Backup for http://killtown.911review.org/oddities/2001.html
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The most devastating terrorist attack in history happens against the United States of America, the world's mightiest superpower.
(See also: March 13, 1962 - America's top military leaders, who were staunchly right-wing, drafted "Operation Northwoods" which were secret plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba; February 26, 1993 - The WTC was first bombed by Islamic terrorists and the F.B.I. knew about the plot) |
September 12, 2001 - FEMA and hundreds of other state and federal government officials were scheduled to participate in a biochemical attack drill called "Operation TRIPOD" in New York City conducted by the NYC Office of Emergency Management (OEM) in which their command center was going to be at Pier 92, the spot where the command center for 9/11 eventually became.
"NEW YORK CITY OFFICE OF
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HOLDS TRIAL POINT-OF-DISPENSING DRILL
(TRIPOD)
Drill for Distribution of Medication In the Event of a
Biological Attack Had Been Scheduled for September 12,
2001
The New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) today
held the first-ever Trial Point of Dispensing drill ó
also known as "Operation TriPOD" ó to test OEM's
effectiveness in responding to a biological attack (see
Event Photos).
Tripod is a six-hour, real-time drill administered by OEM,
in cooperation with the United States Department of Justice
(USDOJ), the Weill Medical College of Cornell Medical
Center, the New York City Department of Health (DOH), the
New York City Fire Department (FDNY) and the New York City
Police Department (NYPD), along with the American Red Cross
of Greater New York.
Tripod had originally been scheduled to take place on
September 12th, 2001, at Pier 92-which ironically had served
as the temporary home of OEM shortly after the terrorist
attacks on 9/11.
"The setting for our first-ever Tripod drill should serve as
a poignant reminder of the importance of preparedness," said
John T. Odermatt, Commissioner of OEM. "Today, we find
ourselves in the same place where the City regrouped
following 9/11. Since that fateful day, New York has
returned to normal, and we now use this venue not in the
aftermath of a terrorist attack, but rather to prepare for
one." -
NYC.gov
(05/22/04)
"MR. RUDOLPH W. GIULIANI: ...we selected Pier 92 as our command center. And the reason Pier 92 was selected as the command center was because on the next day, on September 12th, Pier 92 was going to have a drill. It had hundreds of people here, from FEMA, from the federal government, from the state, from the State Emergency Management Office, and they were getting ready for a drill for biochemical attack." - 9/11 Commission (05/19/04)
(See also: September 10, 2001 - The Massachusetts Urban Search and Rescue Task Force arrives late in the evening in NYC and goes into action at the WTC the following morning on 9/11 according to task force member Tom Kenney on a Dan Rather taped interview; 9/11 (6 a.m.) - NORAD was in day two of a week long exercise called "Vigilant Guardian"; 9/11 (9:00 am) - The CIA began an exercise to simulate a plane crashing into one of it's buildings; September 13, 2001 - Dan Rather's taped interview of Tom Kenney airs/FEMA denies personnel where there on 9/11; May 19, 2004 - Mayor Rudy Giuliani discusses "Operation TRIPOD" at the 9/11 Commission hearings)
September 12, 2001 - Ben Fountain, who worked in the 47th floor of the south tower, says weeks before the attacks they had an "unusual" amount of evacuations from the WTC and says he thinks "they had an inkling something was going on."
"Ben Fountain, 42, a
financial analyst with Fireman's Fund, was coming out of the
Chambers Street Station, headed for his office on the 47th
floor of the south tower.
How could they let this happen? They knew this building was
a target. Over the past few weeks we'd been evacuated a
number of times, which is unusual. I think they had an
inkling something was going on." -
People (09/12/01)
[Reprinted with:
WayBack Machine]
(See also: September 6, 2001 - A two week heightened security alert at the WTC is lifted and bomb-sniffing dogs there were abruptly removed)
September 12, 2001 - Mohammed Atta reportedly calls his father.
Father insists alleged leader is still alive
"The
father of Mohammed Atta, the alleged ringleader of the
September 11 attacks, said in an interview published
yesterday that his son was still alive.
"He is hiding in a secret place so as not to be murdered by
the US secret services," Mohammed el-Amir Atta, 66, told the
German newspaper Bild am Sonntag. He also vehemently denied
that his son - believed to have flown the first plane into
the World Trade Centre - had taken part in the atrocities,
blaming them instead on "American Christians".
"As
I saw the picture of my son," he said, "I knew that he
hadn't done it. My son called me the day after the attacks
on September 12 at around midday. We spoke for two minutes
about this and that.
"He didn't tell me where he was calling from. At that time
neither of us knew anything about the attacks." -
Guardian
(09/02/02)
(See also: September 25, 2001 - Father says Atta called him on Sept 12 and that it's not him the Portland airport security video)
September 12, 2001 - Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, General Anatoli Kornukov, says it's "generally impossible" how the 9/11 attacks happened in the U.S.
SENSATION: RUSSIA ALSO BECAME AN OBJECT FOR AIR TERRORISTSí ATTACKS
"Generally
it is impossible to carry out an act of terror on the
scenario which was used in the USA yesterday. This was said
by the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Anatoli
Kornukov. We had such facts too, - said the general
straightforwardly. Kornukov did not specify what happened in
Russia and when and to what extent it resembled the events
in the US. He did not advise what was the end of air
terrorists- attempts either.
But the fact the general said that means a lot. As it turns
out the way the terrorists acted in America is not unique.
The notification and control system for the air transport in
Russia does not allow uncontrolled flights and leads to
immediate reaction of the anti-missile defense, Kornukov
said. As soon as something like that happens here, I am
reported about that right away and in a minute we are all
up, -said the general." -
Pravda
(09/12/01)
September 12, 2001 - Joint Chiefs of Staff nominee and former NORAD Commander Air Force Gen. Richard Myers mentions in his testimony before the Senate that the U.S. military did not shoot down Flight 93.
Senate Grills Myers on Homeland Defense, Transformation
"President
Bush's nominee to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff faced questions about terrorism and the emerging
threats the United States faces during Senate testimony
Sept. 12.
Air Force Gen. Richard Myers categorically put to rest a
rumor that the Air Force shot down the hijacked airliner
that crashed in Pennsylvania.
"The armed forces did not shoot down any aircraft," he told
Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin. "When it
became clear what the threat was, we did scramble fighter
aircraft, AWACS, radar aircraft and tanker aircraft to begin
to establish orbits in case other aircraft showed up in the
FAA system that were hijacked. But we never actually had to
use force."
Myers, currently the vice chairman, previously has commanded
the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Space
Command. "We had plans to deploy our fighters to defend from
external threats," he said. "I never thought that we'd see
what we saw the last few days, where we had fighters over
our cities defending against a threat that originated inside
the United States of America." -
DoD
(09/14/01)
September 12, 2001 - Before it was even clear who was behind the attacks, Donald Rumsfeld insisted at a Cabinet meeting that Saddam's Iraq should be "a principal target of the first round of terrorism".
"The next morning ó before it was even clear who was behind the attacks ó Rumsfeld insisted at a Cabinet meeting that Saddam's Iraq should be "a principal target of the first round of terrorism," according to Bob Woodward's book Bush At War." - ABC (03/10/03)
September 12, 2001 - Al Qaeda deny responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.
"Members Of Bin Laden's Al
Quaida have denied any involvement in yesterday's terrorist
attacks.
Bin Laden has topped a US suspect list." -
TCM Breaking News
(09/12/01)
September 12, 2001 - U.S. intelligence translates conversations intercepted on Sept 10 from al-Qaeda operatives boasting in Arabic, "The match begins tomorrow" and "Tomorrow is Zero Hour."
Heard 9/10: 'Tomorrow is Zero Hour'
Conversations intercepted the day before Sept. 11 caught al-Qaeda operatives boasting in Arabic, "The match begins tomorrow" and "Tomorrow is Zero Hour." But U.S. intelligence didn't translate them until Sept. 12, congressional and administration sources disclosed Wednesday. The failure of the National Security Agency to translate the conversations until the day after the terrorist attacks became the focus of an eight-hour closed hearing on Capitol Hill. Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, head of the NSA, and CIA Director George Tenet told a House-Senate investigative committee that the intercepted communications were too vague to be of use, according to officials familiar with their testimony.
The NSA viewed the intercepts as "background chatter" rather than clear-cut intelligence that would have enabled counterterrorism experts to thwart the attacks or alert possible targets, the officials said.
The NSA uses spy satellites and sophisticated antennae to collect, decode and translate telephone, computer, radio and other communications abroad. Officials did not disclose the type of communication intercepted Sept. 10." - USA Today (06/19/02)
September 12, 2001 - The WTC twin towers were hated and such poorly designed that they were money-losers that had to be subsides with millions from the State and the only reason they weren't torn down was because of the high cost of asbestos removal, in which the 9/11 attacks benefited the owners by efficiently destroying the complex in a way that they didn't have to pay for any of it.
Loved,
hated, center's profile was towering
"The twin towers were not beautiful, or poetic. The towers
were sheer power expressed in steel, concrete, aluminum and
glass, bearing in their staggering ascension a certain
arrogance, too.
These towers -- part of a seven-building complex -- were two
gigantic boxes, forcing themselves upon the quirky rhythms
of the Manhattan skyline.
When the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey leased
the towers in the spring to a Paramus, N.J., real estate
firm for $3.25 billion, the biggest such deal ever, the New
York Times ran a piece headlined: "Learning to Love the
World Trade Center."
It had never been easy.
From the beginning, the towers were considered an
unfortunate example of urban renewal, an unsightly answer to
the question of how to improve conditions in a shabby
section of lower Manhattan. Sixteen acres of neighborhood
were sacrificed to the project. According to the Times, the
towers disrupted flight patterns of birds, which crashed
into the towers by the dozens and fell dead to the
pavement." -
Baltimore Sun
(09/12/01)
New
York's most disliked building?
"The World Trade Center represented the essence of American
financial power, but critics hated the towers and the public
never embraced them.
The towers were acknowledged as a wonder of modern
engineering, yet were riddled with quirks, like the way
pencils rolled off desktops on the top floors when the wind
began to gust. Real estate developers in the '60s and '70s
derided the World Trade Center as government-sponsored
folly. Yet this past summer the twin towers morphed into the
most valuable piece of privately run real estate in New
York.
How best to remember the World Trade Center? The irony is
that over the years many critics wished the towers were
never there to begin with. Writing for the New York Times,
architectural commentator Paul Goldberger often referred to
the twin towers as "banal," and once suggested the World
Trade Center represented "New York's most disliked
building."
Hardy instead opts for "arrogant." Arrogant in the way the
bullying, flat-top towers "gave no recognition to the
skyline" around them; "arrogant in their placement."
The World Trade Center's off-putting, five-acre concrete
plaza, created to set the towers off as two jewels, also
never made much sense. "The plaza has always been
alienating," says skyscraper historian Willis. "It's so
vast, so out of scale with human beings. They would try to
populate it during the lunchtime hour with outdoor dance
performers and set up a stage. But inevitably the stage
would look like a toy. Plus, there was always heavy wind
swirling around. It was not an oasis, but more like a
tundra. It was not the type of place that drew people to
it."
And then there were the unusually narrow office windows that
robbed tower inhabitants of what should have been an
indisputable perk: the view. Yamasaki was afraid of heights
and decided in order to make everyone feel secure while they
worked in the offices, the windows, set between columns,
would be just 18 inches across, narrower than Yamasaki's own
shoulder span.
The problem with Yamasaki's window design, says Willis, is
the towers offered "no sense of the spectacular panorama"
for the workers inside, which is why she, like many
professionals, declares the towers' interior "a failure,
aesthetically." The irony is that one of the tower's selling
points was its unique floor construction of prefabricated
trussed steel, only 33 inches in depth. That allowed
everyone a chance to look out the windows because the
massive office space was uninterrupted by columns, a
modernist ideal of the day.
In the end, the views, due to poor design, were a bust." -
Salon
(09/17/01)
A New Garden of Eden
"Though
this may be hard for some to believe, especially in these
sentimental times, the so-called Twin Towers at the World
Trade Center were hated by many New Yorkers, who before
September 11, 2001 would have been happy if the goddamned
things had never been built and after September 11th are
glad that they're gone.
Built for an enormous amount of money between 1966 and 1970
by the Port Authority of the State of New York...the Twin
Towers were always money-losers as rental properties and
required huge subsidies (tens of millions of dollars a year)
from the State of New York to remain solvent. Because all of
the windows in both towers were sealed up tight...the WTC
complex was ludicrously costly to heat and light.
In New York City, obsolete buildings are infrequently saved,
whatever their historical or architectural interest. Most
often, they are simply torn down and replaced. The
only thing that saved the Twin Towers from demolition
was the fact that they were filled with asbestos, which
would be released into the air if the buildings were
destroyed by controlled explosions. In 2000, the Port
Authority calculated that it would cost $1 billion -- i.e.,
much more money than the Port Authority could afford to
spend -- to remove the asbestos before the buildings were
destroyed. And so the Port Authority was stuck with the Twin
Towers, that is, until 26 April 2001, when it found a
consortium of business interests (Westfield America, led by
Larry Silverstein, the owner of the building at 7 World
Trade Center) that was willing to lease the property.
Supposed to last for 99 years, the $3.2 billion lease
mandated that the Port Authority continue to pay taxes on
the property. "This is a dream come true," Silverstein said
at the 23 July 2001 celebration of the lease's signing. "We
will be in control of a prized asset, and we will seek to
develop its potential, raising it to new heights."
And so, quite paradoxically, the mass-murdering hijackers
who destroyed the Twin Towers by flying fully fueled
passenger airplanes into them did Westfield America an
immense favor. Even though Westfield America would obviously
have preferred that both the planes and the buildings were
unoccupied (save for the hijackers themselves) at the time
that the former were used to destroy the latter, the
terrorists got rid of the towers quickly, efficiently -- the
towers fell down instead of over -- and in such a way that
Westfield America didn't have to pay for any of it,
including the asbestos, which was "removed" from the site by
the wind, the rain and the search-and-rescue teams employed
by the City of New York in the months after the buildings
exploded, collapsed and gave off thick clouds of toxic
dust." - New
York Psychogeographical Association/Not
Bored
(11/30/01)
Why
The World Trade Center Shouldnít Be Rebuilt As
Before
"DEAR ANN COULTER:
...in your article supporting the rebuilding of the World
Trade Center as it was before, you overlook a dirty little
secret about the towers that we New Yorkers, mindful of the
worldís sympathies, have managed to keep: Almost
everyone hated them.
I realize that the WTC has become a symbol of everything
good about America that those bastards were out to destroy.
But lest anyone be puzzled about why we almost certainly
arenít going to rebuild the WTC the way it was,
letís recall the reasons why on September 10, 2001,
no one would have been terribly upset if it had been
peacefully replaced by something else:
It was ugly... Most people donít realize that those
two towers were surrounded by a cluster of ugly brown metal
buildings less than ten stories high... It was not built by
a private developer, but by government, in the form of the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, our local
bi-state agency thatís supposed to manage local
transportation facilities... WTC was a monument to big
government, corporatism, incompetence, and megalomania. It
lost money... Under reasonable accounting assumptions and
leaving out government subsidies of one kind or another,
(such as the entire thingís exemption from local
taxes due to its being owned by a government agency) it was
a financial disaster, partly because its cost overran
estimates by more than 100%... It wrecked the street grid of
Lower Manhattan. WTC replaced all that with a vast
superblock like something from Brasilia, which disrupted
traffic flow and made New Yorkís notorious traffic
jams even worse.
It was shabbily constructed... It was a pain to do business
in, because it took twice as long to get in and out of as
any other skyscraper in New York. Due to that huge plaza,
you couldnít take a cab up to the door, but had to
slog through rain, snow, or sweltering heat just to get to
the front door. Then you had to take not one but two
elevators to get wherever you were going: a bizarre
combination of a "local" and an "express" elevator that
Iíve never seen in any other building. It was so tall
your eardrums hurt if you didnít continually swallow
on the way up. At street level, it was surrounded by a huge
concrete plaza that was alternately sweltering (as it was
completely unshaded by so much as a sapling) in summer and
windswept (due to the vortex effect of the towers) in
winter. The rest of the time, it was an open-air zoo of
homeless people. The American Institute of Architects Guide
to New York City rightly records that the shopping mall
underneath it "drains the plaza of any meaningful activity."
This mall, which brought the sophistication of Paramus, NJ
to the worldís greatest city, killed the retail life
of the streets of Lower Manhattan by siphoning off
purchasing power... To build it, they had to demolish the
old Electronics District of New York, destroying thousands
of jobs and a good number of homes. It diverted billions in
public investment from New Yorkís real infrastructure
needs like the subways and the airports. It failed to
provide easy connections between the different subway lines
that ran beneath it. It was energy-inefficient. Its windows
were untinted glass, leading to huge solar heat gain. It was
built with inefficient pre-oil shock technology
throughout.
It is no accident that when WTC was in effect expanded by
the construction of the World Financial Center next door in
the ë80s, just about every design principle was
reversed:
Sick irony or no, al Qaeda has given New York a chance to
correct one of its great urban-planning mistakes... It would
be a pity to waste this opportunity rebuilding something
that we know, in our heart of hearts, was a mistake top
begin with." - Front
Page Magazine
(06/11/02)
FEMA
Releases Additional $57 Million For Debris
Removal
"The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) announced today that the agency is releasing an
additional $57 million to assist New York City in debris
removal at the World Trade Center site. This brings the
total amount to date FEMA has provided for public assistance
to more than $339 million.
FEMA public assistance funds are being used to help the city
repair damaged infrastructure, restore critical services,
cover costs associated with immediate response activities,
and the removal, transport and sorting of debris." -
FEMA
(11/09/01)
(See also: April 2001 - Port Authority grants 99-year lease of WTC to Silverstein Properties; June 2, 2002 - Silverstein profits $478 million from WTC 7 collapsing; Killtown's: Real Reason WTC was Targeted)
September 12, 2001 - The domain name for the Mark Bingham tribute website is created.
"Domain Name:
MARKBINGHAM.ORG
Created On: 12-Sep-2001 17:06:44 UTC
Registrant Name: Daniel Chu
Registrant Organization: TeleGraphic Designs
Registrant Email: daniel@telegraphic.com" - whois-search
September 13, 2001 - The student ID of alleged Flight 77 hijacker Majed Moqed is reportedly found in the Pentagon rumble after the crash, still able to read his name on it.
"Sept. 13, 2001. A ìKingdom of Saudi Arabia Student Identity Cardî was found in the rubble at the Pentagon with Moqedís name on it. Forensic examination indicated that it may have been fraudulent. United States Secret Service Forensic Services report for the FBI PENTTBOM investigation regarding the physical examination of forensic science research request, Oct. 10, 2001." - 9/11 Commission: Monograph on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel, Chp 2 (PDF)
(Note: Photo of Moqed is from FBI website and not from his ID after it was supposedly found at the Pentagon.)
(See also: July-August 2001 - Moqed seen in two stores looking over adult videos and books.; September 17, 2001 - Passport from hijacker found at WTC; Killtown's: Flight 77 - Suspicious Debris)
September 13, 2001 (11 am) - FAA opens airspace to commercial aviation.
"Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta has ordered the national airspace system re-opened to commercial aviation, effective at 11 a.m. Eastern time Thursday." - FAA (09/13/01)
September 13-19, 2001 - Bush Administration allows members of the Bin Laden family and other top Saudi Arabian officials to be evacuated from the U.S. before the government's flight restrictions for the general public were lifted.
"In the immediate
aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks while U.S. airspace was
restricted, planes sanctioned by the Bush administration
flew about the country gathering some 140 high-ranking Saudi
Arabians ñ including several relatives of al-Qaida
chief Osama bin Laden ñ who were then spirited out of
the country within a week of the terror, according to a
senior official.
Citing Clarke, the magazine reports that within a week of
the hijackings private planes picked up individuals from 10
cities, including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Houston and
Boston. Aviation officials complained the flights took place
before the government had lifted flight restrictions for the
general public.
Once the flight ban was lifted, two jumbo jets transported
the Saudis out of the country. The Boston Globe reported at
the time that two flights bound for Saudi Arabia with
members of the bin Laden clan on board left Logan on Sept.
18 and 19. Other reports put the departure date at Sept.
14." -
WorldNetDaily
(09/04/03)
"Saudi Arabia supervised urgent evacuation of 24 members of Osama bin Laden's extended family from United States in first days after terror attacks on New York and Washington, fearing that they might be subjected to violence..." - New York Times (09/30/01)
"The twin-engine Lear jet
streaked into the afternoon sky, leaving Tampa behind but
revealing a glimpse of international intrigue in the
aftermath of terrorist attacks on America.
The federal government says the flight never took place.
But the two armed bodyguards hired to chaperon their clients
out of the state recall the 100-minute trip Sept. 13 quite
vividly.
In the end, the son of a Saudi Arabian prince who is the
nation's defense minister and the son of a Saudi army
commander made it to Kentucky for a waiting 747 and a trip
to their homeland.
The hastily arranged flight out of Raytheon Airport
Services, a private hangar on the outskirts of Tampa
International Airport, was anything but ordinary. It lifted
off the tarmac at a time when every private plane in the
nation was grounded due to safety concerns after the Sept.
11 attacks.
For private investigators Dan Grossi and Manuel Perez, the
bodyguards on the Lear, it was a trip they can't forget.
A Special Situation Grossi said Tampa police intelligence
detectives called him about 11 a.m. Sept. 13, needing help
with a special situation: They had been watching three young
Saudi men - at least one a student at the University of
Tampa - at their south Tampa apartment, and the trio was
scared and wanted to go home.
Grossi said he was told the clearance came from the White
House after the prince's family pulled a favor from former
President Bush. Prince Sultan, the Saudi defense minister,
was part of the coalition that fought the Persian Gulf War
in 1991.
At Raytheon airport, Grossi met with the Tampa detectives
who had brought the young men. The Lear's pilot, who had
flown in from Fort Lauderdale, introduced himself.
By 4:30 p.m., the twin-engine, eight-passenger jet lifted
off.
Grossi and Perez recalled the strange feeling of flying in
the near-empty sky, knowing of the ban on private
flights.
In less than two hours, the Lear landed at the Blue Grass
airport, where the passengers were met by Saudi security
officials, Grossi said. He and Perez saw several private
747s parked on the tarmac with foreign flags on the tails
and Arabic lettering on the sides.
Within the hour, the Lear took off again for Tampa with
Grossi and Perez. Neither would say how much they were
paid.
But the Lear was not headed back to Fort Lauderdale, Grossi
said the pilot told him. It was bound for New Orleans to
pick up someone who needed a ride to New York.
"Who knows who they really were," Grossi said. "It was
certainly somebody important to obtain clearance to fly."
-
Tampa Tribune
(10/05/01) [Reprinted at:
UnansweredQuestions.Org]
"The Bin Ladens are among
the most influential families in Saudi Arabia. They maintain
close links with the Saudi royal family and have ties with
the UK and America.
The Saudi Arabian Bin Laden Group is one of the biggest
construction companies in the world, with clients in America
that include General Electric.
The brothers who run the construction and property business
in the US fled the country in the immediate aftermath of the
September 11 attacks." -
Guardian
(11/22/01)
September 13, 2001 - On a Dan Rather taped interview, Tom Kenney of The Massachusetts Urban Search and Rescue Task Force says his squad was one of the first teams to be deployed to the WTC for support and says his squad arrived late in the evening of Monday Sept. 10 and goes into action the following morning on Tuesday Sept. 11 causing a stir on the internet that FEMA had prior knowledge about the attacks, but FEMA officials and Mr. Kenney's wife later say he simply "misstated" his arrival date in the heat of the moment, although Mr. Kenney was never actually interviewed and FEMA never mentions their planned participation of a biochemical attack drill in NYC scheduled to take place the day after 9/11.
"We're currently one of the first teams that was deployed to support the City of New York for this disaster," Kenney said. "We arrived on late Monday night and went into action on Tuesday morning, and not until today did we get a full opportunity to work the entire site." -CBS News (09/13/01) [Audio Clip]
"Drill for Distribution
of Medication In the Event of a Biological Attack Had Been
Scheduled for September 12, 2001
Tripod had originally been scheduled to take place on
September 12th, 2001, at Pier 92-which ironically had served
as the temporary home of OEM shortly after the terrorist
attacks on 9/11." -
NYC.gov
(05/22/04)
"FEMA officials said Kenney, in the heat of the moment, misstated his team's arrival date. Kenney could not be reached for comment." - WorldNetDaily (11/15/01)
"If you do a Web search on
key words in the story, you'll find various versions,
including an audio of Rather's interview indicating that,
indeed, "Kennedy'' did say he arrived Monday.
Likewise, common sense dictates Kenney simply said Monday
when he meant Tuesday.
