THREE OTHER CITIES WERE ON THE TERRORIST'S LIST: BOSTON, ATLANTA AND ARLINGTON, VA. THEY PLANNED TO HIT TALL BUILDINGS AND SPORTS ARENAS
FIGHTER JETS WERE SCRAMBLED TO CATCH THE HIGJACKED PLANES BUT THEY WERE TOO LATE TO HELP. NOTE THAT THERE ARE RUMOURS THAT THE PENNSYLVANIA 'WAS' SHOT DOWN, A VIDEO WAS TAKEN OF IT AND PUT ON THEE WEB BUT TAKEN QUICKLY DOWN
BIN LADEN HAS ABOUT 12,000 FIGHTING MEN, 2,500 OF WHICH LIVE IN THE U.S. THERE ARE APPROX. 30 - 50 SUICIDE KILLERS READY TO STRIKE. SEE: http://www.debka.com/
VIDEO : THE U.S. SUPPORTED THE JIHAD WITH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WHEN THEY WERE AGAINST THE RUSSIANS - from an interview conducted in 1997, the guy is the late historian, eqbal ahmad. he describes u.s. cia complicity in creating the global armed islamist movement, and the long term consequences of "proxy wars"...
Friday, September 14, 2001
At least one man claiming to be a pilot has been arrested and up to nine others detained in at least two of New York's three area airports, as officials probed the possibility some of those held were carrying knives, tickets booked for flights Tuesday morning and might be hijackers.
The arrest and detainments caused the immediate closure of all three of the city's airports, which had opened just hours earlier. Peter Yerkes, a spokesman for the Port Authority, which runs the airports, said planes in the air were being allowed to land, but no planes were allowed to take off. The hold went into effect shortly before 5 p.m.
A source knowledgable of the workings of the airline industry said the man arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport checked in sometime between noon and 4 p.m. The man was trying to board American Airlines flight 299 bound for San Jose.
The man had been scheduled for an earlier flight on Tuesday bound for Los Angeles, but that flight was canceled after the terrorist attack began on the World Trade Center, the source said. A subsequent strip search found the man had a pilot's certificate from a Florida school, the source said.
The FBI was already investigating whether an altercation at Kennedy Airport on Tuesday was linked to the World Trade Center explosion, a law enforcement source told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The Tuesday incident occurred about 9 a.m. -- the same time two hijacked jet airliners crashed into the World Trade Center towers, toppling the two 110-story buildings. The source said the FBI is investigating whether the incident may have been an aborted hijacking attempt.
After the plane was boarded, United Airlines officials told passengers that United Airlines Flight 23, bound for Los Angeles, had been cancelled. Three males traveling refused to disembark. The argument with a member of the flight crew became so heated that the crew member called airport security. But before security arrived, the men had vanished, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
On Thursday, according to the airline industry source, a man presented a ticket for Tuesday's Los Angeles flight at the counter -- but told airline employees that he had changed his mind and now wanted to travel to San Jose.
People at the ticket counter were suspicious, but they changed the ticket and alerted a supervisor who, in turn, notified Port Authority police. Authorities tracked the man to the gate, where he passed through security checks, including metal detectors. He was then stopped at the gate by security.
A short time later, three more men arrived at Kennedy and boarded American Airlines flight 133 to Los Angeles. Minutes later, law enforcement officers secretly boarded the plane using a catering cart, according to the industry source. The officers, with weapons drawn, then removed the three from the plane.
The industry source was unable to account for the other two people detained.
ABC News reported Thursday night that 10 people in all were detained trying to board flights at JFK and LaGuardia. They included nine men and one woman carrying knives, false identification cards, and flying licenses/certificate from Flight Safety International in Vero Beach, Fla. Four men and a woman were detained sometime before 5 p.m. at JFK, ABC said. Another five were detained between 7:30 and 8:15 p.m. at LaGuardia.
Early Friday, U.S. and Philippine authorities raided a hotel in the Philippines in connection with the attacks, Philippines President Gloria Arroyo said.
Arroyo, speaking at a Tokyo news conference, said the "joint action" was taken at the Bayview Hotel, which is near the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
The investigation was fueled by the discovery of the black box from United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania and the reception of a signal from the black box of the plane that crashed at the Pentagon.
Search crews will not be able to retrieve the black box at the Pentagon, which could contain information about the last minutes of American Airlines Flight 77, until they are able to enter the collapsed area of the Pentagon, where the plane's fuselage rests.
They were to begin moving into the collapsed area sometime Thursday night, said Arlington County Fire Capt. Scott McKay.
The Justice Department said Thursday that at least 18 hijackers were on the four planes that crashed; two planes with five and two with four. There are reports Thursday that up to 50 suspects have been identified, with 40 accounted for, many of them dead, and 10 missing.
Meanwhile, one person was arrested Thursday in connection with the attacks in Hamburg, Germany, Fox News has confirmed.
"Most of it today points to Usama bin Laden but the speculation at the end of the road is that he and his network were very much involved with Hezbollah, Fatah" and other terrorist organizations, Sen. Charles Grassley said.
FBI Searches Florida
On Wednesday, a Venice, Fla., man said FBI agents told him that two men who stayed in his home in July 2000 while training at a local flight school were two of the hijackers. Charlie Voss said agents identified the men as Amanullah Atta Mohammed and Marwan Alshehhi.
FBI agents "informed me that there were two individuals that were students at Huffman Aviation, my employer, and FBI told me they were involved in yesterday's tragedy," Voss said.
A former employee at a Florida flight school where some of the terrorists may have trained said Atta and Marwan had arrived from Germany in July 2000, reports say.
Federal agents had warrants to search the Florida homes of at least four men listed on the manifest of American Airlines Flight 11, The Miami Herald reported Thursday.
Some of the FBI agents sought information on a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, The News-Journal of Daytona Beach reported.
Citing two unidentified law enforcement sources, the newspaper reported that Waleed Al Shehri, 25, was listed as a passenger on the American Airlines flight that left Boston and crashed into the World Trade Center.
FBI agents removed student files from the Florida Flight Training Center, which is down the street from Huffman Aviation and offers the same type of pilot training. School owner Arne Kruithof would not give specific information about what the agents were seeking but said one of the files was related to a student from Tunisia.
Agents in Vero Beach asked Hank Habora about a neighbor, Amer Kamfar, 41. Kamfar was licensed as a flight engineer to fly turbojets and listed a Saudi Airlines post office box as his address in FAA records.
Federal agents were also interviewing Adnan Bukhari, who worked for Saudi Airlines and was in Vero Beach for more flight training.
Landlord Lonny Mixel said Thursday the tenant in the house adjacent to Bukhari's was Abdulrahman Alomari, who he said arrived in July 2000 and told him he was a commercial pilot from Saudi Arabia and was in Vero Beach to attend Flight Safety Academy.
Alomari said he would be out of the house by the end of August 2001. Then he pushed the date back until Sept. 3 and moved out that day.
Alomari told Mixel that he knew Bukhari.
Bukhari and his wife began renting a home from Paul Stimelind in June 2000, Stimelind said.
AP
The couple's lease was up Aug. 31, but Bukhari asked for a two-week extension, through Sept. 15.
Stimelind said Bukhari told him he would be leaving by Sept. 17.
"He never gave a reason," Stimelind said. "He said he had a couple of things to clear up."
Attorney General John Ashcroft said authorities believe the hijackers were professionally-trained pilots. At least one hijacker on each of the four planes was trained at a U.S. flight school, authorities say.
The London-based Ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Thursday that the Taliban forced an Afghan pilot and a retired Pakistani general to train 14 young Arab, Afghan and Pakistani radicals how to fly in Afghanistan.
The group was said to have left Afghanistan a year ago and to carry European passports.
Eyes on bin Laden
Officials were said to be focusing their efforts almost exclusively on bin Laden, who had recently warned of massive attacks against the United States.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that bin Laden was a "prime candidate" in the attacks. He denied, however, that bin Laden was a suspect.
Early evidence, including communications between bin Laden supporters discussing Tuesday's attacks, indicated the attacks were tied to the suspected terror mastermind.
Bin Laden congratulated the people who carried out the attacks but denied that he was involved, a Palestinian journalist said.
Authorities were also investigating a possible network of bin Laden supporters in Boston.
At least one set of hijackers thought to have ties to bin Laden is believed to have crossed from Canada en route to Boston, from where two of the deadly flights launched.
Officials confirmed a car containing an Arabic language flight manual was confiscated at Boston's Logan Airport.
