Firm says stolen software helped bin Laden plot 9/11 (PROMIS CHARGES APPARENTLY CORROBORATED)

The Washington Times ^ | January 6, 2003 | Jerry Seper

[aristeides]

The head of a computer firm wants the independent commission named to investigate September 11 intelligence failures to review accusations that his software-tracking program, which he says the Justice Department stole, was diverted to Osama bin Laden.

William H. Hamilton, president of Inslaw Inc., said the commission

[general_re]

What the heck was the name of that reporter who was tracking down "the octopus"? Daniel something? The one who killed himself...err, sorry - the one who was murdered by the shadow government....

And why are we suddenly digging up Reagan-era conspiracies? Have we run out of new ones?

[aristeides]

Danny Casolaro.

[Poohbah]

And why are we suddenly digging up Reagan-era conspiracies? Have we run out of new ones?

The Dems tried screaming "ENRON!" until they passed out from a lack of oxygen, but it didn't work, so now they're screaming "PROMIS!" and "INSLAW!"

[general_re]

That's the one - thanks. Man, it's been a long time since I've heard or even thought about any of this stuff - talk about a blast from the past ;)

[general_re]

It didn't have legs back when it was fresh - if we insert the name "Osama bin Laden", that doesn't suddenly turn a turd into a nugget of gold...

[aruanan]

Wasn't Promis somehow involved with Randy Weaver or OK city?

[swarthyguy]

Dig deep enough and you reach the nexus of 80's banks like BCCI, BNL and Nugan Hand.

Dig thru the detritus of BCCI and you approach the roots of Bin Ladin's financing. Saudi Financiers and Paki middlemen and facilitators.

OK, anyone have new info on Ptech?

[aristeides]

Wasn't Promis somehow involved with Randy Weaver or OK city?

Can't say I remember seeing that.

[eno_]

Stuff does get stolen, and the DoJ has trampled more thana few people through incompetence and corruption, but the odds of a copy of Promis being useful to bin Laden are between zero and none.

Ture story: I worked for the place the Soviets stole BSD Unix from. Then they had to steal a VAX to run it on (from someplace else). That exploit netted them an OS and a single minicomputer to run it on that had a useful life of about four years, if that. I have also used a Czech reverse-engineered PDP-11 and, by hand, using two different wire-wrap tools to account for the differnt pin sizes, wired a genuine DEC Unibus backplane into that PDP-11 clone and installed a DH-11 serial interface card into it - it really was a completely compatible clone as far as I could tell. In hindsight this stuff is laughable.

[general_re]

Am I misrembering this, or didn't the original version of the Inslaw story have the Israelis stealing the stuff?

[Poohbah]

I thought it was the DOJ stole it, and then shipped it out the back door to the Israelis, who used it to restore the Most Learned Elders of Zion to pre-eminence in banking or something like that.

[archy]

And why are we suddenly digging up Reagan-era conspiracies? Have we run out of new ones.

Unlike the rape of Little Rock nursing home operator Juanita Broaddrick during the Reagan administration, there's no statute of limitattions on the crimes of murder, treason, or income tax evasion. And just as the Clinton Justice Department decided to reach back to prosecute those involved in events relating to the civil rights violence of the mid 1960s, soo too can today's prosecutors do the same- or tomorrow's, if todays are part of the continuing pattern of criminal activity.

-archy-/-

[general_re]

I noticed that the Israelis have disappeared from the story, in any case. Tweaking the details to make it more palatable, it looks like...

[general_re]

In the twenty years or so that this story has been floating around, I've never seen anything of substance to support it, just a lot of rumors and innuendo. Statutes of limitations or no, you'll need more than that when you're in court...

[archy]

Am I misreemembering this, or didn't the original version of the Inslaw story have the Israelis stealing the stuff?

The Israelis were beneficiaries, finding the ability to track financial transactions regarding international arms shipments to be of interest, but too you need to also note the involvement of the Australians, particularly in light of activities involving the Australian Nugan-Hand bank, later to be directed to the accounts held by the BCCI banking empire.

It's a complicated and internecine story to try to entangle, because it was set up with the intent of being just that.

-archy-/-

[Poohbah]

In the twenty years or so that this story has been floating around, I've never seen anything of substance to support it, just a lot of rumors and innuendo. Statutes of limitations or no, you'll need more than that when you're in court...

Well, there's the rules of evidence for Democrats (any video showing Bill Clinton shooting Vince Foster in the head is a priori inadmissable) and Republicans (even the absence of evidence is proof of Republican criminality).

[archy]

Statutes of limitations or no, you'll need more than that when you're in court...

Oh I don't necessarily expect the murderers to go to court, no more than the murderer of Little Rock UPI Statehouse Bureau reporter Judy Danielak ever did, nor that of sometime Indiana newspaperwoman Mary Beth *Pixie* Grismore.

But those involved in such things can't take that chance, and have to keep the lid on, and by doing so, become so busy with so many lids as to become distracted- it is indeed difficult to for them to get the swamp drained while they're wrasslin' all the allegators...and allegations.

And too, every now and again, they begin to doubt the reliability of one of their own fellows, and take care of that potential problem in their usual fashion. That both becomes a morale problem for those who begin to doubt they'll ever really get to spend their retirement funds or collect that gold watch, and causes others to thoughtfully compile and hide away documents and other evidence that's not ever meant to be seen again. Indeed, I'd expect more of such to be removed from the national scene by such methods than ever could be by any gaggle of 9-to-5 US Attarneys and AUSA's.

[general_re]

My mistake ;)

[general_re]

But those involved in such things can't take that chance, and have to keep the lid on, and by doing so, become so busy with so many lids as to become distracted- it is indeed difficult to for them to get the swamp drained while they're wrasslin' all the allegators...and allegations.

But that begs the question by presuming that "such things" exist in the first place - IOW, you're assuming the existence of the thing you're ostensibly supposed to be proving the existence of.

[aristeides]

Since Jerry Seper is a reliable reporter, it would seem that either William Hamilton told him outrageous lies or the FBI has recently confirmed important elements of the INSLAW story.

The following facts seem to suggest that these are not just lies: (1) Seper and his editor thought the story worth reporting; (2) Boyden Gray is representing Inslaw; and (3) the Bankruptcy Court ruled in INSLAW's favor, In re Inslaw, 88 B.R. 484 (Bankr. D.C. 1988), the District Court affirmed, the D.C. Circuit unusually reversed on a mandamus motion, and Bankruptcy Judge Bason was strangely not reappointed to a new term.