I'm speechless The FBI was warned six years ago of a terrorist plot to hijack commercial planes and slam them into......

glen

Lifer
Apr 28, 2000
15,995
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http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/18/inv.hijacking.philippines/index.html

By Maria Ressa
CNN Correspondent

MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- The FBI was warned six years ago of a terrorist plot to hijack commercial planes and slam them into the Pentagon, the CIA headquarters and other buildings, Philippine investigators told CNN.

Philippine authorities learned of the plot after a small fire in a Manila apartment, which turned out to be the hideout of Ramzi Yousef, who was later convicted for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Yousef escaped at the time, but agents caught his right-hand man, Abdul Hakim Murad, who told them a chilling tale.

"Murad narrated to us about a plan by the Ramzi cell in the continental U.S. to hijack a commercial plane and ram it into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and also the Pentagon," said Rodolfo Mendoza, a Philippine intelligence investigator.

Philippine investigators also found evidence targeting commercial towers in San Francisco, Chicago and New York City.

They said they passed that information on to the FBI in 1995, but it's not clear what was done with it.

One week ago, two hijacked commercial jets slammed into the World Trade Center, collapsing the towers. Another jet hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Authorities believe that fourth jet may have been headed for the Capitol or the White House. Thousands were killed in the attacks.

On Monday, FBI Director Robert Mueller insisted the agency had "no warning signs" of last week's attacks.

Yousef and Murad both have ties to Osama bin Laden, the man President Bush has labeled the "prime suspect" in Tuesday's attacks.

Authorities also found on a computer in the Manila apartment details of a separate plot to bomb 11 U.S. airliners on overseas flights.

Yousef once listed his occupation as "international terrorist" on an ID card, and he has long been considered a disciple of bin Laden.

Murad was a pilot who admitted he had been trained in Afghanistan as well as the United States. Bin Laden, a Saudi native, lives in Afghanistan.

"(Murad) was principally recruited by Yousef's group and bin Laden's group to undertake a suicide mission," said Avelino Razon, superintendent for the Philippine National Police.

Yousef was eventually caught in Pakistan and brought to New York for trial. He was sentenced to life in prison. Murad is also serving a life sentence.


*Seems like the FBI is run as ineffiecently as our state run drivers license bureau. - or as poorly as my spelling ability*
 

nateholtrop

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2000
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good lord did someone slap you with the anti-spell checkers stick! speach = speech burrows = bureau's ::sigh::

nate
 

flot

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2000
3,197
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Why are you speechless?

This is certainly an *obvious* way to attack someone. Hell, somebody crashed a cessna on the white house lawn a few years back. And the warning was SIX YEARS ago ... ?? You think they should have had planes ready to shoot down off course commercial jets for the last 6 years?

I there are plenty of other terrible ways to hurt a bunch of people, and I'm sure that given time they'll all happen... what sucks is, you really can't do much to prevent most of them from happening. All this recent airport security is a bunch of nonsense, anyone who really wants to get something in, could.
 

Kenji4861

Banned
Jan 28, 2001
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"On Monday, FBI Director Robert Mueller insisted the agency had "no warning signs" of last week's attacks. "


Sucks that we can't trust what our country tells us. I doubt one of the plane crashed because of a struggle, the government probably shot it down before it hit the White House.
 

weezergirl

Diamond Member
May 24, 2000
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well i think it depends more on how much did they know about the plans? like did they know the details? that there are people attending flight schools, that they were going to bring knives on the plane, etc?

if so, then they could have been watching those people more carefully and changed FAA ruling on bringing knives onto planes. those are just beginning steps as to how they could have helped prevent this.
 
Apr 5, 2000
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Kenji - if the plane had been shot down it would have burst into pieces in the air and not created a crater in the earth like a plane in one piece would have.
 

glen

Lifer
Apr 28, 2000
15,995
1
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A guy in Bin Laden's terrorist group admits plans to ram planes in to US buildings, and the FBI claim to have had no warning.
Point is, we probably had more resources out tring to catch people smoking pot, than we did on more important things.
 

glen

Lifer
Apr 28, 2000
15,995
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Yeah, you think they could have done a casual background check on folks enrolled in jumbo jet flight schools.
 

Sugadaddy

Banned
May 12, 2000
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<< Kenji - if the plane had been shot down it would have burst into pieces in the air and not created a crater in the earth like a plane in one piece would have. >>




Heat-seaking missiles would only hit one of the motors... So the whole plane wouldn't be destroyed in the air.
 

LiQiCE

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,911
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RagingBitch,

Actually depending on where the plane was shot ... (Well *IF* it was shot), the plane could have in fact crashed into the ground like that. Obviously if the pilot wanted to shoot the plane down without blowing it up, he could have simply shot the tail, which would have caused the plane to crash ... So just because the plane crashed does not rule out the possibility of the plane being shot. I doubt that it is true.. but anything is possible.

EDIT: Doh! You beat me to it :)
 

Hubris

Platinum Member
Jul 14, 2001
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Heh. Do you know how many warnings of terrorist plots the FBI gets a day? I'm sure the number is astronomical. Plus, add the fact that it was SIX YEARS AGO. Everyone always Monday morning quarterbacks. Of course you're going to notice warnings in hindsight; it's easy then. But there have been MILLIONS of flights in the past six years; NO ONE could have monitored all of them, now could the Air Force have been patrolling the air space for that entire time. Let's not start pointing fingers at each other; that's exactly what the terrorists want: division from within. Let's instead point the finger SQUARELY at the person who is responsible for this heinous act.
 

Grisnatch

Senior member
Jul 23, 2000
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there have been conflicting eyewitness reports over whether or not the plane just crashed or whether it was shot down. some say they just saw it crash and others say they heard a couple of loud explosions and smoke coming from the plane just before it crashed. i guess we won't really know unless the fbi decides to let us know what really happened to the plane moments before it crashed.
 

chiwawa626

Lifer
Aug 15, 2000
12,013
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<< Well what can you do about it? Patrol those buildings 24/7 with Air Force jets? >>


um yeah i guesS? not realistic though since patrolling 24/7 for 6 years? that would cost lotsa money !
 

neovan

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2001
4,676
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<<

<< Well what can you do about it? Patrol those buildings 24/7 with Air Force jets? >>


um yeah i guesS? not realistic though since patrolling 24/7 for 6 years? that would cost lotsa money !
>>



i agree...even if they knew...there isn't much that can be done...the government gets hundreds of threats each day and have to decide which one is realistic to pursue...but i'm sure they pursue all of them