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http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/Chin051902/chin051902.htm
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All the desperate lies and spin don't change the fact that the Bush
administration had foreknowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks
By Larry Chin
Online Journal Contributing Editor
May 19, 2002—George W. Bush knew. And his administration knew. The
transparently dishonest denials issued by the White House do not
stand up to the slightest scrutiny. They are lying. A simple
examination of existing information, gathered from reliable, open
sources proves it.
Last night, Michael C. Ruppert of From The Wilderness was scheduled
to present his case for Bush 9/11 foreknowledge before a national TV
audience on Geraldo Rivera's Fox News program. At the last minutes,
this live appearance was cancelled. Coincidence? Ruppert's
appearance, which could have caused immeasurable damage to the
administration, was allegedly prompted by "breaking news" from the
White House suggesting "imminent new terrorist attacks." "Wag the
dog"? What desperate measures will this cabal resort to in order to
remain in power? How many more lives will they take?
Backed into a Corner at Every Turn
On May 15, Press Secretary and official White House liar Ari
Fleischer nervously stuttered, "The president did not receive
information about the use of airplanes as missiles by suicide
bombers. This was a new type of attack that was not foreseen."
This was followed by Condoleeza Rice, who repeated the spin: "I don't
think that anyone could have predicted that these people would take
an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center."
Bush himself issued a statement that he had no indication beforehand
that "terrorists would hijack jets and deliberately crash them."
The White House would have us believe that not a single individual in
the entire US government, nor the entire Central Intelligence Agency,
had knowledge about a method of terrorism that has been routine for
more than 20 years. And that not a single person in the entire
national security apparatus of the US had a shred of information on
training camps in Iran (a hotspot of intense US intelligence focus
for decades) devoted to this method of terrorism.
Yossef Bodansky is a director of the Task Force on Terrorism and
Unconventional Warfare in the US House of Representatives, and the
author of the book "Bin Laden: The Man Who Targeted America."
Bodansky is a Washington insider whose views are sought after,
respected and broadly disseminated throughout the US government.
In a well-publicized paper from 1993, he stated, "The training of
suicide pilots started in the Busher air base in Iran in the early
1980s with some 90 Pilatus PC-7 aircraft purchased from Switzerland."
"According to a former trainee in Wakilibad (a base for the training
of kamikaze pilots), one of the exercises included having an Islamic
Jihad detachment seize (or hijack) a transport aircraft. Then trained
air crews from among the terrorists would crash the airliner with its
passengers into a selected objective," he wrote.
"The leading terrorists are known as 'Afghans,' having been trained
with the mujahadeen in Pakistan. Some fought in Afghanistan. Muslim
volunteers from several Arab and Asian countries were encouraged to
come to Pakistan and join the Afghan Jihad." (Source: Target America:
Terrorism in the US Today, 1993. "Islamic Terrorism in the United
States," National Security Caucus, 1996.)
The Bush administration would have us believe that a subject that was
written about in books and discussed openly throughout Washington
is "unimaginable."
They would also have us believe that they, and their intelligence
operatives, have been unaware of some of the most spectacular and
horrific terrorist operations in recent history—many of them directed
at the United States.
Yet:
On December 29, 1994, four terrorists alleged to have ties to Osama
bin Laden hijacked Air France Flight 8969, a flight from Algiers to
Paris. They loaded the plane with explosives and filled it with extra
fuel, with the intent of ramming it into the Eiffel Tower. Commandos
stormed the plane and killed the hijackers. (Source: NBC News.
September 30, 2001. Chris Hansen, "The Lesson of Air France Flight
8969")
A full seven years before September 11, an al-Qaeda suicide hijacking
is partially executed and barely stopped by French intelligence. The
Bush administration would have us believe that no one in the CIA had
ever heard of such a thing.
Another suicide hijacking plot was discovered six years before
September 11. Ramsey Youssef, the terrorist who masterminded the 1993
bombing of the World Trade Center had detailed plans to hijack and
crash commercial airliners into buildings in the US, and blow up 12
US airliners during international flights over a two-day period. This
plot, known as Operation Bojinka, was discovered by Philippine
intelligence agents in 1995, in the hideout of Yousef and Abdul Hakim
Murad, a US trained pilot linked to bin Laden. Philippine authorities
passed this information to the FBI. This plot was disclosed again in
the 1997 trial of Youssef. (Source: Kevin Cullen, Ralph Ranalli.