Abu Dhabi Television in the United Arab Emirates reported that two men with Saudi Arabian passports and international drivers licenses issued in the UAE were linked to the Mitsubishi sedan.
Officials said authorities were gathering evidence about four terrorist cells that may have had prior involvement in earlier plots against the United States. Those include the USS Cole bombing in Yemen and the foiled attack on U.S. soil during the millennium celebrations.
Bin Laden is linked to both of these plots, as well as the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa.
Fox News has confirmed that 2 weeks ago, American Airlines issued a memo to their employees to be on alert for imposter pilots after burglars broke into flight crews' rooms in Rome, stealing uniforms and ID badges.
The New York Times reported Thursday that a group of five men had set up video cameras aimed at the Twin Towers prior to the attack on Tuesday, and were seen congratulating one another afterwards.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
By Jeremy Laurance
14 September 2001
As the second airliner slammed into the south tower of the World Trade Centre, Vice-President Dick Cheney was staring at a television in the White House. It was 9.03am. His Secret Service men grabbed him and hurried him down to the President's emergency operations centre, an underground bunker hardened to withstand a nuclear attack
The dramatic events were revealed by William Safire, the respected New York Times columnist who is close to the Republicans.
On the way to the bunker, Mr Cheney was told that another plane, or a helicopter loaded with explosives, was heading for the White House. He called the President in Florida and urged him not to come back to Washington immediately.
In the bunker, the Vice-President was joined by Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, and the Transportation Secretary, Norman Mineta, among others. They were told six commercial aircraft were unaccounted for, all of which were potential missiles. One had supposedly crashed in Kentucky (not true), and another in Pennsylvania (accurate; its passengers or crew, apparently struggling with the hijackers, may have saved the White House).
The airliner that had taken off at Dulles AA Flight 77 did a turn away from the White House and, at 9.45am, slammed into the Pentagon.
At about that time, accounts began coming into the White House bunker that four international flights were heading toward Washington over the Atlantic and another from Korea. Whether they were hostile could not be determined.
A threatening message received by the Secret Service that "Air Force One is next" was relayed to agents accompanying the President. The use of American codewords made the threat credible.
Karl Rove, the President's senior adviser, told Mr Safire: "When the President said 'I don't want some tinhorn terrorists keeping me out of Washington,' the Secret Service informed him the threat contained language showing the terrorists had knowledge of his procedures and whereabouts. It was decided to get airborne with a fighter escort."
After the President landed at an air force base in Louisiana and made a tape for broadcast, he was, in Mr Rove's words, "pretty antsy" about not being at the centre of command.
Mr Cheney, a former defence secretary, suggested Air Force One go to Offutt base in Nebraska, headquarters of the Strategic Air Command, where the President could convene the National Security Council.
The worry now must be that knowledge of codewords, presidential whereabouts and secret procedures indicates the terrorists may have a mole in the White House or the Secret Service, FBI, FAA or CIA. If so, America's war on terror may well have to start in its own front room.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man – Powell steps out of the shadows
By Rupert Cornwell
14 September 2001
"The President has never needed Colin more than now," said a senior administration official as a shocked and still only half-believing American government started to think about the global implications of the deadliest terrorist attack in modern history, and how the US should respond to it.
Even in such overwhelming tragic circumstances, George Bush's Secretary of State, Colin Powell, might be forgiven a small and bleak smile of satisfaction at those words. For most of the eight months since Mr Bush arrived in Washington, General Powell has more often than not appeared the odd man out; the dove among Republican hawks, the ignored multilateralist in a truculently unilateralist government.
He of all the Bush team was the one who bore the most hopes on his shoulders, both at home and abroad. He was the first African American secretary of state, who would bring the world's attention to its most neglected continent, Africa. He had lived out the most inspirational version of the American Dream imaginable – the child of Jamaican immigrants from the Bronx who became a decorated hero in Vietnam and then rose to the pinnacle of the military establishment.
He had been an exceptional soldier. More important, however, for America's allies, uncertain of how the untested Mr Bush would perform on the world stage, he was a known and trusted quantity – looked to as a 21st-century version of George Marshall, that earlier great soldier who became an even greater secretary of state.
General Powell has an aura which among recent leading US figures only Bill Clinton has rivalled. In 1995 the main topic in Washington was not the latest Clinton scandal, but whether General Powell would run against him for the White House the following year. In the event the possible first black president, largely at the urging of his wife, Alma, decided against. But he was still a towering figure. He once met George Bush back in 1997, when the President was Governor of Texas. "General, Texas is reporting for duty," Bush told him with a salute.
But thus far things haven't worked out like that. On most of the big issues he seemed in a minority of one.
His diplomatic doubts about missile defence were overruled, his overtures to North Korea and "smart sanctions" on Iraq were rebutted by the President. Where people asked, was Powell?
General Powell has had his successes to be sure, not least the revitalisation of morale at the State Department, which had been the invariable loser in struggles for money and influence on Capitol Hill and within successive administrations. This year entry applications at the State Department tripled from 12 months earlier, not least because of General Powell's personal prestige and presence. Otherwise though, his supporters were disappointed at his lack of impact.
Now his hour has come. In the aftermath of Tuesday's atrocities, the US is seeking to line up the world behind it. Coalition-building is the order of the hour – and no one is more honed in that skill than Colin Powell. Leaders, it is said, belong to one of two categories, warriors or conciliators. General Powell, for all his credentials in the first, more naturally belongs in the latter.
Until his roughing up in the early months of the new administration, General Powell was the man who worked whatever institution he was in to perfection. To succeed in politics – and in the scarcely less dangerous corridors of power in the Defence Department, his former stamping ground – you need to be a coalition-builder.
No one knows what sort of coalition Mr Bush is seeking. Will it be a diplomatic arrangement, with the Nato countries at its core but with the participation of countries in the Middle East and Russia? Or is the President after a more literal reconstruction of the Gulf War alliance, which General Powell himself helped put together, in which countries would allocate troops as part of a combined military mission? Either way General Powell, with his prestige, his contacts and his skills at cajoling, will be crucial if the net is to be cast as wide as Mr Bush would like.
Agency Has Had Green Light Since 1998, but Terrorist Proves Elusive
• The Post's Bob Woodward (transcript - 9/13/01)
• The Post's Kamran Khan Live Online in Afghanistan
By Bob Woodward and Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 14, 2001; Page A01
The CIA has been authorized since 1998 to use covert means to disrupt and preempt terrorist operations planned abroad by Saudi extremist Osama bin Laden under a directive signed by President Bill Clinton and reaffirmed by President Bush this year, according to government sources.
U.S. intelligence has observed the elusive multimillionaire, thought to be hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan, several times this year, one source said, adding that this holds out the prospect that military strikes could be directed against him.
But reliable intelligence on the whereabouts of bin Laden, who was fingered yesterday by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell as a prime suspect in Tuesday's suicide attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, has been rare, despite what one source called a "rich and active" surveillance program.
"We have a hell of a targeting problem," the source said, noting that Pentagon analysts are attempting to match current intelligence with military capabilities contained in contingency plans for striking terrorist groups. Those analysts, the source said, are trying to determine whether to attempt to strike bin Laden directly, or to target military action against his aides, training camps, or the broader global network known as al Qaeda, which has connections to other Middle East terrorist groups.
One well-placed source said last night that intelligence gathered since Tuesday's attacks indicates that bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan, and his other training centers throughout the Middle East, are now virtually empty. In addition, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has moved military equipment this week, as he frequently does when he anticipates U.S. military action, the source said.
The new information on bin Laden comes as the Pentagon reviews plans for what Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz described yesterday as a "broad and sustained" campaign against those responsible for Tuesday's attacks and any government found to have provided them sanctuary.
"I think one has to say it's not just simply a matter of capturing people and holding them accountable, but removing the sanctuaries, removing the support systems, ending states who sponsor terrorism," Wolfowitz said. "And that's why it has to be a broad and sustained campaign. I think one thing is clear -- you don't do it with just a single military strike, no matter how dramatic. You don't do it with just military forces alone, you do it with the full resources of the U.S. government."
The 1998 intelligence directives, known formally as presidential findings, were issued after terrorists linked by U.S. officials to bin Laden bombed U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They were designed to give CIA agents maximum capability to stop attacks planned by bin Laden's al Qaeda network against additional American targets, which agency officers succeeded in doing several times, the sources said.
