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Triple Cross, How Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI
Harper Collins ^ | 11/18/2006 | Peter Lance, Harper Collins press release

Posted on 11/19/2006 9:14:16 AM PST by vadkins

Peter Lance's new book, Triple Cross, (the complete title is: Triple Cross, How Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI -- And Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him) is out in bookstores on 11/21/2006. This is a link to the Able Danger Blog's review of the book. Here is the text of the Harper Collins' press release for the book:

TRIPLE CROSS How Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI -- And Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him

By Peter Lance

In TRIPLE CROSS, five-time Emmy-award winning investigative reporter Peter Lance reveals how U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and the FBI's elite bin Laden squad failed to stop Ali Mohamed, a1 Qaeda's master spy, in the years leading up to the 9/11 attacks. Recruited as an FBI informant as early as 1992, Mohamed -- an intimate of Osama bin Laden -- was allowed to remain free for years, planning and executing multiple acts of terror, including the 1998 African embassy bombings that killed 224 and injured 4000 -- while Fitzgerald and key FBI agents did little to stop him.

Mohamed had been on the FBI's radar since 1989, when the FBI's Special Operations Group photographed a cell of his trainees firing AK-47s at a Long Island shooting range. Yet despite their prior knowledge of this New York cell, the Bureau ended its investigation, paving the way for multiple acts of terror in the years that followed.

Of the Islamic radicals trained by Ali Mohamed and photographed by the FBI: one went on to kill Rabbi Meier Kahane in 1990, three were convicted in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, and another American Muslim was convicted by Patrick Fitzgerald in 1995 in a plot to blow up the bridge and tunnels into Manhattan. Mohamed himself was opened as a Bureau informant on the West Coast in 1992-a year before the WTC bombing. Worse, he continued to snooker Fitzgerald and other FBI and Justice Department officials for years as he learned the FBI's playbook on a1 Qaeda.

After a five-year investigation into FBI negligence on the road to 9/11, Lance reveals:

How Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who was directing the FBI's elite bin Laden squad (I-49), allowed Ali Mohamed to remain an active a1 Qaeda agent despite the fact that the FBI knew he had sworn allegiance to bin Laden as early as 1993. Mohamed moved the Saudi billionaire from Afghanistan to Sudan, trained his personal bodyguard, set up a1 Qaeda terror camps in Khartoum, and trained the terrorists responsible for the 1993 WTC bombing and Day of Terror plots.

How Fitzgerald and other top officials buried a treasure trove of a1 Qaeda-related evidence in 1996 -- including proof of a liquid-based airliner bomb plot that was a precursor to the August 2006 plot revealed by U.K. authorities. The evidence included proof of an active a1 Qaeda cell operating in NYC five years before 9/11.

How Mohamed twice smuggled a1 Qaeda's second-in-command, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, into the U.S. in the 1990s to raise half a million dollars for the Jihad -- and left his post at Fort Bragg, against orders, to hunt down Soviet Spetsnaz commandos in Afghanistan in the midst of America's covert war.

How Mohamed stole TOP SECRET memos and other classified intelligence from Fort Bragg and passed it onto the a1 Qaeda leadership, including memos to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the positions of all Special Forces units worldwide. Copies of that intelligence, with Mohamed's notes in Arabic, are part of more than 30 pages of declassified or formerly SECRET documents included as appendices to the book.

How, after meeting Mohamed face-to-face in 1997, Fitzgerald called him "the most dangerous man I have ever met" and vowed, "We cannot let this man out on the street." Yet for another ten months he allowed Mohamed to remain free, while the a1 Qaeda spy continued to support the African embassy bombing plot he had set in motion in 1993-after being freed from custody on the word of his FBI control agent.

How Mohamed had told Fitzgerald that he had "hundreds" of a1 Qaeda sleepers ready to go "operational" at any time -- and yet to this day the FBI has failed to detect them. Mohamed, who wasn't even arrested until a month after the 1998 embassy bombings, remained in U.S. custody for three full years before 9/11. But even after cutting a deal that allowed him to escape the death penalty and enter witness protection, Fitzgerald failed to extract the 9/11 planes-as-missiles plot from Mohamed.

How as early as 1991 the FBI was aware of a New Jersey mail box store directly linked to a1 Qaeda, but failed to monitor the location. Fitzgerald himself had named the store owner as an unindicted coconspirator in the 1995 Day of Terror case. Six years later, in July 2001 , the FBI blew an extraordinary chance to interdict the 9/11 plot when two of the 9/11 hijackers got their fake IDS at the very same store. "All the FBI had to do was monitor that location, the way they sat on John Gotti's Ravenite Social Club," says Lance, "and they would have been in the middle of the 9/11 plot."

PETER LANCE'S first two FBI investigative books, 1000 Yearsfor Revenge and Cover Up, were national bestsellers. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) called 1000 Years "A must read for the FBI, the 9/11 Commission, Congress and anyone whose job it is to protect national security." Kristen Breitweiser, one of the "Jersey Girls," called it "a 500-page smoking gun." Lance testified before the 9/11 Commission in 2004.

