US President George W. Bush's claim on Oct. 6 that US and allied intelligence operatives had foiled 10 al-Qaeda terrorist plots included plans on the group's wish list rather than fully formed attack plots, the USA Today newspaper reported Wednesday.

In at least six of the cases, US or allied forces arrested alleged conspirators who divulged details of operations they had been planning. Those plots involved preliminary ideas about potential attacks, not terrorist operations that were about to be carried out, the report quoted two US officials with knowledge of counterterrorism efforts as saying.

In his speech at a ceremony to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Bush provided no details about the disrupted plans. The White House later that day released the list of 10 plots and five "casings and infiltrations" by terrorist organizations that were stopped, but provided no detailed supporting material.

One plan, the "West Coast airliner plot," for example, was uncovered in 2002, according to the White House. But an official familiar with counterterrorism efforts said details of that plot were not fully understood until a year later with the arrest of al Qaida's No.3, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Mohammed provided information that suggested a plot that was not fully formed.

White House spokesman Fred Jones was quoted as saying that the administration was careful not to claim more than it could back up in listing the 10 disrupted plots.

The White House carefully distinguished between "disruptions," meaning the thwarting of would-be attacks, and "casings," meaning the interruptions of al-Qaida surveillance of possible targets, he said.

Source: Xinhua