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.

[Diogenesis]

At OUR peril, we continue to ignore that their Islamic calendars PREDICTED the exact month,
exact location, and exact method, of the 911 Atrocities A YEAR in advance.

The Islamic 911 Attack Calendar which was distriibuted worldwide the year before
the terrorists murdered 3000 Americans per hour in the 911 Atrocities.

September 2001 is shown. How many were in the offices of Gorelick's clients?

[lancer]

"unless we can find another source, this little tidbit is never going to be read on Christian-news-in-maine.com"

Does CNIM.com accept emailed columns?

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Do we have any current Al Qaida calenders which would similarly predict terrorist events in the near future?

[TexKat]

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

I don't know, but I do see that the title of the article on this thread is not the title on the original article, nor does it reflect the info of the body of the article.

[God luvs America]

bump

[God luvs America]

to "11th Earl of Mar"...are you a Genisis fan??

[Smartass]

[Mr. K]

Keep in mind the REASON for the Gorelick memo- to keep Clintoon from getting caught

[11th_VA]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004212339,00.html

A CURRY waiter from Oldham was recruited by al-Qaeda and trained as a September 11 hijacker, he claimed yesterday.

The British Muslim turned himself in to the FBI after having second thoughts — and warned that fanatics planned to fly planes into buildings.

But they did not believe him — 18 months before the Twin Towers attack — and let him go.

His case has been reopened by a US investigation into the tragedy in which 3,000 died.

The dad of two, 29, said: “I told them I had come to hijack a plane and they didn’t believe me.”

[jmstein7]

Gorelick PING!

[Cold Heat]

What is amazing is that this came from ABC. (network most loved by Islamonazis)

[Cold Heat]

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.

LOL! The publisher is right!

This article, comming from ABC is indeed suprising. They normally suppress these things. They protect democracy. (democrats)

[Cold Heat]

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

Kerry was in Vietnam!

Sorry, I could not resist:-)

[SierraWasp]

Well... I disagree with the toesucker!!!

The minute it happened I told Mrs. Wasp that ol "Third Way" (probably should be 3-way) William Jefferson Clinton brought this worse than Pearl Harbor attack on US!!!

She was just a tool of the Clinton devils!!!

[PhilDragoo]

[Lancey Howard]

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

If it doesn't smear Bush, the 9-11 Commission isn't interested. Or, more accurately, if it reflects badly on their chum and colleague Jamie Gorelick, then it's off limits.

By the way, is that stupid commission still getting into mischief? I saw in the NY Post today where Lehman is blaming Reagan for 9-11 now. The blame is with anybody but Clinton and Gorelick. I wish they'd just wrap it up and go home already. The sooner that sick waste of time and tax-dollars is forgotten, the better it will be for everybody.

[CaptIsaacDavis]

urrr

[My Dog Likes Me]

We can expect a CIA snipe at the FBI in response to this report.

Don't forget that one of the elusive hijackers in question here was, while undergoing flight training, listed in a "secret government document" called...THE SAN DIEGO PHONEBOOK!!!! It wasn't like he entered the country after the terrorist conference and then disappeared.

I can't get this one out of my head: I would like a more definitive explanation of the FBI/FAA handling of actor James Woods' persistent warning to the captain and crew on the odd behavior of a group of fellow passengers on an AA flight from Boston to LA a few weeks before 9/11. I've seen Woods describe this on TV, and if anything was definitive and "actionable" (I'm beginning to hate that word), his warning is it. It should have sent red alarms off in every appropriate government agency. If these people on Woods' flight were questioned, checked-out, or arrested at the gate in LA, none of this would have happened, IMHO.

[AnimalLover]

Ping

[devolve]

Dynamite graphic