To confirm, the Herald called the Kenney home on Cape Cod
and spoke to Kenney's wife, who said that her husband did go
to New York on Sept. 11, not Sept. 10. She explained that he
was under extreme stress when Rather interviewed him, and
added wryly that it was typical of her husband to confuse
dates." -
Boston Herald
(09/05/02) [Reprinted at:
billstclaire.com]
"When Tom Kenney misspoke
in a post-9/11 interview with CBS News' Dan Rather, he
started a minor Internet firestorm that included allegations
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, had prior
knowledge of the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade
Center.
Rumors that the agency had prior knowledge surfaced
following the Sept. 13, 2001, CBS interview. In that
interview, Kenney, a FEMA contract employee, told Rather he
had arrived in New York City "late Monday," though the
attacks there occurred at around 9 a.m. the next day, on
Tuesday.
"We're currently one of the first teams that was deployed to
support the City of New York for this disaster," Kenney
said. "We arrived on late Monday night and went into action
on Tuesday morning, and not until today did we get a full
opportunity to work the entire site."
Information provided through FOIA requests, however, show
that FEMA had no personnel in place Sept. 10, 2001 ñ
the day before Sept. 11, 2001 ñ which would have
suggested the agency had prior knowledge of the terrorist
attacks." -
WorldNetDaily
(11/27/02)
(See also: September 10, 2001 - The Massachusetts Urban Search and Rescue Task Force arrives late in the evening in NYC and goes into action at the WTC the following morning on 9/11; September 12, 2001 - FEMA and hundreds of other state and federal government officials were scheduled to participate in a biochemical attack drill called "Operation TRIPOD" in New York City; May 19, 2004 - Mayor Rudy Giuliani discusses "Operation TRIPOD" at the 9/11 Commission hearings)
September 13, 2001 - On the 700 Club, TV evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson say that pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays and lesbians, the ACLU, and the People For the American Way were partially to blame for 9/11.
"Television evangelists
Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, two of the most prominent
voices of the religious right, said liberal civil liberties
groups, feminists, homosexuals and abortion rights
supporters bear partial responsibility for Tuesday's
terrorist attacks because their actions have turned God's
anger against America.
"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of
America to give us probably what we deserve," said Falwell,
appearing yesterday on the Christian Broadcasting Network's
"700 Club," hosted by Robertson.
"Jerry, that's my feeling," Robertson responded. "I think
we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even
begun to see what they can do to the major population."
Falwell said the American Civil Liberties Union has "got to
take a lot of blame for this," again winning Robertson's
agreement: "Well, yes."
Then Falwell broadened his blast to include the federal
courts and others who he said were "throwing God out of the
public square." He added: "The abortionists have got to bear
some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And
when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make
God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the
abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the
lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative
lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of
them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the
finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' " -
Washington Post
(09/14/01)
"I am deeply saddened that
in the wake of this week's devastating terrorist attacks,
Religious Right political leaders Pat Robertson and Jerry
Falwell have chosen the path of division rather than
unity.
Below is a partial transcript of the 700 Club television
program from Thursday, September 13, 2001." -
People for the American Way
(09/13/01)
September 13, 2001 - Interview With Huffman Aviation Casts Doubt on Official Story
Interview conducted by
Jared Israel around noon, 13 September, 2001.
"Israel: Hi, is this Huffman Aviation?
Dekkers: ...Yes this is Huffman Aviation.
Israel: Ok, I'm going to keep you on for ten seconds. I just
have a very quick question to ask you. Emperors-Clothes,
we're a news Website. Do you train people on the actual
planes that were used in that horrible thing in NY?
Dekkers: No sir. We train small single engine, small
multi-engine airplanes. And they are good for four people;
that's it. That's not turbine. Total different systems. Not
capable to fly anything like that. I have learned yesterday
from the media - you are talking to Rudi Dekkers.
Israel: Could you spell your name?
Dekkers: R-u-d-i D-e-k-k-e-r-s.
Israel: And you're talking to Jared Israel at Emperor's
Clothes which is at www.tenc.net and is very skeptical about
the story because it didn't make sense.
Dekkers: No, what happened was after the training they had
here they went to another flight school in Pompano Beach and
they had jet training there, simulator or big planes, but
there is where they conducted the training to do what they
had to do.
Israel: Are you sure of that?
Dekkers: Yeah we have heard that from several
directions.
Israel: But even so, with the training you would get would
you trust somebody to get in a plane and fly?
Dekkers: No, I fly 20 years in these kind of small planes
and I would not do for a million dollars to take over that
cockpit.
Israel: So it's still questionable, isn't it?
Dekkers: Oh, you bet. (Phone rings.) One second...(Off line)
Larry, Larry keep on the line I have 30 seconds and then I
am with you...(Back on line) 30 seconds.
Israel: Yes. You're very helpful. Your point is the more
sophisticated training with the other place but that might
give you a certificate but would you trust somebody to do
the kind of sophisticated thing they did?
Dekkers: No they didn't have the certificate to do that.
They only had only a multi-commercial license but not for
commercial airlines. That is a different license. But these
people didn't need a license, so that's another
question.
Israel: But wouldn't what they did require
sophistication?
Dekkers: Yeah, they want to that school, I have heard the
name, they call it a jet center for simulator training,
there is no way - this is not my opinion. My opinion is I
don't think it is possible. I have spoken to many captains
from the airlines and they say there is no way what the
planes did they could have done that. They changed altitude.
They changed speed. They changed direction. They had to know
about the equipment to do what they had to do and there is
no way that could have been done." -
Emperor'sClothes.com
(09/13/01)
(See also: January 24, 2003 - Rudi Dekkers, who ran flight school that trained 9/11 hijackers, survives helicopter crash into freezing river)
September 13, 2001 - The first partial passenger lists from all the four hijacked planes list no Arab names.
Flights: 11, 175, 77, 93 - Guardian (09/13/01)
American Airlines Flight 11 |
United Airlines Flight 175 |
American Airlines Flight 77 |
United Airlines Flight 93 |
Captain John Ogonowski First Officer Thomas McGuinness Barbara Arestegui Jeffrey Collman Sara Low Karen Martin Kathleen Nicosia Betty Ong Jean Roger Dianne Snyder Madeline Sweeney Passengers
|
Captain Victor Saracini First Officer Michael Horrocks Robert J Fangman Amy N Jarret Amy R King Kathryn L Laborie Alfred G Marchand Michael C Tarrou Alicia N Titus Passengers
|
Captain Charles Burlingame First Officer David Charlebois Michele Heidenberger Jennifer Lewis Kenneth Lewis Renee May Passengers
|
Captain Jason Dahl First Officer Leroy Homer Lorraine G Bay Sandra W Bradshaw Wanda A Green Ceecee Lyles Deborah A Welsh Passengers
|
September 14, 2001 - The FBI releases the names of the alleged 9/11 hijackers.
"The following is a list of the nineteen (19) individuals who have been identified as hijackers aboard the four airliners that crashed on September 11, 2001, into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and Stony Creek Township, Pennsylvania. Information listed for each hijacker differs, but may include date of birth, address provided, or visa status. This is the extent of the information available at this time." - FBI (09/14/01)
American
Airlines #77
Boeing 757
8:10 am departed Washington Dulles for Los Angeles
9:39 am crashed into the Pentagon
1) Khalid Al-Midhar - Possible residence (s) : San Diego,
California and New York, New York; Visa Status: B-1 Visa,
but B-2 Visa had expired.
2) Majed Moqed - No information available.
3) Nawaq Alhamzi - Possible residence (s) : Fort Lee, New
Jersey and Wayne, New Jersey and San Diego, California.
4) Salem Alhamzi - Possible residence (s) : Fort Lee, New
Jersey, and Wayne, New Jersey.
5) Hani Hanjour - Possible residence (s) : Phoenix, Arizona
and San Diego, California. Believed to be a pilot.
American Airlines #11
Boeing 767
7:45 am departed Boston for Los Angeles
8:45 am crashed into North Tower of the World Trade
Center
1) Satam Al Suqami - Date of birth used: June 28, 1976; Last
known address: United Arab Emirates.
2) Waleed M. Alshehri - Dates of birth used: September 13,
1974/January 1, 1976/ March 3, 1976/ July 8, 1977/ December
20, 1978/ May 11, 1979/ November 5, 1979; Possible residence
(s) : Hollywood, Florida/ Orlando, Florida/ Daytona Beach,
Florida; Believed to be a pilot.
3) Wail Alshehri - Date of birth used: July 31, 1973;
Possible residence (s) : Hollywood, Florida, and Newton,
Massachusetts; Believed to be a pilot.
4) Mohamed Atta - Date of birth used: September 1, 1968;
Possible residence (s) : Hollywood, Florida/ Coral Springs,
Florida/ Hamburg, Germany; Believed to be a pilot.
5) Abdulaziz Alomari - Date of birth used: December 24, 1972
and May 28, 1979; Possible residence: Hollywood, Florida;
Believed to be a pilot.
United Airlines #175
Boeing 767
7:58 am departed Boston for Los Angeles
9:05 am crashed into South Tower of the World Trade
Center
1) Marwan Al-Shehhi - Date of birth used: May 9, 1978;
Possible residence: Hollywood, Florida; Visa Status: B-2
Visa; Believed to be a pilot.
2) Fayez Ahmed - Possible residence: Delray Beach,
Florida.
3) Ahmed Alghamdi - Possible residence: Delray Beach,
Florida.
4) Hamza Alghamdi - Possible residence: Delray Beach,
Florida.
5) Mohald Alshehri - Possible residence: Delray Beach,
Florida.
United Airlines #93
Boeing 757
8:01 am departed Newark, New Jersey, for San Francisco
10:10 am crashed in Stony Creek Township, Pennsylvania
1) Saeed Alghamdi - Possible residence: Delray Beach,
Florida.
2) Ahmed Alhaznawi - Date of birth used: October 11, 1980;
Possible residence: Delray Beach, Florida.
3) Ahmed Alnami - Possible residence: Delray Beach,
Florida.
4) Ziad Jarrahi - Believed to be a pilot.
(See also: September 20, 2001 - FBI Director Robert Mueller admits that some of the alleged 19 hijackers identities are in doubt as at least seven of them appear to be alive; September 27, 2001 - FBI releases hijackers photos; August 16, 2002 - None of the remains of the alleged hijackers on Flight 11 and Flight 175 have been identified, but the remains of the alleged hijackers on Flight 77 and Flight 93 have been identified by a "process of elimination.")
September 14, 2001 - The Taliban said a country that could train pilots was responsible for the attacks.
"...the Taliban regime in Afghanistan said prime suspect Osama bin Laden was innocent because the country had no facility to train pilots. The regime claimed a country that could train pilots was responsible." - TCM Breaking News (09/13/01)
(See also: September 10, 2001 - U.S. OKíd plan to topple the Taliban and expel Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan; September 14, 2001 - Unocal issues a press statement declaring they are not supporting the Taliban in any way)
September 14, 2001 (4:00 pm) - FAA allows certain general aviation back in the air.
"Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta has approved restoration of the next phase of national air service, allowing certain general aviation flights back into the air effective at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time today." - FAA (09/14/01)
September 14, 2001 - At a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) about national security, board member Gary Hart* says that the 9/11 attacks is a chance for the President of the United States to carry out a "new world order."
National Security in the
21st Century: Findings of the Hart-Rudman Commission
Transcript of the September 14 2001 General Meeting in
Washington, D.C.
"On the other hand, a careful reading of this report will
find a remarkable thing. We didn't ... unlike what we've
said today ... we didn't just emphasize the negative, the
dangers. We emphasized the opportunities. And Americans are
brilliant at many things, not least of which is turning
lemons into lemonade. There is a chance for the President of
the United States to use this disaster to carry out what his
father ... a phrase his father used I think only once, and
it hasn't been used since ... and that is a new world
order." - Council
on Foreign Relations
*The CFR's transcript reads that Warren Rudman said this, but video shows Gary Hart actually said it.
(See also: September 11, 1990 - President George H. W. Bush twice references the phrase "new world order" in an address before congress.)
September 14, 2001 - Unocal issues a press statement declaring they are not supporting the Taliban in any way.
"El Segundo, Calif., Sept.
14, 2001 -- Unocal Corporation is not supporting the Taliban
in Afghanistan in any way whatsoever. Nor do we have any
project or involvement in Afghanistan.
Beginning in late 1997, Unocal was a member of a
multinational consortium that was evaluating construction of
a Central Asia Gas (CentGas) pipeline between Turkmenistan
and Pakistan. Part of this pipeline would have crossed
western Afghanistan. However, Unocal suspended its
participation in the CentGas consortium in August 1998 and
formally withdrew from that consortium in December 1998. Our
company has had no further role in developing or funding
that project or any other project that might involve the
Taliban. The pipeline was never constructed." -
Unocal (09/14/01)
(See also: September 14, 2001 - The Taliban said a country that could train pilots was responsible for the attacks; September 20, 2001 - President Bush delivers his non-negotiable demands to the Taliban)
September 14, 2001 - Gov. Tom Ridge announces some of WTC debris to be buried in Pennsylvania.
Pa. Implements
Procedures to Handle Debris from World Trade Center
Site
Gov. Tom Ridge announced Sept. 14 that Pennsylvania has
implemented emergency procedures to handle trash and debris
expected to arrive at state landfills and incinerators in
the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attack in New York City.
"Normally, we spend our time working to fight out-of-state
trash. But this is an exception," Gov. Ridge said. "We will
work with our neighbors in New York, to help as they clean
up from this horrible disaster.
"When this clean-up is over, we will resume our efforts to
win legislation to limit out-of-state trash. But right now,
our goal must be to help our neighbors in need." -
Pennsylvania Dept of Environmental
Protections
(09/14/01)
(See also: October 8, 2001 - Gov. Tom Ridge becomes the first Dept. of Homeland Security Advisor)
September 16, 2001 - Osama bin Laden releases a press statement denying he had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks.
Bin Laden denies being behind attacks
"Osama
bin Laden, the prime suspect, issued a statement Sunday
denying that he was behind last week's terror attacks on the
United States.
"I stress that I have not carried out this act, which
appears to have been carried out by individuals with their
own motivation," said the statement, broadcast by Qatar's
Al-Jazeera satellite channel.
In the statement, read out by an Al-Jazeera announcer, bin
Laden said that he was used to the United States accusing
him every time "its many enemies strike at it."
Bin Laden, a Saudi exile who has lived in Afghanistan since
1996, has said on at least one other occasion that he wasn't
behind the attacks. Jamal Ismail, a Palestinian journalist,
has said a bin Laden aide called him after Tuesday's attack
to say bin Laden denied being involved but "thanked almighty
Allah and bowed before him when he heard this
news."
In Sunday's statement, which was signed "Sheik Osama bin Laden," bin Laden said that he had pledged to the leader of Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammed Omar, to abide by the country's laws, and Omar "doesn't allow those types of acts." - Journal Sentinel/AP (09/16/01)
September
16, 2001
"Osama bin Laden denies any involvement in the 9/11 attacks
in a statement to Al Jazeera television, saying, "I would
like to assure the world that I did not plan the recent
attacks, which seems to have been planned by people for
personal reasons." -
PBS
Bin Laden and family flee to the hills and family go into hiding, Terror suspect denies role in attack on US
"In
a statement faxed to the pro-Taliban Afghan Islamic Press
(AIP) agency, Bin Laden yesterday denied having anything to
do with last week's attacks in New York and Washington. "I
am residing in Afghanistan. I have taken an oath of
allegiance [to the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah
Mohammad Omar] which does not allow me to do such things
from Afghanistan," he claimed.
"We have been blamed in the past, but we were not involved,"
he said. The fax, written in Arabic, was sent from a secret
location, AIP said." -
Guardian
(09/17/01)
(See also: September 28, 2001 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in 'Ummat' interview; November 7, 2001 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in 'Dawn' interview; November 11, 2001 - OBL allegedly admits to attacks in an undisclosed videotape)
September 16, 2001 - President Bush says Osama Bin Laden is the "prime suspect."
"Q Mr. President, do you
believe Osama bin Laden's denial that he had anything to do
with this?
THE PRESIDENT: No question he is the prime suspect. No
question about that." -
White House
(09/16/01)
September 16, 2001 - President Bush claims that nobody had ever thought that terrorists would hijack U.S. airplanes and fly them into buildings despite evidence to the contrary and also talks about the decision he made to shoot down civilian airliners.
"THE PRESIDENT: No one
could have conceivably imagined suicide bombers burrowing
into our society and then emerging all in the same day to
fly their aircraft - fly U.S. aircraft into buildings full
of innocent people - and show no remorse. This is a new kind
of -- a new kind of evil.
Q: Mr. President, would you confirm what the Vice President
said this morning, that at one point during this crisis you
gave an order to shoot down any civilian airliner that
approached the Capitol? Was that a difficult decision to
make?
THE PRESIDENT: I gave our military the orders necessary to
protect Americans, do whatever it would take to protect
Americans. And of course that's difficult. Never did
anybody's thought process about how to protect America did
we ever think that the evil-doers would fly not one, but
four commercial aircraft into precious U.S. targets - never.
And so, obviously, when I was told what was taking place,
when I was informed that an unidentified aircraft was headed
to the heart of the capital, I was concerned. I wasn't
concerned about my decision; I was more concerned about the
lives of innocent Americans. I had realized there on the
ground in Florida we were under attack. But never did I
dream we would have been under attack this way.
That's why I say to the American people we've never seen
this kind of evil before. But the evil-doers have never seen
the American people in action before, either - and they're
about to find out." -
White House
(09/16/01);
NATO
(09/16/01)
(See also: 1999 - NORAD starts conducting exercises in which airplanes are hijacked and crashed into targets which include the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.)
September 16, 2001 - At least 15 of the 19 hijackers have Florida ties.
Boeing
manuals, maps found in hijacker's motel room
"Of the 19 hijackers, at least 15 have Florida ties, and
seven of them were believed to be pilots." -
Augusta Chronicle
(09/16/01)
(See also: September 7, 2001 - Jeb Bush puts the Florida National Guard on alert)
September 17, 2001 - Bush wants Osama Bin Laden "Dead or Alive".
"President Bush Monday
repeated his vow to track down Osama bin Laden, the prime
suspect in last week's terror attacks...
"I want justice," Bush said. "And there's an old poster out
West, I recall, that says, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive.'"
Bush again vowed to track down bin Laden and put countries
and individuals who make have harbored and fed the hijackers
responsible for last week's attacks "on notice." -
ABC
(09/17/01)
(See also: March 13, 2002 - Bush dismisses Osama bin Laden as "marginalized")
September
17, 2001 -
Attorney General John Ashcroft asked
Congress to bolster the powers federal authorities have to
fight terrorism, including a proposal to substantially
loosen restrictions on
wiretapping.
"Ashcroft seeks "roving" wiretap authority, allowing one
order to cover all phones a suspect may use. Plus, he wants
the ability to get a nationwide wiretap order from a federal
judge, rather than having to obtain a separate order for
individual jurisdictions." -
ABC
(09/17/01)
September 17, 2001 - A passport is supposedly found belonging to one of the alleged hijackers who's plane crashed into one of the WTC's.
"New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said Sunday a passport belonging to one of the hijackers was discovered a few days ago several blocks from the crash site by a passerby. Based on the new evidence, the FBI and police decided to widen the search area beyond the immediate crash site." - CNN (09/17/01)
(See also: September 13, 2001 - Student ID of Flight 77 hijacker found at Pentagon)
September 19, 2001 - Russian Secret Services claims to have obtained circumstantial evidence proving Osama bin Laden's involvement in 9/11.
RUSSIAN
SECRET SERVICES HAVE CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE PROVING BIN
LADEN'S INVOLVEMENT IN TERRORIST ATTACKS ON USA
"Russian secret services have obtained circumstantial
evidence proving international terrorist Osama bin Laden's
involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the
USA.
By US request, the evidence was handed over to US secret
services." - Pravda
(09/19/01)
September 19, 2001 - Iraq denies role in US attacks
"Iraqi Foreign Minister
Naji Sabri has fiercely denied his country was involved in
last week's suicide hijack attacks on New York and
Washington.
Mr Sabri told the al-Iqtisadi weekly there was "no link,
near or far" between Iraq and the attacks, which have left
nearly 6,000 people dead or missing.
The BBC's Caroline Hawley says many Iraqis feel the US is
determined to try to pin the blame on Baghdad in some form,
in order to justify a fresh round of attacks on the
country." -
BBC
(09/19/01)
September 19, 2001 - President Bush talks about dipping into the Social Security surplus he'd promised only to do in an emergency, a recession, or war.
"Q Mr. President, you
promised only to dip into the Social Security surplus in an
emergency, a recession, or war. And in your words, this
constitutes a war. How much of the Social Security surplus
are you prepared to spend?
THE PRESIDENT: We are -- not only has someone conducted an
act of war on us, our economy has slowed way down and this
is an emergency. We've had all three, it seems like to me.
And I'm going to work with Congress to send a clear message
to America, American workers, American business people, that
this government will respond to this emergency.
We'll respond to the emergency in terms of working on a
package for the airline industry that has been severely
affected. We'll respond to work to fight terrorism. The
Congress has already responded, with a supplemental that
will not only help fund our military, but as importantly,
will send a clear message to the people of New York and New
Jersey and Connecticut that we'll help you rebuild.
And this is exactly the subject we talked about. The
definition of how much -- is enough to get America going
again as to be able to endure this emergency." -
White House
(09/19/01)
September 20, 2001 - In his state of the union speech, President Bush gives his nearly impossible non-negotiable demands to the Taliban to hand over all leaders of al Qaeda, hand over every terrorist and close all terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, give the U.S. full access to every terrorist training camps and says the war on terror won't stop until every terrorist group in the world has been defeated.
"And tonight, the United
States of America makes the following demands on the
Taliban: Deliver to United States authorities all the
leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land. Release all
foreign nationals, including American citizens, you have
unjustly imprisoned. Protect foreign journalists, diplomats
and aid workers in your country. Close immediately and
permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan,
and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their
support structure, to appropriate authorities. Give the
United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we
can make sure they are no longer operating.
These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The
Taliban must act, and act immediately. They will hand over
the terrorists, or they will share in their fate.
Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end
there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global
reach has been found, stopped and defeated." -
White House
(09/20/01)
(See also: August 13, 1996 - Unocal and Delta Oil plan to build a gas pipeline through Afghanistan; September 14, 2001 - Unocal issues a press statement declaring they are not supporting the Taliban in any way; October 7, 2001 - U.S. invades Afghanistan)
September 20, 2001 - President Bush says 9/11 attacks happened because these people "hate our freedoms".
"Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in this chamber -- a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other." - White House (09/20/01)
"On September 11,
2001, there was an attack on America.
There are some men that decided that they didnít like
what America stands for: freedom, liberty, and the rights of
men and women of all races, backgrounds, and beliefs. So on
the morning of September 11, 2001, they hijacked four planes
and attacked America in a terrible way.
The men that arranged this terrible attack want Americans to
feel afraid and disorganized. They want to make people who
live in this country do what they say by threatening us.
Basically theyíre big bullies." -
Class Brain.com
(See also: October 29, 2004 - new videotape of Bin Laden says U.S. foreign policy is to blame for attacks and Bush misled Americans saying attacks was because Al Qaeda hates America's freedoms.)
September 20, 2001 - FBI Director Robert Mueller admits that some of the alleged 19 hijackers identities are in doubt as at least seven of them appear to be alive.
"FBI Director Robert
Mueller acknowledged Thursday that investigators may not
know the true identities of some of the 19 suspected
airplane hijackers from last week's suicide attacks.
But while in Pennsylvania on Thursday for a tour of the
crash site there, he raised fresh doubts about the accuracy
of the identifications.
"We have several hijackers whose identities were those of
the names on the manifests," Mueller said. "We have several
others that are still in question. The investigation is
ongoing, and I am not certain as to several of the
others."
Officials refused to say how many hijackers may have used
false identities, but officials of the Saudi Arabian
government said Thursday that six of the men that the United
States has named as hijackers killed in the attacks appear
to be living in the Middle East.
The six Saudis are: Abdulaziz Alomari [Flight 11],
Salem Alhamzi [Flight 77], Saeed Alghamdi
[Flight 93], Ahmed Alnami [Flight 93], Wail
Alshehri [Flight 11], and Waleed M. Alshehri
[Flight 11]." -
LA Times
(09/21/01) [Archived:
Wayback Machine]
"A Saudi-Arabian aircraft
pilot who was named as one of five suspects on board one of
the planes that crashed into the World Trade Centre, has
turned up alive and well in Morocco.
The man, Waleed Al-Shehri [Flight 11], has told
Saudi journalists in Casablanca that he had nothing to do
with the attacks on New York and Washington, and had been in
Morocco at the time.
