Report: Capitol Was Sept. 11 Attackers Fourth Goal

[Snellius]

BERLIN (Reuters) - The U.S. Capitol Building, not the White House, was the fourth target of the Sept. 11 attackers, a German magazine reported Sunday citing results of interrogations of suspected al Qaeda leaders.

Der Spiegel said also planning for the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001 began as early as 1996, but plans hatched in 1999 to use four planes in the attacks were temporarily halted because only two pilots could then obtain U.S. visas. The operation, code-named "Porsche 911" by its perpetrators, was finalized in July 2001, the magazine said.

"The Porsche is ready to start," it cited Mohamed Atta, the Egyptian-born student who piloted one of the two hijacked planes that destroyed the World Trade Center, as saying.
...
Spiegel magazine said its report was based on transcripts of the U.S. interrogation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the attacks, and Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, the man suspected of coordinating them.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20083-2003Oct...

[VolcanoJen]

1. Fascinating!

How in the world did Der Spiegel get copies of the US interrogation transcripts??

[bemildred]

2. Probably the same way it got the "secret" Israeli plans to attack Iran.

[VolcanoJen]

3. My impression was that the Administration hoped to perpetuate..

... the "White House Fourth Target" myth, and wouldn't have dared leak the transcripts...

The cover of the Spiegel states "The Confession: What the masterminds of the September 11 terrorist attacks revealed to the US interrogators."

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,271377,00.html

You can read the article here, but you have to purchase it. It says something like "The two planners of the September 11 confessed, and with the transcripts we can now assemble a precise pre-history of the attacks. The statements also tell how Osama bin Laden personally selected the Hamburg "death pilots."

[Kellanved]

13. The Cover Stories are usually translated

I expect the (free) english version to be up by tuesday.

[Old and In the Way]

25. You might want to take a look at my post on the 9/11 myth

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...


This whole "mastermind" business is very suspect-

And what of that nasty rumor concerning Khalid's death back in September 2002? That, too, needed to be definitively dispelled in time for Khalid's March 2003 "apprehension." For that leg of the legend, TIME did the honors, courtesy of Tim McGirk, in an article posted on January 20, 2003:

"After a four-hour gunfight, one al-Qaeda member, Ramzi Binalshibh, was in handcuffs and two other terrorists lay dead on the floor. A female FBI agent crouched down to examine the blood-smeared bodies. Suddenly, she smiled and, to the surprise of the Pakistani cop, bounded over and gave him a kiss. 'Do you know who you've got?' she asked. 'You've killed Khalid Shaikh Mohammed'...

... But a fingerprint check later revealed that the dead man on the floor of the Karachi apartment wasn't Mohammed."
Well, if the dead man on the floor wasn't Khalid, then what of the widow and child who reportedly said otherwise - at least according to the aforementioned October 30, 2002 Asia Times article by Syed Saleem Shahzad? In Shahzad's account, an "Arab woman and a child were taken to an ISI safe house, where they identified the Shaikh Mohammed's body as their husband and father." Thereafter, "the widow subsequently underwent exhaustive interrogation in the custody of FBI officials..." while "news of the death of was intentionally suppressed..."

The above account might have easily been shrugged off as an outlandish rumor ... but for the revelation of one curious fact, reported little more than a week after Khalid's later, "official," arrest. As revealed by Olga Craig on March 10, 2003 in the Sunday Telegraph:
"Two young sons of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, are being used by the CIA to force their father to talk.

Yousef al-Khalid, 9, and his brother, Abed al-Khalid, 7, were taken into custody in Pakistan in September when intelligence officers raided a flat in Karachi where their father had been hiding."

According to the Telegraph article, the boys were flown over the weekend of March 10 to a "secret address" in the United States, "where they were being encouraged to talk about their father's activities." What a 9-year old and a 7-year old could possibly reveal in the way of the al-Qaida operational itinerary is beyond the ken of this writer. Nevertheless, the Telegraph was able to secure the cheery assurances of a duly anonymous "official":
" 'We are handling them with kid gloves,' said one official. 'After all, they are only little children, but we need to know as much about their father's recent activities as possible.' "

That was the absurdly innocuous, official explanation. Might there have been a more sinister motive for keeping Khalid's sons in custody? Had they, perhaps, witnessed the accidental killing of their father back in September 2002, and were they thereby kept in indefinite isolation so as to conceal that fact? And what of the mother of the boys? As of this writing, these questions have yet to be answered.

