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THIS IS THE ESSAY THAT REFLECTS THE ABOVE URL:America Betrayed - Bush
Administration,
FBI Complicity In 911
By R. Joseph, PhD
5-29-2
America Betrayed: Bush Administration And FBI Complicity In
The 911 Terror Attacks On America
The September 11 attack on America was planned, coordinated, and carried out
under the watchful eyes and with the helpful assistance of top officials in the FBI,
CIA, and Bush Administration--officials who did everything in their power to
insure that the operation would be a spectacular triumph unequaled in the world of
terrorism and political opportunism. As planned, the mass murder of over 3,000
Americans, transformed an inept, seemingly incompetent president into a war time
leader, possibly insuring his reelection and a Republican resurgence and power
grab.
As expected, the gamble paid off handsomely.
Despite their claims of having been taken unawares and with complete surprise, top
officials in the FBI, CIA, and Bush administration, knew with almost absolute
certainty that al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were planning to launch a major
attack on the United States before the end of 2001 and that five-man hijacking
teams would commandeer American commercial jetliners and crash them,
kamikaze style, into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Government and Bush administration officials not only knew in advance, they
welcomed the attacks, which is why these same officials conspired to sabotage the
efforts of FBI field agents who were on the verge of uncovering the 9/11 plot.
Top officials in the United States government had in fact known about the plot
since 1995 when they received a warning from Philippine officials who informed
them that bin Laden associates were undergoing flight training in the U.S.
Terrorists were planning to crash hijacked airliners into the Pentagon and New
York's World Trade Center, U.S. officials were told.
In 1995 and 1996, the FBI also learned that al-Qaeda associate, Abdul Hakim
Murad and two other men, had received flight training at four different flight
schools in the U.S. during the early 1990s: Coastal Aviation, Richmor Aviation,
Schenectady flight school and Alpha Tango Flying Services in San Antonio. Murad
was in fact recruited by Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the bin Laden operative who had
plotted and carried out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Murad was
subsequently convicted of plotting to crash a suicide plane into CIA headquarters
and blow up a dozen U.S. commercial jetliners over the Pacific.
Specifically, in addition to the World Trade Center bombing, it was determined in
1996, that Yousef and Murad had been plotting to train and deploy five-man
terrorist teams who were to infiltrate and bomb 12 different commercial jetliners,
including Northwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines, some of which
were to be crashed into U.S. cities, including New York and Washington.
U.S. government prosecutors described the plot as "one of the most hideous crimes
anyone ever conceived."
In October of 1996, FBI agents in Phoenix were also informed by an undercover
agent, Harry Ellen, that a number of Arab extremists at a local mosque were
receiving aviation training. Ellen was alarmed and informed the Phoenix office "that
it would be terrible if the bad guys were able to gain this kind of access to
airplanes, flight training and crop dusters. You really ought to look at this, it's an
interesting mix of people."
Indeed, one of the bad guys was Hanji Hajour, one of the September 11 hijackers.
Hanjour was living in Phoenix and taking flight lessons at two different local
schools: Professional Pilot Training and Cockpit Resource Management. Yet
another suspected terrorist, Lotfi Raissi, was also in Phoenix, and later was briefly
jailed in Britain on suspicion of training some of the 9/11 terrorists.
Over the ensuing months and years, the FBI and CIA continued to receive
intelligence which detailed how terrorists had gained entry into the United States
and were receiving pilot training for the purposes of crashing commercial jetliners
into American cities, including New York and Washington.
For example, following the arrest of those involved in the 1998 bombings of U.S.
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, documents were discovered which contained
numerous references to pilot training and flight schools and a plot to hijack U.S.
jetliners. Two participants in the 1998 bombings, who subsequently turned
government informant, also revealed to the FBI that they and other men directly
linked with bin Laden, had been ordered to take flight classes. Specifically, Essam
al-Ridi, received flight training at the Ed Boardman Aviation School in Fort Worth
whereas Ihab Ali Nawawi received flight training at Airman Flight School in
Norman, Oklahoma. This same Ihab Ali Nawawi was linked to the 1998 embassy
bombings. Another terrorist, L'Houssaine Kerchtou, received flight raining in
Nairobi.
