1999 Report Warned of Suicide Hijack

AP/The Washington Post ^ | Friday, May 17, 2002 12:57PM | John Solomon

[nutmeg]

WASHINGTON –– Exactly two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal report warned the executive branch that Osama bin Laden's terrorists might hijack an airliner and dive bomb it into the Pentagon or other government building.

"Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or the White House," the September 1999 report said.

[nutmeg]

Rush is reading this on air as I format it...

[codebreaker]

Rummy's playing hardball now!

[KC Burke]

Then the real question is: What did Tom Clancey know, and when did he know it?

[Dog]

Gloves are off.....now

Watch the story die on the vine....it just touched the dems holy grail....the Clinton's......hahahaha!

[Bahbah]

I'd like to know if Clancy has been translated into Arabic.

[dead]

And there was some very obscure rap band that had a picture of the Twin Towers exploding on their cover and not one of their seven fans reported it to the media.

Negligent bastards.

[browardchad]

LOL! It seems that Clancy was the only one coordinating information for the past five years.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

1999 report warned of possible suicide hijackings into federal buildings -AP Breaking News
JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
(05-17) 10:03 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- Exactly two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal report warned the executive branch that Osama bin Laden's terrorists might hijack an airliner and dive bomb it into the Pentagon or other g...

[nutmeg]

FYI

[Semper Paratus]

The democraps made a strategic error 2 days, Bush adminstration realizes it, now so do the democraps.

[umgud]

This whole affair isn't about wrongdoing or finding the truth. It is about knocking down the president. Truth doesn't matter. So, while we defend the prez on a point by point basis, the left still gets their negative message out. We need to go on the offensive.

[Frances_Marion]

More of "the Legacy" is revealed....

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I think you're on to something.

[hchutch]

And the Clintons did NOTHING.

[KC Burke]

as Debt of Honor was published in August of '94, I imagine he was wrting it in 1993 at the time of the WTC bombing. There have been plane-bombs discussed and fictionalized a number of times since the Kamikaze ere....I wonder what the earliest reference is to such a thing? That's the guy that we need to blame, LOL.

I understand that bombs on barrage ballons in the civil war were discussed and possibly used. Is it fair to blame Lincoln? I'm sure we can tie the War Between the States in here some where if we just work on it.

[PrivateIdaho]

Watch the story die on the vine....it just touched the dems holy grail....the Clinton's

And of course the story comes out on a Friday afternoon... by Monday it will be ancient history.

[StriperSniper]

We need to go on the offensive.

Wait until the day after the election and charge all the dims (maybe a RINO or two) with treason, the evidence should not be hard to find if Ashcroft just surfs around here for a few days. ;-)

[gov_bean_ counter]

Today we know the Airlines were notified of general threats and intel committees of both houses of Congress briefed on the same issue. The only thing we don't know is who else knew of the President's plan to take on and take out Osama and Co.? There are indications that the attack dates were moved up. Were any of the intellegence committees briefed in this? We know that a few Dems are hard wired into radical Islamic groups. Dissemination of information like this among those groups could have worked its way to one or more of the participants and could have changed the time table for the attack. It appears that the President was moving quickly to eliminate the threat. Who gave away the plan?

[nutmeg]

This whole affair isn't about wrongdoing or finding the truth. It is about knocking down the president. Truth doesn't matter. So, while we defend the prez on a point by point basis, the left still gets their negative message out. We need to go on the offensive.

I totally agree. The left still managed to get their message out. The harried soccer-moms, etc. are only going to hear: "Bush Knew" or "Bush was warned about 9/11 attacks", which of course, is not true.

[VRWC_minion]

THE SOCIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF TERRORISM: WHO BECOMES A TERRORIST AND WHY?

PREFACE

The purpose of this study is to focus attention on the types of individuals and groups that are prone to terrorism (see Glossary) in an effort to help improve U.S. counterterrorist methods and policies.

The emergence of amorphous and largely unknown terrorist individuals and groups operating independently (freelancers) and the new recruitment patterns of some groups, such as recruiting suicide commandos, female and child terrorists, and scientists capable of developing weapons of mass destruction, provide a measure of urgency to increasing our understanding of the psychological and sociological dynamics of terrorist groups and individuals. The approach used in this study is twofold. First, the study examines the relevant literature and assesses the current knowledge of the subject. Second, the study seeks to develop psychological and sociological profiles of foreign terrorist individuals and selected groups to use as case studies in assessing trends, motivations, likely behavior, and actions that might deter such behavior, as well as reveal vulnerabilities that would aid in combating terrorist groups and individuals.

Because this survey is concerned not only with assessing the extensive literature on sociopsychological aspects of terrorism but also providing case studies of about a dozen terrorist groups, it is limited by time constraints and data availability in the amount of attention that it can give to the individual groups, let alone individual leaders or other members. Thus, analysis of the groups and leaders will necessarily be incomplete. A longer study, for example, would allow for the collection and study of the literature produced by each group in the form of autobiographies of former members, group communiqués and manifestos, news media interviews, and other resources. Much information about the terrorist mindset (see Glossary) and decision-making process can be gleaned from such sources. Moreover, there is a language barrier to an examination of the untranslated literature of most of the groups included as case studies herein.

