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Former fbi criticises 911 report

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   http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_11-8-2003_pg7_12

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_11-8-2003_pg7_12

Former FBI official criticises 9/11 report’s findings

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: A former FBI officer has said there was no evidence that anyone, including Saudi officials, knowingly assisted the 9/11 terrorists.

Criticising various findings of the 900-page report on the 9/11 attacks, former head of the FBI’s San Diego office Bill Gore has called the report rife with inaccuracies, saying it greatly exaggerates the possibility the terrorist acts could have been prevented.

In an interview published by the Los Angeles Times Sunday, Gore said there was no evidence the FBI missed opportunities to catch two of the hijackers who for months lived in San Diego. He told the newspaper, “I believe the joint intelligence committee jumped to conclusions not supported by the facts of the FBI investigation. I was convinced by the time I left the FBI [in] January that there was no Al Qaeda support network in San Diego prior to or after 9/11, and that no group of people wittingly helped the hijackers in furtherance of the 9/11 attacks.”

The report suggests there were several missed opportunities to foil the attacks, and that alleged intelligence failures were especially obvious in San Diego, where two hijackers were known to an FBI informant. The report pointed out that the CIA was aware for months that the two men, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, were spotted at an Al Qaeda meeting in Malaysia that preceded the bombing of the US destroyer Cole in 2000. But, the report added, the spy agency did not share its concerns about the two men with the FBI, or its belief that Almihdhar might be in the United States, until Aug. 23, 2001. Three weeks later, the two men were on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. The report has also raised the possibility that the two San Diego men had connections to the Saudi government.

Gore dismissed the possibility of financial assistance as pure conjecture, insisting that he had never seen evidence the hijackers needed financial or logistical help beyond what already was provided by Al Qaeda. “There was no support network here for the hijackers, they didn’t need it,” Gore said. “And I think that is why they succeeded.” He said there also was no proof that hijackers Almihdhar and Alhazmi lived in San Diego for any reason other than its Islamic community and the opportunity to take flying lessons in a region with great year-round weather.

Gore acknowledged that the two future hijackers did come into contact with a trusted FBI informant, but said there was no reason for the informant to bring that fact to the attention of his FBI handler because Almihdhar and Alhazmi did nothing publicly that would suggest they were violent extremists.

Gore also dismissed the committee’s suggestion that the hijackers may have received help from two Saudi men well known in the San Diego community, Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassnan. Some federal officials believe one or both men may have been Saudi agents or informants, a link that would suggest the Saudi government had suspicions about the future hijackers, or could have been assisting them. Gore told the Los Angeles Times that he believed that Al Bayoumi’s initial meeting with the hijackers was just coincidence. He said the FBI investigation found no evidence Bassnan even met Alhazmi or Almihdhar. Gore also disputed the committee’s suggestion that Al Bayoumi and Bassnan were receiving money from Saudi officials or rich Saudis, and then funnelling the money to Alhazmi and Almihdhar.

Gore said the FBI investigation did show that Bassnan’s wife received a check from the Saudi government that was turned over to Al Bayoumi. But that transaction only occurred because Bassnan did not have a bank account and the amount of money involved was immediately returned to Bassnan, Gore said.

Nine Democratic members of Congress have been urging the administration to declassify additional portions of the report that deal specifically with possible foreign government assistance to the 9/11 hijackers. The government of Saudi Arabia has also called for declassification of the material, which deals in part with its alleged relationship with the hijackers.




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911 report suggests role saudi spies { August 2 2003 }
Clash over 800 page 911 report
Classified 800 page 911 report
Classified section report faults saudi rulers { July 26 2003 }
Congress inquiry too soft
Former fbi criticises 911 report
Saudis want report declassified bush refuses { July 29 2003 }
Whitehouse wont declassify more 911 report { September 30 2003 }

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