We are all aware of the "still-alive" hijackers. This of course is a facetious term referring to completely innocent men who may have had their identities stolen and used by the real culprits on 9/11. But what about the real hijackers, the men who actually commandeered the planes? Is it possible they could have escaped the planes before the crashes?

Some contend that there were no hijackers at all, that the planes were diverted solely by remote control. Several credible phone calls from the flights, however, such as those from Betty Ong (AAL11) and Tom Burnett (UAL93), provide pretty good evidence that there were indeed real hijackers on the planes for at least some period of time.

Around 6:00 in the evening on 9/11 ABC's Lynn Sherr gave a rundown of the airplanes and number of passengers. Somehow, she knew that the hijackers were not included in the passenger lists or statistics she was given.

"Total number of passengers and crew, two hundred and sixty-six people, not (of course) counting the hijackers"

How does she know that the hijackers are not included in the 266?

Here's the raw clip (mpeg2):
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GLAC8OZX

Original video from:
http://ia311502.us.archive.org/0/items/abc200109111733-1814/V08553-25.mpg
and available on CC, just search for archive.org

The FBI press release: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/092701hjpic.htm

Maybe someone can tactfully ask her.

Two men came in, drank heavily and then refused to pay the bill"

NBC, september 12, 6:41pm

XVID: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3710I85N
archive.org: http://www.archive.org/details/nbc200109121841-1922

You know how the government said they didn't know the specifics of the 9/11 attacks? Well, turns out they'd been tapping the boys' phones for YEARS:

The National Security Agency and the FBI were both independently listening in on the phone calls between the supposed mastermind of the attacks and the lead hijacker. Indeed, the FBI built its own antenna in Madagascar specifically to listen in on the mastermind's phone calls. The day before 9/11, the mastermind told the lead hijacker "tomorrow is zero hour" and gave final approval for the attacks. The NSA intercepted the message that day and the FBI was likely also monitoring the mastermind's phone calls (so the excuse that the NSA didn't translate the messages until the day after 9/12 looks pretty weak -- the FBI was listening in also!)

UPDATE: The Washington Post actually refers to this trial as a "9/11 Trial" in its headline.

German-Syrian believed to have known 9/11 hijackers sentenced to 12 years

"DAMASCUS, Syria: A German-Syrian dual national believed to have known the Sept. 11 hijackers received a 12-year prison sentence Sunday from a Syrian court, a Syrian human rights group said.

The Higher State Security Court on Sunday sentenced Mohammed Haydar Zammar to life in prison for membership in the banned Muslim Brotherhood organization. But the court immediately commuted the sentence to 12 years, the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said in a written statement."

While the crime here is apparently belonging to a "banned" organization, the way AP reports this story fails to identify the fact that the "September 11 hijackers" in question are "alleged" terrorists until tried properly. The AP story says,

Left gatekeeper site Daily Kos finally posted as a "Recommended Diary" -- that is, one that gets widely read -- another 9/11 post. Perhaps not as earth-shaking as we would like, but its a start, especially since it touches on dirty tricks in general and the need to "cut out the roots, the methods and 'off the books' operations". The article doesn't use the term "false flag", but it hints at it.

PROBE THIS: Sen Bob Graham said two 9/11 hijackers had direct ties to Saudi intelligence

and this was in the 27 classified pages of the Joint Congressional Inquiry.

Before you mentally shunt this off to the conspiracy theory ghetto, consider how badly the Bushies want their war with Iran, Cheney's recent trip to see the Saudis, and America's vulnerability to being hoodwinked by convenient boogeymen again.

Democrats need to dig deep enough to cut out the roots, the methods and "off the books" operations, that the far right has used to yank our collective change and will surely use again when they think we'll fall for it and it's to their advantage.

Missing Link Atta “Martyrdom” Video Appears Five Weeks Before Election - kurtnimmo.com

Suddenly, with the midterm election five weeks away, a previously undiscovered video emerges, showing Mohammed Atta “reading his ‘martyrdom’ will inside Afghanistan at Usama bin Laden’s headquarters.”

In another segment, Atta appears with Ziad Jarrah, who, according to the official nine eleven fairy tale, was the pilot of “United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers apparently stormed the flight deck,” according to Fox News.

