IMMORAL TENET & HIS BLIND-EYE SURVEILLANCE (July 25, 2002 version)
A T.I.P. (Text In Progress) by
ADRIAN MORE
Hey CIA director Tenet!
Is it true that two of the September 11 hijackers, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, were under surveillance in January 2000 on a trip of theirs to Malaysia? Source: Los Angeles Times, Feb2, 2002, "Indonesian Cleric Had Role In Skyjackings, Officials Say", by Mark Fineman and Bob Drogin; Eric Bailey contributed; online at :
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-020202malay.story Here’s what I read - and what blew me away.
"Local officials said U.S. authorities had asked Malaysian intelligence to watch for a group of SUSPECTED ARAB TERRORISTS [my caps] who might be entering the country in 2000. The CIA asked the authorities to only record and watch their movements, NOT TO ARREST THEM [my caps]."
Now, wait a minute. WHY DID THE CIA TELL THE MALAYSIANS "NOT TO ARREST THEM"? WERE OR WEREN’T THEY "SUSPECTED ARAB TERRORISTS"?
My above quoted source continues, somewhat oddly, stating that "those suspects [that is, the group of suspected Arab terrorists], AS WELL AS ALMIHDHAR AND ALHAZMI, arrived in Kuala Lumpur on JAN.5, 2000 [my caps], and Malaysian agents tracked them to…a…condominium complex called Evergreen Park."
Now, the oddity is in the words "those suspects, AS WELL AS Almihdhar and Alhazmi": does this mean that Almihdhar/Alhazmi were not part of the suspects? Why did the reporters write "AS WELL AS" instead of "including"? Anyway, "those suspects" AND Almihdhar/Alhazmi, whether the latter two were already suspects or not, ALL went to Evergreen Park, the article appears to say, and were ALL tracked by Malaysian agents. That is, Almihdhar/Alhazmi should have become "suspects" too from this point on, whether they were already suspects from earlier or not: because they joined the "group of suspected Arab terrorists".
Let’s read on:
"Malaysian officials said they immediately gave SURVEILLANCE PHOTOS of the group to U.S. intelligence."
Additional source nr 1: "MALAYSIAN OFFICIALS TURN OVER A FULL REPORT TO THE CIA, INCLUDING PHOTOS AND FULL NAMES OF THE TWO HIJACKERS [my caps]."
Summing up so far:
1. CIA director Tenet may have known Almihdhar + Alhazmi were suspected Arab terrorists as early as 1999, because "U.S. authorities…asked Malaysian intelligence to watch for…suspected Arab terrorists who might be entering the country in 2000."
2. God knows why, "the CIA asked the [Malaysian] authorities…NOT TO ARREST THEM".
3. CIA director Tenet IMMEDIATELY GOT "SURVEILLANCE PHOTOS" of the group.
4. Therefore, at least AS EARLY AS JANUARY 2000, CIA director Tenet knew that Almihdhar/Alhazmi were suspected Arab terrorists, probably had their photos - and let them go - to the U.S.!
Where CIA director Tenet allegedly lost track of them - until Sept.11, 2001.
Now, wait another minute. Since Almihdhar/Alhazmi had been linked to a group of suspected Arab terrorists in Kuala Lumpur, and even assuming for a moment that the reason why CIA director Tenet didn’t want them arrested there and then was to learn more about them; THEN WHY FOR GOD’S SAKE WAS THEIR SURVEILLANCE APPARENTLY DROPPED WHEN THEY LEFT MALAYSIA - AND FLEW TO THE U.S.?
AND IF THE CIA SURVEILLANCE OF ALMIHDHAR/ALHAZMI WAS NOT DROPPED BUT CONTINUED IN THE U.S., WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONLY LOGICAL THING TO DO, THEN WHY WEREN’T THEY STOPPED BEFORE SEPT.11? TESTIFY UNDER OATH, TENET!
BEFORE AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION THAT IS, IN AN OPEN HEARING AND LIVE ON PRIME TIME CNN!
Source nr 4: "Inexplicably, according to Newsweek, the agency [i.e. the CIA] neither followed up on the men nor alerted the FBI and other federal agencies [INS, Customs, FAA] to their arrival in the United States. People associated with Bin Laden who were deemed interesting in Malaysia suddenly became of no interest when they entered the United States."
"The CIA had another chance in October 2000, when a suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole was identified in the photos taken in Kuala Lumpur – standing next to one of the terrorists who had gone to Los Angeles. Now there was an obvious link between the two men and terrorism, and yet the CIA said nothing."
In theory there is a third possibility: that the surveillance of Almihdhar/Alhazmi failed for other reasons.
