thedrifter
08-17-05, 08:26 AM
Does Able Danger Matter?
Written by Barbara J. Stock
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
In light of the Able Danger debacle, everyone is asking: Had Mohamed Atta been questioned, is it possible that information found with or gained from him could have prevented 9/11?
The pompous 9/11 Commission chastised one and all for “missing obvious clues” leading up the Islamic attack. Able Danger wasn’t just a clue, it was a big red banner that the 9/11 Commission did its best to ignore. Many people cried foul when Jamie Gorlick was placed on the 9/11 Commission. It was thought that she was put there to protect her from being forced to testify before the committee herself and to protect the legacy of the Clinton administration.
Clinton managed to sidestep each Islamic attack, no matter how many Americans died. Clinton called the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 a “crime” and not an Islamic terrorist attack. From the moment Bill Clinton took the oath of office, he seemed to take steps to blind our intelligence capabilities at home and abroad by raising the infamous “walls” to prevent the transfer of information from one agency to another. The Clinton administration seemed to believe that what people didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them and did it's best to keep the American people in the dark. Because of that, the Clinton legacy is on life-support and 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001.
Americans were told that Bill Clinton “obsessed” about bin Laden. Night after night the endless parade of excuse-makers was out in force, defending Bill Clinton. But in reality, Clinton was so disinterested in dealing with the Islamic terrorist problem that he had turned over the entire problem to Sandy Berger.
Was Sandy Berger dispatched to dispose of papers that Clinton didn’t want the 9/11 Commission to see? Can all the copies of the same document “accidentally” fall into someone’s pants?
What commission staffer made the decision to keep the Able Danger files away from most of the 9/11 Commission members? Did any of the members of the 9/11 Commission know about the files? If so, which ones?
Also taking on more importance is the now-reported fact that on four occasions—Spring 1998, June 1999, December 1999, and August 2000—Berger was given plans to kill bin Laden and each time he said, “No.” Where was Clinton while all this was going on?
The Able Danger report is but one piece of an eight-year puzzle. Unfortunately, the last piece was put into place on 9/11.
1993—Six Americans were killed in the first attack on the World Trade Center but Clinton called it a crime, not an Islamic terrorist attack.
1993—The FBI identified three "charities” connected to the terrorist organization, Hamas. Clinton ignored FBI pleas that he create a "President’s List” of extremist and terrorist groups. Clinton feared the political fallout of "profiling” Islamic charities. Money continued to flow freely for the next seven years from America to Islamic terrorists all over the world including al Qaeda.
1994—The "Report of the National Commission on Terrorism " was distributed to the Department of Defense, the Department of State, FEMA, intelligence communities, and members of Congress. "Targets such as the World Trade Center not only provid the requisite casualties but because of their symbolic nature provide more bang for the buck. In order to maximize their odds for success, terrorist groups will likely consider mounting multiple, simultaneous operations with the aim of overtaxing a government's ability to respond, as well as to demonstrate their professionalism and reach."
1995—Even after hearing the report on impending Islamic terror attacks, Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., convinced Clinton that our spies should not associate with “unsavory” characters. Since most terrorists are “unsavory,” our window into the movement of Islamic terrorist activity was effectively slammed shut.
1995—The Oklahoma City bombing left 168 Americans dead, many of them children. Once Tim McVeigh was in custody, all evidence indicating that the two homegrown “whiteys” had funding and assistance from Islamic terrorists was ignored at best, and at worst, covered up. Dealing with Islamic terrorists would have been messy business and Bill was in campaign mode. Clinton did not want to alienate any Muslim voters. Clinton had what he wanted: home grown terrorists. So he felt no need to deal with the growing threat from Islamic terrorists.
1995—Al Qaeda began planning the 9/11 attack dubbed "Operation Bojinka." (operation big bang). The first attack on the WTC had failed and bin Laden wanted a second shot at the towers. Plans for this attack were found on the computer of Ramzi Yousef when he was captured. Yousef carried an Iraqi passport and is now in prison for life for his involvement in the first attack on the World Trade Center. There is reason to believe that Yousef also trained Terry Nichols in the art of bomb making during Nichols’ many trips to the Philippines. Richard Clarke, the darling of the left, found it interesting enough to mention in his book that before Nichols went to the Philippines, his bombs didn’t work. When Nichols returned, his bombs worked perfectly.
1996—The explosion of TWA Flight 800 killed 230 people. Clinton quickly issued Executive Order 13039 to keep all involved in recovery process silent. The FBI told the hundreds of witnesses, many of them former military, that what they saw was not surface to air missile, but a single “firework” display. After spending 40 million dollars, Chairman Jim Hall of the National Transportation Safety Board sat before Congress and stated that there was no physical evidence or conclusive forensic evidence to prove it was a mechanical failure that caused the explosion of the center fuel tank on TWA 800. Senator John Kerry is on record twice referring to the TWA 800 disaster as a terrorist attack. Pilots called the “mechanical failure” explanation ridiculous.
1996—The CIA and FBI both warned Clinton they had uncovered a plan involving al Qaeda called the "Martyrdom Battalion" which indicated terrorists were planning to hijack planes and use them as missiles.
