February 10, 2004

EVEN THE SA'UDS ARE ALERT:

NEW '9/11' FOILED (ANDY SOLTIS, February 10, 2004, NY Post)

Saudi authorities have arrested a fighter pilot under suspicion of planning to crash a jet in Israel in a Sept. 11-style terror attack, it was reported yesterday.

The pilot had allegedly been recruited by al Qaeda to carry out the homicide mission against an undisclosed target, Israeli TV reported. Saudi investigators are rounding up other people who may have been involved in the plot, and the investigation is continuing, the report said.

The pilot, who was not named, was arrested over the weekend. It was not immediately clear how close he was to carrying out the terror plan.

But Israel has increased its air security, including upgrading its ground-to-air missiles to shoot down planes, because of the possibility of such an attack from Saudi Arabia, possibly over Jordanian air space.

The potential Saudi threat is taken seriously because 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis, and al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden is Saudi-born.


So when people ask "how are we any safer today than on 9-11" are they just feigning ignorance?

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 10, 2004 9:20 PM
Comments

Via Rantburg:

An official Saudi source at the Ministry of Defense and Aviation on Tuesday denied a recent Israeli media report claiming Saudi Arabia had foiled an air suicide mission planned to be carried out by a Saudi pilot against an Israeli target.

According to the report, Israel’s OC Air Force Maj.-Gen. Dan Halutz warned that "concrete intelligence information" suggested that Al Qaeda attempted to recruit pilots in order to attack Israel using airplanes. The report further said Saudi authorities foiled one such attempt.

According to the Israeli report, the pilot, who was planning to launch the suicide attack against Israel under directives of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, had been arrested.

The Saudi Press Agency, however, citing the official source, said, "The report is entirely fabricated and false."

Posted by: Sandy P. at February 11, 2004 12:24 AM
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