Mr Al-Shehri said he has now been interviews by the American
authorities, who apologised for the misunderstanding." -
BBC
(09/22/01)
"Another of the men named by the FBI as a hijacker in the suicide attacks on Washington and New York has turned up alive and well. The identities of four of the 19 suspects accused of having carried out the attacks are now in doubt: Waleed Al Shehri [Flight 11], Abdulaziz Al Omari, [Flight 11], Saeed Alghamdi [Flight 93], and Khalid Al Midhar [Flight 77]." - BBC (09/23/01)
(See also: September 14, 2001 - Alleged hijackers names released the FBI)
September 20, 2001 -
The domain name for the Todd Beamer Foundation is
created.
"Domain Name:
TODDBEAMER.ORG
Created On: 20-Sep-2001 13:01:54 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar: Network Solutions LLC (R63-LROR)
Registrant Organization: The Todd M. Beamer Foundation
Registrant Street1: 195 Nassau St #27
Registrant City: Princeton
Registrant State/Province: NJ
Registrant Postal Code: 08540
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.6094979777
Registrant Email: dmacmillan@beamer-foundation.org" -
whois-search
September 21, 2001 - The body of ex-FBI agent John O'Neill is recovered from the WTC.
"The body of John P.
O'Neill, a former assistant director of the FBI and an
expert on terrorism, was recovered Friday from the rubble of
the World Trade Center.
O'Neill had recently retired from the FBI and had just taken
over security for the World Trade Center, said New York City
Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik in an interview with CNN's
Larry King Live.
"That Tuesday was his first or second day on the job," Kerik
said. "He was going to go into One World Trade, the tower
one, and when the strike came he went into the second tower
in an attempt to help people get out of the building, and he
died there. We found his body today."
O'Neill, 50, was the chief of international terrorism
operations for the FBI. He supervised on-site investigations
of the bombing by terrorists of the USS Cole in Yemen last
year, and the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya
and Tanzania.
A 1996 article published in the Van Impe Intelligence
Briefing quoted O'Neill as saying, "No longer is it just the
fear of being attacked by international terrorist
organizations -- attacks against Americans and American
interests overseas. A lot of these groups now have the
capability and the support infrastructure in the United
States to attack us here if they choose to do so."
In a 1997 speech to a meeting of the National Strategy Forum
in Chicago, he called Afghanistan's conflict with Russia "a
major watershed event" in terrorism.
Aided by the United States, Afghanistan "beat one of the
largest standing armies in the world at that time, which
gave them a buoyed sense of success and that they could take
on other countries like the U.S. and be likewise
successful," he said." - CNN
(09/21/01)
(See also: 1997 - John O'Neill forecasts the possibility of an organized attack and said that terrorists were already operating in the U.S.; August 2001 - John O'Neill becomes chief of security at the WTC; September 10, 2001 - John O'Neill starts his first day of work at the WTC; 9/11 - John O'Neill is feared dead on his second day on the job at the WTC)
September 21, 2001 - N.M. Tech expert retracts his statement that explosives were planted in the WTC.
"A New Mexico explosives
expert says he now believes there were no explosives in the
World Trade Center towers, contrary to comments he made the
day of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
"Certainly the fire is what caused the building to fail,"
said Van Romero, a vice president at the New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology.
The day of the attack, Romero told the Journal the towers'
collapse, as seen in news videotapes, looked as though it
had been triggered by carefully placed explosives.
Subsequent conversations with structural engineers and more
detailed looks at the tape have led Romero to a different
conclusion.
Romero supports other experts, who have said the intense
heat of the jet fuel fires weakened the skyscrapers' steel
structural beams to the point that they gave way under the
weight of the floors above.
That set off a chain reaction, as upper floors pancaked onto
lower ones.
Romero said he believes still it is possible that the final
collapse of each building was triggered by a sudden pressure
pulse caused when the fire reached an electrical transformer
or other source of combustion within the building.
But he said he now believes explosives would not have been
needed to create the collapse seen in video images.
Conspiracy theorists have seized on Romero's comments as
evidence for their argument that someone else, possibly the
U.S. government, was behind the attack on the Trade
Center.
Romero said he has been bombarded with electronic mail from
the conspiracy theorists.
"I'm very upset about that," he said. "I'm not trying to say
anything did or didn't happen." -
Albuquerque Journal
(09/21/01) [Reprinted with:
WayBack Machine]
(See also: 9/11 - Explosives Planted In Towers, N.M. Tech Expert Says)
September 22, 2001 - Bush signs into law the "Airline Transportation and Systems Stabilization Act" which gives federal aid to the airlines industry and compensation to 9/11 victims, but if the victims accept this compensation, they forego their right to sue the airlines or even the U.S. government for any reason.
"Today I signed the Airline Transportation and Systems Stabilization Act, which will provide urgently needed tools to assure the safety and immediate stability of our Nation's commercial airline system. This important legislation also establishes a process for compensating victims of the terrorist attacks." - White House (09/22/01) - September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001
"Congress swiftly approved
a $15-billion federal aid package for the battered U.S.
airline industry Friday while setting up a government fund
to compensate the families of victims of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks. President Bush was expected to sign the
measure.
It provides $5 billion in cash assistance and $10 billion in
loan guarantees, and it limits the liability of American
Airlines and United Airlines for their hijacked planes that
crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the
Pennsylvania countryside.
Under the measure, individual air carriers' liability
stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks would be limited to the
amount of their insurance.
It also provides for ways for those injured or victims'
families to seek compensation, but not punitive damages." -
LA Times
(09/22/01)
"When it was first
launched, many Sept. 11 families criticized the program as a
tightfisted effort to protect airlines from negligence
claims and put insulting dollar values on individual
lives.
Those who accept money from the fund must forego suing the
airlines or other U.S. entities for negligence in the death
of their loved ones.
More than 70 families to date have insisted on suing instead
of registering with the fund, blaming airlines, security
companies, and government officials for allowing the
terrorist conspiracy to succeed.
Even after filing an initial application with the fund,
families can still choose later to opt out of the program
and sue." -
Guardian
(12/17/03)
September 22, 2001 - The demolition company Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI) is hired to help clean up the World Trade Center disaster, their president, Mark Loizeaux, had said that he knew that the Twin Towers were "coming down" after the planes struck them, and his company "without a doubt" would have been called to demo the WTC if they had not collapsed after the attacks.
Construction Company Proposes Plan for WTC Site
"Phoenix,
Md.-based Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI) has developed a
plan that may be used to clean up the World Trade Center
(WTC) disaster. The plan, delivered on Sept. 22 to the
city's Department of Design and Construction, outlines a
site-wide master plan.
Among other things, CDI recommends that the steel beam
structures be removed first and that attention must be paid
to restoring transit service in the area. With regard to the
steel structures, CDI recommends that workers use liquid
oxygen-propane torches to prevent the steel from welding
back, which could slow operations.
CDI also asserts that maintaining the slurry wall beneath
the foundation is important to keep it from collapsing and
suggests implementing a slurry wall tieback system." -
Waste Age
(10/16/01)
Bringing Down The House
"Mark Loizeaux likens it to the best shots of a golf game when he's "in the zone"--completely in control, master of his domain.
It
is an immutable law: Any structure that goes up will
eventually come down--by the laws of nature or the will of
man. The bigger, more difficult ones will be razed in
seconds with spectacular explosive elegance by experts in
the art and science of controlled demolition.
The technique was pioneered by the late Jack Loizeaux, who
began as a forester in Baltimore. "We kick out the supports,
and the good Lord and gravity do the rest," he liked to
say.
In 1960, when Jack incorporated the business, Mark, 13, was
already working with his father after school. Doug joined in
1972, and in 1991, Mark's daughter Stacey, 32, became the
third generation of America's first family of Unbuilders. By
now Maryland-based Controlled Demolition Inc. has brought
down thousands of structures, reportedly more than all its
global competitors combined.
Anyone with rudimentary knowledge of blasting techniques can blow up a building. The Loizeauxs implode things down. They collapse a structure inward within its footprint or lay it down in a predetermined direction to avoid collateral damage to adjacent structures. After a detailed structural analysis, they use a minimum amount of explosives strategically placed in holes drilled in critical support columns or strapped to support beams. These are detonated in an exquisitely timed sequence lasting from milliseconds to a full nine seconds. Weight and gravity do the rest. Some Loizeaux techniques developed over the decades are proprietary and the principal reason for their commercial success and safety record. Their implosions have never caused a death or injury.
The tools of destruction range from standard dynamite, used to shatter concrete, to linear shaped charges that concentrate the force of a high explosive called RDX, slicing through steel with millions of pounds of pressure per square inch. In a 2001 project, for example, it took a mere 80 pounds of shaped charges to bring down each of two New York gas storage tanks built with 5 million pounds of steel.
There
is a more somber side to CDI's work. In 1995, the company
was asked to demolish the remains of Oklahoma City's Alfred
P. Murrah Building, blown up by Timothy McVeigh. The Murrah
building was a prelude to the greater disaster of Sept. 11,
2001. Like most Americans, the Loizeauxs were transfixed by
the televised scenes of destruction shortly after the first
jet struck. But as experts in buildings' vulnerabilities,
they knew right away what few Americans realized. "I told
Doug immediately that the tower was coming down, and when
the second tower was hit, that it would follow," remembers
Mark.
Horrified, the Loizeaux brothers watched first responders
streaming into the doomed towers and tried frantically, and
unsuccessfully, to phone in warnings. In the following days,
CDI was called to ground zero to consult on safety and
develop plans for demolition and debris removal. What if the
twin towers, though badly damaged, had somehow remained
standing? Without doubt, the Loizeaux family would have been
called upon to bring them down. "Quite simply," says Mark in
a rare moment of introspective uncertainty, "I don't know
how we would have done it." -
USNews /
Pg 2
(06/06/03)
(See also: July 15, 2001 - CDI implodes two 400-foot-high gas tanks near the WTC; December 2002 - CDI's is demolishing the facility at Fort Detrick that made weapons-grade anthrax; April 12, 2004 - Mark Loizeaux is reported by AFP saying he would have put explosives in the basement of the Twin Towers to help bring it down)
September 22, 2001 - European Union finance officials help investigate suspicious insider trading preceding the 9/11 attacks.
EU Searches for Suspicious Trading
"European
Union finance officials Saturday stepped up efforts to sniff
out suspicious insider trading preceding the attacks on the
United States.
German central bank president Ernst Welteke said a study by
his bank strongly points to "terrorism insider trading" not
only in shares of heavily affected industries such as
airlines and insurance companies, but also in gold and
oil.
"If you look at movements in markets before and after the
attack, it makes your brow furrow. But it is extremely
difficult to really verify it," Welteke said. Nevertheless,
he said he believes that "in one or the other case it will
be possible to pinpoint the source." -
FOX
(09/22/01)
September 22, 2001 - Microsoft Denies Wingding Thing, Again
MS Denies Wingding Thing, Again
"Concerns
about disturbing symbolic messages in a graphical font,
which Microsoft believed it had assuaged nearly a decade
ago, are resurfacing in the wake of terrorist attacks on New
York.
Now the company is once again assuring users that it did not
intentionally embed hidden messages into MS Word.
In
the last 12 days, conspiracy-related websites and mailing
lists have centered considerable attention on an eerie
string of graphics that come up when users type the capital
letters NYC into a font on Word called Wingdings.
The resultant collection of images -- which includes symbols
for a skull and crossbones, a Star of David and a thumbs-up
sign -- has led some to conjecture that the program contains
a deliberate anti-Semitic message.
But Microsoft -- which investigated the same complaints
about the font shortly after it was introduced in 1992 -- is
once again maintaining that a correlation between the
letters and images is merely coincidental." -
Wired (09/22/01)
(See also: 9/11 - Alleged warning codes of 9/11 related names typed out using Microsoft Wingding fonts)
September 22, 2001 - The phrase "Let's Roll" is first filed for trademark.
"Word
Mark LET'S ROLL
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 025. US 022 039. G &
S: T-shirts
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Design Search Code
Serial Number 76316210
Filing Date September 22, 2001
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition January 22, 2002
Owner (APPLICANT) Abdallah, Iman INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES
195 First Street, Apt 15-K Newark NEW JERSEY 071072255
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date September 26, 2005" -
uspto.gov
(See also: September 26, 2001 - The Todd Beamer Foundation files the phrase "Let's Roll" for trademark.)
September 23, 2001 - When asked about if those who attacked the U.S. on 9/11 acted alone on CBS ìFace the Nationî, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says that a network like that can not function so effectively without the help from governments and corporations.
"MS. BORGER: Mr.
Secretary, are you still convinced that Osama Bin Laden's
network acted alone?
SEC. RUMSFELD: -- ...I've never been convinced that that is
the case. There is no way in the world that a network can
function as effectively over such a long period of time,
with such excellent finances, and false passports, and all
of the intelligence information they had to have, without
the being fostered, and facilitated, and assisted, and
financed by states, and by businesses, and by
non-governmental organizations, and by corporations. It is a
-- it is a large network." -
DoD (09/23/01)
September 25, 2001 - Mohamed Atta's father says Atta called him day after attacks around noon and that it's not his son in the Portland airport's 9/11 security video. Says his son "hated" Osama bin Laden, thinks the Mossad and "American Christians" carried out the attacks and accuses them of kidnapping his son.
Hijacking suspect's father says son `hates bin Laden,' isn't terrorist
"Mohamed
Al-Amir, the father of a hijacking suspect in the Sept. 11
attack on the World Trade Center, said Monday that his son
hated Osama bin Laden and would never commit terrorism.
The FBI has called Al-Amir's son, Mohamed Atta, 33, the
"axis" of a terrorist network that carried out the bloodiest
attack on U.S. soil.
"I challenge any person who has any proof that one member of
this family belongs to any political party," said Al-Amir,
shaking a forefinger as his face reddened. "My son hates bin
Laden - and this is the only political opinion he had in his
life."
Al-Amir's crowded afternoon news conference dissolved into a
shouting match with reporters. He said Atta hated bin Laden
because the accused mastermind of the recent terrorist
strike in New York also attacked the Egyptian embassy in
Pakistan in the mid-1990s.
In a quivering voice that rose to a shout, he blamed
Israel's intelligence service, Mossad, for the attacks:
"America knows that it was the Mossad who did this
operation!" He accused Mossad or another intelligence agency
of kidnapping his son.
Al-Amir, a middle-class lawyer in Cairo, described his son
as a quiet, happy child who grew into a hard-working,
religious man "like all the people in our family. ... He
only had one hobby; that was playing chess with me."
Atta graduated from Cairo University with a degree in
architecture in 1990. He studied English at American
University in Cairo and wrote and spoke English perfectly,
according to his father.
He studied German before studying urban planning at a
technical university in Hamburg, Germany.
His son phoned home 12 to 36 hours after the Sept. 11
attacks, he said, in what was "a normal phone
conversation."
Pressed to explain where the call came from, Al-Amir said he
did not know, screaming back: "Is it written on the
telephone where he is?"
Airport security videotapes of his son on the morning of the
terrorist attacks were "falsified," he declared.
"That is not my son," he shouted, pointing to a
security-camera photo published in an Arabic newspaper.
"This person has more muscle than my son. He has a big nose,
and he apparently is wearing a mask. This is not my
son!"
Other individuals initially identified as hijackers, he
said, were found to be living in Saudi Arabia." -
PittsburgLive
(09/25/01)
Father insists alleged leader is still alive
"The
father of Mohammed Atta, the alleged ringleader of the
September 11 attacks, said in an interview published
yesterday that his son was still alive.
"He is hiding in a secret place so as not to be murdered by
the US secret services," Mohammed el-Amir Atta, 66, told the
German newspaper Bild am Sonntag. He also vehemently denied
that his son - believed to have flown the first plane into
the World Trade Centre - had taken part in the atrocities,
blaming them instead on "American Christians".
The
interview painted a picture of a tortured man who has not
come to terms with his 33-year-old son's death or with the
huge crime laid at his door. He said he feared the US would
try to poison him.
Speaking from his Cairo home, Mr Atta described hearing
about the attacks after returning from a holiday on the Red
Sea on the evening of September 12. "My daughter called and
said she was going to drop in. She stood at the door and
said 'turn on the TV'," he said. Amid images of the jets
crashing into the Twin Towers, he saw his son's passport
photograph.
"As I saw the picture of my son," he said, "I knew that he
hadn't done it. My son called me the day after the attacks
on September 12 at around midday. We spoke for two minutes
about this and that.
"He didn't tell me where he was calling from. At that time
neither of us knew anything about the attacks."
Mr
Atta said he did not condone the attacks, but could
understand the hijackers' motivation. "Every day our
Palestinian brothers are being murdered, their houses
destroyed. If their relatives were to fly a plane into the
Empire State Building I couldn't hold it against them," he
added.
Mr Atta called his son a "gentle and tender boy", who
enjoyed reading history and geography books and was
nicknamed "Bolbol", or nightingale, by his parents." -
Guardian
(09/02/02)
(See also: 9/11 (5:45 am) - Atta and Al-Omari allegedly videotaped at a Portland, ME airport)
September 26, 2001 - Mayor Rudolph Giuliani bans all video and photography at the WTC.
"Photography at the World
Trade Center site, where thousands of curious New Yorkers
and tourists have gathered with still and video cameras
since the terrorist attacks, was banned by Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani.
"No photographic equipment or video equipment may be brought
into the area or used, except with the approval of the
Police Commissioner," said a statement issued by the mayor's
office on Tuesday.
The statement said that the ban was issued because the site
is a crime scene and that cameras and video equipment could
be seized. No one from the mayor's office was available
early Wednesday to explain why the order wasn't issued
earlier." -
Boston Globe/AP
(09/26/01)
"The official attitude to
photography was often negative; those with cameras were seen
as ghouls and made unwelcome near Ground Zero. Many
photographers were warned off and some arrested shortly
after the events, with police claiming that photography was
not permitted because the whole area was a crime scene. Then
on September 26 Mayor Rudy Giuliani banned photography of
the WTC, but the following day, realising he had no right to
do so, he lifted the ban. Despite this, many police officers
continued to harass all photographers in the area,
especially those without press credentials.
As Fred Krughoff commented, after being physically
threatened with assault by a young officer for taking
photographs in mid-November without a press pass,"you can't
fight the police when they decide to do something that may
later turn out to be wrong. When it comes to the street, the
police are pretty in a position to make up whatever rules
they want." -
About.com
September 26, 2001 - The Todd Beamer Foundation files the phrase "Let's Roll" for trademark.
"Word Mark LET'S ROLL
Goods and Services IC 036. US 100 101 102. G & S:
Charitable fundraising services. FIRST USE: 20020911. FIRST
USE IN COMMERCE: 20020911
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Design Search Code
Serial Number 76317480
Filing Date September 26, 2001
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition March 12, 2002
Registration Number 2691610
Registration Date February 25, 2003
Owner (REGISTRANT) Todd M. Beamer Memorial Foundation, Inc.,
The NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION NEW JERSEY P.O. Box 32 Cranbury
NEW JERSEY 08512
Attorney of Record Paul J. Kennedy
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE" -
uspto.gov
Beamer Foundation seeks to trademark Sept. 11 rallying cry
""Let's
roll," the stirring cry used by Todd Beamer when he and
others encountered terrorists aboard United Airlines Flight
93 on Sept. 11, should be a protected trademark, a
foundation set up in his name said today.
The
Todd M. Beamer Foundation
announced that it was seeking to trademark the phrase,
hailed by President Bush in his State of the Union speech
this week as "a new (American) ethic and a new creed."
"The foundation is seeking legal protection of the words as
a trademark, as well as control over the use of Todd's name
and image, to ensure that any money raised from such use go
to the children of the victims of Sept. 11 and not to those
who seek only individual profit."
Beamer, 32, who lived in New Jersey but was a graduate of
Los Gatos High School, was a passenger aboard Newark-to-San
Francisco Flight 93 as it was hijacked by terrorists on
Sept. 11, the same day hijacked jetliners plunged into New
York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
He and other passengers made phone calls to relatives and
authorities, alerting them of the hijack and saying they
were making plans to fight back.
Beamer ended his conversation with a GTE operator by
dropping his phone and saying, "Let's roll!" As he and other
passengers apparently attacked the hijackers, the plane
crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa., killing all 44
people on board.
Beamer's widow, Lisa, who gave birth to a son, Morgan Kay
Beamer, on Jan. 9, set up the foundation to assist other
children who lost parents on Flight 93.
MacMillan, who said Beamer was his best friend, said Lisa
Beamer was not involved in the decision to seek trademark
status for the phrase, nor will she and her family receive
any of the money raised by the foundation." -
SF Gate
(02/01/02)
(See also: September 22, 2001 - The phrase "Let's Roll" is first filed for trademark.)
September 27, 2001 - The FBI releases the photographs of the 19 alleged 9/11 hijackers.
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation is today releasing 19 photographs of individuals believed to be the hijackers of the four airliners that crashed on September 11, 2001, into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and in Stony Creek Township, Pennsylvania. The FBI requests the public's assistance in obtaining more information about these individuals.
It should be noted that attempts to confirm the true identities of these individuals are still under way." - FBI (09/27/01)
Mohamed
Atta, pilot and group leader Abdulaziz
Alomari (Believed to be a pilot) Satam M.A. Al
Suqami Wail M.
Alshehri (Believed to be a pilot) Waleed M.
Alshehri (Believed to be a pilot) |
Marwan
al-Shehhi, pilot and group leader |
Hani
Hanjour, pilot and group leader |
Ziad Samir
Jarrah, pilot and group leader -Compiled from: St. Petersburg Times, FBI |
(See also: September 14, 2001 - FBI releases hijacker names; September 20, 2001 - FBI Director Robert Mueller admits that some of the alleged 19 hijackers identities are in doubt as at least seven of them appear to be alive; August 16, 2002 - None of the remains of the alleged hijackers on Flight 11 and Flight 175 have been identified, but the remains of the alleged hijackers on Flight 77 and Flight 93 have been identified by a "process of elimination.")
September 28, 2001 - Osama bin Laden denies involvement with 9/11 in the Pakistani newspaper interview, Ummat, suggests that Jews or U.S. secret services were behind the attacks, and says he's not hostile to the United States, but to the U.S. government.
Bin-Ladin Denies Involvement in the 9/11 Attacks
"The Al-Qaidah group had nothing to do with the 11 September attacks on the USA, according to Usama bin Ladin in an interview with the Pakistani newspaper Ummat. Usama bin Ladin went on to suggest that Jews or US secret services were behind the attacks, and to express gratitude and support for Pakistan, urging Pakistanís people to jihad against the West. The following is the text of an interview conducted by a "special correspondent", published in the Pakistani newspaper Ummat on 28 September, place and date of interview not given.
UMMAT:
You have been accused of involvement in the attacks in New
York and Washington. What do you want to say about this? If
you are not involved, who might be?
USAMA BIN LADEN: I am thankful to the Ummat Group of
Publications, which gave me the opportunity to convey my
viewpoint to the people, particularly the valiant and momin
(true Muslim) people of Pakistan who refused to believe the
lies of the demon (Pakistani military dictator General
Pervez Musharraf).
I have already said that I am not involved in the 11
September attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try
my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these
attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women,
children and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam
strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children
and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the
course of a battle. It is the United States, which is
perpetrating every maltreatment on women, children and
common people of other faiths, particularly the followers of
Islam. All that is going on in Palestine for the last 11
months is sufficient to call the wrath of God upon the
United States and Israel.
Whoever committed the act of 11 September are not the
friends of the American people. I have already said that we
are against the American system, not against its people,
whereas in these attacks, the common American people have
been killed. According to my information, the death toll is
much higher than what the U.S. Government has stated. But
the Bush Administration does not want the panic to spread.
The United States should try to trace the perpetrators of
these attacks within itself; the people who are a part of
the U.S. system, but are dissenting against it. Or those who
are working for some other system; persons who want to make
the present century as a century of conflict between Islam
and Christianity so that their own civilization, nation,
country, or ideology could survive. They can be anyone, from
Russia to Israel and from India to Serbia. In the U.S.
itself, there are dozens of well-organized and well-equipped
groups, which are capable of causing a large-scale
destruction. Then you cannot forget the American-Jews, who
are annoyed with President Bush ever since the elections in
Florida and want to avenge him.
