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Politics : I Will Continue to Continue, to Pretend.... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (17750)	2/10/2006 5:18:41 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Nothing to Fear? BY JAMES TARANTO Best of the Web Today Thursday, February 9, 2006 In a speech this morning before the National Guard Association of the United States, President Bush described a terror plot the government thwarted. This is from the White House transcript, including the "sic" and the footnote: <<< In the weeks after September the 11th, while Americans were still recovering from an unprecedented strike on our homeland, al Qaeda was already busy planning its next attack. We now know that in October 2001, Khalid Shaykh Muhammad -- the mastermind of the September the 11th attacks -- had already set in motion a plan to have terrorist operatives hijack an airplane using shoe bombs to breach the cockpit door, and fly the plane into the tallest building on the West Coast. We believe the intended target was Liberty [sic] Tower in Los Angeles, California.* Rather than use Arab hijackers as he had on September the 11th, Khalid Shaykh Muhammad sought out young men from Southeast Asia -- whom he believed would not arouse as much suspicion. To help carry out this plan, he tapped a terrorist named Hambali, one of the leaders of an al Qaeda affiliated group in Southeast Asia called "J-I." JI terrorists were responsible for a series of deadly attacks in Southeast Asia, and members of the group had trained with al Qaeda. Hambali recruited several key operatives who had been training in Afghanistan. Once the operatives were recruited, they met with Osama bin Laden, and then began preparations for the West Coast attack. Their plot was derailed in early 2002 when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key al Qaeda operative. Subsequent debriefings and other intelligence operations made clear the intended target, and how al Qaeda hoped to execute it. This critical intelligence helped other allies capture the ringleaders and other known operatives who had been recruited for this plot. The West Coast plot had been thwarted. Our efforts did not end there. In the summer of 2003, our partners in Southeast Asia conducted another successful manhunt that led to the capture of the terrorist Hambali. . . . * The believed target was Library Tower in Los Angeles, California. >>> Just to confuse matters further, the Associated Press reports the Library Tower is now known as the U.S. Bank Tower. "As the West Coast plot shows," the president continued, "in the war on terror we face a relentless and determined enemy that operates in many nations." Does Hillary Clinton disagree? The reason we ask is this Associated Press dispatch: <<< Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday accused Republicans of "playing the fear card" of terrorism to win elections and said Democrats cannot keep quiet if they want to win in November. The New York Democrat, facing re-election this year and considered a potential White House candidate in 2008, said Republicans won the past two elections on the issue of national security and "they're doing it to us again." She said a speech by presidential adviser Karl Rove two weeks ago showed the GOP election message is: "All we've got is fear and we're going to keep playing the fear card." >>> Does Mrs. Clinton--who after all represents the state where these same terrorists murdered some 2,800 people a few months after she took office--really think that terrorism isn't something to fear? New York's junior senator, who speaks in even tones and conveys her displeasure with temperate phrases (except when she's really angry). opinionjournal.com whitehouse.gov cnn.com news.yahoo.com

To: Sully- who wrote (17750)	2/11/2006 6:48:42 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Nothing to Fear but These Idiots BY JAMES TARANTO Best of the Web Today Friday, February 10, 2006 The Los Angeles Times reports on Democratic reaction to President Bush's speech yesterday, in which he described how the government foiled an al Qaeda plot to fly hijacked planes into L.A.'s Library Tower: <<< The details did little to counter skepticism from Democrats and some law enforcement officials who have questioned whether the reported scheme had ever been put into operation before it was thwarted. >>> So we're supposed to wait until after terror plots have been put into operation before thwarting them? Members of Congress weigh in: <<< Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) described Bush's speech as a political stunt meant to draw attention from the mounting criticisms of the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program and other questions about administration tactics. "I can't think of a governmental reason to disclose these details at this time to the general public. Clearly, the goal was to create headlines," said Sherman, who monitors security matters as the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee on international terrorism and nonproliferation. Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he "didn't find [Bush's comments] very helpful . . . from a professional point of view." >>> But it is very helpful to disclose crucial details about the terrorist surveillance program? opinionjournal.com latimes.com