"In October 2001, approximately one month after the Sept. 11 attack, an agent returned a certain document to the FBI Washington Field Office to have it re-translated. This special agent rightfully believed that, considering the suspect under surveillance and the issues involved, the original translation might have missed information that could prove valuable in the investigation of terrorist activities. After this document was received by the FBI Washington Field Office and re-translated verbatim, the field agent's hunch appeared to be correct. The new translation revealed certain information regarding blueprints, pictures and building material for skyscrapers being sent overseas. It also revealed illegal activities in obtaining visas from certain embassies in the Middle East through network contacts and bribery."I hadnt realised that it was this same Iranian guy in jail who ordered the blueprints (and was wiretapped celebrating 911) and ALSO was involved in hooking up visas for people.
I wonder whether those were the same visas as these:
"Second, the FBI has direct, documented evidence of exactly who was involved in buying visas for more than one of the 911 hijackers - presumably including who asked for them, who they asked, how they were facilitated, and how much was paid. Again, this information came from counter-intelligence (and of course, we already know some of the groups that CI was monitoring), but the case was never moved to Counter-Terrorism - even after 911."(triggered by this)
23 comments:
And how come a bunch of highjackers turned up alive and well and wanting their passports back?
And just what "middle eastern embassy" are we talking about?
poor sibel - i dont know how she manages to stay on the 'right' side of the line about what she can, and cant say. i suspect that she's decided that she cant say just what "middle eastern embassy" she can mention
9/11 terrorists Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al Shehhi both received I-20 "Vocational" visas from Huffman Aviation.
An OIG(Office of Inspector General)report indicated that the school should not have been allowed to issue this type of visa because they were not training people for the appropriate number of hours and were not considered a 'Full Course of Study.'
(i). Why did the INS (Immigration and Naturalisation Service) certify Huffman aviation as a full time vocational school when in fact, it did not qualify? Lack of certification would have prevented it from accepting foreign students here on student visas.
(ii). Why wasn’t an onsite review conducted at Huffman aviation?
The fact that liason and paperwork had to occur between Huffman and the terrorists before they entered the country implies the visa fiddle was not just at the Saudi end. Dodgy details had to be agreed to in Florida at some official level prior to their entry into the US. Atta and Shehhi were known quantities to somebody at Huffman Aviation. These guys did not just breeze up out of the blue. It was arranged that they attend at Huffman.
15 of the 19 terrorists came through Jeddah. A key Jeddah consular official prior to this period was Michael Springman: "In Saudi Arabia I was repeatedly ordered by high level State Dept officials to issue visas to unqualified applicants."( link)
Alex Jones also interviewed him:
Jones: "And, in more detail, what did these individuals in the government positions, what did they tell you?"
Springman: "Well, they pretty much said, flat out, that the agency was bringing these people over for terrorist training. And that they wanted junior officers in the visa section with little or no supervision so that these people would sail on through."
Michael Springmann worked for the State Department for 20 years. He spent two years as chief of the visa section in Jeddah. His superiors repeatedly ordered him to issue visas to unqualified applicants. It was illegal. He protested... “ I had not been protesting fraud. What I was protesting was, in reality, an effort to bring recruits, rounded up by (the Agency and) Osama bin Laden, to the U.S. for terrorist training by the CIA....The State Department did not run the Consulate in Jeddah. The CIA did . Of the roughly 20 Washington-dispatched staff there, I know for a certainty that only three people (including myself) had no ties, either professional or familial, to any of the U.S.intelligence services.”
According to US officials 13 of the 15 Saudi hijackers were issued visas to the United States, 10 of them at the US Consulate in Jeddah, between April 23 and June 29 2001.
[Some of these applicants had common tribal names giving rise to later claims of stolen terrorist identities].
