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Context of 'September 6-10 September, 2001: Large Number of Shares of WTC Security Company Bought'
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July 9, 2003: CIA Expert on Iraq Discredits Theory of Connection between Iraq and Al-Qaeda
Judith Yaphe testifies before the 9/11 Commission. Yaphe, a CIA veteran who now teaches at the Pentagon's National Defense University, is considered one of the agency's most experienced and knowledgeable Iraq analysts. Yaphe states that while Saddam Hussein was indeed a sponsor of terrorism, it is improbable, based on what is currently known, that Hussein and Iraq had any connections to the 9/11 attacks, nor that a connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda is believable. [National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, 7/9/2003] Yaphe is disturbed by the commission's apparent acceptance of the testimony of Laurie Mylroie (see July 9, 2003), whose theories about connections between Iraq and al-Qaeda have long been discredited by both intelligence analysts and outside experts. She wonders why Mylroie's "crazed theories" were being heard at all, and why the commission would risk its credibility by giving Mylroie this kind of exposure. She even speculates that Mylroie's testimony is some sort of setup by the commission or the staff, and hopes that her own testimony can offset Mylroie's theories and help discredit Mylroie before the commission. [Shenon, 2008, pp. 130-134] Yaphe tells the commission, in apparent reference to Mylroie, that the use of circumstantial evidence is "troubling" and that there is a "lack of credible evidence to jump to extraordinary conclusions on Iraqi support for al-Qaeda." She also calls Mylroie's theories of Iraqi spies using false identities to help execute the 1993 World Trade Center bombings (see February 26, 1993) worthy of a fiction novel and completely unsupported by fact. [National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, 7/9/2003]
Entity Tags: Saddam Hussein, Al-Qaeda, 9/11 Commission, Central Intelligence Agency, Judith Yaphe, Laurie Mylroie, National Defense University
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, Events Leading to Iraq Invasion, 9/11 Timeline
3:09 p.m. July 11, 2003: CIA Officially Retracts Uranium-from-Africa Claim
Referring to President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address (see Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003), CIA Director George Tenet says in a written statement: "I am responsible for the approval process in my agency.… These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the president." Tenet denies that the White House is responsible for the mistake, putting the blame squarely on himself and his agency. His statement comes hours after Bush blamed the CIA for the words making it into the speech (see July 11, 2003). [CNN, 7/11/2003; Central Intelligence Agency, 7/11/2003; New York Times, 7/12/2003]
CIA Chose to Send Wilson to Niger - Tenet also confirms that it was the CIA's choice to send former ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002), apparently in an effort to rebut claims that Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the mission. Tenet states: "There was fragmentary intelligence gathered in late 2001 and early 2002 on the allegations of Saddam's efforts to obtain additional raw uranium from Africa, beyond the 550 metric tons already in Iraq. In an effort to inquire about certain reports involving Niger, CIA's counterproliferation experts, on their own initiative, asked an individual with ties to the region [Wilson] to make a visit to see what he could learn." Tenet says that Wilson found no evidence to believe that Iraq had attempted to purchase Nigerien uranium, though this did not settle the issue for either the CIA or the White House. [Central Intelligence Agency, 7/11/2003]
Coordinated with White House - Tenet's admission was coordinated by White House advisers for what reporter Murray Waas will call "maximum effect." Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, White House political strategist Karl Rove, and Cheney's chief of staff Lewis Libby had reviewed drafts of Tenet's statement days in advance; Hadley and Rove had suggested changes in the draft. [National Journal, 3/30/2006] Cheney rejected an earlier draft, marking it "unacceptable" (see July 11, 2003).
White House Joins in Blaming CIA - National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice also blames the CIA. Peppered with questions from reporters about the claim, she continues the White House attempt to pin the blame for the faulty intelligence on the CIA: "We have a higher standard for what we put in presidential speeches" than other governments or other agencies. "We don't make the president his own fact witness. That's why we send them out for clearance." Had the CIA expressed doubts about the Niger claim before the State of the Union? she is asked (see January 26 or 27, 2003, March 8, 2003, March 23, 2003, April 5, 2003, Early June 2003, June 9, 2003, and June 17, 2003). "The CIA cleared the speech in its entirety," she replies. "If the CIA, the director of central intelligence, had said, 'Take this out of the speech,' (see January 27, 2003) it would have been gone without question. If there were doubts about the underlying intelligence, those doubts were not communicated to the president, to the vice president or to me.… What we've said subsequently is, knowing what we know now, that some of the Niger documents were apparently forged, we wouldn't have put this in the president's speech—but that's knowing what we know now." Another senior White House official, defending the president and his advisers, tells ABC News: "We were very careful with what the president said. We vetted the information at the highest levels." But another intelligence official, also interviewed by ABC, contradicts this statement. [CNN, 7/11/2003; White House, 7/11/2003; Washington Post, 7/12/2003; New York Times, 7/12/2003; Rich, 2006, pp. 99; McClellan, 2008, pp. 171-172] Tenet's mea culpa is apparently enough for Bush; press secretary Ari Fleischer says, "The president has moved on." [White House, 7/11/2003; Rich, 2006, pp. 99] White House press secretary Scott McClellan will later claim that at this point Rice is unaware that her National Security Council is far more responsible for the inclusion than the CIA. He will write that the news media reports "not unfairly" that Rice is blaming the CIA for the inclusion. [McClellan, 2008, pp. 171-172]
News Reports Reveal Warnings Not to Use Claim - Following Tenet's statement, a barrage of news reports citing unnamed CIA officials reveal that the White House had in fact been explicitly warned not to include the Africa-uranium claim. These reports indicate that at the time Bush delivered his State of the Union address, it had been widely understood in US intelligence circles that the claim had little evidence supporting it. [Boston Globe, 3/16/2003; New York Times, 3/23/2003; Associated Press, 6/12/2003; Knight Ridder, 6/12/2003; Associated Press, 6/12/2003; Knight Ridder, 6/13/2003; ABC News, 6/16/2003; Newsday, 7/12/2003; Washington Post, 7/20/2003] For example, CBS News reports, "CIA officials warned members of the president's National Security Council staff the intelligence was not good enough to make the flat statement Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa." And a Washington Post article cites an unnamed intelligence source who says, "We consulted about the paper [September 2002 British dossier] and recommended against using that material." [CBS News, 7/10/2003; CNN, 7/10/2003; Washington Post, 7/11/2003]
Claim 'Technically True' since British, Not US, Actually Made It - White House officials respond that the dossier issued by the British government contained the unequivocal assertion, "Iraq has… sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" and that the officials had argued that as long as the statement was attributed to the British intelligence, it would be technically true. Similarly, ABC News reports: "A CIA official has an idea about how the Niger information got into the president's speech. He said he is not sure the sentence was ever cleared by the agency, but said he heard speechwriters wanted it included, so they attributed it to the British." The same version of events is told to the New York Times by a senior administration official, who claims, "The decision to mention uranium came from White House speechwriters, not from senior White House officials." [ABC News, 6/12/2003; CBS News, 7/10/2003; New York Times, 7/14/2003; New York Times, 7/19/2003]
Decision Influenced by Office of Special Plans - But according to a CIA intelligence official and four members of the Senate Intelligence Committee who are investigating the issue, the decision to include the Africa-uranium claim was influenced by the people associated with the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans (see September 2002). [Information Clearing House, 7/16/2003]
Reactions - Rice says that the White House will not declassify the October 2002 NIE on Iraq (see October 1, 2002) to allow the public to judge for itself whether the administration exaggerated the Iraq-Niger claim; McClellan will write that Rice is currently "unaware of the fact that President Bush had already agreed to 'selective declassification' of parts of the NIE so that Vice President Cheney, or his top aide Scooter Libby, could use them to make the administration's case with selected reporters" (see 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003). [McClellan, 2008, pp. 171-172] Two days later, Rice will join Bush in placing the blame for using the Iraq-Niger claim solely on the CIA (see July 13, 2003). McClellan will later write, "The squabbling would leave the self-protective CIA lying in wait to exact revenge against the White House." [McClellan, 2008, pp. 172]
Former Ambassador Considers Matter Settled - Former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who recently wrote an op-ed for the New York Times revealing his failure to find any validity in the claims during his fact-finding trip to Niger (see July 6, 2003 and February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002), is pleased at Tenet's admission. According to his wife, CIA analyst Valerie Plame Wilson, "Joe felt his work was done; he had made his point." [Wilson, 2007, pp. 140]
Entity Tags: George W. Bush, George J. Tenet, Central Intelligence Agency, Joseph C. Wilson, Condoleezza Rice, Ari Fleischer, Bush administration (43), Karl C. Rove, Lewis ("Scooter") Libby, Murray Waas, Valerie Plame Wilson, ABC News, Stephen J. Hadley, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Scott McClellan, CBS News, Office of Special Plans
Timeline Tags: Events Leading to Iraq Invasion, Niger Uranium and Plame Outing
July 16, 2003: Intelligence Professionals: Bush Must Ask Cheney to Resign
An organization called Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) writes an open letter to President Bush entitled "Intelligence Unglued," where they warn that unless Bush takes immediate action, the US intelligence community "will fall apart—with grave consequences for the nation." They say that it is clear his National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and not CIA Director George Tenet, was responsible for the now-infamous "sixteen words" in his January State of the Union address (see Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003). "But the disingenuousness persists," they write. "Surely Dr. Rice cannot persist in her insistence that she learned only on June 8, 2003, about former ambassador Joseph Wilson's mission to Niger in February 2002, when he determined that the Iraq-Niger report was a con-job" (see July 6, 2003). "Rice's denials are reminiscent of her claim in spring 2002 that there was no reporting suggesting that terrorists were planning to hijack planes and slam them into buildings (see May 16, 2002). In September, the joint Congressional committee on 9/11 came up with a dozen such reports" (see December 24, 1994 and January 6, 1995). It is not only Rice's credibility that has suffered, they write, but Secretary of State Colin Powell's as well, "as continued non-discoveries of weapons in Iraq heap doubt on his confident assertions to the UN" (see February 5, 2003). Ultimately, they write, it is Bush's credibility at stake much more than that of his advisers and cabinet members. They lay the blame for the "disingenuousness" from the various members of the administration at the feet of Vice President Dick Cheney: it was Cheney's office who sent Wilson to Niger (see (February 13, 2002)), it was Cheney who told the Veterans of Foreign Wars that Saddam Hussein was about to produce a nuclear weapon (see August 26, 2002), all with intelligence he and his staff knew to be either unreliable or outright forgeries—a "deep insult to the integrity of the intelligence process," they write—it was Cheney and his staff who pressured CIA analysts to produce "cherry-picked" intelligence supporting their desire for war, it was Cheney and his staff who "cooked" the prewar National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq (see October 1, 2002). Bad enough that false intelligence was used to help craft Bush's State of the Union address, they write, but that "pales in significance in comparison with how it was used to deceive Congress into voting on October 11 to authorize you to make war on Iraq" (see October 10, 2002). VIPS recommends three things for Bush to implement:
Bring an immediate end to White House attempts to exculpate Cheney from what they write is his obvious guilt and ask for his resignation: "His role has been so transparent that such attempts will only erode further your own credibility. Equally pernicious, from our perspective, is the likelihood that intelligence analysts will conclude that the way to success is to acquiesce in the cooking of their judgments, since those above them will not be held accountable. We strongly recommend that you ask for Cheney's immediate resignation."
Appoint General Brent Scowcroft, the chair of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, to head "an independent investigation into the use/abuse of intelligence on Iraq."
Bring UN inspectors back into Iraq. "This would go a long way toward refurbishing your credibility. Equally important, it would help sort out the lessons learned for the intelligence community and be an invaluable help to an investigation of the kind we have suggested you direct Gen. Scowcroft to lead." [Salon, 7/16/2003]
Entity Tags: George J. Tenet, George W. Bush, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, Brent Scowcroft, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice
Timeline Tags: Niger Uranium and Plame Outing
August 4, 2003: Wall Street Journal: Bush Never Used Phrase 'Imminent Threat'
A Wall Street Journal op-ed claims that President Bush never claimed the Iraqis posed an "imminent threat" with their putative WMD programs, and that former ambassador Joseph Wilson is unfairly "moving the goalposts" by saying that the threat posed by Iraq's WMD never passed what they call the "imminent threat test." As far back as September 2001, after the attacks on New York and Washington, the Bush administration began claiming that Iraq posed a serious threat to the US (see September 11, 2001-March 17, 2003, Shortly After September 11, 2001, September 14, 2001, August 2002, and September 6, 2002). Bush had apparently characterized Iraq as an "imminent threat" even before becoming president (see May 17, 2000). Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has used the term "imminent threat" (see September 18, 2002), as have other members of the administration, such as press secretary Ari Fleischer, communications chief Dan Bartlett, and Defense Policy Board chief Richard Perle. Vice President Dick Cheney had publicly threatened Iraq with military action as far back as December 2001 (see December 11, 2001). Bush had included Iraq as one of the now-infamous "Axis of Evil" in early 2002 (see January 29, 2002). And Bush, Cheney, and top White House officials had characterized Iraq and Saddam Hussein as a threat since March 2002 (see March 24, 2002, August 15, 2002, August 20, 2002, August 26, 2002, Fall and Winter 2002, September 7, 2002, September 8, 2002, September 8, 2002, September 12, 2002, September 13, 2002, September 18, 2002, September 19, 2002, September 24, 2002, September 26, 2002, October 1, 2002, October 1, 2002, October 3, 2002, October 7, 2002, October 7, 2002, January 10, 2003, and March 6, 2003). Wilson will later observe, "While the Journal may have been technically correct that the president had not uttered those exact words, he [and his top officials] walked right up to the phrase." He will note that Bush's "staff and administration allies, of course, had been less concerned about splitting hairs as they promoted the invasion." [Wilson, 2004, pp. 367-368]
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, Ari Fleischer, Dan Bartlett, Richard Perle, Wall Street Journal, Joseph C. Wilson, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, George W. Bush
Timeline Tags: Events Leading to Iraq Invasion
August 5, 2003: Conservative Pundit: Democrats are 'Racists' and 'Bigots' for Supporting 'Racist' Public Schools
Conservative pundit and author David Horowitz publishes an op-ed in his Front Page Magazine calling all Democrats "racists," and claiming that the Democratic Party is "the party of special interest bigots and racial dividers" for its alleged support of "racist school policies." Horowitz writes, "The Democratic Party has shown that it will go to the wall to preserve the racist laws which enforce these preferences, and to defend the racist school systems that destroy the lives of millions of children every year." At some point, Horowitz will delete the op-ed from the Front Page Magazine Web site, but it will be quoted in a December 2004 article by progressive media watchdog organization Media Matters. [Media Matters, 12/1/2004]
Entity Tags: Democratic Party, David Horowitz
August 12, 2003: Hambali and Aides Arrested in Thailand; Handed to US
Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep (a.k.a. Lillie). [Source: Defense Department]Hambali (a.k.a. Riduan Isamuddin) is arrested in Thailand in a joint US-Thai operation. He has been considered the operational leader of al-Qaeda in Southeast Asia. He was involved in the Bojinka plot in 1995, attended the January 2000 al-Qaeda summit in Malaysia (see January 5-8, 2000), and was said to be involved in the 2002 bombing of two nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia (see October 12, 2002), the 2003 bombing of a Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia (see August 5, 2003), and other similar acts. He is taken into US custody and is said to quickly and fully cooperate with his captors. [Chicago Tribune, 12/7/2003] According to the Washington Post, at some point he will be transferred to the US naval base at the British island colony of Diego Garcia, where the CIA is believed to have a secret interrogation center. [Washington Post, 12/17/2004; Washington Post, 1/2/2005, pp. A01] Two of Hambali's associates - Mohamad Farik Amin (a.k.a. Zubair), and Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep (a.k.a. Lillie) - are arrested with him. Both are Malaysians and are said to be al-Qaeda operatives. Supposedly they were members of a four person suicide squad working for Hambali and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to hijack an airplane (see October 2001-February 2002). [Time, 10/6/2003] The US will later classify both of them, and Hambali, as about a dozen of the top al-Qaeda operatives in US custody (see September 2-3, 2006).
Entity Tags: United States, Thailand, Hambali, Mohamad Farik Amin, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline
August 26, 2003: Anthrax Attacks Suspect Hatfill Files Lawsuit against Justice Department and FBI
Scientist Steven Hatfill files a lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft, the Justice Department, and FBI, saying his constitutional rights have been violated. Hatfill has been named by the FBI as a "person of interest" in the 2001 anthrax attacks (see October 5-November 21, 2001), but has not been charged or officially declared a suspect. His attorneys claim the FBI deliberately tipped off the media to searches of his house to hide the fact that the anthrax investigation was making little progress. They say 24-hour surveillance and wiretaps violated his privacy (see July 2002-Late 2003). [CNN, 8/26/2003] In 2008, Hatfill will settle out of court and receive nearly $6 million in compensation from the government (see June 27, 2008).
