The doubts about 9/11 are becoming more widespread. A friend just sent me this via email, it is something he put together last year. I think it asks some important questions that we still need answers to.
Asking about the Unthinkable
Writing this frightens me. And my reward may be ridicule. But somebody has to ask the questions posed here. Publicly, and not under the Bush Administration's control. They concern the unthinkable. Mainstream print and TV media have avoided them like the third rail. CNN headline news has mostly gone tabloid, with stories like Chandra Levy, Michael Skakel, the Smart kidnapping, etc., most prominent. Even the Sunday news analysis shows aren't asking the right questions. Why? This doesn't pass the smell test.
The Bush team has emphatically said, in recent months, that the only option is to take the war to terrorists, to hit them "where they live". More recently, the call has been for pre-emptive strikes. Prior to 9/11, such moves were, politically, impossible to sell.
Tom Daschle says he's been repeatedly asked by President Bush and V.P. Cheney not to ask about how 9/11 could happen. They deny it. FBI chief Mueller says he welcomes whistleblowers, but agent Robert Wright remains muzzled since Mueller's pronouncement. And Judicial Watch finds itself obliged to sue the executive branch again, to get information under the Freedom of Information Act. They're asking why the White House went on Cipro (an anti-anthrax antibiotic) on 9/11.
Probes of FBI and CIA handling of pre-9/11 intelligence paint a picture of incompetence and insufficient analysis. Those running the probes carefully point out the purpose is not finger-pointing, but to learn how to avoid repeat attacks. But the necessary data were available. The Phoenix and Coleen Rowley memos came together at one desk at FBI, where both were supposedly side-tracked, by a supervisor who was subsequently promoted. Now, the administration offers more freedom for domestic spying, and a whole new agency's worth of bureaucrats, as a solution. Members of both parties are saying this solution's overdue.
Shortly after 9/11, there were reports of abnormal pre-9/11 put option trades (ten-fold increases) in stocks of American Airlines, United Airlines, and insurance companies. These trades were initiated within the week preceeding 9/11, and yielded huge profits. After speculation that this must have been Al-Qaeda activity, the investigation has gone silent. But recently, Amr ("Anthony") Elgindy has been charged with using information he bought from FBI agents to profit in the stock market. Elgindy also allegedly called the trustee handling his daughter's $300,000 stock trust and pleaded for it to be liquidated the same day, because "the market's going to 3000". The call date: 9/10/01.
The FBI concluded that anthrax used last fall came from a US government lab or contractor. According to an apolitical source ( fas.org ), the anthrax used must have been ready to go prior to 9/11. This investigation has also "gone silent", with no arrests announced. The same source indicates the culprit is probably a US bio-weapons or bio-defense researcher. A possible implication is the perpetrator is untouchable. There have been at least eleven unusual deaths in the small bio-research community, starting last November ( globeandmail.com ). Of these, only one (Dr. Don Wiley) was widely reported in U.S. national news. Anthrax targets, you'll recall, were news organizations and Senate leaders Daschle and Leahy, who's chairman of the Senate intelligence committee. Yet on 6/9/02, Tom Ridge, on "Meet the Press" implied yet again that the anthrax attacks were Al-Qaeda's work.
FBI agent Robert Wright was pulled from investigation of U.S.-based Muslim charities. His money-laundering findings indicated that the funds were going to terrorists, in organizations in Saudi Arabia that were very close to the Saudi royal family with which the Bush family has close ties. When Wright sought to come to Washington DC to talk with congressional intelligence committee people, he was told not to leave the Chicago area without FBI permission. He's afraid for his job, and hasn't received the clearance he requested from the FBI to go public with his story.
The Bush administration has implied that investigating events leading up to 9/11 would be unpatriotic, divert resources needed to fight terrorism, and compromise secret information sources and methods. But possible implications of the above include cover-up of events knowingly allowed to happen to provide a pretext for war, or a democracy-ending power grab. If either of these is going on, there can be no holding back. We need a swift, public, independent investigation, by prominent, reputable people who can't be intimidated or silenced. |
