Still Ignoring 'Able Danger'

[reprehensor]

Generally, Democrats are avoiding the Able Danger revelations being presented by Rep. Curt Weldon (R). This is because the roots of Able Danger extend through time and damage the current and previous administrations.

Avoiding this issue is an incredibly bad idea.

More and more information is coming out, and now Weldon is asking for a criminal investigation.

Please, check this stuff out, and help steer Weldon to the TRUTH, no matter how nasty and bi-partisan it gets.

Streaming press conference from Friday night (11/12/05) Real Player;
http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Web_Links&file=index&req=visit&lid=121

My previous clarion sounding;
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/25/13223/557

I urge you to watch the Weldon press conference, and draw your own conclusions.

The bottom line? The 9/11 Commission is a bloody bad joke.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x58910

[NNN0LHI]

1. The Freepers have tons of info on Able Danger if you are looking for more

There are always several active threads going on at any given time. Good luck with your research.

Don

[silverlib]

2. the first link does not work n/t

[MrBenchley]

3. It's always a good idea to ignore gibberish

especially preposterous gibberish that the freepers think is big medicine...

[Greeby]

4. lmao@McKinney's mug

good one, Cynthia :spray:

[Octafish]

5. Able Danger demonstrates Secret Government at work.

So what if Weldon is a puke? There's nothing political when it comes to investigating the murder of 3,000 people.

Bush and Cheney warned Congress not to investigate 9-11. That's political. And criminal.

Here's what World Socialist Web Site (hardly a freeper bastion) has to say regarding Able Danger:

WSWS : News & Analysis : North America

9/11 commission told of Atta cover-up

Intelligence officer goes public in Able Danger exposé

By Patrick Martin
19 August 2005

A longtime Army intelligence officer went public with his allegations about a cover-up in the 9/11 investigation, giving an on-the-record interview Monday night to the New York Times and Fox News, and then further interviews Tuesday to other news outlets.

Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, 42, confirmed that he had been a source for previous reports in the Times and the Norristown Times-Herald, a Philadelphia-area newspaper, about a secret data-mining operation known as Able Danger, which he said had identified Mohammed Atta and three other 9/11 suicide hijackers in 2000, more than a year before the terrorist attacks.

Shaffer said that his unit had contacted the FBI repeatedly during 2000 to warn that a US-based terrorist cell was at work, but three times was forced to cancel meetings to brief the FBI at the instruction of the Strategic Operations Command (SOCOM), the Pentagon unit in charge of all counter-terrorism work.

He charged that the information withheld might have made it possible to arrest Atta and other terrorists before they could carry out their plans. “I was at the point of near insubordination over the fact that this was something important, that this was something that should have been pursued,” Shaffer told the Times. He said the Pentagon officials did not want the information circulated because it would reveal the existence of the secret military intelligence project and lead to criticism that the military was collecting information on the American people.

By his account, Shaffer was not directly involved in data collection or analysis, but served as liaison between Able Danger and the Defense Intelligence Agency, the largest unit of the vast US intelligence apparatus. Defense Department officials did not dispute his version of events, but declined any further comment.

CONTINUED...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/aug2005/able-a19.shtml

DU: Remember how FBI John O'Neill got the ziggy by BushCo?

Thanks for the heads-up, reprehensor. I'm interested in Truth, no matter where it heads.

[Octafish]

Weldon said he was personal friends with two killed on 9-11

Weldon said, I believe, the man was the head of the Rescue Unit of the NYFD who died when Tower 2 collapsed . The other man was one of the pilots of the plane that flew into the Pentagon. Weldon's sincere about wanting to discover the Truth -- no matter who or what it embarasses.

[NNN0LHI]

7. Here is the problem with Weldon. Lets just say his memory sounds "erratic"

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1096480,00.html

Time Magazine

August 14, 2005

Was Mohammed Atta Overlooked?
New questions about whether the U.S. had information about the 9/11 mastermind years before the attacks

By BRIAN BENNETT, TIMOTHY J. BURGER AND DOUGLAS WALLER

Just how damning are allegations by Congressman Curt Weldon that a secret Pentagon intelligence operation pegged hijacker Mohammed Atta as a threat nearly two years before he led the 9/11 attacks? When Weldon first made the charge in a new book and in a June speech on the House floor, it met with little attention, but perhaps due to the August heat or the approaching fourth anniversary of the attacks, the accusation ignited controversy last week.

The question is whether it has any substance. Weldon says a data-mining exercise, called Able Danger, spotted Atta and other hijackers in 1999, but Pentagon lawyers in September 2000 blocked officials running the program from handing the tip to the FBI. Weldon’s further allegation that the 9/11 commission was alerted to the alleged oversight but ignored it prompted the defunct panel to conduct an investigation last week before issuing a statement late Friday saying members had received only an 11th-hour mention of Atta that “was not sufficiently reliable to warrant revision of the report or further investigation.” Meanwhile, at Weldon’s request, House intelligence committee chairman Peter Hoekstra told TIME he is investigating the matter but cautioned against “hyperventilating” before the completion of a “thorough” probe.

