Book Review: Peter Lance Indicts FBI/DoJ, but Leaves CIA as Unindicted Co-conspirator

[reprehensor]

Posted over at 911truth.org;

Book Review: Peter Lance Indicts FBI/DoJ, but Leaves CIA as Unindicted Co-conspirator

Saturday, January 6 2007

by Michael Richardson

Most of the journalistic foundation for the 9/11 truth movement is a vast mosaic of articles, each containing one or more significant fragments, and most have been written by journalists who had no particular dedication or greater awareness of 9/11. Those who have written in depth about 9/11 have used this mosaic (and of course have been aided considerably by resources like Paul Thompson's Complete 9/11 Timeline), but few actually do on-the-ground journalism. Peter Lance is one of the few investigative journalists who has dedicated himself to the historical thicket of 9/11. In addition to using the mosaic, he travels to interview people, develops contacts inside the key agencies, gets his hands on damning FBI 302 documents, and bothers people who deserve to be bothered. For the last four years, he has obsessed on 9/11 and many of its deep-political tendrils, producing the equivalent of dozens of rich, original articles.

Lance's implied theory of 9/11 — that the 9/11 hijacking plot basically slipped past the greasy fingers of a corrupt and egotistical DOJ/FBI — no doubt irritates many in the movement for truth about 9/11 for whom the "inside job" theory is creed, yet he has unearthed some of the most important gems in the struggle to bring real truth and justice to 9/11. Most importantly, he has shown how the efforts of the Southern New York division of the Justice Department, since the early 90s, have been half-baked, ridiculously negligent, and at times blantently criminal. His work has been instrumental in fleshing out the continuum between the New York cell of the Blind Sheikh (proto-al Qaeda) in the early 1990s and the crimes of September 11, 2001, tracking the FBI all along in its failures and refusals to expose, arrest, and convict. In Triple Cross, a whole chapter is given to a New Jersey check cashing store which, had the FBI used common sense and monitored the place once they knew, early on, that it was a hub of al Qaeda activity, they probably would have snuffed out the 9/11 plot before Clinton had left office. Lance has also definatively fingered Dietrich Snell as the 9/11 Commission staff member who forged the Commission's official timeline into a deception by claiming that the 9/11 plot was conceived in 1998 — two years after Snell's DOJ office had known of a planes-as-missiles plot from interrogations of Abdul Hakim Murad.

Ali Mohamed is a neglected rosetta stone for understanding al Qaeda, and with Triple Cross Lance has created the most expansive and detailed account of this "master spy" to date. He also shows how Mohamed's U.S. exploits were interwoven with key people and events covered in Lance's two previous books (1000 Years for Revenge and Cover Up), as Mohamed had trained the Blind Sheikh's followers in New York in the early 1990s during the time Mohamed was stationed at Fort Bragg. The re-telling of earlier narratives makes this book Lance's definative oeuvre on 9/11, but Triple Cross still reads like a new book, first because most of us would need a refresher on the sprawling material, but also because Lance has unearthed quite a few more fascinating nuggets. For example, he further solidifies the case that Ramzi Yousef, from his New York jail cell in 1996, orchestrated the timed bombing of TWA Flight 800. After the publication of his last book, Sibel Edmonds put him in touch with a "recently retired NSA staffer" who saw a translation of an NSA intercept originally spoken in Baluchi (Yousef's native tongue) which read, "Flight 800 . . . what had to be done has been done." This intercept had also been mysteriously, temporarily removed from the normal translation stream long enough to exclude it from the FBI's Flight 800 investigation.

Ali Mohamed was involved with most of the major al Qaeda attacks against U.S. interests: the assassination of Rabbi Meier Kahane in 1990, the 1993 WTC bombing, the African Embassy bombings in 1998 and, even though he was arrested in late 1998, Lance proposes that he also helped train some of the 9/11 hijackers in hijacking techniques. Astoundingly, Mohamed participated in these operations while also being a U.S. citizen, being enlisted in the U.S. military (serving at Fort Bragg on two occasions), and being an FBI informant in California. Importantly (and much more on this below), he also had ties to the CIA. Lance shows Mohamed moving snake-like between U.S. agencies and military postings, often flaunting his activities with al Qaeda at a time when the FBI certainly knew what this meant. Importantly, in the early 90s, Mohamed was debriefed about Bin Laden and al Qaeda by FBI and NSA counter-terrorism officers, but all records of this interview — which would prove that the government was aware of Bin Laden's anti-U.S. intentions years earlier than it has claimed — have been "lost"...

Continued...
http://911truth.org/article.php?story=20070106133625637

[John Q. Citizen]

1. An important book to understand the degree of government complicity

in the assumed success of the accused hijackers.

