Posted on 09/15/2005 11:34:36 AM PDT by bw17
Sept. 11 commission rejects Atta claim
DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Former members of the Sept. 11 commission on Wednesday dismissed assertions that a Pentagon intelligence unit identified lead hijacker Mohamed Atta as an member of al-Qaida long before the 2001 attacks.
The ex-commissioners also criticized the government for not putting in place changes recommended last year in homeland security and emergency response. They pointed most notably to the failure to improve communication systems, which they said might have saved lives after Hurricane Katrina.
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., had accused the commission of ignoring intelligence about Atta while it investigated the attacks. The commission's former chairman, Thomas Kean, said there was no evidence anyone in the government knew about Atta before Sept. 11, 2001.
Two military officers, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, claimed a classified military intelligence unit, known as "Able Danger," identified Atta before the attacks. Shaffer has said three other hijackers were identified, too.
Kean said the recollections of the intelligence officers cannot be verified by any document.
"Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's the conclusion of all 10 of us," said a former commissioner, ex-Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash.
Pentagon officials said this month that they could find no documents to back up the claims.
According to Weldon, members of "Able Danger" identified Atta and three other hijackers in 1999 as potential members of a terrorist cell in New York City. Weldon said Pentagon lawyers rejected the unit's recommendation that the information be turned over to the FBI in 2000.
Weldon's spokesman, John Tomaszewski, said no commissioners have met with anyone from Able Danger "yet they choose to speak with some form of certainty without firsthand knowledge."
The Hell with the 9/11 Commission. They had their say. We where told in no certain terms that September 14, 2005 would be the next installment of news to come from Weldon and AD group, with perhaps an update as to what steps have been actually taken so far by Senator Specter's investigative committee. I am waiting .........
I think we need a select commision to investigatet the 9-11 commission. Seriously it is pathetic to see them jump on the political opportunist bandwagon using at natural disaster to deflect the Able Danger criticism.
Rejects as in provides evidence disproving the claim?
Or sticks fingers in ears and say loudly "I'm not listening! I'm not listening!"
I reject the Sept. 11 commission.
We need a commission to investigate the Commission. Seriously, why wouldn't the Commission at least meet with the Able Danger people to hear what they have to say? Does the answer lie in the sweaty wasteband of Sandy Berger's briefs?
I've been down this path before at FR. Some new evidence is about to be revealed that will be damning; or proof positive will reveal that an allegation of some sort will be verified irrefutably. Still waiting ...
"I've been down this path before at FR. Some new evidence is about to be revealed that will be damning; or proof positive will reveal that an allegation of some sort will be verified irrefutably. Still waiting ..."
Patience is a virtue. Heh heh. We don't have many options.
What puzzles me is why isn't the pentagon and Rumsfeld backing their story? To believe their story you'd also have to believe that the Bush administration (including Rumsfeld, Condi, the CIA, and Homeland Security) are involved in the cover-up. Otherwise why isn't Bush and Rumsfeld calling for a full investigation. Neither has done anything to support the story of these men.
I remember that also. It was Mansoor Ijaz on Fox News who when questioned one-on-one by Brit Hume said he had "irrefutable evidence" of a convoy of WMD being driven into Syria. Brit stopped him and said, "now let me get this straight so there is no confusion, you are stating that sources will come forward with evidence of this WMD convoy going to Syria. Mansoor dramatically looked directly in the camera and said "irrefutable evidence". Haven't seen Mansoor since.
Good example ... another one that comes to mind is TWA Flt. 800.
...."Seriously, why wouldn't the Commission at least meet with the Able Danger people to hear what they have to say?"....
Must be that the name "Able Danger", kinda sounds like "Swift Vets", when you have your ear plugs and eye mask on.
if we could locate Al Douri (in Syria), we might know the answer to that.
...."to the failure to improve communication systems, which they said might have saved lives after Hurricane Katrina."....
Oh, so that's what they mean by Numbnuts Nagin holed up in a hotel with his police chief Compass, for two days with knocked out cell phone service and old satellite phones with dead batteries. No command and control for two days.
Those kind of communications! He must have forgotten to open his Christmas stocking with the new batteries that Santa brought him.
they had weeks and weeks in the runup to the war to move the stuff (or bury it someplace). you talk as if the invasion of iraq was a sneak assault.
The Commission screwed up big time. It's as simple as that.
The Pentagon isn't backing their story because they have already destroyed the documentation as posted here a few weeks ago!
Do you really believe we weren't monitoring the border and that we didn't boots on the ground before "Shock and Awe"? The military isn't incompetent as some would have you believe. Remember we had troops staged in the M.E. weeks before the invasion. They knew we were coming and trust me we were monitoring events on the ground. Face it Mansoor's source was refutable. If not bring him forward and have him present his evidence now. What has he got to lose?
Maybe not Rummy, but it sure look like the DoD is covering up!
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