The highly classified directives adhered to a legal ban on the assassination of foreign leaders but authorized lethal force for self-defense, which was used by the CIA in several cases when armed terrorists were stopped moments before they initiated attacks, sources said. Since 1998, CIA counterterrorist officers, working with "liaison" partners from foreign intelligence organizations, have succeeded in preempting al Qaeda attacks in Jordan, Egypt, Kenya and the Balkans, sources said.
CIA spokesman Bill Harlow declined comment yesterday on any aspect of the agency's counterterrorist operations.
Briefing reporters at the Pentagon, Wolfowitz said that military forces would receive a "significant" portion of a $40 billion supplemental appropriation now before Congress to pay for "some huge requirements to build up our military for the next year, maybe longer." Much of the supplemental funds, he said, are necessary "to prepare our armed forces for whatever the president may ask them to do. The costs mount rapidly, and they will mount more rapidly as this campaign develops."
Some of that funding could be used to call up more than 40,000 reservists to active duty, a proposal under consideration, according to a senior military official. Several thousand reservists with "specialized skills" could be called up in the next few days, the official said.
Many of the extra personnel are necessary to support combat air patrols over major metropolitan areas instituted this week by filling out the ranks of pilots, aviation maintenance crews and military air traffic controllers, the official said.
State authorities have enlisted about 10,000 National Guard troops to assist in civil recovery efforts in Washington and New York. But the Pentagon move represents the first significant federal call-up. Major U.S. military actions almost invariably require reservists to supplement regular troops.
Pentagon planners are focusing on starting any military campaign with sustained bombing raids, first against bin Laden sites in Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official said yesterday. If that proves ineffective, the plan would call for the bombing of targets associated with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia, which has harbored bin Laden for the past five years, the official said.
"That was what the president meant when he said the U.S. was prepared to retaliate against both those responsible for terrorism and those who harbor them," the official said.
U.S. attempts to negotiate with the Taliban earlier this year to have it expel bin Laden failed, another official said, adding: "We have moved past there. Now we are trying to affect their intentions."
Several military officers said the Pentagon is also considering an array of special forces operations aimed at suspected terrorist redoubts in Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Pakistan and Algeria. The Pentagon also is considering flying unmanned drones capable of lingering over terrorist camps for extended periods to provide almost continuous surveillance, one officer said.
"Things are different this time," another senior officer added. "I don't think the American people expect a light response."
One factor restraining previous military action was an emphasis on zero casualties, which has tended to constrain the Pentagon from employing ground troops and has led to a reliance on sea- or air-launched cruise missiles. Following the embassy bombings in 1998, the United States launched cruise missiles against sites in Afghanistan and Sudan thought to have ties to bin Laden. The attacks were criticized as largely ineffectual.
Bush and his advisers appear ready to consider the use of ground troops, particularly special forces, military officers said. "If you regard what happened as an act of war, as the president has said, your standard of application for what you do about it is different," said a four-star officer.
At the same time, military officials knowledgeable about the extent of Pentagon preparations characterized the planning as still in the early stage. They said no specific targets had been selected and no forces yet earmarked for action.
"It's really embryonic at this point," the four-star officer said.
Former CIA director R. James Woolsey said that Iraq would have multiple targets for military planners if it is conclusively demonstrated that Iraq "had a substantial hand" in Tuesday's attacks.
Should such evidence materialize, Woolsey said, "all instruments of power to the Iraqi state should be destroyed: the Republican Guard, everything associated with Saddam Hussein, everything associated with their weapons of mass destruction program."
Woolsey said he believes there is evidence suggesting that Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was an Iraqi intelligence agent. "If Iraq is behind the '93 attack, it's never really paid any price for that -- and we can start right there," he said. "But if it's behind the '93 attack, there's a good chance it's behind this one."
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
Report: terror plot in works 5 years
BOSTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Plans for the terror attacks on the United States may have been in the works for at least five years, the Boston Globe reported Friday.
The paper also said investigators have evidence indicating some of the hijackers took advantage of the U.S.'s good relations with Saudi Arabia to avoid close scrutiny in entering this country to take flight training in Florida.
At least five of the 10 men who hijacked two jet passenger planes after takeoff Tuesday from Boston's Logan International Airport and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York had ties to Saudi Arabia, an Arab ally, the Globe said.
One of them, Mohamed Atta, 33, who carried a Saudi passport, was able to get into the United States despite being implicated in a bus bombing in Israel in 1986. Atta and his cousin, Marwan Alshehri, 23, should have been denied visas because the two hijackers had been linked to Islamic extremists when they studied at the Technical University in Hamburg, Germany, the Globe said.
Flight instructors in Florida told the Globe it was common for students linked to Saudi Arabia to get visas to come to the United States for flying lessons with very little scrutiny or background checks by the State Department.
"They basically got a free pass," said Globe reporter Kevin Cullen.
Chuck Clapper, who owns Lantana Air charter in Lantana, Fla., said several Florida flight schools have contracts with Saudi Arabian Airlines, and some have exemptions from visa checks.
He told the Globe that while some Arab nationalities need to satisfy the State Department of their suitability to obtain flight instructions in the United States, "Saudis don't. Iranians do. Libyans do. But the Saudis are allies, so they don't."
Some of the hijackers had pilot licenses that indicated they were sponsored or employed by Saudi Arabian Airlines.
While Atta had a Saudi passport, two other hijackers, Waleed Alshehri and Marwan Alshehri, lived in Saudi Arabia before going to Florida last year for flight training.
The five hijackers on American Airlines Flight 11, the first to crash into the WTC Tuesday morning, were identified by sources to the Globe as Atta, Abdulrahman Alomari, Waleed Alshehri, Wail Alshehri, and Satam Al Suqami.
Those on United Airlines Flight 175, the second plane to crash, were identified as Fayez Ahmed, Ahmed Alghamdi, Hamza Alghamdi, Marwan Alshehri, and Mohaid Alshehri.
The Globe said Waleed Alshehri graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1997, and his arrival at the prestigious flight school the year before indicates the suicide mission was in the planning stages in 1996 if not earlier.
While officials so far have not been able to find concrete links between the hijackers and suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, he is considered by many to be the prime suspect in the plot.
The Globe also said evidence gathered by investigators in the Boston area indicates hijackers began casing Logan International Airport as much as a year ago.
At least eight of the hijackers are believed to have stayed in Boston area hotels the night before the attack, according to reports.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/14/america.under.attack/
(CNN) -- CNN has learned from federal law enforcement sources the names used by 18 hijackers who authorities believe commandeered four commercial airliners on Tuesday in a coordinated attack on two renowned symbols of American power.
Meanwhile, the Senate passed a resolution authorizing the president to use force to retaliate against the terrorist attacks. The vote was 98-0.
The suspected hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11, which hit the north tower of the World Trade Center, were Walid Al Shehri, Wail Alsheri aka Waleed Alsheri, Mohammad Atta, Aabdul Alomari and Satam Sugami.
Aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which hit the south tower of the World Trade Center, the suspected hijackers were Marawn Alshehhi, Fayez Ahmed, Mohald Alshehri, Hamza Al Ghamdi and Ahmed Al Ghamdi.
Those believed to be the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which hit the Pentagon, were Khalid Almihdhar, Majed Moqued, Nawaf Al Hazmi and Salem Al Hazmi.
The suspected hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania, were Ahmed Al Haznawi, Ahmed Alnami, Ziad Jarrah and Saeed Alghamdi.
Spellings are as they appear on federal documents and may vary from other spellings used.
Law enforcement sources told CNN that they are checking the names against lists of people associated with known terrorist groups -- and believe the lead group in Tuesday's attacks may have been Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
The chief of that group, the sources said, is a top lieutenant of suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden's group, Al Qaeda, is an umbrella group that reportedly coordinates the actions of smaller organizations.
(c) 9/14/01 Ian Williams Goddard
Yesterday (9/13/01) a Reuters report stated that the FBI cannot rule out that hijacked Flight 93 was shot down by a US fighter jet before it crashed in Pennsylvania. [1] Citing indications of a shoot down, the report states:
"Pennsylvania state police officials said on Thursday debris from the plane had been found up to 8 miles away [from the crash site] in a residential community where local media have quoted residents as speaking of a second plane in the area and burning debris falling from the sky."
