Posted on 08/14/2005 10:38:56 AM PDT by 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.
save
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I agree.
"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.
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.
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?
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.
According to the 9/11 Commission Report Dietrich L. Snell was a Senior Counsel & Team Leader.
thanks........
Yes he was staff.
Right!
really?
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.
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