Abramoff, Jeb, DeLay, murder & 9/11

[Frederik]

...I'm of course talking about the latest Dan Hopsicker story!

"Less than a week before the 9.11 attack, for example, Atta and several other hijackers made a still-unexplained visit onboard one of Abramoff’s casino boats.

What were they doing there? No one knows.
...

There remains a strong suspicion that Atta’s terrorist cadre—supposedly unknown and friendless and burrowing into the woodwork—was able to call on the assistance, when necessary, of a friendly global network.

Could it be that this network is the same one being probed so gingerly today by investigators looking into Jack Abramoff?"

"“Boulis was murdered in the exact same way as Don Aronow, Bush’s other partner,” he stated.

Bush’s other partner? The question hung in the air.

“Something is really going down bad here,” Tiller stated. “Don Aronow. Gus. Jim Shore…All tied in to Bush.”

When NBC's Dateline did a story recently about sources of terrorist funding right here in the U.S., they made bold to announce “the emerging threat of a new alliance between al Qaeda and common criminals.”

But it was hardly time to stop the presses.

Over three years ago—within a month of the 9.11 attack—British Prime Minister Tony Blair had presented the case against Bin Laden. He sketched out the Cliff Notes version of the evidence. It wasn’t much, but it was the only explanation we ever received.

“Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization with ties to a global network,” Blair said."

http://www.madcowprod.com/06202005.html

[spooked911]

1. You would think this would get the mainstream media's attention

since they have been talking about Abramoff lately.

But I don't quite understand why the MSM doesn't talk about the very clear Al Qaeda drug smuggling connection-- unless that simply doesn't fit into their pre-conceived story-line of Al Qaeda as Islamic fanatics.

But this global network is almost certainly the drug-smuggling mafia with ties to the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

[philb]

2. Its been known Jeb had mafia & Contra/drug smuggler connections from 80s

As did others in his family. Some of his partners and co-conspirators ended up in prision or dead; but he ended up Govenor.
Interesting how the system works.

[bobbieinok]

7. source...links?????????

[JackRiddler]

3. Come on, people, can we have some skepticism here?

Some newspaper published a story in 2001 that the alleged hijackers were seen going to a casino. That's the story!

Worse, Hopsicker goes on 38 tangents about the Abramoff crew on the one hand and the Brotherhood on the other (as though the connection were established) before he finally presents this lead (and subject of the headline), somewhere about 38 years down the page. Talk about leading us on before a meager payoff!

It adds to the picture of partying terrorists, but it doesn't yet establish a link to the owner of that casino!

There's no smoking gun here and Hopsicker in his perpetual need to publish the next chapter is cheapening the value of all the smoking guns he has hit.

(Not that he'll care for anyone's criticism and especially not mine - he's another one of these guys who NEVER admits being wrong. The usual response will be to imply that the critic is an agent.)

[Frederik]

4. Yeah, it's a weak connection to Abramoff

Since it is already established that three of the hijackers made two separate visits to Vegas, however, it sort of fits the pattern of "gambling jihadists" as well, which certainly is curious.

[JackRiddler]

5. Here is the entire story... (as told by Hopsicker)

Buried several screens down Hopsicker's story is the actual lead and supposed connection between Abramoff and Atta:

QUOTE

“There is a weird report just a day or two after 9/11 that someone reported to the FBI that three or four of the hijackers were seen gambling on a SunCruz boat,” wrote a source in Miami. “The FBI interviewed everyone who might have seen them, that very day by all reports.”

Sure enough. We found an Associated Press story on Sept 26, 2001 headlined “SunCruz Casinos turns over documents in terrorist probe.”

“SunCruz Casinos has turned over photographs and other documents to FBI investigators after employees said they recognized some of the men suspected in the terrorist attacks as customers.… Names on the passenger list from a Sept. 5 cruise matched those of some of the hijackers... Two or three men linked to the Sept. 11 hijackings may have been customers on a ship that sailed from Madeira Beach on Florida's gulf coast.”

Less than a week before the 9.11 attack, Atta and several other hijackers were aboard one of Abramoff’s casino boats.

END QUOTE

This fits the "partying Jihadists" picture, but it no more establishes the connection to Abramoff that Hopsicker constantly insinuates than it would establish a connection to Warren Buffett if Atta had shopped at Walmart that same week.

And what follows is even weaker:

"What possible thrill could gambling offer men getting ready to die in less than a week?"

Irrelevant. You're not in their heads, so you don't know. Lots of people think gambling is thrilling in itself, maybe they were there to drink and flirt with babes, maybe they were scoring a ton of coke off Abramoff himself, etc. etc. YOU DON'T KNOW.

I'm not objecting to writing about this, I do object to leading us on as though you've actually got some new bombshell where there isn't any.

[paulthompson]

6. Here's the full story

Attack: SunCruz Casinos turns over documents in terrorist probe

by Vickie Chachere
The Associated Press
September 27, 2001


TAMPA — SunCruz Casinos has turned over photographs and other documents to FBI investigators after employees said they recognized some of the men suspected in the terrorist attacks as customers.

Michael Hlavsa, chairman of the gambling cruise company, said Wednesday two or three men linked to the Sept. 11 hijackings may have been customers on a ship that sailed from Madeira Beach on Florida's gulf coast.

The cruise line also is turning over to the FBI video from a Port Canaveral cruise ship of a man that an employee says also resembled one of the suspected terrorists.

The FBI has not confirmed the men's identities and the cruise line is declining to specifically identify the men being investigated. An FBI spokeswoman declined comment.

Hlavsa said it was observant employees who made the matches in the days after the attack.

One name on the passenger list from a Sept. 5 cruise is the same as one of the suspected terrorists', Hlavsa said. A cash advance was taken out on that passenger's credit card, he said.

The ship's extensive security systems, in place to protect its gaming operations and customers, will help confirm identifies, Hlavsa said.

"They acted just like normal guests of ours and they were courteous," he said. "There were no issues."

The gaming ships carry several hundred people each day on six-hour tours. The ships are outfitted with hundreds of slot machines and gaming tables.

On the Port Canaveral ship, the casino manager recognized one of the suspected terrorists as someone who may have frequented the vessel.
Video of that man is being turned over to the FBI either later Wednesday or early Thursday.


http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:1UeufYqqE6IJ:www.bonitanews.com/01/09/florida/d678875a.htm+%22SunCruz+Casinos+turns+over+documents+in+terrorist+probe%22&hl=en

I would like to know more about this - it does sound fishy.