ABC: Documents Seized Reveal Insurgent Plans for U.S. Attack

[Fenris]

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

By PIERRE THOMAS

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 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.

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.

<...>



Shocked by the timing? Neither was I.

[LSparkle]

1. Terra terra terra! Be afraid! Be very afraid! Only Dear Leader can protect us

Will probably be revealed as more bogus B.S. within the next day or so.

[Robbien]

2. Thank you Disney for the new terror script

nice timing there dude.

[NoodleyAppendage]

14. Increased fear = increased need for escapism = more Disney visitors.

Disney is a proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. Our fear translates ultimately into their financial gain.

J

[dflprincess]

45. You'd think Disney would be a little more skeptical

After all, do they want people to be too afraid to go to their parks?

[katsy]

3. Remains classified.

Dealt with.

Highest level of government.

Then how the phuck come a poor schmuck like me knows?



fearterrorfearterrorfear

[Red Zelda]

4. No one is more full of shit

... than ABC.

[rsmith6621]

5. Perfect Timing For The SOU by Chimpy

.........when all else fails.....pull the terror finger and see if it farts.....

[Missy M]

6. Not at all shocked by the timing....

right on cue for Bush and the SOTU. Could they be any more obvious.

[jefferson_dem]

8. ...and tonight's episode of "24"...

n/t

[pocoloco]

7. We'll get the "real" scoop tomorrow!!!

[DUyellow]

10. haha, he will use it as a direct quote from ABC

[xultar]

9. Just in time for the SOTU!

[KansDem]

11. Here's the lineup for Bush's SOTU speech...!!! (courtesy ABC)

Whoops! Scratch Rummy!

[BadGimp]

21. precisely my thoughts

[NoodleyAppendage]

12. Revealed day before SOTU & on same day as massive Iraq casuality count & helicopter shot down news.

I call a big BULLSHIT on this piece of PsyOps propaganda. If there are documents...PRODUCE THEM. Otherwise, STFU you fascist scumbags!

ENOUGH! When are we going to rise up and say enough is enough?!

J

[smoogatz]

13. Well now. There's a surprise.

Two things come to mind: first, it strikes me that extremely thorough background checks on all applicants for student visas from the Middle East might be in order, including followup calls to employers and school officials in their home countries. A big potential red flag is a blank space in the resumé--months or years unaccounted for should be a tip-off.

Second thing: so, how's that fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here thing working out?

[gratuitous]

15. Ohmigosh! Everyone wet yourself

And pray, oh pray, that Big Daddy George W. Bush can change our wet nappies in time!

How nice that ABC News, the day before Bush's State of the Whatever address "learned new details" just in time for them to be in the public domain and therefore incorporated into the address.

What appears to be overlooked is the fact that if this story is true, it means that terrorists have eye-balled all the "homeland security" measures taken by Bush and his congressional lapdogs over the last five years, and concluded that doing the exact same thing would work again. Comforting, isn't it?

[hippiechick]

16. Right.

.... cough cough cough BULLSHIT cough cough cough .... :eyes:

[tridim]

17. Served up for American consumption, like so much plastic turkey.

Dig in America!

[arewenotdemo]

35. mmmm....plastic turkey

[sabra]

18. "The plot was discovered six months ago" ....

<snip>

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.

[sabra]

20. I am going to guess that these docs were found in Zarqawi's left pocket...

[msmcghee]

19. Just a thought about this.

Most of the posts to this thread imply (or accuse) the * administration of creating this false story (or digging it up now) for PR purposes. That's possible but I would think highly unlikely. The risks if they were caught duping the public in that way would be severe at best. No one doubts that al Queda are currently in Iraq and that they would attack us here if they could.

Let's say there's a 50/50 chance that we are hit by al Queda sometime before the next election. What do you think would be the response of the RW to a thread like this - that they will be highly motivated to dig up - as evidence that Democrats were playing politics and attacking * while * was trying to defend America from terrorists with no help from a Dem congress?

