Able Danger

[NebraskaDem]

Has anyone else heard about this or am I just late to the scene as usual? :)



WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 - A military intelligence team repeatedly contacted the F.B.I. in 2000 to warn about the existence of an American-based terrorist cell that included the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a veteran Army intelligence officer who said he had now decided to risk his career by discussing the information publicly.

The officer, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, said military lawyers later blocked the team from sharing any of its information with the bureau.

Colonel Shaffer said in an interview on Monday night that the small, highly classified intelligence program, known as Able Danger, had identified the terrorist ringleader, Mohamed Atta, and three other future hijackers by name by mid-2000, and tried to arrange a meeting that summer with agents of the Washington field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to share its information.

But he said military lawyers forced members of the intelligence program to cancel three scheduled meetings with the F.B.I. at the last minute, which left the bureau without information that Colonel Shaffer said might have led to Mr. Atta and the other terrorists while the Sept. 11 attacks were still being planned.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/17/politics/17intel.html?ex=1281931200&en=3ee12b1346f0f843&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[KingFlorez]

1. It's garbage

Created by fundie Rep. Curt Weldon from PA

[JohnnyBoots]

6. Went to my high school, used to teach with my dad...he sucks

[JackRiddler]

13. wrong

It's the biggest admission yet by the US government that the alleged 9/11 hijackers were under surveillance in advance of Sept. 2001 and were (in several cases) protected by obstruction from above.

More revelations are to come, and it's up to us to force this issue.

Back in Sept. 2001, German authorities said CIA had Atta under surveillance while he was still in Hamburg already as of early 2000. (Who says this surveillance ever ended?!) They also said they gave the CIA Marwan al-Shehhi's name and cell-phone in 1999.

Also, the Israeli Mossad provided the same four names as are cited in association with "Able Danger" (Atta, Shehhi, Almidhar, Alhazmi) to the CIA in Aug. 2001, saying the four were planning an attack in the US.

Also, Alhazmi & Almidhar were under surveillance by CIA at a Jan. 2000 al-Qaeda meeting in Kuala Lumpur and, on returning to the States, took up residence with a landlord who was a long-term FBI informant (Abdussatir Sheikh).

All of these long-known stories are being ignored in the exclusive current focus on "Able Danger."

That this story is broken by Weldon and that he wants to spin it to hit Clinton is irrelevant. It's not about Weldon but Shaeffer, the actual intel source.

Far more important is that it shows that the 9/11 Commission Report is a pack of lies.

They claim they didn't even know Atta was under surveillance? What a farce. Shaeffer exposes them as liars. (In the meantime, they've admitted they did know.)

The sad fact is that Democrats are leaving this to Weldon and his misinfo approach.

"Able Danger" also shoots the fraudulent official FBI timeline of Atta's movements to hell. (Atta was never in US before June 2000, according to FBI.)

[JackRiddler]

23. Furthermore

Excellent article & analysis by Nafeez Ahmed of why the official reason for suspending Able Danger's attempt to communicate with the FBI (it would violate regulations on surveillance of domestic targets) is absolutely disingenuous:

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/WhitewashingProtection_of__0818.html

Shaffer is to be commended for coming out and exposing Kean, Hamilton and the 9/11 Commission as liars.

Excerpts:

First the Commission completely denied any knowledge of Able Danger. Allegedly, the staff and panel members simply hadn't been told. When it became clear, from Weldon's military intelligence sources, that the Commission had been officially briefed on the Able Danger report, they relented, and claimed instead that they simply didn't take the material seriously, because it had already established that the hijackers had not been identified at that early time.

When this explanation started to falter, it was stated that the briefing made no mention at all of Mohamed Atta, and thus was not considered to be of value to the investigation.

The Whistleblower:

But Lt. Col. Shaffer has now come on public record confirming that he had personally "provided information about Able Danger and its identification of Mr. Atta in a private meeting in October 2003 with members of the Sept. 11 commission staff when they visited Afghanistan", according to the newspaper of record. Former Commissioners suddenly emerged to chorus the insistence that they had never been briefed so specifically about Able Danger, that the material was vague, and made no mention of Atta.

The backtracking and side-stepping of the now disbanded Commission hardly lends its position further credibility.

MORE
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/WhitewashingProtection_of__0818.html

[Octafish]

29. Bush Knew

Excellent analysis, yours, JackRiddler.

For you and those interested, here's a compendium of stories of BFEE pre-knowledge of 9-11:

Plot to assassinate Bush - reports

MOSCOW, Russia -- Osama bin Laden has threatened to assassinate U.S. President George W. Bush at a G8 meeting in Italy, the head of Russia's Federal Bodyguard Service has said, according to reports.

