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, and I'm sure that you will agree that Bush would have had a little difficulty in persuading Congress to authorize an invasion of Afghanistan on that day.
Bump squared!
That was excellent!
bttt
Did Clinton need congressional approval to fire missiles at Osama or that aspirin factory? I don't think so.
Condoleezza Rice became the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, on January 22, 2001.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/ricebio.html
Let's see...who else is on the National Security Council?
There's the Veep. Cheney was there from day one.
There's the director of CIA. GWB kept Klintoon's director, Tenet, did he not?
So let's see, that leaves Rumsfeld. He was sworn in on January 20th, 2001.
(http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2001/b01202001_bt032-01.html)
You're claims don't hold water. Sorry. Try again.
Looks good and I've always loved that little band!
That looks really good, Clinton looks like he is having a happy dream there, lol.
Poor Ginsburg, hope they checked to see if she was alive when that happened! I heard she snores so that may have reassured them!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1521072/posts?page=77#77
http://www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/PDF_rms/no59/ch22.pdf
Pakistani national in one of the
apartments in Manila. Murad was a
member of an international terrorist
group planning to kill Pope John Paul II
on his scheduled visit to Manila from
January 10–15 for the Celebration of the
World Youth Day. Pieces of evidence
recovered revealed the group’s plan to
bomb U.S commercial airlines plying the
Manila - Hong Kong - Los Angeles. route.
This plot was to be the centerpiece of the
so-called “Oplan Bojinka” which was an
intricate network of international
terrorists using the Philippines as a
venue of their terrorists activities. The
bombing of a Philippine Airlines jet
bound for Japan from Cebu on December
11, 1994 was a test-run to Oplan Bojinka.
It can be recalled that one Japanese
national was killed while several others
were wounded during the incident.
4. Free Vietnam Revolutionary Group
(FVRG) Terrorist Cell
The presence of this terrorist cell was
recently discovered with the arrest of Vu
Van Doc, a U. S. citizen of Vietnamese
origin, Huynh Thuan Ngoc, a Swiss
citizen of Vietnamese origin and Makoto
Ito, a Japanese national on August 30,
2001. One of the arrested suspects, Vu
Van Doc, who operates a terrorist cell in
the Philippines is a member of the Free
Vietnam Revolutionary Group (FVRG),
the military arm of the Government of
Free Vietnam (GFV), a worldwide
organization engaged in liberating the
Republic of Vietnam from communist
rule.
The arrested suspects were reportedly
planning to conduct bombing activities
targeting the Vietnamese Embassy in
Manila on or before September 2, 2001,
which is the National Day of the Republic
of Vietnam.
That is clever! The cartoon is a nice touch!
Seems like you were on the money with your post earlier about this case being a fishing expedition.
Asleep at the wheel, perfect graphic.
Ironic how the truth is going to come out from a terrorist's defense team...
I was not speaking of his cabinet. But the team which was to deal specifically with terror most of which was not in place until the summer of 01. In addition, it was only years later that the long overdue housecleaning of the CIA began. You can review any of several threads about this posted here. It is no secret.
There is no doubt that Bush neglected to consider the depth of RAT treachery and did not purge them all immediately. That is his only major failing wrt the War against Terrorists.
Neither was I. You referenced his "national security team." That team has a proper name. It's called the National Security Council. From the White House website:
The National Security Council is the President's principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and cabinet officials. Since its inception under President Truman, the function of the Council has been to advise and assist the President on national security and foreign policies. The Council also serves as the President's principal arm for coordinating these policies among various government agencies.
As I have shown, all the key members of the NSC--the national security advisor, the sec of defense, the director of cia--were all on the job the first week of GW's first term. In short, you're just plain wrong. Condi, Rummy, George Tenet, and Cheney were all on the job January '01.
Well, forgive the cliche, but that IS Bush's fault.
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