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Bin Laden website a countdown to Sept. 11?
Philadelphia City Paper ^ | 10/19/01 | Howard Altman

Posted on 10/19/2001 7:16:34 AM PDT by truthandlife

It is a matter of public record that the bin Laden family has vociferously disavowed their wayward 17th child. And who could blame them?

No mere wanton wastrel, the world’s most wanted man has brought great shame upon this wealthy family. Even worse than shame, though, Osama’s actions have endangered the clan’s coffers.

So it is not surprising that the bin Ladens have cut ties to "the evildoer," as George Dubya likes to refer to him.

Or did they?

A web domain registered to the Saudi Binladin Group (the megabucks corporation uses the alternate spelling of the family name) raises questions about what role, if any, the family has played in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The domain was registered on Sept. 11, 2000, with a preset expiration date of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a technician with VeriSign, an Internet domain registry service formerly known as Network Solutions.

Coincidence?

Or was this website set up to start the countdown on the most devastating attack in U.S. history?

Like a lot of information that has been pouring in to me since shortly before 9 a.m. Sept. 11, the tidbit about www.saudi-binladin-group.com was amazingly tantalizing.

Unlike a lot of the tidbits, however, this morsel, delivered last week by an anonymous source I will refer to as Deep Spore, has a paper trail attached to it.

The paper trail began with a web search of the Binladin Group that revealed the aforementioned website. A check of that site showed that it no longer existed. A quick "whois" check on VeriSign’s website — which lists who set up a particular site and when — showed that, unlike Binladin-related sites that were taken down right after the attacks on New York and Washington, saudi-binladin-group.com expired on the day of the attacks.

This was no accident, according to a VeriSign technician in Mountainview, Calif.

"This was timed so it would expire on that date," says the technician, who identified herself only by her first name, Antonette, and by her employee number, 001. Antonette also verified that the information listed in the whois search was accurate and not tampered with by an outside party. Antonette added that VeriSign had already been contacted by law enforcement about other attack-related domain names the company had registered.

"I had a call from the L.A. police," she said. "He was also asking about a domain name that expired on Sept. 11. I can’t remember the name of it, but it had something to do with the WTC."

The Binladin website was created by a company called Arq Limited, a U.K. web design firm. The administrative, technical and billing contact listed on the whois search is a man named Philip Lumsden.

After several calls to the U.K., I learned that Arq Limited went out of business, replaced by a company called Active 8 Solutions, which shares the same Bath, England, mailing address and a telephone number that is only one digit off from Arq Limited’s old number.

I learned one more interesting thing.

"Mr. Lumsden left a week ago," said a man who answered the phone at Active 8 Solutions. "I am not aware of why he left."

The man, who would not give his name, added that he had "no clue" about the saudi-binladin-group.com website.

A half-dozen odd calls Tuesday, October 15, to the Saudi Binladin Group’s headquarters in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, turned up little other than assurances that if I called back in 20 minutes or a half-hour, then somebody would be able to give me some information about the website.

Each time I called, I explained that I wanted to ask somebody at the company why the website expired on Sept. 11, 2001, a rather significant date in world history. Each time I was told to call back until, finally, I spoke with someone who could answer my questions.

But not for long.

"You can check with VeriSign," said a man who did not identify himself. "VeriSign has all the details."

The man then asked me to hold on because he had to take another call. Then I was disconnected. I called back, only to be disconnected again. When I called back a third time, another man answering the phone asked if I could send an e-mail listing my questions.

"It is already after 6 p.m. here," said the man. "Nobody is in anymore."

The next day, I called again and again was told to call back later. By deadline, neither of the two emails I sent seeking comment were answered.

If the attackers did use this website, the FBI, which is tracking down thousands and thousands of leads, may be interested.