Some of these 13 US entries were under an expedited visa entry program established in June 2001. From here:
"The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh is proud to announce the implementation of its new U.S. VISA EXPRESS service for expediting nonimmigrant visa applications throughout Saudi Arabia," the embassy in Riyadh and U.S. consulate in Jeddah announced to Saudi citizens on June 25, 2001.
Following 9/11, the program was renamed in June 2002 but continued..."Saudi nationals and people just living in Saudi Arabia can waltz into a travel agency, submit a short, two-page form and a photo, and go home and wait for the visa to arrive in the mail."
This is where Abdulla Noman comes in:Noman, 52, was a Yemeni permanent resident of Saudi Arabia who worked at the Jeddah consulate. He was arrested in Las Vegas on November 4th, 2001 in a bribes for fake visas scandal. ABC News wrote that "about 50 to 100 visas were improperly issued by Noman from September 1996 until last November (2001)". Noman doesn't appear to be connected to the terrorists. From November 14th-17th, 2001 Abdullah Noman he also took part in a Saudi trade show in Atlanta to do with amusement parks(??).
There's a whole range of issues about this guy:
* If the CIA was running the visa program you'd think they'd follow closely who was getting the visas and they'd know if they were being scammed.
* Was Noman's, post 9/11, public arrest a convenient distraction from questions about terrorist visas issued through Jeddah?
* There's a whole bunch of tenuous conspiracy stuff about the name 'Noman'.
Summary: Jeddah was a CIA visa shop for terrorists coming into the US. There is no good reason to believe that 15 of the 19 terrorists came through there by chance, without the knowledge of US intelligence.
Damien:
Hmmmmm, actually double hmmmmmmm.
I've always felt there was something to the business of so many of the "highjackers' entering our country through our Embassy in Riyadnh, that they went to Florida to learn to fly, some at Pensacola.
The fact that on 9/11, Das Bush was in Florida, where his Bro was Da Boss seems more than coincidence too.
Did anyone see the recent(May-ish) report on BuzzFlash about the Saudi gov't giving scholarships to students who want to come to the US to learn to fly commercial planes? Hillary said she was going to look into it.
Imperial Hubris says Osama Bin Laden is one of our agents. Sure as hell looks that way to me too.
Freddom is on the march all right, right on out of here.
thnx D - great post as always.
Some more fun for you, Kathleen.
Florida is a law unto itself. Here are other some factoids (of the meangless type so addictive to 9/11 conspiracy theorists):
* Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency in Fla 4 days before 9/11.
* Mohammed Atta's father visited him in Fla a few weeks before 9/11.
* On the evening of 9/11, following the attacks, Jeb came to Venice with two Ryder hire trucks and gathered up all the records at Huffman Aviation and Venice police station. These were then loaded onto a C47 and flown -ostensibly - to Washington. Go figure.
* Mary Schneider, an immigration officer for Homeland Security at Orlando, was harrased and then fired for reporting on an extensive cash for visas scam involving muslims that continues to this day:
..... Khalil bin Laden resided for years in the Orlando area prior to September 11; but the FBI permitted him to leave the country on September 16 without being questioned--despite alleged ties to an al-Qaeda supporter and the lead 9/11 hijacker.
.... former FBI Director Louis Freeh, Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller and numerous U.S. senators and congressmen knew before the September 11 attacks that U.S. immigration officials were bribed by an illegal Moroccan Muslim linked to Osama bin Laden's half-brother.
* This from Daniel Hopsicker: Although the FBI has denied it even existed, the terrorist support network that provided assistance to Mohamed Atta and his fellow hijackers remains in place today in Florida.
Mohamed Atta used a Verizon cell phone that was serviced in Sarasota by the authorized Verizon dealer Wissam Hammoud - who had bragged to friends that he was an illegal arms dealer and had sold machine guns to Hizbollah. In June 2002 he was convicted of selling a machine gun and short barrel shotgun to an undercover ATF agent. His sentence in 'good ol' boy' Fla: a year of home detention! (link)
* Sami Al-Arian was the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the United States and ran a school, the Islamic Academy of Florida in Tampa. Various members of this school were sending funds to Islamic terrorist groups in the ME. No big deal, you say?
