http://www.nationalreview.com/impromptus/impromptus061002.asp
Like many others, I read with sinking heart about Johnell Bryant, the Department of Agriculture official to whom the 9/11 terrorist Mohamed Atta applied for a loan — he wanted to buy a crop-duster, for purposes that need not now be guessed. According to the New York Times, “[Ms. Bryant] told Atta that he could not have a loan of $650,000 to buy a twin-engine, six-passenger plane, which he wanted to equip with a very large tank. He then became agitated . . . and asked [Bryant] what was to keep him from slitting her throat and stealing money from the safe behind the desk in her Florida office.”
But Johnell Bryant didn’t kick Atta out of her office or call the police. She jollied him. And “later in their meeting, . . . [Atta] told her he wanted to buy an aerial picture of Washington that hung in her office. He pulled out a wad of cash and threw money on her desk, even after she said she would not sell it. He asked about the White House and Pentagon, and she pointed them out.”
He praised al Qaeda to her, and also its leader, Osama bin Laden. According to Bryant, Atta “mentioned that this man would someday be known as the world’s greatest leader.” The terrorist went on to ask about various American cities, and specifically mentioned that the football stadium used by the Dallas Cowboys had “a hole in the roof.” He also wondered whether “he would be able to visit various landmarks in Washington, since he was not a citizen. ‘I told him that there wouldn’t be a problem with that, that there is security inside of most of the buildings,’ . . . but it would be like that in airports.”
Today, Bryant says, “Should I have picked up the telephone and called someone? . . . I don’t know how I could possibly expect myself to have recognized what the man was. And yet sometimes I haven’t forgiven myself.”
NATIONAL DESK | June 7, 2002, Friday
TRACES OF TERROR: THE RINGLEADER; U.S. Official Says She Met Central Figure in 9/11 Plot
By TINA KELLEY (NYT) 524 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 24 , Column 5
ABSTRACT - Agriculture Department official Johnell Bryant says Mohamed Atta, man believed to have been ringleader of terrorist attacks of Sept 11, asked him for loan in April or May 2000 to buy crop-duster and questioned her about security at World Trade Center and buildings in Washington; says he also spoke to her about Al Qaeda and praised Osama bin Laden; photo (M)
Shes dumber than a donut.