Reuters: LA Plotters Held In Malaysia - Quotes WH and RW ThinkTank Expert

[Dunvegan]

Why is Reuters relying on only the White House and a Heritage/Moon/KCIA think-tank wonk for their quotes?

I'd like a little more fair and balanced reporting than that, please.

Malaysia holding LA's al Qaeda plotters
Fri Feb 10, 2006 6:09 AM ET

By Simon Cameron-Moore

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Malaysia is holding several members of an al Qaeda suicide cell that U.S. President George W. Bush says planned to launch a September 11-style attack on Los Angeles, a security official familiar with the case told Reuters.

A Southeast Asian intelligence official said at least three members of a Southeast Asian cell earmarked to carry out the attack on the West Coast were being held in Malaysia under the Internal Security Act, which allows detention without trial.

Members of the cell fled to Malaysia from Afghanistan after the United States began bombing al Qaeda and Taliban forces there in October 2001. "They were told to... await instructions. They were supposed to meet up again to carry out a second (suicide airliner) operation," the official said.

MALAYSIA HOLDING 66

Malaysia is holding 66 detainees suspected of links to al Qaeda and its Southeast Asian branch, Jemaah Islamiah.

Capsule Summary of Reuters Article:

Reuters quotes Ken Conboy, a Jakarta-based security expert who has written several books on defense, intelligence and security issues, as saying,

"It was a legit plot. Whether they would have been able to get these guys actually in the States is another deal."

"It was envisioned as a second wave after 9/11, and he (Khalid Sheikh Mohammed) wanted to use Southeast Asians because he thought they could get into the U.S. and hijack the planes more so than Arabs because the U.S. would be more on alert to Arabs after 9/11," Conboy said.

So who is Ken Conboy? Funny you should ask:

Kenneth Conboy is the deputy director of the Asian Studies Centre, a Washington based think tank.

What is the Asian Studies Centre?

Meanwhile, there was also a connection between Heritage and the Rev Sun Myung Moon (founder of the Moonies). This first appeared in a 1975 congressional investigation on the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) activities in the US.

In the early 1980s, the KCIA began making donations to Heritage Foundation. In turn, Heritage established an Asian Studies Centre.

Often, Heritage was referred to as a "shadow government". Although a number of its people served on the Reagan transition committee (including Feulner), none joined the administration full time.

The article goes on to cite Frances Townsend, Bush's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, as saying that the recente White House mentioned "West Coast Plot" was initially plotted as the Pacific Coast complement to the attacks of NYC and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

However, according to the Reuters report, Osama bin Laden decided to scale back the plan and focus on the East Coast due to the difficulty in securing a group of trusted and trained operatives from the Islamic Pacific Basin countries.

Both East and West Coast Plots were considered the work of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the stragitist of the September 11 attacks. Khalid Mohammed was arrested in 2003 and is currently in U.S. custody.

The scrubbed West Coast Plot 911 hijack team was recruited by Jemaah Islamiah commander Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, who was arrested in August 2003 near Bangkok and is also in U.S. custody.

The article says that the Malaysian West Coast Plot cell was broken and the arrests made between 2002 and 2003.

In summary, Reuters is reporting that:

1. The first West Coast Plot cell arrests occured BEFORE the arrest of the 911 plot strategist, Khalid Mohammed.

2. West Coast Plot cell members were not the first Malaysian arrests of Al Qaeda cell members.

In December of 2001, Malaysia made its first breakthrough against al Qaeda in Southeast Asia with the arrest of Yazid Sufaat, a former Malaysian army captain, who recently returned from Afghanistan. He is not included with the 2002-2003 timeframe of West Coast Plot arrests.

Then further West Coast Plot suspect arrests were made even into 2003 in Malaysia.

3. Malaysia is holding 66 people on charges as being Al Qaeda operatives.

But, since the Malays have been arresting suspected Al Qaeda members since December of 2001, which is before any West Coast Plotter arrests, there is no information as to the number of thoese detainees are considered to be directly tied to the 911 plots or how many have direct or even secondary ties to Khalid Mohammed.