"In June 2001, Al-Arian was among members of the American Muslim Council invited to the White House complex for a briefing by Karl Rove. The next month, the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom - a civil liberties group headed by Al-Arian - gave [Grover] Norquist an award for his work to abolish the use of secret intelligence evidence in terrorism cases, a position Bush had adopted in the 2000 campaign."( link)
On February 22, 2003 Al-Arian was scheduled to meet with VP Cheney, but Cheney canceled. That morning, the Jerusalem Post had run a front-page article headlined, "Cheney to host pro-terrorist Muslim group."
Al-Arian was also involved with a financial group called Baraka (incorporated in Fla) that allegedly laundered money for the 9/11 terrorists. Nearly all of this activity Florida based.
*Abdurahman Alamoudi was the founder of the American Muslim Council, a consultant to the Pentagon on the chaplain program for more than a decade, and was the VP of a terrorist funding 'muslim charity' founded by Abdullah bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s nephew. He was also a close friend of Sami Al-Arian.(link). He also dealt with senior members of the Bush administration.
*You might also recall that on 9/11 the FAA had problems with false radar blips. The principal financier of the company (Ptec) that ran the FAA software(and for most Fed.govt depts) was Yasin al-Qadi, a major financial backer of the al-Qaeda network.(link) When the Dept.Treasury tried to investigate these financial links they were shut down by Michael Chertoff.(link) On the very day the company was raided by Treasury, the White House announced that no adverse findings had been found against them.(link)
The Florida connection is this: Dr. Magdy el-Amir was a scam artist who milked $45 from the state of Florida because of his cosy political connections there. He gave money to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman who helped in the 1993 WTC bombing, and to recognised arms traffickers. His brother was caught on tape attempting to buy weapons from a US undercover agent for Islamic militant groups.And his HMO was suspected of being used to funnel money directly to Osama bin laden. When he was charged in 1998 over the Florida scams he was defended by none other than New Jersey's then Attorney General Michael Chertoff - who won the case. Go figure. (link)
* Then there was Makram Chams, Lebanese minimart owner from Venice Fla. and friend of terrorists Atta and Shehhi, who cashed their $70,000 money order payment, abandoned his minimart after 9/11 and later turned up in Saudi Arabia working for defence giant Titan Corp.(link).
That was the same Titan Corp. that's been connected to the recent (April 10 2006) capture of a plane in Yucatan, Mexico, bearing Homeland Security lookalike signage and carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine. (It's sister plane was housed at Huffman Aviation, home of the 9/11 terrorists). - It's also rumoured that the capture of that plane may have led to the sudden - and as yet unexplained - resignation of Porter Goss as head of the CIA shortly after.
* No-one has yet explained what Mohammed Atta was doing on one of Jack Abrahamoff's Florida cruise boats a week before 9/11 - or who his German and Austrian buddies were.
Florida is a crime state. Daniel Hopsicker has covered it fairly well here.
correction....."Dr. Magdy el-Amir was a scam artist who milked $45 million from the state of Florida"
Don't punish me,Luke...I enjoy the occasional rant.
damien - awesome again.
3 points.
a) i had thought/presumed that Magdy el-Amir was ripping off NJ. Why was chertoff involved in Fl?
b) i've never really understood that al-arian thing. amy goodman seems to think that he was treated unfairly. and if i'm not mistaken, he was also sued by Loftus in some weird story that somehow involves judy miller giving a 'heads-up' to al-Arian and his charities - which is (somehow) related to the current Pat Fitzgerald investigation/case in subpoena-ing Judy's records. and also related is Rita whatsername from the Site Institute - and some weird mix of anonymity and her (Rita) having to withdraw certain claims that she made on CBS (?)
c) re Atta/Abramoff - i agree that the pre-911 stuff was 'weird' - but separately - didnt hopsicker claim that Atta (or someone else?) actually owned another floating casino?
