ABC NEWS: DOCS SEIZED IN IRAQ REVEAL INSURGENT PLAN FOR ATTACK IN U.S.(Update with story)

www.drudgereport.com ^

[maquiladora]

ABC NEWS: DOCS SEIZED IN IRAQ REVEAL INSURGENT PLAN FOR ATTACK IN U.S.

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Details Emerge About Possible Terror Threat

Suspects, Reportedly Tied to Al Qaeda in Iraq, Sought Student Visas

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2007 — Mimicking the hijackers who executed the Sept. 11 attacks, insurgents reportedly tied to al Qaeda in Iraq considered using student visas to slip terrorists into the United States to orchestrate a new attack on American soil.

Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, recently testified that documents captured by coalition forces during a raid of a safe house believed to house Iraqi members of al Qaeda six months ago "revealed [AQI] was planning terrorist operations in the U.S."

At the time, Maples offered little additional insight into the possible terror plot. ABC News, however, has learned new details of what remains a classified incident that has been dealt with at the highest levels of government.

Watch the full report tonight on "World News with Charles Gibson."

Sources tell ABC News that the plot may have involved moving between 10 and 20 suspects believed to be affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq into the United States with student visas — the same method used by the 19 al Qaeda terrorists who struck American targets on Sept. 11.

U.S. officials now require universities to closely track foreign nationals who use student visas to study in the United States. University officials must report international students who fail to arrive on campus or miss class regularly.

In August, the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement alerted intelligence agencies and state and local law enforcement about 11 Egyptian students who had failed to report to their classes at Montana State University. The students were ultimately apprehended.

Still, despite the heightened precautions, some security analysts fear that skilled terrorists — handpicked because of their clean records and because they are carefully trained — could still slip through an academic setting.

The plot was discovered six months ago, roughly the same time that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by coalition forces. Sources tell ABC News that the suspects involved in the effort to launch the U.S. attack were closely associated with Zarqawi.

The plan also came only months after Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2, had requested that Zarqawi attempt an attack inside the United States.

"This appears to be the first hard evidence al Qaeda in Iraq was trying to attack us here at home," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, former chief counterterrorism adviser on the U.S. National Security Council.

The plan was uncovered in its early stages, and sources say there is no indication that the suspects made it into the United States. Officials also emphasize that there is no evidence of an imminent attack.

The hunt for suspects continues, however, and some fear that al Qaeda recruits in Iraq could be easily redirected.

"Anyone willing to go to Iraq to fight American troops is probably willing to try to come to the United States," Clarke said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2813235&page=1

[onyx]

Not strange --- those missing "students" were widely publicized. Our guys lost track of them and that was worrisome to say the least.

[Theresawithanh]

Please, teach me how, oh master, for I do not have the patience on my own!

Here's my substantive response (and I even know what that word you used means!)

While I realize we have lost some freedoms, ex: scrutiny at airports and submitting to the tactics of the NSA, I believe that the threat we face from terrorists is real, and I want my president do do all that can be done. The murder of nearly 3000 innocents on 9/11 convinced me that the threat is real, even though our nation missed the threats in several previous attacks on our nation and our interests abroad.

If I'm just being a chicken little, and all my freedoms are slowly being denied, guess I'll see you in the resettlement camp. (I'll be the short, round, gray-haired female with the flower in my lapel.)

[Steve_Seattle]

"One of the most fascinating aspects of al-Qa'ida is it's ability to mutate and adapt. In this regard, they may well be incorporating the words of American left wingers, as they find that subverting propaganda already in use is very effective."

Definitely. There was a thread on this very topic a few months ago, how AQ picks up stuff from the Western press and uses it in their propaganda, as when they criticize the USA for not signing Kyoto, for not having universal health care, etc. Another example is the ridiculous idea that Arabs hate the the USA because we support Middle Eastern dictatorships, when in the next breath they say they hate us because we invaded Iraq and OVERTHREW a brutal dictatorship. The blatant contradiction is accepted uncritically by the Left and by the MSM.

[Tokra]

The only problem there is that it's not just the liberal mind that works in. The overwhelming majority of jihadist propaganda runs directly down that line, as well.
One of the most fascinating aspects of al-Qa'ida is it's ability to mutate and adapt. In this regard, they may well be incorporating the words of American left wingers, as they find that subverting propaganda already in use is very effective.
So, true or not, your "logical progression" arguement is used not only by liberals, but by terrorist recruiters.

You are, of course, correct. But when it comes to the War on Terror - I lump the terrorists and the libs together.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Of course they can slip through in an academic setting. Most US colleges actively recruit "students" from countries that sponsor terrorism, and many academics hate the USA and think that we got what we deserved.

Unfortunately the media will cover this once then hide it. Can't let the American public regain confidence in GW Bush!

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

"I wonder if this is why we are seeing a surge in the number of Muslims complaining about stereotyping? Sorta laying the ground work to help get these people into the country by 'shaming' the U.S. so that less common sense is used by the transportation industry."
truthluva has got it absolutely right!!!!!

[Mo1]

Yes, that makes sense

[Lucky9teen]

I'm stunned...I didn't think Iraq had terrorists or any Al-Queda members for that matter. Wow. And to think they'd plan an attack on America....why, why do they want to hurt us?</sarc>

[Rutles4Ever]

You can say that again. It's almost like a work of art to them. The D.C. sniper was, in some ways, the essence of the kind of fear a terrorist attack is intended to generate. The alphabets have gone rather unappreciated in the past few years, shutting down terror cells here and across the world.

[Indy Pendance]

I'm just basing that from my own college experience. Trying to get a class after registration closes is a real pita, waiting lists, signatures from profs and department heads, plus the administration paperwork. It has to be extra hard for a foreign student to go through that process, or maybe not. Nevertheless, you are registered for classes several weeks, if not months in advance. I usually registered in spring before the finals.

[jdm]

It's most probable they were red flagged during registration.

That's not what the article said, though. The article said the red flag came up when they failed to report to classes. What type of classes, though? Since the article didn't specifically say orientation classes, the reader is to assume they are referring to "class-CLASS," which didn't start until September 6.

I'm not saying I don't agree with your theory, only that in order for it to be true, the article would have been written differently, one would think, anyway.

[Oorang]

...the plot may have involved moving between 10 and 20 suspects believed to be affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq into the United States with student visas

FYI Ping

[amutr22]

No, they will spin it that Bush is leaking this on purpose to make people "fear" again so that they will be more supportive.
Mark my words.

[Indy Pendance]

Is this the line you are referencing?

"University officials must report international students who fail to arrive on campus or miss class regularly."

I don't know the arrival dates for foreign students, do they have to report to an 'advisor' prior to classes starting? I'd think they'd want to give them all those touchy-feely classes prior to the sememster starting. If they 'miss class regularly', than, that's a different situation.

But near the end, the article states:

"The plan was uncovered in its early stages, and sources say there is no indication that the suspects made it into the United States

So, it appears as if they missed their reporting to school date.

[jdm]

This line:

In August, the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement alerted intelligence agencies and state and local law enforcement about 11 Egyptian students who had failed to report to their classes at Montana State University.

[Indy Pendance]

I wonder if this is just bad reporting. They never made it to the US, but, they have to report to the adminstative people prior to classes starting.

[onyx]

Just a thought --- when do classes commence in Montana?

Lat August or early September?

[msnimje]

The left will say it's a ruse invented to shore up Bush's sagging poll ratings.

But ABC works for THEM.