In a particularly dramatic scene in Weldon’s book, Countdown to Terror, the Pennsylvania Republican described personally handing to then-Deputy National Security Adviser Steve Hadley, just after Sept. 11, an Able Danger chart produced in 1999 identifying Atta. But Weldon told TIME he’s no longer certain Atta’s name was on that original document. The congressman says he handed Hadley his only copy. Still, last week he referred reporters to a recently reconstructed version of the chart in his office where, among dozens of names and photos of terrorists from around the world, there was a color mug shot of Mohammad Atta, circled in black marker.

[Octafish]

8. Agree Weldon's weird. But the facts aren't.

The cats who are in trouble range from Schoonmaker to Zelikow to Condescenda to Porter Operation 40 Goss himself. Here's a handy bit, from a more neutral perspective:

Just One Minute

EXCERPT...

From the Kean Hamilton Statement on ABLE DANGER, we get proof that Shaffer spoke to Philip Zelitow, who is Condi Rice's hand picked protogee, executive director of the 9/11 Commission and a member of the 2000-2001 Bush transition team: On October 21, 2003, Philip Zelikow, the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, two senior Commission staff members, and a representative of the executive branch, met at Bagram Base, Afghanistan, with three individuals doing intelligence work for the Department of Defense. One of the men, in recounting information about al Qaeda’s activities in Afghanistan before 9/11, referred to a DOD program known as ABLE DANGER. He said this program was now closed, but urged Commission staff to get the files on this program and review them, as he thought the Commission would find information about al Qaeda and Bin Ladin that had been developed before the 9/11 attack. He also complained that Congress, particularly the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), had effectively ended a human intelligence network he considered valuable.

And who chaired the HPSCI during this period when they ended the intelligence network referred to? None other than Porter Goss

This story is increasingly difficult to follow, but I think one thing is clear - any Republican using this to throw mud on Clinton era Dems is going to find a heck of a lot of mud thrown back in his own face. There was significant Repub involvement in discounting this information - starting with the fact that it was the incoming Bush admin that killed Able Danger in Feb '01 - and it would almost seem that the concealment efforts are ongoing.

I've noticed all calls for HEARINGS have disappeared into the mist on other conservative blogs. I think the reality is dawning here.

SNIP....

Seems the person in command of Able Danger was none other than General Pete Schoonmaker, who was later invited out of retirement by Rummy himself to become Army Chief of Staff. He was the one advising Shaffer & Philpott that Atta's Green Card status kept him protected behind the Wall. This even though Atta didn't have a Green Card, but an expired tourist visa!

CONTINUED...

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2005/08/able_danger_911.html

The pukes were screaming for Able Danger hearings when they thought it could lay 9-11 on Clinton's lap. They shut the heck up when they discovered it was "managed" by members of the Old Bush Boy nutwork.

[NNN0LHI]

9. Weldon is not weird. He is living in a parallel universe

First he said in his book that Atta's picture was on the chart.

Now he says he is not so sure Atta's picture was on the chart after all.

But he continues to show people a fake chart he made by himself reconstructed from his own memory with Atta's picture on it?

Lets just say this boy has issues and leave it at that.

Don

[Octafish]

6. Able Danger ties Condi Rice to Chinese espionage! (really!)

From DUer PaulThompson:

Now we find out why Able Danger was shut down in Feb. 2001, one month after Condi Rice becomes National Security Advisor:

Mr. Weldon said he thinks Able Danger was shut down after a "profile" of Chinese weapons proliferation linked two Americans to Chinese students at Stanford University engaged in technology acquisition for China.

During the profile, the names of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at the time the Stanford University provost, and former Defense Secretary William Perry were mentioned in the data and created "a wave of controversy," he said.

After Congress sought the data, "tremendous pressure was placed on the Army, because this was a prototype operation, and they shut down the Able Danger operation," Mr. Weldon said.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050921-102450-4688r.htm

I've been puzzling over Able Danger since coming across some obscure articles like this one mentioning Chinese espionage ties to a "university provost and a former high ranking government official," but now those references make sense.

Intrigue Over Able Danger Grows

WTOP - Federal News Radio

September 1, 2005

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?sid=558226&nid=251&pid=4

That story is based on info from Able Danger team member J.D. Smith. I also happened to catch Able Danger whistleblower Anthony Shaffer on MSNBC's "The Big Idea" on Aug. 23rd, and he speculated that the reason Able Danger was shut down was because it had accidentally brought up ties between prominent Americans and overseas criminal activity. He didn't get any more specific except to say it wasn't connected to al-Qaeda. So this is undoubtedly another reference to Condi Rice and William Perry.

No wonder the Pentagon specifically refused to let Anthony Shaffer and J.D. Smith testify before Congress today! They sat in the room but were not allowed to speak. I hope the DUers who have seen Able Danger as merely some kind of Curt Weldon smear campaign against Clinton can see now that there's much more to it. If the full story gets out, its probably going to slam the Bush administration hard. No wonder, for instance, when Weldon says he gave the Able Danger chart showing Atta's photograph to Condi Rice's assistant Steve Hadley just after 9/11, the chart was "lost" and the whole story was buried. Hadley and Rice are very close, and Hadley has since taken over Rice's job as National Security Advisor.

When Able Danger was shut down there still was seven months to follow up its leads connecting Mohamed Atta to al-Qaeda, but instead the program was shut down to protect Condi Rice?!

Original Thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4846388

[upi402]

10. Why can't Dems speak like this?

This 9-11 commission stuff has me more worried for America all the time.