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Clinton adm. blocked intel: known Al-Qaeda flight students lived openly in San Diego
The Washington Times via FrontPage.com ^ | Sept. 23, 2002 | Bill Gertz

Posted on 09/23/2002 10:27:24 AM PDT by Havisham

Agent: FBI Never Got 9/11 Data
By Bill Gertz
The Washington Times | September 23, 2002

An FBI agent told Congress yesterday that days before September 11 he complained to FBI headquarters that "someone will die" because senior bureau officials refused to permit him to pursue one of the men who later took part in the Pentagon suicide attack.

The New York-based FBI agent told a joint House-Senate hearing on the intelligence failures of September 11 that he and other FBI agents were denied CIA intelligence information on Khalid Al-Mihdhar and Nawaf Al-Hazmi.

The two al Qaeda terrorists would end up aboard the aircraft that flew into the Pentagon in a suicide attack.

The CIA had identified the two terrorists from a meeting in Malaysia in January 2000 but never informed the FBI, officials testified yesterday.

The FBI agent said a bureaucratic "wall" prevented intelligence from being shared in a criminal investigation of the two terrorists.

"This resulted in a series of e-mails between myself and the FBI headquarters analyst working the matter," the agent said.

The agent sent an e-mail message to headquarters complaining about the information blockage on Aug. 29, 2001: "Whatever has happened to this, someday someone will die, and, wall or not, the public will not understand why we were not more effective in throwing every resource we had at certain problems. Let's hope the national security law unit will stand behind their decisions then, especially since the biggest threat to us now, [Osama bin Laden], is getting the most protection."

The FBI agent's testimony is among numerous intelligence failures related to the September 11 attacks now being probed by Congress.

Earlier, Eleanor Hill, the staff director of the congressional panel, testified that numerous intelligence signs were missed.

Neither the CIA nor FBI was able to "see the potential collective significance of the information, despite the increasing concerns throughout the summer of 2001 of an impending terrorist attack," Mrs. Hill said.

The testimony made clear that legal restrictions that prevented sharing intelligence information that could be used in legal prosecutions were a major impediment in pursuing terrorists.

Mrs. Hill stated in testimony yesterday that Al-Mihdhar and Al-Hazmi lived openly in San Diego after being linked to al Qaeda in Malaysia. The two used their names on an apartment lease, took flight lessons and obtained and renewed visas.

The two men were placed on the State Department's watch list on Aug. 23, 2001, and the FBI in New York was prevented from investigating the two men.

The FBI agent and a CIA officer testified at the congressional hearing from behind a glass enclosure to obscure their identities.

After learning that Al-Mihdhar was one of the September 11 attackers, the FBI agent said: "I was upset. I remember explaining this is the same Khalid Al-Mihdhar we had talked about for three months."

The FBI was faulted at the hearing for failing to pursue an FBI agent's warning in a memorandum from Phoenix that U.S. flight schools should be investigated for possible al Qaeda terrorists. It was also blamed for refusing to obtain a surveillance warrant for a computer used by Zacarias Moussaoui, who has been charged in the September 11 plot.

The CIA did fully share its intelligence about the January 2000 terrorist meeting in Malaysia with the FBI, which was investigating the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000.

The Clinton administration imposed new restrictions that prohibited sharing intelligence information with criminal investigators, according to U.S. officials. The restrictions were lifted after September 11.

Mrs. Hill, the inquiry staff director, testified that the CIA and FBI had no information linking 16 of the 19 hijackers to terrorism or terrorist groups before the attacks.

Al Qaeda terrorist leaders may have selected the terrorists because they were not well known to authorities, she said.

In addition to Al-Mihdhar and Al-Hazmi, U.S. agencies had information about Al-Hazmi's brother, Salim Al-Hazmi.

According to Mrs. Hill, the CIA was unaware that the National Security Agency, which conducts electronic eavesdropping, had gathered information on Nawaf Al-Hazmi, linking him to al Qaeda.

The NSA failed to share the information with the CIA, she said.

According to testimony yesterday, the CIA learned in March 2000 that Nawaf Al-Hazmi came into the United States through Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 15, 2000.


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 911; alhazmi; almihdhar; alqaeda; balkans; betrayal; cia; clinton; clintonism; fbi; hazmi; hijackers; mihdhar; multiculturalism; nationalerosion; nsa
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I hoped others more adept than I would post on this subject but here I go.

Sept. 11 constitutes a catastrophic moral failure of America's intelligence bosses. Clintonism? Multiculturalism? Cultural Marxism? I say all of the above, the last being the most destructive to the thinking process of average Americans.

1 posted on 09/23/2002 10:27:24 AM PDT by Havisham
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To: Havisham
This all sounds like a bunch of keystone cops were on duty -- or NOT on duty. Hope things improve soon!
2 posted on 09/23/2002 10:31:54 AM PDT by Marysecretary
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To: Havisham; Betty Jo
Except this incident took place when the Bush administration was in power. This was days before 9/11 and someone in HQ spiked it.
3 posted on 09/23/2002 10:35:05 AM PDT by swarthyguy
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To: Havisham
The new administration is contaminated with clinton holdovers and still is having to deal with these morons. Fire them all and jail them if they were complicit.
4 posted on 09/23/2002 10:35:13 AM PDT by boomop1
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To: Marysecretary
....Clintonism? Multiculturalism? Cultural Marxism? I say all of the above, the last being the most destructive to the thinking process of average Americans.

May I quote myself as a reply?

5 posted on 09/23/2002 10:36:05 AM PDT by Havisham
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To: Havisham
Clintonism? Multiculturalism? Cultural Marxism?

Nah. Just the bureaucracy eating its mission.

