Posted on 08/14/2005 10:38:56 AM PDT by george76
Grab yourself a cup of coffee and head on over to TKS for the best summation of Able Danger as things presently stand. Or stay here and I'll summarize it for you.
In very, very brief summation: The 9-11 commission did know about Able Danger; some of its staff were briefed on it twice, and the information got to some but not all of the commissioners
What seems increasingly likely, based on the TKS summary and others, is that the commissioners who knew of Able Danger dismissed it because its Mohammed Atta timeline didn't agree with theirs. That in and of itself is no reason to dismiss evidence unless your outcome is predetermined, which it may well have been to one or more commissioners and staff. Intriguingly, the Able Danger timeline seems to leave room for the Atta meeting in Prague, which to this day Czech intelligence insists happened and to this day is only refuted by US sources because Atta's cell phone was used in the US when he was supposed to be in Prague. Like one of his cellmates couldn't have used it to order pizza or something. That has always struck me as an awfully flimsy data point to use to sink a credible report from an allied intelligence agency.
From Captain's Quarters, we learn that not only was Gorelick's wall relevant to all this, but that it generated complaints from inside the Reno justice department. Mary Jo White, prosecutor of the 1993 WTC bombers, complained in two separate memos--both of which are still secret, and neither of which figured into the 9-11 commission's final report--that the wall would make it next to impossible to prevent terrorist attacks on US soil and would probably result in loss of life.
From FrontPage, we find a most intriguing lead. One Dietrich Snell seems to have a Carmen Sandiego quality--he turns up wherever you look. He was a co-prosecutor on the 1993 WTC case. He appears to have turned down a terrorists' offer to betray Operation Bojinka, which was an aborted al Qaeda op that eerily foreshadowed 9-11.
TKS?
a name to remember...
Sounds like Snell's conflict is as malodorous as Gorelick's.
Who is Dietrich? I'd never seen his name before.
bttt
Good one.
If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Snell (actually I think it's "Schnell") was also a fairly high-ranking member of the 9/11 Commission staff. I'll try to find a link for that; I'm certain that I've seen it cited here on FR.
TKS....
What we know:
* In 1999, the Pentagon established an intelligence unit called Able Danger, assigned to seek out and identify al-Qaeda cells and members for U.S. Special Operations Command. This group reportedly used data mining from open sources.
* Approximately August or September 2000, Able Danger identified an al-Qaeda cell in Brooklyn. An intelligence official and Rep. Curt Weldon claim that the AD unit identified Mohammed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Khalid al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, and included a photo of Atta. (Weldon claims that he has spoken to four persons involved with the program.) At least two of those men were pilots on the hijacked flights.
* Able Danger analysts recommended the information be passed on to the FBI so that the cell could be rounded up. Accounts in Government Security News, the New York Times, and the Associated Press indicate that Pentagon lawyers decided that anyone holding a green card (as it was believed the cell members did) had to be granted essentially the same legal protections as any U.S. citizen. Thus, the information Able Danger had gathered could not be shared with the FBI, the lawyers concluded. This is in keeping with “the wall” philosophy and policy established in 1995 by Assistant Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, in which intelligence and law enforcement were directed to go beyond what the law requires to keep intelligence-gathering and criminal law enforcement separated.
* The prohibition against sharing intelligence on Atta and the others should not have applied since they were in the country on visas. They did not have permanent resident status.
What we don’t know:
* Just how many names Able Danger wanted to forward to the FBI. However, the wording in the Government Security article indicates that these four names were the only four that popped up on AD’s data-mining operation.
Thus, the information Able Danger had amassed about the only terrorist cell they had located inside the United States could not be shared with the FBI, the lawyers concluded.
Unless the former intelligence officer quoted in the story is lying, these four guys were all that Able Danger found.
* Whether the military lawyer who denied Able Danger’s request to pass on the information checked with any superiors.
* It seems very hard to imagine this information would not be passed on to Secretary of Defense William Cohen, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, and the White House’s point man on counterterrorism, Richard Clarke. Yet, as of this moment, we have no direct confirmation that this information went any higher than the Pentagon lawyer.
What is speculation, but is interesting speculation:
* The 9/11 Commission staffers who felt the information about Able Danger wasn’t worth mentioning to their bosses could, conceivably, be imbeciles.
* No one has concretely tied this new information to the strange, felonious behavior of Sandy Berger, smuggling documents out of the National Archives. But boy, if the document in question related to Able Danger’s warning and the decision to not act upon it, his actions would make a lot more sense, wouldn’t they?
http://tks.nationalreview.com/archives/072802.asp
The point to remember is that the 9/11 Commission
public hearings were nothing but a staged attack
on President Bush. What more is there to said about
whether they would lie to protect themselves?
Collusion in it's highest form. The memos could be the Blue Dress, how can the New york Times, Time, News Week, The Globe, LA Times, not be interested in what these memos have to say. The only answer is their exposure would be devastating to the Liberals.
Putting Gorelick on the Committee does seem to stack the deck.
Go Curt Weldon! You have our support. Get'r done!
Formally know as "The Kerry Spot"
"Czech intelligence insists happened and to this day is only refuted by US sources because Atta's cell phone was used in the US when he was supposed to be in Prague."
Sorry. But this is intellectually lazy. The 9/11 report listed quite a number of reasons to disbelief the Czech account. The cell phone was just one of many.
It is misinformation like this that hurts getting to the truth.
The *co-prosecutor* in the 1993 WTC case turned down information regarding another terrorist plot? What?
That isn't all. Snell was also made Senior Counsel and was part of the a "team leader" for the 9/11 Commission!
Oh. It gets better! One of the possible scenarios of Operation Bojinka was to crash dive an airliner into CIA headquarters.
So... Snell turned down an offer regarding information that had direct implications concerning 9/11. And guess as to who hired Mr. Snell? Anyone?
Sorry. "Any." I can't type. Again.
* No one has concretely tied this new information to the strange, felonious behavior of Sandy Berger, smuggling documents out of the National Archives. But boy, if the document in question related to Able Danger’s warning and the decision to not act upon it, his actions would make a lot more sense, wouldn’t they?
------
I wonder WHY the public does not know this ?? Deliberately being kept secret by the "Washington Criminal Country Club"...???
Putting Gorelick on the Committee does seem to stack the deck.
-----
It was deliberate to keep Gorelick off the stand, which SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED, and which should STILL HAPPEN.
A dozen people should be put under oath to testify, and find out WHO engineered "the wall" -- I think we already know WHY but exactly who is needed to throw the rope up over the tree branch...
This is the key time in which all Ameicans need to watch VERY CLOSELY at what happens and how Washington handles this. It will expose an interesting reality... :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.