Hmmn… If the whole episode was still classified, then that would explain why they refused to talk about it, wouldn’t it?
Also, it’s possible that the FBI weren’t involved. If the Malaysians passed this information through to the CIA or State Department, they may have been requested to simply arrest the subjects. I’m not sure if the FBI would be in the loop on something like that.
Sam - you missed one big political reason, that I think is the reason:
to kill the NSA wiretapping scandal.
People are apparently having a hard enough time understanding that nobody’s objecting to the wiretapping, just to the lack of warrants.
So this, [strike]Rove[/strike] Bush figures, will kill the issue once and for all. Nobody in the senate will dare to pursue it now - s/he’d look like they wanted terrorists flying planes into buildings!
Except he still hasn’t released any information; not one single bit of evidence that could be corroborated by investigation. The whole thing reads like a pitch meeting for the next series of 24:
Screeenwriter: “So we have these terrorists with shoe bombs, and they’re going to hijack a plane and crash it into a building…”
Kiefer Sutherland: “THERE’S NO TIME! WE HAVE TO START FILMING NOW OR MILLIONS WILL BE FORCED TO WATCH RERUNS OF FULL HOUSE!”
I have two words for you: “Mission Accomplished.”
Bush doesn’t like to toot his own horn like Courtney Love doesn’t want to violate the temple of her body with drugs. That guy toots like a train engine whenever he walks down the street.
Minor nitpick, but as a fan of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance I feel it necessary to supply a correction: Lee Marvin played the titular villian. I believe you may be thinking of Palance in Shane, though he’s certainly played a number of other villians.
Stranger
Right, I read that Bush started declassiying this information a few weeks ago and released the story as an attempt to increase public support for his counterterrorism policies - all while the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearings are happening. It’s all probably just a coincidence though.
Hmmm. If Bush releases information, he’s just declassifying it. If Congress releases it, they’re leaking it.
I’m willing to give Bush enough benefit of the doubt to concede that there may have actually been a plot against the Library Tower. And that we were in some way involved in foiling it.
That he’s bringing it up (however vaguely) now, contrary to the “1st rule of intelligence operations”, is purely a function of his position in the polls and the NSA Wiretap brouhaha.
that’s a big oops.
I counfounded them on acount of kid shaleen
you don’t have to waterboard w to get him squealing–just show him an approval rating below 40%, and he’ll tell you anthing…
when do we become entitled to consider that our intelligence (even the questionable use of that term vis-a-vis the ameirican public) has been so terminally insulted that if it happens one more time our heads will blow off our shoulders like in that movie with the prisoners trying to escape…
How many years have to pass before those rules no longer apply to a particular operation?
That would be no excuse for failing to warn the mayor of L.A.
I’ve got two words for you, and the first one is “who.” Can ya guess the second? 
Daniel
hey, he has a tv like everyone else
he can now consider himself warned…
It’s obvious that the release of a foiled attack story came during the surveillance hearings. Since you don’t really know me, how would you know my entire post was laced with cynicism … although I normally have a deep aversion to cynicism. I’m not faulting Bush, if I were in his shoes I would do the same to build my case. He’s covering his ass, is all.
The fact that a threat still exists is an inconvienient reality that is sullying an otherwise pristine ideological landscape for some.
Heads will remain comfortably in the sand and in the clouds until another attack occurs.
It’s not a “time” thing. It’s a matter of security. If anyone who took part in an operation is still alive; if anyone who supported an operation is still alive; if anyone could conceivably still benefit from the info; if anyone could conceivably benefit from knowing that we obtained info (and knowing is a benefit in and of itself); any of these can combine to form a damned good reason why you just don’t talk about operations.
You know that crap from WWII that’s still classified? It’s probably still political dynamite; like maybe we assassinated Churchill and replaced him with an American impostor.
Politicians being politicians, will want an occasional bone to toss to the masses. In which case, the various national intelligence agencies dip into their haversack of Dead Ops., change things around to obfuscate times, dates, places, and methods, and say “Here ya go Mr. Pres. Tell 'em all about this one, where we stopped terrorists from pouring deadly bio agents into the L.A. reservoir system.”
When in reality, they stopped some bombmaker in Tunisia from building a bomb for a terrorist cell in Sudan, that was going to hijack an El-Al jetliner and fly it into Mecca. Or something.
Telling the Mayor of L.A. prematurely could’ve spooked the bunnies back underground, where we would have to again locate them, infiltrate them, and probably, again stop them at a later date.
Telling the Mayor of L.A. could’ve spooked some staffer into leaking the information “for humanitarian reasons*,” only to see L.A. dissolve into a bloodbath as everyone scrambles to evacuate, and don’t care who they shoot, maim, or kill to get out of town.
*And that’s ascribing more altruistic motives; it could be as simple as him calling his nice, senior citizen mom at home and telling her to get out of town. NOW! She calls Gladys and Henrietta, her dear, dear, friends, and tells them her Tommy, who works at the MAyor’s Office, overheard a call from the Dept. of Homeland Security, and now he’s telling me to get out of town, quickly.
Now Gladys and Henrietta call two more friends each, as well as each and every one of their grown children. And you see where this goes: L.A. dissolve into a bloodbath as everyone scrambles to evacuate, and don’t care who they shoot, maim, or kill to get out of town.
*And that’s ascribing more altruistic motives; it could be as simple as him calling his nice, senior citizen mom at home and telling her to get out of town. NOW! She calls Gladys and Henrietta, her dear, dear, friends, and tells them her Tommy, who works at the MAyor’s Office, overheard a call from the Dept. of Homeland Security, and now he’s telling me to get out of town, quickly.
that’s more or less what just happened with NYC and the subway scare.
Is it realistic to expect a hermetic seal on this kind of stuff? Probably would be more sensible to snatch up any relative at risk of any person with knowledge and get them out of the way proactively.
As in, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others?”
Well, I see your point at the temporal crux, but why, after the fact of the thwarted threat now held to light, would the powers that be in Los Angeles not be notified that there was a real threat to their city, in order to put all first responder teams on alert, in order to make a well-thought out plan for dealing with such an emergency? Don’t you think the public officials at a high level want to avoid mass chaos? If local officials aren’t briefed on possible disasters, how can they deal with them if they occur?
This just doesn’t make much sense.
beats either leak scenario on the table.