Posted on 02/17/2003 7:29:08 PM PST by MattAMiller
Today Neil Cavuto claimed that an Iraqi paper ran a rather cryptic article making threatening statments about Washington monuments and declaring that America would "Curse the name of Frank Sinatra." This seems to have predicted 9/11 several months ahead of time, the Frank Sinatra comment was appearently in reference to "New York, New York."
What's the story with this? Just how precient was this article? It sounded like pretty damning evidence.
I thought this came out in one of the 'recent' tapes, not prior to 9/11/01. Not questioning your facts, just sharing my recollections.
This convergence of Iraq and al Qaeda interests appeared again in the Iraqi press after September 11, this time in a commentary by Saddam Hussein's son, Uday. Writing in Babil on September 20, Uday sketches the scenarios for the war in Afghanistan he expects to come. Iraq should merely be "the spectator" at first, he writes, because "if we do anything Iraq will be attacked . . . perhaps like the attack of 1991."
The Americans will join the Northern Alliance to topple the Taliban, but will then "sink into the Afghan quagmire"--a point that could have been stolen at the time from the New York Times. But then the son of Saddam adds, "In this scenario, there is nothing wrong with Iraq turning from a spectator to an active player on its territory to restore the north, which has been out of its control since 1991." So Iraq's interests are again furthered by bin Laden's terror.
Uday continues: "At this stage it is possible to turn to biological attack, where a small can, not bigger than the size of the hand, can be used to release viruses that affect everything. The attack might not necessarily be launched by the Islamists. It might be done by the Zionists or any other party through an agent. The viruses easily spread by air, and people are affected without feeling it." We now know that the first U.S. anthrax letters were sent on September 18.
These people need killin'...
JULY 21, 2001 : (IRAQ, FOREWARNING) On July 21, approximately six weeks before the September 11 th attacks, Iraqi columnist Mulhalhal reported that bin Laden was making plans to “demolish the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.” Mulhalhal’s July 21 article further informed that bin Laden would strike America “on the arm that is already hurting.” Upon information and belief, this references a second Iraqi sponsored attack on the World Trade Center. This interpretation is further bolstered by another reference to New York as “[bin Laden] will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra everytime he hears his songs.” (e.g., “New York, New York”) identifying New York, New York as a target. Mulhalhal further indicated, “The wings of a dove and the bullet are all but one and the same in the heart of a believer.” (Emphasis supplied) This appears to be a reference to the use of commercial aircraft as a weapon. The information was reported in an Iraqi newspaper who’s editor-in-chief serves as secretary to Uday Hussein’s Iraqi Syndicate of Journalists. The article expressed Iraqi admiration and support for bin Laden’s plans and its appearance in the newspaper would clearly have to be endorsed by Saddam Hussein himself. All Iraqi news media is strictly controlled and censored by the government of Saddam Hussein and is under the direct oversight of Uday Hussein. Various members of Iraqi intelligence work at and control the content of each and every newspaper published inside Iraq. The information contained in Mulhalhal’s published statements were known prior to the events of September 11 th , and that Mulhalhal has ties to Iraqi intelligence, demonstrates foreknowledge of the planned attacks by bin Laden and indicates support by Iraqi co-conspirators. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda
***
Also, here's a curious blast form the past:
AUGUST 29, 2001 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS, AFGHANS) Mohammed Raza Hassani, Nez Nezar Nezary, and Ali Sha Yusufi were still in the islands. The three Afghan men who were recently detained in the Cayman Islands and who had carried fake Pakistani passports and claimed to have gotten off a boat bound for Canada from Turkey were determined to have arrived by plane from Cuba. They were still in the Caymans on August 29 when a local radio station received an anonymous note saying that they share an association with Osama bin Laden. "The three agents are here organizing a major terrorist act against the U.S. via an airline or airlines," said the letter. The station gave it to the authorities. Soon after September 11, they tracked down its author, Byron Barnett, a local building contractor, who says his note was "pure speculation" and based on "a premonition." This incident has received scant attention from the media.
Here's barnett's letter:
"Aug. 29-01
Mr. Joel Walton
c/o Radio Cayman
Cayman Islands
Dear Mr. Walton,
I am a regular listener to your Talk Today program. I find it informative and a positive way of the citizens of this island expressing their views.
Mr. Walton we have an urgent situation with the three Afghanistans that we have in our midsts for the past months. I have been convinced that they are agents of Osama Bin Laden one of the worlds greatest terrorist operating out of you guessed it Afghanistan. The three agents here are organizing a major terrorist act against the U.S. via an airline or airlines.
Their identity is difficult to establish for this reason. Why do you think they had funds on their persons when they were apprehended? Why do you think that their last country before they came to the Cayman Islands was Cuba?
I feel that the world will think this is the most unlikely place on Earth to launch an attack the Cayman Islands. The agents are patiently organizing this attack while we fumble and stumble over the trivial thing as their identity.
These agents are allowing us to know just enough about them to keep on this Island to accomplish their mission.
Remember this is probably the easiest and most informative place in this hemisphere to plan their attack.
Mr. Walton we need to pass this information immediately to the authorities and refrain from being nave and complacent in this serious situation.
Yours sincerely,
A very concerned Caymanian
P.S. If we foil these agents plans we may never know for sure why they are here, but if we allow this attack to be carried out this would be one of the greatest and most far reaching catastrophe for these Islands."
That's two of us, and I don't think we're alone...
Just off the top of my head I can think of a lot of expenses:
I don't know numbers, but I can see how it could get into the tens of thousands of dollars, probably a few hundred thousand. And don't forget, this is just one of the plans. Who knows how many others there were (and are), that were abandoned or foiled. Yes, perhaps this one act was not a budget-buster, but the terrorism structure itself would seem to require some serious funding.
