9/11 Panel Faults U.S. for Letting in Hijackers

[kskiska]

Tuesday, January 27, 2004; Page A01

The U.S. government fumbled repeated opportunities to stop many of the men responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from entering the country, missing fraudulent passports and other warning signs that should have attracted greater scrutiny, according to a preliminary report released yesterday.

The new findings by the independent commission investigating the terrorist strikes stand in marked contrast to the contentions of many senior U.S. officials, who for more than two years have portrayed the 19 hijackers as law-abiding travelers who did little to attract government suspicion and who, in nearly all cases, entered or resided in the country legally.

Yesterday's report disclosed that as many as eight of the hijackers carried passports that "showed evidence of fraudulent manipulation," while as many as five of the passports had "suspicious indicators." The report did not identify the details missed by authorities.

The report also found that at least six hijackers, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, violated U.S. immigration laws either while in the United States or while returning. Five of the hijackers aroused enough suspicion that they were questioned individually by Customs or immigration inspectors, but were eventually allowed to enter the United States. None of the hijackers filled out his visa application correctly, and three clearly lied on the forms, according to the report.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50466-2004Jan26.html?nav=hptop_tb

[lovedems]

1. Are they setting this up to be Clinton's fault too?

Oh Shit, when I went to the WP, there was Lockheed Martin with a little advertisement on missle defense!

:puke:

Or will the current administration have to shoulder some of the responsiblity for testifying before congress that all of the hijackers were travelling legally?

Interesting to see the spin on this. My guess, Clinton set the policy, we were just following it.

[frank frankly]

2. Christ, this puts the "limited" in limited hangout

THIS WAS THE BIG FINDING?????

there better be more to follow.

good lord.

[paulthompson]

4. There will...

Hopefully this is just the first of many interim reports. But it's still a whitewash commission, IMHO.

And the media sucks again. They focus on the success story of the guard who supposedly stopped the 20th hijacker, but there's probably a lot more important information buried in the details of report. For instance, this:

In its first detailed hearing on the Sept. 11 conspiracy, the 10-member commission also released a staff report on Monday on the intelligence blunders that allowed two hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar, to enter the United States in early 2000 despite evidence suggesting they had ties to Al Qaeda. The report said that "the top officials in the U.S. government" — it did not identify exactly who — were advised in early 2000 about a terrorist summit meeting the two men had attended in Malaysia.

---

That's from the NY Times story on this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/27/politics/27TERR.html

and that should be huge. The original story was US intelligence didn't know that meeting was important until much later. That turns out to be a lie. They knew it was so important that perhaps even Clinton was told about it at the time.

So why the heck weren't the people at that meeting watch listed?!? Why not even Khallad bin Attash, known the be at that meeting and also known to be one of the key figures behind the USS Cole bombing? He could still come and go freely to the US without any red flagging, even after "top officials" are presumably told about him?

It's just a never ending drip, drip, drip.

The LA Times also has an article on this:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-terror27jan27,1,1929603.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[gandalf]

6. At least the US newspapers know about the commission

that's one step ahead their German counterparts (not a big step, I admit, and if it's used for whitewashing, it is not of much use)

[goforit]

3. Keep digging "Panel"......Are you sure the WH didn't just hire them?

Mihop is becoming more evident.

[Avalon Sparks]

5. I remember this on Yahoo...

the link is no longer, but here is the same article that was on yahoo posted somewhere else with a link ... does anyone remember this being in the news? Do you notice when most of the 9/11 culprits entered this country. Just a couple months after Rat Bastard Tony Scalia placed Chimpy in the oval office.


All 19 hijackers once had valid visas
11/22/01

By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — All 19 Sept. 11 hijackers entered the United States with valid visas but three had lost their legal status by the time of the attacks, the Justice Department said Thursday.
The majority of the attackers, 15, were from Saudi Arabia while two came from the United Arab Emirates, one was an Egyptian and another was Lebanese.

Only two of the hijackers entered the United States last year, in January and December.

The majority, 14, were admitted in May and June this year.

Their visas were granted for either pleasure trips, business or education.

Satam M.A. Al Suqami came in May this year as a temporary visitor for business but his visa had expired by Sept. 11.

Nawaf M.S. Alhazmi was the first of the 19 admitted, entering on a visitor's visa in January 2000. His visa also had expired.

Hani S.H. Hanjour arrived in December 2000 on a visa for academic studies, but became illegal when he failed to attend school.

The hijackers' legal entries contrasted to actions of other suspected terrorists, who may have created false visas and identity documents, according to law enforcement officials.

More

http://multimedia.belointeractive.com/attack/investigation/1122visas.html

[annagull]

7. All I want to know: Where was NORAD?

They should have been up in seconds, yet 2 hrs later, they were just up in the air. Someone please answer the question.

[paulthompson]

8. Good article here

If you really want to understand these latest hearings, check out this article from the New Jersey Star-Ledger:

And Now We Return to 'Blameless Theater'

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1075186469273260.xml

Read it, if you have any doubt the 9/11 "independent" commission will be anything but a whitewash.

[TNOE]

9. Do I remember correctly

that the person in charge of handling the visas wound up dead? In a car accident? Anyone else remember this?

[htuttle]

10. That's pretty much correct

However, she was found shot in the head in her car, not really a car 'accident', IIRC. Not surprisingly, it was never solved.