Entity Tags: Steven Hatfill, John Ashcroft, Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Justice
Timeline Tags: 2001 Anthrax Attacks
September 2003-February 2004: Majority of Participants in Deal to Buy Explosives for Madrid Bombings Are Informants
Carmen Toro. [Source: Spanish Interior Ministry]In September 2003, Emilio Suarez Trashorras, Rafa Zouhier, Antonio Toro, his wife Carmen Toro, Rachid Aglif, Jamal Ahmidan (alias "El Chino"), and Mohammed Oulad Akcha meet at a McDonald's restaurant in Madrid. The first five people are linked to a mine in the Asturias region of Spain and have no Islamist militant background. Ahmidan and Akcha are members of a group of Islamist militants and are meeting the others to buy explosives stolen from the mine. Ahmidan goes to Asturias at least five times from December 2003 to February 2004 to work out the explosives deal. He, Akcha, and others in their militant group will then use the explosives in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). Interestingly, at least four of the five—Trashorras, Zouhier, and both Toros—are government informants at the time. Supposedly, none of them tell their handlers about this explosives deal. [El Mundo (Madrid), 6/10/2004] However, Zouhier will later claim that he repeatedly told his handler about the deal. He will say: "I told them. I mentioned all the suspicions I had regarding the explosives. In 2003 I warned that 'these people want to sell 150 kilos'. I told them 1,000 times." [Agence France-Presse, 2/28/2007] His handler, known by the alias Victor, will initially dispute this, but in 2007 he will finally admit that Zouhier did tell him in March 2003 that Trashorras and Antonio Toro were dealing in stolen explosives and had 150 kilograms of explosives ready to sell. Zouhier even passed on that they asked him about using cell phones as detonating devices. Police then began monitoring Trashorras and Toro (see March 2003). Trashorras, Zouhier, and Aglif will eventually be sentenced to various prison terms, while the Toros will be acquitted. Trashorras will get life in prison (see October 31, 2007).
Entity Tags: Rachid Aglif, Rafa Zouhier, Jamal Ahmidan, Carmen Toro, Antonio Toro, Emilio Suarez Trashorras, Mohammed Oulad Akcha
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline
September 6, 2003: British Cabinet Minister Hints US Government Knew of 9/11 in Advance
Michael Meacher. [Source: Global Free Press]British government minister Michael Meacher publishes an essay entitled, "The War on Terrorism is Bogus." Meacher is a long time British Member of Parliament, and served as Environmental Minister for six years until three months before releasing this essay. The Guardian, which publishes the essay, states that Meacher claims "the war on terrorism is a smoke screen and that the US knew in advance about the September 11 attack on New York but, for strategic reasons, chose not to act on the warnings. He says the US goal is 'world hegemony, built around securing by force command over the oil supplies' and that this Pax Americana 'provides a much better explanation of what actually happened before, during and after 9/11 than the global war on terrorism thesis.' Mr. Meacher adds that the US has made 'no serious attempt' to catch the al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden." [Guardian, 9/6/2003] Meacher provides no personal anecdotes based on his years in Tony Blair's cabinet, but he cites numerous mainstream media accounts to support his thesis. He emphasizes the Project for the New American Century 2000 report (see September 2000) as a "blueprint" for a mythical "global war on terrorism," "propagated to pave the way for a wholly different agenda—the US goal of world hegemony, built around securing by force command over the oil supplies" in Afghanistan and Iraq. [Guardian, 9/6/2003] Meacher's stand causes a controversial debate in Britain, but the story is almost completely ignored by the mainstream US media.
Entity Tags: Michael Meacher, Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
September 7, 2003: Rice Is 'Absolutely' Convinced There Was Link Between Al-Qaeda and Iraqi Government
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says there is "absolutely" a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda "[W]e know that there was training of al-Qaeda in chemical and perhaps biological warfare. We know that [Abu Musab] al-Zarqawi was networked out of there, this poisons network that was trying to spread poisons throughout…. And there was an Ansar al-Islam, which appears also to try to be operating in Iraq. So yes, the al-Qaeda link was there." [Fox News Sunday, 9/7/2003; Global Views, 9/26/2003; US House Committee on Government Reform, 3/16/2004]
Entity Tags: Condoleezza Rice, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Ansar al-Islam
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, Events Leading to Iraq Invasion
September 9, 2003: Convicted Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirator's Trial Moved due to 'Prejudicial Publicity'
The Pittsburg County Courthouse, where Terry Nichols will be tried on 161 counts of first-degree murder. [Source: Associated Press]Oklahoma State District Judge Steven Taylor rules that convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, already serving life after being convicted of federal charges for his role in the bombing conspiracy (see June 4, 1998), will be tried in McAlester, Oklahoma, instead of in or near Oklahoma City. Nichols faces 160 (later amended to 161) state charges of first-degree murder, each of which could result in the death penalty (see May 13, 2003). Defense lawyers successfully argued that Nichols would suffer from "prejudicial publicity" among jurors from the Oklahoma City area, though they had argued that the trial should be moved out of state entirely. [New York Times, 9/4/2003; New York Times, 9/7/2003; New York Times, 9/9/2003]
Entity Tags: Steven W. Taylor, Terry Lynn Nichols
September 14, 2003-September 17, 2003: Cheney Links Iraq to 9/11; Bush, Rumsfeld, and Rice All Disavow Cheney's Claim
Vice President Cheney says on NBC's Meet the Press, "I think it's not surprising that people make [the] connection" between Iraq and 9/11. He adds, "If we're successful in Iraq… then we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of The Base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." [Meet the Press, 9/14/2003] However, two days later, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld states that he hasn't "seen any indication that would lead" him to believe there was an Iraq-9/11 link. [Associated Press, 9/16/2003] National Security Adviser Rice says the administration has never accused Hussein of directing the 9/11 attacks. [Reuters, 9/16/2003] The next day, Bush also disavows the Cheney statement, stating, "We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th… [but] there's no question that Saddam Hussein has al-Qaeda ties." [CBS News, 9/17/2003; Washington Post, 9/18/2003]
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice
(September 15, 2003): 9/11 Commission Staffer Apparently Agrees CIA Withheld Key Intelligence from FBI in Run Up to Attacks
In an interview, a key 9/11 Commission staffer, Doug MacEachin, reportedly agrees with an important witness, FBI agent Ali Soufan, that the CIA deliberately withheld from the bureau the knowledge that al-Qaeda leader Khallad bin Attash had attended al-Qaeda's Malaysia summit and was therefore linked to 9/11 hijacker Khalid Almihdhar. [Soufan, 2011, pp. 301-302] However, the Commission's final report will call the non-passage of this intelligence "an example of how day-to-day gaps in intelligence sharing can emerge even when there is mutual goodwill." [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 267] This interview appears to be the second time the Commission talks to Soufan, which is on September 15, 2003. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 507; Soufan, 2011, pp. 297-302] Soufan discusses the case of "Omar," a joint FBI-CIA source inside al-Qaeda. At an interview of Omar in January 2001 the CIA learned that bin Attash had attended al-Qaeda's Malaysia summit in early 2000 (see January 5-8, 2000 and January 4, 2001). However, it then failed to share this with the FBI (see January 5, 2001 and After). Soufan tells the Commission's staff: "This shows that the CIA knew the significance of Malaysia, Khallad, and Almihdhar but actively went out of their way to withhold the information from us. It's not a case of just not passing on information. This is information the FBI representative working with the source should have been told about. It was a legal requirement. Instead we were deliberately kept out of the loop." A staffer responds that the CIA claims it shared the information, and Soufan asks whether the Commission checked the "regular cables" between the field and CIA headquarters. After the staffer says they have, Soufan asks whether the Commission has checked the "operational traffic," and MacEachin responds, "That must be it." Other staffers are initially puzzled by McEachin's comment, but he explains it to them. Soufan will comment: "Operational traffic refers to cables sent during an operation. The officer will list procedures, leaving a record in case something goes wrong or something needs to be referred to. Because these cables are strictly procedural and not related to intelligence, they would not be sent to the FBI. If someone wanted to hide something from the FBI, that's where he would put it. Because Doug had worked for the CIA, he knew what operational cables were, while other members of the team might not have." The Commission later finds that the information about bin Attash was in an operational cable. [Soufan, 2011, pp. 301-302] The reason for the discrepancy between MacEachin's attitude in the interview of Soufan and the Commission's final report is unknown.
Entity Tags: Doug MacEachin, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 9/11 Commission, Ali Soufan
September 21, 2003: Associated Press Reports Details from KSM Interrogations
An Associated Press (AP) report provides details of what alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) has apparently told his CIA interrogators. The article, based on "interrogation reports" reviewed by the AP, makes the following claims:
KSM worked on the Bojinka plot in 1994 and 1995 in the Philippines with Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad, and Wali Khan Amin Shah;
After Yousef and Murad were captured (see January 6, 1995 and February 7, 1995), KSM began to devise a new plot that focused on hijackings on US soil;
KSM first pitched the 9/11 plot to Osama bin Laden in 1996. He wanted bin Laden "to give him money and operatives so he could hijack 10 planes in the United States and fly them into targets";
After bin Laden agreed in principle, the original plan, which called for hijacking five commercial jets on each US coast, was modified several times. Some versions even had the planes being blown up in mid-air, possibly with the aid of shoe bombs. Bin Laden scrapped various parts of the plan, including attacks on both coasts and hijacking or bombing some planes in East Asia as well;
The original four al-Qaeda operatives bin Laden offered KSM for the plot were eventual hijackers Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, as well as Khallad bin Attash and Abu Bara al-Yemeni. "All four operatives only knew that they had volunteered for a martyrdom operation involving planes," one interrogation report apparently states;
The first major change to the plans occurred in 1999 when the two Yemeni operatives could not get US visas (see April 3, 1999). [Associated Press, 9/21/2003] (According to the 9/11 Commission Report, KSM actually says Abu Bara al-Yemeni never applied for a US visa); [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 492]
Bin Laden then offered KSM additional operatives, including a member of his personal security detail;
At that time the plot was to hijack a small number of planes in the United States and East Asia and either have them explode or crash into targets simultaneously;
In 1999, the four original operatives picked for the plot traveled to Afghanistan to train at one of bin Laden's camps, where they received specialized commando training (see Late 1999);
Al-Qaeda's Malaysia summit (see January 5-8, 2000) was, according to the report, a "key event in the plot," although it does not say whether KSM was physically present. On the other hand, it confirms the presence of Jemaah Islamiyah leader Hambali;
KSM communicated with Alhazmi and Almihdhar while they were in the US using Internet chat software;
KSM has never heard of Omar al-Bayoumi, an apparent Saudi intelligence agent who provided some assistance to future 9/11 hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi when they arrived in California. Neither did he arrange for anyone else in the US to assist Almihdhar and Alhazmi when they arrived in California. Despite this, Almihdhar and Alhazmi soon made contact with a network of people linked to Saudi intelligence services (see January 15-February 2000 and June 23-July 2001);
Bin Laden canceled the East Asian portion of the attacks in the spring of 2000, because, according to a quote from KSM contained in a report, "it would be too difficult to synchronize" attacks in the United States and Asia;
Around that time, KSM reached out to Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda affiliate in Southeast Asia. He began "recruiting JI operatives for inclusion in the hijacking plot as part of his second wave of hijacking attacks to occur after Sept. 11," one summary reportedly says;
Zacarias Moussaoui also went to Malaysia in the run-up to 9/11 (see September-October 2000);
In its final stages, the plan called for as many as 22 terrorists and four planes in a first wave, followed by a second wave of suicide hijackings that were to be aided possibly by al-Qaeda allies in Southeast Asia;
The hijacking teams were originally made up of members from different countries where al-Qaeda had recruited, but in the final stages bin Laden chose instead to use a large group of young Saudi men to populate the hijacking teams;
KSM told interrogators about other terror plots that were in various stages of planning or had been temporarily disrupted when he was captured, including one planned for Singapore (see June 2001 and November 15-Late December 2001);
KSM and al-Qaeda were still actively looking to strike US, Western, and Israeli targets across the world as of this year. [Associated Press, 9/21/2003]
These statements attributed to KSM are similar to later statements attributed to him by the 9/11 Commission Report. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004] The Associated Press article cautions that US authorities are still investigating what KSM is telling them, "to eliminate deliberate misinformation." [Associated Press, 9/21/2003] KSM made some or all these statements under torture, leading some to question their reliability (see Shortly After February 29 or March 1, 2003, After March 7, 2003, June 16, 2004, and August 6, 2007).
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
September 25, 2003: 'Envoy' of Bin Laden's Brother-in-Law Arrested in Philippines Then Deported
Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil. [Source: Joel Nito / Agence France-Presse]An "envoy" of bin Laden's brother-in-law is accused of running al-Qaeda front companies in the Philippines and is deported. Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil, a Jordanian, was arrested in the Philippines in early 1995 and accused of supporting the Bojinka plot, but then was let go (see January 6, 1995 and April 1, 1995-Early 1996). He is arrested in the Philippines again on this day while attempting to sell some properties owned by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden's brother-in-law. [Contemporary Southeast Asia, 12/1/2002; Time, 10/27/2003] Philippine officials call him a suspected al-Qaeda operative who had been in close contact with militants from the Abu Sayyaf and other groups. He is called an "envoy" or "point man" for Khalifa, and reputedly took over some of Khalifa's business front companies after Khalifa left the country in 1994 (see December 1, 1994). His house was used as a safe-house and meeting place for al-Qaeda operatives. [Agence France-Presse, 10/23/2003; Associated Press, 10/23/2003] However, despite all these serious allegations, Abdeljalil is deported back to Jordan in early 2004. [Associated Press, 3/1/2004]
Entity Tags: Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Abu Sayyaf, Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil, Al-Qaeda
September 28, 2003: Condoleezza Rice Links Iraq to Al-Qaeda Again
Appearing on Meet the Press, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice presumes to link Hussein to Osama bin Laden. "Saddam Hussein—no one has said that there is evidence that Saddam Hussein directed or controlled 9/11, but let's be very clear, he had ties to al-Qaeda, he had al-Qaeda operatives who had operated out of Baghdad." [MSNBC, 9/28/2003; US House Committee on Government Reform, 3/16/2004]
Entity Tags: Condoleezza Rice
October 2003: Informant Hears Madrid Bombers Pledge to Become Martyrs; Is Immediately Withdrawn from Monitoring Them
Since late 2002, Abdelkader Farssaoui, a.k.a. Cartagena, has been informing on a group of Islamist militants for the Spanish police and the intelligence agency UCI (see September 2002-October 2003). He is an imam and is highly trusted by the other members of the group. He attends all their secret meetings. In October 2003, he attends another meeting by this group that starts around 11:00 p.m. and ends at six in the morning. As usual, he starts the meeting by leading the group in prayer. Then Madrid train bombings mastermind Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet speaks for a long time. For the first time, Fakhet calls for martyrs. He says that it is not enough to just be a mujaheddin, but martyrs are needed for action in Madrid. All the people in the group, including Farssaoui, reply that they are ready to be martyrs. Farssaoui is so worried about this meeting that he immediately contacts his police handlers the next day and tells them what happened. But the police do not seem overly concerned. Farssaoui will later tell him that his handlers, led by police inspector Mariano Rayon, tell him that Fakhet's group talks big, but will never actually do anything. (This is in spite of the fact that several members of the group were arrested several months earlier for alleged involvement in a series of bombings in Morocco (see Late May-June 19, 2003).) Farssaoui is told to immediately leave Madrid for another assignment. He does, thus ending his connection to the bombers. It is later believe that this meeting marks the moment the group begins to go operational with an attack plan, which will result in the bombing of trains in Madrid several months later (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). Farssaoui says that his handlers forbid him to share what he learns with judge Baltasar Garzon, who is leading investigations into al-Qaeda related cases in Spain. The testimony Farssaoui will give in 2007 will contradict some details of earlier testimony he gave in the same trial, but he will claim that it took him time to find courage to tell the whole truth. [El Mundo (Madrid), 10/21/2004; El Mundo (Madrid), 2/13/2006; El Mundo (Madrid), 3/7/2007; ABC (Spain), 3/7/2007]
Entity Tags: Mariano Rayon, Abdelkader Farssaoui, Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet
October 19, 2003: New Alleged Bin Laden Audiotape Appears, Says US Is Bogged Down in Iraq; This Allegedly Inspires Bombing in Spain
A new audiotape thought to contain a message from Osama bin Laden is broadcast by Al Jazeera. On the 31-minute tape the speaker says that the US occupation of Iraq, a "new Crusader campaign against the Islamic world," is bogged down in the "quagmires of the Tigris and Euphrates" and suffering mounting casualties from guerrillas. He also compares supporters in Iraq to great Muslim warriors of the past and forbids them from working with the Ba'ath party. After describing democracy as "the religion of ignorance," he addresses the question of Palestine, and attacks the "road map" for peace between Israel and Palestine as well as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, saying he is similar to Afghani President Hamid Karzai. He highlights US financial losses and budget deficits after 9/11, and would also apparently like to fight in Iraq: "God knows, if I could find a way to get to your battlefields, I would not hesitate." [Associated Press, 10/19/2003; Laden, 2005, pp. 207-211] He also says, "We reserve the right to respond at the opportune moment and place against all of the countries participating in this unjust war, in particular: Great Britain, Spain, Australia, Poland, Japan, and Italy." [Irujo, 2005, pp. 257] Bin Laden had not specially threatened Spain in any previous speeches. According to a Spanish investigator, the Madrid al-Qaeda cell hears the speech, notices this, and begins planning an attack in Spain the next day. This will result in the Madrid train bombings only five months later (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). [Benjamin and Simon, 2005, pp. 10] However, some evidence suggests the cell was already planning a bombing from about late 2002. [Associated Press, 4/10/2004]
October 21, 2003: Patrick Fitzgerald Blames 'Wall' for Intelligence Problems
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald testifies before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary about post-9/11 legislative changes, and says that the removal of the "wall" was a significant step forward for US counterintelligence. The wall was a set of procedures which regulated the passage of intelligence information within the FBI and from the FBI to prosecutors (see July 19, 1995). Fitzgerald says the removal of the wall represented "the single greatest change that could be made to protect our country." He cites four cases that he says are examples of how the wall and other such obstacles have hampered counterterrorism efforts:
The arrest of Ali Mohamed. Fitzgerald claims it would have been "far less difficult" to arrest al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed for his involvement in the attacks on US embassies in East Africa (see September 10, 1998) had it not been for the wall. [US Congress, 10/21/2003] However, author Peter Lance will point out, "But Fitzgerald neglected to tell the senators that… prosecutors and FBI agents had been monitoring the bombing cell members for two years or that they'd had multiple face-to-face meetings with Mohamed himself." Mohamed, who was called a "key figure" in the Day of Terror plot in the US press in early 1995 (see February 3, 1995), had actually met Fitzgerald a year before the arrest and told him that he had trained bin Laden's bodyguards, lived in bin Laden's house, loved and believed in bin Laden, and that he didn't need a fatwa to attack the US, as it was obvious the US was the enemy (see After October 1997). [Lance, 2006, pp. 274-6, 299-300]
The Day of Terror conspiracy. After the partial success of the World Trade Center bombing (see February 26, 1993), the conspirators planned to attack other targets in New York, but were arrested by the FBI, which had penetrated their cell. All of the arrested plotters were successfully convicted. However, Fitzgerald tells the committee, "Prosecutors were in the dark about the details of the plot until very late in the day." [US Congress, 10/21/2003; Lance, 2006, pp. 118-9]
The Millennium Alert. Fitzgerald says that in 1999, investigations into suspected millennium plots were hampered because "criminal prosecutors received information only in part and with lag time so as not to breach the wall." All attacks planned for the millennium failed, including one plot to bomb the Los Angeles airport (see December 31, 1999-January 1, 2000).