FEBRUARY 25, 2001 : (SPIES, IRAQI SPY DETAINED IN GERMANY) Unnamed spy - "Germany holds Iraqi spy suspects," CNN, Reuters contributed to this report.
FEBRUARY 27, 2001 : (SPIES, SECOND IRAQI SPY DETAINED IN GERMANY) Unnamed spy. One of the Iraqis was detained on February 25 and the other on February 27. Neither have been named. - "Germany holds Iraqi spy suspects," CNN, Reuters contributed to this report.. See also (Germany Arrests Two Iraqis Suspected of Spying ) German state prosecutors said on Thursday federal police had arrested two Iraqis on suspicion of spying - Reuters, March 1, 2001
MARCH 2001 : (IRAQ WRITES TO UN CLAIMING IT WANTS TO REBUILD A FACTORY TO PRODUCE 'FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE VACCINE') Iraq writes to the UN giving notice of its plans to asking to reopen the Daura factory, which had been shut down by UNSCOM in 1996 after it was found to make biological weapons. Iraq said it needed to reopen Daura to produce vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MARCH 1, 2001 : (GERMANY ORDERS IRAQI SPIES TO BE HELD) Berlin - Two Iraqi nationals have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of spying. Officials said both had been brought before a federal judge who ordered them to be held on "urgent" suspicion of spying in a number of German towns. "They are suspected of carrying out missions for an Iraqi intelligence service in a number of German towns since the beginning of 2001," a spokesman for the prosecutors said on Thursday. He would not comment on German television reports that the Iraqis had been detained in the south west town of Heidelberg, where the U.S. Army in Europe has its headquarters. The army's Fifth Corps, made up of armoured and infantry divisions, is also stationed in the town. - "Germany holds Iraqi spy suspects," CNN, Reuters contributed to this report.
MARCH 9, 2001- 10:30 PM : (MILAN TERRORIST CELL, CRUISE MISSILES, CHINA, AL-QEADA, ITALY, CHECHNYA, TUNIS, AFGHANISTAN, HENI, KHEMAIS) (*My note : Sounds bogus) A phone call is intercepted between Lased Ben Heni and Essi Sami Ben Khemais by Italian authorities. "From every part of the world, businessmen who hate Americans have come to study the strategy of American missiles," said Lased Ben Heni, 31. Heni, a Libyan, would be arrested in Munich (in June 2002?) on an Italian warrant. "In particular, businessmen have come from China. [Bin Laden] works a great deal with China. He's got good relations with them."... The intercepted conversation between two members of a Milan-based terrorist cell that was allegedly part of bin Laden's network was taped at 10:30 p.m. on March 9 at an apartment in Gallarate, a suburb of Milan, Italian authorities said. An Italian-language transcript of the tape was obtained by The Washington Post. Heni was speaking to Essi Sami Ben Khemais, 33, a Tunisian, who would be arrested in April (2002?) on charges of conspiracy, trafficking in arms and explosives and using false documents. Both Heni and Khemais spent time at terrorist camps in Afghanistan, according to Italian officials. Heni appears in parts of the transcript to be trying to impress the other man with his inside knowledge of the bin Laden operation and its strength. There is no way to verify much of what he said. In one part of the conversation, Heni said, "if one wants to be a martyr, he has to ask for the authorization" of bin Laden. "Perhaps the Americans are convinced [about] the bombing of the sheik's training centers," said Heni about the 1998 US strike. "For them, it was a victory. But in reality it has been a defeat because the majority of the missiles aren't even explosive. On the contrary, they enriched the sheik's armament." Bin Laden is often called "the sheik." Heni then claimed that the US has supplied bin Laden with weapons before, an apparent reference to U.S. support for Afghan rebels fighting Soviet troops during the 1980s. He also said bin Laden has weapons left behind by the Russians."With these weapons," Heni said, "he has boosted his financial resources. . . . There are Chinese professors in the group that studies American weapons. You see them and you ask, 'But what are they doing here?' In the end, you understand that they work for the sheik and that they came to study these missiles. Thanks to the money that comes [from] these studies from outside, he created the army of mujaheddin headed by Omar Zayan [or Zhagan] in Chechnya." "He bargained with the Chinese and sold [missiles] to them for an enormous sum -- I think 10 million dollars -- but only after the sheik had studied them," Heni said.Later in the conversation, someone who was apparently not completely trusted enters the room, and Heni's interlocutor, Khemais, tries to get Heni to stop talking. He fails and later reprimands Heni for his behavior, according to the transcript. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A23933-2001Oct19¬Found=true
MARCH 26, 2001 : (IRAQ & INDIA : NEC CASE : INDIAN POLICE RAID NEC OFFICES) On March 26, 2001, Indian authorities raided NEC offices and company directors’ homes in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, seizing purchase contracts, shipping records, customs declarations and other documents. Six weeks later, the Directorate of Revenue Enhancement issued an alert to customs offices in every airport and harbour to stop NEC exports. The initial investigation dragged on for more than a year. Then, authorities discovered that NEC had created a new subsidiary, Euro International Project Ltd., to purchase equipment and ‘‘to bypass’’ the customs alert, according to court records. Another front company, British Scaffolding Pvt. Ltd., was also allegedly used. - Saddam’s first smoking gun traced to India (Also discussed on FOXNEWS Special Report) , by Bob Drogan, the Indian Express, Jan 19, 2003
APRIL 2001 : (GERMAN COMPANIES CAUGHT TRYING TO DELIVER COMPONENTS TO IRAQ) August Hanning, head of the BND (German’s Federal Intelligence service), gives an interview to a German Sunday newspaper. “New chemical weapons are being developed in Iraq. German companies apparently tried to deliver important components for the production of poison gas to Iraq’s Samara plant.” (Interview published by Welt am Sonntag, a German Sunday newspaper, on 22 April 2001, entitled: “The spy who came in from Westphalia”) This is compatible with Mr Saeed’s evidence.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
APRIL 2001 : The Atta meetings with the Iraqi intel agent al Ani in Prague took place at this time. While vociferously derided by the usual suspects, the Czechs & White House still stand by them. Not only did Atta meet with an Iraqi official, but two other hijackers did, too.
