Free Republic

One of the biggest names of the conference never even uttered a word. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer is the military intelligence operative who recently went public with a controversial claim that a year before September 11, his top-secret task force "Able Danger" was able to identify the man who later turned out to be the lead hijacker as being connected to al Qaeda. Shaffer is a veteran of top-secret operations against terrorists, including some in Afghanistan, and several of his DIA colleagues have come out publicly to confirm that they remember Mohamed Atta being identified in 2000 as part of...

WASHINGTON - A Lebanese-American businessman who acted as a conduit for a last-ditch peace offer from Iraq to the United States faces federal charges of attempting to bring weapons on a commercial aircraft. The charges were filed Nov. 6 against Imad Hage, months after he was stopped at Dulles International Airport outside Washington when a .45-caliber handgun, five ammunition magazines and four stun guns were detected in his checked luggage. Hage said by telephone Thursday from Beirut that he intends to return to the United States in a few weeks to fight the charges, which he suggested were only brought...

Imad Hage, a prominent businessman and an emerging political leader in Lebanon, said the U.S. missed a chance to avert war with Iraq.ABCNEWS.com   Possible Deal Aborted? Claim: U.S. Government Spurned Peace Talks Before the War With Iraq By Brian Ross and Chris Vlasto ABCNEWS.com Nov. 5— A possible negotiated peace deal was laid out in a heavily guarded compound in Baghdad in the days before the war, but a top former Pentagon adviser says he was ordered not to pursue the deal, ABCNEWS has learned. The secret meeting involved a Lebanese-American businessman and Iraqi intelligence officials and came...