Suffering Jeebus, I knew a couple of those points (the state of emergency in FL, for example, and visas issued in Saudi Arabia... come to think of it, that last one from you) but that's just so breathtakingly fucked up, I'm... well, fucked up and out of breath!
Can't speak for the landlord, but I wouldn't be kicking you off the front step for preaching. Preach on, brother!
That must be why I've never been able to quite bring myself to get rid of out-of-style pointy-toed shoes. . . .
Good job, Damien.
Damien,
You're right, that was more fun, weird, sick, but fun.
Didn't know Jebby had declared state of emergency before 9/11. Did he give a reason?
Wayne Madsen Report agrees with you about Porter Goss' resignation being connected to the capture of the Huffman Aviation plane cum coke. He also says the whole Iran-Contra team is back in the driver's seat in the Office of Special Plans, so arms for drugs or vice versa, is just pro forma. In fact, WMR says one of the women on the Darth Duck Shoot is the daughter of the head of the Swiss bank used by Iran-Contra cabal for drug money laundering. They just fired up the old machinery.
Thanks for the three course meal. I'll be digesting this for a while now.
that sound you just heard, either waking you up or shocking the shit out of you (depending on your time zone), was me SCREAMING after reading this page.
The bit about Chertoff and Dr Magdy el-Amir are wrong. The case was in New Jersey. I've seen a longer article somewhere (since misplaced) about el-Amir's alleged funding payments to al Qaeda as through some Florida banks. For some reason it stuck in my mind. There's no excuse for it. The facts are wrong as I described them. [But, following Lukery's previous instructions, there's no apology! You can all eat shit and die! So there!].
And as a distraction only I offer the following :
There's no doubt in my mind though that Chertoff took the el-Amir case on instructions from higher ups, both as a payback for bribes paid by el-Amir to the repugs and to cover up the HMO fallout. He would have known he was tarnishing his reputation by taking the case because the House International Committee had previously determined that el-Amir was funding al Qaeda, a by then known terrorist organisation. Plus, el-Amir was officially "poor" at that stage (the only sin in repug world). So the Chertoff participation was dirty in my mind, no question.
Here is the Florida connection. It's indirect. El-Amir donated $5000 to arms trafficker Diaa Mohsen, who along with Pakistan's ISI agent Mohamed "Mike" Malik were seeking to pay $32 million for illegal arms purchases via a number of Florida banks. FBI informant Randy Glass, who was part of the under-cover operation to stop this, was told by Dr. Elamir that Moshen was "a family friend."
Moshen and Malik used Florida bank accounts when trying to obtain these illegal arms."After 9/11, both men pled guilty to violating arms laws. But remarkably, even though they were apparently willing to supply America's enemies with sophisticated weapons, even nuclear weapons technology, Mohsen was sentenced to just 30 months in prison. And Malik? Mysteriously, his sentence remains under seal. And he appears to be a free man."
Oh, yeah, Chertoff was big time for shutting down every terrorist financing inquiry under the sun. Here are two good articles on him: (link) (link)
And there's still enough dodginess in Florida to go around.
....you're not shocked, Rimone, admit it. You just scream and drink for fun.
"When he was charged in 1998 over the Florida scams he was defended by none other than New Jersey's then Attorney General Michael Chertoff - who won the case."
I'm mulling over what to make of this. On the one hand, even alleged terrorist financiers have the right to legal counsel, so there is nothing wrong with what Chertoff did. On the other hand, Chertoff proved such a lying weasel in the case of John Walker Lindh, it's hard to defend the guy.
Is there anything in and of itself with Chertoff acting as a defense attorney for el-Amir?
malik is from Pakistan, remember ;)
Miguel, have a look at the last two links I just posted. They're a pretty good coverage of Chertoff. Remember this, Chertoff was legally capable, no question. But rapid promotion within the Bush admin depends heavily on what favours you can bring to the table. He didn't get his promotions on talent alone. It helps if you know what not to look at or investigate.