Finding debris miles from the crash site indicates that the aircraft was disintegrating well before it hit the ground, as would be the case if the other plane witnesses saw shot it down. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the debris found miles from the crash site included "clothing, books, papers and what appeared to be human remains." [2] The secretary of defense says Flight 93 was not shot down.[3]
While major media have widely reported that a frantic 911 call was made from Flight 93 stating "We are being hijacked, We are being hijacked," a local Pennsylvania paper reports that the passenger also reported hearing an explosion and seeing smoke coming from the plane, consistent with a shoot down. As the Somerest, PA paper The Daily American states:
"[A] passenger locked in a bathroom aboard United Flight 93 called the 911 ... 'We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!' dispatch supervisor Glenn Cramer from Westmoreland County quoted the man from a transcript of the call. The man told dispatchers the plane 'was going down. He heard some sort of explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane and we lost contact with him,' Cramer said." [4]
So we have (1) witness accounts of a second plane in the area, (2) burning debris falling, (3) debris falling up to 8 miles from the crash site, (4) human remains falling miles from the crash site, and (5) reports from a passenger that an explosion was heard near the plane and white smoke was coming from the plane. Do these facts support early reports that Flight 93 was shot down by a US fighter jet? Could the the terrorists have smuggled in and detonated a bomb? At the least these facts appear to be inconsistent with the leading scenario being played in the media that the plane crashed as a result of a struggle for control on board the doomed flight.
Assuming the aircraft was shot down, under the circumstances -- other hijackers reasonably connected to the hijackers on Flight 93 using other jets to cause massive casualties on the ground -- it would be difficult to define the act unethical. Indeed, it would have arguably been an heroic act. However, the wrong would be lying to the public about what happened.
Date: 9/14/2001 8:07:09 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Ecotoday@aol.com
To: EcoRadio@aol.com
9.13.01
Call from US Carrier PROVES gov't had prior knowledge!!
[ -- Go to: www.inforadionet.com/ then select UNWO to HEAR THE CALL!]
A U.S. Navy serviceman stationed on an aircraft carrier called his family in the United States well PRIOR to Tuesday's horrendously catastrophic events in New York City and at the Pentagon, and ALERTED THEM that "something big" was about to go down in a major urban area!
Even MORE astounding: This person further noted that the carrier was being diverted from its previous mission and was heading directly to the East Coast as a result of the incident that was going to occur!
Beyond the merest shadow of a doubt this proves conclusively that elements of the U.S. government's intelligence and military sectors HAD PRIOR KNOWLEDGE that a massive act of terrorism/war was about to be unleashed against America!
THEY KNEW! And now WE KNOW THEY KNEW!!
What's more: given the fact that according to information made public in the New York times on Oct. 28, 1993 it is PROVEN one FBI agent John Anticev and bureau associates were HEAVILY involved with Islamic extremists in EVERY STAGE of the bombing of the World trade Center in 1993, providing funds, equipment, supplies, support and training to the actual perpetrators, we have EVERY REASON to believe the same state of affairs exists regarding Tuesday's mass atrocities in NYC and D.C.
The Bush Administration and the globalist/NWO factions it's fronting for NEEDED a massive, earthshaking act of terrorism unleashed upon a major U.S. metropolitan area, in order to generate and galvanize support among the people for implementation of martial law conditions within the territory of the United States, and DRASTIC, SEVERE curtailment of Constitutional rights and civil liberties.
The destruction, death and devastation wrought in New York and D.C. Tuesday are in EVERY WAY the BushMob's "burning of the Reichstag."
Feds KNEW what was coming -- and what's more, certain factions clearly assisted, aided and abetted the actual perpetrators of Tuesday's mass carnage.
AGAIN: We now have solid proof, with regard to the content of the call made by the Navy serviceman to his parents BEFORE Tuesday's events unfolded, that some elements of the federal government KNEW BEFOREHAND a major terrorist incident was going to occur!
The Bush Administration must be turned out NOW. They are in EVERY WAY RESPONSIBLE!
_____
EcoNews Service: Always online for Ecology, Consciousness, and Universal Exopolitics
EcoNews: http://www.ecologynews.com
Email: econews@ecologynews.com
Vancouver, BC V6M1V8
Date: 9/14/2001 9:46:57 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: hogoddy@sprynet.com (Tirjah)
Reply-to: earthchanges@yahoogroups.com
Osama bin Laden, whose funds were inherited from his father, Sheikh bin Laden's BCCI investments, has been operating out of Afghanistan since he was established as a conduit for CIA funds in the 1980's. "Afghanistan was by far the biggest; it was, in fact, the biggest CIA operationof all time, both in terms of dollars spent ($5-$6 billion) and personnel involved..." from the book The CIA's Greatest Hits.
James R. Bath, friend and neighbor of George W. Bush, was used as a cash funnel from Osama bin Laden's rich father, Sheikh bin Laden, to set George W. Bush up in business, according to reputable sources from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
The connection between GW Bush, the bin Laden family, and the Bank Commerce Credit International (BCCI) is well documented. The excerpts from the books and news articles are supplemented by the links at the bottom of the page to the cash flow charts of the bin Laden-backed BCCI money which was funneled into the Bush family in return for favors. Just click on the links at the bottom of the page to see the flow charts and use the back and forward keys on the screen to return to this page where you can then access the next flow chart link.
"Bath--who made his fortune by investing money for Mahfouz and another BCCI-connected Saudi, Sheikh bin-Laden--...was an original investor in George Bush Jr.'s oil exploration company..." from The Outlaw Bank, page 229.
"Bath provided financing to George W. Bush, the future president's eldest son, when he went into the oil business..." from False Profits, page 365.
"Bath told me he was in the CIA...he had been recruited by George Bush himself 1n 1976 when Bush was director of the agency...Bath and George, Jr. were pals and flew together in the same Air National Guard unit, and Bath lived down the street from the Bush family when George, Sr. was living in Houston...he became representative for Sheikh Khalid bin-Mafouz...one of the richest men in the world, and he was a controlling shareholder in...BCCI..." from The Outlaw Bank, page 228.
"BCCI was charged with laundering drug money..." from False Profits, page 433.
"During George Bush's tenure as CIA director, the agency was allegedly involved in a very curious business deal with James R. Bath, a Texas businessman who is a friend and sometime financial backer of one of Bush's sons (George Bush, Jr.). Bath was also a business associate of Khalid bin Mafouze and an important BCCI insider."
DIAGRAM OF BIN LADEN MONEY SENT TO GW BUSH THROUGH JAMES R. BATH:
http://postcardmaker.com/user_images/UPPISU.gif
NOTE: This chart leaves out the Rockerfeller connection of Osama bin Laden's daughter Shelley to the Rockerfeller family. All of his money goes through her bank accounts.
"...BCCI would make payments to key officials, sometimes in suitcases filled with cash. As BCCI officer Abdur Askhia stated in interviews tithe Subcommittee staff: Abedi's philosophy was to appeal to every sector. President Carter's main thing was charity, so he gave Carter charity. Pakistani President Zia's brother in law needed a job, he got a job. Bangladeshi president Ashraf's mistress needed a job, she got a job. Admission of your son to a top college, he would arrange it somehow. There was a world wide list of people who were in the payoff of BCCI...". from United States Senate Subcommittee Report on Bank Credit Commerce International, 1992--the Kerry Committee.
Superpower vs. superpower
The war in Afghanistan was not a tribal hill feud; it was the stage for one of the last major stand-offs between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The Americans at that time had the same goals as bin Ladin's mujahedin--the ousting of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. In what was hailed at the time as one of its most successful covert operations, America's Central Intelligence Agency launched a $500 million-per-year campaign to arm and train the impoverished and outgunned mujahedin guerrillas to fight the Soviet Union. The most promising guerilla leaders were sought out and "sponsored" by the CIA. U.S. official sources are understandably vague on the question of whether Osama bin Ladin was one of the CIA's "chosen" at that time. Bin Ladin's group was one of seven main mujahedin factions. It is estimated that a significant quantity of high tech American weapons, including "stinger" anti-aircraft missiles, made their way into his arsenal. The majority of them are reported to be still there.
CIA and Terrorism
The CIA also assisted and contributed to terrorist organizations, which participated in many similar activities. They gave weaponry to counterrevolutionaries in Cuba.
Things did not stop after the fist few years. Until the end of the 1960s, the CIA continued aiding terrorist attacks and bombings. They also kept trying to kill Fidel Castro.
In 1976, a CIA operative and Cuban exile, Orlando Bosch, was arrested in Venezuela for bombing a Cuban airplane, killing 73 people. He escaped from prison and was pardoned many years later by President Bush.
After that, the CIA continued to support many exile terrorist organizations. They have killed many more people, as they do not value human life.
