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Arabia
Saudi official: 2003 terror plot against US foiled
2008-11-03
Should we wait for a confirmation per the 48-Hour Rule? After all, although MSNBC quotes the Associated Press quoting the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan quoting an unnamed Saudi official, it's still a single source. Personally, I can't decide whether to be shocked or appalled. Hattip Lucianne.com.
This is pretty likely to be true. We know that the 9/11 attacks weren't the first airplane-based attacks planned by Al Qaeda, nor the last.

And the Saudis knew damned well that if there were such an attack again, the Kingdom was going to be host to a lot of uniformed Americans. The links between the Wahabists and senior Saudi royals were very public by then ...
At the very least we would have separated the Saudis from their oil. We would have had a mutual defense treaty with the new Arab Shi'a 'Republic of Eastern Arabia', a 50 km wide strip of sand on the Persian Gulf.
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.
Wait a minute -- alleged? If it's only alleged, what are they making a fuss about? The 48-Hour Rule only works for actualities like Israel bouncing rubble at the Syrian nuclear facility or the Fort Dix plot, not alleged events. We've got a world-changing election coming up in two days, we don't have the energy for alleging!!!!
The Saudi official said the alleged hijacking plan was one of 160 terror plots the kingdom announced last month that it had foiled. At the time, authorities provided no details about any of the alleged plots and it was unclear why Saudi authorities never publicly revealed the 2003 plan previously. The official would not provide more details about the alleged plot such as what city was targeted and whether any arrests were made.

Last month, Interior Minister Prince Nayef announced that authorities had indicted 991 suspected militants on charges they participated in terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia over the last five years. Nayef said they have been responsible for more than 30 attacks in the kingdom since May 2003 that killed 164 people, including 74 security officials, and wounded hundreds. Another 160 attacks were foiled, the ministry said at the time. The official said the countries that would have been targeted in any of the 160 attacks were notified through official channels at the time the plots were uncovered.
"Call the American embassy and invite George for tea on Wednesday, Ahmed-Bob. We must go through official channels."
"But George plays tennis at the Club on Wednesdays, effendi, then gets schnozzled drinking their special tea to replace lost fluids."
"Try Thursday afternoon, then. Friday there's a special sermon at the Kill All The Infidels mosque; I don't want to chance missing it."
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, has pursued an aggressive campaign against militants since May 2003,
Yes, I'd heard that, too,
when they first began their strikes in the kingdom. Subsequent attacks targeted oil installations, government buildings and other compounds. There have been no major attacks since February 2006, when suicide bombers tried but failed to attack an oil facility at the Abqaiq oil complex, the world's largest oil processing facility, in eastern Saudi Arabia.
Posted by:Trailing Wife

#4  Why Civil Defense drills for us? Democratic Party bastions make much juicier targets.
Posted by: ed   2008-11-03 19:23  

#3  They're waiting for that Cowboy GWB to leave town, and President Kumbaya to take office come Jan09. Time to practice your Civil Defense drills??
Posted by: Tom- Pa   2008-11-03 19:14  

#2  They wait a lot longer than that.  Al Qaeda is playing a very long game against a West that has ADD.
Posted by: lotp   2008-11-03 11:03  

#1  May 2003? They wait 18 months to develop a plan?
Posted by: Balthazar   2008-11-03 10:33  

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