General gave OK for Able Danger (confirms al-Qaida mission prior to 9/11)

[sabra]

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/13354906.htm

General gave OK for Able Danger
Former military chief confirms al-Qaida mission

WASHINGTON -- Gen. Hugh Shelton, who was the military's top commander during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, confirmed that four years before the tragedy he authorized a secret computer data-mining initiative to track down Osama bin Laden and operatives in the fugitive terrorist's al-Qaida network.

In his first public comments on the initiative, which some former intelligence officers now say was code-named Able Danger, Shelton also confirmed that he received two briefings on the clandestine mission -- both well before the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Right after I left SOCOM (Special Operations Command), I asked my successor to put together a small team, if he could, to try to use the Internet and start trying to see if there was any way that we could track down Osama bin Laden or where he was getting his money from or anything of that nature," Shelton said Monday in an interview.

...

Shelton's assertions are significant because they raise new questions about the government's knowledge of the al-Qaida network before the Sept. 11 attacks and about the subsequent findings of a commission that Congress set up to probe the attacks.

[maddezmom]

1. interesting timing of this disclosure

K&R

[sabra]

2. indeed, one has to ask "why now"

does it have anything to do with Weldon?

[rodeodance]

12. They want to blame the Clinton adm. for the attach-simple as that.

[sabra]

13. maybe... but Rummy is doing his job blocking the investigation

there's much more to this, IMO.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Except that...the military didn't trust Clinton at this time. Remember?

I think Able Danger broke every rule imaginable for all the reasons that Posse Comitatus (sp?) was set up. They didn't trust Clinton and it was even said that Generals would not go out on a limb for him. So, they did their own little investigation and they had no where to go with the information when they finally found it. How were they going to explain it to Clinton?

The bigger question is, why did Dennis Hasteret stay mum with this information and who else did he tell it to?

[seemslikeadream]

3. THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A MILITARY ORDER

Thanks so much sabra
:hi:

for anyone not familiar

BUDDY BUDDY
http://www.gsnmagazine.com.nyud.net:8090/images/aug_05/atta.jpg
DO THE MATH

24 MINUTES

THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A MILITARY ORDER WATCH THIS VIDEO

http://www.bushflash.com/buddy.html


http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/24/124834/678


DIA Agents were ordered to put yellow Post-its over Atta's face and the face's of 3 other 9/11 terrorists

"We were directed to take those 3M yellow stickers and place them over the faces of Atta and the other terrorists and pretend they didn't exist," the intelligence officer told GSN."

Intel agents Michael Shaffer and Scott Philpott have confirmed Rep. Weldon's claims that a chart with Atta's face, soon the photos of 3 other members of the 9-11 terror team, were known to DIA team Able Danger by early 2000.

This diary will show that Pete Schoomaker and Philip Zelikow are two of the main Perpetraitors in this scandal, that they deliberately withheld information from the President of the United States that would have prevented 9/11, that they and their neo-con rulers Let It Happen On Purpose.

Of this there can no longer be any doubt.



MUST READ - RE: ABLE DANGER INFO
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4447706

Hopsicker: Able Danger Intel Exposed "Protected" Heroin Trafficking
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x149481


Able Danger: Short Time-line
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4441903

Was Able Danger Shut Down After It Detected Condi-PRC Spy Ring?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4494524



Senate May Hold Hearings on Able Danger, Info Sharing
Thursday, August 25, 2005


Able Danger (search) is the code name for a military-intelligence unit that apparently learned a year before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that lead hijacker Mohamed Atta (search) and other terrorists were already in the United States.

One of the central Able Danger claims — that military lawyers blocked the sharing of the Atta information from the FBI in the late summer and early fall of 2000 — will be a focus of the committee's if a hearing takes place, FOX News has confirmed.

Some analysts involved with Able Danger have recently gone public with their findings, saying they were discouraged from looking further into Atta, and their attempts to share their information with the FBI were thwarted, because Atta was a legal foreign visitor at the time.

