Qtec
02-09-2006, 10:56 PM
Attack foiled.
Mr. Bush and White House officials gave no reason for releasing details of a plot that they first disclosed last October. But Mr. Bush's speech came at a time when Republicans are intent on establishing their record on national security as the pre-eminent issue in the 2006 midterm elections, and when the president is facing questions from members of both parties about a secret eavesdropping program that he describes as pivotal to the war on terrorism.
In his speech, Mr. Bush said the plot had been "derailed in early 2002, when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key Al Qaeda operative." He added that "subsequent debriefings and other intelligence operations made clear the intended target and how Al Qaeda hoped to execute it."
Mr. Bush and his counterterrorism adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, made no claim on Thursday that the eavesdropping program, conducted by the National Security Agency, had helped to foil the 2002 plot. But in a conference call with reporters, Ms. Townsend did not rule out the program as a factor in discovering the plan.
"We use all available sources and methods in the intelligence community, but we have to protect them," Ms. Townsend said. "So I'm not going to talk about what ones we did or didn't use in this particular case."
She added that the Los Angeles plot had grown out of the Sept. 11 attacks. As described in the staff report by the independent commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is said to be the mastermind behind them, had originally envisioned an elaborate plan with 10 planes that would attack the East and West Coasts simultaneously on Sept. 11, 2001. But Mr. bin Laden rejected the plan, the report said, because of its difficulty.
"It was bin Laden who decided that it should just focus on the East Coast, and the West Coast should be held in abeyance until there was a follow-on attack," Ms. Townsend told reporters. "It's our understanding now that it was too difficult to get enough operatives for both the East and West Coast plots at the same time."
Just hold that thought for the moment. /ccboard/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Bring on Rush L.
[ QUOTE ]
RUSH: The Washington Post reports Sunday that two credible sources say that over 5,000 Americans' phone conversations were monitored as a result of the president's foreign surveillance NSA program. Now, my reaction to that is, you know, the media, I guess, the Washington Post story -- I haven't seen the story yet -- my guess is that the take of this story is, "Wow, what an invasion of privacy. Why, this program is over the top, why, this program is dangerous. Why, over 5,000 Americans' phone conversations have been monitored." But there's another way to look at that based on what this program is. And that is this. Suspected terrorists may have called over 5,000 people in the country! Suspected terrorists! That's the point of it, instead of focusing on, "Oh, my God, look at the violation of privacy!" Well, look at the point of the program. The program only monitors phone calls in or out of the country with a suspected terrorist on one end of the conversation. <font color="blue"> Of coure he has ABSOLUTELY no proof of this! </font color> So 5,000 Americans have had phone conversations, phone calls from terrorists since the program started? That seems to me -- it's either that or there's some giant Al-Qaeda telemarketing plan going on to sell Danish flags in this country.
<hr /></blockquote>
So there are 1000,s of 'terrorists'in the US! [ You would think it would be easy to catch them when they are getting collect calls from Bin Laden! /ccboard/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /ccboard/images/graemlins/grin.gif]
Didnt they also say that they had averted a plot to detonate a 'dirty bomb'in the US?
I,m sure Ashcroft made an announcement to the fact that a 'terrorist' was caught trying to enter the US who was involved in a 'dirty bomb'plot.
What he didnt say at the time was that the guy- Padilla?- was a US citizen. After 3 years incommunicado, even tho he makes claims like "I am Al Qaeda" <font color="blue"> LOL . Sounds like a loony!</font color> he hasnt been charged with ANYTHING to do with a 'dirty bomb'???? How come? Is it ANOTHER intelligence failure <font color="blue"> 'group think'my a$$! </font color> or a product of Rove's fantasy- designed to make it look like the Govt is doing something when really they are fumbling around in the dark?
It seems to me that claims are frequently made by this Govt that they cant back up with facts.
Q
BTW, The alleged plot was that they would blow out the cabin door with explosives and then fly the plane into a building!
