Killtown's

9/11 coincidences and oddities page!

(and other note worthy tidbits.)

Pre 2001 • 2001 • 9/11 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006

Last updated:  02/14/2007

(Use the Wayback Machine for expired links.)

• January 2002 - Steel from the wreckage of the destroyed WTC will be shipped to China and India to be melted down and recycled which has angered some investigators, engineers and victim's families who say the steel could hold vital clues about why the towers collapsed and GPS tracking devices were installed on the trucks hauling the "highly sensitive" steel scraps away to be melted.

Ground Zero steel China-bound

"China's biggest steel firm says it will receive its first shipment of scrap metal from the World Trade Center wreckage soon and turn it into steel plates -- not, as some newspaper reports had suggested, souvenirs.
Chinese state newspapers had earlier reported that Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp. planned to turn 50,000 tons of Ground Zero steel into souvenirs -- including models of the twin towers.

But a company spokesman told Reuters news agency on Wednesday that the shipment would not be treated any differently from ordinary purchases of scrap, and would be turned into steel plates.

The Beijing Youth Daily, one of the newspapers to report the purported souvenir plan, said Baosteel was one of the first companies in the world to contact the United States about the scrap and consequently made a good deal.
It bought 50,000 tons of steel scrap at a price of "less than $120 per ton," the newspaper quoted Baosteel executives as saying. It did not give an exact price figure.

India scrap dealers have already ordered four steel consignments.
Two 33,000-ton consignments have already arrived in the southern port of Madras, a third is on its way and a fourth would arrive soon at the west coast port of Kandla.
The scrap was bought at $120 per ton and is to be recycled into ingots to be sold to various industries, including construction." - CNN (01/23/02)

Baosteel Will Recycle World Trade Center Debris

"A shipment of scrap steel from New York's collapsed World Trade Center will arrive in Shanghai tomorrow, according to media reports. The steel was bought by Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp. and several other domestic mills, which are always eager to buy scrap metal.
Baosteel Group, the nation's largest steel firm, has purchased 50,000 tons of the scrap steel from "Ground Zero," the ruins of the September 11 terrorist attack, at no more than US$120 each ton, according to yesterday's Beijing Youth Daily.
Most of the scrap will be recycled into ingots, but part of the relics will be mold-ed into WTC souvenirs, the paper said.

Another shipment of 10,000 tons of scrap from the WTC arrived in India earlier this month, reported Shanghai Morning Post. The metal will be melted down and recycled into kitchenware and other household items, the paper said.
India bought its lot at US$120 per ton from the New Jersey scrap processor Metal Management, which purchased 40,000 tons of the debris at an auction held by the New York City government. Dealers estimated that the WTC disaster created more than 300,000 tons of scrap metal.

"All in all, China's purchase from the WTC ruins counts for little to its steel industry, given the nation's big consumption of scrap each year," said Qu Li, an analyst with China Securities.
"But the price of US$120 per ton is, if not great, quite reasonable," she added.
The average price paid by local mills last year for scrap steel was 1,250 yuan (US$150.6) a ton.

New York authorities' decision to ship the twin towers' scrap to recyclers has raised the anger of victims' families and some engineers who believe the massive girders should be further examined to help determine how the towers collapsed.
But New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg insisted there are better ways to study the tragedy of September 11.
"If you want to take a look at the construction methods and the design, that's in this day and age what computers do," said Bloomberg, a former engineering major. "Just looking at a piece of metal generally doesn't tell you anything." - China.org (01/24/02)

Congressional panel focuses on why WTC collapsed

"The investigation into the collapse of the World Trade Center has been hampered by the destruction of steel wreckage that could hold vital clues about why the twin towers fell, a fire expert is telling a congressional panel.

Glenn Corbett, a fire science professor at John Jay College, was critical of New York City's decision to melt down and recycle tons of charred and twisted steel from the trade center.

The investigation into the trade center collapse is being conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Society of Civil Engineers. A FEMA assessment team is expected to release a report of its findings in April." - USA Today (03/06/02), CBS (03/06/02)

GPS ON THE JOB IN MASSIVE WORLD TRADE CENTER CLEAN-UP

"In late September of 2001, only weeks after the World Trade Center disaster, officials uncovered a criminal scheme to divert sheet metal beams from the Ground Zero rubble to Long Island and New Jersey. In late October, some 250 tons of scrap metal were found at unofficial dump sites in both those areas.
On November 26, the city initiated use of an in-vehicle GPS tracking system to monitor locations of trucks hired to haul the debris to Fresh Kills, the official dump site on Staten Island.

Within three weeks, the system elements were in place, and nearly 200 trucks in New York City were being tracked in real time. Installed by MIT with assistance from PowerLoc and four trucking contractors, the solution revolved around PowerLoc's Vehicle Location Device (VLD). Each VLD unit costs about $1,000.

“Ninety-nine percent of the drivers were extremely driven to do their jobs. But there were big concerns, because the loads consisted of highly sensitive material. One driver, for example, took an extended lunch break of an hour and a half. There was nothing criminal about that, but he was dismissed. There were also cases where trucks did little detours from their routes,” Shalmon says.

Thanks in large part to the efforts of IDC-Criticom and its two subcontractors, a clean-up originally projected to last until September was completed in May. Defying previous estimates of $7 billion, the total clean-up bill ran to just $750 million." - Access Control & Security Solutions (07/01/02)

• January 2002 - Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani forms Giuliani Partners, a lucrative investment and security consulting firm with key figures from the 9/11 including the former NYC Police Commissioner, NYC Fire Commissioner, and head of the NYC Office of Emergency Management.

Tales of the City, Revisited

What's Happened to "America's Mayor"?
"After 9/11, anytime Americans encountered a really hard problem, someone would nominate Rudy Giuliani to solve it. There were calls for him to take over WorldCom, the SEC, the state, even the country.
But by January 2002, Giuliani had already reinvented himself as a businessman. The experiment has been extremely lucrative. Giuliani Parnters, the consulting and investment firm that he started by transplanting key members of his administration into a dark wood paneled office on Times Square, is bringing in just over a $100 million a year in revenue, according to a source close to the company. That would mean the firm is collecting over $2 million per employee, which is phenomenal. (By comparison, Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street banking giant, takes in roughly $1.2 million per employee.). Companies like Nextel, Purdue Pharma and the nuclear-power plant operator Entergy hire the firm to advise them on logistics and security. And, of course, for the name Giuliani.

At a staff meeting last week, Giuliani's new world appeared seamlessly woven into his old. His former fire chief, former emergency management commissioner and longtime spokeswoman all sat at the table.

Giuliani continues to be one of the country's most trusted voices on terrorism. And his leadership after the attacks-along with his old stubbornness - still shield him from criticism. When asked if it was a mistake to put the city's emergency command center in 7 World Trade Center, which collapsed on 9/11, he doesn't budge. "No. It was placed there because that's where the Secret Service was, that's where the CIA was," he says. "You had to put it somewhere."
Meanwhile, Giuliani has been speaking across the globe for fees of $75,000 and up-sometimes way up." - Giuliani Partners/TIME (09/06/04)

Giuliani Partners - "Mr. Giuliani is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Giuliani Partners LLC, which he founded in January 2002."

Pasquale J. D'Amuro - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Giuliani Security & Safety LLC, a division of Giuliani Partners LLC dedicated to security consulting.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Mr. D'Amuro was appointed Inspector in Charge of the FBI's investigation of those attacks.

Anthony V. Carbonetti - founding Partner and Managing Director of Giuliani Partners LLC. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Carbonetti served as Chief of Staff to Mayor Giuliani from 1999 to 2001. Mr. Carbonetti was serving as Chief of Staff on September 11, 2001, and was an integral part of the Giuliani team that helped guide New York City through the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history.

Richard J. Sheirer - Senior Vice President at Giuliani Partners and is New York City’s former Commissioner of Emergency Management. Mr. Sheirer is a public safety expert with three decades of experience in law enforcement and crisis management, including having served as the Deputy Commissioner for Administration for the New York City Police Department and Chief of Staff to the Commissioner.
Before joining the Police Department, Mr. Sheirer served in the New York City Fire Department for 20 years, with an emphasis on emergency communication issues, and rose to the level of Deputy Commissioner. In February of 2000, he was named Director of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management where he was responsible for mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery for all emergency conditions requiring the involvement of multiple government agencies.

