FBI 'Ignored Leads'

The German authorities have rejected reports that an Iranian man detained in Hanover could have helped avert Tuesday's devastating attacks on New York and Washington. However, a French-Algerian identified by the French media as a radical with "a profile similar to the kamikaze pilots" is being held for further questioning by US investigators after his arrest last month.

The attackers and the background to the attacks are not and were not known to him German federal prosecutor

French media have claimed that the FBI failed to follow up information supplied by French secret services that the man, who was taking flying lessons in Boston, had links to Osama Bin Laden.

The German federal prosecutor said on Friday that the Iranian - who telephoned the White House warning of attacks that would "change the world order" - had no knowledge of Tuesday's attack.

"His warnings to US authorities were limited to vague claims about danger to world peace and the world order; he could not cite details," a statement from the federal prosecutor's office said.

"The attackers and the background to the attacks are not and were not known to him," it added.

The White House hung up when the man said he was in detention, but he was interviewed by German authorities and US intelligence services in the wake of the attack.

The French newspaper, Liberation, reported on Friday that the French-Algerian arrested in Boston was due to have been deported, but was now being held "to check any possible links with the fanatic pilots".

On Thursday a correspondent in Washington for the Europe 1 radio station said the man had been arrested with comprehensive documentation about Boeing aircraft and flight manuals.

"He belongs to the Pakistani-Afghan network that trains Osama Bin Laden's soldiers, his best soldiers, soldiers without borders," the correspondent said, adding that all this information had been passed by French investigators to their American colleagues.

However, the US authorities did not follow up the lead, he said: "The investigation that might have prevented everything was not launched."

The 31-year-old man, who was born in St Jean de Luz, had been living in Britain before going to Boston.

Time magazine has also reported that two of the suspected terrorists were on an FBI border watch list, but had nonetheless slipped into the United States.

The two men, who were associated with Islamic Jihad, were on the American Airlines flight which crashed into the Pentagon.

The CIA now believes the first warnings about a "spectacular" act of terror against the US came as early as June.

"A lot of this reporting we had in the summer that gained our attention and had us concerned, but wasn't specific, could have been tied to this," an intelligence officer told Time.

German police have confirmed an Iranian man phoned US police from his deportation cell to warn of the planned attack on the World Trade Centre.

The Lower Saxony Justice Ministry has confirmed the man warned of the impending series of terrorist attacks, but had not been believed.

Spokesman Frank Woesthoff said the man phoned America "several times", but refused to give further details.

He said the US Secret Service had not told the ministry about the calls received from the Langenhagen prison until after the attacks.

"I cannot say anything about the man and the ministry does not know the content of the conversations," he added.

The Hanover daily newspaper Neue Presse reported the 29-year-old was dismissed as mentally unstable when he gave the warning of a terrorist attack to occur this week.

(CNN) -- CNN has learned from federal law enforcement sources the names used by 18 hijackers who authorities believe commandeered four commercial airliners on Tuesday in a coordinated attack on two renowned symbols of American power.

Meanwhile, the Senate passed a resolution authorizing the president to use force to retaliate against the terrorist attacks. The vote was 98-0.

The suspected hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11, which hit the north tower of the World Trade Center, were Walid Al Shehri, Wail Alsheri aka Waleed Alsheri, Mohammad Atta, Aabdul Alomari and Satam Sugami.

Aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which hit the south tower of the World Trade Center, the suspected hijackers were Marawn Alshehhi, Fayez Ahmed, Mohald Alshehri, Hamza Al Ghamdi and Ahmed Al Ghamdi.

Those believed to be the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which hit the Pentagon, were Khalid Almihdhar, Majed Moqued, Nawaf Al Hazmi and Salem Al Hazmi.

