NPR: Kean says 9-11co couldn't find where the money came from

[democraticinsurgent]

I am stunned.

Isn't it accepted fact that Pakistani ISI head Mahmed Ahmoud, via Omar Sheikh, transfer $100k to Atta? I recall that India exposed this not long after 9-11 took place.

If it's not accepted fact, did the 9-11co consider it, or did they avoid the issue entirely due to its Pakistani origin.

(disclaimer: i haven't had time to read the report yet)

[GCP]

1. Hi, awakeinindiana

Welcome to DU.

This post should probably be in general discussion, as you don't have a specific link.

(I did similar things when I first came on DU) :hi:

[democraticinsurgent]

2. thx for the welcome

i looked at the rules and didn't see a requirement for a link. did i miss something?

;-)

[Minstrel Boy]

3. The FBI confirmed it!

From Michel Chossudovsky's War and Globalisation:

"The FBI confirmed in late September (2001), in an interview with ABC News, that the 9-11 ringleader, Mohammed Atta, had been financed from unnamed sources in Pakistan. The FBI had information on the money trail.... Less than two weeks later, the findings of the FBI were confirmed by Agence France Presse and the Times of India...."

Rice was asked about Mahmoud Ahmed in her May 16 2002 press conference. The only time any of them have been asked, I believe. Guess what the CNN and official transcripts look like?

Question: "Are you aware of the reports at the time that (inaudible) was in Washington on September 11...." (again from Chossudovsky)

After the disclosure Ahmed was forced to resign, and lived for a time under nominal house arrest. He's since moved on to the private sector. No reports of ever having been questioned by US authorities.

And the notorious $100,000 is, I believe, only the last of his payments. He'd authorised two previously.

[buycitgo]

4. that's right........and nobody wants to talk about that, do they

wouldn't want to point fingers, now, would we?

lesse..........ISI, Taliban, Osama, Atta, big money, DC

no connection to be pursued there, is there?

this is SO infuriating

how obvious can it get that there are the most insidious connections, ones that would bring down this government, as well as inculpate (is that a word?) members of the previous regime?

that's why they don't want to point fingers of blame

oh, yeah. don't even think about the Saudi connection

[0007]

5. .......and nobody wants to talk about why the CIA couldn't

penetrate the Taliban or the terrorist organizations, but John Walker Lindh, the "American Taleban had no problem. What gives?

[liveoaktx]

6. Article from yesterday's Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1266317,00.html

AND a Saudi/Riggs bank (Rigg's bank's CEO being, at the time, Jonathan Bush) inquiry
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=99540

[mumon]

7. See

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2045589

That's all you need to know about how "objective" and "open" the 9/11 commission was.

[dumpster_baby]

8. wow. You guys have convinced me. I am now down with MIHOP/LIHOP

I thought you guys were paranoid, but you are probably right.

Just curious. I remember about 6 months ago or so when a lot of people started talking about mihop/lihop, a lot of people said you were paranoid. Are they still saying that? Looking at the articles and the evidence discussed here, I would have to say that either LIHOP or MIHOP is more likely than not to be true.

[Bushfire]

11. It's mainstream now among african-americans

or at least those I work with. Young and old are convinced * had something to do with it.

[LunaC]

16. And now for the Bigger Picture

If you're interested in the Big Picture (PNAC 101 - Rise of the Neocons) check out "The Whispering Campaign" link below. It puts ALL the pieces together.

[buycitgo]

9. money laundering investigations pretty much halted

under Bush; one of the first things they did. ONeill admitted it, I recall

The Bush administration is now backing away from international efforts to reduce money-laundering, a banking procedure used by drug cartels, arms traffickers and terrorist groups, as well as crooked dictators. In the current issue of Foreign Affairs, William Wechsler, who worked on these problems as special adviser to the secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001, has a fascinating account of the progress that has been made over the years in building international cooperation against rogue banking. I am indebted to him for all the following information unless otherwise indicated. Until this administration, the United States has been the leader in trying to stop money-laundering.

Several organizations work to stop this and other banking abuses -- the G-7's Financial Stability Forum, the Financial Action Task Force, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), http://www1.oecd.org/fatf/index.htm along with the IMF. To give you an idea of how big this problem is, the U.S. Treasury loses $70 billion annually through offshore tax evasion by individuals. That leaves the rest of us with more than our share of the tax burden and less money for schools, the military and quite a few other things. Wechsler reports, "According to the Russian Central Bank, $74 billion was transferred from Russian banks to offshore accounts in 1998, the year of the ruble devaluation and the Russian financial meltdown."

http://www.webguild.com/sentinel/money_laundering_abandoned.htm

[madfloridian]

10. This Ahmed? The one who breakfasted with Goss and Graham on 9/11?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO206A.html

Is it the same guy? This guy is called so many things I get confused. Was this meeting ever verified? Was it ever discussed?

