Anti-U.S. Terror Plot Widens
Add two more names to the investigation of an Algerian group that federal agents now believe was looking to set off a bomb somewhere on the West Coast during the holidays.
The latest is Abdel Hakim Tizegha, who appeared Monday in a Seattle courtroom, CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart reports.
Tizegha sneaked through the woods across the Canadian border in late November and is now being investigated for connections to the man who started it all -- Ahmed Ressam, who was caught at a Port Angeles ferry landing with a carload of explosives in mid-December.
Another Algerian was detained at JFK airport in New York over the weekend, bringing the total number of suspects now in custody to six joins them.
As to their motive, informants have told the FBI that at least one of the group, Abdel Ghani of Brooklyn, told an associate that "Allah will shake up this world, that a new generation (will rise from Algeria and) punish America."
Investigators believe that "new generation" is actually an old outfit -- the Armed Islamic Group, an extremely violent organization best known for its bloody plane hijackings and mass killings.
Why the Algerians suddenly set their sights on America has always puzzled investigators. One early assumption was that the group was financed and aided by Osama Bin Laden, the millionaire fugitive who has declared a holy war on the U.S.
But U.S. investigators say they no longer believe that theory. Osama Bin laden, they say, almost certainly would have applauded the Algerian plans, and very likely would have helped if asked. But the Algerians probably did this one on their own, agents say, and given the opportunity, they'll likely try again.
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