Posted on 10/06/2002 6:32:42 PM PDT by Pokey78
As a US Republican, I reject George Bush's illegal and unconstitutional plan to attack Iraq
As a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and as a registered member of the Republican party who voted for George Bush in the last presidential election, I have to admit to a certain trepidation and uncertainty when I was asked by Labour MPs to participate in the massive anti-war rally in London on September 28.
In my way of thinking, mass demonstrations, regardless of the righteousness of the cause, were the theatre of the political left, and not something with which I should be associated. I was proven wrong on all counts. The outpouring of democratic will that occurred on that day came not only from the left, but from across the breadth of mainstream British society. It sent a message to a Blair government that had grown increasingly isolated from public opinion: UK support for an American unilateral war on Iraq would not be tolerated. That message met a response a few days later from the Labour party at its annual conference in Blackpool. Democracy in action is a wonderful thing.
Across the Atlantic, in the United States, a debate is about to begin in the US Congress over the granting of sweeping war powers that would enable President Bush to wage war against Iraq, even if such action were unilateral and lacking in authority from the United Nations.
To many Americans, myself included, the granting of such powers represents a breach of constitutional responsibility on the part of Congress, which alone under the constitution of the United States is authorised to declare war. There is at least one US senator - Robert Byrd of West Virginia - who recognises this, and has indicated his willingness to launch a filibuster of the debate. Senator Byrd is famous for carrying a copy of the US constitution in his breast pocket, and pulling it out on the floor of the Senate to remind fellow senators what American democracy is founded on. One man fighting in defence of the basic foundation of American society. Where are the large-scale US demonstrations in support of this struggle? Where are the voices of outrage over what amounts to a frontal assault on the constitution of the United States? Democracy silenced is awful.
The constitution has always guided me in my actions as an American citizen. It establishes the US as a nation of laws, and sets high standards for the ideals we Americans strive to achieve as a nation. As an officer of Marines, I took an oath to defend the US constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It is an oath I take very seriously and I am willing to give my life in defence of this document - something I demonstrated during my time in uniform, including service in Operation Desert Storm.
I am no pacifist, but I am opposed to President Bush's rush towards war with Iraq this time around. As signatories to the UN charter, Americans have agreed to abide by a body of international law that explicitly governs the conditions under which nations may go to war. All require authority of the security council, either through an invocation of article 51 (self defence), or a resolution passed under chapter seven of the charter (collective security).
President Bush's case for war simply has not been demonstrated to meet any of these criteria. The president repeatedly announced that Iraq has failed to comply with its obligation to disarm, and as such poses a threat to international peace and security. The president declared that Iraq must allow weapons inspectors to return to Iraq, without conditions, with unfettered access to all sites. Iraq's failure to allow inspectors to return to work since their withdrawal in December 1998 has prompted fear in many circles (recently demonstrated by the UK government's dossier on Iraqi weapons programs) that Iraq has taken advantage of the intervening time to reconstitute its weapons of mass destruction programs dismantled under UN supervision. With no inspectors in Iraq, it was impossible to know for certain what the regime of Saddam Hussein was up to; and, given Iraq's past record of deceit over these weapons, the US and others were justified in presuming ill intent.
But now Iraq has agreed to allow the inspectors to return, unconditionally, and to be held accountable to the rule of law as set forth in existing security council resolutions governing Iraq's disarmament. The opportunity finally exists to bring clarity to years of speculation about the potential threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, as well as an opportunity to resolve this ongoing crisis of international law peacefully.
B ut President Bush refuses to take "yes" for an answer. The Bush administration's actions lay bare the mythology that this war is being fought over any threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. It has made it clear that its objective is the elimination of Saddam Hussein. And this is where I have a fundamental problem. The UN charter prohibits regime removal. The US constitution states that international agreements entered into by the United States carry the force of law. The US has signed the UN charter. Regime removal is not only a violation of international law, it is unconstitutional.
There is a way to deal with the need to change a regime deemed to be a risk to international peace and security, and that is through the UN. If President Bush truly wanted to seek regime removal in Baghdad, then he would push for an indictment of Saddam Hussein and his senior leadership in the international court for crimes against humanity, something that should not prove hard to do, given the record of the Butcher of Baghdad (and something other members of the UN would clearly support as an alternative to war). But seeking judgment through the international court requires a recognition by the US of the primacy of international law, something the Bush administration has been loath to do.
The fact of the matter is this crisis between Iraq and the US goes beyond even the issue of regime removal. It represents the first case study of the implementation of a new US national security strategy, published last month, which sets forth a doctrine of unilateralism that capitalises on American military and economic might to maintain the US as the sole superpower, to impose our will on the rest of the world, even through pre-emptive military action. This strategy is a rejection of multilateralism, a turning away from the concepts of international law.
This new Bush doctrine of American unilateralism reeks of imperial power, the very power against which Ameri cans fought a revolution more than 200 years ago. The streets of Washington DC are empty of demonstrators protesting at this frontal assault on American democracy. Will the streets of London be filled again with protesters against this assault on the rule of international law? I certainly hope so, because the people of Britain could lead by example, sending a clear signal to fellow practitioners of democracy in America that when it comes to determining what actions a government takes in the name of the people, the will of the people cannot, and will not, be ignored.
Scott Ritter was a UN weapons inspector in Iraq in 1991-98 and chief of the concealment investigations team. His interview with William Rivers Pitt forms the core of War on Iraq (Profile Books)
WSRitter@aol.com
Fred Mertz:I can't argue against this statement.
Why don't both you and Scott head over to Iraq and help George Sadaam Washington fight the imperial power? It would be like the American Revolution all over again, only even way cooler than that -- know what I mean?
Hey Scott (U.N. Gun Grabbing) Ritter. WMD don't kill people -- people kill people.
It's called "Arianna Huffington Syndrome".
The will of the people say, BOMBS AWAY!!!
1999 to present : (NO MONITORING OF TRADE ACROSS INTERNATIONAL LAND BORDERS WITH IRAQ) After 1999 there has been no monitoring of trade across the international land borders with Iraq. "King Abdallah [of Jordan] threw Lloyds of London out of the port of Aqaba, where they were supposed to monitor Iraqi imports," the former Iraqi intelligence officer says. "There are regular convoys of trucks to Baghdad from Jordan, and now a direct rail link from Syria carrying military spare parts and production gear, including equipment needed in Iraq's nuclear- weapons plants." - "How Saddam Got Weapons of Mass Destruction" By Kenneth R. Timmerman, Insight Magazine via WorldNetDaily.com , Tuesday, October 1, 2002
1999 : (CLINTON ADMINISTRATION, SUDAN'S OFFER TO TURN OVER BIN LADEN) The Clinton admin.spurned Sudanese help on two other occasions as well. In 1999, MSNBC.com reported that Sudan offered to turn over to the US two men who arrived on an airliner from Nairobi the day the U.S. Embassy there was bombed. The US declined, and the men were allowed to travel on to Pakistan. Why would the US be so resistant to help from Khartoum on such serious issues? In part, it was the belief that Sudan was playing a role in Iraq's chemical weapons program.
JANUARY 3, 1999 : (SADDAM OFFERS BOUNTY FOR DOWNING AN ALLIED JET) Saddam declares no-fly zones as “illegal” and says his people will resist them with “bravery and courage”. Offers $15,000 bounty to any unit that succeeds in downing an Allied jet.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
JAN.-JUNE 1999 : (CHANG, DNC, MCAULIFFE, TORICELLI) Mr. Chang makes a $10,000 donation to President Clinton's defense fund.
