9/11 Commission Overlooks FBI-Quaeda Coverup

[G_j]

http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/article.cfm?issue=06-25-04&storyID=19122

9/11 Commission Overlooks FBI-Quaeda Coverup

By PETER DALE SCOTT Pacific News Service (06-25-04)

It is clear that important new evidence about al Qaeda has been gathered and released by the 9/11 Commission. But it is also clear that the commission did nothing when a Justice Department official, in commission testimony last week, brazenly covered up the embarrassing relationship of the FBI to a senior al Qaeda operative, Ali Mohamed. By telling the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to release Mohamed in 1993, the FBI may have contributed to the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya five years later.
The official testifying was Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois, who prosecuted two terrorism cases involving Mohamed. As Fitzgerald told the commission, Ali Mohamed was an important al Qaeda agent who "trained most of al Qaeda's top leadership," including "persons who would later carry out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing."

As for Ali Mohamed's long-known relationship to the FBI, Fitzgerald said only that, "From 1994 until his arrest in 1998, he lived as an American citizen in California, applying for jobs as an FBI translator and working as a security guard for a defense contractor."

Whatever the exact relationship of Mohamed to the FBI, it is clear from the public record that it was much more intimate than simply sending in job applications. Three years ago, Larry C. Johnson, a former State Department and CIA official, faulted the FBI publicly for using Mohamed as an informant, when it should have recognized that the man was a high-ranking terrorist plotting against the United States. In Johnson's words, ""It's possible that the FBI thought they had control of him and were trying to use him, but what's clear is that they did not have control." (San Francisco Chronicle, 11/04/01)

..more..

[RBHam]

1. Brazen, they are

But they know they can count on the Media to stuff this one down the memory hole.

[Racenut20]

2. Is this the same US Attorney investigating the outing

of the CIA agent?????

Because if that is so, it seems a bit strange that this charge comes up about the time he gets around to interviewing Shrub.

[G_j]

3. I don't think so

though a Fitzgerald (?) was brought in on the Plame case when Ashcroft had to recuse himself.

[KoKo]

4. This is the Patrick Fitzgerald investigating the Plame leak! The article

is confusing. Are they accusing Fitzgerald of covering up FBI's role...sounds like it, but then they say 9/11 Comissh, covered it up.

First the article says:

It is clear that important new evidence about al Qaeda has been gathered and released by the 9/11 Commission. But it is also clear that the commission did nothing when a Justice Department official, in commission testimony last week, brazenly covered up the embarrassing relationship of the FBI to a senior al Qaeda operative, Ali Mohamed. By telling the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to release Mohamed in 1993, the FBI may have contributed to the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya five years later.

Then it goes on to say:
"The official testifying was Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois, who prosecuted two terrorism cases involving Mohamed. As Fitzgerald told the commission, Ali Mohamed was an important al Qaeda agent who "trained most of al Qaeda's top leadership," including "persons who would later carry out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing."

[G_j]

5. wow, you are right it IS the same guy

it seems they are implying a cover up on the part both.

I too am a bit confused by this.

edit: Some have said Fitzgerald is an honest straight shooter, but these days who knows?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

6. Doesn't appear to me that Fitzgerald was "covering up" anything...

I like Peter Dale Scott because of his earlier series of books on the JFK assassination entitled "Deep Politics"...excellent work. But without knowing the sequence of questions asked by the 911 Commission of Fitzgerald, it's impossible to tell what Fitzgerald may or may not be "covering up".

It appears from the article that Mohamed was indeed working for the FBI in some capacity, probably as a paid informant. It also appears that Mohamed had struck a deal with the FBI in return for his testimony on the 1993 WTC bombing. It is very unclear at this time if Fitzgerald was involved in cutting that deal with Mohamed.