Incidentally, all the stuff about "it's Clinton's FBI"? Wrong. It was GWB's FBI from about noon on 20 Jan '01.

6 posted on 09/23/2002 10:36:31 AM PDT by Grut
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To: boomop1
What happened to that guy, the young FBI agent in Chicago, who was going around with Larry Klayman, who said he would blow the lid off of bureaucratic foolishness that brought about our attack on Sept. 11th?

7 posted on 09/23/2002 10:37:47 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
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To: swarthyguy
Mr. (and Mrs. Bush) are a touch naive about the multicultural cancer in our government. There can be no more excuses for naivete after the Sept.11 atrocities. The President trusts Tenet and won't tell him who to fire. Tragic.
8 posted on 09/23/2002 10:44:00 AM PDT by Havisham
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To: Havisham; Marysecretary; swarthyguy; boomop1; *balkans; vooch; marron
In Accuracy in Media's investigative article BIN LADEN GATE they show that al-Qaida and Clinton's foreign policy intersected in the Balkans (among other places). The Clinton's it seems were al-Qaida (remember al-Qaida is a loose organization of like minded Muslim groups) operatives in the Balkans, Chechnya and Central Asia to do their dirty work and these contacts made us vulnerable to 9/11. That is why we knew these agents were in this nation when Clinton ruled, but they were just shadowed but not interfered with.

AIM's BIN LADEN GATE article and the links to back up AIM's thesis provided by dedicated Freepers to the subject help illuminate a dark subject. It is a lot of reading but well worth the effort.

9 posted on 09/23/2002 10:44:54 AM PDT by Destro
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To: Havisham
You certainly can, Ollie! M
10 posted on 09/23/2002 10:45:36 AM PDT by Marysecretary
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To: Havisham
TREASON
11 posted on 09/23/2002 10:47:55 AM PDT by OldFriend
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To: Grut; AmericanInTokyo
Grut you can't blame Bush for a polict began under Clinton, IMHO. No one can change entrenched intrests in such a way, IMHO.

AmericanInTokyo, in one of the linkes to the BIN LADEN GATE article (see above) the questions you asked regarding the FBI is touched upon. I think it is one of the posted links either mid way or at the end.

12 posted on 09/23/2002 10:49:40 AM PDT by Destro
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To: Havisham
I hope There is a blue ribbon commission appointed to investigate this entire mess. I personally think the problem can be traced to the Clintons' personal ambitions. When the Muslims moved aggressively into the Balkans a media campaign was mounted to portray the Serbians as conducting genecide in their efforts to defeat the Islamistmilitants. NATO sent troops to protect the Muslims. When they moved into the Russian border states, like Chechnya, we condemned the Russians for resisting them. We supported the Palistinians in their efforts to eliminate Israel via a trojan Horse Peace treaty. We downplayed and buried the efforts and successes of the militant Palistians around the world, other than some superficial but expensive military responses on camel tents and an aspirin factory. Clinton didn't want to face this thorny issue because he didn't want to have to oppose the Arabs.

Why? Clinton was building support for himself in the Muslim world. He wanted a legacy and fame as a stateman by getting another phoney aggreement from the Palistians and he wanted to have the support of the Muslim world when he later campaigned to be Secretary General of the U.N. He and Hillary were already the darlings of the left, so their support was secure. At the same time Hillary was to be President of the U.S., giving them dominant world power and power was always their goal.

Am I a right wing nut? Perhaps, but the dots certainly connect into a conherent picture.
13 posted on 09/23/2002 10:51:57 AM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot
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To: AmericanInTokyo; boomop1
AmericanInTokyo do these articles answer the question you asked?

(The following article links can be found @ BIN LADEN GATE-see above)

INS says visas issued to terrorists because government agencies never told of their terror links

Agent Linked Pilot Trainees, Bin Laden (Chechens Attacked USS Cole-Bosnian 9-11 Connection Revealed)

F.B.I. Agent Says Superior Altered Report, Foiling Inquiry (Chechnya Link Was Ignored)

Stock Adviser and Bosnian Muslim Fundraiser Knew About 9/11 Attacks, U.S. Suggests

Why Didn't the FBI Fully Investigate Moussaoui? Agents joked that HQ infiltrated by agents of Osama

14 posted on 09/23/2002 10:57:17 AM PDT by Destro
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To: Mind-numbed Robot
bump
15 posted on 09/23/2002 10:58:12 AM PDT by Destro
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To: OldFriend
TREASON and from so many directions. What would Thomas Jefferson have made of it?
16 posted on 09/23/2002 11:01:09 AM PDT by Havisham
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To: Mind-numbed Robot
You're not a nut. It's not called Clintonism for nothing.
17 posted on 09/23/2002 11:02:00 AM PDT by Havisham
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To: Grut
Incidentally, all the stuff about "it's Clinton's FBI"? Wrong. It was GWB's FBI from about noon on 20 Jan '01.

If you recall, Ashcroft, was not approved by the Senate until Aug. 2001, giving the Bush administration little time to get a handle on what was going on. Mueller and Tenet were on the job only two weeks before 9/11. Part of the strategy in contesting the Florida vote count for so long was to prevent the Bush administration from having transition money to be prepared to take over when they were sworn in. (They were able to raise money through contributions to do some of their work despite this.) Then the Senate went into their slowdown mode on appointees in order to keep their own guys and gals in office as long as possible.

The entire debacle belongs on the Clinton doorstep.

18 posted on 09/23/2002 11:02:10 AM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot
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To: Destro
The links paint a devastating picture. Is there a short explanation for the moral banruptcy behind these betrayals?
19 posted on 09/23/2002 11:04:38 AM PDT by Havisham
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To: Havisham
later read.
20 posted on 09/23/2002 11:06:52 AM PDT by KSCITYBOY
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