2000 millennium attack plots

On or near January 1, 2000, a series of Islamist terrorist attacks linked to al-Qaeda were planned to occur in the context of millennium celebrations, including bombing plots against four tourist sites in Jordan, against the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and USS The Sullivans, and the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814.[1] In Lebanon, dozens were killed in clashes in the Dinnieh district between radical Islamists with connections to the Jordan plots and the Lebanese Army.[2] The plots in Jordan and against LAX were foiled by law enforcement agencies, while the attempted bombing of The Sullivans only failed because the boat filled with explosives sank before detonating. The revelation of the plot linked to the LAX "Millennium Bomber" Ahmed Ressam led to unprecedented investigations into possible other terrorist cells in the United States, dubbed Operation "Borderbom", and security measures around millennium celebrations. Other al-Qaeda-linked millennium attack plots may have been planned or foiled around the same time.[3]

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) was a target of the plots.

Millennium attack plots

Jordan bombing plots

In Jordan, members of the Islamist terror organization al-Qaeda planned to bomb four sites: a fully booked Radisson hotel in Amman, Jordan; the border between Jordan and Israel; Mount Nebo, a Christian holy site; and a site on the Jordan River where John the Baptist is said to have baptized Jesus.[4] These locations were chosen to target tourists from the United States and Israel.[3] The most active participant was a Boston taxi driver named Raed Hijazi.[3]

On November 30, 1999, Jordanian intelligence intercepted a call between Saudi citizen Abu Zubaydah, the leader of the plot, and Khadr Abu Hoshar, a Palestinian militant terrorist. In the conversation, Zubaydah stated, "The time for training is over." Sensing that the attack was imminent, Jordanian police arrested Hoshar and fifteen others on December 12, 1999.[5]

The authorities put twenty-eight suspects on trial. Twenty-two of them were quickly found guilty. Six of them, thought to be linked to Osama bin Laden, including Hijazi, were sentenced to death. Abu Zubaydah was sentenced to death in absentia.[6][7] Luai Sakra and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were sentenced in absentia in 2002 for their part in the plot, which included using poison gas during the bombing.[8]

LAX bombing plot
Ressam was arrested on the ferry MV Coho while attempting to cross into the US at Port Angeles.

Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian citizen living in Montreal, Canada, confessed after interrogation to having planned to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on New Year's Eve. He was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer Diana Dean at Port Angeles, Washington, a U.S. port of entry, on December 14, 1999. Customs officials found a cache of explosives that could have produced "a blast forty times greater than that of a devastating car bomb" and four timing devices hidden in the spare tire well in the trunk of the rented car in which he had traveled from Canada.[9][10] Ressam later asserted that the plot was facilitated by Zubaydah and known to bin Laden.[11][12]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted door-to-door interviews of up to 50 individuals across the country, made "dozens of arrests" as part of investigations into possible other individuals linked to the case,[13][14][15] and reportedly "questioned hundreds of Muslims from Los Angeles to Boston, wiretapped hundreds of conversations, and put hundreds of individuals under surveillance".[16][17] Abdelghani Meskini, a known criminal was arrested in Brooklyn, New York on December 30 by Joint Terrorism Task Force for his links to Ressam.[18][19][20] In New York and Boston, nine other Algerians linked to Meskini were arrested by the FBI, as part of the largest counter-terrorism operation ever conducted in the United States, dubbed Operation "Borderbom".[16] Most, including Meskini faced minor charges after no significant terrorism links could be proven, although a main suspected bomb-making accomplice, Abdelmajid Dahoumane had fled the country.[16] Other suspected targets alleged by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sources included the Seattle Space Needle and Disneyland, California,[21] with maps found with circles around "three California airports—Los Angeles International, Long Beach and Ontario—as well as maps with San Francisco's landmark Transamerica building and Seattle's Space Needle."[22]

Ressam began cooperating with investigators in 2001. He was initially sentenced to 22 years in prison, but in 2010 an appellate court reversed and remanded the case based on procedural errors and recommended that his sentence be extended.[23] He was re-sentenced to 37 years' imprisonment in 2012.[24] Another Algerian-Canadian, Mokhtar Haouari was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment for assisting Ressam in the plot.[25] Abu Doha was indicted for the plot, but was denied extradition from the United Kingdom.[26][27]

Hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814
Main article: Indian Airlines Flight 814

Indian Airlines Flight 814, en route from Nepal to India was hijacked on December 24, 1999 by five militants of the al-Qaeda-linked Harkat-ul-Mujahideen group.[3][28] The hijackers reportedly told the captain, "Fly slowly, fly carefully, there is no hurry. We have to give India a millennium gift," as a bomb in the cargo room of the plane was timed to go off at midnight, December 31, 1999. The plane eventually landed in Taliban-controlled Kandahar, Afghanistan. On December 31, India agreed to release three captive militants in exchange for the nearly 200 passengers and crew that were being held hostage.[29][30]

