Late 1999
A German news item says that Mohamed Atta, Marwan Al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah report their passports had been stolen. The German Interior Ministry says this may have been a plan to clear any record of travel to Afghanistan.
April 2001
Czech Interior Minister, Stanislav Gross says a meeting between Atta and Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani, an Iraqi intelligence agent took place in Prague, several weeks before Al-Ani was expelled from the country April 22, 2001, for conduct incompatible with his diplomatic status. There are reports that this was possibly the third or fourth meeting between Atta and Al-Ani.
(from Captain's Quarters) August 11, 2005
Rethinking Prague After Able Danger
The official line espoused (at least for the moment) by the 9/11 Commission for their omission of the Able Danger data-mining project that correctly identified Mohammed Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers more than a year prior to 9/11 is that the data supplied by the Army AD intelligence information clashed with what the Commission "knew" about Atta's whereabouts. Spokesman Al Felzenberg told the media that although the Commission lied earlier about not being briefed on Able Danger, they disregarded it for this reason:
Al Felzenberg, spokesman for the commission's follow-up project called the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, had said earlier this week that the panel was unaware of intelligence specifically naming Atta. But he said subsequent information provided Wednesday confirmed that the commission had been aware of the intelligence.
The information did not make it into the final report because it was not consistent with what the commission knew about Atta's whereabouts before the attacks, Felzenberg said.
Felzenberg did not go into specifics. However, the only dispute about Atta's whereabouts in the days before 9/11 is whether Atta traveled to Prague in April 2001. Czech intelligence insisted -- in fact, still insists -- that Atta came to Prague on April 9th and met with Iraqi diplomat Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al Ani and a member of the Iraqi intelligence service. A meeting with the Iraqis so close to the mission would strongly indicate a connection between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein, at least in terms of logistical support.
The Commission report insists that the meeting never occurred, and explained its reasoning on pages 228-9:
The FBI has gathered evidence indicating that Atta was in Virginia Beach on April 4 (as evidenced by a bank surveillance camera photo), and in Coral Springs, Florida on April 11, where he and Shehhi leased an apartment.On April 6, 9, 10, and 11,Atta’s cellular telephone was used numerous times to call various lodging establishments in Florida from cell sites within Florida.We cannot confirm that he placed those calls. But there are no U.S. records indicating that Atta departed the country during this period. Czech officials have reviewed their flight and border records as well for any indication that Atta was in the Czech Republic in April 2001, including records of anyone crossing the border who even looked Arab.They have also reviewed pictures from the area near the Iraqi embassy and have not discovered photos of anyone who looked like Atta. No evidence has been found that Atta was in the Czech Republic in April 2001.
All this does, of course, is tell us that Atta's phone got used during the time frame he supposedly traveled. As they say, anyone could have used that phone during his absence. They then run down their reasoning against that timing:
These findings cannot absolutely rule out the possibility that Atta was in Prague on April 9, 2001. He could have used an alias to travel and a passport under that alias, but this would be an exception to his practice of using his true name while traveling (as he did in January and would in July when he took his next overseas trip). The FBI and CIA have uncovered no evidence that Atta held any fraudulent passports.
KSM and Binalshibh both deny that an Atta-Ani meeting occurred. There was no reason for such a meeting, especially considering the risk it would pose to the operation. By April 2001, all four pilots had completed most of their training,and the muscle hijackers were about to begin entering the United States.
The available evidence does not support the original Czech report of an Atta-Ani meeting.
The Commission never took into account the following:
* Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and Binalshibh had given American intelligence disinformation; at the beginning of Chapter 7, the Commission dismisses KSM's assertions about a lack of AQ contacts in Southern California. Why rely on them here?
* If Iraq had a hand in 9/11, the Iraqis would have required Atta to travel using special cover when they met. The Iraqis would not have wanted the Americans to link Atta with Saddam. They certainly would have provided him a special passport and false identity for such a meeting; they had done the same with Ramzi Yousef, the 1993 WTC bomber, using Kuwaiti paperwork stolen during their 1991 invasion. In fact, no one is sure that Ramzi Yousef is his actual name.
* The purpose of the trip may have been to ensure that the "muscle hijackers" did get into the US safely, and to arrange for logistical and financial support to make that happen. It would have also given Atta an opportunity to finalize all plans before proceeding with the final phases of his mission.
* The reason that "[t]he available evidence does not support the original Czech report of an Atta-Ani meeting" could be that they left out the Able Danger evidence that might support it.
The insistence that Atta could never have been in Prague on April 9, 2001 despite the insistence of Czech intelligence to the contrary never stood on firm ground. With this new revelation about Able Danger and the immediate invocation of the Commission-approved Atta timeline, it becomes even less sure and more suspicious than ever.
