WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Space Needle, a high profile landmark in Seattle, apparently was targeted for attack by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network according to evidence U.S. troops recovered in Afghanistan, NBC News reported on Wednesday.
The report cited U.S. officials as saying the evidence included plans to attack other targets in Washington state, including the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River, one of the world's largest hydroelectric dams and a major power source in the Pacific Northwest.
The officials also said American troops in Afghanistan recovered designs, diagrams and surveillance photos of potential al Qaeda targets across the United States, NBC said.
Saudi-born extremist bin Laden and his Afghan-based al Qaeda fighters are blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed more than 3,000 people.
President Bush outlined the newly discovered U.S. evidence against al Qaeda in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, as he warned that the war against terror was just beginning.
"Our discoveries in Afghanistan confirmed our worst fears and show us the true scope of the task ahead," Bush said. "We have found diagrams of American nuclear power plants and public water facilities, detailed instructions for making chemical weapons, surveillance maps of American cities, and thorough descriptions of landmarks in America and throughout the world."
NBC said the documents found in Afghanistan also included an apparent plot to attack the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia and plans to try to blow up the Los Angeles International Airport. A previous plot to bomb the airport was foiled two years ago when the would-be bomber was arrested after crossing the border from Canada.
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