As an extra added bonus, the tape shows Ramzi Binalshibh, the “senior” al-Qaeda leader and Hamburg cell member, supposedly captured after a gunbattle in Karachi, Pakistan, on September 11, 2002, and handed over to the United States.

The “high quality, unedited film” is being hyped as a missing link in the official mythology. “American and German investigators have struggled to find evidence of Atta’s whereabouts in January 2000 after he disappeared from Hamburg. The hour-long tape places him in Afghanistan at a decisive moment in the development of the conspiracy when he was given operational command. Months later both he and Jarrah enrolled at flying schools in America.”

Read the whole blog entry via the link above.

Thanks Carol for the heads up!

Video Shows 2 9/11 Hijackers Laughing

By JENNIFER QUINN

LONDON Oct 1, 2006 (AP)— More than 18 months before they carried out the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, a new videotape shows two of the Sept. 11 hijackers laughing and smiling for a camera.

Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah look much different in the tape than they do in photographs made famous after the attacks in New York and Washington....

BAE Systems has on its board William Schneider Jr. who is also connected with
International Planning Services, Inc.: President
G2 Satellite Solutions: Advisory board
Defense Forecasts International: Member, Board of Directors
Defense Group, Inc.(DGI): Member, Board of Directors

Schneider was a signatory to 7 of the 13 most commonly referenced letters and statements which outline the goals espoused in the Project for a New American Century...the neocon manifesto.

One of these letters, written within 9 days after 9/11 states, in part,
"A serious and victorious war on terrorism will require a large increase in defense spending. Fighting this war may well require the United States to engage a well-armed foe, and will also require that we remain capable of defending our interests elsewhere in the world. We urge that there be no hesitation in requesting whatever funds for defense are needed to allow us to win this war."
http://www.newamericancentury.org/Bushletter.htm

Then in Jan 2003,
"To rebuild, transform, and man our military adequately for its many missions and responsibilities, defense spending will need to be increased by an additional $70 to $100 billion."

On the morning of September 14, 2001, at about 10:11 am according to this CNN transcript, the official list of 18 hjackers was released.

Aired September 14, 2001 - 10:11 ET

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Folks, we are going to break into this press conference by the mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, because we have some breaking news. Leon Harris here at the CNN Center in Atlanta, but we're going now to Washington D.C., where our Kelli Arena is standing by. She has got some breaking news on the identities of those 18 hijackers. Kelli, take it away.

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, we did manage -- CNN managed to grab a list of the names of the 18 suspected hijackers that is supposed to be officially released by justice sometime later today. I will do my best to read, to read the names, some are a bit unfamiliar. On American flight 11, the first name Walid Al Shehhi (ph), the second, Wellal Sheyi (ph), also known as Wahidal Sheyi. ... third name, Mohammed Atta (ph). ... Abdul Ala Mari (ph) and Setam Segani (ph), Marwanal Shehhi on the list as well. They are looking an awful lot alike here, Leon. Marwan Al Shehhi, a UAE passport. Fayez Ahmed, Mahad Al Shari (ph), Hanza Al-Gari (ph), Amdad Al Dandi (ph). Let me stop here for a moment. We have a few more names to read. The way this is working out, there were five hijackers on two planes, four hijackers on two others. We are told by law enforcement sources that most of these names in some way connect in some way to indirectly or directly to Osama bin Laden.

People might recall that the presence of Atta and Al Shehhi in Shuckums (Hollywood, FL) on September 7, 2001 posed a big challenges to the official story. Their heavy drinking in this bar has been witnessed by many and widely reported in the media. Yet the Commission Report states that Atta travelled to Baltimore the very same day.

The last flight from Fort Lauderdale (closest airport to Hollywood) to Baltimore took off at 7.30 p.m. If one assumes that all the reportings that have him drinking longer than 7 p.m. are wrong, that he managed 12 miles to the airport in a quarter of an hour and if he was still allowed to check in at 7.15 p.m. and that the reportings of Atta and Al Shehhi in Sarasota the same evening are wrong, too, than the drinking in Shuckums so far was no definite proof that Atta had a double.

This changed now with the publication of the evidences presented in the Moussaoui trial.
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution.html

Open the one on Atta (OG00020.02 at the bottom of the page)
Here you find now:
[b]On Sep 7 a wire transfer from Al Shehhi's and Atta's account happened on Sep 7 at 15:58.[/b]