Blogger Comments:
Kevin Drum would be so much more powerful and helpful if he brought more of the truth to the table. He could start with the understanding the the 911 Commission was a cover-up commission. The central point of control of the commission was Zelikow. He takes no time in his post to even mention Zelikow or any other dissection of the Commission and its operation.
End of Blogger Comments
ABLE DANGER FOLLOWUP....I've been meaning to write up another post about Congressman Curt Weldon's "Able Danger" story (background here if you're not up to speed on this), but I've had a hard time getting my hands around the whole mess. The only thing that's sure is that the NRO crowd is going absolutely batshit over it. "This is clearly becoming the biggest story of the summer," thundered John Podhoretz. "Clinton, Berger, and the others didn’t want to have to act against terrorist groups inside the United States, so the system didn’t send them information," explained Michael Ledeen ominously. "Why has the public not been told...what was in the classified documents that Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger illegally pilfered from the archives?" demanded Andy McCarthy.
This is a mountain of speculation given that actual facts on the ground seem to be almost nonexistent. We know that the Able Danger program existed, but that's about it. We don't really know anything about it aside from the vague description that it was a data mining operation of some kind; we don't know what it discovered about al-Qaeda; and we don't know whether it identified any of the 9/11 terrorists a year before the attacks, as Curt Weldon claims. There is, literally, about three sentences worth of information about the nature of Able Danger in the published reports so far, all of it from Weldon and his obviously disgruntled intelligence source.
So: is Able Danger the biggest story of the summer? Did the 9/11 Commission know that Able Danger had identified Mohamed Atta in 2000? Did they nonetheless refuse to mention this in their report?
Maybe. But the commission has now issued a statement based on notes taken in 2003 and 2004, and it sure doesn't sound like it. Laura Rozen has the entire statement, but here's an excerpt:
On October 21, 2003...met at Bagram Base, Afghanistan...referred to DOD program known as ABLE DANGER....Commission staff promptly prepared a memorandum for the record...does not record any mention of Mohamed Atta or any of the other future hijackers.
....In February 2004, DOD provided documents [about Able Danger]...None of the documents turned over to the Commission mention Mohamed Atta or any of the other future hijackers.
....In 2004, Congressman Curt Weldon...contacted the Commission....No mention was made in these conversations of a claim that Mohamed Atta or any of the other future hijackers had been identified by DOD employees before 9/11.
....In early July 2004...U.S. Navy officer employed at DOD...claiming that the project had linked Atta to an al Qaeda cell located in New York in the 1999-2000 time frame....The interviewee had no documentary evidence and said he had only seen the document briefly some years earlier....Weighing this with the information about Atta’s actual activities...the Commission staff concluded that the officer’s account was not sufficiently reliable to warrant revision of the report or further investigation.
The Able Danger program was classified, of course, so we may never know exactly what it was and what it found out — especially since if the Pentagon was aware of Atta in 2000 it's not likely to want to admit it in any case. However, I'm going to stick with my original guess: it produced some general information about al-Qaeda, but nothing specifically about Atta or the other 9/11 hijackers. That's why no one ever mentioned Atta in the original reports. Later on, frustrated because their story wasn't getting enough attention, Weldon and his source embellished it to suggest that Able Danger had specifically uncovered actionable intelligence about an al-Qaeda cell in Brooklyn headed by Atta. The 9/11 Commission, which was days away from finishing its report, didn't believe this suddenly revised story and chose not to include it in its report.
If more details come out about this, I'll let you know. In the meantime, I suspect there's really nothing here except an intelligence officer disgruntled that his program was shut down and a credulous congressman who wanted to believe him. Stay tuned.
—Kevin Drum 2:50 AM Permalink TrackBack (0) Comments (25)Golly, you mean you have right-wingers piling baseless speculation a mile high on top of some murky and mostly nonexistent story as a means of accusing "liberals" of horrific and mostly unspecified malfeasance? Could that really happen? (cough) Whitewater (cough) Naww!
Posted by: jimBOB on August 13, 2005 at 3:22 AM PERMALINK"Clinton, Berger, and the others didn’t want to have to act against terrorist groups inside the United States, so the system didn’t send them information,"
With three sentences of information from source whose motives are suspect, this is 99% speculation plus spin... and it qualifies "the biggest story of the summer"? Why? The press didn't seem to care that Bush ignored the PDB "Bin Laden determined to attack in the US" and numerous other warnings.