Then there are intelligence agencies in the U.S., which
require billions of dollars worth of funds from the Congress
and the government every year. This [funding issue]
was not a big problem till the existence of the former
Soviet Union but after that the budget of these agencies has
been in danger. They needed an enemy. So, they first started
propaganda against Usama and Taleban and then this incident
happened. You see, the Bush Administration approved a budget
of 40 billion dollars. Where will this huge amount go? It
will be provided to the same agencies, which need huge funds
and want to exert their importance. Now they will spend the
money for their expansion and for increasing their
importance. I will give you an example. Drug smugglers from
all over the world are in contact with the U.S. secret
agencies. These agencies do not want to eradicate narcotics
cultivation and trafficking because their importance will be
diminished. The people in the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Department are encouraging drug trade so that they could
show performance and get millions of dollars worth of
budget. General Noriega was made a drug baron by the CIA
and, in need, he was made a scapegoat. In the same way,
whether it is President Bush or any other U.S. President,
they cannot bring Israel to justice for its human rights
abuses or to hold it accountable for such crimes. What is
this? Is it not that there exists a government within the
government in the United Sates? That secret government must
be asked as to who carried out the attacks.
UMMAT: The losses caused in the attacks in New York and
Washington have proved that giving an economic blow to the
U.S. is not too difficult. U.S. experts admit that a few
more such attacks can bring down the American economy. Why
is Al-Qa'idah not targeting their economic pillars?
USAMA BIN LADEN: I have already said that we are not hostile
to the United States. We are against the [U.S.
Government] system, which makes other nations slaves of
the United States, or forces them to mortgage their
political and economic freedom. This system is totally in
the control of the American Jews, whose first priority is
Israel, not the United States. It is clear that the American
people are themselves the slaves of the Jews and are forced
to live according to the principles and laws laid down by
them. So the punishment should reach Israel. In fact, it is
Israel, which is giving a blood bath to innocent Muslims and
the U.S. is not uttering a single word." -
Khilafah
(12/28/01) [Reprinted at:
911review.com]
(See also: September 16, 2001 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in press release; November 7, 2001 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in 'Dawn' interview)
September 28, 2001 - The FBI claims to have found a letter handwritten in Arabic in the suitcase of Mohamed Atta -- which the letter lists Islamic prayers, instructions for a last night of life, and a checklist of reminders for their operation -- and claim to have found additional copies of the letter at the crash site of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania and at a Dulles International Airport parking lot in a car registered to one of the alleged hijackers on Flight 77.
Hijacking letter found at three locations - FBI (09/28/01)
instructions for the last night
"U.S. authorities found this letter handwritten in Arabic in the suitcase of Mohamed Atta. It includes Islamic prayers, instructions for a last night of life, and a practical checklist of reminders for the final operation. The FBI released an untranslated copy of the letter; the British newspaper The Observer published this translation. Additional copies of this letter were found at the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania and at a Dulles International Airport parking lot in a car registered to one of the hijackers on American Flight 77." - PBS/Frontline
September 28, 2001 - Judicial Watch blasts former President Bush Sr. for working with the bin Laden family business in Saudi Arabia through his company the Carlyle Group.
"Judicial Watch, the
public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes
government corruption and abuse, reacted with disbelief to
The Wall Street Journal report of yesterday that George H.W.
Bush, the father of President Bush, works for the bin Laden
family business in Saudi Arabia through the Carlyle Group,
an international consulting firm. The senior Bush had met
with the bin Laden family at least twice. (Other top
Republicans are also associated with the Carlyle group, such
as former Secretary of State James A. Baker.) The terrorist
leader Osama bin Laden had supposedly been
ìdisownedî by his family, which runs a
multi-billion dollar business in Saudi Arabia and is a major
investor in the senior Bushís firm. Other reports
have questioned, though, whether members of his Saudi family
have truly cut off Osama bin Laden. Indeed, the Journal also
reported yesterday that the FBI has subpoenaed the bin Laden
family businessís bank records.
Judicial Watch earlier this year had strongly criticized
President Bushís fatherís association with the
Carlyle Group, pointing out in a March 5 statement that it
was a ìconflict of interest (which) could cause
problems for Americaís foreign policy in Middle East
and Asia.î Judicial Watch called for the senior Bush
to resign from the firm then.
ìThis conflict of interest has now turned into a
scandal. The idea of the Presidentís father, an
ex-president himself, doing business with a company under
investigation by the FBI in the terror attacks of September
11 is horrible. President Bush should not ask, but demand,
that his father pull out of the Carlyle Group,î stated
Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman."
-
Judicial Watch
(09/28/01)
(See also: October 21, 2003 - Former President and CIA Director, George H. W. Bush, retires from the Carlyle Group.)
September 28, 2001 - Landing by remote control doesn't quite fly with pilots
Landing by remote control doesn't quite fly with pilots
"The
military has been flying planes and landing them safely by
remote control for years, but airline pilots say questions
about security must be answered before that technology is
used aboard commercial jetliners to thwart hijackers the way
President Bush suggested Thursday during a speech in
Chicago.
"We will look at all kinds of technologies to make sure that
our airlines are safe," Bush said at O'Hare International
Airport. "... including technology to enable controllers to
take over distressed aircraft and land it by remote
control."
Pilots said after the speech that though they support other
proposals for airplane security that Bush outlined, the idea
of aircraft being remotely controlled concerns them.
"If the good guys can take control of the plane" from the
ground, said John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots
Association, "maybe the bad guys can take control of it
too."
Taking control of a hijacked aircraft from the ground
appears to be less feasible than other measures, he
said.
"We would view that as a very--very--long-term type of
undertaking," Mazor said. "There are enormous technical
difficulties in trying to rig up an aircraft for that."
But companies that have designed such systems for the
military say it wouldn't be difficult to adapt the
technology for commercial aircraft.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. developed a
remote-controlled reconnaissance plane for the Air Force
called Predator, which flew in Bosnia during the conflict
there. Used by the military since 1994, it can be landed by
pilots linked by satellite using controls on the ground or
ordering an onboard computer to do the job.
Tom Cassidy, president and CEO of the San Diego company,
said he sent Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta a letter
shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Such a system would not prevent a hijacker from causing
mayhem on the aircraft or exploding a device and destroying
the aircraft in flight," the letter said, "but it would
prevent him from flying the aircraft into a building or
populated areas."
Cassidy said Thursday that a pilot aboard a commercial
airliner could turn the plane's guidance over to ground
controllers at the press of a button, preventing a
hijacker--or anyone else aboard--from flying the plane.
That system also would keep people on the ground from taking
control of a plane away from the pilot, Cassidy said,
because the pilot would first have to give up control.
Aircraft anywhere in the nation could be remotely controlled
from just one or two locations using satellite links,
Cassidy said. Those locations could be heavily fortified
against terrorists.
"The technology is available," Cassidy said. "We use it
every day." -
Chicago Tribune
(09/28/01) [Reprinted with
Wayback Machine]
October 1, 2001 - Many investigators into the 9/11 attacks believe that some of the initial clues that were uncovered about the terrorists' identities and preparations, such as flight manuals, were meant to be found and that whatever trail was left was "left deliberately for the F.B.I. to chase."
What Went Wrong
"After more than two weeks of around-the-clock investigation into the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the American intelligence community remains confused, divided, and unsure about how the terrorists operated, how many there were, and what they might do next. It was that lack of solid information, government officials told me, that was the key factor behind the Bush Administration's decision last week not to issue a promised white paper listing the evidence linking Osama bin Laden's organization to the attacks.
The investigators are now split into at least two factions. One, centered in the F.B.I., believes that the terrorists may not have been "a cohesive group," as one involved official put it, before they started training and working together on this operation. "These guys look like a pickup basketball team," he said. "A bunch of guys who got together." The F.B.I. is still trying to sort out the identities and backgrounds of the hijackers. The fact is, the official acknowledged, "we don't know much about them."
These investigators suspect that the suicide teams were simply lucky. "In your wildest dreams, do you think they thought they'd be able to pull off four hijackings?" the official asked. "Just taking out one jet and getting it into the ground would have been a success. These are not supermen."
It
is widely believed that the terrorists had a support team,
and the fact that the F.B.I. has been unable to track down
fellow-conspirators who were left behind in the United
States is seen as further evidence of careful planning.
"Look," one person familiar with the investigation said. "If
it were as simple and straightforward as a lucky one-off
oddball operation, then the seeds of confusion would not
have been sown as they were."
Many of the investigators believe that some of the initial
clues that were uncovered about the terrorists' identities
and preparations, such as flight manuals, were meant to be
found. A former high-level intelligence official told me,
"Whatever trail was left was left deliberatelyófor
the F.B.I. to chase."
In interviews over the past two weeks, a number of intelligence officials have raised questions about Osama bin Laden's capabilities. "This guy sits in a cave in Afghanistan and he's running this operation?" one C.I.A. official asked. "It's so huge. He couldn't have done it alone."
"These
people are not necessarily all from bin Laden," a Justice
Department official told me. "We're still running a lot of
stuff out," he said, adding that the F.B.I. has been
inundated with leads. On September 23rd, Secretary of State
Colin Powell told a television interviewer that "we will put
before the world, the American people, a persuasive case"
showing that bin Laden was responsible for the attacks. But
the widely anticipated white paper could not be published,
the Justice Department official said, for lack of hard
facts. "There was not enough to make a sale."
The Administration justified the delay by telling the press
that most of the information was classified and could not
yet be released. Last week, however, a senior C.I.A.
official confirmed that the intelligence community had not
yet developed a significant amount of solid information
about the terrorists' operations, financing, and planning.
"One day, we'll know, but at the moment we don't know," the
official said." -
New Yorker
(10/01/01)
October 4, 2001 - Tony Blair's U.K. Government releases a 70 point dossier as evidence against Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network for their alleged involvement in 9/11, but experts and media reports say that their case against Osama is "thin on facts," "full of conjecture," and "still no smoking gun."
The UK's Bin Laden dossier in full
"This
is the full text of the document, entitled Responsibility
for the terrorist atrocities in the United States,
released by Downing Street on Thursday about the evidence
against Osama Bin Laden.
This document does not purport to provide a prosecutable
case against Osama Bin Laden in a court of law.
Intelligence often cannot be used evidentially, due both to
the strict rules of admissibility and to the need to protect
the safety of sources.
But on the basis of all the information available HMG is
confident of its conclusions as expressed in this
document." - BBC
(10/04/01)
Blair: 'no doubt' of Bin Laden's involvement
"The
prime minister, Tony Blair, today told MPs that Osama bin
Laden told associates he planned "a major operation" in the
US before September's terrorist attacks.
Opening an emergency debate on the international crisis at
the second recalled session of parliament since the
September 11 attacks, Mr Blair told a packed chamber there
was "absolutely no doubt" that Bin Laden and his network
committed the atrocities.
A dossier of evidence which established that link would be
given to MPs, but the prime minister said much detail had to
be omitted for security reasons.
Mr Blair told MPs that the coalition would "ensure that
Afghanistan ceases to harbour terrorists" and warned that
failure of the Taliban to cooperate "must bring about change
in the regime".
He said: "The Taliban must yield them up or become our enemy
also.
"It was Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida that planned and
carried out this atrocity.
"They were able to commit these attacks because of the close
alliance with Taliban in Afghanistan that allows them to act
with impunity."
For the Conservatives, Iain Duncan Smith said Bin Laden was
"guilty as charged"." -
Guardian
(10/04/01)
Still no smoking gun
"In the improbable event that Osama bin Laden ever faces a formal prosecution for the September 11 terrorist atrocities, the case against him that was published by the British government yesterday would be almost worthless from a legal point of view. Though the finger of suspicion universally points at Bin Laden and at no one else, most of the document which Tony Blair released at the start of the Commons debate is entirely circumstantial at best. The rest is summed up in a single sentence on the document's penultimate page: "There is evidence of a very specific nature relating to the guilt of Bin Laden and his associates that is too sensitive to release." More than three weeks after the Bush administration said it would produce the evidence against Bin Laden, the reality is that Mr Blair's case comes down to two words: trust me." - Guardian (10/05/01)
Case against Osama thin on facts: experts
"The
evidence presented to British Parliament on Thursday linking
Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda organisation to the
September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. has been received
with widespread scepticism both on legal grounds and in
terms of its diplomatic value in convincing the Arab world,
in particular, that the West has an open and shut case
against him.
The 17-page dossier, which begins with the disclaimer that
it does not purport to present a ``prosecutable case'', has
been described by legal experts as being too thin on facts
to stand scrutiny in a court of law. Even the circumstantial
evidence, according to them, is based more on conjecture
than hard facts.
``This may carry weight with politicians used to public
immunity certificates but not with lawyers who require
direct and admissible evidence,'' said Mr. Anthony
Scrivener, a lawyer, in The Times. He pointed out that a
legal case could not be made simply on the strength of
motive and the fact that the attacks on September 11 bore
``hallmarks'' of a bin Laden operation. There were many
terrorist groups who shared ``the same hatred of the
Americans who might have carried out this atrocity'', he
said arguing that the main weakness of the document was that
it sought to present ``assertion'' as ``evidence''.
The lawyer also questioned the legal basis of the claim that
since three of the 19 suicide hijackers had been identified
as ``associates of Al-Qaeda'' it proved that Al-Qaeda and by
further association bin Laden were behind the operation.
Political pundits too were deeply sceptical saying that the
Government had failed to produce a ``smoking gun'' that
would prove bin Laden's guilt beyond doubt. ``The dossier
relies heavily on circumstantial evidence about the previous
atrocities carried out by bin Laden and Al-Qaeda and the
similarities between these acts and the atrocities on
September 11...'' said Independent. He said only nine of the
70 points in the dossier related to the attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon and these ``often rely on
conjecture than evidence''.
The Times, in an analysis, called the document a ``puzzling
and worrying piece of work''. ``There is no evidence
presented that directly links bin Laden to September 11,''
asserted its foreign affairs commentator, Mr. Brownwen
Maddox, calling the document ``a political dance, not a
serious attempt to preach to the unconverted''. The
Guardian, in an editorial headed ``Still No Smoking Gun'',
described the evidence as ``almost worthless from a legal
point of view'' and said Mr. Blair's case that there was
sufficient ammunition to hang bin Laden boiled down to ``two
words: trust me''. And, outside the hawkish political
circles, not many seemed to be inclined to do that." -
The Hindu
(10/05/01)
Missing:
crucial facts from the official charge sheet against Bin
Laden
What the Government's dossier against bin Laden doesn't say
and can't say: One thing is missing from the document
'proving' Bin Laden's guilt ñ the
proof
"It
was too good to be true. We were told we would be getting
evidence of Osama bin Laden's guilt. Instead, close analysis
of the 21-page document put out by the Government on
Thursday reveals a report of conjecture, supposition and
unsubstantiated assertions of fact. It uses every trick in
the Whitehall drafter's arsenal to make the reader believe
they are reading something they are not: a damning
indictment of Mr bin Laden for the events of 11
September.
No wonder Tony Blair and his officials are delighted with
the reaction to publication of the dossier. One Whitehall
source told the Independent on Sunday they were "chuffed
with two newspapers for hailing it as 'proof' of bin Laden's
involvement and delighted it got such a good reaction
overall". Ministers believe the document has sealed the
propaganda war, convincing the country of the need to move
against Mr bin Laden and al-Qa'ida and to accept limited
British and civilian casualties. To their relief they are
not being subjected to rigorous questioning on the report,
either from their own supporters, the Opposition, or much of
the media. Officials are also pleased: the document
successfully papers over the cracks in their own
intelligence operations.
The report was put together by a committee which included
senior members of MI5 and MI6, working round the clock, with
drafts going backwards and forwards to Washington. Within
Whitehall, the dossier was seen as vital to gaining the
approval of a naturally cautious and sceptical British
public. As a paper produced by mandarins anxious to brook no
argument it is a classic of its kind, straight from the
script of Yes Minister: short on checkable detail; long on
bold assertion; highly selective with the choice of
facts.
The document carries a health warning that intelligence
material has been withheld to protect the safety of sources.
But, lawyers point out, this is not good enough. Assuming
one aim of the military build-up is to try to capture Mr bin
Laden and put him on trial, that so-far-unseen evidence
would have to be displayed ñ because on the basis of
what has been released there is no chance of his being
prosecuted, let alone convicted. "The Prime Minister told
Parliament that this evidence was of an even more direct
nature indicating guilt," said Richard Gordon QC. "The
document makes it clear that the additional evidence is 'too
sensitive to release'. That may be so, but in any criminal
prosecution against bin Laden the necessary evidence would
have to be adduced for the case to be proved."
For page after page, the paper spews out facts about Mr bin
Laden. It might look like evidence of something, but
it is not proof he organised the 11 September attacks. "All
this shows, in the language of the lawyers, propensity, but
it proves little," said Mr Gordon.
Again, said Mr Gordon, it is not enough. "This material
shows that bin Laden may well have been responsible for the
11 September massacre but it does not, of itself, prove that
he was." The document goes into great detail about the
bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
But there is not one single fact presented that was not
already known. While the operation was similar to 11
September ñ well planned, two attacks on the same
day, suicide attackers indiscriminate killing of civilians,
including Muslims ñ it does not prove anything.
Officials deny that the minute description of the previous
bombings was designed to cover up cracks in their own
intelligence about 11 September. Nevertheless, it is
noticeable that in a 21-page document the overwhelming bulk
of it is devoted to rehashing old information. It is not
until page 18 and paragraph 61 that the reader is told
something new about 11 September.
This is that three of the 19 hijackers have been "positively
identified as associates of Al Qaida" and that one of them
"has been identified as playing key roles in both the East
African embassy attacks and the USS Cole attack". The word
"associates" suggests the authorities lack intelligence on
al-Qa'ida: they think they know who may be involved but they
are not sure, and they are not certain where they come in
the pecking order ñ hence the catch-all,
"associates". The three are understood to be: Khalid
Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, both filmed secretly in Kuala
Lumpur meeting other al-Qa'ida members involved in the USS
Cole bombing in Aden; and Mohamed Atta. Suspected of being
the ringleader, Atta is believed to have been a member of
Islamic Jihad, a major grouping within al-Qa'ida, and the
authorities are convinced he received training at a bin
Laden camp in Afghanistan. The hijacker who played a key
role in the embassy, USS Cole and 11 September attacks, is
thought to refer to Almihdhar. If there is a hijacker
linking all three, that is a crucial piece of evidence since
there is no doubt al-Qa'ida committed the earlier
bombings.
The next paragraph, 62, promises much and delivers little.
Prefaced with another rider about names remaining anonymous
to protect sources, it begins by saying how, prior to 11
September, Mr bin Laden "mounted a concerted propaganda
campaign ... justifying attacks on Jewish and American
targets". It was well known in the Middle East that, earlier
this year, a bin Laden recruitment video was in circulation,
exhorting Muslims to lay down their lives for the jihad. The
video makes no mention of any coming big assault nor does it
refer to 11 September or possible targets in the US.
Last week it emerged that Mr bin Laden called his adoptive
mother in Syria on 10 September to tell her there would be
"big news", subsequent to which he might be out of touch for
some time. It is hard to believe that someone as cautious as
him would risk such a call. However, this is understood to
be what is being referred to when the document says, in
paragraph 62: "We have learned, subsequent to 11 September,
that bin Laden himself asserted shortly before 11 September
that he was preparing a major attack on America." The
document goes on, saying that in August and early September,
close bin Laden associates were warned to return to
Afghanistan by 10 September.
This is new, and odd. Since the attacks, known al-Qa'ida
associates have been picked up or they are being watched. If
there was advice to go to Afghanistan presumably they
ignored it or did not receive it. The names of the "close
associates" are not specified, neither is any more detail
made available ñ which is a mystery. It is hard to
see why giving a bit more detail would compromise anybody or
a foreign intelligence service that may be monitoring their
calls.
Again, this tantalising paragraph ñ by far the most
intriguing in the document ñ says that just before
the attacks "some known associates of bin Laden were naming
the date for action as on or around 11 September". What
associates? How? When? Again, no detail is supplied.
Then, the paragraph continues, "one of bin Laden's closest
and most senior associates was responsible for the detailed
planning of the attacks". This is thought to be a reference
to either Mohamed Atef, al-Qa'ida's operations chief, or
Ayman al Zawahiri, Mr bin Laden's deputy. Another senior
al-Qa'ida member being mentioned by those close to the
investigation is Abu Zubeidah.
After all this, the most vital paragraph in the paper ends
with this curious sentence: "There is evidence of a very
specific nature relating to the guilt of bin Laden and his
associates that is too sensitive to release."
What this document is not is a detailed exposition of the
investigation to date. To be fair, that is still ongoing,
but providing that amount of information would distract from
the paper's main purpose, to blame Mr bin Laden. This is
summarised in the final narrative paragraph, 69: "No other
organisation has both the motivation and the capability to
carry out attacks like those of the 11 September ñ
only the Al Qaida network under Osama bin Laden." This
smacks of exasperation. To ram that point home, paragraph
70, "conclusion", repeats the message of the introduction.
This, in the end, is what the paper is for, a Government
plea for trust: it was Mr bin Laden. To which the response
must be: we believe you ñ but prove it." -
Independent UK
(10/07/01) [Wayback
Machine]
October 5, 2001 - Bob Stevens becomes the first person to die from the anthrax attacks who was a photo editor at American Media, Inc., the parent company who owns the National Enquirer which published a photo of Bush's daughter Jenna shown drunk with a cigarette in her hand falling on top of another girl.
"Robert Stevens, 63, photo
editor, the Sun, American Media Inc, Boca Raton,
Florida.
Contracted inhaled anthrax...[found on his
keyboard]
Died October 5." -
Guardian
(11/23/01)
"You won't find stories about anthrax in the newest
issues of the tabloids produced by American Media, the
company that evacuated its Boca Raton, Fla., headquarters
last week after the lethal bacteria was found to have killed
one employee and infected several others.
But just as the National Enquirer, Star, Sun, etc., are
pledging not to stray from their respective missions, their
direction already has taken a detour since Sept. 11.
The Sun, where anthrax claimed the life of photo editor Bob
Stevens and sent other employees to the hospital, actually
has been the least topical of the tabloids...
Days before anthrax hit his company, Coz said the tabloids
already were covering -- or not covering -- certain stories
differently. For instance, at least one of this year's
headline grabbers now would be considered off limits: "Jenna
and Barbara Bush. The Enquirer two or three months ago did
one pretty big story after [Jenna] got arrested for
underage drinking violations. That is an example of a story
that the tabloids wouldn't do at this time. We wouldn't do
that under the umbrella of patriotism." -
Chicago Tribune
(10/16/01)
"LAURA & GEORGE AT WAR
OVER DAUGHTERS' BOOZING
The drinking problems of President Bush's teenage daughters
Jenna and Barbara have triggered an all-out First Family
feud!" -
National Enquirer
(06/08/01)
(See also: December 2002 - Controlled Demolition, Inc is demolishing the facility at Fort Detrick that made weapons-grade anthrax; September 24, 2003 - The widow of the first anthrax victim Bob Stevens sues the federal government for $50 million)
October 7, 2001 - Barely two weeks after President Bush's nearly impossible demands on the Taliban, the U.S. invades Afghanistan.
"The United States, with
support from the United Kingdom invaded Afghanistan in
October, 2001 as part of its "War on Terrorism". The
military campaign, led by U.S. general Tommy Franks, was
initially dubbed Operation Infinite Justice but quickly
renamed Operation Enduring Freedom, due to the perceived
religious connotations of the former.
According to the US, the purpose of Operation Enduring
Freedom was to target Osama bin Laden, suspected of planning
and funding the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, and his
terrorist network al-Qaida, as well as and the Taliban
government in Afghanistan which refused to unconditionally
extradite bin Laden and members of his organization. Many
journalists have reported that plans to attack al-Qaida and
the Taliban had been made as early as the Clinton
administration, but bureaucratic wrangling had delayed
action until after the September 11 attack.
Before October 7, there were reports that U.S. and British
special-forces soldiers were covertly landed in Afghanistan
at some time after September 11, presumably for
reconnaisance purposes, and that several of these troops
were captured by the Taliban. As of October 1, all such
reports had been officially denied by the U.S., British, and
Afghani governments.
At approximately 16:30 UTC (12:30 EDT, 17:00 local time) on
Sunday October 7, 2001, US and British forces struck at the
Taliban forces and those of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida
terrorist network in Afghanistan. The US government
justified these attacks as a response to the September 11,
2001 Terrorist Attack. The Taliban condemned these attacks
and called them an 'attack on Islam.'" -
Wikipedia
"THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
More than two weeks ago, I gave Taliban leaders a series of clear and specific demands: Close terrorist training camps; hand over leaders of the al Qaeda network; and return all foreign nationals, including American citizens, unjustly detained in your country. None of these demands were met. And now the Taliban will pay a price." - White House (10/07/01)
"President Bush announced the U.S. military has launched attacks on Al Qaeda training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The attacks started at about 12:30 p.m. Eastern time.
