What is the evidence that the hijackers used "box-cutters" and "plastic knives"?

Edward Jay Epstein (website) ^ | 3 June 2002 | Edward Jay Epstein

[Kermit]

Question:

In response to questions about the advance warning President Bush received from the CIA concerning a possible hijacking plot, his press spokesman Ari Fleischer (identified by the New York Times as the anonymous “senior administration official) replied in his daily press briefing on May 15th, 2002: "The administration, based on hijackings, notified the appropriate agencies and, I think, that's one of the reasons that you saw that the people who committed the 9-11 attacks used box cutters and plastic knives to get around America's system of protecting against hijackings."

What is the evidence that the hijackers who took over the Boeing 767s that crashed into the World Trade Center “used box cutters and plastic knives?”

Answer:

There is zero evidence of box-cutters on either plane that hit the World Trade Center. Not a single flight crew member or passenger on American Airlines Flight 11 or United Airlines Flight 175 reported seeing box-cutters or plastics knives. Nor were they mentioned in the FAA executive summary on any of the hijacked plane.(LINK FAA MEMO.) Only on American Airlines Flight 77, which hit the Pentagon, was there a near-mention by one passenger that the hijackers in the back of the plane had knives and "card-board cutters," and even that passenger to claim to see what weapons were actually used to hijack the plane. The claim by administration officials that plastic knives were used to hijack the planes is pure invention. (See Fictoid #9)

Since unlike guns, metal knives and bombs, it was legal for airline passengers on September 11th 2001 to carry aboard box-cutters and plastic knives, the claim that they used such devices to commandeer the planes that destroyed the World Trade Center is a functional fictoid. Not only does it serve to shield the airlines, airports and airport screeners from massive liability from the victims at the World Trade Center, it protects the Bush Administration by diverting attention away from concern that airport security at three Federally-supervised airports was dangerously lax.

Collateral Question:

Since CBS News quoted press briefer Ari Fleischer verbatim, why did the New York Times identify him anonymously as a “senior administration spokesman?”

[Timesink]

Since you copied your comment word-for-word from this conspiracy theory page, I can only assume you're using it as your source of information.

It's wrong. You can pick up the phone and dial "12#" and be connected to an operator. End of conspiracy.

[Fish out of Water]

*Index Bump

[Kermit]

Here's what I wrote:

"I'm not a fan of Edward Jay Epstein, but if he's correct here, I for one have been taken in."

I was under the same impression that you have. Epstein refered to the FAA's executive summary, which I posted above. I guess in one spot, it refers to "cardboard cutters".

Another post above, refers to a "folding fighting knife", which isn't a box cutter. I was hoping many FReepers would have a handle on this and could refute Epstein.

[archy]

An executive summary of an unpublished FAA memo stated:

"At approximately 9:18 am, it was reported that two crew members in the cockpit were stabbed. The flight then descended with no communications from the flight crew members. The American Airlines FAA Principal Security Inspector (PFI) was notified by Suzanne Clark of American airlines Corporate Headquarters that an on board flight attendant contacted American Airlines Operation Center and informed that a passenger located in seat 10B shot and killed a passenger in 9B at 9:20 am. The passenger killed was Daniel Lewin shot by Satam al-Suqama. One bullet was reported to have been fired."

By Paul Sperry
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – He could bench-press 315 pounds and squat more than 450 pounds as a teen-ager. As an officer in an elite unit of the Israeli army, he was trained to kill terrorists with a pen or a credit card, or just his bare hands.

On Sept. 11, he may have gotten the chance.

As fate would have it, Daniel C. Lewin, a 31-year-old Israeli-American, was seated on American Airlines Flight 11 between hijackers Mohammed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari in the row in front of him, and hijacker Satam al-Suqami in the row behind him.

A secret Federal Aviation Administration executive summary, first uncovered by WorldNetDaily, says that al-Suqami, who would have been sitting directly behind Lewin in seat 10B, shot and killed Lewin with a single bullet.

Daniel C. Lewin

The FAA maintains the high-level report was a mistaken first draft and that Lewin was more than likely stabbed, not shot, along with American Airlines crew members on Flight 11. (Box cutters were allowed that day through airline security, which the FAA regulated, but not guns.)

But a childhood friend who served with Lewin in the Israel Defense Force says only a bullet would have stopped Lewin.

