Read This, combine it with recent revelations about the lack of investigation prior to 9/11, add the "classified" stuff we are not being told, then tell me 9/11 was "just a bureaucratic snafu".....

Tearful FBI Agent Apologizes To Sept. 11 Families and Victims
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief
May 30, 2002

Editor's note: Corrects length of investigation to four years rather than ten.

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - In a memorandum written 91 days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, an FBI agent warned that Americans would die as a result of the bureau's failure to adequately pursue investigations of terrorists living in the country.

FBI Special Agent Robert Wright, Jr., who wrote the memo, led a four-year investigation into terrorist money laundering in the United States.

Wright began crying as he concluded his remarks at a Washington press conference Thursday.

"To the families and victims of September 11th - on behalf of [FBI Special Agents] John Vincent, Barry Carmody, and myself - we're sorry," Wright said before walking out of the room. Vincent and Carmody have also expressed a desire to expose information regarding alleged FBI missteps prior to Sept. 11.

Wright's June 9, 2001 "Mission Statement" memo warned that, "Knowing what I know, I can confidently say that until the investigative responsibilities for terrorism are transferred from the FBI, I will not feel safe.

"The FBI has proven for the past decade it cannot identify and prevent acts of terrorism against the United States and its citizens at home and abroad," he continued. "Even worse, there is virtually no effort on the part of the FBI's International Terrorism Unit to neutralize known and suspected international terrorists living in the United States."

The summary of Wright's attempts to expose the alleged failures of the FBI's anti-terrorism efforts ended with a solemn conclusion.

"Unfortunately, more terrorist attacks against American interests - coupled with the loss of American lives - will have to occur before those in power give this matter the urgent attention it deserves," he wrote.

Wright had written a manuscript, entitled "Fatal Betrayals of the Intelligence Mission," for presentation to Congress.

"The manuscript outlines, in very specific detail, what I believe allowed September 11th to happen," he explained.

Wright spearheaded the investigation code-named "Vulgar Betrayal," which led to the 1998 seizure of $1.4 million of U.S. funds "destined for terrorist activities."
(continued)

The investigation determined that U.S.-based Hamas terrorists were using not-for-profit organizations "to recruit and train terrorists and fund terrorist activities in the United States and abroad, including the extortion, kidnapping, and murder of Israeli citizens."

The criminal investigations were initiated over the objections of FBI intelligence officers, who Wright charges did not want their probes of terrorist suspects interrupted or ended by the suspects' arrests for criminal activities.

"Vulgar Betrayal" was the first operation that culminated with the use of civil forfeiture laws to seize the U.S. assets of terrorist groups. The confiscated funds were directly linked to Saudi Arabian businessman Yassin Kadi, also known as Yassin al-Qadi, who has since been identified as one of the "chief money launderers" for Osama bin Laden.

Investigators believe he provided as much as $3 billion to the al Qaeda terrorist network before Wright's investigation closed his operations.

Wright says that FBI management "intentionally and repeatedly thwarted and obstructed" his attempts to expand the investigation to arrest other terrorists and seize their assets.
On August 4, 1999, the FBI removed Wright from the "Vulgar Betrayal" operation, which was terminated shortly thereafter. All but the final three pages of his manuscript were completed in the following months. Those pages were added after Sept. 11.

"As a direct result of the incompetence and, at times, intentional obstruction of justice by FBI management to prevent me from bringing the terrorists to justice, Americans have unknowingly been exposed to potential terrorist attacks for years," he charged.

Nine factors entered into the FBI failures alleged in Wright's manuscript, including:

- Incompetent managers who are not held accountable for mistakes;
- Lack of independent oversight of the bureau;
- Bias on the part of the FBI's internal affairs unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility;
- Antiquated computer technology; and
- Overlapping investigative jurisdictions of other federal law enforcement agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

In a May 29 letter to Wright's attorneys, John Collingwood, assistant director of the FBI's office of public and congressional affairs, forbid Wright to disclose the contents of the manuscript - in writing or orally - to anyone not approved by the bureau.
(continued)

"Pursuant to [Wright's] employment agreement and FBI procedures, he is still not authorized to publicly disseminate information we have previously advised is prohibited from disclosure at this time," Collingwood wrote.

The letter also contained what Wright and his attorneys considered a threat, meant to intimidate them.

"We feel obliged to inform you [that] breach of an employee's employment obligations may be grounds for disciplinary action, a civil suit, or both," Collingwood warned. "In some instances, unauthorized disclosure may also constitute cause for revocation of a security clearance or be a criminal offense."

Those warnings seem to directly contradict the statements of FBI Director Robert Mueller Wednesday while announcing a "wartime reorganization" of his agency.

