Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Able Danger

It was military lawyers who blocked a small military intelligence unit from telling the FBI about four 9/11 hijackers -- a year before the attacks. And the unit's records were not fully shared with the 9/11 Commission looking into failures leading to the attacks.

Lt Col Anthony Shaffer was part of the team called "Able Danger." He tells FOX News and the New York Times the Commission recieved less than 5% of the information they gathered on Mohamed Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers in 2000.

Lt Col Shaffer says lawyers with the Special Operations Command in the Pentagon blocked three attempts to meet with the FBI -- all at the last minute. The meetings were set up in 2000 and 2001.

Around the time President Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq over, the Washington Post reported in April 2003, that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was responsible for:
"pushing the Special Operations Command from the sideshow niche it long has occupied to center stage in the 'global war on terrorism' and other U.S. military operations. After the Iraq war, which featured one of the biggest missions ever for Special Operations forces, that command 'is going to be the flavor of the month,' said one defense official." -- Washington Post, Sunday, April 20, 2003

It may leave a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths after the Able Danger revelations.

The 9/11 Commission left out any mention of Able Danger in their report. The three(USAToday) [Click on image to order the 9/11 Commission Report from Amazon.com]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So it turns out that at least one of the meetings "Able Danger" requested with the FBI was on Bush's watch.

And it was DoD lawyers...not Clinton appointees...who blocked the meetings.

And those lawyers just happened to be with a tiny little outfit that grew in prestige after Bush took office.

The same outfit that planned much of the pre-game for the Iraq War.

And it turns out George W. Bush's administration kept more than 95% of "Able Danger's" findings from ever reaching the 9/11 Commission.

Maybe Georgie needs to apologize to the American people.