MAY 2001 : (IRAQ, OVER US PROTESTS, TAKES OVER UN CROP-DUSTING HELICOPTERS) Iraq takes over several crop-dusting helicopters from the UN, against US protest that they may be used for a biological weapons attack.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MAY 4, 2001 : (US VOTED OFF UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION) "In a move that reflected a growing frustration with America's attitude toward international organizations and treaties, the United States was voted off the United Nations Commission on Human Rights today for the first time since the panel's founding under American leadership in 1947. . . . The unexpected move, which came in a secret vote, was apparently supported even by some friends of the United States. . . . Friends of the United States in Europe and elsewhere have grown increasingly impatient, disappointed and annoyed with actions by Washington." So to get even with the United States, they elected these undeviating violators of human rights: China, Cuba, Syria, Libya and, unbelievably, Sudan, where slaveholding is legal. And even more unbelievable, the Commission on Human Rights has just elected Libya as its chair! -Arnold Beichman, Hoover Institution, printed in San Francisco Chronicle
MAY 10, 2001: (CUBA, SYRIA, LIBYA, IRAN, VENEZUELA) Castro undertook a round of visits to Syria, Libya and Iran. Speaking at Tehran University, he insisted that "people must be informed and awakened; they must not allow themselves to be pillaged by the West.” During that same trip, the Iranian Press Service quoted Castro as saying, "Iran and Cuba reached the conclusion that together they can tear down the United States." * Castro, in an apocalyptic speech, told his Muslim audience in Iran: "America is weak. I have studied its weaknesses from very close by. I tell you, the imperialist king will finally fall." - Agence France-Presse * "Tours through radical Islamic states by Castro and his close Venezuelan ally, President Hugo Chavez, in the months prior to the September attacks indicate some level of complicity or knowledge of what was going to happen," says Lisette Bustamante, a former aide to Castro who currently works on the Spanish daily newspaper La Razon. Not only were statements by both leaders in their Middle Eastern trips laced with violent anti-American rhetoric, Bustamante points out, but Chavez quite candidly told reporters that his talks with Saddam Hussein and heads of other oil-producing states involved the creation of a "new anti-imperialist axis" against Western industrialized economies.
MAY 25, 2001 : (CUBAN SPIES, MONTES' HOME SEARCHED) U.S. investigators copy incriminating material from a computer in alleged Cuban spy Anna Belen Montes’ home. It's not clear how often Montes tuned in to so-called numbers stations which transmit coded instructions from Cuba, but there's little doubt that she did or that some of the signals were sent specifically for her. FBI agents on a search warrant entered her apartment and checked the hard drive of a laptop computer she kept there. They found sequences matching those that had been broadcast previously, instructions on how to run them through a decryption program that turns the numbers into words, and messages she traded with Cuban spymasters.
JUNE 5, 2001 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS, AFGHANISTAN, CUBA) Cayman Islands Judge Henry Graham, on written Judgment dated The 5th of June 2001, released the three Afghan men who had entered the Cayman Islands on fake Pakistani documents. These Afghans are now resident in the Cayman Islands. They were released into the community by a Judge of the Grand Court, following an application made on their behalf by a local attorney after being held on remand at H. M. Prison at Northward on suspicion of being prohibited Immigrants. Following their arrest some 10 months ago, these men claimed that they were dropped off on the South Sound Shore by a boat which brought them to the Cayman Islands. At the time of being held they were reported to have in their possession a quantity of Cayman Islands and US dollars, but no documentation. They spent about seven months in prison without being charged and at one time there was a claim that they were from Pakistan. The Afghans claimed that they were seeking asylum from their homeland, and the Immigration Department was prosecuting to have them removed from the island. However, the trial Judge of the Cayman Islands Grand Court proclaimed that he did not consider them to be a threat and set them free, suggesting that the crown should continue their investigation in to determine their true identity. the judge ruled that the men should be released pending determination of their application for political asylum. In its ruling, the Court stated that "there is no evidence that they are a danger to the public and fears as to their possible links with a terrorist organization have long since been dispelled." However, the Court concurred with immigration authorities that their version of how they reached the Cayman Islands was not credible.
JUNE 13, 2001: (MUBARAK, G8 ASSASSINATION PLOT ON PRESIDENT W. BUSH) In an interview on French television on Monday, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt spoke in specific terms about the threat, saying that "on June 13 of this year, we learned of a communiqué from bin Laden saying he wanted to assassinate George W. Bush and other G8 heads of state during their summit in Italy."
JUNE 2001 : (CHENEY) Vice President Dick Cheney failed to show for a meeting with Muslim leaders in Washington, citing logistical conflicts.
