No Evidence Pentagon Knew of Atta, Panel Says

washington post ^ | August 13, 2005 | Dan Eggen

[george76]

9/11 Probers Reject Claims on Lead Hijacker

Investigators for the Sept. 11 commission have found no evidence to support allegations by a House Republican that lead hijacker Mohamed Atta was identified by a classified Pentagon program before the 2001 attacks, according to a commission statement issued last night.

Commission leaders Thomas H. Kean (R) and Lee H. Hamilton (D) said in the joint statement that panel staff members have found no documents or other witnesses to back up claims made by a U.S. Navy officer, who told the commission staff in July 2004 that he recalled seeing Atta's name and photograph on a chart prepared by another officer. Panel officials also said they have found no evidence to support similar claims made to reporters by a second person, a former defense intelligence official.

"None of the documents turned over to the commission mention Mohamed Atta or any of the other future hijackers," the commission statement said. "Nor do any of the staff notes on documents reviewed in the [Defense Department] reading room indicate that Mohamed Atta or any of the other future hijackers were mentioned in any of those documents."

The statement marks the latest development in several days of public skirmishing between the commission and Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), who accused the panel of ignoring allegations that Atta and other hijackers had been identified by Pentagon analysts before the Sept. 11 attacks but that the information had not been shared with other agencies.

..."the commission staff concluded that the officer's account was not sufficiently reliable to warrant revision of the report or further investigation."

The Able Danger program is also not mentioned in the final report because "the operation itself did not turn out to be historically significant," the statement said.

[SueRae]

He was just on Fox and he has said that he only found out 3 months ago that the commission staffers didn't forward the information given to them by the military intelligence officers. He gave a speech on the floor of Congress back in June which got buried...and was eventually picked up by the NY Times.

He has worked with these military officers back during the 3 year timeframe when Able Danger was still in existence.

[johnny7]

He better get on the phone to all the 'fat-cat' pubbies, kicking-up at their dacha's. Able Danger is like a treasure chest that's washed ashore during the night... to an empty beach. Unless he gets some power behind him... this'll grow ripe in a hurry.

Did you see Brian Wilson? That Texas 'feller sure had his dander up!

[Peach]

Able Danger found the information about Atta and others in 1999 and tried that year and again in 2000 to tell people about it, but were told repeatedly that they couldn't share the information.

[Peach]

Weldon talked about this on the floor of the House of Representatives two months ago when he became aware that Able Danger had tried to tell the Commission about their findings.

[mykdsmom]

OIC, thanks!

[kittymyrib]

Yes, I'm sure that's what Sandy Burglar was cramming down his pants so this clueless commission could have deniability. Appoint a special prosecutor and put the whole bunch under oath.

[Peach]

I saw the whole thing. Brian is ticked off too.

Nothing will happen until September when Congress comes back into session.

And we'd better be ready to make phone calls then and insist on public hearings.

[FReethesheeples]

Can you spell "cover up"?

[mabelkitty]

I don't think they understand - by lying under oath, they can go to prison.

Do they really want to play chicken with Weldon?

Do they really want to be put under oath and grilled on national television about the 9/11 Commission scheme?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Discussion on Weldon's appearance on Fox here:

Weldon to be on FNC at Noon ET

[Let's Roll]

Everything the Clinton's touch turns to sh!t - and that includes this commission. I'd feel sorry for them if it wasn't so serious.

Remember how the entire govt - WH, congress went into kneejerk to implement their recommendations? Idiots, buffoons at best - evil doer for Gorelick.

[Rocko]

They desperately want to bury this one. More so even than Newsweak wanted to bury the Monica story.

Odd that Drudge isn't covering this...he thinks Paula Abdul is more newsworthy.

[putupjob]

Amazing what disgusting scum these two turned out to be.

[Kay]

Hope Weldon keeps on digging and ploughing ahead. He seems like a straight shooter who wants to get to the truth, no matter what, regardless of political party. My kind of fellow.

BTW, thanks for all your long, hard work & posting on this topic!

[TomGuy]

No Evidence Pentagon Knew of Atta, Panel Says

Splitting hairs?

Per the Left/Libs' own hero, Richard Clarke, the FBI told him it was Atta by 10:00 a.m.:



I found this timeline of 9-11-01 from Center for Cooperative Research:

(9:59 a.m.): Clarke Told Some Hijackers Have al-Qaeda Connections

Counterterrorism “tsar” Richard Clarke is told in private by Dale Watson, counterterrorism chief at the FBI, “We got the passenger manifests from the airlines. We recognize some names, Dick. they're al-Qaeda.” Clarke replies, “How the f_ck did they get on board then?” He is told, “Hey, don't shoot the messenger, friend. CIA forgot to tell us about them.” As they are talking about this, they see the first WTC tower collapse on television. [Clarke, 2004, pp 13-14] Some hijacker names, including Mohamed Atta's, were identified on a reservations computer over an hour earlier.


(After 10:06 a.m.): Al-Qaeda Agents Heard Saying we've Hit the Targets

According to Newsweek, “shortly after the suicide attacks,” US intelligence picks up communications among bin Laden associates relaying the message: “we've hit the targets.” [Newsweek, 9/13/01]


(11:00 a.m.): Customs Claims to Determine the Names of All 19 Hijackers

Robert Bonner, the head of Customs and Border Protection, later testifies, “We ran passenger manifests through the system used by Customs—two were hits on our watch list of August 2001.” (This is presumably a reference to hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, watch-listed on August 23, 2001.) “And by looking at the Arab names and their seat locations, ticket purchases and other passenger information, it didn't take a lot to do a rudimentary link analysis. Customs officers were able to ID 19 probable hijackers within 45 minutes. I saw the sheet by 11 a.m. And that analysis did indeed correctly identify the terrorists.” [New York Observer, 2/11/04] However, Bonner appears to be at least somewhat incorrect: for two days after the attacks the FBI believes there are only 18 hijackers, and the original list contains some erroneous Arab-sounding names on the flight manifests, such as Adnan Bukhari and Ameer Bukhari. [CNN, 9/13/01 (D)] Some hijacker names, including Mohamed Atta's, were identified on a reservations computer around 8:30 a.m., and Richard Clarke was told some of the names were al-Qaeda around 10:00 a.m.


===

This website has an extensive timeline. It seems to lean somewhat anti-Administration, but it has a wealth of data.

I am not sure when any of the hijackers' names made the airwaves, but I do seem to remember it was that day.

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[TomGuy]

The ole save-Clinton-washing-machine to clean out the stains is now on full spin cycle.

[Peach]

Thanks.

Weldon has been fierce in his demand for accountability regarding this matter. And our Republican congresscritters had better take up the mantle in September. They will hear from me, for sure.

This is a gift from heaven if we use it.

[Nuc1]

Let's see Whom do you believe a military officer or Washington politicians with their a$$ in a sling? I know who I would pick.

[longtermmemmory]

FNC just had a panel member that said there are 15 boxes of stuff the commission never say.

This is not answering questions, THIS IS CYA.

ABLE DANGER IS A MAJOR SCANDAL AND HEADS MUST ROLL.

[mware]

Ahh this must be the version they said they wanted out before the weekend.