Posted on 02/10/2006 9:48:51 AM PST by NormsRevenge
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – A Malaysian recruited by al-Qaeda to pilot a plane in a second wave of Sept. 11-style attacks on the United States pulled out after observing the carnage of the 2001 assaults, Southeast Asian officials said Friday.
President Bush on Thursday outlined details of an alleged plot to hijack an airliner and fly it into a skyscraper in Los Angeles. He said cooperation between Washington and several Asian countries helped expose it.
The plan never appeared close to the stage where it could be put into execution. Scores of arrests in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks severely curtailed al-Qaeda and its Southeast Asian affiliate, Jemaah Islamiyah.
Security officials and terrorism experts in Southeast Asia on Friday said Malaysian engineer Zaini Zakaria was among three men al-Qaeda was preparing to take part in an attack on the U.S. West Coast.
Zaini, 38, has been detained without trial under the Internal Security Act in Malaysia since he surrendered in December 2002.
He traveled to al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 1999, where he met senior figures in the terrorist group, including Indonesian Riduan Isamuddin, or Hambali, a Malaysian security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
When he returned to Malaysia the same year, Zaini enrolled in a flight school and obtained a license to fly a small plane. He then began making inquiries in Australia about getting a license to fly a jet, the official said.
But Zaini was never told what his mission for al-Qaeda would be. When he saw media coverage of the Sept. 11 attacks, he severed his ties with the militants.
Zaini told Malaysian interrogators that he “didn't want that kind of Jihad,” the official said.
A second Malaysian security official said Zaini told his Malaysian interrogators “he was not prepared to die as a martyr, so he backed out.” The source also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason.
The possible “second wave” attack was mentioned briefly in the June 2004 U.S. National Commission report on the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
It quoted Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the reputed Sept. 11 mastermind who was captured in 2003, as saying “three potential pilots were recruited for the alleged second wave.” It identified them as Zacarias Moussaoui, Abderraouf Jdey, and Zaini.
However, Mohammed told his U.S. interrogators that “he was too busy with the 9/11 plot to plan the second wave of attacks,” the report said.
Zaini, a native of the northeastern state of Kelantan, was doing some odd jobs before he surrendered to Malaysian authorities in Kelantan in December 2002, apparently because he was worried about an ill relative, said his former lawyer Saiful Izham Ramli.
Saiful said Zaini never told his lawyers about taking flight classes, and his arrest records do not describe him as a pilot or being a suspect in a “second wave” attacks.
He said Zaini was principally wanted by authorities for his links with Jemaah Islamiyah, a common charge for which scores of suspects are being held in a high-security prison in Kamunting under a law that allows indefinite detention without trial.
In 2003, the United States ordered a freeze on Zaini's financial assets and those several other suspects. His family is now so poor that they cannot even afford to travel to Kamunting in central Malaysia to visit him, Saiful said.
Zaini's wife hails from the southern Johor state's Ulu Tiram district, the site of a school where Hambali and other Indonesian terror leaders allegedly were based for some years.
Bush said terrorists intended to use shoe bombs to hijack an airliner and crash it into downtown's 73-story US Bank Tower.
His disclosure strained relations between the White House and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who said in an interview with The Associated Press that he got word of the new details like everyone else – by watching Bush's speech on TV Thursday.
As it turns out, the White House did notify City Hall, if indirectly. A spokesman for Matt Bettenhausen, California's homeland security chief, said he personally contacted a deputy mayor Wednesday afternoon with advance notice of the president's comments.
Michelle Petrovich, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said the agency notified the Los Angeles Police Department, along with state officials, that the 2002 plot would be mentioned during the president's speech.
Villaraigosa later confirmed that City Hall was notified Wednesday. But that information was only general, city officials said, and the mayor was never informed. They said they had no warning that numerous new details of the plot would be disclosed.
