As you've probably heard, a Miami-based alleged terror cell was interested in destroying Chicago's Sears Tower.
As any tall junior high school kid will tell you, standing above the others will bring all kinds of attention, not all of it wanted.
The Chicago Tribune, free registration may be required, has more.
On (Sept. 11, 2001), police charged Roger Ryan of Chicago, a former Boeing Co. security guard, with telling a 911 dispatcher that an airplane was set to crash into the Sears Tower. Ryan pleaded guilty in August 2002 to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to 30 months' probation.
In July 2002, The New York Times reported that Spanish police arrested three men--and later a fourth--suspected of being Al Qaeda operatives. One was accused of having 5-year-old videotapes containing hours of surveillance images of several U.S. landmarks, including the Sears Tower.
The Times also reported in March 2003 that a classified government document said Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a captured Al Qaeda leader, told interrogators that Osama bin Laden gave Mohamed Atta, the leader of the Sept. 11 hijackers, a list of targets that included the Sears Tower.
In August 2005, a Chicago man pleaded guilty to falsely leading federal and state authorities to think terrorists linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad were plotting to blow up the Sears Tower and other Chicago landmarks.
Unrelated to the Sept. 11 phone call hoax, the Sears Tower was evacuated after the second jet hit the World Trade Center on that horrible morning.
On October 8, 2001, the crew and passengers of a Chicago-bound flight subdued a man who tried to storm the cockpit of the plane, while screaming, "Save the Sears Tower."
On a lighter note, a Frenchman in a Spiderman outfit scaled the tower in 1999.
Technorati tags: Sears Tower Chicago Illinois War on Terror Terrorism 9/11
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