"It is critically important that I hear criticisms of the organization including criticisms of me in order to improve the organization, to improve the FBI," he said. "Because our focus is on preventing terrorist attacks, more so than in the past, we must be open to new ideas, to criticism from within and from without, and to admitting and learning from our mistakes."

Collingwood claimed in his letter that the opposition to Wright's public comments was not "solely" because Wright's comments might be "critical or disparaging of the FBI, the government, or its employees."

But Larry Klayman, chairman and general counsel of Judicial Watch, says Collingwood's "threats" prove that Mueller's words are meaningless.

"This new policy of the FBI was not sincere," Klayman said, "because at 5 p.m. [after Mueller's press conference] we got [Collingwood's] letter."

Judicial Watch, along with former House Judiciary Committee Special Counsel David Shippers, is representing Wright in a lawsuit against the FBI and five "unknown officials" for violation of his First Amendment free speech rights.

Wright has also filed complaints with the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility and the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, and wants his manuscript and testimony subpoenaed by Congress.

"I truly believe I would be derelict in my duty as an American if I did not do my best to bring the FBI's dereliction of duty to the attention of others," he said. "I have made it my mission ... to legally expose the problems of the FBI to the President of the United States, the U.S. Congress, and the American people."

E-mail a news tip to Jeff Johnson.

Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.

Don't be stupid[V]

Sgtar15

The history of the FBI is that of an organization designed to solve crimes but not to prevent crimes.  (With a little time out to 'manage' Ruby Ridge and Waco.)

Like I said, add it all up..try this too...[url]http://newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=868118&pic=none&TP=getattack[/url]

Don't YOU be stupid.....

Next you'll be saying that the Arabs themselves were FBI agents!!

Sgtar15

Everyone should stop looking at 9/11 and go back and look and the first wtc bombing...the feds had a man on the inside that was HELPING to build explosive devices.......and it was still allowed to happen.....

Don't ask too much of him.

That is unfortunate.  For you.  Because it is nothing but tinfoil-hat bullshit.

ilikelegs I agree with you %100, some people will never wake up, they like things the way they are and don't want to rock the boat in fear of losing their special freebies.

It wasn't a conspiracy, it was opportunism--the people in power (and I mean both Democrats and Republicans) were eagerly awaiting the next big event so they could push their agenda of control a little further along.  Remember OKC?  How they passed all kinds of new anti-terror laws in response to that incident?  Did any of those laws accomplish anything except cede more power to the federal government?

The PATRIOT Act was vetted and ready to go, months before 9/11.  That's the real conspiracy.  They just wait for the right opportunity, like the dems did (but fell a bit short on) after Columbine.  Those laws are already written, submitted, and waiting patiently for an epic event that will make it's passage seem like the right thing to do.  At every juncture, the noose tightens around our necks a little bit more.  It's pure power politics--altruism gone terribly awry.  These lawmakers want to get their bills passed because it makes them feel good about themselves.  Psychotic would not be too heavy a term--wishy-washy people flock to politics because it pumps their egos and gives them the power trip they've always desired.  It has nothing to do with patriotism, though they usually fly that banner as high as possible.  Look at George Bush--he is not what I would call a statesman.  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  Just a coke-sniffing frat boy who made good on daddy's fortune and success and now lords over us as if he shit doesn't stink.  
Disband the FBI, delete the NCIC and NICS without delay.  

Fact: Govt knew Al-Queada operatives were in the US, and training at flight schools.
Fact: Govt did nothing about it.
Fact: On 9/11 the greatest terror attack in world history took place on American soil.
Fact: 9 months later because of a FEW brave and loyal souls, the truth is being made known a little at a time.

You are displaying your usual ignorance rik...

BOY! liberty86 is on the ball.

Who did you get sooooooo skilled as a detective?
I bet you had to find alot of Waldos and Blue's Clues to be this good[:D]

 There is a MOUNTAIN of evidence that agencies within our government had specific knowledge of some sort of terrorist activity within CONUS, and yet did nothing.  Whether it was a conspiracy, complacency, or incompetence, will likely never be known.  
 Consider this, if you have not had your common sense educated out of you by the Gov't education system:  This was the most brilliantly concieved, planned, and executed terrorist incident yet to occur.  The logistics 'tail' involved boggles the mind, yet no paper trail has been revealed.  No physical evidence has yet been produced to document ANY connection between the alleged hijackers and the events of 9/11.  Add to this the FBI involvement in the 1993 WTC bombing in which an FBI informant actually cooked the bomb used, and the puzzle picture does not look nice at all.  Had the incompetent driver of the 1993 attack been able to park his truck bomb next to the supporting columns as instructed, the tower would have fallen - just like BOTH of them did on 9/11.  Would we have ever heard that an FBI informant was part of the terror team?  I doubt it...
 Now that the intractable Taliban has been ejected from power, the Caspian Sea oil pipeline is again going forward.  A record crop of opium poppies is soon to be harvested.  The two commodities of modern  empire will soon be flowing out of Central Asia again, provided that Pakistan is not turned into a glowing glass parking lot.....

