Could 911 have been prevented? You decide.
The FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui in August 2001 testified Monday he spent almost four weeks trying to warn U.S. officials about the radical Islamic student pilot but “criminal negligence” by superiors in Washington thwarted a chance to stop the 9/11 attacks.
FBI agent Harry Samit of Minneapolis originally testified as a government witness, on March 9, but his daylong cross examination by defense attorney Edward MacMahon was the strongest moment so far for the court-appointed lawyers defending Moussaoui. The 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent is the only person charged in this country in connection with al-Qaida’s Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.MacMahon displayed a communication addressed to Samit and FBI headquarters agent Mike Maltbie from a bureau agent in Paris relaying word from French intelligence that Moussaoui was “very dangerous,” had been indoctrinated in radical Islamic Fundamentalism at London’s Finnsbury Park mosque, was “completely devoted” to a variety of radical fundamentalism that Osama bin Laden espoused, and had been to Afghanistan.
…Samit told MacMahon he couldn’t persuade FBI headquarters or the Justice Department to take his fears seriously. No one from Washington called Samit to say this intelligence altered the picture the agent had been painting since Aug. 18 in a running battle with Maltbie and Maltbie’s boss, David Frasca, chief of the radical fundamentalist unit at headquarters.
They fought over Samit’s desire for a warrant to search Moussaoui’s computer and belongings. Maltbie and Frasca said Samit had not established a link between Moussaoui and terrorists….
Under questioning from MacMahon, Samit acknowledged that he had told the Justice Department inspector general that “obstructionism, criminal negligence and careerism” on the part of FBI headquarters officials had prevented him from getting a warrant that would have revealed more about Moussaoui’s associates. He said that opposition blocked “a serious opportunity to stop the 9/11 attacks.”
Remember, at the time the Justice Department was far more concerned about the far more dangerous threat of pornography than that of terrorism. I find this sickening story only too believable. One day we’ll look back and wonder how and why, for years after 911, the American public viewed the Bush adminstration as strong and effective on terrorism, when in truth they were bunglers, liars and fools. It may be one of the greatest PR coups in the history of our planet. But it can’t last forever.
1
By Angry Chinese Blogger
I look forward to seeing what happens after he is sentenced.
Give him the death penalt and you make him a martre. Cue Islamic violence
Give him life imprisonment, and you make him a hero. Cue Islamic violence
Let him go, and you hand the next election over to the democrats. Cue domestic violence.
All this over a man who knew that a terrorist attack was going to take place, but who wasn’t aware of all of the details, couldn’t have done anything to stop it even if he’d told the FBI everything that he knew, and didn’t actually take part in anything solid.
Frankly, America would have been better of if they’d shoved this guy over the Canadian border and pretnded that they’d never caught him.
March 21, 2006 @ 6:00 am | Comment
2
By The Admiral
firefox works. now on with the comments.
ACB makes several good points. One of the things that is most irritating is that the government is living up to the ideals of what America COULD be.
How many movies have we seen that have a “happy ending”? A lot.
Have you ever seen a movie, set in America, where justice triumphs? A lot.
Have you ever seen a movie, set in America, where the boss turns out to be a bad guy. A lot.
Have you ever seen a movie like that, and then when the evidence is insurmountable the “little guy” whens and the boss goes to jail? A lot.
Why is it that GW Buxing, nor a single government official, is in jail or at least rebuked for 911?
In this case Samit is the little guy who is/was right. And everyone between him and GW Buxing should be rebuke for their failure.
And by gosh, somebody should get fired…. Not out of vengence, but to make sure they don’t get a second chance to screw-up.
March 21, 2006 @ 7:54 pm | Comment
3
By The Admiral
The movie analogy was put forth for a reason.
How many movies where the little guy wins make you feel a little prouder of a country where justice prevails.
This “movie”, Buxing and Co., Inc. had a bad intro (google search chad,florida,fraud).
The plot was essentially non-existent or at best transparent. Though the main characters have color, it is mostly white or off-white.
The first movie (which was actually a sequel of a much better movie made in 1988) was a flop.
This second movie, playing in theatres of war now, is a simple rehashing of the first, with some characters getting killed off (see Powell, Colin) and others coming back in new roles (see Rice, Cuntaleeza).
In my opinion the screenwriter (Rove, Karl) is not neccessarily to blame. Basically his job was to write a storyline. Casting was the responsiblity of someone else (John Q. Public).
In summation, I think that the movie does not portray the AMERICA that i have seen in so many good movies. But I guess a movie with a happy ending where the good guy whens and the bad guys go to jail is not going to happen.
March 21, 2006 @ 8:05 pm | Comment
4
By The Admiral
whens = wins in above posts
Translators of the world You Night, ugh Unite
March 21, 2006 @ 8:08 pm | Comment
5
By The Horse's Mouth .
Oh geez….
March 21, 2006 @ 8:29 pm | Comment
6
By richard
Buxing. I really, really like that.
March 21, 2006 @ 9:17 pm | Comment
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By The Admiral
thanks. You know the way they do his name now, 布什 is BuShi in pinyin, so we could just call him “Not” or 不是，不是 which is also BuShi. Or my favorite is to use them all in a sentence like this:
不是布什是不行。：）
March 21, 2006 @ 10:02 pm | Comment
8
By OtherLisa
Love it!
I’ve been calling him 不是 for years, personally…
March 21, 2006 @ 10:45 pm | Comment