[buycitgo]

12. gulp

Schedule of Pakistan's Chief of Military Intelligence Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad, Washington, 4-13 September 2001


Summer 2001: ISI Chief Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad transfers $100,000 to 9-11 Ringleader Mohamed Atta.

4 September: Ahmad arrives in the US on an official visit.

4-9 September: He meets his US counterparts including CIA Head George Tenet.

9 September: Assassination of General Massood, leader of the Northern Alliance. Official statement by Northern Alliance points to involvement of the ISI-Osama-Taliban axis.

11 September: Terrorist Attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon. At the time of the attacks, Lt General Ahmad was at a breakfast meeting at the Capitol with the chairmen of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees Sen Bob Graham and Rep Porter Goss. Also present at the meeting were Sen. John Kyl and the Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., Maleeha Lodhi.

12-13 September: Meetings between Lt. General Ahmad and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Agreement on Pakistan's collaboration negotiated between Ahmad and Armitage. Meeting between General Ahmad and Secretary of State Colin Powell

13 September: Ahmad meets Senator Joseph Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

now, what's interesting about this is that I saw the Pakistani ambassador on CSPAN sometime this year. a caller asked him about the money transfer to Atta, and he absolutely denied it

of course he would, but I wonder if any of the stuff in this site can be corroborated and explained, especially the meetings with
Senators.

how to verify the money bit?

[Minstrel Boy]

13. Same guy. The breakfast happened, and

he met with many other leaders over his time in Washington.

Have you seen this from Pablo Escobar in The Asia Times?

9-11 AND THE SMOKING GUN
Part 2: A real smoking gun

...

Mahmoud's involvement in September 11 might be dismissed as only Indian propaganda. But Indian intelligence swears by it, and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed the whole story: Indian intelligence even supplied Saeed's cellular-phone numbers. Nobody has bothered to check what really happened. The 9-11 Commission should pose very specific questions about it to FBI director Robert Mueller when he testifies this month.

...

On September 10, the Pakistani daily The News reported that the Mahmoud visit to the United States "triggered speculation about the agenda of his mysterious meetings at the Pentagon and National Security Council". If he'd been to the National Security Council, he had certainly met Rice. Mahmoud did meet with his counterpart, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director George Tenet. Tenet and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had been in Islamabad in May, when Tenet had "unusually long" meetings with Musharraf. Armitage for his part has countless friends in the Pakistani military and the ISI. Mahmoud also met a number of high officials at the White House and the Pentagon and had a crucial meeting with Marc Grossman, the under secretary of state for political affairs. Rice maintains she did not meet Mahmoud then.

On the morning of September 11, Mahmoud was having a breakfast meeting at the Capitol with Graham and Goss. Goss spent as many as 10 years working on numerous CIA clandestine operations. He is very close to Vice President Dick Cheney. It's interesting to note that two weeks ago Goss suggested to the Justice Department to bring perjury charges against the new Cheney nemesis, Clarke. As it is widely known, Graham and Goss were co-heads of the joint House-Senate investigation that proclaimed there was "no smoking gun" as far as President George W Bush having any advance knowledge of September 11.

According to the Washington Post, and also to sources in Islamabad, the Mahmoud-Graham-Goss meeting lasted until the second plane hit Tower 2 of the World Trade Center. Graham later said they were talking about terrorism coming from Afghanistan, which means they were talking about bin Laden.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FD08Aa01.html

[madfloridian]

14. Speaking of falling into the memory hole.

We have discussed this here at DU since 2002.

[democraticinsurgent]

15. thanks to all for the clarification

this alone completely discredits the report. So now it can be officially proven to be fiction.

Time for the real truth to come out.

Mihop.

[paulthompson]

17. Don't forget this very important article from the LA Times

Compare this article, showing what some commissioners really think about Pakistani and Saudi involvement in the plot:


Pakistanis, meanwhile, were in with the Taliban and Al Qaeda "up to their eyeballs," said the senior commission staff member.

http://scoop.agonist.org/story/2004/6/20/132815/063

then look at their final report, where the ISI is mentioned like 3 times in the whole thing, and they "conclusively prove" there was no foreign government involvement, that the Saudis didn't give any money, and basically the exact opposite of everything in the LA Times article. Can you imagine a bigger whitewash?

[Minstrel Boy]

18. a kick for the awful truth n/t

[librechik]

19. The report is a pile of highly selected facts, some true, some not

The WH combed through and deleted what they didn't like. The CIA deleted what they didn't like. Even under those edits RW Pukkes are complaining bitterly that the committee "exceeded its mandate."

I don't expect a whole lot of good to come from this accursed document.