In yet another high profile case, an Algerian terrorist, Ahmed Ressam, with direct
links to al-Qaeda and bin Laden, informed FBI officials that al-Qaeda was planning
to carry out coordinated terrorist assaults on high profile American targets including
New York City and the Pentagon. Ressam, who had been arrested in 1999 for
plotting to carry out terrorist attacks on the Los Angeles airport, detailed the plot to
FBI agents as part of a plea agreement. Bin Laden, he warned, would soon unleash
an incomprehensible horror on the people of the United States, and American
commercial jetliners would be used as weapons in the attack.
In 1999, the CIA and FBI received additional intelligence reports which warned
that terrorists might hijack commercial jetliners and slam them into the Pentagon or
the White House.
Over the ensuing months and throughout 2001, the FBI, CIA, and other U.S.
intelligence agencies became increasingly aware that individuals known or
suspected to be linked with bin Laden or other terrorists groups, had been slipping
into the country. They also knew that suspected terrorists on the FBI's "watch list"
were receiving flight training. And they knew that men on their "watch list" were
holding late night meetings that were attended by other men who were being
watched, and many of these men then attended yet other meetings at different
locations with yet other men on the FBI's "watch list" as well as with men who
would later carry out the 9/11 attacks.
In fact, a dozen different individuals that the FBI maintains on a "watch list" and
who were under some form of surveillance, shared the same U.S. addressees and
were in fact living with several of the 9/11 hijackers.
For example, eight of those on the FBI's watch list lived at the same address as two
of the 9/11 hijackers: Hamza Alghamdi and Ahmed Alghamdi. All ten men shared a
dormitory at Flight Safety International--a flight school in Vero Beach--and were
training to be pilots. Hamza and Ahmed were on the jet that hit the south Tower of
the World Trade Center.
Yet another certified pilot on the FBI's watch list shared an address in Daytona
Beach with Waleed Alshehri, a hijacker on the flight that struck the north Tower of
the World Trade Center. Also at that address: Saeed Alghamdi, a hijacker on the
flight that crashed in Pennsylvania.
Waleed Alshehri and his brother Wail Alshehri, also shared yet another address
with a woman living in Hollywood, Florida, who was also on the "watch list." And,
she shared their surname: Alshehri.
A Coral Springs man who was also on the FBI's watch list shared the same address
as Marwan Al-Shehhi and Mohamed Atta. Al-Shehhi and Atta piloted the
commercial jets that struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
The FBI was not only aware that Mohamed Atta was in the U.S. and receiving
flight training, but that he been implicated in previous terrorist attacks, and had met
with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer. In fact, by law, Atta and his "cousin"
Marwan, should have never been granted visas or allowed into the country; yet in
the months prior to 9/11 they were allowed to continue their activities unhindered.
They were not alone. Several of the other hijackers had also been granted visas
and allowed into this country in the weeks and months before 9/11 although they
were known to be veterans of previous terrorist attacks. Salem Alhamzi and Khalid
Al-Midhar were on a special terrorist-watch list given to Border Patrol and I.N.S.
agents on August 21, 2001.
There were excellent reasons for keeping an eye on Khalid Al-Midhar and to
prevent him from entering the country. The year before he had been videotaped
meeting with one of the suspects in the Oct. 12, 2000 terrorist attack of the USS
Cole. Yet, Khalid Al-Midhar had no difficulty entering the United States. Although
the I.N.S. and Border Patrol had been alerted, Khalid Al-Midhar, a man known to
have been associating with known terrorists, legally entered the United States on a
business visa.
Salem Alhamzi also waltzed right in and did so in a "legal" manner. He had a
business visa.
Despite the fact that Alhamzi and Al-Midhar were considered dangerous, they were
allowed free entry into the U.S., and immediately set up housekeeping together at
the Marriott Hotel in New York, which was listed as their official residence. Three
weeks later, on September 11, Khalid Al-Midha and Salem Alhamzi would hijack
American Airlines flight 77 and then crash it into the Pentagon.
The FBI, CIA, and Bush administration, not only had advanced and detailed
information and then did nothing to prevent the 9/11 assault and murder of 3000
Americans, they tried to cover it up and then lied about it.
After the September 11, attack, Robert S. Mueller III, Director of the FBI, said he
was surprised to discover there were terrorists in the U.S., and even more
surprised to learn they had been receiving flight training. "This is news to me" he
said, and then added, "obviously, if we had understood that to be the case, we
would have averted this."