Thomas Von Essen - Mr. Von Essen is a Senior Vice President at Giuliani Partners and is Chief Executive Officer of Giuliani-Von Essen LLC, which is an affiliate of Giuliani Partners.
Mr. Von Essen was appointed New York City’s 30th Fire Commissioner in 1996.

Dennison Young, Jr. - founding Partner and Managing Director of Giuliani Partners LLC. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Young served as Chief Counsel to Mayor Giuliani during his eight years at City Hall. During that time, he was the Mayor’s primary legal advisor on matters involving the City and was responsible for overseeing all public safety agencies including the New York Police Department, the Fire Department of New York, the Office of Emergency Management, and the Criminal Justice Coordinator’s Office.

Key Figures Of September 11 - CBS

The Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani

"Although already well known outside of New York before Sept. 11, the former mayor truly became an international figure for his cool-headed response to the attack.
After leaving office in 2002, Giuliani and several aides formed a consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, which has taken on assignments from crime-fighting in Mexico to corruption-busting at horse-racing tracks. Giuliani, 59, has become a major fund-raiser for the Republican Party, and is often mentioned as a potential Senate or gubernatorial candidate.
He married Judith Nathan in May 2003, less than a year after an ugly public divorce from his former wife, Donna Hanover."

The Police Commissioner, Bernard Kerik

"When Kerik was appointed police commissioner in August 2000, he was a little-known, low-key figure. After the attack, the 48-year-old Kerik was a near-constant presence at Giuliani's side, helping rally with his solemn determination a department that had lost 23 members.
A consultant for Giuliani Partners, Kerik has been on assignment in Iraq, where he is dubbed the "Baghdad Terminator" for his no-nonsense style in rebuilding the city's police force." - CBS
The Search Coordinator, Richard Sheirer

"As head of the Giuliani-created Office of Emergency Management, Sheirer had the mammoth task of coordinating the search for the dead and the clearance of the trade center site.
The job was widely assumed to take at least a year to complete. It was finished in nine months at a fraction of the estimated cost.
After leaving the office in March 2002, Sheirer joined Giuliani's consulting firm."

The Fire Commissioner, Thomas Von Essen

"Von Essen, who had served for six years as commissioner of the Fire Department of New York, directed the department's response to the attack, which claimed the lives of 343 firefighters.
At the end of the Giuliani administration, he joined Giuliani's firm as a consultant."

Hiring Giuliani's consulting firm makes perfect horse sense

"Giuliani's group includes New York City former police commissioner Bernard Kerik, former fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen and former director of emergency management Richard Sheirer.

Giuliani's stock has risen to epic levels because of the strength and decisive leadership he showed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." - Review Journal (11/22/02)

(See also: December 3, 2004 - Bush nominates Bernard Kerik for Homeland Security; December 22, 2004 - Bernard Kerik resigns from Giuliani Partners after scandal; March 17, 2005 - Giuliani firm's deal to advise company raises questions)
 

• January 1, 2002 - Bush appoints senior member of his administration, current PNAC member, and former Unocal advisor Zalmay Khalilzad to be U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan.

"US President George Bush has appointed an Afghan-American who is already a senior member of his administration to be the US special envoy to Afghanistan.
Zalmay Khalilzad will work with the interim government and alongside the United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi." - BBC (1/01/02)

"Zalmay Khalilzad is the highest-ranking native Afghan and Muslim in the Bush administration.
Khalilzad served under former U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush as special assistant to the president for Southwest Asia, the Near East and North Africa.
From 1985 to 1989, Khalilzad served as a senior United States Department of State official advising on the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq war, and from 1991 to 1992, he was a senior Defense Department official for policy planning.
He served as a counsellor to United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Zalmay Khalilzad was an advisor for the Unocal Corporation.
In the mid 1990s, while working for the Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Khalilzad conducted risk analyses for Unocal for a proposed 890-mile, $2-billion, 1.9-billion-cubic-feet-per-day natural gas pipeline project which would have extended from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan.
He has served in both the State and Defense Departments and is a member of the National Security Council.
Khalilzad became the Bush administration's special envoy to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban as well as is special envoy to the Iraqi opposition to Saddam Hussein." - Wikipedia

Project for the New American Century who's who:  Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Eliot A. Cohen, Midge Decter, Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes, Aaron Friedberg, Francis Fukuyama, Frank Gaffney, Fred C. Ikle, Donald Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz, Dan Quayle, Peter W. Rodman, Stephen P. Rosen, Henry S. Rowen, Donald Rumsfeld, Vin Weber, George Weigel, Paul Wolfowitz - PNAC Statement of Principles

(See also:  November 8, 2001 - A war for the pipelines?; May 13, 2002 - Afghanistan plans gas pipeline)

• January 1, 2002 - Wife of FEMA Ground Zero videographer Kurt Sonnenfeld is found shot in the head at their Denver home in an apparent suicide act.

Sonnenfeld charges dropped; FEMA worker's wife was found shot in head at their Denver home on New Year's Day

"Prosecutors Thursday dismissed first-degree murder charges against former FEMA videographer Kurt Sonnenfeld in the early New Year's morning shooting death of his wife.
Nancy Sonnenfeld, 36, died of a gunshot wound in the head after she and her husband had celebrated New Year's Eve together. Kurt Sonnenfeld told police that his wife committed suicide.
Prosecutors wouldn't comment on specific reasons for the dismissal, but the defense investigation found a note written by Nancy Sonnenfeld which police had not taken into evidence, said public defender Carrie Thompson.
"Our investigators found a letter written in Nancy's own hand consistent with a suicide letter, although it was very cryptic," Thompson said.
She said the letter said, "What is more beautiful than love and death?" with the word "love" scratched out. "Kurt, please get help." The letter was found behind a framed photograph of Kurt Sonnenfeld.
Lepley said the case will remain under investigation and could be refiled. Because of that, he said he couldn't discuss the role specific evidence played in the decision.
Kurt Sonnenfeld was a videographer who documented disaster sites for FEMA, including the Sept 11 attacks in New York. Nancy Sonnenfeld was a manager for BSA Advertising.
Denver police said they ruled out suicide because the wound was in the back of the head and could not be self-inflicted. But the coroner's report states that the bullet entered about 2 inches above and behind her right ear.
Police also noted that the .45-caliber handgun was on the floor 6 to 8 feet away from Nancy Sonnenfeld.
At a preliminary hearing in February, Thompson argued that Nancy Sonnenfeld had been depressed in the preceding months and had tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills after a trip to Thailand during which Kurt Sonnenfeld was using heroin. Her sister, Leek, refuted that account.
Sonnenfeld told police that their 8-year marriage had soured because of his drug use and drinking problem.
Kurt Sonnenfeld told police that he was checking his e-mail in his bedroom after they returned home in the early morning hours of New Year's Day when he heard a gunshot." - Rocky Mountain News (06/13/06)

Love and death; The tragic story of Kurt and Nancy Sonnenfeld - Rocky Mountain News (06/24/02)

• January 2, 2002 - Judge enters innocent plea on Moussaoui's behalf, mother fears for him

"Zacarias Moussaoui, the first person indicted in the Sept. 11 attacks, invoked the name of Allah and declared to a court Wednesday "I do not have anything to plead." A judge entered an innocent plea on his behalf.
"In the name of Allah, I do not have anything to plead. I enter no plea. Thank you very much," Moussaoui told U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema.
Brinkema set a trial date of Oct. 14, with jury selection to begin Sept. 30. She rejected defense arguments that the date would be too close to the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and the vast amount of publicity that could be expected at that time.
The defendant, 33, is a French citizen of Moroccan descent who received a master's degree in England.
Although Moussaoui has been in federal custody on immigration charges since August, when he aroused suspicions at a Minnesota flight school, the indictment says he conspired with the Sept. 11 hijackers to kill and maim victims in the United States. While accusing him of links to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, the indictment does not explain his role in the terror attacks.
The indictment accuses Moussaoui of pursuing some of the same activities as the hijackers by taking flight training in the United States, inquiring about crop dusting and purchasing flight deck training videos.
The indictment also said Moussaoui received money in July and August from Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, an alleged member of a German terrorist cell who was a roommate of Mohammed Atta, the suspected ringleader in the attacks. The FBI believes Bin al-Shibh may have been planning to be the 20th hijacker.
A clear indication of the case's importance was Senate passage of legislation to broadcast the trial on closed-circuit television in the cities most affected by the hijackings." -  Detroit News/AP (01/02/02)

