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| Terror Networks |
| Germany Warned CIA About Sept. 11 Terror Pilot, Stern Says |
| 2003-08-14 |
| Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- German intelligence told the CIA about suspected terror links of an Arab student over two years before he flew a plane into the World Trade Center, Stern reported. The information was ignored, the weekly magazine said. Agents from Germany’s BfV office for the Protection of the Constitution tipped off the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in March 1999 that student Marwan al-Shehhi had links to Mohammed Haydar Zammar, a suspected al-Qaeda organizer in Germany, Stern said, citing research it has undertaken with ARD television. Al-Shehhi was one of the al-Qaeda hijackers who piloted two airliners into the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. Another hijacked plane was flown into the Pentagon in Washington, and one crashed into the ground in Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people died in the terror attacks. Zammar had been under surveillance by the CIA and BfV since 1993, Stern reported in the article to be printed Thursday. The BfV told the CIA al-Shehhi’s cell phone number and basic personal details after intercepting a phone conversation with Zammar, the magazine said. Stern said both BfV agents and the CIA began monitoring the German-based al-Shehhi soon after the phone interception but the U.S. agency failed to pass on its finding to the Federal Bureau of Investigation or to U.S. immigration authorities. Hijacker Al-Shehhi, a national of the United Arab Emirates, was ``left to his own devices’’ by the CIA, Stern said. In May 2000, he entered the U.S. unhindered to take up pilot training. German intelligence authorities were ``ruffled’’ by a U.S. government report in July that said ``legal hurdles’’ prevented German agents from monitoring suspected terrorists, Stern said. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s government didn’t regard Islamic groups as a ``threat and was unwilling to apply relevant resources to such a target,’’ according to the report cited by the magazine. If you read German you’ll find the whole Stern story HERE. It’s going to be published in batches every Thursday, the book will come out Aug. 28th. German ARD TV ran a documentation today. In short: German intelligence knew the guys, US intelligence the plans. But mutual mistrust, lack of cooperation and stunning ignorance (on both sides) prevented "connecting the dots" Let’s hope we all learn from that. Terrorism can only be fought if all free democratic countries work together closely, despite political differences they may have over certain issues. |
| Posted by:True German Ally |