FEBRUARY 3, 1999 : (AFGHANISTAN, TALIBAN, US, BIN LADEN) U.S. Asst Sec of State Karl E. Inderfurth, the Clinton administration's point man for talks with the Taliban, and Michael Sheehan, State Dept counterterrorism chief, went to Islamabad to deliver a stern message to the Taliban's deputy foreign minister, Abdul Jalil: The US henceforth would hold the Taliban responsible for any terrorist act by bin Laden, by then already indicted for his alleged role in the embassy bombings. The officials reviewed the indictment in detail with the Taliban and offered to provide more evidence if the Taliban sent a delegation to NY, but theTaliban did not do so. Immediately after the U.S. warning, Taliban security forces took bin Laden from his Kandahar compound and spirited him away to a remote site, according to media reports at the time. They also seized his satellite communications and barred him from contact with the media. Publicly, the Taliban said they no longer knew where he was. Inderfurth now says the US interpreted such statements "as an effort to evade their responsibility to turn him over." Others, however, say the cryptic statements should have been interpreted differently. Bearden, for example, believes the Taliban more than once set up bin Laden for capture by the US and communicated its intent by saying he was lost. "Every time the Afghans said, 'He's lost again,' they are saying something. They are saying, 'He's no longer under our protection,' " Bearden said. "They thought they were signaling us subtly, and we don't do signals."
FEBRUARY 22, 1999 : (RATS, BONIOR, AL NAJJAR, PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD) Democratic House Whip Rep. David Bonior (D-MI) visited Mazen Al-Najjar in jail, Rep. Bonior is the first Congressman to visit Mazen. Rep. Bonior said he will ask Janet Reno to do away with the use of "Secret Evidence", he also promised to hand deliver a letter to President Clinton from Yara, Mazen Al-Najjar's ten year old daughter, calling for the release of her father.(This update from Mazen's Family & the AMC (American Muslim Council)
MARCH 29, 1999 : (CHANG, DNC, MCAULIFFE, TORICELLI) Mr. Chang goes to White House to watch N.C.A.A. championship game with President Clinton.
MARCH 4, 1999 : (RATS, BONIOR, AL-NAJJAR, PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD, 1996 ANTITERRORISM LAWS) Rep. Bonior met with President Clinton and not only brought up criticism of the 1996 Anti-Terrorism Law, but also hand delivered the letter from Yara, daughter of Mazen al-Najjar. He also added he will work with others in Congress to introduce legislation to bar the use of "Secret Evidence." (This update from Mazen's Family & the AMC (American Muslim Council)
MARCH 31, 1999 : (US AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL FAILURE) Air traffic controllers at Kennedy Airport, NY were forced to use portable, hand-held radios to guide pilots to safe landings and departures after a power failure knocked out the control tower's communication system for nearly two hours. The power failure, at the height of the evening rush hour, shut down a computer controlling eight radio frequencies and three telephone lines used to communicate with pilots in the air and on the ground. "It was hectic with the portable radios because we kept cutting each other off with our transmissions," said Barrett Byrnes, an official of the controllers' union who happened to be on duty.
APRIL 1999 : (AFGHANISTAN, AL-QEADA, BIOTERROR, COMPUTERS, 'CURDLED MILK' PLOT) A memo was written on a computer in Kabul soon after the US embassy bombings in Africa indicated that al-Qaida was embarking on potentially its most deadly project: the “curdled milk” biological- and chemical-warfare program. A memo written in April 1999, apparently by Zawahri, notes that “the destructive power of these weapons is no less than that of nuclear weapons.” The memo laments al-Qaida’s sluggishness in realizing the menace of these weapons, noting that “despite their extreme danger, we only became aware of them when the enemy drew our attention to them by repeatedly expressing concern that they can be produced simply.” As a first step, the memo suggests, militants must brush up on their reading. The memo gives a detailed precise American history of chemical and germ warfare. It lists a catalog of exotic killers, from anthrax to Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
MAY 7, 1999 : (AFGHANISTAN, AL-QEADA, BIOTERROR, COMPUTERS, CURDLED MILK PLOT) computer file later to be recovered in 2001 indicates that al-Qaida leaders had earmarked $2,000 to $4,000 for “start-up” costs of the "curdled milk" biological- and chemical-warfare program.
MAY 13, 1999 : (CUBA, CHINA, INTERFERING WITH US AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL) An incident recorded by the Federal Communications Commission in which Cuban electronic-warfare specialists penetrated the NY air-traffic-control system by simulating U.S. AF flight codes. The signals, which seriously threatened to disrupt air traffic, were traced to a 1,500 kilowatt transmitter operating west of Havana. (The Chinese have also established for themselves a sophisticated network of electronic espionage in Cuba to be used against the U.S. The bases are operating under the cover of Radio China short wave transmissions to Latin America and the U.S. Their principal bases are at Bejucal and near Havana. They are capable of interfering with U.S. air traffic control, according to the FCC. On the 13th of May at 4:48 p.m., the Chinese sent a communication to the air traffic control in New York, falsely identifying themselves as OPEC21, a U.S. Military C130 plane. )
MAY 23, 1999 : (AFGHANISTAN, AL-QEADA, BIOTERROR, COMPUTERS, ZAWAHRI, KHABAB, CURDLED MILK PLOT) A letter dated May 23 and written under one of Zawahri’s aliases is written (on the computer in Kabul recovered by a Wall Street Journal reporter later in 2001) and the author reports discussing some “very useful ideas” during a visit to Abu Khabab, the alias of an elderly Egyptian scientist. “It just needs some experiments to develop its practical use.” This was in reference to the al-Qeada "curdled milk" biological- and chemical- warfare program. "Particularly encouraging, " the letter in the computer files said, was a home-brew nerve gas made from insecticides and a chemical additive that would help speed up penetration into the skin. The writer said Khabab had supplied a computer disk that gave details of “his product” in a WinZip file, and “my neighbor opened it by God’s will.” U.S. officials, citing satellite photos and intelligence gathered from local residents, say Abu Khabab experimented with nerve gas on dogs and rabbits at a camp near the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. The camp, one of several in the area hit by U.S. bombs after Sept. 11, was known as Abu Khabab in honor of the scientist.
MAY 26, 1999 : (AFGHANISTAN, AL-QEADA, BIOTERROR, COMPUTERS, ZABADI) In a letter stored in the Kabul computer later discovered in 2001, under the same alias as earlier correspondence, the author says he was “very enthusiastic” about the Zabadi project and was especially pleased with Abu Khabab’s “significant progress.”
JUNE 1999 : (CAROLL, VISA FRAUD CASE IN GUYANA) Authorities wre tipped by confidential sources that someone had offered to sell visas out of the US embassy in Georgetown, Guyana to allow people to enter the US.http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/699887/posts
JUNE 1999 : (AFGHANISTAN, AL-QEADA, BIOTERROR, COMPUTERS, ATEF) date on a memo to be found on the Kabul computer hard drive to be discovered in 2001 and addressed to “Abu Hafs” — Atef’s alias — gave instructions for building a laboratory, ordering that walls be covered with oil paint and floors with tiles or cement “to facilitate cleaning with insecticides.” But, noted the memo, “construction should not start until electricity is installed.” It also called for evasive action to avoid detection: “Periodically (for example about every three months) one of the locations is to be canceled and replaced by another.” A progress report complained that the use of nonspecialists had “resulted in a waste of effort and money,” urging the recruitment of experts as the “fastest, safest and cheapest” route. A June 1999 memo said the program should seek cover and talent in educational institutions, which it said were “more beneficial to us and allow easy access to specialists, which will greatly benefit us in the first stage, God willing.”
