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Under Trump fire, Jeb Bush Focuses On 9/11 even as Hijackers got Florida Licenses under his watch.
Talk about some explaining to do for Jeb Bush, the International Business Times reports:
October 19, 2015
Defending his brother’s presidency, Jeb Bush has repeatedly declared that George W. Bush “kept us safe.” Focusing on the 9/11 attacks carries unique risks for Jeb Bush as he navigates the politics of national security and immigration -- and not simply because, as Donald Trump pointed out, the attacks occurred on President Bush’s watch. Many of the 9/11 hijackers were able to obtain Florida driver’s licenses or identification cards -- and train freely in the state -- while Jeb Bush was governor.
.....
While Jeb Bush has called Trump’s criticism “pathetic,” the immigration policies of Bush’s gubernatorial administration were under the microscope in 2001 when law enforcement officials acknowledged that Florida had issued driver’s licenses or state identification cards to 12 of the hijackers, all of whom had come to the United States on visas. The St. Petersburg Times reported that at the time of the attack there was a warrant in Florida to apprehend one of the lead hijackers, Mohammed Atta, but “the warrant for Atta's arrest was ignored.” A national conservative organization pushing tougher immigration laws soon criticized Bush for his unwillingness to support what the group said was legislation necessary to stop terrorism.
Bush’s campaign did not respond to International Business Times’ questions about the Florida licenses issued to the hijackers while he was governor.
.....
His communications director tweeted that Trump’s criticism was fodder only for “liberal bloggers.” So far on the campaign trail, the debate over the responsibility for the attacks has revolved around George W. Bush. But in the aftermath of 9/11, Jeb Bush himself was also under fire.
.....
While Jeb Bush has called Trump’s criticism “pathetic,” the immigration policies of Bush’s gubernatorial administration were under the microscope in 2001 when law enforcement officials acknowledged that Florida had issued driver’s licenses or state identification cards to 12 of the hijackers, all of whom had come to the United States on visas. The St. Petersburg Times reported that at the time of the attack there was a warrant in Florida to apprehend one of the lead hijackers, Mohammed Atta, but “the warrant for Atta's arrest was ignored.” A national conservative organization pushing tougher immigration laws soon criticized Bush for his unwillingness to support what the group said was legislation necessary to stop terrorism.
Bush’s campaign did not respond to International Business Times’ questions about the Florida licenses issued to the hijackers while he was governor.
.....
His communications director tweeted that Trump’s criticism was fodder only for “liberal bloggers.” So far on the campaign trail, the debate over the responsibility for the attacks has revolved around George W. Bush. But in the aftermath of 9/11, Jeb Bush himself was also under fire.
In the days after the 2001 attacks, news broke that most of the 9/11 hijackers carried driver’s licenses or identification cards issued by Florida’s department of motor vehicles -- an agency controlled by Bush and the other statewide elected officials who comprise the Florida Cabinet. Some of the licenses and ID cards were issued by the state while Bush was governor. Some of the hijackers trained for the attacks at Flight Safety International in Vero Beach, Florida. Local newspapers said the Florida licenses played a pivotal role in helping the hijackers conduct business in the United States.
“Terrorists known to have Florida licenses or identification cards made more than a dozen trips total to driver's license offices in the state,” the St. Petersburg Times reported. “That's how often the terrorists willingly called themselves to the attention of the state, either to acquire a license or to update their address, both of which might have helped them rent cars or board planes without arousing suspicion.”
Mohammed Atta lived in Delray Beach and rented an airplane. He had been stopped a few months before 9/11 by Florida law enforcement officials, and was told to appear in court the next month. However, he was not arrested and, the Times wrote, “deputies never learned that Atta reportedly was on a U.S. government ‘watch list’ of people tied to terrorist activity.” The newspaper also noted that while Atta tried and failed to get a driver’s license at one Florida facility, he was able to get one later at another facility.
Another hijacker, one of several aboard the American Airlines flight that crashed into the Pentagon, was stopped for a traffic violation in Arlington, Virginia, days before the attack and had a Florida driver’s license, according to CNN.
Others bided their time in Florida; the Palm Beach Post reported that “at least seven and possibly nine of the hijackers lived in Delray Beach in the months leading up to the attack” and “three others lived in Boynton Beach.” Several also looked into renting crop duster planes -- officials believed they may have been aiming to use them to drop chemicals, according to news station WPBF.
“Gov. Jeb Bush has ordered a ‘top-to-bottom’ review of all state security measures, including Florida's licensing laws,” the St. Petersburg Times wrote in an editorial just after the attacks. “That so many of the terrorists obtained IDs and flight instruction here was not a coincidence.” Noting that the majority of hijackers “were able to obtain state driver's licenses and identification that enabled them to nestle within the fabric of society,” the newspaper declared: “Alarm bells should have gone off but never did. We can no longer afford these kind of security lapses.”
“Terrorists known to have Florida licenses or identification cards made more than a dozen trips total to driver's license offices in the state,” the St. Petersburg Times reported. “That's how often the terrorists willingly called themselves to the attention of the state, either to acquire a license or to update their address, both of which might have helped them rent cars or board planes without arousing suspicion.”
Mohammed Atta lived in Delray Beach and rented an airplane. He had been stopped a few months before 9/11 by Florida law enforcement officials, and was told to appear in court the next month. However, he was not arrested and, the Times wrote, “deputies never learned that Atta reportedly was on a U.S. government ‘watch list’ of people tied to terrorist activity.” The newspaper also noted that while Atta tried and failed to get a driver’s license at one Florida facility, he was able to get one later at another facility.
