"That was my first question too. How could they not know?"
You mean the CIA that failed to connect the dots to 9/11? The same CIA that said WMD's in Iraq were a slam dunk? The CIA that is still insisting that Iran is 5-6 years away from acquiring nukes? That CIA?
Why would anyone expect the CIA to know anything. Iran has been a closed society since 1979. Our vaunted intelligence agencies haven't had a clue about what's going on the middle east for years. Why would anyone expect them to have known about this guy?
I don't doubt your very good points. I guess what I don't understand is, if they have published photos of the hijackers, how hard is it to put two and two together. I mean, you'd think they'd be trying to gather intel on the presidential candidates, considering what a loose cannon Iran could be. But like I said, you make some very good points.