Terrorism databases that profile groups and leaders quickly become outdated, and this report is no exception to that rule. In order to remain current, a terrorism database ideally should be updated periodically. New groups or terrorist leaders may suddenly emerge, and if an established group perpetrates a major terrorist incident, new information on the group is likely to be reported in news media. Even if a group appears to be quiescent, new information may become available about the group from scholarly publications.

There are many variations in the transliteration for both Arabic and Persian. The academic versions tend to be more complex than the popular forms used in the news media and by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS). Thus, the latter usages are used in this study. For example, although Ussamah bin Ladin is the proper transliteration, the more commonly used Osama bin Laden is used in this study

[nutmeg]

Watch the story die on the vine....it just touched the dems holy grail....the Clinton's

And of course the story comes out on a Friday afternoon... by Monday it will be ancient history.

Good point. Friday afternoon... of course!

[88keys]

Yeah, I hate to be cynical, but did you notice that once they got the "bad news" over with, they just had to say: "this contradicts the White House...no one could imagine this would happen""...JERKS AND MORONS!! The truth will out, despite all...I hope?!?!!!!

[VRWC_minion]

CONCLUSION

Terrorist Profiling

In profiling the terrorist, some generalizations can be made on the basis on this examination of the literature on the psychology and sociology of terrorism published over the past three decades. One finding is that, unfortunately for profiling purposes, there does not appear to be a single terrorist personality . This seems to be the consensus among terrorism psychologists as well as political scientists and sociologists. The personalities of terrorists may be as diverse as the personalities of people in any lawful profession. There do not appear to be any visibly detectable personality traits that would allow authorities to identify a terrorist.

[VRWC_minion]

The Political Approach

The alternative to the hypothesis that a terrorist is born with certain personality traits that destine him or her to become a terrorist is that the root causes of terrorism can be found in influences emanating from environmental factors. Environments conducive to the rise of terrorism include international and national environments, as well as subnational ones such as universities, where many terrorists first become familiar with Marxist-Leninist ideology or other revolutionary ideas and get involved with radical groups. Russell and Miller identify universities as the major recruiting ground for terrorists.

[KC Burke]

Dissemination of information like this among those groups could have worked its way to one or more of the participants and could have changed the time table for the attack.

So the theory would go that the attack was made as a pre-emptive strike by the Al Queda to defend itself from the US?

[My2Cents]

LOL...You are correct, sir! Under every case of apparent negligence surrounding 9/11, there is a tap root that runs directly to the Clinton Administration.

The reason Bush is so popular is that he compares so favorably in people's minds in contrast to the Big Creep.

[nutmeg]

Yes, I did notice it. In a roundabout way, they're blaming President Bush again for not preventing the 9/11 attacks.

[gov_bean_ counter]

The attack was going to happen, period. The timing may have been moved up to beat Bush to the punch.

[VRWC_minion]

Al-Qaida's expected retaliation for the U.S. cruise missile attack against al-Qaida's training facilities in Afghanistan on August 20, 1998, could take several forms of terrorist attack in the nation's capital. Al-Qaida could detonate a Chechen-type building-buster bomb at a federal building. Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or the White House. Ramzi Yousef had planned to do this against the CIA headquarters. In addition, both al-Qaida and Yousef were linked to a plot to assassinate President Clinton during his visit to the Philippines in early 1995. Following the August 1998 cruise missile attack, at least one Islamic religious leader called for Clinton's assassination, and another stated that "the time is not far off" for when the White House will be destroyed by a nuclear bomb. A horrendous scenario consonant with al-Qaida's mindset would be its use of a nuclear suitcase bomb against any number of targets in the nation's capital. Bin Laden allegedly has already purchased a number of nuclear suitcase bombs from the Chechen Mafia. Al-Qaida's retaliation, however, is more likely to take the lower-risk form of bombing one or more U.S. airliners with time-bombs. Yousef was planning simultaneous bombings of 11 U.S. airliners prior to his capture. Whatever form an attack may take, bin Laden will most likely retaliate in a spectacular way for the cruise missile attack against his Afghan camp in August 1998

[Saundra Duffy]

Bill Clinton (THE RAPIST!) was too busy screwing around with Monica and Gary Condit (who sits on the Intelligence Committee) was too busy with Chandra. The democraps have blood on their hands!!!!!!!!

[Types_with_Fist]

I know it isn't right to ever question the president...at least not this one, but the Bush team has been on TV for two days now, saying that nobody ever, ever dreamed that hijackers would use a plane as a missile. Besides the other reports that show it was a possibility, didn't anyone in the white house know about this? I mean, the current white house? I know Clinton is/was a dirtbag, but is it really true that the possibility of missile-planes never, ever occurred to the Bush team? It seems to have occurred to every intelligence agency we have.

[Dog]

Gov........you just scared me....what if al-qaeda knew of that finding and decided to hit us first.....man you just gave me the chills..

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Exactly two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal report warned the executive branch that Osama bin Laden's terrorists might hijack an airliner and dive bomb it into the Pentagon or other government building.

"Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon , the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or the White House," the September 1999 report said.

Since when have commercial airliners been flying about while "packed with explosives". Seems like a dangerous practice.

[hchutch]

Steal one of the wide-body aircraft used by FedEx or UPS - or paint a plane to look like a FedEx or UPS plane. Or "acquire" a cargo plane. An Ilyushin-76 would be available from Iran or Iraq, load it up with 10,000 pounds of Semtex, and fly it into a target.

[hobbes1]

The report contrasts with Bush administration officials' assertions that none in government had imagined an attack like Sept. 11 before that time

Yup, that is the most important paragraph in the story..Right from the DN F*NG C

[stanz]

This whole admission thing was en effort by the administration to clarify their position. Leave it to the Democraps...especially that Princess of Darkness and her Legions of Spin to take everything out of context. When all the cards are on the table, we'll see just who got the first warning how they ran with it...over and over again.

[hobbes1]

Actually, once they had that Idea, it was only a matter of time till some genius realized that 80,000 lbs of Jet Fuel would do just fine....

[DJ88]

Well, actually, I believe they probably knew it but we get tons of threats EVERYDAY and who's to say who is right and who is wrong? Hindsight is 20/20. This was the reason why plans to take OUT al Quaida were in place and ready for the President's signature before 9/11.

The questions still begging to be asked by the media is this: WHY THE HELL DIDN'T BILL CLINTON TAKE OUT OBL WHEN HE HAD THE CHANCE?

Mark my words....the RATS will rue the day the took this ball outside to play.

[aShepard]

We need to go on the offensive

Absolutely!

As the RATS crawl back into their sewer, we must keep this issue alive, so the the sheeple will finally get some balanced information.

Maybe, if we prop the Trentster up with a broom handle, he will have the spine to go on the attack!

[philman_36]

I wonder what the earliest reference is to such a thing?
I don't know about earliest "references", but how about a failed attempt by some Algerian terrorists?
Just follow the links.

[TheDon]

[VOA]

Mark my words....the RATS will rue the day the took this ball outside to play.

I just hope that voters will remember which party reveled in "the blame game"...
and which one just went about it's business bringing America's enemies to justice
(or an ignominious resting place on the side of some non-descript mountain or plane in
Afghanistan or elsewhere).

[nathanbedford]

Bush's people (Rice, Rumsfeld) and Bush himself state that they had no reason to believe that terrorists would turn a hi-jacked jet into a guided missle. This report report plus the French report were in the public domain before 9/11. I assume that these three honorable individuals are telling the truth in this respect. That means that none of them was briefed about these reports. So the intelligence establishment whose job it was to brief the President and his top security people and the leadership of congress must not have briefed anyone about the airliner into cruise missle scenerio. This is probable because no one in congress has come forward and declared that he was advised in any briefing of this possibility. It is likely that the briefings would have had virtually identical contents.

Either the intelligence establishment considered and rejected out of hand this scenerio, or it never heard of it, or it simply faded from corporate memory between the Clinton and Bush administrations. In any case the whole of the intelligence establishment must be investigated to fix responsibility. I suspect Clinton's policy of malignent neglect will prove to be the effecient producing cause of multiple systemic failures.

In my judgment it is inevitable that the current investigation will quickly become quasi public with leaks and the Bush administration should welcome a complete and full inquiry which it should extend back into the Clinton yesrs.

[self_evident]

Mark my words....the RATS will rue the day the took this ball outside to play.

Hopefully, someone in the White House is dusting off the history books. This is EXACTLY the same as Pearl Harbor, where they recieved numerous warnings. Problem was, they recieved warning for virtually every US interest in the Pacific.

[Poohbah]

Yup, I noticed that point, too. hchutch, your ideas are interesting, but stealing a widebody is right out--first off, you need a runway to land it on, and that means that your list of possible hidey-holes is REAL short. It also telegraphs the punch--believe me, as expensive as a widebody is, a stolen one WILL be diligently searched for, and . As for the IL-76 option, when analysis of the remains came up (a la Oklahoma City and WTC I in 1993) with serial numbers, and Ilyushin traced them to an IL-76 owned by the Iranians or the Iraqis, the gloves would be OFF.

[jrlc]

Whoever leaked the intelligence report from Congress to CBS may well have committed a crime. Which DNC operative in the House of Reps. leaked the document -- out of which Rep.'s office? The RATS have a convenient memory lapse -- but they should remember that Bobby Kennedy had Jimmy Hoffa indicted after he caught Hoffa with McClellan Committee documents. What do the new anti-terrorism laws say about unauthorized release of intelligence reports. Did CBS commit a crime by accepting the reports and putting them on the air?

[DJ88]

I don't think I will let them forget, will you? ;-)

[DJ88]

Gee...since CYNTHIA MCKINNEY is such a "victim" in this whole thing, do you think it could have been HER? Or how about Queen Hillary? Hmmmmm.

[Dog]

Dem Senator Weyden(sp) just was on Fox asking for a ceasefire and an end to the inside the beltway stuff.......told you it just touched the Clintons and they send this guy out to raise the white flag!

Hahahahah!