Posted on 08/18/2005 10:14:05 AM PDT by NathanBookman
August 18, 2005 -- A veteran Army intelligence officer said yesterday the elite military intelligence unit known as Able Danger might have been able to prevent the 9/11 attacks — if it had been allowed to alert the FBI that Mohamed Atta was living in the country.
"My first reaction was, 'We had him.' It was a sinking feeling in my stomach," Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer told The Post in an interview yesterday, describing how he felt after learning that Atta was one of the hijackers.
Shaffer said that before the attacks, in 2000, Able Danger used complex computer analysis to identify two of the 9/11 terror cells, including one centered around the mastermind, Atta.
But Pentagon lawyers wouldn't let them sound the alarm with law enforcement agencies, he said.
...
Shaffer said Atta's name didn't ring a bell when he learned the hijackers' names after 9/11. But he got "a sinking feeling in my stomach" when the woman Ph.D. in charge of Able Danger's data analysis told him Atta was one of those who had been identified as a likely al Qaeda terrorist by Able Danger.
"My friend the doctor [Ph.D.] who did all the charts and ran the technology showed me the chart and said, 'Look, we had this, we knew them, we knew this.' And it was a sinking feeling, it was like, 'Oh my God, you know. We could have done something.' "
...
Shaffer told The Post that at least two other members of the Able Danger team plan on going public "as soon as they get basically some guarantees from their own organizations that they can talk without being retaliated against."
Both still work for the U.S. government...
...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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could the crack in the dam be growing?
Nothing ever comes of anything that could damage Bill Clinton's mythical "legacy" that the MSM has so carefully nurtured.
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makes me wonder why Bush senior is letting Bill Clinton sit on his lap.
Shaffer said that before the attacks, in 2000, Able Danger used complex computer analysis to identify two of the 9/11 terror cells, including one centered around the mastermind, Atta. But Pentagon lawyers wouldn't let them sound the alarm with law enforcement agencies, he said.Emphasis added.
Why didn't Able Danger just break the law and tell someone something? Military Intel has a chain of command to the President - DIA gots to the undersecretary of the Army up the SecDef.
While they could not tell either the FBI or CIA, they could tell the President via their own chain of Command and the President could tell FBI and CIA from his different briefings.
Its like all the intel briefings, congress has oversight and is briefed by the CIA, FBI, DIA, NSA, etc. They get all this input yet it seems they cannot connect the dots as they are suppose to.
Its like a homeowner association board, they are briefed by many different committees, take that input, share what is need and make decisions.
I think this is exacly was I said 9-12. Government failed.
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Maybe because I will still logged in. I just logged out.
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The officer I heard on Hannity last night said it took a two-star general to basically tell him to shut up to keep him quiet. He was in danger of insubordination. He's talking now.
I'm so sick of the Clintons getting away with murder and treason in this country. Sick of it.
Able Danger just did data mining, as I understand it. Perhaps they did more, but I wouldn't think that data mining would qualify as "elite."
It did turn out to be a double entendre. I'm suspicious that the Clintons have dirt on the Bushes and that is why dirt on the Clintons aren't pursued by the current Bush administration.
The 9/11 commission was a joke - we said it then, we say it now.
It would be nice if Gorelick's wall crumbled and she and her accomplices Hillary and Bill were exposed. I'm not sure it will happen.
They're draining the reservoir.
But he said that so far, the Pentagon has been unable to locate the files.
"I know where I left them and they're not there now," he said, adding it was at a Defense Intelligence Agency facility in northern Virginia.
Slick's Know-Nothing Do-Nothing Administration have cost many American lives.
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