Online C-span video - cover-up of an operation that could have prevented 9/11

[Guest guest]

While it is still posted online at C-SPAN please take the time to Rep.

Weldon's press conference yesterday and send C-SPAN a polite note asking give

the

press conference an appropriate prime time billing on C-SPAN1 -- remind them

we are talking a cover-up of an operation that could easily have foiled the

worst terrorist attack and mass murder on U.S. soil in U.S. history :

 

Rep. Kurt Weldon (R-PA) on Able Danger Investigation

rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e110905_weldon.rm

Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA) talks about the Able Danger investigation.

11/9/2005: WASHINGTON, DC: 47 min.

 

 

Dear friends, colleagues and Citizenswatch members,

 

[Please forward and post widely -- Watch Rep. Weldon's press conference at

C-SPAN.org -- Call C-SPAN and urge them to air it prime time on C-SPAN1 - see

contact details below.]

 

The Able Danger scandal and cover-up is mushrooming into a cloud that now

looms over the 9/11 Commission, the DoD, and the DIA. Rep. Curt Weldon said,

" to me this is the most important story of my lifetime. " He talked about

friends he lost on September 11th. He raged and attacked the 9/11 Commission

for

omitting Able Danger. The day before yesterday's press conference he accused

former Commission Vice-Chair Hamilton of lying to protect the Bush

administration as reported by Govexec.com; that's right, the Bush

Administration. 9/11

has truly turned the world upside down. Hopefully, the mainstream press

will catch up and recognize how big a story this is and how serious the charges

are. Once eyes turn back to 9/11 and the integrity of the Commission is

seriously, rightly and broadly questioned, there will be many other still

unanswered questions raised about the attacks and the flawed findings of the

9/11

Report and calls for further investigation. As Joe Wilson pointed o!

ut to the Washington Post not long after his famous op-ed exposing the

Yellowcake farce, " if they lied to us about this, what else are they lying to

us

about? "

 

Currently there are two committees in the Senate and four in the House

investigating Able Danger and as of yesterday the Inspector general at the

Pentagon is investigating as well. But still the key witnesses are effectively

gagged by the DoD. In response, Rep. Weldon has initiated a petition yesterday

already signed by over 100 of his colleagues calling upon the DoD to permit

testimony of Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, Captain Scott Phillpott, and the other

witnesses.

 

Weldon leveled allegations against former 9/11 staffer Dietrich Snell who

interviewed the Able Danger team leader Phillpott tens days before the release

of the 9/11 Report and who heard from Phillpott that indeed they had

identified Atta. Given that Snell is now at NY Attorney General Eliot

Spitzer's

office in NYC there is a new opportunity to demand Spitzer dispell any

questions

of conflict of interest and act upon the extensive 9/11 Complaint brought by

families and victims filed with his office last Fall. [see

http://www.justicefor911.org]. [Perhaps someone should sue the Commissioners

for fraud for

starters.] In response to Phillpott's putting his career on the line with his

private testimony regarding Atta and the obstructions they encountered in

getting this to the FBI, Snell asked Phillpott, " What do you want to do with

this

information, we are going to print in 10 days? " Well, we know that neither

Roemer (a dem) nor Lehman (a Republican) were briefed and neither t!

he Report nor the post report 'monographs' made any mention of Able Danger.

 

Please call your representatives in Congress (see number below) and ask them

to sign Rep. Weldon's petition so that the American people can hear the

truth from those that identified Atta, Al-Sheehi, Al-Hazmi, and Al-Mihdhar a

full

year before the atttacks and who experienced repeated obstructions in trying

to bring this information forward to the FBI and who can speak to who

ignored this intelligence and tried to bury it, repeatedly.

 

Below are a few select quotes from Rep. Weldon's press conference yesterday

followed by snippets from today's articles on the subject as well as a

transcript of his appearance on Lou Dobbs.

 

Thank you for your concern and dedication to finding the truth. It is never

too late to set the record straight and hold those responsible to account.

 

Kyle F. Hence

9/11 CitizensWatch

For extensive resources and articles on Able Danger visit:

http://www.911citizenswatch.org

 

=====

 

There is a cover-up here. It is clear. It is unequivocal.

I have no other recourse but to ask for a criminal investigation.

The 9/11 Commission refers to Able Danger as historically insignificant.

It is my contention that there was a deliberate attempt to not have this

story told to the American people.