Date: 9/14/2001 6:41:08 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: dghprobe3@aol.com
Anybody remember the character Scar in the movie "The Lion King"?
He set up a terrible disaster, not unlike the World Trade Center massacre. Then he turned around and made out like he was the "good guy." And NO ONE suspected he was actually responsible for the disaster.
By the end of the movie, the truth about Scar's duplicity finally came out. Even his hyenas wouldn't help him anymore.
It took about 40 years for the truth about Pearl Harbor to come out. I hope it doesn't take that long for the truth about this current apparently manipulated crisis to come out.
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,46852,00.html
Senate OKs FBI Net Spying
By Declan McCullagh
12:55 p.m. Sep. 14, 2001 PDT
WASHINGTON -- FBI agents soon may be able to spy on Internet users legally without a court order.
On Thursday evening, two days after the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, the Senate approved the "Combating Terrorism Act of 2001," which enhances police wiretap powers and permits monitoring in more situations.
The measure, proposed by Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Dianne Feinstein (D-California), says any U.S. attorney or state attorney general can order the installation of the FBI's Carnivore surveillance system. Previously, there were stiffer restrictions on Carnivore and other Internet surveillance techniques.
Its bipartisan sponsors argue that such laws are necessary to thwart terrorism. "It is essential that we give our law enforcement authorities every possible tool to search out and bring to justice those individuals who have brought such indiscriminate death into our backyard," Hatch said during the debate on the Senate floor.
Thursday's vote comes as the nation's capital is reeling from the catastrophes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and politicians are vowing to do whatever is necessary to preserve the safety of Americans.
This week, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) called for restrictions on privacy-protecting encryption products, and Carnivore's use appears on the rise. In England, government officials have asked phone companies and Internet providers to collect and record all their users' communications -- in case the massive accumulation of data might yield clues about Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
Under the Combating Terrorism Act, prosecutors could authorize surveillance for 48-hour periods without a judge's approval.
Warrantless surveillance appears to be limited to the addresses of websites visited, the names and addresses of e-mail correspondents, and so on, and is not intended to include the contents of communications. But the legislation would cover URLs, which include information such as what Web pages you're visiting and what terms you type in when visiting search engines.
Circumstances that don't require court orders include an "immediate threat to the national security interests of the United States, (an) immediate threat to public health or safety or an attack on the integrity or availability of a protected computer." That covers most computer hacking offenses.
During Thursday's floor debate, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), head of the Judiciary committee, suggested that the bill went far beyond merely thwarting terrorism and could endanger Americans' privacy. He also said he had a chance to read the Combating Terrorism Act just 30 minutes before the floor debate began.
"Maybe the Senate wants to just go ahead and adopt new abilities to wiretap our citizens," Leahy said. "Maybe they want to adopt new abilities to go into people's computers. Maybe that will make us feel safer.
Maybe. And maybe what the terrorists have done made us a little bit less safe. Maybe they have increased Big Brother in this country."
By voice vote, the Senate attached the Combating Terrorism Act to an annual spending bill that funds the Commerce, Justice and State departments for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, then unanimously approved it.
Since the House has not reviewed this version of the appropriations bill, a conference committee will be created to work out the differences.
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), one of the co-sponsors, said the Combating Terrorism Act would give former FBI Director Louis Freeh what he had lobbied for years ago: "These are the kinds of things that law enforcement has asked us for. This combination is relatively modest in comparison with the kind of terrorist attack we have just suffered."
"Experts in terrorism have been telling us for a long time and the director of the FBI has been telling us (to make) a few changes in the law that make it easier for our law enforcement people to do their job," Kyl said.
It's unclear what day-to-day effects the Combating Terrorism Act would have on prosecutors and Internet users. Some Carnivore installations apparently already take place under emergency wiretap authority, and some civil liberties experts say part of this measure would give that practice stronger legal footing.
"One of the key issues that have surrounded the use of Carnivore is being addressed by the Senate in a late-night session during a national emergency," says David Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
A source close to the Senate Judiciary committee pointed out that the wording of the Combating Terrorism Act is so loose -- the no-court-order-required language covers "routing" and "addressing" data -- that it's unclear what its drafters intended. The Justice Department had requested similar legislation last year.
"Nobody really knows what routing and addressing information is.... If you're putting in addressing information and routing information, you may not just get (From: lines of e-mail messages), you might also get content," the source said.
The Combating Terrorism Act also expands the list of criminal offenses for which traditional, court-ordered wiretaps can be sought to explicitly include terrorism and computer hacking.
Other portions include assessing how prepared the National Guard is to respond to weapons of mass destruction, handing the CIA more flexibility in recruiting informants and improving the storage of U.S. "biological pathogens."
Bin Laden’s Scattered Legions
14 September: Al Qaeda (“the Base”), the militant Islamic movement the Saudi terrorist tycoon Osama Bin Laden founded in 1990, is estimated by DEBKAfile’s terror experts to number no more than 12,000 fighting men in all. They are scattered round the world, mainly in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Chechenya, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgistan, Tadjikistan and Lebanon. Some 2,500 live in the United States, many of them US nationals, counting also members of Al Qaeda’s fraternal terrorist group, the fundamentalist Egyptian Jihad Islami. Many are “Afghan Arabs” who fought with Bin Laden against the Russians in Afghanistan in the eighties.
Either involved in local conflicts, like the Balkans, or organized as a sort of international rapid strike force for terror, Bin Laden moves his troops from site to site as needed, usually by chartered commercial flights. Together with reserves, he can field some 17,000 Islamic militants to pursue what he conceives as his mission: to defeat the United States and its dominant influence as a world superpower. Most Bin Laden operations are large-scale yet precisely pinpointed to achieve that end.
His annual operational budget is estimated as $125 million, which comes out of revenues from family-owned companies. His relatives are close to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. So as to save them and the Saudi ruler embarrassment, he has invested his stock in front companies registered in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Most of his investments are in satellite networks and cell phone companies.
Bin Laden is the first terrorist chief to operate in global strategic terms. All his operations – and there have been no more than a dozen - are meticulously prepared and executed and always aim at damaging US superpower standing. His only regional or local targets are Saudi relations with the United States and the American infidel presence in the kingdom, which for him is anathema and profane. Bin Laden differs substantially from Yasser Arafat in that his thinking and targeting are global and ideological. Al his associations are with radical Islamic groups and figures.
Digging into his roots, DEBKAfile has discovered Bin Laden’s first mentor to have been an obscure Palestinian sheikh who lived in Hableh near Tulkarm and Jenin, called Abdallah Azzam. Founder of an Islamic liberation movement called Haraketh al-Tahariyeh al-Islami, this sheikh, for the first time in the 20th century, called for an Islamic struggle on a global, not merely a national, footing. He urged Moslems to fight for world domination and the eclipse of infidel rule. Although a Palestinian himself, Azzam mocked Yasser Arafat’s PLO as inconsequential.
This doctrine actuated Bin Laden in founding his Al Qaeda (The base) a decade ago. It is his guiding light to this day.
______________________________________
A Vast Conspiracy Hatched in the Dark?
September 12: Given the scale in time and dimensions of this last appalling conspiracy against America, none of DEBKAfile’s intelligence experts can explain how it came to fruition without any Western intelligence community noticing what was going on. The pre-planning must have taken years and involved hundreds if not thousands of strategists, activists, helpers, spotters, couriers, sleepers, controllers and spiritual leaders – and their families. Large sums of cash must have moved between countries.
And indeed, on Wednesday, scant hours after the shocking disasters in New York and Washington, the FBI was bursting with newfound information. It swung into action, knowing exactly where to lay hands on crowds of suspects in Boston and Florida. In record time, its agents had identified all the hijackers, estimating three to six on each of the passenger planes involved.
At least two of the hijackers were on the authorities’ “watch list”. Most were Egyptian or Saudi nationals. There was evidence to connect the conspiracy to the Saudi tycoon-terrorist ex-Saudi Osama Bin Laden. After all, there cannot be many organizations in the world capable of recruiting 12 to 24 volunteer suicides – and the odds are that it will be based in the Arab and Moslem world
Even before finding the black boxes, the FBI knew that out of five targets, the terrorists hit two, the Twin Towers landmark, and missed three. They had been aiming for the White House, the President’s Maryland resort at Camp David and the presidential Boeing, Air Force One. Instead they hit the Pentagon and a place in Pennsylvania.
In record time, the investigators discovered that two of the hijackers were Egyptians, who took private flying courses in Venice, Florida, and that a dense network of Jihad Islami and Bin Laden cells flourished undisturbed in many of
America’s cities.
