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What did they know and when did they know it?

 "Mixed Messages - Why the government didn't know what it knew."  Seymour Hersh - The New Yorker - May 27, 2002

Inside what may be the worst intelligence failure of all.  A Newsweek exclusive.  June 10 issue.  By Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman

Department of Homeland Insecurity
By Frank Rich, New York Times, reg. req'd. (Register to read; it's free.)
When it comes to striking terror in a White House waging a war on terrorism, Osama bin Laden has nothing on a forthright American woman spilling her guts on daytime television. 

FBI Agent Coleen Rowley's Memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller - Time Mag. 
"To get to the point, I have deep concerns that a delicate and subtle shading/skewing of facts by you and others at the highest levels of FBI management has occurred and is occurring."    May 21, 2002.


Disgusting, but honest.
Forbidden thoughts about 911 
A spectrum of improper responses to the terror attacks from Salon Magazine.  From gloating about getting off work to enjoying the "country road" ambience of lower Manhattan to hating on-the-make firemen. 

FBI Orders ‘While You Were Out’ Message Pads
(humor)

Meet the Press with Tim Russert Interviews are online if you missed the TV program.

NEW  Follow along with Frontline (tv show) reporters searching for Al Qaeda
A behind-the-scenes perspective on the making of a Frontline (tv show) documentary and the life of an investigative journalist attempting to uncover what has become of the remnants of the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

"Regular dispatches "In Search of Al Qaeda" from Smith and Gaviria will continue to post on the Frontline web site throughout the filming of the documentary."
In 1966, the Karl Koch Erecting Company, founded by the author’s grandfather and father in the 1920s, had been awarded the contract to erect the 200,000 tons of steel and more than 6 million square feet of floor that would turn a grand idea more than a decade in the making into the world’s two tallest buildings.

March 20, 2003 -  Operation Hide the Economy

2 hours and 15 minutes past Saddam's deadline, Bush's war  begins.

View the articles this count is taken from.  This is a human security project to establish an independent and comprehensive public database of civilian deaths in Iraq resulting directly from military actions by the USA and its allies in 2003.  Also, Background and methodology.

ANTIWAR.com

BBC News Iraq War Special Section
BBC news Iraq Country Profile
CIA FactBook - Iraq

Baghdad news from WorldNews.com

Did you know Baghdad has a population of more than 5 million?

Does Iraq sponsor terrorism?  from Terrorism Answers - a new site from the Council on Foreign Relations. 

el Qaeda
CNN has a good in-depth Special Section. - al Qaeda and Taliban, anthrax, videos, photo galleries, more.

New - regime change begins at home.

-----
A Saudi Connection?
The Saudi Money Trail 
NEWSWEEK, Dec. 2, 2002 issue.
[msnbc archives and deletes links so frequently, I don't like to link to them, but so far this story is an "exclusive."  I apologize if you find a broken link.]
I found it reposted here.
From the headline:
"Rent payments for 9-11 hijackers and mysterious checks from a princess’s account. Is there a Saudi tie to terror? Inside the probe the Bush administration doesn’t want you to know about"  By Michael Isikoff And Evan Thomas
------
And, a rebuttal:
Nov. 25, 2002
DUBAI (Reuters) - "Saudi Arabia has dismissed as lies charges that it financed September 11 hijackers, and some newspapers said the allegations were a desperate attempt by U.S. hawks to get Saudi support for a possible war against Iraq."

Sept. 10, 2002,   Prime Minister Tony Blair's speech to Britain's Trade Union Congress: "Saddam Hussein is a threat that has to be dealt with."

Prime Mininster Tony Blair's statement following air strikes against the Taliban by U.S. and British forces, Oct. 7, 2001.

 "We waited so that those responsible could be yielded up by those shielding them. That offer was refused. We have now no choice. So we will act. And our determination in acting is total. We will not let up or rest until our objectives are met in full."  - Tony Blair, Oct. 7
Read the full text, or watch on audio video with RealPlayer.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's eloquent and visionary keynote address during the third day of the Labor Party Conference in Brighton, England, on October 2, 2001.  (audio/video)

"...there is no compromise possible with such people. There is no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it, we must." 

