Posted on 08/10/2005 1:05:03 AM PDT by Cougar66
WASHINGTON (AP) - Members of the commission that uncovered the government's failures to share intelligence among agencies before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks want to know whether U.S. defense intelligence officials knew for more than a year that four of the hijackers were part of an al-Qaida cell but failed to tell law enforcement. Lee Hamilton, co-chairman of the now-disbanded commission, said Tuesday that members of the Sept. 11 commission could issue a statement by the end of the week after reviewing claims that defense intelligence officials had identified ringleader Mohammed Atta and three other hijackers, .
"The 9/11 commission did not learn of any U.S. government knowledge prior to 9/11 of surveillance of Mohammed Atta or of his cell," said Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. "Had we learned of it obviously it would've been a major focus of our investigation."
The commission's report on the terrorist attacks, released last year, traced government mistakes that allowed the hijackers to succeed. Among the problems the commission cited was a lack of coordination across intelligence agencies.
Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who serves as vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, said a classified military intelligence unit known as "Able Danger" identified the men in 1999.
That's an earlier link to al-Qaida than any previously disclosed intelligence about Atta if the information, which Weldon said came from multiple intelligence sources, is true.
With the 9/11 commission disbanded for a year under provisions of the legislation that created it, some of the panel's members have said congressional committees should investigate Weldon's assertions.
According to Weldon, Able Danger identified Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Khalid al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi as members of a cell the unit code-named "Brooklyn" because of some loose connections to New York City.
Weldon said that in September 2000 Able Danger recommended that its information on the hijackers be given to the FBI "so they could bring that cell in and take out the terrorists." However, Weldon said Pentagon lawyers rejected the recommendation because they said Atta and the others were in the country legally, so information on them could not be shared with law enforcement.
Weldon did not provide details on how the intelligence officials identified the future hijackers and determined they might be part of a terrorist cell.
Defense Department documents shown to an Associated Press reporter Tuesday said the Able Danger team was set up in 1999 to identify potential al-Qaida operatives for U.S. Special Operations Command. At some point, information provided to the team by the Army's Information Dominance Center pointed to a possible al-Qaida cell in Brooklyn, the documents said.
However, because of concerns about pursuing information on "U.S. persons" - a legal term that includes U.S. citizens as well as foreigners admitted to the country for permanent residence - Special Operations Command did not provide the Army information to the FBI. It is unclear whether the Army provided the information to anyone else.
The command instead turned its focus to overseas threats.
The documents provided no information on whether the team identified anyone connected to the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people.
If the team did identify Atta and the others, it's unclear why the information wasn't forwarded. The prohibition against sharing intelligence on "U.S. persons" should not have applied since they were in the country on visas and did not have permanent resident status.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he was unaware of the intelligence until the latest reports surfaced.
But Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the 9/11 Commission looked into the matter during its investigation into government missteps leading to the attacks and chose not to include it in the final report.
Hamilton said 9/11 Commission staff members learned of Able Danger during a meeting with military personnel in October 2003 in Afghanistan, but that the staff members do not recall learning of a connection between Able Danger and any of the four terrorists Weldon mentioned.
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Read Heather Mcdonalds Article in Opinion Journal 2002 "Why the FBI didnt stop 9/11 " will give you the history of the Wall and some real great Quotes from field FBI agents who were frustrated by it while on the trail of the 9/11 hijackers ,how when people die the American people are not going to understand we didnt do all we could because of this Wall
Bravo to COngessman Weldon (my district) for bringing this to light!!!
BTW, I beleive the 911 commission meets at least once a year for updates. It was not a one shot deal.
This tidbit is but the tip of the iceberg which we will use to take Hillary apart in 2008.
Lee Hamiliton: "Mrs. Gorelick, you know anything about this? ...Jamie?...Jamie?....uh...are you there?"
9/11 HIJACKERS KNOWN IN ADVANCE
Republican Congressman Curt Weldon from Pennsylvania has made the explosive allegation that more than a year before the attacks on 9/11, Clinton administration intelligence officials knew who four of the hijackers were, including ringleader Mohammed Atta. So why wasn't anything done?
Because information wasn't allowed to be shared between federal agencies, thanks to 9/11 commissioner and former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick (not pronounced the way it's spelled.) She instituted rules that forbade sharing of intelligence between, for instance, the CIA and the FBI. She was reportedly hired at the insistence of The Hildabeast. Thank you Hillary Clinton.
Here's what Weldon told the New York Times. He says a military group, called 'Able Danger' had identified the four terrorists, knew they were trouble and said the FBI should know about it. They were rejected, because of Gorelick's rules. Since the Islamic hijackers had legitimate visas, Able Danger's recommendation was turned down. A quote from Weldon: "In fact, I'll tell you how stupid it was, they put stickies on the faces of Mohammed Atta on the chart that the military intelligence unit had completed and they said you can't talk to Atta because he's here." Curt Weldon say he got the info from some of the agents in the Able Danger unit.
If true, and there's no reason to believe it isn't, this is yet another example of how the debacle of 9/11 should be laid at the feet of the Clinton administration. No president did more to ignore the mounting threat of Islamic terrorism than did Bill Clinton, and 3,000 people paid for his policies with their lives.
The 9/11 Commission is coming back to investigate this one. We'll be watching.
"Now they will spin it as some clumsy mistake and the media will not question Gorelick's role in forbidding agencys from sharing information about terrorists."
Exactly, friend!
Howz about a link? I'm having trouble finding this.
Thanks,
bttt
This new information just ads to the question "what exactly did Sandy Burger stuff in his pants and socks?"
Your thoughts are right over the target!
Sorry ,best I can do City Journal ,Autumn 2002 ,Heather Mcdonald ,"Why The FBI Didnt Stop 9/11"
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