"This story needs to be told. The American people need to be told what could have been done to prevent 3,000 people from losing their lives," said Rep. Curt Weldon (search), R-Pa.

Weldon drew attention to Able Danger by speaking about it on the House floor and publicly calling for the Sept. 11 commission to explain why the intelligence information wasn't detailed in its final report.

Some Able Danger analysts, including Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (search) and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott (search), claim that in October 2003, they told commission staffers of the presence of Al Qaeda operatives in the United States in 2000.


more
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166800,00.html


Senate May Hold Hearings on Able Danger, Info Sharing
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1727804&mesg_id=1727804




Condi in Middle of Able Danger ‘Cover Up’"

Weldon is now saying that the Pentagon cover up of able danger “will shake the country to its roots."

...

If the claims made by the Able Danger participants and Rep. Weldon are confirmed, former National Security Adviser Rice and other Bush Administration officials will face a barrage of questions. First would likely be an inquiry into why the administration unceremoniously axed the Able Danger project in May of 2001.

During an August 20th interview on C-Span’s Washington Journal, Able Danger member Lt. Col. Schaffer posed a question of his own:

"The American public should ask themselves: Why would the leadership of DoD shut down, terminate, a project which was aimed at targeting al-Qaeda offensively? ...

"Why would they shut that down, four months before 9/11? That’s the big question right now, we have to ask that. I don’t know the answer to that question because I know my side of the story, I know that when a 2 star general got in my face and said, “I’m a 2 star general and you are not. You are to stop your support of Able Danger.” That’s what I know personally. But the question has to be: Who told him to do that? ...

"And why did the rest of the project, I’m talking about Special Operations Command and the Army portion of this, why was that terminated?

"Those are the questions that need to be asked."


more...

http://www.theinternationalpost.com/z30082005.html

Congressman Weldon -- Why now? Why ever?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4500623

Three more assert Pentagon knew of 9/11 ringleader By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three more people associated with a secret U.S. military intelligence team have asserted that the program identified September 11 ringleader Mohammed Atta as an Al Qaeda suspect inside the United States more than a year before the 2001 attacks, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The Pentagon said a three-week review had turned up no documents to back up the assertion, but did not rule out that such documents relating to the classified operation had been destroyed.

Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott and Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer last month came forward with statements that a secret intelligence program code-named "Able Danger" had identified Atta, the lead hijacker in the attacks that killed 3,000 people, in early 2000. Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record), vice chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, also went public with the allegations.

Pat Downs, a senior policy analyst in the office of the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, told reporters that as part of the review, the Pentagon interviewed 80 people.

Downs said that three more people, as well as Phillpott and Shaffer, recalled the existence of an intelligence chart identifying Atta by name. Four of the five recalled a photo of Atta accompanying the chart, Downs said.

Pentagon officials declined to identify the three by name, but said they were an analyst with the military's Special Operations Command, an analyst with the Land Information Warfare Assessment Center and a contractor who supported the center.

Downs said all five were considered "credible people."

But officials said an exhaustive search of tens of thousands of documents and electronic files related to Able Danger failed to find the chart or other documents corroborating the identification of Atta. Phillpott has said Atta was identified by Able Danger by January or February of 2000.

"We have not discovered that chart," Downs said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050901/pl_nm/security_attacks_pentagon_dc


Three more assert Pentagon knew of 9/11 ringleader
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1744982&mesg_id=1744982

Specter Wants Answers About 'Able Danger'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1796658&mesg_id=1796658


NYT/Reuters: Pentagon Blocks Testimony at Senate Hearing on Terrorist
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1795221&mesg_id=1795221

NOW - ON CAPITOL HILL - Able Danger Inquiry CSPAN3 9:30am et
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4836496

Able Danger ties Condi Rice to Chinese espionage! (really!)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4846388&mesg_id=4846388

VIDEO-the Senate Judicial Committee ABLE DANGER saga
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?

