Question:
Al Qaeda Planned to Slam West Coast Building, Bush Says
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
February 09, 2006
(CNSNews.com) - President Bush on Thursday described a foiled al Qaeda plot to fly a plane into the tallest building on the West Coast -- a plot that began forming shortly after the successful terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
We now know that in Oct. 2001, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, had already set in motion a plan to have terrorist operatives hijack an airplane using shoe bombs to breach the cockpit door and fly the plane into the tallest building on the West Coast, Bush said.
We believe the intended target was Liberty Tower in Los Angeles, he added. (Bush apparently meant Library Tower, now the US Bank Tower.)
The president said Khalid Sheik Mohammed sought out men from Southeast Asia who would not arouse as much suspicion as Arab operatives might.
Bush also mentioned a terrorist named Hambali, one of the leaders of the militant Islamic group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). Hambali recruited operatives who had been training in Afghanistan. Those operatives met with Osama bin Laden and then began preparations for the West Coast attack.
President Bush said the attack was foiled in Oct. 2002, when an unnamed Southeast Asian nation arrested a key al Qaeda operative.
The West Coast plot had been thwarted, Bush said. And in the summer of 2003, our partners in Southeast Asia conducted another successful manhunt that led to the capture of the terrorist Hambali. (See earlier story)
President Bush said the West Coast plot shows what a determined enemy America and other nations face.
America remains at risk, so we must remain vigilant, he said.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page...T20060209b.html
L.A. Mayor Blindsided by Bush Announcement
Feb 09 3:02 PM US/Eastern
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By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES
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.
I'm amazed that the president would make this (announcement) on national TV and not inform us of these details through the appropriate channels, the mayor told The Associated Press. I don't expect a call from the president _ but somebody.
Bush has referred to the 2002 plot before but he publicly filled in the details Thursday.
Bush said Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks who was captured in 2003, had begun planning an attack to fly a commercial airplane into the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast, the Library Tower in Los Angeles, since renamed the US Bank Tower.
Instead of recruiting Arab hijackers, Southeast Asian men would be used, Bush said, because they were less likely to arouse suspicion. He said they would use shoe bombs to blow open the cockpit door.
The president said the plot was derailed when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key al-Qaida operative. Bush did not name the country or the operative.
I go to work every day knowing that we are a target, Villaraigosa said.
The mayor said homeland security needs better funding, including for the protection of high-risk targets in Los Angeles. He said some funding could be redirected from the war in Iraq, but he did not advocate an immediate withdrawal of troops.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/09/D8FLPVKG3.html
Answer:
yea i saw that, Bush said liberty tower, a building that doesnt even exist in California. Guess he's beeen fed that word so many times it just rolls off the tongue. And obviously wiretaps didnt help solve this cause he would've boasted that if it did.
GOod job giving this annoucnement without telling hte mayor of LA though.