"He'd be more than a match for those skinny little (expletive)," said Brad Rephen, a New York lawyer who grew up with Lewin in Jerusalem. "With his training, he would have killed them with his bare hands."

"I can tell you, their knives would not have stopped him," he added. "He would have taken their knives or their box cutters away and used them against them."

Rephen recalls Lewin's injured hands after he returned from an Israeli anti-terrorist training course.

"They were pretty beaten up from the fighting he did," he said. "He knew how to fight with knives and take knives away from people."

He described Lewin, at about 5-11, 200 pounds, as "thick-boned." He says he witnessed him bench-press more than 300 pounds and squat close to 500 pounds.

"He was very, very strong and had a lot of meat on him," Rephen said. "They couldn't have subdued him by slashing him. The only way they could have stopped him was by shooting him."

Before returning to America, where he worked as an Internet company executive in Boston, the Denver-born Lewin was a captain in Sayeret Matkal, a top-secret reconnaissance unit of the Israeli army used for special anti-terror missions such as the raid on Entebbe. In 1976, Israeli commandos rescued 103 hostages from a gang of Arab terrorists at the airport in the Ugandan capital.

Lewin went on dozens of such missions, friends say. In the '80s, for example, he helped rescue thousands of Jews stranded in Ethiopia. His outfit – Unit 269 – secured the airport there during the airlift operation, friends say.

Rephen called Lewin "the best of the best."

"About 2,500 guys try out for the unit he was in," he said. "Twenty-five make it, and one gets chosen as an officer. It was him."

He was also extremely tough and determined, Rephen says.

He recalls an earlier time, during basic military training, when Lewin fell into a ravine and was knocked unconscious and rushed to the hospital.

"He was back the next day," Rephen said.

He guesses that Lewin, who understood Arabic, sensed something was wrong on Flight 11 the moment he took his seat next to the three terrorists, including Atta, the ringleader.

"He probably picked up that they were on a suicide mission by what they were saying or wearing," Rephen said.

"Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups put on headbands as badges of their death," he added. "If they put that stuff on, and he saw it, he would have known the ride was over."

And then he would have made his move.

"If I know Danny, when he realized what they were doing, he attacked them," Rephen said. "He probably cursed them in Arabic to scare them, and then he hurt them."

He speculates that during the struggle with Atta and the other hijacker sitting in front of Lewin in row 8, al-Suqami shot him from behind.

"I have no doubt they got a gun on the plane as a backup for a situation like that," Rephen said, speculating that they either brought it on board the plane, likely in pieces, or had it planted there earlier by ground services crew.

The FAA report, though very specific, does not indicate whether Lewin was killed during a struggle or while sitting in his seat. Whatever happened, it likely went down within 15 minutes or so of takeoff. Authorities say the pilots were overpowered by then.

Rephen, like other Lewin friends and associates contacted by WorldNetDaily, doubts the report of gunfire was written in error.

"If this were an error, they wouldn't have been so fact-specific," Rephen said.

The FBI says the Lewin incident is still under investigation.

"I don't think we know for sure right now if he was killed" on board the flight, said FBI spokesman Paul Bresson. "All of this is something we're trying to figure out ourselves."

Attempts to reach Lewin's family were unsuccessful. His wife and children live in the Boston area, and his parents, both doctors, and two younger brothers live in Israel.

Previous stories:

Friends think Flight 11 Israeli was 'executed'

FAA official insists gun memo not draft

Hijacker shot passenger on Flight 11: FAA memo

Terrorists slit throats of 2 AA flight attendants

---

Paul Sperry is Washington bureau chief for WorldNetDaily.

[archy]

An executive summary of an unpublished FAA memo stated:

"At approximately 9:18 am, it was reported that two crew members in the cockpit were stabbed. The flight then descended with no communications from the flight crew members. The American Airlines FAA Principal Security Inspector (PFI) was notified by Suzanne Clark of American airlines Corporate Headquarters that an on board flight attendant contacted American Airlines Operation Center and informed that a passenger located in seat 10B shot and killed a passenger in 9B at 9:20 am. The passenger killed was Daniel Lewin shot by Satam al-Suqama. One bullet was reported to have been fired."

By Paul Sperry
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – He could bench-press 315 pounds and squat more than 450 pounds as a teen-ager. As an officer in an elite unit of the Israeli army, he was trained to kill terrorists with a pen or a credit card, or just his bare hands.

On Sept. 11, he may have gotten the chance.

