Just one more of many such stories, involving the
intelligence agencies of numerous governments. Of
course, there was no intelligence breakdown prior to
9/11. The LNS has stated this sad fact over and over
again. The failure was at the White House, in the Voal
Office and in the National Security Council...The
failure was in the political leadership...the failure
is the _resident's, the VICE _resident's, and Condi
Rice's...That's why they refuse to release the daily
briefings from those hot August days in Waco...It was gross incompetence or criminal negligence at the very least, the real question is what it something much worse...were they playing PNACkle with innocent lives and US security?
Guardian: The United States was warned of impending
September 11 terrorist attacks by an Iranian spy, but
ignored him, German secret service agents testified
yesterday in the trial of an alleged al-Qaida
terrorist.
Repudiate the 9/11 Coverup and the Iraq War Lies, Show
Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/story/0,11209,1130338,00.html
German trial hears how Iranian agent warned US of impending al-Qaida attack
Ben Aris in Berlin
Saturday January 24, 2004
The Guardian
The United States was warned of impending September 11
terrorist attacks by an Iranian spy, but ignored him,
German secret service agents testified yesterday in
the trial of an alleged al-Qaida terrorist.
The spy, identified as Hamid Reza Zakeri, tried to
warn the CIA after leaving Iran in 2001, but was not
believed, two German officers who interviewed him told
the Hamburg court.
Zakeri worked in the department of the Iranian secret
services responsible for "carrying out terrorist
attacks globally", one of the officers said.
Prosecutors called the spy as a surprise witness
against a Moroccan man, Abdelghani Mzoudi, who is on
trial for being a key aide to three of the September
11 hijackers.
He is said to have handled money, covered for absences
by members of the al-Qaida cell based in Hamburg and
trained in an Afghan al-Qaida camp himself.
He is charged with 3,066 counts of aiding and abetting
murder, one for each of the victims of the New York
and Washington suicide attacks.
Mzoudi is one of a clutch of suspected al-Qaida
operatives being held around the world.
Iran said for the first time yesterday it was planning
to try a dozen suspects who have been detained in the
country.
The Bush administration, which has accused Iran of
harbouring al-Qaida militants, countered by saying
Tehran should send the suspects to their home
countries for judgment.
The US has long suspected that the detainees slipped
into Iran from neighbouring Afghanistan following the
American-led invasion in 2001.
"We want to see action, and the action we want to see
is that they turn over those al- Qaida members in
their custody to their country of origin," White House
spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Western intelligence officials believe that among the
Iran-held figures could be an Egyptian, Saif al-Adel,
the security chief of Osama bin Laden's network.
A son of Bin Laden and a spokesman for the network
chief could also be in Iran, Saudi sources said.
The testimony at the Hamburg trial could heap more
embarrassment on the US state department and secret
services, which have denied allegations that they were
forewarned of the attacks.
The White House and US intelligence agencies have been
plagued by accusations of a catastrophic failure since
the four planes were hijacked to such devastating
effect in 2001.