Boston Globe, Sept 18, 2001, "Flight School Said FBI Trailed Suspect
Prior to Hijackings")
Two years before 9/11, reports prepared for U.S. intelligence warned
that Osama bin Laden would hijack an airliner and fly it into
government buildings like the Pentagon. "Suicide bomber(s) belonging
to al-Qaeda'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. (Source: Associated Press,
May 17, 2002).
In July 2001, during the G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy, Deputy Prime
Minister Gianfranco Fini revealed that Italian intelligence had
uncovered a plot to crash a hijacked commercial airliner into either
Air Force One or one of the buildings used for the summit. (Source:
New York Newsday, Sept 19, 2001) This jetliner kamikaze plot was
directed at Bush himself. Taking the Bush denial to its logical
extension, the White House would have us believe that Bush and the
CIA were not only unaware of this plot, but also not warned by the
Italian government.
During the investigation into the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya
and Tanzania, intelligence officials and FBI were alerted that two
bin Laden associates had been trained as pilots. Airman Flight School
in Oklahoma became the focus of an FBI investigation. The FBI was
warned in August 2001 that Zacarias Moussauoi, the notorious "20th
pilot" who attended Airman was only interested in steering a plane—
and not taking off or landing. He also specifically asked about New
York City air space.
In June 2001, the German BND warned the CIA and Israel of plans by
Middle Eastern terrorists to "hijack commercial aircraft to use as
weapons to attack important symbols of American and Israeli culture."
Furthermore, according to the same source, the Echelon spy network
was used to break this news, and that intelligence agents in the UK
also had advance warning. (Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
September 14, 2001)
In the summer of 2001, Russian intelligence and President Vladimir
Putin warned the CIA that 25 terrorist pilots were going to hijack
commercial aircraft for suicide missions.
Attorney David Shippers, who led the impeachment case against Bill
Clinton, warned Attorney General John Ashcroft and Speaker of the
House Dennis Hastert that he had proof from a credible source (that
he has still not revealed) about a plot to use hijacked commercial
airliners to ram the White House and Capitol. (Source: Info Wars
(radio program) Oct 10 2001)
This list of specific warnings about suicide hijackings is but the
tip of the iceberg. The Bush administration received many more
warnings of an imminent attack from foreign governments (Israel,
Germany, Egypt, UK, Russia), FBI agents (whose investigations were
obstructed) and covert operatives who were studiously silenced (Naval
Intelligence Officer Delmart "Mike" Vreeland, for one)
Ari Fleischer's Lies About the CIA
As part of his clumsy May 15 damage control press conference,
Fleischer responded to a question about CIA foreknowledge by quoting
from an address given on April 11 at Duke University by CIA Deputy
Director James Pavitt.
Fleischer quoted only selected passages from the Pavitt address that
seemed to deny 9/11 foreknowledge:
"What didn't we know? We never found the tactical intelligence, never
uncovered the specifics that could have stopped those tragic strikes
that we all remember so well. Against that degree of control, that
kind of compartmentation, that depth of discipline and fanaticism, I
personally doubt . . . that anything short of one of the
knowledgeable inner circle personnel or hijackers turning himself in
to us would have given us sufficient foreknowledge to have prevented
the horrendous slaughter that took place. Some of you out there may
have heard bin Laden himself speak about this on that shocking
videotape."
But Fleischer failed to quote portions of the same speech in which
Pavitt admitted CIA clear foreknowledge of the September 11th
attacks, deep penetration of terrorist cells throughout Central Asia
and the Middle East, and longstanding presence in the region. This
speech, which is posted at the CIA web site, has already been
dissected by Online Journal. Among the Pavitt passages that Fleischer
did not read to the press:
"We had very, very good intelligence of the general structure and
strategies of the al Qaeda terrorist organization. We knew and we
warned that al Qaeda was planning a major strike. There need be no
question about that."
"If you hear somebody say, and I have, the CIA abandoned Afghanistan
after the Soviets left and that we never paid any attention to that
place until September 11th, I would implore you to ask those people
how we were able to accomplish all we did since the Soviets
departed. How we knew who to approach on the ground, which
operations, which warlord to support, what information to collect.
Quite simply, we were there well before the 11th of September."
