Posted on 08/09/2005 11:50:47 AM PDT by areafiftyone
More than a year before the 9/11 attacks, Clinton administration intelligence officials had identified four of the 19 9/11 hijackers as a terrorist threat - including al-Qaida team leader Mohamed Atta and his partner Marwan al-Shehhi, whose planes destroyed the World Trade Center and killed over 2,700 people.
But the critical information was not acted on, at least in part, because of prohibitions against intelligence sharing implemented by former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, who was reportedly installed in her post at the insistence of then-first lady Hillary Clinton.
In the summer of 2000, a military team, known as Able Danger, had prepared a chart that included visa photographs of Atta and al Shehhi and recommended to the military's Special Operations Command that the information be shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rep. Curt Weldon and a former intelligence official told the New York Times.
"We knew these were bad guys, and we wanted to do something about them," the former intelligence official said.
However, the recommendation was rejected and the information was not shared, in part, said the Times, because the four suspects had entered the United States on valid entry visas.
But Rep. Weldon and the unnamed intelligence official also cited what the paper described as "a sense of discomfort common before Sept. 11 about sharing intelligence information with a law enforcement agency."
In fact, such intelligence sharing was strictly prohibited under Ms. Gorelick's policy, known at the Justice Department as "The Wall," which, in the spring of 2000, had also prevented the CIA from tipping off the FBI that two additional 9/11 hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, had entered the country.
Al-Midhar and al-Hamzi were identified by the Able Danger team as well, the Times said.
In its final report, however, the 9/11 Commission made no mention of the fact that the Clinton administration had identified key members of the hijack team, even though, the Times noted, that information had been shared with 9/11 Commission members.
The account by Weldon and the Times intelligence source is the first assertion that Atta and al Shehhi - who caused the most destruction in the worst attack ever suffered on U.S. soil - had been identified by the Clinton administration.
In testimony before the 9/11 Commission last year, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft blasted Gorelick's "Wall," saying, "The single greatest structural cause for September 11 was the wall that segregated criminal investigators and intelligence agents"
"[Ms. Gorelick] built that wall," said Ashcroft, "through a March 1995 memo."
The Gorelick memo stipulated, in part:
"We believe that it is prudent to establish a set of instructions that will more clearly separate the counterintelligence investigation from the more limited, but continued, criminal investigations. These procedures, which go beyond what is legally required, will prevent any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance that [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] is being used to avoid procedural safeguards which would apply in a criminal investigation."
Ms. Gorelick is expected to be a leading candidate for attorney general should Mrs. Clinton win the 2008 presidential election.
The regime of the "Former Occupant of the Oval Office, 1993-2001" had no CLUE as to the dangerous forces they were dealing with. This was a law enforcement problem, so far as they were concerned, and NOT a priority in their universe. For if laws WERE to be enforced, they would be in SO much trouble, as many of the members of that regime were technically NOT in compliance with some number of statutes or legal requirements at any given time.
The regime of the "Former Occupant of the Oval Office, 1993-2001" had two things on his mind - (1) The last time he got his bone polished (2) The next time he would get his bone polsihed
Who had time to worry about the country.
Abiding reason to support Jeanine Pirro which trumps every other argument - defeat of Herself in the Senatorial election 2006 sends a powerful message that Herself is NOT invincible.
Keep your eye on the prize, people. We cannot afford to allow Herself to consolidate power in any way. Ever.
Sure, Jeanine Pirro is no conservative, we don't ASK her to be. We ask of her to run interference to take Herself OUT.
And keep in mind, that however obliquely, New York would then still have at least half their Senators on site in Washington to do the business of the nation. Should Herself be re-elected to represent New York, once the Senate convenes in January 2007, that will be the last day Herself will be in town except for the raising of donations.
And of course Chuck Schumer will be ANYWHERE but on the Senate floor, dashing from one TV camera to another. If New York State is to have any presence in the Senate at ALL, then it behooves the electorate to put Ms. Pirro in office.
Really, so far Rush only read the report saying that the 9/11 committee was told about this on an overseas trip in 2002 or 2003, but it WAS NOT included in the final 9/11 Commission report...
Then he just comments on his suprise that this was printed in the NYTimes....and he said that the NYT does NOT expound on Jamie Gorelicks "wall" and the implications that it's presence lead to .....
All: I know that the Senate Intelligence Committee also did an investigation and also found Joe Wilson to be a liar (like the 9/11 commission)...has anyone heard whether the Senate Intell Commission had this info...or put it in their report?
Sandy was stealing copies of a memo by Richard Clarke. Clarke recommended killing bin Laden. Berger had written in the margin, NO.
Rush has covered this a few time ssin ce this is not "new" news.
Won't get any attention by the MSM like the last times.
Jeanine Pirro is no Republican but what the hell neither are all the rest of Northeast Rhino's but if she takes out Hildabeast all the better
Worse yet----I think the idiots in the Clinton Administration DID know how dangerous it was, but chose to ignore it...too dirty, too icky, and too much time would have to be spent on this instead of Monica...
The Clinton Administration - out of office, but still screwing things up. Gorelick should have been removed from that committee by the chairman, but wasn't. And the former Clintonistas managed a complete whitewash of the Clinton Administration's record on fighting terrorism - or not fighting terrorism.
Time to make an entry so the public doesn't accuse them of not covering the 'Gorelick wall' story. A little late, but...
How about just plain evil? The media will do everything they can to get her in office. Their behavior during the 04 election was just a warm up.
Why would Sandy Burglar hide and/ or destroy anything that would damage the Republicans?
'Course he would fall on his sword for the Clintons, so if it damned both sides he'd do it.
And the fact that the Repubs aren't raising H*ly H*ll about the whole situation there does tend to give off an unpleasant odor.
Sometimes I jump to conclusions. Maybe that's why I often say the lefties are so predictable. ;-) Anyway, I am pleased to see the NY Times reported this. At first I thought you meant just the Washington times.
It's not Rummy's problem - it happened before he took over Defense.
For some unknown reason, FOX broke away from their non-stop 24/7 Aruba coverage, or was it a missing pony in Idaho?
In any case, FNC decided to actually cover some NEWS during the day.
You and I know that, but the press wants a "gotcha" moment from every presser!!!
The problem is that during the Clinton Administration, all Humvees went to Clinton.
I'm sure this wall helped protect the Clintons.
thanks, Mia T. :)
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