The strikes follow the Taliban rejection of U.S. demands following the terror attacks of Sept. 11." - DoD (10/07/01)
(See also: July 2001 - US plans to invade Afghanistan by October; September 20, 2001 - President Bush delivers his non-negotiable demands to the Taliban; October 24, 2001 - Who will run Caspian natural gas through Afghanistan?; March 23, 2004 - War in Afghan would have been politically impossible pre-9/11)
October 7, 2001 - U.S. Ties Hijackers' Money to Al Qaeda
"U.S. investigators have
established strong financial links between the al Qaeda
terrorist network and the 19 hijackers who carried out the
Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
said senior government officials who now consider the money
trail the key to the investigation." -
Washington Post
(10/07/01)
October 8, 2001 - 23,000 U.S. troops are in the Middle East along with 50,000 foreign troops to begin participating in Operation "Bright Star", the largest joint military exercise conducted by U.S. Central Command.
"Egyptian military forces
and members of the U.S. Central Command's Army, Air Force,
Navy, Marine Corps and special operations components will
participate in Bright Star, a joint/combined training
exercise in Egypt. Military forces from eight other nations
-- France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Spain and
the United Kingdom -- will also participate.
Bright Star 01/02, the 11th in a series, is scheduled to
take place Oct. 8 through Nov. 1, 2001.
Bright Star 01/02 is the largest and most significant
coalition military exercise conducted by the Central
Command. This exercise is an important part of U.S. Central
Command's theater engagement strategy and is designed to
improve readiness and interoperability and strengthen the
military and professional relationships between U.S.,
Egyptian and participating forces." -
DoD
(10/03/01)
"Bright Star 01/02 is the month-long 10-nation, 70,000-soldiers exercise just completed in Egypt. Approximately 23,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were involved in the exercise." - Third United States Army
(See also: September 2001 - 25,000 British troops arrive in Oman for Operation Swift Sword.)
October 8, 2001 - President Bush signs an executive order establishing the Office of Homeland Security.
"By the authority vested
in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States of America, it is hereby ordered as
follows:
Section 1. Establishment. I hereby establish within the
Executive Office of the President an Office of Homeland
Security (the "Office") to be headed by the Assistant to the
President for Homeland Security. GEORGE W. BUSH, THE
WHITE HOUSE, October 8, 2001." -
White House
(10/08/01)
(See also: November 25, 2002 - Bush signs legislation to create the new Department of Homeland Security.)
October 8, 2001 - Former Gov. Tom Ridge from Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 supposedly crashed at, becomes the first Dept. of Homeland Security Advisor.
"On October 8, 2001, Tom Ridge was sworn in as the first Office of Homeland Security Advisor in the history of the United States of America. In the words of President George W. Bush, he had the strength, experience, personal commitment and authority to accomplish this critical mission." - whitehouse.gov
(See also: September 14, 2001 - Gov. Tom Ridge announces some of WTC debris to be buried in Pennsylvania)
October 11, 2001 - Two men whom police described as Middle Eastern were detained by federal immigration authorities after being found with detailed video footage of the Sears Tower in Chicago.
2 found with video of Sears Tower
"Two
men whom police described as Middle Eastern were detained in
the township by federal immigration authorities after being
found with detailed video footage of the Sears Tower in
Chicago.
Plymouth Police encountered the men after an officer
responded to Pizzeria Uno on the 1000 block of West Ridge
Pike at 2:40 p.m. Thursday for a report of illegal dumping,
according to reports.
A
manager there advised the police officer that a
tractor-trailer was observed backed up to the Dumpster at
the rear of the restaurant. The manager noticed a freshly
dumped pile of furniture adjacent to the Dumpster, according
to police.
The manager confronted the vehicle's operator, a Middle
Eastern man, police said.
The man, who later identified himself as Moshe Elmakias, 30,
denied that he did anything and fled the scene, heading west
on West Ridge Pike, according to police.
The manager was able to provide township police with the
Florida registration number of the tractor-trailer and said
that a sign posted on the side of the vehicle read "Moving
Systems Incorporated" and included a phone number, police
said.
The
area was searched by township police, and the vehicle was
spotted parked on the curb in front of John Kennedy Ford on
Ridge Pike, just west of Industrial Way.
An officer proceeded to make contact with the occupants of
the truck by knocking on the cab, according to reports.
A Middle Eastern man, later identified as Ron Katar, 23,
exited the sleeper area of the cab and said that the
operator was across the street as he pointed toward the Don
Rosen Porsche dealer, reports said.
Elmakias and a white female, Ayelet Reisler, 23, were
approaching the vehicle from the dealership, but the female
then began walking in a different direction, acting as if
she were not with Elmakias, according to reports.
Reisler was detained and checked for identification. She had
a German passport in her name and medication in a different
name, police said.
Elmakias allegedly admitted to being behind Pizzeria Uno,
although he said that he did not dump furniture, he was only
turning around.
Elmakias said that his destination was New York and that he
was also coming from New York. He said he was in Plymouth
because he was supposed to make a pickup from a male in the
morning and pointed toward the Storage USA facility on
Belvoir Road and West Ridge Pike, police said.
Elmakias could not, however, provide a name or telephone
number of the customer.
Schwartz discovered through his investigation that the
operator's log had been falsified and put the truck out of
service due to violations, police said. In addition, the
vehicle reportedly had numerous equipment violations that
rendered the truck unsafe.
Inspection of the tractor-trailer's contents revealed a load
three-quarters full containing household items, including
furniture and boxes.
Among the items in the truck was a Sony video camera.
Plymouth Police Officer David McCann reviewed the tape found
inside the camera. The tape had video footage of Chicago
with zoomed-in shots of the Sears Tower, according to
police.
Elmakias and Katar were eventually detained by INS and
transported to a federal facility, said police. Reisler was
released." -
The Mercury
(10/17/01)
October 12, 2001 - In an interview with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld by Parade Magazine, Rumsfeld talks as if the Pentagon was hit by a missile on 9/11.
"Here we're talking about plastic knives and using an American Airlines flight filed with our citizens, and the missile to damage this building and similar (inaudible) that damaged the World Trade Center." - Defense Link (10/12/01)
'We Have To Defend Our Way
Of Life'
Winik, Lyric Wallwork. Parade. New York: Nov 18, 2001. pg.
1, Abstract (Article Summary)
"The war against terrorism is more than a struggle for our
physical survival, says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
It's a fight to preserve American values." -
Parade
(11/18/01)
(See also: 9/11 (8:44 am) - Donald Rumsfeld is in his office at the Pentagon talking about missile defense and the risk of terrorism and predicts there will be a terrorist attack two minutes before the first plane crashes into the WTC; 9/11 (9:35 am) - For the second time of the day, Donald Rumsfeld predicts another terrorist attack right before it happens and correctly predicts it will happen to the Pentagon; March 23, 2004 - 9/11 Commission member referrers to the object heading towards the Pentagon on 9/11 as a "missile" when questioning Rumsfeld; December 24, 2004 - In a speech, Donald Rumsfeld talks as if the plane that was said to have crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11 was shot down)
October 15, 2001 - WTC leaseholder Larry Silverstein seeks $7.2 billion from his insurers, double his $3.6 billion in coverage, claiming the attacks count as two separate events.
WTC Developer in Search of $7.2 Billion from Insurer
"The developer who had control of the World Trade Center at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks is seeking $7.2 billion from his insurers, double his $3.6 billion in coverage.
World
Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein is asking
Congress to protect him from potentially billions of dollars
in lawsuits from victims according to reports in Reuters and
the Daily News.
Silverstein commented that the two planes - an American and
a United flight from Boston to Los Angeles that hit the
towers - were each representative of a separate attack which
would entitle him to a pair of payments.
Silverstein and his partners completed a 99-year lease on
the buildings from the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey in a $3.2 billion deal. Silverstein, who built 7
World Trade Center, has vowed to put up four towers, ranging
in size from 50 to 60 stories each. Under the agreement of
the lease, the group must pay more than $100 million each
year in rent despite the fact the buildings have been
destroyed.
It was also reported that liability claims could jump to
nearly $15 billion. Silverstein has business-interruption
insurance, above and beyond his property-damage coverage, to
cover his rent payments as well as the debt service he owes,
according to the report. He was said to have about $1
billion in insurance to pay lawsuits but is asking that the
federal government protect him from paying out more than
that. The Port Authority, which is also a potential target
of lawsuits." -
Insurance Journal
(10/15/01)
(See also: July 2001 - Larry Silverstein signs a 99-year lease for the rest of the WTC just six weeks before the attacks; December 20, 2003 - New WTC complex projected to cost between $9-12 billion)
October 16, 2001 - Bush says Bin Laden might be behind anthrax attacks in US.
Bush Says Bin Laden Might Be Behind Anthrax Cases
"US
President George W. Bush said Monday that Saudi-born
militant Osama bin Laden might be behind anthrax attacks on
the US.
Bush's made the remarks after the office of Senate Majority
Leader Tom Daschle received a heavily wrapped letter
containing a powdery substance which initially tested
positive for the potentially deadly anthrax bacteria.
"There may be some possible link. We have no hard data yet
but it's clear that Mr. bin Laden is an evil man," Bush said
as he met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
"I wouldn't put it past him, but we don't have hard evidence
yet," he added.
U.S. officials have also said they had suspicions, but no
proof, that the proliferating anthrax cases in which one
person has died could be an attack by bin Laden, the chief
suspect in the September 11 hijacked-plane attacks on New
York and Washington." -
People's Daily China
(10/16/01)
October 23, 2001 - Former CIA Director James Woolsey says Iraq was likely involved in the 9/11 and anthrax attacks and that the US will probably confront Saddam Hussein as part of its war on terrorism.
Ex-CIA Chief Suggests Iraq Involved
"Former
CIA Director James Woolsey says Iraq likely was involved in
the attacks of Sept. 11 and that the United States will
probably confront President Saddam Hussein as part of its
ongoing campaign against terrorism.
"There are too many things, too many examples of stolen
identities, of cleverly-crafted documentation, of
coordination across continents and between states ... to
stray very far from the conclusion that a state, and a very
well-run intelligence service is involved here,'' he told
the national convention of the American Jewish Congress on
Monday.
He also pointed to the perceived long-term planning and
subsequent use of "refined'' anthrax as evidence of state
support in the attacks, noting to reporters later that the
Iraqi intelligence service has been meeting with Islamic
extremist terrorists, including some in al-Qaida, and that
Saddam has spent years trying to cultivate these ties.
While saying there is not yet enough evidence to convict
Saddam for the attacks, he said there are "enough
indications that we should be highly suspicious, be very
alert and should look under that rock as hard as we possibly
can.''
An exiled Iraqi opposition group that wants to increase its
intelligence activities inside Iraq said Monday that it had
held meetings with the ex-CIA chief and State Department
officials.
Iraqi National Congress officials met with Woolsey in London
several weeks ago, group spokesman Sharif Ali Bin Al Hussein
said in Washington.
Al Hussein, who sits on the INC leadership council, said he
was not at the meeting and did not know what had been
discussed. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported
Saturday that the two sides talked about alleged links
between the Iraqi government and the attacks.
U.S. officials have blamed the attacks the World Trade
Center and Pentagon on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, saying
they have no hard evidence of an Iraqi role.
Woolsey said he visited the British capital and met with the
U.S. ambassador shortly after the attacks. He denied meeting
with the INC in London, but said he has met with them on
numerous occasions and that his law firm represents
them.
While declining to comment on reports that he has been asked
by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to look into
whether Iraq played a role in the attacks, Woolsey
acknowledged that he is currently serving on two government
panels, one for the Navy and one for the CIA.
"They all have asked me for provide advice from time to
time. I go looking for it if I don't have it,'' he said.
Wolfowitz has called for fighting a "broad, sustained''
campaign that includes strikes on Iraq.
The INC, an umbrella organization of Iraqi opposition groups
seeking to oust Saddam, wants the United States to fund its
activities inside Iraq, including intelligence gathering, Al
Hussein said.
The INC claims Iraqi defectors say the government directly
sponsors and trains terrorists. The United States has named
Iraq among the nations that sponsor terrorism.
The Bush administration recently boosted the intelligence
community's covert operations with more than $1 billion of
new funding. The INC, which received $6 million from the
administration in June, wants an estimated $22 million
annually from the United States.
Al Hussein said he and other members met with State
Department officials in recent days to discuss additional
funding.
There was no immediate State Department comment to al
Hussein's claims.
Woolsey said a state is probably involved in supply of
anthrax through the mail because of the multiple attacks and
use of finely grained powder. He said Iraq is the prime
suspect based on its history of robust biological and
chemical weapons programs.
"Creating this form of anthrax isn't easy. ... You need a
sophisticated individual, sophisticated equipment or both,"
he said." -
Yahoo News/AP
(10/23/01) [Wayback]
October 23, 2001 - Air Force General Richard Myers said the military has never thought of the scenario of terrorists hijacking planes and using them as missiles despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
"You hate to admit it, but we hadn't thought about this," Air Force Gen. Richard Myers said. - DoD 10/23/01
NORAD had drills of jets as weapons
"In
the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North
American Aerospace Defense Command conducted exercises
simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at the
time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into
targets and cause mass casualties.
One of the imagined targets was the World Trade Center. In
another exercise, jets performed a mock shootdown over the
Atlantic Ocean of a jet supposedly laden with chemical
poisons headed toward a target in the United States. In a
third scenario, the target was the Pentagon ó but
that drill was not run after Defense officials said it was
unrealistic, NORAD and Defense officials say." -
USA Today
(04/18/04)
(See also: 1998/99 - A Federal Report warned the executive branch that Osama bin Laden's terrorists might hijack an airliner and dive bomb it into the Pentagon or other government buildings; 1999 - NORAD starts conducting exercises in which airplanes are hijacked and crashed into targets which include the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; and April 2001 - NORAD planned to practice a scenario in which a terrorist group hijacks a plane and crashes it into the Pentagon)
October 24, 2001 - Afghanistan has huge strategic importance for the west as a corridor to the untapped fuel reserves in central Asia.
Route to riches
"As
the war in Afghanistan unfolds, there is frantic diplomatic
activity to ensure that any post-Taliban government will be
both democratic and pro-west. Hidden in this explosive
geo-political equation is the sensitive issue of securing
control and export of the region's vast oil and gas
reserves.
The Soviets estimated Afghanistan's proven and probable
natural gas reserves at 5 trillion cubic feet - enough for
the UK's requirement for two years - but this remains
largely untapped because of the country's civil war and poor
pipeline infrastructure.
More
importantly, according to the US government, "Afghanistan's
significance from an energy standpoint stems from its
geographical position as a potential transit route for oil
and natural gas exports from central Asia to the Arabian
Sea".
To the north of Afghanistan lies the Caspian and central
Asian region, one of the world's last great frontiers for
the oil industry due to its tremendous untapped reserves.
The US government believes that total oil reserves could be
270bn barrels. Total gas reserves could be 576 trillion
cubic feet. These dwarf the UK's proven reserves of 5bn
barrels of oil and 27 trillion cubic feet of natural
gas.
The reason oil is so attractive to the US - which imports
half of its oil - and the west, is for three reasons.
"Firstly it is non-Opec oil," says James Marriott, an oil
expert from Platform, an environmental NGO. "Opec has been
the bÍte-noire of the west since its inception in
1960. Secondly, these states are not within the Arab world
and thirdly, although they are Muslim, they are heavily
secularised."
Unocal,
the US company with a controversial history of investment in
Burma, has been trying to secure the Afghan route. To be
viable Unocal has made it clear that "construction of the
pipeline cannot begin until a recognised government is in
place in Kabul that has the confidence of governments,
lenders, and our company."
This, it can be argued, is precisely what Washington is now
trying to do. "Washington's attitude towards the Taliban has
been, in large part, a function of oil," argues Steve
Kretzmann, from the Institute for Policy Studies in the US.
"Before 1997, Washington refused to criticise and isolate
the Taliban because Kabul seemed to favour Unocal, to build
a proposed natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through
Afghanistan to the Pakistan coast."
In 1997, the Taliban signed an agreement that would allow a
proposed 890-mile, $2bn natural gas pipeline project called
Centgas led by Unocal to proceed. However by December 1998,
Unocal had pulled out citing turmoil in Afghanistan making
the project too risky.
" - Guardian (10/24/01)
The Great Gas Game; Who will run Caspian natural gas through Afghanistan? - Christian Science Monitor (10/25/01)
(See also: October 7, 2001 - U.S. invades Afghanistan; November 8, 2001 - A war for the pipelines?)
October
26, 2001 - Only a
month and a half after 9/11, the 342 page USA PATRIOT ACT is
signed into law in which civil liberty groups say it
violates the Constitution and fear it will endanger civil
liberties.
"...this legislation gives
law enforcement officials better tools to put an end to
financial counterfeiting, smuggling and money-laundering.
Secondly, it gives intelligence operations and criminal
operations the chance to operate not on separate tracks, but
to share vital information so necessary to disrupt a
terrorist attack before it occurs.
Surveillance of communications is another essential tool to
pursue and stop terrorists. The existing law was written in
the era of rotary telephones. This new law that I sign today
will allow surveillance of all communications used by
terrorists, including e-mails, the Internet, and cell
phones.
As of today, we'll be able to better meet the technological
challenges posed by this proliferation of communications
technology. Investigations are often slowed by limit on the
reach of federal search warrants.
Law enforcement agencies have to get a new warrant for each
new district they investigate, even when they're after the
same suspect. Under this new law, warrants are valid across
all districts and across all states. And, finally, the new
legislation greatly enhances the penalties that will fall on
terrorists or anyone who helps them.
This bill was carefully drafted and considered. Led by the
members of Congress on this stage, and those seated in the
audience, it was crafted with skill and care, determination
and a spirit of bipartisanship for which the entire nation
is grateful. This bill met with an overwhelming --
overwhelming agreement in Congress, because it upholds and
respects the civil liberties guaranteed by our
Constitution.
It is now my honor to sign into law the USA
Patriot Act of 2001."
-
White House
(10/26/01)
"The Uniting and
Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools
Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 is
a law in the United States. It was passed and signed into
law on October 26, 2001 in response to the September 11,
2001 Terrorist Attack.
The bill passed 98-1 in the United States Senate, and 356-66
in the United States House of Representatives; Senator Russ
Feingold (Democrat, Wisconsin) cast the Senate's lone
dissenting vote.
President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on October
26, 2001. Assistant attorney general Viet D. Dinh was the
chief architect of the act.
The USA PATRIOT Act is an extremely complex and lengthy
piece of legislation containing 1,016 sections and amending
over 15 federal statutes. Much of it incorporates previous
foreign intelligence acts particularly the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act. Amended statutes include laws
governing criminal procedure, computer fraud, foreign
intelligence, wiretapping, and immigration. Also contained
are provisions dealing with financial assistance to victims
of terrorism, increased benefits for public-safety workers
and consumer protection from fraudulent charitable
solicitations after an attack.
There has been strong criticism of the act on the grounds
that certain parts of it violate the Constitution and
endanger civil liberties, notably by the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU). (For instance (according to the
ACLU), the PATRIOT Act's permitting issuing warrants on
grounds lesser than those mandated by the Fourth Amendment,
probable cause, without question violates the plain language
of the Constitution, and some have noticed that these
warrants resemble the general warrants that were one reason
the colonists fought the American Revolution). Critics
allege that the act was passed without serious review amidst
a climate of fear and represents a reactionary agenda that
has little or nothing to do with the September 11th attacks,
pointing to the fact that the act has been around as
proposed legislation, in various forms, since well before
the attacks themselves occurred, and that some groups had
been unsuccessfully seeking its passage for a long time.
Many cities in the United States, including Eugene, Oregon
and Cambridge, Massachusetts have passed resolutions
condemning the Patriot Act for attacking civil liberties.
The city of Oakland, California is considering passing a
resolution that will bar city employees (including police
and librarians) from assisting or cooperating with any
Federal investigations under the PATRIOT Act that would
violate any civil liberties protected under the Bill of
Rights or United States Constitution. Arcata, California
became the first city to actually pass such a law. Pundits
question the legality of such a law, given the court
system's tendency to favor federal laws over local ones in,
for example, medical marijuana cases." -
Wikipedia
(See also: June 5, 2003 - John Ashcroft asks Congress to expand the Patriot Act)
October 30, 2001 - Hundreds of gold bars that had been stored in vaults under WTC 4 have been discovered by Ground Zero recovery workers in a delivery tunnel under WTC 5 that was being transported on the morning of September 11 by a 10-wheel truck that had been crushed along with several other cars by debris, yet no bodies were recovered during the recovery operation.
Cache of gold found at WTC; Two truckloads retrieved through a tunnel in rubble
"Workers
at Ground Zero unearthed last night a buried treasure of
gold, hidden for weeks under the ruins of the World Trade
Center.
As a small army of federal agents with shotguns and
automatic rifles stood guard, city cops and firefighters
packed two Brink's armored trucks with the lode, sources
said.
This is not a shocker, as it was rumored that as much as
$160 Billion in bullion was stored under the Trade Center.
Let's read on.
The sources said the gold was found in a delivery tunnel
under 5 World Trade Center.
"They are taking gold out of there right now," one source
said last night. "They've brought in extra cops."
It wasn't immediately clear how much gold was recovered last
night - or exactly how much was buried under the complex
after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia has said its vault
under 4 World Trade Center alone held more than $200 million
in gold and silver. Bank spokeswoman Pam Agnew didn't
immediately know if any of that gold was found last
night.
Other companies are believed to have lost untold gold and
valuables in the disaster.
For the last couple of days, construction workers - directed
by the feds - had been clearing a delivery tunnel that runs
under the complex.
Officials finally got to the gold through that tunnel
yesterday, after workers hauled out a 10-wheel truck,
several crushed cars and mounds of debris.
No bodies were recovered during the operation.
As workers inched closer to the gold yesterday, authorities
began restricting access to the north side of Ground Zero
and FBI and Secret Service agents joined cops and
firefighters at the site.
"If I tried to go down there, they would have shot me," said
a construction worker shooed away from the tunnel.
A handful of heavy-machinery operators and other workers,
under the watchful eyes of more than 100 armed officers,
built and graded a ramp into the delivery tunnel.
A small bulldozer knocked down a wall inside the tunnel, and
a Brink's armored truck drove in just before sunset.
It came out about 7 p.m. with the first load of gold,
sources said. A second truck entered the tunnel a short time
later and also was loaded with gold before leaving.
A handful of construction workers were held over from the
day shift, which ends at 7 p.m., to help.
"They sent most of us on our merry way," said one worker." -
NY
Daily News
(10/31/01) [Reprinted at:
sierratimes.com;
rense.com]
Crushed towers give up cache of gold ingots
"RECOVERY
workers at Ground Zero have discovered hundreds of gold
ingots, part of a billion dollar cache which was lost when
the twin towers fell.
Workers clearing rubble in a service tunnel underneath one
of the collapsed World Trade Centre buildings found
themselves surrounded by more than 100 armed FBI and secret
service personnel, who had been tipped off by the owners
where the gold was buried.
The collapsed buildings contained a number of vaults and
strongrooms, but the police were not saying who owned the
gold.
The Comex metals trading division of the New York Mercantile
Exchange kept 3,800 gold bars ó weighing 12 tonnes
and worth more than $100 million (£70 million) ó
in vaults in the buildingís basement. Comex also held
almost 800,000 ounces of gold there on behalf of others with
a value of about $220 million. It also held more than 102
million ounces of silver, worth $430 million.
The Bank of Nova Scotia, which kept gold in the Comex vault,
reported $200 million of gold lost in the wreckage. Comex
also held precious metals for Chase Manhattan Bank, the Bank
of New York and Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking.
The gold, which was discovered on Tuesday, was being
transported through the basement of the building on the
morning of September 11. Recovery workers reached a service
tunnel and discovered a ten-wheel lorry and a number of cars
which had been crushed by falling steel.
A temporary ramp was built to gain access to the tunnel and
a small bulldozer was used to break through a wall. Then a
team of police and firefighters arrived to put the gold into
an armoured bullion lorry. Other workers were told to make
themselves scarce. ìIf I tried to go down there they
would have shot me,î one said.
Eight years ago, when the World Trade Centre was bombed by
terrorists, more than $1 billion in gold was being kept in
the basement vaults, the property of the Kuwaiti Government.
The vaults withstood the blast.
At first police believed the terrorist attack was an
attempted gold robbery. Since then the amount of gold kept
under the World Trade Centre has been a carefully guarded
secret." -
Times Online
(11/01/01) [Archived at:
911research.wtc7.net]
Crushed towers give up gold cache - Irish Independent
- See also: WTC Attack - Some Serious Questions - Sierra Times (11/01/01)
(See also: February 26, 1993 - Police first believed '93 WTC attack was an attempted gold robbery; 9/11 - Over a billion dollars in gold and silver were stored in a vault under the WTC 4)
November 2001 - The U.S. offers a reward of $25 million for information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction of Osama Bin Laden, but doesn't even mention that he's wanted in connection with 9/11.
"MURDER OF U.S. NATIONALS
OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; CONSPIRACY TO MURDER U.S.
NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; ATTACK ON A FEDERAL
FACILITY RESULTING IN DEATH
USAMA BIN LADEN IS WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE AUGUST 7,
1998, BOMBINGS OF THE UNITED STATES EMBASSIES IN DAR ES
SALAAM, TANZANIA, AND NAIROBI, KENYA. THESE ATTACKS KILLED
OVER 200 PEOPLE. IN ADDITION, BIN LADEN IS A SUSPECT IN
OTHER TERRORIST ATTACKS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
The Rewards For Justice Program, United States Department of
State, is offering a reward of up to $25 million for
information leading directly to the apprehension or
conviction of Usama Bin Laden. An additional $2 million is
being offered through a program developed and funded by the
Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport
Association." -
FBI
(See also: December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies)
November 1, 2001 - President Bush signs Executive Order 13233 which limits public access to presidential records.
Bush's passion for secrecy
"In 2001, Bush issued an executive order rolling back the Presidential Records Act. The order shifts the burden of accessing presidential archives to the public; scholars could be forced to sue for memos and records of former presidencies. So even history may never know what Bush really intended when he pulled the wool over the people's eyes." - Boston Globe (12/21/04)
HISTORIANS, PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS SUE TO STOP BUSH ORDER
"Today the National Security Archive at George Washington University joined the American Historical Association (AHA) and other scholars and public interest groups in filing suit to stop implementation of President Bushís November 1st executive order 13,233 which limits public access to presidential records.
The
legal brief filed today in U.S. District Court in Washington
argues that the Bush executive order violates the
Presidential Records Act and asks for a declaratory judgment
preventing the Archivist of the United States from
implementing the order. The suit also requests the court to
compel release of 68,000 pages of records from former
President Reaganís files that have been withheld at
the direction of the Bush White House since January despite
the direct requirements of the Presidential Records Act.
ìThe Presidential Records Act of 1978 was meant to
shift power over White House documents from former
presidents to professional government archivists and
ultimately to the public,î commented National Security
Archive director Thomas Blanton. ìBut the Bush order
attempts to overturn the law, take the power back, and let
presidents past and present delay public access
indefinitely.î - National
Security Archives
(11/28/01)
EXECUTIVE ORDER 13233
"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to establish policies and procedures implementing section 2204 of title 44 of the United States Code with respect to constitutionally based privileges, including those that apply to Presidential records reflecting military, diplomatic, or national security secrets, Presidential communications, legal advice, legal work, or the deliberative processes of the President and the President's advisors, and to do so in a manner consistent with the Supreme Court's decisions in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U.S. 425 (1977), and other cases..." - White House (11/01/01), FAS (11/01/01)
(See also: March 25, 2003 - Bush signs Executive Order 13292 which allows for documents to be kept secret for up to 25 years and gives classification powers to the Vice President; September 21, 2004 - Number of documents classified by Bush increased over 50 percent since 2001)
November 7, 2001 - Osama bin Laden denies involvement with 9/11 in the Pakistani newspaper interview, The Dawn, and asked the U.S. to ìlive and let live,î a simple formula he says even a child can understand.
BIN LADEN DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN SEPTEMBER 11 AND ASKS U.S. TO ìLIVE AND LET LIVEî
"Osama
bin Laden, the man whom the U.S. considers the ìmost
wantedî man in the world, gave his first interview
since the September 11 attacks today and asked the U.S. -
currently engaged in massive military attacks on Afghanistan
- to ìlive and let live,î a simple formula he
says even a child can understand.
Bin Laden also went on to deny responsibility for the
September 11 attacks.
In a special interview for the Pakistani daily newspaper,
The Dawn, bin Laden spoke to Hamid Mir, editor of Pakistani
daily, Ausaf, at an undisclosed location near Kabul.
Mir was taken, blindfolded, in a jeep from Kabul on the
night of November 7 to a place he says was extremely cold
and where one could hear the sound of anti-aircraft guns
firing away.
Responding to a question on how killing is justified in the
light of Islamic teachings, bin Laden said, ìif an
enemy occupies a Muslim territory and uses common people as
human shield, then it is permitted to attack that
enemy.î
ìFor instance, if bandits barge into a home and hold
a child hostage,î he said, ìthen the child's
father can attack the bandits and in that attack.î Bin
Laden added that the U.S. and its allies had massacred
Muslims in Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir and Iraq and that
the Muslims have the right to attack America in
reprisal.
ìIslamic Shariíah [law] says Muslims
should not live in the land of the infidel
[unbeliever] for long. The September 11 attacks were
not targeted at women and children. The real targets were
America's icons of military and economic power,î said
bin Laden.
Bin Laden further explained, ìThe Holy Prophet
[Mohammad, peace be upon him] was against killing
women and children. When he saw a dead woman during a war,
he asked, ëWhy was she killed?í î
Mir stated to MSNBC earlier this morning that bin Laden
denied being responsible for the September 11 attacks and
said that the 19 men the U.S. has declared as hijackers and
perpetrators of the attacks were nothing more than
passengers.
In his interview, bin Laden declared that if the United
States used chemical or nuclear weapons against him, then he
may also respond with chemical and nuclear weapons.
ìWe have the weapons as deterrent,î he said,
while refusing to say where he got the weapons.
Bin Laden said that he has been disappointed by the stance
taken by Pakistani military President General Pervez
Musharraf. He said the Pakistani government should not have
surrendered to the demands of America. ìAmerica does
not have solid proof against us. It just has some surmises.
It is unjust to start bombing on the basis of those
surmises.î
ìHe [Musharraf] says that the majority is
with him,î added bin Laden. ìI say the majority
is against him. Bush has used the word
ëcrusadeí. This is a crusade declared by Bush.
It is no wisdom to barter off blood of Afghan brethren to
improve Pakistan's economy. He will be punished by the
Pakistani people and Allah.î
Mir wrote in The Dawn that ìOsama bin Laden is a man
at ease, even though he feels the Americans will eventually
kill him.î
Mir said that he first met with bin Laden in 1997 and then
again in 1998. He added that when he saw bin Laden this
time, he found him greatly changed.
ìPreviously he was very soft-spoken," the 36-year-old
Mir told Agence-France Press (AFP). "But now he speaks like
an experienced orator. He is very hard-hitting. He was in
high spirits. He's very healthy and he laughs a
lot.î
The world's most hunted man, bin Laden feels certain the
Americans will kill him sooner or later, according to Mir."
-
Islam Online
(11/10/01)
(See also: September 16, 2001 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in press release; September 28, 2001 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in 'Ummat' interview)
November 7, 2001 - US agents told to back off bin Ladens and Saudi Royals soon after George W Bush became president.
US agents told to back off bin Ladens
"The
BBC says that America's special agents backed away from the
bin Laden family soon after George W Bush became
president.
Agents were also told to back off the Saudi royals -
although that has all changed since September 11.
The findings come from documents obtained from the FBI
investigation of the US terror attacks by the Newsnight
programme.
The papers show that despite the myth that Osama is the
black sheep of the family, at least two other American-based
members of it are suspected of links with a possible
terrorist organisation.
Newsnight says it has uncovered a long history of shadowy
connections between the State Department, the CIA and the
Saudis.
The former head of the American visa bureau in Jeddah from
1987 to 1989, Michael Springman, told the programme: "In
Saudi Arabia I was repeatedly ordered by high-level State
Department officials to issue visas to unqualified
applicants.
"People who had no ties either to Saudi Arabia or to their
own country. I complained there. I complained here in
Washington to Main State, to the Inspector General and to
Diplomatic Security and I was ignored."
He added: "What I was doing was giving visas to terrorists -
recruited by the CIA and Osama bin Laden to come back to the
United States for training to be used in the war in
Afghanistan against the then Soviets."
The US allegedly wanted to keep the pro-American Saudi royal
family in control of the world's biggest oil spigot, even at
the price of turning a blind eye to any terrorist connection
- so long as America was safe.
The programme said the younger George Bush made his first
million with an oil company partly funded by the chief US
representative of Salem bin Laden, Osama's brother, who took
over as head of the family after his father Mohammed's death
in a plane crash in 1968." -
Ananova (11/07/01)
[Archived:
WayBack;
Reprinted:
Propaganda Matrix]
Has someone been sitting on the FBI?
"PALAST: I received a phone call from a high-placed member of a US intelligence agency. He tells me that while there's always been constraints on investigating Saudis, under George Bush it's gotten much worse. After the elections, the agencies were told to "back off" investigating the Bin Ladens and Saudi royals, and that angered agents. I'm told that since September 11th the policy has been reversed. FBI headquarters told us they could not comment on our findings. A spokesman said: "There are lots of things that only the intelligence community knows and that no-one else ought to know." - BBC (11/06/01)
(See also: 1977 - One of G.W. Bush's first business partners for his oil start up company was Osama Bin Laden's eldest brother)
November 8, 2001 - Suit: $100M Missing From WTC Brokerage
"More than $100 million
from accounts handled by a World Trade Center brokerage was
discovered missing in the days after the terrorist attack,
according to a lawsuit.
The suit brought by Dirk Karreman, of Queensland, Australia,
accuses First Equity Enterprises owner Andre Koudachev and
other executives of "spending or absconding (with the money)
to a presently unknown location."
The $108 million belongs to 1,400 investors in 14 countries,
according to several foreign news accounts. Karreman claims
he lost about $2 million and is seeking that amount in
compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive
damages.
According to court papers filed Wednesday, executives
informed a trader 11 days after the terrorist attack that
Koudachev had disappeared with the investors' money and
"they were never going to see him again." -
Washington Post/AP
(11/08/01)
November 8, 2001 - Some say the current military campaign in Afghanistan has a hidden objective - to revive a gas pipeline and open the way for U.S. companies to build further facilities to carry central Asian oil.
A war for the pipelines?
"Just
four years ago Taleban officials were at the Texas
headquarters of the US energy company Unocal to discuss
building a gas pipeline across Afghanistan to Pakistan.
The discussions did not get far and the project was
abandoned the following year after the US launched cruise
missile strikes against Afghanistan - part of an earlier
assault on Osama Bin Laden.
But some say the current military campaign has a hidden
objective - to revive that pipeline and open the way for US
companies to build further facilities to carry central Asian
oil.
If the US has an oil and energy agenda in its war on
terrorism, it is not in Central Asia.
Some oil experts have dismissed the notion of a hidden
proposal outright.
"There was discussion of the pipeline to carry gas to
Pakistan, but it was abandoned way before current events
because of political, economic and stability problems," said
Paul Stevens, professor of petroleum policy and economics at
Dundee University.
"So the idea that oil is now driving this war is totally
unrealistic. It would be more sensible to be considering a
pipeline on the moon."
But oil is nonetheless becoming an issue in this conflict in
another way: the growing concerns about the future security
of supplies from the world's key oil-producer, Saudi
Arabia.
In the home of Islam's two holiest places, there is
widespread sympathy for Osama bin Laden's aims as well as
opposition to the US strikes, and that has left the
traditionally pro-western royal family exposed.
But the crisis means Saudi Arabia is more important than
ever for the stability of world oil supplies.
Even before the events of 11 September, energy security was
a concern for President Bush.
Now the administration is considering moves such as boosting
America's strategic oil reserves.
And it could decide to give the go-ahead to controversial
plans to expand oil drilling in Alaska.
But even if this happens, this new oil won't be sufficient
to replace imports - which account for more than half of
America's needs.
"Its own drilling output is dwindling and Alaska wouldn't
replace it," said Leo Drollas, chief economist at the Centre
for Global Energy Studies.
"The key thing is Saudi's spare capacity - 51 per cent of
the world total - and that would be even more important if
the US decided to expand war to attack Iraq, thereby almost
inevitably leading to Baghdad suspending exports."
Such concerns have made the Bush administration very careful
in what it has said about the Saudi government, despite
anger in some US military and intelligence circles over
allegations that the monarchy turned a blind eye to
fundraising for Osama bin Laden within the kingdom.
"We're hostage to oil, that's as simple as you can put it.
We have let the economic considerations take precedence,"
said Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer with close links to
serving intelligence officials.
Some say this crisis should be the spur for the US and other
Western nations to make more use of renewable and other
energy sources, to reduce their reliance on oil.
But that will not happen overnight and in the meantime, the
more pessimistic say the US has to be ready for the
possibility of serious disruption to oil supplies because of
instability in Saudi Arabia.
One senior military figure who has served in top posts in
previous administrations told the BBC that if this were to
happen, the US would be prepared to send in its forces to
take control of the oil fields." - BBC
(10/08/01)
(See also: October 24, 2001 - Who will run Caspian natural gas through Afghanistan?; January 1, 2002 - Bush appoints PNAC member and former Unocal advisor Zalmay Khalilzad to be U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan)
November 9, 2001 - More than 200 Abortion clinics and advocacy groups received anthrax threat letters with a benign white powder inside that were signed by 'the Army of God' and the culprits obtained the account numbers of Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation to pay for the mailings.
Abortion clinics receive anthrax threats
"Family
planning clinics in the US have been sent letters containing
anthrax threats.
Officials of abortion-rights organisations say more than 200
clinics and advocacy organisations received letters .
The letters in Federal Express envelopes contained white
powder and were signed by 'the Army of God'.
Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority
Foundation, says it is the second such wave of threats -
more than 250 abortion clinics received similar letters last
month.
So far, none of the powder sent to the clinics has tested
positive for anthrax.
Among the messages in the latest batch of letters, according
to Smeal's group, were: "You've ignored our earlier
warnings. You've been exposed to the real thing.
High-quality."
Targeted groups included the Feminist Majority Foundation,
the Centre for Reproductive Law and Policy, Catholics for a
Free Choice, Advocates for Youth, and the American
Association of University Women.
Those who sent the letters somehow obtained the account
numbers of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the
National Abortion Federation to pay for the mailings,
according to officials of both organisations.
They say packages have been tracked to at least three
drop-off locations in Virginia and Philadelphia.
The targeted organisations called on Attorney General John
Ashcroft and the FBI to "outline publicly their intentions
to investigate and prosecute these acts"." -
Ananova (11/09/01)
[Archived:
WayBack]
November 10, 2001 - In a United Nations speech, Bush lashes out at conspiracy theories regarding the 9/11 attacks.
"We must speak the truth about terror. Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of 11 September - malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists themselves, away from the guilty." - United Nations [pg. 9] (11/12/01)
November 11, 2001 - Osama Bin Laden allegedly admits to Sept 11 attacks in an undisclosed videotape.
"It has been reported
Osama Bin Laden has admitted for the first time that his
al-Qaida network carried out the September 11 attacks.
The Sunday Telegraph in Britain says it has obtained
previously undisclosed video footage in which the Islamic
extremist confesses to the atrocities.
There have also been claims the video tape is forming the
centrepiece of evidence currently being compiled by Britain
and the US against the network.
The tape is due to be released on Wednesday." -
TCM Breaking News
(11/11/01)
(See also: September 16, 2001 - Osama Bin Laden releases a press statement denying he had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks; December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video showing a husky looking Osama bin Laden bragging about the attacks)
November 12, 2001 - American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 carrying 260 passengers, crashes in Queens, New York minutes after taking off at 9:14 am from JFK airport in which witnesses said the plane exploded in midair, the plane's tail and two engines broke off in midair, yet officials will later blame the crash on "pilot error."
American Airlines Flight 587 crashes in NYC
"An American Airlines flight with 260 people aboard crashed into a New York neighborhood three minutes into its flight Monday morning. Flight 587 took off at 9:14 a.m. Monday and within minutes was in flames in Queens, one of New York's five boroughs." - CNN (11/12/01)
Feds eye engines in air crash
"Investigators have not definitively ruled out terrorism in the crash American Airlines flight 587, but think some sort of engine failure caused the disaster, the official said.
The flight was an Airbus A300-600. The jet was propelled by General Electric engines that have been the subject of past National Transportation Safety Board recommendations.
New
York Gov. George Pataki said there were "inconclusive"
reports the pilot dumped fuel into Jamaica Bay, an
indication he may have known of a problem on board.
Officials said the Coast Guard had found no evidence of a
fuel slick in the waters off John F. Kennedy Airport, which
would indicate flight 587's pilot deliberately dumped fuel
from the aircraft as it headed toward earth.
Just before the crash, the Airbus broke up in mid-air. A
sizable portion of the vertical stabilizer from the tail
section landed in Jamaica Bay, while most of the fuselage
plunged into Rockaway. One engine landed at a gas station,
while other engine pieces crushed a boat parked in the
driveway of a home that caught fire.
Giuliani said the fuselage destroyed up to six houses and
severely damaged another six.
Pataki said the main crash site suggested the plane dropped
at a steep angle, if not vertically.
The cockpit voice recorder from American Airlines Flight 587
has been recovered and was flown to Washington for analysis,
the National Transportation and Safety Board said.
Investigators are still searching for the flight data
recorder that will give information about how the different
systems, including the engines, were performing.
The plane was en route to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
American Airlines said the plane was carrying 251 passengers
and nine crewmembers.
Witnesses:
Explosion and fireball
Moments after the plane took off, witnesses said they saw
what appeared to be an explosion. Parts of the plane began
breaking away and wreckage was found in at least four
locations, Giuliani said.
"I was in my kitchen ...and I saw the plane hit the house
behind my house," an eyewitness told CNN. "It was so low, I
was ducking almost. Then (there were) huge fireballs, and I
jumped out of the ... window of my house.
"It was like a bomb exploded."
Monday's crash site in Rockaway was home to many New York
city firefighters and police officers killed in the attack
on the World Trade Center, which prompted an emotional
response from the mayor.
Earlier, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said
there had been no unusual communications with the cockpit.
Asked if there were any indications of terrorism, Fleischer
said "We have not ruled anything in; we have not ruled
anything out." -
CNN
(11/12/01)
Fighter jets scrambled after crash
"Armed
F-15 Eagles were already patrolling the skies over New York
when flight 587 crashed, officials said.
The jets were scrambled as a precaution, said officials,
would not name the bases from which the aircraft were
launched.
The pilots are authorized to shoot down planes, including
U.S. commercial airliners, only under the most extreme of
circumstances if the planes pose a threat.
Combat air patrols have been maintained over New York,
Washington and other locations since September 11." -
CNN
(11/12/01)
Flight 587 crash was no accident
"American
Airlines Flight 587, which came apart in the air over Long
Island and crashed into homes in Rockaway, N.Y., was not an
accident.
The tail section and two engines do not fall off by
accident.
Like most Americans, I was relieved to hear the tragedy of
Flight 587 was not an act of terrorism. Now, failing any
contrary evidence, it seems most likely to have been an act
of sabotage. My confidence in the same government players
who have been feeding us bovine excrement since the downing
of TWA Flight 800 has dropped below the perception of
nanotechnology.
I recently had a caller to my WorldNetDaily syndicated talk
show who identified himself as a United Airlines pilot with
over 27-years experience. I asked him three questions:
1. Have you ever heard of a plane losing the tail section
like Flight 587? He said, "No."
2. Have you ever heard of a plane losing two engines like
Flight 587? He said, "No." Although he had heard of one
engine dropping off as a result of traumatic weight
shifting.
3. Have you ever heard (in all aviation history) of a
situation in which a modern aircraft has lost the tail and
two engines spontaneously? He said, "Absolutely not! And if
that were possible I'd stop flying."
Statistically, the probability of any commercial airplane
losing the tail section the way Flight 587 did is
incomprehensible. Statistically, the probability of any
commercial airplane losing two engines the way Flight 587
did is equally incomprehensible. To combine two monumentally
incomprehensible statistical anomalies doesn't just double
the improbability ñ there would be a compounded
geometric explosion of zeros following the decimal
point.
Flight 587 was not an accident." -
WorldNetDaily
(11/17/01)
NTSB blames pilot error for Flight 587 crash
"A pilot's side-to-side maneuvering of American Airlines Flight 587 was "unnecessary and excessive" and tore the jet apart in midair before it slammed into a neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., in 2001, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded Tuesday.
The crash was the second worst in U.S. history, killing all 260 people aboard and five others on the ground." - USA Today (10/26/04)
November 21, 2001 - Trade center death toll drops below 4,000
"The death toll from the
destruction of the World Trade Center has dropped
significantly, according to numbers released Wednesday by
Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He said authorities have come up with a
new way of reporting the numbers.
A total of 3,682 people are either confirmed dead or missing
and presumed dead, the mayor said.
Estimates of the missing and dead in the days after the
attacks had at one point exceeded 6,500, but by the end of
October had dropped to around 4,600." - CNN
(11/21/01)
November 21, 2001 - Three eyewitnesses claim alleged 9/11 hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi were at a Longboat Key, Florida hotel on Sept. 7, the day the media announced President Bush would be coming to the area on Sept. 11.
"If three eyewitnesses are correct, terrorist hijacker Mohamed Atta came to the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites-Longboat Key Sept. 7 ó the day the media announced President George W. Bush would be coming to the area Sept. 11 to speak at a Sarasota school. Atta may have been there to meet a second hijacker, Marwan Al-Shehhi." - Longboat Observer (11/21/01)
November 30, 2001 - Experts blame fire for the mysterious collapse of the WTC 7 on Sept. 11th which would make it the first steel high-rise building to collapse in history due to mostly fire.
Diesel suspected in 7
WTC collapse
"Almost lost in the chaos of the collapse of the World Trade
Center's twin towers is a mystery that under normal
circumstances would probably have captured the attention of
the world: the collapse of a nearby 47-story building, seven
hours after flaming debris from the towers rained down on
it, igniting what became an out-of-control fire.
The 2 million-square-foot building, 7 World Trade Center,
had suffered mightily from the fire, and had been wounded by
beams falling off the towers. But experts said no building
like it, a modern, steel-reinforced high-rise, had ever
collapsed because of an uncontrolled fire. They have been
trying to figure out exactly what occurred, and whether they
should be worried about other buildings like it around the
country.
Engineers and other experts have begun considering whether a
type of fuel stored inside the building created intensely
hot fires like those in the towers: diesel fuel intended to
run electricity generators in a power failure.
"Even though Building 7 didn't get much attention in the
media immediately, within the structural engineering
community, it's considered to be much more important to
understand," said William F. Baker, a partner in charge of
structural engineering at the architectural firm Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill.
Most of the three other buildings in the complex, 4, 5 and 6
World Trade, remained standing despite suffering damage of
all kinds, including fire. Still, experts concede, in a
hellish day, 7 World Trade might have sustained structural
injuries never envisioned in fire codes." -
Chicago Tribune
(11/30/01) [Archived:
WayBack Machine]
"WTC-7 was a 47-story building and became a two-story pile of rubble," Hamburger said, "making it the first major structure in the United States to collapse because of fire." - Stanford Report (12/03/01)
(See also: 9/11 - The 47-story WTC 7 mysteriously collapses)
December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies.
"Usama bin Laden has died
a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the
Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who
allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.
Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a
serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in
mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains.
The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably
in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi
belief.
About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda,
including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his
family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the
funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay
final tribute to the "great leader."
The Taliban source who claims to have seen bin Laden's face
before burial said "he looked pale ... but calm, relaxed and
confident."
Asked whether bin Laden had any feelings of remorse before
death, the source vehemently said "no." Instead, he said,
bin Laden was proud that he succeeded in his mission of
igniting awareness amongst Muslims about hegemonistic
designs and conspiracies of "pagans" against Islam. Bin
Laden, he said, held the view that the sacrifice of a few
hundred people in Afghanistan was nothing, as those who laid
their lives in creating an atmosphere of resistance will be
adequately rewarded by Almighty Allah.
When asked where bin Laden was buried, the source said, "I
am sure that like other places in Tora Bora, that particular
place too must have vanished." -
FOX News
(12/26/01)
"OSAMA bin Laden's
supporters yesterday issued a statement on the internet
saying he was dead.
The claims, repeated in the Al Bayan newspaper in the United
Arab Emirates, said that the al-Qaeda terror chief died when
the Americans bombed the Tora Bora mountains in
Afghanistan.
The details tally with dates of bombing missions in which US
intelligence experts suspected that he may have been
killed.
The newspaper's story, headlined, "Yes, Osama bin Laden is
dead but the Jihad will continue until Judgement Day'',
quotes witness Shahid Ayan saying he perished on December
10, 2001." -
Mirror UK
(09/14/02)
"Osama bin Laden is dead. The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the fugitive died in December and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, echoed the information." - New York Times (07/11/02) [Reprinted at: benadorassociates.com]
(See also: September 10, 2001 - Osama Bin Laden reportedly undergoes kidney dialysis at a Pakistani military hospital; December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video showing a husky looking Osama bin Laden bragging about the attacks; December 28, 2001 - US casts doubt on bin Laden's latest message, suggests he's already dead.; October 29, 2004 - Video of OBL admitting to attacks is released four days before election)
December 2001 - Northwest airlines gives passenger data to NASA.
