CBS: Palestinian May Be Link to U.S. Al Qaeda Network - Moussaoui Might Not Be "20th" Hijacker

Reuters/CBS ^ | 6/27/02

[glorygirl]

WASHINGTON — The recent arrest of a Palestinian man from Florida has convinced U.S. officials that a network of al Qaeda operatives exists in the United States, CBS reported on Thursday.

It said Adham Hassoun, arrested earlier this month, was an "important link" to accused al Qaeda member American Jose Padilla, as well as other groups based in the United States who may be awaiting orders for future attacks.

"A number of people are under surveillance. None is believed to have had a supporting role in the Sept. 11 attacks. Some may have been slated to assist Zacarias Moussaoui," it said.

Moussaoui has been charged in connection with the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks. He has been referred to as the suspected 20th hijacker.

But the CBS report said senior officials, whom it did not name, now believe Moussaoui was, in fact, not scheduled to be part of the Sept. 11 attacks but was to have carried out a separate, unknown mission.

"U.S. officials have collected intelligence that appears to confirm what they have feared most since Sept. 11, that al Qaeda is still active in the United States," CBS said.

It reported that Padilla was apparently expecting help from such a network when he returned to the United States last month on an alleged target-scouting mission.

U.S. officials said Padilla was apparently enroute to meet Hassoun when the latter man was arrested, the network said. Hassoun was arrested after his communication with Padilla was monitored.

Hassoun, a 13-year U.S. resident, is now being held on an immigration charge at an Immigration and Naturalization Service facility.

The al Qaeda network of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden is blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in New York, Washington ad Pennsylvania.

[Redbob]

"senior officials, whom it did not name, now believe Moussaoui was, in fact, not scheduled to be part of the Sept. 11 attacks but was to have carried out a separate, unknown mission."

Needle him anyway.

[Redbob]

Or better yet, put him in a pink Volvo with "Gore/Liberalman" bumper stickers, and have him drive around Texas...

[Orangedog]

I wonder what their target was.

What was the flight's destination. If it was California, then it might have been the Transamerica building in San Francisco or the Golden Gate bridge. If the plane was headed north, it could have been the Sears Tower. Think big, well known, and close to television news cameras. I think they chose the WTC because not only was it symbolic of American Capitalism, but they knew that at least one person with a camera would get footage of the first tower being hit, and that every news camera in NYC would be trained on the WTC after that for the second plane.

[Fred Mertz]

You might can answer #14 and #18.

#18 is more interesting.

[bonesmccoy]

If some FREEPER has an American Airlines schedule for the morning of September 11, they should check the passenger manifest for any SFO flights from DFW. They should be able to locate the individuals involved.

From reviewing the on-line flight schedules for AA.COM, the earliest flight from DFW to SFO occurs at approximately 8 AM CST. The WTC was hit at 8:45 AM and 9:03 AM EST. That's 7:45 AM and 8:03 AM CST. The FAA order to halt all flight operations in the United States occurred at 9:40 AM EST (or 8:40 AM CST)!

So, the earliest flight from DFW would have lift-off at nearly the same time as the second plane hit WTC South. However, a delay of the 8 AM lift-off by the cargo net entanglement would have delayed the 8 AM DFW-SFO flight sufficiently to prevent take-off. Assuming the delay was 15-20 minutes, there still would be a 15-20 minute wait on the taxiway to reach the prime position on the runway.

You should tell your friend to report the story to the local FBI office!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

"A number of people are under surveillance. None is believed to have had a supporting role in the Sept. 11 attacks. Some may have been slated to assist Zacarias Moussaoui," it said.

The government should let us know who they are.

[piasa]

FBI Probes 5th Flight for Hijackers, Plane Grounded on Day of Attack

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Dismiss the charges against Moussaui and stick him in the brid as an illegal combatant where he can chill for a really long time. No international stage, no speeches, nothin.

just let him go, without his passport. Post his picture for all to see. When his body is found, send a picture to Prince Faud, and then dump it into a latrine.

[bonesmccoy]

If so, that would suggest that a second plane should have been hitting the same target or near to it. If the modus operandi was to launch two planes at similar targets (which seems plausible), they are still interested in hitting targets in the Western US.

Certainly, the modus operandi was to send two attacks at NYC (each plane hit one WTC tower) and two attacks at Washington (one plane hit the Pentagon and the other apparently the White House or Capitol Building).

If the story here is correct, there should have been another report of another plane from DFW with similar circumstances. AA is the big carrier out of DFW.

I just ran the AA flight schedule from DFW for Sept 12 2002. The arrival time of the first flight from DFW gets to SFO at around 9:30 AM.

Let me do a thought experiment with you. Take at face value the story reported here by another Freeper (regarding seeing 4 suspicious ME men agitated on a morning flight from DFW to SFO while it was delayed).

If the modus operandi is to pick two flights leaving at similar times from the same airport, I would say check the AA flights leaving for LA at the same time.

It turns out the AA schedule says that the first DFW flight to LA leaves at 7 AM CST and arrives at 8 AM PST in LA. If you know anything about LA, there aren't many people in their offices in LA at 8 AM. It's the middle of rush hour and people are still driving. If their goal was to inflict maximum casualties, then the logical flight to pick was the next one. That flight appears to leave just after 8 AM CST (almost simultaneous to the DFW-SFO flight)! It would have arrived in LA at around 9:30 AM PST, coinciding with the timing of the attack in NYC's WTC.

