One must always keep in mind that this is only as much of the story as got uncovered and reported through big-money corporate journalism that – as Dan Rather admitted – was rampantly self-censoring during this period. So it seems fair to assume that the full truth would be considerably more damning.
What does it all add up to? No one agrees. There is a wide spectrum of opinion. But if you are no longer able to believe the official version after reading this:congratulations - you're now a "conspiracy theorist".PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR early 1960s –US drafts plans to terrorize American cities to provoke war with Cuba – ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1original source document:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf1967 : The US government stages the Gulf of Tonkin incident to draw the US into the Vietnam War – CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/02/ap/world/mainD8E825200.shtml1991 - US Ambassador April Glaspie tells Saddam Hussein we will not intervene if he invades Kuwait. His invasion then furnishes the pretext for the Persian Gulf War.
http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/glaspie.htmlTHE PLANNING1996 – 2001 : FBI knew terrorists were using flight schools – The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A10840-2001Sep221998–2000: On three occasions, spies in Afghanistan report bin Laden's location. Each time, the president approves an attack. Each time, the CIA Director says the attack can't go forward - The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/30/national/30TERR.html?ex=1072587600&en=9621d0e90d5bb152&ei=50702000–2001: 15 of the 19 hijackers fail to fill in visa documents properly in Saudi Arabia. Only 6 are interviewed. All 15 should have been denied entry to the US – The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A62033-2002Oct21¬Found=true2000–2001: The military conducts exercises simulating hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets causing mass casualties. One target is the World Trade Center, another the Pentagon.
http://www.mdw.army.mil/news/Contingency_Planning.htmlJan 2001: After the November 2000 elections, US intelligence agencies are told to "back off" investigating the bin Ladens and Saudi royals. There have always been constraints on investigating Saudi Arabians – BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/newsnight/1645527.stmJune-Aug 2001: German intelligence warns the CIA that Middle Eastern terrorists are training for hijackings and targeting American interests. Russian President Vladimir Putin alerts the US of suicide pilots training for attacks on US targets. In late July, a Taliban emissary warns the US that bin Laden is planning a huge attack on American soil. In August, Israel warns of an imminent Al Qaeda attack. – FOX News
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53065,00.htmlJuly 11, 2001 : According to French newspaper Le Figaro, Osama bin Laden checks into a hospital in Dubai for treatment, where he is visited by the local CIA agent. – Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,584444,00.htmlJuly 26, 2001: Attorney General Ashcroft stops flying commercial airlines due to a threat assessment – CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtmlAugust 6, 2001: President Bush receives an intelligence briefing warning that bin Laden might be planning to hijack commercial airliners. Titled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US," the briefing specifically mentions the WTC. Bush later claims it "said nothing about an attack on America." – New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30913FA3A5D0C758DDDAC0894DA404482August 8-15, 2001: At some point between these dates, Israel warns the US that an al-Qaeda attack is imminent – FOX News
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53065,00.htmlAugust 13-15, 2001: Zacarias Moussaoui trains at the Pan Am International Flight School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he pays $8,300 ($1500 by credit card and the remainder in cash) to use a Boeing 474 Model 400 aircraft simulator. After just one day of training, most of the staff is suspicious that he's a terrorist. They discuss "how much fuel is on board a 747-400, and how much damage that could cause if it hits anything." They call the FBI with their concerns later that day. – New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60B17F63F580C7B8CDDAB0894DA404482August 15, 2001: Minnesota FBI agents quickly become frustrated at the lack of interest in the Moussaoui case from higher ups – New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60B17F63F580C7B8CDDAB0894DA404482August 22, 2001 : Counter-terrorism expert John O'Neill quits the FBI. He says it's partly because of a recent power play against him, but also because of repeated obstruction of his investigations into al-Qaeda – The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020114fa_FACT1August 23-27, 2001: In the wake of the French intelligence report on Zacarias Moussaoui, FBI agents in Minnesota are "in a frenzy" and "absolutely convinced he is planning to do something with a plane." One agent writes notes speculating Moussaoui might "fly something into the World Trade Center." – Newsweek
http://www.bulatlat.com/news/2-16/2-16-readerNEWSWEEK.htmlStandards to get a warrant through FISA are so low that out of 10,000 requests over more than 20 years, not a single one was turned down. New York Times, 8/27/02 However, as FBI agent Coleen Rowley later puts it, FBI headquarters "almost inexplicably, throws up roadblocks" and undermines their efforts. Headquarters personnel bring up "almost ridiculous questions in their apparent efforts to undermine the probable cause." One Minneapolis agent's e-mail says FBI headquarters is "setting this up for failure." – Time