"The mother of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person indicted in the September 11 suicide hijackings, says she fears her son will become a scapegoat for America's pain and suffering.
"Tell the American people that I share in their suffering, particularly with those who lost their loved ones," Aicha el-Wafi told The Associated Press as she arrived at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport on Thursday, after returning from the United States.
"I don't want my son to be used as a scapegoat for the pain and suffering of the American people," she said.
El-Wafi said that her son had told her he had proof of his innocence. "He must be allowed to show proof," she said.
Moussaoui has been in U.S. custody on immigration charges since August, when he aroused suspicions at a Minnesota flight school where he was taking lessons.
He has been indicted on six conspiracy charges, four of which could bring the death penalty, in connection with the September 11 attacks.
"I will not accept the death penalty, I will fight it very strongly," his mother told AP." - CNN (01/03/02)

- More details:  CNN Timeline: The Case Against Zacarias Moussaoui

(See also:  December 11, 2001 - Moussaoui indicted for 9/11; March 28, 2002 - U.S. seeks the death penalty against Moussaoui)

• January 4, 2002 - Fire Engineering says the official WTC investigation on why it collapsed is a 'half-baked farce' that may already have been 'commandeered by political forces' whose primary interests lie 'far afield of full disclosure.'

$elling Out the Investigation

"Did they throw away the locked doors from the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire? Did they throw away the gas can used at the Happyland Social Club Fire? Did they cast aside the pressure-regulating valves at the Meridian Plaza Fire? Of course not. But essentially, that's what they're doing at the World Trade Center.

For more than three months, structural steel from the World Trade Center has been and continues to be cut up and sold for scrap. Crucial evidence that could answer many questions about high-rise building design practices and performance under fire conditions is on the slow boat to China, perhaps never to be seen again in America until you buy your next car.

Such destruction of evidence shows the astounding ignorance of government officials to the value of a thorough, scientific investigation of the largest fire-induced collapse in world history. I have combed through our national standard for fire investigation, NFPA 921, but nowhere in it does one find an exemption allowing the destruction of evidence for buildings over 10 stories tall.

Comprehensive disaster investigations mean increased safety. They mean positive change. NASA knows it. The NTSB knows it. Does FEMA know it?

No. Fire Engineering has good reason to believe that the "official investigation" blessed by FEMA and run by the American Society of Civil Engineers is a half-baked farce that may already have been commandeered by political forces whose primary interests, to put it mildly, lie far afield of full disclosure. Except for the marginal benefit obtained from a three-day, visual walk-through of evidence sites conducted by ASCE investigation committee members- described by one close source as a "tourist trip"-no one's checking the evidence for anything.

As things now stand and if they continue in such fashion, the investigation into the World Trade Center fire and collapse will amount to paper- and computer-generated hypotheticals.

However, respected members of the fire protection engineering community are beginning to raise red flags, and a resonating theory has emerged: The structural damage from the planes and the explosive ignition of jet fuel in themselves were not enough to bring down the towers.

The destruction and removal of evidence must stop immediately.

The federal government must scrap the current setup and commission a fully resourced blue ribbon panel to conduct a clean and thorough investigation of the fire and collapse, leaving no stones unturned.

Firefighters, this is your call to action. Visit WTC "Investigation"?: A Call to Action, then contact your representatives in Congress and officials in Washington and help us correct this problem immediately." - Fire Engineering (01/04/02)

• January 5, 2002 - In a speech in California, Bush again claims to have seen one of the hijacked planes crash into the WTC live on  TV at the school he was at, but this time he specifically claims that he witnessed the first plane crash even though he hadn't even arrived at the school yet.

"Anyway, I was sitting there, and my Chief of Staff -- well, first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. And something was wrong with the plane, or -- anyway, I'm sitting there, listening to the briefing, and Andy Card came and said, 'America is under attack.'" - White House (01/05/02)

"The first airplane hit the north tower at 8:46 a.m., as the president's motorcade crossed the John Ringling Causeway on the way to Booker Elementary from the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key." - Washington Times (10/08/02)

"At 8:52 a.m. ET, ABCNEWS' Good Morning America broke in with a special report showing flames coming out of the World Trade Center. At the time, President Bush's motorcade was arriving at the Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., for a planned event..." - ABC (09/14/01)

(See also:  December 4, 2001 - Bush claims he saw one of the planes crash into the WTC live on a TV in his holding room at Booker Elementary school; Killtown's:  Did Bush see the 2nd WTC plane crash?)

• January 5, 2002 - Bush refers to the day of the 9/11 attacks as "an interesting day."

"And in the meantime, this teacher was going on about the curriculum, and I was thinking about what it meant for America to be under attack. It was an amazing thought. But I made up my mind that if America was under attack, we'd get them. (Applause.) I wasn't interested in lawyers, I wasn't interested in a bunch of debate. I was interested in finding out who did it and bringing them to justice. I also knew that they would try to hide, and anybody who provided haven, help, food, would be held accountable by the United States of America." (Applause.)
"Anyway, it was an interesting day." - White House (01/05/02)

• January 5, 2002 -  A stolen Cessna, allegedly flown by 15 yr. old Charles J. Bishop, crashes into a Tampa Bay office building which houses the local office of Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) after flying over MacDill Air Force Base (home of the U.S. Central Command which directs the U.S. forces operating in Afghanistan and US Special Operations Command which does psychological operations) and a suicide note was allegedly found in the plane expressing Bishop's sympathy for Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks.

"A note written by the 15-year-old boy who crashed a Cessna into a Tampa office building indicated he supported Osama bin Laden and that the act was deliberate, authorities say.
Charles J. Bishop, who took the plane on an unauthorized flight across Tampa Bay, died at the scene of Saturday's crash into the 42-story Bank of America Plaza building. He apparently made no attempt to avoid the structure, witnesses said.
The note, which was found in the wreckage of the plane, "clearly stated that he had acted alone, without any help from anyone else," Holder said. "He did, however, make statements expressing his sympathy for Osama bin Laden and the events which occurred September 11, 2001." Several of the pilots involved in those attacks trained at Florida flight schools.
After a five-minute flight over Tampa Bay, the plane entered MacDill Air Force Base's restricted airspace and flew over the runway about 100 feet off the ground, Miller said. MacDill is the home of the U.S. Central Command, which directs the U.S. forces operating in Afghanistan.
MacDill contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, which had a helicopter on routine patrol in the vicinity, and asked it to investigate.
Minutes before the crash, the helicopter pilot made direct eye contact with the student through the chopper's open side door as crew members gestured for Bishop to land the plane, police said. It was not clear what his response was.
After being notified Saturday by the FAA, the North American Aerospace Defense Command ordered two F-15 combat jets at Homestead Air Force Base in Miami to intercept the Cessna around 5:15 p.m., NORAD Capt. Kirstin Reimann said.
The F-15s arrived on the scene too late to intervene, a Homestead spokesman said." - CNN (01/07/02)

"The building's tenant roster reads like a Who's Who of Tampa businesses, including Bank of America, Arthur Andersen and MetLife. U.S. Sen. Bob Graham's local office is on the 32nd floor.
Bank of America Plaza's top floor is home to The Tampa Club, a popular meeting place for Tampa's business elite." - Tampa Bay Online (01/06/02)

"MacDill Air Force Base is also home to more than 40 Mission Partners, including United States Central Command and United States Special Operations Command [USSOCOM Mission:  Prepare special operation forces for worldwide special operations, civil affairs and psychological operations in peace and war in support of regional combatant commanders and other government agencies]." - MacDill AFB

(See also:  9/11 - Rep. Porter Goss, Sen. Bob Graham, and Sen. John Kyl are in a meeting at the Capital with ISI director, Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmed, who authorized a $100,000 wire transfer to Mohamed Atta; February 23, 2003 - Sen. Graham runs for president)

• January 18, 2002 - Pakistan's Musharraf: Bin Laden probably dead, unable to get dialysis treatment.

