THIS FAR AND NO FURTHER
A Timeline of Events Surrounding the Radical Right's Attempt to Subvert American Democracy
Written and Compiled by Black Max
The Events Preceding 9/11
Page Eight: 2001, September
- Early September: An Iranian man known as Ali S. in a German jail waiting deportation repeatedly phones US law enforcement to warn of an imminent attack on the WTC in the week of September 9-15. He calls it "an attack that will change the world." After a month of badgering his prison guards, he is finally able to call the White House 14 times in the days before the attack. He then tries to send a fax to Bush, but is denied permission hours before the 9/11 attacks. German police later confirm the calls. Prosecutors later say Ali had no foreknowledge and his forebodings were just a strange coincidence. They say he is mentally unstable. Similar warnings also come from a Moroccan man being held in a Brazilian jail. (CCR)
- Early September: Shortly before 9/11, people attending a New York mosque are warned to stay out of lower Manhattan on 9/11. The FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force interviews dozens of members of the mosque, who confirm the story. The mosque leadership denies any advanced knowledge and the case apparently remains unsolved. (CCR)
NYC Arab-Americans warn of impending attacks
- Early September: A veteran detective with post-9/11 investigations later claims that rumors in New York City's Arab-American community about the 9/11 attacks are common in the days beforehand. The story "had been out on the street" and the number of leads turning up later is so "overwhelming" that it is difficult to tell who knows about the attacks from secondhand sources and who knows about it from someone who may have been a participant. After 9/11, tracking leads regarding Middle Eastern employees who didn't show up for work on 9/11 are "a serious and major priority." (CCR)
- September 3: Author Salman Rushdie, the target of death threats from radical Muslims for years, is banned by US authorities from taking internal US flights. He says the FAA told his publisher the reason was because it had "intelligence of something about to happen." One newspaper states, "The FAA confirmed that it stepped up security measures concerning Mr. Rushdie but refused to give a reason." (Ananova/Killtown)
- September 4: The FBI informs the FAA of Zacarias Moussaoui's arrest. The FAA does not issue an alert. (CCR)
- September 4: Robert Mueller officially becomes the director of the FBI. Formerly a US District Attorney in San Francisco, an assistant to former Attorney General Dick Thornberg, and Acting Deputy Attorney General under John Ashcroft, Mueller is expected to clean up the mess left behind him by his predecessor, Louis Freeh. During Mueller's Senate confirmation hearings in July, Democrat Patrick Leahy urges extensive reform of the FBI. "These are not problems of money," Leahy says. "We have poured a lot of money into the FBI. It is a management problem. Problems with the FBI's antiquated computer system will cause serious difficulties for FBI and other agents after the 9/11 attacks in obtaining and exchanging information; additionally, the FBI has virtually no informants inside the US chapters of the various Islamic fundamentalist movements. "We don't have eyes and ears in the Muslim community," says a former intelligence official long after the attacks. "We're naked here." (Wikipedia, Seymour Hersh)
Bush Cabinet holds its second meeting on terrorism
- September 4: Bush's Cabinet-rank advisers have their second-ever meeting on terrorism. Back in January, terrorism "czar" Richard Clarke had proposed an ambitious plan to "roll back" al-Qaeda's operations around the world. The plan was strengthened and finally approved at this meeting. It no longer plans a "roll back" of al-Qaeda but aims to eradicate it altogether. The plan calls for significant support to the Northern Alliance, the last remaining resistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan. At the same time, the US military would launch air strikes on training camps and special-operations missions in Afghanistan. In the words of a senior Bush Administration official, the proposals amounted to "everything we've done since 9/11." The plan was awaiting Bush's signature on 9/11. Clinton's limited missile attack in 1998 faced a lot of controversy -- this new ambitious plan would have faced much more opposition had it not been for 9/11. A senior Bush administration official dismisses the allegations: "This idea that there was somehow a kind of -- some sort of full-blown plan for going after al-Qaeda is just incorrect." (CCR)
- September 4: Businessman and commentator Ben Cohen runs a mock "help wanted" ad that reads, "serious enemy needed to justify Pentagon budget increase. Defense contractors desperate." (CCR)
- September 4-5: A freshman at Brooklyn's New Utrecht High School who had recently emigrated from Pakistan reportedly predicts the destruction of the World Trade Center a week prior to the 9-11 attacks. In the midst of a heated class discussion, the student pointed to the World Trade Center from a third story window and said, "Do you see those two buildings? They won't be standing there next week." New York City Board of Education spokeswoman Catie Marshall confirms "that school officials reported the matter to police within minutes of the Sept. 11 attack" and students confirm that "FBI agents and NYPD detectives descended on the school on Sept. 13 to interrogate the student [who made the prediction] and others in his class," which was "an English class for Arab-American students." (From the Wilderness)
- September 4-11: ISI Director Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmed visits Washington for the second time. On September 10, a Pakistani newspaper reports on his trip so far. It says his visit has "triggered speculation about the agenda of his mysterious meetings at the Pentagon and National Security Council" as well as meetings with CIA Director Tenet, unspecified officials at the White House and the Pentagon, and his "most important meeting" with Mark Grossman, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. The article suggests that "of course, Osama bin Laden" could be the focus of some discussions. The article adds, "What added interest to his visit is the history of such visits. Last time [his] predecessor was [in Washington], the domestic [Pakistani] politics turned topsy-turvy within days." This is a reference to the Musharraf coup just after a ISI Director's visit. Mahmood is meeting in Washington when the 9/11 attacks begin, and extends his stay until September 16. (CCR)