There is no mention of Able Danger in the entire 9/11 Commission Report.

There's been nothing but denial and spin since the story broke in the first

week of August. Denial and Spin.

 

You know Richard Nixon had to resign from office because he tried to cover

up a third-rate burglary. No one was injured. No money was stolen. No one

was killed. Here we have a cover-up of the single largest incident in the

history of our nation...[might be missing rest of this quote?]

 

This story is about intimidation, it's about harassment, it's about ruining

the career of a professional military officer. It's about denying the

American people the basic facts of what happened to 3000 human beings and 17

sailors. It is unacceptable. It's outrageous. It's un-American. It's

undemocratic,

it's not what our country stands for.

 

The 9/11 Commission missed the boat. They flubbed it. They have no

credibility on this issue whatsoever.

It's only a matter of time before this story is going to come out.

I can't believe the mainstream media turns its head and does nothing to

investigate this.

 

=====

 

While it is still posted online at C-SPAN please take the time to Rep.

Weldon's press conference yesterday and send C-SPAN a polite note asking give

the

press conference an appropriate prime time billing on C-SPAN1 -- remind them

we are talking a cover-up of an operation that could easily have foiled the

worst terrorist attack and mass murder on U.S. soil in U.S. history :

 

Rep. Kurt Weldon (R-PA) on Able Danger Investigation

rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e110905_weldon.rm'

Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA) talks about the Able Danger investigation.

11/9/2005: WASHINGTON, DC: 47 min.

 

viewer

Main Number: (202) 737-3220

tmurphy

Terry Murphy, VP of Programming

 

Capitol Hill Switchboard: 202-224-3121

 

New Skirmish in War Over 9/11 Information

Congressman challenges Department of Defense

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle & code=O'20051110 & art

icleId=1224

By Rory O'Connor -- November 10, 2005

 

Representative Curt Weldon, Republican from Pennsylvania, has just fired

another salvo in his ongoing battle against the Defense Department over the

Able

Danger “information warfare†program. According to at least five DOD

employees, the controversial data-mining project, which ended in 2000,

identified

Mohamed Atta and other 9/11 hijackers a year before the worst terror attacks

ever on US soil.

 

Weldon believes that the 9/11 Commission’s work investigating the attacks

has proven “to be a disappointment and a failure, especially as it pertains

to

Able Danger.†Possible explanations for this failure, says Weldon, include

“

gross incompetence either on the part of the Commissioners or the Commission

staff, or both,†or more alarmingly, “a deliberate cover-up that would make

the Watergate scandal pale in comparison.â€

[snip]

 

=====

 

Pentagon probes treatment of 'Able Danger' officer

Reuters -- Wed Nov 9, 2005 7:32 PM ET

http://www.911citizenswatch.org/print.php?sid=717

By David Morgan

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon inspector general is investigating the

Defense Intelligence Agency's treatment of an Army colonel who was the first

to claim publicly that the government knew about four September 11 hijackers

long before the 2001 attacks, officials said on Wednesday.

 

Among the issues under review is whether the DIA revoked the security

clearance of Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer last September in retaliation for

repeated

comments he made in the media about a military intelligence team code-named

Able Danger, sources familiar with the case said.

[snip]

 

=====

 

Rep. Curt Weldon on Lou Dobbs (CNN)

http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=36857

DOBBS: New charges tonight. Charges of a massive cover-up by members of our

defense intelligence community. Congressman Curt Weldon today called for a

criminal investigation into what he says, is the most important story of our

lifetime.

 

Weldon says the army's intelligence unit known as Able Danger, identified

the ringleaders of the 9/11 attacks more than a year before September 11, but

those warnings were ignored by the Pentagon.

 

Weldon says the defense intelligence agency is now trying to smear the

reputation of Able Danger member Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, for

speaking

out about the scandal.

 

In addition to identifying the ringleaders of the 9/11 attacks, Congressman

Weldon says Able Danger warned defense officials about terrorist activity in

the Port of Aden in Yemen, two weeks before that bombing of the U.S. the

bombs of the U.S.S. Cole in 2000.

 

He also blasted the 9/11 Commission, calling them a disappointment and a

failure for not including that information about Able Danger in its final

report.

