Terror plot in Los Angeles foiled according to Bush

philologos

A terror leader from South East Asia is was apparently involved in a plot to bring a 9/11 style attack to Los Angeles. There were plans to fly an airliner into the US Bank Tower (which is the tallest building on the West Coast). The alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks was also behind the plot.
Check out BBC News @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4697896.stm

Memnoch

bush's approval ratings are **** so his cronies come up with nice fake plots they "foiled" so that they can tell the world how they have saved america etc etc... so obvious.. so un true.

halkar

Uncovered in 2002 and he is talking about it now?

ShayHT

and if ya believe that i've some nookular weapons i can sell ya;)

Manic Moran

Simply because Bush Said So doesn't automatically mean it's false, no matter how much you dislike him.

Is it possible that the specific information is being released now (It had been mentioned in passing before, but not to this level) is politically motivated? Sure. It's an election year, and if it turns out that the information that lead to the foiling came from his wire-taps, it adds further fuel to the fire.

It's also possible that they didn't want to reveal how much they knew or how they captured people before this date for simple operational security purposes. My guess is that someone decided that at this date, the political capitol exceeded any security concerns that may be left over.

He's in something of a no-win situation. He does nothing, the terrorists strike, he loses. "All those wars, all those taps, and we are still suffering attacks. Maybe even because of the wars"

He does something, foils a strike and tells the world, and its "It's a fake story, a plant, made up and released purely for political purposes"

He does something, foils a strike, but doesn't tell the world: "All that scaremongering, for what? Nothing happened"

I'll take it at face value. If it didn't happen the way he outlined it, I'm sure someone will leak it.

NTM

billy the squid

You would think they would have told the locals

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday he was blindsided by President Bush's announcement of new details on a purported 2002 hijacking plot aimed at a downtown skyscraper, and described communication with the White House as "nonexistent."

Gaillimhtaibhse

Jakkass wrote:

A terror leader from South East Asia is was apparently involved in a plot to bring a 9/11 style attack to Los Angeles. There were plans to fly an airliner into the US Bank Tower (which is the tallest building on the West Coast). The alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks was also behind the plot.
Check out BBC News @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4697896.stm

Would this story be more appropriate for the creative writing board as a fiction thread?;)

Manic Moran

billy the squid wrote:

You would think they would have told the locals

What would they have done about it? Air security is a federal matter, not something for Los Angeles. And LA already would have had a contingency plan in place as a result of Sept 11th as it's the tallest building on the West Coast. I guess they didn't need to know: It wouldn't have made any difference, and just expands the chance of a leak.

NTM

Gaillimhtaibhse

Are suddenly "altered flight plans" the real concern for this largest of west coast buildings? Is this building in fact built near a fault line? How will "all the king's horses and all the king's men" save this building's occupants from an 8-point earth quake?

Hobbes

Bushes recent roasting at the King Funeral he has to get something to show "He sure I'm trampling on your civil liberties but it saves lives". Although personally I would take anything that comes out of that guys mouth with a sack of salt.

He does something, foils a strike, but doesn't tell the world: "All that scaremongering, for what? Nothing happened"

Maybe we are watching different news media but it has been scaremongering since 2001 over nearly everything.

DingChavez

Gaillimhtaibhse wrote:

Would this story be more appropriate for the creative writing board as a fiction thread?;)

Yeah, because we all know nobody would ever try to attack the US.

ivan087

im sure this terror plot is true. But it didnt actually take place. Bringing shoe bombs onto a post 9/11 plane in the states and blowing up the door to the cabin aint that easy. Id say there was a good chance this wouldnt of been successful. But what will be successful is an improvement in Bushs ratings. Middle america will go back to Bush in droves after this. It already helped in approving the patriot act extension. It will also help to justify taking billions away from social programs and putting it all in to military.
Poor old america, they're really falling from grace. what will the country be like in 10 years. I just hope to god that europe doesnt fall down the same road...