We would like to correct a report that appeared on CNN. Based on information from multiple law enforcement sources, CNN reported that Adnan Bukhari and Ameer Bukhari of Vero Beach, Florida, were suspected to be two of the pilots who crashed planes into the World Trade Center. CNN later learned that Adnan Bukhari is still in Florida, where he was questioned by the FBI. We are sorry for the misinformation. A federal law enforcement source now tells CNN that Bukhari passed an FBI polygraph and is not considered a suspect. Through his attorney, Bukhari says that he is helping authorities. Ameer Bukhari died in a small plane crash last year. (Amazing! Suddenly he's no longer a suspect!)

The suspected hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania, were Ahmed Al Haznawi, Ahmed Alnami, Ziad Jarrah and Saeed Alghamdi.

Spellings are as they appear on federal documents and may vary from other spellings used.

Law enforcement sources told CNN that they are checking the names against lists of people associated with known terrorist groups -- and believe the lead group in Tuesday's attacks may have been Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

The chief of that group, the sources said, is a top lieutenant of suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden's group, Al Qaeda, is an umbrella group that reportedly coordinates the actions of smaller organizations.

As President Bush prepared to see for himself the devastation inflicted on lower Manhattan, the Defense Department asked that 50,000 reservists join the military effort that follows the coordinated terrorist attacks four days ago on the United States, CNN has learned. (

Bush designated Friday a day of "National Prayer and Remembrance," and asked that Americans head to their places of worship at lunchtime to pray for victims and their families. The president planned to attend a service at the National Cathedral in Washington before traveling to New York. Former Presidents Clinton, Ford and Carter were also expected to attend.

The Defense Department will seek authority to call up the military reservists for "homeland defense." Officials at the Pentagon tell CNN the callup would reinforce warplane patrols of American skies to defend military bases and any other possible targets against attack. Governors in 31 states have already called up 10,000 National Guard troops.

A pair of hijacked commercial airliners plowed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center on Tuesday, followed a half an hour later by another hijacked jet that hit the Pentagon in Washington. A fourth jet hit the ground in rural Pennsylvania.

•By a 96-0 vote, the U.S. Senate passed a $40 billion emergency spending measure to combat terrorism and help recovery efforts in New York and Washington. The House, as it was voting on the measure, paused midway and will resume voting following National Day of Prayer and Remembrance services.

•Search and rescue efforts continued in both Washington and New York, where bad weather had forced a temporary suspension of the operation.

•The list of people missing in New York is approaching 5,000; in Washington nearly 200 people are believed dead. All 45 people aboard the jet that crashed in Pennsylvania died.

•Both the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the hijacked jet that hit the Pentagon were recovered overnight, officials told CNN. On Thursday, searchers found the flight data recorder from the Pennsylvania crash.

•Sources at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority told CNN Friday that Reagan National Airport -- located just across the Potomac River from the Pentagon -- is expected to be closed "for the time being."

•The U.S. Coast Guard boarded a Carnival Cruise Line ship off the coast of Miami early Friday and detained two people who authorities determined have a "history of hijacking." According to a law enforcement source, the ship was boarded at 3 a.m. after authorities checked the passenger list. The two were to be handed over to the FBI when the ship was to return to port, about 5 a.m. ET. •The FBI is searching an area at the Thunderbird Motel in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, as part of the investigation surrounding the attacks. Authorities would not release any details about the nature of the search other than to describe it as "pursuing one of many leads into the potential hijackers or those who may have assisted them." •At least eight people were arrested Thursday at airports in New York because of new security measures -- including four people who were seen at one airport before Tuesday's terrorist attacks. All but one were later released. Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said there is "no evidence" that anyone has been involved in a second wave of attacks like Tuesday's. (Full story) •The Pentagon on Friday was expected to hold several multi-religious services honoring the memory of the attack victims of the Pentagon plane crash. Ecumenical prayer services are scheduled as well as those for Christians, Protestants and Jews. •A fire flared up again Thursday night at the Pentagon, the flames shooting out of the top of the section that crumpled after a hijacked jet plowed into it Tuesday. •Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told CNN's Larry King that any future U.S. military action against those individuals, groups or nations involved in Tuesday's terrorist attacks would be "self-defense." "I don't think of it as retaliation. I don't think of it as punishment," Rumsfeld said. "The United States has every right to defend itself. There is no question that Osama bin Laden has been -- for many years now, by his own pronouncements -- anti-West, anti-U.S., anti- a number of regimes in the Arab world."

