-Caveat Lector-
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
--- Begin Message --- -Caveat Lector- "Mr. Atta Goes to Prague"
New York Times
May 9, 2002
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
WASHINGTON - In pro football, an adept offensive lineman tricks his opponent
in what is called a "misdirection play." He blocks his man toward the
center; as the defender pushes back hard, the misdirecting lineman gives
way, seemingly overcome by the counter-charge - as his running back scoots
through the hole near the center left by the defender.
A misdirection play is under way in the C.I.A.'s all-out attempt to
discredit an account of a suspicious meeting in Prague a year ago.
Mohamed Atta, destined to be the leading Sept. 11 suicide hijacker, was reported
last fall by Czech intelligence to have met at least once with Saddam
Hussein's espionage chief in the Iraqi Embassy - Ahmed al-Ani, a spymaster
whom the Czechs were keeping under tight surveillance.
If the report proves accurate, a connection would exist between Al Qaeda's
murder of 3,000 Americans and Iraq's Saddam. That would clearly be a casus
belli, calling for our immediate military response, separate from the need
to stop a demonstrated mass killer from acquiring nuclear and germ weapons.
Accordingly, high C.I.A. and Justice officials - worried about exposure of
the agency's inability to conduct covert operations - desperately want
Atta's Saddam connection to be disbelieved.
They are telling favored journalists: Shoot this troublesome story down. In
March, a Washington Post columnist obliged with: "hard intelligence to
support the Baghdad-bin Laden connection is somewhere between `slim' and
`none.' " In April, Newsweek headlined: "A spy story tying Saddam to 9-11 is
looking very flimsy," and its Michael Isikoff wrote: "the much touted
`Prague connection' appears to be an intriguing, but embarrassing, mistake."
Everybody jumped aboard the C.I.A. bandwagon. The Washington Post's Walter
Pincus followed up with a "senior administration official's finding that
eliminates a once-suggested link between the terrorist attacks and the
government of President Saddam Hussein." Time magazine this week labels the
Czech report about Atta "discredited."
The C.I.A.-Justice misdirection is masterly; even White House staff members
have bought the Tenet-Chertoff line about "serious doubts." The New York
Times reported all too accurately that "a senior Bush administration
official appeared to close the matter, saying F.B.I. and C.I.A. analysts had
firmly concluded that no meeting had occurred."
Notice how this parade of pooh-poohing never has an official's name attached
to it. Rarely do you see such skillful manipulation by anonymous sources
whose policy agenda is never revealed to readers.
I carry around a clipping of Atta's movements reported in The Times of Oct.
26, 2001, attributed to federal law enforcement officials: "On April 2 he
was in Virginia Beach. He flew to the Czech Republic on April 8 . . . by
April 11, Mr. Atta was back in Florida, renting a car."
Unreported (except on www.edwardjayepstein.com, the Web site of my unfazed Angletonian friend) is this week's response to the hidden policy-driven
doubters by the Czech interior minister, Stanislav Gross: "I believe the
counterintelligence services more than journalists." Did his agents have new
information that would cast doubt on the Atta meeting they reported with
Saddam's paymaster and controller of agents in Prague? He checked with Jeri
Ruzek, his intelligence chief: "The answer was they did not. Therefore, I
consider the matter closed."
Whom do you believe - a responsible official on the scene speaking on the
record, with no ax to grind, or U.S. spooks who may be covering up a missed
signal from Prague about Sept. 11 and are also fearful of revealing their
weakness in Iraq?
Hard-liners can play this background game, too. A "senior Bush
administration official" not in the protect-Saddam cabal tells me: "You
cannot say the Czech report about a meeting in 2001 between Atta and the
Iraqi is discredited or disproven in any way. The Czechs stand by it and
we're still in the process of pursuing it and sorting out the timing and
venue. There's no doubt Atta was in Prague in 2000, and a subsequent meeting
is at least plausible."
Someday, after Baghdad interrogations and tell-all memoirs, we'll learn the
truth about any Saddam connection with Al Qaeda. In the meantime, why won't
responsible officials take public stands?
In the C.I.A.'s misdirection play, which way is the running back headed?<A HREF="">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
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