The Associated Press said Yevgeny Murov was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying: "Bin Laden is threatening the American president, but we know what international terrorism is today and therefore all the bodyguard units concerned are preparing for this.

"We view the threats as totally serious, but hope that with joint efforts we can solve all the problems."

The Group of Eight summit is meeting between July 20-22 in Genoa, Italy. Leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States are expected to attend the summit.

Murov -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief bodyguard -- did not elaborate on the threats. He said agents from Russia's Federal Bodyguard Service have travelled to Genoa to coordinate with their counterparts from the other nations taking part in the summit to investigate the threats.

CONTINUED...

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/06/20/russia.binladen

Missiles to protect summit leaders

Special report: globalisation
Rory Carroll in Rome
Wednesday July 11, 2001
The Guardian

Italy has installed a missile defence system at Genoa's airport to deter airborne attacks during next week's G8 summit, fuelling hysteria about looming violence.
A land-based battery of rockets with a range of nine miles and an altitude of 5,000 feet has been positioned in the latest security measure against perceived threats from terrorists and protesters.

Unidentified planes, helicopters and balloons risk being shot down should they drift too close to the heads of state from the group of seven leading industrialised nations and Russia.

Colonel Alberto Battaglini, of the ministry of defence, said the precaution was not exces sive. "The measure, which was planned by the previous government, may seem open to criticism, but in reality it is merely to act as a deterrent against any aerial incursion during the summit.

"They are little missiles ... which only have a deterrent function to discourage any aerial-led attack and they do not present any danger to the residents of the city," he said.

The missile system, dubbed Spada, was erected along Italy's Adriatic coast during Nato's 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia.

SNIP...

The millionaire terrorist, Osama bin Laden, has been linked to an alleged plot to assassinate the US president, George Bush.

CONTINUED...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,519925,00.html

Ashcroft Flying High

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2001

Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.

"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.

A senior official at the CIA said he was unaware of specific threats against any Cabinet member, and Ashcroft himself, in a speech in California, seemed unsure of the nature of the threat.

"I don't do threat assessments myself and I rely on those whose responsibility it is in the law enforcement community, particularly the FBI. And I try to stay within the guidelines that they've suggested I should stay within for those purposes," Ashcroft said.

CONTINUED...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

Why would Osama bin Laden want to kill Dubya, his former business partner?

By James Hatfield

Editor's note: In light of last week's horrific events and the Bush administration's reaction to them, we are reprising the following from the last column Jim Hatfield wrote for Online Journal prior to his tragic death on July 18:

July 3, 2001—There may be fireworks in Genoa, Italy, this month, too.

A plot by Saudi master terrorist, Osama bin Laden, to assassinate Dubya during the July 20 economic summit of world leaders, was uncovered after dozens of suspected Islamic militants linked to bin Laden's international terror network were arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, and Milan, Italy, in April.

German intelligence services have stated that bin Laden is covertly financing neo-Nazi skinhead groups throughout Europe to launch another terrorist attack at a high-profile American target—his first since the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen last October.

According to counter-terrorism experts quoted in Germany's largest newspaper, the attack on Dubya might be a James Bond-like aerial strike in the form of remote-controlled airplanes packed with plastic explosives.

SNIP...

According to court documents, Bath swore that in 1977 he represented four prominent and wealthy Saudi Arabians as a trustee and used his name on their investments in the United States. In return, he received a 5 percent interest in their deals. Time reporters Beaty and Gwynne suggest in their book that the $50,000 Bath invested in Dubya's Arbusto Energy drilling company may have belonged to Bath's Saudi clients since the Houston businessman "had no substantial money of his own at the time."

CONTINUED...

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/Hatfield-R-091901/hatfield-r-091901.html

[stillcool]

2. a link...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1706537

[NebraskaDem]

4. Thanks

[Igel]

3. Late.

Although while Weldon's proven unreliable as an information source, there's the article you link to. They can't find documentation; but would we expect them to find documentation if the laywers put the kabosh on sharing? Dunno. It smells, no matter how you look at it.

For dems, I think it's lose-lose if the info turns out to be real. How the military and legal beagles under Clinton interpreted law, policy, and Gorelick's various edicts led to not sharing the info. That's bad. If we defend the policies, we're screwed; if we defend how the info was collected, we're screwed. If we try to deny it, and it's substantiated, it looks not just partisan, but stupidly and deviously partisan. If we try to blame * for ignoring the info, well, the quick and easy response is, It was squelched before the 11/00 elections.

The best to hope for is that the information is never substantiated, and vanishes, IMHO.

[Postman]

12. And let's not talk about exposing CIA agents or Sibel Edmonds..

This administration is so covered in shit it reeks to China.

Anything to deflect attention away from the criminal republicans running the country, temporarily.

[JackRiddler]

15. gawd.

Do you really believe the excuse that Able Danger was ordered suspended by the brass because of civil liberties concerns?!

I know a bridge for you to buy!

Finally, a few lies about 9/11 are being exposed and you worry about false RW spin that wants to pin it on Clinton.

I don't care about Clinton or Bush. I want "Justice for 9/11" (google that).

[Octafish]

30. Hear about Janet PARKER?

She was a close friend of the late John P. O'Neill (the "good" John O'Neill, FBI counterterrorism expert and Osama hunter):

Close Informant & Friend
Of Former FBI Agent
John O'Neill, Killed on 9/11,
Tells How FBI Higher-Ups
'Shut Him Down'
Letting 9/11 Happen

By Greg Szymanski
8-16-5

A Seattle woman who was a close informant of former FBI agent and Al Qaeda hunter John O'Neill during the crucial months prior to the 9/11, said they both provided vital information in an attempt to stop the attack but were blocked by officials in the New York and Washington bureaus every step of the way.

The informant's earth shattering revelations and hard evidence, including names, dates, locations, motives and sordid dealings of known terrorists, may once and for end all speculation that the FBI overtly tried to thwart O'Neill's investigation, as well as even show authorities worked closely, assisting known terrorists in bringing about 9/11 as well as other previous terrorist attacks.

The detailed information, never released publicly and provided to the Arctic Beacon and the American Free Press, clearly shows, according to the informant, a plot in the FBI by O'Neill's boss, Tom Picard and others higher-up in the chain of command to block O'Neill just when he may have been able to gum up the works, mainly from contacts made by the Seattle informant with a major Al Qaeda cell operating on the East Coast.

Seattle veterinarian and long time friend and informant of O'Neill, Janet Parker, 53, said O'Neill was stopped by his bosses only months prior to 9/11 from getting a wire tap on a major cell leader, Shadrack Manyathella, who had close ties with Ali Mohammad, a suspected CIA double operative and Mohammad Atta, the alleged 9/11 ring leader.

"His own bureau blocked him every step of the way, but John wanted me to bate Shadrack and get as much information as possible," said Parker in an extended telephone conversation from her Seattle home this week, concerning several telephone conversations with the alleged terrorist thug in the months preceding 9/11.

CONTINUED...

http://www.arcticbeacon.com/articles/article/1518131/31621.htm

While the above sounds incredible, it rings true because it fits with what we know about the FBI - Osama "stand-down" ordered by the crazy monkey.

Keep up the good fight, JackRiddler. We may yet see these BFEE bedwetting bastards in the hoosegow, despite what the freepers, naysayers and handwringing "Tinfoil Hat" hating crowd say.

[librechik]

5. Idiot RWers have chosen this as the response to Cindy

this is supposed to show that Clinton was told about Bin Laden. Yeah, we know. And Sandy Berger told Condi Rice "You will spend most of your time on Islamic terror." And look at the success she had! er, no.

Yeah, Clinton spent 96-2001 studying Osama and trying to figure out how to get him without breaking the law. He failed in that, but so did Bush.

Gee, if only we had just decided to break the law, like W, then we would have Bin Laden too! ....wait....

Another stupid move. And besides, the guy can't get any witnesses to back up his story.

Lame.

Nevertheless Faux and Co are whipping this story, hoping it will grow legs. Don't fuel it.

[K-W]

7. And the neo-cons made bin laden.

Clinton was fighting a force that the current occupants of the white house helped to create. They clearly never used thier knowledge to help Clinton, and then when they replaced Clinton they proceeded to ignore the threat that they knew full well existed.

[librechik]

8. Yeah, A*holes!

They make me so :mad:!

[Octafish]

9. This is a major development.

The Pentagon had a handle on the terrorists and let them go. Who ordered them off?

The FBI had a handle on the terrorists and let them go. Who ordered them off?

The CIA had a handle on the terrorists and let them go. Who ordered them off?

One name comes to mind. BUSH.

[julialnyc]

10. freeps are hoping this takes over the media

but it's weak................... the 9/11 commission agrees that it's weak

[Octafish]

11. Able Danger leads to CIA Drug Protection.

Hi, julialnyc!

Here's what Dan Hopsicker has to say:

Able Danger Intel Exposed "Protected" Heroin Trafficking

August 17--VENICE, FL.

