Posted on 09/25/2006 2:55:48 PM PDT by april15Bendovr
Al Qaeda's Hidden Roots By Laurie Mylroie The American Spectator | September 25, 2006
Cyrus Nowrasteh, scriptwriter for ABC's docudrama The Path to 9/11, defends the film's controversial, invented scenes, noting that the first attack on the World Trade Center occurred one month after Bill Clinton took office, and eight years passed in which Clinton did little to thwart the growing menace. Nowrasteh makes a crucial point, but it is not necessary to resort to fiction. Our understanding of the terrorist attacks -- going back to the 1993 Trade Center bombing -- has become loaded with errors obscuring Clinton's fecklessness. Correct those errors, which, unfortunately the film reproduces, and this essential point is far clearer.
The film links Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 bombing, to Osama bin Ladin. But, in fact, Yousef and bin Ladin had nothing to do with each other. Bin Laden is not indicted for the Trade Center bombing -- intended to topple the towers and kill 250,000 people -- despite an extensive effort to discover such links. Nor is that attack included in the military charges against Guantanamo Bay detainees, which outline al Qaeda's conspiracy against America. Indeed, bin Laden was not indicted until June 1998, when he was charged with one count: "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States." The target is not identified, and no actual attack occurred.
Al Qaeda was long a small, secretive organization. There is virtually no public mention of it during its first decade -- a Lexis-Nexis search produces five articles -- until the August 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies. Only after those attacks, is al Qaeda added to the official U.S. list of terrorist groups. The 9/11 Commission notes, "While we now know that al Qaeda was formed in 1988, at the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Intelligence Community did not describe this organization in documents we have seen, until 1999 (emphasis added.)
It would have been a truly massive failure of virtually every U.S. agency responsible for fighting terrorism if bin Laden had backed a plot to kill 250,000 Americans in 1993, but the Justice Department only charged him with any crime five years later and the intelligence community only began to analyze his organization the following year.
Terrorist Family Extraordinaire
George Tenet told the Congressional Joint Inquiry, "We now believe that a common thread runs between the first attack on the World Trade Center in February 1993 and the 11 September attacks....Mukhtar is the uncle of Ramzi Yousef, who masterminded the 1993 bombing plot against the World Trade Center. Following the 1993 attack, Yousef and Mukhtar plotted in 1995 to blow up [twelve] U.S. planes flying East Asian routes."
"Mukhtar" was an alias for Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM), the 9/11 mastermind. "Since September 11, the CIA has come to believe that KSM may have been responsible for all bin Laden operations outside Afghanistan," the Joint Inquiry reports. Yet U.S. authorities only learned of KSM's key role after the capture and interrogation of a senior al Qaeda figure in 2002. A U.S. intelligence official later told the Washington Post, "It wasn't until recently that any of us even realized he was part of al Qaeda....The big problem nailing him down is that the informants that we relied on, especially before 9/11, were mujaheddin. They'd been in Afghanistan, in Sudan, back in Afghanistan. Khalid was never a part of any of that" (emphasis added)
Ammar al-Baluchi (aka Ali Abdul Aziz Ali) -- Ramzi Yousef's first cousin and another KSM nephew -- was KSM's "right-hand man." Al-Baluchi sent the "primary funding" to the hijackers and coached nine of them on how to behave in America.
Following KSM's capture in 2003, U.S. authorities told the Washington Post they were "concerned that his nephews -- the brothers of imprisoned terrorist Ramzi Yousef -- may be positioned to take over planning of future terror attacks." They named two men: Abdul Munim and Abdul Karim. Nothing further has been reported about Abdul Munim, but Abdul Karim proved a key figure. Captured in May 2004, his interrogation led to further arrests and the discovery of a major plot against US financial centers.
Thus, the official U.S. position holds that a family essentially forms the core expertise for the major attacks that began with the 1993 Trade Center bombing, culminated in 9/11, and even continued afterwards. Yet no precedent exists for a single family to be the sole, or even the key, source of expertise for a major terrorist group.
According to U.S. intelligence, this family is Baluch, a Sunni Muslim people, living in Eastern Iran and Western Pakistan (The Path to 9/11 erroneously identifies Yousef as Palestinian.) Following Yousef's arrest in Islamabad, the New York Times reported:
The Pakistan newspaper, The News, which is said to have good sources in the Pakistani military's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, said that "if features could betray geography," Mr. Yousef appeared to Pakistani investigators "as if he is from the coastal belt of Baluchistan."...[They] had noted that President Saddam Hussein's Government in Iraq had tried to exploit animosities against the Iran Government among Baluch tribal people in southeastern Iran during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The newspaper said this could explain how Mr. Yousef came into possession of the Iraqi passport that he used when he arrived in New York in September 1992, six months before the World Trade Center bombing. "If Ramzi is in fact of Iranian Baluch origin, it would not have been big problem for him to get an Iraqi passport," the newspaper said. [February 13, 1995]
Yet the Clinton administration did not want to hear this. (In the 1992 presidential campaign, I was Clinton's adviser on Iraq; in later encounters with the White House, I found it strongly resistant to hearing about evidence linking Saddam to terrorism.)