Suddenly, too, thousands of Boston’s Logan
airport personnel were suspected of abetting in the conspiracy after exactly 800 staff name-tags were found to have gone missing last year. The FBI has now identified five Arab men as suspects, two of them believed to have entered the US and Canada and made several trips to “case” Logan.
But how did the terrorists make it to the two flights armed with knives and cans of mace? Hundreds of suspected accomplices are to be detained for interrogation in Boston and Florida.
All these discoveries, certain to be followed by many more, came tumbling out after the multiple disaster, raising the question of why were they not made before?
Why did no one in the vast security administration of the United States raise the alarm?
The only logical answer to this, in the view of DEBKAfile ’s intelligence experts, is that the system was muffled, disarmed from the inside. Osama Bin Laden or perhaps the senior partner of his Qaeda (“The Base”) group, the fundamentalist Egyptian Jihad Islami, must have been able to plant agents inside the US military and intelligence services.
It would not be the first time.
DEBKAfile ’s counter-terrorist experts recall the extraordinary appearance of the Egyptian-American Ali Mohamed, 48 as state witness at the trial in the Manhattan County court last April of the ring which carried out the 1988 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Daar e-Salaam, causing 224 deaths, including 12 Americans. As one of Bin Laden’s chief lieutenants, Mohamed’s testimony enabled the US government to use the trial for building a comprehensive indictment against the entire Bin Laden terrorist machine. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the conspiracy, but was let off the death sentence.
An expert in the art of “invading the Western society” targeted for terrorism, he was a skilled double agent. Mohamed became a naturalized US citizen and penetrated the US army’s Special Forces facility at the Fort Bragg, and given the rank of US sergeant.
During his army stint, Mohamed organized and built up the pervasive network of Islamic “societies” operating with apparent innocuous intent in so many corners of America, with an anti-American agenda, which is far from pious. They provide the infrastructure to support Islamic fundamentalist terrorist dedicated to “opposing non-Islamic governments with force and violence” - in the prophetic words of the US prosecutor at the embassy trial.
Bin Laden was charged in absentia with endorsing a fatwah, or religious decree, ordering devout Muslims to kill Americans, including civilians, anywhere in the world.
Copyright © 2001 Debkafile. All Rights Reserved.
Beware the Second Wave
14 September: DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that Islamic militants under the command of Saudi multimillionaire terrorist Osama Bin Laden, the radical Egyptian Jihadi Islami, Iraqi military intelligence and other Middle East groups, stand poised for a second wave of horrendous attacks in America. An estimated 30 to 50 suicide-killers are waiting inside the US for their orders to strike.
This time, while again aiming for the US President, the White House and Capitol Hill, they will also go for a broad spectrum of what they consider strategic targets, such as airports, oil fields and oil installations, sensitive military and intelligence facilities, warships and carriers. The last were indeed ordered out to sea shortly after the first assaults on Tuesday.
Aware that flushing out the terrorists in waiting, many of whom may be US nationals, is akin to finding a needle in a haystack, US leaders quickly resorted to a short cut. Two days ago, they turned to a number of world leaders, including Europeans, the Russian president and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, to request a pooling of intelligence. They were asked to share every scrap of information they had on international terror movements, in support of the US effort to eradicate the blight. Quick crosschecking between the services strongly confirmed the second wave thesis. It has kept US security services at the highest level of suspense they have ever known.
Therefore the FBI’s dragnet on the trail of the conspiracy behind he deadly airliner suicide attacks on America are moving fast, so that the country is not caught off guard again. US security authorities are concerned to strengthen the two lines of defense against terrorist attack: the first-line barrier, advance intelligence, and the second-line defense, security. Both broke down when New York’s landmark the World Trade Center, and America’s military nerve center, the Pentagon in Washington, were crushingly assaulted by suicidal terrorists last Tuesday.
______________________________________
Creating Red Herrings
14 September: Deception and misdirection are keywords in the Bin Laden’s jihad against America. The red herrings were planted well in advance of the suicide assaults in New York and Washington. DEBKAfile picks up the false trail from the time it was laid. On August 8, RIA Novosty news agency in Moscow reported a strange story: The Taleban government in Afghanistan had appointed Bin Laden commander-in-chief of its armed forces - not only in Afghanistan but also in the Peshawar region of Pakistan, where the Taleban maintain several thousand weapons-trained recruits.
The report did not go unnoticed by intelligence experts in Washington, Moscow and Jerusalem, who traded information but reached no consensus on what it all meant.
Bin Laden, they knew, has prided himself on maintaining a low profile. For the past decade, his mysterious ways have nourished the psychological threat he poses to the West. It has also kept him out of harm’s way.
The experts could not figure out what prompted his personal friend, Mullah Mohammed Omar, supreme leader of the Taleban government to offer him the post. Both men go back a long time, to the mid-1980s, when they used to pray together in the Karachi mosque.
It wasn’t Bin Laden’s only surprise. DEBKAfile’s terrorism experts believe that story was made of whole cloth and planted as a piece of misdirection.
By then, intelligence experts were scratching their heads over another odd piece of information appearing a week earlier.
Bin Laden had just named Jumma Mamangani, an Uzbeki, as right-hand man and operations chief of the Al Qaeda terrorist movement.
EBKAfile ’s terrorism experts report that, until three years ago, Mamangani, commanded the Moslem Army for the Liberation of Kyrgyzstan and managed to take over parts of the Batkan valley in eastern Kyrgyzstan, whence he threatened the approaches to the capital city of Bishkek. At the beginning of the year, Mamangani moved to Afghanistan, where Bin Laden gave him the command of three Al Qaeda special forces training camps near Jalalabad, Farmada and Daronta.
The odd aspect of that tale was that Bin Laden had handed the Uzbeki militia chief a job traditionally reserved for his closest allies, the al-Zawahar family, leaders of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Their pact had been sealed in the terror world’s wedding of the century last year, when Bin Laden’s son married Ayaman Al Zawahar’s daughter. Al-Zawahar was then appointed Bin Laden’s first deputy and heir; the coveted operations officer post was left open – until Mamangani filled it this year.
None of the terror experts in the US, Russia or Israel imagined that Bin Laden’s reshuffle was a prelude to a major operation. However, after the airliner attacks in New York and Washington, they noted that Bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy had gone into hiding. It was as if the earth had swallowed them. The only senior man left in command of Al Qaeda and bases was the new operations officer, Mamangani.
It was then that the penny dropped.
Al Zawahari was “blown” to Western intelligence after personally commanding past operations, including the failed 1995 assassination attempt against Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia, and the sabotage of the U.S.S. Cole last October in Aden harbor, the last known Bin Laden terrorist attack till this week. Appointing a new operations officer from Asia Minor was a red herring to misdirect Western terrorist watchers attention from the assault to come.
Asia Minor was indeed on everyone’s mind in the weeks leading up to the assaults in America. It came up in conversations between Russian president Putin and U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld just two weeks ago in Moscow, and between Putin and the visiting Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon last week in the Kremlin.
Putin even sent a special emissary to Washington to meet CIA director George Tenet and explain the dangers hanging over Moslem countries in Asia Minor and northern China – home to a Moslem minority of no less than 60 million people -- from Mamangani’s new appointment. No one gave a thought to New York and its twin towers.
Some of the experts estimate Bin Laden’s pre-planning period for an operation as two years or more. Up until October 1998, Bin Laden and his staff officers had used satellite communications and encoded e-mail, moving through protected channels operated by an Addis Ababa-registered communications company he owns.
After the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the terror chief stopped using electronic communications and turned to human couriers. They often posed as immigrant laborers or itinerant businessmen, usually connected with the fishing trade. It was a group of such “fishermen” who carried out the attack on the USS Cole last year.
But the FBI investigation has been stymied till now because no telephones, computers or any other devices were found in the house the raiders rented across from Aden harbor.
Since the end of 1998, not one transmission to or from Bin Laden has been picked up by US intelligence eavesdroppers, leaving American surveillance agencies completely deaf and blind to his activities.
Date: 9/14/2001 5:42:39 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Tom Cooper
In an interview with Brit Hume on the Fox News Channel Wednesday, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained what will be required of the United States to effectively counter the threat of further Islamic terrorist attacks on the American mainland.
© 2001 Fox News Channel
HUME: Many of us have been wondering how these terrorist attacks could have been planned and implemented without any warning. Well, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted something very close to this could happen in his 1995 book, "Fighting Terrorism," subtitled "How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorists."
