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What interests me most about this conversation is exactly how it came to take place.

She contacted ABC? They called her, based on a tip? From whom? And why? She is doing this "against the wishes of her employer". Why?

This may be the key sentence -- the message and the disregard for "instructions".

"I think it's very vital that the Americans realize that when these people come to the United States, they don't have a big 'T' on their forehead," she said, telling her story for the first time to ABCNEWS, against the wishes of her employer.

Why is she doing this? For her 15 minutes of fame? Why has she not spoken out before, then? Or is it because she was "allowed" to have this interview? Is she really who she says she is? And did it really happen the way she described it?

Most specifically, was it a way to introduce the cropduster-as-bomb theory?

You all get my point. On its surface, the story seems a little too pat, a little too structured. Maybe it's true. Maybe it's not. And, if it's not, what is its purpose?

they don't have a big 'T' on their forehead

No?
He mentioned al Qaeda
He mentioned Osama bin Laden
He boasted about the role that they would one day play
He refused to speak with Bryant, called her "but a female" in disgust.
He asked what would prevent him from cutting Bryant's throat.
He asked what would prevent him from stealing money from her safe.
He asked 'How would America like it if another country destroyed Washington, DC'
He asked about security specifically for the World Trade Center

"I didn't know who Osama bin Laden was - He could have been a character on Star Wars for all I knew."

I guess ignorance is no barrier to getting a job with the US govt.

"I felt that he was trying to make the cultural leap from the country that he came from"

Multicultural PC groupthink!

The terrorists may not have a "T" on their forehead,
but bureaucrats sure should have a "B" on theirs.

Why has she not spoken out before, then? Or is it because she was "allowed" to have this interview? Is she really who she says she is? And did it really happen the way she described it?

I saw this story months ago. I know because I specifically remember the unusual name Johnell. A search yields very little, but look at this excerpt from an AP story that appeared in the Sept. 25, 2001, Stockton (CA) Record:

Epling [Robert Epling, president of the Community Bank of Florida] said Monday that his bank, headquartered in Homestead, received a call from the FBI seven to 10 days ago saying that Atta had gone into a USDA office that until recently was in the bank's building. The agents asked if Atta had applied for such a loan from Community Bank, since USDA employees had apparently suggested to Atta that he try Epling's bank. Several USDA employees had recently identified Atta to the FBI, and recalled that he wore Tommy Hilfiger clothes and a lot of cologne, according to the FBI version of events provided to the bank. Epling said one employee had a vague memory of an encounter. ''All he remembers is an inquiry about a loan for buying crop-dusters,'' Epling said of his employee. The employee thought the inquiry was in 2000 and did not remember the customer well enough to identify him as Atta, Epling said. The FBI said Atta may have gone to the USDA offices in April 2000, Epling said. Employees in the USDA's Farm Service Agency, whose local office has since moved to neighboring Florida City, referred questions to a supervisor in the state headquarters. At a reporter's request, Kevin Kelley, state executive director for the USDA's Florida Farm Service Agency, contacted Johnell Bryant, a USDA loan manager in Florida City, to ask what had happened. Kelley said Bryant declined to comment. ''She said she was told by authorities not to speak about it,'' Kelley said. FBI officials said they could not confirm the account.

This story has Bryant refusing to comment, but I think there may have been another story at the time with more details. Does anybody recall this, or have a link?