As fate would have it, Daniel C. Lewin, a 31-year-old Israeli-American, was seated on American Airlines Flight 11 between hijackers Mohammed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari in the row in front of him, and hijacker Satam al-Suqami in the row behind him.

A secret Federal Aviation Administration executive summary, first uncovered by WorldNetDaily, says that al-Suqami, who would have been sitting directly behind Lewin in seat 10B, shot and killed Lewin with a single bullet.

Daniel C. Lewin

The FAA maintains the high-level report was a mistaken first draft and that Lewin was more than likely stabbed, not shot, along with American Airlines crew members on Flight 11. (Box cutters were allowed that day through airline security, which the FAA regulated, but not guns.)

But a childhood friend who served with Lewin in the Israel Defense Force says only a bullet would have stopped Lewin.

"He'd be more than a match for those skinny little (expletive)," said Brad Rephen, a New York lawyer who grew up with Lewin in Jerusalem. "With his training, he would have killed them with his bare hands."

"I can tell you, their knives would not have stopped him," he added. "He would have taken their knives or their box cutters away and used them against them."

Rephen recalls Lewin's injured hands after he returned from an Israeli anti-terrorist training course.

"They were pretty beaten up from the fighting he did," he said. "He knew how to fight with knives and take knives away from people."

He described Lewin, at about 5-11, 200 pounds, as "thick-boned." He says he witnessed him bench-press more than 300 pounds and squat close to 500 pounds.

"He was very, very strong and had a lot of meat on him," Rephen said. "They couldn't have subdued him by slashing him. The only way they could have stopped him was by shooting him."

Before returning to America, where he worked as an Internet company executive in Boston, the Denver-born Lewin was a captain in Sayeret Matkal, a top-secret reconnaissance unit of the Israeli army used for special anti-terror missions such as the raid on Entebbe. In 1976, Israeli commandos rescued 103 hostages from a gang of Arab terrorists at the airport in the Ugandan capital.

Lewin went on dozens of such missions, friends say. In the '80s, for example, he helped rescue thousands of Jews stranded in Ethiopia. His outfit – Unit 269 – secured the airport there during the airlift operation, friends say.

Rephen called Lewin "the best of the best."

"About 2,500 guys try out for the unit he was in," he said. "Twenty-five make it, and one gets chosen as an officer. It was him."

He was also extremely tough and determined, Rephen says.

He recalls an earlier time, during basic military training, when Lewin fell into a ravine and was knocked unconscious and rushed to the hospital.

"He was back the next day," Rephen said.

He guesses that Lewin, who understood Arabic, sensed something was wrong on Flight 11 the moment he took his seat next to the three terrorists, including Atta, the ringleader.

"He probably picked up that they were on a suicide mission by what they were saying or wearing," Rephen said.

"Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups put on headbands as badges of their death," he added. "If they put that stuff on, and he saw it, he would have known the ride was over."

And then he would have made his move.

"If I know Danny, when he realized what they were doing, he attacked them," Rephen said. "He probably cursed them in Arabic to scare them, and then he hurt them."

He speculates that during the struggle with Atta and the other hijacker sitting in front of Lewin in row 8, al-Suqami shot him from behind.

"I have no doubt they got a gun on the plane as a backup for a situation like that," Rephen said, speculating that they either brought it on board the plane, likely in pieces, or had it planted there earlier by ground services crew.

The FAA report, though very specific, does not indicate whether Lewin was killed during a struggle or while sitting in his seat. Whatever happened, it likely went down within 15 minutes or so of takeoff. Authorities say the pilots were overpowered by then.

Rephen, like other Lewin friends and associates contacted by WorldNetDaily, doubts the report of gunfire was written in error.

"If this were an error, they wouldn't have been so fact-specific," Rephen said.

The FBI says the Lewin incident is still under investigation.

"I don't think we know for sure right now if he was killed" on board the flight, said FBI spokesman Paul Bresson. "All of this is something we're trying to figure out ourselves."

Attempts to reach Lewin's family were unsuccessful. His wife and children live in the Boston area, and his parents, both doctors, and two younger brothers live in Israel.

Previous stories:

Friends think Flight 11 Israeli was 'executed'

FAA official insists gun memo not draft

Hijacker shot passenger on Flight 11: FAA memo

Terrorists slit throats of 2 AA flight attendants

---

Paul Sperry is Washington bureau chief for WorldNetDaily.