"Pakistan's president says he thinks Osama bin Laden is most likely dead because the suspected terrorist has been unable to get treatment for his kidney disease.
"I think now, frankly, he is dead for the reason he is a ... kidney patient," Gen. Pervez Musharraf said on Friday in an interview with CNN.
Musharraf said Pakistan knew bin Laden took two dialysis machines into Afghanistan. "One was specifically for his own personal use," he said.
"I don't know if he has been getting all that treatment in Afghanistan now. And the photographs that have been shown of him on television show him extremely weak. ... I would give the first priority that he is dead and the second priority that he is alive somewhere in Afghanistan."
The official said U.S. intelligence is that bin Laden needs dialysis every three days and "it is fairly obvious that that could be an issue when you are running from place to place, and facing the idea of needing to generate electricity in a mountain hideout."
Other U.S. officials contradicted the reports of bin Laden's health problems, saying there is "no evidence" the suspected terrorist mastermind has ever suffered kidney failure or required kidney dialysis. The officials called such suggestions a "recurrent rumor." - CNN (01/18/02)

(See also:  September 10, 2001 - Osama Bin Laden reportedly undergoes kidney dialysis at a Pakistani military hospital; December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies; July 18, 2002 - FBI counter-terrorism chief, Dale Watson, thinks Osama bin Laden is "probably" dead; October 17, 2003 - Paskistan president says Bin Laden alive)

• January 21, 2002 - Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Bin Laden would need help if on dialysis

"Speculation about the whereabouts and health of Osama bin Laden picked up over the weekend when Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said he thought bin Laden had likely died of kidney failure.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke Monday with CNN's Paula Zahn about bin Laden's appearance in recently released videotapes and the possibility that the accused terrorist leader was undergoing kidney treatment.
ZAHN: For a point of reference, I'd like for you to analyze pictures of Osama bin Laden that apparently were taken prior to September 11. Describe to us the color and the tone of his skin, and then I want you to contrast that with pictures we know to have been taken much later.
GUPTA: You can look [at pictures from a December 2001 video] and notice that he has what some doctors refer to as sort of a frosting over of his features -- his sort of grayness of beard, his paleness of skin, very gaunt sort of features. A lot of times people associate this with chronic illness. Doctors can certainly look at that and determine some clinical features.
But even more than that, it's sometimes possible to differentiate the specific type of disease or illness that he may be suffering from. The sort of frosting of the appearance is something that people a lot of times associate with chronic kidney failure, renal failure, certainly someone who is requiring dialysis would have that.
He's also not moving his arms. I looked at this tape all the way through its entire length. He never moved his left arm at all. The reason that might be important is because people who have had a stroke -- and certainly people are at increased risk of stroke if they also have kidney failure -- he may have had a stroke and therefore is not moving his left side. And in the rest of the videotape, he does move his right side a little bit more than he does his left. So those are some of the things that are sort of "of note" here in this more recent videotape.
ZAHN: I think we need to remind the viewers once again that the president of Pakistan talked about [bin Laden] importing two dialysis machines into Afghanistan. Of course, no one other than the president of Pakistan right now is confirming that [bin Laden] in fact needed dialysis.
GUPTA: That's right. And again, renal dialysis -- talking about hemodialysis -- is something that really is reserved for patients in end-stage renal failure. That means their kidneys have just completely shut down.
The most common cause of something like that would be something like diabetes and hypertension. Once that's happened, if you're separated from your dialysis machine -- and incidentally, dialysis machines require electricity, they're going to require clean water, they're going to require a sterile setting -- infection is a huge risk with that. If you don't have all those things and a functioning dialysis machine, it's unlikely that you'd survive beyond several days or a week at the most.
ZAHN: If he had all these things you're talking about to keep the dialysis machine running, how much help does he need around him to administer the treatment?
GUPTA: You certainly need someone who really knows how to run that dialysis machine. You have to have someone who's actually assessing his blood, Osama bin Laden's blood, to see what particular dialysate he would need, and to be able to change his dialysate as needed. So you'd need a kidney specialist, a technician -- quite a few people around him." - CNN (01/21/02)

(See also:  December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies; December 26, 2001 - A video of Osama bin Laden, looking thin and weak, is released and officials suggest the video may have been recorded in November)

• January 29, 2002 - Bush asks Daschle to limit Sept. 11 probes.

"President Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle Tuesday to limit the congressional investigation into the events of September 11, congressional and White House sources told CNN." - CNN (01/29/02)

(See also:  May 17, 2002 - Cheney Warns Democrats not to investigate the 9/11 attacks; May 19, 2002 - Cheney cautions Democrats who suggest Bush had advanced knowledge; May 23, 2002 - Bush Opposes 9/11 Query Panel)

• January 29, 2002 - Val McClatchey registers her "End of Serenity" smoke plume photo for copyright.

"Registration Number: VA-1-128-462
Title: End of serenity.
Description: Photo.
Claimant: acValencia M. McClatchey
Created: 2001
Published: 1Oct01
Registered: 29Jan02" - copyright.gov

- See also:  flight93photo.blogspot.com

• February 2002 - US military intelligence warned the Bush administration that a captured Al Qaeda operative had given fabricated information that Iraq was training Al Qaeda members in how to make chemical and biological weapons, information the Bush administration would later use as the foundation for military action against Iraq.

Report Warned Bush Team About Intelligence Suspicions

"A high Qaeda official in American custody was identified as a likely fabricator months before the Bush administration began to use his statements as the foundation for its claims that Iraq trained Al Qaeda members to use biological and chemical weapons, according to newly declassified portions of a Defense Intelligence Agency document.

The document, an intelligence report from February 2002, said it was probable that the prisoner, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, "was intentionally misleading the debriefers" in making claims about Iraqi support for Al Qaeda's work with illicit weapons.
The document provides the earliest and strongest indication of doubts voiced by American intelligence agencies about Mr. Libi's credibility. Without mentioning him by name, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Colin L. Powell, then secretary of state, and other administration officials repeatedly cited Mr. Libi's information as "credible" evidence that Iraq was training Al Qaeda members in the use of explosives and illicit weapons." - NY Times (11/06/05)

US intel on Iraq-Qaeda ties 'intentionally misleading': document

"US military intelligence warned the Bush administration as early as February 2002 that its key source on Al-Qaeda's relationship with Iraq had provided "intentionally misleading" data, according to a declassified report.

Nevertheless, eight months later, President George W. Bush went public with charges that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein had trained members of Osama bin Laden's terror network in manufacturing deadly poisons and gases." - Yahoo/AFP (11/07/05) [Reprinted at:  truthout.org]

(See also:  October 16, 2002 - President Bush uses information he was warned may be faulty in a speech to try to link Iraq to Al Qaeda; February 5, 2003 - Colin Powell addresses UN about Iraq's alleged connections with Al Qaeda)

• February 1, 2002 - Rumsfeld wants to beef up high-tech weapons

"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wants $9 billion in his new budget to beef up the Pentagon's high-tech arsenal, but he is squashing a push by the military's top brass to add more than 50,000 troops to fight the war on terrorism, Pentagon officials say.
Before Sept. 11, Rumsfeld wanted to cut troop strength and increase spending on hi-tech weapons as part of a plan to "transform" the military into a lighter, more mobile fighting force for the 21st century. The service chiefs argued for more troops and weapons.
Unmanned aerial vehicles, known as UAVs. More than $100 million to buy missile-firing Predator drones like those used for the first time against the Taliban. Several hundred million dollars will speed production of Global Hawk, the long-range UAV that also debuted in Afghanistan. Also stepped-up: work on a stealthy, bomb-dropping UAV.
Rumsfeld's budget request also includes $8.5 billion for missile defense and $68 billion for new weapons, including $5 billion for the Air Force's new F-22 fighter jet." - USAToday (2/01/02)

• February 1, 2002 - CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen: Bin Laden has aged 'enormously.'

