LA skyscraper plot never got beyond talk: analysts

[tocqueville]

SINGAPORE (AFP) - An alleged Al-Qaeda plot to crash an airplane into a Los Angeles skyscraper but foiled with the help of Asian nations never got beyond the discussion stage, security analysts said.

President George W. Bush and other US officials could have revealed new details of the plot Thursday in an effort to forge tighter international cooperation in the so-called "war against terror", the analysts said.
..................................

"I think he is gilding the lily a little," said Clive Williams, adjunct professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University.

He said that although Al-Qaeda had thought about such an attack, "I don't think they got very far in their planning process."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060210/ts_alt_afp/usattacksbushthwart_060210080140

[Tennessee Gal]

1. Another Bush lie

Lying is all he knows.

[NMDemDist2]

2. rate it up n/t

[OKNancy]

3. Done

:hi:

[rodeodance]

4. well, how big of blast would a shoebomb make?--seems to it would

blow the plane up. This does not make sence. And i know there have been posts on this but really no discussion.


Bush said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed planned to have operatives hijack an airplane, use shoe bombs to breach the cockpit doors and fly the jet into Los Angeles' tallest building, the 310-metre (1,017-foot) US Bank Tower, also known as Library Tower.

Bush said that instead of using Arab hijackers, as in the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the
Pentagon, the plot called for "young men from Southeast Asia whom he believed would not arouse as much suspicion."

[Oversea Visitor]

5. We all laughing over here

I am in SEA.
:rofl: dicussion stage .... on well shoe bomb
whee 911 where OBL in this picture where taliban
Now in South east asia
Wait me look under bed
What no shoebomb
maybe under table hmmm still no shoebomb
Ooops wait forgot DISCUSSION STAGE
Hehe we got good wiretapping technology
Maybe tape around
Can listen to talk :rofl:

[ClintonTyree]

6. "Gilding the Lily"........

a wonderful phrase and so appropriate when speaking of the bush administration. Some prefer the more common, "lying", but gilding the lily will suffice.

[Imalittleteapot]

7. Rate it. nt

[Ecumenist]

8. I just have one thing to say

as the vernacular goes, Brotherman needs to put the pipe down. You have to wonder if he ever thinks about how this appears to the average Americans. Oh, wait? Bush and rational thought? Oxymoronic to the nth degree...:eyes:

[rooboy]

9. Their eavesdropping program picked up phrase "Nitro Nikes"...

and the neocons in the CIA did the rest. ;)

[malaise]

10. Well will these dangerous lunatics

be taken away in handcuffs?

[indie_voter]

13. No kidding . WTF does it take for the sheeple to WAKE UP!!!!!n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. Well, that would explain why the LA mayor was "blindsided" by Bush's

claims to heroic foiling of the nefarious plot:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2096979
thread title (2-9-06 LBN): L.A. Mayor Blindsided by Bush Announcement (2002 Foiled Terror Attack)

and then there is the reporter's unanswered question of why a shoe bomb could be used if he aim was to fly into a building:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x371104
thread title (2-9-06 GD): Scotty/Chimp busted on "shoe bomb" bullshit...Scotty just snickers
Comment/excerpt: “Some reporter nailed him dead-to-rights regarding Bush's assertion that the LA plot involved a shoe bomber who was planning on taking over the plane and crashing it into an LA skyscraper. ‘But would a bomb just blow up the cockpit of the plane? I don't understand...it would either blow off the bomber's feet, or blow up the plane...how was this...’

[Midlodemocrat]

12. What about the al qaeda plot that Chimpy didn't foil?

Namely 9/11? Yeah, I thought so. He makes me sick.