An Alternative Explanation
An alternative explanation for al Qaeda's terrorism exists. After bin Laden was expelled to Afghanistan in 1996, two groups joined forces: 1) the original al Qaeda, represented by bin Laden and those around him; and 2) the Baluch: KSM and his extended "clan," which is probably not a family, but an elite squad. Probably, these individuals were selected in the same way we would recruit such a group: they were chosen for their special aptitudes from a much larger pool and then given additional training -- most likely, by Iraq.
The path to 9/11 really began with the Baluch before their alliance with al Qaeda -- with the 1993 Trade Center bombing and the 1995 plane bombing plot. Only after KSM joined with bin Laden, bringing with him the skills of his group, did al Qaeda's major attacks against the U.S. begin -- starting with the 1998 embassy bombings. This would help explain how a virtually unknown organization like al Qaeda managed to bomb two U.S. embassies nearly simultaneously and then carry out the most lethal single attack in U.S. history a mere three years later.
Laurie Mylroie is an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of Study of Revenge: The First World Trade Center Attack and Saddam Hussein's War Against America (AEI Press, 2001). This piece is based on her article in the October issue of The American Spectator, "How Little We Know."
Thanks for the post!
LAURIE MYLROIE PING!
"Yet the Clinton administration did not want to hear this. (In the 1992 presidential campaign, I was Clinton's adviser on Iraq; in later encounters with the White House, I found it strongly resistant to hearing about evidence linking Saddam to terrorism.)"
bump
Statement of Laurie Mylroie to the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
July 9, 2003
http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing3/witness_mylroie.htm
In addition, two of Ramzi Yousef's older brothers--Abdul Karim and Abdul Monim-have been identified as al Qaeda masterminds, capable of assuming Mohammed's role. Also, an individual, Ali Abdul Aziz, who played an important role in the financial transfers involved in the 9/11 attacks, is said to be Yousef's "younger cousin."
Bump.
Was Ramzi Yousef an Iraqi agent?
THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMB: Who is Ramzi Yousef? And Why It Matters (1993)
The National Interest ^ | Winter, 1995/96 | Laurie Mylroie
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/521246/posts
Mohammed Salameh--Palestinian fundamentalist, Nosair accomplice and early plotter; left a trail of phone calls to Iraq.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/521246/posts
Ramzi Yousef, a.k.a. Abdul Basit Karim -the key man; likely Iraqi agent.
President Clinton's "allergy" to tying Saddam to terrorism isn't explained here, but I assume it is because action against state sponsorship of terrorism would have:
1. gummed up the already weak efficacies (but good PR) of lollipop diplomacy and
2. militated away from the law enforcement approach to terrorism which he (and most of the whole risk-averse establishment) was loathe to abandon.
Thank you for the links. I have much reading to do.
Thank you for your interest.
important stuff.
Mylrioe's consistent argument has been that Clinton changed US Policy which previously had as a default setting regarded terrorism as state sponsored, and therefore immediately devoted resources upon such events (e.g. Lockerbie) to look for the sponsor. Only in the Clinton administration was it assumed without investigation (of state sponsorship) that the terrorist act (1993 WTC) was a law enforcement issue. Mylroie makes the point that the Justice Dept./FBI did not attempt to look for evidence of state sponsorship and the CIA / State Department was refused access to evidence that might have helped determined state sponsorship. Such policy induced myopia even left Richard Clarke saying that as to the 1995 supposedly domestic terrorism at Oklahoma City, it was known that Terry Nichols and Ramsey Yusef were in CEBU city (Phillipines) at the same time, and it is also known that before Nichols went there his bombs were ineffective and that when he came back they were devasting. As well it is established Nichols continued to make numerous calls to CEBU on his return, when he had no apparent reason to be calling there, unless it was to talk to Yusef.
Yusef of course was tied directly to the mid 90's plot to simulatenously blow up multiple passenger aircraft.
Mylroie has consistently made the point that abundant evidence exists to conclude Yusef was an Iraqi intell agent. This article for the first time, I have seen, persuasively explains the connection to and rise of Al-Queda.
