On December 14, 1999, “When Ahmed Ressam, the would-be bomber of Los Angeles International Airport [LAX], stepped off the ferry from Canada at Port Angeles, Washington…and was nabbed by alert Customs agents, U.S. investigators had little inkling that the arrest would prove a turning point in their understanding of al-Qaeda’s scope–of the networks that stretched […]
Category: quotes
12/14/1999
“The December [14] 1999 arrest of Ahmed Ressam, a low-level Algerian terrorist operative, had not only helped break up the millennium terrorist plot but also had tipped the CIA to the existence of an Algerian al Qaeda network of black Africans. The result: a doubling of the known number of al Qaeda in the world, […]
12/14/1999
On December 14, 1999, “Michael Sheehan, the State Department counterterrorist chief, phoned Taliban foreign minister [Wakil Ahmed] Muttawakil with an emotional message from [President Bill] Clinton. ‘If you have an arsonist in your basement, and every night he goes out and burns down a neighbor’s house, and you know this is going on, then you […]
12/12/1999
Militant Islamist Abu Musa al-Zarqawi and his Herat group’s “sleeper cells inside Jordan collected an arsenal of weapons and explosives for simultaneous attacks on a large number of targets on the eve of the millennium. …The GID [General Intelligence Department] uncovered the plot and found the cache of arms before it could be used on […]
12/12/1999
On December 12, 1999, “Jordanian security forces discovered explosives hidden in a specially constructed basement cache and hauled in a ring of locally well-known Islamists who were accused of plotting to attack the Radisson Hotel, favored by American tourists, a biblical site at Mount Nebo (whence Moses inspected the Promised Land) and other targets [including […]
12/4/1999
According to a New York Times article on December 4, 1999, “During the [2000 presidential] campaign, George W. Bush had said that if Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the United States would ‘take him out.’ ” – Stephen F. Hayes, Cheney, Page 318 […]
12/2/1999
“…in early December [2] 1999, at a little-noticed debate among Republican contenders just as the primary season was starting in New Hampshire, [presidential hopeful George W.] Bush went public and vowed to take down Saddam. ‘No one envisioned him still standing,’ Bush said. ‘It’s time to finish the task. And if I found that in […]
12/2/1999
From the December 2, 1999, Manchester, New Hampshire, debate involving the GOP Presidential Candidates: MR. HUME: Governor Bush, Saddam Hussein is still there. What would you do about that, if anything, that is different from what President Clinton has done? GOV. BUSH: I wouldn’t ease the sanctions, and I wouldn’t try to negotiate with him. […]
11/29/1999
” ‘Afghanistan,’ [UN Secretary General] Kofi Annan said in his final report on the subject in November [29] 1999, ‘is becoming a breeding ground for religious extremism and sectarian violence, as well as various types of international terrorism, the scope of which far exceeds Afghan boundaries.’ “ – Roy Gutman, How We Missed the Story, […]
11/24/1999
“In November [24] 1999, [Richard] Perle, by then an adviser to [presidential candidate George W.] Bush, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the candidate was drafting a speech calling for Saddam Hussein’s removal from power. He added that Bush’s speech would be critical of [President Bill] Clinton and would say, ‘it’s time to finish the job. […]