Sharing Wadih El-Hage's grand jury interview. In 1997, Al-Qaeda operative El-Hage provided information about bin Laden and his associates to a grand jury. Fitzgerald wanted to pass some of this information along to intelligence investigators (see September 24, 1997) but was unable to because grand jury information cannot be shared with intelligence investigators. To get around this restriction, an FBI agent had to get El-Hage to repeat the information outside the grand jury room. (Note: this example is not directly related to the "wall" under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but rather to a similar obstacle governing the passage of information in the opposite direction—from criminal agents to intelligence agents). [US Congress, 10/21/2003]
Entity Tags: Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ali Mohamed, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Peter Lance
October 23, 2003: President Bush Falsely Promises to Let Hambali Be Tried in Indonesia
Omar al-Faruq. [Source: Public domain]In a meeting with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, President Bush falsely promises to let Hambali stand trial in Indonesia. Hambali, an Indonesian citizen wanted for a string of attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings (see October 12, 2002), was recently arrested in Thailand and taken in US custody (see August 12, 2003). White House communications director Dan Bartlett tells reporters that Bush has "committed to work with [the Indonesian authorities] at an appropriate time, that he would work to make sure that Hambali was handed over." An Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman adds: "Absolutely, Bush promised to hand over Hambali to Indonesia for trial. The only condition is that the process of interrogation (by US agents) has to be completed. Bush said that still needed more time." The US has been sharing some information from Hambali's interrogation with Indonesian authorities, but does not allow them to question him directly, allegedly for fear of information leaks. [Associated Press, 10/24/2003] In 2002, the US did allow Indonesian investigators to directly interrogate another Indonesian in US custody, Omar al-Faruq. Ironically, it appears that extensive details of al-Faruq's interrogation were leaked to the media, but by US officials, not Indonesian ones (see June 5, 2002). The US will not allow Indonesian officials to directly interrogate Hambali during a 2005 trial of his alleged close associate Abu Bakar Bashir, allowing Bashir to go free (see March 3, 2005). In late 2005, Hank Crumpton, a senior State Department official visiting Indonesia, again makes the promise that the US will eventually turn Hambali over to the Indonesian government. [New York Times, 10/19/2005] But in 2006, the US transfers Hambali to the Guantanamo prison with the intention of eventually trying him before a military tribunal (see September 2-3, 2006).
Entity Tags: Hambali, Dan Bartlett, George W. Bush, Hank Crumpton, Megawati Sukarnoputri
November 2003: Former CIA Analyst Says Iraq War Largely Motivated by Israel's Strategic Objectives
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern says: "The war on Iraq was just as much prompted by the strategic objectives of the state of Israel as it was the strategic objectives of the United States of America. Indeed, the people running this war are people who have worked for the government of Israel in the past, people who have prepared position papers for former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others. These are people who are well attuned to Israel's objectives. The authors of the Project for the New American Century [PNAC—see September 2000] have set out for the United States to become the dominant power in the world. And, Israel, for its own part, is hell bent on remaining the dominant power in the Middle East." [Sojourners, 11/2003]
Entity Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Project for the New American Century, Ray McGovern
November 6, 2003: Spanish Intelligence Correctly Names Leaders of Next Attack in Spain, but No Action Is Taken Against Them
Allekema Lamari. [Source: Spanish Interior Ministry]The Spanish intelligence agency Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI) warns in a report that Barakat Yarkas's al-Qaeda cell has reconstituted itself (see November 13, 2001) and is planning a new attack in Spain. It specifically warns that Allekema Lamari and Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet are leading the new effort and are planning an attack on an unknown but significant target. This warning is based on comments Lamari made to his close associates. [Irujo, 2005, pp. 243] The warning is accurate; Lamari and Fakhet will be two of the leaders of the Madrid bombings in March 2004 (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). In retrospect, it is not surprising that Spanish intelligence is aware of such a warning, because at least two of the bomb plotters are actually government informants, and one of them is close to Lamari and another is close to Fakhet (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). But surprisingly, no action appears to be taken. Neither Fakhet, Lamari, nor any other members of their group are arrested before the bombings. A government informant will later claim under oath as a protected witness that Fakhet also was a government informant (see Shortly After October 2003). Mariano Rayon, head of the CNI, will later say, "We concluded that there was a certain and immediate threat against Spain or Spanish interests abroad." The threat level was already high, but it was raised to "very high." [ABC (Spain), 5/3/2007]
Entity Tags: Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet, Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, Allekema Lamari, Mariano Rayon
November 11-18, 2003: Conservative Columnist Says He Is a Racist and a Homophobe
Conservative columnist and mathematician John Derbyshire gives an interview about his recent book about Riemann's Hypothesis, Prime Obsession. In the course of the interview, Derbyshire says flatly that he is a racist. (Two years ago, Derbyshire wrote in the National Review that racial and ethnic stereotyping was a useful and desirable activity—see February 1, 2001). Derbyshire tells his interviewer that he and other "'respectable' conservative journalists" must observe certain "restraints" in speaking and writing about race, or risk being "crucified by the liberal media establishment [and] have to give up opinionating and go find some boring office job somewhere." Derbyshire says he is "not very careful about what I say," and says flatly, "I am a homophobe, though a mild and tolerant one, and a racist, though an even more mild and tolerant one." Derbyshire warns that such opinions "are going to be illegal pretty soon, the way we are going. Of course, people will still be that way in their hearts, but they will be afraid to admit it, and will be punished if they do admit it." He also cites the openly racist, white supremacist blog VDare.com as one of the few blogs he reads on a regular basis, as it features "really clever people saying interesting things." [Kevin Holtsberry, 11/11/2003] In a follow-up email a week later, Derbyshire expands on his self-characterization as a "mild and tolerant" racist and homophobe. He begins by noting that he grew up in England during a time when anti-Semitism was prevalent. He terms that atmosphere "perfectly harmless," saying that "Jews thrived and prospered." He does not favor public discrimination, he says, and asserts that if he chooses not to hire blacks or other racial groups, he should have a perfect right to do so; the same condition should apply to anyone over their religious persuasion or gender. "These things are no proper business of the public authorities." He does not approve of homosexuality, he writes, and considers it bad for Western civilization. "I do not believe that any stable society can be founded on any basis other than heterosexual marriage. Under modern conditions, I think you would have to add 'monogamous,' too." He does not believe that governments should attempt to regulate or constrain homosexuality, but neither should governments attempt to put an end to private discrimination against homosexuals. He says much the same about nonwhite races, inasmuch as while governments should not themselves discriminate, they should not intervene in private discrimination. [Kevin Holtsberry, 11/18/2003]
Entity Tags: John Derbyshire, VDare (.com )
December 2003: Journalist Discredits Neoconservative Conspiracy Theorist about Iraq-9/11 Connections
Peter Bergen. [Source: Peter Bergen]Author and former war correspondent Peter Bergen writes that in the run-up to the Iraq war, most Americans believed wholeheartedly that Saddam Hussein and Iraq were behind the 9/11 attacks. Bergen writes: "[T]he belief that Saddam posed an imminent threat to the United States amounted to a theological conviction within the administration, a conviction successfully sold to the American public. So it's fair to ask: Where did this faith come from?" One source is the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a neoconservative think tank who has placed many of its fellows in the Bush administration, including Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and John Bolton. But, Bergen notes, none of the AEI analysts and writers are experts on either Iraq or the Middle East. None have ever served in the region. And most actual Middle East experts both in and out of government don't believe that Iraq had any connection to the 9/11 attacks. The impetus for the belief in a 9/11-Iraq connection in part comes from neoconservative academic Laurie Mylroie.
Mylroie Supplies Neoconservatives with Desired Rationale - A noted author with an impressive academic resume, Mylroie, Bergen writes, "was an apologist for Saddam's regime, but reversed her position upon his invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and, with the zeal of the academic spurned, became rabidly anti-Saddam." In 1993, Mylroie decided that Saddam Hussein was behind the World Trade Center bombings, and made her case in a 2000 AEI-published book, Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America (see October 2000). Mylroie's message was evidently quite popular with AEI's neoconservatives. In her book, Mylroie blamed every terrorist event of the decade on Hussein, from the 1993 WTC bombings (a theory Bergen calls "risible") to the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 into Long Island Sound (see July 17, 1996-September 1996), the 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya (see 10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998), the 2000 attack on the USS Cole (see October 12, 2000), and even the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). Bergen calls her a "crackpot," and notes that it "would not be significant if she were merely advising say, [conservative conspiracy theorist] Lyndon LaRouche. But her neocon friends who went on to run the war in Iraq believed her theories, bringing her on as a consultant at the Pentagon, and they seem to continue to entertain her eccentric belief that Saddam is the fount of the entire shadow war against America."
Complete Discrediting - Bergen, after detailing how Mylroie ignored conclusive evidence that both the 1993 and 9/11 attacks were planned by al-Qaeda terrorists and not Saddam Hussein, quotes former CIA counterterrorism chief Vincent Cannistraro, who says Mylroie "has an obsession with Iraq and trying to link Saddam to global terrorism." Cannistraro is joined by author and former CIA analyst Ken Pollack; Mary Jo White, the US attorney who prosecuted the 1993 WTC bombings and 1998 embassy attacks; and Neil Herman, the FBI official who headed the 1993 WTC investigation, who all dismiss Mylroie's theories as absolutely baseless and thoroughly disproven by the evidence.
Belief or Convenience? - Apparently such thorough debunking did not matter to the AEI neoconservatives. Bergen writes that they were "formulating an alternative vision of US foreign policy to challenge what they saw as the feckless and weak policies of the Clinton administration. Mylroie's research and expertise on Iraq complemented the big-think strategizing of the neocons, and a symbiotic relationship developed between them." Whether the neoconservatives actually believed Mylroie's work, or if "her findings simply fit conveniently into their own desire to overthrow Saddam," Bergen isn't sure. Perle later backed off of supporting Mylroie's theories, calling them less than convincing and downplaying her role in developing arguments for overthrowing Hussein even as he suggests she should be placed in a position of power at the CIA. It is known that after 9/11, former CIA Director James Woolsey, a prominent neoconservative, went to Britain to investigate some of Mylroie's claims (see Mid-September-October 2001). And in September 2003, Vice President Cheney called Iraq "the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most especially on 9/11," an echoing of Mylroie's own theories. Mylroie's latest book, Bush vs. the Beltway: How the CIA and the State Department Tried to Stop the War on Terror, accuses those agencies of suppressing information about Iraq's role in 9/11, again contradicting all known intelligence and plain common sense (see July 2003).
Zeitgeist - Bergen concludes that in part because of Mylroie's theories and their promulgation by Bush, Cheney, and prominent neoconservatives in and out of the administration, the US has been led into a disastrous war while 70 percent of Americans believe that Hussein had a role in the 9/11 attacks. "[H]er specious theories of Iraq's involvement in anti-American terrorism have now become part of the American zeitgeist." Perhaps the most telling statement from Mylroie comes from a recent interview in Newsweek, where she said: "I take satisfaction that we went to war with Iraq and got rid of Saddam Hussein. The rest is details." Bergen retorts sourly, "Now she tells us." [Washington Monthly, 12/2003; Unger, 2007, pp. 216]
Entity Tags: Kenneth Pollack, John R. Bolton, Clinton administration, Bush administration (43), American Enterprise Institute, Al-Qaeda, Vincent Cannistraro, Saddam Hussein, Neil Herman, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, James Woolsey, Mary Jo White, Lyndon LaRouche, Peter Bergen, Laurie Mylroie, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle
Timeline Tags: Neoconservative Influence
December 17, 2003: Bush on Iraq's Lack of WMDs: 'So What's the Difference?'
Diane Sawyer with President Bush. [Source: USA Today]President Bush gives a rare one-on-one interview to ABC's Diane Sawyer. Among other topics addressed, he reaffirms his belief that terrorists operated in Iraq before the March 2003 invasion (citing Ansar al-Islam, "a al-Qaeda affiliate, I would call them al-Qaeda, was active in Iraq before the war, hence—a terrorist tie with Iraq…") and that his insistence that Iraq had an active and threatening WMD program was based on "good solid intelligence[, t]he same intelligence that my predecessor [Bill Clinton] operated on." [ABC News, 12/17/2003] In 2004, former Nixon White House counsel John Dean will respond, "His predecessor, however, never claimed that Saddam [Hussein] had imminent… nuclear capacity, nor did his predecessor say that Iraq had ties to al-Qaeda." [Dean, 2004, pp. 153]
Iraq Had WMD Program, Bush Insists - Bush insists that weapons inspector David Kay proved Iraq did have a burgeoning and active WMD program (see October 2, 2003), and implies that it is just a matter of time before the actual weapons are found. Sawyer says, "But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons still," to which Bush replies, "So what's the difference?" Sawyer appears taken aback by the answer, and Bush continues that since it was possible Hussein would acquire WMDs, it was necessary to "get rid of him" to make "the world a safer, freer place." Sawyer presses the point home: "What would it take to convince you he didn't have weapons of mass destruction?" and Bush responds: "Saddam Hussein was a threat. And the fact that he is gone means America is a safer country." Sawyer asks, "And if he doesn't have weapons of mass destruction?" and Bush replies tartly: "Diane, you can keep asking the question. I'm telling you, I made the right decision for America. Because Saddam Hussein used weapons of mass destruction, invaded Kuwait (see August 2, 1990). But the fact that he is not there is, means America's a more secure country." [ABC News, 12/17/2003] White House press secretary Scott McClellan will later write, "Bush's response was telling, much more so than I stopped to contemplate at the time." [McClellan, 2008, pp. 200]
Why Read the News? - Sawyer asks Bush about his reported penchant for not reading the news for himself. Bush confirms that he gets his news from National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and White House chief of staff Andrew Card, who, Sawyer says, "give you a flavor of what's in the news." Bush agrees that this is the case, and says: "Yeah. I get my news from people who don't editorialize. They give me the actual news. And it makes it easier to digest, on a daily basis, the facts." Sawyer asks, "Is it just harder to read constant criticism or to read?" to which Bush replies: "Why even put up with it when you can get the facts elsewhere? I'm a lucky man. I've got, it's not just Condi and Andy. It's all kinds of people in my administration who are charged with different responsibilities. And they come in and say, 'this is what's happening, this isn't what's happening.'" Laura Bush, who joins her husband halfway through the interview, says she reads the newspapers, including the opinion columns, but says: "I agree with him that we can actually get what is really happening from the people who really know what's happening. And that isn't always what you get in the newspapers.… There are certain columnists I won't read. I mean, what, you know, why would I?" [ABC News, 12/17/2003]
Wilson: Bush 'Systematically Deceived' US, 'Betrayed' Military - Months later, former ambassador Joseph Wilson will write: "It was clear, from this one statement, […] that the administration, from the president on down, had systematically deceived the American people, Congress, and the world. Most of all, the president had betrayed the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who so bravely march out when ordered into war to defend our country against immiment threats, or even from grave and gathering dangers. Iraq had posed neither. The difference, Mr. President, I thought, is that war was not the only option, or even the best one. We had gone to war over capacity, not stockpiles, not mushroom clouds (see September 4, 2002), not intent, or, as John Bolton had earlier said more directly, because scientists were on Saddam's payroll. Our troops had died—and were continuing to die—in vain. I came away from this sad revelation resolved that, unlike the other bitterly divisive war debate of my lifetime, over the war in Vietnam, we should admit this terrible fact sooner, rather than later, and thereby revise our national policies accordingly." [Wilson, 2004, pp. 414-415]
Entity Tags: Laura Bush, William Jefferson ("Bill") Clinton, Scott McClellan, Joseph C. Wilson, David Kay, Diane Sawyer, Al-Qaeda, George W. Bush, Andrew Card, Condoleezza Rice, Ansar al-Islam, Saddam Hussein
Timeline Tags: Events Leading to Iraq Invasion, Iraq under US Occupation
December 19, 2003: Neocon Says Bush Administration Should Work for Regime Change in Iran
Neoconservative Michael Ledeen, in an op-ed piece published by the Wall Street Journal, makes numerous charges against the Iranian government, saying it supports terrorism and is on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon. He asserts that the Bush administration must therefore act soon against Iran. He says Iran is the "ultimate litmus test of the seriousness of the Bush administration" and that the administration's "ability to conduct an effective campaign against the mullahs in Tehran will determine the outcome of the war against the terror masters." Ledeen asserts that the US does not need to invade Iran to "liberate it," rather it only needs to support the "enthusiastically pro-American" people, as the US did the "Serbs against Slobodan Milosovic, the Filipinos against the Marcoses, the Poles against Soviet Communism." [Wall Street Journal, 12/19/2003]
Entity Tags: Michael Ledeen, Bush administration (43)
Timeline Tags: US confrontation with Iran, Neoconservative Influence
Late December 2003 - May 2004: Hussein Gives Wealth of Information in Long Interrogations with FBI Agent; No Harsh Tactics Used
Saddam Hussein in US custody. [Source: US Department of Defense]The FBI sends veteran interrogator George Piro to question captured Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein. Over a period of months, Piro uses a combination of friendliness, warmth, and verbal provocations to tease a wealth of information from Hussein. At no time does Piro or other FBI interrogators use "aggressive" or "harsh" interrogation methods against Hussein. Piro works closely with a team of FBI and CIA analysts to pore over Hussein's responses. He will later recall his sessions with Hussein for CBS News interviewer Scott Pelley.