JUNE 1999 : (SCOTT RITTER 'TURN') June 1999 interview with leaders of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a peace organization based in Nyack, New York, Ritter had changed his tune. "When you ask the question [does] Iraq possess militarily viable biological or chemical weapons? The answer is 'no.' It is a resounding NO! Can Iraq produce today chemical weapons on a meaningful scale? No! Can Iraq produce biological weapons on a meaningful scale? No! Ballistic missiles? No. It is 'no' across the board. So from a qualitative standpoint, Iraq has been disarmed. Iraq today possesses no meaningful weapons of mass destruction capability." Virtually every expert on Iraq and arms control disagrees. Ambassador Butler, Ritter's former boss with the U.N., says that Iraq never disarmed during the 1990s and almost certainly has weapons of mass destruction today. Charles Duelfer, Butler's number two, believes Iraq currently has biological and chemical weapons, and the means to deliver them. Arms control experts Gary Milhollin and Kelly Motz, with the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, detailed in the July issue of Commentary the steady and stealthy weapons trade with Iraq. In his less guarded moments, though, Ritter appears to acknowledge that Iraq retains weapons of mass destruction. Just minutes after he told the Fellowship of Reconciliation that Iraq has "no meaningful weapons of mass destruction capability," he qualified that assertion. More than that, he offered a justification for Saddam Hussein to repudiate the agreement that ended the Gulf War and rearm Iraq.Iraqi leaders, he said, "see their neighbors' weapons of mass destruction, they see the inevitability of conflict with the United States, and they're not going to give up their weapons. When Madeleine Albright made that awful statement in March of 1997, that economic sanctions would continue while Saddam was in power regardless of weapons disarmament, she basically closed the door on any hope that the Iraqis would get rid of their weapons." http://www.theweeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/000/524dplvk.asp
JUNE 15, 1999 : (N KOREAN VESSELS INVADE S. KOREAN WATERS) At least 17 and as many as 80 N. Korean sailors killed after naval firefight in which one of the North's vessels was sunk and others damaged. Clash followed nine consecutive days of North Korean incursions into South Korean waters. http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/06/29/korea.navy.timeline.reut/
JULY 1999 : (CUBA, IRAQ, TERRORISM) As recently as July 1999 Domingo Muchaustegui, a former Cuban government official said to have exceptional information about the Cuban government, wrote: "For U.S. interests, the closeness of the [Cuban] relationship with Iraq and some of the more militant terrorist groups in the Middle East is troublesome. Can Cuba be used to carry out terrorist acts against U.S. targets? Is there any cooperation between Sadam Hussein and Castro in the development of chemical and bacteriological weapons? What remains from the close cooperation between Castro and the more militant terrorist groups in the region?" (University of Miami Middle East Studies Institute, July 1999).
JULY 1999 : (CHANG, DNC, MCAULIFFE, TORICELLI) Mr. Chang receives letters endorsing his bid for Korea Life Insurance Company from Senator Torricelli, (left), Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Rep. Gregory W. Meeks and a New Jersey state finance official.
SEPTEMBER 1999 : (OR, PORTLAND GROUP MEMBER FORD IS AN INTERN IN THE PORTLAND MAYOR'S OFFICE) Patrice Lumumba Ford is an intern in Mayor Vera Katz's office.- "Terror suspect worked at Mayor Katz's office," story.asp-ID=50869 katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=50869
SEPTEMBER 1999 : (RUSSIA, CHECHNYA) On two separate days, Chechen terrorists bombed apartment buildings in Moscow, Russia. 212 were killed
SEPTEMBER 10 1999 : (RUSSIA, CHECHNYA) MOSCOW - A powerful explosion ripped apart a nine-story apartment building on the southeast fringes of the capital Thursday, killing at least 32 people, injuring more than 150 and burying more than 50 under the smoldering rubble. Emergency workers held out little hope of finding more survivors.
OCTOBER 1999 : (9/11 HIJACKERS, ATTA, BINALSHIBH, BAHAJI) Mohammed Atta and Binalshibh both attended the wedding of Said Bahaji, a 26-year-old German-Moroccan who vanished shortly before Sept. 11 and is thought to have been part of the Hamburg cell. At Bahaji's wedding, a lavish affair at a local mosque, at least three of the hijackers and their cohorts bumped shoulders with members of Hamburg's Muslim community, including a Syrian-born import-exporter named Mamoun Darkazanli. The Bush administration has accused Darkazanli of operating a front for al-Qaida, and Spain has named him in the indictment of Sept. 11 suspect Imad Yarkas, who comes from Darkazanli's home town of Aleppo, Syria. Atta also spent time in Aleppo during the mid-1990s while researching his dissertation on trade development there.
OCTOBER 1999 : (AFGHANISTAN) The Taliban take Mazar-i-Sharif. There are unconfirmed reports of mass arrests and executions (numbering in the thousands) of Shiites, especially of the Hazara ethnic group.
OCT.-NOV. 1999 : (CHANG, DNC, MCAULIFFE, TORICELLI) Mr. Chang receives letters supporting his company's position on the repayment of debts owed by North Korea from several members of Congress.
DECEMBER 17, 1999 : (UN SECURITY COUNCIL RELIEVES SANCTIONS ON IRAQ) The UN Security Council voted to relieve the sanctions on Iraq.
DECEMBER 1999 : (MILLENIUM PLOT, RESSAM, JORDAN, LAX) A terrorist cell linked to al-Qaida was discovered trying to carry out attacks inside the US. An Algerian, Ahmed Ressam, who had been admitted to Canada as an asylum applicant in 1994 despite being expelled from Algeria and France for suspicion of terrorist activities, was stopped at the US-Canadian border in Port Angeles, WA attempting to enter the U.S. from Canada with a carload of bomb-making materials destined for Los Angeles airport. Over 100 lbs of bomb-making material was found in his car. Ahmed Ressam admitted he was planning to set off a large bomb at LAX on New Year's Day. He said that he had received terrorist training at al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and then been instructed to go abroad and kill US civilians and military personnel.
The CIA and other intelligence agencies identified and disrupted between five and 15 potential attacks on targets including a hotel in Jordan and the LAX airport. Several bin Laden supporters were rounded up in different countries. - info from "Yemeni Fugitive Was Critical To Unfolding of Sept. 11 Plot," By Peter Finn, Sunday, July 14, 2002, page A01, Washington Post
Al Qaida has attempted to attack U.S. and Israeli interests in Jordan on several occasions. The largest plot was in early 2000 when Al Qaida had hired Palestinians to blow up bridges that connect Israel and Jordan where U.S. Christians were arriving for millennium celebrations. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/759821/posts
The plot included a plan to blow up the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman, Jordan, which is frequented by American tourists, and the infiltration of suspected Algerian terrorists from Canada, the officials said.