Europeans Hold Six Islamic Suspects

By REUTERS

September 14, 2001

BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM Sept 14 (Reuters) - Police in Belgium and the Netherlands arrested six suspected Islamic extremists in a joint swoop on a network thought to be planning attacks on U.S. targets in Europe, authorities said on Friday.

Two of the men were arrested on Thursday in Brussels and police found two Uzi machine pistols during a house search, a spokeswoman for the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office said.

The other four were arrested in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on Thursday night, Dutch prosecutor's spokesman Wim de Bruijn said.

He said there was no connection with Tuesday's terror attacks in the United States, in which intelligence officials have said fugitive Saudi-born Islamic guerrilla chieftain Osama bin Laden is the number one suspect.

Germany released on Friday an airport worker held for 24 hours in connection with the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. German investigators were continuing a probe into Hamburg-based extremists allegedly involved.

De Bruijn would not say whether the men held in the Netherlands were armed or whether they had anything suspicious in their possession. Asked whether the Dutch authorities were in contact with the Federal Bureau of Investigation or other U.S. agencies, he said: ``I am unable to answer that.''

The identities and nationalities of the suspects were not disclosed. Two other men were detained in Brussels with the two suspects but were later released.

``Those four persons (detained in Brussels) all belong to a radical Islamic movement,'' Belgian spokeswoman Beatrice Behets said. Police also seized documents which are now being analysed, she added.

The arrests followed a tipoff from the Belgian State Security Service that one of the suspects might be preparing attacks on U.S. targets in Europe, Behets said.

A spokesman for the Belgian State Security Service would only say that the information from the Public Prosecutor's Office ``was not wrong,'' but declined to give further details.

Again, I think it's a little harsh on FDR. Yes, I think they knew something was up, but where? At the time, SIGINT and code-breaking was in its barest infancy, nobody knew if it would work or not.

There were probably hundreds of rumors flying around about Japan, but I have yet to believe that the major elements of the conspiracy theory is there:

1. FDR knew that it was going to be Pearl Harbor.
2. FDR knew it was going to be at 0755 AM on December 7, 1941.
3. FDR deliberately ordered the information withheld from military commanders.

No, what happened at Pearl Harbor, and what probably happened here was probably this: An enemy whose cunning and ruthlessness we grossly underestimated launched a well-planned, well-executed sneak attack on our country. In the case of Pearl Harbor, it was planned by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. For these attacks, we have not discovered who yet, but when we do, we'll settle the account with him, just as we did with Yamamoto.

Friday, Sept. 14, 2001

Suspect linked to Minnesota

By PATRICK HOWE

Associated Press Writer

ST. PAUL -- The investigation into this week's terrorist attacks reached Minnesota on Wednesday, with one person detained on an immigration issue. And Minnesota was among several states where flight schools were being contacted as FBI agents ran down reports that some of the hijackers trained in America.

Authorities wanted to question the person held in Minnesota about the plot, but the person refused and requested a lawyer, a law enforcement source speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press.

U.S. officials confirmed that a few weeks ago the FBI detained the Arab man in Minnesota when he tried to seek flight simulator training for a large jetliner. Those who hijacked the four airliners received similar training.

Officials said the FBI had no reason to charge him at the time and instead began deportation proceedings. Those proceedings were ongoing when the attacks took place Tuesday, and he was re-detained.

The Associated Press learned a man who shared a Florida home searched by FBI agents Wednesday lived at a St. Paul house from the end of January through October 2000. Ali Alamri, believed to be 27, was placed in the home through a referral service, according to the owner of the house near Macalester College.