His investigation of former FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio, reported in Cover Up, led to DeVecchio's indictment on four counts of second degree murder in March 2006.

TRIPLE CROSS

How Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBIand Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him

By Peter Lance

Hardcover: $27.95 ISBN 978-0-06-088688-2


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; US: California; US: New Jersey; US: New York; US: North Carolina; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 1989; 1991; 1992; 1993; 1993wtcbombing; 1995; 1997; 200107; 200603; 200608; 911; 911hijackers; abledanger; afghanistan; africa; africaembassybombing; alimohamed; alqaeda; alqaida; alzawahiri; anwaralaulaqi; anwaralawlaki; aq; assassination; assassinationplots; aulaqi; awlaki; awol; aymanalzawahiri; binladen; binladensquad; bleedingheartattack; bodyguard; bridgeplots; bridges; california; cia; comey; comeycoven; dayofterror; dayofterrorplot; devecchio; egypt; egyptianarmy; espionage; fbi; fbiagent; fbiinformant; fitzfong; fortbragg; ftbragg; fundraising; greenberets; guns; gwot; i49; infiltration; informant; interrogation; jamescomey; jcos; jcs; jerseygirls; kahane; kenya; landmarkplot; landmarkplots; lindleydevecchio; longisland; manhattan; mueller; newjersey; oblbodyguard; patrickfitzgerald; peterlance; plamenamegame; rabbi; rabbikahane; rabbimeierkahane; rlindleydevecchio; scooterlibby; sdny; sog; specialforces; spetznats; spetznaz; spies; spooks; sudan; tanzania; transatlanticplot; tunnelplots; usembassies; usembassy; valerieplame; westcoast; witnessprotection; wtcbombing; zahawri; zawahiri
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To: Peach
No suggestion about it, crime in New York City is a local issue and what the next election is about is credibility.

Rudy was not willing to put his name to the test to run this past election against Hillry in a Senate race, what makes you believe he has what it takes to take her on in a presidential election. He already voted for her as co-president.

Hillry will run so far to the right that Rudy will appear to be a leftist or a rich corrupt Republican when she gets done wrapping up his packaging.

Thanks to McCain/Feingold she has the extended arm of the MSM to close up her electioneering 60 days before the election.

Nice to see you expose your need for personal NE etiquette jabs. I think they fall under Hillry's rules of ridicule.
21 posted on 11/19/2006 10:16:01 AM PST by Just mythoughts
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To: Just mythoughts

I don't think you could make less sense if you tried. But I'll bet you'll prove me wrong.


22 posted on 11/19/2006 10:22:10 AM PST by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they captured or killed.)
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To: vadkins

Wow! Fitzgerald has a lot to account for. Probably will get a pass on this.


23 posted on 11/19/2006 10:29:30 AM PST by Marysecretary (Thank you, Lord, for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!)
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To: vadkins

In honesty, I have to say that the FBI has been covering its behind concerning its role in the events leading up to 9/11. The agency seems to have made several blunders, and has been working to limit the damage to the agency.


24 posted on 11/19/2006 10:32:27 AM PST by popdonnelly
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To: vadkins

An example of the FBI obscuring facts: the FBI sent two agents to Prague in May, 2001, to investigate possible contacts between Mohammed Atta and the Iraqi Embassy. But after the events of September 11th, the FBI took the position that Atta was in the United States at the time he was sighted in Prague.


25 posted on 11/19/2006 10:36:25 AM PST by popdonnelly
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To: Peach

Oh no I will not even begin to try, cause I am well aware just how much smarter and better you are than me.


26 posted on 11/19/2006 10:38:46 AM PST by Just mythoughts
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To: popdonnelly
In honesty, I have to say that the FBI has been covering its
behind concerning its role in the events leading up to 9/11.


E.g., dismissing the report of suspicious activity by a group of
Middle-Eastern type on a pre-9-11 Boston-to-LA flight by actor
James Woods (and a stewardess) as "racial profiling".

Woods did get seem to relish the about-face when the FBI agents
showed up at his door the morning of 9-12-01.
27 posted on 11/19/2006 10:44:16 AM PST by VOA
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To: Peach
You guys are like the Republican Party.

You are getting immersed in the little things.

What I believe to be the big story here is confirmation of my thoughts from immediately after 9/11.

There was never any need to create the giant money rat hole called Homeland Security.

If the FBI, the CIA and in particular the Immigration Service had been doing their job, 9/11 could not have happened.

Many INS problems were caused by lack of funding, but the bottom line is that Bush should have canned everyone he could in the three departments, promoted up into dead end desk jobs those he could not fire because of civil service laws and we would be better off.

There would have been no need for Homeland Security.

But all politicians jazz the voters with "We need to pass a law". A great way to cover their lack of performance under present law.
28 posted on 11/19/2006 10:44:44 AM PST by woodbutcher
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To: nralife
"Unlike a true AK-47, which is basically a machine gun, and for the most part, is illegal to own or acquire in the US. Very very few of them are in civilian hands."

Actually full auto firearms, including AK-47s, are legal in many states, just prohibitively expensive. A full auto AK47 costs in the range of $10,000 while a semi-auto costs $400-$600.

