Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 05:51:19 -0800 (PST)
From: David
To: Allan
Subject: Re: 7 hijackers trained at military bases (not 3)
Allan,
What has been the response to your posts at the Red Sox blog?
(Please, somebody tell me - what the hell is a blog, anyway?) :)
David
Allan wrote:
You guys do have more experience handing out flyers and talking with people
on the streets than I do, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. I
would be wary of stuff that we may take for granted but is not in the public
eye at all. That's mostly what i meant.
Note: it is SEVEN, not three hijackers who were trained at US bases.
Three hijackers listed the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida as their
address on drivers' licenses
http://cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2001/pensacolanewsjournal091701.html
A 4th hijacker was also connected to the Pensacola Station
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2001/09/16reconstructingt.html
Another hijacker attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey,
California
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-091501terror,0,3617363.story
Atta grad uated from the US International Officers School at Maxwell Air
Force Base in Alabama
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-091501terror,0,3617363.story
Alomari attended Brooks Air Force Base Aerospace Medical School in San
Antonio, Texas.
http://www.pressconnects.com/archive/attack/stories/091701N1.html
Again, that's 7 of the 19. What are the odds of THAT?
***
Here is something I wrote for my Red Sox blog (that I also put political
stuff in) on 9/11/03. Links are in the original:
9.11.2003
On the second anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks in this country's
history, we still know almost nothing about what happened. Using Xymphora's http://xymphora.blogspot.com
June 21, 2003 post as a jumping-off point:
1. We don't know the real names of any of the 19 hijackers. At least eight
of them used the names, photographs and/or dates of birth of people we know
are alive (see entry for September 16-23, 2001 here). The FB I continues to
insist that its initial information is correct.
2. We know very little about the fact that at least 7 hijackers were trained
at US military bases. Three hijackers listed the Naval Air Station in
Pensacola, Florida as their address on drivers' licenses; a 4th hijacker was
also connected to the Pensacola Station; another hijacker attended the
Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California; Atta graduated from the
US International Officers School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama; and
Alomari attended Brooks Air Force Base Aerospace Medical School in San
Antonio, Texas.
3. We don't know why two hijackers went to Portland, Maine the day before
the attacks. 9/11 widow Kristen Breitweiser asked how the FBI had known
which Portland ATM machine would contain videotape of Mohammed Atta. The
agent got some facts confused, then changed his story. He asked: "What are
you getting at?" Breitweiser said: "I t hink you had open investigations
before September 11 on some of the people responsible for the terrorist
attacks." "We did not," insisted the agent. Yet that is exactly what the
evidence uncovered by Congressional investigators points to.
4. We don't know how the FBI came up with the names and photographs of the
hijackers (initial reports said there were anywhere from 12-24, then 18,
then 19). We have no explanation how the FBI arrived at the Florida flight
schools the hijackers trained at by about 2:00 pm on 9/11. At a recent
meeting between senior FBI agents and relatives of victims, Kristen
Breitweiser asked: "How is it that a few hours after the attacks, FBI agents
showed up at Embry-Riddle flight school in Florida where some of the
terrorists trained?" The answer? "We got lucky."
5. We don't know if any of the 19 hijackers were actually on the planes.
We've never seen the official passenger lists or any security video fro m the
airports the hijackers took off from. Within two days, the FBI was examining
"footage from dozens of cameras at the three airports," but two weeks later,
the Boston Herald reported that Logan Airport had no cameras at any of its
gates, terminals or concourses. It may be the only airport in the US with no
security cameras.
6. We know very little about when the FAA and NORAD were notified of the
hijackings. Although NORAD was on a heightened state of alert on 9/11, the
official version of its response has changed to make its inaction more
benign. There was no mention of any military fighter response until the
evening of September 14. One day before that, Richard Myers, in his
confirmation hearings to be named Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff,
told the Senate that no planes were scrambled until after the Pentagon was
hit -- almost 90 minutes after air traffic controllers knew of the first
hijacking. After the news report of September 14, NORAD updated its website
to reflect the new information. All four flights flew over or very near
military bases while under control of the hijackers.