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020603/memo.htmlSeptember 6-10, 2001: Suspicious trading occurs on American and United (UAL), the two airlines used in the 9/11 attacks. Between 6 and 7 September, The Chicago Board Options Exchange saw purchases of 4,744 put option contracts a speculation that the stock will go down in UAL versus 396 call options a speculation that stock will go up. Holders of the put options would have netted a profit of $5 million once the carrier's share price dived after September 11. On 10 September, more trading in Chicago saw the purchase of 4,516 put options in American Airlines, the other airline involved in the hijackings. This compares with a mere 748 call options in American purchased that day. No other airlines saw such trading in their put options. One analyst says: "I saw put-call numbers higher than I've ever seen in 10 years of following the markets, particularly the options markets." – Associated Press
http://web.archive.org/web/20020215082158/http://cjonline.com/stories/091901/ter_tradingacts.shtmlSeptember 10, 2001 : In a speech to the Department of Defense, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld announces that the Department of Defense "cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions." CBS later calculates that 25% of the yearly defense budget is unaccounted for, and quotes a long-time defense budget analyst: "Their numbers are pie in the sky. The books are cooked routinely year after year." Coverage of this story is nearly nonexistent after the events of the next day. – CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtmlSeptember 10, 2001 : The trading ratio on United Airlines is 25 times greater than normal at the Pacific Exchange. Pacific Exchange officials later decline to state if this abnormality is being investigated – San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/09/19/BU184559.DTLSeptember 10, 2001 : US officials later admit American agents had infiltrated al-Qaeda cells in the US, though how many and how long they had been in al-Qaeda remains a mystery. On this day, electronic intercepts connected to these undercover agents hear messages such as: "Watch the news," and "Tomorrow will be a great day for us." As to why this didn't lead to boosted security or warnings the next day, officials call these leads "needles in a haystack." What other leads may have come from this prior to this day are not revealed – USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2002/06/03/cia-attacks.htmSeptember 10, 2001 : Two days after 9/11, Newsweek reports: "The state of alert had been high during the past two weeks, and a particularly urgent warning may have been received the night before the attacks, causing some top Pentagon brass to cancel a trip. Why that same information was not available to the 266 people who died aboard the four hijacked commercial aircraft may become a hot topic on the Hill.
http://www.wanttoknow.info/010913newsweekSeptember 10, 2001 : Former president Bush is with a brother of Osama bin Laden at a Carlyle business conference. The conference is interrupted the next day by the attacks. – Washington Post
http://www.wanttoknow.info/030316post THE ATTACKSept 11, 2001: Described as a bizarre coincidence, a US intelligence agency was all set for an exercise on Sept 11th at 9:00 AM in which an aircraft would crash into one of its buildings near Washington, DC – Associated Press
http://www.boston.com/news/packages/sept11/anniversary/wire_stories/0903_plane_exercise.htmAn Assistant Fire Commissioner states "I thought... before... No. 2 came down, that I saw low-level flashes...I... saw a flash flash flash...at the lower level of the building not up where the fire was. You know like when they... blow up a building... ?" – The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/Gregory_Stephen.txtA firefighter states "There was just an explosion. It seemed like on television when they blow up these buildings. It seemed like it was going all the way around like a belt, all these explosions." – The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/Banaciski_Richard.txtAnother firefighter states "At first I thought it was... do you ever see professional demolition where they set the charges on certain floors and then you hear pop pop pop pop pop – that's exactly what because thought it was" – ABC Local
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:T2ldEwVAu18J:abclocal.go.com/images/wabc/2005/TurilliThomas_firefighter.pdf+%22Thomas+Turilli%22+%22%E2%80%9Cit+almost%22&hl=en&client=firefox-aAnother firefighter states "it looked like sparkling around one specific layer of the building... Then the building started to come down. My initial reaction was that this was exactly the way it looks when they show you those implosions on TV". - The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/Fitzpatrick_Tom.txt Some eyewitnesses reported hearing another explosion just before the structure crumbled. Police said that it looked almost like a "planned implosion". – Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/story/0,11209,600839,00.html An WNYC radio reporter said "The reporters were trying to figure out what had happened. We were thinking bombs had brought the building down."
Running Toward Danger: Stories Behind the Breaking News of 9/11, page 203
A Wall Street Journal reporter said "I heard this metallic roar, looked up and saw what I thought was just a peculiar sight of individual floors, one after the other exploding outward. I thought to myself 'My God, they're going to bring the building down.' And they, whoever they are, had set charges... I saw the explosions."
