Anthony Summers - The Eleventh Day

Lawyer Shea, though, noted that those identified had primarily operated in Florida—close to the main southern staging area for the hijackers. He suggested in his study that the Israelis’ purpose had included “keeping Arab groups in our country under surveillance, including the future hijackers.” There is good reason to doubt Shea’s theory, however, for the Israeli students also operated in states where the hijackers had not been located.

The puzzling incident of the New Jersey Israelis, however, did deserve serious public examination. Yet the possible role of Israeli intelligence in the 9/11 case—at any level—has been investigated by no official body (Dubai:

NYT

, 2/18/10; “senior Israeli”:

Telegraph

[U.K.], 9/16/01,

LAT

, 9/20/01, 9/21/01; men on van:

20/20

, ABC News, 6/21/02—transcript

available at

www.911myths.com

,

Forward

, 2/3/03,

CounterPunch

, 3/07/07; “art students”: Gerald Shea, “Israeli Surveillance of the Future Hijackers and FBI Suspects in the Sept. 11 Attacks,” Memorandum to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States et al., 9/15/04. Also, see Justin Raimondo,

The Terror Enigma

, NY: iUniverse, 2003).

16 “hostile service”:James Risen, State of War , NY: Free Press, 2006, 181.

CHAPTER 16

1

“BUSH CALLS”/memorial service, etc./“After all”:

int. Ari Fleischer by Scott Pelley, 8/6/02, & by Terry Moran, 8/9/02, “EOP Press Interviews,” B1, T3, CF,

NYT

, 9/15/01, “With the President: A Reporter’s Story of 9/11,”

www.rochester.edu

;

2

“hunt down”:

CNN, 9/12/01;

3

“We’re gonna”:

Sammon, 113;

4

McWilliams/flag:

“Raising the Flag at the WTC,”

www.famouspictures.org

, “About the Photo,”

www.groundzerospirit.org

, DiMarco, 181fn;

5

memorial service/“Battle Hymn”:

ABC News video at

www.youtube.com

, int. Condoleezza Rice by Bob Woodward, 10/24/01, “Farmer Misc.,” B9, NYC files, CF;

6

“monumental”:

“Remarks by the President,” 9/12/01,

www.avalon.law.yale.edu

. See Note re death toll in sourcing for Preface. Accounts differ on the authorship of the President’s speech and the way it developed. Gerson aside, aides involved Bush’s counselor Karen Hughes, and speechwriters Matthew Scully and David Frum (WP, 1/27/02, “Present at the Creation,”

Atlantic

, 9/07, “The President’s Story,” 9/11/02,

www.cbsnews.com

,

Nation

, 2/13/03, David Frum,

The Right Man

, NY: Random House, 2003, 142, Michael Gerson,

Heroic Conservatism

, NY: HarperOne, 2007, 69);

7

war council:

CR, 330;

8

Muttawakil:

“Defending Bin Laden,”

www.newsweek.com

, 9/11/01;

9

Taliban propose:

Foreign Policy Journal

, 8/12/09;

10 “We’re not only”:int. Ari Fleischer by Scott Pelley;

11 never considered:int. Condoleezza Rice by Bob Woodward;

12 ultimatum:“Bush Delivers Ultimatum,” www.unwire.org, 9/21/01;

13 rejected: LAT , 9/22/01.

14 Musharraf:Pervez Musharraf, In the Line of Fire , NY: Free Press, 2006, 201–. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, and the 2006 biography of Colin Powell, Musharraf complied with all the U.S. demands. In a memoir the same year, Musharraf said he balked at permitting the U.S. military “blanket overflight and landing rights” and “use of Pakistan’s naval ports, air bases and strategic locations on borders.” Instead, he wrote, he offered “only a narrow flight corridor” and “only two bases … for logistics and aircraft recovery.” Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who delivered the American demands, for his part denied that he had threatened to bomb Pakistan. There was clearly massive pressure, however. In the words of CIA director Tenet, Armitage “dropped the hammer on them” (CR, 331–, Karen DeYoung, Soldier , NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006, 349, Tenet, 179).

15 “Need to move”:Notes of Stephen Cambone, 9/11/01, released under FOIA to Thad Anderson, www.outragedmoderates.com;

16 “I know”:DOD press conference, 9/18/01, www.defenselink.mil;

17 “urged the President”:CR, 330, 558n34;

18 OBL/hijackers Saudis:Staff Report, “Monograph on Terrorist Travel,” CO.

19 “do Iraq”:CR, 335, Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack , NY: Simon & Schuster, 2004, 26. The need to “do Iraq” is referred to in Ch. 9, p. 87. As noted there, it is not clear whether Rumsfeld spoke of “doing” Iraq on the night of 9/11 or at a meeting the following day. “Look”:Richard Clarke, 32–, CR, 334 & see Ben-Veniste, 302;

20 Pressure to act:CR, 334–, MFR of int. Colin Powell, 1/21/04, CF;

21 formal order:Woodward, Plan of Attack , 26;

22 contingency plan:CR, 335, Testimony of Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04, CO, & see MFR 04021460, 4/9/04. The most vocal proponent of hitting Iraq was Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz. To Secretary of State Powell, it seemed that “some of his colleagues were trying to use the events of 9/11 to promote their own policy obsessions and settle old scores” (MFR of Colin Powell, 1/21/04, CF, DeYoung, 348–, CR, 335–).

23 176–77 Camp David/prayer:DeYoung, 350–;

24 “patience”:DOD press conference, 1/9/02, www.defenselink.mil;

25 Black briefed:Tenet, 177;

26 Shelton:DeYoung, 351–;

27 “When we’re through”:Ron Suskind, The Price of Loyalty , NY: Simon & Schuster, 2004, 185;

28 “comfort food”/“Amazing Grace”/O’Neill:ibid., 189–;

29 CIA proposing/Memorandum: New Yorker , 8/17/07, 8/4/03, NYT , 9/10/06, 12/15/02, Joseph Margulies, Guantánamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power , NY: Simon & Schuster, 2006, 189, CR, 333, “Who Authorized the Torture of Abu Zubaydah,” www.huffingtonpost.com, 4/28/09;

30 “war on terrorism”: NY Daily News , 9/17/01, BBC News, 9/16/01;

31 “war on terror”:Bush address, CNN, 9/20/01.

32 joint session:The joint session was on September 30. On the 14th, the Congress had passed a resolution authorizing the use of “all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he [the President] determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided” the 9/11 attacks “or harbored such organizations or persons.” The resolution passed in the Senate by 98 votes to 0, in the House by 420 votes to 1 (Richard Grimmett, “Authorization for Use of Military Force in Response to the 9/11 Attacks,” Congressional Research Service);

33 “I want”:CNN, 9/17/01, int. Dan Bartlett by Scott Pelley, 8/12/02, “Press Interviews of Staff,” B1, T3, CF;

34 “platter”: Meet the Press , www.cbsnews.com, 9/16/01;

35 “Gentlemen”:Gary C. Schroen, First In , NY: Ballantine, 2005, 40;