ABC News Exclusive: Three Alleged Ringleaders ID'd

[sabra]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/08/abc_exclusive_t.html

ABC News Exclusive: Three Alleged Ringleaders ID'd


Three of the alleged ringleaders of the foiled airplane bomb plot have been identified by Western intelligence agencies involved in unraveling the plot.

Two of them are believed to have recently traveled to Pakistan and were later in receipt of money wired to them from Pakistan, reportedly to purchase tickets for the suicide bombers.

Sources identify the three, who are now in custody, as:

--Rashid Rauf

--Mohammed al-Ghandra

--Ahmed al Khan

[elehhhhna]

1. but but but we Like Pakistan

[tridim]

2. They sure have perfect terra-ist names

Although "George Bush" is still the ultimate name in terra.

[Baclava]

3. Do we bomb Pakistan now?

I get so confused.

[Kittycat]

6. No silly - Iran, they support them. And they have WMDs

[KansDem]

4. So once IDed that were arrested *before* the attack?

That certainly is a switch since 9/11 when we IDed them and did nothing until after the attacks.

Mohamed Atta and three other alleged ringleaders of the 9/11 hijacking team were under surveillance by an elite US military intelligence program in the summer of 2000, a New York Times story of Aug. 9, 2005 revealed.

Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) broke the story to the Times after officers with knowledge of the Able Danger program contacted him. Two officers have since gone on record to say they once had Mohamed Atta in their sights. They claim a recommendation to round up Atta and what they termed his "Brooklyn Cell" (!) was rejected in the fall of 2000 by commanders at MacDill Air Force Base, supposedly on the advice of Defense Department lawyers. As of Sept. 2, the Pentagon says three additional people with knowledge of Able Danger have corroborated the story.

This dossier by Nicholas Levis rounds up Able Danger news reports to date, as well as analyses by various authors. The views expressed herein are the writers' own and do not necessarily reflect those of 911Truth.org.

http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20050830191215604


A key section of the congressional report tells the puzzling story of a pair of Saudi hijackers who settled in San Diego almost two years before the attacks. Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi were two of the terrorists aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. In the report’s judgment, their story represents “perhaps the intelligence community’s best chance to unravel the September 11 plot.”

The tale begins in late 1999, when counterterrorism agents working round-the-clock in preparation for the Millennium celebrations got wind that al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi, who had been connected to the 1998 East Africa bombings, were planning a trip to Malaysia. According to a CIA officer who testified to the committee, “a kind of tuning fork buzzed” when he and his colleagues heard the news. The CIA arranged for Malaysian intelligence to monitor the pair once they landed in Kuala Lumpur on January 5, 2000. Their behavior, CIA Director George Tenet testified, “was consistent with clandestine activity.”

In Kuala Lumpur, the two men attended a high-level al-Qaeda meeting at the home of Yazid Sufaat, a Malaysian chemist with ties to the bin Laden network. Photographs of the gathering were taken secretly by Malaysian intelligence and transmitted back to CIA headquarters. By that time, the CIA had obtained a copy of al-Mihdhar’s Saudi passport, giving the agency his full name, passport number, birth date and other details. The passport showed that al-Mihdhar had a visa, issued at the U.S. consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, giving him the right to enter the United States at any time until the visa expired in April 2000.

Yet no action was taken to warn U.S. customs officials. According to Tenet, “We had at that point the level of detail needed to watchlist —that is, to nominate him to State Department for refusal of entry into the US or to deny him another visa. Our officers remained focused on the surveillance operation and did not do so.”

--more--

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0904-03.htm

[napi21]

7. BTW, what ever happened to Weldon on this?

Last I heard him on TV screaming, I WANT ANSWERS! I'M GOING TO FIND OUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED WITH ABLT DANGER!!!!!

That was MONTHS ago!

Was he told to SHUT UP????

[SoCalDem]

9. His book was not the big seller he had hoped...so he retreated

that's my guess

[KansDem]

10. You got me! I'm still waiting for Sen. Roberts' report...

...that he said last year that he'd release soon.

That's when Sen. Reid shut down the Senate forcing Robers to comply. So far, nothing...

"Phase two" of the investigation
At the time of the report's release (July 9, 2004), Democratic members of the committee expressed the hope that "phase two" of the investigation, which was to include an assessment of how the Iraqi WMD intelligence was used by senior policymakers, would be completed quickly. Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) said of phase two, "It is a priority. I made my commitment and it will get done."

On March 10, 2005, during a question-and-answer session after a speech he had given at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Senator Roberts said of the failure to complete phase two, "hat is basically on the back burner." Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), vice chairman of the Committee, made a statement later that day in which he said, "The Chairman agreed to this investigation and I fully expect him to fulfill his commitment... While the completion of phase two is long overdue, the committee has continued this important work, and I expect that we will finish the review in the very near future."

In a statement regarding the release of the report of the presidential WMD commission on March 31, 2005, Senator Roberts wrote, "I don’t think there should be any doubt that we have now heard it all regarding prewar intelligence. I think that it would be a monumental waste of time to replow this ground any further."

On April 10, 2005, Senators Roberts and Rockefeller appeared together on NBC's Meet the Press program. In response to a question about the completion of phase two of the investigation, Roberts said, "I'm perfectly willing to do it, and that's what we agreed to do, and that door is still open. And I don't want to quarrel with Jay, because we both agreed that we would get it done. But we do have--we have Ambassador Negroponte next week, we have General Mike Hayden next week. We have other hot-spot hearings or other things going on that are very important."

--more--
Wikipedia

[napi21]

16. At least there was info on THAT last week!

I read somewhere that the committee staff said there were still 2 parts of the Robert's Report they haven't even started on, and they expect to have it ready for approval in late Nov or Dec. (Convenient, huh?)

[anotherdrew]

21. expecting a - 'let one thru, stop the rest?' n/t

[sinkingfeeling]

5. But isn't Pakistan are 'most trusted ally'?

[atreides1]

8. But Pakistan is our ally

Isn't it?

[KansDem]

12. So was/is Saudi Arabia, who issued passports to 15 of 19 9/11 attackers

That's why we invaded Iraq to kill its citizens...clear? :crazy:

[aquart]

15. It cannot be said too often.

[CJCRANE]

18. NO, they're B*sh's ally.

Think about that.

Funds for the 9/11 operation were wired from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan.

These countries are *'s political and/or business allies

[GeorgeGist]

11. This Rashid Rauf?

http://www.rashidrauf.com/

[uppityperson]

19. hmmm

[allemand]

13. Pakistanis say they helped crack plot

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan intelligence helped British security agencies crack the terrorist plot to blow up U.S.-bound aircraft, a government and an intelligence official said Thursday.

The intelligence official said an Islamic militant arrested near the Afghan-Pakistan border several weeks ago provided a lead that played a role in "unearthing the plot," that helped authorities arrest suspects in Britain.

A senior Pakistani government official also said Pakistan had helped thwart the plot and added the British government was fully aware of Islamabad's role.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060810/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_britain_terror_plot_1

[aquart]

14. Money. Okay, NOW we have a plot.

Of course, they haven't used the money to BUY tickets yet. It's entirely possible they would have used them to see the West End season. We don't actually know, do we?

[CJCRANE]

17. ISI wired money to 9/11 hijackers apparently...

maybe they helped out in this one too.

[daleo]

20. Were they in possession of suspicious amounts of Gatorade?

That's what I want to know.

[Ilsa]

22. Oh. You're serious.

I thought you were going to say, "Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and George w. Bush." The real Axis of Evil.