Tuesday, August 16, 2005

atta and friends and abramoff and friends

Update 21/09/06 - Hi everyone from WhatReallyHappened. If any of you are Sibel Edmonds fans, there's a new documentary about her story. My new blog about it is here. You can watch the trailer at YouTube here - please rate the trailer, and send it to your friends. More details at Sibel's site. Press release here. A short version of my interview with the director is here.
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a few days ago, joseph cannon wrote:
"On September 26, 2001, Associated Press writer Vickie Chachere reported that FBI agents probing Atta's connections had turned their attention to SunCruz casinos -- then owned by Abramoff:
SunCruz Casinos has turned over photographs and other documents to FBI investigators after employees said they recognized some of the men suspected in the terrorist attacks as customers... Names on the passenger list from a Sept. 5 cruise matched those of some of the hijackers..."
he pointed to this link as his reference, although that has since been disappeared. a google search throws up a bunch of sites with the same quote - but only one from a proper news source - Florida's BonitaNews - and that has also disappeared - but the google-cache still has it. it seems odd that some AP stories dont actually get carried through the wires...

i'll quote it in full in case the cache disappears:
Attack: SunCruz Casinos turns over documents in terrorist probe

Thursday, September 27, 2001

By VICKIE CHACHERE, Associated Press

TAMPA — SunCruz Casinos has turned over photographs and other documents to FBI investigators after employees said they recognized some of the men suspected in the terrorist attacks as customers.

Michael Hlavsa, chairman of the gambling cruise company, said Wednesday two or three men linked to the Sept. 11 hijackings may have been customers on a ship that sailed from Madeira Beach on Florida's gulf coast.

The cruise line also is turning over to the FBI video from a Port Canaveral cruise ship of a man that an employee says also resembled one of the suspected terrorists.

The FBI has not confirmed the men's identities and the cruise line is declining to specifically identify the men being investigated. An FBI spokeswoman declined comment.

Hlavsa said it was observant employees who made the matches in the days after the attack.

One name on the passenger list from a Sept. 5 cruise is the same as one of the suspected terrorists', Hlavsa said. A cash advance was taken out on that passenger's credit card, he said.

The ship's extensive security systems, in place to protect its gaming operations and customers, will help confirm identifies, Hlavsa said.

"They acted just like normal guests of ours and they were courteous," he said. "There were no issues."

The gaming ships carry several hundred people each day on six-hour tours. The ships are outfitted with hundreds of slot machines and gaming tables.

On the Port Canaveral ship, the casino manager recognized one of the suspected terrorists as someone who may have frequented the vessel. Video of that man is being turned over to the FBI either later Wednesday or early Thursday.
(actually, the BonitaNews article is here you'll need to register to get access - use bugmenot.com)

There's also this article from St. Petersburg Times from the same time, which basically covers the same info:

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as an interesting aside, from the Sep27 AP article, compare this: "Hlavsa said it was observant employees who made the matches in the days after the attack." (link)

with this, also from the AP on the same day: "Attorney General John Ashcroft on Thursday (sep 27) released photographs of the 19 suspected hijackers, saying that it is part of "a national neighborhood watch" in which investigators hope Americans might recognize some of the hijackers.
Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller asked any Americans who might recognize the photos to contact authorities." (link)

on the 14th the fbi released a list of names - but there arent any photos. were the photos 'released' before they were 'released'? or did aforementioned 'observant employees' simply recognise the names?

according to this article, SanCruz's ships "can accommodate about 1,200 guests" - its difficult to imagine "two or three" faces standing out, let alone names - particularly if they werent looking for anything.

more confusion.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

first off- a cruise may hold 1200...but that does not mean it has actually boarded that number.
capacity is set for fire hazards etc.-which is what the 1200 translates to.
secondly-
AP often releases the same story with many variants on the same story over and over throughout the day. It's not that uncommon for ap articles to expire-but the likes of Hopsicker use lexus nexus........very expensive-wish I could use it.
AND
if you read his quote - he puts the ...
in the paragraph of the quote between the two sentences. That is a writing method of showing that the quote is not a continuance of the article's text word for word verbatim- in other words, some portions of the article language may have been omitted in between the two sentences.
Hope that helps explain it.

Anonymous said...

Powerful connection when taken in conjunction with other material pointing to a government conspiracy involved in the events of 9/11;

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5137581991288263801&q=loose+change
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2001/US/09/13/penn.attack/
http://web.archive.org/web/20011116231719/www.flight93crash.com/
http://www.serendipity.li/wot/operation_pearl.htm
http://rense.com/general71/d333m.htm
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kovach/050914
http://nymag.com/news/features/16464/index.html
http://www.erichufschmid.net.nyud.net:8090/911.wmv

Anonymous said...

I agree. And what did they know about Jack Abramof at the time or his "gonnegtions"?

Furthermore, there were some ideas about Atta in Vegas. I guess the next question might be whether he was a high roller who got VIP treatment. Or some cut-out. One of the many Oswald's -- seems this is a game the real high rollers have played for a generation or more.

It's pretty clear to anyone with half a brain by now that Atta of the pretty passport never flew a jetliner into a building, and probably sleeps with the fishes up in Maine.