“Perhaps most important to bin Laden’s growth and development as a major threat was his decision to act as a franchiser of terrorism, providing crucial financial and logistical assistance to locally sponsored plots brought to his organization by Islamic extremists. This new approach gave his group a much broader range of possible targets.” – James […]
10/14/2001
“Among the more than 600 people arrested in the F.B.I.’s investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks are followers of Al Qaeda and other extremist groups, but the authorities have refused to call the arrests a roundup. Privately, however, some senior law enforcement officials are saying the large number of arrests is part of Attorney General […]
10/13/2001
According to the Bush Administration: “the Saudi-based charitable organization, Muwafaq Foundation…has transferred millions of contributions to bin Laden, with much of that money coming from a select group of Saudi businessmen with high level connections.” – Joseph Kahn and Judith Miller, “Saudi and Pakistani Assets Cited for Ties to bin Laden, “The New York Times, […]
10/13/2001
“According to the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. now imports about 60% of its oil–with 23% coming from Persian Gulf countries and 14.7% from Saudi Arabia specifically.” – David Willman and Greg Miller, “Saudi Aid to War on Terror Is Criticized,” The Los Angeles Times, Oct. 13, 2001 […]
10/13/2001
Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar “has recently denied that members of the royal family have sent money to Bin Laden. But Bandar also has said that Saudi citizens over the years have paid ‘religious’ taxes to charitable organizations and that proceeds were, in turn, funneled to Afghanistan.” – David Willman and Greg Miller, “Saudi Aid to […]
10/13/2001
Former Chief of Counterterrorism Operations for the CIA Vincent Cannistraro said, regarding assistance from the Saudis in tracking the perpetrators of 9/11: ” ‘We’re getting zero cooperation now… There is a whole pile of Saudi businessmen who have been providing regular contributions to Al Qaeda.’ …Cannistraro said he believes the amount of money flowing from […]
10/12/2001
“The conference [regarding the tailoring of the US PATRIOT Act] that Friday afternoon was one of the first events of its kind since 9/11 and the editors were attentive. I explained my concerns about the failure to tailor the Patriot Act to the nature of the threat we faced. I detailed, for example, the provisions […]
10/12/2001
“On October 11, 2001, [President] Bush said Congress should pass the House version [of his energy bill] as an essential part of fighting the war on terrorism. ‘It’s important for our national security to have a good energy policy.’ Promoting his bill as a security measure, Bush told the public [on October 12, 2001], ‘The […]
10/12/2001
Vice President Dick Cheney was interviewed by Jim Lehrer of PBS on October 12, 2001. When Lehrer asked about the recent anthrax attacks, “Without challenging the FBI directly, Cheney questioned the logic of its claims that the attacks had not been made by terrorists. He methodically listed things he said ‘we know’ about Osama bin […]
10/12/2001
“The Bush administration vowed today [October 12, 2001] to seize the assets of more individuals it says support terrorism… The new list of 39 individuals and groups, which adds to 27 identified in a White House executive order last month, appears for the first time to draw a direct link between Mr. bin Laden and […]