Tough Tactics Revealed Terror Plots, Bush Says

U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday defended the government’s tough tactics in the war on terrorism, saying they were necessary to prevent attacks against the country and its allies (see GSN, Sept. 6).

Bush acknowledged the existence of secret CIA-operated prisons in foreign nations to contain suspected terrorists, the Associated Press reported.  Fourteen such people, including the planners of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the bombings of the USS Cole and U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, were relocated for trial at the U.S. detention site at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Bush said the capture and interrogation of terrorism suspects has provided information about planned attacks around the world.

“This program has been, and remains, one of the most vital tools in our war against the terrorists,” he said.  “Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al-Qaeda and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland” (Deb Riechmann, Associated Press I/ABC News, Sept. 7).

Foiled plots included crashing airplanes into U.S. West Coast targets, bombing of urban targets in the United Kingdom, and strikes against ships in the Persian Gulf, AP reported.

Bush said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, and a man identified as Yazid gave interrogators information on al-Qaeda’s efforts to acquire biological weapons.  That led to the capture of two al-Qaeda operatives who were working to produce anthrax (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 7).

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