"The 9/11 gang that got away"

[k-robjoe]

"Secret documents reveal that (...) three Qatari men conducted surveillance on the targets, provided “support” to the plotters and had tickets for a flight to Washington on the eve of the atrocities.

(...)

The suspected terrorists flew from London to New York on a British Airways flight three weeks before the attacks.

They allegedly carried out surveillance at the World Trade Centre, the White House and in Virginia, the US state where the Pentagon and CIA headquarters are located.

Ten days later they flew to Los Angeles, where they stationed themselves in a hotel near the airport which the FBI has now established was paid for by a “convicted terrorist”, who also paid for their airline tickets.

Hotel staff have told investigators they saw pilot uniforms in their room along with computer print outs detailing pilot names, flight numbers and times and packages addressed to Syria, Afghanistan, Jerusalem and Jordan.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8296860/WikiLeaks-FBI-hunts-the-911-gang-that-got-away.html

It is kind of interesting how they just left all that stuff in their hotelroom, for the staff to see.

You get the feeling that they really felt that they had nothing to fear. ( Now how come that feeling seems like a "deja vu"...? )

[greyl]

1. There's nothing a damn bit suspicious about pilot uniforms, packages, and computer print outs

before 9/11/2001.

[OnTheOtherHand]

2. I wouldn't go that far

I think you're right that all this seems more suspicious in retrospect, but it could have seemed suspicious even at the time.

In fact, consider this from the Guardian article:

...They paid for the room with cash and during the last few days of their stay requested that their room should not be cleaned.

The cable states: “Hotel cleaning staff grew suspicious of the men because they noticed pilot type uniforms, several laptops and several cardboard boxes addressed to Syria, Jerusalem, Afghanistan and Jordan in the room on previous cleaning visits...."

That indicates both that the men didn't especially want staff to see what was in the room (contrary to the OP) and that cleaning staff did find all those artifacts suspicious. Of course, we have no way of knowing exactly what the cleaning staff thought before 9/11. (I think it would be hard for them to reconstruct after the fact.) If forced to guess, I would speculate that they thought it was damn strange, but didn't perceive any urgent need to contact authorities, and didn't imagine anything remotely like what happened.

[greyl]

5. In hindsight, me neither!

That's what I get for trying to sneak in a post during "working" hours while my partner has her back turned. ;)

[k-robjoe]

4. The hijackers knew they were being watched?

Were the hijackers convinced that they were being watched?

That is what Moussaoui said :

"Moussaoui, who is acting as his own attorney, has maintained the government knows he had nothing to do with the attacks because federal officials had him under surveillance since his residence in London was raided by British authorities several years ago. He also claims the government watched the 19 hijackers before Sept. 11 and facilitated their movements in and out of the country."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/25/terror/main513281.shtml

Now you can say that he is simply lying, making it up. But then when you read about what the israelis had going at that time, with their "art students", it makes you wonder, maybe the hijackers really were convinced that they were being watched, and rightly so. Only they thought that the guys watching them were FBI.

"( Fox News, etc. etc. ) have written about an Israeli “art student” spy ring operating in the US for several years before 9/11. The name “art student” is used because most of these scores of spies were posing as college art students. There have been suggestions that some of these Israeli spies lived close to some of the 9/11 hijackers. For instance, a US Drug Enforcement Administration report from before 9/11 noted that Israeli spies were living in the retirement community of Hollywood, Florida at 4220 Sheridan Street, which turned out to be only a few hundred feet from lead hijacker Mohamed Atta’s residence at 3389 Sheridan Street (see the DEA report, 6/01). Israeli spies appear to have been close to at least ten of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers.

In fact, Forward, the most widely circulated publication in the US targeting the Jewish audience, has admitted the spy ring existed, and that its purpose was to track Muslim terrorists operating in the US."

http://www.historycommons.org/essay.jsp?article=essaytheytriedtowarnus

I find it very plausible that the "art-students" weren´t all that discreet when they were shadowing these arabs, and so the hijackers realized that they were being watched. And it would be very natural for them to believe that it was the FBI that were keeping an eye on them.

That is when you start wondering if it´s a good idea to leave the pilot uniforms and all that stuff for the hotel staff to see. If you know that the FBI is keeping an eye on you, and knows all about your flight-school training etc.

[SDuderstadt]

6. The "art students" story is more...

"truther" bullshit:

http://www.911myths.com/html/israeli_art_student_spies.html

[k-robjoe]

7. "Truther" bullshit?

The info about a spyring came from the mainstream media.

On the link in my post ( #4 on the thread ), you can read :

"(for instance, Fox News, 12/12/01, Forward, 3/15/02, ABC News, 6/21/02, Salon, 5/7/02, Ha’aretz, 5/14/02, Le Monde, 3/5/02, Reuters, 3/5/02, AP, 3/5/02, AP, 3/9/02, Cox News, 3/5/02, Guardian, 3/6/02, Independent, 3/6/02, New York Post, 3/6/02, Jane’s Intelligence Digest, 3/15/02) have written about an Israeli “art student” spy ring operating in the US for several years before 9/11."

And it is also mainstream media that wrote about the warning that was given :

"In October 2002, the story broke in Europe and Israel that on August 23, 2001, the Mossad had given the CIA a list of 19 terrorists living in the US. The Mossad had said that the terrorists appeared to be planning to carry out an attack in the near future. It is unknown if these are the same 19 names as the actual hijackers, or if the number is a coincidence. However, the four names on the list that are known are names of the 9/11 hijackers: Nawaf Alhazmi, Khalid Almihdhar, Marwan Alshehhi, and Mohamed Atta. ( Die Zeit, 10/1/02, Der Spiegel, 10/1/02, BBC, 10/2/02, Ha’aretz, 10/3/02 )"

http://www.altacocker.com/other_items/warnings.jsp.htm

[SDuderstadt]

8. I stand by what I wrote and...

cited, dude.

[zappaman]

3. "You get the feeling that they really felt that they had nothing to fear."

I don't get that feeling at all.
Must be you.

[noise]

9. Poor tradecraft

Speeding tickets.

Improper visa applications.

Used their real names.

Nawaf al-Hazmi filed a police report when he was mugged.

Al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar stayed with an FBI informant.

Al-Khatani (thought to be a possible hijacker) was refused entry at Orlando Airport because his story was so full of holes.