Lance is as Oops as it gets as he weaves a tale of extensive government infiltration into brooklyn and New Jersey terrorist cells and government inaction on what they learned, one glaring example is that the FBI knew the Blind Sheik's group was planning to truck bomb the towers and for some unknown reason, failed to stop it.

A lot of Oops are exposed, as the author shows the links behind terror committed and the FBI's intel assets.
I found his 32 page timeline at his site to be very informative and free.

Truly a valuable resource for understanding the complex relationship of our government with the terrorists from the late eighties to the present.

I find it interesting that while the author is decidedly non-L/MIHOP that so few to none of the no-inside-job at-the-buildingers bother to add insights as to the authors credibility, methods, or reports. It as if these were perceived as unimportant issues that Lance is exploring. I don't get it.

[Bolo Boffin]

2. The FBI - aren't they the ones that refuse to list Osama's part in 9/11 on the Wanted poster?

Now, how does that fit into this?

[John Q. Citizen]

3. It doesn't. If you read it you'd see. The FBI doesn't want to expose their close workings

with the accused hijackers and their friends.

In fact no one does. Perhaps that's why nobody has bothered to indict anybody.

[Bolo Boffin]

4. Except Moussaoui.

Whom they indicted, based on his actions paralleling that of the 9/11 hijackers - whom the FBI was actually sheltering.

Tell me, why should anybody spend their time indicting dead people? Or people they've already gotten full authority to arrest on a similar crime?

[John Q. Citizen]

5. Perfect example. Moussaoui was protected from having his computer searched

even though an agent requested it 75 times.

Somebody didn't want that computer searched before 9/11.

Then, after 9/11, they pounce.

It didn't take them too long to indict Osama for the USS Cole and for Africa.

Maybe their are to many of their own assets in the 9/11 loop to get real excited about bringing actual indictments. You would need a federal or state prosecutor after all to bring indictments.

And the evidence in 9/11 looks like our government was aiding and abetting the soon to be accused hijackers in a lot of ways. Keeping agents from getting search warrants, pulling agents off cases, rigging licenses, not enforcing basic FAA rules on schools where the accused hijackers trained, etc.

Lance documents a heck of a lot of history of US gov. involvement in the thick of terrorism and what Lance sees as the conning of the intel and leo by triple agents of the jihad. The time line on his site is excellent and worth the read.

Have you checked it out?

[KJF]

6. Good review

I look forward to reading the book. I agree with the reviewer that it looks like the CIA's involvement with the plot is going to be significant. Lots of explosive information about 9/11 has come out, but there is still lots more to go.

[robertpaulsen]

7. Question for anyone who has read Lance.

What is his position regarding Omar Saeed Sheikh? Does he believe that he is a CIA asset?

[noise]

8. I've read two of his books

1000 Years for Revenge and Triple Agent. I don't remember anything about Sheikh. At best there might have been a brief reference in relation to Daniel Pearl or a brief summary of the wire transer account.

Lance's work on TWA Flight 800 is very interesting. Claims there was an NSA intercept that suggested the intent was a terrorist attack to get a Yousef mistrial. There was a very odd meeting in D.C. with Freeh, Gorelick and Kallstrom after which Kallstrom seemed to change his mind about the possibility of a terrorist attack. One more thing about TWA was that Lance debunked the "chemicals were in the plane from a dog sniffing drug test" rationale. He interviewed the tester and found that the timeline didn't work out with that specific plane, meaning TWA 800 was not the same plane that was tested.

Lance really exposes Gorelick...writing the wall memo that made little sense considering intelligence was linked to criminal prosecutions...same group of people involved. He also suggests she made the decision to let Khalifa go free. I watched the Amanpour special on Bin Laden (CNN) about six months ago and I remember that Khalifa was interviewed but claimed he and Bin Laden parted ways at some point. Bizarre. I would guess the reason Ashcroft went after Gorelick (besides attempting to scapegoat Clinton officials) was to get the Democratic base to rally to her defense. Rice vs. Clarke was of course the same deal...accuse each other and rally the respective party bases. Pattern? Yep. They did it again with the Path to 9/11.

Lance's account of Scarpa Jr. is a little strange. If the Feds were afraid to make Scarpa Jr. appear credible because it would affect Delvecchio prosecutions...why didn't they put someone else in the cell between Yousef and Murad?

Lance like other authors covers the absurd failures to track al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi. A few more details about the Malaysian summit in 01/00.

The question that Lance doesn't address is who these terrorists were really working for. No Scott, Ahmed or Tarpley speculation here.

[KJF]

9. I read Coverup

I don't remember anything about it from there. I'm on page 75 of Triple Cross, so far no mention.

I think Lance focuses on other stuff, rather than the money trail, and I doubt Saeed Sheikh was a CIA agent.