In any case, the main story points of the Official 9/11 Legend were fully elaborated and resolved with the simultaneous capture of Khalid and the official paymaster, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hisawi, in March 2003.

[bemildred]

4. I think the WH likes that version too.

I also think Der Spiegel is entirely capable of making some
stuff up to sell magazines. I don't know what the truth of the
matter is, and I suspect it doesn't matter much at this point.

[Kellanved]

16. What makes you think that ?

The "Spiegel" isn't known to make things up. Stories that turn out to be untrue can happen to any magazine (not to mention the NYT...).

[bemildred]

28. Ok, if you prefer, they will print dubious stuff to sell magazines.

Like the Israel secret plans story.
Not intending to single them out.

[Kellanved]

18. probably a lawyer in the Hamburg trial

That's the way it usually happens.

[Guaranteed]

5. Welp...

You know, in some ways, we actually got lucky on 9/11. If they'd destroyed the Capitol, they might have effectively ended the U.S. as we know it.

[soothsayer]

6. how so? Congress had already cleared out

How would it have destroyed the US?

Also, how on earth did they MISS the Capitol, if that was the goal?

[Old and In the Way]

8. If 93 had not been delayed 20 minutes on the airport tarmac....

I think 77 and 93 were planning to hit Washington simulataneously and this would have been a short time after the NYC crashes. The Capital was insession, too.....and yes, I most definitely think that the plan was to hit the Capital (remember that Tom Clancy novel)? Of course, that would have meant no Legislature to question our pResident who'd have implemented almost dictatorial powers (as he had mentioned on more than one occassion, "my job would be easier if I was dictator").

I think that delay saved our country from dictatorship.

[preciousdove]

10. Who was absent that day?

[Minstrel Boy]

12. Exactly right. It was the unexpected delay

which spared the capitol.

The delay put the flight outside the window of plausible denial for the failure of air defense. Twenty minutes late, it couldn't be permitted to fly into Washington airspace unopposed.

Anyone believe 93 wasn't shot down? And if it was, then why deny it, unless the denial is part of a greater cover up?

[leetrisck]

20. I do believe it was shot down and if you saw

Bob Woodward's report from inside the White House, think you would agree. Maneta (Transportation) & Cheney were there. Cheney was ordering Maneta to ground all aircraft-Maneta saying it was up to the pilots - they knew the other plane was coming and tracking it. Finally Cheney says "shoot the damned thing down" A little later in the report Woodward says "the passengers "probably" took the plane down".

[Old and In the Way]

23. I believe it was shot down

And their denial is the smoking gun. If it wasn't L/M IHOP'd, why deny the reality? Because they couldn't risk their involvement at that early stage of the unfolding event. That'd be a murder charge.

[Deere_John]

21. How could they miss the Capitol?

I've always believed that Flight 77 was intended to strike the Capitol building. The plan was to approach DC, use the Pentagon as a visual fix to transition off instrument navigation to visual, and then to continue to an impact with the Capitol Building. What seems to have happened is that the pilot of 77 screwed up his vertical navigation, arrived over the Pentagon with way too much altitude, and put the plane into a 360 degree turn to lose the altitude. Either he panicked at that point, figuring the F-16's were right on his tail (they weren't) and just went for the Pentagon, or lost too much altitude and lost his other visual references and went for the Pentagon. In the meantime, Bush was sitting quietly in a Florida classroom waiting patiently for news that the Legislative branch of the American government was in flames, so he could announce to the assembled media that the Executive branch had taken over the whole show. We've all noticed how curiously calm things were until the moment that 77 hit the Pentagon.

I don't know what the plan was for Flight 93.

[Timefortruth]

31. TMI? nt

[Old and In the Way]

7. Anyone else think it odd.....

that the fingered ringleader "terrorists" who committed 9/11 all came from westernized backgrounds and they were radicalized in countries outside Saudi Arabia?