Perhaps a wiser response from us might be to draw attention to the fact that al Queda would not now be in Iraq training terrorists to attack us if * had not started this war against a largely harmless state - mainly to establish his legacy as wartime president (with more balls than his Dad).

It's our choice. We can yell wild accusations that few will believe in any case - that can damage us in the future if we are attacked by aQ - or we can draw attention to the simple truth. Only the latter (the established truth of the matter) has any chance of damaging * or Repuke chances, now or in the future.

Some would say that the former approach kind of makes us look like idiots. It's a self-defeating frame folks.

[Robbien]

24. Your premise is false

You say 50/50 chance of an "al Queda" attack. Ha. Boy have you bought into the whole "terra terra terra" propaganda.

chill

peace

[msmcghee]

28. That is not my premise. That's why I prefaced it with . .

. . "Let's say . . ". It was a hypothetical to illustrate my point.

I am using game theory to choose the wisest play for my team. "Hatred of Bush" and accusing him of the worst possible crimes that few will believe - does not seem like a wise move to me.

The 2008 election is the game I hope my team wins. Jeopardizing that win in any way just to vent my spleen on Bush hardly seems like a wise choice to me. But don't worry, few here will pay any attention to my advice.

[Robbien]

33. There is no "hatred of Bush"

Why are you labeling criticism of an obvious propaganda ploy with that ol' right wingnut catchall phrase of "Bush hatred".

Oh so wise counsel from the right, keep pushing the meme that all lefties are Bush haters and everything those lefties do and say has no merit because it all stems from "hatred of Bush".

You say "few here will pay any attention to my advice." Since you choose words which sound as if they are coming from the mouth of Rush Limbaugh, you are at least right in this one instance. Few here will ever pay any attention to your advice.

[msmcghee]

36. Stop for a minute and read your words.

You have accused me of using right-wing catch phrases, of accusing "those lefties" - meaning my fellow DU members - of acting only in "hatred of Bush", and saying things that sound like they come from the mouth of Rush Limbaugh.

Those accusations are borderline against the rules here if not crossing the line. Don't worry I don't usually alert on personal insults and I don't block people.

Of course you realize that all you've done is attack me in a hateful way. You have said nothing that logically refutes my premise or shows why your "approach" is better for the left. You've pretty much just proved that you are caught up in the strong emotions of Bush hatred - so much so that you even hate anybody who might suggest that such hate-motivated actions could be self-defeating.

Keeping Dems in power is more important to me than hating Bush - although a chance to fuck Bush and his neo-cons over is a close second. The Repukes are out on their ass right now because they allowed their hatred of liberals and Dems to guide their actions. I just don't want to see us make the same mistake.

[antiimperialist]

50. You forgot to add

...defending us of terrorism CREATED BY THE IRAQ WAR, since Al Qaeda never carried out or planned an attack from inside Iraq, if this is a true report, until 6 months ago.

[Zhade]

34. You can choose to believe people who have been shown to lie to us repeatedly.

That's your decision, and you're welcome to your paranoia.

[msmcghee]

44. This will be my last post in this thread . .

Whether you or I believe the report or not has nothing to do with it. It has been leaked and American voters will respond to it. Unless some evidence is leaked from a credible source that it is a hoax then many (most) Americans will believe it.

I base my premise on the remote but plausible possibility that there will be an attack from al Queda before the next election. I don't know what the probability for that is - I guessed at 50/50. But it makes no difference.

The idea is to have a strategy that wins no matter what happens - not one that can be used against us in either case.

According to my strategy - if there is an attack - we look good because we have already blamed Bush for creating the situation (Iraq) that gave them the playground to recruit and train. If there is an attack after we claimed this report was a hoax - we will be justifiably seen by many Americans as more interested in hating Bush than in protecting America and we will even be seen as complicit in that attack by some.