In the same speech, Blair ties in the environment, Kyoto, Africa, Northern Ireland, and more:

"With imagination, we could use or find the technologies that create energy without destroying our planet, we could provide work and trade without deforestation. If human kind was able, finally, to make industrial progress without the factory conditions of the 19th century, surely, we have the wit and will to develop economically without despoiling the very environment we depend upon."  - read the full transcript or listen and watch with RealPlayer.

New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani delivered a poignant and forceful speech at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Terrorism, October 1, 2001. (Reuters, Peter Morgan)



An excerpt:
"Let those who say that we must understand the reasons for terrorism come with me to the thousands of funerals we are having in New York City and explain those insane, maniacal reasons to the children who will grow up without fathers and mothers, to the parents who have had their children ripped from them for no reason at all. 

Instead, I ask each of you to allow me to say at those funerals that your nation stands with America in making a solemn promise and pledge that we will achieve unconditional victory over terrorism and terrorists. 

There is no excuse for mass murder, just as there is no excuse for genocide. Those who practice terrorism - murdering or victimizing innocent civilians - lose any right to have their cause understood by decent people and lawful nations."   - read the full transcript.


NEW by Rudy Giuliani  Getting it Right at Ground Zero  - Article in Time Magazine's Sept. 11, 2002 911 anniversary issue:

"I am convinced that ground zero must first and foremost be a memorial.  All other decisions should flow from that goal.  If anything else is added to the site, it should complement and not overshadow the memorial.  People a hundred years from now should be able to grasp the enormity of this attack by visiting this sacred ground. Ground zero is a cemetery.  It is the last resting place for loved ones whose bodies were not recovered and whose remains are still within that hallowed ground.  We must respect the role these events play in our history. " read whole article.

Leadership by Rudy Giuliani

Amazon sales rank: 14, Oct. 18, 2002

He never knew that the qualities he describes would be put to the awful test of September 11, he says; but he never doubted that they would prevail.

Sept. 12, 2002, President Bush's Remarks at the United Nations General Assembly - text of speech and has audio link - White House Web site.

June 6, 2002
President Bush's Address to the Nation
Announcing plans for Department of Homeland Security.
Read the transcript or  listen on RealPlayer - from the White House Web site.
"Tonight, I propose a permanent Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security to unite essential agencies that must work more closely together: Among them, the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol, the Customs Service, Immigration officials, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency."


Bush Seeks Security Dept. Cabinet-Level Agency - from the Washington Post, June 7, 2002

President Bush's press  conference, Oct. 11, 2001 - text transcript.  His "report to America on the state of our war against terror."  (Reuters, Win McNamee)

President Bush announces air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan by the U.S. and Britain, Oct. 7, 2001. 

President Bush's Address to Congress and the Nation, Sept. 20, 2001. 
"Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment."
- Read the full transcript  or  watch in on video - RealPlayer required.

President Bush's remarks at Washington National Cathedral, Sept. 14. 2001

President Bush's Address to the Nation, September 11, 2001
"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America."  
 -read the full transcript or listen with RealPlayer.

The White House Web site is posting Bush's speeches, many with audio also.

  Voice of America News - Articles, streaming media - some audio, some video of speeches.




back to top

Oct. 16, 2002.

Rudy's new job - Giuliani Group crisis management consulting.

Former Mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani, left, and Chairman and CEO of Aon Corporation Patrick Ryan, right, announced the formation of a strategic alliance to provide crisis management services to major corporations around the world. (AP Photo/David Karp)

Mexico City will pay Giuliani and his new consulting firm (Giuliani Group) $4.3 million to help bring law and order to the city.  

Article from the Moscow Times
"Giuliani says he can stop crime and corruption. These problems have gone on for centuries," Marcela Yturria of Monterrey wrote in a letter to the editor of El Norte, a regional newspaper. "No Mexican leader has stopped them."

