<Bush aides fanned out yesterday to denounce as "flat wrong" Mr Clarke's assertion that the
administration neglected the al-Qa'ida problem before the multiple attacks of 11 September 2001>
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I don't usually copy and post articles this long but in this case it needs to be.
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A factual basis
Published on 1/1/2004
by TLP Staff
Just how much did Bush and co. know?
While this list is by no means complete, it highlights some of the specific allegations used in support of making a prima facie case against the Defendants in Mariani v. Bush et al.
Paragraph 61 (A), under the heading “Explicit Warnings From Foreign Sources,” the Complaint states (with most numerals and citations omitted),
In 1999, Britain’s intelligence agency, M16, warned the U.S. in a classified report that al Qaeda was planning to use airplanes in an unconventional manner to attack U.S. interests. No targets were specified. The Times of London quoted a British senior Foreign Office source saying, “The Americans knew of plans to use commercial aircraft in unconventional ways, possibly as flying bombs.” (cited in AFP 6-9-2002)
April to May 2001. U.S. government received ‘specific’ threats of terrorist attacks against U.S. targets or interests. Condoleezza Rice admitted that the U.S. government had received “specific” threats that “al Qaeda attacks against U.S. targets or interests…might be in the works. There was a clear concern that something was up, … but it was principally focused overseas. The areas of most concern were the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula and Europe.” (cited in CNN 5-16-2002 “Timeline: Events leading up to September 11”) She did not elaborate on where the intelligence originated, but the Independent of London, reported that the information had been relayed to Washington by British intelligence sources.
June 6, 2001. German intelligence warned CIA. The German intelligence agency, the BND, warned both the CIA and Israel that Middle Eastern terrorists were “planning to hijack commercial aircraft to use as weapons to attack important symbols of American and Israeli culture.” This intelligence reportedly came from Echelon, a high-tech electronic surveillance system used by the intelligence agencies of several nations to glean through electronic communications for certain keywords. It was first reported by the German daily newspaper, Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung on September 13. Its sources were reportedly from the BND itself.
July 16, 2001. British intelligence sent a report to Tony Blair warning of imminent attacks. The report was also sent to Washington. The British Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) sent a memo authored by the heads of British intelligence agencies, MI6, MI5 and GCHQ, to Tony Blair and other cabinet ministers, warning that al Qaeda was in the final stages of preparing for a terrorist attack. The memo suggested that the attacks would likely be aimed at American or Israeli targets. The report did not indicate however that the agencies had any knowledge with regards to the “timings, targets and methods of attack.” According to the Times of London, the warning was “based on intelligence gleaned not just from MI6 and GCHQ but also from US agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency, which has staff working jointly with GCHQ.”
August 2001. Moroccan intelligence warned Washington about “large scale-operations in New York in the summer or autumn of 2001.” According to reports published in November 2001 by a French magazine and a Moroccan newspaper, Morocco’s royal intelligence informed Washington that one of its agents, who had penetrated al Qaeda, learned that bin Laden’s organization was preparing “large operations in New York in the summer or autumn of 2001.” The agent, who is said to be presently in the U.S. helping its intelligence agencies, also informed Moroccan intelligence that bin Laden was ‘very disappointed’ with the first WTC bombing which failed to bring the two towers down. John Cooley (5-21-2002), who reported this in the International Herald Tribune wrote that as of 5-21-2002, he had not independently verified this warning.
August 24, 2001. Russian intelligence warned of possible hijacking. Russian intelligence warned the CIA that 25 terrorist pilots were specifically training to crash airliners into planned targets. This was reported by the Russian Izveztia on September 12. . . . According to Gordan Thomas, Russian intelligence received this information from the Israeli Mossad.
August 31, 2001. Egyptian president warned U.S. that something was brewing. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned the U.S. that “something would happen” 12 days before the terrorist attacks. Egypt had also warned the U.S. on June 13. (Martin 1-16-2002). The U.S intelligence denied that they had received this information soon before the attacks and instead alleged that the only warnings that had been given to them from Egypt occurred between March and May of 2001.
And under section B of paragraph 61, entitled “Evidence that U.S. authorities were concerned”
1994. FBI videotaped an informant being recruited as a suicide bomber by two men, one of whom was linked to Osama bin Laden. Summarizing a letter written by former FBI Special Agent James Hauswirth, the Los Angeles Times wrote, “The 27-year FBI veteran said in the letter reviewed by the Los Angeles Times that the Phoenix office had evidence of Islamic potential terrorists operating in the region as far back as 1994. That year, two men were videotaped by FBI agents recruiting a Phoenix FBI informant as a suicide bomber, the letter says. One of those men, according to a source, was linked to a terrorist in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.” (Los Angeles Times 5-27-2002)
1996-2001. The FBI was investigating suspected terrorists enrolled in flight schools. In 1996, after the Philippine police had discovered the ‘Bojinka’ plot (see above), US officials began investigating al Qaeda terrorist suspects who were training in U.S. flight schools. “Since 1996, the FBI had been developing evidence that international terrorists were using US flight schools to learn to fly jumbo jets. A foiled plot in Manila to blow up U.S. airliners and later court testimony by an associate of bin Laden had touched off FBI inquiries at several schools, officials say.”