Lebanon and Syria clashes
Main article: Dinnieh clashes

On December 31, 1999, attacks were launched by a group of up to 300 radical Islamists against Lebanese Army forces in the Dinnieh district in northern Lebanon.[2][31] The group behind the attack, calling itself after the apocalyptic Takfir wal-Hijra group[32] was led by Bassam Kanj, a close associate of Raed Hijazi who had been indicted for his involvement in the Jordan bombing plots. Kanj had met Hijazi in the Khalden training camp in Afghanistan, and they later worked for the same Boston taxi company in the United States in the 1990s.[33] The fighting lasted for eight days, and killed eleven soldiers, five civilians, and 28 Islamists.[34]

Lebanon being under Syrian occupation at the time, the Lebanon clashes followed clashes in Syria between Syrian security forces and Islamists, some of whom were accused of infiltrating the country from Jordan and Saudi Arabia, that began on 30 December when several Syrian intelligence agents were ambushed and killed. The clashes lasted for four days in Damascus, Homs and nearby villages, and the Hizb ut-Tahrir group claimed that 1,200 of its members had been arrested by January 2000.[31][35]

USS The Sullivans bombing attempt

In Yemen, members of al-Qaeda attempted to bomb the warship USS The Sullivans while it was refueling in Aden with a boat laden with explosives. Terrorists deployed a bomb-laden boat on January 3, 2000, but the over-loaded bomb boat sank before detonating.[36][37][38]

Jamal Ahmad Mohammad Al Badawi and Fahd al-Quso were charged in absentia in 2003 for their alleged roles in several terrorist acts, including the attempted bombing of The Sullivans.[39] In 2011, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, held in Guantanamo, was charged with planning the attack on The Sullivans along with other attacks, facing death penalty.[40][41]

Other plots

According to National Security Advisor of the Clinton administration, Sandy Berger, terrorist cells had been disrupted in "eight countries" in the weeks before New Year's Eve, which was said to have "almost certainly" prevented additional attacks.[3] The man behind the LAX plot, Ahmed Ressam, claimed there had been plans by other terrorist cells of millennium attacks "in Europe, in the Gulf, against U.S. and Israel."[3] Major security operations were launched to improve security for the millennium celebrations in Times Square, New York, along with several other cities in the United States and Europe.[42][43]

In anticipation of the turn to the new millennium, official concerns by the FBI and U.S. authorities had focused on purported Islamic Terrorism by "apocalyptic" Islamic terrorists, Islamic political groups, or radical elements of Islamic militias.[13][44][45]

Aftermath

Investigation

While in prison, Ressam revealed that al-Qaeda sleeper cells existed within the United States. This information was included in the President's Daily Brief delivered to President George W. Bush on August 6, 2001, entitled Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US.[11][12]

FBI special agent and counter-terrorism chief John P. O'Neill, who had been central in the investigation of al-Qaeda in the late 1990s and the millennium plot, and subsequently suspected the existence of sleeper cells in the United States, died in the September 11 attacks in 2001 as head of security of the World Trade Center. O'Neill had started his new job on August 23 less than a month before the attack, after he had been squeezed out of the bureau.[19]

On July 19, 2004, it was revealed that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating former National Security Advisor of the Clinton administration, Sandy Berger, for unauthorized removal of classified documents in October 2003 from a National Archives reading room prior to testifying before the 9/11 Commission. The documents were five classified copies of a single report commissioned from Richard A. Clarke, covering internal assessments of the Clinton administration's handling of the plots. An associate of Berger said Berger took one copy in September 2003 and four copies in October 2003.[46]

Attacks

After the unsuccessful attack on USS The Sullivans, al-Qaeda attempted the same type of attack for a second time, again in Aden, Yemen. They successfully bombed USS Cole on October 12, 2000, in an attack that claimed the lives of seventeen U.S. sailors.[3]

The Radisson SAS hotel in Amman, Jordan, which was the target of a millennium attack plot, was one of three hotels in the city that were bombed by al-Qaeda in 2005. Thirty-eight people were killed in the bombing, which was the deadliest of the three hotels attacked.[47]