[whacko] [whacko]  Tinfoil hat anybody? [whacko][whacko]
[url]http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html[/url]

lib, are you dumb enough to think that Bush had SPECIFIC knowledge of this attack, or are you using a "general idea" angle?
If you are going after the "Bush KNEW", then I must say that you are getting pretty stupid.
If you go with the "general idea" angle, guess what?? There has been a general consensus that something like this "MIGHT" happen since the '60's.
And if you want to play the blame game, once again it can be blamed on Clinton, when he turned down the Sudan government's offer of turning over Osama back in the late '90's, and his little missile strikes to cover up his little affair with Monica.
I don't think that Bush knew of any specific threat, and Fineswine has said as much, and she is on the Intel committee .
You need to replace the tin foil in your hat....

Fact: Smiths sells Diet Pepsi 12Pk's 3 for 9.99 on sale using your Fresh Values Card (buy only 3 please)
Fact: Albertsons sells Diet Pepsi 12 Pk's 2 for $5.00 on sale (buy only 2 please)
Fact: Food 4 Less sells Diet Pepsi 12 Pk's 2 for $5.00 all the time and sometimes $1.99 each (after 1st 2 price will go up on the $1.99 ones)

Where do most people shop?

Smiths or Albertsons...

Why?

Because they feel that Food 4 Less is below them...

So all in all what does this have to do with this thread?

It all depends on where you shop for your news and what you make of whta you read...

Me... I buy at Food 4 Less...

Ted...

Did we "know" about 9/11 beforehand and "allow" it to happen?  To believe that, I'd need a tinfoil hat.

[i]Should[/i] we have figured out something was up in time to intervene?  Yes, I think so.

Peggy Noonan has an excellent piece on just this topic:

[url=www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110001778]Weenies or Moles? [/url]  [b]Did the FBI bungle the Moussaoui investigation--or worse?[/b]

Thank you........for being informed.

No

There is evidence that US govt. officials had specific knowledge that terrorists were attending flight schools and did nothing.
I never mentioned the Presidents name.
In my opinion any one who thinks it was not in the interests of the NWO/powerbrokers interests to see a big terror attack be sucessful in this country is the one who should consider a tin foil hat...

"no, no, it was a complete surprise"


[img]http://www.twaze.com/aolpix/ostrich.gif[/img]

lib, I do believe that some "officials" had some leads, but I can guarantee that we have had KNOWN terrorist operatives in the US for DECADES.
They are placed under surveillance so that the US can find out who their associates and contacts are.
Was there some fuck ups?? Yes. There always are.
But to say that 9/11 could have been averted is ludicrous. Hindsight is 20/20. If the INS was doing it’s job, then MAYBE it wouldn’t have happened, because Atta would have been gone, but we can NEVER be sure.
The government needs an overhaul (we've known that), but I don’t think that the Bush Administration is responsible  for what happened, any more than you are.
Of course, for the changes to occure, we need to invest money into training and other things.
Of course, if there was even ONE gun on each airplane in the hands of a capable citizen, this would be a moot point.

"There is a MOUNTAIN of evidence that agencies within our government had specific knowledge of some sort of terrorist activity"

specific knowledge of some sort?[%|]

Is that like jumbo shrimp[>:/]



BTW:yes I know,the Feds are dip sh!ts but nobody "let" Sep. 11th. go down.
At the time it was one of 1,000,000 things that could have been,if you had been in there shoes it would still have happened.

More paranoid, delusional BS from the usual suspects.  This subject has been beaten to death several times.  Glad we have some Cynthia McKinney supporters here.  They are so much smarter than the rest of us who 'just don't get it' and the have their FACTS (because they say they are facts).]

Libby, go read the article that you posted the link to.....



Boy, that really sounds like they knew someone was going to fly a hijacked plane into a building..........NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Besides, look who was in office during all this, your boy Bill.

Nawww.  This mountain is smaller than "jumbo shrimp" !!

Nope...you've made your first and most common mistake right here.  There is no "the govt"...there are a myriad of government agencies, most of which don't bother to talk to each other.  SOMEONE EMPLOYED BY THE GOVT knew there were suspected Al Queda members at flight schools...that by no means ensures that anyone in a position to do anything about it knew.
You've always fallen into the tinfoil-hat trap of assuming the government is one, big monolithic entity.