Official: (Curt Weldon) Attack on Cole foreseen (ABLE DANGER)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1915365&mesg_id=1915365

New 9/11 Timeline update, with new Able Danger page
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?

[sabra]

10. this story doesn't seem to be going away... slowly but surely we will

get some remnants of the truth.

peace.

[CJCRANE]

11. It's quite amazing

how many govt officials had to ignore Atta and his crew, and the all the warnings, to allow the operation to go ahead.

[EVDebs]

15. Per 'Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade'

by Alfred McCoy, along with 'Blank Check' by Tim Weiner, we find the military along with intelligence agencies provide unconstitutional funding of off-the-books projects possibly even campaign financing to select members of congress.

The whole deal seems to date clear back to Watergate times and was the basis of the Koreagate scandal immediately after Watergate.

Why won't Republican congressmen/women look into this ? Don't ask why DOJ won't look either...

[zanne]

4. Why does this make Clinton look bad?

I think it makes him look good. At least he was trying to do something about it. When Bush took office, all this information was passed onto him and he did nothing with it.

[seemslikeadream]

5. Clinton was NEVER told

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/24/124834/678

Able Danger is a Pandora's Box that will blow up in the RW's face.
Re-open the 9/11 investigation? BRING IT ON! Here's why:

So the responsibility for stopping DIA program Able Danger, which had Identified Atta and 3 other hijackers and linked them to 56 other al-Queda terrorists overseas, has been laid at the feet of Bill Clinton--except he and Richard Clarke were never told about it at all.

That's right. Bill Clinton was never told about Able Danger and the ID of Atta because Richard Clarke was never told about AD. How do I know? He never wrote about it in his book, nor did he testify about it's existence before the 9-11 Commission!

You see Richard Clarke was known for being obsessed with Osama Bin Laden and HE was the guy the neo-con moles did not want to find out about Atta and the gang. Schoomaker and the neo-cons knew telling the FBI would inform Clarke and then Mr. Laser Beam himself, President of the United State William Jefferson Clinton, would have gotten involved--and the Pearl Harbor-type attack would never take place (the neo-cons talked about the need for a Pearl Harbor-type attack before the PNAC Plan would be accepted by the American people--so when one presented itself, they let it happen).

General Pete Schoomaker, who were later heavily rewarded by the neo-cons in the Bush Administration, blocked the upward motion of the DIA information by having Shaffer and Philpott meet with Pentagon lawyers opinions--lawyers who were rubberstamping ridiculous legal opinions to carry out the neo-con plan. These certain people were neo-cons in the Clinton Administration, covertly carrying out the PNAC plan to let a Pearl Harbor-type attack occur so Iraq and 6 other countries could be invaded.

[Massachusetts]

7. Arghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

"Somebody shake me, wake me when it's over
Somebody tell me that i'm dreaming
And wake me when it's over."
-b. holland/l. dozier/e. holland, jr.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. But the military wasn't letting him in on the secret.

[JPZenger]

6. Field Marshall Von Rumstead

Field Marshall Von Rumstead said he doesn't know anything about Able Danger.

[seemslikeadream]

8. So no one informed Field Marshall Von Rumstead?

now that's seems rather odd

[Uncle Joe]

21. That is one hell of an outstanding graphic,

I don't know whether to run from it or eat it.

[Al-CIAda]

9. R&K

[EVDebs]

14. Begs question: If they knew about the 'planes as bombs' why no AirMarshals

increased hiring in the years since 1993 and especially 1995 when the info went 'public' and VERRY ESPECIALLY when the Aug 6, 2001 PDB specified this tactic and an 'attack on US' mainland ?

9-11 Report section 3 shows that on 9-11-01 there were only 30 FAA Air Marshals on duty. Today, supposedly, there are 'thousands'. Can you believe what they're telling us based on past experience ?

