Able Danger -- now they tell us

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | 08/14/05 | Jack Kelly OP/ED

[smoothsailing]

Jack Kelly: Able Danger -- now they tell us

The 9/11 commission report, once much lauded, now has an awfully big hole

Sunday, August 14, 2005

The report of the 9/11 commission, once a best seller and hailed by the news media as the definitive word on the subject, must now be moved to the fiction shelves.      

 

  The commission concluded, you'll recall, that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon couldn't have been prevented, and that if there was negligence, it was as much the fault of the Bush administration (for moving slowly on the recommendations of Clinton counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke) as of the Clinton administration.

Able Danger has changed all of that.

Able Danger was a military intelligence unit set up by Special Operations Command in 1999. A year before the 9/11 attacks, Able Danger identified hijack leader Mohamed Atta and the other members of his cell. But Clinton administration officials stopped them -- three times -- from sharing this information with the FBI.

The problem was the order Clinton Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick made forbidding intelligence operatives from sharing information with criminal investigators. (Gorelick later served as a 9/11 commission member.)

"They were stopped because the lawyers at that time in 2000 told them Mohamed Atta had a green card" -- he didn't -- "and they could not go after someone with a green card," said Rep. Curt Weldon, the Pennsylvania Republican who brought the existence of Able Danger to light.

The military spooks knew only that Atta and his confederates had links to al-Qaida. They hadn't unearthed their mission. But if the FBI had kept tabs on them (a big if, given the nature of the FBI at the time), 9/11 almost certainly could have..

[smoothsailing]

I knew you'd want to see this.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is the epitome of "old media" or "MSM".For them to publish this is stunnng.It's almost like pigs flying.

No doubt Greta van Sustern is dropping the Aruba whine-a-thon and rushing to the Capitol steps with a camera crew to cover Able Danger.(yeah,sure)

(BTW,your tagline is not all far-fetched,my FRiend)

[smoothsailing]

Thanks for posting,backhoe.This is the "mother lode".

You have performed a great service in pulling all this together in one place.I have bookmarked it so I wont have to kick myself for wondering where I saw it.

FRegards,FRiend....

[smoothsailing]

Any rain up your way yet? Been pulling for ya!;)

[Guenevere]

bttt

[Texas Songwriter]

I just saw William Cohen (Sec.Def/Clinton) with Wolfe Blitzer. Blitzer asked if he had heard of ABLE DANGER and its warnings about Atta. Cohen looked like he was sitting on a pin cushion, spoke of the Posse Commitatus laws, and laws of preventing sharing information with domestic law enforcement (FBI). BLitzer again asked if he had ever heard about the ABLE DANGER program. He said "I don't recall hearing about Atta from such a program." Blitzer pressed the question and Cohen replied in essence "I don't recall."

[firewalk]

bttt

[mabelkitty]

I don't get that either.
I always suspected he was sleeping with a PR person from Hillary's camp, and I'm believing it now.

[beyond the sea]

nope........... thanks for asking.

[mabelkitty]

Is he related to the Philadelphia (Grace) Kellys?
Might explain why he gets a wide berth.

[samadams2000]

Short list of frogmarchables behind the barm.

Burglur
Cohen
Gorelicker
Been Venistoy
Halfbright
...short list.

[JoanneSD]

The typical democratic response is "I dont remember, or I dont recall.. Hillary was a pro at it... and got away with it too..

[smoothsailing]

Don't know.Most decent folk around here wish Philadelphia would secede to New York.(No offense to Philly freepers!) ;)

[ncountylee]

The beast placed (and controlled) Gorelick at DOJ. The beast placed (and controlled) Gorelick at the 911 Commission.

Will Gorelick take the fall and do the time (ala Web Hubbel) for the beast? I don't think so with the White House in W's hands.

[backhoe]

Thanks for looking, and I appreciate your kind words.

[Pro-Bush]

Uh, I believe you are mistaken. I check Drudge everyday, and I checked his archieve/search engine, using terms "Atta" and "Able Danger" and got nothing. ...If you can show me anything different ..blah-blah

[smoothsailing]

"He actually linked the story days ago."

Please provide the link.

The Drudge data base returns 0 hits for Able Danger,13 hits for Atta(none more recent than 2002),5 hits for Gorelick(none more recent than 2004).

Do you remember the title of the story? Help me out here edpc,if Drudge is on it,my opinion of him will improve.

Thanks.

[iThinkBig]

"In a way, this is reassuring. US Intelligence didn't drop the ball. It was kicked out of their hands at gunpoint. Only a top level government official could prevent us from defending ourselves.

The clinton legacy -- bringing you back into the dark ages."

That is a good point. A friend of mine likes to collect different decade memorabelia for the 70's, 80's and 90's. When he bought a Bill Clinton doll, I engaged in an hour long debate with him how he was the worst president in US history for doing nothing about terrorism and giving the CHinese direct access to our nations most sensative technology. Of course all he cared about was the 'economy' stupid.

[Drammach]

The time frame in question is Feb - April 2000...
The Military Intelligence report Able Danger states that Muhammad Atta was in the US at that time..

Members of the 9-11 commission (and their report) insist that is impossible, as Atta did not apply for a visa until May 2000, and did not arrive in the US until June, 2000...

Yet, we have a cell phone, set up with a US-based cell phone service, in Florida, under Atta's name, being used in Florida, in April, 2000..
The 9-11 commission says, this is why Atta could not have been in Prague, and at the same time, saying it was someone else using Atta's phone, not Atta..
But they are insisting Atta did not even arrive in the US until June, 2 months later..

Thouroughly confused?
So is the 9-11 commission, Jamie Gorelick, the Mainstream Media, and everyone else..
Who's right? Who's Lying?
Is someone covering something up?
Like Jamie Gorelick's "Wall of Silence" ??
And why is she still on the commission?
Why was she not forced to step down from that position?
Why wasn't she forced to testify "under oath" ??

And why isn't she in jail??

[Alamo-Girl]

Why wasn't she forced to testify "under oath" ??

And why isn't she in jail??

My two cents: the initial investigation will be done by the reporters - most likely at FoxNews because the MSM appears to be wanting to bury it.

Provided they stir upon enough probable cause - as they did with the U.N. oil-for-food scandal - the Representatives and Senators will cry out for a special prosecutor to look for corruption on the 911 Commission in order to keep it from hurting the incumbents (mostly Democrats) chances of being reelected if it is heard in open testimony.

If it all happens that way, then I would expect Bush to grant the request and then Gorelick would have to testify before a grand jury and would be at risk.

IOW, the commission's efforts to politicize the investigation could backfire into a criminal investigation which would specifically target Gorelick for the very purpose of protecting their own re-election chances. But the Democrats have a long history of throwing loyal people to the wolves for political gain: Hubbell, Foster, Brown, McDougal, Huang, etc.

[Drammach]

I agree, if things get too hot, they will sell Gorelick out..

How hot can we make it? ? ;oD