JANUARY 2000 : (MALAYSIA) In January 2000, Khalid Al-Midhar and Nawaq Alhamzi, two hijackers aboard the jet that hit the Pentagon, met with other al-Qaeda members in a condominium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The operatives included a suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000. That attack killed 17 U.S. sailors. The meeting was hosted by Sufaat, a member of the militant Muslim group Jemaah Islamiah, which U.S. officials say is linked to Osama bin Laden. Soon after the meeting, Al-Midhar and Alhamzi entered the USA and enrolled at a flight school in San Diego.- "Malaysia site of Sept. 11 plotting, FBI report says." By Jack Kelley, USA TODYusat-malaysia.htm
JANUARY 2000 : (IRAQI SHAKIR IS IN MALAYSIA TERRORIST SUMMIT WITH 9/11 HIJACKERS) The CIA and FBI are very interested in Ahmed Shakir. For one thing, he comes from Iraq and thus offers a potential connection to Saddam Hussein. For another, he was spotted by Malaysian intelligence at a terrorist gathering in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000 to discuss the suicide bombing plot on the U.S. destroyer Cole. Also at that summit meeting were two of the men who later hijacked the plane that flew into the Pentagon on September 11. - "Justice Kept In the Dark " by Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff, Newsweek - MSNBC Wednesday, December 5, 2001 via Bint Jabeil bintjabail.com U.S. officials said Shakir was present at a January 2000 al Qaeda "summit" in Malaysia that was attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers. Authorities believe the summit may have been a planning session for both the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole and 9/11. - "IRAQI A MISSING LINK," By ALY SUJO, NY POST, SEPTEMBER 30, 2002
JANUARY 3, 2000: (USS THE SULLIVANS PLOT, AL-QEADA) A group of al-Qaida members and other terrorists who had trained in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan attempted to attack a US destroyer, USS The Sullivans, with a small boat loaded with explosives. Their boat sank in the port of Aden, aborting the attack. ( Huh? Around the same time, U.S. law enforcement personnel arrested Ahmed Ressam, who they believed was planning several terrorist attacks on West Coast targets, including Los Angeles International Airport, coinciding with the Millennium celebrations. )
FEBRUARY 2, 2000: (? or 2001?) (CIA DIRECTOR TENET, AL- QEADA ) Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, CIA Director George Tenet said Usama Bin Laden "is still foremost" among terrorists planning attacks against the US and that more than half of 24 terrorists brought to justice since July 1998 "were associates" of Bin Laden's Al-Qa'ida organization. He said that despite some disruptions, U.S. intelligence officials believe Bin Laden could strike without warning, and that the terrorist -- along with others -- is "placing increased emphasis on developing surrogates to carry out attacks in an effort to avoid detection."
FEBRUARY 2000 : (HIJACKING, BRITAIN, AFGHANISTAN ) At Stansted, England, 9 hijackers surrendered and released all hostages of the Afghan jetliner. Police arrested 21 [22] people and recovered arms. Half the hostages requested asylum. * (ISRAEL) Israeli jets fired 20 missiles in 8 raids in the Zillaya Valley following Hezbollah attacks on Israeli troops and militia. * (INDIA, KASHMIR) India, in Jammu-Kashmir a train explosion killed at least 5 people. In northern Kashmir gunmen burst into 2 homes in Pattan village and killed 6 people with 3 wounded. * (USA, CUBAN SPIES, FAGET OF INS IS A SPY) Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) official Mariano Faget, charged with using classified information for business purposes, a technical violation of the U.S. Espionage Act, and was subsequently sentenced to five years in jail. As of this time he was the higherst ranking Cuban spy known to operate in the US.
MAY 1, 2000 : (PORTLAND, OR : LIBERAL SCUM, MAY DAY PROTESTS) Activists met with the Police Chief Mark Kroeker and Mayor Vera Katz at Maranatha Church in northeast Portland with signs reading, “RIGHT WING CHRISTIAN GO BACK TO LA” and “CHRISTIANS ARE DIRT” it stung. “I’ve seen hurt in the chief’s eyes because people damn him for being a Christian and for being from LA,” says the mayor’s police liaison, Elise Marshall, who has constant contact with the chief. - "Can This Man Survive?" by Victoria Taft OCTOBER 2000
MAY 2000: (PLOT TO ASSASSINATE MASSOUD) Kabul, Afghanistan: someone sat down at an IBM desktop here and typed out a polite letter to a bitter foe of al-Qaida, the anti-Taliban leader Ahmed Shah Massoud and then printed out a request for an interview with Massoud, to be conducted by “one of our best journalists, Mr. Karim Touzani.” (Northern Alliance leader Massoud would later be assasinated by killers posing as journalists on Sept 9, 2001, a few days before the WTC and Pentagon attacks in the US.
MAY 2000 : (IAEA DISCOVERS IRAQI CENTRIFUGE) The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency, which also carried out inspections on Iraq until Dec 1998) discovered and destroyed an Iraqi nuclear centrifuge which had been stored in Jordan.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MAY 18, 2000: (ATTA OBTAINS US VISA, BERLIN) Mohammed Atta obtained a visa at the U.S. Consulate in Berlin on May 18, 2000, and came to Newark, N.J. on June 3, 2000. - attributed to LA TIMES, not original source, "Hijacker Shuttled in and out of U.S. on Visas issued by Consulates" By CRAIG PYES, PATRICK J. McDONNELL and WILLIAM C. REMPEL, Los AngelesTimes la-atta.html
JUNE 2000 : (ATTA, GERMANY to CZECHOSLAVAKIA, back to GMNY, back to CZ, then to US) Mohammed Atta flies to Prague from Hamburg, only to be refused entry because he had failed to obtain a visa. Three days after being refused entry into Czechoslavakia, Atta returned to Prague equipped with the correct paperwork for a visit of barely 24 hours. He then flew from the Czech Republic to the US, where he began to train as pilot. In early April 2001, when the conspiracy's planning must have been nearing its final stages, Atta was back in Prague for a further brief visit - a journey of considerable inconvenience.
JUNE 2000 : (CLINTON , CIA, WOOLSEY, DEUTCH, "TORCH" TORICELLI, AFGHANISTAN) The National Commission on Terrorism delivered a 64-page report to Clinton on "Countering the Changing Threat of International Terrorism." Among the 37 recommendations, "The secretary of state should designate Afghanistan as a sponsor of terrorism and impose all the sanctions that apply to state sponsors." The Clinton Administration ignored the advice—along with most of the other recommendations, from the control of visas for foreign nationals entering the US to improvements in intelligence sharing and monitoring of terrorists’ financial transactions. Nobody noticed. What the Clinton-Gore Team did notice was the CIA—which suffered for the attention. When James Woolsey, the first Clinton-era spy chief quit in disgust in 1995, John Deutch replaced him. The White House directed Deutch to work with then-Rep. Robert Torricelli to rid the CIA’s Clandestine Service of anyone who had contact with foreign nationals less savory than Mother Theresa. Deutch also implemented "sensitivity seminars" to improve "tolerance"—apparently forgetting that terrorists don’t get "sensitivity training." By the time the thoroughly discredited Deutch departed in December 1996, CIA morale and the ability to collect human intelligence, "HUMINT," had hit rock bottom.