1996 or 1997. FBI Counter terrorist specialist John O’Neil warned of terrorist capabilities. Soon after the late John O’Neil had become head of the FBI’s New York unit, he warned, “A lot of these groups now have the capability and the support infrastructure in the United States to attack us here if they choose to.” (Loeb 9-12-2002) John O’Neil, who was described as one of the FBI’s ‘most pugnacious’ agents, resigned from the FBI shortly before 9-11. He subsequently took a position as head of the WTC security, where he is believed to have died on the day of the attacks while attempting to rescue other people in the towers. September 11 had been his first day on the job. (Loeb 9-12-2002) John O’Neil had complained that the Bush administration had impeded his investigations into suspected Saudi terrorists. (Brisard and Dasquie 2001in Godoy 11-16-2001; Marlowe 11-19-2001)
Early 2001. Court proceedings revealed that al Qaeda operatives were training in
American flight schools. In early 2001, the trial of four men accused of being involved in the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania revealed that members of bin Laden’s network had received flying lessons in Texas and Oklahoma. (USA vs. Usama bin Laden et al.; Foden 9-13-2001; Martin 1-16-2002)
Summer 2001. Former chief investigative counsel warned U.S. Justice Department that FBI believed terrorists were planning to attack lower Manhattan. (a) David Shippers, a Chicago attorney who had been the chief investigative counsel in the attempted impeachment of Clinton, warned the U.S. Justice Department that a massive terrorist attack had been planned for lower Manhattan based on what FBI agents from Chicago and Minnesota had told him. His warning was shunned by officials, one of which stated, “We don’t start our investigations at the top.”
Summer 2001. The ‘threat assessment.’ On July 26 2001, CBS News reported that Attorney General John Ashcroft was no longer using commercial airliners to travel – even for personal business – because of a “threat assessment” issued by the FBI. Instead Ashcroft was using a chartered jet that cost taxpayers $1,600/hr to fly. The news network further reported: “Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.”
June 2001. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) June circular. According to ABC sources the FAA distributed a circular in June of 2001 that stated, “Although we have no specific information that this threat is directed at civil aviation, the potential for terrorist operations, such as an airline hijacking to free terrorists incarcerated in the U.S. remains a concern.”
July 3, 2001. Federal investigators learned significant intelligence from Ahmed Ressam, and al Qaeda operative who had planned to bomb Los Angeles Airport. Newsweek reported, “After he was convicted in the spring of 2001, Ressam started giving investigators detailed information on Al Qaeda’s designs in the United States. He left no doubt that U.S. airports were a prime target “because an airport is sensitive politically and economically,” as Ressam said in Court on July 3.
July 10, 2001. Internal FBI memo warned that men with suspected ties to terrorist groups were training in Arizona flight schools. (a) On July 10 of 2001, FBI agent Kenneth Williams in Arizona sent a memo from the Phoenix FBI office to the radical fundamentalist anti-terrorism unit (which was aware of the Moussaoui case-see below) in the Bureau’s Washington headquarters warning that several Arab men with suspected ties to terrorist groups were training at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona. (b) Interestingly, the memo mentioned Osama bin Laden by name and speculated that his organization may be attempting to infiltrate the U.S. aviation industry with pilots, security guards, and maintenance workers. Williams had associated the flight school students with al Qaeda based on a link he had established between several of the students and the London-based militant Muslim group, al-Muhajiroun, whose leader was an open supporter of bin Laden. One Senator who had read the memo told reporters, “I will tell you, though, that although he didn’t come up with the exact Sept. 11 scenario, what he presents in that memo was so close to the fact pattern that emerged on Sept. 11 that, as you read it, it just takes your breath away.”
August 6, 2001. Memo (“The Smoking Gun RICO Act Obstruction of Justice Claim”) (a) On August 6, President George Bush received an intelligence briefing, titled “Bin Laden determined to strike in the U.S.” that warned that bin Laden may attempt to hijack airplanes and that the Saudi millionaire’s terrorist organization wanted “to bring the fight to America.” This information was relayed to Bush after he had previously been supplied with intelligence of a more generalized quality that had indicated that al Qaeda was planning to attack the U.S. or U.S. interests abroad. . . . (c) Dan Eggen and Bob Woodward of The Washington Post revealed that according to their sources, the August 6 briefing had been a result of Bush’s request for “an intelligence analysis of possible al Qaeda attacks within the United States, because most of the information presented to him over the summer about al Qaeda focused on threats against U.S. targets overseas.” Furthermore they noted that the content of the memo, as described by their sources, “was focused primarily on a discussion of possible domestic targets.” This stands in stark contrast with what Condoleezza Rice had told reporters when she said that the memo had focused primarily on threats to U.S. interests abroad. Additionally, the two reporters questioned the truthfulness of a statement given by Ari Fletcher. Whereas The Washington Post’s sources insisted that the title of the memo was “Bin Laden determined to strike in America,” Fletcher had stated that the title was “Bin Laden determined to strike America.” The source of the terrorist threats contained in the August 6 memo reportedly came from British intelligence. (d) Commenting on the disturbing revelation, The New York Times pondered, “It was not clear this evening why the White House waited eight months after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington to reveal what Mr. Bush had been told.”
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