All Reuters information for this article was drawn from only two sources: The White House and a Right Wing think tank "expert" with ties to Heritage, Moon, and the Korean secret service.

Fair and Balanced Reporting? You be the judge.

Edited to correct syntax and formatting, and to update summary.

[EFerrari]

1. I wonder how many innocent people are being held in

prisons so that This Felon can run his press releases.

[Oversea Visitor]

5. Rest assure

They are arrested in this case for good reason.
Innocents they are not.
Our country laws are strict.
Their arrest was based on their connection to illegal organisation JI.
Never heard they are Al queada members.

The Internal Security Act was one that was inherited from the British
Before our independent in 1956 we got lots of communists problems
This problems lasted until late 1970.
Looks like the ISA not going to get repeal anytime soon :(

[Dunvegan]

7. Bingo on that, Oversea Visitor

It is very possible that the government of Malaysia is using the "War on Terror" to arrest members of organizations that threaten their government, i.e., Jemaah Islamiah.

Notice how they mix holding both JI and AQ members, without saying how many are JI and how many are AQ?

I don't buy that it would be a major national security breach for Malaysia to be a tad more specific.

But it is extremely handy for a repressive government to tie arrests to National Security.

According to the above OP Reuters article:

Malaysia is holding 66 detainees suspected of links to al Qaeda and its Southeast Asian branch, Jemaah Islamiah.

The Malaysian government declined to comment.

"We don't comment on detainees or divulge information concerning detainees," a spokesman for the office of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

"National Security" - The Power Lie that Keeps on Taking.

What else is going on in Malaysia, Oversea Visitor?

[Oversea Visitor]

16. Nothing much

Malaysia is all fine.
It is a moderate Islamic country.
We enjoy religious freedom.
Only thing is if you talk bad on any religion the goverment comes at you like a ton of brick.
We are multiracial so to keep harmony anything that might inflame racial voilence is a strict no no.

As for our goverment priciple no complain.
We got like friggin 26 different political party.
The Barisan National is the ruling coalition.
Consist of over more than 10 parties.
Every election here the same.
First they squabble who get to contest where.
How many seat each party get.
Then we get to decide whether we like the face of the one selected.
Mine you they give us bad choice we go opposition.
The BN knows that.
Although they being in power like more than 60 years.
They know we get nasty and boot them out if they give us shit representative.
Oh they be in power for the next hundred year no reason to change.
So far they all ok better than what the opposition can offer.
Maybe the check and balance is the fact that the ruling coalition is make up of so many parties.
Make it tough to hijack.

I would not call our goverment repressive.
You should come visit us in christmas time.
You will think we are a christian country.
The muslim here will even wish you Merry Christmas.
You can even attend the goverment official Christmas open house hosted by our Christian Ministers in the goverment.
Just walk right in for a big feast all welcome.
We do that for Hari Raya and Chinese New Year too.

For a nation of 24 million we are one of the world top 20 economies.
We play an important role in NAM ( None align members country )
OIC ( Organistion of Islamic Countries ) we are in the Commonwealth.
ASEAN, and sone the East Asian Summit countries.
The EAS is going to be big.
CHINA RUSSIA INDIA JAPAN KOREA NZ AUSTRALIA plus all the ASEAN countries going to be in this block.
No complaint really.
Only things is take lots of unrest around us in Indonesia Thailand and Phillipines.
Too much bombing and killing.
Sigh we surrounded by unrest.

[Oversea Visitor]

18. Ooops forget to comment on the

no comment part.
Normal response from our goverment when they dont want embarass people.
Neither want to confirm or deny statement of US.
Best course of action here I think.
After all bush did not say Malaysia but a SEA country.
No cigar.

[Dunvegan]

21. Thank you very much for the first-hand analysis,

...Oversea Visitor. Your commentary is much appreciated, and most helpful in understanding the nuances in this affair.

[tocqueville]

2. LA skyscraper plot never got beyond talk: analysts

SINGAPORE (AFP) - An alleged Al-Qaeda plot to crash an airplane into a Los Angeles skyscraper but foiled with the help of Asian nations never got beyond the discussion stage, security analysts said.