Other top officials in the FBI, CIA, and Bush administration, including President
George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney, echoed these claims of
ignorance. Bush and Cheney were lying. They had received detailed briefings in
August 2001.
In the months, weeks, and days before 9/11, top officials in the FBI, CIA, and in
the Bush administration knew with 100% certainty that over a dozen men with
links to Osama bin Laden and his organization were in the United States and
attending U.S. flight schools. And government and Bush administration officials
knew that these men were being trained to hijack commercial jetliners in order to
use them as guided missiles that would be fired at major U.S. cities including New
York and Washington. And, by August 2001, they knew with 100% certainty that
a horrific attack would soon take place and that the primary targets would be the
Pentagon and the World Trade Center.
Top government officials in the CIA, FBI, and Bush administration not only knew
that thousands of Americans were about to be murdered in the worst terrorist
attack the country had every known, they insured that these attacks would take
place by sabotaging the investigative efforts of FBI field agents. They did so in
order to reap the political benefits: A successful terrorist attack coupled with
massive loss of life would increase their power and would transform an inept,
incompetent president into an easily re-elected war time leader.
In the months before 9/11, top officials in the FBI, CIA, and Bush administration,
formed an unholy alliance and "silent" partnership with al-Qaeda and the Taliban,
providing them with over 43 million dollars in funding in March of 2001--despite
the objections of all other government agencies. The 9/11 hijackers were not only
trained in this country, their activities were likely funded by U.S. dollars provided
by the Bush administration.
Moreover, these same officials sabotaged the efforts of any and all FBI field
agents, especially those in Florida, Arizona, and Minnesota, who threatened to
unravel and reveal the plot.
Like their superiors in Washington, FBI field agents knew that the nation was in
danger of a terrorist attack, and that this threat involved the hijacking of
commercial airliners. What these field agents did not know, but which they began
to suspect, was that their superiors in Washington were acting as "accomplices" to
Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
On August 15 of 2001, just weeks before the 9/11 attack, FBI agents in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, arrested Zacarias Moussaoui who was in the U.S.
illegally. They were alerted to Moussaoui's presence and the danger he
represented, by the manager of the International Flight School in Eagan,
Minnesota.
Moussaoui, the FBI was told, had been requesting training in a Boeing 747
simulator. However, he had no interest in learning about landings or takeoffs.
According to an instructor at the flight school: "He just wanted to learn to steer the
plane, which was very odd."
The FBI field office soon learned from French intelligence officials that Zacarias
Moussaoui was a suspected terrorist affiliated with radical fundamentalist Islamic
groups and Osama Bin Laden. Upon further investigation, Minneapolis FBI agents
became convinced that Moussaoui posed a direct threat to the security of the
United States and that he was part of a widespread terrorist plot that involved the
hijacking and destruction of commercial U.S. jet liners.
However, in order to confirm their suspicions and prevent what they were
convinced was a major threat to the United States, the field agents required a
criminal search warrant which would allow them to search his personal affect and
in particular, his computer lap top.
As detailed by Coleen Rowley, a senior FBI agent in the Minneapolis office, they
required approval from FBI Headquarters and the Department of Justice, before
they could seek a warrant from the United States Attorney's Office in Minnesota.
Incredibly, FBI headquarters turned down the request. As detailed by Rowley in a
13 page memo sent to FBI Director Mueller, FBI officials in fact altered and
deleted critical information from Rowley's request and purposefully sabotaged it so
that a warrant would not and could not be issued.
What makes the behavior of FBI headquarters even more outrageous is that they
and the CIA were on heightened alert and had just received a report from Israel's
intelligence services which warned that as many as 200 terrorists linked to Osama
bin Laden had slipped into the country and were preparing to launch a major
assault on the United States. Moreover, the previous month, "terrorism czar"
Richard Clarke issued a "superalert" and warned FBI, aviation and INS officials
that "something really spectacular" was in the works and that the U.S. would soon
be attacked and that U.S. aircraft might be hijacked as part of a coordinated
terrorist assault.
"Everybody knew about a heightened alert, and knew that bin Laden was preparing
a big attack," admitted an administration official on conditions of anonymity. In
fact, George W. Bush and other security officials had received a memorandum in
August which explicitly stated that bin Laden and al-Qaeda were about to launch an
attack. Bush responded to this threat by leaving Washington and returning to his
ranch in Texas where he hid out for the next four weeks. Bush repeated this
performance on 9/11, abandoning Washington for Florida prior to the attack, after
which he hid out in an atomic bomb-proof shelter.