Giuliani feels he can, and the eye-popping statistics of his eight-year mayoralty -- crimes, including murder, fell by roughly two-thirds -- have duly impressed the city fathers.

From the Salt Lake Tribune:
Mexican business leaders, fed up with losses from crime and theft, are paying the charismatic Giuliani $4.3 million to give the city's police tips on how to crack down on violence in the nation's capital.

Nov. 30, 2002:
In other Rudy news, he pops the question to his long time girlfriend.  His ex-wife gets $6.8 million.

Find unique gifts at the NY Times Store

Thoughts on war
The War Prayer by Mark Twain

God, aka Allah, aka Yahweh, clarifies the "don't kill" rule.  "I figured I'd left no real room for confusion after putting it in a four-word sentence with one-syllable words, on the tablets I gave to Moses. How much more clear can I get?"

 This will be a knife fight  by Dr. Tony Kern, Lt Col, USAF (Ret)

Travus T Hipp - his thoughts on the right thing to do 

You can't bomb us back to the Stone Age.  We're already there.  An Afghan-American speaks out

Comment found posted on the Web.  The poster identified himself as a "middle eastern" point of view:
"i don't think anyone with a shred of humanity can be happy about what happened, about innocent ppl dying, no matter what race, no matter what their beliefs, but unfortunately, ignorance is widespread, and ppl, cant really differentiate between the government and its policis and its people, they're asking if its such a free countrym and then why arent the ppl trying to help?"
Good question.

The world reacts:  Favorite news sites:  BBC Online, UK | The Washington Post, U.S. | The Drudge Report, U.S. | The Guardian, UK | WorldNews.com-Great Int'l links and news search box.  |||  

More:  The Middle East Times | The Times of India | ArabNet | Jerusalem Post | Bangladesh Daily Star |  Moscow Times |  Pakistan's Dawn | The Globe and Mail, Canada | JapanToday | France's LeMonde (in French) | China Daily | Die Welt (in German) | Il Mattino (in Italian) | South African Daily Mail | Guadalajara Reporter, Mexico | The Economist, (Int'l) | The Australian Broadcasting Company

Thoughts on hate
Why do they hate us?  Two articles from The Guardian.  
They can't see why they are hated.
Our poor, our weak, our hungry.

It isn't just freedom they hate  From Salon

America at a loss - American foreign policy from the Economist - Sept. 10, 2001, the day before the attack

PBS.org says radical Islam began in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  Story and great links to further reading

bin Laden pages
Frontline's bin Laden pages.  Interviews, videos from pbs.org

The FBI's bin Laden evidence files

The FBI's ten most wanted bin Laden page. - $25 million reward.

The FBI's 22 most wanted terrorist fugitives page.

Who did it? - early reports - Sept. 19, 2001 -
Jane's Security says Israel’s military intelligence service, Aman, suspects that Iraq is the state that sponsored the suicide attacks.   The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli intelligence says they didn't say that.  And, they admit they don't want to provoke Iraq.  Hmmm.

50% off Subscription Rate to The New York Times - Click Here

Other related reading
•Companies that have announced layoffs since Sept. 11, 2001
Updated by the Washington Post.

Michael Kinsley warns that our feeling that life as we know it has changed could become a self-fulfilling prophesy.  "Victory in the war against terrorism consists precisely of everything's not changing. If life has changed permanently and dramatically for the worse, terrorism has won the war."  This is a call for us to get tough and carry on, and not let this tragedy, and the terrorists, influence the way we live.  

100 questions and answers about Arab Americans
- from the Detroit Free Press.

How do you stop the unthinkable?

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on Oct. 11, 2001,  rejected a Saudi prince's $10 million donation for victims of the World Trade Center after the prince criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East.  (Reuters pool, Stan Honda)



Hey Mr. Fireman!  The fire's over here!
 "The good news from here is that the firemen are getting all the sex they could want. While the desperate, lonely men who make up Osama bin Laden’s shock troops had to kill themselves for their 70 sloe-eyed virgins in paradise, the men of New York’s Fire Department need only walk into a bar." - from The Spectator.

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