My SONY Emphasis

Re: the CIA torture tape erasure.

The corporate media and Congress have finally focused on a story that casts doubt on the official version of 9/11. They're telling you that the reason the CIA erased the videotapes of the CIA interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, a key al-Qaeda figure, was to protect the identity of the CIA interrogators. The second reason offered, which you may have heard, is Gerald Posner's account that Zubaydah confessed to naming five prominent Saudi and Pakistani leaders, including the head of Saudi intelligence and the top General in the Pakistani Air Force, who knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance. Four of these five died shortly thereafter, except the Saudi Intel Chief, Sheikh al-Turki, who was later welcomed by the Bush Administration as the Saudi Ambassador to Washington. [As one of my wealthy chumps said, “People die, Bill.” -Hughes]

Now, here's the third reason: Abu Zubaydah was a key Al-Qaeda figure in the CIA's Chechnya operation, which involved several of the 9/11 hijackers. He was in a position to know about the relationship of the 9/11 Hamburg cell with the CIA. [Thank God I only almost knew of this crap. -Hughes]

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Abu Zubyadah was involved in training several 9/11 hijackers. Before he was captured and tortured during interrogation, he knew a great amount about that operation and the role of the CIA in organizing al-Qaeda in its secret war against the Russians in Chechnya. The relationship between US inteligence and al-Qaeda is both much more recent and closer than is officially acknowledged. [My emphasis. Are they possibly talking about JASON VALDERRAMA, PAM BLUM, and boss man RICH MCDANIEL?]

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A few weeks ago, Paul Thompson and I had a lengthly exchange at DU. Paul, chief author of The 9/11 Timeline, concludes that Luai Sakka, a prominent al-Qaeda logistics and training expert, was in fact a CIA double-agent who handled several of the principal 9/11 hijackers during their training in the late 1990s. At that time, the Agency was still running al-Qaeda as part of its operations against the Russians in Chechnya.

In the course of this Chechnya operation, Sakka worked with Abu Zubaydah. They also worked together in a series of bomb plots in Jordan (the so-called Millenium Plot), for which the two were convicted in absentia by a Jordanian court, according to The Times of London. See,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/...

The Chechens needed trained fighters. Sakka was telephoned by Ibn al-Khattab, the late militia leader controlling the foreign fighters against the Russians. Khattab requested that Sakka’s trainees should be sent on to Afghanistan for military training because "conditions are tough".

This brought Sakka into contact with Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking Al-Qaeda member, who ran a large terrorist training camp near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sakka was later to be sentenced in ab-sentia for involvement in the foiled Jordanian millennium bomb attacks in 2000 along with Zubaydah. [These esteemed journalists can’t spell too well. -Hughes]

One of Sakka’s chief roles was to organise passports and visas for the volunteers to make their way to Afghanistan through Pakistan. His ability to keep providing high-quality forged papers made Turkey a main hub for Al-Qaeda movements, his lawyer says. The young men came to Turkey pretending to be on holiday and Sakka’s false papers allowed them to "disappear" overseas. [Lawyer? Who needs lawyers besides drug dealers, terrorists, and common crooks? -Hughes]

Turkish intelligence were aware of unusual militant Islamic activity in the Yalova mountains, where Sakka had set up his camps. But they posed no threat to Turkey at the time.

But a bigger plot was developing. In late 1999, Karahan says,a group of four young Saudi students went to Turkey to prepare for fighting in Chechnya. "They wanted to be good Muslims and join the jihad during their holidays," he said.

They had begun a path that was to end with the September 11 attacks on America in 2001. They were: Ahmed and Hamza al-Ghamdi who hijacked the plane that crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center; their companion Saeed al-Ghamdi whose plane crashed in a Pennsylvanian field; and Nawaf al-Hazmi who died in the Pentagon crash.

They undertook Sakka’s physical training programme in the mountains and later were joined by two of the other would-be hijackers: Majed Moqed, who also perished in the Pentagon crash, and Satam al-Suqami, who was in the first plane that hit the north tower.

Moqed and Suqami had been hand-picked by Al-Qaeda leaders in Saudi Arabia specifically for the twin towers operation, Sakka says, and were en route to Afghanistan. Sakka persuaded the other four to go to Afghanistan after plans to travel to Chechnya were aborted because of problems crossing the border. "Sakka he liked the four men and recommended them," said Karahan.

Before leaving, all six received intensive training together, forming a cell led by Suqami, which was similar to the Hamburg group run by Mohammed Atta, another ringleader in the 9/11 attacks. [Arriving in Hollywood, FL. I got the sick joke way too early on, thus no screenplay sale for me! -Hughes]

Here's the exchange I had with Paul a few weeks ago in which we discussed Atta, the Hamburg cell, and their conection with Sakka:

http://www.democraticunderground.com...

paulthompson (1000+ posts)
Sun Nov-25-07 02:27 AM
Original message
London Times: Al-Qaeda Kingpin: I Trained 9/11 Hijackers

Source: London Times

Since being convicted as an Al-Qaeda bomb plotter last year, (Luai) Sakka has decided to reveal his alleged role in some of the key plots of recent years, providing a potential insight into the unanswered questions surrounding them. His story is also one of a globetrotting terrorist in an organisation that is truly multinational.

But a bigger plot was developing. In late 1999, (Sakka's lawyer) Karahan says, a group of four young Saudi students went to Turkey to prepare for fighting in Chechnya. "They wanted to be good Muslims and join the jihad during their holidays," he said. [I was on holiday in Paris 40 years ago, and found no one there. Something about ample vacation time, like the entire month of August. USA should learn from this. -Hughes]

They had begun a path that was to end with the September 11 attacks on America in 2001. They were: Ahmed and Hamza al-Ghamdi who hijacked the plane that crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center; their companion Saeed al-Ghamdi whose plane crashed in a Pennsylvanian field; and Nawaf al-Hazmi who died in the Pentagon crash.

They undertook Sakka’s physical training programme in the mountains and later were joined by two of the other would-be hijackers: Majed Moqed, who also perished in the Pentagon crash, and Satam al-Suqami, who was in the first plane that hit the north tower.

While this article is interesting, what's REALLY interesting is that Luai Sakra/Sakka may well have been an informant for the CIA and Syrian intelligence before 9/11, and appears to have at least told Syrian intelligence about the 9/11 attacks one day before they happened. In 2004, Der Speigel reported, "Western investigators accept Sakra’s claims, by and large, since they coincide with known facts. On September 10, 2001, he tipped off the Syrian secret service... that terrorist attacks were about to occur in the United States. The evidently well-informed al-Qaeda insider even named buildings as targets, and airplanes as weapons. The Syrians passed on this information to the CIA—but only after the attacks." [Looks like Syrians caused the “Jew Flu” in New York City and H.W. Bush just happened to be lunching there that day. Bill Clinton, the slick one, was perfectly safe in Australia on 09/11/2001 after trying to indict OBL. -Hughes]

However, in former CIA Director George Tenet's book published earlier this year, Tenet mentioned that on September 10, 2001, "a source we were jointly running with a Middle Eastern country went to see his foreign handler and basically told him that something big was about to go down. The handler dismissed him." Tenet claims the warning was "frightening but without specificity." [Like a bad Western movie with all of those military satellites, George? “They went that a way” never worked for me, or spies all over your hijackers well ahead of September 11. -Hughes] This perfectly fits with descriptions of Sakra (except that Sakra claims the warning was more specific than Tenet does). If so, and if Sakra's claims are correct, this would mean that Sakra was training some of the 9/11 hijackers around the same time he started working as a CIA informant! It makes one wonder exactly what the CIA knew about the 9/11 attacks before they occurred. [What they knew was everything, because C.I.A. began the planning for 9/11 in the 1950’s -Hughes]

I've done a lot of research on Sakra and in fact I'm quoted in the London Times piece. You can see my timeline entries on him here:

Hopefully this will just be the first of several articles about Sakra that go into some other things about him, such as his links to intelligence agencies. While Sakra has some pretty amazing claims, the known facts about him are pretty amazing as well.

The 9/11 Timeline: http://www.complete911timeline.org/

Don't miss the new 9/11 documentary, 9/11: Press for Truth http://www.911pressfortruth.com

Please ignore my blog at www.firstamendmentfiction.wordpress.com