Sherry Sandey, president of International Home Stay Services Inc., the agency that placed Alamri, said she believed another man, Abdulrahman Saeed Alomari, and Alamri were brothers, and that Alomari stayed at a Days Inn in suburban Bloomington.

Alomari, 38, later moved to Vero Beach, where his house was among at least two searched by FBI agents for 12 hours on Wednesday; the agents left with several garbage bags of evidence.

FAA records list a pilot license for an Abdulrahman Saeed Alomari, though it wasn't certain if that was the same man who lived in both St. Paul and Vero Beach. The address on the pilot license was Jedda, Saudi Arabia.

Authorities Raid Hotel in Manila Philippines

September 14, 2001

New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 8:54 a.m. ET

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Three Middle Eastern men were engaged in ``suspicious'' videotaping of the American Embassy in Manila last week that may have been part of a bombing plot, officials said Friday.

The men, all carrying Omani passports with the family name Al-Shehhi, were questioned, allowed to go because they had committed no known crime and left the Philippines the next day.

The hotel rooms where they were staying, across the street from the embassy, were searched Wednesday, a day after the name of Marwan Alshehhi emerged as a suspect in the fatal attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Philippine presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said a U.S. technician who participated in the search of the Bayview Hotel ran two tests for the presence of explosives: one was positive for TNT chemicals; the other was negative.

In other developments in a country with an ongoing hostage crisis involving Islamic extremists, Philippine immigration officials detained a Saudi Airlines pilot for questioning and turned back nine Malaysian men on suspicion they could have undergone terrorist training.

The U.S. Embassy issued a statement saying the three Omani men were engaged in ``suspicious activity'' on Sept. 7 and 8, with local police questioning them the second day after embassy security pointed them out. Police checked the men's videotapes, which showed tourist attractions, then let them go.

``They couldn't have foreseen that there would be a Sept. 11 attack,'' Tiglao said.

The three men, ages 26 to 29, took a flight to Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 9, even though they had booked their rooms for another day. Tiglao said their early departure led to speculation ``they might have had ideas of conducting a bombing.''

The detained Saudi Airlines pilot, Mohammad Omar Al-Bokhari, was a last-minute substitution in the crew for flight SV862 from Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, to Manila on Thursday, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo said.

Philippine officials said they believed he might be the brother of a man who has been questioned about the U.S. attacks: Saudi flight engineer Adnan Bukhari, 41, a student at Flightsafety International in Florida, which trains commercial jet crews. An apparent relative, Ameer Bukhari, was a student pilot there when he was killed in an in-flight collision exactly a year before Tuesday's attack, and Philippine officials said they believed Al-Bokhari attended the same school.

Al-Bokhari denied he was related to Adnan Bukhari.

``I have no brother over there,'' he insisted as he was led out of the first session of questioning.

He had been scheduled to fly to Riyadh on Friday afternoon, but the flight left without him as he was questioned and fingerprinted at Manila's international airport, then taken to national police headquarters for further questioning.

The nine Malaysian men were turned back after flying into Cebu from Kuala Lumpur.

Casimiro Madarang, chief of the immigration bureau at Cebu airport, said all had recently been in Pakistan an average of five months, which he considered to be enough time for terrorism training, so they were barred as potential security threats.

>As for FDR and Pearl Harbor, I think the latest info confirms the conspiracy theories, so that that was not really an intelligence failure.

I'm normally a tin foil kind of guy, but the enormity of this tragedy makes it impossible for me to seriously believe that our government actually may have known about it in advance. 20,000 deaths is just so monstrous, so horrible, that I just can't believe anyone would let it happen.

But there are so many questions that I don't see how a rational person could let them go unasked. Some straightforward ones are:

How could this have been planned for five years without _some_ intelligence agency knowing about it?

How could this have involved 50+ people without _some_ intelligence agency knowing about it?

