Saudis Claim 2003 Terror Attack on US Foiled
[Guest post by DRJ]
Last month Saudi Arabia claimed that, over the previous 5+ years, it had arrested 991 alleged terrorists responsible for 30 terror attacks and foiled an additional 160 terror plots aimed at many countries. Now a Saudi official claims one of those plans included a 2003 airplane attack on the US:
“Saudi Arabia foiled a 2003 terror plot by militants who planned to hijack a plane and blow it up over a densely populated American city, a Saudi official said Sunday.
The official said the plan, first reported Sunday in government-guided Al-Watan newspaper, was for the attackers to transit through the U.S. to another destination so they could avoid applying for hard-to-get American visas required for Saudis. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the militants were preparing to execute the alleged plot when it was halted.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers who attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, were Saudis.”
The timing of this announcement is interesting but if it’s politically motivated, the Saudis won’t be the only foreign government or entity to try to influence a U.S. Presidential election.
The real question is “Is this true?” and, if so, “How far along was the plot and what happened to the plotters?” And as a bonus question, “Who discovered the plot?”
— DRJ
Living over here in Qatar – we hear news thats never filtered to the USA
I can tell you this – I have seen the footage of Al Qaeda cells and Saudi police (who BTW are just your average Joe the Plumber types) in extremely bloody clashes.
A few months ago a dutch compound was stormed and the 1/2 dozen Saudi security fought to the last man buying a few minutes allowing the contractors and their families to escape.
Now – I’m not making any hereterical or hysterical statements here – Im not bringing this up vis a vee wiretaps, airport security or Bushco. Not opening the door to wahabist discourse or Saudi payments to the terrorist of the month group.
These 6 Saudi policemen left behind scores of fatherless children doing their job, a job at the time they felt was more important than religious or geopolitical ideology.
This is not a single incident, several hundred saudi police and security forces have been killed since 9/11 and they have killed thouands of Al Qaeda
Something about that makes me think twice about painting everyone in a thobe as an enemy
Comment by EricPWJohnson — 11/2/2008 @ 8:20 pm
EricPWJohnson (500258) — 11/2/2008 @ 8:24 pm“…what happened to the plotters…”
As they used to say in ‘Vegas…
Another Drew (8298c0) — 11/2/2008 @ 8:51 pmThere’s a lot of sand out in that desert.
Comment by EricPWJohnson — 11/2/2008 @ 8:24 pm
Something about the content of their character v the color of their skin, comes to mind.
Another Drew (8298c0) — 11/2/2008 @ 9:00 pmEric,
Can you comment on whether there’s any shift in behavior at Madrassas?
More or less wahabism?
Al (b624ac) — 11/2/2008 @ 9:05 pmAs long as it was stopped it doesn’t matter who stopped it. The U.S. has been protected by GWB and his administration for 7 years, even with the democrats assisting the terrorists at every turn. Hundreds of Americans were attacked and killed all through the 90’s, very few if any have been killed by the terrorists since the fight was taken to them after 9-11-01. I guess Allah is running out of virgins, or is that raisins?
Scrapiron (ce69ff) — 11/2/2008 @ 9:31 pmOnly about 5000, scrap.
snuffles (677ec2) — 11/2/2008 @ 10:06 pmAL
Madrassas is actually the word for school.
Unfortunately PBS coined the term (I think it was them) to mean the Wahhabist Madrassas which are free (which is different in that public schools are scarce and some public schools charge sometimes very steep tuition)
There are many different levels of the Wahab movement.
The most extreme doesnt always equate to violence against non believers
There are 1.2 billion Arabs and Muslims in the world 90% attend a madrassas and much less than that attend a Wahabbist structured Madrassas
That scary footage BTW of children screaming something and rocking back and forth is pure acting they are just like any other children spirited, care free, its the parents that are the haters
Its interesting in Qatar and Dubai – dubai the old emir died in Australia sking with some friends the Emir was replaced by his young son who is very western – In Qatar – a country soon to be the wealthiest and most powerful of all Arab countries (ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, BP are investing 1/3 of all their resources there Qatar sits on the worlds largest gas field and has more oil exploration going on) the Emir and his Wife have invited western Universities to open campus’ and the Emir has had most of his children educated in the United States and his son the Heir Apparent is extremely pro western.
Qatar is Wahabbist country but allow full womens rights.
Repeat this for Yemen, Egypt Qatar, Kuwait and yes even Iraq and Iran the next generation is right there waiting for the “Sking trip”
This war changed forever the minds of the Mid east verses the west – the fact that oil tankers were not being filled for free, we were not stealing the nations artifacts, inman were not shaved stripped naked, mosques were not destroyed
Now the Arab world has gotten the “respect they felt was lost in the UN vote in 48
What they do with it – thats the new story
EricPWJohnson (500258) — 11/2/2008 @ 10:17 pmA Public Service Reminder – please, no feeding of The Troll.
