Posted on 09/13/2001 6:31:31 AM PDT by Irma
By Sue PlemingFor Educational/Discussion Purposes OnlyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Thursday the hijackers who steered commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Tuesday had "significant ground support."
"(To have) operated with technical proficiency to target and to land an aircraft of that size with the deadly accuracy of these acts of war, was something obviously that resulted from a complex organization with significant ground support," Ashcroft said.
In an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" program, he said there had to have been extensive ground support and coordination for the hijackers to conduct such acts, killing thousands of people.
"We are not prepared to say how much ground support and how much coordination and whether or not there was a cellular breakdown and what that would be," he said.
In a separate interview with CNN, Ashcroft said investigators were making progress with tracking down those involved.
"As soon as we have the capacity to bring to justice people who were associated with this as ground support for these operations we're going to do that."
Asked in an interview with NBC's "Today" show whether he believed more attackers were at large, Ashcroft replied: "That's one of the reasons that we want to emphasize prevention in what we do as well as detection and an understanding of what the facts were."
On Tuesday, knife-wielding hijackers crashed commercial jets into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington in the worst attack on the U.S. mainland in modern history. Thousands were believed killed. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
Ashcroft reiterated there were three to six hijackers on each plane and some of them had been extensively trained as pilots in the United States.
He also confirmed there was indications the hijackers planned to attack President Bush and the presidential plane, Air Force One.
Ashcroft declined to comment on an ABC news report that the hijackers were aware of Secret Service Codes and that a threat had been called in on Tuesday against Air Force One, which deviated from its original course soon after the attacks.
"I do know that our nation understood and learned that there were credible threats against the White House and Air Force One. I am not in a position to discuss the nature of the evidence regarding those threats but they were credible threats and we take them seriously," he said.
Ashcroft said the Justice Department was pursuing thousands of credible leads to find the perpetrators of the attacks, the worst acts of terror on U.S. soil.
"It is a massive effort and it is one which is resulting in credible leads which we are following," Ashcroft said.
Immediately after the attacks, the United States banned all commercial aircraft from U.S. skies. Flights are set to resume later Thursday and Ashcroft sought to reassure the public that flying was safe in America.
"The traveling public must understand that our airlines will be secure today as a result of increased effort and new procedures," he said.
Pressed whether armed marshals or police would be on all U.S. flights, he refused to disclose specific measures.
"The American public has reason to know that the steps taken are the right steps to make sure that our airplanes are secure," he said. "We are going to be in the air flying as a nation again and with the kind of safety we need to have."
Bull. With enough bananas you can teach a monkey to fly and if the monkey can read a watch and recognize tall buildings he has the wherewithall to do the job. All you need are twenty or so monkeys - or fools will do in a pinch.
YES! And to ANY country harboring terrorists I say, "Hand them over or be prepared to be smooshed!"
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