"I am not aware of [the website], and I do not know whether the FBI is aware of it, but I can’t speak for the entire FBI," said Joe Valiquette, spokesman for the FBI’s New York office. "Generally speaking, we would be interested in something like that."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 10/19/2001 7:16:35 AM PDT by truthandlife
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To: truthandlife
Here is the informaion from VeriSign's Web site:

Registrant:
Saudi Binladin Group (SAUDI-BINLADIN-GROUP2-DOM)
   Prince Abdullah Street
   Jeddah, 21492
   SA

   Domain Name: SAUDI-BINLADIN-GROUP.COM

   Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Billing Contact:
      Lumsden, Philip  (PLP239)  philip@ARQ.CO.UK
      Arq Limited
      The Old Post Office
      George Street
      Bath, BA1 2EB
      UK
      01224 312 391

   Record last updated on 11-Sep-2000.
   Record expires on 11-Sep-2001.
   Record created on 11-Sep-2000.
   Database last updated on 19-Oct-2001 00:59:00 EDT.

   Domain servers in listed order:

   NS0-S.DNS.PIPEX.NET		158.43.129.83
   NS1-S.DNS.PIPEX.NET		158.43.193.83

2 posted on 10/19/2001 7:28:08 AM PDT by jgrubbs
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To: jgrubbs
Curiouser and curiouser.
3 posted on 10/19/2001 7:31:31 AM PDT by lds23
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To: lds23
Oh this is curious alright. It's also a vital piece of damning evidence.
4 posted on 10/19/2001 7:34:53 AM PDT by Focault's Pendulum
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To: PhiKapMom
FYI
5 posted on 10/19/2001 7:43:11 AM PDT by Brandonmark
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To: jgrubbs
BTTT
6 posted on 10/19/2001 7:49:30 AM PDT by Bill Rice
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To: jgrubbs
Does that mean the website was created on 09/11/2000? I really have no clue what all that is saying. Could it just be some kind of default to expire in a year or something?
7 posted on 10/19/2001 7:52:33 AM PDT by Methos8
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To: jgrubbs
Very interesting.
8 posted on 10/19/2001 7:53:22 AM PDT by alisasny
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To: truthandlife
Too hard to believe that its a coincidence. I hope they are working to freeze their assets.
9 posted on 10/19/2001 7:58:04 AM PDT by liberalism=failure
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To: alisasny
I never for a moment believed the "disowning" of bin laden by his family, never for a moment. They want it both ways. Prepared for power in a fundamentalist revolution while making money under the present order.
10 posted on 10/19/2001 8:00:10 AM PDT by cajungirl
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To: Methos8
Does that mean the website was created on 09/11/2000?

Yes. I really have no clue what all that is saying. Could it just be some kind of default to expire in a year or something?

Probably an annual renewal type contract.

11 posted on 10/19/2001 8:00:18 AM PDT by ravingnutter
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To: truthandlife
Google.com seems to have their pages in the Google cache. Go to advanced search, enter the domain name in the site, and search on a word like "these." Anyone know how to return ALL pages that Google has?
12 posted on 10/19/2001 8:01:58 AM PDT by craig_eddy
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To: Methos8
It only means it was registered on 9-11-2000. It means that someone knew a year ahead of time they were going to pull this crap. It doesn't mean the normal binLadens in SA knew about it. Anyone could have done this, that had the appropriate info. Osama might have it in for the old man.
13 posted on 10/19/2001 8:03:35 AM PDT by spunkets
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To: liberalism=failure
Too hard to believe that its a coincidence. I hope they are working to freeze their assets.

If by "they" you mean Bush, Inc., you've got to be kidding...

Do you know how much money the Bush family has tied up with the Binladins?

14 posted on 10/19/2001 8:07:17 AM PDT by BabylonXXX
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To: truthandlife
Ping..
15 posted on 10/19/2001 8:09:55 AM PDT by umbra
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: spunkets
This is very odd. Why does a massive construction group use a company operating out of "The Old Post Office" in Bath UK. I'm going to do a Companies House check on Arq Ltd., it's highly likely they don't exist.
17 posted on 10/19/2001 8:27:54 AM PDT by unending thunder
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To: shezza
ping!)))) interestig!
18 posted on 10/19/2001 8:28:09 AM PDT by N8VTXNinWV
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Probably just numerologic hysteria.

Ya know, one of the Bin-Laden studs fathered 19 kids between 9/11/99 and 9/11/01. That brought the total living left-handed Bin-Ladens to 555.

19 posted on 10/19/2001 8:28:47 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: N8VTXNinWV
Arq Ltd are in Liquidation.4.30 GMT
20 posted on 10/19/2001 8:34:53 AM PDT by unending thunder
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