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Strategies & Market Trends : Rande Is . . . HOME -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe Lyddon who wrote (55685)	10/13/2002 12:11:22 PM
From: Catfish	Respond to of 57584

This is a must see for those interested in the subject. It makes you wonder if politics, bureaucratic bungling, and turf protecting allowed 9-11 to happen without discovery. Btw, you can watch this on the internet if you have real player or Windows media player. pbs.org The Man Who Knew His name was Robert O’Neill. He was a career FBI agent and America’s most knowledgeable person on terrorism. Unfortunately, he was prevented from doing his job. The story is long and complicated. It took more than 1 ½ hours on Frontline. However, here are the main culprits: Barbara Bodine - Ambassador to Yemen A Clinton appointee and career diplomat. During the investigation of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, Bodine was highly irritated with O’Neill. She resented the way that O’Neill took over when he arrived. During the investigation, O’Neill went home for Thanksgiving, and when attempting to return to Yemen, was blocked by Bodine. This despite the good relationship that O’Neill had with his Yemeni contacts. They gave him a nick-name in Arabic which translates to “the brother”. This is particularly significant, since two of the suspects he was pursuing ended up being among the terrorists on the planes that flew into the WTC. The investigation died without O’Neill. In similar situations, O’Neill had been able to thwart terrorist attacks. Most notably, the bombing that was thwarted during the Y2K New Year’s celebration. Many believe he could have stopped the September 11 attacks. Louis Freeh - FBI Director Appointed by Clinton. Freeh refused to support O’Neill during the Yemeni incident. Moreover, on two occasions, O’Neill recommended to Freeh that the FBI counter-terrorism units needed to be reorganized. O’Neill was well aware of the problems of sharing information in the FBI and saw reorganization as the answer. Freeh refused. This is significant because significant pieces of intelligence, like the now famous Phoenix and Minneapolis memo’s were not shared with O’Neill or his unit. (He led the anti-terrorism task force in the New York field office.) Thomas Pickard – FBI Deputy Director A career FBI agent appointed to high posts by Louis Freeh. Pickard opposed O’Neill’s reorganization plans as well. Pickard prevented O’Neill from investigating the embassy bombings in Africa – despite the clear ties to Al Qaeda. Pickard was the acting FBI director when the Phoenix and Minneapolis memos were disregarded. In the summer of 2001, the nomination process for a Deputy Director of counter Terrorism at the FBI was underway. O’Neill was one of 4 names being circulated and many believe the most qualified. However, word of an investigation regarding a protocol violation by O’Neill was leaked to the New York Times. Since the post required Senate confirmation, he could not be nominated. The matter was never adjudicated. O’Neill believed that Pickard was to blame for the leak. Pickard denies the charge. Conclusion O’Neill was an intense person who loved his job. He was not liked at FBI Headquarters because he had ”sharp elbows”. How terrible for them. At the same time he endeared himself to many: U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, Assistant Attorney General Fran Townsend, and Deputy FBI Director Robert Bryant. Often Janet Reno would consult with O’Neill directly, to get his opinion. A fact that irritated FBI Headquarters. After the leak of the investigation to the New York Times, O’Neill was basically forced into retirement. In the summer of 2001, he took a job in the private sector, a very nice job as the Chief of Security for the World Trade Center. On the evening of September 10, he told the owner of a local restauraunt "We are due for something big". He died at his post.