JUNE 15, 2001 : (UNSCOM, RITTER ARREST) Scott Ritter, former UNSCOM inspector, was arrested by Colonie Police in June 2001 on a misdemeanor charge after he allegedly had a sexual discussion on the Internet with an undercover investigator he thought was an underage girl, law enforcement sources (later, in Jan 2003) disclosed on condition of anonymity
JUNE 28 or 29, 2001: (AL-ARIAN, BONIOR, DI IULIO, WHITE HOUSE) Abdullah al-Arian, Sami Al-Arian's son and intern for Rep. David Bonior, is instructed by secret service agents to leave a meeting of Muslim leaders with John DiIulio. Although an apology followed, no explanation was ever given for young al-Arian's dismissal. Abdullah Al-Arian, an intern to Congressman David Bonior (D-MI), a student at Duke University, and nephew of the aforementioned Mazen Al-Najjar, was escorted from a briefing on faith-based initiatives held on June 29th. There is a subtext to this incident. Abdullah's father, Sami Al-Arian, is a well-known opponent of the "secret evidence provisions" of the Counter-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. One of the most flagrantly unconstitutional elements of that act is the fact that it is retroactively applicable to persons who were not citizens before Sept. 13, 1993 During a briefing with Rev. Mark Scott, Associate Director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, Abdullah Al-Arian was approached by a security guard who asked him to leave the premises. No reason was given for his removal from the meeting. All meeting participants walked out when they learned of Al-Arian's exclusion. Al-Arian, 20, is a student at Duke University who works in the office of Congressman David Bonior (D-MI). He is the son of American Muslim activist Sami Al-Arian. Al-Arian senior has been instrumental in the legislative challenge to the use of secret evidence against Muslims and Arabs and currently leads the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedoms. (Note that one arab source says DiIulio while the other says Scott- is one lying or were they both there?) During a meeting with Muslim leaders on the president's faith-based initiative last month, Al-- Arian was ejected from a White House annex by a security guard, on an erroneous tip that the student had terrorist connections. "I thought with this election we were finally gaining ground" says Al-Arian, 20, a polisci major at Duke. "The next thing I know, I'm being profiled by the Secret Service." Political sparks from the Al-Arian incident spread almost instantly. The Secret Service issued an apology within the hour. Democrats took quick advantage of the political opening. "This happens in airports, on our highways, and now we see it happens in the Bush White House," said Bonior, who is counting on Arab support for his upcoming gubernatorial bid. The White House followed with an apology of its own. Bush aides were dispatched to run damage control, phoning in embarrassed regrets to influential Arab leaders like Washington lawyer and Republican fund-raiser George Salem and Osama Siblani, editor of the Michigan-based Arab American News. "Be patient and things will change," the adviser pleaded, according to Siblani.
2001 summer : (LAWRENCE LIVERMORE LABS BEING SCOUTED BY TERRORISTS?) According to fed. law-enforcement sources, the FBI confirmed last summer to security and civilian chiefs at LLNL that the nuclear laboratory there was a prime target of bin Laden's terrorist network even before the tragic events of Sept. 11.The warning from the FBI followed a bizarre discovery ... by security staff at Camp Parks, a mothballed military base patrolled by federal police and within 10 miles of Lawrence Livermore. Two sources tell Insight that during a routine patrol federal officers discovered what appeared to be a terrorist "drop site" or storage area in one of the hills near the base. This discovery included two double-wide filing cabinets of three or four compartments each that contained top-secret documents taken from the labs, maps, photos, Iranian passports and literature from the Islamic Jihad, an officially cited terrorist group. Also in the cache were photos of two labs, which suggested to investigators that the research facilities "were being cased." ...There remains significant concern about other security problems in the eastern Bay area where Lawrence Livermore is located - not to mention generally within the family of U.S. nuclear labs. A reason for concern involving Livermore is the fact that it is located amid one of the largest Arab populations in the world outside of the Middle East. U.S. officials are taking care to keep it from becoming the target of a terrorist act. - "U.S. Nuclear Security May Be Compromised," by Martin Edwin Andersen and Paul M. Rodriguez, Insight Magazine, March 11, 2002
JULY 2001 : (JORDAN DETAINS ZAMMAR, MEMBER OF HAMBURG CELL : ZAMMAR IS LINKED TO BAHAJI) Muhummad Haydar Zammar was detained while in transit through Jordan and was held for several days before being deported to Germany, according to a German intelligence official, who declined to say where Zammar had been going or why he was held. Zammar was on a German watch list of suspected Muslim extremists, as was at least one other member of the Hamburg circle, Bahaji, according to an official in Hamburg. After Sept. 11, German police searching Bahaji’s apartment found books on holy war in which Zammar had written personal dedications.
JULY 7 - 19+/-, 2001 : (911 HIJACKERS, ATTA, SPAIN, BINALSHIBH, MOUSSAOUI) : Muhammed Atta is in Spain, on one of his two trips to Spain this year in January and July, during which police believe he met with other terrorists. Atta spent almost two weeks in Spain in July, Spain's Interior Ministry said. All his paperwork was in order and he carried an Egyptian passport, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP.terror_suspect_spent.htm ... Spanish authorities can account for Atta's whereabouts from July 17-18, when he stayed at the Residencia Montsant hotel in Salou, a seaside resort town 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Barcelona. "We also know that he rented a car and left Spain from the Madrid-Barajas airport on July 19," the spokesman said. One person they suspect Atta may have linked up with is Ramzi Binalshibh, a member of the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell and a former roommate of Atta's, who visited Spain at the same time. Binalshibh, a Yemeni who sent money from Germany to 9/11 hijackers and also to accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. If the FBI can establish whether Binalshibh and Atta were in Spain together — and find out who else was with them — they may be able to warm up the trail.-
Atta rented a car from the Madrid-Barajas Airport in Spain During this trip he travelled extensively, logging 1,200 miles on a rented car leading intelligence officials to believe he was meeting with suspected members of bin Laden's network who were arrested in Spain on charges unrelated to September 11.
JULY 12, 2001: (BENSAKHRIA, FRANCE, SPAIN) On July 12 French authorities request that Mohamed Bensakhria, 34, be extradited to France from Spain and he is sent to France.
