Iraqis targeted W ranch - Terror team tried to sneak into Texas through Mexico

New York Daily News ^ | 3/29/03 | JAMES GORDON MEEK

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON - An Iraqi terror team armed with millions of dollars tried to get smuggled into the U.S. through Mexico to Crawford, Tex. - the site of President Bush's ranch, a law enforcement source said yesterday. The alarming attempt to infiltrate the country occurred this month, the source said.

It is not known what the Iraqis planned to do in Crawford, but Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein tried to assassinate Bush's father, the former President George Bush, in 1993.

The unidentified Iraqis wanted to hire smugglers to sneak them into the U.S. because they "wanted to get to the Crawford ranch," according to the well-placed law enforcement source. They also asked a Mexican doctor and a lawyer named Claudio to change about $100 million in Iraqi dinars into U.S. currency - about $325 million.

Secret Service officials would not comment yesterday about the possible threat or the suspects' whereabouts.

The President and First Lady Laura Bush spend most of their downtime on the 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch, nestled in the central Texas scrubland. Bush used the Texas White House to woo world leaders into his "coalition of the willing" against Saddam.

The assassination attempt on Bush's father came as the former President attended ceremonies in Kuwait celebrating the success of the Gulf War, which ousted Saddam's troops from Kuwait. Because of the failed assassination, then-President Bill Clinton ordered a Tomahawk missile barrage on Iraq.

The current President has not forgotten the attempt to kill his father. A red-faced Bush recently reminded a visitor of the 1993 plot by Saddam, and said, "The SOB tried to kill my dad."

Other plots thwarted

Iraq's attempt to infiltrate the U.S. came to light as U.S. officials announced they had thwarted Iraqi-sponsored terrorism in two foreign countries, as well as plots directed at U.S. targets.

"There are two countries where operations have been compromised, and we have information on plots in other countries," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.

Department officials declined to say whether the Mexico report had any connection to those Iraqi terrorist plots.

In both foreign cases, the operatives were arrested, terrorist material was confiscated and the attacks were not carried out, said another State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher.

The U.S. has asked a number of countries to expel suspected Iraqi intelligence officers, based on "the significant threat posed by their presence," Boucher said.

With Thomas M. DeFrank

[MeekOneGOP]

Whoa ! First I've heard of this. Thanks for the heads up ! . . .

[Catspaw]

Yes, Iraqis would've stood out like a sore thumb in Crawford. That presumes that the Iraqis would've been the ones to be in Crawford. That kind of money would've been enough to hire others who'd blend in to do the job.

[MeekOneGOP]

Iraqis targeted W ranch - Terror team tried
to sneak into Texas through Mexico

Excerpt:

The unidentified Iraqis wanted to hire smugglers to sneak them into the U.S. because they "wanted to get to the Crawford ranch," according to the well-placed law enforcement source. They also asked a Mexican doctor and a lawyer named Claudio to change about $100 million in Iraqi dinars into U.S. currency - about $325 million.

Secret Service officials would not comment yesterday about the possible threat or the suspects' whereabouts.

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas or General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[Lucas1]

Does anyone remember the post about one week ago...about some border police saying they saw and have been seeing strange activities in their local areas. Meaning...men in some type of uniforms...in fields and woods...carrying things with them?

[Freebird Forever]

The exchange rate surprised me too, so I confirmed it here

Exchange rate as of Saturday, March 29, 2003

1 Iraqi Dinar = 3.36598 US Dollar
1 US Dollar (USD) = 0.29709 Iraqi Dinar (IQD)

[MeekOneGOP]

Writer has the same last name as me:

JAMES GORDON MEEK

I have a cousin, James Meek, but this guy is not him and is no relation as far as I know . . .

[eabinga]

Thats using the exchange rate that Saddam has fixed by decree. In the open market US$1 will get you 1000 dinar. And if you buy dollars, you probably have to plunk down 1500-2000 dinar to get US$1.

May be a lot higher nowadays too.

[Jimmy Valentine]

They know how to deal with owl hoots and sidewinders down there.

[best Gabby Hays voice} "Y'er durn tootin'"

[Tommyjo]

"Does anyone remember the post about one week ago...about some border police saying they saw and have been seeing strange activities in their local areas. Meaning...men in some type of uniforms...in fields and woods...carrying things with them?"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/866500/posts

[shezza]

Zoiks and a ping...Hey, Lou, check this out!

[4Freedom]

No, there's no cause for concern, enough innocent people haven't died, yet.

Bush can station additional Secret Service or even the National Guard around his ranch.

It would be too much of an imposition on future RINO voters to protect the entire country by militarizing the borders. We just can't have that.

[marktwain]

Something seems totally wrong here. There has been massive inflation in Iraq in the last several years. I could not find the exchange rate in a quick search, but in several stories, I seem to recall that it was several hundred dinars to a U.S. dollar.

[Mrs. P]

Secret Service officials would not comment yesterday about the possible threat or the suspects' whereabouts.

So, in other words, they have assumed ambient temperature, I hope.

I can't wait to read the stuff that comes out in 20 years or so on all of this.

[TADSLOS]

Thanks for the ping. I was watching FOX last night when this report hit. What surprises me is that we haven't heard about any such attempts on the ranch earlier than this one. There's no telling how many operations of this type have been stooped cold that don't get visibility.

[Maigrey]

I thought you might like to see this...

[Maigrey]

That doesn't sound right. I thought it was more like $100mI = $30,000US.

[Maigrey]

Really. Wow. Guess I was wrong...

[FreePaul]

The Bush open borders policy may be his undoing. If not by way of these type of infiltrations then by the ballot box.

[Ditter]

The headline you posted is just what I was wondering about. I wonder if that was the ones & where did they catch them.

[taxed2death]

It doesn't really matter what the lone star state thinks.

GWB is doing everything in his power not to provide any reasonable measure of border security. If these terrorist a-holes make it in, GWB is 110% culpable.

There are several threads running on FR this morning stating the FACT that not only has security NOT been strengthened in any meaningful way, it has actually been weakened in recent weeks.

Do we really need strawberry pickers, lettuce pickers, chicken gut cleaners and landscapers so bad as to jeapordize national security?

I can't believe the distance GWB has inserted his head up his anus, regaring our border policies. Don't take my rant as evidence of his complete lack of support for border security. Follow the chain of command on down in the new "Homeland insecurity" department. Follow it down two or three tiers and you'll see it chock full of open border government dweebs.

It is truly disgusting.

I, for one, am extremely disappointed in GWB regarding this important issue.