"On Thursday night, CNN aired parts of an interview with Osama bin Laden that the Arabic-language television network Al-Jazeera recorded in late October.
CNN's Paula Zahn discussed the tape Friday with CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, who has been studying bin Laden and his operation for several years.
CNN: The last interview you did with bin Laden was back in 1997. How different was the Osama bin Laden we saw in this tape, the interview taped late in October of 2001?
BERGEN: He's actually quite similar. I mean, in terms of his demeanor and his voice -- these kinds of things are quite similar. The big difference is that he's aged enormously between '97 and October of last year.
This is a man who was clearly not well. I mean, as you see from these pictures here, he's really, by December he's looking pretty terrible. But by December, of course, that tape that was aired then, he's barely moving the left side of his body. So he's clearly got diabetes. He has low blood pressure. He's got a wound in his foot. He's apparently got dialysis ... for kidney problems.
I mean, this is a man who has a number of health problems, apart from the fact that anybody running around the Afghan mountains is not going to be in great shape.
CNN: And, of course, the question that people continue to debate is not only is he not well, is he still alive today?" - CNN (02/01/02)

(See also:  December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies; December 26, 2001 - A video of Osama bin Laden, looking thin and weak, is released and officials suggest the video may have been recorded in November)

• February 4, 2002 - The Defense Department's budget request for fiscal year 2003 is a $40.1 billion (or 10.9%) increase over last years budget.

DETAILS OF FISCAL 2003 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD) BUDGET REQUEST
"The President's budget proposes $369 billion for Department of Defense plus $10 billion, if needed, to fight the war on terrorism-for a total of $379 billion. The budget fulfills President Bush's pledge to win the war against terrorism, defend America and its people, improve quality of life for our men and women in uniform, and accelerate a bold transformation of the U.S. military to counter 21st century threats." - DoD (02/04/02)

- FY 2002 request - $328.9 billion  [ $37.8 billion, or 11.5% increase ] - DoD (06/27/01)

- FY 2003 request - $369.0 billion  [ $40.1 billion, or 10.9% increase ] - DoD (02/04/02)

(See also:  June 27, 2001 - '02 defense budget request is a $37.8 billion or 11.5% increase over '01)

• February 10, 2002 - Bin Laden lieutenant "admits" to 9/11.

"A man described as one of Osama bin Laden's closest aides, Abu 'Ubeid Al-Qurashi, has acknowledged that the terrorist network al-Qaida carried out the Sept. 11 attacks against the U.S.
The admission was made in an article he wrote for al-Qaida's biweekly Internet magazine, Al-Ansar. The Middle East Media Research Institute translated the article into English." -  WorldNetDaily (02/11/02)

• February 20, 2002 - Letters supposedly written by US troops in Iraq detailing their successes in the country were all written by their commander.

Lies, damned lies and Pentagon briefings

"Fresh from dropping anti-Taliban leaflets over the mountains of Afghanistan, the secretive propaganda arm of the US military is planning to bring the battle for hearts and minds closer to home, by planting fake news stories in the media outlets of America's allies, it was reported yesterday.
Stung by criticism of the war against terrorism, the Pentagon's little-known office of strategic influence is preparing to feed misinformation to foreign news organisations in friendly nations, military officials told the New York Times. It quoted an unnamed senior Pentagon official as saying the office's operations would go "from the blackest of black to the whitest of white", using the military's terms for false and true propaganda.

The plan has outraged other Pentagon departments because it could undermine the credibility of information given out by the defence department's press spokespeople. "Everybody understands using information operations to go after non-friendlies; when people get uncomfortable is when people use the same tools and tactics on friendlies," another military official told the newspaper.
It might also be illegal: the US government is banned from spreading misinformation at home, and some in the department fear that stories planted in foreign publications might be reproduced in America.
The Pentagon would not discuss the allegations yesterday, but the cold war-style campaign seems well-advanced. The OSI has hired a Washington consulting firm, the Rendon Group, whose previous clients range from the Kuwaiti royal family to the New Zealand milk marketing board, on a contract worth about $100,000 (£70,000) a month.
"We have a confidentiality agreement regarding our contract with the department of defence," a spokeswoman for the group said yesterday. "The contract really prevents me from telling you anything, frustrating though that is."
The army's psychological operations command, or "psyops", will also help to carry out the plan.
Among the OSI's other ingenious strategies, the newspaper reported, is a plan to send emails to foreign leaders and journalists presenting America in a good light and disparaging its enemies.
Many senior defence personnel know little of the OSI, which was established after September 11 to shore up support, especially in Muslim countries, for the Bush administration's war on terror. It is understood to have a multi-million dollar share of the extra $10bn made available to the Pentagon in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
The president has not yet approved the misinformation campaign, pending the go-ahead from the Pentagon lawyer." - Guardian (02/20/02)

US Army's 'fake' letters cause stir

"A series of letters supposedly written by US troops in Iraq detailing their successes in the country were all written by their commander, it has emerged.
The publication of the letters, in several US newspapers, comes as the Bush administration has stepped up efforts to win over an American public increasingly sceptical of its handling of the situation in Iraq.
Critics said if the letters were found to be part of an organised effort by the military to win over US hearts and minds regarding the conflict it could be a violation of military ethics.
However, the soldiers' commander, Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Caraccilo, told ABC News on Tuesday his staff had written the letters merely to get "good news" back to the US more efficiently.
He says he then sent it round to his soldiers saying they could send a copy home if they wanted to.
"We thought it would be a good idea to encapsulate what we as a battalion have accomplished since arriving Iraq and share that pride with people back home," he said." - BBC (10/14/03)

• February 21, 2002 - U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl is dead, officials confirm

U.S. Confirms Death of Kidnapped Reporter Daniel Pearl
"Following is the text of a statement from State Department spokesman Richard Boucher February 21 confirming the death of Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped in Pakistan while on assignment for the Wall Street Journal:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
February 21, 2002
Statement by Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Pakistan: Death of Daniel Pearl
Our Embassy in Pakistan has confirmed today that they have received evidence that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is dead. We have informed Mr. Pearl's family and expressed our sincere condolences." - US Embassy Italy (02/21/02)

U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl is dead, officials confirm

"Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, kidnapped last month on his way to interview a Muslim fundamentalist leader in Pakistan, has been killed by his abductors, officials said Thursday. The U.S. government condemned his killing as "an outrage" and his newspaper called it an "act of barbarism."
FBI and Pakistani officials said they received a videotape containing "indisputable" confirmation that the 38-year-old Pearl had been killed.
Pearl's January 23 abduction prompted appeals from top U.S. and Pakistani officials for his release, and resulted in the arrests of several people believed to have been involved in the kidnapping -- including the man Pakistani officials identified as the ringleader, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.

His newspaper's headquarters near New York's World Trade Center was destroyed in the September 11 terrorist attack." - CNN (02/22/02)

• March 7, 2002 - A set of five frames taken from a Pentagon security camera that supposedly shows Flight 77 crashing into it and erupting in a huge fireball are released to the media, however the Pentagon says the photos were not released "officially" by the Dept. of Defense.

"BROWN: Now to the Pentagon, some remarkable pictures of American Airlines Flight 77, which hit the Pentagon on September 11th.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, for six months only a handful of people actually saw what it looked like when that plane hit this building. When I first saw those pictures today, I was surprised by something. You'll see them. They were seen first on CNN today. Aaron.
MCINTYRE (voice over): The sequence of five photographs obtained by CNN was taken by an automatic security camera at a Pentagon checkpoint and shows what, up to now, was seen by only a few eyewitnesses, that the American Airlines 757 came in extremely low before hitting the ground floor of the Pentagon.
MCINTYRE: At first glance, it's hard to see the jetliner in the first frame, but it's there just a few feet off the ground. The plane hit the Pentagon at a 45-degree angle, and was reduced to tiny fragments by the impact. The biggest piece of fuselage that could be found outside the Pentagon was only about three feet long. The only other recognizable feature can be seen in this exclusive CNN photograph, the shattered cockpit window. One hundred eighty-nine people were killed, 125 on the ground, 64 on the plane, including the five hijackers.
MCINTYRE (on camera): These pictures are the first to be made public, but they are not the only images of the plane hitting the Pentagon." - CNN (03/07/02)

"Officials from the Pentagon said the photos were not released officially by the Department of Defense. A Pentagon spokeswoman could not verify that they came from surveillance cameras.
"The Pentagon has not released any video or any photos from security cameras from the terrorist attack of Sept. 11," said Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin.
A spokeswoman at the Department of Justice, which reviews taped and photographed evidence obtained by federal security cameras, said she could not comment on whether the photos are legitimate, adding that the photos "were not disseminated by the FBI or the Department of Justice." - Washington Post/AP (03/07/02)

"Images show September 11 Pentagon crash" - CNN (03/08/02)

(See also:  9/11 (9:37 am) - Flight 77 is said to have crashed into the only renovated section of the Pentagon being renovated to bolster it against an attack which at the time housed the fewest people in the entire building; 9/11 - Within minutes of the explosion at the Pentagon, the FBI confiscates security videos that had captured the crash from a nearby gas station and hotel; Killtown's: Flight 77 Fabricated Video)

• March 13, 2002 - Bush who once wanted Osama Bin Laden "Dead or Alive", now dismisses him as "marginalized".

