Was Tuesday, April 13, 2004 the last chance we had of
getting to the sordid truth? Here is Greg Palast's
piece run by the Guardian and the BBC in November of
2001. How could the 9/11 Commission hold public
hearings on the pre-9/11 actitivies of US DoJ, the FBI
and the CIA and not explore the story of John O'Neill?
What is happening in this country? The whole damn sham
could have been revealed on Tuesday, April 13, 2004?
Instead, John Ashcroft (R-Misery) slimed a 9/11
Commissioner and possibly perjured himself and then
the incredible shrinking _resident went on prime time
TV in a pretend press conference to tell us all that
the "Almighty" wants US soldiers to die for the
"freedom" of the Iraqis in the incredible shrinking
_resident's foolish military adventure...What is
happening in this country?
Greg Palast: They said the restrictions became worse
after the Bush administration took over this year. The
intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from
investigations involving other members of the Bin
Laden family, the Saudi royals, and possible Saudi
links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by
Pakistan.
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.gregpalast.com/printerfriendly.cfm?artid=103
FBI AND US SPY AGENTS SAY BUSH SPIKED BIN LADEN PROBES BEFORE 11 SEPTEMBER
The Guardian (London)
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Hmmm, in light of the President's "Press Conference"
this week, the award winning article below, from the
Guardian, details what George "Dubya" Bush knew and
when he forgot it!
---------------------------
2001 Project Censored Award Winner
Watch Greg Palast's Special Report for Newsnight
Officials told to 'back off' on Saudis before
September 11
by Greg Palast and David Pallister
FBI and military intelligence officials in Washington
say they were prevented for political reasons from
carrying out full investigations into members of the
Bin Laden family in the US before the terrorist
attacks of September 11.
US intelligence agencies have come under criticism for
their wholesale failure to predict the catastrophe at
the World Trade Centre. But some are complaining that
their hands were tied.
FBI documents shown on BBC Newsnight last night and
obtained by the Guardian show that they had earlier
sought to investigate two of Osama bin Laden's
relatives in Washington and a Muslim organisation, the
World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), with which they
were linked.
The FBI file, marked Secret and coded 199, which means
a case involving national security, records that
Abdullah bin Laden, who lived in Washington, had
originally had a file opened on him "because of his
relationship with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth -
a suspected terrorist organisation".
WAMY members deny they have been involved with
terrorist activities, and WAMY has not been placed on
the latest list of terrorist organisations whose
assets are being frozen.
Abdullah, who lived with his brother Omar at the time
in Falls Church, a town just outside Washington, was
the US director of WAMY, whose offices were in a
basement nearby.
But the FBI files were closed in 1996 apparently
before any conclusions could be reached on either the
Bin Laden brothers or the organisation itself.
High-placed intelligence sources in Washington told
the Guardian this week: "There were always constraints
on investigating the Saudis".
They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush
administration took over this year. The intelligence
agencies had been told to "back off" from
investigations involving other members of the Bin
Laden family, the Saudi royals, and possible Saudi
links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by
Pakistan.
"There were particular investigations that were
effectively killed."
Only after the September 11 attacks was the stance of
political and commercial closeness reversed towards
the other members of the large Bin Laden clan, who
have classed Osama bin Laden as their "black sheep".
Yesterday, the head of the Saudi-based WAMY's London
office, Nouredine Miladi, said the charity was totally
against Bin Laden's violent methods. "We seek social
change through education and cooperation, not force."
He said Abdullah bin Laden had ceased to run WAMY's US
operation a year ago.
Neither Abdullah nor Omar bin Laden could be contacted
in Saudi Arabia for comment.
WAMY was founded in 1972 in a Saudi effort to prevent
the "corrupting" ideas of the west ern world
influencing young Muslims. With official backing it
grew to embrace 450 youth and student organisations
with 34 offices worldwide.
Its aim was to encourage "concerned Muslims to take up
the challenge by arming the youth with sound
understanding of Islam, guarding them against
destructive ideologies, and instilling in them
level-headed wisdom".
In Britain it has 20 associated organisations, many
highly respectable.
But as long as 10 years ago it was named as a discreet
channel for public and private Saudi donations to
hardline Islamic organisations. One of the recipients
of its largesse has been the militant Students Islamic
Movement of India, which has lent support to
Pakistani-backed terrorists in Kashmir and seeks to
set up an Islamic state in India.
Since September 11 WAMY has been investigated in the
US along with a number of other Muslim charities.
There have been several grand jury investigations but
no findings have been made against any of them.
Current FBI interest in WAMY is shown in their agents'
interrogation of a radiologist from San Antonio,
Texas, Dr Al Badr al-Hazmi, who was arrested on
September 12 and released without charge two weeks
later. He had the same surname as two of the plane
hijackers.
He was also questioned about his contacts with
Abdullah bin Laden at the US WAMY office.
Mr Al-Hazmi said that he had made phone calls to
Abdullah bin Laden in 1999 trying to obtain books and
videotapes about Islamic teachings for the Islamic
Centre of San Antonio.
To view the BBC television broadcast of the Palast
investigation, go to http://www.GregPalast.com
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,589168,00.html