JULY 21, 2001 : (IRAQ, FOREWARNING) On July 21, approximately six weeks before the September 11 th attacks, Iraqi columnist Mulhalhal reported that bin Laden was making plans to “demolish the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.” Mulhalhal’s July 21 article further informed that bin Laden would strike America “on the arm that is already hurting.” Upon information and belief, this references a second Iraqi sponsored attack on the World Trade Center. This interpretation is further bolstered by another reference to New York as “[bin Laden] will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra everytime he hears his songs.” (e.g., “New York, New York”) identifying New York, New York as a target. Mulhalhal further indicated, “The wings of a dove and the bullet are all but one and the same in the heart of a believer.” (Emphasis supplied) This appears to be a reference to the use of commercial aircraft as a weapon. The information was reported in an Iraqi newspaper who’s editor-in-chief serves as secretary to Uday Hussein’s Iraqi Syndicate of Journalists. The article expressed Iraqi admiration and support for bin Laden’s plans and its appearance in the newspaper would clearly have to be endorsed by Saddam Hussein himself. All Iraqi news media is strictly controlled and censored by the government of Saddam Hussein and is under the direct oversight of Uday Hussein. Various members of Iraqi intelligence work at and control the content of each and every newspaper published inside Iraq. The information contained in Mulhalhal’s published statements were known prior to the events of September 11 th , and that Mulhalhal has ties to Iraqi intelligence, demonstrates foreknowledge of the planned attacks by bin Laden and indicates support by Iraqi co-conspirators. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda ... see also http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003069 from the WSJ
JULY 24, 2001 : (IRAQ FIRES AT U-2) Iraqis fire a missile at U2 aircraft; defence sources say it came close to hitting it.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
JULY 25, 2001: (WASHINGTON : AL ARIAN MEETS WITH DI IULIO) Abdullah al-Arian returns along with other Muslim leaders to meet with DiIulio in the Old Executive Office Building. No ejection of anyone takes place. John DiIulio's gracious response to concerns that no Muslim has been appointed to a significant position in his office is summarized in my subsequent IslamOnline column (Ahmad, 2001) in these words: "DiIulio explained that the Office has only been in existence six months and promised that over the next six months the absence of a Muslim on staff would be addressed, reciting the motto 'Methodist, Muslim, Mormon and people of no faith at all.'… DiIulio assured us that the appointment would be significant."
JULY 26, 2001 : (CUBA & IRAN) Castro marked another anniversary of the beginning of his revolution by marching in Havana alongside the Ayatollah Khomeini’s grandson, now a high-ranking Iranian official.
JULY 31, 2001 : (IRAQ STEPS UP EFFORTS TO SHOOT DOWN COALITION PLANES) US defense department reports Iraq’s “considerably more aggressive stance in trying to bring down allied aircraft.”- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 2001 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS) a Chief Immigration Officer from the UK came to the Caymans at the request and expense of the Cayman Government. The officer specializes in matters relating to Afghanistan and speaks Farsi. After interviewing the three Afghan men individually, the officer was satisfied that the men were indeed Afghan nationals. The officer did, however, state that she too was not satisfied with the Afghans' account of how they had arrived in the Caymans.
AUGUST 1, 2001: (FORESHADOWING, RUSSIAN MEDIA) Mysterious predictions about some catastrophic event in the United States began to circulate in the electronic traffic and even were voiced by Russia's Pravda under the headline, "The Dollar and the U.S. Will Fall." Based on interviews with the Malaysian ambassador to Moscow and a group of Russian economists, the report was taken seriously enough for members of Russia's parliament, the Duma, to advise Russian citizens to cash out dollars. An adviser to the Duma's Commission on Economic Politics, Tatyana Koryagina, even specified late August or early September as the likely time for an attack on the US that would lead to its economic collapse. Not known to the US at the time, Bin Laden himself asserted before Sept 11 that he was preparing a major attack on America.
AUGUST 11, 2001 : (COLUMBIA, IRA, FARC, CUBA) Colombian officials arrested three members of the IRA as they returned from a part of the country controlled by the narcoterrorist group FARC. Two were explosives experts and the third, Niall Connolly, has been identified as Sinn Fein's Havana representative. * Colombian authorities arrest three suspected IRA terrorists who had provided specialized training to the FARC terrorist organization. One of the men, Nial Connolly, had lived in Cuba since 1996 as the IRA’s representative.(The Times, August 16, 2001, BBC News August 17, 2001) It is believed that it was in Cuba where the IRA established contact with both the FARC and ELN terrorist organizations. These two organizations, according to the State Department’s 2000 report on global terrorism, have "…maintained a permanent presence in the island." It is further believed that the IRA men were training the Colombian rebels in the development of powerful anti-personnel explosives destined for the proposed FARC ‘urban offensive.’
AUGUST 13, 2001 : (AL ARIAN, BUSH, EMERSON, DI IULIO) The Wall Street Journal publishes an op-ed piece by Daniel Pipes and Steven Emerson demanding that the White House exclude "the leaders of terror front groups from the White House" and naming Abdullah's father Sami as an example of same (Pipes and Emerson, 2001).
AUGUST 17, 2001 : (MOUSSAOUI) Zacarias Moussaoui arrested. Mr. Moussaoui was arrested in August on immigration charges after raising suspicions at a flight school in Eagan, Minn., where he had been training.
AUGUST 17, 2001 : (PORTLAND GROUP, STEITIYE TRIES TO PURCHASE GUN) Ali Khaled Steitiye tried to buy a Romanian SAR 10 7.62mm rifle at The Gun Broker in Tigard. At the store he told the woman in charge of taking down background information that he had never been convicted of a crime that could have resulted in a sentence of a year or more, an affidavit filed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said. The background check with police blocked the sale. The Gun Broker tipped ATF agents to the attempt to buy weapons after Steitiye left with the purchase application form, which the dealer is required by law to keep for five years. He was told to return it but told the dealers he had thrown it away and objected in any case to having his personal information compiled, the affidavit states. "He tried to buy a gun like anybody of any nationality and it didn't matter to us because it was before Sept. 11," said Royd Jackson, owner of The Gun Broker. "But he lied on the federal report you need when you purchase a gun ... He never brought back the form so we turned it into the authorities," Jackson said. - "Jailed man faces more charges," The Associated Press, Sunday January 13, 2002
AUGUST 18, 2001 : (AL ARIAN, DI IULIO, BUSH) DiIulio's resignation is announced. (* My note : The White House wasn't pleased with Di Iulio's pandering to the Muslims groups over the throwing Al Arian's relative and Democrat congressman Bonior's aide out of the White House.)