If they were plotting to attack a West Coast target, they may have been identified by the passengers on the SFO flight. I sure hope the FBI has already thought of this and has already run the passenger lists for the morning of 9-11-01 at DFW!

[piasa]

These are different suspected flights from the one I linked above. United Flight 23 from Kennedy, American airlines Flight 142 from Kennedy, an Air Canada flight from Toronto to La Guardia, and another American Airlines flight from Kennedy to London :

FBI Asks if Hijacking Plot Included Plane at Kennedy

There was also another article on MSNBC's web site which is no longer there, entitled : "Knives Hint at Thwarted Hijackings," about a flight from Boston and also a flight from Atlanta to Brussels. It can be found on FR here:

Knives Hint at Thwarted Hijackings

There was the flight which stopped in St. Louis involving some guys who hitched a train ride to Texas and who had boxcutters, cash, etc. That one seems to have 'dried up.'

And there was this incident a couple days after 9/11:

Suspects Removed at Gunpoint from Jets

[piasa]

More links to other questionable airline flights above

[A Navy Vet]

Quote of the day! Does your handle mean Navy intelligence? I worked with NIS on an undercover narcotics bust in Gibraltar (sp?).

[piasa]

Here's a curious one, where a suspect claims the attacks had actually been planned for much earlier:

BOMBAY TERRORIST WAS STILL PLANNING PLANE ATTACKS FOR NOVEMBER

And here's an article on one of the 9/11 hijacker's relatives in Yemen:

Al-Qaida Suspect Related to Hijacker / Slain Yemeni Al-Qaida Was Related to Sept. 11 Hijacker

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

These folks are with out a doubt the Forrest Gumps of Intelligence.

I have to ask you to rethink that statement. Forrest Gump, while being a complete idiot, managed to do his duty and perform his tasks well.

A better, if not more well identifiable, character to reference to our intelligence weanies would be the "Permanent Latrine Orderly", Will Stockdale, played by Andy Griffith in the movie NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS.

[Future Useless Eater]

CBS (a.k.a. Viacom) is so Pro-Palestine and anti-Jew
that this story looks like it was made up to help
generate "reasonable doubt" for the Moussaoui jury.

And whats the deal with CBS, CNN, defense attorneys,
and 99% of all other LIBERALS constantly referring
to the terrorist suspect as Jose Padilla???

When Cassius Clay changed his name to Mohammad Ali, he
would have beat the pulp out of anyone continuing to
call him Clay.

But now when it benefits the Muslim to NOT call him
by his new Islamic name, the LIBERALS fall all over
themselves to help this guy out!!!

The man's name is Abdullah Al Muhajir.

Use it, or just admit you are a Pro-Islamic fundamentalist!

[Diddle E. Squat]

That was me who threw out those numbers earlier today, thanks for misrepresenting my post. I got the numbers from Steve Emerson, ya know, the guy who produced "Jihad in America" which many here(including myself) like to reference. He is hated in the militant Muslim community as a result of that video expose(back in the mid-90's revealing the depth, hatred, and dangers of the militant Islamists in America), and has been effectively banished from much of the mainstream media, too. Not an apologist for Islamists. However he also he claims that at most only 15% of the Muslims here are involved with or support the radical/violent sects. Yet somehow many of ya'll seem to ignore that part of his message.

So yes, we shouldn't deport or put into camps all Muslims just because of the actions of 15%(or less).

But in that very same post I also stated that while respecting the rights of peaceful Muslims we still can and should: deport troublemakers, stop issuing visas to those from problem countries like Saudi Arabia, profile in every way necessary and prudent(including racially), tighten and put the military on the borders, among other actions. Its rather dishonest and shameful the way you purposely misrepresented my post and the statements of Steve Emerson. Unfortunately that seems to be an all too common tactic of the simpleton crowd that is always shouting about removing all muslims and bombing Mecca. Again, what is the difference between demanding the rounding up the American Muslims who want nothing to do with the terrorists and advocating driving the Israelis into the sea?

[Diddle E. Squat]

See post #36, then research Steve Emerson and Jihad in America.

[glorygirl]

" CBS (a.k.a. Viacom) is so Pro-Palestine and anti-Jew that this story looks like it was made up to help generate "reasonable doubt" for the Moussaoui jury."

CBS/VIACOM IS ANTI-JEW?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is that supposed to be some kind of joke, or some kind of test of my intelligence and knowledge?

Have you ever heard of Sumner Redstone? Or Mel Karmazin? Do you know who they are? Do you know what their religion is?

Perhaps you are more familiar with Mike Wallace. You know who he is, right? You know that he is well past 80 and still has one of the biggest jobs in broadcast journalism, right? And you do know that he is Jewish, right?

And if you truly think I am pro-palestinian, check out some of threads on my home page. It's ridiculous.

[WarSlut]

You should tell your friend to report the story to the local FBI office!

Actually, it was just a man vactioning at a private ranch on the Cali coast where we were staying. He showed up that Friday and told us the story.

According to him and the report he looked up on our computer (nobody else had internet access up there), two of the men from that flight were picked up on the 13th getting on a train out of San Antonio. As far as we know, the other two Arabs are still at large.

[WarSlut]

DFW to SFO, so either one could have been potential targets.

Sears Tower would be my guess, just for the fact that there would have been plenty of fuel remaining when airliner reached Chicago. They would propably hijack a flight out of LAX if the Transamerica Building or the Golden Gate had been the primary target... but you never know.