'Mr. Saddam' - Piro begins calling the dictator "Mr. Saddam," as a sign of respect; by the end of their time, they are on a first-name basis with one another. Hussein never finds out that Piro is "just" an FBI agent; he believes that Piro is far more influential than he actually is, and is directly briefing President Bush on their conversations. "He didn't know I worked for the FBI, he didn't know I was a field agent," Piro will recall. Had he found out, "I think initially he would have been angry. He would feel that I was way beneath him, and would not respond well to the interrogation. Or even to me.… I think he thought, and actually on a couple of occasions talked around the issue that I was directly answering to the president." Piro will recall setting several strategies of deception into motion, including his barking orders at the guards to send them into a panic to obey his instructions. "[I]t was all part of our strategy," Piro will explain.
Controlling the Dictator - Piro will say that he gained physical control of the setting—a small, windowless room with chairs and a table—merely by placing himself between Hussein and the door. "I purposely put his back against the wall," Piro will recall. "And then mine against the door, psychologically to tell him that his back was against the wall in the interview room. And that I stood between him and the door, psychologically. Between him whether it's to go back to his cell, freedom, whatever he was projecting to be outside of that door. I was kind of that psychological barrier between him and the door." Piro will add, "I basically said that I was gonna be responsible for every aspect of his life, and that if he needed anything I was gonna be the person that he needed to talk to." Piro controls Hussein's food and cleaning materials—Piro will describe Hussein as a "clean freak" who uses large numbers of baby wipes to disinfect his cell and his food. Piro allows Hussein pen and paper to write what Piro will describe as inordinate amounts of "terrible" poetry. "We had the guards remove their watches," Piro will recall. "And the only person that was wearing a watch was me. And it was very evident to him, 'cause I was wearing the largest wristwatch you could imagine. And it was just the act of him asking for the time—was critical in our plan." Pelley says, "So you controlled time itself," and Piro answers, "Yes."
No Coercive Interrogation Methods - Piro will say that no coercive interrogations, such as sleep deprivation, excessive heat or cold, bombardment with loud music, or waterboarding are ever used. "It's against FBI policy, first," Piro will explain. "And wouldn't have really benefited us with someone like Saddam.… I think Saddam clearly had demonstrated over his legacy that he would not respond to threats, to any type of fear-based approach." The best methods for use with Hussein are, according to Piro, time and patience.
Using Emotions to Create Vulnerability - Piro uses their time to build a relationship with Hussein based on dependency, trust, and emotion. He alternates between treating Hussein with courtesy and kindness, and provoking him with pictures and video images designed to anger and embarrass the former dictator. He uses pictures of the toppling of Hussein's statues and news videos documenting his overthrow. "I wanted him to get angry. I wanted him to see those videos and to get angry," Piro will say. "You want to take him through those various emotions. Happy, angry, sad. When you have someone going through those emotions they're not able to really control themselves. And they're more vulnerable during the interview."
Insult Drove Kuwait Invasion - Piro learns that one of the driving forces behind Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 (see August 2, 1990) was personal insult. "What really triggered it for him, according to Saddam, was he had sent his foreign minister to Kuwait to meet with the Emir Al Sabah, the former leader of Kuwait, to try to resolve some of the… issues" between Kuwait and Iraq, Piro will recall. "And the Emir told the foreign minister of Iraq that he would not stop doing what he was doing until he turned every Iraqi woman into a $10 prostitute. And that really sealed it for him, to invade Kuwait. He wanted to punish, he told me, Emir Al Sabah, for saying that." The 1991 US invasion of Iraq (see January 16, 1991 and After) soured Hussein on then-President George H. W. Bush, a feeling that Hussein transferred to the son. "He didn't like President [George W.] Bush," Piro will say. "He would have liked meeting President Reagan. He thought he was a great leader. Honorable man. He liked President Clinton. But he did not like President Bush, the first or the current."
Small Things, Big Impact - Piro will recall the outsized impact relatively small incidents have on Hussein. One night the FBI flies Hussein to a hospital. He is manacled and blindfolded. Piro will remember: "And once I saw how beautiful Baghdad was in the middle of the night, so I took advantage of it. I allowed him to look out and the lights were on. There was traffic. And it looked like any other major metropolitan city around the world. And for him to see that. And as I mentioned, you know, big Baghdad is moving forward without you. I mean, little things like that didn't require a lot of suggestion on our part. It made its point." Piro even uses Hussein's birthday, a former national holiday, to drive home his point. "In 2004, no one celebrated his birthday on April 28th. So the only one that really knew and cared was us. I'd brought him some cookies, and we, the FBI, celebrated his birthday for him." Piro gives Hussein packets of flower seeds and allows him to plant his own small garden, which he must tend with his hands because the FBI will not allow him to use tools. Piro will recall that their strolls in Hussein's tiny garden are often the site of large revelations.
Avoiding Capture - Hussein tells Piro that US forces simply missed him during the first days of the invasion, the "shock and awe" assault. "He said that he was at one of the locations. He said it in a kind of a bragging fashion, that he was there, but that we missed him," Piro later says. "He told me he changed the way he traveled. He got rid of his normal vehicles. He got rid of the protective detail he traveled with. Really just to change his signature so he would be much harder to identify." And Hussein denies ever using body doubles or decoys, as US intelligence had long asserted.
WMD - Five months into the sessions, Hussein finally opens up to Piro regarding the subject of Iraq's WMD programs. Using indirection, Piro begins to tease information out of Hussein. "He told me that most of the WMD had been destroyed by the UN inspectors in the '90s. And those that hadn't been destroyed by the inspectors were unilaterally destroyed by Iraq," Piro will recall. So why, Pelley will ask, did Hussein "put your nation at risk, why put your own life at risk to maintain this charade?" Piro will respond: "It was very important for him to project that because that was what kept him, in his mind, in power. That capability kept the Iranians away. It kept them from reinvading Iraq." It is apparent, Piro says, that Hussein did not believe he could survive without the perception that he had WMD. But Piro confirms that Hussein always intended to restart his WMD program someday. "The folks that he needed to reconstitute his program are still there," Piro will observe. "He wanted to pursue all of WMD. So he wanted to reconstitute his entire WMD program."
Did Not Believe US Would Invade - From there, Hussein begins to explain why he let the US continue to believe he had such weapons even as troops began massing on his borders. He didn't believe the US would actually invade, he says. As Piro will recall: "[H]e told me he initially miscalculated President Bush. And President Bush's intentions. He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998 under Operation Desert Fox (see December 16-19, 1998). Which was a four-day aerial attack. So you expected that initially." Hussein says that Iraq would have survived a relatively limited aerial bombardment. "He survived that once," Piro will recall. "And then he was willing to accept that type of attack. That type of damage." But he never believed the US would invade until almost the moment of the initial assault.
'The Secret War' - Hussein knew his military could not win in any confrontation with the US. Instead, as Piro will recall: "What he had asked of his military leaders and senior government officials was to give him two weeks. And at that point it would go into what he called the secret war.… Going from a conventional to an unconventional war." Pelley will remark, "So the insurgency was part of his plan from the very beginning," to which Piro will say, "Well, he would like to take credit for the insurgency."
Iraq and al-Qaeda - Hussein confirms that his regime had no dealings with al-Qaeda, as many Bush officials have long believed. Hussein considered Osama bin Laden "a fanatic," according to Piro. "You can't really trust fanatics," Hussein tells the interrogator. And he had no interest in any alliance with al-Qaeda. "He didn't wanna be seen with bin Laden," Piro will recall. "And didn't want to associate with bin Laden." Hussein viewed bin Laden as a threat to him and his regime.
Independent Confirmation and Praise for Piro's Efforts - Hussein's claims are later verified by independent interrogations with other high-ranking Hussein regime officials. Piro's boss, FBI Assistant Director Joe Persichini, will say that Piro's interrogation is a high mark of the bureau's recent efforts. "The FBI will be celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and I would have to say that the interview with Saddam Hussein is one of the top accomplishments of our agency in the last 100 years," Persichini will say, and gives credit to Piro's language skills. Only about 50 of the 10,000 FBI agents speak Arabic, he will note. Piro will credit his FBI and CIA colleagues for their work in analyzing Hussein's statements, and their extensive knowledge of Hussein and his regime. "The more you know about your subject, the better of an interview… that you're gonna conduct," he will say. "You'll be able to recognize inconsistencies, deception, things like that. Plus it really establishes your credibility within the interview."
No Regrets - One thing Hussein never shows during his long interviews, Piro later recalls, is remorse. "No remorse," Piro will say. "No regret." [CBS News, 1/27/2008]
Entity Tags: George Herbert Walker Bush, Ronald Reagan, George Piro, George W. Bush, Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, Joe Persichini, CBS News, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Scott Pelley, Al-Qaeda, William Jefferson ("Bill") Clinton
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Iraq under US Occupation
January 2004: US Not Advertising Reward Program in Pakistan Where Most Al-Qaeda Leaders Are Hiding; Program Not Fixed Later
In 2004, Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (R-Ill) visits Pakistan to find out why the US Rewards for Justice program has generated so little information regarding al-Qaeda's leadership. In the early 1990s, the program was effective in helping to catch al-Qaeda bomber Ramzi Yousef after a $2 million reward was announced for him and a huge number of matchboxes with his picture and the reward information on it were distributed in countries where he was likely to be (see April 2, 1993). The program has $25 million rewards for al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, and lesser rewards for other al-Qaeda leaders. Kirk discovers that the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan has effectively shut down the reward program. There is no radio or television advertising. A bin Laden matchbook campaign had begun in 2000 (see February 16, 2000), but the embassy has stopped giving away matchbooks with photos of bin Laden and other leaders. Kirk will later say: "We were at zero. I couldn't believe it." Embassy officials tell Kirk they are busy with other issues, such as assisting US troops in Afghanistan. Kirk proposes a congressional bill that would increase funding for the rewards program to advertise, extend the program to target drug kingpins (especially those who fund al-Qaeda and the Taliban), and make other reforms and improvements. But apparently the bill does not pass and the problem is not fixed. In 2008, Kirk will complain, "[T]he key thing about the Rewards for Justice program is that no one in a rural area—anywhere—knows about it." Former CIA officer Arthur Keller will also say in 2008 that there are people in Pakistan and elsewhere with information who would be open to informing. "They'd love to have a $25 million bounty, and they aren't supportive of Osama. But they don't necessarily trust the US. Who do you report it to? The local police chief?… They're not sure who to turn to or who to trust." [US Congress, House, 2/12/2004; Washington Post, 5/17/2008] In 2006, the program will conduct a large advertising blitz in the US, seemingly one of the most unlikely places to figure leaders such as bin Laden (see December 2006).
Entity Tags: Mark Steven Kirk, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, Arthur Keller
January 8, 2004: Powell Says No Smoking Gun of Al-Qaeda-Iraq Link
In response to a question at a news conference, Secretary of State Colin Powell says, "I have not seen a smoking gun, concrete evidence about the connection [between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda], but I think the possibility of such connections did exist and it was prudent to consider them at the time that we did." [Associated Press, 1/8/2004; Independent, 1/11/2004] Former ambassador Joseph Wilson will later write, "The second justification for war—ties to 'terrorism with a global reach,' to use the president's own words—had now been discredited by one of the most senior officials in his own administration." [Wilson, 2004, pp. 413]
Entity Tags: Colin Powell, Joseph C. Wilson
January 9, 2004: Cheney Says Feith's Intelligence is 'Best Source of Information' on Links between Hussein and Al-Qaeda
Vice President Dick Cheney tells Rocky Mountain News that a November 2003 article published in the conservative Weekly Standard (see November 14, 2003) represents "the best source of information" on cooperation between Iraq and al-Qaeda. The article was based on a leaked intelligence memo that had been written by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith in 2002 and was the product of the Office of Special Plans (see August 2002). Cheney also insists that the administration's decision to invade Iraq was "perfectly justified." [Rocky Mountain News, 1/10/2004; Knight Ridder, 3/9/2004]
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Douglas Feith
January 24, 2004: Perle Takes Part in Rally for Iran; Denies Knowledge of Connections to MEK
Pentagon adviser Richard N. Perle speaks at a charity event whose stated purpose is to express "solidarity with Iran" and raise money for Iran earthquake victims. During the event, statements are made in support of "regime change in Iran." The event is attended by FBI agents because of suspicions that the event has connections to the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), a militant Iranian opposition group that is included on the state department's list terrorist organizations. The US Treasury Department will freeze the assets of the event's prime organizer, the Iranian-American Community of Northern Virginia, two days later (see January 26, 2004). Perle tells the Washington Post that he was unaware of possible connections to MEK. [Washington Post, 1/29/2004]
Entity Tags: People's Mujahedin of Iran, Richard Perle
Timeline Tags: US confrontation with Iran
February 2, 2004: Real Ricin Poison Found in Sen. Frist's Mailroom, Case Remains Unresolved
On February 2, 2004, the deadly toxin ricin is detected on an automatic mail sorter in the Senate office building mailroom that serves the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN). Subsequent tests confirm the substance is ricin. No one gets ill. Some buildings are closed, but Senate business continues as usual. It is presumed that the ricin arrived in a letter, but the letter is not found, leaving few clues. [CNN, 2/4/2004] About two months later, it is reported that laboratories are continuing to analyze the ricin in an attempt to determine where it came from, but no suspects or likely motives have been identified. In October 2004, two letters were intercepted in South Carolina and Tennessee containing real ricin. Letters were found with the ricin objecting to new rules for truckers. One letter was intended to go to the Department of Transportation and another to the White House. But it is unknown if there is any connection between those letters and the ricin in Frist's office, although Frist represents Tennessee. It is also unknown if there is any connection to the 2001 anthrax attacks (see October 5-November 21, 2001). According to the Associated Press, "Unlike anthrax spores, ricin requires little scientific training to engineer and is not nearly as dangerous to handle." [Associated Press, 3/31/2005]
Entity Tags: Bill Frist
Timeline Tags: 2001 Anthrax Attacks, US Domestic Terrorism
February 3, 2004: Spanish Intelligence Continues Monitoring Madrid Bombings Mastermind, Links Him to Active Al-Qaeda Suicide Bomber
Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon renews permission to wiretap the phones of Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet, considered to be one of about three masterminds of the Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004) that will occur one month later. Interestingly, in the application for renewal, Fakhet is linked to the Casablanca bombings of May 2003 (see May 16, 2003). His brother-in-law Mustapha Maymouni was arrested in Morocco and is being imprisoned there for a role in the bombings at this time (see Late May-June 19, 2003). Fakhet is also linked in the application to Zouhaier ben Mohamed Nagaaoui, a Tunisian believed to be on the Spanish island of Ibiza and preparing for a suicide attack on a ship, following instructions from al-Qaeda. Nagaaoui is also said to be linked to the Casablanca bombings. Further, he has links to a number of Islamist militant groups and had undergone weapons and explosives training. [El Mundo (Madrid), 7/30/2005] Around the same time, Garzon also renews the wiretapping of some other Madrid bombers such as Jamal Zougam. [El Mundo (Madrid), 9/28/2004] It is not known what later becomes of Nagaaoui.
