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Issue #6:
Has US intelligence established the order of battle
of the conspiracy that directed, finances, documented
and organized the hijackers that carried out the
aerial attacks September 11th?
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The FBI established the identity
from airline records the identities used by the 19 hijackers
who seized the planes on 9-11 and deduced from telephone
messages left for Mohammed Atta and other clues that he
was the "boss" of some of the hijacking crews, but, so
far, it has not identified the case officer(s) for Atta
and his associates.
Even if Atta and his associates had done much of the advance
reconnaissance, intelligence-gathering and planning of
the four highjackings, as the FBI hypothesizes, they could
not have been acting alone. Over $303,000 was deposited
in bank and credit card accounts for them, much of it
laundered
through a chain of banks in the Middle East, over a 14
month period between June 2000 and August 2001. Aside
from the laundered money, they received manpower from
abroad. At least thirteen
men were recruited, trained, and prepared
for the hijacking mission, provided with travel documentation
(including stolen or false identities), assembled in the
Arabian city of Jeddah, and, between April 23 and June
29, 2001, dispatched to staging areas in the United States.
They were then to assigned to the four hijacking crews
on 9-11. This covert operation required case officers
with managerial skills. Meanwhile, Atta and his associates
flew back and forth to Europe and the Middle East, where
presumably they met with these organizers and received
instructions, including, for example, the return of the
unused funds (which Atta
and his associates did just prior to 9-11.)
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Questions:
1) Al-Mihdhar arrived in the US
four months before Atta received a visa to come to the
US. He had previously attended a summit of al- Qaeda in
Malaysia. There is no evidence he ever met with Atta.
Who acted as al-Mihdhar's case officer?
2) Who on behalf of al-Qaeda or
other sponsors of the attack acted as Atta's case officer?
3) According to the FBI's analysis
of their cash flow, a minimum of $303,481.63 reached the
known participants of the American end of the participants.
But only about one-third ($103,200) came in the form of
wire transfers which could be trace back to banks in the
United Arab Emirates. The balance was deposited in cash
or traveler checks, checks from third parties and refunds.
Who provided and laundered this money?
4) Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a Yemenese
associate of Atta's, now in American custody, was identified
as a "paymaster" of the conspiracy. But he provided only
a small fraction of the money (about $15,000) to Atta
and his associates when they first arrived in the US,
and that transfer involved merely re-depositing and forwarding
funds sent by an "Hashim Abdulrahman" in Dubai. What was
al-Shibh role, if any, in organizing funds and manpower
for the conspiracy during 2001?
5) Who was the case officer who
recruited the 13 (or more) hijackers that departed from
Jeddah in the Spring and Summer of 2001 on a fatal mission?
Was he known to them from prior service in Afghanistan,
Chechneya or elsewhere? If not, how did he demonstrate
his bona fides or gain their confidence?
6) Where was the contingent from
Jeddah trained before they departed for the US? Who provided
their logistical support, and expenses, during this period?
Who provided them with false Saudi identities (some of
which came from Islamists killed in Chechneya) and Saudi
passports?
7) Khaled Mohammed Sheikh claimed
on al-Jazeeri television that he was involved in the organization
of the attack. Is there evidence to support this claim?
If so, did he meet with Atta and his associates in Germany,
Spain, the Czech Republic or other countries they visited?
Witnesses:
Ramzi
bin al-Shibh (In US custody)
Khaled
Mohammed Sheikh (In US
custody)( (In US custo
Mohammed Haydar Zammar (In Syrian
custody)
Abu Zubayda (In US custody)
The FBI and CIA supervising officers
for the debriefings of al-Qaeda prisoners held at the
Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.
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