Dmac (e30284) — 11/3/2008 @ 7:34 amI thought Obama stopped potential attacks like these by writing letters and offering to sit down and talk with bug fuck crazy lunatics with no preconditions.
daleyrocks (60704b) — 11/3/2008 @ 8:47 amHow sweet Eric that you love the Saudis so much. You really don;t pay attention to where the money for AQ comes from, do you?
Jimmy the toaster (a0efe0) — 11/3/2008 @ 11:27 amJimmy,
Those six Saudi policemen last I checked – most likely didnt receive nor send bribes to the UK govt
They did recieve several bullets to the chest an they managed to kill some in return
EricPWJohnson (500258) — 11/3/2008 @ 11:57 amEric, I appreciate your comments. I think the film The Kingdom tried to make a similar point. Unfortunately, due to the comments of a liberal critic (which many people have misattributed to the film’s producers), it has often been attacked as an exercise in moral relativism.
NCC (ce69ff) — 11/3/2008 @ 4:42 pmNCC
The Saudi’s have a tense political situation and admit that its citizens don’t always do what is asked of them
Like I said in my first post this was not an attempt to be an apologist for the Government nor to excuse the facts of their past actions
BUT look at what happened, 6 muslims died for 60 christians
I find it hard to see where we can assume all Saudis are the enemy
EricPWJohnson (500258) — 11/3/2008 @ 9:12 pmEricPWJohnson,
I don’t think I need to say this but, just in case, I don’t think all Saudis are the enemy. In addition, I think there are many pro-American Saudis and Arabs.
DRJ (cb68f2) — 11/3/2008 @ 9:20 pmDRJ
No, It weasn’t directed at you – what I was saying is there is some startling signs of progress among wahabists and the populations attitude towards westerners is an old ARABIC versions of indirect but OHH SOO direct repudiation of radical wahabist imans
The Emir and his son (Of Qatar) joined by Sheikh Makmoud of Dubai (one of the 7 emirates of the UAE) as well as the noew king are forcing the Palestinian situation to be resolved without anymore violence
This is helping to dry up the flow of monies to these rebel groups – not as quickly as we want – but these ARAB leaders do this at their peril – the threat of their veryt existence.
So if they make a claim (which was understated – the Saudi’s are not prisoner takers) they don’t get a whole lot of praise locally – and everything is local in the Arab world
Its still very much tribal, very much
EricPWJohnson (500258) — 11/3/2008 @ 9:57 pmAs I read your comments, there may be several pro-American (or America neutral) nations and leaders in the Middle East. I realize there’s still a long way to go but that sounds encouraging.
DRJ (cb68f2) — 11/3/2008 @ 10:13 pmWhen the various sheiks, emirs, princes, and kings look out to the Arabian Sea, and see a Carrier Battle Group, they know that power is present, and that it is in their best interest to not be the focus of that power.
Another Drew (7e15a8) — 11/3/2008 @ 10:23 pmIf nothing else, they are realists. They just need to find a way to finesse the various players so that they always come out without losing.
DRJ
But if Obama withdraws support in favor of Dialogue with Iran (who is hated universally by everyone except Syria) the results could be catastrophic for us and for Israel
EricPWJohnson (500258) — 11/3/2008 @ 10:24 pmthanks for the posts DRJ – I do appreciate them
EricPWJohnson (500258) — 11/3/2008 @ 10:28 pmI’m reading Steve Coll’s The Bin Ladens and it’s given me a new perspective and modest understanding of the region. The main thing I’ve learned is details of the tribal/local connections you mentioned earlier, connections we’ve studied since the days of T.E. Lawrence. Coll arguably makes the case that the connections that mattered the most to the Bin Ladens are between the royals, businessmen like the Bin Ladens, and their bankers. A lot of them trace back to Yemen, so it’s made me notice more of the news articles that involve Yemenis.
DRJ (cb68f2) — 11/3/2008 @ 10:52 pmAnd I appreciate your input, Eric. There’s no substitute for experience.
DRJ (cb68f2) — 11/3/2008 @ 10:53 pmI voted in New Jersey at 8.30 AM Line was 4 deep. Took all of 10 minutes start to finish. NOBODY CHECKED IDs. If you knew the name and address of a registered voter in the roll book you could vote without proving who you were. Yes if I submitted a voter registration in the name of M Mouse I do not think anyone would have prevented that vote. As far as matching signature the ladies at the polling station were 80+ and could barely see their own noses.
Dennis D (ae900a) — 11/4/2008 @ 6:53 am