29 posted on 11/19/2006 10:46:40 AM PST by Eagles6 (Dig deeper, more ammo.)
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To: vadkins

for the forum, a link to the amazon.com listing for the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Triple-Cross-Penetrated-FBI-Fitzgerald/dp/0060886889/sr=1-1/qid=1163961899/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-9004286-3434428?ie=UTF8&s=books


30 posted on 11/19/2006 10:50:00 AM PST by VOA
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To: vadkins

Duty is word unknown. "Career" is not duty.


31 posted on 11/19/2006 10:52:51 AM PST by bvw
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To: Just mythoughts
Why can't some of you have a conversation without inventing attacks on our leaders? We've spent six years with these negative attacks on this countries greatest leaders from democrats and the press.

Rumsfeld with an outstanding list of accomplishments gave up a chairmanship of Gilead (one heck of a company) to get trashed in the public sector by the same baseless attacks.

What in Rudy Giuliani's history suggest that he hasn't performed with honor or integrity? And why would he support Clinton who pardoned Marc Rich, one of his cases in 1983?
32 posted on 11/19/2006 10:59:44 AM PST by ridge
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To: Eagles6
"Actually full auto firearms, including AK-47s, are legal in many states, just prohibitively expensive. A full auto AK47 costs in the range of $10,000 while a semi-auto costs $400-$600."


I gotcha... that's why I said true AK-47s (not semi-auto clones) were illegal "for the most part." You need to get a Class III permit (tax stamp), which isn't always easy, and the few that are in this country are very expensive. I forget what year it was, but about a decade or so ago, no new machine guns were allowed to be manufactured, imported, or sold to the general public. Only the limited supply already in existing hands at the time, may now be possesed or transfered. I bet there are less than a hundred, if that many, true AK-47s legally owned by civilians in this country. That's certainly not the picture anti-gunners and the MSM like to paint.
33 posted on 11/19/2006 11:04:17 AM PST by nralife
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To: vadkins
Duty means acceptance of public scorn, public failure, broken marriages due to financial stress and public scorn, and even children who have no idea why their dad (or mom) is such a failure, so scorned in the media.

Duty means that because all of that is immaterial to duty. Duty cares, sure, but duty is buty.

And a fine, constantly upward career culiminating in a nice pension and such is not duty. So duty is scorned, forgotten.

But not quite forgotten -- it subliminates, the psyche's energy meant to be used for duty goes elsewhere. It gets used. Comes out in meanness for some, in callousness for others. Always anger in some way, a slow burning constant hate of the world and everyone in it.

Duty means making choices in the most optimistic heart-felt and diligently considered manner.

Just how is Mr. Fitzgerald's career?

34 posted on 11/19/2006 11:05:18 AM PST by bvw
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To: bvw

Duty is duty, that is. What a typo!


35 posted on 11/19/2006 11:06:43 AM PST by bvw
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To: vadkins

bttt


36 posted on 11/19/2006 11:08:50 AM PST by Txsleuth (Bolton/Cheney (that would be Lynne) 08)
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To: norton

I once had a couple beers with Peter Lance (I seem to recall he liked Dos Equis; I prefer reinheitsgebot-valid ones). This was back in college, in the Pittsburgh area. A university which will remain nameless had gotten him to speak at a lecture to aspiring college journos like me. At the time he was speaking to us, he was, or had just finished up a stint at the ABC News program 20/20.

My memories of him were these. He's a straightforward, meat-and-potatoes kinda reporter, with a healthy distrust of authority. More importantly, Lance struck me as someone for whom the truth matters a great deal. Lance gave me the impression he was the sort of guy who, if he came across information which directly contradicted the original premise of his story, would tell the facts instead of changing them to suit the original premise. You may not agree with everything he's written or produced, but for my money, I would tend to trust him instead of some of these other NYT/CBS News/WaPo types.

He's now a refugee from the MSM. Having spent an evening listening to him, and talking about the news over a couple of beers, I can see why he's an author now, and having nothing to do with television news.


37 posted on 11/19/2006 11:09:04 AM PST by Sam_Damon
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To: vadkins

bookmark


38 posted on 11/19/2006 11:23:22 AM PST by MamaLucci (God Bless Our Troops)
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To: Peach
Oh, he's just the foremost example. If you don't know, read the WSJ editorials on the Milken case. Guiliani made his name there with the most brazen, unfounded, accusations imaginable. If government employees weren't protected from slander laws, he would have been sued and would have lost hugely. The (IIRC) 104 counts piled on just forced Milken to plead guilty to, I believe, 4 fairly minor counts just to save himself and some of what he'd worked for.

My accusations aren't unfounded, except to the ignorant. I just didn't realize that anyone on this forum wouldn't know about Guiliani.

39 posted on 11/19/2006 11:26:11 AM PST by jammer
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To: nralife

I wasn't trying to grill you--it was for my information. I have that peeve also, but am obviously less knowledgeable than you. Thanks.


40 posted on 11/19/2006 11:29:17 AM PST by jammer
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