1995. Project Bojinka: plans were uncovered by Philippine authorities to crash hijacked plane into CIA headquarters
(a) In January of 1995, Filipino police uncovered a plan referred to as "Project Bojinka" to blow-up eleven [11] planes simultaneously in the air and crash another plane into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Another plane was to be flown into the Pentagon. One report that was issued by the Filipino police stated, "Murad's idea is that he will board any American commercial aircraft pretending to be an ordinary passenger, then he will hijack said aircraft, control its cockpit and dive it at the CIA headquarters. There will be no bomb or any explosive that he will use in its execution. It is a suicidal mission that he is very much willing to execute." The informant, Abdul Hakim Murad, had himself trained at a flight school in Norman, Oklahoma. According to the AP, "Murad, who later claimed he was tortured during his interrogations, detailed to Filipino authorities how he and a Pakistani friend crisscrossed the United States, attending flight schools in New York, Texas, California and North Carolina on his way to earning a commercial pilot's license." (cited in Gomez and Solomon 3-5-2002; see also Baker et al. 10-23-2001; Fainaru and Grimaldi 9-23-2001; Ressa 9-18-2001; Martin 1-16-2002; Grigg 3-11-2002; Shelon 5-18-2002; Hersh and Isikoff 5-27-2002; Public Information Center 5-2002)
(b) Some time during 1995, a suspect in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, revealed information about the same plan. (Public Information Center 5-2002; Martin 1-16-2002; Grigg 3-11-2002)
(c) After the above revelation, "FBI agents descended upon the flying schools in 1995, and returned to some of those locations immediately after Sept. 11." (Gomez and Solomon 3-5-2002)
(7) 1996. U.S. officials considered possibility of terrorists hijacking a commercial airliner and slamming it into the Olympic games in Atlanta
In 1996, U.S. officials considered the possibility of terrorists using hijacked airliners or crop dusters to stage an attack on the Olympic games in Atlanta a realistic threat. In order to prevent such a scenario, the authorities patrolled the skies with Black Hawk Helicopters and US Customs service jets. (Feinman and Pasternak 11-17-2001; Martin 1-16-2002)
(8) September 1999. A report commissioned by government mentioned possibility that terrorists could hijack commercial jets, load them with explosives and crash them into the Pentagon, CIA or White House
In September of 1999, the author of a report prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress surmised that "Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaeda's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency or the White House." (Hudson 2-1999; cited in Solomon 5-17-2002; ABC News 5-17-2002; Eggen and Woodward 5-19-2002)
(9) Security officials for 2000 Olympic games in Sydney considered possibility of terrorists crashing a hijacked jet into the opening ceremony
Officials in charge of security at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney had considered the possibility of a terrorist attack involving "a fully loaded, fuelled airliner crashing into the opening ceremony before a worldwide television audience." (cited in Magnay 9-20-2001; Martin 1-16-2002)
(10) October 24-26, 2000 Pentagon officials carry out a "detailed" emergency drill based upon the crashing of a hijacked airliner into the Pentagon
"You get to see the people that we'll be dealing with and to think about the scenarios and what you would do," Sgt. Kelly Brown said. "It's a real good scenario and one that could happen easily." (Military District of Washington News Service, 11/03/00) The Pentagon is such an obvious target that, "For years, staff at the Pentagon joked that they worked at "Ground Zero", the spot at which an incoming nuclear missile aimed at America's defenses would explode. There is even a snack bar of that name in the central courtyard of the five-sided building, America's most obvious military bulls eye." (Telegraph, 9/16/01)
(11) Summer 2001. U.S. officials were concerned that terrorists might crash a commercial airliner into Genoa Summit
In the summer of 2001, U.S. officials were warned of a planned attack using an airplane to assassinate Bush during the Genoa Summits. The Los Angeles Times (9-27-2001) reported, "U.S. and Italian officials were warned in July that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit of industrialized nations, officials said Wednesday. Italian officials took the reports seriously enough to prompt extraordinary precautions during the July summit of the Group of 8 nations, including closing the airspace over Genoa and stationing antiaircraft guns at the city's airport."
(12) Dates unknown "Prior to 9-11" NORAD had considered the possibility that hijackers might crash a jet into a target on American soil
General Ed Eberhart of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) admitted that NORAD had practiced responding to such a scenario where terrorists hijack a plane and attempt to crash it into a target in the U.S. (Shuger 2-16-2002)
(13) Dates unknown
Buried within some 350,000 pages of documents handed over by the CIA to the Congressional 9-11 investigation, were "Reports discussing the possibility of suicide bombings, plots to fly planes into buildings and strikes against the Pentagon, World Trade Center and other high-profile targets." (cited in Diamond 6-3-2002).
