The Able Danger program has been cut from the public eye for quite some time but Fox has gotten their hands on a unredacted document that is quite interesting to the debate.

For those unfamiliar, Able Danger was a a top-secret military program set up in 1999 to probe the al-Qaeda network using Network Theory. The NYT’s wrote a liberally biased article on the technique but it provides a good rundown of the nuts and bolts. This is another post I wrote detailing the program.

Those working inside Able Danger have said for years that the operation identified at least four of the 9/11 hijackers including Mohamed Atta.

Now the new Fox story:

A document obtained and witnesses interviewed by Fox News raise new questions over whether there was an effort by the Defense Department to cover up a pre-9/11 military intelligence program known as “Able Danger.”

At least five witnesses questioned by the Defense Department’s Inspector General told Fox News that their statements were distorted by investigators in the final IG’s report — or it left out key information, backing up assertions that lead hijacker Mohammed Atta was identified a year before 9/11.

Atta is believed to have been the ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers who piloted American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center. Claims about how early Atta first tripped the radar of the Department of Defense date back to 2005, but those claims never made it into the Inspector General’s report. The report was completed in 2006 and, until now, has been available only in a version with the names of virtually all of the witnesses blacked out.

Fox News, as part of an ongoing investigation, exclusively obtained a clean copy of the report and spoke to several principal witnesses, including an intelligence and data collector who asked that she not be named.

The witness told Fox News she was interviewed twice by a Defense Department investigator. She said she told the investigator that it was highly likely a department database included the picture of Atta, whom she knew under an alias, Mohammed el-Sayed.

“When it came to the picture, (the investigator) he was fairly hostile,” the witness told Fox News. She said it seemed the investigator just didn’t want to hear it. “Meaning that he’d ask the same question over and over again, and, you know, you get to the point you go, well, you know… it’s the same question, it’s the same answer.”

The IG report didn’t accurately reflect her statements to investigators, she said, adding that she doesn’t think the investigator simply misunderstood her.

Lt. Col Tony Shaffer, an operative involved with Able Danger, said he was interviewed three times by Defense investigators. He claims it was an effort to wear down the witnesses and intimidate them. Two other witnesses, one a military contractor and the other a retired military officer, said they had the same experience. The two witnesses spoke to Fox News on the condition of anonymity because they said they feared retaliation. A fifth witness told Fox that statements to investigators were ignored.

“My last interview was very, very hostile,” Shaffer told Fox News last month before he was ordered by the department not to discuss portions of his book, “Operation Dark Heart,” which included a chapter on the Able Danger data mining project.

When asked why the IG’s report was so aggressive in its denials of his claims and those of other witnesses — that the data mining project had identified Atta as a threat to the U.S. before 9/11 — Shaffer said Defense Department was worried about taking some of the blame for 9/11.

Shaffer’s book was recently burned by the Pentagon….nothing shady there eh?

Btw, a few posts I would like to highlight here. This one details the how and why Able Danger was shut down. My post here details how the end to the Able Danger investigation came about and the ensuing whitewash, and gives a good rundown of the evidence (check this one out also). And lastly this one has the audio of a conference call I and a half dozen other bloggers had with Curt Weldon regarding Able Danger and the investigation into the program.

I’m sorry, but I simply MUST post this. Memories of A Few Good Men…(ht Hot Air)

Watch this, and consider that we’re not talking about beating up a Marine, but getting rough with the people who planned and executed the 911 attacks, who tried to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans, who SUCCESSFULLY MURDERED 3000 civilians.

Chris,

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

Poor Ford. He knows torture’s an issue that-in the end-causes more damage to Democrats than to Republicans. He knows the reality that in 2001, 2002, and 2003 the US intel community was freaking out, dazed, and confused (as every 911 and Iraq investigation shows), and he just can’t tell the Bush haters to stop, let it go, MOVEON.

Why?

Because torture, 911, BUSHLIED, etc are all distortions of the truth that come out if there’s an investigation.

Good luck Harold. I’m with CHEEENY-Show the docs. Show em all!

This is worth reading. Unless something else comes along, I believe that Obama’s attempt to distract from his lack of accomplishments via the release of interrogation memos, the fate of Gitmo detainees past and present will haunt him long and hard.

