Germans Uncovered Iraqi Spy Ring During 9/11 Planning (9/11 Commission Omission)

Captain's Quarters Blog ^ | 8-17-05 | Captain Ed

[Stellar Dendrite]

The Daily Standard has just published my latest column, which reveals to those who missed my earlier post on the arrests of two Iraqi spies in Heidelberg during February 2001. The discovery of these agents, especially given the time frame, should set off warning bells about potentially devastating connections to the 9/11 plot:

In the years following the 9/11 attacks, there has been much argument about the nature of Saddam Hussein's connections to terror. How could the U.S. government and the 9/11 Commission fail to consider this, given the other activity occurring in Germany during this period:

* Mohammed Atta and Ramzi Binalshibh meet in Berlin in January 2001 for a progress meeting, around the same time German counterintelligence claimed that they picked up the Iraqi trail.

* Ziad Jarrah, another of the crucial al Qaeda pilots, transits between Beirut and Florida through Germany twice during the 2000-2001 holiday season, flying back to the United States at the end of February.

* Marwan al-Shehhi disappears in Casablanca, then constructs a cover story about living in Hamburg.

In fact, the Commission report notes that three of the four al Qaeda team leaders (excepting Hani Hanjour, who had at that time just begun his pilot training) interrupted their planning to take foreign trips (page 244). Why would these men interrupt their preparations in this manner? Traveling in and out of the United States presented a risk--a manageable risk, as events proved--but having three of the four team leaders outside of their established cells at the same time looks unnecessarily foolhardy from al Qaeda's point of view. It also appears to be the only time after their first entry into the United States that this travel occurred. All three had some German connection to their trips. In fact, Jarrah left Germany the same week that the Germans captured the Iraqi agents.

The 9/11 Commission never mentions these arrests, nor the discovery of an Iraqi espionage operation involving several German cities during the same weeks that most of the 9/11 plotters traveled into or through Germany. In fact, no one has followed up on the arrests at all.

For a commission that chided two administrations about failing to connect dots, the Omission Commission appears to have left more than a few dots off the map. We need to find out whether the CIA and/or the FBI knew about this, as reported by al-Watan al-Arabi later in March, whether they gave that information to the Commission -- and if they did, why they never mention it once in their report. At best, it leaves the final report with yet another crippling gap in its credibility. At worst, it looks like someone has something to hide.

[piasa]

timeline ping

[piasa]

timeline ping

[piasa]

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[backhoe]

Thanks, piasa- that doggone hurricane has me mesmerized like a hypnotized chicken... not paying close attention to other stuff like I should.

[Red6]

But the MSM says there were no WMD and no links to terrorists in Iraq! They can't be wrong can they?

Rather told us that Bush lied! We must believe him; he looks so sincere and has a deep voice of authority after all.

Red6

[mercy]

This is a bit tedious folks but clear your schedule. Read it.

It is now CLEAR that the Omission Commission was NOTHING BUT a cover-up plot. Who ran it is the big question.

Able Danger is just the tip of the iceberg. It is easy to see that IRAN was the main source for funding and planning 9/11. Your government does not want you to know that.

Why?

There is also more and more evidence that Saddam Hussein was a major source of funding for the 9/11 murderers. Why would our present government want to hide THIS? Or is it that our present government is just in the dark?