convinced the more serious threat is the political one. Bombs anywhere on American soil would turn the country upside down, and half the mosques would be burned down within 48 hours.
bttt
yup. Pretty scary - when a lot of the staff can't even interpret a student's billing account or change an address record. And.... in particular areas, higher ed is starving for enrollment and look at the foreign student as a source of $$$$$. And if that isn't enough, just to complicate matters:
http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-21/116904845345120.xml?aanews?NEA&coll=2
Thanks for the ping on that Rushmore.
Well said soldier!!
The plan was uncovered in its early stages, and sources say there is no indication that the suspects made it into the United States.
There is nothing to stop them. Send some more saudis on student visas, no sweat.
I guess I don't understand the logic. If Al Qaeda operatives are looking to infiltrate our political apparatus, then 9-11 was a catastrophic mistake. The number of Al Qaeda and their sympathizers arrested or deported since 9-11 pretty much destroyed that strategy, if it ever existed.
Incredibly, in spite of 9-11 - and with the help of C.A.I.R. and President Bush's love affair with "the religion of peace" - infiltration is no longer necessary. Islam is going to be as American as apple pie before these idiots are through, and how dare anyone question the loyalties of a politician just because he's Islamic. We're already there today, so...
IMHO, there are two different fields of play: 1) Al Qaeda, the terrorist group, which has no use for political systems and no sympathy for fellow Muslims who may die because of their actions, and 2) domestic groups that are sanitizing Islam through the press, and a political/social system that has been cowered into a fatal kind of moral relativism which dares not call a spade a spade, and expects no accountability from those peacable Muslims who have the grave responsibility of silencing the demonic clerics who preach death and destruction.
It's my belief that these two phenomena are acting independently of each other, but benefiting from each other's actions, just the same. So, color me skeptical of the notion that there won't be any more attacks on American soil. Bin Laden and Zawahiri are not receiving their marching orders from C.A.I.R. and al-Jazeera.
g in AZ
we should cancel all student visas for one year and ship everyone home.
anyone we find after that we jail in guantanimo.
we need the attention of the LEADERS of these countries...
They know the liberal institutions will do everything in their power to cover for them. They're both on the same side of this war.
I will deal w/ yr. very intelligent reply a little later (tonite) when I have time. It is a BIG, and fascinating subject, and not one for minds that do not understand or grasp how subtle the dynamic can be in this area: you are rare in that you DO grasp it. So I will try to elaborate later. Meanwhile, as a Zen Buddhist to a Conservative Catholic, I salute you.
I will deal w/ yr. very intelligent reply a little later (tonite) when I have time. It is a BIG, and fascinating subject, and not one for minds that do not understand or grasp how subtle the dynamic can be in this area: you are rare in that you DO grasp it. So I will try to elaborate later. Meanwhile, as a Zen Buddhist to a Conservative Catholic, I salute you.
My brain only gives me this thought process: I want my president to have the authority to do what he can to make sure that there are no more attacks in America. The fact that we keep hearing about attacks being thwarted tends to make me not follow your line of thinking, but who knows? I also don't think the members of the religion of pieces really care where they fight jihad, just as long as infidels die.
This was my observation also, and it played a major role in my "conservative conversion."
And yes, Islam is a lie, Originated by the Father of Lies.
Well, MY brain gives me THIS thought process: I too an aware of the numerous thwarted terrorist acts, even though this Administration, in its profound political tone-deafness, has not capitalized on the good job it is doing in thwarting them. If it were me, and I DID have something substantive to crow about, I would have set up a separate publicity machine JUST to keep the American people abreast of what the various LE agencies were doing, just as I would be sure the American people were informed of "all the good things that were happening in Iraq". This kind of PR seems to be permanently on the back burner, with the heat turned off. Bear in mind, though, that virtually ALL of the successes in apprehending , deporting, and/or jailing these Jihadist types have found the plotters in some very embryonic
"planning stage" which may or may not have eventually led to an attack of ANY consequence: we have not caught anyone with their hand IN the cookie jar, but a lot of people whose mouths are watering looking at the cookies.
As you put it, "I want my President to have the authority to do what he can to make sure that there are no more attacks on America." Well, so do I, and even though as I said we are not given many details about the progress of plans for our destruction, I can see that the Administration has done SOMETHING to thwart attacks. ALL THE MORE REASON why the Islamic political sphere is widening its influence here: the "good cop/bad cop" game that CAIR is playing, and the election of people like Ellison, is what will do us in: this President has been so busy kowtowing to the "Good Muslims" here and elsewhere, assuring them that HE believes Islam is a religon of Peace, that he has embraced the Islamic influence, even WELCOMED it, EVERYWHERE, including the MILITARY. I DON'T welcome it, because I see a dangerous trend developing : the one that has turned Europe upside down for several years now. This is a trend that HAS to be arrested, stopped, or reversed, or in 50 years we ourselves will be marginalized in our own country. Things have generally gone so badly for this Administration because of its fatuous "uniter-not-divider" ethos emanating directly down from the head and heart of the Commander-in-Chief. The Democrats have NEVER been interested in being united with the other side: Islamic Jihadists ALSO see postures like that to be signs of weakness and exploit them mercilessly, just like the Dems. But it is that impossible piety that Bush has, that has paved the way now for the very real possibility that Hillary Clinton will be the next President.
bttt
Wow, yer a wordy sort, ain't ya?
Run for president. It seems President Bush has done a terrible job.
*
Well, perhaps some one else will find the words not wasted. My mistake to waste them on you.
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