Posted on 01/22/2007 12:16:37 PM PST by maquiladora
Edited on 01/22/2007 12:29:11 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
ABC NEWS: DOCS SEIZED IN IRAQ REVEAL INSURGENT PLAN FOR ATTACK IN U.S.
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
The good news is that AQ is mired in static patterns of behavior. The bad news is that we seem to be also.
You think cold weather changes class schedules?
I am wondering, yes.
Probably bad reporting. The residence hall didn't even open until Sept. 3, 2006, yet the article speaks as if loads of action was happening in August when, in reality, most of the action would be happening in September.
Maybe the libs will begin watching "24" more closely now and believe that "IT" could happen here.
I posted the link to MSU Fall schedule here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1771793/posts?page=76#76
Classes always begin in Sept at that school.
For fair weather terrorists, it sure does. When my kid was in Iraq, they could 'predict' attacks based on the weather. If it was hot, or rainy, or sandstorms, or cold, or prayer time (I know, not weather related, but you get the drift), the attacks plummeted. So, if it was snowing in September in Montana, I'm sure they the terrorists had weather related 'issues'. :)
"One of the most fascinating aspects of al-Qa'ida is it's ability to mutate and adapt."
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
(Hey, just helping along the mutation process!)
Thanks. There's one theory gone to h.
Do the rules differ for foreign students, ie: report earlier to campus than US students?
Ahhhh, didn't they do a dry run last year with all those "band" or "students" coming in and then "scattering" all over the country...We eventually caught all of them, and sent them home...
Good thinkin'.../sarcasm
They must have learned alot then, and are ready to take advantage of the situation...
Nothing to see here...Move along...Move along people...
It's all Bush's fault!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! /sarcasm off
Repeat after me, THERE ARE NO AL-QAEDA TERRORISTS IN IRAQ. THERE ARE NO TERRORISTS ANYWHERE. Bush, Cheney, and Rove made them up out of whole cloth. 9/11 never happened. And if it did, the Bush admin did it. Or knew about it. So say all the libs.
Thanks for the ping
The liberal press will try and candy coat this one.
Ah, yes--keep increasing those visa numbers congresscritters. See where it gets us.
The press could say that but the docs were discovered 6 months ago. If GWB wanted to boost election results -- something that was much needed -- he would have leaked the doc finding in late October/early November. Poll results rise and fall but election results are permanent.
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.
-- Benjamin Franklin
You missed the point of my post. Anyone can threaten us, but that is not the same as someone being a threat to us. I can tell you I'm going to yank your ear, but since I don't know who you really are or where you are located, I am really no threat to you. The Fijans can hatch a diabolical plot to attack San Diego, but they are hardly a plausible threat, and that hardly merits a response from us that includes locking down the country under onerous restrictions.
As well, you missed the fact that I said that ABC is engaged in advance shilling for the Democrats when they launch their very own initiatives to roll over your freedoms in the name of saving you from something, anything. You ain't seen nothing yet.
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