[iwar] [fc:Airliner.terror.plan.was.code-named..'Project.Bojinka']

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-09-19 05:40:01


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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Airliner.terror.plan.was.code-named..'Project.Bojinka']
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Geostrategy-Direct
September 25, 2001

Airliner terror plan was code-named  'Project Bojinka'

    The use of hijacked airliners as terrorist cruise missiles has been
known to be a tactic used by terrorists linked to Osama Bin Laden since
1995.  That's when terrorist Ramsi Youssef was captured by police in the
Philippines. 

Computer hard drives were recovered during the arrest that laid out
plans for spectacular terrorist attacks using aircraft.  The data on the
hard drives belonging to Youssef was decoded and revealed several key
operations of Bin Laden operatives.  It was ultimately used to convict
the terrorists who carried out the 1993 bombing of the World Trade
Center. 

   According to an intelligence source involved in decoding the hard
drives, the first plan was to assassinate Pope John Paul II during a
scheduled visit to the Philippines.  The airliner terrorism was outlined
as part of a terrorist operation code-named "Project Bojinka."

   The operation called for hijacking U.S.-bound commercial airliners
from the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. 
The hijacked aircraft were to be crashed into structures in the United
States, including the World Trade Center, the White House, Pentagon, the
Transamerica tower in San Francisco and the Sears Tower in Chicago. 

   "A dry run was even conducted on a Tokyo-bound Philippines Airline
flight which fortunately was aborted by our security personnel," the
source said.  The plans also included an outline of the operation that
would become the 1993 truck bombing of the World Trade Center.  The
information was used to convict Youssef, Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan
for that bombing. 

   "Obviously, the original Project Bojinka was modified to give it more
significant impact on the U.S.A.," the source said. 

   Domestic U.S.  airline flights were used instead of airlines in Asia
with the apparent goal of prompting a stronger reaction from Americans. 

   Transcontinental flights were chosen so that the aircraft would have
maximum fuel for the 3,000-mile flight and increase the blast caused by
their deliberate crash.  The pilots also banked shortly before impact in
order to spread the damage out among as many floors as possible on the
target buildings. 

   The convicted World Trade Center bomber Abdul Hakim Murad admitted
that members of the group had taken flying lessons in the Philippines
for Project Bojinka.  The terrorists who carried out the U.S.  bombings
last week were trained at several flights schools, according to U.S. 
officials. 

   U.S.  intelligence and security agencies failed to follow up on the
details obtained from that operation.  Several members of Congress are
investigating what is being termed the United States' worst intelligence
failure. 

   Bin Laden's Afghan hideouts

    U.S.  intelligence officials say Sunni terrorist leader Osama Bin
Laden is believed to be in hiding in the hills of Afghanistan following
terrorist attacks in the United States last week.  Satellite imagery of
several training camps in Afghanistan where Bin Laden's al-Qaeda (the
Base) operatives are trained appeared to be abandoned by late in the
week in anticipation of a U.S.  military strike. 

   Bin Laden is the main target in the opening salvo of a new U.S.  war
against international terrorism. 

   The first attack is expected within the next several weeks and will
include both missile and long-range bomber strikes, as well as possible
U.S.  Special Forces commando raids on suspected terrorist sites. 

    Intelligence sources identified several key regions where Bin Laden
and his supporters are known to frequent, and which are known to be
targets of U.S.  attacks or covert operations. 

    In the late 1990s, Bin Laden was based west of the eastern Afghan
city of Jalalabad, in the Hada farm district situated close to the main
road linking the capital Kabul to the Khyber Pass and Pakistan.  The
area is known to be accessible only by narrow unpaved roads and is
patrolled by foreign Islamic radicals.  The area is where several
training camps are located for terrorists from such places as Algeria,
Egypt, Kashmir and Chechnya. 

    Other bases used by Bin Laden include a network of residences in the
Mehtarlam of Laghman province, a rural district flanked by the towering
peaks of the Hindu Kush mountains.  Other bases are further north in
Kunar province. 

    Bin Laden and his supporters also are known to reside in the capital
of Kabul, where they live in a network of homes in the once-plush
diplomatic quarter of Wazir Akbar Khan, located close to the abandoned
U.S.  Embassy. 

    Additional training camps have been identified in the southern
outskirts of Kabul. 

    South of Kabul and close to Pakistan's tribal areas in the Afghan
province of Khost, Bin Laden operates other bases.  These areas were
struck by U.S.  missiles in 1998.  The area is known to have underground
bunkers used since the Soviet occupation of the 1980s. 

    Bin Laden also owns a large mansion in the southern city of
Kandahar, near the home of Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. 

    Other bases are believed to be located in the central mountainous
province of Uruzgan. 

    Al-Qaeda warning came days before attack

    Bin Laden's chief military commander of the al-Qaeda organization
issued a warning to Pakistan in early September, threatening Pakistan if
it allowed the United States to launch attacks against the Saudi
terrorist. 

   Naseer Ahmad Mujahid, the al-Qaeda commander, faxed a press statement
to Islamabad's The Nation newspaper on Sept.  2 with the warning. 

    Al-Qaeda spokesman Abu Obaida Saleh called in the statement for
preparations to "wage jihad for the liberation of the Al-Aqsa mosque."
It added the organization had "huge weapons to use against the enemies
of Islam."

    The statement originated in Kabul and said Pakistan was being
pressured to turn over Bin Laden but that he had gone underground and
would not be visible to U.S.  spy aircraft. 

   Leak hampers spying effort


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