He wrote of the terrorist networks – quote – "Such groups nullify, in large measure, the need to have air power or intercontinental missiles as delivery systems. For an Islamic nuclear payload, they will be the delivery system. In the worst of such scenarios," he added, "the consequences could not be a car bomb, but a nuclear bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center."
Benjamin Netanyahu joins us now live from Jerusalem.
Mr. Netanyahu, thank you very much for joining us.
Obviously, this was not a nuclear bomb in the basement, but it destroyed the World Trade Center just as certainly as if it were. Give us, if you will, your thoughts about these terrorist networks … how the United States should regard them and what kind of action the United States should take?
NETANYAHU: Well, I think first that I have to say that, if any people in the world can identify with the horror and grief of the people of the United States, it's the people of Israel.
We've been on the frontline fighting this terrorism for many years. But now the forces of militant Islamic terror have struck in the heart of the free world. And that's precisely what we have here. We have here a battle between the forces of freedom and the forces of tyranny, between the forces of democracy and the forces of terrorism.
It is not accidental. Arafat can shed crocodile tears and donate his blood. He's been shedding innocent blood – including innocent American blood – for decades. And he's been sponsoring these kindergarten suicide bombers.
HUME: You don't think Yasser Arafat is behind these attacks, do you?
NETANYAHU: I think what we have – and you alluded to this – is a network of terror. There is an empire of terror. There are chiefdoms. Arafat has his own chiefdoms. Bin Laden has his own chiefdom. The Hezbollah in Lebanon have their chiefdom. There is Hamas and Islamic Jihad working under Arafat's chiefdom.
And they enjoy the support and sponsorship in close cooperation with such sovereign states as Iraq and Iran, havens in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern regimes. They work together, both in material support and of course political support. We saw that in Durban the other day.
I think that what is important is this: Bin Laden or whoever committed this is not floating in the air. He comes back to the Middle East. He is not suspended in space. He comes back to the territory of this terror empire.
So I think what is required right now is for the United States not merely to seek out the specific perpetrator here, but to go and dismantle the entire evil empire of terrorism, because, if we don't, what I wrote in 1995, while it didn't come to fruition in precisely the way – they didn't plant a nuclear bomb in the twin towers – they used a 350-ton conventional bomb.
But these regimes that are part of this terror network are developing now nuclear weapons. If we don't dismantle this terror network in time, the regimes and the organizations that have absolutely no inhibition in destroying the United States and its allies. Then what we will see is that one day their mad fantasy will bring about not tens of thousands or even 20,000 victims in the United States, but hundreds of thousands or millions.
They are after our civilization. We must summon the forces of civilization and the force and the power to act against them now, when we have the power and when we still have the time to do so.
HUME: Mr. Netanyahu, there will be those who will say, that, well, of course Benjamin Netanyahu will react that way, because, after all, it is Israel that is really at the heart, and America's support of Israel that is really the cause of all this.
He and other Israelis will be worried that America might withdraw its support for Israel, so of course he will portray this as a war that is a war on the United States. How do you react to that argument?
NETANYAHU: Well, that's a common misperception.
These militant Islamics don't hate America because of Israel. It's the other way around. They hate Israel because of America. They see us – by the way, correctly – as an outpost of common values, our common values of freedom.
They hate that freedom. They hate our way of life. They hate our respect for individual rights, our ideas of free choice, our free society, our free press.
They think all of that is Satanic. It has to be disposed of. They call you the big Satan. We're only the little Satan. Now, they could destroy the little Satan, but it doesn't get the world dominion that they want. They want to destroy America in their mad fantasies, or at the very least, to bring it to its knees. That's why they are going to attack you again and again and again.
And mind you, have no mistake about it. Can you doubt for a second, anyone that is hearing this right now, that if they had a nuclear bomb, they would drop it? Well, they are working and developing it. And what we have to do is, we've just received, all of us, a hellish wake-up call, a wake-up call from Hell. It's an enormous price to pay for such a wake-up call.
And there is a terrible tragedy here. I cannot tell you – I probably have some friends there. All of us, without friends, we still see that these are people who are part of us. But we must know that something must come out of this. We must understand that if we do not act now, if we do not say that terror is beyond the pale, it is a crime against humanity, we will not only go against the terrorists themselves, but against any regime that gives them safe haven, that harbors them, precisely what we must do.
We must put it beyond the pale and act very resolutely to dismantle the regimes and dismantle their deadly weapons before it is too late.
The terrorists today have the will to destroy us, but they don't have the power. We have the power to eradicate them, but we must now show that we have the will. This is a test of time. And, you know, when I see the rejoicing, the dancing on the roofs in Gaza and Ramallah and the other Palestinian areas, and the dancing on the roofs in Baghdad and Beirut, then I know where these people are.
But I also know that the people who grieve in Israel and in Britain and in Madrid and throughout Western Europe and in other parts of the world that are grieving now with the United States, I know that there is a coalition that can be summoned just as it was 50 years ago to defeat another fanatic ideology, Nazism. And it's time that the United States act. It will act, I have no doubt.
I have confidence in the leadership of the United States. I have confidence in the people of the United States. And we all stand together. And we will win this together.
HUME: Mr. Netanyahu, let me just ask you this question. What kind of life, what kind of footing, what sort of atmosphere needs to be created in the United States to bring about the kind of action you're talking about?
Despite this, I think many Americans think we are basically at peace in the world and that life needs to be restored to normal. What does life have to be like? And what kind of effort are you talking about, on what scale?
NETANYAHU: I think the scale is less than the one that I just talked about, because the forces of terror do not have something even approaching the power that Nazi Germany had. They have the same mad designs.
So what is required is a military and political effort to galvanize the entire democracies. You have shown in various recent conflicts in the last decade, whether in the Balkans or in the Middle East and elsewhere, that you have the wherewithal, you have enormous, enormous military power.
And what you have to understand is that you would now have enormous backing and goodwill both in the United States itself and its well-wishers and allies around the world. I think it can be done. I think, specifically, how one does it is not, I think, the domain of this conversation. I'm sure the leaders of the United States are thinking very carefully about it.
I would say that, though, that we would be remiss if we do not dismantle the terrorist centers right now, because if we leave them around, they will come back. And they will come back with greater power. They typically misunderstand and underappreciate the resolve of free societies. But amid the smoking ruins of the twin towers, you could see the silhouette of the Statue of Liberty holding that torch of liberty very proudly and very high.
It's that flame of liberty that these people want to extinguish. But it is the United States holding that torch with its allies who can wipe out these terrorists. And we must do nothing short of it. We must wipe them out or they will wipe us out.
Date: 9/14/2001 5:09:22 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: rayelan@mindspring.com (Rayelan)
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 4:57 PM
Subject: Former FL Flight Mechanic Says More Kamikaze Pilots on U.S. Soil
Source:
Sierra Times http://www.sierratimes.com/
Former FL Flight Mechanic Says More Kamikaze Pilots on U.S. Soil http://www.sierratimes.com/archive/files/sep/14/arfl091401.htm
Sierra Times Exclusive - By J.J. Johnson 09.14.01
(Says all air traffic should remain grounded for now)
Bill Foreman, an Army ex-special forces member and former flight mechanic, believes American skies will not be safe until more Florida flight trainees are picked up. As the dragnet is out in South Florida, the 34 year-old computer network specialist spoke with Sierra Times about warnings he made in connection with what happened on September 11, 2001 - well over a year ago.
From May of 1999 to about June of 2000, Bill Foreman was a flight mechanic for Seagull Aviation, doing fleet maintenance for Ari Ben Aviators in Ft. Pierce Florida.
Ari Ben is a FAA Rule 141 flight school. He told Sierra Times an estimated 25 Men with Arabic names were training just during the time he was there. "They all paid cash", Foreman said.
Flight instructions for basic twin-engine aircraft can range from $150 to $250 per hour. The Arab men were seen on occasion walking in with thousands.
Foreman described how, when working late at night repairing small single and twin-engine planes, he would hear the Arab men talking behind cubicles. "I heard them talk about how they hated America, and its people". Foreman said upon being noticed, all the men would go back to speaking Arabic. He admits getting into a heated discussion once over their politics about America.
Later, Bill Foreman went to his supervisor, and even the flight school owner over concerns about what he had overheard and told then several times directly, "You're training terrorists here. They have no good intentions for this training"
He was called 'paranoid'.
"From that point, I figured it was not a matter of 'if' but when."