1996—The Philippine authorities warned the FBI that they had received credible information that al Qaeda was planning on hijacking planes and flying them into federal buildings.
1997—Madeleine Albright became Secretary of State. Ms. Albright, in defense of Clinton, offered up perhaps the single most absurd excuse ever given for the Clinton failures: "This is hard to say and I haven't found a way to say it that doesn't sound crass, but it is the truth that those (attacks before Sept. 11) were happening overseas and while there were Americans who died, there were not thousands and it did not happen on U. S. soil."
1998—bin Laden issued one of two fatwas urging his followers to target the United States and all Americans.
1999—Clinton’s own secretary of defense, William Cohen, in a July 1999 op-ed piece in the Washington Post, predicted a terrorist attack on America’s mainland.
1999—"Project Megiddo" went public on the FBI website. It was a directive given in 1995 to the FBI from Bill Clinton to direct its investigative efforts towards only domestic terrorism such as the Christian right and militias. No effort was to be made to link any American group with Islamic terrorists.
1999—The Transportation Security Administration altered a terrorist report to exclude all references to foreign terrorists. David Holmes, head of the Department of Commerce zeroed in on white militia groups in a 1999 threat analysis. Commerce officials who worked on the case say Holmes' exclusion of every threat group that wasn't white was in keeping with what they say was the Clinton administration policy of focusing on domestic threats from white militia groups, rather than Islamic groups, in combating terrorism. "Holmes made us take out every group that wasn't white: no minority groups allowed. He was toeing the liberal line of the Clinton administration.”
2000—The Pentagon’s intelligence group “Able Danger” tried to pass on information about a terror cell in New York City that included four future highjackers of 9/11 to the FBI on three occasions but was refused each time.
2001—Because of the “walls” thrown up by the Clinton administration and Clinton’s refusal to face the Islamic enemy stalking America, "Operation Bojinka"—the 9/11 attack—went on without any interference from American intelligence agencies that were blinded by Clinton’s fear of the messy business that is Islamic terrorism.
Now the 9/11 Commission is struggling to explain how it could have missed 15 boxes of vital information gathered by Able Danger. When the dust settles, I suspect Americans will discover that the commission didn’t miss it at all. It just hoped the problem would go away. Members seemed to think what happened can’t be changed, so why bring down an ex-president?
About the Writer: Barbara J. Stock is a registered nurse who enjoys writing about politics and current events. She has a website at www.republicanandproud.com/. Barbara J. receives e-mail at dickens502003@yahoo.com.
Ellie
Written by Barbara J. Stock
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
In light of the Able Danger debacle, everyone is asking: Had Mohamed Atta been questioned, is it possible that information found with or gained from him could have prevented 9/11?
The pompous 9/11 Commission chastised one and all for “missing obvious clues” leading up the Islamic attack. Able Danger wasn’t just a clue, it was a big red banner that the 9/11 Commission did its best to ignore. Many people cried foul when Jamie Gorlick was placed on the 9/11 Commission. It was thought that she was put there to protect her from being forced to testify before the committee herself and to protect the legacy of the Clinton administration.
Clinton managed to sidestep each Islamic attack, no matter how many Americans died. Clinton called the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 a “crime” and not an Islamic terrorist attack. From the moment Bill Clinton took the oath of office, he seemed to take steps to blind our intelligence capabilities at home and abroad by raising the infamous “walls” to prevent the transfer of information from one agency to another. The Clinton administration seemed to believe that what people didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them and did it's best to keep the American people in the dark. Because of that, the Clinton legacy is on life-support and 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001.
Americans were told that Bill Clinton “obsessed” about bin Laden. Night after night the endless parade of excuse-makers was out in force, defending Bill Clinton. But in reality, Clinton was so disinterested in dealing with the Islamic terrorist problem that he had turned over the entire problem to Sandy Berger.
Was Sandy Berger dispatched to dispose of papers that Clinton didn’t want the 9/11 Commission to see? Can all the copies of the same document “accidentally” fall into someone’s pants?
What commission staffer made the decision to keep the Able Danger files away from most of the 9/11 Commission members? Did any of the members of the 9/11 Commission know about the files? If so, which ones?
Also taking on more importance is the now-reported fact that on four occasions—Spring 1998, June 1999, December 1999, and August 2000—Berger was given plans to kill bin Laden and each time he said, “No.” Where was Clinton while all this was going on?
The Able Danger report is but one piece of an eight-year puzzle. Unfortunately, the last piece was put into place on 9/11.
1993—Six Americans were killed in the first attack on the World Trade Center but Clinton called it a crime, not an Islamic terrorist attack.
1993—The FBI identified three "charities” connected to the terrorist organization, Hamas. Clinton ignored FBI pleas that he create a "President’s List” of extremist and terrorist groups. Clinton feared the political fallout of "profiling” Islamic charities. Money continued to flow freely for the next seven years from America to Islamic terrorists all over the world including al Qaeda.