"We predicted, we told the President, that there would be between
five and 15 serious attacks against on U.S. soil. But we did much
much more than warn. With our allies and our partners around the
world, we launched immense efforts to counter those threats.
Hundreds of terrorists were arrested, multiple cells of terrorism
were destroyed."
Indeed, according to a September 14, 2001, report from Reuters, "The
CIA has been authorized since 1998 to use covert means to disrupt and
pre-empt terror operations allegedly planned abroad by Saudi-born
dissident Osama bin Laden." Quoting government sources, "The CIA had
used such force several times to stop armed groups before they
initiated attacks." As mentioned previously, the CIA participated in
a study that concluded that Osama bin Laden's terrorists could hijack
an airliner and fly it into government buildings.
And there is more proof of CIA foreknowledge and action.
The February 2001 trial of the al-Qaeda members responsible for the
1998 US embassy bombings was based almost entirely on intercepted
cell phone calls. During the trial, prosecutors describe how US
intelligence used Echelon, a highly secret technical intelligence
gathering system used to monitor worldwide communications. On
February 13, 2001, UPI quoted multiple agencies saying that they had
broken al Queda's codes.
It is inconceivable that, armed with a budget of over $30 billion,
and technologies such as Echelon (which tracks nearly all electronic
communication in the world), Promis (which monitors banking and
financial transactions in real-time), Carnivore (which intercepts e-
mail) and other tools, the CIA and other US intelligence agencies
would have "no inkling."
This lie is further exposed by the fact that Mohammed Atta, the lead
hijacker, had been under constant CIA surveillance since January
2000. (Source: Reuters Oct 22, 2001)
According to Le Figaro (October 31, 2001), bin Laden received
treatment at an American hospital in Dubai for kidney disease in mid-
July 2001—and reportedly met with a CIA official.
The More Important Questions They Are Not Asking
1. Who really is Osama bin Laden? What is al Qaeda? What really
is "Militant Islam?"
In a penetrating analysis by Professor Michel Chossudovsky
titled "Who is Osama bin Laden?" this question is answered clearly.
Osama bin Laden and the terror networks of the region are creations
of the United States and its CIA—and continue to serve the
geostrategic purposes of the United States government, which directly
and indirectly controls their operations.
The CIA, using Pakistan's ISI, played a key role in training the
mujahadeen. In turn, the CIA-sponsored guerrilla training was
integrated into the teachings of Islam.
Pakistan's ISI is a proxy of the CIA by official government directive.
CIA covert operations in the region are conducted through the ISI.
Terror operations continue throughout the Middle East, the Caucasus,
the Balkans and Central Asia—which, in addition to holding coveted
untapped oil and gas reserves, produces three quarters of the world's
opium.
The Islamic Jihad has been supported by the US and Saudi Arabia with
a significant part of the funding generated from the Golden Crescent
drug trade.
Motivated by nationalism and religious fervor, and kept out of touch
with upper levels of the intelligence hierarchy, Islamic warriors are
unaware of whose purposes they serve.
Since the Cold War, Washington has consciously supported Osama bin
Laden, while at the same time inflating his legend as the world's
foremost terrorist.
Why did the director of the ISI transfer money to Mohammed Atta, and
why has no one investigated this connection?
2. Why were no fighter planes scrambled on the morning of 9/11?
With the full knowledge that four planes had been simultaneously
hijacked, the National Command Authority did not scramble fighter
aircraft to intercept for 75 minutes—an unprecedented breach of
standard FAA procedure that has been followed for 25 years. The
bizarre air stand-down has been analyzed at http://emperors-
clothes.com/indict/indict-1.htm.
3. What accounts for Bush's behavior on 9/11?
Bush was not 'formally' informed of the hijackings for 35 minutes—an
astounding irregularity all by itself. When White House Chief of
Staff Andrew Card "whispered into his ear," Bush displayed no shock
and continued to speak to a classroom of schoolchildren. Later
reports confirm that Bush knew about the first World Trade Center
crash while in the presidential limousine on the way to the school—
and he did not act. Another report quoted Bush as saying "When I saw
the first plane hit, I thought 'what a terrible pilot.'" Putting
aside the callousness of his thought, was this another garbled quote,
or did Bush see the first plane? And if so, how did he see it? In yet
another report, after both World Trade towers were hit, Bush joked to
his budget director Mitch Daniels, "I've hit the trifecta." Is this
the behavior of a president who just found out about the
horrific "first attack of US territory since the war of 1812"?