JULY 2000 : (SCOTT RITTER, IRAQ, AL KHAFAJI) Ritter was welcomed back to Baghdad in July 2000, with the blessing of Saddam Hussein. The reason for his trip? To produce a documentary film, "In Shifting Sands," that would chronicle the weapons-inspection process and, he says, "de-demonize" Iraq. The 90-minute film, which he says he is close to selling to a broadcast outlet, was produced with the approval of the Iraqi government and features interviews with numerous high-level Iraqi officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. U.S. intelligence officials and arms control advocates say Ritter has been played--perhaps unwittingly--by Saddam Hussein. "If you're Scott Ritter," says one arms expert, "the former 'cowboy' weapons inspector, kicked out by Saddam Hussein, you're not going to get back into Iraq unless Saddam Hussein invites you and wants you there." He acknowledges, as well, that the U.S. government doesn't like how the film was financed. Shakir al-Khafaji, an Iraqi-American real estate developer living in Michigan, kicked in $400,000. By Ritter's own admission, al-Khafaji is "openly sympathetic with the regime in Baghdad." Al-Khafaji, who accompanied Ritter as he filmed the documentary and facilitated many of the meetings, travels to and from Iraq regularly in his capacity as chairman of "Iraqi expatriate conferences." Those conferences, held in Baghdad every two years, are sponsored and subsidized by Saddam Hussein. - The Weekly Standard
AUGUST 2000 : (CIA REPORTS IRAQ ON IRAQI BIOCHEM DRONE DEVELOPMENT) The CIA reports to US Congress that Iraq is converting an L-29 trainer jet into an unmanned aircraft which could spread chemical and biological weapons. Work was suspected to be carried out at the Al-Faris factory, where Iraq built drop tanks to deliver weapons before the Gulf War.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 22 (or 20?) , 2000 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS, BANKING, CUBA, TURKEY, AFGHANISTAN) 3 men claiming to be Afghan nationals reported that they were dropped off in the Cayman Islands, having arrived here by ship from Turkey. The Royal Cayman Islands Police (RCIP) detained them at the Central Police Station. The Immigration authorities conducted interviews with the individuals (with the assistance of a visiting Iranian doctor who was able to translate) in an attempt to establish their identities. (Who was this Iranian Doctor, by the way?) According to Cayman authorities, three men actually arrived in the Cayman Islands on a commercial flight from Cuba. Thay had Pakistani passports but the passports turned out to be fake, and the men were arrested in August. The men are believed to be Afghans. They were subsequently held in custody at Her Majesty's Prison at Northward, following an interview and processing by Immigration Officers. The Afghanis, who later would be become the subject of an intensive investigation by US authorities over 9/11/01 WTC attacks, were imprisoned for 10 months ( until May 2001) after trying to deposit $2 million in a bank in the Cayman Islands. (Some refugees, eh?) British authorities who arrested the three men believe that they were handling drug proceeds laundered in Havana. http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:ax3QC7Yc8h4C:www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/9/20/150543.shtml+terrorists+afghan+cuba+cayman&hl=en
SEPTEMBER 2000: (COLUMBIA, FARC, BOMB & CHEMICAL ATTACK) A FARC bomb that burned out the lungs of an entire police garrison in the Colombian town of San Adolfo contained chlorine-based poison gas, according to a lab analysis of the device.
SEPTEMBER 2000 : (GRENADA) Three Chinese diplomats on a private visit are deported for statements construed as interference in the internal affairs of Grenada. They were invited by the newly-formed Grenada-China friendship association of opposition leader Michael Baptiste. - BBC News "Timeline: Grenada"
SEPTEMBER 2000 : (SADDAM CALLS FOR HIS 'NUCLEAR MUJAHADEEN' TO DEAFEAT THE ENEMY) Saddam publicly calls for his “nuclear mujahedin” to “defeat the enemy.”- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
SEPTEMBER 4-15, 2000 : (MALAYSIA, MOUSSAOUI) Hijacking suspect Moussaoui is in Malaysia.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2000 : (CUBA, CASTRO, QATAR) In an exclusive interview with the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television, Castro stated that "We are not ready for reconciliation with the United States, and I will not reconcile with the imperialist system.” He further added that his government had defended Cuba against "a Western cultural invasion,” echoing one of the key themes of fundamentalist Islamic groups in the region.
OCTOBER 2000 : (CUBA, IRAN, BIOTECH PLANT) Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage and the Iranian vice minister of health inaugurated a biotechnological research and development plant outside Tehran. Experts expressed doubts about the supposed medical objectives of the installation, because Iran already produces 97 percent of the medicines its population consumes.
OCTOBER 10, 2000 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS) A further letter was sent to the FCO, indicating that the Government had considerable doubt concerning the account given by the three Afghan men about their arrival in the Cayman Islands. It appeared likely that the men had arrived here on 20th August on a flight from Cuba using Pakistani passports. The Government questioned the validity of the Pakistani passports (which were never located), and the ultimate goal of the men concerning their presence in the Cayman Islands.
OCTOBER 12, 2000 : (USS COLE BOMBING, YEMEN, EAST AFRICAN US EMBASSY BOMBINGS, Al'OWALI) Suicide bombers used a shaped charge mounted on a skiff to kill 17 US sailors and wound 39 others aboard the USS Cole while at port in Aden, Yemen. The USS Cole (DDG 67) was hit on port side near forward stack by an explosive-laden suicide boat while refueling, Aden, Yemen. As with other high profile bombings, the attack on the Cole will presumably lead to copycat attacks.
OCTOBER 2000 : (MALAYSIA, MOUSSAOUI) Sufaat met with Moussaoui in the same condominium. Law enforcement officials allege that he gave Moussaoui papers identifying Moussaoui as a "marketing consultant" for Infocus Tech, a Malaysian company. The papers were signed by "Yazid Sufaat, Managing Director." (Infocus Tech officials say Moussaoui never worked for the company.) Sufaat agreed to pay Moussaoui $2,500 a month and $35,000 up front, U.S. authorities say. Moussaoui arrived in the USA in February 2001 and deposited $32,000 in a bank in Norman, Okla. He attended flight schools in Norman and in Minnesota before he was arrested on immigration charges in August. FBI agents found the papers that mentioned Infocus Tech in Moussaoui's apartment in Minneapolis.
OCTOBER 2000 : (BELGIUM DIAMOND HEIST, AL-QUAIDA, TRABELSI, US EMBASSY PLOTS) Thieves steal five trunks of diamonds in a hold-up on the tarmac of Brussels airport, as staff were preparing to transfer the diamonds, valued at 6.5 million euro (US$10.93 million) to a Lufthansa flight from Brussels to Frankfurt. Later, VTM television in 2001 said Belgian investigators believe the haul by four robbers of five trunks of diamonds at Brussels airport had gone to fund al-Qaeda and Afghanistan's former Taliban regime. It said the investigators believed Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian arrested late in 2001 in Brussels and suspected of planning an attack on the US embassy in Paris, was linked to the robbery.
NOVEMBER 2000 : (US ELECTION, GORE WAR) US presidency hangs in the balance after Al Gore contests W. Bush's narrow margin of victory in a trio of south Florida counties in what would come to be known as the "Gore War." The turmoil would continue and even delay the critical US presidential transition.
DECEMBER 27, 2000 : (ATTA, AL SHEHHI, ABANDON PLANE ON RUNWAY IN MIAMI, FL) : An FAA official threatened to investigate Atta and another hijacking suspect, Marwan al-Shehhi, after they abandoned their broken-down small private plane on a taxiway at Miami International the day after Christmas. - The Miami Herald, "Atta faced questions about visa at MIA-INS,Police blew 4 chances to deport ringleader" , 10-19-01,| Alfonso Chardy
JANUARY 2001 : (IRAQ REBUILDS BIOCHEMICAL PLANTS) Iraq is reported to have rebuilt two factories in the Falluja complex, which produced chemical and biological weapons before the Gulf War.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
JANUARY 4, 2001: (911 HIJACKERS, ATTA FLIES FROM MIAMI TO MADRID, SPAIN) Mohammed Atta flies from Miami to Madrid after overstaying his visa in the US. - The Miami Herald, "Atta faced questions about visa at MIA-INS,Police blew 4 chances to deport ringleader" , 10-19-01,| Alfonso Chardy
JANUARY 10, 2001 : (911 HIJACKERS, ATTA FLIES FROM MADRID TO MIAMI) Nearly a week after arrving in Madrid, Atta returns to Miami from Madrid aboard an American Airlines flight. Despite previously overstaying his visa, usually a cause for scrutiny by immigration officials, Atta was readmitted to the US for 6 months- LA Times but not from original site "Hijacker Shuttled in and out of U.S. on Visas issued by Consulates" By CRAIG PYES, PATRICK J. McDONNELL and WILLIAM C. REMPEL, Los AngelesTimes la-atta.html
JANUARY 10, 2001 5:03 PM: (ATTA, MIAMI, FLORIDA) Mohamed Atta was almost denied entry to the US when an immigration inspector at Miami International Airport became suspicious that Atta wanted to take flight lessons while on a tourist visa. The inspector ordered Atta out of the regular immigration line so a 2nd immigration officer could question him at length, according to a federal official familiar with the incident. According to documents, Atta entered the US twice on the same day. (*My note: curious- did he actually enter twice, did someone else also use his ID, or was there some bizaare error?)