Entity Tags: Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet, Baltasar Garzon, Mustapha Maymouni, Zouhaier ben Mohamed Nagaaoui, Jamal Zougam
February 11-March 17, 2004: FBI Interviews Scientists, Asks If They Wrote Anonymous Letter Possibly Linked to Anthrax Attacks
On February 11, 2004, the FBI interviews at least one scientist from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks (see October 5-November 21, 2001). The name of the person interviewed is not known, but he is asked whether he wrote an anonymous letter to the FBI that possibly set up scientist Ayaad Assaad as a patsy for the attacks just before they occurred (see October 3, 2001). Assaad worked at USAMRIID, the US Army's top bioweapons laboratory, until 1997, and has worked at the EPA since then. The unnamed scientist says that he had nothing to do with the letter. It appears this person is possibly subjected to a polygraph test after this, but if so the results are not known. [Hartford Courant, 2/17/2004] On March 17, 14 additional EPA employees are interviewed about the letter. The interviews are said to focus on trying to find out who wrote it. [Washington Times, 3/30/2004]
Entity Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ayaad Assaad
February 17, 2004: Prosecutors Refuse Plea Deal by Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirator
The prosecutors in the trial of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols (see May 13, 2003) turn down a plea deal offered by Nichols's lawyers. Nichols reportedly offered to plead no contest to 161 charges of first-degree murder if prosecutors drop their attempt to seek the death penalty. [New York Times, 2/18/2004; The Oklahoman, 4/2009]
Entity Tags: Terry Lynn Nichols
(February 19, 2004): KSM Falsely Claims Key Bojinka Conspirator Had Only Minor Role in Plot
Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) tells US interrogators that Abdul Hakim Murad, along with KSM a key conspirator in the Bojinka plot, only had a small role in the operation, according to the 9/11 Commission. The Commission will cite four intelligence reports, drafted on February 19 (two), February 24, and April 2, 2004, as the source of this claim. According to KSM, Murad's only role in the plot was to courier $3,000 from Dubai to Manila. However, other evidence indicates Murad was much more significantly involved in the plot (see Before January 6, 1995 and January 6, 1995). The Commission will comment, "This aspect of KSM's account is not credible, as it conflicts not just with Murad's own confession [note: this may be unreliable as Murad was tortured (see After January 6, 1995)] but also with physical evidence tying Murad to the very core of the plot, and with KSM's own statements elsewhere that Murad was involved in planning and executing the operation." [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 489]
Entity Tags: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abdul Hakim Murad, 9/11 Commission, Central Intelligence Agency
February 26, 2004 and After: Diversity Office in Arizona Bombed, White Supremacist Involvement Suspected
A cardboard box delivered to the Scottsdale, Arizona, Office of Diversity and Dialogue explodes when the office director, Donald Logan, opens it. He suffers severe burns and lacerations from the blast. His assistant, Renita Linyard, is also severely injured, and office staffer Jacque Bell suffers lesser injuries. Scottsdale police quickly call for help from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF), and veteran BATF special agent Tristan Moreland heads the investigation. Moreland believes that Logan, an African-American federal employee, was targeted for his job and his race. Moreland begins looking at white supremacist groups in the area. He learns that a national gathering of supremacists, neo-Nazis, and Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members took place a few months earlier in a park outside Scottsdale, an event called Aryanfest 2004. Two supremacists in attendance, Dennis Mahon (see 1973 and After, August 1994 - March 1995, November 1994, and February 9, 1996 and After) and Tom Metzger (see 1981 and After), attract Moreland's particular attention. Mahon bragged at Aryanfest about his connection to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995), and Metzger is well known for his advocacy of "lone wolf" style attacks such as McVeigh's, where individuals launch attacks without the overt backing or involvement of actual organizations. Metzger heads a white supremacist organization called White Aryan Resistance (WAR) and Mahon is a member of that organization. (WAR will later change its name to The Insurgent.) Metzger and Mahon have been friends for decades. Moreover, Mahon had left a voice message at the Scottsdale diversity office months before about the city's upcoming Hispanic heritage week, a message virulent enough in its hatred and implied threat of violence to attract the attention of law enforcement authorities (see October 2003). Moreland decides to investigate Mahon and Metzger further, and the BATF learns that Mahon and his twin brother Daniel had been living in a trailer park in Tempe, Arizona, before the bombing. They left the area shortly after, moving to a trailer park in Catoosa, Oklahoma. Unwilling to allow the investigation to stall, Moreland decides to find a willing confidential informant to go to Catoosa and get close to Mahon. The subsequent investigation elicits evidence that Mahon and Metzger were involved in the Scottsdale bombing and other attacks as well (see January 26, 2005 and After). [TPM Muckraker, 1/10/2012]
Entity Tags: Renita Linyard, Dennis Mahon, Daniel Mahon, Donald Logan, Office of Diversity and Dialogue, Timothy James McVeigh, Tom Metzger, White Aryan Resistance, Tristan Moreland, US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Jacque Bell
February 27, 2004: FBI Conducts Internal Review to Determine Whether Documents Improperly Withheld in Oklahoma City Bombing Case
The FBI orders an internal review of its files to determine whether documents related to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing case were improperly withheld from investigators or defense lawyers. Bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, already convicted on federal charges related to the case and serving a life sentence (see June 4, 1998), faces 161 counts of first-degree murder in an upcoming trial in McAlester, Oklahoma (see May 13, 2003). Recent press reports have raised new questions as to whether Nichols's co-conspirator, bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 7:14 a.m. June 11, 2001), had more accomplices than just Nichols. An Associated Press report says that documents not introduced at McVeigh's trial (see June 2, 1997) indicated that FBI agents had destroyed evidence and failed to share other information that indicated McVeigh was part of a larger group of white supremacists who may have helped him carry out the bombing (see (April 1) - April 18, 1995). McVeigh had murky ties with a group called the Aryan Republican Army (ARA—see 1992 - 1995 and November 1994) and perhaps took part in bank robberies the group carried out. Moreover, ARA members possessed explosive blasting caps similar to those McVeigh used in the bomb; additionally, a driver's license in the name of an alias used by Roger Moore, a man robbed by Nichols as part of an attempt to finance the bombing (see November 5, 1994), was later found in the possession of ARA member Richard Guthrie. Law enforcement officials continue to insist that no evidence exists of any larger conspiracy involving anyone other than Nichols and McVeigh, and the FBI's internal review is motivated by nothing more than "an abundance of caution." A government official says: "If there's information out there, that needs to be looked at. This will be a document review to ascertain whether there are documents that were relative to the investigation and that should have been reviewed during the investigation or the prosecution." If additional records are identified, the Justice Department will determine whether records were improperly withheld from defense lawyers in the case, the official says. The FBI had to conduct a similar document review just days before McVeigh's 2001 execution after the Justice Department disclosed that the bureau had not turned over thousands of pages of interview reports and other material to McVeigh's lawyers (see May 10-11, 2001). [New York Times, 2/27/2004; New York Times, 3/16/2004] Also, former television reporter Jayna Davis says she has unearthed ties between McVeigh, Nichols, and Iraqi soldiers operating undercover in the US; Davis has said the FBI refused to act on her information, and has accused the agency of a cover-up (see March 20, 2001). Retired FBI agent David Cid, who worked on the original case, calls Davis's allegations absurd. "What possible motive would we have to conceal a Middle Eastern link?" he asks. "That was our immediate first assumption anyway" (see 10:00 a.m. April 19, 1995 and After). The presiding judge in the case, District Court Judge Steven Taylor, will conduct a hearing after the FBI's announcement, but Nichols's trial will not be delayed. [New York Times, 2/29/2004]
Entity Tags: Richard Guthrie, Aryan Republican Army, David Cid, Jayna Davis, Terry Lynn Nichols, Roger E. ("Bob") Moore, US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Steven W. Taylor, Timothy James McVeigh
February 28-29, 2004: Madrid Bomber Makes Many Calls on Monitored Phone as He Transports Explosives to Madrid
Jamal Ahmidan is a member of the Islamist militant cell who has arranged to buy the explosives for the Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). He is also a drug dealer, and is purchasing the explosives from Emilio Suarez Trashorras and some others who are generally both drug dealers and government informants. His phone is being monitored by Spanish intelligence. On February 28, he calls Othman El Gnaoui, another member of the militant cell, and says that he will need a van to transport something. The next day, Ahmidan is in the Spanish region of Asturias to help pick up the over 100 kilograms of explosives used in the bombings. He drives a stolen white Toyota Corolla and travels with a Renault Kangoo van and a Volkswagen Golf. Trashorras and Mohammed Oulad Akcha (another member of the militant cell) drive the other vehicles. The three vehicles drive the explosives to Madrid in what will later be popularly dubbed the "caravan of death." Ahmidan makes about 15 calls on his monitored phone during the several hour journey, many of them to El Gnaoui. While he does not explicitly talk on the phone about moving explosives, he does make clear to El Gnaoui that he and two other vehicles are moving something to Madrid. He is stopped for speeding along the way by police, but the trunk of his car is not checked. He gives the police officer a false identification. [El Mundo (Madrid), 8/23/2004]
Entity Tags: Othman El Gnaoui, Jamal Ahmidan, Emilio Suarez Trashorras, Mohammed Oulad Akcha
March 1, 2004: Preliminary Procedures in Trial of Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirator Begin; Judge Will Allow Defense to Explore Idea of Larger Conspiracy
The trial of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols (see May 13, 2003) begins in McAlester, Oklahoma, with the trial judge, Steven Taylor, ruling that the trial will not be delayed because of allegations that the prosecution withheld documents from the defense (see February 27, 2004). Nichols faces 161 counts of first-degree murder, and could receive the death penalty if convicted. Taylor warns prosecutors that any withholding of evidence by prosecutors or the Justice Department would void the case entirely, saying: "There will not be a mistrial. There will be a dismissal, period." Taylor says, "It would be irresponsible for this court to shut down this trial today based on speculation and guesswork what the FBI can come up with." The defense intends to argue that Nichols was just one small cog in a much larger conspiracy involving convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 7:14 a.m. June 11, 2001) and an undetermined number of unnamed accomplices, perhaps American white supremacists or Middle Eastern radicals; defense lawyer Barbara Bergman tries and fails for a delay, telling Taylor: "Everywhere we turn we are being stymied by the federal government, your honor. It's outrageous. Why is the federal government so afraid?" Taylor says he will allow the defense considerable leeway in questioning government witnesses: "Some call a trial a search for truth. If the FBI thinks it important to search for truth while we're conducting this trial, then they should cooperate with the search for truth in this courtroom." The jury has not yet been seated, and lawyers will not give their opening arguments for at least a week. Brian T. Hermanson is Nichols's lead lawyer; Lou Keel leads the prosecution. [New York Times, 3/2/2004; New York Times, 3/9/2004]
Entity Tags: Steven W. Taylor, Barbara Bergman, Brian Hermanson, Lou Keel, Terry Lynn Nichols, Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Justice
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline, Civil Liberties
March 16, 2004: Previous Lawyer for Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirator Joins in Casting Doubt on Government's Theory of Bombing
Lead defense lawyer Brian Hermanson. [Source: Corbis / TruTV]Michael E. Tigar, the former lead attorney for convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols (see June 4, 1998) who now faces a state trial on 161 counts of first-degree murder (see March 1, 2004), joins Nichols's current defense team in speculating that the bombing may have been carried out by a larger group of white supremacists, of which Nichols was only a minor member and perhaps little more than a scapegoat. While prosecutors say they have "an avalanche of evidence" showing Nichols's heavy involvement, defense lawyers led by Brian T. Hermanson say that Nichols and his cohort, convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh (see June 2, 1997), were part of the purported larger conspiracy. McVeigh, Hermanson argues, "conspired with others whose identities are still unknown" and "orchestrated various events and evidence so as to make it appear that Mr. Nichols was involved and, thereby, direct attention away from others." Some evidence exists of McVeigh's involvement with the violent white supremacist group Aryan Republican Army (ARA—see 1992 - 1995 and November 1994) and it is possible that McVeigh took part in bank robberies the group carried out. Tigar says, "Is it too bad they killed Tim?" referring to McVeigh's execution (see 7:14 a.m. June 11, 2001). "If they really wanted to find out what happened, maybe some of the revelations, now that the cover is blown, maybe he would have talked. Who knows?" Tigar seems to be implying that the government executed McVeigh to ensure his silence, a conclusion prosecutors dispute. Prosecutors say they have given the defense all exculpatory evidence, and that they can indisputably prove Nichols's guilt. Assistant Oklahoma County District Attorney Sandra H. Elliott says, "Whether or not anybody else is involved, we can prove Mr. Nichols is." Mark S. Hamm, a criminology professor who has written about the ARA, says: "The preponderance of evidence points to the fact that McVeigh had some sort of ongoing relationship with members of the ARA. [But t]here's no smoking gun here." Stephen Jones, who represented McVeigh during his trial (see May 8, 1995), says: "Where the Nichols defense clearly wants to go is to try for an acquittal or hung jury using material the government withheld." If successful, the Nichols lawyers will try to get Nichols's federal conviction (see December 23, 1997) reversed. However, "it has to succeed in [these proceedings] first." [New York Times, 3/16/2004]
Entity Tags: Sandra H. Elliott, Aryan Republican Army, Brian Hermanson, Michael E. Tigar, Stephen Jones, Timothy James McVeigh, Mark S. Hamm, Terry Lynn Nichols
March 22, 2004: Murder Trial of Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirator Opens; Prosecutors Lambasted by Judge for Jury Impropriety
Lawyers make their opening statements in the trial of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols (see March 1, 2004), charged with 161 counts of first-degree murder in the bombing. Nichols is already serving a life sentence from a conviction in federal court (see December 23, 1997). Assistant District Attorney Lou Keel calls Nichols and executed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 7:14 a.m. June 11, 2001) "partners in terror," and tells of a plethora of evidence joining the two in the conspiracy to destroy the Murrah Federal Building (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). Lead defense lawyer Brian T. Hermanson says that Nichols was the victim of "manipulation" and "betrayal" by his friend McVeigh. The prosecution seems to be following a similar path as that taken in Nichols's federal trial, but Nichols's defense is trying to raise new doubts about others possibly involved in the conspiracy (see March 16, 2004), including questioning the existence and identity of the infamous "John Doe No. 2," a purported fellow conspirator who was never caught and whom the FBI has said never existed (see April 20, 1995, April 21, 1995, April 29, 1995, and June 14, 1995).
Judge Lashes Prosecution for 'Inexcusable Conduct' - Judge Steven Taylor excoriates the prosecution for its "inexcusable conduct" in withholding an impropriety in jury selection, saying that the impropriety might cause a mistrial later in the case. Taylor says the Oklahoma County District Attorney's office failed to inform the court until the jury was already chosen that among the 12 jurors and six alternates were three relatives of a prosecutor with local roots who had worked on jury selection. "The court cannot imagine why the prosecutors affirmatively chose not to reveal this information during the jury selection," Taylor says, blaming prosecutor George Burnett for the lapse. Burnett, Taylor says, knew in early March that he was related to three or four people in the 357-member jury pool, but continued to participate in the process of jury selection that included three of his relatives. At that point, Burnett told his fellow prosecutors, but no one told Taylor until March 12, the day after the jury was selected and the process closed. The jurors bear no blame in the matter, Taylor says. He dismissed the three jurors in question, leaving only three alternates. If the jurors should fall below the requisite dozen, he warns, "the trial will not end in a mistrial, it will end in a dismissal with prejudice," meaning Nichols cannot be retried on the charges. Prosecutors do not respond in court to Taylor's admonishment, and say nothing to reporters, as Taylor has barred both sides from speaking to reporters about the case. [New York Times, 3/23/2004]
Entity Tags: Lou Keel, Brian Hermanson, George Burnett, Terry Lynn Nichols, Timothy James McVeigh, Steven W. Taylor
Before May 17, 2004: 9/11 Commission Staff Finds New York City Ill-Prepared for Terrorist Attack, Realizes This Conclusion Must Be Hedged
The 9/11 Commission's staff team that is investigating the emergency response on 9/11 comes to the conclusion that New York City was, in author Philip Shenon's words, "shockingly ill-prepared for the attacks." It is clear to the investigators that former Mayor Rudy Giuliani was largely responsible for what went wrong.
Two Major Problems - One problem was that New York's emergency command center, based on the 23rd floor of World Trade Center 7, was knocked out early in the attacks, leaving the emergency response without a focal point, and the police and fire departments set up separate command posts (see (9:05 a.m.) September 11, 2001, (9:50 a.m.-10:10 a.m.) September 11, 2001, and (After 10:28 a.m.-12:00 pm.) September 11, 2001). The command center, sometimes referred to as "Rudy's bunker," was criticized when it was built precisely because this problem was foreseen (see June 8, 1999). In addition, the radios used by firefighters in the World Trade Center failed to work on 9/11. The same problem was encountered during the response to the 1993 WTC bombing (see February 26, 1993), but the solution that was implemented—a repeater to boost the radios' signal—did not work on the day of the attacks. This problem was especially grave, as many firefighters were instructed to flee the about-to-collapse towers, but did not hear the instruction due to the poor radio system and died as a result (see (Between 9:59 a.m. and 10:28 a.m.) September 11, 2001).
Tempering Criticism - However, the team, led by former New Jersey attorney general John Farmer, is aware that Giuliani's image as a global hero after the attacks could complicate matters. Shenon will describe their thinking: "But would the Commission be willing to take on the most popular political figure in the country—the president-in-waiting, it seemed?… [Giuliani] was a hero, the embodiment of everything Americans wanted to believe about themselves about 9/11." Therefore, "Farmer and his team always qualif[y] their criticism of the former mayor." Nevertheless, the Commission's two staff statements issued during the hearings about this topic in New York will be extremely critical of Giuliani. [Shenon, 2008, pp. 347-350]
Entity Tags: John Farmer, 9/11 Commission, Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani
May 17, 2004: 9/11 Commissioners Briefed on Approach to Take in New York Hearings, Warned to 'Watch Their Rhetoric'
The 9/11 commissioners meet with John Farmer, head of the Commission's team investigating the emergency response on 9/11, to discuss their strategy for hearings in New York on the next two days, when former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's performance before the attacks will be discussed. Farmer and his team have worked up a list of pages and pages of questions (see Before May 17, 2004) about why Guiliani built his emergency response center next to a top terrorist target, about city radios that failed to work on 9/11, miscommunication between the police and the fire departments, and 911 telephone operators who told people trapped in the Word Trade Center to remain where they were, instead of trying to escape. However, Farmer is aware that tough questioning could be fraught with danger, given Giuliani's hero status after the attacks. According to author Philip Shenon, he tells the commissioners that "they need[…] to be careful; they need[…] to remember where they [are]," because "[New York]'s not Washington. It's different here." Shenon will add: "Farmer told the commissioner[s] that they should ask tough questions, but they should be careful not to give a platform to Giuliani and his loyalists to counterattack; John Ashcroft's campaign against [commissioner] Jamie Gorelick (see April 13-April 29, 2004) would look like a 'garden party' by comparison. The city's take-no-prisoners tabloid newspapers were Giuliani's defenders, and they could be expected to weigh in to defend him if the Commission's questioning of the former mayor became too fierce." [Shenon, 2008, pp. 350-351]
Entity Tags: 9/11 Commission, John Farmer
May 18, 2004: Row between Commissioner and Giuliani Subordinates Derails 9/11 Commission Hearings
The first of two days of 9/11 Commission hearings in New York is overshadowed by a row between commissioner John Lehman and two subordinates of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen. Despite Giuliani's hero status after the attacks, the Commission's staff discovered serious errors in New York's preparations for a potential terrorist attack before 9/11 (see Before May 17, 2004), but realized the commissioners had to be sensitive in how these errors were handled in public (see May 17, 2004).