Mohamed Atta was protected from official scrutiny as part of an officially-protected criminal narcotics trafficking enterprise with ties to top Republican officials including Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris, and it was this fact—and not the “terrible lapses” of “weak on terror” Clinton Administration officials cited by Republican Congressman Curt Weldon—which shielded him from apprehension before the 9.11 attack.

The “terrible lapses” cited by Weldon do not stem from his nonsensical assertion that Atta had a green card (he did not) which rendered him immune from military investigation, but were instead resulted from his participation in an officially-protected heroin trafficking operation, conducted on planes like those of Wally Hilliard, whose Lear jet flew "milk runs" down and back to Venezuela every week for 39 weeks in a row before finally running afoul of local DEA agents not clued-in to the protected nature of the enterprise.

Moreover the secret military intelligence operation which identified Mohamed Atta and three other hijackers as a threat a year before the 9.11 attack, called Able Danger, was by no means the first military intelligence investigation into the activities of the Hamburg cadre.

As far back as 1991, military investigators had been detailed to Hamburg Germany, tracking what one military investigator who was there told us were “Al Qaeda heroin flows” from Afghanistan to the West.

CONTINUED...

http://64.70.236.57/08172005.html

If the Freepers think this is good for the news, they may be right for once.

[julialnyc]

14. great article!

Thanks

[Octafish]

18. You're welcome! Here's a good overview from The Guardian (UK)...

DU, Friend: This might be the straw that breaks the freaking BFEE camel's back.

US officer says Pentagon prevented al-Qaida reports reaching the FBI

Julian Borger in Washington
The Guardian
Thursday August 18, 2005

A US army intelligence officer went public yesterday with claims that a secret military unit had identified Mohammed Atta and three other al-Qaida members as a potential threat a year before they carried out the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer said the secret intelligence unit, codenamed Able Danger, had been prevented from passing on its information to the FBI by Pentagon lawyers concerned that the military should not be involved in surveillance of suspects inside the US.

SNIP...

Col Shaffer, a reservist now working part-time at the Pentagon, said he was risking his career by giving on-the-record interviews to the New York Times and television networks, but he said he had been frustrated by the dismissal of his account by the official inquiry into the September 11 attacks. He said information he provided to the investigative staff "never got to the commissioners".

The commission's final report last year did not mention Able Danger, despite being briefed on its work by Col Shaffer in October 2003 and by an unnamed navy captain in 2004. The two top commissioners, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, defended that decision last week, arguing its role "did not turn out to be historically significant".

SNIP...

Col Shaffer, who served as a liaison officer between Able Danger and the Defence Intelligence Agency, said that by mid-2000 the unit came up with a chart linking Mohammed Atta, the Egyptian lead hijacker, and three others, Khalid al-Mihdhar, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Marwan al-Shehhi, complete with photographs of the plotters. "I was at the point of near insubordination over the fact that this was something important, that this was something that should have been pursued," Col Shaffer told the New York Times.

SOURCE:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/story/0,11209,1551268,00.html

If it doesn't break their backs, it'll look good in the indictments of all these turds who let 9-11 happen because of their incompetence, at best, or treason, most likely.

[JackRiddler]

16. Do the Freepers want Able Danger in the news?

Go, Freepers!

Remember how someone will be selling the rope with which they are later hanged?

[Octafish]

19. Rope Futures must be charting up.

Heh heh.

Officer: 9/11 Panel Told Cells Identified

By KIMBERLY HEFLING
The Associated Press Thursday, August 18, 2005; 9:10 AM

WASHINGTON -- The Sept. 11 commission failed to pursue information that a secret military unit had identified two cells involved in the 2001 terrorist strikes more than a year before the attacks, an Army intelligence officer contends.

SNIP...

"I just walked away shocked that they would kind of change their mind, but I figured someone with equal or better knowledge ... probably came and talked to them, so they must've taken care of it," Shaffer told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.

SNIP...

Shaffer said Able Danger identified Atta and three other Sept. 11 hijackers in 2000. But, he said, military lawyers stopped the unit from sharing the information with the FBI out of concerns about the legality of gathering and sharing information on people in the U.S.

"The lawyers' view was to leave them alone, they had the same basic rights as a U.S. citizen, a U.S. person and therefore the data was kind of left alone," Shaffer said.

Shaffer said he and a Navy officer disagreed with that and tried to set up meetings with the FBI, but each time the idea was rejected by lawyers from the Special Operations command.

"There was a feeling ... if we give this information to the FBI and something goes wrong, we're going to get blamed for whatever goes wrong," Shaffer said.

CONTINUED...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/18/AR2005081800194.html

Gee. Lawyers from "Special Operations command." What name comes to mind when it comes to Secret Operations?

Hint: The turd said he was "out of the loop" during Iran-Contra.

