“According to a [February] 2000 CIA report, ‘Since the suspension of U.N. inspections in December of 1998, Baghdad [Iraq] has had the capability to reinitiate both its CW [chemical weapons] and BW [biological weapons] programs within a few weeks to months. After Desert Fox [the December 1998 U.S. strike], Baghdad again instituted a reconstruction effort […]
2/15/2000
In February 2000, “After several data runs, the Able Danger operation at LIWA [Land Information Warfare Activity] gets four extraordinary hits that, if acted upon by the FBI, could have interdicted the 9/11 plot. The data harvest reveals the identity of lead hijacker Mohammed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi (who will pilot UA Flight 175) and AA […]
2/4/2000
Citing a New York Times article from February 4, 2000, journalist Peter Bergen wrote: “Al-Qaeda has also attracted followers in the United States–in New York, Boston, Texas, Florida, Virginia, and California; and in the United Kingdom–in London and Manchester. Bin Laden adherents have been arrested in places as disparate as Jordan, Seattle, France, Uruguay, and […]
2/2/2000
“George J. Tenet, director of central intelligence, warned Congress last year [on February 2, 2000] that terrorists were exploring how ‘rapidly evolving and spreading technologies might enhance the lethality of their operations.’ A number of groups, he said, are seeking germ, chemical, radiological or nuclear arms. Mr. Tenet added that operatives of Osama bin Laden…’have […]
2/2/2000
“Taken together, the evidence ‘confirms our conviction,’ [CIA director George] Tenet told the Senate Intelligence Committee on February 2 [2000], that bin Laden ‘wants to strike further blows against America,’ and is ‘placing increased emphasis on developing surrogates to carry out attacks in an effort to avoid detection.’ Al Qaeda had now emerged as ‘an […]
2/2/2000
” ‘The difficulty in destroying this threat [from bin Laden and Sunni militancy],’ then-director of Central Intelligence George Tenet said in early [February 2] 2000, ‘lies in the fact that our efforts will not be enough to overcome the fundamental causes of the phenomenon–poverty, alienation, disaffection, and ethnic hatred deeply rooted in history.’ ” – […]
1/31/2000
“After the 1999-2000 millennium [terror] alerts, when the nation had relaxed, [Richard] Clarke held a meeting of his Counterterrorism Security Group [on January 31, 2000] devoted largely to the possibility of a possible airline hijacking by al Qaeda.” – 9/11 Commission, The 9/11 Commission Report, Page 345 […]
1/27/2000
In his State of the Union address on January 27, 2000, President Bill Clinton said: ” ‘…some time in the next 10 to 20 years, the major security threat this country will face will come from the enemies of the nation state: the narco-traffickers and the terrorists and the organized criminals, who will be organized […]
1/24/2000
Journalist “Mary Anne Weaver writes in the New Yorker [on January 24, 2000] that bin Laden was produced by the Afghan jihad, which, in turn, was part of that ‘Pan Islamic effort whose fighters were funded, armed, and trained by the C.I.A., [and which] eventually brought twenty-five thousand Islamic militants, from more than 50 countries, […]
1/18/2000
Future 9/11 hijacker Marwan "al-Shehhi obtained his new papers [passport, to erase any record of having traveled to Pakistan] in the Emirates before he ever returned to Germany. …On January 18 [2000], Shehhi, using his brand-new passport became the first of the men [9/11 hijackers] to receive a U.S. visa." – Terry McDermott, Perfect Soldiers, […]