4. If 9/11 was an unprovoked surprise terror attack, what was the
Bush administration doing provoking the Taliban and threatening war
with Afghanistan?
In July 2001 Pakistani Foreign Secretary Niaz Naik is told by senior
US officials that military actions against Afghanistan would begin by
October. This threat, which was triggered in part by the Taliban's
refusal to accept the Bush administration's terms for a trans-Afghan
oil pipeline, is made directly to the Taliban during a meeting in
Berlin, attended by the Taliban, officials of Russia, Iran, Pakistan
and the Northern Alliance. New memos reveal that Bush had an
Afghanistan war plan on his desk on September 9.
5. What did Wall Street know? And if Wall Street knew, what wasn't
known within the Bush administration? What wasn't known by the CIA
and intelligence agencies, which track stock trades on a real time
basis?
The highly abnormal insider trading that occurred immediately before
the 9/11 attacks involving only companies hardest hit by the attacks—
UAL, American Airlines, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and others—and
were clearly the result of foreknowledge. Despite these trades, which
Dylan Ratigan of Bloomberg Business News described as "insider
trading at the worst, most horrific, most evil use you've ever
seen . . . one of the most extraordinary coincidences in the history
of mankind if it was a coincidence." To those who would place the
blame on bin Laden, consider this: according to an October 6 National
Public Radio report, Britain's Financial Services Authority cleared
bin Laden and al Qaeda of this insider trading.
6. Why have the insiders and whistleblowers been silenced and
intimidated?
In August 2001, a US Navy Lieutenant and Naval Intelligence officer,
Delmart "Mike" Vreeland, who was jailed in Canada on US fraud
charges, which were later proven false, repeatedly warned US and
Canadian intelligence officials about the pending suicide hijack
attacks (complete with the listing of targets), based on information
he had gleaned from documents that he had couriered from Russia
before his arrest. US and Canadian officials refused to debrief him.
Vreeland, whose identity was verified in court, was cleared of all
charges and is in Canada fighting extradition to the US. In light of
increasing evidence of Bush administration foreknowledge, Vreeland's
case, and his claims to have detailed information regarding total US
intelligence penetration of al Qaeda, takes on even greater
significance. His case can be studied at www.copvcia.com.
For more unasked questions, and links to articles in which the
answers are fully or partially answered, www.communitycurrency.org/9-
11.html.
Letting It Happen: A New Smoking Gun
On CNN Inside Politics (May 17, 2002), Senator Dianne Feinstein
responded to Ari Fleischer's outrageous accusation that she did not
provide the White House with information about terrorist threats.
Feinstein stated that on September 10, 2001, she discussed the lack
of protection against terrorist attacks against targets within the US
with the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney and practically begged
for some action from the administration. She was told by the Cheney
staffer it would have to wait at least six months.
A Limited Hangout or Something More? The Mushrooming Scandal in
Context
Since September 11, and until just days ago, the Bush empire appeared
to be invincible, unchallenged and marching the world towards
escalating worldwide war, and dictatorship in the United States. The
Bush oligarchy appeared dominant over a sold-out and servile
Congress, and a corporate consensus marching in lockstep to the
orders of the administration's oil/military/intelligence hierarchy.
What has caused certain members of Congress to find a voice and a
spine?
What has caused the major corporate American media, which until days
ago was the most aggressive supporter of the White House version of
9/11, to turn on the Bush administration?
Who gave the orders, the signal, that is was time to go after Bush—in
a way that they had not done since George W. Bush announced his
candidacy for the presidency?
The answers at this early stage are not clear. But recent events
suggest that 1) the rampant criminality of the administration is
becoming too obvious to cover up, 2) resistance to the brute force of
Bush unilateralism is becoming too great to ignore, 3) political and
social instability throughout the world is becoming a problem in key
strategic regions where a modicum of finesses is needed, 4) a segment
of the ruling elite has grown tired of being shut out of the deal.
Consider the embarrassing failures of the Bush administration since
September 11:
Despite the success of restarting the Unocal pipeline, Afghanistan
remains a hotbed of warlordism and anti-US hostility that US-
installed Hamid Karzai is having difficulty controlling.
Osama bin Laden has not been found. Al Qaeda has not been dismantled.