AUGUST 2001 late : (ARREST OF SPY SGT. REGAN, USAF) The arrest of retired USAF Sgt. Brian Regan this week marks the latest in a series of alleged spy cases in the US. In the last two decades alone, a slew of U.S. citizens, military personnel and government workers have been accused -- and, in several cases, convicted -- of personally inflicting serious harm on national security and intelligence by working as spies for other countries. ... The government learned from reliable sources last fall that Regan allegedly provided a number of government documents to representatives of a nation identified only as "Country A," according to the affidavit. A law enforcement source told CNN that authorities believed revealing the countries involved would hamper the investigation.
Regan worked for a government contractor and had been assigned to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) -- the government agency responsible for designing, producing and fielding U.S. spy satellites, headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2000 after 20 years of service. - "Timeline: High-profile U.S. spy cases of the last two decades, " CNN, AUGUST 24, 2001
AUGUST 27, 2001 : (IRAQ SHOOTS DOWN US PREDATOR DRONE) Iraqi downs its first US aircraft – an unmanned USAF RQ1B Predator, or “drone”- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 29, 2001 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS, LETTER), a letter was hand delivered by its author to Mr. Loxley Banks, the Director of Broadcasting of Radio Cayman. The letter was signed "a concerned Caymanian" and warned that the three might be involved with bin Laden in preparing "a major terrorist act against the U.S. via an airline or airlines." The letter was incorrectly addressed to Mr. Joel Walton, who is not the host of "Talk Today." The host of that radio show is in fact Mr. Joel Francis. The letter was never read on the air, as Radio Cayman considered it speculative, and had heard similar allegations about the Afghans since their arrival.
AUGUST 31, 2001 : (CUBAN 'WASP' SPY CASE, GEORGE & MARISOL GARI ARRESTED & CHARGED) George and Marisol Gari were arrested and charged with "conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government without proper identification or notice to the attorney general." U.S. authorities say that they were members of "the largest Cuban spy ring ever detected,... 'La Red Avispa,' or the Wasp Network, five members of whom were convicted in June of conspiring to spy on the US for Fidel Castro's regime."
SEPTEMBER 2001 : (REPORTS OF IRAQI CHEMICAL WEAPONS EXERCISE) Iranian reports say 20 Iraqi soldiers based in Zaafarniyah region had died and 200 suffered severe breathing problems after taking part in chemical weapons exercise around June.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
SEPTEMBER 2001, a few days before 9/11: (DELAWARE, KHAN TOOK VIDEO FOOTAGE OF WTC, POWER PLANT INQUIRY IN NJ) Another case involves a Pakistani man who took video footage of the WTC a few days before the Sept. 11 attacks. Raza Nasir Khan was accused by federal agents in Wilmington, Del., of being an illegal immigrant who possessed firearms, documents show. A BATF affidavit alleged the Pakistani man requested maps of a hunting area near a rural Salem County, N.J., nuclear power plant and had a handheld global positioning system device. A search of his home found four long guns and one handgun. Khan told authorities he visited the WTC a few days before the attacks and shot videos, the documents said.The magistrate who ordered Khan held said she didn't see any connection to terrorism. In fact, few of the hundreds of pages of supporting documents provided to Congress mentioned a connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
SEPTEMBER 9, 2001 : (MASSOUD ASSASSINATION) Two men posing as journalists, one carrying a passport in the name of Karim Touzani, detonated a hidden bomb as they interviewed Afghanistan's Northern Alliance leader Massoud. The legendary Afghan commander was mortally wounded. Two days later came the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 : (AL MARRI ENTERS THE US) Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri — a 37-year-old from Qatar returned to the United States on Sept. 10, 2001, less than 24 hours before the World Trade Center attacks. Al-Marri, who arrived here on a student visa to study for a graduate degree in computer information systems at Bradley, would represent a new terrorist profile. Unlike the 19 loners who attacked Sept. 11, Al-Marri arrived in the U.S. with a wife from Saudi Arabia and five children, ranging in age from 9 months to 9 years.Al-Marri carries a passport from Qatar, an American ally in the Middle East that will serve as an operations center to run any war against Iraq. He is believed to have two elderly parents in Qatar. It is unclear how he afforded the journey to America and his education. - "Mystery man in 9/11 terror case-Who is Ali Al-Marri? FBI links him to hijackers," by RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, New York Daily News 1/12/03
SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 : (Muslim cleric Maotaz Al-Hallak leaves the northeastern US for Texas) Al-Hallak had been questioned by prosecutors in the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. After 9/11, authorities would try to find him again, believing he left the US northeast for Texas, according to a later AP report.- "More arrests coming, U.S. says : So far, 25 people arrested for immigration violations are being questioned by federal investigators in connection with Tuesday's attacks," © St. Petersburg Times, published September 16, 2001 - Information from Cox News Service, Associated Press, Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune was used in this report. cache , http://www.sptimes.com/News/091601/Worldandnation/More_arrests_coming__.shtml. , current page , http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:HBTXAfMKTmsC:www.sptimes.com/News/091601/Worldandnation/More_arrests_coming__.shtml+%22Mohammed+Jaweed+Azmath+%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 : (BINALSHIBH, ZAMMAR) Two al-Qaida recruits from Germany who were arrested in Pakistan on Sept. 10 en route to Afghanistan, later told German authorities that they were recruited by Binalshibh, but Mahummad Haydar Zammar was their principal contact, according to an account in Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine. European officials, including the German authorities, said that while they had indications in the summer of 2001 that al-Qaida was planning a major attack, they had no specifics on what form it would take, where it would occur or who, specifically, was involved.
