“On Dec. 26 last year [2000], the German police announced a blow against Mr. bin Laden, arresting four men in Frankfurt on terrorism charges and seizing an arsenal of rifles, handguns, machine guns, homemade detonators, a grenade, false documents and a quantity of potassium permanganate for potential bomb-making. The police…said the men had received training […]
12/26/2000
On December 26, 2000, “Flying a Piper Cherokee they had rented from Huffman [Aviation flight training school in Venice, Florida], the two unproven pilots [future 9/11 hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi] touched down at Miami International Airport and were preparing to take off again when the plane stalled. Stranded on a causeway that led […]
12/25/2000
“In late December 2000, the CIA informed a small group of cabinet members of its preliminary judgment that bin Laden had ‘supported the attack’ on the [USS] Cole [on October 12, 2000], based on strong circumstantial evidence linking [Abd al Rahim] al Nashiri and [Tawfiq bin Attash, aka] Khallad to al Qaeda. The CIA also […]
12/21/2000
On December 21, 2000, investigators into the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole “concluded that the CIA had ‘no definitive answer on [the] crucial question of outside direction of the attack–how and by whom.’ The report noted that the Yemeni government claimed that [al Qaeda operative] Khallad had directed the attacks from Afghanistan, perhaps […]
12/21/2000
Future 9/11 hijackers Mohamed “Atta and [Marwan] al-Shehhi were awarded their commercial pilot’s licenses on December 21 [2000].” – John Miller, Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell, The Cell, Page 276 […]
12/20/2000
Colin “Powell’s first official briefing on terrorism had taken place on December 20, 2000, even before he was sworn in as Secretary of State. He had asked [counterterrorism czar Richard] Clarke and his team–all still working under President [Bill] Clinton at the time–to give him a full rundown on bin Laden. Intelligence had indicated that […]
12/20/2000
“On December 20 [2000], White House terrorism czar Richard Clarke presented National Security Adviser Sandy Berger with a strategy paper on how to escalate the fight with al Qaeda following the [USS] Cole bombing. But the Clinton presidency was ending, so the game plan wasn’t presented to Berger’s counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, until months later.” – […]
12/20/2000
“On December 20 [2000], counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke presents National Security Adviser Sandy Berger with a plan to ‘roll back’ Al Qaeda. The plan is postponed pending the arrival of the new [Bush] administration, presented to the new national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and then ignored.” – Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, […]
12/19/2000
“In December [19] 2000, UN Resolution 1333 imposed a complete arms ban on the Taliban and closing of training camps, as well as a seizure of Taliban assets outside Afghanistan. The resolution was aimed at stopping Pakistan’s arms support to the Taliban. The Taliban reacted angrily, while Pakistan’s ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] put together the ‘Afghan […]
12/19/2000
President Bill Clinton met with President-elect George Bush at the White House on December 19, 2000. “Clinton told Bush that he had read his campaign statements carefully and his impression was that his two priorities were national missile defense and Iraq. Bush said this was correct. Clinton proposed a different set of priorities, which included […]