MARCH 2001 : (IRAQ WRITES TI UN CLAIMING IT WANTS TO REBUILD A FACTORY TO PRODUCE 'FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE VACCINE') Iraq writes to the UN giving notice of its plans to asking to reopen the Daura factory, which had been shut down by UNSCOM in 1996 after it was found to make biological weapons. Iraq said it needed to reopen Daura to produce vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
APRIL 2001 : (GERMAN COMPANIES CAUGHT TRYING TO DELIVER COMPONENTS TO IRAQ) August Hanning, head of the BND (German’s Federal Intelligence service), gives an interview to a German Sunday newspaper. “New chemical weapons are being developed in Iraq. German companies apparently tried to deliver important components for the production of poison gas to Iraq’s Samara plant.” (Interview published by Welt am Sonntag, a German Sunday newspaper, on 22 April 2001, entitled: “The spy who came in from Westphalia”) This is compatible with Mr Saeed’s evidence.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
APRIL 2001 : (CZECHOSLAVAKIA) U.S. intelligence officials that Atta was spotted in Prague in April 2001 meeting with an Iraqi agent. - The Miami Herald, "Atta faced questions about visa at MIA-INS,Police blew 4 chances to deport ringleader" , 10-19-01,| Alfonso Chardy
APRIL 2001: (ATTA & IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER AL-ANI MEET IN CZECHOSLAVAKIA) His friends call him Abu Amin, 'the father of honesty'. At 43, he is one of Iraq's most highly decorated intelligence officers: a special forces veteran who organised killings behind Iranian lines during the first Gulf war, who then went on to a senior post in the unit known as 'M8' - the department for 'special operations', such as sabotage, terrorism and murder. This is the man, Colonel Muhammed Khalil Ibrahim al-Ani, whom Mohamed Atta flew halfway across the world to meet in Prague, five months before piloting his hijacked aircraft into the WTC. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/568298/posts
APRIL 17, 2001: ( IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER AL-ANI EXPELLED FROM CZECHOSLAVAKIA, 911 HIJACKERS, ATTA, AL-SHAHRI, JARRAH)
MAY 2001 : (IRAQ, OVER US PROTESTS, TAKES OVER UN CROP-DUSTING HELICOPTERS) Iraq takes over several crop-dusting helicopters from the UN, against US protest that they may be used for a biological weapons attack.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MAY 10, 2001: (CUBA, SYRIA, LIBYA, IRAN, VENEZUELA) Castro undertook a round of visits to Syria, Libya and Iran. Speaking at Tehran University, he insisted that "people must be informed and awakened; they must not allow themselves to be pillaged by the West.” During that same trip, the Iranian Press Service quoted Castro as saying, "Iran and Cuba reached the conclusion that together they can tear down the United States."
Castro, in an apocalyptic speech, told his Muslim audience in Iran: "America is weak. I have studied its weaknesses from very close by. I tell you, the imperialist king will finally fall." - Agence France-Presse
"Tours through radical Islamic states by Castro and his close Venezuelan ally, President Hugo Chavez, in the months prior to the September attacks indicate some level of complicity or knowledge of what was going to happen," says Lisette Bustamante, a former aide to Castro who currently works on the Spanish daily newspaper La Razon. Not only were statements by both leaders in their Middle Eastern trips laced with violent anti-American rhetoric, Bustamante points out, but Chavez quite candidly told reporters that his talks with Saddam Hussein and heads of other oil-producing states involved the creation of a "new anti-imperialist axis" against Western industrialized economies.
MAY 25, 2001 : (CUBAN SPIES, MONTES' HOME SEARCHED) U.S. investigators copy incriminating material from a computer in alleged Cuban spy Anna Belen Montes’ home. It's not clear how often Montes tuned in to so-called numbers stations which transmit coded instructions from Cuba, but there's little doubt that she did or that some of the signals were sent specifically for her. FBI agents on a search warrant entered her apartment and checked the hard drive of a laptop computer she kept there. They found sequences matching those that had been broadcast previously, instructions on how to run them through a decryption program that turns the numbers into words, and messages she traded with Cuban spymasters.
JUNE 13, 2001: (MUBARAK, G8 ASSASSINATION PLOT ON PRESIDENT W. BUSH) In an interview on French television on Monday, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt spoke in specific terms about the threat, saying that "on June 13 of this year, we learned of a communiqué from bin Laden saying he wanted to assassinate George W. Bush and other G8 heads of state during their summit in Italy."
JUNE 28 or 29, 2001: (AL-ARIAN, BONIOR, DI IULIO, WHITE HOUSE) Abdullah al-Arian, Sami Al-Arian's son and intern for Rep. David Bonior, is instructed by secret service agents to leave a meeting of Muslim leaders with John DiIulio. Although an apology followed, no explanation was ever given for young al-Arian's dismissal. Abdullah Al-Arian, an intern to Congressman David Bonior (D-MI), a student at Duke University, and nephew of the aforementioned Mazen Al-Najjar, was escorted from a briefing on faith-based initiatives held on June 29th. There is a subtext to this incident. Abdullah's father, Sami Al-Arian, is a well-known opponent of the "secret evidence provisions" of the Counter-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.
2001 : (JORDAN, ZAMMAR, GERMANY, BAHAJI, HAMBURG CELL) Muhummad Haydar Zammar was detained while in transit through Jordan and was held for several days before being deported to Germany, according to a German intelligence official. The official declined to say where Zammar had been going or why he was held. Zammar was on a German watch list of suspected Muslim extremists, as was at least one other member of the Hamburg circle, Bahaji, according to an official in Hamburg. After Sept. 11, German police searching Bahaji’s apartment found books on holy war in which Zammar had written personal dedications.
JULY 7, 2001 : (MIAMI, FL , SPAIN) Atta left Miami for Madrid again. - The Miami Herald, "Atta faced questions about visa at MIA-INS,Police blew 4 chances to deport ringleader" , 10-19-01,| Alfonso Chardy
JULY 19, 2001: (ATTA FLIES FROM SPAIN to ATLANTA, GA) Mohammed Atta returned to the US, flying into Atlanta aboard Delta Airlines. On his entry papers, he listed an address in Del Ray Beach, Fla. His visa was extended to Nov. 12. .- LA Times but not from original site "Hijacker Shuttled in and out of U.S. on Visas issued by Consulates" By CRAIG PYES, PATRICK J. McDONNELL and WILLIAM C. REMPEL, Los AngelesTimes la-atta.html
JULY 24, 2001 : (IRAQ FIRES AT U-2) Iraqis fire a missile at U2 aircraft; defence sources say it came close to hitting it.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
JULY 26, 2001 : (CUBA & IRAN) Castro marked another anniversary of the beginning of his revolution by marching in Havana alongside the Ayatollah Khomeini’s grandson, now a high-ranking Iranian official.
JULY 31, 2001 : (IRAQ) US defense department reports Iraq’s “considerably more aggressive stance in trying to bring down allied aircraft.”- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 2001 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS) a Chief Immigration Officer from the UK came to the Caymans at the request and expense of the Cayman Government. The officer specializes in matters relating to Afghanistan and speaks Farsi. After interviewing the three Afghan men individually, the officer was satisfied that the men were indeed Afghan nationals. The officer did, however, state that she too was not satisfied with the Afghans' account of how they had arrived in the Caymans.