- September 5-6: French and US intelligence officials hold meetings in Paris on combating terrorism. The French try again to warn their US counterparts about Moussaoui, "but the American delegation...paid no attention...basically concluding that they were going to take no one's advice, and that an attack on American soil was inconceivable." The US participants also say Moussaoui's case is in the hands of the immigration authorities and is not a matter for the FBI. The FBI arranges to deport Moussaoui to France on September 17, so the French can search his belongings and tell the FBI the results. Due to the 9/11 attacks, the deportation never happens. (CCR)
- September 5-8: Eighty members of a Joint Terrorism Task Force conduct a three-day raid of the offices of InfoCom Corporation, a Texas-based company that hosts about 500 mostly Arab web sites, including al-Jazeera, the Arab world's leading news channel. The Task Force includes agents from the FBI, Secret Service and Diplomatic Security, as well as tax inspectors, immigration officials, customs officials, department of commerce officials and computer experts. The FBI declines to give a reason for the raid, but a spokeswoman said it is not aimed at InfoCom's clients. The reasons for the raid may never be known, because a judge ordered the warrant to be sealed. Three days after the initial raid, the Task Force is "still busy inside the building, reportedly copying every hard disc they could find." InfoCom's offices are located in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas. Two charities in Richardson, The Global Relief Foundation Inc. and The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, have been investigated for possible ties to Palestinian terrorist organizations. Not only are InfoCom and Holy Land across the road from each other, they are intimately connected through two brothers: Ghassan and Bayan Elashi. Ghassan Elashi is both the vice president of Infocom and chairman of Holy Land. These two and others are later arrested on a variety of serious charges. Approximately one week before 9/11, Bank One closes Holy Land's checking accounts totaling about $13 million, possibly because of an investigation begun by the New York State Attorney General. The US freezes Holy Land's assets two months later for suspected terrorist associations. Holy Land is represented by Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, a Washington, DC law firm with unusually close ties to the Bush White House. (From the Wilderness)
- September 6: Bush states, "The only time to use Social Security money is in times of war, times of recession, or times of severe emergency." His first budget after the 9/11 attacks makes deep inroads into Social Security funds previously kept off-limits to government spending. (CCR)
Rice ignores Hart's pleas to step up counter-terrorism initiatives
- September 6: Senator Gary Hart meets privately with Condoleezza Rice to urge her to move more quickly on the issue of homeland security. Hart later says that Rice essentially brushed off his warnings. "All I can say is she didn't feel the degree of urgency I thought was necessary," he says. Together with Warren Rudman, a veteran Republican politician, Hart chaired the US commission on national security/21st century, which was established by President Bill Clinton in October 1998 and told to report to the incoming president in early 2001. That report predicted: "America will become increasingly vulnerable to hostile attack on our homeland [and] Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers." To the surprise of the 14 commissioners, Hart says, virtually all of its recommendations were ignored. The post of homeland security adviser was established in the White House only after the September 11 attacks. "We were not just another federal commission," says Hart. "This was supposed to be -- and was -- the most comprehensive review of US national security since 1947." He said that in the first week of February 2001 he and other commissioners briefed Rice, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Secretary of State Colin Powell to convey their fears personally. "They were respectful and attentive, interested in what we were saying," says Hart, but no action is taken. (Buzzflash, Gary Hart News, Guardian)
Stock market manipulations anticipate plunge in United Air Lines stock
- September 6-10: 4,744 put options (a speculation that the stock will go down) are purchased on United Air Lines stock as opposed to only 396 call options (speculation that the stock will go up). This is a dramatic and abnormal increase in sales of put options -- 90 times (not 90 percent, as erronerously reported elsewhere) above normal between Sept. 6 and Sept. 10, and 285 times higher than average on Sept. 6. Numbers for other affected stocks were equally alarming. It is established that only United and American stocks had this level of put buying before the attacks. No other airlines were affected. Many of the UAL puts are purchased through Deutschebank/AB Brown, a firm managed until 1998 by the current Executive Director of the CIA, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard. On September 10, 4,516 put options are purchased on American Airlines as compared to 748 call options. No other airlines show any similar trading patterns to those experienced by UAL and American. The put option purchases on both airlines were 600% above normal. This happens at a time when Reuters (September 10) issues a business report stating, "Airline stocks may be poised to take off." Highly abnormal levels of put options are also purchased in Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, AXA Re (insurance) which owns 25% of American Airlines, and Munich Re. All of these companies are directly impacted by the September 11 attacks. It has been documented that the CIA, the Israeli Mossad and many other intelligence agencies monitor stock trading in real time in order to alert national intelligence services of impending attacks.