Aggressive Beginning - When Lehman has his turn to put questions to a panel, he makes an aggressive beginning, saying that New York's police, fire, and Port Authority police departments are the finest in the world but also "the proudest," and adds, "But pride runneth before the fall." He then calls the command, control, and communications "a scandal," and says the emergency response system was "not worthy of the Boy Scouts, let alone this great city." This draws some applause from the crowd and Lehman adds: "I think it's a scandal that the fire commissioner has no line authority. It's a scandal that there's nobody that has clear line authority and accountability for a crisis of the magnitude that we're going to have to deal with in the years ahead. It's a scandal that after laboring for eight years, the city comes up with a plan for incident management that simply puts in concrete this clearly dysfunctional system."
Counterattack - Kerik and Von Essen, both now partners in Giuliani's consulting firm, push back. Von Essen says: "I couldn't disagree with you more. I think that one of the criticisms of this committee has been statements like you just made, talking about scandalous procedures and scandalous operations and rules and everything else. There's nothing scandalous about the way that New York City handles its emergencies.… You make it sound like everything was wrong about September 11th or the way we function. I think it's outrageous that you make a statement like that." Kerik and Von Essen also make similar comments for the press after the hearing, when Von Essen calls Lehman's questioning "despicable" and adds, "If I had the opportunity, I probably would have choked him because that's what he deserved."
Chance to Meaningfully Question Giuliani Lost - The commissioners and the Commission's staff immediately realize Lehman has destroyed any chance the Commission had of getting to the bottom of why things went badly with the emergency response in New York on 9/11. Author Philip Shenon will comment: "Any hope of forcing Giuliani to answer hard questions the next day had evaporated. The dynamic would now turn in Giuliani's favor."
Lehman Claims He Was Set Up - According to Shenon: "[Lehman] was certain he had been set up by Kerik and Von Essen on behalf of Giuliani. He suspected they had come to the hearing with a script. They were waiting for the right question from one of the commissioners that would allow them to launch a pre-scripted fusillade of insults back at the Commission, turning the hearing into an us-versus-them fight that the city's tabloids would devour." [Shenon, 2008, pp. 351-354]
Entity Tags: 9/11 Commission, Thomas Von Essen, Bernard Kerik, John Lehman
May 19, 2004: 9/11 Commission Reaches Self-Confessed 'Low Point' in Giuliani Questioning
Rudolph Giuliani testifying before the 9/11 Commission. [Source: Gotham Gazette]The second day of the 9/11 Commission hearings about the emergency response on the day of the attacks is dominated by questioning of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, which Commission Chairman Tom Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton will describe as the Commission's "low point." [Kean and Hamilton, 2006, pp. 226-228] Giuliani had become a hero after the attacks, winning the Time magazine Person of the Year award, and the Commission was aware that it had to be careful about how it handled material it had uncovered putting him in a bad light (see Before May 17, 2004 and May 18, 2004). [Time, 12/22/2001] However, commissioner John Lehman had attacked the city's preparedness the previous day, leading to a major row (see May 18, 2004). Author Philip Shenon will describe the hearing as a "Rudy Giuliani lovefest," pointing out that, "Many of the questions directed at Giuliani by the commissioners barely qualified as softballs, they were so gentle." [Shenon, 2008, pp. 355-356]
'The Captain Was on the Bridge' - Kean and Hamilton will admit that every commissioner "opens his or her questioning with lavish praise." For instance, Richard Ben-Veniste says, "Your leadership on that day and in the days following gave the rest of the nation, and indeed the world, an unvarnished view of the indomitable spirit and the humanity of this great city, and for that I salute you." Jim Thompson thanks Giuliani for "setting an example to us all." Lehman says: "There was no question the captain was on the bridge." Kean says, "New York City on that terrible day in a sense was blessed because it had you as a leader." [Kean and Hamilton, 2006, pp. 226-228]
'Stop Kissing Ass!' - However, Giuliani suggests that hundreds of firefighters died when the North Tower collapsed because they had chosen to remain in the building, not because they had not received the order to evacuate due to problems with their radio system. This angers some of the audience members, who shout out, "Talk about the radios!" "Put one of us on the panel—just one of us!" "Stop kissing ass!" and: "My brother was a fireman, and I want to know why three hundred firemen died. And I've got some real questions. Let's ask some real questions. Is that unfair?" [Shenon, 2008, pp. 355-356]
'We Did Not Ask Tough Questions' - Kean and Hamilton will later write: "The questioning of Mayor Giuliani was a low point in terms of the Commission's questioning of witnesses at our public hearings. We did not ask tough questions, nor did we get all of the information we needed to put on the public record. We were affected by the controversy over Lehman's comments, and by the excellent quality of the mayor's presentation." [Kean and Hamilton, 2006, pp. 226-228]
Entity Tags: Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani, Richard Ben-Veniste, Philip Shenon, John Lehman, James Thompson, Lee Hamilton, Thomas Kean
Summer 2004: Former Counterterrorism Chief Debunks Ties between Iraq, 9/11, and '93 WTC Attacks
Vincent Cannistraro, the former head of the CIA's counterterrorism office, says that no evidence has ever been found to support a tie between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks. Nor has any evidence shown that any connections exist between Iraq and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing (see February 26, 1993). Instead, those ties were postulated for purposes of political manipulation. Cannistraro says: "The policymakers already had conceits they had adopted without reference to current intelligence estimates. And those conceits were: Saddam was evil, a bad man, he had evil intentions, and they were greatly influenced by neoconservative beliefs that Saddam had been involved with the sponsorship of terrorism in the United States since as early as 1993, with the first World Trade Center bombing.… None of this is true, of course, but these were their conceits, and they continue in large measure to be the conceits of a lot of people like Jim Woolsey" (see February 2001). The intelligence and law enforcement communities have a different view: "The FBI did a pretty thorough investigation of the first World Trade Center bombing," Cannistraro says, "and while it's true that their policy was to treat terrorism as a law-enforcement problem, nevertheless, they understood how the first World Trade Center bombing was supported… and had linkages back to Osama bin Laden. He was of course, not indicted… because the FBI until recently believed that you prosecuted perpetrators, not the sponsors. In any event they knew there was no Saddam linkage. Laurie Mylroie promoted a lot of this (see Late July or Early August 2001), and people who came in [to the Bush administration], particularly in the Defense Department—[Paul] Wolfowitz and [Douglas] Feith (see June 2001)—were acolytes, promoting her book, The Study of Revenge (see October 2000), particularly in the Office of Special Plans (see September 2002), and the Secretary's Policy Office (see Shortly After September 11, 2001). In any event, they already had their preconceived notions.… So the intelligence, and I can speak directly to the CIA part of it, the intelligence community's assessments were never considered adequate." [Middle East Policy Council, 6/2004]
Entity Tags: Vincent Cannistraro
June 14, 2004: Cheney Repeats Claims of Ties Between Hussein and Al-Qaeda
During a speech before the James Madison Institute, a conservative think-tank based in Florida, Vice President Dick Cheney states that Saddam Hussein "had long-established ties with al-Qaeda." [Associated Press, 6/14/2004]
Entity Tags: Richard ("Dick") Cheney
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, Events Leading to Iraq Invasion, 2004 Elections
June 15, 2004: President Bush Continues to Maintain There Was Al-Qaeda-Hussein Relationship
President Bush repeats the US government claim that al-Qaeda had links to the Saddam Hussein government of Iraq, suggesting that militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the link between the two. "Al-Zarqawi's the best evidence of a connection to al-Qaeda affiliates and al-Qaeda. He's the person who's still killing." [CNN, 6/15/2004]
Entity Tags: Saddam Hussein, Al-Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, George W. Bush
June 16, 2004: 9/11 Commission Gives Account of Prisoner Interrogations
The 9/11 Commission releases a new report on how the 9/11 plot developed. Most of their information appears to come from interrogations of prisoners Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM), the 9/11 mastermind, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a key member of the al-Qaeda Hamburg cell. In this account, the idea for the attacks appears to have originated with KSM. In mid-1996, he met bin Laden and al-Qaeda leader Mohammed Atef in Afghanistan. He presented several ideas for attacking the US, including a version of the 9/11 plot using ten planes (presumably an update of Operation Bojinka's second phase plot (see February-Early May 1995)). Bin Laden does not commit himself. In 1999, bin Laden approves a scaled-back version of the idea, and provides four operatives to carry it out: Nawaf Alhazmi, Khalid Almihdhar, Khallad bin Attash, and Abu Bara al Taizi. Attash and al Taizi drop out when they fail to get US visas. Alhazmi and Almihdhar prove to be incompetent pilots, but the recruitment of Mohamed Atta and the others in the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell solves that problem. Bin Laden wants the attacks to take place between May and July 2001, but the attacks are ultimately delayed until September. [9/11 Commission, 6/16/2004] However, information such as these accounts resulting from prisoner interrogations is seriously doubted by some experts, because it appears they only began cooperating after being coerced or tortured. For instance, it is said that KSM was "waterboarded," a technique in which his head is pushed under water until he nearly drowns. Information gained under such duress often is unreliable. Additionally, there is a serious risk that the prisoners might try to intentionally deceive. [New York Times, 6/17/2004] For instance, one CIA report of his interrogations is called, "Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's Threat Reporting—Precious Truths, Surrounded by a Bodyguard of Lies." [Los Angeles Times, 6/23/2004] The Commission itself expresses worry that KSM could be trying to exaggerate the role of bin Laden in the plot to boost bin Laden's reputation in the Muslim world. [9/11 Commission, 6/16/2004] Most of what these prisoners have said is uncorroborated from other sources. [New York Times, 6/17/2004] In 2007, it will be alleged that as much as 90 percent of KSM's interrogation could be inaccurate, and that he has recanted some of his confessions (see August 6, 2007).
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, 9/11 Commission, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
June 18, 2004: Madrid Bomber Shown to Have Curious Link to Spanish Government Bomb Squad
Juan Jesus Sanchez Manzano. [Source: PBS]It is revealed that the man accused of supplying the dynamite used in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004) was an informant who had the private telephone number of the head of Spain's Civil Guard bomb squad. Emilio Suarez Trashorras, a miner with access to explosives, as well as an associate named Rafa Zouhier both regularly informed for the Spanish police, telling them about drug shipments. [New York Times, 4/30/2004; London Times, 6/19/2004] Trashorras began working as an informant after being arrested for drug trafficking in July 2001, while Zouhier became an informant after being released from prison early in February 2002. [Irujo, 2005, pp. 277-288] Shortly after the Madrid bombings, investigators discover that Trashorras' wife Carmen Toro has a piece of paper with the telephone number of Juan Jesus Sanchez Manzano, head of Tedax, the Civil Guard bomb squad. She and her brother Antonio Toro are also informants (September 2003-February 2004). All four of them were arrested on charges of supplying the explosives for the Madrid bombings (see March 2003 and September 2003-February 2004). [New York Times, 4/30/2004; London Times, 6/19/2004] The London Times later comments, "The revelation has raised fresh concerns in Madrid about links between those held responsible for the March bombings, which killed 190 people, and Spain's security services, and shortcomings in the police investigation." [London Times, 6/19/2004] Trashorras will eventually be sentenced to life in prison for his role in the bombings, Zouhier will also get a ten or more year prison term, and the Toros will be acquitted (see October 31, 2007). [MSNBC, 10/31/2007]
Entity Tags: Rafa Zouhier, Juan Jesus Sanchez Manzano, Carmen Toro, Antonio Toro, Emilio Suarez Trashorras
Before June 21, 2004: Iraqi Officer Turns out Not to Be Involved in 9/11
After a search of Iraqi paramilitary records indicates a man named Hikmat Shakir Ahmad was a lieutenant colonel in Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen, there is speculation that he is the same person as Ahmad Hikmat Shakir, an alleged Iraqi al-Qaeda operative who met one of the 9/11 hijackers during an al-Qaeda summit in Malaysia (see January 5-8, 2000), and was captured and inexplicably released after 9/11 (see September 17, 2001). The claim that the two men are the same person is used to bolster the theory that Saddam Hussein was in some way connected to 9/11, but turns out not to be true, as the two of them are found to be in different places at one time, in September 2001. [Knight Ridder, 6/12/2004; Washington Post, 6/22/2004; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 502]
Entity Tags: Hikmat Shakir Ahmad, Ahmad Hikmat Shakir
July-October 18, 2004: Spanish Informant Exposes Plot to Bomb High Court in Madrid
Abdelkader Farssaoui, a.k.a. Cartagena, served as a government informant from late 2001 to June 2003, informing on a group of the Madrid train bombers (see September 2002-October 2003). He continued to work with Spanish authorities, and in July 2004, several months after the Madrid train bombings, he hears about a new Spanish bomb plot. He tells authorities that the plot is being led by a man named Mohamed Achraf, who is leading the effort despite being held in a prison in Switzterland on immigration violations. Achraf's plan is to blow up the National Justice Building (Audiencia Nacional) in Madrid, using 500 kilos (1,100 lbs) of explosives. He is leading a criminal network and has been raising the money for the explosives through robbery and drug trafficking. He hopes that the bomb will kill judges Baltasar Garzon and Juan del Olmo, who are in charge of investigations against suspected al-Qaeda figures in Spain. He also hopes the destruction of the building will destroy many documents about Islamist militants in Spain. [El Mundo (Madrid), 10/21/2004] Beginning on October 18, 2004, Spain arrests about 30 people who they accuse of involvement in the plot. Achraf will be extradited to Spain to stand trial with the others there. As of early 2008, no verdicts have been reached. [BBC, 10/22/2004; BBC, 10/15/2007]
Entity Tags: Juan del Olmo, Mohamed Achraf, Baltasar Garzon, Abdelkader Farssaoui
July 8, 2004: Warning Issued that Terrorists May Plot to Disrupt US Presidential Elections
Deforest B. Soaries Jr. [Source: MSNBC]On July 6, John Kerry named John Edwards as his running mate. [Rolling Stone, 9/21/2006 ] This produced a slight increase in the opinion polls and a media focus on the Kerry campaign. [MSNBC, 6/4/2007] Two days later, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warns that "Al-Qaeda is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large-scale attack in the United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process." [Department of Homeland Security, 7/8/2004] Officials cite "alarming" intelligence about a possible al-Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall and admit they are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of an attack. Officials point to the recent Madrid train bombings as an attempt by al-Qaeda to influence the political process in a democratic nation (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). Intercepted chatter leads one analyst to say, "they want to interfere with the elections." It is reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently asked the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to analyze the necessary legal steps that would permit the postponement of the election were an attack to take place. [Newsweek, 7/19/2004] The head of the US Election Assistance Commission, Deforest B. Soaries Jr., confirms he has written to Tom Ridge to discuss this prospect. [MSNBC, 6/4/2007] Soaries notes that, while a primary election in New York on September 11, 2001 was suspended by the State Board of Elections after the attacks, "the federal government has no agency that has the statutory authority to cancel and reschedule a federal election." Soaries advises Ridge to seek emergency legislation from Congress that would grant such power to the DHS. DHS spokesman Brian Roehrkasse says, "We are reviewing the issue to determine what steps need to be taken to secure the election." [Newsweek, 7/19/2004] A top European spy says of the threat, "I am aware of no intelligence, nothing that shows there will be an attack before the US presidential election." No attack will materialize and no further information on the threat will be presented to the public. [Rolling Stone, 9/21/2006 ] Ridge will later concede that he had no "precise knowledge" of the attack he warned against, and he never made plans to raise the color-coded threat level. [Rich, 2006, pp. 146]
Entity Tags: US Election Assistance Commission, Deforest B. Soaries Jr., John Edwards, John Kerry, Tom Ridge, Brian Roehrkasse
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 2004 Elections
July 22, 2004: 9/11 Commission Finds No 9/11 Insider Trading
The 9/11 Commission dismisses allegations of insider trading in the days preceding 9/11, in a footnote contained in its final report. According to the report, the put options for the parent companies of United Airlines were placed by a "US-based institutional investor with no conceivable ties to al-Qaeda as part of a trading strategy that also included buying 115,000 shares of American on September 10." With respect to the highly suspicious trading in the parent company of American Airlines, the Commission states that many of the trades were "traced to a specific US-based options trading newsletter, faxed to its subscribers on Sunday, September 9, which recommended these trades." According to the Commission: "The SEC and the FBI, aided by other agencies and the securities industry, devoted enormous resources to investigating this issue, including securing the cooperation of many foreign governments. These investigators have found that the apparently suspicious consistently proved innocuous." [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 499]
Entity Tags: United Airlines, US Securities and Exchange Commission, 9/11 Commission, American Airlines, Al-Qaeda, Federal Bureau of Investigation
August 2004: National Guardsman Sues Pentagon to Prevent Forcible Redeployment
A lawsuit, Doe v. Rumsfeld, is filed on behalf of an Army recruit who is being forcibly redeployed to Iraq after nine years of active duty under the Army's "stop-loss" program (see November 2002). The plaintiff, a reservist in the California National Guard who uses the pseudonym "John Doe" in the lawsuit, claims that since he signed up for only one year of duty, the stop-loss deployment could force him "to return to Iraq for up to two years, and possible continued military service beyond that time." [PBS, 9/17/2004] Doe is a married father of two and an eight-year Army veteran who served in combat during the 1991 Gulf War (see January 16, 1991 and After). Doe enlisted in the National Guard in May 2003 under the so-called "Try One" program, which allows active-duty veterans to sign up for a year before deciding to make a longer commitment. Doe renewed in February 2004, making his new expiration date May 2, 2005. In July 2004, Doe's unit was deployed for a 545-day tour of duty, which extended Doe's time in service by about a year. He says he was told that if he did not re-enlist voluntarily for the extra time, he would be retained under the Army's stop-loss policy. [Oakland Tribune, 1/14/2006] In January 2006, Doe will lose the case on appeal (see January 14, 2006).
