Officer: Unit Stopped From Giving FBI Info (Able Danger)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/16/05 | AP - Washington, DC

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - An Army intelligence officer says his unit was blocked in 2000 and 2001 from giving the FBI information about a U.S.-based terrorist cell that included Mohamed Atta, the future leader of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer said the small intelligence unit, called "Able Danger," had identified Atta and three of the other future Sept. 11 hijackers as al-Qaida members by mid-2000. He said military lawyers stopped the unit from sharing the information with the FBI.

The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks left the Able Danger claims out of its official report.

In an interview with Fox News Channel and The New York Times, Shaffer said the panel was not given all the information his team had gathered.

"I'm told confidently by the person who did move the material over that the 9/11 commission received two briefcase-size containers of documents," Shaffer said in the interview, part of which was aired by Fox News Tuesday night. "I can tell you for a fact that would not be ... one-20th of the information that Able Danger consisted of during the time we spent."

Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, has said the Sept. 11 commission did not adequately investigate the claim that four of the hijackers had been identified more than a year before the attacks.

Former commission chairman Thomas Kean and vice chairman Lee Hamilton said last week that the military official who made the claim had no documentation to back it up.

Shaffer rejected that remark. "Leaving a project targeting al-Qaida as a global threat a year before we were attacked by al-Qaida is equivalent to having an investigation of Pearl Harbor and leaving somehow out the Japanese," he said.

[Just mythoughts]

The word is out!!!!!

[Jeff Chandler]

It will be fun to see how the MSM tries to discredit this, and which Republicans help them.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Well, dagnabbit, they should have sidestepped their superiors and taken this straight to President Bush, just like Cindy Sheehan.

[NormsRevenge]

Death , Dishonor, Destruction

Clintoon's 3D Legacy?

GORELICK GATE: Developing... Thx Backhoe!

FR Archives Search Results for Gorelick Wall

[advance_copy]

John Bachelor just said, "The Clinton administration, what did they know and when did they know it?" He also just asked, "What was in those socks?"

[FreedomNeocon]

PLEASE not another 'gate' suffix... its sooooooo PLAYED OUT!

[Lancey Howard]

BUMP!!

[Soul Seeker]

That's what I want to know. I want to know if this ties into Sandy's little Raid of documents.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

The AP? Am I dreaming or has the MSM weighed in??

[drlevy88]

Nobody from us asked Gorelick to go gating.

[drlevy88]

Maybe someone has finally figured out how to fix the blame without it getting all over himself too.

[dk/coro]

Well, dream on, partner.

I observed the "cover your six" mentality in action in the Naval Service for over 20 years -- and was constantly dumbfounded by its pervasiveness.

When I took my first command -- in the mid 60's -- I shut the squadron down; told the officers that I was turning night into day; and that they would come to work at 1800 -- and ALL our flying would be at night until further notice.

The Command had operated as a country club for the full duration of the former skipper's tenure. The wives raised holy hell, etc. And my comment to them was: "It is my job to try to save your husband's life flying off a carrier. And, by my calculations, I have a good deal of work to do in that regard."

Even ComNavAirLant called me in to question my judgment. I told him to either relieve me or get off my back. And, that the squadron was unsafe.

We made the deployment; Won the Navy "E"; and had an accident-free deployment in the Norwegian Sea (In the winter).

Point here is that even my CAG did not stand up for me -- but harped behind my back, when I fired the Maintenance Officer -- and assigned a more junior officer as the Department Head. (Our aircraft readiness soared following the shake-up!) One phone call, and I had the relieved officer transfered out...with an UNSAT fitness report!

Point here is that darned few of "the tigers" ever made it to 0-6 or beyond. The Navy was a death-trap to risk takers in those days -- and a player had to be right 110%, as the system was waiting for just one miscalculation.

Sadly, I suspect that the Navy has not really changed very much over the years. Risk-takers operate at their own peril!

Point

[GarySpFc]

I was shocked to learn Able-Danger was a Special Forces unit. There have been major additions since I was in during the sixties.

[McBuff]

WASHINGTON - An Army intelligence officer says his unit was blocked in 2000 and 2001

2000-2001= BUSH'S FAULT. . .WARNING: AP

[dk/coro]

You bet. Heads up. This issue is one that can cost the Dems dearly...and I suggest that they will do anything in an attempt to "keep the ball in 'W's' court. *S*

Have a great week. V/r DK

[defenderSD]

The MSM will try to spin this to make it look like it's equally the fault of Clinton and Bush, but the public won't buy that because the policy was developed by Gorelick and the Clintonistas. Bush was still getting his team up and running in the first half of 2001 and working on Senate confirmations and high-level policy. Issues such as how the lawyers operate at the Pentagon wouldn't have hit the radar screen yet for Bush or Rumsfeld. This is another part of the Clinton Disaster, along with massive Chinese espionage activity, nuclear secrets sold to China, loss of 40% of our Army divisions....on and on endlessly.

[alrea]

"Leaving a project targeting al-Qaida as a global threat a year before we were attacked by al-Qaida is equivalent to having an investigation of Pearl Harbor and leaving somehow out the Japanese,"

bureaucracy will eventually choke itself