AUGUST 11, 2001: (COLUMBIA, CUBA, IRA, FARC, ELN) Colombian authorities arrest three suspected IRA terrorists who had provided specialized training to the FARC terrorist organization. One of the men, Nial Connolly, had lived in Cuba since 1996 as the IRA’s representative.(The Times, August 16, 2001, BBC News August 17, 2001)
AUGUST 27, 2001 : (IRAQ SHOOTS DOWN US PREDATOR DRONE) Iraqi downs its first US aircraft – an unmanned USAF RQ1B Predator, or “drone”- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 29, 2001 : (ROYAL CAYMAN ISLANDS, AFGHANS) Mohammed Raza Hassani, Nez Nezar Nezary, and Ali Sha Yusufi were still in the islands. The three Afghan men who were recently detained in the Cayman Islands and who had carried fake Pakistani passports and claimed to have gotten off a boat bound for Canada from Turkey were determined to have arrived by plane from Cuba. They were still in the Caymans on August 29 when a local radio station received an anonymous note saying that they share an association with Osama bin Laden. "The three agents are here organizing a major terrorist act against the U.S. via an airline or airlines," said the letter. The station gave it to the authorities. Soon after September 11, they tracked down its author, Byron Barnett, a local building contractor, who says his note was "pure speculation" and based on "a premonition." This incident has received scant attention from the media.
AUGUST 31, 2001 : (CUBAN 'WASP' SPY CASE, GEORGE & MARISOL GARI ARRESTED & CHARGED) George and Marisol Gari were arrested and charged with "conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government without proper identification or notice to the attorney general." U.S. authorities say that they were members of "the largest Cuban spy ring ever detected,... 'La Red Avispa,' or the Wasp Network, five members of whom were convicted in June of conspiring to spy on the US for Fidel Castro's regime."
SEPTEMBER 2001 : (REPORTS OF IRAQI CHEMICAL WEAPONS EXERCISE) Iranian reports say 20 Iraqi soldiers based in Zaafarniyah region had died and 200 suffered severe breathing problems after taking part in chemical weapons exercise around June.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
SEPTEMBER 2001, a few days before 9/11: (DELAWARE, KHAN TOOK VIDEO FOOTAGE OF WTC, POWER PLANT INQUIRY IN NJ) Another case involves a Pakistani man who took video footage of the WTC a few days before the Sept. 11 attacks. Raza Nasir Khan was accused by federal agents in Wilmington, Del., of being an illegal immigrant who possessed firearms, documents show. A BATF affidavit alleged the Pakistani man requested maps of a hunting area near a rural Salem County, N.J., nuclear power plant and had a handheld global positioning system device. A search of his home found four long guns and one handgun. Khan told authorities he visited the WTC a few days before the attacks and shot videos, the documents said.The magistrate who ordered Khan held said she didn't see any connection to terrorism. In fact, few of the hundreds of pages of supporting documents provided to Congress mentioned a connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
SEPTEMBER 9, 2001 : (MASSOUD ASSASSINATION) Two men posing as journalists, one carrying a passport in the name of Karim Touzani, detonated a hidden bomb as they interviewed Afghanistan's Northern Alliance leader Massoud. The legendary Afghan commander was mortally wounded. Two days later came the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 : (US DRONE LOST OVER IRAQ) A second US “drone” is lost over Iraq.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 : (WTC, PENTAGON, FLT 93 ATTACKS)
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 : (CUBA ALERTS HIS MILITARY & CALLS UP RESERVES) Castro was ordering a military alert in Cuba and calling up reserves.
6:30 p.m. on SEPTEMBER 14, 2001 : (CUBAN SPY CASE, MONTES CALLS CUBA'S DIRECTOR OF GENERAL INTELLIGENCE) Ana Belen Montes, a senior analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), walked into a public telephone booth outside Washington's National Zoo and made two calls to pager numbers later traced by federal agents to Cuba's Directorate of General Intelligence (DGI). She already had compromised the identities of CIA agents, revealed U.S. military secrets and exposed the contents of classified files. But, as Montes sent repeated signals to her DGI handlers during the days immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the twin towers of the WTC, the FBI was given orders to act.
2001 : (IRAQI SHAKIR IN QATAR) Ahmed Hikmat Shakir lives in Doha, Qatar, working as a civil servant in the country's Ministry of Religious Endowment. - "AL QAEDA'S MAN IN IRAQ?, " Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman with Mark Hosenball and Steve Tuttle, © 2002 Newsweek, Inc.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2001 : (IRAQI SHAKIR ARRESTED IN QATAR) Ahmad Hikmat Shakir, an Iraqi and employee of the Qatari Ministry of Awqaf, was arrested by the Qatar authorities and reportedly ill-treated while being interrogated. He was not charged with any offence and was released from detention. - Amnesty International
SEPTEMBER 17, 2001 : (IRAQI SHAKIR PICKED UP BY QATAR) Six days after September 11, Qatari authorities picked Ahmad Hikmat Shakir up for questioning – but let him go. Yet a search of Shakir's apartment in Doha, the country's capital, yielded a treasure trove, including telephone records linking him to suspects in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Project Bojinka, a 1994 Manila plot to blow up civilian airlines over the Pacific Ocean. U.S. officials found an even more startling link, according to intelligence documents obtained by NEWSWEEK: Shakir had been present at a January 2000 Qaeda "summit" in Malaysia that was attended by two of the 9-11 hijackers. Authorities believe that the summit may have been a planning session for both the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole and 9-11. Shakir quickly left Qatar. - "AL QAEDA'S MAN IN IRAQ?, " Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman with Mark Hosenball and Steve Tuttle, © 2002 Newsweek, Inc.
According to a senior Arab intelligence official, the Qataris “asked the Americans, ‘Where should we send this guy?’ ” The answer was, not the United States. The man, Ahmed Shakir, was sent to Jordan instead. The Jordanians have been good about sharing intelligence with the United States. The CIA prefers not to ask how the Jordanians obtain that intelligence - "Justice Kept In the Dark " by Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff, Newsweek - MSNBC Wednesday, December 5, 2001 via Bint Jabeil bintjabail.com
SEPTEMBER 2001 late : (ANTHRAX MAILINGS)
SEPTEMBER 21, 2001: (CUBAN SPY CASE, MONTES ARRESTED)
SEPTEMBER 2001 late : (LETTER OF ACCUSATION MAILED TO USMC BASE) : Mailed letter to Quantico Marine Base accusing Dr. Asaad, former USAMRIID scientist, of being a terrorist.
OCTOBER 2001 : (IRAQI SHAKIR LEAVES DOHA, QATAR FOR JORDAN) In October 2001, Ahmad Hikmat Shakir hopped on a commercial flight to Amman, intending to switch planes to Baghdad. When Jordanian authorities questioned him, Shakir claimed he was going home to visit relatives. The Jordanians didn't buy it, and neither did U.S. officials. But much about the handling of the case has raised concerns. FBI agents were not permitted to directly question Shakir. Now law-enforcement officials are left to wonder how a suspected Qaeda operative went from a jail cell in Jordan to what may be safe haven in Iraq. - "AL QAEDA'S MAN IN IRAQ?, " Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman with Mark Hosenball and Steve Tuttle, © 2002 Newsweek, Inc.
OCTOBER 4, 2001 : (ANTHRAX CASE) First report of anthrax case (in Florida).
OCTOBER 2001 early : (SALMAN PAK, IRAQ) : Two Iraqi National Congress activists in London travelled to eastern Turkey. They had been told that a Mukhabarat colonel had crossed the border through Kurdistan and was ready to defect. The officer - codenamed Abu Zeinab - had extraordinary information about terrorist training in Iraq. In a safe house in Ankara, the two London-based activists took down Zeinab's story. He had worked at a site which was already well known - Salman Pak, a large camp on a peninsular formed by a loop of the Tigris river south of Baghdad.
