Thread: Details Emerge About Possible Future Terrorist Attack

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

DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT POSSIBLE FUTURE TERRORIST ATTACK

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 [AQI] 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.


Watch Pierre Thomas' full report tonight on "World News with Charles Gibson."


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.


U.S. officials now require universities to closely track foreign nationals who use student visas to study in the United States. University officials must report international students who fail to arrive on campus or miss class regularly.


In August, the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement alerted intelligence agencies and state and local law enforcement about 11 Egyptian students who had failed to report to their classes at Montana State University. The students were ultimately apprehended.


Still, despite the heightened precautions, some security analysts fear that skilled terrorists — handpicked because of their clean records and because they are carefully trained — could still slip through an academic setting.


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.


The plan also came only months after Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2, had requested that Zarqawi attempt an attack inside the United States.


"This appears to be the first hard evidence al Qaeda in Iraq was trying to attack us here at home," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, former chief counterterrorism adviser on the U.S. National Security Council.

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The plan was uncovered in its early stages, and sources say there is no indication that the suspects made it into the United States. Officials also emphasize that there is no evidence of an imminent attack.




The hunt for suspects continues, however, and some fear that al Qaeda recruits in Iraq could be easily redirected.

The plan was uncovered in its early stages, and sources say there is no indication that the suspects made it into the United States. Officials also emphasize that there is no evidence of an imminent attack.

Right. And you can't prove a negative......the fact that nothing has yet happened is supposed to mean that it is unlikely something will? We have a bunch of imbeciles running this government, starting with Bush.

What were they planning to do?

I think Boosh just granted 10,000 Saudi Student visas to study here February. Let me find the articleHere it is:


Our Government want to protect us so much! Not!!!



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FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN
Saudi students invade U.S. universities
25,000 U.S. visas planned over next 5 years

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Posted: February 20, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Editor's note: The following report is excerpted from the latest issue of Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND. Annual subscriptions have been reduced to $99 and include a free copy of Farah's latest book, "Taking America Back." Monthly trial subscriptions are also available for just $9.95 for credit card users.

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

More than 10,000 students from Osama bin Laden's homeland are attending U.S. colleges and universities this year, thanks to an agreement between President Bush and King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz.

While U.S. universities welcome the Saudis – especially because Riyadh is paying 100 percent of their tuition and enrollment costs – some critics see potential security problems associated with the tremendous influx of Muslim students from a closed society that virtually invented Wahhabism, the radical brand of Islamism that spawned al-Qaida.


Because of the agreement, as many as 25,000 Saudi students are expected to arrive over the next five years, with all their bills paid by the Saudi government.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. clamped down on foreign student visas.

Currently there are 15,000 Saudi applicants for U.S. university undergraduate degrees.

The scholarship program is unrolling quietly, without announcement from the Saudi Embassy or the White House. The White House Press Office has declined to comment on the program and Saudi embassy officials did not return calls inquiring about the program.

But it's a cause of major celebration in Saudi Arabia.

Read all the details of this exclusive report by subscribing to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.