ABLE DANGER: WHAT WE KNOW, WHAT WE DON'T KNOW

Junk yard blog ^ | August 12, 2005

[george76]

Grab yourself a cup of coffee and head on over to TKS for the best summation of Able Danger as things presently stand. Or stay here and I'll summarize it for you.

In very, very brief summation: The 9-11 commission did know about Able Danger; some of its staff were briefed on it twice, and the information got to some but not all of the commissioners

What seems increasingly likely, based on the TKS summary and others, is that the commissioners who knew of Able Danger dismissed it because its Mohammed Atta timeline didn't agree with theirs. That in and of itself is no reason to dismiss evidence unless your outcome is predetermined, which it may well have been to one or more commissioners and staff. Intriguingly, the Able Danger timeline seems to leave room for the Atta meeting in Prague, which to this day Czech intelligence insists happened and to this day is only refuted by US sources because Atta's cell phone was used in the US when he was supposed to be in Prague. Like one of his cellmates couldn't have used it to order pizza or something. That has always struck me as an awfully flimsy data point to use to sink a credible report from an allied intelligence agency.

From Captain's Quarters, we learn that not only was Gorelick's wall relevant to all this, but that it generated complaints from inside the Reno justice department. Mary Jo White, prosecutor of the 1993 WTC bombers, complained in two separate memos--both of which are still secret, and neither of which figured into the 9-11 commission's final report--that the wall would make it next to impossible to prevent terrorist attacks on US soil and would probably result in loss of life.

From FrontPage, we find a most intriguing lead. One Dietrich Snell seems to have a Carmen Sandiego quality--he turns up wherever you look. He was a co-prosecutor on the 1993 WTC case. He appears to have turned down a terrorists' offer to betray Operation Bojinka, which was an aborted al Qaeda op that eerily foreshadowed 9-11.

[Dat Mon]

ARTICLE..."No one has concretely tied this new information to the strange, felonious behavior of Sandy Berger, smuggling documents out of the National Archives. But boy, if the document in question related to Able Danger’s warning and the decision to not act upon it, his actions would make a lot more sense, wouldn’t they?"

I agree...Sandy is in this up to his eyeballs. I wouldn't get too hung up however, wondering whether the documents Sandy stuffed were in themselves directly referencing Able Danger IN THE TEXT...ie...Able Danger documents.

They could also have been multiple review copies of Clarkes report...all with different HANDWRITTEN NOTATIONS on multiple documents...comments which were added by each reviewer...these HANDWRITTEN COMMENTS COULD MENTION ABLE DANGER EXPLICITLY, and the decision to defer passing of info over to the FBI.

Although Gorelick wrote the infamous memo..I think that all security related decisions were passed up directly to Sandy...who of course immediately consulted with his CAPOs Bill or Hill.

IMHO, these documents with comments referencing Able Danger, were probably missed in the 2000 transition push to destroy security related documents...essentially because they WERNT explicit Able Danger documents.

[Eagles6]

save

[Sam Hill]

I'm not saying that their arguments obviate Atta being in Praque. Just listing their other reasons. And that is probably not a definitive list, as it is just what comes back from that cluster.

If you go to the link, you can see that there are many other references to Atta (of course) and probably a lot more to his Prague visit. There is also a lot of documentation at the bottom, which I did not include.

I hope the Able Danger story is true. But so far it looks a little shaky. And you'll notice that some people are pulling back, like Podhoretz and NR. But they make mistakes too, of course.

What we need is a lot more details.

[ncpatriot]

Good!

I see your point. I just have this fear when it comes to the libs. I'm still living in the past ie when they had a monopoly on information.

[tet68]

the information got to some but not all of the commissioners

Do we know WHO received it?
If it was Gorelick, that would be damning.

[Sam Hill]

I see a lot in the 9/11 report that is not disputed, such as:

"The FBI has gathered evidence indicating that Atta was in Virginia Beach on April 4 (as evidenced by a bank surveillance camera photo), and in Coral Springs, Florida on April 11, where he and Shehhi leased an apartment."

If you go to the link or just search the report, you will see that they provided documentation for these claims. Again, I'm not saying they are right. Just reporting what they said.

[sgtyork]

I hear your caution. But you know, this was a pivotal commission. A report like "Able Danger" should have been extensively run down instead of just saying 'a single navy officer's report wasn't credible'. It doesn't add up to a thorough and transparent report.

[Sam Hill]

I agree.

[george76]

"I'm trying to find out if anyone has heard Weldon or read in his book that Able Danger is able to place Atta in Prague meeting with an Iraqi goverment official in April 2001."

I have not read his book nor heard Weldon...yet.

Other than what has been recently posted.

[Peach]

I did go to some of the links but didn't see that they provided actual phone records or videotape at the Bank. And the Slate article I linked says they don't have physical evidence to back up their claims.

[Peach]

Gorelick and Zelenick (sp?) were put in charge of disseming what information got seen by the full Commission.

So the woman who created the Wall which blocked the flow of information, was again put in charge of blocking information to the Commission which was charged with finding out why information got blocked.

Doesn't pass the smell test, does it?

[Peach]

Weldon said today that the folks who approached the 9/11 Commission said they had documentation and the Commission never asked to review the back-up.

Weldon says there are 15 boxes.

[backhoe]

Able Danger, 9-11 Report, Gorelick, and so much more...

Click the picture...

Able Danger, 9-11 Report, Gorelick, and so much more...

Click the picture...

[Dat Mon]

YOU SAID..."Doesn't pass the smell test, does it?"

I agree. Gets back to my comment that once Ashcroft revealed Gorelicks policy of a security wall in direct testimony ...responsible Republicans in congress should have pressed the issue that the commission could not credibly proceed with Gorelick as a commissioner.

The fact that the pubs did NOT object or press the issue of Gorelick's participation, plus the fact that Ashcroft got reprimanded by Bush for indirectly impugning Gorelick's security protocols, suggests to me that an agreement of some sorts was reached between the White House and the democrats before the commission even started its work. This agreement could have set the boundaries and scope of the investigation, so as to limit damaging political exposure for the Clintons.

That sort of cynical agreement would make this commission in my mind a STAGED POLITICAL EVENT.

[Where is todays Reagan]

According to the 9/11 Commission Report Dietrich L. Snell was a Senior Counsel & Team Leader.

[beyond the sea]

thanks........

[beyond the sea]

Yes he was staff.

[beyond the sea]

The memos could be the Blue Dress, how can the New york Times, Time, News Week, The Globe, LA Times, not be interested in what these memos have to say. The only answer is their exposure would be devastating to the Liberals. -----

Right!

[beyond the sea]

really?

[Real Cynic No More]

... no reason to dismiss evidence unless your outcome is predetermined, ...

Well, the predetermined outcome was to come up with evidence that the Bush administration knew about the pending attacks before they occurred. When they couldn't prove that, they decided to go no further.