Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said the U.S. and its allies foiled a plot hatched a month after the Sept. 11 attacks to hijack a commercial jet and fly it into a Los Angeles building that is the tallest on the West Coast.

Bush said the planned attack, involving al-Qaeda sympathizers in Southeast Asia, was thwarted in early 2002 after the capture of the suspected terrorists. The arrests, he said, were the result of international cooperation fostered by the global U.S. offensive against terrorism.

"By working together we stopped a catastrophic attack on our homeland,'' Bush said in a speech today at the National Guard Memorial Building in Washington.

"By striking the terrorists where they live, we're protecting the American homeland."

Bush offered what his spokesman said were previously unreleased details about the disrupted plot to illustrate "the true global nature'' of the war against terrorism. The president was highlighting a success in the battle against terrorists as some members of Congress are questioning U.S. tactics, such as the indefinite detention of suspects and National Security Agency spying on telephone calls and e-mails without a warrant.

Bush didn't mention the surveillance, and Frances Fragos Townsend, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, declined to comment about whether the NSA eavesdropping helped to uncover the plot, citing the need to keep sources and methods confidential.

Interrogations
She said in a conference call with reporters after Bush's speech that the incident was "a reminder of the importance of detainee debriefings.''

Bush's speech "was all part of an effort to push back'' against congressional critics of the eavesdropping program, said Michael Greenberger, director of the University of Maryland's Center for Health and Homeland Security in Baltimore. Terrorism "is the only issue now that gives him some basis of support, but it's rapidly dwindling, as far as Congress is concerned.''

The administration last October released general descriptions of at least 10 al-Qaeda terrorist plots since Sept. 11, including one involving hijacked airliners to attack unspecified targets on the West Coast. Bush didn't talk about the details previously because "you have to make sure you have used all operational leads'' from the intelligence and suspect interviews before going public, Townsend said.

West Coast Target
The Los Angeles plot, targeting the U.S. Bank Tower, was supposed to be the West Coast equivalent of the attacks on the Sept. 11 attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in suburban Washington, she said.
Attacks on both coasts originally were scheduled for the same day until al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden decided to postpone the Los Angeles plan because it was too difficult to "get enough operatives'' for simultaneous strikes, Townsend said.

"The West Coast plot shows we face a relentless enemy,'' Bush said in his speech.

Bush said the Los Angeles attack plan was overseen by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was al-Qaeda's operations chief responsible for the Sept. 11 strike. The plotting began in October 2001 and also involved Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, the leader of south Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, according to Bush.

Al-Qaeda was planning to rely on Southeast Asians, who Mohammed believed "would not arouse as much suspicion,'' Bush said. They were armed with "shoe bombs'' to break into the cockpit and commandeer the airplane, he said.
Al-Qaeda Allegiance

Townsend said a cell of four plotters, whom she wouldn't identify, met with bin Laden in October 2001 to swear their allegiance to him. Mohammed trained the leader of the cell in late 2001 or early 2002 on how to use a shoe bomb, she said.
The target was the 72-story U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, also known as the Library Tower because it's across the street from the Los Angeles Central Library. The White House press office said the president misidentified the building as Liberty Tower in his speech.

The attack was derailed by the arrest in February 2002 of a key plotter in a Southeast Asian nation that neither Bush nor Townsend would identify. In all, two Southeast Asian countries and two south Asian countries helped in discovering the plan and rounding up the suspects, Townsend said.

More Arrests
The intelligence gleaned from that led to the arrests of other terrorist leaders and operatives elsewhere, Bush said. Mohammed, a Kuwaiti, was captured in March 2003 during a joint operation by Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials. Hambali was arrested in Thailand in August 2003.

The four members of the terrorist cell are in custody as well, Townsend said.
Detecting the plot and arresting the suspects showed the success in the U.S. and other countries' intelligence agencies sharing information immediately, Townsend said.

In Los Angeles, tenants of the building said they were not surprised that it was a potential target.

"We've always believed that the building was a terrorist target even if we were never explicitly told so,'' said Brenda Imes, chief compliance officer with Clark Consulting, who has worked in the tower since 1999. "It's an icon, it's the tallest building out here.''

Yaron Tilles, 33, a lawyer with Gordon & Reese LLP, said security has been "very tight'' since Sept. 11. "We've had clients turned away if the spelling of their names didn't exactly match those that we provided to security,'' he said.

The building is one of many locations in Los Angeles, the second most populous in the U.S. after New York, where authorities have heightened security.

"We know certain locations in Los Angeles, like LAX or the Library Tower, are potential terrorist targets,'' said Lieutenant Paul Vernon, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. "Every bit of information helps in preparation and remaining vigilant.''

Bloomberg.com

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