President George W. Bush and other US officials could have revealed new details of the plot Thursday in an effort to forge tighter international cooperation in the so-called "war against terror", the analysts said.
...............................................................

"I think he is gilding the lily a little," said Clive Williams, adjunct professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University.

He said that although Al-Qaeda had thought about such an attack, "I don't think they got very far in their planning process."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060210/ts_alt_afp/usattacksbushthwart_060210080140

[Dunvegan]

4. Thanks for the counter-punch quote, tocqueville...

...this is why we have to question the MSM, including the wire which all media outlets grab their feeds from as well.

If we want to change things in the media we need to apply pressure to the wire services that are presently carrying water (i.e., AP, Reuters, CNN, et. al.) to get the ball rolling.

I was listining to the Black-oriented talk radio station WAOK in Atlanta for local reaction regarding the King funeral right-wing spin, and couldn't help but note that they broke at the 30 minute mark twice an hour for one minute feed from CNN...which wasn't reporting anyting that seemed relevant to the issues this station and it's listners were facing.

I used to work in radio and I know how dependent you are at a small station to grabbing that wire feed for your updates, and kicking over air at the top of the hour to the news of the major network your station is affiliated with.

We need to do SOMETHING about the media, and do it now.

The American media is in collusion with the White House to create a "Mushroom America"...In other words like mushrooms, they intend to harvest us by keeping us in the dark and feeding us manure.

Blog on!

[Oversea Visitor]

3. Well well

facts and fiction good mix.

[Massachusetts]

6. Mayor Blindsided by Terrorism Plot Details (Bushit)

Updated: 06:20 AM EST
Mayor Blindsided by Terrorism Plot Details
Villaraigosa Says Communication With White House 'Nonexistent'

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, AP

LOS ANGELES (Feb. 10) - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday he was blindsided by President George W. Bush's announcement of new details about a purported 2002 plot to crash a plane into a city skyscraper, but the White House and state officials said the mayor's office was contacted.

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060209150209990006&ncid=NWS00010000000001

[rodeodance]

13. no polite warning from WH about speech. no manners!

[LynnTheDem]

8. detention without trial

Isn't that what bush & Cabal used as an excuse against Saddam Hussein?

Why yes, it is.

How...hypocritical.

[cantstandbush]

9. What will Bush do when a new video from "youknowwho" says Bush is lying

again. There was no such plot AFTER 9/11 but it was a report about an aborted plot that was to take place the same time as 9/11? What will the Bushbots say when the world is told this is just another lie?

[Ecumenist]

10. These people can't get their lies straight...

If you're going to lie, don't try to patch it together , after the fact, by manufacturing facts that can be easily investigated. I know preschoolers who do a better job.

[MetaTrope]

11. Malaysia's Internal Security Act has been used for decades

to imprison political opponents of the ruling party:
http://www.hakam.org/isaamnesty.htm

If it's being used to detain these "cell members", there might be good cause to doubt the evidence against them.

[Oversea Visitor]

19. That is also true

But even then they are still our main opposition political party.
They are still members of parliment.
The detention was due to the fact they raise racial issue during political speech.
Members of the ruling party has been detain by this law too.
No racial issue that is the rule.
We have a bad race riot before and no we dont want to have one again.
No racial discrimnation what so ever.

Evidence ??
Many of them are from a camp in Malaysia
Our goverment burst it up
Some police personnel was killed and some rangers too in this raid.
Others are just people with link to this organisation.
People who was in camps in Pakistan
and shady dealing in Indonesia.

Our live is good.
For your information we have 2 million over illegal and migrants workers
This is our country biggest problem. They do cause a lot of troubles and crime.
2 million to you might be small but hell we a nation of only 24 million soul :rofl:

[MetaTrope]

20. Oh yes, those 2 million illegal workers

did stack the elections nicely for Mahathir in Sabah, didn't they?

[Oversea Visitor]

24. Nope they cant vote

They not register.
Aaah Sabah is under PBS a local Sabah party but is a components of BN
Mahatir is in UMNO the main Malay party.
You need to understand
Even if Mahatir compete in Sabah he will lose.
Sabah which is in East Malaysia does not like West Malaysian.