All of which took place under the protection of the Gorelick Wall and similar policy imposed restrictions.
Ramsi was nick-named "the Iraqi" by his New Jersey cohorts. Of course he arrived from Iraq on an Iraqi passport, in response to a request from Abdul Rahman Yasin, another Iraqi agent. But native arabic speakers would know the difference between an arab speaking with an Iraqi accent, and a south asian speaking with an Iranian or Pakistani accent, I would think.
So I tend to think he is not Baluch, but Iraqi, and his Baluch identity is just part of his cover.
9/11 COMMISSION IGNORED KEY FACTS ON HIJACKERS
By Michelle Malkin · August 11, 2005 07:44 AM
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003223.htm
The 9/11 Commission was supposed to give the America people a complete, unbiased story of the government failures that led up to the September 11 terrorist attacks. But the Commission now admits its acclaimed Final Report ignored key information provided by a U.S. Army data mining project, Able Danger, which identified Mohammed Atta and several other hijackers as potential terrorists prior to the September 11 attacks. The Able Danger team recommended that Atta and the other suspected terrorists be deported. That recommendation, however, was not shared with law enforcement officials, presumably because of the "wall" between intelligence activities and domestic law enforcement.
Memos show Gorelick involvement in 'wall'
By Charles Hurt and Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040429-122228-6538r.htm
ping...
Yep. Well... at least until someone from one of those intelligence committees LEAKS something, then they are preaching the word from ABOVE to the MSM.
I've been reading Perfect Soldiers by Terry McDermot. He is a LA times reporter who was given the assignment to go anywhere and take as much time as needed to discover who the hijackers were and why they did what they did. It is an absolutely fascinating and well-written book even if he does work for the LAT. Everyone should read this. I got it from the library and if your library doesn't have it, request they buy it. I may even buy a copy of it to loan out to some people.
indeed. thx.
LA times is part of the mainstream media.
Lets see if he can do it without a liberal bias?
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
wow...bump
Interesting CNN chat room discussion with Laurie Mylroie
Laurie Mylroie: Is Iraq involved with U.S. terror attacks?
October 29, 2001 Posted: 2:36 PM EST (1936 GMT)
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/10/29/mylroie/
In my opinion, yes.
Clinton's Path Of Least Resistance
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, who in 1998 brought an indictment against bin Laden and a deputy, Mohammed Atef, for the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, wrote two scathing memos to Attorney General Janet Reno on the wall Gorelick built with Reno's approval.
http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=244077587125175
And if Yousef is Iraqi intelligence, the entire Baluch family is Iraqi intelligence. Including Uncle KSM.
Ping.
I wonder if CNN has seen that ....
This is a great post!!!! Thanks
I suspect you are right. But, more than likely, they were who they were before Saddam's Mukhabbarat recruited them. And, after Saddam lost power, they remained who they were.
What I'm trying to say is that the Baluch clan are probably better cast as free-lancers. But free-lancers who had a contractual relationship with Saddam...
"In addition, al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq."
I wonder if CNN has seen that ...
I'm sure CNN treats that story like the Democrats are treating Joe Lieberman.
Interestingly, ther eis a document found in the HQ of Iraqi intelligence by our troops that lists Iraqi intelligence assets and operatives. On page 14, attached to the Damascus bureau, is the name Osama bin Laden.
I like this quote
"And I know your next move, I watch you so much, 'There's been no proven link between the secular state of Iraq and al-Qaeda!' Come on. They both think we're Satan. Isn't that a nice starting point? Why are you so loathe to believe they might have each other on lunatic speed dial?" -- Dennis Miller on Hannity & Colmes.
Sorry my last post was to all
Sorry I cut off an important part.
Let me try that again
"Wolfowitz was a leading champion of the theories of Iraq academic Laurie Mylroie that Saddam was connected to al-Qaeda, theories that has been discredited by the 9-11 Commission and more recently, by the Republican-dominated Senate Select Intelligence committee.)"
Are they actually counting these rino's Olympia J. Snowe, Maine & Chuck Hagel, Nebraska who voted with the Democrats?
Continuation
What They Omitted (Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Phase II report)
The New York Sun ^ | September 19, 2006 | LAURIE MYLROIE
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1704503/posts?page=28#28
http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing3/witness_mylroie.htm
4) Mohammed Salameh had many communications with Iraq in a crucial, early stage of the plot. Between June 10 and July 9, 1992, when his phone service was cut off, he made 46 calls to Iraq (see GX 824, US vs. Salameh et. al.)
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.