Four in 9/11 Plot Are Called Tied to Qaeda in '00

[lala_rawraw]

So, all I have to say is WTF????

If you had doubts, read NYT's latest article:
---------------------------
By DOUGLAS JEHL

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 - More than a year before the Sept. 11 attacks, a small, highly classified military intelligence unit identified Mohammed Atta and three other future hijackers as likely members of a cell of Al Qaeda operating in the United States, according to a former defense intelligence official and a Republican member of Congress.

In the summer of 2000, the military team, known as Able Danger, prepared a chart that included visa photographs of the four men and recommended to the military's Special Operations Command that the information be shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the congressman, Representative Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, and the former intelligence official said Monday.

The recommendation was rejected and the information was not shared, they said, apparently at least in part because Mr. Atta, and the others were in the United States on valid entry visas. Under American law, United States citizens and green-card holders may not be singled out in intelligence-collection operations by the military or intelligence agencies. That protection does not extend to visa holders, but Mr. Weldon and the former intelligence official said it might have reinforced a sense of discomfort common before Sept. 11 about sharing intelligence information with a law enforcement agency.

A former spokesman for the Sept. 11 commission, Al Felzenberg, confirmed that members of its staff, including Philip Zelikow, the executive director, were told about the program on an overseas trip in October 2003 that included stops in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But Mr. Felzenberg said the briefers did not mention Mr. Atta's name.

The report produced by the commission last year does not mention the episode.

Read the rest, important:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/politics/09intel.html

[tk2kewl]

1. possible revisionist history there

blame clinton

[mrmonarch]

2. Source?

In the recent words of the late Robin Cook:

Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians.

So I suppose all that Able Danger did was to call their buddies and, you know, ask who was, like, on the payroll and stuff. Not exactly rocket science, really.
(More on Cook/Al Qaeda)

[lala_rawraw]

4. What do you mean source? The link is there

[H2O Man]

6. Rather hard

to miss "the source" there.

[mrmonarch]

8. Not that source. The other source!

I meant the source for the "Able Danger" team. It can't be hard to get names of Al Qaeda operatives if they are on your own payroll. See?

[Igel]

7. And actually Babe Ruth was an early computer scientist

working on database structures. So was Hank Aaron. Obviously for different companies.

After all, they were so good at reaching the (data)base.

One goofy translation ... the ATA really should issue licenses. No, wait this was Britain ...

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. I posted this earlier and I received some valuable incites....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4293698

[skids]

5. KOS article on same...

...is here, with extensive commentary:

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/9/8572/48673