Trade Center warning baffles police - An urban myth turns out to be true but what does it mean?

MS NBC ^ | NEW YORK, Oct. 12 2001 | By Jonathan Alter

[vannrox]

"...Antoinette DiLorenzo, who teaches English as a second language to a class of Pakistani immigrants, led a class discussion about world events. She asked a freshman (his name has been withheld): “What are you looking at?” The youth was peering out the third floor window toward lower Manhattan. After he made the remark about the World Trade center not being there next week..."

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

The police say they have been working closely with two of the three mosques in the area. One is run by an Irishman who converted to Islam and became an imam; the other by a baggage handler for American Airlines.

Earth to FBI, Earth to FBI... come in FBI!!!

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

.- -- . .-. .. -.-. .- -. .- .. .-. .-.. .. -. . ... ..-. .-.. - ... --- ... ... --- ... ... --- ... ..-. .-.. -

[Richard Axtell]

"The youth was peering out the third floor window toward lower Manhattan. After he made the remark about the World Trade center not being there next week..."

The "What" might as well be a billboard that screams "Of course, so?" If the '93 attack had not happened, I would be more surprized. Clearly, among anyone with any even casual knowledge of Islamic militancy, the WTC was a "prime target" perhaps even "target #1". The "When" is the only spooky thing here. Lucky guess? If the kid was wrong, would I be writing this? How many times have similar predictions been made, with no result? I swear, this whole "Someone knew" business is a form of mass insanity. Watch it get out of hand in the next few weeks! Mueller's prediction of the inevitability of the next attack has set things in motion. Or, perhaps it was Hillary Clinton's political avarice that is the real begining of the hysteria. Regardless, events are rolling, and some sorta stuff is going to enter the fan soon. We shall see.

[xm177e2]

SCHOOL OF RICH DIVERSITY

I couldn't help myself, I burst out laughing when I saw this. They're so diverse, they've got terrorists... ugghhh

[Cicero]

The school offers courses in Urdu because 116 students come from Pakistan.

Seems to me this kid could have heard it through the grapevine from as many as a hundred different Pakistani families, not necessarily directly from his father. Maybe someone with a connection to the ISI?

[potlatch]

Maybe that boy's family had that Islamic Calendar hanging in their home, with the Sept. picture of a plane headed for the twin towers. I can't understand why more hasn't been said about that calendar!?

[Drammach]

Moreover, according to police, the youth confirmed having made the September 6 statement about the towers. At the moment he did so, his older brother elbowed him, said he had been “kidding,” and the youth in question agreed.

I do not know of any Law enforcement agency policies that use "group" interrogations.
The idea that both brothers were questioned simultaneously, in the same room, makes me question the veracity of the whole report.
Policy dictates that the brothers be seperated, and questioned seperately.
Discrepancies would be noted between the two brothers' answers, as well as "too similar" statements. ( those that are identical word for word, for example.)

Additional questioning would then be performed, placing doubt in the minds of each of the brothers as to what the other had said, in order to detect even more discrepancies, such as changes in their stories, explanations for same that create even more questions or raise additional doubts.

Likewise, the fathers' returning from Pakistan and complaining about civil rights violations sounds fake as well.
Said father would not have had time to complain about his sons' civil rights, as he would be howling about his own.
He would be in custody and going through a major grilling, non-stop, for at least a week, maybe a month.
He would be held incommunicado, woken and questioned at odd and random hours, and not allowed a good night's rest.

I still consider this story to be an urban myth, because if it is true, there are some FBI agents that need to be forcefully retired from the force.

[swarthyguy]

Thanks for finding and posting this. There was a story similar to this from the Dallas area where another kid said WW3 would start tomorrow(Sept 11).

My op is, there was widespread knowledge, especially when you include the calendar from Holland.

[swarthyguy]

Beause the implications are staggering and would expose the lie and put to bed certain key presumptions of the waronterror.

[Moosehead]

Alter is really really hitting the bottom of the barrel by picking up a story written by Jeffrey Scott Shapiro. Shapiro first made his mark covering the JonBenet murder for the tab rag The Globe. He claims he learned all about investigative journalism by watching the movie Fletch. He was fired from the Globe and tried to get revenge by handing over to the FBI secret recordings that show the Globe tried to blackmail a Denver cop.

This story sounds like a farce; Johnathen Alter is just the type of idiot to fall for it.

[gcruse]

 
Policy dictates that the brothers be seperated, and questioned seperately.

I missed that.  Thanks for pointing it out.  It casts legitimate doubt
on the details here.

[beckett]

Alterman filed this story a long time ago, and, as I recall, it was discussed at length on FR. I'd be interested in learning about some new aspect or development, but as for the story itself, very old news.

[goodnesswins]

None of this surprises me.....Michael Medved (nationally syndicated radio host, well respected) told the story of his brother whose children's friends told them not to go to the WTC on 9/11 or something similar - if I remember right, they disappeared right after 9/11.......

[let freedom sing]

[let freedom sing]

Islamic Calendar Showed Plane Crashing Near Manhattan

[BlackVeil]

"The idea that both brothers were questioned simultaneously, in the same room, makes me question the veracity of the whole report." You have a good point. I suppose that it is just possible that, the boy being a minor, he would not be interviewed alone but in the presence of a family member - therefore the brother. But more likely, as you say, someone is fabricating.

[piasa]

I agree with you but this was the police, not the FBI.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Antoinette DiLorenzo,...

I certainly hope that she is more credible than a certain author by the same surname who writes southern history that never was...