Michael R. Blood contributed to this story from Los Angeles
Malaysian recruited for 2002 L.A. terror plot, officials say
http://www.bakersfield.com/state_wire/story/5899091p-5913597c.html
EILEEN NG, Associated Press Writer
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - A Malaysian recruited by al-Qaida to become a pilot for a second wave of Sept. 11-style attacks on the United States pulled out of the plan after he witnessed the carnage of the first assaults, Southeast Asian officials said Friday.
President Bush in a speech Thursday outlined some of the details of an alleged plot to hijack an airliner and fly it into a skyscraper in Los Angeles, and said cooperation between Washington and several Asian countries helped expose it.
The plan never appeared close to the stage where it could be put into execution. And scores of arrests in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks severely curtailed the ability of al-Qaida and its Southeast Asian affiliate, Jemmah Islamiyah, to operate.
Adding details to Bush's outline, security officials and terrorism experts in Southeast Asia on Friday said Malaysian engineer Zaini Zakaria was among three men al-Qaida was preparing to take part in an attack on the West Coast.
Zaini traveled to al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan in 1999, where he met senior figures in the terrorist group including Indonesian Riduan Isamuddin, or Hambali, a Malaysian security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
When he returned to Malaysia the same year, Zaini obtained a license to fly a small plane, and began making inquiries in Australia about getting a license to fly a jet, the official said.
But Zaini was never told what his mission for al-Qaida would be. When he saw media coverage of the Sept. 11 attacks, he severed his ties with the militants.
Zaini, who has been detained without trial in Malaysia since December 2002, told Malaysian interrogators that he "didn't want that kind of Jihad," another Malaysian official told AP.
It's simply amazing the intellectual gymnastics liberals go through in order to prove how much they hate the US.
This ****wad Villaraigosa wasn't even Mayor when it all went down. He's just trying for name recognition for a Senatorial run I'll bet.
Let's see. AP says that there really was no plot after all, because the guy claims he backed out.
And Villaraigosa blames Bush for not warning him about the plot and the forthcoming speech, even though Bush did warn his administration.
Well, which is it? Typically, the AP article suggests that Bush is to blame both ways. If anything went wrong, Bush did it.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Another Ray Nagin?
And that poor, poor terrorist's wife, can't even visit the terrorist after his terrorist operating money was frozen. So sad . . .
Apparently he didn't read that report:
According to the transcript, Mohammed said Zacarias Moussaoui, the French-Moroccan facing trial in the United States as the "20th hijacker, had been sent to a flight school in Minnesota to train for a West Coast attack.
But after 9/11, "we never got time to catch our breath, we were immediately on the run,' Mohammed was quoted as saying. Al-Qaeda’s communications network was severely disrupted. Operatives could no longer use satellite phones and had to rely on couriers, although they continued to use Internet chat rooms. "Before Sept. 11, we could dispatch operatives with the expectation of follow-up contact, but after Oct. 7 (when U.S. bombing started in Afghanistan), that changed 180 degrees. There was no longer a war room ... and operatives had more autonomy.
I posted the info here
"The timing is suspicious"...
Notice how this news appears the day after Bush makes his comments. Why didn't this story appear before if it is that easy to know?
Security officials and terrorism experts in Southeast Asia on Friday said...
This is why. There is definitely an element that uses their position for political purposes. This is more leaking in service of the Democrats.
And the story decides to be a kitchen sink of bash Bush -- it's not just about the plot that was not really thwarted, according to this spin -- but also makes up some nonsense about how it strained the relations of Bush and the Mayor of Los Angeles, who wasn't even mayor at the time.
Hmmm...do I believe GW or a captured terrorist?
More like a muslim with a brain.
How do you hijack an airliner with shoe bombs?
I picture myself as a passenger and say, "no way".
Deal with the threat of "blow up now" or fly into a building at 500 knots? No contest. The maggot making the threat has no idea...
So since it wasn't broken up during the actual operation, it doesn't count as a foiled plot?
Geez, they won't give Bush credit for anything!
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