WASHINGTON - The plot envisioned a ghastly replay of the attack that brought down the World Trade Center, only this time the Al-Qaida terrorists wanted to crash a plane into the tallest building in Los Angeles. The plan unraveled in early 2002 with the arrest of one of the ringleaders, but President Bush provided new details about it Thursday in defending his handling of the war on terrorism.
The timing of his chilling disclosures, four years after the plot was discovered and four months after he first discussed the broad outlines of the scheme, raised suspicion that his remarks were politically motivated. At the moment that Bush was defending his aggressive approach to terrorism, two of his top advisers were trying to quell a revolt in Congress against his domestic eavesdropping program.
Bowing to bipartisan pressure, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Gen. Michael Hayden, the deputy director of national intelligence, gave a closed briefing on the surveillance program to members of the Senate intelligence committee. The warrantless surveillance, which the president authorized without congressional or court approval shortly after the
Sept. 11 attacks, targets communications between terrorism suspects overseas and their contacts in the United States.
The session, conducted a day after a similar briefing for members of the House intelligence committee, failed to resolve doubts about the program's legality. Committee Democrats and at least one Republican, Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, said they wanted more information.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/13837871.htm
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