UAE kept tight lid on disrupted terror plot

Someone hard at work to disrupt the sale of US nuclears to the UAE, .. and it isn't the usual suspects!

The Wash-Times, here

"Authorities in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year quietly broke up a major terrorist ring affiliated with al Qaeda that had plotted to blow up targets in Dubai - a banking hub that has long seemed immune to attacks by the terrorist group.

The disruption in May of the previously undisclosed plot came at a sensitive time for the UAE, which months earlier concluded an agreement with the United States that would allow the U.S. to sell it nuclear reactor technology and nuclear fuel. Congress has until Oct. 17 to block the agreement, which has been viewed with concern by some nonproliferation groups.

Three U.S. intelligence officials and one former senior U.S. government official confirmed that the terrorist scheme originated in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), a relatively poor member of the seven-emirate country.

According to these officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the incident, UAE authorities found evidence that the terrorists had conducted video surveillance of targets in Dubai including Dubai Towers, which will be the tallest building in the world when it is completed in December. The officials also said the plotters had designated suicide bombers for the operations, but had not yet made so-called martyrdom videos.

In the past, al Qaeda has not targeted Dubai in part because wealthy Arabs there have been a source of funding for the organization. Two of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States were from the UAE................ the disclosure threatens to embarrass the UAE as it seeks Congressional approval for a nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States....... Several lawmakers are expressing concerns about the UAEs export laws and the fear of weapons proliferation to Iran......

The UAE Embassy spokeswoman, who asked not to be named because only the ambassador is permitted to be quoted on the record, pointed out that the chief of police in Dubai denied a story this week in the Israeli press alleging that the Iranian government was behind the latest plot. The intelligence officials who spoke to The Washington Times said a former minister of public lands for RAK, Muhammad Ali al-Mansuri, was arrested in connection with the investigation...."