How could this have involved people traveling between -- at least -- three or four different countries without _some_ intelligence agency knowing about it?

There is one final thing that has been bugging me lately.

During the last election, during all the fighting and legal squabbles, tin foil people at www.enterprisemission.com put forward a complicated theory which was built around the belief that people in power knew that something horrendous was going to happen, something which would enable the governing party to make vastly important decisions and vastly change/shape the future of the globe. That was why, they suggested months ago, that the republicans and democrats were slugging it out it a way unheard of in modern politics. Because they both knew that _something_ big was coming down... EnterpriseMission.com has put up crazy theories and such. But they wrote about this months ago, while the election was still undetermined. (They've since removed old files from their site so I can't link to their wild theory.)

Emotionally, I can't even start to believe that our politicians are _so_ bad that they would let something like this happen.

But I can't stop asking myself the questions, either... Mark W.

Authorities Raid Hotel in Manila Philippines

September 14, 2001

New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 8:54 a.m. ET

The men, all carrying Omani passports with the family name Al-Shehhi, were questioned, allowed to go because they had committed no known crime and left the Philippines the next day.

``They couldn't have foreseen that there would be a Sept. 11 attack,'' Tiglao said.

Al-Bokhari denied he was related to Adnan Bukhari.

``I have no brother over there,'' he insisted as he was led out of the first session of questioning.

The nine Malaysian men were turned back after flying into Cebu from Kuala Lumpur.

'Black box' from Pennsylvania crash found

September 13, 2001 Posted: 6:00 PM EDT (2200 GMT)

Emergency workers look at the crater created when Flight 93 crashed.

SHANKSVILLE, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Searchers Thursday found one of the so-called black boxes from United Airlines Flight 93, the hijacked airliner that crashed Tuesday in western Pennsylvania.

The flight data recorder was found in the crater the plane created when it slammed into the ground Tuesday morning, according to FBI spokesman Bill Crowley.

"We are hoping that it will have some information that is pertinent to what occurred in the plane prior to its crashing," Crowley said.

The recorder is being sent to the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington for analysis, Crowley said.

They are still searching for the voice data recorder.

Meanwhile, investigators say they've found debris from the crash at least eight miles away from the crash site.

A second debris field was around Indian Lake about 3 miles from the crash scene. Some debris was in the lake and some was adjacent to the lake.

More debris from the plane was found in New Baltimore, some 8 miles away from the crash.

State police and the FBI initially said they didn't want to speculate whether the debris was from the crash, or if the plane could have broken up in midair.

Investigators later said the debris was all very light material, such as paper and thin nylon the wind would easily blow. The wind was blowing towards Indian Lake and New Baltimore at 9 knots. "According to the NTSB, it is not only possible that the debris is from the crash, it is probable," Crowley said.

The Boeing 757, which was bound for San Francisco from Newark, was among four planes hijacked Tuesday in the worst terror attack in U.S. history. It crashed in Shanksville in Somerset County, 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

Officials said an engine part has been recovered. Much of the debris is tiny.

Also Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that the flight had been headed east. The plane, which took off from Newark bound for San Francisco, was diverted somewhere around Cleveland.

Information from a telephone call made by a passenger indicated that passengers on Flight 93 tried to wrest control from the hijackers, which may have caused the plane to crash before it reached whatever target the hijackers were aiming for. All 45 people aboard were killed.

Officials have speculated the hijackers may have been planning to ram the plane into the Capitol, the White House or Camp David. The other planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

As the recovery process at the crash scene in western Pennsylvania continues, emergency workers are painstakingly looking for human remains, airplane parts and personal effects.

FBI officials leading the investigation say it could take weeks to recover everything from the site. Forensic anthropologists and hazardous material inspectors are among those at the scene.

Families of the victims are expected to arrive in the area Thursday. United Airlines is hosting them at a nearby resort.

-Correspondent Brian Cabell contributed to this report

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