Thwarting the Terrorists
Providing more details than he had previously, President Bush offered more details on thwarted terrorist plots. Here’s some of the most significant information he outlined:
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks who was captured in 2003, had already begun planning the West Coast operation in October, just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. One of Mohammed’s key planners was Hambali, the alleged operations chief of the al-Qaida related terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah. Instead of recruiting Arab hijackers, Hambali found Southeast Asian men who would be less likely to arouse suspicion and who were sent to meet with Osama bin Laden, Bush said.
Under the plot, the hijackers were to use shoe bombs to blow open the cockpit door of a commercial jetliner, take control of the plane and crash it into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, since renamed the US Bank Tower, Bush said. The president said the plot was derailed when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key al-Qaida operative. Bush did not name the country or the operative.
Democrats have criticized President Bush for not capturing bin Laden, most recently Hillary Clinton. Most of these Democrats have said that President Bush shifted people away ‘from the real war on terror’ and into Iraq. That’s rubbish, as this clearly shows. Yes, it’d be great to capture or kill bin Laden and al-Zawahiri. But if Democrats think that thwarting these plots is proof that “Bush took his eye off the ‘real war on terror’”, then they’re delusional.
This is just more proof that America is in good hands with President Bush prosecuting the “war on terror” because it’s proof that he’s fighting a multi-leveled, multi-faceted war. Contrast that with the Democrats’ plan of capturing bin Laden and adding more first responders to clean up the next terrorist attack. That’s about as stark a contrast as you’ll find.
This proves the wisdom of the President’s plan, too. Think of all that’s been accomplished.
- We’ve thwarted planned attacks.
- We’ve started draining the nation/swamps that breed terrorists by bringing democracy to the Middle East.
- We’ve scared Libya into giving up its WMD’s and the related programs.
- We’ve made it inevitable that the Assad rule of Syria will soon end.
Would we have done all this had Al Gore or another Democrat been in office? I’ll just put it this way: There’s no proof in their words that we would’ve come even close to that list of Bush administration accomplishments.
Cross-post at LetFreedomRing
February 9th, 2006 at 10:30 am
Bush Says U.S. Halted 2002 Attack On L.A.
President Bush gave details on what he said was a foiled 2002 terrorist post:Shortly after 9/11, al Qaeda began planning to use shoe bombers to hijack a commercial airplane an…
February 9th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Mr. Conservative,
Although it is great to know that the administration had blocked this terrorist attempt in Los Angeles, it is important to note that both the planning and the thwarting of this attack took place prior to the war in Iraq. The Democrats still have it right when they say the the President is misguided in his use of force and that more attention should be focused on bin Laden. The fact of the matter is that Osama and al-Qaida planned and executed the attacks in NYC, not Iraqiis.
Is it really hard to see that Bush shouldn’t have gone to Iraq knowing what we know now?