When informed that the warrant request had been altered and then denied, FBI
agents in the Minneapolis field office were shocked and outraged as they were
convinced an attack was about to take place and that Moussaoui was the key to
preventing it. In fact, given the widespread knowledge that the U.S. was about to
be attacked and that commercial jets would be employed, the roadblocks erected
by FBI headquarters seem incredibly suspicious to these agents. Some of the
Minneapolis field agents even began to suggest that top FBI officials were acting as
"accomplices" to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
Undaunted by the roadblocks erected by top FBI officials, and convinced that a
major assault on the U.S. would soon be launched and that information that would
enable our government to thwart that attack could be found in Moussaoui's
computer, Minneapolis agents "desperately" sought help from the CIA. However,
instead of assisting, CIA officials reported the agents to FBI headquarters which
then proceeded to threaten and chastise them.
According to Rowley, top officials in the FBI were obviously determined to
sabotage, disrupt, block, and prevent access to Moussaoui's computer.
And why was that?
Following 9/11, a search warrant was finally issued, and specific details pertaining
to the 9/11 terrorist attack was found--information that would have enabled the
U.S. government to prevent the attack if it has been uncovered prior to 9/11.
Moussaoui, it is now believed, was to be the "20th" hijacker.
The Minneapolis field office was not alone in these failed and sabotaged attempts
to prevent this catastrophe. In July of 2001, Phoenix FBI agent, Kenneth Williams,
had concluded a painstaking investigation and had uncovered detailed information
that linked a number of Middle Eastern flight students to Osama bin Laden and to
a radical British Islamic group, Al-Muhajiroun.
Williams became alarmed and sought to warn FBI headquarters because eight of
these Middle Eastern men were not only receiving flight training but had sought
information about airport security. Moreover, he discovered that one of the flight
school students had communicated with Abu Zubaydah, one of bin Laden's top
aides.
In July of 2001, just two months before the 9/11 attack, Williams prepared a secret
memorandum which named names and detailed his suspicions and which
recommended that the FBI immediately begin canvassing flight schools in order to
identify any suspected terrorists. Williams' memo and suggestions were sent to and
then rejected by the very same FBI officials in the FBI headquarters who weeks
later would alter and turn down the warrant requested by the Minneapolis offices.
Inexplicably and completely contrary to established protocol, neither the Phoenix or
Minnesota FBI field offices were informed that each had independently developed
information suggesting that commercial jets might soon be hijacked and crashed
into U.S. cities. The alteration and deletion of information contained in the
Minnesota warrant request was also a direct violation of FBI regulations.
FBI agents in Minnesota, however, were so convinced that an attack would soon
take place, that they rewrote the warrant applications only to again have
information removed and deleted; an action which insured the warrant would again
be rejected and that terrorists could successfully carry out the 9/11 attack.
The events of and leading up to 9/11 was not just a crime but a horrific tragedy.
Why did this happen?
"Who benefits?" is one of the first questions that should be answered when a crime
of this magnitude is committed.
Another question that deserves a detailed answer: "If they knew in advance, why
would top officials in the FBI, CIA, and Bush administration allow this tragedy to
take place?"
These questions have the same probable answer:
The 9/11 tragedy and mass murder of 3000 Americans would transform an
unpopular and inept president into a war time leader who could not only claim
unprecedented power, but whose administration could then successfully threaten,
intimidate, and prevent anyone from uncovering the complicity of the FBI, CIA,
and the Bush administration in this horrific assault on America.
Immediately following 9/11, and after he emerged from hiding, President Bush
lavishly praised his accomplices in the FBI and warned off those who might dare to
question or criticize the agency. Moreover, although he had grounded all
commercial and private jets, he made one critical exception: The bin Laden family,
with whom he and his father had personal and financial ties, were allowed to
escape questioning and the U.S. and to fly back to Saudi Arabia.
Both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney also began threatening those
who were suggesting that the events leading up to 9/11 should have been
anticipated, and both Bush and Cheney urged Senate and House Republican
leaders and Democratic Majority Leader Tom Daschle to block any investigation
into the events of Sept. 11.
Why would they do that? What are they afraid of?
We believe the answer is obvious.
The cover up began well before 9/11. The cover up continues to this day.
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