Anthony Summers - The Eleventh Day

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, Report, JI, 3; Commission memorandum: MFR [unnumbered], 4/23/04, CF; inconsistencies: CR, 517n28; might-have-been: Report, JI, 19–; “big embarrassment”/“did know”: Graham with Nussbaum, 166; “explosive”/“monitoring”:

U.S. News & World

Report, 11/29/02; Shaikh 2009: Miriam Raftery, “Abdussattar Shaikh, Co-Founder of San Diego’s Islamic Center, Honored for 50 Years of Service Promoting Religious Tolerance,” 10/8/09,

www.eastcountymagazine.org

; “No single”: “A Conversation with Peter Lance,” 12/06,

www.internetwritingjournal.com

& see Wright, 179–, Bergen,

OBL I Know

, 142–; Aug. 6 brief: J. M. Berger, “What the Commission Missed,” 10/4/06,

www.intelwire.com

; “knew every”: ibid.; pled guilty: J. M Berger, ed.,

Ali Mohamed Sourcebook

, INTELWIRE, 2006, 311; unknown location/yet to be sentenced: Bergen,

OBL I Know

, 433, Scott, 348n28, 157, 159; one reference: CR, 68 & see Staff Report, ”9/11 & Terrorist Travel, CO, 57).

68 “incontrovertible”:Report, JI, 395. The document, which Graham dated as August 2, 2002, is partially cited in Congress’s Joint Inquiry Report in a passage about a CIA memo that cited “incontrovertible evidence that there is support for these terrorists [words redacted].” The Report goes on to state that “it is also possible that further investigation of these allegations could reveal legitimate, and innocent, explanations for these associations.” Senator Graham cast doubt on an FBI finding that Bayoumi and Basnan were neither agents nor accomplices in the 9/11 plot. Former Saudi ambassador Bandar, for his part, described reports that Bayoumi was a Saudi agent as “baseless” (Graham with Nussbaum, 169, 224–, 11n, Bandar press release, “Bayoumi is not a government agent,” 7/23/03, www.saudiembassy.net).

69 Commission interviews:e.g., MFR 04019365, 2/24/04;

70 Thumairy “deceptive”/​denied/​prompted/​second interview/​“say bad”/​“implausible”:Snell, De, & Jacobson to Zelikow, 2/25/04, MFR 04019362, 2/23/04, CF;

71 Bayoumi favorable/stuck to story:Shenon, 309–, MFR of int. Omar al-Bayoumi, 10/18/03, CF;

72 Zelikow think not agent:Zelikow to Shenon, 10/18/07, www.philipshenon.com;

73 distinguishing mark:CR, 516n19;

74 salary approved/picture found:Report, JI, 174 & see Staff Statement 16, DOCEX 199-HQ-1361032, “Hijacker Primary Docs, PENTTBOM Memo re CD found,” B50, T5, CF;

75 “cleansed”/“deceptive”:MFR 04019367, 2/24/04, Snell, De, & Jacobson to Zelikow, 2/25/04, CF;

76 “the witness’ utter”:MFR int. of Osama Basnan, 10/22/03, CF.

77 Hussayen/Mosques/in States: WSJ , 2/10/03. In October 2001 the FBI began an investigation of Hussayen’s nephew Sami. He eventually became the first person to be charged under the broadened “material support” for terrorism provisions of the then new USA Patriot Act. The government sought to prove that Hussayen used his expertise as an Internet “webmaster” to further the cause of terrorists and promote violent jihad. The hard drive of a computer he had used, according to an agent’s testimony, contained “thousands” of photographs, of the World Trade Center, of the Pentagon, and of planes hitting buildings. Sami Hussayen was eventually found not guilty and returned to Saudi Arabia (Second Superceding Indictment, U.S. v. Sami Omar al Hussayen , U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, AP, 3/12/03, Dept. of Justice press release, “Indictments Allege Illegal Financial Transfers to Iraq; Visa Fraud Involving Assistance to Groups that Advocate Violence,” 2/26/03, www.usdoj.gov, Seattle Times , 11/22/04).