If so, exactly WHY and exactly WHEN did the surveillance program collapse?
It’s implausible that the two Qaedas would have eluded surveillance after Kuala Lumpur, because to elude something you first have to become aware of it. And if Almihdhar/Alhazmi had become aware of being under surveillance, the last thing in the world they would have done was fly right into the country where the surveillance was most likely to be coming from.
And: once in the U.S., the two didn’t hide or go underground - they underwent flight training, and "lived openly in the U.S., using their real names, obtaining drivers’ licenses, opening bank accounts" (additional source nr 1).
But let’s read on, for now comes the (weak) alibi for Tenet:
"CIA officials have said they determined only last summer [2001] that the [Kuala Lumpur] meeting was important, when they identified one person in the photos as a possible suspect in the bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole…As a result, they warned the FBI and U.S. immigration officials to watch for Almihdhar and Alhazmi, but it was then determined that they already had entered the United States."
Now - I don’t get it, Tenet. Here were two guys who had been linked to "suspected Arab terrorists" since January 2000. So even assuming you want to continue their surveillance to learn more, YOU CONTINUE SHADOWING THEM. AND YOU TELL FBI + IMMIGRATION TO WATCH FOR THEM RIGHT AWAY - IN JANUARY 2000, NOT SUMMER 2001!
WHETHER THE KUALA LUMPUR MEETING WAS ABOUT TERRORISM OR GOLF IS BESIDE THE POINT, THE POINT BEING: ALMIHDHAR AND ALHAZMI WERE SUSPECTED ARAB TERRORISTS, SO WHY ON EARTH DID THE CIA DROP THE SURVEILLANCE AND NOT INFORM FBI + IMMIGRATION IMMEDIATELY, TENET?!
In the best-case scenario, you are an idiot so why hasn’t Bush fired you yet.
In the worst (and more likely) scenario, the surveillance of Almihdhar/Alhazmi was NOT dropped at all, and you are a traitor who, under orders from the White House to allow September 11 to happen, turned a blind eye to whatever Almihdhar/Alhazmi did between January 2000 and September 11, 2001, although you were closely monitoring them all along.
In either case, you ought to be fired and placed under investigation on suspicion of co-conspiring in at least one of the Sept.11 terror attacks.
Additional source: "CIA officials… point out that FBI agents assigned to the CIA Counterterrorism Center were at least informed about the Malaysian meeting… But FBI officials protest that they only recently [that is, well after 911, my note] learned about the most crucial piece of information: that the CIA knew Alhazmi was in the country, and that Almihdahr could enter at will."
The additional source also says that the CIA (Tenet) issued to the FBI (directed by Pickard from Aug 23 through Sept. 3; by Mueller from Sept. 4 onwards) an all-points bulletin to hunt down Almihdhar/Alhazmi on Aug.23, 2001.
Very late, but not TOO late.
Not too late for the treasonous FBI directors Pickard & Mueller to pass the 2 terrorists’ names to all airlines + FAA.
THEREFORE IT IS INCREDIBLE THAT ALMIHDHAR/ALHAZMI WERE ALLOWED (allegedly) TO BOARD AA77 ON SEPT.11!
PICKARD/MUELLER: WHY ON EARTH DIDN’T YOU PASS THOSE 2 NAMES TO ALL AIRLINES/AIRPORTS/FAA?
That you did not, is confirmed by my source nr 2: "airline security officials did not know on Sept.11 that two of the hijackers were on an FBI watch list of potential terrorists."
AND IF ANYONE THINKS THAT ANY FUCKING CONGRESSMAN IS EVER GOING TO ASK PICKARD/MUELLER THIS ALL-IMPORTANT QUESTION – I HAVE 2 TWIN TOWERS TO SELL YOU!
Almihdhar and Alhazmi allegedly went on to ram themselves into the Pentagon, reportedly killing 189 people who would be alive without your blind-eye surveillance. Immoral Tenet, you’ll get yours yet.
ADRIAN MORE
July 25, 2002 edition; I wrote the first version on February 6, 2002.
Sources:
1. Los Angeles Times, Feb.2, 2002: ‘Indonesian Cleric Had Role In Skyjackings, Officials Say’, by Mark Fineman and Bob Drogin; Eric Bailey contributed;
2. Associated Press, March 3, 2002, 11:55 ET: ‘Some Sept.11 Hijackers Were Spotted’, by Jonathan D. Salant;
3. Newsweek, June 10, 2002, pp. 18 ff: ‘The Hijackers We Let Escape’, by Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman, online at:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/760647.asp?cp1=1 4. Startribune.com, June 5, 2002: ‘Editorial: CIA failures/It, too, dropped the ball on terrorists’ (anonymous).
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