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| Terror Networks |
| Highlights of report on 9/11 |
| 2004-06-17 |
| Highlights From Reports, released on Wednesday by the September 11 Commission on al-Qaeda’a operations and the September 11 plot: Osama bin Laden and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein did not appear to have a collaborative relationship. A senior Iraqi intelligence official reportedly met with bin Laden in 1994 in Sudan and there have been reports that contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda also occurred after bin Laden returned to Afghanistan. But Iraq apparently never responded to a request from bin Laden for weapons and space to establish training camps. Two senior bin Laden associates adamantly have denied that any ties existed between al-Qaeda and Iraq and there is "no credible evidence" Iraq and al-Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the attacks, envisioned a plot with 10 hijacked planes, with himself as one of the pilots. Mohammed, who is in US custody at an undisclosed overseas location, told interrogators that he proposed killing every male passenger aboard, landing at a US airport and making a "speech denouncing US policies in the Middle East before releasing all the women and children." After bin Laden rejected that plan, Mohammed wanted US commercial planes in Southeast Asia to be hijacked at the same time as the US hijackings. Those planes would have exploded in-flight or been crashed into US targets in Asia. Bin Laden cancelled that part of the plan because it would have been too difficult to synchronise. Bin Laden wanted the fourth plane to strike the White House, but Atta believed it would be too difficult to hit and wanted to target the Capitol. Eventually, Atta agreed to the White House but kept the Capitol in reserve. Based on other exchanges between the hijackers, it remains unclear exactly which was the target on September 11. Al-Qaeda intended to use 25 or 26 hijackers for the plot, instead of the 19 who took part. The commission identified at least nine "candidate hijackers" who were supposed to be part of the attacks at one time. Two were removed by the al-Qaeda leadership, two failed to acquire US visas, two backed out after one of them was stopped by security officers in Bahrain, one was stopped by US officials at the airport in Orlando, Florida, and two apparently withdrew under pressure from their families. There is no evidence the Saudi Arabian government or senior officials within it funded al-Qaeda. However, al-Qaeda was able to get money from a variety of Saudi charities that, until recently, were subject to little oversight. Since the September 11 attacks, al-Qaeda’s funding has decreased significantly and its organisation has become decentralised due to bin Laden’s seclusion. An illegal immigrant recently deported to Yemen, Mohdar Abdullah, allegedly made claims before leaving the United States last month that he had advance knowledge of the September 11 attacks. Mohdar Abdullah was a San Diego State student who helped Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar obtain driver’s licenses and enrol in schools. When interviewed by the FBI, he denied knowledge of the plans. But before his May 21 deportation, "Abdullah allegedly made various claims to individuals incarcerated with him about having advance knowledge of the operatives’ 9/11 mission," telling one inmate he had received instructions to pick up operatives at Los Angeles International Airport and drive them to San Diego. Al-Qaeda remains extremely interested in conducting chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attacks. In 1994, al-Qaeda operatives attempted to purchase uranium for $1.5m; the uranium proved to be fake. Al-Qaeda had an ambitious biological weapons program and was making advances in its ability to produce anthrax before September 11. Similarly, al-Qaeda may seek to conduct a chemical attack by using widely available industrial chemicals, or by attacking a chemical plant or a shipment of hazardous materials. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #5 Kerry Lied the Khamer Died. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-06-17 4:26:17 PM |
| #4 There is no evidence the Saudi Arabian government or senior officials within it funded al-Qaeda. However, al-Qaeda was able to get money from a variety of Saudi charities that, until recently, were subject to little oversight. Have any of these people ever heard of the term "laundering"??? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-06-17 2:36:58 PM |
| #3 After seeing the panel in action, did anybody expect actual results? Grandstanding, and giving the papers a nice juicy headline, is all the commission was ever expected to deliver. And deliver they did. |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-06-17 10:52:18 AM |
| #2 The Commission stated that there was no connection between AQ and Iraq with respect to attacks on the US (ie, 9/11). To the uninformed, stupid, or leftist, this means no connection at all, whereas in reality (as .com's NY Post link indicates) there is a wealth of connections. |
| Posted by: Spot 2004-06-17 8:56:34 AM |
| #1 Calculated a batting average for this, Paul? Lol! I love how they just cannot handle the OBL / AlQ / Saddam connection - in spite of the excellent investigative work by Stephen F Hayes, such as this story - in which such customarily clueless orgs as Newsweek, ABC, and even NPR finally "get it"... Alas, the Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey 9/11 twerps never really do... Here's an op-ed piece from the NY Post to further muddy the water. For so much detail about AlQ timing, plans, aborts, rewrites, etc. - they still manage to swing! -- and miss! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-06-17 6:04:22 AM |