1994—The "Report of the National Commission on Terrorism " was distributed to the Department of Defense, the Department of State, FEMA, intelligence communities, and members of Congress. "Targets such as the World Trade Center not only provid the requisite casualties but because of their symbolic nature provide more bang for the buck. In order to maximize their odds for success, terrorist groups will likely consider mounting multiple, simultaneous operations with the aim of overtaxing a government's ability to respond, as well as to demonstrate their professionalism and reach."
1995—Even after hearing the report on impending Islamic terror attacks, Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., convinced Clinton that our spies should not associate with “unsavory” characters. Since most terrorists are “unsavory,” our window into the movement of Islamic terrorist activity was effectively slammed shut.
1995—The Oklahoma City bombing left 168 Americans dead, many of them children. Once Tim McVeigh was in custody, all evidence indicating that the two homegrown “whiteys” had funding and assistance from Islamic terrorists was ignored at best, and at worst, covered up. Dealing with Islamic terrorists would have been messy business and Bill was in campaign mode. Clinton did not want to alienate any Muslim voters. Clinton had what he wanted: home grown terrorists. So he felt no need to deal with the growing threat from Islamic terrorists.
1995—Al Qaeda began planning the 9/11 attack dubbed "Operation Bojinka." (operation big bang). The first attack on the WTC had failed and bin Laden wanted a second shot at the towers. Plans for this attack were found on the computer of Ramzi Yousef when he was captured. Yousef carried an Iraqi passport and is now in prison for life for his involvement in the first attack on the World Trade Center. There is reason to believe that Yousef also trained Terry Nichols in the art of bomb making during Nichols’ many trips to the Philippines. Richard Clarke, the darling of the left, found it interesting enough to mention in his book that before Nichols went to the Philippines, his bombs didn’t work. When Nichols returned, his bombs worked perfectly.
1996—The explosion of TWA Flight 800 killed 230 people. Clinton quickly issued Executive Order 13039 to keep all involved in recovery process silent. The FBI told the hundreds of witnesses, many of them former military, that what they saw was not surface to air missile, but a single “firework” display. After spending 40 million dollars, Chairman Jim Hall of the National Transportation Safety Board sat before Congress and stated that there was no physical evidence or conclusive forensic evidence to prove it was a mechanical failure that caused the explosion of the center fuel tank on TWA 800. Senator John Kerry is on record twice referring to the TWA 800 disaster as a terrorist attack. Pilots called the “mechanical failure” explanation ridiculous.
1996—The CIA and FBI both warned Clinton they had uncovered a plan involving al Qaeda called the "Martyrdom Battalion" which indicated terrorists were planning to hijack planes and use them as missiles.
1996—The Philippine authorities warned the FBI that they had received credible information that al Qaeda was planning on hijacking planes and flying them into federal buildings.
1997—Madeleine Albright became Secretary of State. Ms. Albright, in defense of Clinton, offered up perhaps the single most absurd excuse ever given for the Clinton failures: "This is hard to say and I haven't found a way to say it that doesn't sound crass, but it is the truth that those (attacks before Sept. 11) were happening overseas and while there were Americans who died, there were not thousands and it did not happen on U. S. soil."
1998—bin Laden issued one of two fatwas urging his followers to target the United States and all Americans.
1999—Clinton’s own secretary of defense, William Cohen, in a July 1999 op-ed piece in the Washington Post, predicted a terrorist attack on America’s mainland.
1999—"Project Megiddo" went public on the FBI website. It was a directive given in 1995 to the FBI from Bill Clinton to direct its investigative efforts towards only domestic terrorism such as the Christian right and militias. No effort was to be made to link any American group with Islamic terrorists.
1999—The Transportation Security Administration altered a terrorist report to exclude all references to foreign terrorists. David Holmes, head of the Department of Commerce zeroed in on white militia groups in a 1999 threat analysis. Commerce officials who worked on the case say Holmes' exclusion of every threat group that wasn't white was in keeping with what they say was the Clinton administration policy of focusing on domestic threats from white militia groups, rather than Islamic groups, in combating terrorism. "Holmes made us take out every group that wasn't white: no minority groups allowed. He was toeing the liberal line of the Clinton administration.”
2000—The Pentagon’s intelligence group “Able Danger” tried to pass on information about a terror cell in New York City that included four future highjackers of 9/11 to the FBI on three occasions but was refused each time.
2001—Because of the “walls” thrown up by the Clinton administration and Clinton’s refusal to face the Islamic enemy stalking America, "Operation Bojinka"—the 9/11 attack—went on without any interference from American intelligence agencies that were blinded by Clinton’s fear of the messy business that is Islamic terrorism.
Now the 9/11 Commission is struggling to explain how it could have missed 15 boxes of vital information gathered by Able Danger. When the dust settles, I suspect Americans will discover that the commission didn’t miss it at all. It just hoped the problem would go away. Members seemed to think what happened can’t be changed, so why bring down an ex-president?
About the Writer: Barbara J. Stock is a registered nurse who enjoys writing about politics and current events. She has a website at www.republicanandproud.com/. Barbara J. receives e-mail at dickens502003@yahoo.com.
Ellie