If Able Danger supports Czech intelligence, which at the moment remains just speculation, it will prove tremendously explosive. The ramifications will affect not just the careers of the Commissioners and their staff, but a deliberate attempt to suppress Able Danger might well result in criminal prosecution. It will also force a recalculation of the war in Iraq and its place in the war on terror. The involvement of Jamie Gorelick on the Commission will once again cause people to ask why such a conflict of interest was allowed to occur -- only this time, Congress won't be able to avoid the answers.
Congress needs to hold public hearings to get to the bottom of these questions. The deliberate deceptions of the 9/11 Commission this week has set off alarms about their motives and preconceptions which may have seriously perverted our knowledge of 9/11 and the forces which stood behind the attacks -- by far the most complicated and well-coordinated al-Qaeda operation, before or since.
Posted by Captain Ed at 07:54 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Bump - Intriguing post.
Thanks for posting.
A Motive For Berger's Bizarre Behavior?
"The Sept. 11 commission (search) 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."
Hamilton's remarks Tuesday followed findings by Rep. Curt Weldon (search), R-Pa., vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, that made front-page news.
In June, Weldon displayed charts on the floor of the U.S. Senate showing that Able Danger identified the suspected terrorists in 1999. The unit repeatedly asked for the information to be forwarded to the FBI but apparently to no avail. Various news outlets picked up on the story this week.
Weldon told FOX News on Wednesday that staff members of the Sept. 11 commission were briefed at least once by officials on Able Danger, but that he does not believe the message was sent to the panel members themselves. He also said some phone calls made by military officials with Able Danger to the commission staff went unreturned.
"Why weren't they briefed? Was there some deliberate attempt at the staff level of the 9/11 commission to steer the commissioners away from Able Danger because of where it might lead?" Weldon asked. "Why was there no mention of Able Danger?"
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Sept. 11 commission looked into the matter during its investigation of government missteps leading to the attacks and chose not to include it in the final report.
{....]
According to Weldon, Able Danger identified Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi (search), Khalid al-Mihdar (search) and Nawaf al-Hazmi (search) as members of a cell Able Danger code-named "Brooklyn" because of some loose connections to New York City.
Weldon said that in September 2000, the unit recommended on three separate occasions 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, arguing that Atta and the others were in the country legally so information on them could not be shared with law enforcement.
"Lawyers within the administration — and we're talking about the Clinton administration, not the Bush administration — said 'you can't do it,'" and put post-its over Atta's face, Weldon said. "They said they were concerned about the political fallout that occurred after Waco ... and the Branch Davidians."
Good. I need to digest this when I have time later.
Thanks, again!
From 1994 to 1998 Atta was first a fellow and later a tutor in the Carl-Duisburg Society.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/683026/posts
"1994—ATTA applies for a fellowship in development policy with the Carl-Duisburg Society, an organization dedicated to development issues. ATTA will attend many seminars within Germany for the next several years, owing to this fellowship. Also during this year, he goes on a student trip to Istanbul, Turkey. Later this year, he travels to Aleppo, Syria for several weeks to research what would become his thesis, the conflict between Islam and modernity as reflected in the planning of historical cities. ATTA then takes six months off from Plankontor to make pilgrimage, and sends his Christian friends a postcard from Mecca"
I wonder what happened to the video of Atta meeting al-Ani [Iraqi intel for those of you in Palm Beach] at the Prague airport? I saw it twice, and can't recall where now.
5.56mm
June 3
Atta arrives in Newark, New Jersey aboard a Czech Airlines flight from Prague with a six month tourist visa for the US. He has shaved off his beard, has begun to wear western style clothing again and appears to have a large amount of money at his disposal.
Where did he get the money from?
This just doesn't seem to fit into the scheme of flying airliners into buildings. Were they going to fly crop dusters into buildings but nixed that plan because they couldn't get the crop dusters?
Interesting timeline. On August 14, Atta went from Vegas to Houston. I wonder what airline he took and if the flight went through Denver. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't. On August 14, 2001, President Bush was in Colorado. I can't tell from news reports whether he spent the night there. I imagine he did, but I'm not positive. The next day he was in Albuquerque for the first day of school. I was disappointed that he didn't show up at the school our children attended so the date sticks out in my mind.
here's a link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1449856/posts
While her claims have heretofore been widely dismissed, it seems prudent, in view of the Able Danger info, to reconsider he claim "... she met Atta,Mohammad 'between the end of April, around the third week of April to the third week of May of 2000.'"
Source: http://911review.org/Sept11Wiki/Bryant,Johnelle.shtml
If nothing else, this claim is consistent with the idea that Atta was using more than one identity, which is consistent with the claims about him sneaking off to the Prague meeting without US officials being able to trace it.
They forgot the last part of September 11: "Wakes up in Hell."
Did you know that backhoe has been compiling his usual excellant listing of threads ..??
May I call this to your attention?
| Captain Ed on Able Danger and another angle the 9/11 Commission may have missed. |
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