78 Marriott Sept. 10/​“muttering”/​Paramedics/​“faking”/​kitchenette/​“I don’t”:MFR 04017480, 10/9/03, MFR 04017486, 10/9/03, MFR 04017482, 10/9/03, MFR 04019354, CF, WSJ , 2/10/03, Telegraph (U.K.), 10/2/03, WP , 10/2/03, 3/12/03;

79 Aulaqi contact/move:See pp. 291–92;

80 son of minister: Dallas Morning News , 12/25/09;

81 preached Capitol: NYT , 5/8/10, Fox News, 11/11/10;

82 lunched Pentagon: NY Daily News , 10/21/10;

83 remained U.S.: WSJ , 2/10/03, ABC News, 11/30/09;

84 phone number/Binalshibh:Report, JI, 178;

85 Fort Hood/Detroit bomb/Times Square/cargo planes: Christian Science Monitor , 5/19/10, Fox News, 10/20/10, CNN, 1/7/10, Guardian (U.K.), 10/31/10, MSNBC, 11/1/10;

86 capture or kill: Christian Science Monitor , 5/19/10, NYT , 4/6/10;

87 “loose end”:McClatchy News, 11/21/09.

88 “that the Saudis”:int. Bob Graham.

89 “persuasive evidence”/“did not find”:Zelikow to Shenon, 10/18/07, www.philipshenon.com. The Commission, according to its Report, believed that al Qaeda likely did have “agents” in California, “one or more individuals informed in advance” of Mihdhar and Hazmi’s arrival. During their research, the authors also saw information suggesting that hijacker leader Mohamed Atta had contact in Florida with one or more wealthy Saudis. A senior law enforcement officer in Florida told the authors—on condition that he not be identified—that he was personally involved after 9/11 in investigating the activities of “a man married into one of the Saudi ruling families.” Until his sudden departure on August 30, 2001, the man had lived not far from Venice, where Atta, Shehhi, and Jarrah had trained to fly. The information gathered convinced the authors’ source that the three future hijackers visited the man’s house, where alcohol and women were made available. The authors have also seen a lengthy taped interview with a former Venice Yellow Cab driver named Bob Simpson. Simpson described having picked up a “wealthy Saudi businessman” at Orlando Executive Airport and later that day having taken him to an apartment building where he had previously picked up Mohamed Atta. After 9/11, Simpson said, the FBI questioned him about the Saudi. Simpson did work for Yellow Cab in 2001, but the authors’ efforts to trace him were unsuccessful (“agents”: CR, 215; Simpson: videotape & transcript in the collection of Daniel Hopsicker).

90 page 395:Report, JI, 395–;

91 CIA not obstruct:corr. office of Bob Graham, 2009;

92 Bush himself:ibid., Graham with Nussbaum, 228, 215–, 231, NYT , 6/24/09, Salon , 9/8/04;

93 Pelosi:CNN, 7/30/03;

94 “I went back”: Nation , 7/29/03.

95 should be made public:Prince Bandar, then ambassador to Washington, said in 2003 that there was nothing to hide, and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said it was an “outrage to any sense of fairness that 28 blank pages are now considered substantial evidence to proclaim the guilt of a country.” The Saudis, it was suggested, saw publication of the classified material as “a chance to clear their Kingdom’s name.” Senator Graham did not buy it. “It seemed to me,” he has written, “that George W. Bush and Prince Bandar were performing a sort of good cop–bad cop routine, in which Prince Bandar got to claim innocence of behalf of Saudi Arabia, while George W. Bush protected him by being the bad cop who wouldn’t release troubling information” (Bandar: “Saudi Ambassador Responds to Reports of Saudi Involvement in 9/11,” 7/24/03, www.saudiembassy.net; “outrage”: AP, 7/29/03; “a chance”: AP, 7/30/03; “It seemed”: Graham with Nussbaum, 228–).