Posted on 08/28/2006 9:13:16 AM PDT by 1066AD
Finally, someone else who recognizes that Bin Laden is so afraid of his own weapon that he closes his eyes when firing it, somebody else who recognizes that the "ultra-sophisticated" 9-11 plot was a poorly executed abortion that got lucky, someone else who recognizes that Ayman Al Zawahiri has taken advantage of an effeminate rich idiot in Osama Bin Laden and pulls the strings, perfectly content to let the 17th son of a rich guy's wife number four (the one that rish guys swap in and out for variety) who never got enough attention from his father because he was the son of a literal whore stand up front and take all the credit.
Now, if we could just deal with some of the other misinformation presented in this thread....high points:
1. Op-Plan Bojinka, the original roots of 9/11 as authored by Khalid Shiek Mohammed, planned to hijack numerous A/C and blow them up over the Pacific. A test run was executed, a small bomb left on-board one flight, a Japanese engineer was killed when it later detonated. KSM hinself was supposed to ride on hijacked a/c, rig it with explosives, land at a central US airport, make a speech to the press, then blow himself and the a/c up.
Osama Bin Laden (read Ayman al Zawahiri), revised the plan to use 4 or 5 a/c and drive them into buildings. A videotape of him discussing his pre-attack engineering calcualtions appeared well after the event.
I am aware of no pre-attack warnings or indicators with two exceptions, one fiction aiuthor Tom Clancy, and two, an abortive plot to fill a small private a/c with explosives and fly it into CIA HQ at Langley, circa 1993 if memory serves. This on the basis of extensive reserach into the subject, hazy memories may tie bits and pieces together when not warranted, but numerous texts do not support the conclusion that any plan of the attack was pre-published that I have seen to date. Citations to the contrary are welcomed, but highly unlikely.
2. There was good reason behind the "wall" between FBI and CIA, two of them in fact. One, the Fourth Amendment specifically provides for citizen's privacy, not to be infringed by government agencies. CIA was limited to overseas gathering, FBI, subject to much more stringent search and seizure regulation, was limited to domestic investigation.
Two, the FBI's mandate was to criminally charge and convict offenders, therefore evidence accumulated through CIA, not subject to strict evidenciary handling regulations would poison potential court cases.
That this "wall" created a loophole for terrorists to attack us is not in any doubt what-so-ever, but there was good reason for the wall to begin with, we all just made a mistake. Itr does little good for the 9/11 victims, but that loophole has been addressed, to some apparant success, now.
3. Bush didn't ignore Afghanistan and Al Qaeda for the first 8 months of his Administration, he took the wisest course of action possible.
Recognizig that Bill Clinton had no, zero, did not exist, policy for Afghanistan, the nation-state that supported Al Qaeda (or vice versa), he delegated his NSC to formulate one. The principle's seconds did so, and arrived at a policy to support the Northern Alliance in efforts to topple the Taliban and open the road to extraditing or assassinating Osama Bin Laden.
This policy was not thrown together in a few days, it was carefully researched and formulated and ready for presentation and signature on September 10th, 2001. Due to scheduling issues ot was postponed, and later formed the backbone of the plan which eventually reduced the Taliban militarily and freed Afghanistan.
Yes. Jamie Gorelick's 'wall of seperation'. It was her baby.
That's the reason she sat on the investigator's side of the table in the 9/11 hearings. It kept her from being sat down in the hot seat.
Where did O'Neill die...at the Pentagon?
No. O'Neill was ousted from the Cole investigation by the local US Ambassador, and in my opinion, became upset with the whole Administration, left government service, and took a job with either Port Authority or a lessee in the WTC, where he died on 9/11.
"...and to most Americans - notoriously badly schooled in world history - it comes as an eye-opener."
Thanks...did not know that about the Cole incident. I googled after posting, and found he became head of security at the World Trade Center a short time before 9/11.
Ironic
I also recall that in the April/May 2001 time frame, the Bush administration also reestablished relations with Pakistan which is a critical 'ally' (forgive the term) in any effort to undermine the Talaban.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.