Nope, I am simply exposing YOUR usual ignorance.

Allowed to happen?

Isn't it obvious these revelations etc.are loaded with emotional rhetoric?  Getting your pound of flesh ain't gonna bring back the dead and it ain't gonna save any lives.

Political Correctness finally paralyzed the FBI



                        Gary Aldrich: Mueller's Changes Won't Fix FBI

                               Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com
                               Thursday, May 30, 2002

                        WASHINGTON Ü The FBI agent who first blew the whistle on how the bureau had
                        been politicized and how America's national security had been thrown in jeopardy
                        now warns that new changes at the FBI will likely do little to protect America from
                        future attacks.

                        FBI veteran Gary Aldrich, who was a top agent assigned to the White House and
                        wrote the best-selling book "Unlimited Access" exposing the Clintons' nightmarish
                        mishandling of national security, says a "go along to get alongî attitude has
                        permeated the top ranks of the bureau.

                        "How does one go about changing an attitude which has basically permeated the
                        management ranks of the FBI?î he asked.

                        In a blockbuster tape released to NewsMax readers more than two months ago,
                        Aldrich predicted the meltdown at the FBI and said the only way to fix it might be to
                        abolish the FBI and create a new organization from scratch.

                        Aldrich was assigned to White House duty for several years until just before his 1996
                        sensation "Unlimited Accessî exposed the collapse in security during the Clinton
                        administration.

                        In an exclusive interview with NewsMax.com, Aldrich described "the do-nothing
                        timidityî whereby "in order to get ahead, you have to get along.î

                        ItÍs an attitude familiar to many who have worked in the Washington bureaucracy. But
                        this isnÍt the Department of Labor or Commerce. In an agency such as the FBI,
                        where lives are at stake, such laziness can be "dangerous,î Aldrich warned.

                        Over time, "itÍs going to suggest a certain amount of major calamities get by you.î

cont.
                        The "bureaucratic” atmosphere at FBI headquarters has presented another problem,
                        Aldrich says, that will not be fixed by the FBI director's attempt to rearrange the deck
                        chairs on the Titanic.

                        Already, many of the FBI's best and brightest have left the bureau or tranferred out of
                        Washington during the Clinton years, when they saw the country's top investigative
                        agency turned into a political arm of the White House.

                        "They just donêt like it there, and they want to get out of there. So the whole mission
                        becomes getting out of FBI headquarters and back to the field. And that becomes the
                        mission instead of the [real] mission.”

                        The management problems, as Aldrich sees it, started after the death of the
                        legendary and much-maligned J. Edgar Hoover.

                        How P.C.

                        At that point a "new age kind of thing” seeped into management philosophy at the
                        bureau, a politically correct "management by consensus,” where "everybody would
                        decide, and therefore nobody was responsible.”

                        Aldrich says the big problem at the FBI was the "lack of responsibility, lack of
                        accountability.”

                        Recent statements by Mueller claiming that the FBI could not have prevented 9-11,
                        and his protection of agents who failed to follow up on leads that terrorist were
                        engaging in suspicious flight training, show that the same pattern of cover-up and
                        obfuscation is at work.

                        When President Bush named Mueller last year to replace Clinton appointee Louis
                        Freeh, NewsMax.com reported that his record indicated agility on touching all
                        political bases.

                        Endorsed by ... Barbara Boxer

                        For example, he had the wholehearted support of California's Sen. Barbara Boxer, a
                        leftist Democrat with close ties to Sen. Hillary Clinton.

                        Aldrich declined to judge Muellerês credentials or management style on that factor
                        alone, but "it does concern me if a Democrat senator from the Left Coast is highly
                        supportive of a new FBI director. I find that no recommendation whatsoever.”

                        Aldrich believes the agency needs to be depoliticized.

                        "These are all folks who adhere to the rule of law who believe that politics should
                        play no part at all in the administration of the FBI, and who virtually hate the notion
                        that the FBI could ever become politicized.”

                        The bottom line, as this seasoned veteran sees it: "What is the magic that Director
                        Mueller will use to cure the attitude at FBI headquarters?”

cont.


                        Simply hiring new people and shifting personnel around, or changing priorities, as
                        Mueller announced Wednesday † "You can do all of that, and yet, if you cannot
                        change attitude within the bureaucracy Ä all of that will come to not much.”

                        Aldrich, who left the FBI almost a quarter of a century after Hoover died, saw the
                        downhill slide inside the bureau, "a festering problem within the agency for
                        decades,” as he puts it, an agency that took a nosedive with the election of Bill
                        Clinton and the appointment of Louis Freeh.

                        Exclusive: Get Gary Aldrich's audiotape revealing how the Clintons ruined national
                        security and helped cause 9-11.