Londonistan

9/11 Commission, Londonistan, and Day of 9/11 - Additions to the 9/11 Timeline as of October 19, 2008

Several of this week's new entries focus on the 9/11 Commission, in particular its Executive Director Philip Zelikow, who offered public support for the invasion of Iraq in 2002, but did not want the commission to investigate false claims of links between 9/11 and Iraq. After the commission's investigation started, one staffer was sent to review CIA documents, and another, Warren Bass, was sent to review NSC material. Bass came to favor the account of events in the Bush Administration in the summer of 2001 given by counterterrorism "tsar" Richard Clarke over that given by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. However, Zelikow distrusted Clarke and tried to protect his friend Rice; it was these ties to Rice which caused both Bass and Commissioner Bob Kerrey to threaten to quit the commission, although neither of them made good on their threat.

Londonistan, Shoe Bombers – Additions to the 9/11 Timeline as of September 7, 2008

Most new entries this week focus on Londonistan and British intelligence informer Abu Hamza, who improperly obtained British citizenship in 1986. After gaining control of Finsbury Park mosque, he helped recruit a would-be shoe bomber, Saajid Badat, as well as another suicide bomber who had advanced training at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. Badat and fellow shoe bomber Richard Reid traveled to Afghanistan to meet the bombmaker after the US invasion started, but Badat later backed out of the plot.

CIA Inspector General's Report, Mole in Londonistan, Russia – 9/11 Timeline Additions as of August 15, 2008

One of the main additions to the 9/11 Timeline this week is a category dealing exclusively with the report drafted by the CIA's inspector general about some aspects of the agency's poor performance before 9/11. It deals with the report's origins, its redrafting at the insistence of the CIA's management, and the final release of a redacted executive summary. You can read a summary of the whole chapter here.

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