Posted on 06/01/2002 2:30:16 AM PDT by kattracks
But the Bin Laden unit flatly rejected the request without even doing an "asset validation" to see whether the informant's information was on target, the sources said.
It would be nice to have some names here. The New York Times seems hell-bent on blaming Judge Lamberth & the FISA court for creating an atmosphere of political correctness for their investigation of Michael Resnick.
What do we know about James Risen & David Johnston, the authors of the 9/19/01 NYT piece in #8 on this thread? ("Who were the FBI bosses stonewalling agent Coleen Crowley's requests?") The fact that they erroneously blamed the Michael Resnick case on AG Ashcroft & the Bush Administrations raises a huge red flag and makes their finger-pointing at Judge Lamberth highly suspicious.
As for the FBI's counterterrorism division's radical fundamentalist unit, we already have the names of Michael Maltbie (a supervisory special agent) & his boss, David Frasca, (Chief of the unit). But as VaBthang4 said on the other thread, it would be nice to know the name of Frasca's boss. The fact that Frasca was reassigned to Cleveland after 911 may be significant.
BTW, if any of you missed this Peggy Noonan article yesterday, it's a must-read: Weenies or Moles? Did the FBI bungle the Moussaoui investigation--or worse?
If you dont think that the Bush fanily and many in both of the Bush Administrations were and are in business with Saudis, I cant make you understand it.
Have you bothered to google "Bin Mafouz","Al-Amoudi","BCCI-Bush" "Carlyle"?
Have you seen the oil companies websites?
I dont know why facts that are 20 years old are some plot of mine.
Have you searched the Free Republic Archives for nfo on Bush-BCC-Saudi ?
I hate the Clintons,I hate the Bushs.
I hate allmost every politician I can think of.
I love the truth.
I love less government,and less taxes.
Long Live Freedom of Speech!
Long Live Frredom of the Press!
Sheesh. Count me off this thread if it turns into a preconceived Bush witch hunt.
Believe it or not, everything in life is not some Grand Conspiracy involving every B-U-S-H in the entire world.
I heard that and almost fell out of my chair. Interesting.
Clinton's eight-year politicalization of the FBI has ensured the total compromise of Trent Lott and most of the rest. As usual, their typical, spineless behavior can be traced back to Louis Freeh's handing over of those FBI files to Hillary.
The only way that situation will ever change is if they are voted out of office or if we "out them" ourselves. < /cynicism >
"But the Bin Laden unit flatly rejected the request without even doing an 'asset validation' to see whether the informant's information was on target, the sources said."
Sorry but I agree with Justice Department's call on this one. It looks like a terrible decision in hindsight, but prior to 9/11 we were not at war and under our rules at that time this would have been illegal.....even if we disagree with the law as written.
The situation with the FBI reminds me of what one reads about the ISI in Pakistan. It may simply be its own center of power, essentially separate from the regular government, accountable to no one.
All I'm saying is, when law enforcement conducts an investigation, the proper way to do it is not to start at their favorite suspect and build a case around him. Instead, they start at the bottom and follow the evidence up the ladder to see where it takes them.
This thread should start at the bottom: Who in the FBI HQ nixed the Al Qaeda mole? Instead, you guys start at your preconceived "Bush/BCCI/Bin Ladin/Saudi Connections" rung of the ladder.
If that's where the line of inquiry goes, then fine, that's where it goes. But to start out there is bad research, IMHO.
(I have to get offline anyway. Feel free to continue on without me nitpicking at your heels. ;-)
How many months? 2, 8 or 11? It makes a difference.
Bin Laden in his first post-9/11 video bragged that the majority of the hijackers didn't even know it was a suicide mission and that only the guys doing the piloting knew the details.
The infiltrator would have no more knowledge about specific events than Johhnie Taliban... who likewise attended such a camp.
And with the legal restrictions on the US agencies at the time, they probably couldn't send anyone into such a situation because in order to 'graduate' from these camps you have to commit an act sufficient to satisfy the leaders that you were sincere. Clinton had ordered that no 'unsavory types' be hired. Who else is going to fit in except some unsavory type willing to commit at least one act of terrorism?
Given that the evidence was "buried", it's equally probable that there a shoe-bomber on the flight.
I sure would like the NTSB/FBI reopen the TWA-800 investigation and be required to present ANY & ALL evidence found.
I clearly recall FBI's Jim Kalstrom dismissing trace evidence of C-4 they found, by attributing it to a bomb-dog exercise run prior to the flight. Yeah right!!!!
Here's another name: James T. Caruso.
But what really appears to have angered Rowley, however, were statements made later by the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, James T. Caruso , who also suggested that the FBI had no clues prior to September 11."When similar comments were made weeks later, in Assistant Director Caruso's congressional testimony in response to the first public leaks about Moussaoui," Rowley writes, "we faced the sad realization that the remarks indicated someone, possibly with your [Mueller's] approval, had decided to circle the wagons at FBI Headquarters in an apparent effort to protect the FBI from embarrassment and the relevant FBI officials from scrutiny."
A look at Caruso's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee's Homeland Defense Subcommittee last October 3 suggests that the FBI's desire to "circle the wagons" included making statements that, if taken on their face, could well have misled Congress about what happened in the Moussaoui case. This is what Caruso said:
The media has focused on an individual in Minneapolis who has been detained since August 17 on Immigration charges. It has been suggested that this individual, Zacarias Moussaoui, was training to be the fifth hijacker on the flight that crashed into Pennsylvania. Media accounts also suggest that the FBI did not actively investigate Moussaoui until after the September 11 attacks. The FBI conducted vigorous investigation of Moussaoui upon learning of his detention in mid-August to include seizing his computer, contacting foreign officials for additional information and seeking a number of authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, to conduct further investigation.
In addition, information about Moussaoui was shared throughout the intelligence community prior to September 11. Although the Department of Justice and the FBI agreed there was insufficient evidence to establish that Moussaoui was an agent of a foreign power or terrorists group as required by the FISA warrant, the FBI pursued all reasonable and lawful investigative steps since mid-August.
Caruso said the FBI did three things:
1) it seized Moussaoui's computer,
2) it sought information from foreign officials, and
3) it sought "a number of authorities" under FISA.Two of those claims appear to be seriously misleading. In the first instance, while the FBI did seize Moussaoui's computer, agents were not able to examine its contents without a warrant (in fact, the computer was not examined before September 11).
On the issue of a warrant, the FBI did not seek either a court warrant or a warrant from the special FISA court to search the computer, as Caruso suggested when he said the FBI sought "a number of authorities" under FISA. Instead, according to Rowley, the Minnesota agents' requests for a FISA warrant were stopped inside the FBI bureaucracy. (One part of Caruso's testimony appears to be accurate: The FBI did seek information from foreign-intelligence sources, although it was the Minnesota agents, not headquarters.)
Finally, on the question of whether the Moussaoui information was "shared throughout the intelligence community," as Caruso said, Rowley writes that when Minneapolis agents tried to tell the CIA about Moussaoui, they were "chastised" by FBI headquarters.
In an interview with National Review Online, an FBI spokesman defended Caruso's testimony as accurate, saying the FBI did indeed seize Moussaoui's computer (although agents did not examine its contents). As for the FISA warrant, the spokesman said only that "there is a series of approvals" involved before a case is turned over to a FISA court, and that "what happened is all subject to review right now."
Indeed it is a must-read. Peggy Noonan is straight-talking and responsible. And she has an insider's knowledge of the U.S. government. That she would write this article is telling.
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