If there is no attack - we still win by stating the truth - that Bush raised the probability of attacks on Americans with his war - as proven by this report. We lose nothing except the chance to look like we hate Bush more than we love America - which is exactly how the right will spin it if the Dem leadership follows the sentiments being displayed in this thread - attack or not.

Fortunately, no sane Dems will be playing that card. It would be nice though if the left end of the political spectrum here at DU displayed more brains than bile occasionally.

Cheers

[Viva_La_Revolution]

56. not a 'hoax'

but ya know, in my desk here I have 13 different plans for making millions of dollars. Detailed documents. Doesn't mean any of them are actually DO-ABLE. I have no start-up money, no investors, just a small group of people who think they are really cool ideas.

:shrug:

[Zhade]

63. Sorry, I find it a ridiculous idea to trust liars.

But that's just me.

[RamboLiberal]

39. I might be more inclined to belive it if:

If wasn't ABC who are out-Fauxing Faux.

It wasn't conveniently the day before the SOTU.

If most of these terror scares hadn't turned out to be crap in the past.

I'll give it some credibilty only because Richard Clarke is giving it some credibility at the moment. I don't doubt that al-Qaeda will attempt or will attack us again. But whether this plot is for real or so much convenient smoke - I'm going to wait to see how this one turns out.

On edit - I posted further down in thread - NBC is reporting that U.S. officials say this is nothing but a wish list and no big deal.

[progressivebydesign]

40. See.. we've been burned by these supposed plots, repeatedly.

Apparently you weren't around here for all of that, but each of these plots have turned out to be total bullshit. Pardon our cynicism when we've been duped, lied to, manipulated, and harrassed. Pardon our doubt when this plot is unearthed the day before Bush's SOTU address (with the lowest poll numbers ever), AND the fact that just last week BUSH tied the insurgents in IRaq to IRAN, which he and the PNAC DESPERATELY want to invade next.

[Cha]

60. Yeah, if we did buy into that

abc bullshit..it would be "Shame On Us"!

[rocktivity]

22. This reminds me of Jose Padilla's Al Qaeda "job application"

and one of the funniest. DU threads. Ever.

:rofl:
rocknation

[Jackpine Radical]

31. OMG I missed that thread the first time.

One of DU's finest moments!

[Quantess]

49. How did I miss that? Holey moley!

:spray: :yoiks:

[ShortnFiery]

58. I second that sentiment.

:rofl:

[jaxx]

23. This is #2 terra before the SOTU

First was bomb on plane in Texas.......which was a hoax.

[brooklynite]

25. Maybe they found a copy of "TV Guide - Baghdad edition"...

with a synopsis of the next episode of "24"?

[BluePatriot]

26. SOTU tomorrow! Fear, fear!

[itsmesgd]

27. Pardon my french, but you have got be fucking kidding me.

How is anyone surprised that this came out today?
I am so pissed right now that I am having difficulty typing.
Welcome to the police state where we are spoon fed the propaganda and like idiots, we lap it up.

Please save us George, all hail King George.

I'm cashing out my cd's and moving. I keep saying this, but holy shit I'm going to the bank tomorrow and then planning my getaway.

Good luck my fellow Americans

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

29. They'll have to get in line.

The NVA is set to invade any day now.

[sutz12]

30. Kinda reminds me of the Katrina tapes....

You know, the ones that surfaced six months later that showed Dubya bored and yawning and bascially ignoring the discussion about the preparation for the storm. Waiting six months sort of bleeds out the importance of "latest breaking news" doesn't it?

[Deja Q]

32. It seemed credible... but isn't it true the Prez is speakin' tonight?

If so, his credibility has gone down the toilet.

[TexasLawyer]

37. the same method used by the 19 al Qaeda terrorists who struck American targets on Sept. 11.

... except none were from Iraq the first time around.

Might we be creating new terrorists where there were none before?

[progressivebydesign]

38. Insurgents?? ARe they IRANIAN insurgents????

Gosh.. cuz I hapened to remember that we found IRANIAN insurgents in IRAQ recently, and gosh... well.. could it be that we'll be tying IRAN to the insurgency and to the plans to attack us OVER HERE???

