Mr. Atta Goes to Prague

The New York Times ^ | 05/09/2002 | William Safire

[Shermy]

I like your profile page. M!

[Shermy]

I know, it could be something else, or a variety of things.

[Guillam]

In war-time, truth is so precious she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

Winston S. Churchill

[LarryLied]

Christian Science Monitor:

Last December, a US passenger plane narrowly escaped another Czech invention when Richard Reid was caught trying to board a plane with a homemade explosive in his shoes. According to CNN, he obtained the recipe from an unnamed "Czechoslovak."

[eno_]

Even if they met, there's no evidence of what they said.

No, but it is the likeliest source of anthrax. And you know what they say: "Trident kills anthrax dead."

[eno_]

The counterespionage people in the Czech Republic probably also keep tabs on the various thugs cut loose by the government after the Wall came down. Many are now mafiosi, but some no doubt have kept their ME terror connections up and running.

[The Raven]

Safire's been a lone voice on this and I believe his account. It's curious that the other "news" sources came out with the counter-account. And all at the same time. But why? Do we have Iraqi spies in our government? Was it the Democrats (same thing I guess).

[eno_]

Finding the factional boundaries is very interesting. Some people, like Hillery and her coterie are just pure anti-American evil. Her staffers are the kids out of school who drank deep the radical Kool-Aid. They want to see Western Civilzation come to an end because they think it is the source of all that is evil in the world. Some people are left-over Soviet agents of influence. And some are just too damn stupid.

[EternalHope]

Of course, we already know the reason for the misinformation. Not one thing has happened in the last 6 months to discredit the theory, first proposed in detail by The Great Satan, that Saddam has adopted a MAD posture with the US.

No doubt about it.

The question is: Can we keep the lid on in the Middle East (and between India and Pakistan) until we are prepared to withstand a biological attack here in the U.S.?

Less discussed is Saddam's response to our defensive preparations. His bioweapons lose their deterent ability if we can defend against them. If he feels he is in a "use it or lose it" position, will he "use it"? (I think the answer is yes.)

That means our biowarfare defense preparations must be kept ultra secret until AFTER we are already protected. Mass innoculation programs would not work unless they could be carried out very, very quickly.

Pre-positioned stockpiles of vaccine and antibiotics are essential, as well as a core of pre-vaccinated personnel to keep order in an emergency. All this needs to be done without Saddam finding out how far along we were.

[Betty Jo]

Larry Johnson, a retired CIA guy was on FOX John Gibson at 5:00 PM eastern today talking about Atta and Prague.The transcript will probably be on the FOX site later tonight.

[livius]

Atta traveled a lot. He was in Spain in July, when, according to the Spanish press, he arrived in Madrid, put 2000 km on a rental car as he zig-zagged around the Mediterrean coast and met with an Arab "terrorist bankroller" in Catalonia (Northern Spain), then whipped around and got back to Florida a couple of days later. Nothing at all unbelievable in his making a whirlwind trip to Prague.

[glorygirl]

Help me with this.

Has anybody ever seen a story about Mohammed Atta training in the Al-Quaeda camps? Maybe I've missed it.

But isn't it possible HE was Sadaam's man?

That HE went to Osama and asked for recruits from the camps?

And isn't is possible, given the fact we know one South Florida pharmacist claims he showed up asking for medication for his red hands, that Atta got the anthrax from Saddam, wrote the anthrax notes and envelopes himself, got someone else to mail them from New Jersey?

Didn't some of the other 19 hijackers have roots in New Jersey?

Why haven't they struck again?

Have we ever seen samples of Atta's handwriting in English?

Just some thoughts. But, whatever the truth, of course the Bush adminstration wants to cover it up, and stop the MADness.

[muawiyah]

This particular attack was so clearly made by the same folks who dropped planes into buildings that it's difficult to imagine that any rational human being could even begin to believe a lone US scientist did it.

My hypothesis that ALL of the letters were mailed at the same time has been further supported by the finding that all the tape wrapped around the letters came from the same roll at the same time!

If they were prepared simultaneously, then they were probably mailed simultaneously. One was dropped in the letter drop at Boca Raton post office. That went to AMI. The others were entered in collection boxes in the area on September 7 or 8 and were subsequently overlooked in "flat trays" shipped to Philadelphia BMC as empty equipment, or MTE (empty Mail Transportation Equipment).

I have added to my hypothesis the idea that these letters could have been covered in tape at a post office rewrap unit. There you will find employees so well practiced in putting tape around mail that they do not touch the tape (to leave fingerprints). Two weeks ago a letter carrier in the Staten Island post office was arrested for his deep involvement with an Arab/Egyptian terrorist group. Did he have a companion working rewrap?

[Betty Jo]

I just went over to FOXNEWS.com. Its not posted yet.It looks like it takes about 24 hours to get it up. As I remember what he said it was to the tune of, he,Larry Johnson thinks its true.

[spycatcher]

June 04, 2002 - Czech Official Affirms Atta Met Iraqi Agent

[spycatcher]

Aug 3, 2002 - Mohamed Atta Was Here