"Northwest Airlines said
on Sunday it had acted appropriately and in line with
company policy when it provided passenger data for a U.S.
government air security study after the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks.
The airline's security department provided passenger
information for July, August, and September of 2001 for a
federal study aimed at improving aviation security but did
not violate its own privacy policies, Northwest said in a
statement.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday the Northwest gave
three months of passenger data from October through December
2001 to NASA's Ames Research Center and that federal records
showed more than 10 million passengers traveled with the
airline during that period." -
Washington Post/Reuters
(01/18/04)
ìIn the aftermath
of the September 11, 2001 tragedy, NASA had discussions with
Northwest Airlinesí Security Department regarding a
NASA research study to improve aviation security. In
December 2001, NASA requested that Northwestís
Security Department provide it with passenger name record
data from the period July, August, and September 2001 for
NASAís exclusive use in its research study. Northwest
Airlines agreed to provide that data.
On September 23, 2003, after a speech to the St. Paul
(Minn.) Rotary Club, Richard Anderson, Northwest Airlines
chief executive officer, responded to a reporterís
question regarding JetBlue Airwayís release of
passenger data to a private contractor. He said,
ìNorthwest Airlines will not share customer
information, as JetBlue Airways has.î
At the time Mr. Anderson answered this question, he had no
knowledge of the Northwest Security Departmentís
provision of passenger data for the NASA research study.
Northwest Airlinesí current policy is to not provide
passenger name record data to private contractors or federal
government agencies for use in aviation security research
projects. While Northwest Airlines still believes it would
be appropriate to provide such data to the U.S. Government
to advance aviation security, in light of current privacy
concerns, Northwest believes a data protection protocol
addressing privacy concerns should be developed before any
further aviation security research with passenger data is
conducted.î -
Northwest Airlines
(01/18/04)
December 4, 2001 - In a speech in Florida, Bush claims he saw one of the planes crash into the WTC live on a TV in his holding room at Booker Elementary school right before he goes into a classroom for his scheduled reading with 2nd graders and thinks the crash was just a "horrible accident."
THE PRESIDENT: "Thank you,
Jordan. Well, Jordan, you're not going to believe what state
I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in
Florida. And my Chief of Staff, Andy Card -- actually, I was
in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. I
was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I
saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on.
And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there's one
terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible
accident.
"But I was whisked off there, I didn't have much time to
think about it. And I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy
Card, my Chief of Staff, who is sitting over here, walked in
and said, 'A second plane has hit the tower, America is
under attack.'" - White
House
(12/04/01)
What Did Bush See and When Did He See It?
"Which is why, ever since the one-year anniversary, various Web citizens have been puzzling and arguing over President George W. Bush's recollection of the first moments of Sept. 11. E-mails and Web sites drew my attention to transcripts posted at www.whitehouse.gov.
Here is a section, verbatim: President Bush was at a town meeting in Florida in December, 2001. A third grader asked: "How did you feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?''
"THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Jordan. Well, Jordan, you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. (On Sept. 11, Bush was visiting the Booker Elementary School to promote literacy programs.) And my Chief of Staff, Andy Card - actually, I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower - the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident.
"But I was whisked off there, I didn't have much time to think about it. And I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my Chief of Staff, who is sitting over here, walked in and said, `A second plane has hit the tower, America is under attack.' ''
- (Posted at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011204-17.html)
Think about that. Bush's remark implies he saw the first plane hit the tower. But we all know that video of the first plane hitting did not surface until the next day. Could Bush have meant he saw the second plane hit - which many Americans witnessed? No, because he said that he was in the classroom when Card whispered in his ear that a second plane hit.
Was Bush's comment a simple mistake? Maybe. But here's what Bush said in January 2002 at a town meeting in Ontario, Calif. posted at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020105-3.html:
"Q: What was the first thing that went through your head when you heard that a plane crashed into the first building?''
"THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Well, I was sitting in a schoolhouse in Florida. I had gone down to tell my little brother what to do, and - just kidding, Jeb. (Laughter.) And - it's the mother in me. (Laughter.) Anyway, I was in the midst of learning about a reading program that works. . . . I was sitting there, and my Chief of Staff - well, first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. And something was wrong with the plane, or - anyway, I'm sitting there, listening to the briefing, and Andy Card came and said, `America is under attack.'
"And in the meantime, this teacher was going on about the curriculum, and I was thinking about what it meant for America to be under attack. It was an amazing thought. But I made up my mind that if America was under attack, we'd get them.''
Again, the question: How could the commander-in-chief have seen the plane fly into the first building - as it happened?
The Web has spun dozens of theories - some quite bizarre - about why Bush made these comments - you can get a sense of some at http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/completetimeline. You can also see a Booker School-produced video of Bush at the school at sites like: http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/2002/06/12_BookerLinks.html. It catches the moment when Card whispered in Bush's ear.
Perhaps Bush saw a replay of the second plane hitting the second tower, but simply remembers the hit as the first plane. Or maybe he did see the second plane hit - and then went on to read to the children. It's not conspiracy - just confusion. But it's confusion on a grand scale.
I ask again: Will you ever forget how you heard about Sept. 11? And what do you think of Bush's comments?
Read the transcripts and think about it." - Boston Herald (10/22/02)
(See also: January 5, 2002 - Bush again claims to have seen one of the hijacked planes crash into the WTC live on TV at the school he was at; Killtown's: Did Bush see the 2nd WTC plane crash?)
December 7, 2001 - U.S. focuses bombing runs over Tora Bora region, Osama bin Laden not there and might have slipped into Pakistan.
U.S., ANTI-TALIBAN FORCES FOCUS ON TORA BORA
"With
Kandahar in the hands of ethnic Pashtun tribes, the U.S. and
anti-Taliban factions are focusing their attack on a series
of caves in eastern Afghanistan where hundreds of al-Qaida
fighters may be hiding.
Witnesses reported numerous U.S. bombing runs over the Tora
Bora region south of Jalalabad. Al-Qaida troops reportedly
responded by firing mortars at hundreds of tribal forces
arrayed below the mountains.
Tribal leaders told reporters they are growing more
convinced that Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaida and
suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and
Washington, is in the area.
"We have intercepted radio messages from Kandahar to the
al-Qaida forces here, and they ask, 'How is the sheik?' The
reply is, 'The sheik is fine,'" Zein Huddin, one of the
commanders, told the Associated Press. He said he is
convinced "the sheik" is bin Laden.
Another tribal leader said his troops had seen someone
resembling bin Laden riding on horseback near the al-Qaida
front line.
As U.S. jets and anti-Taliban ground forces intensified
their assaults on the cave complex, most al-Qaida troops
reportedly left the larger base and moved higher into the
mountains.
By late Friday, the Northern Alliance said they had capture
the major caves in the region and that Osama bin Laden was
not there.
"Osama was not in Tora Bora during the past days of fighting
and if he had been, he has probably slipped into Pakistan,"
Northern Alliance spokesman Mohammad Habeel told
Reuters.
The U.S. said it would continue the hunt for bin Laden and
his associates. Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S.
operation in Afghanistan, said his forces were working to
make sure that any al-Qaida fighters that had been in Tora
Bora would not escape into neighboring Pakistan.
Tora Bora, which means "black dust," is the name of one of
the most influential anti-Soviet guerilla bases. It was
carved into the side of Ghree Kil mountain in the 1980s with
U.S. backing." -
PBS
(12/07/01)
Tora Bora falls, but no bin Laden
"A
US Special Forces team, sometimes hiding behind tinted
pickup truck windows, directs the operations of the Afghan
fighters and target US bombing runs. Together, they have
hammered Al Qaeda forces and cleared two major mountain
valleys near the Tora Bora cave complex.
But yesterday, after tribal fighters said they captured the
last of the Al Qaeda positions, killing more than 200
fighters and capturing 25, there was still no sign of the
world's most wanted terrorist - Osama bin Laden. And there
were far fewer fighters both captured and killed than were
originally thought present.
Could this be called the siege of Tora Bora, or was it
something more akin to a sieve? Was bin Laden here, did he
die in the bombing, or did he flee days ago?
Mr. Ghamsharik said he had no information on the whereabouts
of Mr. bin Laden. The Tora Bora region was the last major
pocket of Al Qaeda resistance in the country. And a cave
where alliance commanders had thought bin Laden might be
hiding was the last Al Qaeda holdout.
The Saudi, who had arrived in Jalalabad about six months
earlier with a $3 million contribution to the Al Qaeda
cause, said he drove in a truck with bin Laden from
Jalalabad toward Tora Bora on the night of Nov. 6.
He was present when bin Laden met with several chiefs of the
Ghilzi tribe, whose villages straddle the rugged border
between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. Some 400
Kalashnikovs were given as "gifts" to the Ghilzi tribesmen.
In exchange, the tribesmen promised to help smuggle Afghan
and Arab leaders to freedom in Pakistan. It was a quid pro
quo that the Ghilzis understood well.
When bin Laden finally decided that remaining inside the
embattled Tora Bora terror base had become too risky, he
used the same Ghilzi contacts to escape the siege.
"Most of us firmly believe that Osama left to Parachinar in
Pakistan days ago," says Abdul Wafi, a lieutenant for
Commander Ghamsharik. Eight Afghan Al Qaeda prisoners, who
surrendered Thursday night, gave similar accounts. They told
their captors that bin Laden had left Tora Bora almost two
weeks ago.
The battle for Tora Bora finally got under way a full week
after newspapers published accounts of bin Laden entering
Tora Bora with his closest aids." -
Christian Science Monitor
(12/17/01)
December 11, 2001 - Zacarias Moussaoui, dubbed the "20th hijacker", is indicted on six counts of conspiracy charges for the attacks on 9/11.
"U.S. Attorney General
John Ashcroft announced Tuesday what he said were the first
federal indictments directly related to the September 11
terror attacks.
Ashcroft said Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of
Moroccan descent, has been charged with conspiring with
Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to "murder thousands of people"
in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.
Moussaoui was arrested in Minnesota weeks before the attacks
on a passport violation charge and was in custody at the
time of the attacks. Authorities said he has long been
suspected of somehow being involved in the plot.
Ashcroft also named Ramzi bin al Shibh as a co-conspirator,
whom authorities said was a member of the al Qaeda Hamburg,
Germany, cell and who is alleged to have transferred funds
to Moussaoui.
Zacarias Moussaoui was indicted on six counts:
1) Conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism
2) Conspiracy to commit air piracy
3) Conspiracy to destroy aircraft
4) Conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction
5) Conspiracy to commit murder
6) Conspiracy to destroy property" -
CNN
(12/12/01)
"Mr Moussaoui, a French
citizen of Moroccan descent, is accused of conspiring with
Osama Bin Laden, the hijackers and others to commit the
attacks on the US. Prosecutors believe he was meant to
be the 20th hijacker and he is the only person charged over
the 11 September attacks.
The plane that crashed into a Pennsylvania field only had
four hijackers on board, while the other three planes
carried five." -
BBC
(04/23/02)
(See also: August 16, 2001 - Moussaoui is arrested by the FBI for an immigration violation; January 2, 2002 - Judge enters innocent plea on Moussaoui's behalf)
December 12, 2001 - FOX News: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? Part 1 of 4
(These items have since been removed from the FOX News web site.)
BRIT HUME, HOST: It has
been more than 16 years since a civilian working for the
Navy was charged with passing secrets to Israel. Jonathan
Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and is
serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders claimed
Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took
responsibility for his work.
Now Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe
that there are Israelis again very much engaged in spying in
and on the U.S., who may have known things they didn't tell
us before September 11. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron
has details in the first of a four-part series.
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Since September 11,
more than 60 Israelis have been arrested or detained, either
under the new patriot anti-terrorism law, or for immigration
violations. A handful of active Israeli military were among
those detained, according to investigators, who say some of
the detainees also failed polygraph questions when asked
about alleged surveillance activities against and in the
United States.
There is no indication that the Israelis were involved in
the 9-11 attacks, but investigators suspect that they
Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in
advance, and not shared it. A highly placed investigator
said there are "tie-ins." But when asked for details, he
flatly refused to describe them, saying, "evidence linking
these Israelis to 9-11 is classified. I cannot tell you
about evidence that has been gathered. It's classified
information."
Fox News has learned that one group of Israelis, spotted in
North Carolina recently, is suspected of keeping an
apartment in California to spy on a group of Arabs who the
United States is also investigating for links to terrorism.
Numerous classified documents obtained by Fox News indicate
that even prior to September 11, as many as 140 other
Israelis had been detained or arrested in a secretive and
sprawling investigation into suspected espionage by Israelis
in the United States.
Investigators from numerous government agencies are part of
a working group that's been compiling evidence since the mid
'90s. These documents detail hundreds of incidents in cities
and towns across the country that investigators say, "may
well be an organized intelligence gathering
activity."
The first part of the investigation focuses on Israelis who
say they are art students from the University of Jerusalem
and Bazala Academy. They repeatedly made contact with U.S.
government personnel, the report says, by saying they wanted
to sell cheap art or handiwork.
Documents say they, "targeted and penetrated military
bases." The DEA, FBI and dozens of government facilities,
and even secret offices and unlisted private homes of law
enforcement and intelligence personnel. The majority of
those questioned, "stated they served in military
intelligence, electronic surveillance intercept and or
explosive ordinance units."
Another part of the investigation has resulted in the
detention and arrests of dozens of Israelis at American mall
kiosks, where they've been selling toys called Puzzle Car
and Zoom Copter. Investigators suspect a front.
Shortly after The New York Times and Washington Post
reported the Israeli detentions last months, the carts began
vanishing. Zoom Copter's Web page says, "We are aware of the
situation caused by thousands of mall carts being closed at
the last minute. This in no way reflects the quality of the
toy or its salability. The problem lies in the operators'
business policies."
Why would Israelis spy in and on the U.S.? A general
accounting office investigation referred to Israel as
country A and said, "According to a U.S. intelligence
agency, the government of country A conducts the most
aggressive espionage operations against the U.S. of any U.S.
ally."
A defense intelligence report said Israel has a voracious
appetite for information and said, "the Israelis are
motivated by strong survival instincts which dictate every
possible facet of their political and economical policies.
It aggressively collects military and industrial technology
and the U.S. is a high priority target."
The document concludes: "Israel possesses the resources and
technical capability to achieve its collection
objectives."
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy here in Washington
issued a denial saying that any suggestion that Israelis are
spying in or on the U.S. is "simply not true." There are
other things to consider. And in the days ahead, we'll take
a look at the U.S. phone system and law enforcement's
methods for wiretaps. And an investigation that both have
been compromised by our friends overseas.
HUME: Carl, what about this question of advanced knowledge
of what was going to happen on 9-11? How clear are
investigators that some Israeli agents may have known
something?
CAMERON: It's very explosive information, obviously, and
there's a great deal of evidence that they say they have
collected ó none of it necessarily conclusive. It's
more when they put it all together. A bigger question, they
say, is how could they not have know? Almost a direct
quote.
HUME: Going into the fact that they were spying on some
Arabs, right?
CAMERON: Correct." - FOX (12/12/01) [Reprinted and video
clip at:
Information Clearinghouse]
(See also: 9/11 - Workers at Israeli company get text warnings about attacks 2 hours prior; 9/11 - Elite Israeli military commando who understands Arabic allegedly shot on Flight 11; 9/11 - Israeli spies caught cheering while filming themselves with the WTC burning in the background; 9/11 - Netanyahu says 9/11 attacks are " very good" for US/Israeli relations; December 13, 2001 - Israeli spy scandal, pt 2)
December 13, 2001 - The Pentagon releases a poor quality amateur video that was supposedly made on November 9, 2001 and "found" in a house in Afghanistan that shows a husky looking Osama bragging about the 9/11 attacks and who is wearing a gold ring -- and possible gold watch -- which are strictly forbidden in Islam, and the Bush Administration uses this video to confirm his guilt and vindicate US military action in Afghanistan.
Pentagon Releases Bin Laden Videotape, U.S. Officials say Tape Links Him to Sept. 11 Attacks
"The Pentagon has released a videotape of Osama bin Laden, that it says provides additional evidence that the al Qaeda leader is responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Administration officials say the tape shows bin Laden had specific knowledge of when and where those attacks would occur before they took place.
The videotape -- discovered in a private home in Jalalabad, Afghanistan -- shows a relaxed bin Laden discussing the attacks in Arabic with another man who appears to be a cleric. On the tape, bin Laden says he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of destruction caused at the World Trade Center; he only expected the top portion of the twin towers to collapse.
Bin Laden also indicates on the tape that he knew of the attacks in advance. "We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day," he says." - NPR (12/13/01) [Read transcript / original video / re-ordered video]
OSAMA BIN LADEN VIDEO TAPE
"RAY SUAREZ: The tape bore a label indicating it was made on November 9. Administration officials wouldn't reveal exactly how or when they got it, except to say it was found in a house in Jalalabad after anti-Taliban forces moved in. The US Government translated the Arabic conversation and provided subtitles. The tape, which has a home video quality, shows bin Laden sitting on the floor in a bare room in a house in Kandahar." - PBS/Online NewsHour (12/13/01)
The Bin Laden video: is this the clinching evidence? Some Arab opinion claims tape was doctored
"Osama
bin Laden laughs and boasts in a captured videotape released
by the Pentagon yesterday as he describes how he sent the
September 11 hijackers to their deaths without revealing
their mission until moments before they boarded the
planes.
In the most decisive evidence to date of the Saudi-born
fugitive's guilt in the murder of more than 3,000 people in
the World Trade Centre and Pentagon attacks, the 40-minute
camcorder tape shows Bin Laden telling a visiting Muslim
cleric, referred to only by the honorific title of sheikh,
details of the planning for the attacks and his delight at
the devastation they had caused.
The video, thought to have been made in early November, is
also likely to focus attention on Bin Laden's fervent
support among ultra-conservative Muslim clerics in Saudi
Arabia.
Before the tape was released, US officials had suggested
that at least some of the hijackers were not aware they were
going to die, but Bin Laden's remarks suggest that although
they did not know the details of the plan, they were aware
they would end up dead. It was a "martyrdom operation".
The tape's release may turn out to be an ironic death knell
for Bin Laden's terrorist career. In the aftermath of
September 11 he used carefully staged videos with great
effect to rally Muslim support for his cause. By contrast,
most analysts agreed that this amateur video was never
intended for broadcast, and is likely to puncture the Bin
Laden legend in the Islamic world.
In the course of the video, Bin Laden says he had been
informed of the timing of the attacks the previous Thursday,
September 6, and he makes it clear that the plan succeeded
beyond his expectations, with the collapse of the twin
towers.
"We calculated in advance the number of casualties from the
enemy who would be killed based on the position of the
tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would
be three or four floors," he says, illustrating the impact
with his hands, one palm vertical for the World Trade Centre
and one horizontal, a plane.
"I was the most optimistic of them all," he continues. "Due
to my experience in this field, I was thinking that the fire
from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of
the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and
all the floors above it only. This is all that we had hoped
for."
According to US officials, the tape was found in a house in
Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan, and handed to US officials
by a person or group the Pentagon has refused to identify.
President Bush first watched it at the end of November.
The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said Mr Bush had
held up the release of the tape so its authenticity could be
verified, and to make sure that no intelligence sources
would be jeopardised. The administration also brought in
independent translators to ensure that it would not be
accused of twisting the tape's interpretation.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said: "By boasting about
his involvement in the evil attacks, Bin Laden confirms his
guilt. This totally vindicates the action that we, the US
and the international coalition have taken in Afghanistan."
-
Guardian
(12/14/03)
Videotape simply confirms views
"That's why U.S. officials from President Bush on down were eager to release the grainy videotape that dominated the airwaves Thursday. They said they were convinced it would validate their belief that bin Laden is the linchpin of the terrorist network responsible for the historic attacks of Sept. 11.
U.S. officials and their coalition partners saw all the justification they needed for the war. "How could there be any doubt in anyone's mind any longer ... that he was the head of an organization that participated in this kind of evil?" asked Secretary of State Colin Powell. Sheik Abdullah bin Zaid al-Nahayan, a United Arab Emirates spokesman, said the tape confirms bin Laden's guilt "in a way that leaves no room for doubt."
The beginning of bin Laden's visit to the house comes last. Bin Laden is seen coming through the doorway, looming over everyone. He sits on gray flowered cushions on the floor of the small room. He's wearing American fatigues, a white turban and a long white scarf trailing down his left shoulder. On his right hand are a gold ring and a wristwatch." - USA Today (12/13/01)
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive - Usama Bin Laden
"DESCRIPTION
Remarks: Bin Laden is the leader of a terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda, "The Base". He is left-handed and walks with a cane." - FBI
Fatwa Bank
"Title of Fatwa: Men Wearing Gold-Plated Objects
Question of Fatwa: Dear Sheikh, I would like to know if Muslim men are permitted to wear golden rings, chains and so on. What about watches plated with gold and other similar objects?
First
of all, it is important to note that men are prohibited to
wear golden rings or anything that is made of gold, and this
prohibition extends to chains, watches and so on.
Concerning watches that are plated with gold, Muslim
scholars hold different views regarding them. Some say that
is allowed to use such things if the amount of gold is very
small. Anyhow, it is better to avoid such materials so as to
be safe from any doubtful matter.
The prohibition of gold for men includes pure gold, gold alloys, cut pieces, joined pieces, gold inlay, etc. As for gold-plating and gilding, some scholars are of the opinion that such articles are forbidden for men if it is possible to extract gold from them (by peeling or shaving, for example); if no gold can be extracted from it, then such items are permitted. Some scholars say that it is not permitted to wear an item which is wholly or mostly gold-plated, but if only a little part of it is gold-plated (like the hands of a watch, or the numerals, or the tiny points denoting numbers), then it is permitted. They say that the issue is its appearance, not its value: if the gold-plating is obvious and covers all the article, it is not permitted, because most people can not make the distinction between gold-plate and real gold, and some may follow this personís example and begin to wear pure gold." - Islam Online
- See video of "OBL" writing with his right hand and wearing a gold ring (Courtesy of Loose Change.) See stills of this video at: September11News.com
(See also: December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies; December 15, 2001 - Special effects experts say fake video would be easy to make; December 26, 2001 - A video of Osama bin Laden, looking thin and weak, is released and officials suggest the video may have been recorded in November; October 29, 2004 - Four days before the 2004 Presidential elections, a videotape is released of Osama bin Laden admitting publicly for the first time that he ordered the attacks of 9/11)
December 13, 2001 - FOX News: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? Part 2 of 4
(These items have since been removed from the FOX News web site.)
BRIT HUME, HOST: Last time
we reported on the approximately 60 Israelis who had been
detained in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorism
investigation. Carl Cameron reported that U.S. investigators
suspect that some of these Israelis were spying on Arabs in
this country, and may have turned up information on the
planned terrorist attacks back in September that was not
passed on.
Tonight, in the second of four reports on spying by Israelis
in the U.S., we learn about an Israeli-based private
communications company, for whom a half-dozen of those 60
detained suspects worked. American investigators fear
information generated by this firm may have fallen into the
wrong hands and had the effect of impeded the Sept. 11
terror inquiry. Here's Carl Cameron's second report.
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fox News
has learned that some American terrorist investigators fear
certain suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks may have managed to
stay ahead of them, by knowing who and when investigators
are calling on the telephone. How?
By obtaining and analyzing data that's generated every time
someone in the U.S. makes a call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What city and state, please?
CAMERON: Here's how the system works. Most directory
assistance calls, and virtually all call records and billing
in the U.S. are done for the phone companies by
Amdocs Ltd., an
Israeli-based private elecommunications company.
Amdocs has contracts with the 25 biggest phone companies in
America, and more worldwide. The White House and other
secure government phone lines are protected, but it is
virtually impossible to make a call on normal phones without
generating an Amdocs record of it.
In recent years, the FBI and other government agencies have
investigated Amdocs more than once. The firm has repeatedly
and adamantly denied any security breaches or wrongdoing.
But sources tell Fox News that in 1999, the super secret
national security agency, headquartered in northern
Maryland, issued what's called a Top Secret sensitive
compartmentalized information report, TS/SCI, warning that
records of calls in the United States were getting into
foreign hands ñ in Israel, in particular.
Investigators don't believe calls are being listened to, but
the data about who is calling whom and when is plenty
valuable in itself. An internal Amdocs memo to senior
company executives suggests just how Amdocs generated call
records could be used. ìWidespread data mining
techniques and algorithms.... combining both the properties
of the customer (e.g., credit rating) and properties of the
specific ëbehaviorÖ.íî Specific
behavior, such as who the customers are calling.
The Amdocs memo says the system should be used to prevent
phone fraud. But U.S. counterintelligence analysts say it
could also be used to spy through the phone system. Fox News
has learned that the N.S.A has held numerous classified
conferences to warn the F.B.I. and C.I.A. how Amdocs records
could be used. At one NSA briefing, a diagram by the Argon
national lab was used to show that if the phone records are
not secure, major security breaches are possible.