Ag marbh

Absolute bull I don't believe a word of it. It's all for brownie points.

cruiserweight

According to the BBC website that building was blown up in Independence Day as well:D

meldrew

Bush must be looking for more funds for the military again

The_Minister

Bush announced it was the liberty tower...then an official had to say that he ment to say the library tower:D

It would make sense for a terror attack in 2002 as it would have peaked 9/11 fears.

ronbyrne2005

bush is watching too much 24. they captured some guy in afganistan and beat a confession out of him along with details of some mythical plot. reminds me of the detroit "cell" of al-quaida who bush spoke of in some speech and who were later released without charge.no one has been caught in the act of near to doing the act since 9-11,no cells have been found in america,its all about propaganda for bush and his ideologues.

Catsmokinpot

thank god its his last term the dickead! if it was foiled in 2002 why didnt they say it in 2002 why didnt they say it in 2002 why did they leave it 4 years? 4 bloody years? i dont believe it myself, definitely trying to gain votes for something or other, hes probably going to say the bombers were iranian........

philologos

ronbyrne2005 wrote:

bush is watching too much 24. they captured some guy in afganistan and beat a confession out of him along with details of some mythical plot. reminds me of the detroit "cell" of al-quaida who bush spoke of in some speech and who were later released without charge.no one has been caught in the act of near to doing the act since 9-11,no cells have been found in america,its all about propaganda for bush and his ideologues.

it doesnt really matter if the cells are in America or not you have to remember that the "Hamburg Cell" led by Mohammed Atta actually were involved in carrying out the attacks

ivan087

"if it was foiled in 2002 why didnt they say it in 2002 why didnt they say it in 2002 why did they leave it 4 years? 4 bloody years?"
he didnt need to say it 4 years ago because he was riding high in the polls and he didnt need to. it was political ammunition and he's seemed to use it well. He got the extension vote, he'll pick up a few points in the polls, fox news will do a couple of documentarys, the military will get their funding. well played by bush and co. in a sad kind of way.

Frederico

This is the reason why..

"Bush wins deal on anti-terror law

Mr Bush spoke of a foiled terror plot shortly before the deal was done
Key US senators have agreed to back a controversial anti-terror law which the Bush administration has spent months struggling to have renewed.
The Patriot Act gave the government new powers to investigate terror suspects after the 11 September 2001 attacks.

Civil libertarians in both parties have objected to some measures, which were due to expire at the end of 2005 and had been only temporarily extended.

The White House has now agreed to changes making renewal almost certain.

President Bush on Thursday outlined details of what he called a terrorist plot to attack Los Angeles, which he said had been derailed by international law enforcement in 2002."

From the BBC news website.

Its political capital held onto until its needed.

The_Minister

Catsmokinpot wrote:

thank god its his last term the dickead! if it was foiled in 2002 why didnt they say it in 2002 why didnt they say it in 2002 why did they leave it 4 years? 4 bloody years? i dont believe it myself, definitely trying to gain votes for something or other, hes probably going to say the bombers were iranian........

It was mentioned in 2002 but it was glossed over and minimised (too soon after)


I would dearly like to see the evidence people have that says its fake....

pete

Firespinner wrote:

I would dearly like to see the evidence people have that says its fake....

Surely the burden of proof is on those who say it's true?

But several U.S. intelligence officials played down the relative importance of the alleged plot and attributed the timing of Bush's speech to politics. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to publicly criticize the White House, said there is deep disagreement within the intelligence community over the seriousness of the Library Tower scheme and whether it was ever much more than talk.

One intelligence official said nothing has changed to precipitate the release of more information on the case. The official attributed the move to the administration's desire to justify its efforts in the face of criticism of the domestic surveillance program, which has no connection to the incident.

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism specialist who heads the Washington office of Rand Corp., said Bush's account adds some interesting detail to the Library Tower episode. But he said it still leaves key questions about the case unanswered.

"It doesn't really give us any more indication of whether this was a plot that was derailed or preempted, or a plot that was more in the realm of an idle daydream," Hoffman said.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, mocked the idea of raising the alleged Library Tower plot. "Maybe they're tired of talking about [the] Brooklyn Bridge and they're trying to find a different edifice of some sort," he said, referring to another alleged terrorist plot that some have said was inflated by the government.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/09/AR2006020900301.html?nav=hcmodule

It does seem slightly dubious, political capital now?...has there not been an election in the interim?..He could have probably used it then or was it held back until he wanted this extension?..And shoe bombs as well...after the last one got sooo much media attention..Those terrorists are just fusing their seemingly limited ideas together..It amazes me that he can still piss me off so much..