See also

References
  1. "Planned Jan. 2000 Attacks Failed or Were Thwarted; Plot Targeted U.S., Jordan, American Warship, Official Says", Vernon Loeb, The Washington Post, December 24, 2000 (subscription required) (mirrored at "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link))
  2. Soufan, Ali (2011). The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 144. ISBN 9780393083477.
  3. "Other Millennium Attacks". PBS Frontline. October 25, 2001. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  4. "Amman Radisson Targeted in Foiled Millennium Attack". ABC News. American Broadcasting Company. November 9, 2005. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  5. "Dissecting a Terror Plot From Boston to Amman". The New York Times. January 15, 2001.
  6. "Six Muslim militants sentenced to death for plotting to attack tourists in Jordan". The Independent. September 19, 2000.
  7. "U.S.-Jordanian sentenced to death". CNN. February 11, 2002.
  8. "Syrian Terror Suspect: Aladdin of the Black Forest". Der Spiegel. August 15, 2005.
  9. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (February 2, 2010). "U.S. v. Ressam" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 4, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
  10. "Complaint; U.S. v. Ressam" (PDF). NEFA Foundation. December 1999. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 1, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  11. "Transcript: Bin Laden determined to strike in US". CNN. April 10, 2004.
  12. "Bin Laden memo puts Bush on back foot". The Independent. April 12, 2004.
  13. "World prepares for millennium attacks". United Press International. December 23, 1999.
  14. "FBI 'terrorism' swoop". BBC. December 30, 1999.
  15. "U.S. links Canadian woman to bomb-smuggling suspect". CNN. December 30, 1999.
  16. Adams, Lorraine (August 20, 2007). "The Other Man". The Washington Post.
  17. "Chapter 14: The Warning". Seattle Times. July 2002.
  18. "Big Apple's Millennium Bash". CBS News. December 31, 1999.
  19. Wright, Lawrence (January 14, 2002). "The Counter-Terrorist". The New Yorker.
  20. "U.S. Case Against Informer Bares a Tangled Bond". The New York Times. October 17, 2010.
  21. "Terrorists targeted Disneyland, Space Needle". United Press International. February 20, 2001.
  22. "Millennium Terror Plot Foiled, U.s. Tells Trial". Chicago Tribune. March 14, 2001.
  23. "'Millennium bomber' sentence overturned; feds seek longer one". CNN. February 2, 2010. Archived from the original on March 29, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  24. 'Millennium bomber' Ahmed Ressam given longer sentence, BBC News, 24 October 2012
  25. "New York: Manhattan: Conviction Upheld In Bomb Plot". The New York Times. January 28, 2003.
  26. "Germany sends 4 to prison in New Year's plot". Chicago Tribune. March 11, 2003.
  27. "Lacking evidence, Britain to free LAX bomb plot suspect". The Los Angeles Times. June 29, 2008.
  28. "Kandahar plane hijack: Rehman admits link with terrorists". The Indian Express. June 23, 2016.
  29. Riedel, Bruce O. (2012). Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of the Global Jihad. Brookings Institution Press. pp. 58–59. ISBN 9780815722748.
  30. Hiro, Dilip (2014). "War Without End: The Rise of Islamist Terrorism and Global Response". Routledge. pp. 287–288. ISBN 9781136485565.
  31. Gambill, Gary C. (January 2000). "Syrian, Lebanese Security Forces Crush Sunni Islamist Opposition". Middle East Intelligence Bulletin. 2 (1).
  32. Rubin, Barry (2012). Revolutionaries and Reformers: Contemporary Islamist Movements in the Middle East. SUNY Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780791487396.
  33. Rabil, R. (2011). Religion, National Identity, and Confessional Politics in Lebanon: The Challenge of Islamism. Springer. p. 192. ISBN 9780230339255.
  34. Rabil, Robert G. (2014). Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism. Georgetown University Press. p. 167. ISBN 9781626161177.
  35. Khatib, Line (2012). "Islamic Revivalism in Syria: The Rise and Fall of Ba'thist Secularism". Routledge. p. 194. ISBN 9781136661778.
  36. Federal Bureau of Investigation (2004). "Terrorism 2000/2001 2004–306-694". www.fbi.gov. United States Government Printing Office. Retrieved February 4, 2015. (PDF version)
  37. Piszkiewicz, Dennis (2003). Terrorism's war with America: A history (first ed.). Westport, Conn.: Praeger. pp. 123. ISBN 978-0-275-97952-2. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  38. "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror" Richard A. Clarke. ISBN 0-7432-6823-7
  39. "U.S. Charges Cole Role Players". CBS News. April 11, 2003.
  40. "USS Cole Bombing Fast Facts". CNN. April 6, 2016.
  41. "USS Cole bombing 'mastermind' arraigned in Guantánamo". The Telegraph. November 9, 2011.
  42. "Federal agents are scrambling to stop a new Y2K worry: terror". CNN. December 27, 1999.
  43. "Big bang theory haunts the US". The Guardian. December 28, 1999.
  44. "FBI to warn local police to be alert for extremist millennium attacks". The Journal Times. October 21, 1999.
  45. "This Week in History: Y2K, terror and apocalypse". The Jerusalem Post. December 31, 2010.
  46. "Sandy Berger to plead guilty on documents charge". CNN. April 1, 2005. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  47. "Amman Radisson Targeted in Foiled Millennium Attack". ABC News. November 9, 2005.
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