<Venice Florida's Huffman Aviation was the principal flight school used by Mohammed Atta and associates, though used for what is a good question, as Atta was already a pilot. (The best answer may be a familiar one to students of deep politics: trafficking narcotics.) A former Huffman manager told investigative journalist Daniel Hopsicker that a carload of FBI agents pulled up outside his house in the middle of the day, on the day of the attack.>
Ray, perhaps there was a double double double trickery going on.
You might have read my rants over the last few years about the likelihood of using opium as a red herring to smuggle in the real goods, an Al Q nuclear bomb or ten.
Cocaine would do it too. I have read rumours that even some people who consider themselves high in USA society have been nose deep in cocaine and other plant neurotoxins. So they'd have an ambivalent attitude to preventing import of plant products for profit from such a victimless crime as self-poisoning with said opioids. [Giggle, note the clever inadvertent pun about "high in USA society"].
So the flight school was perhaps a narcotics smuggling operation and Atta and co were being used as mules, with deniable plausability or whatever the jargon is, so that they could be cut loose or arrested with no problem for the Mr Bigs. Atta and co were however a step ahead of them, and were agreeing to smuggle drugs, with the real purpose being to plan the attack which they conducted.
But, they used their drug association with the USA Mr Bigs, to also introduce the idea of smuggling opium from Afghanistan, which would also be profitable for the Mr Bigs and might be less noticeable than aircraft full of cocaine coming from South America.
Atta and co would have been excellent enablers, having connections in the middle east.
So, Osama and the Taleban crowd would pack up a bunch of opium into a container, along with dates or barrels of lubricants [maybe special flight simulator hydraulic fluid or something], or whatever it is that gets supplied from the area. Load it onto a ship, going via somewhere innocuous, to arrive in say Los Angeles, New York or one of the container ports in the USA.
Atta and his drug-smuggling mates would give a nudge and a wink in exchange for a, say, $50,000 fee, to tell the bribed customs officers which container the simulator oil is in, so they could tick it off as being inspected and safe for the USA.
I suppose you've heard of the baggage handlers being drug smugglers in Australia? You can also be sure that there are some customs officers in the USA who are not totally pure choir boys. Anyway, rumour has it that even King George II might have dabbled in a bit of coca cocaine cola in his youthful days, so it's not all that bad. Just a naughty thing, not seditious or anything. So the customs officers wouldn't feel guilty about letting in a few shipments of opium or cocaine and let's face it, there is PLENTY of the stuff in the USA and they aren't growing it in Peoria, so it's coming in the ports.
So everyone's a winner! The opium growers in Afghanistan, the shipping company, Osama and the Taleban make some money, Atta and mates get their cut, the customs guys look forward to an earlier retirement, Mr Big in USA goes bling shopping, the FBI guys get their cut [and lines and doses], the distributors have a way out of the ghetto, the end users get their kicks. What could be more harmless among adults?
Of course it all has to be very hush hush, because it's highly illegal, which keeps the profits up too, which is no bad thing. Many of the public don't like it and won't vote for cocaine-snorting politicians who select the FBI head of operations who might or might not be dedicated to stopping the trade. So the trade goes on.
But Atta and his drug-running mates are not quite what they appear. Mr Khan of Pakistan happens to have a collection of nuclear bombs and a proclivity towards Islamic Jihad. And Pakistan is not all that far from Afghanistan. If the opium comes through Pakistan and is loaded into drums of simulator oil, then one of the drums might be lead-lined and contain a nuclear bomb.
So the container is loaded at Karachi and shipped via somewhere to the USA.
The customs guys look inside, check that it is indeed drums of simulator oil [and nudge nudge, wink wink, some opium which they don't want to check too closely as they are only being bribed and can enjoy plausible deniability that they were in a hurry to go to the toilet so admittedly didn't check said container too closely so it's not their fault it got through].
The container then goes on its merry way to a warehouse somewhere, where the drugs are dispensed, profits taken, Khan paid out and the whole value-chain made happy. The hot drum goes somewhere else, to wait.
I dare say a drum of oil is not a particularly conspicous oddity on the USA landscape. Having been personally involved with a LOT of drums of various things I know that there are billions of places where drums of oil can be placed without attracting a moment's notice.
For example, big buildings have air conditioning and of course compressors need lubrication and lubrication is often kept on site. So one can easily imagine drums in the basement of various buildings dotted around the USA. Big buildings especially need engineering supplies. They also make handy targets and are surrounded by other big buildings and lots of people.
So, maybe King George II was sitting reading about a goat when he was told about the Twin Tower attack and was feeling very bewildered.
Maybe all anyone imagined was a healthy supply of opiates and cash flow and some "Islamic wacoes who could be rounded up as smugglers if needs be".
Maybe the FBI local drug smuggling department knew about Atta and the Florida flying school and everyone involved was wondering what the hell to do now.
They saw major paradigm shift happen and when major paradigm shift hits the fan, it splatters over a LOT of people. So they were staking out Hopsicker's contact wondering what the hell to do next.
But hey, no problem. Atta is dead so he won't blow the whistle on anyone anyway. They didn't even need to interrogate him. So they hit the trifecta. Admittedly it wasn't all that ideal that Atta and co destroyed aircraft, people and buildings and a few $billion market capitalisations, but at least their operation was automatically protected.
Phew.
But wait, there's more.
Said drums of simulator oil are sitting waiting.
Osama and co have said several times that something much improved over the 911 attack is planned. But nothing has happened. He hasn't been caught either.
So, maybe they go on trying to get more drums of simulated oil into place and continue with that until they are sprung, or the time is right. If one drum of oil is sprung, they start their plan, which is a demand for immediate compliance with withdrawal from Iraq and other holy lands.
When, as Japan did, the USA calls the bluff, there is a big bang at not Hiroshima, but, say, downtown Houston. A further demand goes out for compliance and freedom for the Holy Lands. The USA "leaders" sweat like pigs and hope it's just one and a bluff. Nagasaki goes up!
Those damn CDMA cyberphones are very good for communicating with remotely controlled bombs to ensure they aren't disarmed if found.
We can safely say that then the world will be entering serious geopolitical "discussions".
People will think the Twin Towers attack was trivial.
Exactly who has counted all the nuclear bombs and knows exactly where they all are? Have all the Russian ones been accounted for.
I know you think I live in a fantasy world, but I consider the simulated oil attack more likely than King George II being involved in the attack on the Twin Towers and Washington.
Typically, the USA shut the stable door after the hijackers had bolted through the cockpit door so when Saddam's NZ resident step-son travelled to the USA for a flying course, in Florida I think, after 911, he was arrested, denied entry and sent back to NZ. It's a bit late to stop people learning to fly. They should have thought of that when they had actual hijackers in training.
Similarly, they stop grandmothers taking nail clipper on an aircraft. As if there is ever again going to be a hijacking. When a plane-load of people see a threat now, they'll go nuts and any intending hijackers will be buried under a pile of blankets, pillows, duty-free bottles, belts, fists, cockpit axe, other defence systems and general numbers.
Meanwhile, the opium and simulator oil keep on being delivered through the ports, with a nudge, nudge, wink, wink and a financial transaction.
Everyone knows to use an opponent's weakness against them. We all know the USA has a drug weakness, reaching into the highest echelons of society.
Mqurice |