Also for your info PBS was the opposition party in Sabah once.
And yes so Sabah was control by the opposition party.
But some members decide to join the ruling coalition which is the BN.

So the fact is that the PBS was the opposition party.
And when they switch to the ruling coalition for the next election.
Whee the so call Mahatir party which is form of many parties including the PBS which was the previous opposition party win :CRAZY:

[Oversea Visitor]

25. Interesting

Cant see profile
where are you from?

[Dunvegan]

12. Anyone Have More Info on the Moon/Heritage-tied Asian Studies Centre?

Anyone have anything further on this "Asian Studies Centre" or "Ken Conboy" where Reuters gets it's expert quote from?

So who is Ken Conboy? Funny you should ask:

Kenneth Conboy is the deputy director of the Asian Studies Centre, a Washington based think tank.

What is the Asian Studies Centre?

Meanwhile, there was also a connection between Heritage and the Rev Sun Myung Moon (founder of the Moonies). This first appeared in a 1975 congressional investigation on the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) activities in the US.

In the early 1980s, the KCIA began making donations to Heritage Foundation. In turn, Heritage established an Asian Studies Centre.

Often, Heritage was referred to as a "shadow government". Although a number of its people served on the Reagan transition committee (including Feulner), none joined the administration full time.

[Ian David]

14. Excellent work! K&R! n/t

[rodeodance]

15. and NO mention/link between domestic spying program and this 'plot"-

[Vinca]

17. This entire saga sounds like it was lifted from the fiction section

at the local library.

[Dunvegan]

22. Perhaps that is because...

...this "plot" fabrication is a complete fiction?

[twaddler01]

38. Even if not,

how many years ago did this happen? And now it is being mentioned now....:rofl:

[0007]

23. It's the old razzle-dazzle dance again and tomorrow there will

a new dance. Is it just Dazzling excitement?

'Tis hard to put one's head into each and every story that this crime cabal creates.

Do the jerks want us running around in circles like little mice? I say, "yes"

[Dunvegan]

26. True...But I also say there are MORE of US than there are of THEM...

...We just can't let up on them for a second now.

Pass the word. Talk about these things. Print out copies of DU posts. Hand them out. E-Mail freinds and foes.

CALL them on their bullsh!t NOW!

Let's take off the tin-foil hats and put on our thinkink caps.

Can we craft a quick one-line "Talking Point" for this thread? A sound-byte for this topic?

One talking point for each spin...then move on.

We need a "Daily Talking Points" forum...do we have one?

[0007]

30. I've noticed that you're from one of the hippest cities in the U.S.

and I live in a gas bag right wing nutty township, Midland Texas. It appears you have much to offer.

Please talk to Skinner, the owner of this website, about you're idea's. I more than sure he'll listen and perhaps some good things can come from it. There is much to be explored at this website.

[Dunvegan]

32. Thank you for the suggestion...I'll put together a "Talking Points"...

...forum proposal today and get it to Skinner.

Acutally, I've worked as a consultant in San Antonio, Houston, Richmond, and Midland.

The spectrum of difference between San Antonio to Midland is extraordinary.

It's good to hear we have even one Midland member supporting DU, considering the climate in your part of the world.

[Warren Stupidity]

27. Taking them at their word...

This plot occurred outside the US entirely. No domestic monitoring was required in order to break up the alleged plot. Accepting the entire account as the full truth - none of this justifies illegal monitoring of 'US persons'.

[Dunvegan]

28. Another Bingo...

...that's entirely correct: This LA Plot Scare is zero defense of Domestic Spying.

Thank you. This is the entire point.

[Jane Austin]

34. A talking point to consider:

The way bush phrased this revelation is very telling.

He said "We have now learned . . . ."

HELLO?!

They didn't prevent anything. They have stumbled onto something, some inchoate plot, way after the fact.

This sounds a lot like something the Malaysian authorities picked up through interrogation of prisoners they had rounded up as members of a cell they were investigation anywway.

That means that one talking point we have about this issue is that They have admitted that they only learned about this alleged plot years after it was supposed to have happened.