However, what Zeinab had to say about the southern part of the camp was new. There, he said, separated from the rest of the facilities by a razor-wire fence, was a barracks used to house Islamic radicals, many of them Saudis from bin Laden's Wahhabi sect, but also Egyptians, Yemenis, and other non-Iraqi Arabs.
Unlike the other parts of Salman Pak, Zeinab said the foreigners' camp was controlled directly by Saddam Hussein
OCTOBER 19, 2001 : (CUBA, RUSSIA, LOURDES LISTENING STATION) A sudden decision by Russian Pres Vladimir Putin to shut down Russia's electronic listening station at Lourdes near Havana by next year, announced just hours before his meeting with President George W. Bush at the Oct. 19 APEC economic summit in Shanghai, "reflects the degree of alarm over Cuba's intelligence operations," according to a U.S. defense analyst in DC. Congress already was threatening to freeze financial aid to Moscow unless it dismantled the intelligence facility that gives Castro a degree of international leverage out of proportion to the bankrupt state of his communist regime.
OCTOBER 21, 2001 : (IRAQI SHAKIR IN JORDAN ) Ahmad Hikmat Shakir left Doha on October 21 for Iraq via Jordan. He is an Iraqi citizen aged 37 years, was arrested at Amman Airport on October 21 during a transit-stop on his way from Qatar to Iraq. It appears that his arrest may have been in connection with suspicions on the part of the Jordanian authorities relating to visits he had made to Pakistan, Yemen and Malaysia. Ahmad Hikmat Shakir was held in incommunicado detention for several weeks before being allowed access to a lawyer. - Amnesty International
OCTOBER 21, 2001 : (IRAQI SHAKIR IN JORDAN) In the weeks after the September 11 attacks, security officials around the world were on highest alert. So when a 37-year-old Iraqi national named Ahmad Hikmat Shakir stepped off a plane in Amman's Queen Alia airport on Oct. 21, Jordanian officials soon became suspicious. A quick review of his passport showed Shakir had recently traveled to Pakistan, Yemen and Malaysia – key stops on the terror trail. FBI agents were alerted. Within days they concluded that Shakir was no incidental traveler: he was, according to confidential U.S. intelligence reports, a suspected terrorist who had been in direct contact with some of the major operatives in the September 11 plot. - "AL QAEDA'S MAN IN IRAQ?, " Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman with Mark Hosenball and Steve Tuttle, © 2002 Newsweek, Inc.
OCTOBER 2001 : (IRAQI AHMAD HIKMAT SHAKIR, JORDAN) The Iraqi, Ahmad Hikmat Shakir, 37, was picked up October 2001 in Amman, and his passport showed he had recently traveled to Pakistan, Yemen and Malaysia, all key terror trouble spots. A search of one of his apartments turned up telephone records linking him to suspects in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as well as a 1994 Philippine-based plot to blow up civilian airlines over the Pacific Ocean. - "Iraqi a Missing Link," by Aly Sujo, NY Post
OCTOBER 2001 : (IRAQI SHAKIR ARRESTED IN JORDAN) A globe-trotting Iraqi, suspected of being a terrorist with ties to both al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, was arrested in Jordan after Sept. 11 and then mysteriously released, U.S. intelligence officials said. The Iraqi, Ahmad Hikmat Shakir, 37, was picked up last October2001 in Amman, and his passport showed he had recently traveled to Pakistan, Yemen and Malaysia, all key terror trouble spots. "Shakir connects with both Iraq and 9/11," a U.S. official told Newsweek. A search of one of his apartments turned up telephone records linking him to suspects in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as well as a 1994 Philippine-based plot to blow up civilian airlines over the Pacific Ocean. Law-enforcement officials told the magazine they could not explain why Shakir was released and allowed to travel to safe haven in Iraq. - "IRAQI A MISSING LINK," By ALY SUJO, NY POST, SEPTEMBER 30, 2002
NOVEMBER 2001 : (JORDAN, IRAQI SHAKIR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL) Amnesty International wrote to the Minister of Interior in November seeking assurances that Ahmad Hikmat Shakir was being humanely treated and not subjected to any kind of ill-treatment or torture as well as seeking information about his whereabouts, the reasons for his arrest, and whether any charges had been brought against him. By the end of January 2002 no reply had been received.
DECEMBER 2001 : (IRAQI SCIENTIST SAYS IRAQ HAS REACTIVATED LABS, HIDDEN FACILITIES IN CIVILIAN AREAS, WMD STORAGE IN APPARENT WELLS, MADE PORTABLE, GERMAN MATERIALS MADE THEIR WAY INTO WEAPONS PROGRAM) A former Iraqi nuclear scientist, Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, who has defected to the US, gives an interview to the New York Times from a safe destination in Bangkok (An interview with Mr Saeed was arranged by the Iraqi National Congress, an exiled opposition group to Saddam, whom had helped him escape. It appeared on p1 of the New York Times on 20 December 2001, entitled: “A nation challenged: Secret sites.”). His evidence is described as “plausible” by Richard Butler, an Australian former head of UN Iraq inspections. Mr Saeed said that:-
• Iraq has reactivated 300 secret weapons laboratories since the withdrawal of UN weapons inspectors
• Nuclear production and storage facilities are being hidden to the rear of government companies and private villas in residential areas.
• Weapons are being stored underground in what are made to look like water wells, lined with lead-filled concrete. • Several empty facilities have been prepared, so projects can be on the move and withstand the bombing of one facility.
• Material from Leycochem, a German construction company, had arrived for under UN-approved schemes, but then redirected to nuclear development.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
DECEMBER 2001 : (IRAQI DEFECTOR SAYS IRAQ USED A HOSPITAL AS COVER FOR BIOWEAPONS AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT, BIOCHEM WEAPONS WERE TESTED ON KURDISH ANS HSIITE PRISONERS) Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, an Iraqi defector, gives evidence saying that:-
• Biological weapons were being developed at the back of the Saddam Hussein hospital in Baghdad. (This was later corroborated by Khidhir Hamza, another defector, who told US congress that “the computer we used for nuclear weapon design is now located in a hospital at the outskirts of Baghdad.”)
• Biological and chemical weapons were tested on Kurdish and Shiite prisoners in 1989 and 1992.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
DECEMBER 29, 2001Saturday : (CUBA) Some observers question the Cuban government’s commitment to anti-terrorism in view of a recent remark made by Cuban Attorney General Juan Escalona. While characterizing U.S. plans to house al-Qaida prisoners at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as “another provocation,” Escalona voiced his hope that some of the prisoners would escape and slay their American captors, saying: “I hope 15 or 20 … get out and kill them.”
JANUARY 2002 : (IRAQI SHAKIR RELEASED, MAY BE IN IRAQ) But hopes that the FBI had nabbed a potential Qaeda source were soon dashed. Three months after he was detained, Shakir was inexplicably released by Jordanian authorities – and promptly vanished. NEWSWEEK has learned that some U.S. intelligence officials believe Shakir is now back home in Iraq. The Bush administration has made no public comments about Shakir and officials acknowledge they know little about his current activities. But Shakir's case may be the most tantalizing evidence yet to support the administration's contention that there are ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq. American intelligence officials may have traced a key Osama bin Laden operative to Saddam Hussein's home base, note Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman - "AL QAEDA'S MAN IN IRAQ?, " Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman with Mark Hosenball and Steve Tuttle, © 2002 Newsweek, Inc.
Robert Byrd embarrasses himself everytime he stands up on the floor of the Senate. What a joke.
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