7. We don't know what happened to the 40-50 people identified as supporters
of the hijackers. On September 13, 2001, 40 men had been accounted for, with
10 still at large. No one has yet been charged with assisting the hijackers
-- in fact, not one of these 50 men has been publicly identified. Why not?
8. We don't know why top Pentagon officials suddenly cancelled flights
scheduled for the morning of September 11. Newsweek reported there had been
a high state of alert for two weeks and a "particularly urgent warning the
night before the attacks." The only follow-up to this report was in the next
issue of Newsweek which again mentioned that these officials had "suddenly
changed travel plans."
9. We don't know what weapons the hijackers used, how they got them on the
planes, and how they actually took control of the planes. Guns were reported
on two flights (by the FBI and a passenger), the FBI said pepper spray was
used on Flight 11, and a bomb was described on Flight 93. More than half of
the hijackers were pulled aside for extra screening before boarding -- six
for baggage examination, two for irregularities in identification and one
because he was traveling with a person with irregular identification. It was
later reported that contrary to earlier statements, box cutters were illegal
on all US flights on September 11.
10. We have no idea what happened to Flight 93. Was it shot down? Did it
crash as a result of a struggle in the cockpit? As a result of a bomb on the
plane? On September 13, Pentagon officals still could not deny the flight
may have been shot down.
11. We know very little about other flights on 9/11 which may have been
targeted. The FBI said six planes were scheduled to be hijacked; other
investigators said eight; the White House thought up to eleven planes were
involved. Knives and box cutters were found in about half-dozen grounded
planes, some taped to the backs of fold-down trays or hidden in seats (see
September 19, 2001 entry here).
12. We do not know what was in the briefing materials given to George W.
Bush on August 6. We do know that the government lied when it said the title
of the briefing was "Bin Laden to Strike US"; it actually said "Bin Laden to
Strike In US." Dick Cheney has downplayed the briefing as a "rehash" and
nothing out of the ordinary, but when asked by Congress to release the
papers, Cheney said he could not because "it contains the most sensitive
sources and methods. It's the family jewels."
13. We do not know why bin Laden family members were allowed to leave the US
without being questioned. This was reported in the New York Times and Tampa
Tribune, but soon came to be regarded as an urban legend. The current issue
of Vanity Fair has extensive information on these flights (also here) and
Colin Powell confirmed their existence on a recent Meet the Press.
14. We don't know what has been learned about the stock trading on and
before September 11. This information (easily available to investigators)
would answer many questions, including the names of people who had
foreknowledge of the attacks.
15. We have no idea what was going on with George W. Bush in Florida. We
don't know when Bush knew of the hijackings. We don't know why he continued
reading a children's story for up to 15 minutes after being told the country
was under attack. He has never explaned why he has claimed twice to have
seen the first crash on live television. We have no explanation for why he
spent the day flying around the southeastern and midwestern United States
(the excuse that Air Force One was in danger was bogus, as the White House
admitted by the end of September 2001). We also have no explanation for why
Air Force One was given no fighter protection for almost two hours (when it
was allegedly a target).
(The Philadelphia Daily News is asking similar questions.)
Xymphora concludes: "Within this many months of all the major American
conspiracies of the last forty years we were still confused, but we had some
idea as to what was going on. ... You would think there might be the
slightest effort to answer some of these questions. The Bush Administration
is stonewalling on even the most basic documents ... The most striking thing
is that most if not all of these issues could easily be resolved if the
right people were forced to answer some rather simple questions."
In this morning's New York Times, Bush promises that on this anniversary,
"we will never forget those who rejoiced at our grief." Would it be
rejoicing if someone laughingly referred to the deaths of more than 3,000
people as winning the trifecta at the horse track? I think so. Bush has done
this many times (here and here and here and here and here and here and here
and here and here and here and here and here (all from the White House
website, by the way)).
****
I can't get an actual link to the entry but it is at Sept 11 on this part of
archives (search for "Xymphora"):
http://joyofsox.blogspot.com/2003_09_01_joyofsox_archive.html#106329504941063583
to see the actual links in each paragraph.
Allan