[miamimark]

If she had her credit card, why would she making a collect call, as Olson stated she did.

In subsequent interviews he changed his story and said she called from her cell phone and that the hijackers had box cutters.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

I am sure 50 people have already or will post this but Barbara Olson told Ted Olson this as a direct witness to one of the flights. I do not think Ted Olson would make this up.

[miamimark]

Thanks-I wasn't aware that you could hit 12# and call collect. Never saw that printed on the instructions.

[archy]

Any body ever think of one of these?

CIA Letter Opener

I like these newer, improved ones better:

The Cold Steel *Delta Darts* are decent, too:

Three of them rest neatly behind a wide tie, and their zytel nylon construction makes them tough, light and bloodstain-resistant. They also serve rather nicely as tentpegs on ice or frozen hardpacked clay.

[stands2reason]

If anything, I think the "plastic" mention is Bull$#!+. The gov't was willing to pay out alot of money to protect the airlines. There's more than a possibility they'd be willing to engage in a bit of "misinformation" here and there. Oh, and I'm no tin-foiler, either. But there are now doubts in my mind about the weaponry used.

[Lecie]

If memory serves, Mrs. Olson made two phone calls. I seem to remember that Mr. Olson said the second one was the collect call because Mrs. Olson may have given her cell phone to other passengers to use to call home.

[miamimark]

"'Lying to the public is all right,' says Washington's chief lawyer. 'It's easy to imagine an infinite number of situations where the government might legitimately give out false information,' the Solicitor-General, Theodore Olson, told the court on Monday.

[miamimark]

"What do I tell the pilot to do?" were cited as the epitome of her courage and leadership. But as time goes by, Ted keeps changing his story. On 9-11, he told CNN and the NY Times that she called him from her cellphone. On 9-12, he told the London Telegraph, "She called and said she was locked in the toilet." On 9-14, the Telegraph wrote: "She had locked herself in the lavatory and had to call 10 times before she could persuade the operators to accept the call charges." But on 3-5-02, Ted told the Telegraph: "She had had trouble getting through, because she wasn't using her cellphone, she was using the phone in the passengers' seats. I guess she didn't have her purse, because she was calling collect..."

[Texaggie79]

I think the $64K question that no one wants to answer is whether the box-cutters were brought through the metal detectors or whether the weapons were stashed on the plane.

Then the 128k question is why the pilots of 4 different planes allowed terrorists to take control of them when the threat was box cutters. Not that I think they had more than box cutters, but that airline security companies never foresaw terrorists using plains as missiles.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Why lie about such a thing? I don't buy it. If they were using AK-47's it would have been reported...

Unless..... there was a hush hush IN THE BEGINNING so our airport security wouldn't look TOO incompetent.

[surely_you_jest]

That company also used to (maybe they still do) make a Tanto styled (similar to the one shown, without the upper surface sharpened - similar to a chisel, with the front edge at a rather blunt angle, and one sharpened long side) knife, fiber reinforced, can be sharpened to a pretty impressive edge, with a nail file, emery board, whatever. X-ray signature relative innocuous, even at the most "vulnerable" angle. It can effectively be employed to stab through impressive amounts of resistant layers. Etc, etc. Retailed for under ten bucks. Another item was similar to the "dart" except significantly larger, and was disguised as the handle for a ladies wig-style round brush, which also served as the sheaf.

Folks, not all plastic knives are the stuff you see at picnics. Some of them are no-kidding weapons.

Ditto Bic Ball Point pens.

[surely_you_jest]

sheaf=sheath

Had a long night; need to hit the hay early. Duh.

[JavaTheHutt]

I remember reading one story of an American Airlines flight attendant who phoned AA headquarters in Texas to report the hijacking on her plane. She stated that a person in seat ### stood up and SHOT the passenger in seat ### in the head, and the gunshot victim was dead.
The FAA and American Airlines have both denied the story's truthfulness, although the story came from someone at AA who stated the phone call had been recorded. Coverup? You decide.
I'll see if I can track down the story again and post it here as a refresher for everyone.

[ChadGore]

Re: "..whether the box-cutters were brought through the metal detectors..

For what it's worth, I used to travel for a living and was on 4 to 6 flights a week. I carried a 6" yellow colored box cutter (with extra blades in the handle) in my carry-on for YEARS while traveling around the lower 48 states.

The one and only time I had to remove the blades was on a trip going into to Canada.

[Huck]

My recollection is about the same.