http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-qaeda23jan23,1,3832417.story?coll=la-news-a_sectionWASHINGTON — Al Qaeda's Iraq-based faction considered trying to use student visas to get a dozen or more operatives into the United States to launch an attack, a ploy that was successful for one of the hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, U.S. counter-terrorism officials confirmed Monday.
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The plot appeared to be little more than an informal list of Al Qaeda-affiliated operatives and
initial plans found during a search of a militants' hide-out in Iraq shortly before Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June, said one official.
...
In the end, U.S. authorities concluded that none of the operatives had entered the United States, that one of its leaders was already dead and that the effort never got off the drawing board, the official said.
The plot was confirmed by a second U.S. counter-terrorism official, who described the seized document as showing the scheme to be a group of men
"discussing ideas, not an actual operation that was in progress."Details of the nascent plot were first reported Monday by ABC News.
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