Mr. Bush and White House officials gave no reason for releasing details of a plot that they first disclosed last October. But Mr. Bush's speech came at a time when Republicans are intent on establishing their record on national security as the pre-eminent issue in the 2006 midterm elections, and when the president is facing questions from members of both parties about a secret eavesdropping program that he describes as pivotal to the war on terrorism.
In his speech, Mr. Bush said the plot had been "derailed in early 2002, when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key Al Qaeda operative." He added that "subsequent debriefings and other intelligence operations made clear the intended target and how Al Qaeda hoped to execute it."
Mr. Bush and his counterterrorism adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, made no claim on Thursday that the eavesdropping program, conducted by the National Security Agency, had helped to foil the 2002 plot. But in a conference call with reporters, Ms. Townsend did not rule out the program as a factor in discovering the plan.
"We use all available sources and methods in the intelligence community, but we have to protect them," Ms. Townsend said. "So I'm not going to talk about what ones we did or didn't use in this particular case."
She added that the Los Angeles plot had grown out of the Sept. 11 attacks. As described in the staff report by the independent commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is said to be the mastermind behind them, had originally envisioned an elaborate plan with 10 planes that would attack the East and West Coasts simultaneously on Sept. 11, 2001. But Mr. bin Laden rejected the plan, the report said, because of its difficulty.
"It was bin Laden who decided that it should just focus on the East Coast, and the West Coast should be held in abeyance until there was a follow-on attack," Ms. Townsend told reporters. "It's our understanding now that it was too difficult to get enough operatives for both the East and West Coast plots at the same time."
Just hold that thought for the moment. /ccboard/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Bring on Rush L.
[ QUOTE ]
RUSH: The Washington Post reports Sunday that two credible sources say that over 5,000 Americans' phone conversations were monitored as a result of the president's foreign surveillance NSA program. Now, my reaction to that is, you know, the media, I guess, the Washington Post story -- I haven't seen the story yet -- my guess is that the take of this story is, "Wow, what an invasion of privacy. Why, this program is over the top, why, this program is dangerous. Why, over 5,000 Americans' phone conversations have been monitored." But there's another way to look at that based on what this program is. And that is this. Suspected terrorists may have called over 5,000 people in the country! Suspected terrorists! That's the point of it, instead of focusing on, "Oh, my God, look at the violation of privacy!" Well, look at the point of the program. The program only monitors phone calls in or out of the country with a suspected terrorist on one end of the conversation. <font color="blue"> Of coure he has ABSOLUTELY no proof of this! </font color> So 5,000 Americans have had phone conversations, phone calls from terrorists since the program started? That seems to me -- it's either that or there's some giant Al-Qaeda telemarketing plan going on to sell Danish flags in this country.
<hr /></blockquote>
So there are 1000,s of 'terrorists'in the US! [ You would think it would be easy to catch them when they are getting collect calls from Bin Laden! /ccboard/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /ccboard/images/graemlins/grin.gif]
Didnt they also say that they had averted a plot to detonate a 'dirty bomb'in the US?
I,m sure Ashcroft made an announcement to the fact that a 'terrorist' was caught trying to enter the US who was involved in a 'dirty bomb'plot.
What he didnt say at the time was that the guy- Padilla?- was a US citizen. After 3 years incommunicado, even tho he makes claims like "I am Al Qaeda" <font color="blue"> LOL . Sounds like a loony!</font color> he hasnt been charged with ANYTHING to do with a 'dirty bomb'???? How come? Is it ANOTHER intelligence failure <font color="blue"> 'group think'my a$$! </font color> or a product of Rove's fantasy- designed to make it look like the Govt is doing something when really they are fumbling around in the dark?
It seems to me that claims are frequently made by this Govt that they cant back up with facts.
Q
BTW, The alleged plot was that they would blow out the cabin door with explosives and then fly the plane into a building!