- "This could very well be insider trading at the worst, most horrific, most evil use you've ever seen in your entire life. This would be one of the most extraordinary coincidences in the history of mankind if it was a coincidence," says Dylan Ratigan of Bloomberg Business News. German central bank president Ernst Welteke says a study by his bank indicates, "There are ever clearer signs that there were activities on international financial markets that must have been carried out with the necessary expert knowledge," not only in shares of heavily affected industries such as airlines and insurance companies, but also in gold and oil. His researchers have found "almost irrefutable proof of insider trading." The story almost immediately disappears from the American media, with occasional reassurances from TV anchors that there is nothing to the story the only mentions. (From the Wilderness, AlterNet)
Florida governor Jeb Bush signs legislation authorizing martial law in Florida; no explanation given
- September 7: Florida governor Jeb Bush, the president's brother, signs an order opening the way for a declaration of martial law throughout the state (Executive Order 01-261). The order gives his Attorney General the authority to mobilize the state's National Guardsmen. On the morning of 9/11, Governor Bush will issue Executive Order 01-262, declaring a state of national emergency and martial law, making his state the first -- even before New York and the District of Columbia -- to make such a declaration. The declaration has no expiration date. No explanation is given for either order. (AlterNet, Idaho Observer/ProLiberty)
- September 7: The CIA's stock tracking program, PROMIS, alerts the agency to the unusual stock activity. No action is taken by either the agency or the administration. (From the Wilderness)
- September 7: Bush's plan to visit a Sarasota, Florida elementary school on September 11 is publicly announced. According to a later news article, numerous eyewitnesses see hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi in Sarasota later that evening. They appear to have stayed at a Holiday Inn very close to the place Bush will later stay. (CCR)
Intercepted phone call shows bin Laden promising "big news" on September 11
- September 9: Osama bin Laden, placed by sources somewhere in Pakistan, calls his mother to inform her that "in two days, you will hear big news, and you're not going to hear from me for a while." The call is intercepted and translated by NSA codebreakers. This communication, reported by the Bush administration itself on September 13, proves not only that the US could tap into supposedly secret al-Qaeda transmissions, but that Osama bin Laden is not nearly as estranged from his family as we have been led to believe. (CCR, 9/11 Press for Truth/Daily Kos)
Bush vetoes more counter-terrorism spending
- September 9: Through Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, Bush responds to the attempts by US military commanders to receive additional funding to combat domestic terrorism, and their attempts to redirect $600 million from the multi-billion dollar missile defense system, by promising to veto any such attempts to secure funding. The missile defense system will eventually cost somewhere between $158 and $238 billion. (CCR, Eric Alterman and Mark Green, Al Franken)
- September 9: A formal National Security Presidential Directive describing a "game plan to remove al-Qaeda from the face of the Earth" is placed on Bush's desk for his signature. The plan deals with all aspects of a war against al-Qaeda, ranging from diplomatic initiatives to military operations in Afghanistan. The "directive outlines essentially the same war plan...put into action after the Sept. 11 attacks. The administration most likely was able to respond so quickly to the attacks because it simply had to pull the plans 'off the shelf.'" The plan includes an effort to persuade the Taliban to turn over bin Laden and a military invasion if it refuses. It was prepared through a process of consultation over many months, involving the Pentagon, CIA, State Department and other security and intelligence agencies. Bush was expected to sign the directive, but hadn't finished reviewing it by 9/11. Sandy Berger, Clinton's National Security Advisor, has stated, "You show me one reporter, one commentator, one member of Congress who thought we should invade Afghanistan before September 11 and I'll buy you dinner in the best restaurant in New York City." In July 2002, British Prime Minister Tony Blair will state: "To be truthful about it, there was no way we could have got the public consent to have suddenly launched a campaign on Afghanistan but for what happened on September 11." (From the Wilderness)
