Late Night Grab Bag

Been a while since I did a grab bag. Tonight's grab bag is basically a listing of current 9/11 related commentary coming from the mainstream press. It seems as though the 'right' has decided to pick up the discussion of a 9/11 coverup as a way to make it a partisan issue, specifically to blame it squarely on Clinton. Also included are further followup to the recent 'Able Danger' articles, the upcoming National Geographic 9/11 documentary, and an 'Al-Queda militant' who claims he funded and provided visas for 9/11 high-jackers.

Check them out and post some comments.

The 9-11 smoking gun

When it comes to 9-11, there is no question the Clinton administration has blood on its hands. But so will the Bush administration if it doesn't hold officials accountable for this gross incompetence and negligence.

9/11 Panel Dismissed Key Evidence Before

"President Clinton, in a February 2002 speech to the Long Island Association, said that the United States did not accept a Sudanese offer and take Bin Laden because there was no indictment. ... But the President told us that he had 'misspoken' and was, wrongly, recounting a number of press stories he had read."

Despite Clinton's obvious dissembling, the Commission simply dropped the matter.

So when the same intrepid investigators claim that witnesses who warned about Mohamed Atta simply aren't credible, it's worth remembering how high they set the bar the last time smoking-gun evidence emerged that didn't fit the program.

Here are some other random articles from today not related to blaming it on Clinton:

Atta way to blow 9/11 panel's credibility

Sept. 11 was a total government fiasco: CIA, FBI, INS, FAA, all the hot shot acronyms failed spectacularly. But appoint an official commission and let them issue an official report and suddenly everyone says, oh, well, this is the official version of 9/11; if they say something didn't happen, it can't possibly have happened.

'I Provided 9/11 Attackers with Passports'

Al Qaeda Militant Luai Sakra, arrested for organizing the double bomb attacks in Istanbul on 15-23 November, has claimed to have played a role in the September 11 attacks to World Trade Center (WTI) in New York.

Syrian citizen Sakra has confessed to Turkish police that he provided the attackers of September 11, accepted as the biggest terrorist attack of the history, with passports. Sakra, who has been interrogated in Istanbul Police Department Anti Terror Office for 4 days has made many interesting confessions. He noted that he knew Muhammad Ata, planner of the attacks on the WTI and Pentagon. Sakra claimed that he has organized terrorist activities for Jihad but he said that he drinks alcohol and does not pray.

Sarka said: “I was one of the people who knew the perpetrators of September 11, and knew the time and plan before the attacks. I also participated in the preparations for the attacks to WTI and Pentagon. I provided money and passports.”

Some of the passports, which Sakra claimed to have provided himself, were strangely found in the ruins of WTI. Luai Sakra, who is said to be one of the 5 most important members of Al Qaeda, said that he had no connection with the attacks in Sharm Al Sheikh, where 88 people were killed.

Inside Inside 9/11- Four years later, a remarkable documentary.
This article contains further details on the soon to air National Geographic special on 9/11.

Which brings me to Inside 9/11, a new four-hour documentary that premieres Aug. 21 on the National Geographic Channel. The producers have been promoting this two-night special, which the cable network considers so important that it's making the show available for free in areas that don't carry NGC, as strictly reportorial rather than political. And as far as possible, this is true: The documentary, which features over 60 original interviews and is partly based on newly declassified documents, is not only compelling but admirably meticulous and almost free of overt opinion. The first half examines the background of al Qaeda back to the '80s; the second is a chilling timeline of that terrible day — "two sticks, a dash, a cake with a stick hanging down," to quote some of the strange pre-hijacking "chatter" described in the film: 9/11, if read right-to-left, as in Arabic (or with the day before the month, as in Europe.)

couple the first two

couple the first two articles here along with the article posted two days ago by Rush Limbaugh and it seems like the 'right' may be attempting to align the controversy of a 9/11 coverup along political lines.. perhaps because obviously most that doubt the official story of 9/11 doubt the war on terrorism as well.

could aligning those that question 9/11 along political lines be a way to dismiss the 9/11 truth movement? a way to write it off as more political division?

dz-- yes.

dz-- yes.

'Able Danger' Stopped From

'Able Danger' Stopped From Informing FBI.

If I'm reading this correctly, the general gist this seems to be taking is that the Military Intel are such good law abiding people that they would never dare break a law to stop a terrorist attack - their hands were tied by these 'outdated' laws - and if only these laws didn't exist, then 9-11 might not have happened.

I think they're using the genuine failures of the 9-11 commission investigation to push for yet more draconian anti-civil liberties laws.

What a crock of shit!