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 : (US DRONE LOST OVER IRAQ) A second US “drone” is lost over Iraq.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 : (DEATH THREAT PHONED IN TO WHITE HOUSE ABOUT TRYING TO TAKE OUT AIR FORCE ONE) A death threat was called in to the White House that morning, saying the plotters were out to get Air Force One. The caller provided secret information that caused grave concern about the President's safety. In fact, the threat was taken so seriously, White House officials say, that Bush crisscrossed the country in Air Force One, going from Florida to Louisiana to Nebraska before returning to the White House. In addition, it is believed the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania may have been on the way to attack the White House or Air Force One. Neither of the men in custody here has been charged with any crimes. - Two Saudi Nationals Eyed In Plot to Slay Bush /Computer File Found : killpresidentbush.exe , GREG B. SMITH, NY daily News, 9/22/01
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 : (ATTACKS) Hijacked passenger jets slam into the WTC and Pentagon, killing thousands. Bin Laden and his al Qaeda terror network are immediately suspected as being behind the attacks. Atta and his fellow hijackers crashed Flight 11 into the north tower of the trade center. Al-Shehhi and his fellow hijackers flew United Airlines Flight 175 into the south tower. - LA Times but not from original site "Hijacker Shuttled in and out of U.S. on Visas issued by Consulates" By CRAIG PYES, PATRICK J. McDONNELL and WILLIAM C. REMPEL, Los AngelesTimes la-atta.html
American Flight 77 hijacked by terrorists struck the Pentagon. Casualties include 33 sailors, 6 Department of the Navy civilians, and 3 Navy civilian contractors killed and 4 sailors and 2 Department of the Navy civilians wounded, and the Pilot of American Airlines flight 77, CAPT Charles Burlingame III (USNR) Arlington, VA,
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 : (CUBA ALERTS HIS MILITARY & CALLS UP RESERVES) Castro was ordering a military alert in Cuba and calling up reserves.
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS, AFGHANS BACK IN CUSTODY) Afghans taken into 'protective custody' in the Cayman Islands
SEPTEMBER 12, 2001 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS, LETTER) The person who wrote the anonymous letter did not contact the Acting Chief Secretary or any other Cayman Islands Government or law enforcement official about the letter until 12th September, the day after the attack in the U.S. When formally interviewed that day by local authorities, the letter writer told them that the letter was "pure speculation" on his part. Following the horrific terrorist attack in the U.S., Chief Secretary James Ryan transmitted the information to Police Commissioner David Thursfield on 12th September. The RCIP Commissioner was then in contact with the U.S. Consul on the Island and the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica.
SEPTEMBER 12, 2001 (evening) : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS, AFGHANS, US OFFICIALS ARRIVE) Newsmax: (The day after the attacks) U.S. officials arrived in the Caymans to pick up evidence gathered by Cayman and British investigators in their yearlong probe of the men. The men reportedly claimed to have boarded a ship in Turkey bound for Canada and were put ashore in a small boat in the Caymans. Police officials in the Cayman Islands said they believe the men entered the Caymans from Cuba using passports issued by Pakistan. The US officials remain until the afternoon of the 15th.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2001 : (TERROR WEB : BUSH ASSASSINATION PLOT) Two key witnesses in the terror attack probe were found with a computer file labeled "killpresidentbush.exe" and documents linked to a money launderer for Osama Bin Laden, sources told the Daily News. The witnesses were identified as Saudi nationals who tried to board a flight from Kennedy Airport to Los Angeles two days after the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack, a source familiar with the federal investigation confirmed. Their names remain secret. The two men showed up at Kennedy Airport on Sept. 13 seeking to board a Los Angeles-bound flight with tickets dated Sept. 11, the day of the attack. Authorities at the airport grew suspicious because their tickets were backdated and because all four of the flights that were hijacked flew out of Eastern airports and were bound for the West Coast. The Daily News has learned that authorities found two pieces of evidence that prosecutors believed could link the two Saudis to the terror plot. One of the men had a computer file labeled "killpresidentbush.exe," said a source familiar with the investigation. The source would not describe the contents of the computer file. The other man had documents with references to a man the FBI has identified as a money launderer for Bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire who has called for Muslims to attack American civilians. Investigators were taking the potentially explosive evidence very seriously. The "killpresidentbush" reference was of particular significance because of death threats that were made against the President on Sept. 11 — the day of the attacks. - Two Saudi Nationals Eyed In Plot to Slay Bush /Computer File Found : killpresidentbush.exe , GREG B. SMITH, NY daily News, 9/22/01
6:30 p.m. on SEPTEMBER 14, 2001 : (CUBAN SPY CASE, MONTES CALLS CUBA'S DIRECTOR OF GENERAL INTELLIGENCE) Ana Belen Montes, a senior analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), walked into a public telephone booth outside Washington's National Zoo and made two calls to pager numbers later traced by federal agents to Cuba's Directorate of General Intelligence (DGI). She already had compromised the identities of CIA agents, revealed U.S. military secrets and exposed the contents of classified files. But, as Montes sent repeated signals to her DGI handlers during the days immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the twin towers of the WTC, the FBI was given orders to act. It's a startling story, perhaps even revelatory; then again, maybe there's nothing to it apart from amazing coincidence. But what is beyond doubt is that even though the Wasp Network has been busted and Ana Belen Montes is under arrest, those Cuban numbers stations continue to broadcast their coded messages several times each day. Who is listening to them?- John Miller, National Review Nov 5, 2001
2001: (IRAQI SHAKIR WORKS IN QATAR) Shakir lives in Doha, Qatar, working as a civil servant in the country's Ministry of Religious Endowment. - "AL QAEDA'S MAN IN IRAQ?, " Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman with Mark Hosenball and Steve Tuttle, © 2002 Newsweek, Inc.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2001 : (IRAQI SHAKIR HELD BY QATAR, LET GO) Six days after September 11, Qatari authorities picked him up for questioning – but let him go. Yet a search of Shakir's apartment in Doha, the country's capital, yielded a treasure trove, including telephone records linking him to suspects in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Project Bojinka, a 1994 Manila plot to blow up civilian airlines over the Pacific Ocean. U.S. officials found an even more startling link, according to intelligence documents obtained by NEWSWEEK: Shakir had been present at a January 2000 Qaeda "summit" in Malaysia that was attended by two of the 9-11 hijackers. Authorities believe that the summit may have been a planning session for both the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole and 9-11. Shakir quickly left Qatar. - "AL QAEDA'S MAN IN IRAQ?, " Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman with Mark Hosenball and Steve Tuttle, © 2002 Newsweek, Inc. According to a senior Arab intelligence official, the Qataris “asked the Americans, ‘Where should we send this guy?’ ” The answer was, not the United States. The man, Ahmed Shakir, was sent to Jordan instead. The Jordanians have been good about sharing intelligence with the United States. The CIA prefers not to ask how the Jordanians obtain that intelligence - "Justice Kept In the Dark " by Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff, Newsweek - MSNBC Wednesday, December 5, 2001 via Bint Jabeil bintjabail.com
SEPTEMBER 18, 2001: (ANTHRAX MAILED TO NBC & NY POST & ?) Trenton, NJ : Mailed anthrax letters to NBC and NY Post (and probably to National Enquirer).