Another hijacker, one of several aboard the American Airlines flight that crashed into the Pentagon, was stopped for a traffic violation in Arlington, Virginia, days before the attack and had a Florida driver’s license, according to CNN.
Others bided their time in Florida; the Palm Beach Post reported that “at least seven and possibly nine of the hijackers lived in Delray Beach in the months leading up to the attack” and “three others lived in Boynton Beach.” Several also looked into renting crop duster planes -- officials believed they may have been aiming to use them to drop chemicals, according to news station WPBF.
“Gov. Jeb Bush has ordered a ‘top-to-bottom’ review of all state security measures, including Florida's licensing laws,” the St. Petersburg Times wrote in an editorial just after the attacks. “That so many of the terrorists obtained IDs and flight instruction here was not a coincidence.” Noting that the majority of hijackers “were able to obtain state driver's licenses and identification that enabled them to nestle within the fabric of society,” the newspaper declared: “Alarm bells should have gone off but never did. We can no longer afford these kind of security lapses.”
(emphasis added)
Requests for Florida license raised no flags, December 14, 2001
For YEARS, the GOP has harangued Democrats for being "soft on national security", when we have hard evidence that those who point fingers are, themselves, guilty.
Reuters/Brian Snyder, via IBT
My hat is off to Donald Trump for FINALLY yanking back the lid on September 11. These things have not been publicly discussed because there are armies of political operatives and allied media who have maintained a tight lid on this gargantuan, oozing toxic mass, fed by horrendous neglect by the George W. Bush administration. This Bush failure directly led to the international chaos we witness today in the Middle East, the refugee crises, the rise of ISIS, the theft of civil liberties, illegal domestic spying and the militarization of domestic law enforcement. Because of Bush's militaristic foreign policy blunders, our country's economic, social structure, and infrastructure systems are now crumbling.
As a country, we can no longer look away from the now-metastasizing catastrophes for which George W. Bush is responsible.
So, absolutely, yes, we need to have this conversation. Thank you, Donald Trump, for forging into it.
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9/11 Flight School Owner: Last 10 Years "Have Been Bad", September 9, 2011
Jeb Bush seized flight school records at 2 AM on September 12
Florida is the epicenter of so much of the September 11 tragedy. And Jeb Bush is in the middle of it.
"Phantom Flight From Florida", from the archives: (Unable to hyperlink directly, but here it is.)
http://web.archive.org/web/20011108145853/http://www.tampatrib.com/MGA3F78EFSC.html
And because of Jeb Bush's zealous efforts for his brother in November, 2000, to circumvent the will of the electorate, we were left with this on September 11, 2001:
The Bushes have inflicted so much sorrow on the world.
A decade after terrorists did the unthinkable in taking down the World Trade Center towers, the former owner of the South Florida flight school where two of them trained says he’s still paying the price.
“The last ten years have been bad,” says Rudi Dekkers, the former owner of Huffman Aviation, in Venice, where hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi trained before Sept. 11.
Dekkers, now 55, didn’t lose any loved ones in the 9/11 attacks. But he says the financial losses and the losses to his reputation have been staggering.
After dealing with government investigations, threats to his life, even a helicopter crash he calls “suspicious,” Dekkers says his life has never been the same.
“I did not realize when Sept. 11 happened, that I was involved,” said Dekkers. He said he learned of his involvement when the FBI called him the next day.
"I woke up that morning, the day after Sept. 11 and I had a phone call at 5:30 in the morning, I never have a phone call 5:30 in the morning,” he said. “But I still did not click anything with 9/11 because that's not something you expect.
"I talked to the FBI...I don't think I realized until it sank in. I can't explain it...no one wants to be involved in something like that. I knew how big the disaster was because of the day before and now I'm involved?"
Dekkers says his involvement began in the summer of 2000, when Atta and Al-Shehhi showed up at Huffman ready to drop thousands of dollars on flight lessons.
.....
“The last ten years have been bad,” says Rudi Dekkers, the former owner of Huffman Aviation, in Venice, where hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi trained before Sept. 11.
Dekkers, now 55, didn’t lose any loved ones in the 9/11 attacks. But he says the financial losses and the losses to his reputation have been staggering.
After dealing with government investigations, threats to his life, even a helicopter crash he calls “suspicious,” Dekkers says his life has never been the same.
“I did not realize when Sept. 11 happened, that I was involved,” said Dekkers. He said he learned of his involvement when the FBI called him the next day.
"I woke up that morning, the day after Sept. 11 and I had a phone call at 5:30 in the morning, I never have a phone call 5:30 in the morning,” he said. “But I still did not click anything with 9/11 because that's not something you expect.
"I talked to the FBI...I don't think I realized until it sank in. I can't explain it...no one wants to be involved in something like that. I knew how big the disaster was because of the day before and now I'm involved?"
Dekkers says his involvement began in the summer of 2000, when Atta and Al-Shehhi showed up at Huffman ready to drop thousands of dollars on flight lessons.
.....
Jeb Bush seized flight school records at 2 AM on September 12
Florida is the epicenter of so much of the September 11 tragedy. And Jeb Bush is in the middle of it.
"Phantom Flight From Florida", from the archives: (Unable to hyperlink directly, but here it is.)
http://web.archive.org/web/20011108145853/http://www.tampatrib.com/MGA3F78EFSC.html
And because of Jeb Bush's zealous efforts for his brother in November, 2000, to circumvent the will of the electorate, we were left with this on September 11, 2001:
The Bushes have inflicted so much sorrow on the world.
