Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a 19-year-old Somali living in Portland, Oregon,
designed a plan for a spectacular show as he looked to target a Christmas tree
lighting ceremony in downtown Portland. Mohamud had the desire but lacked the
capability and looked for help from others, who happened to be undercover agents.
Mohamed, who said, “I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave dead
or injured.” He never got the chance as his lack of knowledge and need for outside
help led to his arrest.
The 1993 World Trade Center Attack and
the 1995 Bojinka Airline Plot
The planner of the 1993 World Trade Center attacks was Ramzi
Yousef (see photo), who successfully detonated a vehicle-borne
improvised explosive device (VBIED) in the North Tower's
underground parking garage, using roughly 1200 pounds of
nitrate-based explosives in an attempt to topple one tower into
the other. Although the attack generated an explosion that
caused significant damage and casualties, it failed to bring
down the towers. In turn, the 9/11 plot stemmed in part from
the strategic failure of the 1993 World Trade Center bomb-
ing. When conceptualizing the attacks that would take place
on September 11, 2001, a select group of high-ranking Al-Qaeda officials wanted
to overcome this past failure. When the brainstorming for the 9/11 “planes opera-
tion” began in 1999, the worldwide operations of Al-Qaeda were commanded and
controlled by a central leadership headed by Osama Bin Laden. There were also
subordinate commanders, including Khaled Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the plot's
operational mastermind. KSM, the uncle of 1993 World Trade Center mastermind
Ramzi Yousef, first started discussing the use of planes to attack the United States in
1994 in the Philippines. He and his nephew conceived the Bojinka plot. he Bojinka
plot was scheduled for delivery in early 1995 and aimed to bomb 12 American air-
craft within a two-day span. However, Yousef was arrested in Pakistan in January
1995, and KSM continued on his own. After years of travel and a continued inter-
est in planning a terrorist attack against the United States, KSM connected with
bin Laden in Tora Bora. KSM took this opportunity to brief bin Laden on the first
World Trade Center bombing and the Bojinka plot and proposed his idea to train
pilots who could hijack and crash planes into buildings in the United States. Bin
Laden agreed and ordered KSM to start planning the 9/11 operation sometime in
late 1998 or early 1999.
Operation Crevice
Operation Crevice, British law enforcement's successful arrest of an Al-Qaeda-
linked cell in the United Kingdom, reveals how an operation can be exposed in
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