- September 10: George W. Bush stays the night at the luxurious Colony Beach Resort on an island off of Sarasota, Florida. He dines with his brother Jeb and a variety of Republican politicians and donors, then goes to bed around 10:00. Surface-to-air missiles are in place on the roof of the hotel, and an AWACS plane circles overhead. Whether these are standard precautions, or unusual precautions taken because of threats, is unknown. (CCR)
- September 10: Pakistan's head of intelligence, Lieutenant General Mahmood Ahmad, wires $100,000 to Mohammed Atta, the leader of the 9/11 hijackers. (9/11 Press for Truth/Daily Kos)
- September 10: Sarasota resident Zainlabdeen Omer, a Sudanese native, tells local police that he knows someone who has made violent threats against Bush is in town, and he fears for Bush's safety. Omer can only identify the man as "Ghandi." The police inform the Secret Service immediately. A few days later, after the Secret Service had grilled a number of Sudanese residents and been informed that "Ghandi" was a member of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, Omer vanishes. (CCR)
- September 10: Osama bin Laden is spirited into Rawalpindi, Pakistan, for kidney dialysis. He is brought in under heavy guard, and is treated by selected doctors, as the entire complement of the urology department is told to leave. It is widely believed that Pakistani intelligence has assisted the Taliban in buying several dialysis machines for bin Laden's use. (CBS/Killtown)
- September 10: U.S. intelligence intercepts two messages that indicate an event was planned the following day, but the communications were not translated until Sept. 12. The National Security Agency, which eavesdrops on communications worldwide, intercepted messages saying, "tomorrow is zero day" and "the match begins tomorrow." (CCR)
- September 10: Condoleezza Rice receives a high-priority report detailing a variety of options that can be used to counter, and possibly eliminate, bin Laden and al-Qaeda. (CCR)
San Francisco mayor warned not to travel by air on September 11
- September 10: Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco receives a warning to be cautious about traveling by air on September 11 from what he describes as his security people at San Francisco International Airport. The assistant deputy director of the airport confirms that he received no warnings, routine or otherwise, about problems with air travel safety from the FAA for September 11. (SFGate/Killtown, From the Wilderness)
Pentagon officials suddenly cancel travel plans
- September 10: A group of top-level Pentagon officials suddenly cancel their travel plans for the next day, "apparently because of security concerns." (MSNBC/NLP, From the Wilderness)
- September 10: FEMA member Tom Kenney said on September 13: "We're currently one of the first teams that was deployed to support the City of New York in this disaster. We arrived on late Monday night [September 10] and went right into action on Tuesday morning [September 11]." FEMA officials said Kennedy misstated his team's arrival date. The Boston Herald later says Kennedy's name is actually Tom Kenney, and his wife claims he merely confused the dates. (CBS/Killtown)
- September 10: A Dallas fifth-grader tells his teacher, "Tomorrow, World War III will begin. It will begin in the United States, and the United States will lose." It is unclear exactly when school district officials told the FBI about the incident, but it was some time between Sept. 13 and the story's publication date in the Houston Chronicle of Sept. 19.(Houston Chronicle, From the Wilderness)
Ashcroft rejects request for additional FBI counter-terrorism funding
- September 10: Attorney General Ashcroft rejects a proposed $58 million increase in financing for the bureau's counter-terrorism programs, denying the FBI's requests for 149 field agents, 200 analysts, and 54 translators to the bureau's counter-terrorism department, even though in September the FBI had lost over 100 special agents working on terrorism issues since August. (On September 11, the FBI will have only five analysts working on terrorism in its Counter Terrorism Center.) On the same day, he sends a request for budget increases to the White House. It covers 68 programs, but none of them relate to counter-terrorism. He also sends a memorandum to his heads of departments, stating his seven priorities -- none of them relating to counter-terrorism. (CCR, Eric Alterman and Mark Green)