"Didn't know Jebby had declared state of emergency before 9/11. Did he give a reason?"
I believe it was on the Friday before - 9/7/2001 - that Jebbie hauled out the renewable Executive Order (or whatever the heck it is called) that re-ups the Florida National Guard's authority to provide assistance in the case of various kinds of emergencies (like hurricanes/civil unrest, etc), and renewed it AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, this time including a few new words, IIRC, *in case of a terrorist attack* (paraphrasing). Then, his brother came down from DeeCee as scheduled on the 10th and they had dinner together. The paper work declaring martial law in the State of Florida, again - if I recall correctly - was all signed and ready to go so damned early the next morning it is really a stretch to believe that it wasn't already done before the first plane hit the first tower. I saved all this stuff somewhere on this system (or mebbe now transferred to a CD - I'll see if I can find it) - anyhow, it added to the questions that cast doubt on who exactly WERE the perps responsible for 9/11.
Damien: you're not shocked, Rimone, admit it. You just scream and drink for fun.
that was true prior to 12. dec 2000. since then, the drinking et al. has served as a defence mechanism, warding off (more) stress and anxiety.
when i think back to my politically unconcerned existence before dec 2000, i could just cry.
LeeB: I haven't looked into the reasons for the SOE in Fla. I expect there was some passable public reason given. But it was convenient. More significant is the goings on at Huffman Aviation - and the fact that owner Wally Hilliard was never prosecuted, even when one of his (few) planes was captured with 43kg of drugs just prior to the arrival of Atta and the terrorists. Also, Hilliard ran drug flights into and out of the Caribeean and Central America supposedly 37 times in the year prior to 9/11 - all of them WITHOUT any international flying permits for his airline co. These facts, taken together, point strongly to a DEA/CIA sanctioned drug ring. Hopsicker interviewd a whole range of student pilots, business associates of Hilliard and Dekkers (mgr Huffman)and former DEA officials. They all say the same thing.
You're a gutsy lady, Rimone. Remember, when all else fails - kick heads!! :)
Damien, you've really done a ton of work on the drugs/aviation stuff. Thank you!
It seems to me that sometime after the first public hints began to bubble up that 9/11 wasn't all it was alleged to be, somebody published something to the effect that the early renewal of the FL Nat'l. Guard's authorities was no biggie . . . just routine, an accident of timing, ma'am. Move along, nothing to see here . . . (Oh, yeah?! What about adding the terrorist phrase, then, huh?) But it was just one more out-of-place detail that I filed away because I wasn't buying the story AT ALL.
Then, do you remember how they claimed there was an assassination attempt against dubya in the middle of the night before the attacks? What ever became of that tale?
Rimone: What Damien said!
Send that depressing energy out . . . away from yourself - it doesn't belong to you.
And Romunov, before I totally forget: You asked about the bunch of hijackers who turned up alive and well and wanting their passports back. A short time ago I heard a lengthy interview with Webster Griffin Tarpley discussing his book, 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA. He addressed your specific question in the interview (Mike Malloy, AAR, at The White Rose Society.org). This stash of MP3s is downloadable and free.
LeeB, glad you mentioned the Bush assassination attempt in the early hours of 9/11. I mentioned it briefly in my blog here. This whole assassination issue opens up an "endless can of worms" and needs a detailed analysis. I've posted a pile of relevant links and my initial thoughts here. Ideas welcome.
As I said earlier, I think the "assasination attempt" was a set up and may have been a pay off arrangement. "Assasination attempt" would explain their presence in the area and justify declaring a SOE early.
Again, what was the offical reason for declaring SOE 4 days earlier? I'm curious to know how they rationalized it to the public at the time, not retrospectivrly, after 9/11.
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