SEPTEMBER 23, 2001 (AL-MARRI 1st ATTEMPT TO CALL UAE PHONE NUMBER) Ali Salem Kahlah Al-Marri, using calling cards, attempted to call the same number three times after Sept. 11, 2001 - on Sept. 23, 2001 , Oct. 24, 2001 and Nov. 4, 2001. The first of the "attempted calls" on cards traced to Al-Marri was made on a pay phone in a Peoria store through a calling card issued by Network IP. The same card was used five days later in a call from Al-Marri's cellphone and again on Oct. 24 in a call from the Al-Marri home in West Peoria, 130 miles southwest of Chicago. - according to a -document filed in federal court in Peoria, IL via Peoria's Journal Star
SEPTEMBER ? 2001 : (VENEZUELA & HEZBOLLAH : CHAVEZ DESTROYS DOCUMENTS LINKING HIM TO HEZBOLLAH & FIRES US-TRAINED VENEZUELAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave instructions to destroy records on 10 suspected Hezbollah fund-raisers conducting suspicious financial transactions in the islands of Margarita, Aruba and Curaçao, and the cities of Maracaibo and Valencia, according to Venezuelan General Marcos Ferreira. The Venezuelan president then dissolved key military counterterrorist units by firing 16 highly experienced, U.S.-trained intelligence officers at the time of the terrorist plane attacks in NYC and DC. Circulos Bolivarianos leader Lina Ron celebrated the event by burning a US flag in the center of Caracas.- "Terror Threat from Venezuela: Al Queda Involved," by Martin Arostegui, Militares Democraticos, December 27, 2002
2001 : (VENEZUELA, CHACIN ASKS FERREIRA TO ASSIST WITH GETTING COLUMBIAN TERRORISTS TO CUBA) During 2001, Chacin asks General Marcos Ferreira to smooth the way for another 25 to 30 Colombians whom he personally received at the border crossing of San Antonio from where they were escorted by DISIP to Simón Bolívar International Airport in Caracas to board flights for Cuba. Chacin similarly arranged the transit of Canas Serrano, an ELN terrorist wanted by Interpol for the deaths of 84 people in the bombing of an oil pipeline. Ferreira says that Chacin fired his predecessor at DIEX for complying with international requests to deport an ELN terrorist. "One of the first things Chacin ordered me to do when I became head of DIEX was to legalize the entry of five undocumented Colombians on the grounds that they had assisted ransom negotiations for kidnapped Venezuelans," Ferreira recalls. "He explained that they needed to spend some days in Venezuela before going to Cuba." The general soon found that such instructions were not exceptional. The language Chacin used perturbed some of his officers. "After returning from a trip to Cuba, he started calling us comrades, referring to opponents of the government as 'the enemy' and talking about attacking their families." The breaking point came when a lieutenant colonel of the Presidential Guard asked Ferreira to issue a passport for a member of FARC, Ana Belinda Macias Arismendi, who carried a false Venezuelan identity document [No. V-12438823]. She urgently needed to get to Havana, Ferreira was told. "The fingerprints on the ID didn't even match hers," confides the general. An analysis of DIEX records indicates that during the last two years (2001 through dec 2002) 3,799 fraudulent Venezuelan identification documents have been distributed, of which 1,745 were issued through the DIEX border post of San Antonio. By cross-checking the redundant document numbers, Ferreira determined that 2,520 false IDs were given to Colombians and that the second-largest category of 279 went to Arabs invariably described as "Syrians." Running further checks through Colombian police records, say law-enforcement insiders, two-dozen of the IDs were traced to known terrorists and narcotraffickers. Some examples: Julio Quintero Gomez [No. E-81895307], identified as a member of an ELN urban guerrilla column; Ramon Quintero, [No. E-81895573], identified as a member of the ELN national committee; and Alberto Diaz Sanchez [No. E-818955586], identified by authorities as a member of a narcotrafficking ring. - "Terror Threat from Venezuela: Al Queda Involved," by| Martin Arostegui, Militares Democraticos, December 27, 2002
(Note the recent arrest of the Venezuelan with the live hand grenade trying to get on airliner.)
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