I was wondering how that weasel and his PNAC scumbags were going to get Iran into this IRaq mess so they could get that Iranian war going. NOW we know...

Insurgents = Iranians = Terror Plot on US. It would be laughable if it wasn't so fucking obvious. Yes.. George, you WERE right after all.. we are fighting them THERE so they don't come over here! :sarcasm: Of course, if we hadn't destabilized a soveriegn nation and killed their president, their citizens, blew up their infrastructre, then perhaps the insurgents would exist, now would they? I mean, before we fucked with Iraq there were no such things are INSURGENTS (insurgents are obviously created responding to our efforts).

[yasmina27]

41. If you haven't clicked on the link...

There's a poll there that needs a little DU love...

Can't miss it - right in the middle of the second paragraph, as well as a link to the message board.

[RamboLiberal]

42. If you click on the page to read the story

Vote in their stupid poll - it looks like it's being Freeped.

[RamboLiberal]

43. NBC is pooh-poohing it

<snip>

Officials, however, told NBC that the plans were "pretty much generic," a "wish list" and something that "frankly, we've seen ... before."

<snip>

All the officials contacted by NBC News said that none of the documents contained any specific threats, targets, plans or timetables — but according to one official, they did demonstrate al-Qaida's "intent" to attack the United States.

One official said that, "given the current political climate , if this were something imminent or new, the administration would have been raising terror threat levels and pushing this information out to the media."

Officials said that all fixtures of the U.S. chain of command, including the White House, were aware of this information.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16757401/

[antiimperialist]

52. Thanks for the info...report already backfiring

I have a feeling ABC will have to issue another apology soon, for overhyping this report, which turns out, as you said, spoke of no specific threat.

[rodeodance]

46. "recently testified"----I wonder why we just hear about today????

[goforit]

47. Dido...under Bush's watch!

[antiimperialist]

48. no documents "obtained" by an occupier are reliable

This were planted documents.

[antiimperialist]

51. Don't forget ABC is the same who created "Path to 9-11"

And the fact that major news outlets are not reporting on this "classified document" suggests that they are being cautious for a reason.
Don't believe the hype.

[bobthedrummer]

53. Yep-maybe the alleged "documents" were penned by Cyrus Norasteh,

"curveball", Ahmed Chalabi or maybe they don't exist-because it's all propaganda.

We discussed this fact here a year ago.

"Reality vs. perception management: the tinfoil controversy" from 1-6-2006
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x71919

edited for spelling

[Eugene]

54. Even if this report were credible, Bush made Zarqawi.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was just another militant hiding out in northern Iraq
until Bush's coalition invaded. He was a nobody and the Bushies hyped
him to be the Emir of Iraq, a threat that rivalled Osama bin Forgotten
in danger. The reports suggest that Zarqawi started to believe that hype.

If anything, these "found" documents should show that the Iraq war made
the terror threat to America worse, not better.

[teryang]

55. Fleshing out a fairy tale

Fight em over there so we don't have to fight em over here.

Did the CIA intervene to make sure they got their visas?

[MadMaddie]

57. Rove, Rove, Rove here we Rove again....

[pinniped]

59. Here are the BS keywords:

believed to be affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

61. This is unexpected how?

N/T

[LynnTheDem]

62. Well DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Of course there are Iraqis now who would love to attack us, after we illegally invaded their nation when they hadn't been doing a bloody fucking thing against us or anyone else.

In fact, Iraq would be legally allowed to attack us.

DUHHHHHHHHH.

[superconnected]

64. Where'd they get it from, Fox?

My bad.. Snow. And they would leak smth like that.

"what remains a classified incident that has been dealt with at the highest levels of government."

[buddysmellgood]

65. Documents found in the safe house were said to read "Boy I sure hope they don't

kill us here in Iraq! Then we won't be able to get killed over there in the U.S.!"