Foreman contacted Sierra Times after a recent Miami arrest in connection with the Tuesday attacks. Adnan Bukhari, a Vero Beach man who told a witness he worked for Saudi Arabian Airlines. He reportedly was taken into federal custody after the attack. According to local West Palm Beach news he is cooperating with the authorities.
According to Foreman, Bukhari's bother died in a midair collision between the twin-engine Piper Aztec and single-engine Piper Cherokee almost one year ago. On September 12, 2000, West Palm Beach News reported that the Cherokee's pilot was identified as Ameer Bukhari of Vero Beach, who was making his first solo flight.
Both of these men, according to Foreman, spent time at the flight school. And, as the dragnet continues in Florida, Foreman said, "there are many more trained and qualified to fly today." He is very concerned that if all the men he heard speak hatred of America are not picked up, more attacks could happen.
Until the matter is dealt with, all air traffic should remain grounded, according to Foreman.
"You learn how to fly in stages", said Foreman, an instrument rated pilot. "You start on something small, like a single engine Cessna, then work your way up. That's what these guys were doing," he said. He told Sierra Times that some of these men were qualified as FAA Rule 135 operators, or able to fly cargo jets.
That was a year ago.
The former mechanic said, "I have contacted the FBI, and my local and state reps about this matter. Many of them are still on the books here". Foreman is wondering who will listen and insists that planes should not be allowed in the air until authorities round up all these people. "The federal government has taken every precaution it can - but only for commercial traffic. You can still do a lot of damage with even a small twin engine".
Date: 9/14/2001 5:11:19 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: rayelan@mindspring.com (Rayelan)
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Dragoo
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 12:39 PM
Subject: AMERICA THE VULNERABLE
ISLAMIC GLEE
This is one of the most difficult reports I have ever written. I debated waiting a bit to send it out, due to the deep grieving that is still gripping my native land as decaying bodies are dug up from the rubble of the destroyed World Trade Center, and as people gather for a special national day of prayer. But it was precisely the day of prayer that led me to send this out now, so that it might play a role in some people's intercession on this mournful day, and during the traumatic ones that lie ahead.
I have been probing the reaction of some personal Islamic contacts to the horrendous terrorist assault upon America. The street celebrations that swept many Palestinian towns and other Arab centers throughout the Middle East accurately reflect the gleeful feelings of many Muslims, I was told. The reasons for this are chilling, to say the least.
Essentially, I have learned that many Muslims see the coordinated attacks upon New York and Washington as signaling the imminent end of American hegemony in the world. My sources say that Muslim fundamentalist states and groups, who have viewed the USA as the main world obstacle standing in the way of the spread of their faith for decades, began to perceive a way to bring down the great empire during the Viet Nam war. They were greatly encouraged that a relatively weak Asian army could essentially defeat the awesome American military machine. They pointed out that the central method of warfare used by North Vietnam had nothing to do with matching US military might, but consisted of demoralizing, deadly hide and seek guerilla attacks. After Saigon fell in 1975, many Muslims likened the humiliating superpower retreat to the ancient rogue assaults that eventually brought down the morally decadent Roman Empire. The more radical Muslim groups were also highly encouraged by the ability of Islamic militants to humiliate Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the early 1980s, seeing this as signaling the eventual triumph of militant Islam over Communism as well.
I have uncovered much evidence over the past few months that the very lukewarm backing that the West has given to tiny Israel in her long and bloody struggle against Islamic terrorism has further heartened many Muslims. Any Israeli military response to outrageous attacks upon civilian buses, shops, restaurants, etc has usually been met with open rebukes from the "Christian" world. I suspect that the inability of much of the West to understand and fully back Israel's lonely fight is now coming back to haunt the free world.
My Muslim sources admit that the Gulf War was a serious setback to militant Islamic aspirations. The successful use of sleek and sophisticated weapons by the United States and its Western allies (especially Britain, which is almost equally hated by Islamic extremists even as the UK is used as a major staging ground for international operations) deeply humiliated America's manifold Muslim opponents. But it also redoubled their resolve to bring down the US giant, and then later deal with its powerful regional ally, Israel.
SOFT UNDERBELLY
I was told that America's Islamic enemies concluded in the 1970's that the great United States could eventually be brought to its knees by internal guerilla-style terrorist strikes that would wreak emotional and economic havoc on the large country. America's gigantic warships, far flung military bases, missile arsenals, international alliances and sophisticated satellite systems would prove basically useless to fight such a war, they surmised, and might even add to the chances of ultimate Islamic success since they would give a false sense of security to the "arrogant" superpower.
As the 80's progressed, and even more so the computer-crazed 90's, Muslim militants realized that the main target for attack should be lower Manhattan, since that would severely injure the massive US economy--the key element in her international power and prestige. This conviction was strengthened by the internal collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 90's, leaving a shell of an empire that did not have enough money to sustain its global alliances and enormous military machine.
As many terrorism experts have already reported, I was told that Islamic cells have been quietly preparing for an internal attack upon New York (and also another key target, Washington) for many years. This confirms what I learned from an FBI source in the mid-90's. Many regional Muslims understand that Osama Bin Laden merely acts as an agent for several Islamic states who all hate America, especially Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Sudan, along with militant groups in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and elsewhere in the sprawling Muslim world. They are convinced that he possesses several small nuclear "suitcase bombs" that were put together by the Soviet KGB. These are very low level bombs compared to what America and several other countries deploy in their vast nuclear arsenals. However, they are perfect for achieving the Islamic militant's goal of striking surreptitiously at America's economic and political center--and thus reducing the rest of the country, and indeed much of the world, to frantic emotional and economic panic and chaos.
If good portions of Manhattan and Washington DC were suddenly reduced to rubble, where would America's surviving leaders order their military forces to strike in response? Would nuclear-tipped missiles be fired at Baghdad because they suspected that Saddam had a hand in the unprecedented, shadowy terrorist attacks? Would they level other Islamic states, or even the entire Muslim world, killing millions of civilians who had no say in what their despotic leaders might have sponsored? Would they strike at China, suspecting that the Communist government in Beijing might have supported or sponsored such an attack?
I was told that Islamic nations believe that they would suffer very minimal retribution for secretly sponsoring such a devastating blow on America, precisely because of high US moral standards that would preclude massive strikes at mere suspect states. Thus, the classic Islamic method of focusing on clandestine terror cells that only answer to their immediate superiors--whose members do not even themselves know who is ultimately behind their devious actions--would basically succeed in dealing a huge blow to the United States without suffering much harm in return. (This is possibly best illustrated in miniature by the Pan Am terrorist attack that ended with the jet crashing into Scotland over 12 years ago, leaving nearly 300 people dead. The deadly assault has basically gone unanswered until this day since the ultimate sponsors have never been clearly pinpointed).
So this is where we now stand. I was told that the likelihood of more attacks upon America is very real, especially given what many Muslims perceive as the enormous success of this week's terrorist strikes. With the President's jet scrambling around the country in apparent fear, with the nation's representatives rushing out of the capital building two times in response to bomb threats, with a portion of the Pentagon itself destroyed, with many of the men and women who run the world's largest stock and bond market either dead or wounded, and, most importantly, with a sense of terrorized fear gripping many Americans, Islamic militants believe they have won a victory beyond their wildest dreams. As was the case with Israel's quick military retreat from Lebanon and inability to stop a year-long terrorist war, they feel that they are definitely on a winning, Allah-sanctioned roll.
If America is brought to its knees, the way is open for a new world order. Most militant Muslim states believe it will eventually feature them at the helm, especially if they can also subdue the increasingly powerful European Union. However, as I projected in my end time novel, I suspect that it will be the EU that emerges as the new global leader when all of the dust settles, based on the apocalyptic prophecies found in the book of Daniel. However, I do not believe there is any biblical reason to say that the United States will disappear. My homeland has indeed displayed its share of arrogance and has exported much sin over the past few decades, along with many good and positive things. It surely is in need of some corrective judgment from the throne of the Lord, but not destruction, I believe. One thing is crystal clear: There is much room for prayer as this historic week comes to a close.
DAVID DOLAN.
Jerusalem
Mr. Dolan's latest book, ISRAEL IN CRISIS: WHAT LIES AHEAD? along with his end time novel, THE END OF DAYS and his first book, an acclaimed history of Israel titled ISRAEL AT THE CROSSROADS, may be ordered by phoning 888-890-6938 in North America, or by e mail at: resources@yourisraelconnection.org, or by visiting his web site at www.ddolan.com