911 Hijackers got visas with help from the CIA

[Tim Howells]

How did the hijackers get their visas to enter the U.S.?

The National Review has published a careful study of this question
that concludes that the awarding of visas to these applicants is
"inexplicable." This is the strong consensus opinion of several
government officials with extensive hands-on experience with the
process of issuing visas in this part ofthe world:

All six experts strongly agreed that even allowing for human error, no
more than a handful of the visa applications should have managed to
slip through the cracks. Making the visa lapses even more
inexplicable, the State Department claims that at least 11 of the 15
were interviewed by consular officers. Nikolai Wenzel, one of the
former consular officers who analyzed the forms, declares that State's
issuance of the visas "amounts to criminal negligence."

{"Visas that Should Have Been Denied--A look at 9/11 terrorists’ visa
applications," Joel Mowbray, National Review Online, October 9, 2002
http://www.nationalreview.com/mowbray/mowbray100902.asp }

The great majority of the hijackers' visas, 15 of them, were issued at
the U.S. consular office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Michael Springman,
formerly the head U.S. consular officer in Jeddah has shed light on
how and why these visas were issued. According to Springman:

"In Saudi Arabia I was repeatedly ordered by high level State
Department officials to issue visas to unqualified applicants. These
were, essentially, people who had no ties either to Saudi Arabia or to
their own country. I complained bitterly at the time there. I returned
to the US, I complained to the State Dept here, to the General
Accounting Office, to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and to the
Inspector General's office. I was met with silence ...

"What I was protesting was, in reality, an effort to bring recruits,
rounded up by Osama Bin Laden, to the US for terrorist training by the
CIA. They would then be returned to Afghanistan to fight against the
then-Soviets."

{"Has someone been sitting on the FBI?," Greg Palast, BBC Newsnight,
November 6, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/newsnight/1645527.stm }

[KJF]

1. The 9/11 Commission says

According to the 9/11 Commission Khalid Almihdhar entered the US in July 2001 on a passport that lacked an expiry date and was issued a month earlier in Saudi Arabia (Terrorist Travel, p. 27). That means that:

(1) He was able to enter Saudi Arabia, even though he was a known terrorist who had attempted to smuggle anti-tank missiles into the country to attack police stations, and his phone was being tapped by the NSA;
(2) He was issued a new passport by the Saudis, although they make a point of not issuing passports to known terrorists;
(3) He obtained a US visa using a passport that lacked an expiry date;
(4) He exited Saudi Arabia with a passport that lacked an expiry date;
(5) He entered the US with a passport that lacked an expiry date.

Wow, lucky guy!

And let's not forget eleven of the hijackers' Saudi visas were issued by the same guy (Terrorist Travel, p. 33) or what Joe Trento found when he investgated it - that the CIA was facilitating their travel.

[Tim Howells]

2. Thanks for the additional info ...

... And who was the guy who issued Saudi visas to eleven of the hijackers?
Tim

[John Q. Citizen]

3. Yes, more pattrerns of official US aid to the accused 9/11 terrrorists. n/t

[Tim Howells]

4. Right ...

The hijackers' entry into the US was facilitated by our
national security establishment, which has profitted so
greatly from the attacks.

[wildbilln864]

5. It's no longer our national security establishment in my opinion!

It now belongs to the corporations!

[Tim Howells]

6. Right - How to take it back is the big question

But the first big step is to acknowledge the problem.

[wildbilln864]

7. agreed...

and to inform the public who seem to be too distracted by american idol or the bold and the beautiful.
Good work there Tim. Keep it up
:hi:.

[wildbilln864]

10. so here...

is a kick! :hi:

[treestar]

8. They just gave them to Saudis mindlessly

They have a stereotype that most of them are rich and not coming to the US to work.

The only real reform needed to the immigration system related to 911 was stricter controls in that particular consulate. Yet now we screen everyone as though they are likely to come and pull off another 911, no matter who they are or where they are from. Got to admire our incredible equality of view. All foreigners are considered a terrible danger.

The Saudis are friends of * and will have it easy to come over here. 911 notwithstanding. Meanwhile they make ridiculous requirements of students from anywhere, like Luxembourg or Kenya or Bolivia or wherever. All to "protect us" from 911.

They have gone out of their way to deport Egyptians, though. That'll take care of Mohammed Atta. :sarcasm:

[Tim Howells]

12. I don't agree that this was "mindless" ...

... The Saudi angle, as Michael Springman makes clear had to
do with training "Islamic terrorists" for use by the CIA in
Afghanistan (see OP), and later various other conflicts
around the world. (see link).

Tim Howells

[JackRiddler]

9. kick

[wildbilln864]

11. kicked again!

:hi:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

13. hijackers?

assuming there were hijackers?

[Tim Howells]

14. Right ... Should be "alleged hijackers", Thanks (NT)

[wildbilln864]

15. kick!

.

[Tim Howells]

16. And another!

[wildbilln864]

17. I'd like to see ...

these facts stay at the top of the page so here's another! :hi: