01797fef   
   XPost: alt.alien.research, alt.paranet.abduct, alt.conspiracy   
   From: garymatalucci@gmail.com   
      
   Was 9/11 an Inside Job? By Mark H. Gaffney   
      
   The following is an excerpt from Mark H. Gaffney's book, THE 911   
   MYSTERY PLANE AND THE VANISHING OF AMERICA.   
      
   Regrettably, there is considerable evidence that elements of the Bush   
   administration were complicit in the 9/11 attack, and may even have   
   helped stage it. Let us now examine some of what I regard as the most   
   compelling evidence. However, the following discussion makes no claim   
   to be comprehensive.   
      
   We know that within minutes of the “worst terrorist attack” in US   
   history, even before the collapse of WTC-2 at 9:59 am, US officials   
   knew the names of several of the alleged hijackers. CBS reported that   
   a flight attendant on AA Flight 11, Amy Sweeney, had the presence of   
   mind to call her office and reveal the seat numbers of the hijackers   
   who had seized the plane.[1] FBI Director Robert Mueller later said,   
   “This was the first piece of hard evidence.”[2] In his memoirs CIA   
   Director George Tenet emphasizes the importance of the passenger   
   manifests, as does counter-terrorism czar Richard A. Clarke.[3]  All   
   of which is very strange because the manifests later released by the   
   airlines do not include the names of any of the alleged hijackers. Nor   
   has this discrepancy ever been explained.   
      
   According to MSNBC, the plan to invade Afghanistan and “remove Al   
   Qaeda from the face of he earth” was already sitting on G.W. Bush’s   
   desk on the morning of 9/11 awaiting his signature.[4]  The plan, in   
   the form of a presidential directive, had been developed by the CIA   
   and according to Richard Clarke called for “arming the Northern   
   Alliance...to go on the offensive against the Taliban [and] pressing   
   the CIA to...go after bin Laden and the Al Qaeda leadership.”[5]   
      
   A former Pakistani diplomat, Niaz Naik, tells virtually the same   
   story. During a BBC interview, three days after 9/11, Niak claimed   
   that senior American officials had informed him in mid-July 2001 that   
   the US would attack the Taliban “before the snows start falling in   
   Afghanistan, by the middle of October at the latest.”[6] Niak said he   
   received this information in Berlin at a UN-sponsored international   
   contact group on Afghanistan. He also predicted, correctly, that the   
   US attack would be launched from bases in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.   
   But how could US officials know in mid-July that American forces would   
   invade Afghanistan in October unless they had foreknowledge of the   
   attack?   
      
   Foreknowledge probably also explains why General Richard Myers, the   
   acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs on 9/11, announced at the first   
   post-9/11 meeting of Bush’s National Security Council, held on video-   
   conference the afternoon of the attack, that “there are forty-two   
   major Taliban bombing targets.”[7] But how did Myers come to have such   
   detailed information about military targets in Afghanistan, so soon   
   after the 9/11 attack?   
      
   This important detail belies oft-repeated claims that the US military   
   was not prepared to attack Afghanistan, and points to extensive war   
   planning before 9/11. Journalist Steve Coll arrived at a similar   
   conclusion while researching his 2004 book, Ghost Wars, an excellent   
   history of the period leading up to the 9/11 attack. Coll interviewed   
   two Clinton administration officials who informed him that ”the   
   Pentagon had been studying possible targets in the same spring [i.e.,   
   1998] that the CIA had been drawing up its secret plan to raid Tarnack   
   Farm,” located near Kandahar, Afghanistan, where bin Laden had taken   
   up quarters at the invitation of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.[8]   
      
   According to Clarke, at the same meeting on the afternoon of 9/11, CIA   
   Director George Tenet informed the president that “Al Qaeda had   
   committed these atrocities.”[9] But, again, how did Tenet know this so   
   soon after the attack, especially given that “security failures” had   
   occurred, unless he had foreknowledge?   
      
   No Hard Evidence - On September 20, 2001, the Bush administration   
   officially declared that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the 9/11   
   attack. Three days later, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced on   
   Meet the Press that the government would soon release “a white paper”   
   detailing the evidence against bin Laden.[10] Later the same day, Bush   
   faced questions from the press about Powell’s remark and backed away   
   from releasing any additional information. Bush explained that the   
   government had a lot of evidence but that most of it was classified   
   and could not be made public. Bush emphasized, however, that the   
   evidence “leads to one person, as well as one global terrorist   
   organization.”[11] National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice made a   
   similar statement during an interview on FOX News. Said Rice: “We have   
   very good evidence of links between Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda   
   operatives, and what happened on September 11.”[12] Rice refused to   
   release any particulars, however, and, like Bush, claimed that the   
   evidence was “classified.”   
      
   As we know, the US government never got around to releasing the   
   promised white paper. Why not? Was it because the evidence against bin   
   Laden was too weak to hold up in court? Such was the view of   
   journalist Seymour Hersh, who cited CIA and Justice Department sources   
   to this effect in his regular column in the New Yorker magazine.[13]   
      
   Foreign intelligence agencies were also busily investigating the case,   
   but fared no better. For instance, Germany’s Chief Federal Prosecutor,   
   Kay Nehm, admitted that there was no hard evidence linking bin Laden   
   with the crime.[14] The lack of evidence prompted former German   
   Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to speak out against President Bush’s   
   decision to invoke Article V of the NATO Treaty, mobilizing NATO’s   
   involvement in the war on terrorism. In Schmidt’s own words: “Proof   
   had to be delivered that the September 11 terror attack came from   
   abroad. [Yet,] that proof still has not been provided.”[15]   
      
   Osama did not cooperate by acknowledging his role in the attack; on   
   the contrary. In a statement on September 16, 2001 carried by Al-   
   Jazeera, bin Laden categorically denied any involvement. Days later,   
   he repeated this denial during an interview with the Pakistani   
   newspaper Ummaut.[16] On November 3, 2001 Al-Jazeera released a third   
   statement, in which bin Laden not only denied involvement but also   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)