 

I talked with 9/11 commission member and former senator Slade Gorton three

weeks ago. And I ask him why Able Danger was omitted from the commission's

report.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

SLADE GORTON, FORMER 9/11 COMMISSIONER: Well, Able Danger worked out very

interesting. It didn't identify Mohammed Atta a year beforehand. Unfortunately,

no one identified Mohammed Atta beforehand. Able Danger was simply

irrelevant to our report and still is.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

DOBBS: Congressman Weldon now joining me from Washington, in an exclusive

interview.

 

Congressman, it is good to see you. Simply irrelevant how Slade Gorton

describes Able Danger, what's your reaction?

 

REP. CURT WELDON ®, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Unbelievable. Slade Gorton

has never talked to any principle involved with Able Danger. And how he can go

off and profess to know something about something that he's never talked to

anyone about, is beyond me.

 

Slade Gorton is into what the 9/11 commission is doing, Lou. It's called c,

y, a. Cover their butts, pretend it didn't happen.

 

How can you say something is historically insignificant that Louis Freeh

just two weeks ago on national TV said Able Danger information was the kind of

intelligence that could have prevented the hijackings.

 

That's Louis Freeh saying that two weeks ago. Able Danger was briefed to the

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in January of 2001. How could you call

that historically insignificant?

 

Lou, this is a cover-up. It's not a third-rate political burglary. It's a

cover-up of information on the largest attack in the history of the country.

 

DOBBS: Congressman, you are calling for a criminal investigation. Obviously,

you're not going to receive a great deal of cooperation from the leadership,

the Republican leadership in the House or the Senate.

 

You're a Republican, what kind of reaction are you getting as you go one on

one with your fellow Congressman?

 

WELDON: Lou, the members of Congress want the facts to come out, both

parties. I did a briefing this afternoon for members of Congress, we had dozens

of

their members and their staff show up.

 

And just within two hours Lou, today, I got 100 signatures. One hundred

signatures from Republicans and Democrats across the country. Liberals and

conservatives to Secretary Rumsfeld demanding that we allow these Able Danger

military officers to testify in an open hearing.

 

The American people need to know the facts. They need to know the truth.

Three thousand people were killed, 17 sailors were killed in the U.S.S Cole.

The

9/11 commission did not do its job. It's time to get the facts out to the

American people.

 

DOBBS: Let me quote Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Congressman. When

asked about Able Danger, Donald Rumsfeld said, quote, it's such an

interesting story. Of course, it's something that occurred well before this

administration came in. Back in the '90s, as I understand it, and it's an

interesting

story.

 

What's your response?

 

WELDON: Well, Donald Rumsfeld would not have been given the detailed

information about Able Danger because it ended at the end of 2000, before he

came

into office.

 

However, Lou, we have to understand. There were people within the Pentagon

who stayed in place from the 1999/2000 period into 2001. In fact, they're

still there today. They have a vested interest in not having the story be told

because some of them are going to be embarrassed because the American people

will see we failed them in 1999 and 2000.

 

We failed them in 2001. We had information we should have acted upon. It was

denied from being transferred to the FBI and as Louis Freeh said just two

weeks ago, could have allowed us to stop the hijackings from having ever

occurred.

 

DOBBS: Louis Freeh, the former FBI director. At this point, Congressman,

where does the investigation go from here? The people that are most critical to

establishing what the unit, Able Danger knew, and was capable of

disseminating, relevant to 9/11, have been gagged by the Pentagon and cannot

speak. What

do you do now?

 

WELDON: Well, we have a DOD, inspector general investigation that actually

commenced today. I met for an hour and a half with four of their top leaders.

They were requested by three separate members of Congress, one senator and

two House members.

 

They have commenced an internal investigation of the Defense Intelligence

Agency. In addition to that, I talked to the head of the General Accounting

Office and I have asked him to look at a criminal investigation of what

happened, and a deliberate attempt to cover-up information.

 

The person who debriefed Scott Philpott, Lou, was a guy named Dieter Snell.

Dieter Snell worked for Jamie Gorelick. We have to know whether or not there

was a deliberate attempt by Dieter Snell not to have the 9/11 commission

members know the full details of what Able Danger was doing. I can't answer

that

question. An investigation needs to take place.

 

DOBBS: And Scott Philpott, of course, one of those who has been gagged by

the Pentagon in this case. Congressman Curt Weldon, we thank you very much.

 

WELDON: My pleasure, Lou.

 

====

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