I just posted an article on the "legend of 9/11" that ponders whether the 2 cells in Britain and Germany might have been run by CIA ops in deep cover.

The more I learn, the less I know.

[leetrisck]

9. Does anyone else also think it's off that

they waited until Sept 11. Why didn't they hit us when Clinton was so terribly vulnerable (when the Repukes were trying to overthrow him) or why didn't they hit when the election dispute was going on? Why did they wait? Everything was in place.

[leetrisck]

11. Think it's "odd" not off - Sorry

bout that.

[grasswire]

14. they didn't attack until..

....Bush's poll numbers were in the toilet.

[ramblin_dave]

17. They needed a regime in place that would play ball

The PNAC agenda needed a willing accomplice in contro, of the military and government. Clinton would not have gone after Iraq.

[newsjunkie]

37. The PNAC did try to get Clinton to play ball

and attack Iraq but he wouldnt...another reason they hate him.

[Abe Linkman]

15. This is a planted C.I.A. cover story - THINK about it

"the attacks were temporarily halted because only two pilots could then obtain U.S. visas."

OBL supposedly masterminded the 9-11 attacks, but "they" couldn't figure out how to get two people into the country?

Amazingly, this kind of story sells, even to DUers.

[VolcanoJen]

19. If the attacks were delayed because of the pilots visa problems...

... why was it code-named "Porsche911"? When was it code-named "Porshe911"?

[Robb]

22. Whaaa?

You mean there's a glaring flaw in the supposedly leaked supposed transcript of suspected al Qaeda leaders?

...Printed in a country that eats up 9/11 conspiracy theory like Indiana eats cornbread? And named after a national icon like Porsche?

Forgive me, but here come the rolling eyes...

[VolcanoJen]

24. Well, yeh! Exactly...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

27. No doubt the story is a plant....but think about this instead...

1) Who's housing the so-called "detaineees" at Gitmo? Hint: It's not the CIA.

2) Who's farming out the prisoners from Gitmo to certain foreign countries for interrogation because those countries have no laws against torture? Hint: It's not the CIA.

3) Who has most to gain by perpetuating the story that Flight 93 crashed into a Pensylvania field? Hint: It's not the CIA.

4) Who had the most to gain by making heros out of the passengers of Flight 93, and why have they refused to release the original voice transcripts to their survivors? Hint: It's not the CIA.

5) Who had the most to gain by the attacks on 9-11-2001? Hint: It wasn't the CIA.

6) Who had the most to gain by delaying the take-off of jet interceptors by 20-30 minutes on 9-11-2001, and why were the most distant bases chosen to launch planes? Hint: It wasn't the CIA.

7) Who had the most to gain by attacking both Afghanistan and Iraq? Hint: It wasn't the CIA.

Now, tell me again...who planted the story?

[NashVegas]

38. Other Weirdness (Think Handmaid's Tale)

If you read the book, you'd know that what kicked off the whole Glorious Revolution was something very much like this alleged plan - a coup was launched when the Capitol was blown up taking all of congress with it.

It was said many times, on and immediately after 9/11, a coup was taking place. If congress got 'blowed up,' there would have been no doubt.

If you follow into that line, the idea that these transcripts would be allowed to exist puts a kink into the stew. ie, if, as some speculate, 9/11 was a BFEE plot, there's no way in hell you'd release information that would pretty much confirm it.

Then again, these guys are such bozos, who knows?

Sidenote: I don't doubt they shot down the PA flight, and don't hold it against them, either.

[KeepItReal]

26. Bush ratings down...Iraq messed up...quick somone holler "9/11"!

"Spiegel magazine said its report was based on transcripts of the U.S. interrogation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the attacks, and Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, the man suspected of coordinating them.
...
The magazine did not say where it had obtained the material but said parts of the transcripts dealing with Germany had been passed to German authorities. "

I thought those interrogations we sooo secret and we couldn't reveal "sources and methods"... I also thought the pResident said the leaks were gonna stop.

[slater71]

29. If this is true then

That date is about the time that Bush and his boys gave the Taliban their choice of a carpet of gold or a carpet of bombs. Kind of looks like than that Bush caused the attack.