Recent talks between the US, Russia, Iran and former Soviet republics
to forge a multilateral agreement regarding oil and gas in the
Caspian Sea region collapsed, leaving the western oil companies in a
precarious position with unrequited investments throughout the
Caspian region.
Israel's American-approved and American-assisted butchery and
criminal occupation of Palestine, pushed to nightmarish extremes by
Ariel Sharon, has triggered outrage and anti-US hostility throughout
the world. Islamic outrage is worsening.
The threat of oil embargos from OPEC nations and threats of boycotts
of US goods are real.
Bush has failed to maintain multinational "coalitions"—the key to
continued US military and neoliberal economic primacy.
A war against Iraq is impossible without a coalition.
The US-orchestrated coup of Venezuela failed. Evidence of the Bush
administration's participation in this coup is clear, blatant, and
embarrassing.
The US-led Plan Colombia/Andean Initiative is meeting with continued
resistance throughout Latin America.
The world economy is floundering.
Outside of the tightly controlled US, America is hated.
Enron, Enron, Enron.
The constitutional crisis triggered by Bush's refusal to reveal
documents relating to the energy task force has worsened.
A continuing grand jury investigation of corruption in Kazakhstan,
implicating oil companies tied to the Bush administration.
More FBI agents are coming forward with lawsuits exposing Bush
administration obstruction of anti-terror operations.
Former President Jimmy Carter's visit to Cuba was a loud rebuke to
Bush, and a loud signal to the world that an opposing faction of the
New World Order—one which includes prominent conservative Democrats—
is a making a move. The crafty Carter, he of the Trilateral
Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, was the consummate
world diplomat—a stark counter to the relentless unilateral
militarism of the Bush faction.
Clearly, Bush and his administration would not be under pressure
unless powerful people wanted it to happen. The corporate media,
which has gotten the green light to make noise, would not be engaging
in a feeding frenzy without an incentive.
Is this another limited hangout? How far will this go? Is it a palace
coup? Is it a "wag the dog" fake?
The Lies Will Not Stand
In the months since September 11, the defining moment of recent
history, neither the Bush administration, nor its surrogates and
allies, have produced one shred of credible evidence supporting the
White House version of the events of that day. Instead, the Bush
administration has mass marketed a total fabrication based on
accusations, fear mongering, infantile comic book bluster, and
duplicitous lies about US policies, geo-strategic agenda, and
worldwide operations. Their evidence has amounted to the weakest
conspiracy theory and, in the case of the "notorious bin Laden video"
that is trotted out at the first sign of controversy, televised
conspiracy fantasy.
Meanwhile, in the past eight months, hundreds of independent
researchers, journalists and scholars have done what neither Congress
nor the White House has done: investigate. This already substantial
body of evidence is being exponentially strengthened and enhanced by
new evidence coming to light in the mushrooming scandal. The points
presented in this article are but the tip of the iceberg.
The courageous Ruppert has thoroughly and dispassionately examined
the September 11 case. Read his powerful analyses:
The Lie Won't Stand
The Case for Bush Administration Advance Knowledge of 9-11 Attacks
"Oh Lucy! – You Gotta Lotta 'Splainin To Do"
Ruppert has dissected the events of the day, but also the
geostrategic agenda preceding and following the event. The Bush
version of events is utterly smashed to pieces.
A recently published and excellent collection of investigative
journalism, Everything You Know Is Wrong, offers another thoroughly
documented, meticulously sourced examination of 9/11
titled "September 11, 2001: No Surprise."
Given the voluminous evidence (from reliable open sources) now
amassed against the Bush administration, this much is clear: the
administration of George Walker Bush cannot claim a lack of
intelligence, technology or human resources capable of predicting or
preventing the attacks of September 11. Nor can it disown the
criminal activities and policies that preceded and followed the day,
and the mass slaughter that has continued to be waged around the
world in its name.
In fact, the Bush oligarchy had both the motive and the means to
facilitate the most spectacular atrocity in modern American history,
and open the Pandora's box of world war without end.
Bush knew. Now, the entire world knows.
It is up to the people of the world to seize this moment, and send
the Bush administration into the bowels of history.
Larry Chin is a freelance journalist and an Online Journal
Contributing Editor.
The views expressed herein are the writers' own and do not
necessarily reflect those of Online Journal.
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