"The president's confidence came despite the fact that accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has not yet been captured. But Bush said, "I truly am not that concerned about him."
"Terror is bigger than one person," the president said. "He is a person who has now been marginalized. His host government has been destroyed. He's the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it and met his match." - ABC (03/13/02)

(See also:  September 17, 2001 - Bush wants Osama Bin Laden "Dead or Alive")

• March 25, 2002 - Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D) gets blasted for her comments she made on in a CA radio program in which she says, "What did this administration know and when did it know it," alleging that the Bush administration may have had advanced warnings about the 9/11 attacks and that military contractors have benefited from military action following the attacks.

"Fellow lawmakers today criticized Rep. Cynthia McKinney's allegations that Bush administration officials may have ignored advance warning of the Sept. 11 attacks and their political allies have profited from the war on terrorism.
Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, a conservative Democrat who has clashed before with McKinney, D-Ga., said her statement was "loony," also "dangerous and irresponsible." He said it was an example of McKinney trying to draw attention to herself.
McKinney made the statements in a March 25 interview on radio station KPFA in Berkeley, Calif.
"What did this administration know and when did it know it about the events of Sept. 11," McKinney said. "Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? What do they have to hide?"
McKinney alleged the military action that followed the attacks has benefited investment firms specializing in defense contracts. She singled out the Carlyle Group, where President Bush's father is on the board.
In a statement today, McKinney acknowledged she had no evidence anyone with ties to the Bush administration profited from the attacks. But she didn't back off her allegations that Bush officials may have had prior notice.
Carlyle Group spokesman Chris Ullman and White House press secretary Ari Fleischer dismissed the allegation as a baseless conspiracy theory.
"All I can tell you is the congresswoman must be running for the Hall of Fame of the Grassy Knoll Society," Fleischer said." - ABC (04/12/02)

(See also:  May 16, 2002 - McKinney releases a statement saying she feels vindicated by the Bush Administration's admission that they receiving advanced warnings; July 23, 2005 - McKinney reopens 9/11, Conspiracy theories implicating president aired at 8-hour hearing)

• March 28, 2002 - U.S. seeks the death penalty against Zacarias Moussaoui.

"US prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged over the 11 September attacks.
Attorney General John Ashcroft, who must approve all federal death penalty cases, accepted the recommendation of his prosecutors on Thursday.
The French Government has expressed regret at the decision, saying it will not provide evidence that could lead to a death sentence.
Mr Moussaoui was in prison on the day of the attacks, which may make it difficult to convince a jury of his direct involvement in the killings.
And so far, there has been only circumstantial evidence presented by prosecutors linking him to the other 19 hijackers.
Mr Moussaoui was detained in mid-August last year, after arousing suspicions while seeking flight training in Minnesota." - BBC (03/28/02)

(See also:  January 2, 2002 - Judge enters innocent plea on Moussaoui's behalf; July 19, 2002 - Judge rejects Moussaoui's 'I am guilty' plea)

• April 1, 2002 - Thierry Meyssan's book The Big Lie -- which casts doubt on the official version of the events of September 11 and claims that a missile, not Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon -- makes headline news when it becomes a leading bestseller in France.

"A bizarre book claiming that the plane that ploughed into the Pentagon on September 11 never existed, and that the US establishment itself was at the heart of the New York and Washington attacks, has shot to the top of the French bestseller lists to indignation on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Frightening Fraud, by Thierry Meyssan, sold out its original run of 20,000 copies within two hours of going on sale. "We've sold 2,500 copies in 10 days, when a blockbuster novel sells maybe 1,500 in a month," a spokesman at Fnac Les Halles, one of France's biggest bookshops, said. "It's a phenomenon."
Mr Meyssan's conspiracy theory argues that American Airlines flight 77, which killed 189 people when it smashed into the headquarters of the US defence department, did not exist, and that the whole disaster was a dastardly plot dreamed up and implemented by the US government.
A Pentagon spokesman, Glen Flood, said the book was "a slap in the face and real offence to the American people, particularly to the memory of victims of the attacks". He said he had not read it and had no intention of doing so.
Mr Meyssan's argument, which started out as a rumour on the internet and has risen to prominence largely thanks to the author's reputation and chatshow appearances, suggests that the plane could not have existed because eye-witness statements are contradictory, there are suspiciously few photographs of the catastrophe and none of them shows any wreckage. Even the rescue workers' accounts, published on the Pentagon website, are not convincing, he says.
He also asks why the facade of the Pentagon did not immediately collapse from the shock of the impact, and questions the fate of the plane's passengers. "What became of the passengers of American Airlines flight 77? Are they dead?"
Both Libération and Le Monde set out to disprove his theory, tracking down photographs that do show debris, and speaking to victims' relatives.
But Le Monde admitted that the information made public by Washington did not entirely add up. "There is no official account of the crash. The lack of information is feeding the rumour," it complained." - Guardian (04/01/02)

"The French are lapping up a Sept. 11 conspiracy theory which argues the plane that smashed into the Pentagon never existed and that the world has been duped by a murky U.S. government plot." - CBS (04/02/02)

"A book which argues that American Airlines flight 77 did not crash into the Pentagon on 11 September has become an immediate bestseller in France.
Thierry Meyssan's book L'Effroyable Imposture (The Appalling Fraud) alleges the attack on the building, which houses the US defence department, was staged by none other than the American Government." - BBC (04/02/02)

"France's No. 1 best seller claims the U.S. orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks." - Time (05/20/02)

9/11:  The Big Lie, by Thierry Meyssan - Amazon.com

(See also:  April 24, 2002 - A reporter asks Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke her thoughts about the phenomenon of Thierry Meyssan's book The Big Lie; June 25, 2002 - A reporter asks Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke again her thoughts about Thierry Meyssan's book The Big Lie)

• April 17, 2002 - ABC News:  Some Ask, Were Aliens or Bush Behind 9-11?