Operation Bojinka
http://www.answers.com/topic/ramzi-yousef

[PRETZEL]

18. in my opinion,

cost was a big reason security was not beefed up prior to 9-11. Many airlines weren't willing to pony up the money needed to implement many of the security measures that were proposed if the Clinton Anti-Terror legislation was passed. Add to that passengers bitterly complained about the possibility of having to wait in long lines to get through security if it was beefed up as it is now. It's accepted (at least for the most part) now only because of 9-11.

[EVDebs]

19. Yes, but

all they had to do was require FAA Air Marshal program hiring levels (classified) to be more than the 30 who were on duty as of 9-11. Even deputized airline personnel 'deadheading' could have been given a derringer or their own bigger boxcutters.

It was all LIHOP, IMHO, and from what is leaking out about wargames and Ptech...probably even MIHOP, due to Iraq coming up and the failed Enron nat gas pipeline in Afganistan.

This stuff was happening during Clinton's time too. The Delta Force secretary wasn't ready to spill her beans yet but was 'in place' in the WH West Wing ready to distract the public from the real threat that was coming, so I agree with your apologia for Big Bill. And you can't HELP but notice how GHWB has almost adopted the poor lad these days, almost makes you gag.

The military and intell already seeded with neocons ready for a go at Hezballah, Iran, in the ME and being used by both Israeli and Iranian intelligence

(just look at who Dov Sondheim is http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/zakheim_bio.html
and who backed Chalabi - DIA's Patrick Lang says Iranian intelligence's 'good work').

You're right, I guess. If guys like Zakheim in DOD are telling Bill 'don't spend the money on Air Marshals, put it .... here', I guess you have to blame the DoD more than Bill.

[PRETZEL]

20. I think your point is well taken

If the Air Marshall's force was up to what it should have been the possibility of this being stopped would have been greatly increased. I'm not sure if the program called for marshalls on all flights would be realistic, but I'm sure they would have been much more able to determine which flights posed higher risks.

Personally, the views and ideologies presented by PNAC gained most of their strentgh during the Reagan Administration and (I think to a lesser extent) the first President Bush. I just finished a book by Murray Friedman called the Neoconservative Revolution which traced the history of the neocon movement as it relates to the Jewish perspective and Isreali interests. Mr. Friedman devotes a whole section to the key players that have bridged the last 3 Republican Presidencies and in reading it as it relates to PNAC's ideology in the Middle East. It was kind of interesting to see just how many key players in this administration are actually carryovers from the Reagan Administration.

[pberq]

22. thank you, sabra - k&r

[leveymg]

23. "track down Osama bin Laden or WHERE HE WAS GETTING HIS MONEY"

If you really must know why Able Danger was shut down, the answer is contained in Gen. Shelton's statement above. The fact is, the same funding network that funded UBL was also financing A.Q. Khan's "Islamic bomb" program under the watchful eye of the CIA, the very same Saudi Bankers who backed BCCI had partnered with G.H.W. Bush at Carlyle, and the very same Gulf billionaires who were being shaken down by Islamic radicals were being actively shaken down for GOP contributions by Messrs. Norquist and Abramoff.

That's why.

[sattahipdeep]

24. Initiated even before September 11, 2001. War crimes made easy

By Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL08Ak02.html

How has the Bush administration gotten away with such apparently
illegal acts as hiding intelligence reports from Congress, creating
secret prisons, establishing death squads, kidnapping people and
spiriting them across national borders, and planning unprovoked
wars? Part of the answer lies in the administration's deliberate effort,
initiated even before September 11, 2001, to tear down any existing
legal and institutional means for preventing, exposing or punishing
violations of national and international law by American officials.

Preventing future Iraqs - future aggressive wars, abuse of civilians,
torture of prisoners and other war crimes - is not just a matter of
changing administrations and foreign policies. It also involves
restoring and elevating the legal barriers that once stood in the way of
an out-of-control imperial presidency. "Lost powers" usurped by "the
institution of the presidency" must be reclaimed by the people and
their representatives.