Running Toward Danger: Stories Behind the Breaking News of 9/11, page 87
Another firefighter states "It actually gave at a lower floor, not the floor where the plane hit. We had originally had thought there was like an internal detonation, explosives, because it went in succession, boom boom boom boom, and then the tower came down." – The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/Cachia_Edward.txtAn insurance company employee in the South Tower heard an explosion from below the impact of the airplane, debris came flying up the stairwell, and the wall split from the bottom up. – The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0917/p1s1-usgn.htmlA fire department battalion chief states "it actually looked – the lowest floor of fire in the south tower actually looked like someone had planted explosives around it because the whole bottom I could see redacted I could see two sides of it and the other side, it just looked like that floor blew out." – The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/Dixon_Brian.txtDespite not being hit by an airplane, World Trade Center 7 collapses. The debris is confined almost entirely to the building's footprint.
http://wtc7.net/docs/wtc7_pile_s.jpgAmong the tenants of that building: a clandestine CIA station – The New York Times, November 4, 2001
http://wtc7.net/lcache/wtc7.htmSept 11, 2001: Six air traffic controllers who dealt with two of the hijacked airliners make a tape recording describing the events within hours of the attacks. The tape is never turned over to the FBI. It is later destroyed by a supervisor without anyone making a transcript or even listening to it. – Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6632-2004May6THE AFTERMATHSept 13-19, 2001: Bin Laden's family is taken under FBI supervision to a secret assembly point. They leave the country by private plane when airports reopen days after the attacks. – The New York Times
http://www.wanttoknow.info/010930nytimesSept 15-16, 2001: Several of the 9/11 hijackers, including lead hijacker Mohamed Atta, may have had training at secure US military installations – The New York Times
http://www.wanttoknow.info/010915nytimesSept 23, 2001: Several of the 9/11 hijackers later mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report turn up alive. Alleged 9/11 pilot Waleed Al Shehri, on seeing his name and photograph, informs journalists that he is alive. – BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stmTHE INVESTIGATIONA member of the National Association of Demolition Contractors says that the World Trade Center collapse looked like a classic controlled demolition. – New Scientist magazine
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn1281Commenting on the rapid funneling of the wreckage to scrap metal dealers, Dr. Frederick Mowrer, an associate professor in the Fire Protection Engineering Department at the University of Maryland, states "I find the the speed with which potentially valuable evidence has been removed and recycled to be appalling." – The New York Times, December 25, 2001
Leading structural engineers and fire safety experts characterize the World Trade Center investigation as underfunded and inadequate – The New York Times, December 25, 2001
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40A11FB3E550C768EDDAB0994D9404482A firefighters' trade publication calls the World Trade Center investigation "a half-baked farce" - January 4, 2002
http://fe.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=OnlineArticles&SubSection=Display&%20;PUBLICATION_ID=25&ARTICLE_ID=131225 January 29, 2002 : Bush asks Congress to limit 9/11 probe to intelligence failures only – CNN
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/29/inv.terror.probe/May 23, 2002: Bush opposes establishing an independent commission to probe 9/11 – CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/15/attack/main509096.shtmlVice President Cheney earlier opposed any public hearings on 9/11 - Newsweek
http://www.wanttoknow.info/020204newsweekMay 30, 2002: FBI Agent Wright formally accuses the FBI of deliberately curtailing investigations that might have prevented 9/11. He is threatened with retribution if he talks to Congress about this – FOX News
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,54070,00.htmllate 2002 – In a move that draws sharp criticism, Bush appoints Philip Zelikow, a three-year veteran of Bush Senior's National Security Council, as executive director of official 9/11 Commission.
March 26, 2003 - The White House refuses a request from an independent commission led by former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean to supplement its original $3 million budget. (For comparison: the commission to investigate the Challenger explosion received $50 million.) – Time
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,437267,00.htmlOctober 28, 2003 – The Kean commission complains federal agencies are being slow to furnish documents. The commission threatens to issue subpoenas for the information. - CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/27/bush.911/Bush and Cheney refuse to testify before the commission until these conditons are met:
- They would be allowed to testify jointly.
- They would not be required to testify under oath
- The testimony would not be electornically recorded or transcribed, with the only record being notes taken by a commission staffer
- The notes would not be made public
- MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4862296/July 22, 2004: The official 9/11 Commission Report is published. It fails to mention that a year before the attacks a secret Pentagon project had identified four 9/11 hijackers, including leader Mohamed Atta. The Commission spokesperson initially states members were not informed of this, but later acknowledges they were. – The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/11/politics/11intel.html?ex=1281412800&en=3c4c0f2346a58391&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rssJune 13, 2005: Former chief economist for the Department of Labor during President George W. Bush's first term Morgan Reynolds comments that the official story about the collapse of the WTC is "bogus" and that it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7. – The Washington Times
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050613-102755-6408r.htmAugust 15, 2005 : CIA field commander alleges that US let Bin Laden escape in Afghanistan - Newsweek
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8853000/site/newsweek/November 10, 2005 : A physics professor from Brigham Young University publishes an academic paper saying that "pre-positioned explosives" were the likely cause of the World Trade Center collapse. – Deseret News
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635160132,00.htmlNovember 17, 2005 : Former FBI Director Louis Freeh, writing in The Washington Post, says the official 9/11 commision's conclusion "raises serious challenges to the commission's credibility and, if the facts prove out, might just render the commission historically insignificant itself."
http://www.wanttoknow.info/051126abledangerlouisfreeh