"In the days immediately after Sept. 11, while most of the country was reeling from shock, some people out there were wondering what really happened.
When the government said evidence pointed to Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, other voices wondered why investigators weren't looking in other directions.
Couldn't those supposed Arabs seen on airport security videos checking onto flights just as easily have been Israelis? Couldn't it all have been a Jewish plot to trick the United States into a war against Israel's enemies?
In the months since, more and more evidence has been produced by investigators in the United States and around the world linking Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network to the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in New York, Washington and western Pennsylvania.
There are voices popping up on Internet Web sites, in chatrooms and making the rounds in e-mail chains — even some conspiracy theorists who are packing hundreds of people into lecture halls — saying that evidence points to some direct level of involvement in the attacks by the U.S. government. And this at a time when an unprecedented numbers of Americans have rallied behind the government.
There is no smoking gun in any of the theories, but plenty of innuendo in schemes that run the gamut. Here is just a small sampling:
Bush's decision to go ahead with an announced public appearance on the morning of Sept. 11, after he must have been informed that planes had been crashed into the World Trade Center, shows he knew of the attack plans before that morning and knew he would not be a target for the hijackers.
Photographs of the Pentagon that morning and of the cleanup afterwards show that no plane crashed into the building because there was no debris from a jet and the damaged area of the building was too small — it had to have been a bomb planted inside to destroy the Office of Naval Intelligence, which would never have accepted the administration's story about who was behind the attacks in New York.
Or maybe an unmanned fighter jet, radio controlled and flying at a low angle, crashed into the Pentagon. (In these scenarios it's never clear what happened to American Airlines Flight 77 and the 64 people on board.)
Even a congresswoman seems bitten by the bug, and wants an investigation into what President Bush knew and when he knew it — because so many of his friends have profited so handsomely from the resulting U.S. actions.
Michael Ruppert, a former Los Angeles Police Department narcotics officer, has filled auditoriums in California, Texas, Oregon and Canada to explain what he sees as evidence that wealthy American interests were behind Sept. 11 — and he advertises those talks and the ideas on his Web site.
Then there's a best-selling book published in France that falls into the no-plane-hit-Pentagon school, and says the story was rigged to cover up a bombing targeting the new U.S. Naval Command Center that was carried out by people with classified access to the building.
The author, Thierry Meyssan, who had made a name for himself in France with exposés of the right-wing National Front, says in L'Effroyable imposture (The Horrible Fraud) that there was a secret CIA office in the World Trade Center that was carrying out illegal activities, and that the Bush administration was in negotiation with bin Laden on Sept. 11 itself, to work out an agreement to make him a scapegoat. The book has gotten little coverage in the United States, but it's worn a deep path in cyberspace.
Similarly, conspiracy theorists noticed quickly last week when U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., said in an interview on a Berkeley, Calif., radio station that she wanted an investigation into what the Bush administration knew about the 9/11 attacks — before they occurred — suggesting that his friends are getting rich from the fallout.
McKinney's office did not return a call requesting an interview, but she issued a statement saying: "I am not aware of any evidence showing that President Bush or members of his administration have personally profited from the attacks of 9/11. A complete investigation might reveal that to be the case."
The conspiracy theorists have gone much further than any of those critics, but except for some snide editorials regarding the French taste for anti-Americanism and Meyssan's book, they have been largely ignored by mainstream media.
One journalist who appeared on a televised panel discussion with Meyssan, Jean-Bernard Cadier, the Washington bureau chief of the French news and talk radio network, Europe 1, crystallized the difficulty of facing some of these theorists head-on when he said, "I had the feeling that the more we tried to go into his arguments, the more we helped him, because we were not fighting with the same weapons he was."
Meyssan, for instance, discounts eyewitness accounts of the airliner hitting the Pentagon, and even says the government may have put beacons on the World Trade Center towers to ensure that the hijacked jet would hit them and planted explosives in the buildings so they would be sure to collapse.
Other times the thinking seems to work backwards, such as in arguments that if Bush himself or his associates profited from the attacks in some way — through increased defense spending or from the opening of Afghanistan for the construction of a pipeline — then he or someone in the administration must be to blame for the events of Sept. 11.
That kind of thinking has fueled questions about possible conspiracies from his own students. He said such issues as moves by the Justice Department to gain more power for investigators and prosecutors and to curtail individual rights, and the request by the Pentagon for the largest spending increase in two decades have caused some of his students to begin to question whether the administration could have had a hand in Sept. 11." - ABC (04/17/02)

(See also:  November 1, 2004 - ABC News: On Election Eve, Sept. 11 Doubters Surface)

• April 18, 2002 - A small private plane crashes into the 32-story Pirelli Tower, Milan, Italy's tallest building.

Three dead as plane hits Milan's tallest building

"Italian investigators are trying to discover what caused a small private plane to slam into Milan's tallest building on Thursday, killing at least three people, injuring dozens more and carving a huge gash in the 32-story structure.
The aircraft -- a single-propeller Rockwell Commander 112 TC piloted by a 68-year-old Swiss man -- hit the 26th floor of the Pirelli Tower in an apparent accident at 5:48 p.m. (11:48 a.m. EDT), 18 minutes after taking off, Italian officials said.
An Italian law enforcement official said authorities had no evidence of a link to terrorism." - CNN (04/18/06)

- Building photo:  wikipedia

• April 24, 2002 - A reporter asks Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke her thoughts about the phenomenon of Thierry Meyssan's book The Big Lie claiming that Flight 77 did not hit the Pentagon.

"Q: Torie, what do you make of these media reports -- most of them have come out of France, including a book -- about the suggestion that on September 11th, no plane actually hit the Pentagon? Now many of us in the room here were here on September 11th. We saw the wreckage of the plane. We know a plane hit the Pentagon. But nevertheless, a lot of people around the world apparently reading these reports have believed them, to some extent. Perhaps you've even fielded inquiries from French news media about this. What do you make of this phenomenon?
Clarke: A, I don't agree with you that lots of people believe it. I just don't think they do. B, I think even the suggestion of it is ludicrous. And finally, it is just an incredible, incredible insult to the friends and the relatives and the family members of the almost 200 people that got killed here on September 11th and the thousands who were killed in New York." - DoD (04/24/02)

(See also:  April 1, 2002 - Meyssan's book The Big Lie makes headline news when it becomes a leading bestseller in France; June 25, 2002 - A reporter asks Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke again her thoughts about Thierry Meyssan's book The Big Lie)

• April 25, 2002 - White House officials say privately the Sept. 11 attacks was the main reason for the war in Iraq.

"To build its case for war with Iraq, the Bush administration argued that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but some officials now privately acknowledge the White House had another reason for war — a global show of American power and democracy.
If weapons of mass destruction were not the primary reason for war, what was? Here's the answer officials and advisers gave ABCNEWS.
The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks changed everything, including the Bush administration's thinking about the Middle East — and not just Saddam Hussein.
Beyond that, the Bush administration decided it must flex muscle to show it would fight terrorism, not just here at home and not just in Afghanistan against the Taliban, but in the Middle East, where it was thriving.
"We made it very public that we thought that one consequence the president should draw from 9/11 is that it was unacceptable to sit back and let either terrorist groups or dictators developing weapons of mass destruction strike first at us," conservative commentator [and PNAC Chairman] Bill Kristol said on ABCNEWS' Nightline in March.
But what if Sept. 11 had never happened? Would the United States have gone to war with Iraq? Administration officials and others say no, at least not now.
The Bush administration could probably have lived with the threat of Saddam and might have gone after him eventually if, for example, the Iraqi leader had become more aggressive in pursuing a nuclear program or in sponsoring terrorism." - ABC (04/25/02) [Archived:  Wayback Machine]

• April 26, 2002 - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says they haven't heard "anything hard" from Osama bin Laden since last December, the time bin Laden reportedly died.

"Rumsfeld rarely mentions bin Laden in public unless asked, but he was reminded Friday that at least some of those in uniform equate success in Afghanistan with getting rid of bin Laden.
"We're hunting him down," he said. "We're tracking him down. He's hiding. We haven't heard hide nor hair of him for about, oh, since December, in terms of anything hard." Rumsfeld said that even with bin Laden still on the loose, "he is probably not very effective now in running the al-Qaeda organization."
"My guess is ... he'll either be killed in some attack that takes place when we find him or he'll be captured ... in which case we would have an opportunity to visit with him," Rumsfeld said." - USA Today (04/26/02)

(See also:  December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies; December 15, 2001 - U.S. 'reasonably certain' it heard bin Laden radio call)

• May 4, 2002 - Agent's "Phoenix memo" warned the FBI back in July 2001 about Arab men taking flight training in Arizona who were supporters of Osama bin Laden, suggesting the schools could be used for terror operations, but never reached the highest levels of the FBI, the CIA or the Justice Department until after 9/11.

Alert FBI agent gave heads-up in July on Arabs in aviation

"An FBI agent in Phoenix told counterterrorism officials at the bureau's headquarters last July that he had detected an alarming pattern of Arab men with possible ties to terrorism taking aviation-related training, and he urged a nationwide review of the trend, according to FBI officials.
The agent's recommendation was not acted upon before Sept. 11, however, because bureau officials determined that hundreds of Middle Eastern men regularly attended flight schools and aviation training in the United States.

A review determined that none of the seven or eight Arab men identified by the agent in Phoenix had any connection to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon or other terrorist activities, officials said. A few were detained on immigration violations, however, FBI officials said.

FBI officials said the agent first became suspicious after noticing a pattern among several Arabs being monitored for possible terrorist ties, as well as others thought to be associates of individuals suspected of having those connections.
The agent noticed that several of those individuals were attending Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz., a highly regarded college specializing in flight training and other aviation-related studies. The agent thought he might have stumbled onto a larger pattern of Arabs coming to the United States to get aviation training for use in future terrorist activities.
In July, he sent a memo to counterterrorism officials at FBI headquarters recommending a study of the issue. He also recommended that the FBI ask the State Department to provide visa data on flight school students from Middle Eastern nations so that the bureau could track them more easily.