Oh, right, because now that the president's ratings are at rock bottom here's another chance to blame Clinton.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned, did his best to scapegoat others for it, and used religion as a wedge issue to distract the public from his sinking popularity and an increasingly unpopular war in the middle east.
Curiously, the citizens of Rome were more willing and able to toss Nero out despite the fact they were living in a dictatorship; meanwhile, far too many American citizens couldn't be bothered to take a couple of hours out of their time to pull a lever.
But the commission has now issued a statement based on notes taken in 2003 and 2004, and it sure doesn't sound like it.
*Snicker*
The 9/11 commission is a JOKE. They acted like they were trying to answer the question whether 9/11 could have been prevented when we all know 9/11 was all Bill Clinton's fault. It was Bill Clinton and Al Gore's constant appeasement of Islamofascist terrorism that caused 9/11. The commission's refusal to mention Able Danger is an attempt by the commission to protect Bill Clinton.
Like all their other actions, the commision's refusal to even mention Able Danger is just another example of the commission refusing to tell the whole truth when it contradicts its biased anti-Bush views. When the 9/11 commission squarely places the blame of 9/11 on Bill Clinton and no one else, then we should start taking it seriously. It wouldn't be surprising if the Sandy Berger's stealing of classified documents was connected to the cover-up of Able Danger and the 9/11 commission is in on the cover-up.
Posted by: Al on August 13, 2005 at 3:58 AM PERMALINK"Clinton, Berger, and the others didn’t want to have to act against terrorist groups inside the United States, so the system didn’t send them information," explained Michael Ledeen ominously.
Of course, Ledeen made sure that the system sent George Bush plenty of 'information'. What a fucking crook.
Oh, and we all know that Al fellates goats. Self-evident, see.
Posted by: ahem on August 13, 2005 at 4:39 AM PERMALINKWingnuts have already been told there's nothing to the Berger story, by the WSJ's editorial page no less. They just can't help frothing.
Why bother with facts when you can lather?
Posted by: djotefsoup on August 13, 2005 at 5:31 AM PERMALINKWingnuts have already been told there's nothing to the Berger story, by the WSJ's editorial page no less. They just can't help frothing.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006534
Posted by: djotefsoup on August 13, 2005 at 5:32 AM PERMALINKGEE, A MOUNTAIN OF SPECULATION...
Sounds just like you 2,000 Plame up date posts -
mountains of speculation - -yet we built those mountains anyway!
We have NO idea what exactly Sandy Berger took or destroyed because THE HEAD OF THE ARCHIVES HELPED COVER UP THE CRIME. HE WAS APPOINTED BY CLINTON AND HIS FIRST CALL AFTER CATHCHING BERGER ON VIDEO WAS NOT TO THE POLICE - BUT TO HAROLD ICKES.
Berger pled guilty to removing documents FIVE times - not just once.
His acts are at the heart of the Clinton 9/11 coverup.
Posted by: Alice on August 13, 2005 at 6:24 AM PERMALINKAlice, you ignorant slut. Everybody knows Berger took copies of Archive material. The originals never left the Archives. How do you cover up something by leaving it in plain sight?
Smarter trolls, please.
Posted by: Joel on August 13, 2005 at 6:53 AM PERMALINKAlice, you ignorant slut:
The FBI investigation of Berger revealed that no original documents were destroyed, that no information was lost from the archives and that he merely took copies from the archive, some of which he later destroyed.
Posted by: Felix Deutsch on August 13, 2005 at 6:55 AM PERMALINKJoel, I swear I didn't see your comment before posting mine.
Funny how that works. ;)
Posted by: Felix Deutsch on August 13, 2005 at 6:57 AM PERMALINKOk, let me get this straight. Able Danger spotted Atta in 2000 and therefore Clinton and co are responsible for sitting on the material. Wouldn't DOD pass the same stuff on to the new administration in 2001? Doesn't that make both administrations culpable if the information is true?
Posted by: hphill on August 13, 2005 at 6:58 AM PERMALINKAlice: Sounds just like you 2,000 Plame up date posts -
mountains of speculation - -yet we built those mountains anyway!