[julialnyc]

21. have a whole section devoted to it (most links are to NY Post and NewsMax

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=atta

[Imagevision]

17. Able Danger IS Tin foil city! - Hannity trying to direct 9-11 blame

towards Clinton for political reasons. Because you know the reasons I won't go there...!

[Octafish]

20. Yeah. Like Poppy Bush had nothing to do with Dallas when JFK died.

From the FBI's own files, dated 22 November 1963, we learn Bush's whereabouts:



Gee. He fingered a fellow Repub. Does that make Poppy a commie?

[julialnyc]

22. I think that's why they may screw themselves

I had peeked at all of the Clinton stiff, but the links above make it seem like the republicans wouldn't want this out.......... plus from everything I've read(which admittedly isn't allot) this would have to do with the DOD, not Clinton.

[Mnemosyne]

24. Freudian slip? lol

"the Clinton stiff"! That is too funny! :hi:


:yoiks:

[julialnyc]

26. or have they already?

Jeff Gannon :)

[Mnemosyne]

27. LOL! n/t

[LSK]

25. Late

Another attempt to blame Clinton. No proof exists that he even knew about it. If Bush was so great, why didnt he address this in 8 months he had on the job before 9/11??

Also, the 9/11 commission was made aware of this, but did not mention it. Why not??

[JackRiddler]

28. for the last time

has nothing to do with Clinton, the RW spin and Weldon are misleading.

It's about the 9/11 fraud, people. The Commission lied.

[NNN0LHI]

31. Yea, and it was actually Clinton who ordered the invasion of Iraq too

Honest. You just imagined it was the Chimp who did it.

Don

[JackRiddler]

32. kick and nom, for all the good it does

:)

[oasis]

33. Likely a coordinated effort by the GOP to put the brakes on Hillary's

presidential chances by discrediting Bill Clinton.

[Octafish]

37. If so, it's going to backfire. Able Danger points to Secret Government.

Who's in charge of Secret Government?



Good Friend oasis: Please check out Hopsicker, who connects Able Danger to the GOP, Big Time:

Able Danger Intel Exposed
"Protected" Heroin Trafficking
by Daniel Hopsicker

August 17--VENICE, FL. Mohamed Atta was protected from official scrutiny as part of an officially-protected criminal narcotics trafficking enterprise with ties to top Republican officials including Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris, and it was this fact—and not the “terrible lapses” of “weak on terror” Clinton Administration officials cited by Republican Congressman Curt Weldon—which shielded him from apprehension before the 9.11 attack.   

Weldon alleges that Pentagon lawyers rejected the military intelligence unit’s recommendation to apprehend Atta because he was in the country legally, and therefore information on him could not be shared with law enforcement.

But the “terrible lapses” cited by Weldon do not stem from the nonsensical assertion that Atta had a green card (he did not) which rendered him immune from military investigation but were the result of an officially-protected heroin trafficking operation being conducted on planes like those of Wally Hilliard, whose Lear jet  flew "milk runs" down and back to Venezuela every week for 39 weeks in a row before finally running afoul of local DEA agents not been clued-in on the 'joke.'  

Moreover the secret military intelligence operation which identified Mohamed Atta and three other hijackers as a threat a year before the 9.11 attack, called Able Danger, was by no means the first military intelligence investigation into the activities of the Hamburg cadre.

Watching the river (of heroin) flow

As far back as 1991, military investigators had been detailed to Hamburg Germany, tracking what one military investigator who was there told us were “Al Qaeda heroin flows” from Afghanistan to the West.  

CONTINUED...

http://www.madcowprod.com/08172005.html

So, let 'em talk all they want. IThe freepers may think they're blaming Clinton, but they're really demonstrating the power of the Secret Government. This op stinks to high heaven for a reason -- it's more evidence for MIHOP.

William Cohen, then-Defense Secretary and a Republican, was asked about this on a weekend TV show. Cohen said he was never informed, meaning this is evidence of yet another "rogue" intel operation.

Between you and me, there is no such thing as "rogue" operation. Someone is in charge. When it comes to treason, one name "Poppy's" up over and over and over again.

It's not really odd how that same name just keeps benefiting from American tragedies like the assassination of Presidnet Kennedy, Vietnam war profiteering, Big Oil, October Surprise, Iran-Contra, Arming Irag, Drugs Inc, the Mafia, BCCI and so on.

[Finder]

34. The usual smoke screen by the RW

They take a fact that threatens them and surround it with disinformation to discredit the whole "theory" and the fact gets tossed out.

[julialnyc]

35. has anyone seen this?

http://slate.msn.com/id/2124546/

[JackRiddler]

36. kick again