After the agent's memo arrived at headquarters, it was also sent to the bureau's New York field office, which then was taking the lead in international terrorist investigations." - SF Gate/NY Times (05/04/02)

Flight School Memo Named Bin Laden

"A memo by an FBI agent last summer urged the bureau's headquarters to investigate Middle Eastern men enrolled in American flight schools and named Osama bin Laden, suggesting followers could use the schools for terror operations, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

According to the Times, the memo's existence had been known for months but it was not until recent weeks that lawmakers and congressional staff gained full access to it. The memo's direct reference to bin Laden had not been revealed before by the U.S. government." - CBS (05/15/02)

Senators question 'Phoenix memo' author

"The so-called "Phoenix memo," written July 10, 2001, by FBI agent Kenneth Williams, cited supporters of Osama bin Laden "attending civil aviation universities/colleges in Arizona."
The memo apparently never reached the highest levels of the FBI, the CIA or the Justice Department until after September 11.
It states that law enforcement officials began examining questions about Arab students attending U.S. flight schools in April 2000, almost 17 months before the September 11 terrorist attacks. It is under renewed scrutiny amid questions over whether the government missed clues that might have alerted authorities to impending attacks on New York and Washington.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said that to this day, Mueller still doesn't have a full explanation about what happened once Williams passed the memo up the chain of command.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, said he too was unsatisfied with the answers from Mueller.
"There was no explanation as to why the memo did not go to other places. Nobody knows at this stage, and that is something that has to be pursued," Specter said.
Williams is to appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. His memorandum states that the investigation began in April 2000, describing a bin Laden "effort to send students to U.S. to attend civil aviation universities and colleges."
Attorney General John Ashcroft appeared before the ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees Tuesday. Ashcroft and Mueller both learned of the Phoenix memo in the days after September 11, but did not brief legislators about the memo's existence." - CNN (05/21/02)

(See also:  July 10, 2001 - FBI agent urges bureau in his "Phoenix memo" to investigate supporters of OBL attending flight training in Arizona; May 20, 2002 - FBI shared suspicions warned in the "Phoenix memo" with CIA.)

• May 13, 2002 - Afghanistan plans gas pipeline, Unocal denies involvement.

"Afghanistan hopes to strike a deal later this month to build a $2bn pipeline through the country to take gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India.
Afghan interim ruler Hamid Karzai is to hold talks with his Pakistani and Turkmenistan counterparts later this month on Afghanistan's biggest foreign investment project, said Mohammad Alim Razim, minister for Mines and Industries told Reuters.
The construction of the 850-kilometre pipeline had been previously discussed between Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, US oil company Unocal and Bridas of Argentina.
The project was abandoned after the US launched missile attacks on Afghanistan in 1999.
Mr Razim said US energy company Unocal was the "lead company" among those that would build the pipeline, which would bring 30bn cubic meters of Turkmen gas to market annually.
Unocal - which led a consortium of companies from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Japan and South Korea - has maintained the project is both economically and technically feasible once Afghan stability was secured.
"Unocal is not involved in any projects (including pipelines) in Afghanistan, nor do we have any plans to become involved, nor are we discussing any such projects," a spokesman told BBC News Online.
The US company formally withdrew from the consortium in 1998.
Afghanistan plans to build a road linking Turkmenistan with Pakistan parallel to the pipeline, to supply nearby villages with gas, and also to pump Afghan gas for export, Mr Razim said.
The government would also earn transit fees from the export of gas and oil and hoped to take over ownership of the pipeline after 30 years, he said.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been surveying routes for transferring local gas from northern Afghan areas to Kabul, and to iron ore mines at the Haji Gak pass further west.
The pipeline is expected to be built with funds from donor countries for the reconstruction of Afghanistan as well as ADB loans, he said." - BBC (05/13/02)

(See also:  January 1, 2002 - Bush appoints PNAC member and former Unocal advisor Zalmay Khalilzad to be U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan; May 21, 2002 - Unocal reiterates no interest in Afghanistan projects)

• May 15, 2002 - Eight months after 9/11, news starts coming out that the Bush Administration received warnings about terrorist attacks and plane hijackings by Osama Bin Laden from U.S. Intelligence agencies weeks before 9/11.

Bush Was Warned bin Laden Wanted to Hijack Planes

"The White House said tonight that President Bush had been warned by American intelligence agencies in early August that Osama bin Laden was seeking to hijack aircraft but that the warnings did not contemplate the possibility that the hijackers would turn the planes into guided missiles for a terrorist attack.
"It is widely known that we had information that bin Laden wanted to attack the United States or United States interests abroad," Ari Fleischer, the president's press secretary, said this evening. "The president was also provided information about bin Laden wanting to engage in hijacking in the traditional pre-9/11 sense, not for the use of suicide bombing, not for the use of an airplane as a missile."
In the past few days, government officials have acknowledged for the first time that an F.B.I. agent in Phoenix had urged the F.B.I. headquarters to investigate Middle Eastern men enrolled in American flight schools. That memorandum also cited Mr. bin Laden by name and suggested that his followers could use the schools to train for terror operations, officials who have seen the memorandum said.
Administration officials reached this evening said the warning given to Mr. Bush did not come from the F.B.I. or from the information developed by the Phoenix agent. Instead, it was provided as part of the C.I.A. briefing he is given each morning, suggesting that it was probably based on evidence gathered abroad.
The warning of the hijacking was given to the president at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., where he was on vacation.
It was not clear this evening why the White House waited eight months after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington to reveal what Mr. Bush had been told." - NY Times (05/15/02)

"President Bush and his top advisers were informed by the CIA early last August that terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden had discussed the possibility of hijacking airplanes, according to reliable sources.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer confirmed that Bush had been told about the possibility of hijackings but he declined to say what had been revealed during his intelligence briefings." - Washington Post (05/16/02)

Aug. Memo Focused On Attacks in U.S.

"The top-secret briefing memo presented to President Bush on Aug. 6 carried the headline, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.," and was primarily focused on recounting al Qaeda's past efforts to attack and infiltrate the United States, senior administration officials said.
Bush had specifically asked for an intelligence analysis of possible al Qaeda attacks within the United States, because most of the information presented to him over the summer about al Qaeda focused on threats against U.S. targets overseas, sources said. But one source said the White House was disappointed because the analysis lacked focus and did not present fresh intelligence.
New accounts yesterday of the controversial Aug. 6 memo provided a shift in portrayals of the document, which has set off a political firestorm because it suggested that bin Laden's followers might be planning to hijack U.S. airliners.
In earlier comments this week, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and other administration officials stressed that intelligence officials were focused primarily on threats to U.S. interests overseas. But sources made clear yesterday that the briefing presented to Bush focused on attacks within the United States, indicating that he and his aides were concerned about the risks.
But the sharpest focus remained on the Aug. 6 presidential briefing memo, which Rice described Thursday as historic and analytic in nature. But she did not explicitly note that the memo, according to sources, was focused primarily on a discussion of possible domestic targets.
As an example, sources said the memo cited the case of Ahmed Ressam, who was caught attempting to smuggle explosives across the Canadian border for an al Qaeda attack on Los Angeles International Airport during the 2000 millennium celebrations." - Washington Post (05/19/02)

(See also:  August 6, 2001 - Bush is warned in a CIA memo of possible terrorist attacks and plane hijackings in the U.S. from Osama bin Laden; April 10, 2004 - The White House releases the August 6th memo)

• May 16, 2002 - White House spokesman Ari Fleischer confirms that President Bush was told by the CIA a month before 9/11 about the possibility of  terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden hijacking planes in the U.S.

Bush was told of hijack threat, White House revises account of events before Sept. 11 attacks

"President Bush and his top advisers were informed by the CIA early last August that terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden had discussed the possibility of hijacking airplanes, according to reliable sources.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer confirmed that Bush had been told about the possibility of hijackings, but he declined to say what had been revealed during his intelligence briefings.

A CIA spokesman said the agency routinely passed on intelligence citing the possibility that al Qaeda might be planning to hijack an airliner as part of a terrorist action against the United States. But a suicide attack involving an aircraft was never envisioned, the spokesman said." - SF Gate/Washington Post (05/16/02)

(See also:  9/11 - Fleischer claims Bush received no warnings about the attacks)