[Kitsune]

30. I don't think you can hit the capitol with an airliner

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I do remember something about the local geography making it essentially impossible to hit either the White House or the Capitol, due to the WASHINGTON MONUMENT being in the way of the only approach that would otherwise be clear. You have to do something like nosedive straight down to hit either, which is damn near impossible to do and still hit your target.

Nope, I don't believe a word o' it.

[gauguin57]

32. an air-traffic controller

interviewed on one of the networks about a week after 9-11 said she watched (on radar) Flight 77 pass over the White House once, then circle around, then back toward the White House, then veer over to the Pentagon. She believes that, because the huge trees around the White House were still full of leaves in mid-September, the pilot couldn't get a clear shot at the White House. She theorizes the pilot switched to the Pentagon because it was a recognizable shape from the air. Because of the way the plane seemed to be heading for the White House then veering away, the air traffic controller said, she believed the White House was the target of that plane.

So ... the target of 93 could have been Capitol OR Pentagon. Probably the Capitol ... it would have done more physical and psychological damage than Pentagon.

Then again, so many ideas have been thrown around -- remember the suggestion that 93 was headed for Three Mile Island? -- who the hell knows? Well, someone knows. And they probably work in the White House.

[Minstrel Boy]

35. the 270 degree turn over Washington enabled

Flight 77 to line up with the Navy wing, which was under reconstruction, relatively empty, and boasted the only exterior wall reinforced against terrorist attack.

One of the things that make me go "hmmmm..."

[Virginian]

36. The Capitol is a MUCH easier target than the White House.

While the White House has the monument practically in the back yard, the Capitol building is approx 17 blocks away from the Washington Monument with a grassy mall leading up to it. It sits on a hill (Capitol Hill) and the Indian figure on the top of the dome is higher (above sea level) than the Washington Monument.

The White House appears to be only a two story building on the north (front) side and a three story building on the south side. It is surrounded by trees except from the south. I have no idea what it looks like from the air, but it may have been difficult to find from any direction but the south where the monument is located.

The air space around the White House is restricted. I had always heard there were defenses stratigically located ready to shoot down any plane that strayed too close. That was why I was so surprised to see that a small private plane was able to crash into the White House during the Clinton term.

I can only guess that flight 77 either accidentally cartwheeled into the Pentagon while turning to go into the Capitol or was leaving the Capitol for flight 93.

Bush has always insisted that one of the planes was supposed to hit the White House. How did he know?

(on edit - I got the flight numbers reversed and had to fix my error.)

[nomatrix]

33. If you were watching C-Span

at the time of the attacks, they had been broadcasting as usual. Washington Journal, then usually switched into Senate session as soon as they start. They broke away to the WTC after the 1st jet hit. As it progressed with the Pentagon, much later they were interviewing the people who were just been evacuated from the Capitol. Some had been in closed door sessions and had no idea of what was going on. I remember how irate they were that no one had notified them too evacuate.(especially since they were all together)

Later they went into prayers, bipartisan support, mourning for the country....but no more mention of how they were left as sitting ducks. Cheney and Laura wisked underground and no ones evacuating the senate & house. I felt like I was the only one watching it, but I started to look into what would happen if it was catastrophic and the only plan was the old nuclear event plan (FEMA), that the president would appoint members to congress until elections could be held in the states (about 6 months).

I believe Byrd spoke about it once, that is why he wouldn't participate in joint House/Senate meetings. Too easy to remove all from power at once. Did anyone else see this? Don't go pulling out the tinfoil. I just thought it was weird that no one was in charge of VIP exit or were they.

[nomatrix]

34. I think there's more to be revealed

but I don't think it's something that is getting any news. I think it was a shock how much they weren't protected especially after the Anthrax hit. You hear it in the resentment remarks when the GOP starts pulling the "after 9/11 attack legislation that Dem's won't support" wrapped the the flag crap.

I think Leahy gave them a piece of "we do know after all it was the Hart building that was singled out for attack," but I heard in his voice, this wasn't the first time Dem's were targeted. (Like why didn't someone pull a smoke alarm or something?)

[Kellanved]

39. The original article's translation is now online

You can find it here:
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/english/0,1518,271523,00....