Free Republic

WASHINGTON –– Exactly two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal report warned the executive branch that Osama bin Laden's terrorists might hijack an airliner and dive bomb it into the Pentagon or other government building. "Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or the White House," the September 1999 report said. The report, entitled the "Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why?," described the suicide hijacking as one of several possible retribution...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the CIA's counter-terrorism center has been forced to step down as part of efforts by the spy agency to bolster its pursuit of al Qaeda, current and former intelligence officials said on Tuesday.Robert Grenier, 51, told colleagues in an e-mail on Monday that he had been asked to move on from the helm of the unit that plans and executes CIA counter-terrorism operations and provides analysis on terrorism issues. It was not clear whether Grenier planned to leave the spy agency and there was no immediate word on who would succeed him in the...

Terrorist told of plan to crash into CIA's HQ Two years ago, federal prosecutors turned down a cooperation offer from a terrorist who claimed he was part of a well-financed 1995 plot to crash an airplane into the CIA headquarters. Abdul Hakim Murad said he got his pilot's license after training at several American flight schools, including one that is now under scrutiny in the terror investigation. Murad was convicted in 1996 for his role in a highly choreographed scheme to blow up 12 U.S.-bound jetliners flying out of Southeast Asia. The Pakistani-born man said that in addition to the ...

This is my first post so I hope I got it right. This is breaking here in San Anonio. A single engine plane has been forced down at Stenson Field south of San Antonio. Homeland Security, DPS and SAPD are on the scene. They are waiting for a Chinese tranlator but they have Chinese illegals in custody and said that the pilot was someone Homeland Security has been looking for. I'll post more as it comes available.

Allegations leveled during last night's debate by Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry that Vice President Dick Cheney "berated" CIA analysts to get them to exaggerate Iraq war intelligence are false, NBC's Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell said Friday. "It's absolutely not true," Mitchell told radio host Don Imus. "The vice president went over to the CIA on a couple of Saturdays, you know, more than once . . but he did not, by anybody's account, berate the analysts." Mitchell noted that former CIA analysts Ray McGovern and Larry Johnson, who were not present during the Cheney meetings, have said...

<p>BAGHDAD, Iraq — Two apparent car bombs exploded Sunday outside the Baghdad Hotel (search), believed to be the headquarters of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the Iraqi capital.</p> <p>An enormous explosion was felt at the scene, and reports indicated that two simultaneous blasts had occurred. At least one car outside the hotel was on fire after the explosions. Ambulances rushed to the scene to ferry the injured to hospitals. Details on casualties were not immediately available.</p>