FBI Slated for 9/11 Intelligence Failings

[cal04]

The FBI missed at least five opportunities before the September 11 attacks to uncover vital intelligence information about the terrorists, and the bureau didn’t aggressively pursue the information it did have, the Justice Department’s inspector general says in a newly released report. The IG faulted the FBI for not knowing about the presence of two of the September 11 terrorists in the US and for not following up on an agent’s theory that Osama bin Laden was sending students to US flight training schools. The agent’s theory turned out to be precisely what bin Laden did.

“The way the FBI handled these matters was a significant failure that hindered the FBI’s chances of being able to detect and prevent the September 11 attacks,” Inspector General Glenn Fine said. When the bureau did discover the presence of hijackers Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar in the US shortly before the attacks, “the FBI’s investigation then was conducted without much urgency or priority,” the report concluded.

The five missed opportunities stemmed from information-sharing problems between the FBI and CIA and problems inside the FBI’s counterterrorism program. The report, a year old, is only now being released because of a court fight with lawyers for imprisoned terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui over how much of it should be disclosed. The report’s findings mirror other investigations by Congress and an independent commission into why the US government failed to thwart the attacks. Without elaboration, the report faults the bureau for a lack of public candour.

The report was especially critical of the bureau for not knowing about the presence of two of the 19 hijackers who were living openly in San Diego in 2000 and who “should have drawn some scrutiny from the FBI,” the report said.
The two Saudis, al Hazmi and al Mihdhar, rented a room in home of a long-time FBI terrorism informant, and they also befriended a fellow Saudi who had drawn FBI scrutiny in the past.The head of the San Diego FBI office responded that the report greatly exaggerates the possibility that local agents could have prevented the attacks.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4670957

[LightningFlash]

1. Yeah blame the F.B.I....

Blame the very people who are not happy with your "ethics" and have since been purged repeatedly, for so many "intelligence failures"

Blame patriots like Sibel Edmonds. :eyes: :eyes:

[peacetalksforall]

5. Yeah, and promote the guy who was over Rowley. n/t

[SpiralHawk]

2. WTF? Why is this in the Scotsman, and not in every Daily Bugle in the US?

And as long as I'm carping, I gotta ask: is "slated" the verb they really want here? Please check the big dic, editors, and help keep my head from exploding.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. Why would you want this crap in the US media?

[babylonsister]

3. OK. But the fact remains the blivet and his cronies,

like Rice, Cheney, etc., were aware of the threat, did nothing, and lied to boot. Why does shit always roll downhill in this admin?

[IChing]

4. Because you can slide further on shit than concrete

The concrete facts are solid on who really should implicated in 9-11.

[journalist3072]

6. Report Shows FBI's Missed Sept. 11 Chances

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer
26 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The FBI missed at least five opportunities before the Sept. 11 attacks to uncover vital intelligence information about the terrorists, and the bureau didn't aggressively pursue the information it did have, the Justice Department's inspector general says in a newly released critique of government missteps.

The IG faulted the FBI for not knowing about the presence of two of the Sept. 11 terrorists in the United States and for not following up on an agent's theory that Osama bin Laden was sending students to U.S. flight training schools. The agent's theory turned out to be precisely what bin Laden did.

"The way the FBI handled these matters was a significant failure that hindered the FBI's chances of being able to detect and prevent the Sept. 11 attacks," Inspector General Glenn Fine said.

Read full article at: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050610/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/sept_11_missed_opportunities

[Neerav B. Trivedi]

7. The Bush Administration should be impeached for this!

Nuff said!:mad:

[burrowowl]

8. Amen!

Bro or Sis!

[journalist3072]

9. Ding Ding!

You hit the nail on the head.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. And who told the FBI not to pursue certain leads? A report by the IG....

...in this case is like asking the fox why a number of chickens are missing from the chicken-coop.

[JohnyCanuck]

11. Politics, drugs and 911 all interconnected.

Campaign coffers profit from 911, coke and courts

FBI linguist won’t deny intelligence intercepts tied 911 drug money to U.S. election campaigns

by Tom Flocco

Washington -- April 25, 2005 -- TomFlocco.com -- Former FBI contract translator and whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and her attorneys were ordered removed from the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse so that a three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals panel could discuss her case in private with Bush administration lawyers.

Sibel Edmonds was fired for reporting information she uncovered in the FBI's translation unit In an exclusive interview on Saturday, we asked Edmonds if she would deny that laundered drug money linked to the 911 attacks found its way into recent House, Senate and Presidential campaign war-chests, according to what she heard in intelligence intercepts she was asked to translate.

"I will not deny that statement; but I cannot comment further on it," she told TomFlocco.com, in a non-denial denial.

<snip>

Criminal evidence in Edmonds’ explosive case is apparently getting too close to Washington officials, since the former contract linguist also told us she would not deny that "once this issue gets to be...investigated, you will be seeing certain people that we know from this country standing trial; and they will be prosecuted criminally," revealing the content of the FBI intercepts she heard indicates that recognizable, very high-profile American citizens are linked to the 911 attacks.

http://tomflocco.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=109

"..we fear that the designation of information as classified in some cases serves to protect the executive branch against embarrassing revelations and full accountability... Releasing declassified versions of these reports, or at least portions or summaries, would serve the public’s interest, increase transparency, promote effectiveness and efficiency at the FBI, and facilitate Congressional oversight." U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) in a Letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft

www.justacitizen.org

[Deja Q]

12. Didn't * make plans to consolidate the FBI and CIA and other orgs after

9/11?

Is this really news? *'s been fingering verybody else.

[kskiska]

14. WP: Pre-9/11 Missteps By FBI Detailed

Report Tells of Missed Chances To Find Hijackers

Friday, June 10, 2005; A01

The inability to detect the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking plot amounts to a "significant failure" by the FBI and was caused in large part by "widespread and longstanding deficiencies" in the way the agency handled terrorism and intelligence cases, according to a new report released yesterday.

In one particularly notable finding, the report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine concluded that the FBI missed at least five chances to detect the presence of two of the suicide hijackers -- Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar -- after they first entered the United States in early 2000.

"While we do not know what would have happened had the FBI learned sooner or pursued its investigation more aggressively, the FBI lost several important opportunities to find Hazmi and Mihdhar before the September 11 attacks," the report said.

Although many of the missteps surrounding Alhazmi and Almihdhar have become well known, Fine's report adds significant new details about the FBI's role in fumbling the case. Previous reports, including the best-selling tome by the independent Sept. 11 commission, focused more heavily on the CIA's failure to track the men after a pivotal terrorist summit meeting in Malaysia.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/09/AR2005060902000.html

[KennedyGuy]

17. Sad to say..

but the media won't touch it. After all there is a missing girl in Aruba and don't forget the Jackson trial. Pathetic, pathetic media.

[libodem]

15. Funny how this all comes out just

when it's time again to renew the Patriot Act. Funny how the ice cream men in Lodi, washes out just when it's time to renew the Patriot Act. Funny how the Faux news on my AM station is counting up how many suspects have been rounded-up just when it's time to renew the Patriot Act. Very...funny as in peculiar.

[leesa]

16. Bullshit. Condisleazy was notified and Bush knew...why else would his

security have left him at the school?

BushCo did 9-11...no doubt.