Posted on 03/07/2006 12:21:36 PM PST by jcb8199
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) - The U.S. government knew by the 1990s how al Qaeda trained suicide operatives but missed capturing the man who masterminded the September 11 attacks about four years before they occurred, an FBI agent said on Tuesday.
FBI agent Michael Anticev said in testimony at a sentencing trial for September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui that the U.S. government knew by the mid 1990s that there were several al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and other countries.
Operatives at the training camps were taught how to carry out terrorist operations, including suicide missions, and were trained in how to avoid detection, he said.
At that time, the U.S. government was tracking several top al Qaeda members, Anticev said, and between 1996 and 1998 made an attempt to arrest Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- the man who has been described as the brains behind the September 11 hijackings.
Anticev said the attempt, made "somewhere in the Middle East," failed after Mohammed was apparently tipped off.
Anticev was responding to questions from defense attorney, Edward MacMahon, who was trying to refute the government's argument that if Moussaoui had not lied to the FBI in the days before September 11, 2001, the hijackings could have been stopped.
The question of Moussaoui's lies while in custody on immigration charges from August 16, 2001, are at the heart of a sentencing trial to determine if he receives the death penalty for conspiracy in connection with the September 11 attacks.
Moussaoui's lawyers have said the government will be hard-pressed to prove that Moussaoui could have told the FBI anything that would have prevented the hijackings.
Moussaoui, an admitted al Qaeda member, pleaded guilty in April to all six conspiracy charges against him. The sentencing trial is being held to determine if he will be executed for his crimes or sentenced to life in prison.
When he pleaded guilty last year, Moussaoui said he was not meant to be part of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon which killed 3,000 people.
But he said he was part of a broader conspiracy to use airplanes as a weapon and said he was being trained on a 747 airliner to strike the White House.
The 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent did not speak while the court was in session, but sat stroking his bushy beard and smiling at times when FBI agents identified the September 11 hijackers and explained the overall plot.
In response to questions from MacMahon, Anticev said the U.S. government was also aware before September 11 there had been a plan in the 1990s to blow up 12 U.S. airlines.
"Do you know if the FBI was concerned before 9/11 about the possibility of al Qaeda using planes as weapons?" MacMahon asked.
"I don't know if that's correct," Anticev replied, but then said the FBI had been concerned about possible hijackings.
Yes. My point is that a)it's not breaking news that we knew about al quaida in the 90s and b)the Bush admin knew about them too. This story is pointless. That's my point. It's a common tactic, trying to deflect accountability onto the Clintons, but it doesn't hold water. 2001 was Bush's watch, not Clintons.
And yes, it was not quite eight month's into Bush's watch, which does not deflect accountability from Clinton, who allowed this evil to fester for eight years.
We weren't attacked because Bush was president. We were attacked because we had such a long history of reacting weakly to previous attacks.
I pretty much agree with this. I don't think the Clinton Admin did an effective job fighting terrorism. But then again, I don't recall the GOP led congress making a big issue of it, either. I think it was a total gubmint failure. But sometimes that's how it goes. You don't take a threat seriously until it kicks you in the teeth. We all should have known better. Now we do. I just think it's retarded the way a lot of GOP cheerleaders constantly go back to Clinton, Clinton, Clinton.
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