1995. Project Bojinka: plans were uncovered by Philippine authorities to crash hijacked plane into CIA headquarters
(a) In January of 1995, Filipino police uncovered a plan referred to as "Project Bojinka" to blow-up eleven [11] planes simultaneously in the air and crash another plane into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Another plane was to be flown into the Pentagon. One report that was issued by the Filipino police stated, "Murad's idea is that he will board any American commercial aircraft pretending to be an ordinary passenger, then he will hijack said aircraft, control its cockpit and dive it at the CIA headquarters. There will be no bomb or any explosive that he will use in its execution. It is a suicidal mission that he is very much willing to execute." The informant, Abdul Hakim Murad, had himself trained at a flight school in Norman, Oklahoma. According to the AP, "Murad, who later claimed he was tortured during his interrogations, detailed to Filipino authorities how he and a Pakistani friend crisscrossed the United States, attending flight schools in New York, Texas, California and North Carolina on his way to earning a commercial pilot's license." (cited in Gomez and Solomon 3-5-2002; see also Baker et al. 10-23-2001; Fainaru and Grimaldi 9-23-2001; Ressa 9-18-2001; Martin 1-16-2002; Grigg 3-11-2002; Shelon 5-18-2002; Hersh and Isikoff 5-27-2002; Public Information Center 5-2002)
(b) Some time during 1995, a suspect in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, revealed information about the same plan. (Public Information Center 5-2002; Martin 1-16-2002; Grigg 3-11-2002)
(c) After the above revelation, "FBI agents descended upon the flying schools in 1995, and returned to some of those locations immediately after Sept. 11." (Gomez and Solomon 3-5-2002)
(7) 1996. U.S. officials considered possibility of terrorists hijacking a commercial airliner and slamming it into the Olympic games in Atlanta
In 1996, U.S. officials considered the possibility of terrorists using hijacked airliners or crop dusters to stage an attack on the Olympic games in Atlanta a realistic threat. In order to prevent such a scenario, the authorities patrolled the skies with Black Hawk Helicopters and US Customs service jets. (Feinman and Pasternak 11-17-2001; Martin 1-16-2002)
(8) September 1999. A report commissioned by government mentioned possibility that terrorists could hijack commercial jets, load them with explosives and crash them into the Pentagon, CIA or White House
In September of 1999, the author of a report prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress surmised that "Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaeda's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency or the White House." (Hudson 2-1999; cited in Solomon 5-17-2002; ABC News 5-17-2002; Eggen and Woodward 5-19-2002)
(9) Security officials for 2000 Olympic games in Sydney considered possibility of terrorists crashing a hijacked jet into the opening ceremony
Officials in charge of security at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney had considered the possibility of a terrorist attack involving "a fully loaded, fuelled airliner crashing into the opening ceremony before a worldwide television audience." (cited in Magnay 9-20-2001; Martin 1-16-2002)
(10) October 24-26, 2000 Pentagon officials carry out a "detailed" emergency drill based upon the crashing of a hijacked airliner into the Pentagon
"You get to see the people that we'll be dealing with and to think about the scenarios and what you would do," Sgt. Kelly Brown said. "It's a real good scenario and one that could happen easily." (Military District of Washington News Service, 11/03/00) The Pentagon is such an obvious target that, "For years, staff at the Pentagon joked that they worked at "Ground Zero", the spot at which an incoming nuclear missile aimed at America's defenses would explode. There is even a snack bar of that name in the central courtyard of the five-sided building, America's most obvious military bulls eye." (Telegraph, 9/16/01)
(11) Summer 2001. U.S. officials were concerned that terrorists might crash a commercial airliner into Genoa Summit
In the summer of 2001, U.S. officials were warned of a planned attack using an airplane to assassinate Bush during the Genoa Summits. The Los Angeles Times (9-27-2001) reported, "U.S. and Italian officials were warned in July that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit of industrialized nations, officials said Wednesday. Italian officials took the reports seriously enough to prompt extraordinary precautions during the July summit of the Group of 8 nations, including closing the airspace over Genoa and stationing antiaircraft guns at the city's airport."
(12) Dates unknown "Prior to 9-11" NORAD had considered the possibility that hijackers might crash a jet into a target on American soil
General Ed Eberhart of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) admitted that NORAD had practiced responding to such a scenario where terrorists hijack a plane and attempt to crash it into a target in the U.S. (Shuger 2-16-2002)
(13) Dates unknown
Buried within some 350,000 pages of documents handed over by the CIA to the Congressional 9-11 investigation, were "Reports discussing the possibility of suicide bombings, plots to fly planes into buildings and strikes against the Pentagon, World Trade Center and other high-profile targets." (cited in Diamond 6-3-2002). |