Well, one difference is that there is a grand jury investigation undergoing in the TreasonGate scandal. The speculation about Able Danger is unlikely to reach that stage.
This appears to be about as fleeting and inconsequential as a Bob Dole erection.
.
Posted by: Riesz Fischer on August 13, 2005 at 6:59 AM PERMALINKKinda new here. Three questions.
What planet does Al live on?
Is Alice the stupidest woman in the world?
Could these two be the same person who is in the process of being transgendered?
Posted by: cailte on August 13, 2005 at 7:38 AM PERMALINKOff topic, but this is just too funny:
Group Hoping to Form Counter Clinton Library Folds
"LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A group that had hoped to build two museums to rebut the displays at the Clinton Presidential Library is folding.
"I'm giving up," said Houston businessman Richard Erickson, who established nonprofit Counterlibe Inc. last year to fund construction of a Counter Clinton Library in Little Rock and another in Washington.
Erickson said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he had been naive about fundraising procedures. He said the project's Web site also would be shut down soon.
In a separate e-mail Wednesday, Erickson informed one of his key supporters, former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., that he couldn't raise enough money to continue.
"Nearly every dime raised has gone to professional fundraisers and lawyers," he said."
Posted by: Bill the cat on August 13, 2005 at 8:42 AM PERMALINKWhat planet does Al live on?
It's the same one that has those 72 virgins or whatever.
Is Alice the stupidest woman in the world?
Not quite - she does have mad cut-n-paste skilz. Granted, the things she cuts are irrelevant and bizarre, but still...
Could these two be the same person who is in the process of being transgendered?
Perhaps, but my experience shows that there are plenty of loony-toons to go around.
Re: Able Danger. I guess Curveball lives on....
Posted by: Irony Man on August 13, 2005 at 8:44 AM PERMALINKAble Danger is about the Afghanistan War and what the US did with the resistance (armed them and paid them!).
Atta was a result of blowback from Afghanistan, long before Clinton was elected. You have to look at the sweep of history folks, not focus your venom on any one individual president.
The USSR devasted Afghanistan. The US provided weapons and money to the rebels (like SAM missles which were used to shoot down large numbers of USSR helicopters).
Even Sadaam's weapons were US made during the Iran-Iraq war (remember which side we were on then?).
The war makers have been busy for years. Why should Iraq be any less shattered than Afghanistan?
9/11 was supposed to be a wake-up call for us, revealing our desires in the Mid-East.
Posted by: Tom Nicholson on August 13, 2005 at 8:48 AM PERMALINKC'mon, it isns't like there was a memo saying 'bin Laden determined to strike within the U.S.!'
Posted by: Al on August 13, 2005 at 8:48 AM PERMALINKwasn't there a story last year in Vanity Fair about the guy who first used data mining for US intelligence?
Posted by: Michèle on August 13, 2005 at 8:58 AM PERMALINKQuestion:
Why did it take us 20 years to realize that Afghanistan might have undesireable "camps" in the mountains?
Question II: Didn't the US establish some of the caves in Afghanistan during the fight against the USSR?
Question III:
Is it possible that we created a trans-generational enemy during our war against the USSR in Afghanistan?
Question IV:
What country lies between Iraq and Afghanistan?
I await your answers folks.
Posted by: Tom Nicholson on August 13, 2005 at 9:00 AM PERMALINK
Bush, Rice, and Rumsfeld all testified before the 9/11 commission and never used the "Able Danger" story in their defense.
Why?
I'm sorry. I know I'm a troll and all that, but why did the New York Times, noted right-wing mouthpiece, publish the following story:
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- The leaders of the 9/11 commission late Friday disputed a congressman's criticism that the panel did not adequately investigate a claim that four hijackers were identified as al-Qaida members more than a year before the attacks"
It continues on the link below.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Sept-11-Hijackers.html?hp&ex=1123819200&en=75c8bf9eafed684c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
I am asking this as an honest question. Has the story above been "overtaken by events"? It seems to me that the memos do not prove the negative asserted by Kevin. But I am willing to listen, I may have missed something myself.
Posted by: tool of some sort on August 13, 2005 at 9:08 AM PERMALINKRumsfeld said he was unaware of the Able Danger memo.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/10/9.11.hijackers.ap/
