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
It would disheartening to think that the efforts of the US armed forces in Afganistan, Iraq, the Phillipines, and possibly Somalia were undone by the State department.
Ping.
Bump.
"Insurgents" cannot attack the continental US. The media is still selling a bad term to deny TERRORISM.
Considering the up and down success rate of the administration...I'd rather see the info out there on the table and more state/local authorities on the watch. Count up the number of foreign students in the US today...tens of thousands. The "bright" boys at the top are likely looking at the obvious group middle-eastern types...but if you were Ossama, you might want to get some of your Pacific hencemen into the act and avoid obvious detection.
Lets face it...they are doing this the hard way. We could bring 500 of these "Jihad Joes" into Mexico and simply walk this group across the border...which we know isn't being adequately protected. Same story for Canada.
Lets face it...they are doing this the hard way. We could bring 500 of these "Jihad Joes" into Mexico and simply walk this group across the border...which we know isn't being adequately protected. Same story for Canada.
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Easily. And our government does not care about that -- until our borders are closed, there will not even be a start to protecting this country. I guess they are waiting for another 9/11 to happen, or worse, so the pols will have a "reason" to thwart the illegal vote and the globalist agenda...
This has gotten ZERO play in LameStream Media at large. Even ABC seems to have ignored it beyond this one report.
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