U.S. warned in 1995 of plot to hijack planes, attack buildings (9/18/01 flashback)

cnn ^

[chance33_98]

MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- The FBI was warned six years ago of a terrorist plot to hijack commercial planes and slam them into the Pentagon, the CIA headquarters and other buildings, Philippine investigators told CNN.

Philippine authorities learned of the plot after a small fire in a Manila apartment, which turned out to be the hideout of Ramzi Yousef, who was later convicted for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Yousef escaped at the time, but agents caught his right-hand man, Abdul Hakim Murad, who told them a chilling tale.

[Skywarner]

What did the President know and when did he know it?

Clinton that is....!!!!

[tsmith130]

They said they passed that information on to the FBI in 1995, but it's not clear what was done with it.

It's not!? Seems pretty clear to me what was done with it...nothing.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Part of the strategy of the terrorist is to create uncertainty as to the time, place and manner of the attack. False schemes and dead ends can tie up the investigation. The FBI must follow a pragmatic path; the terrorist can take any path.

[DefCon]

Are we gonna kick this old football around again?
To what end?
Somebody find the old threads.
There were several on this topic from back in 2001.

[teletech]

What! Clinton knew in 1995 and did NOTHING! Nah, this has to Bush's fault. The AP says so!

[ladyinred]

That settles it! If we were warned in 1995 of an attack then that President ought to be impeached. Oh nevermind, he was.

[Retired Chemist]

Don't tell Bob Kerrey

[chance33_98]

Are we gonna kick this old football around again?

Yes. Apparently the 9/11 commission has not read it all that well. The FBI admits to failures (as my other posts show) as does the CIA in their duties. Clinton had 5+ years to shore up Airline security, and did not. Bush had 8 months to get things going, which was not easy with sore losers throwing up road block tantrums.

The truth is out there, they just don't like it so want to remake it in the image they have in their mind - in an election year. They are shameless, and they are using the deaths of 3000 americans to try and get their candidate elected by lying. The government was aware such things could happen, did nothing, and blame a guy 8 months on the job when other agencies have already went on record about their own intel failures.

[Gator113]

Gee Mr. nonpartisan Kerrey......so as I remember, you said that Clinton was forthcoming and cooperative in his interview. I wonder, might it be time to put him under oath and have him testify in public???

Bush should give up ALL of the Clinton records....lets make this a REAL circus......not just a Democrat one!!

[chance33_98]

In fact, the 9/11 commission does know it:

We conclude this section with a final observation. The last major terrorist attack on a U.S. flagged airliner had been with smuggled explo sives, in 1988, in the case of Pan Am 103. The famous Bojinka plot broken up in Manila in 1995 had principally been a plot to smuggle explosives on airliners. The Commission on Aviation Safety and Security created by President Clinton in 1996, named the Gore Commission for its chairman, the Vice President, had focused overwhelmingly on the danger of explosives on aircraft. Historically, explosives on aircraft had taken a heavy death toll, hijackings had not. So, despite continued foreign hijackings leading up to 9/11, the U.S. aviation security system worried most about explosives

[chance33_98]

From here

[DallasMike]

bttt

[fightu4it]

According to Philippines police records, Arminda Costudio, a waitress at the smart Manila Bay Club on Roxas Boulevard in those days, remembered being introduced to a man called Salem Ali, described as a "rich businessman from Qatar". He always seemed to be with Yousef, she said. Her description of him is the same as Murad's descriplion of Abdel Magid. Both referred to his having "excess meat" on his ring finger. She remembered specifically meeting "Salem Ali" twice at the Shangri-La hotel in Makati in mid-1994, where he wore a white tuxedo and paid for dinner with a wad of cash while giving out candies to the gathering. He had a girlfriend called Rose Mosquera, who worked at a bar in Quezon City.


Yousef's girlfriend Carol Santiago, whom he met at a Seven-Eleven store on Adriatico Street, said that she was introduced to a "Saudi businessman" by the name of Salem Ali. Arminda was the girlfriend of Wali Khan Amin Shah, the Afghan war veteran who was in on the plotting back in Karachi. He had subsequently joined the others in Manila. Meanwhile Khaled Sheilth travelled widely, as far as Brazil on at least one occasion, promoting the business enterprises he and the south-east Asia cell and the members of the Konsonjaya company were developing as a means of sustaining their terror enterprise. This gave Yousef time to both play and plot.

Murad told investigators that at around that time be had sparked an idea in Yousefs mind: why not crash a plane into the CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia? "OK, we will think about it," Yousef replied, according to Murad's account, before heading off with Khaled Sheikh for a scuba diving course at the resort of Puerto Galera, south of Manila.

[justshutupandtakeit]

BUSH KNEW. It was all avoidable. Clinton held them off for
5 years but once his wonderous presence was no longer holding back Evil it was finally able to strike under the illegitimate, incompetent Boob who suckseeded him.

Can I get a job at CBS or what?

ps. all spelling exactly as author intends.

[justshutupandtakeit]

hahaha. Very good red.

[kellynla]

Clinton had eight years to combat terrorism...and did nothing. I rest my case!

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[PhiKapMom]

Why did Louie Freeh retire when he did before 9/11? FBI Director Mueller didn't take office until days before 9/11 -- why did the RATs stall his nomination for two months?

This inquiring mind would like the answers to those two questions if the 9-11 Committee really wanted to find out something.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Sorry but that is outside the "Let's Let Bygones by Bygones" statute of limitations. Only events after 1/20/01 are to be considered.