Posted on 09/10/2003 4:15:54 PM PDT by swaimh
The Saudi government paid off al-Qaida in exchange for immunity from terror attacks. Saudi princes knew in advance about the Sept. 11 attacks. Most of the Saudi officials who assisted al-Qaida all died mysteriously soon thereafter. The revelations in Gerald Posner's new book Why America Slept are an astonishing reminder of just how much we still don't know about Sept. 11 and its planning.
But there is also plenty that we think we know but don't. I'm not talking about shoddy conspiracy theories (that Jews were warned not to show up for work at the World Trade Center, for example) believed by the ignorant and the paranoid, but widespread misconceptions held by everyday Americans. Here are six of the most common:
1. The misconception: Zacarias Moussaoui was the "20th hijacker." In the first months after the attacks, federal officials—including Vice President Cheney—hinted that Moussaoui, who was taken into federal custody before Sept. 11, might have been the missing man on the Flight 93 hijacking team. Moussaoui's indictment in Dec. 2001 also linked him to the Sept. 11 plot, trying to show parallels between Moussaoui and the Sept. 11 terrorists—flight training, joining a gym, mysterious funding from overseas, connection to ringleader Ramzi Binalshibh, etc.
What's wrong with the story: There is no actual evidence that Moussaoui was supposed to be on Flight 93 or the other planes. Moussaoui had no contact with any of the Sept. 11 hijackers and took his flight training long after they did. According to Yosri Fouda and Nick Fielding's Masterminds of Terror, Binalshibh has said that while he contemplated Moussaoui as an understudy for 9/11, he was never part of the plot. Binalshibh said he was glad that he kept Moussaoui, who was not really trusted by al-Qaida, away from the other hijackers. (Incidentally, it is Binalshibh who was a failed hijacker: He couldn't get a U.S. visa.) This does not excuse Moussaoui, a truly bad guy who was apparently preparing for some act of airplane terrorism.
(Bonus Moussaoui misconception: that he only wanted to learn how to steer jumbo jets, not take off or land. In fact, as this Slate Explainer notes, the opposite is true: Moussaoui only wanted to learn takeoffs and landings.)
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.msn.com ...
He's ill-informed. I have no interest, but maybe someone wants to drop him a line or two. You might say this:
Dear David:
Thanks for the article at MSNBC. You're right, Moussaoui was not part of the 9/11 coterie of Al Qaeda operatives. There is no evidence that he would have been involved. In fact, he himself admits he was pre-postioned in the US as part of a second-wave attack on our shores involving aircraft. Apparently his plans involved take off and landing, so you should consider what that could entail.
Your title is, "What You Think You Know About Sept. 11 … … but don't". Everyone could know more, and I don't think you'd claim otherwise for yourself. In that regard, here's some more you can know:
As reported by the Washington Post and others, Moussaoui's computer contained files on cropdusting, wind patterns and chemical disbursement.
Which is all the more interesting since point 4 of your article seeks to dismiss a possible Al Qaeda cropduster attack. For one, you cite the fact that the Government dropped the cropduster language from its criminal complaint. This is not proof of anything except the government erasing factual allegations that conflict with its current prosecutorial theory to pin Moussaoui as a 9/11 conspirator.
You also cite a short and weak article that mentions a loan agent and one employee of a Florida cropdusting business. The agent, frankly, is loopy, and the fact that one employee might have misidentified Atta on one occassion among many Arabs is stretching matters. There were other witnesses to Atta and seeming friends enquiring about cropdusters.
Google searches of terms like "Moussaoui" and "Cropdusting" will rapidly bring you up to date. The one article you cite is literally worthless and you could do much better. ----Freeper x-----
---Send it if you like, I really wrote it for readers here. :) This does not excuse Moussaoui, a truly bad guy who was apparently preparing for some act of airplane terrorism.
Since tom Clancy had a 747 crashing into the Captiol, It was not unforeseen - maybe just considered to be part of a fictional plot.
The dims give W h!!! about WMD. If he had told them that this was a possibility, they would still be on the floor laughing. We still can't profile because of them and the clintonistas still in the various agencies. And don't blame their presence on W. Have you ever heard of firing a federal employee?
It was foreseeable, but our security agencies didn't think of a scenario where the hijackers would work without guns - but little knives, terror, and disinfo to the passengers that the plane would land, demands would be made and such. This fit the passengers expectation of a hijacking. Flight 93 was late, and the passengers had cell phones, so they figured out what was really up.
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