Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that "he warned the United States of an
attack 12 days before the September 11 atrocity".
The Bush Administration knew that a terrorist attack was imminent. Twelve days before
the 9-11 attacks, President Hosni Mubarak, had warned the US.
Below is the text of the Associated Press report. Deafening Silence of the US Media. The
story has been barely mentioned by major US newspapers. The Atlanta Journal and
Constitution (8 December ) devotes two sentences to it.
If the US government knew and failed to act, this raises serious issues. It also bears on our
understanding and interpretation of the 9-11 events.
Was it negligence or some form of "complicity" on the part of US officials? Was there a
cover-up? If it was negligence, who then is responsible?
Did George W. Bush know? George W. and President Mubarak are said to be friends.
George W. talks regularly to President Mubarak. On the 6th of December, Mubarak
received a telephone call from George W. Mubarak's revelations concerning 9-11 were
published by a Lebanese newspaper on the 7th.
Why did the Bush Administration fail to take precautionary measures? The least we could
expect is an inquiry.
Michel Chossudovsky, CRG, 8 December 2001
Egypt Leader Says He Warned America
Associated Press, 7 December 2001
Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), globalresearch.ca, 8 December 2001
Egypt Leader Says He Warned America BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak says he warned the United States that "something would happen" 12 days
before the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
In an interview published Friday by the left-wing Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, Mubarak
also said it would be a grave mistake if Israeli forces were to kill Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat.
Mubarak did not reveal how he learned in late August of a possible terror attack on the
United States. He said he was taken aback by the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks, when
hijackers seized four U.S. airliners and crashed two into New York's World Trade Center
and one into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside
during an apparent struggle in the cockpit.
"We expected that something was going to happen and informed the Americans. We told
them," Mubarak said. He did not mention a U.S. response.
"But nobody expected the event would be of such enormity. We did not know that they
would hit this target or that, and we were all surprised when planes with passengers on
board hit the twin towers," Mubarak said.
Washington has said that in the weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks, the CIA issued a
warning that bin Laden was pressing for terrorist action against Americans. The warning
was based on new intelligence but did not have specific information on the type of attack, a
date or a location.
Mubarak also commented on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Recent Israeli airstrikes have
hit targets within 100 yards of Arafat's offices.
Mubarak said that if Israel were to kill Arafat, it would create a vacuum in the Palestinian
leadership that none of the "six to eight contenders" would be able to fill.
"Leaderships would emerge that would vie for popularity and compete in staging violent
operations, internally and externally, against Israel, plunging (the region) into chaos. They
(Israel) should understand this and know that it is dangerous," Mubarak said.
"And what would happen after Arafat? Who would Israel hold responsible for (acts of
violence) - the leaders of Hamas or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine?"
Mubarak said, referring to two militant Palestinian factions.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings that killed 25 people and
wounded scores in Jerusalem and Haifa last weekend. The PFLP claimed responsibility for
the assassination of the Israeli tourism minister in October.
Copyright AP 2001
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