In other words, this "We will protect you" crowd once again has shown that they didn't protect us from this plot any more than they protected us from the attacks on 9-11.

[stepnw1f]

29. Is Conboy Even a Real Name?

This is too ironic to even be true.

[Oversea Visitor]

31. Haha

Can it be what the present headline all showing.
;rofl: maybe desparate to make some own news any news :rofl:
Look at all the headlines

[wordpix]

33. I think the IRS ought to look into the Heritage Foundation-isn't it a non-

profit org? HF has sure been appearing in a lot of political issues lately, which is against rules for operation of non-profits.

[punpirate]

42. Non-profits are permitted to...

... speak out on issues of interest--even political ones--but they may not use non-taxable funds to promote or endorse candidates.

Now, in the case of places like Heritage and the AEI, that line blurs when one side of the fence, arch-conservatives, get all the attention. But, as long they don't endorse or promote actual candidates, they're in the clear with the IRS.

[starroute]

35. Heritage Foundation, Asian Studies Center, and Malaysia

On August 30-September 4, 2001, Tom DeLay and his wife traveled to Malaysia along with three Heritage Foundation figures -- Ed Feulner, Ken Sheffer, and Malcolm Wallop.

Feulner, who recently retired, was for many years president of the Heritage Foundation. Sheffer, who had been a member of the NSC under Reagan, became the head of Heritage's Hong Kong office in 1996. Wallop is a former senator who became a senior fellow of Heritage's Asian Studies Center in 1999. In 1997, Feulner and Sheffer founded Belle Haven Consultants, with offices in both Washington and Hong Kong.

In the summer of 2001, Belle Haven started representing Malaysian business interests, and the Heritage Foundation dropped its previous criticism of Malaysia's autocratic prime minister. Depending on who you believe, either Belle Haven or Heritage paid for that DeLay trip at the end of the summer of 2001.

At the same time, a couple of old pals of Jack Abramoff's got involved with Belle Haven. Amy Ridenour of the National Center for Public Policy Research (which had been founded with Heritage Foundation support in 1982) started writing in support of the Malaysian government and sliming its opponents. And Ed Buckham -- former DeLay aide and Abramoff colleague -- went along on that DeLay trip at the end of the summer, with his expenses being paid by his own Alexander Strategy Group.

Interestingly enough, a week after the travellers returned, 9/11 happened. Malaysia offered to cooperate in the war on terror and US-Malaysian relations immediately improved. A few weeks later, Belle Haven hired both the Alexander Strategy Group and Malcolm Wallop's Western Strategy Group to lobby for its Malaysian clients. The following March, Malaysia paid $300,000 to the American Internation Center -- the front organization run by Abramoff's buddy Michael Scanlon. And in May, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir visited the US, where Ed Feulner threw a dinner in his honor.

I still don't know the meaning of all this -- but I've been fairly sure it has a political dimension and isn't just a matter of lobbying money. The current revelations about Malaysia and al-Qaeda clearly add an important piece of the puzzle.

[Roland99]

36. Superb sleuthing. Too bad our M$M are mere parrots.

Journalism? Whuzzat?

[Coexist]

37. Knight Ridder seems to be the last outpost of balanced reporting

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001994516

too bad they will be bought up by someone and go the way of the dinosaurs. Little by little they will be "you must provide a conservative comment whether or not it is extreme or untruthful" out of any appearance of accurate reporting.

[mom cat]

39. And just how much of this information was obtianed by torture?

[Dunvegan]

40. We'll never know, mom cat.

Does Oversea Visitor have any illumination for us on the likelihood vs. non-likelihood of the Malay government extracting confessions under torture that benefit the Bush Administration?

[Whoa_Nelly]

41. Dunvegan! You need to send your DU post to your senators, local

news, and national news outlets!

Please!!!???!!!???

WTG, Dunvegan!

[Dunvegan]

43. Okay...will do a fax-blast on Monday morning.

Nothing like friendly prodding to move the soul to action.

Thanks for the kickinnapantz, Whoa_Nelly!

[Whoa_Nelly]

44. All right!

:thumbsup: :hi: