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]
MORE
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?]
***
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:
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.
