Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US - Memo - You decide!!

[stormchazer]

WASHINGTON - The following is the full text of an Aug. 6, 2001, intelligence briefing for President George W. Bush that outlined al-Qaida plans to strike within the United States.



It was released on Saturday by the White House.

Declassified and Approved for Release, 10 April 2004

Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US

Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Ladin since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Ladin implied in US television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and “bring the fighting to America.”

After US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a ...(redacted portion) ... service.

An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an ... (redacted portion) ... service at the same time that Bin Ladin was planning to exploit the operative’s access to the US to mount a terrorist strike.

The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of Bin Ladin’s first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the US. Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that Bin Ladin lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own US attack.

Ressam says Bin Ladin was aware of the Los Angeles operation.

Although Bin Ladin has not succeeded, his attacks against the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Ladin associates surveilled our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.

Al-Qa’ida members -- including some who are US citizens --have resided in or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks. Two al-Qa’ida members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our Embassies in East Africa were US citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.

A clandestine source said in 1998 that a Bin Ladin cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.

We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a ... (redacted portion) ... service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of “Blind Shaykh” ’Umar ’Abd al-Rahman and other US-held extremists.

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full field investigations throughout the US that it considers Bin Ladin-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our Embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group of Bin Ladin supporters was in the US planning attacks with explosives.

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

[Guest]

He can try all he wants. This points out too that we are onto him which tell's me we are getting ahead of these fools. They got us once but i am really starting to have doubts as to them being able to pull it off again inside the USA. And if they do i am certain they are fully aware of the price they will pay for doing it!

[rainstorm]

so what, he had already struck in the us in 93. hardly earth shattering news

[Guest]

so what, he had already struck in the us in 93. hardly earth shattering news

Point is he woke up a sleeping giant when he went for the gusto on 9/11 and like i said i have my doubts as to him being able to pull the same off again and if somehow he does like i said above he WILL PAY for it greatly along with his pathedic followers!

[streetsoldier]

What I think about is bin Laden's desire to strike us while he, himself is
in the "belly of the Eagle"...i.e., he wants "martyrdom" within our borders.

Canada, IMHO, would be the MOST likely place for him to cross unnoticed to fulfil that wish. And I don't think he lacks for aid and shelter here if he succeeds.

[Aslkahuna]

of releasing the memo or posting it here. The point is that NOWHERE in the text do I see anything that would suggest that the President was briefed on that date that Al Qaida was going to specifically hijack aircraft and utilize them as missiles to attack specific targets on or about any specific date as certain members of the Political and Media Communities have been implying.

Steve

[mf_dolphin]

Great point Steve. Prior to this document's release that was the implied content of the memo. Now we can all see that Condi told us the truth about it.

[Stephanie]

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

This does not support that the Administration knew anything about 9/11, though at least it provides support that the FBI information was credible. I think that it may have been good for the President to inquire further into this, but I doubt that anything could've been done 5 weeks before 9/11.

I think that there was alot of information out there that could've helped prevent 9/11, but with the procedures and laws setup the way that they were then, there was no way that it would've been able to be reconciled and acted upon.