Entity Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, 'John Doe', US Department of the Army, California National Guard
Timeline Tags: US Military, Iraq under US Occupation
August 3, 2004: Al-Qaeda Suspect Arrrested in Britain; Suspected of Planning Major Attacks
Dhiren Barot. [Source: London Metropolitan Police]Dhiren Barot, a Londoner of Indian descent who converted to Islam and fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan, is arrested along with about a dozen other al-Qaeda suspects by British authorities (see August 3, 2004). Barot, who uses a number of pseudonyms, including Abu Eissa al-Hindi, will be charged with several crimes surrounding his plans to launch attacks against British and US targets. Barot's plans were discovered in a computer owned by al-Qaeda operative Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, who was arrested in July 2004 and was helping US intelligence until his outing by US and Pakistani officials on August 2, 2004 (see August 2, 2004). Though Barot is not believed to be a high-level al-Qaeda operative, he has connections to some of al-Qaeda's most notorious leaders, including bin Laden and 9/11 plotter Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM), who, according to the 9/11 Commission, dispatched him to "case" targets in New York City in 2001. Under the alias Issa al-Britani, he is known to have been sent to Malaysia in late 1999 or very early 2000 by KSM to meet with Hambali, the head of the al-Qaeda affiliate Jemaah Islamiyah. According to the commission report, Barot may have given Hambali the names of 9/11 hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi. Barot may have traveled to Malaysia with Khallad bin Attash. Bin Attash is believed to be one of the planners behind the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole (see October 12, 2000). Barot's trip to Malaysia came just days before the well-documented January 2000 al-Qaeda summit where early plans for the 9/11 bombings were hatched (see January 5-8, 2000), though US officials do not believe that Barot was present at that meeting. British authorities believe that Barot was part of an al-Qaeda plan to launch a mass terror attack using chemical and/or radioactive weapons. Barot and other suspects arrested were, according to Western officials, in contact with al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, who themselves were communicating with bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders as recently as July 2004. [MSNBC, 8/20/2004] Barot's plans seem to have focused more actively on British targets, including London's subway system. In November 2006, Barot will be convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes, and eventually sentenced to thirty years in prison by a British court. [BBC, 11/7/2006; BBC, 5/16/2007]
Entity Tags: Khallad bin Attash, USS Cole, Nawaf Alhazmi, Hambali, Dhiren Barot, Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, Khalid Almihdhar, Jemaah Islamiyah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan
August 5, 2004: FBI Anthrax Attacks Investigators Raid Medical Doctor's Residences, but Quickly Lose Interest in Him
Kenneth Berry. [Source: Public domain]On August 5, 2004, FBI agents target Dr. Kenneth Berry for a role in the 2001 anthrax attacks (see October 5-November 21, 2001). Agents raid his home and former apartment in Wellsville, New York, as well as his parents' apartment in New Jersey. Agents cordon off streets and search the residences wearing biochemical protective suits. This becomes a highly publicized media spectacle. But Berry is not charged or arrested. The raids are the culmination of an 18-month investigation. For instance, in July, dozens of his associates were interviewed. Berry apparently panics and gets in a fight with his wife and stepchildren. A restraining order prevents him from returning home and he is eventually divorced. He also loses his job. By October 2004, government officials say their investigation has uncovered nothing that would implicate him in the anthrax attacks, but he is not officially cleared of suspicion.
Unusual Background as WMD Expert - Berry is a licensed physician working in a hospital. But in 1997, he formed an organization named Preempt, which promoted training for first responders to protect against a WMD attack. By 1999, Berry had risen in prominence and was meeting with prominent experts and politicians about WMD threats, including some US senators and former CIA Director James Woolsey. He was also working on inventions for systems to detect the release of germ weapons, but none of his inventions are successfully developed. In late 2000, he attended a two-day course on using anthrax and other germs as weapons, taught by bioweapons expert William Patrick. His organization Preempt slowly fizzled in importance, but he continued to consider himself a freelance WMD expert. [New York Times, 10/3/2004]
Investigators Lose Interest, but Name is Never Cleared - The Associated Press will comment in 2008, "investigators seemed to lose interest in Berry quickly," but he lost his job and his wife in the process. He has never spoken about the experience, but a friend will say, "Since things quieted down, he's put his life back together again and he's in a stable environment right now.… As far as I know, he just wants his name cleared as publicly as it was smeared." [Associated Press, 8/7/2008]
Entity Tags: Kenneth Berry, Federal Bureau of Investigation
August 20, 2004: Salah Finally Arrested
Mohammad Salah, Mousa Abu Marzouk, and Abdelhaleem Ashqar are indicted on racketeering conspiracy charges. Salah and Ashqar are arrested. Marzouk, considered a high-ranking Hamas leader, is out of reach in Syria. Marzouk had been charged in 2002 on related matters (see December 18, 2002-April 2005). Ashqar was already under house arrest on related charges of contempt and obstruction of justice. The three are accused of using US bank accounts to launder millions of dollars to support Hamas. The indictment alleges the laundered money was used to pay for murders, kidnappings, assaults, and passport fraud. Many of the charges date to the early 1990s (see 1989-January 1993) and had been the subject of legal cases in 1998 and 2000 (see June 9, 1998; May 12, 2000-December 9, 2004). [New York Times, 8/21/2004; Associated Press, 8/24/2004] Salah and Ashqar had been living openly in the US for several years. The US had declared Salah a "designated global terrorist" in 1995 and he returned to Chicago in 1997 (see February 1995). The media reported on this in 2003 but they still were not arrested (see June 2-5, 2003). In 1993, Ashqar took part in a secret Hamas meeting in Philadelphia that was wiretapped by the FBI (see October 1993). [ABC News, 6/12/2003; New York Times, 8/21/2004]
Entity Tags: Mohammad Salah, Abdelhaleem Ashqar, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzouk
September 27, 2004: Al-Qaeda-Linked Militant Leader Killed in Pakistan, but Circumstances of His Killing Are Questioned
Amjad Farooqi. [Source: Associated Press]Amjad Farooqi, a leader of al-Qaeda and the Pakistani militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, is allegedly shot and killed in Nawabshah, Pakistan, a town 170 miles north of Karachi. Farooqi had been indicted for the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 (see January 31, 2002), and was said to have been a mastermind of the two assassination attempts against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003 (see December 14 and 25, 2003). Farooqi is also believed to have taken part in the hijacking of an Indian airliner in late 1999 (see December 24-31, 1999). He is said to be close to al-Qaeda leader Abu Faraj al-Libbi. Farooqi was allegedly tracked by his mobile home to a hideout, which was then surrounded by police. He and two associates were killed after a two-hour gun battle, while three others were arrested. A senior Pakistani official says, "Farooqi's elimination is a crushing blow to the al-Qaeda network in Pakistan because he was the man who had been providing al-Qaeda terrorists with the manpower to carry out attacks." [Washington Post, 9/27/2004]
Staged Death? - However, the Asia Times reported in June 2004 that Farooqi had been secretly arrested already and that Musharraf was saving him for a politically opportune time. [Asia Times, 6/5/2004] After the announcement of his death, the Asia Times further report that its sources believe Farooqi indeed was killed, but his death was staged and he had been arrested months before. It is claimed that Pakistani authorities wanted him dead to close investigations into the murder of Daniel Pearl and the assassination attempts against Musharraf. In both cases, there are unanswered questions about the links between al-Qaeda and forces within the Pakistani government. Furthermore, some say the 1999 Indian airline hijacking he was said to have been a part of was planned by al-Qaeda-linked militants working with the Pakistani ISI (see December 24-31, 1999).
Allegedly Overhyped - The Asia Times further claims that while Farooqi was involved in Pearl's death and the Musharraf assassinations, he was not the "super villain" he was made out to be in the months before his death. They also portray him as a stand-alone operator who worked with al-Qaeda and a number of Pakistani militant groups, but did not directly belong to any one group. [Asia Times, 9/28/2004; Asia Times, 9/29/2004]
Questions Unanswered - One senior Pakistani law-enforcement official says after the announcement of his death, "It was very important to catch Amjad Farooqi alive. Farooqi was the key link between the foot soldiers and those who ordered the murder [of Musharraf]." Another says, "Amjad Farooqi is now dead with the most important secret and we still don't know for sure the real identity of the Pakistani or al-Qaeda or any other foreign elements who had launched Farooqi into action to remove General Musharraf from the scene." [Asia Times, 9/30/2004]
Entity Tags: Pervez Musharraf, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, Al-Qaeda, Amjad Farooqi
October 4, 2004: New CIA Report Doubts Any Link Existed between Al-Qaeda and Hussein's Government
Knight Ridder Newspapers reveals that a new CIA report released to top US officials the week before says there is no conclusive evidence linking Islamist militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the former Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The CIA reviewed intelligence information at the request of Vice President Dick Cheney some months before. One official familiar with the report says it does not make clear judgments, and the evidence of a possible link is murky. For instance, the report claims that three of al-Zarqawi's associates were arrested by the Iraqi government before the Iraq war, and Hussein ordered one of them released but not the other two. The report doubts that al-Zarqawi received medical treatment at a Baghdad hospital in May 2002, and flatly denies reports that al-Zarqawi had a leg amputated there or anywhere else (see January 26, 2003). One US official says, "The evidence is that Saddam never gave al-Zarqawi anything." Several days after the report is given to top officials, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld backs away from previous claims he had made of a link between Hussein and al-Qaeda, saying, "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two." It is widely acknowledged that al-Zarqawi spent time in Iraq before the start of the Iraq war, but he generally stayed in a border region outside of Hussein's control. [Knight Ridder, 10/4/2004]
Entity Tags: Saddam Hussein, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Central Intelligence Agency, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld
October 9-13, 2004: Conservative Pundit Labels Peace Prize Winner a 'Black Racist' for Controversial Views on AIDS, Calls Peace Prize Committee 'Left-Wing Racists'
Wangari Maathai. [Source: AFP / Front Page Magazine]Conservative pundit David Horowitz, the founder and editor of Front Page Magazine, calls Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai a "black racist" for her speculations that the AIDS virus may have been created in a laboratory. Maathai, a Kenyan ecologist and environmental activist, says: "Some say that AIDS came from the monkeys, and I doubt that because we have been living with monkeys [since] time immemorial, others say it was a curse from God, but I say it cannot be that. Us black people are dying more than any other people in this planet.… It's true that there are some people who create agents to wipe out other people. If there were no such people, we could have not have invaded Iraq. We invaded Iraq because we believed that Saddam Hussein had made, or was in the process of creating, agents of biological warfare. In fact it [the HIV virus] is created by a scientist for biological warfare.… Why has there been so much secrecy about AIDS? When you ask where did the virus come from, it raises a lot of flags. That makes me suspicious." A US State Department official says the US does not agree with Maathai's claims about AIDS. Horowitz responds to Maathai's speculations by posting an article on the Front Page Web site entitled "Black Racist Wins Nobel Prize (Thanks to the Leftwing Racists on the Nobel Committee)." [Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 10/9/2004; Front Page Magazine, 10/9/2004; Media Matters, 12/1/2004] Four days later, Horowitz features an article by Front Page author Ben Johnson entitled "Nobel Hates Whitey," in which Johnson calls Maathai "a paranoid, anti-white, anti-Western crusader for international socialism." Johnson interprets Maathai's words to mean that, in his phrasing, "white devils" concocted AIDS to eradicate blacks. He terms her claims "blood libel," accuses her of fomenting violence against Kenyan police, and says she has worked with environmentalists at the United Nations to promote "global socialism." [Front Page Magazine, 10/13/2004]
Entity Tags: Ben Johnson, Wangari Maathai, David Horowitz
October 19, 2004: NIST Releases Latest Findings of WTC Investigation; Presents New Hypotheses as to Why the Twin Towers Collapsed
Shyam Sunder. [Source: NIST]The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) releases nearly 500 pages of documents, detailing the latest findings of its investigation of the WTC collapses on 9/11. These include its hypotheses for the collapse sequences of each of the Twin Towers; details of their analysis of interviews with nearly 1,200 building occupants, emergency responders, and victims' relatives; and information from their analysis of the emergency response and evacuation procedures. Their investigation into the collapses is based upon an analysis of thousands of photos and videos, examination of many of the elements used to construct the towers, and computer-enhanced modeling of the plane impacts and the spreading of the fires. Their hypothesis is that the towers collapsed ultimately due to the fires they suffered: As the fires burned, the buildings' steel core columns buckled and shortened. This shifted more load to the buildings' perimeter columns, which were already affected by the heat of the fires, and caused them to give way under the increased stress. Investigators have conducted a test with a reconstructed section of the WTC floor, and found that the original fireproofing was sufficient to meet the New York City building code. They say that had a typical office fire occurred in the towers, without the structural damage and the loss of some fireproofing caused by the plane impacts, it is likely the buildings would have remained standing. Lead investigator Dr. Shyam Sunder says, "The buildings performed as they should have in the airplane impact and extreme fires to which they were subjected. There is nothing there that stands out as abnormal." NIST's theories of why the WTC buildings collapsed conflict with an earlier investigation by FEMA, which claimed the collapse of the North Tower had begun in its core, rather than its perimeter columns (see May 1, 2002). [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 10/19/2004; New York Times, 10/20/2004]
Entity Tags: Shyam Sunder, National Institute of Standards and Technology, World Trade Center
November 2, 2004: Dutch Filmmaker Killed by Member of Al-Qaeda-Linked Group
Theo van Gogh. [Source: Column Film]Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh is killed by al-Qaeda linked figures. He is shot while on the streets of Amsterdam, then his throat is slit and a note is pinned to his chest with a knife. Van Gogh had received death threats after the release of his short film Submission, which criticized the mistreatment of Muslim women. A Dutch Moroccan named Mohammed Bouyeri is soon captured after a shootout with police. He is later sentenced to life in prison for van Gogh's murder. About 13 other mostly North African men are linked to Bouyeri, and most of them are later convicted for various crimes. This group is said to have ties to al-Qaeda cells in Spain and Belgium, and links to bombings in Casablanca and Madrid (see May 16, 2003 and 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). [PBS Frontline, 1/25/2005]
Entity Tags: Mohammed Bouyeri, Theo van Gogh
November 8, 2004: US District Judge Rules that Guantanamo Hearings for Hamdan Unlawful; Halts Hearing
Salim Ahmed Hamdan. [Source: Public domain]US District Judge James Robertson rules that the Combatant Status Review Tribunal being held at the Guantanamo base in Cuba to determine the status of detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan is unlawful and cannot continue. At the time of the decision, Hamdan is before the Guantanamo military commission. [Washington Post, 11/9/2004; USA Today, 11/9/2004] The commission system, as set up by White House lawyers David Addington and Timothy Flanigan three years before (see Late October 2001), gives accused terrorists such as Hamdan virtually no rights; in author and reporter Charlie Savage's words, "the [Bush] administration had crafted rules that would make it easy for prosecutors to win cases." [Savage, 2007, pp. 195-196]
Violation of Geneva Conventions - Robertson, in his 45-page opinion, says the government should have conducted special hearings to determine whether detainees qualified for prisoner-of-war protections under the Geneva Conventions at the time of capture. [USA Today, 11/9/2004] He says that the Bush administration violated the Geneva Conventions when it designated prisoners as enemy combatants, denied them POW protections, and sent them to Guantanamo. [Boston Globe, 11/9/2004] The Combatant Status Review Tribunals that are currently being held in response to a recent Supreme Court decision (see June 28, 2004) are inadequate, Robertson says, because their purpose is to determine whether detainees are enemy combatants, not POWs, as required by the Third Geneva Convention. [USA Today, 11/9/2004]
Rejects Claims of Presidential Power - Robertson also rejects the administration's claim that the courts must defer to the president in a time of war. "The president is not a 'tribunal,'" the judge says. [USA Today, 11/9/2004] Robertson, a Clinton appointee, thus squarely opposes both the president's military order of November 13, 2001 (see November 13, 2001) establishing the possibility of trial by military tribunal, and his executive order of February 7, 2002 (see February 7, 2002) declaring that the Geneva Conventions do not to apply to Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners. "The government has asserted a position starkly different from the positions and behavior of the United States in previous conflicts," Robertson writes, "one that can only weaken the United States' own ability to demand application of the Geneva Conventions to Americans captured during armed conflicts abroad." [USA Today, 11/9/2004; Washington Post, 11/9/2004; Boston Globe, 11/9/2004]
Orders Military Courts-Martial - Robertson orders that until the government conducts a hearing for Hamdan before a competent tribunal in accordance with the Third Geneva Conventions, he can only be tried in courts-martial, according to the same long-established military rules that apply to trials for US soldiers. [Washington Post, 11/9/2004; Boston Globe, 11/9/2004] Robertson's ruling is the first by a federal judge to assert that the commissions are illegal. [Washington Post, 11/9/2004]
Hearings Immediately Recessed - When word of Robertson's ruling comes to Guantanamo, Colonel Peter Brownback, presiding over a pretrial hearing for Hamdan, immediately gavels the hearing closed, declaring an "indefinite recess" for the tribunal. [Savage, 2007, pp. 195-196]
Ruling Applauded by Civil Libertarians, Rejected by Bush Lawyers - Anthony Romero, director of the American Civil Liberties Union; Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice; and Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, all applaud Robertson's ruling. [Boston Globe, 11/9/2004] The Bush administration rejects the court's ruling and announces its intention to submit a request to a higher court for an emergency stay and reversal of the decision. "We vigorously disagree.… The judge has put terrorism on the same legal footing as legitimate methods of waging war," Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo says. "The Constitution entrusts to the president the responsibility to safeguard the nation's security. The Department of Justice will continue to defend the president's ability and authority under the Constitution to fulfill that duty." [Washington Post, 11/9/2004; Boston Globe, 11/9/2004] He also says that the commission rules were "carefully crafted to protect America from terrorists while affording those charged with violations of the laws of war with fair process." [Boston Globe, 11/9/2004]
