CLICK
THE "HOME" TAB ON ANY PAGE IN THIS SITE
TO RETURN TO THE MAIN NAVIGATIONAL PAGE
OR CHOOSE FROM THE LEFT NAV MENU
[TVOTW
Insert - If the destination page or web site for the link below does
not function - it has either been removed or closed down on
the orders or instructions of persons or entities unknown to TVOTW
for reasons that can only be speculated upon - having
regard to the content or revelations contained herein.]
TVOTW
- PAGE INDEX
FROM: http://slate.msn.com/id/2065954/
Whopper of the Week:
Robert Mueller
He knew more than
he said about 9/11.
By Timothy Noah
Posted Friday, May 17, 2002, at 1:46 PM PT
"There
were no warning signs that I'm aware of that would indicate this type
of operation in the country." —FBI
Director Robert S. Mueller, at a Sept. 17 Justice Department news briefing
about the Sept. 11 attacks.
"The July 10 [FBI
field] report from Phoenix was a five-page electronic communication
to headquarters outlining links between a group of suspected Middle
Eastern terrorists and the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott,
Ariz. The agent, whose name has not been divulged, suggested that the
FBI should canvass U.S. flight schools for information on other Middle
Eastern students. He speculated that bin Laden might be attempting to
train operatives to infiltrate the aviation industry.
"FBI Director Robert
S. Mueller III has acknowledged that the bureau should have responded
more aggressively to that report. But the FBI did not share it within
the interagency Counterterrorism Security Group, which had a 'threat
subgroup' meeting three times a week. According to sources, the Phoenix
report reached no further than FBI headquarters and the New York field
office.
" 'Even today I
get dozens of reports a day from the CIA and none from the FBI,' said
a government counterterrorism official. 'When an FBI SAC [special agent
in charge] sends in a message, it never leaves the bureau. In fact,
they can still get in trouble if they show it to you.' "
—Barton Gellman,
"Before Sept. 11, Unshared Clues and Unshaped Policy," in
the May 17 Washington Post.
"[T]he F.B.I. had
arrested Zacarias Moussaoui in Minneapolis after a flight school there
reported that he had wanted to train on a 747 flight simulator, even
though he had little experience as a pilot.
"On Aug. 13 …
Mr. Moussaoui, a French citizen, was arrested in Minnesota after officials
at a flight school there contacted the F.B.I. about their suspicions
about his behavior.
"He was arrested
on immigration charges, and in one F.B.I. interview, an agent accused
Mr. Moussaoui of being a terrorist. Mr. Moussaoui denied it, saying
only that he wanted to learn to fly."
—David Johnston
and James Risen, "Foreboding Increased, but No Single Agency Had
All the Clues," in the May 17 New York Times.
"On July 5
of last year, a month and a day before President Bush first heard that
al Qaeda might plan a hijacking, the White House summoned officials
of a dozen federal agencies to the Situation Room.
"'Something
really spectacular is going to happen here, and it's going to happen
soon,' the government's top counterterrorism official,
Richard Clarke, told the assembled group, according to two of those
present. The group included the Federal Aviation Administration, along
with the Coast Guard, FBI, Secret Service and Immigration and Naturalization
Service.
"Clarke directed
every counterterrorist office to cancel vacations, defer nonvital travel,
put off scheduled exercises and place domestic rapid-response teams
on much shorter alert. For six
weeks last summer, at home and overseas, the U.S. government was at
its highest possible state of readiness—and anxiety—against
imminent terrorist attack."
FROM: http://slate.msn.com/id/2065954/
Take
Me To A Related Article.
