Posted on 09/05/2002 5:19:24 PM PDT by RCW2001
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A Second Attack Planned
French Authorities: Moussaoui Plotted Another Series of Attacks
By Brian Ross and David Scott  Sept. 5
— Zacharias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, was part of a second wave of suicide hijackings planned for early 2002 in Europe and the United States, French intelligence authorities told ABCNEWS, and they say the U.S. Justice Department is making a mistake in identifying him as the so-called 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks.
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"Moussaoui was going to be a foot soldier in a second wave of attacks that was supposed to culminate in early 2002 with simultaneous bombings against U.S. embassies in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, as well as several hijackings in the United States," said Alexis Debat, a former French Defense Ministry official and ABCNEWS consultant. The assessment is based on the recent interrogations of Moussaoui's al Qaeda associates, including his alleged handler, now in custody in Europe. "The people were trained, the cash was there. This was going to happen," said Debat. "He was not part of the 9/11 plan." One year ago today, in Paris, FBI and CIA agents got a full briefing on Moussaoui's terror background from their counterparts at the French Ministry of the Interior in Paris. In his first interview on the subject, former French Interior Minister Daniel Vaillant told ABCNEWS the French gave the Americans a complete dossier on Moussaoui. "We did not hold back any information," said Vaillant. "This is the essential point I want to communicate to you. There was nothing held back." The French say they told the United States they had tracked Moussaoui for years, from his student days in London to his time in Osama bin Laden training camps in Afghanistan to his membership in an Algerian terror group that had planned to fly a hijacked Air France jet into the Eiffel Tower in 1994. The FBI acknowledges there was a meeting but denies it received any such specific information at that time. Later, the information showed up in the Justice Department indictment of Moussaoui as conspirator of the Sept. 11 attacks, for which he faces the death penalty. "All the information was given just as soon as it became available in order to help American authorities pre-empt attacks like what unfortunately was the awful tragedy of Sept. 11," said Vaillant. "Maybe afterward there was a problem in terms of poor use of the information we relayed, but this does not concern the French authorities." Moussaoui was arrested a month before the attacks, on Aug. 16, 2001, on immigration charges, after arousing suspicions with his flight training. Instructors at a Minnesota flight school first tipped off the FBI in August about Moussaoui, who showed up with lots of cash and no flying skills. FBI agents in the field were immediately convinced Moussaoui was up to no good, so they interviewed people at another flight school Moussaoui attended in Oklahoma. At the time, lawyers at FBI headquarters turned down requests for a special warrant to check Moussaoui's computer. After Sept. 11, however, the FBI found his computer disks full of incriminating information, according to officials. So while Moussaoui sat in a jail in Minnesota, his case remained on the FBI back burner and officials decided to turn him over to the French hoping they could do more. He had been pleading with the French Consulate to facilitate his return in the weeks prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. He actually had a flight booked for a few days after Sept. 11. "It came really close," said Debat. "On Sept. 11, Moussaoui had his plane ticket back to France to be questioned, interrogated and detained in France." Some say the briefing American agents got one year ago this day was the last chance authorities had to detect the al Qaeda plot to crash hijacked planes into buildings. Whether or not Moussaoui was supposed to be the 20th hijacker, officials believe he knew what was coming. |
Symbolic of something or other, and dangerous to a postcard salesman and a young couple in the vicinity and the airplane and passengers, of course.
The French are loudly protesting release of information regarding Iraqs probable culpability in international terrorism. hmmmmmm.I suppose this does not also concern the French authorities...but why are they so adament information should not be made public?..I was born in the dark, but it wasn't last night.
France against publishing secret documents on Iraq's weapons programs
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Maybe.
Certainly, they must have known that, after 9-11, they could never again hijack a commercial airliner.
I can see how a group of organized attacks on rural cropdusting strips would be feasible. Say, six teams taking over six strips in locations all across the country on the same morning...overwhelming/killing the people there, in the hangar and the farmhouse...loading up the planes with a devil's brew and taking off for the nearest city (or football stadium)
Many of the independent cropdusting services are operated from crude airstrips located right on the farm (most of these operators also being farmers), well away from any settlements, airports...or security staffs.
One might very likely have the place to one's self for a few hours, to allow the fuelling and mixing. If one member of each team was trained on the plane and the equipment, it might be a workable plan.
These guys all fly VFR -- no flight plans required. They come and they go as weather permits and as they please.
Zat vass ze Chermans. The guys who blew the Black September operation in Munich in 1972 are now going to teach us how to deal with terrorists. Oh goody.
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