FBI Agent Was Prevented From Relaying Warning on 9/11 Hijackers To CIA [The Gorelick Wall]

ABC News ^ | 5/10/04

[11th Earl of Mar]

FBI Agent Was Prevented From Relaying Warning on 9/11 Hijackers To CIA

By Pierre Thomas

W A S H I N G T O N, May 10, 2004 — More than a year before 9/11, CIA officials prevented an FBI agent working with the CIA from passing vital information to his agency on two suspected al Qaeda members — men who later would become Sept. 11 hijackers.

U.S. officials told ABCNEWS the agent wanted to warn his FBI bosses about a gathering in Malaysia where al Qaeda suspects Khalid Al-Midhar and Nawaq Alhamzi met with suspects in the Oct. 12, 2000, bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen.

After the meeting, CIA officials learned Al-Midhar and Alhamzi had visas to enter the United States, the U.S. officials said.

"The failure to communicate that info to the FBI, which would have been potentially able to act on it, is a very serious failure," said Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general who now works for a private consulting firm.

The CIA maintains the information had already been passed to the FBI, and that was why the agent did not need to warn his bosses. The CIA cites a statement provided to Congress on Oct. 17, 2002. In it, CIA Director George Tenet refers to e-mails that agency officials say prove the information was provided to the FBI.

FBI officials, however, told ABCNEWS they had no record of these e-mails.

Information from the Malaysia meeting could have been used to begin tracking Al-Midhar and Alhamzi, who they say came to the United States in January 2000 and began flight training in San Diego. Both men would later end up aboard American Airlines Flight 77, the Boeing 757 that smashed into the Pentagon.

"If that information [got] disseminated, would it have had an impact on the events of 9/11?" asked Jack Cloonan, an ABCNEWS consultant who previously worked as an FBI agent assigned to pursue members of al Qaeda. "I'm telling you that it would have."

Al-Midhar and Alhamzi could have been placed on a terrorism watch list, and U.S. customs and border officials might have spotted them. There were not put on the watch list until August 2001, just a month before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Al-Midhar left the United States and came back just two months before 9/11 attacks — no questions asked. He arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, using his own name. Then he disappeared until Sept. 11, 2001.

Bromwich described the missed opportunity as "frustrating, troubling, tragic."

"I think the failure of our government to work in the way we hoped it would is a deep set back in our confidence that our government can protect us," he said.

[John H K]

More than a year before 9/11

I keep forgetting, who was president more than a year before 9/11? No articles ever mention that.

[M. Peach]

Does anyone know if this was ever brought up during the 9/11 hearings?

[VOA]

bump for publicity

[swilhelm73]

Hmm no mention of Gorelick, Clinton, or Reno in the article.

Of course, if it was CBS, they'd label Bush, Ashcroft, and a Republican to be named later as the culprits.

[funkywbr]

The media is making sure than nothing else matters but the PICTURES.

I imagine the Videos will be coming soon.

At this point Kerry could declare he will personally shot President Bush and those words will never get past the pictures.

[backhoe]

Crosslinked- click the nasty Pix:

[TomGuy]

CIA Director George Tenet refers to e-mails that agency officials say prove the information was provided to the FBI.

FBI officials, however, told ABCNEWS they had no record of these e-mails.

Either Tenet is lying or the FBI is. That should be easy enough to prove. If Tenet sent emails, he should be able to produce them.

Is ABC setting Tenet up to take the hit on this?

[Diva Betsy Ross]

bump

[An.American.Expatriate]

More than a year prior to 9/11??

Gee, I guess some other administrations made some mistakes as well. Naa, can't be.

[newsgatherer]

This is one of those very rare times when I wish our publisher didn't prohibit our using abc as a source. He has flat out stated that abc, nbc, cbs. cnn, the new yourk times and about a dozen others are not acceptable nor legitimate sources. He considers them to be liars and Republic destroyers.

But, he signs the checks, so, unless we can find another source, this little tidbit is never going to be read on Christian-news-in-maine.com

[elbucko]

"I think the failure of our government to work in the way we hoped it would is a deep set back in our confidence that our government can protect us," he said.

This was not a failure of government. It worked exactly as the Red Diaper Babies and their parents had planned. It kept international subversives from being noticed and arrested domestically. The Stalinist's came and went as they pleased, from Western Europe and their USSR contacts, and back to the USA without being bothered. They never expected that the Arabs would one day use the system they had set up to get into the US.

[sport]

It was George Bush masquerading as bill clinton.

It was George Bush masquerading as lyndon johnson that got us involved in Viet Nam.

[sport]

My money says that the fbi is lying.

[sport]

The purpose of the "9-11 hearings" is not to find out how and why the 9-11 attacks occurred.

Even a democrat voter knows why the occurred.

The purpose of the "9-11 hearings" is to find a way to blame President Bush for the attacks.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Of course if the FBI was refused to disclose this to the CIA because of a memo written by Newt Gingrich, his name would have been mentioned about 3 dozen times in the story.

Spineless Republicans.

[Ann Archy]

ABC reported this??? Last days, indeed.

Gorelick MUST be made to Testify!!! btw, is that 9/11 commission still going on??? Funny how NO ONE cares about it now.

As Rich Galen would say...it was The Roar du Jour!!

[MindBender26]

Emphasis can be an incredibly effective form of censorship. By failing to mention The Toon and just slipping in the "year before' reference, probably 70% of viewers associated it with Mr. Bush.

[Two Thirds Vote Aye]

We didn't have a president more than a year before 9/11. We had a jackass that inhabited our White House and exploited it to feed his adolescent desires as far as he could push it.

We didn't have a president more than a year before 9/11. We had a jackass that inhabited our White House and exploited it to feed his adolescent desires as far as he could push it.