Ruling May Affect Other Detainees - Though the ruling technically only applies to Hamdan, his civilian attorney, Neal Katyal, says it could affect other detainees. "The judge's order is designed only to deal with Mr. Hamdan's case," Katyal says. "But the spirit of it… extends more broadly to potentially everything that is going on here at Guantanamo." [USA Today, 11/9/2004]
Entity Tags: Mark Corallo, Neal Katyal, James Robertson, George W. Bush, Anthony D. Romero, Peter Brownback, Charlie Savage, US Supreme Court, American Civil Liberties Union, Salim Ahmed Hamdan
November 15, 2004: Columnist Says Democratic Pollster Commited 'Blood Libel' in Calling 1988 Horton Ad an Example of 'Racial Politics'
US News and World Report senior writer Michael Barone accuses Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg of "blood libel on the American people" in response to Greenberg's claim that the 1988 Bush campaign ads featuring convicted murderer Willie Horton were examples of "racial politics" (see September 21 - October 4, 1988). The progressive media watchdog organization Media Matters will note that the phrase "blood libel" specifically denotes accusations that a particular group, often Jews, practices human sacrifice, and cites one famous (and entirely false) allegation that "Jews kill Christian and Muslim children and use their blood to make Passover matzohs." Barone and Greenberg are panelists on the evening's edition of The Kalb Report, a panel discussion on C-SPAN hosted by journalist and author Marvin Kalb. The topic of the current discussion is "A Post-Election Analysis: Values, Religion, Politics, and the Media." Greenberg calls the Horton ads examples of "racial politics in the 1980s," to which Barone says in response: "I think this whole Willie Horton thing is a slur on the American people. The argument has been made by Democrats and liberals that the Bush campaign in '88 supposedly showed pictures of this man. It did not. There was an independent expenditure ad that did. But they did not. They showed white prisoners in the ad. And the argument against [1988 Democratic presidential candidate] Michael Dukakis, which he never effectively countered because there is no effective counter, is that giving furlough to people who have life without parole is a position that Dukakis defended over 11 years as governor of Massachusetts or governor candidate, is a crazy law, and he supported it over 11 years. You don't have to be a racist to want a murderer, whatever his race, to stay in jail and not be allowed outside on the weekend. To say that the American people were racist and they just want black people in, is blood libel on the American people." Barone is incorrect in saying that Horton's picture was never used in the ads (it was not used in official Bush campaign ads, but it was used in ads by purportedly "independent" organizations supporting the Bush candidacy), and he fails to note that while Dukakis indeed supported the Massachusetts furlough law that allowed Horton the freedom to commit felonies even after being sent to jail for murder, he did not enact the law. Media Matters will note that the Horton ads have long been accepted as strong examples of racial politics, including a 1995 statement from Secretary of State Colin Powell who called the ads "racist." [Media Matters, 11/17/2004]
Entity Tags: Media Matters, Anna Greenberg, Colin Powell, Michael Barone, George Herbert Walker Bush, William ("Willie") Horton, Marvin Kalb, Michael Dukakis
November 26, 2004: Author Calls Ad Depicting Interracial Sex a 'Radical' and 'Intentional Act of Moral Subversion'
A still from the advertisement featuring Terrell Owens and Nicollete Sheridan. [Source: ESPN]Author Sam Francis (see September 1995), in a column originally published on the white supremacist Web site VDare.com, criticizes the broadcast of an ESPN ad featuring a white actress kissing a black football player, and says the ad promotes the "fairly radical concept" that "interracial sex is normal and legitimate." The ad features "white sexpot Nicolette Sheridan… smooching up to black football star Terrell Owens in the locker room of the Philadelphia Eagles." Francis calls the ad "an intentional act of moral subversion," and continues: "[T]he Owens-Sheridan ad was interracial and brazenly so—if only morals and taste had been the targets, the producers could easily have found white actresses who are less obviously Nordic than the golden-locked Miss Sheridan, but Nordic is what the ad's producers no doubt wanted.… The message of the ad was that the white women are eager to have sex with black men, that they should be eager, and that black men should take them up on it." Francis goes on to say the ad would have been less objectionable had the two people involved been of the same race. Instead: "[T]he ad's message also was that interracial sex is normal and legitimate, a fairly radical concept for both the dominant media as well as its audience. Nevertheless, for decades, interracial couples of different sexes have been sneaked into advertising, movies, and television series, and almost certainly not because of popular demand from either race. The Owens-Sheridan match is only the most notorious to date. In the minds of those who produced the ad, race is at least as important as the moral and aesthetic norms their ad subverts. To them, the race as well as the religion, the morality, and the culture of the host society are all equally hostile and oppressive forces that need to be discredited, debunked, and destroyed. If the destruction can't happen at the polls or through the courts, they can always use the long march through the culture that control of the mass media allows. Breaking down the sexual barriers between the races is a major weapon of cultural destruction because it means the dissolution of the cultural boundaries that define breeding and the family and, ultimately, the transmission and survival of the culture itself." Francis's article is given national distribution by Creators Syndicate, prompting an outcry against Francis's apparent belief that interracial sex is immoral. Creators Syndicate editor Anthony Zurcher says that while he does not personally agree with Francis's column, he does not find it "so reprehensible" that it should not have been syndicated. Francis's article is archived at, among other places, the Web site of the American Renaissance movement, an openly "racialist" group calling for white separatism and the enforced oppression of non-whites in the US. [American Renaissance, 11/26/2004; Media Matters, 12/10/2004] David Brock, the president of the progressive media watchdog organization Media Matters, writes in a letter to Creators Syndicate: "We strongly condemn the clear bigotry in this column and assume that newspaper editors across the country feel the same way, as a search of newspapers available on Nexis revealed that none have chosen to run the column. Regardless, Creators' willingness to distribute such abhorrent views calls into question the syndicate's ethical and editorial standards." [Media Matters, 12/7/2004]
Entity Tags: Nicolette Sheridan, Anthony Zurcher, American Renaissance, Creators Syndicate, Sam Francis, David Brock, Terrell Owens
November 29, 2004: Former Spanish Prime Minister Suggests Basque Separatists Were Connected to Madrid Train Bombings
Recently retired Spanish Prime Minister Jose María Aznar says to a parliamentary investigation, "There is absolute proof that shows… a connection between ETA terrorists and Islamic terrorism.… I am one of those who believe that all [forms of] terrorism end up being connected." ETA are a Basque separatist group. According to the Guardian, Aznar's political party lost a national election three days after the March 2004 Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004) "partly because voters mistrusted his government's initial insistence that ETA, rather than Islamists, was to blame." Since then, little evidence has come forward suggesting any ETA link with the bombing, although some of the Arab bomb suspects had contacts with some ETA associates in prison several years before. Aznar denies that his government lied about what it knew regarding who was responsible for the bombings. "My conscience is clear… we told the truth about what we knew." [Guardian, 11/29/2004] Many Spaniards, especially supporters of Aznar's conservative Popular Party, continue to assert that there was an ETA link. The Observer comments, "Few experts, however, give credence to the ETA theory. Some see it as an attempt by the [Popular] Party to muddy the waters in a vain bid to save the party's battered reputation." [Observer, 11/28/2004]
Entity Tags: Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna, Jose Maria Aznar
November 30, 2004: Convicted Oklahoma City Bomber Admitted to Aiding in Bombing, Press Reports
The press reports that Terry Nichols, convicted on federal and state charges surrounding the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing (see December 23, 1997 and May 26, 2004), admitted to his involvement in the conspiracy to blow up the Murrah Federal Building during secret plea negotiations in 2003. Presumably these were the negotiations where prosecutors ultimately rejected an offer by Nichols's lawyers for Nichols to plead "no content" to the 161 charges of first-degree murder in return for being spared the death penalty (see February 17, 2004). Nichols signed a statement acknowledging helping bomber Timothy McVeigh (see December 23, 1997 and June 4, 1998) construct the bomb, though he denied having any prior knowledge of the target (see April 11, 1995) or knowing any other co-conspirators (see May-September 1993, February - July 1994, August 1994, September 13, 1994, October 21 or 22, 1994, and December 16, 1994 and After). Prosecutors now say they never believed Nichols was being entirely truthful in his plea offer. [New York Times, 11/30/2004; The Oklahoman, 4/2009]
Entity Tags: Murrah Federal Building, Timothy James McVeigh, Terry Lynn Nichols
December 3, 2004: Kerik Nominated for Homeland Security Chief
President Bush nominates former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik to head the Department of Homeland Security, replacing outgoing DHS head Tom Ridge. Kerik is a close friend and political ally of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who pushed Kerik for the position. Kerik also actively campaigned for Bush in the recent presidential campaign. "Bernie Kerik is one of the most accomplished and effective leaders of law enforcement in America," Bush says. "In every position, he has demonstrated a deep commitment to justice, a heart for the innocent, and a record of great success. I'm grateful he's agreed to bring his lifetime of security experience and skill to one of the most important positions in the American government." Kerik recently returned from a stint in Iraq, where he trained Iraqi police officials (see May 2003 - July 2003). Kerik was also in charge of New York City police activities during the 9/11 attacks (see (After 10:28 a.m.-12:00 pm.) September 11, 2001). Kerik says: "I know what is at stake. On September 11, 2001, I witnessed firsthand the very worst of humanity and the very best.… I saw hatred claim the lives of 2,400 innocent people, and I saw the bravest men and women I will ever know rescue more than 20,000 others." Bush says of Kerik: "He was there when the Twin Towers collapsed—he knew the faces of the rescuers who rushed toward danger, he attended the funerals for the officers who didn't come back. Bernie Kerik understands the duties that came to America on September 11. The resolve he felt that morning will guide him every day on his job and every first responder defending our homeland will have a faithful ally in Bernie Kerik." Congressional Republicans laud Kerik's nomination. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), the chair of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees DHS, calls Kerik a "strong candidate" for the post. "He knows first hand the challenges this country faces in guarding against terrorist attacks," Collins says. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-CA) calls Kerik "the perfect choice for the job," and goes on to say: "There is no doubt that Bernie is a strong, no-nonsense manager who is intimately familiar with the homeland security mission. The new standing Committee on Homeland Security will work closely with him to build on the strong foundations laid by Tom Ridge to secure America against terrorism." Some Democrats, including Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), also praise Kerik's nomination. "Coming from New York, Bernie Kerik knows the great needs and challenges this country faces in homeland security," Schumer says. "He has a strong law enforcement background and I believe will do an excellent job in fighting for the resources and focus that homeland security needs and deserves in our post-9/11 world." Kerik's biggest drawback as the choice to head DHS may be his lack of experience in managing a federal bureaucracy, some observers say. Former New York Police Commissioner Howard Safire says of Kerik: "Bernie is a very good operational person, he knows how to run the operation. What he needs to learn and what he's going to need help with is the Washington bureaucracy." DHS is an umbrella department overseeing and managing 22 separate federal agencies and some 200,000 employees and contract workers. [New York Times, 12/2/2004; Fox News, 12/3/2004; McClellan, 2008, pp. 245-246] "People here are waiting to find out who this guy is and what changes he'll bring," says an anonymous Homeland Security senior official. "He's really an unknown factor here in Washington." [New York Times, 12/4/2004] In 2008, Scott McClellan, the current White House press secretary, will describe DHS as "still in its infancy and still struggling to define its identity," and will call it a "vast, unwieldy agglomeration of dozens of formerly independent agencies, now bundled together under one name, and with a new focus (physical threats to the American 'homeland') that sometimes contradicted the old mandates. Homeland Security was hampered by bureaucratic infighting, incredibly complex coordination challenges, and slumping employee morale." [McClellan, 2008, pp. 245-246] Less than two weeks later, Kerik will withdraw his name from consideration, ostensibly over a problem with an illegal immigrant he hired to babysit his children (see December 13, 2004), though some believe his withdrawal is spurred by the media's interest in his business dealings (see December 9-10, 2004).
Entity Tags: George W. Bush, Bernard Kerik, Christopher Cox, Charles Schumer, US Department of Homeland Security, Susan Collins, Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani, Scott McClellan, Tom Ridge, Howard Safire
December 5-8, 2004: Conservatives Accuse Democratic Senator of Racism in Response to Criticism of Justice Thomas
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is accused of racism following remarks he makes about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on NBC's Meet the Press. Asked by moderator Tim Russert if he could support conservative Justice Antonin Scalia as chief justice, Reid says Scalia's ethics problems are troubling and that he disagrees with most of his positions, but adds that Scalia "is one smart guy." Asked if he could support Thomas, Reid says: "I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written. I don't—I just don't think that he's done a good job as a Supreme Court justice." [NBC News, 12/5/2004] Conservative pundits are quick to accuse Reid of racism, though he never makes any mention of Thomas's race. On December 6, Charles Krauthammer tells a Fox News audience: "In the end, you've got to ask yourself, why Scalia, good, Thomas, bad in the eyes of a man like Reid. I say it's the liberal plantation mentality, in which if you're a man on the right and white, it's OK. If you are the man on the right and you're African-American, it's not." The same day, Clifford May tells a CNN audience: "Look, Justice Thomas is African-American and he's conservative. Some people [like Reid] will never forgive that and think that's an open opportunity to insult him." During his daytime radio broadcast, talk show host Rush Limbaugh tells his audience: "[I]t's not a new page in the playbook but it's certainly not as old as the playbook itself. But it's been around awhile. That is conservative blacks are inept, a la Clarence Thomas.… You notice how easy it is for these people to be critical of blacks." Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto writes that since Reid did not provide examples of Thomas's "poorly written" opinions, "[i]n the absence of such examples, one can't help but suspect that the new Senate Democratic leader is simply stereotyping Thomas as unintelligent because he is black." That evening, Sean Hannity, co-host of Fox's Hannity and Colmes, tells his listeners that Democrats routinely attack minority conservatives such as Thomas, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and federal judge nominee Miguel Estrada, and adds: "What I see is Democrats oppose African-Americans that are conservative, but yet they claim to support minority rights. And what I'm saying here is, why, if you're for the advancement of minorities, why do you oppose every conservative African-American or Hispanic American? Why is this pattern emerging?" On December 7, African-American conservative Armstrong Williams says on Fox's Hannity and Colmes: "Did you hear those racist remarks from Senator Harry Reid about Justice Thomas?… Harry Reid's the one—he said Thomas was an embarrassment. He said he cannot write. That is racism.… That is racism, only because of the hue of his skin.… Read his [Reid's] words. He was a racist." On December 8, Taranto writes in another Wall Street Journal column, "To try to make Republican judges seem menacing, the Dems could call them 'extremist' or 'out of the mainstream' (and if the judges happen to be black, add that their opinions are 'poorly written')." [Washington Post, 12/6/2004; Media Matters, 12/8/2004] Conservative columnist Ann Coulter will include Reid in her much wider attacks against what she calls "liberal racism" (see December 8, 2004).
Entity Tags: Clarence Thomas, Charles Krauthammer, Antonin Scalia, Ann Coulter, Tim Russert, Sean Hannity, Miguel Estrada, Armstrong Williams, Condoleezza Rice, Clifford May, James Taranto, Harry Reid, Rush Limbaugh
December 8, 2004: Conservative Columnist, Fox Host Accuse Democrats of Racism for Criticizing Black Conservatives
Conservative columnist Ann Coulter, in her daily syndicated column, accuses Democrats and liberals of "racism" for criticizing African-American conservatives. Coulter's column is partly in response to recent remarks by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that other conservatives have characterized as racist (see December 5-8, 2004). Coulter expands her criticism well beyond Reid, to accuse African-American columnist Bob Herbert of the New York Times of being a "black liberal" whose criticism of black conservatives is, in her view, racially motivated, and accuses white Times media critic Caryn James of "launching racist attacks on black conservatives" (Coulter mistakenly identifies James as African-American). Coulter begins by referring to comments by the recently deceased Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory, who called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia "a brillant and compelling extremist" and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (see October 13, 1991) "Scalia's puppet." According to Coulter, McGrory's statement "is the kind of rhetoric liberals are reduced to when they just can't bring themselves to use the N-word." Referring to Reid's characterization of Thomas as the author of "poorly written" Court opinions, Coulter writes, "You'd think Thomas' opinions were written in ebonics." She concludes by calling Herbert and James "Uncle Toms." The same evening, Coulter continues her attacks on Fox News, appearing as a guest on Bill O'Reilly's broadcast. According to Coulter, liberals "feel like they have blacks on the plantation, they can say whatever they like. And, interestingly, you don't even hear Hispanic conservatives attacked in the same way that people like Condoleezza Rice and Clarence Thomas are, and—and, I mean, just look at it. Look at what the Democrats' minority leader in the Senate said this weekend. He praises Scalia as 'Oh, he's one smart guy, and his opinions, can't dispute the logic, though I disagree with them,' and then he says of Clarence Thomas 'He's an embarrassment. His opinions—they're just poorly written.'" O'Reilly agrees, saying that Democrats who try to "demean people with whom [they] disagree with politically" are "loathsome." Coulter says that Democrats are "enraged" about the 2004 elections, and in response "they're lashing out at the blacks." [Ann Coulter, 12/8/2009; Media Matters, 12/10/2009]
Entity Tags: Caryn James, Ann Coulter, Antonin Scalia, Bob Herbert, Fox News, Mary McGrory, Clarence Thomas, Bill O'Reilly, Harry Reid