Another briefing document said, "It has become increasingly
apparent that systems and networks are vulnerable.ÖSuch
crimes always involve unauthorized persons, or persons who
exceed their authorization...citing on exploitable
vulnerabilities."
Those vulnerabilities are growing, because according to
another briefing, the U.S. relies too much on foreign
companies like Amdocs for high-tech equipment and software.
"Many factors have led to increased dependence on code
developed overseas.... We buy rather than train or develop
solutions."
U.S. intelligence does not believe the Israeli government is
involved in a misuse of information, and Amdocs insists that
its data is secure. What U.S. government officials are
worried about, however, is the possibility that Amdocs data
could get into the wrong hands, particularly organized
crime. And that would not be the first thing that such a
thing has happened. Fox News has documents of a 1997 drug
trafficking case in Los Angeles, in which telephone
information, the type that Amdocs collects, was used to
"completely compromise the communications of the FBI, the
Secret Service, the DEO and the LAPD."
We'll have that and a lot more in the days ahead ñ
Brit.
HUME: Carl, I want to take you back to your report last
night on those 60 Israelis who were detained in the
anti-terror investigation, and the suspicion that some
investigators have that they may have picked up information
on the 9/11 attacks ahead of time and not passed it on.
There was a report, you'll recall, that the Mossad, the
Israeli intelligence agency, did indeed send representatives
to the U.S. to warn, just before 9/11, that a major
terrorist attack was imminent. How does that leave room for
the lack of a warning?
CAMERON: I remember the report, Brit. We did it first
internationally right here on your show on the 14th. What
investigators are saying is that that warning from the
Mossad was nonspecific and general, and they believe that it
may have had something to do with the desire to protect what
are called sources and methods in the intelligence
community. The suspicion being, perhaps those sources and
methods were taking place right here in the United
States.
The question came up in select intelligence committee on
Capitol Hill today. They intend to look into what we
reported last night, and specifically that possibility
ñ Brit.
HUME: So in other words, the problem wasn't lack of a
warning, the problem was lack of useful details?
CAMERON: Quantity of information." - FOX (12/13/01)
[Reprinted and video clip at:
Information Clearinghouse]
(See also: Israeli spy scandal - Part1, Part 3)
December 14, 2001 - FOX News: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? Part 3 of 4
(These items have since been removed from the FOX News web site.)
HUME: Last time we
reported on an Israeli-based company called
Amdocs Ltd. that
generates the computerized records and billing data for
nearly every phone call made in America. As Carl Cameron
reported, U.S. investigators digging into the 9/11 terrorist
attacks fear that suspects may have been tipped off to what
they were doing by information leaking out of Amdocs.
In tonight's report, we learn that the concern about phone
security extends to another company, founded in Israel, that
provides the technology that the U.S. government uses for
electronic eavesdropping. Here is Carl Cameron's third
report.
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The
company is Comverse Infosys, a subsidiary of an Israeli-run
private telecommunications firm, with offices throughout the
U.S. It provides wiretapping equipment for law enforcement.
Here's how wiretapping works in the U.S.
Every time you make a call, it passes through the nation's
elaborate network of switchers and routers run by the phone
companies. Custom computers and software, made by companies
like Comverse, are tied into that network to intercept,
record and store the wiretapped calls, and at the same time
transmit them to investigators.
The manufacturers have continuing access to the computers so
they can service them and keep them free of glitches. This
process was authorized by the 1994 Communications Assistance
for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA. Senior government
officials have now told Fox News that while CALEA made
wiretapping easier, it has led to a system that is seriously
vulnerable to compromise, and may have undermined the whole
wiretapping system.
Indeed, Fox News has learned that Attorney General John
Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller were both warned
Oct. 18 in a hand-delivered letter from 15 local, state and
federal law enforcement officials, who complained that "law
enforcement's current electronic surveillance capabilities
are less effective today than they were at the time CALEA
was enacted."
Congress insists the equipment it installs is secure. But
the complaint about this system is that the wiretap computer
programs made by Comverse have, in effect, a back door
through which wiretaps themselves can be intercepted by
unauthorized parties.
Adding to the suspicions is the fact that in Israel,
Comverse works closely with the Israeli government, and
under special programs, gets reimbursed for up to 50 percent
of its research and development costs by the Israeli
Ministry of Industry and Trade. But investigators within the
DEA, INS and FBI have all told Fox News that to pursue or
even suggest Israeli spying through Comverse is considered
career suicide.
And sources say that while various F.B.I. inquiries into
Comverse have been conducted over the years, they've been
halted before the actual equipment has ever been thoroughly
tested for leaks. A 1999 F.C.C. document indicates several
government agencies expressed deep concerns that too many
unauthorized non-law enforcement personnel can access the
wiretap system. And the FBI's own nondescript office in
Chantilly, Virginia that actually oversees the CALEA
wiretapping program, is among the most agitated about the
threat.
But there is a bitter turf war internally at F.B.I. It is
the FBI's office in Quantico, Virginia, that has
jurisdiction over awarding contracts and buying intercept
equipment. And for years, they've thrown much of the
business to Comverse. A handful of former U.S. law
enforcement officials involved in awarding Comverse
government contracts over the years now work for the
company.
Numerous sources say some of those individuals were asked to
leave government service under what knowledgeable sources
call "troublesome circumstances" that remain under
administrative review within the Justice Department.
And what troubles investigators most, particularly in New
York, in the counter terrorism investigation of the World
Trade Center attack, is that on a number of cases, suspects
that they had sought to wiretap and survey immediately
changed their telecommunications processes. They started
acting much differently as soon as those supposedly secret
wiretaps went into place ñ Brit.
HUME: Carl, is there any reason to suspect in this instance
that the Israeli government is involved?
CAMERON: No, there's not. But there are growing instincts in
an awful lot of law enforcement officials in a variety of
agencies who suspect that it had begun compiling evidence,
and a highly classified investigation into that possibility
ñ Brit." - FOX (12/14/01) [Reprinted and video
clip at:
Information Clearinghouse]
(See also: Israeli spy scandal - Part 2, Part 4)
December 14, 2001 - President Bush says the video of Osama bin Laden discussing the attacks is a "devastating declaration of guilt" and scoffs at the notion that the tape might not be authentic.
President Bush: Tape a 'devastating declaration of guilt'
"President
Bush scoffed Friday at any suggestion that the videotape of
Osama bin Laden discussing the September 11 terrorist
attacks might not be authentic.
"It is preposterous for anybody to think that this tape is
doctored," he said during a brief photo opportunity with the
prime minister of Thailand. "That's just a feeble excuse to
provide weak support for an incredibly evil man."
Bush acknowledged he had mixed emotions about releasing it
to the public.
"I was hesitant to allow there to be a vivid reminder of
their loss and tragedy displaced on our TVs," he said. "On
the other hand, I knew that the tape would be a devastating
declaration of guilt for this evil person."
Barry
Pollack, an attorney, said the tape could be a key piece of
evidence if bin Laden is captured and brought to trial.
Pollack pointed to one sentence in the transcript in which
bin Laden said of the hijackers: "We asked each of them to
go to America."
Testimony would be needed from experts to say that it had
not been doctored, he added.
On
the streets of Cairo, Egypt, the reaction was different.
"There is still no proof in America, so they come up with
this tape," one man said.
"People will continue to be suspect of anything that is
American," he said. The United States should release more
information about how it got the tape, Kamal said.
Officials said the approximately hour-long tape, dated
November 9 and made in Kandahar, was found in a private
residence in Jalalabad, although they haven't explained
details of its discovery.
Asked Friday whether he preferred bin Laden's capture dead
or alive, Bush said it "doesn't matter to me," but vowed
that he would not escape." -
CNN
(12/14/01)
(See also: December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video of OBL bragging about 9/11; December 15, 2001 - Special effects experts say fake video would be easy to make)
December 14, 2001 - Sheik in bin Laden videotape may be Saudi cleric Ali Ben Said al-Ghamdi.
"U.S. officials said
Friday they believe the sheik seen on a videotape with Osama
bin Laden is Ali Ben Said al-Ghamdi, a former Islamic
theology professor once jailed by the Saudi government.
On the videotape released by the U.S. government Thursday,
the man thought to be al-Ghamdi flatters bin Laden and
repeatedly praises him for organizing the attacks on New
York and Washington. The man also suggests that he is aware
of a further attack planned before the end of the Muslim
holy month of Ramadan, which ends Sunday.
Unnamed Saudi officials quoted in The New York Times
describe al-Ghamdi as a militant cleric from the same tribe
as several of the aircraft hijackers of September 11 -- a
tribe from Saudi Arabia's Asir Province, north of the Saudi
border with Yemen.
Al-Ghamdi was fired from his teaching post in Saudi Arabia
in 1995 and briefly jailed. His detention was protested at
the time by a Saudi dissident group known as the Committee
for the Defense of Legitimate Rights, according to U.S.
officials.
The sheik appears to be paralyzed from the waist down, and
Saudi analysts said that may be a result of injuries
received in fighting either in Afghanistan or Chechnya.
Neither U.S. nor Saudi officials could confirm that,
however." -
CNN
(12/14/01)
(See also: December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video of OBL bragging about 9/11)
December 15, 2001 - Muslim doubts grow over authenticity of bin Laden tape, special effects experts say a fake video would be relatively easy to make.
US urged to detail origin of tape, As Muslim doubts grow over authenticity, special effects experts say fake would be relatively easy to make
"The
White House yesterday came under pressure to give more
details of the video which purports to show Osama bin Laden
admitting his part in the September 11 attacks.
There was growing doubt in the Muslim world about the
authenticity of the film while special effects experts said
computer technology made it possible to fake such a video.
Unless the US gives more information about how the tape was
found or provides more technological details about it,
doubts are bound to linger.
The 40-minute poor-quality tape, apparently shot with a
camcorder, shows Bin Laden telling a visiting Muslim cleric
details of the planning for the attack and his delight in
the carnage.
According to US officials the tape was found in a house in
Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan, and handed to the Pentagon
by an unnamed person or group. Officials say Mr Bush first
watched the tape in November but release was delayed until
it could be authenticated. Independent translators were used
to make sure the US could not be accused of twisting the
words of the men on the film.
But for many the explanation is too convenient. Some
opponents of the war theorise that the Bin Laden in the film
was a lookalike, others claim images of him had been
manipulated.
It was also pointed out that it was surprising that a man
with the ability to organise the attacks on America would be
naive enough to confess on tape. And some observers point
out that Bin Laden appears to be wearing a ring on his right
hand. In previous film of Bin Laden released by him, he has
worn no jewellery apart from a watch.
Riaz Durrani, a spokesman for Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, which
spearheaded pro-Taliban rallies in Pakistan, said: "This
videotape is not authentic. The Americans made it up after
failing to get any evidence against Osama."
Legal experts in the US said that prosecutors seeking to
bring Bin Laden to justice would certainly be keen to
produce the tape but might struggle to prove its
authenticity.
Henry Hingson, a former president of the national
association of criminal defence lawyers, said: "In this day
and age of digital wizardry, many things can be done to
alter its veracity."
On the other hand it would be foolish to fake a video
confession, knowing that if Bin Laden is ever tried his
defence team will have experts pore over the video.
Sean Broughton, director of the London-based production
company Smoke and Mirrors and one of Britain's leading
experts on visual effects, said it would be relatively easy
for a skilled professional to fake a video of Bin Laden.
The first step would be to transfer images shot on videotape
on to film tape. Distortion or "noise" and graininess would
be removed. A "morphing package" would then be used to
manipulate the image on a computer screen.
Using such a package it is possible to alter the subject's
mouth and expressions to fit in with whatever soundtrack is
desired. The final step is to put the "noise" and graininess
back on and transfer the doctored images on to
videotape.
In a recent advert that Smoke and Mirrors made for a US
insurance company, the technique was used to place Bill
Clinton's head on an actor's body for comic effect.
Mr Broughton said that while it would be relatively easy to
fake a Bin Laden video, to fool the top experts was much
more difficult.
Bob Crabtree, editor of the magazine Computer Video, said it
was impossible to judge whether the video was a fake without
more details of its source. "The US seems simply to have
asked the world to trust them that it is genuine."
Mr Bush said it was "preposterous for anybody to think this
tape was doctored".
He added: "Those who contend it's a farce or a fake are
hoping for the best about an evil man. This is Bin Laden
unedited. This is... the Bin Laden who murdered the people.
This is a man who sent innocent people to their death."
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, insisted there was "no
doubt it is the real thing"." -
Guardian
(12/15/01)
(See also: December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video of OBL bragging about 9/11; December 14, 2001 - Bush scoffs at notion that OBL tape is a fake)
December 15, 2001 - U.S. 'reasonably certain' it heard bin Laden radio call.
"The United States is
"reasonably certain" that one of the voices it has been
monitoring on battlefield radios in eastern Afghanistan is
that of Osama bin Laden, a U.S. official said Saturday.
U.S. officials have said publicly they do not know Bin
Laden's whereabouts, but they have said privately they
believe he is in the Tora Bora area." -
CNN (12/15/01)
(See also: December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies; April 26, 2002 - Rumsfeld says they haven't heard "anything hard" from Osama bin Laden since last December)
December 17, 2001 - FOX News: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? Part 4 of 4
(These items have since been removed from the FOX News web site.)
TONY SNOW, HOST: This
week, senior correspondent Carl Cameron has reported on a
longstanding government espionage investigation. Federal
officials this year have arrested or detained nearly 200
Israeli citizens suspected of belonging to an "organized
intelligence-gathering operation." The Bush administration
has deported most of those arrested after Sept. 11, although
some are in custody under the new anti-terrorism law.
Cameron also investigates the possibility that an Israeli
firm generated billing data that could be used for
intelligence purpose, and describes concerns that the
federal government's own wiretapping system may be
vulnerable. Tonight, in part four of the series, we'll learn
about the probable roots of the probe: a drug case that went
bad four years ago in L.A.
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Los
Angeles, 1997, a major local, state and federal drug
investigating sours. The suspects: Israeli organized crime
with operations in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Canada,
Israel and Egypt. The allegations: cocaine and ecstasy
trafficking, and sophisticated white-collar credit card and
computer fraud.
The problem: according to classified law enforcement
documents obtained by Fox News, the bad guys had the
copsí beepers, cell phones, even home phones under
surveillance. Some who did get caught admitted to having
hundreds of numbers and using them to avoid arrest.
"This compromised law enforcement communications between
LAPD detectives and other assigned law enforcement officers
working various aspects of the case. The organization
discovered communications between organized crime
intelligence division detectives, the FBI and the Secret
Service."
Shock spread from the DEA to the FBI in Washington, and then
the CIA. An investigation of the problem, according to law
enforcement documents, concluded, "The organization has
apparent extensive access to database systems to identify
pertinent personal and biographical information."
When investigators tried to find out where the information
might have come from, they looked at Amdocs, a publicly
traded firm based in Israel. Amdocs generates billing data
for virtually every call in America, and they do credit
checks. The company denies any leaks, but investigators
still fear that the firm's data is getting into the wrong
hands.
When investigators checked their own wiretapping system for
leaks, they grew concerned about potential vulnerabilities
in the computers that intercept, record and store the
wiretapped calls. A main contractor is
Comverse Infosys,
which works closely with the Israeli government, and under a
special grant program, is reimbursed for up to 50 percent of
its research and development costs by Israel's Ministry of
Industry and Trade.
Asked this week about another sprawling investigation and
the detention of 60 Israeli since Sept. 11, the Bush
administration treated the questions like hot potatoes.
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I would just
refer you to the Department of Justice with that. I'm not
familiar with the report.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm aware that some
Israeli citizens have been detained. With respect to why
they're being detained and the other aspects of your
question ñ whether it's because they're in
intelligence services, or what they were doing ñ I
will defer to the Department of Justice and the FBI to
answer that.
CAMERON: Beyond the 60 apprehended or detained, and many
deported since Sept. 11, another group of 140 Israeli
individuals have been arrested and detained in this year in
what government documents describe as "an organized
intelligence gathering operation," designed to "penetrate
government facilities." Most of those individuals said they
had served in the Israeli military, which is compulsory
there.
But they also had, most of them, intelligence expertise, and
either worked for Amdocs or other companies in Israel that
specialize in wiretapping. Earlier this week, the Israeli
embassy in Washington denied any spying against or in the
United States ñ Tony.
SNOW: Carl, we've heard the comments from Ari Fleischer and
Colin Powell. What are officials saying behind the
scenes?
CAMERON: Well, there's real pandemonium described at the
FBI, the DEA and the INS. A lot of these problems have been
well known to some investigators, many of who have
contributed to the reporting on this story. And what they
say is happening is supervisors and management are now going
back and collecting much of the information, because there's
tremendous pressure from the top levels of all of those
agencies to find out exactly what's going on.
At the DEA and the FBI already a variety of administration
reviews are under way, in addition to the investigation of
the phenomenon. They want to find out how it is all this has
come out, as well as be very careful because of the
explosive nature and very political ramifications of the
story itself ñ Tony." - FOX (12/17/01) [Reprinted
and video clip at:
Information Clearinghouse]
(See also: Israeli spy scandal - Part 3)
December 21, 2001- Bin Laden named 9 hijackers on tape; White House, Pentagon defend translation
"Osama bin Laden named
several of the alleged hijackers involved in the September
11 attacks on the United States, according to an independent
review of a videotape of a meeting in Afghanistan between
the suspected terrorist chief and supporters.
The translation and transcript released last week by the
Pentagon said bin Laden spoke about "Mohamed," which the
translators concluded was a reference to Mohamed Atta, who
was on board the first airliner to slam into New York City's
World Trade Center.
But experts who reviewed the tape for CNN said bin Laden
also named the brothers Nawaf al Hazmi and Salam al Hazmi,
cited by the Justice Department as hijackers on the plane
that crashed into the Pentagon. Later, bin Laden said that
four other hijackers were from the al Ghamdi tribe. He also
mentioned two others, both named al Shehri.
In doing so, bin Laden makes reference to nine hijackers,
not just one, according to the independent translator -- who
did not want to be identified -- and Ali Al-Ahmed, director
of the Saudi Institute, a nonprofit organization that works
for human rights for Saudis.
That finding would seem to bolster the government's view
that bin Laden was involved in the planning of the
hijackings.
But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday the latest
review wasn't all that startling. Bush administration
officials have long said they are convinced of bin Laden's
complicity in the attacks.
In cases where the four outside translators could not agree
on what was said, Rumsfeld said no translation was
provided.
Rumsfeld said the government was interested in reviewing
"every bit" of the tape for intelligence, but added there is
no value in providing a new, public transcript.
"From a public standpoint, as I stood up here and said, I
don't stand behind that," he said of the tape. "I don't
speak Arabic. And it's for everyone to make their own
judgment. If someone wants to get their own translator, they
can do it."
The tape, which the U.S. government said was found in a home
in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and had poor audio quality, was
believed to have been made in Kandahar on or around November
9
The translators hired by CNN to independently review the
tape concluded that significant elements of what bin Laden
said were left out of the translation provided by the
government.
"They missed the fact that there were fatwahs -- religious
edicts issued and played on Saudi government radio
supporting what happened in New York," said al-Ahmed.
"The translators missed a lot of things on the tape. They
missed the names of the hijackers -- two of them mentioned
by full names," he said. They missed that four hijackers
that come from the same tribe were also mentioned, not by
name, but by their tribe name, he added.
Al-Ahmed speculated the government might have reasons to
leave out parts of the translation.
"If you want to use the conspiracy theory, (one could) say
they didn't want to embarrass the Saudi government,"
Al-Ahmed said.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer dismissed the
suggestion that the U.S. government had deliberately
withheld information as "far-fetched."
Al-Ahmed and the independent translator -- who did not want
to be identified -- also said the original translation did
not include the names of three Saudi clerics who publicly
backed the attacks, according to the man speaking with bin
Laden on the tape. At least one of those three Saudi clerics
was possibly a government official.
According to al-Ahmed and the independent translator, there
was one other striking example of detail left out of the
government translation: bin Laden's description of exactly
what he said to others just before the radio announcement
was heard that the first of the attacks had succeeded.
They quote him as saying, "When you hear a breaking news
announcement on the radio, kneel immediately, and that means
they have hit the World Trade Center."
While the two claimed the information was left out, the two
did not dispute the overall message: That bin Laden had
known about the September 11 attacks ahead of time and
boasted about the death and destruction that resulted from
the attacks.
Fleischer said the administration, when it released the
tape, encouraged news organizations to hire independent
experts to assess the tape as well.
The new translation "doesn't change anything for the
president" because Bush already knew that bin Laden was
responsible for the attacks, Fleischer said." -
CNN
(12/21/01)
(See also: December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video showing a husky looking Osama bin Laden bragging about the attacks)
December 21, 2001 - Despite the worst attacks in America's history just happening three months ago and the anthrax attacks on America, Bush sums up 2001 as a "fabulous year" for himself and his wife Laura.
"But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." - White House (12/21/01)
December 26, 2001 - A video of Osama bin Laden, looking thin and weak, is released in which he praises the attacks, but doesn't admit to them and officials suggest the video may have been recorded in November.
"In a five-minute excerpt
of a new videotaped statement broadcast Wednesday, al Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden called the September 11 attacks
against the United States "blessed terror" and accused the
West of hating Islam.
The videotape, broadcast on the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera
television network, showed bin Laden dressed in his
now-familiar fatigues and seated in front of a brown curtain
with an automatic rifle propped next to him.
Al-Jazeera's managing director, Mohammed Jassim al-Ali, said
the 34-minute tape was mailed to the network from somewhere
in Pakistan and would be aired in its entirety at 1835 GMT
(1:35 p.m. ET) Thursday.
Network executives told CNN they do not know where or when
the videotape was recorded, despite bin Laden's reference in
the tape to it being made three months after September
11.
One clue might be this comment by bin Laden: "A few days
ago, the Americans started bombing the al Qaeda base in
Khost, and a stray bomb landed on a mosque while some elders
were praying."
The U.S. military reported a mosque was damaged during a
bombing run in Khost November 16.
He accused the United States of leading its own campaign of
terror against Muslims.
"We say our terror against America is blessed terror in
order to put an end to suppression, in order for the United
States to stop its support to Israel," bin Laden said.
The last previous release from bin Laden, broadcast over
Al-Jazeera, came November 3.
On December 13, the U.S. released a videotape it said was
found in a private Afghan home. The tape showed bin Laden
smiling and laughing as he recounted hearing about the
September 11 attacks that killed more than 3,000 people." -
CNN
(12/27/01)
(See also: December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies; December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video showing a husky looking Osama bin Laden bragging about the attacks; February 1, 2002 - CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen: Bin Laden has aged 'enormously')
December 28, 2001 - US casts doubt on bin Laden's latest message, suggests he's already dead.
"OSAMA BIN LADEN heaped
praise on 'the 19 students who shook the American empire' in
the September 11 attacks in a chilling video shown in full
last night by an Arab television station.
The recording was dismissed by the Bush administration
yesterday as sick propaganda possibly designed to mask the
fact the al-Qa'eda leader was already dead.
Reacting last night to the contention of the new Afghan
defence minister, Gen Rashid Dostum, that bin Laden had
fled, Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, said: "We get
six, seven, eight, 10, 12 conflicting reports every day.
I've stopped chasing them.
He added, to laughter from reporters at a Pentagon briefing:
"We do know of certainty that he is in Afghanistan or some
other country or dead."
American officials argued that bin Laden's frequent
references to US support for Israel were a bogus
justification for his terrorism because in the "dinner
party" tape of a private conversation, there was no mention
of the Middle East.
Bin Laden's voice was detected regularly until two weeks ago
by intelligence operatives monitoring radio transmissions in
Tora Bora, according to the Pentagon.
Since then, nothing has been heard from the al-Qa'eda leader
and President Bush has hinted in private that bin Laden's
silence could mean he has been killed.
White House aides said the video could have been made more
than a month ago as the only proof of timing was a reference
to the damage to a mosque in Khost taking place "a few days
ago".
That meant the filming took place after Nov 16, when a stray
bomb hit the mosque.
Bin Laden claimed in the video that he was speaking three
months after the September 11 attacks but Mr Bush's advisers
believe he would have held up a newspaper or other proof of
the date had this been the case.
Bin Laden's beard was much whiter than on Nov 3, the last
time al-Jazeera broadcast a video of him, and he appeared
much older than his 44 years. Lack of sunlight and a poor
diet seemed to have taken a toll on him.
Attention was also drawn to bin Laden's left arm, which hung
limply by his side while he gesticulated with his right. Bin
Laden is left-handed and there was speculation he may have
been injured in an American strike." -
Telegraph
(12/28/01)
(See also: December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies)
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