By DEBRA BURLINGAME
In February I was among a group of USS Cole and 9/11 victims’ families who met with the president at the White House to discuss his policies regarding Guantanamo detainees. Although many of us strongly opposed Barack Obama’s decision to close the detention center and suspend all military commissions, the families of the 17 sailors killed in the 2000 attack in Yemen were particularly outraged.

Over the years, the Cole families have seen justice abandoned by the Clinton administration and overshadowed by the need of the Bush administration to gather intelligence after 9/11. They have watched in frustration as the president of Yemen refused extradition for the Cole bombers.

Now, after more than eight years of waiting, Mr. Obama was stopping the trial of Abu Rahim al-Nashiri, the only individual to be held accountable for the bombing in a U.S. court.

Ms. Burlingame, a former attorney and a director of the National September 11 Memorial Foundation, is the sister of Charles F. “Chic” Burlingame III, the pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

More here.

Earlier this week an article by Jonathan Landay was published by the failing McClatchy Newspapers. The article asserted that innumerable people had been tortured with the intent and purpose of proving a tie between Saddam Hussein’s regime and the Al Queda network of terrorist groups. The article asserted that there never were any ties between the two, and that the torturing of captured Al Queda terrorists was done largely to create a fictional narrative that would support the case for invading Iraq (let’s ignore that the alleged “torture” happened AFTER the invasion of Iraq-just as was done in the article).

I attempted to contact Jonathan Landay to nicely and politely inform him that the issue of regime ties had never been closed. He responded nicely, pointed me in the direction of a few reports, then categorically declared that no ties existed and that the intelligence community had known this all along, but the Bush Administration “cherry-picked” intelligence to make its case for war.

After that initial email, Jonathon refused to respond to further attempts at educating him. SO, here we go…

• Khalid Sheik Mohammed (mastermind of the 911 attacks) was captured in 2003 on the eve of the invasion of Iraq (literally 19 days before the invasion, and half a year since the military, diplomatic, and rhetorical run-up to invasion began). We now know from the “torture” documents released by President Obama that “coercive interrogation”/”torture” was NOT the first method or the of choice. It’s not like someone captured Khalid Sheik Mohammed and then cried out, “WOO HOO! Get out the pliers so we can start pullin’ fingernails!!! Yeeee hawwwww!!” We also know that it was only used after traditional interrogation means had failed, AND after multiple leaders had agreed to it from higher in the chain of command. However, it’s impossible and incorrect to say that KSM was tortured to force him to create a false story that could be used to justify the invasion of Iraq….when he was captured just days before the invasion. Still, propagandists made that false and misleading claim (’cause they can’t look at a calender?).
• The claim that raw intelligence was cherry-picked and then used to make the case for war/to mislead elected officials is completely false and debunked by a simple calender. The cherry-picking claim stems from the idea that Doug Feith’s Office of Special Plans picked out raw intel reports, arranged them in a condemning manner, then used that to trick elected officials into thinking there was a certain relationship between the regime and Al Queda, BUT (here’s the problem) Feith’s group gave it’s last presentation to the Bush Admin on Monday, Sept 16, 2002 (4 days after Pres. Bush began his rhetoric-run-up to war with his address to the UN). 48hours later-one Wednesday, Sept 18, 2002, the CIA met with the Administration and with elected officials (including the Democrat-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee). Any ambiguities, concerns, misleading, etc done by Feith’s group would have been cleared up and resolved and made irrelevant 48hrs after the Feith presentation. Jonathon would know this because the dates are presented in the report that he directed me to read.
• The issue of ties between Saddam’s regime and the Al Queda network of terrorist groups was never fully investigated, resolved, or closed as is often deliberately and falsely claimed. Entire bookstore shelves are filled with volumes of books that have been written on the subject of regime ties to Al Queda (including some by me), and there’s some great websites out there listing individuals in the regime and in Al Queda groups who were actually caught working together, but let’s step aside from those for the moment and see what the US government has “concluded” about regime ties…

I have read the various reports from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (Sen Intel Com) regarding the issue of regime ties to Al Queda. From what I could gather, there were several pre-invasion reports from the CIA regarding the issue of regime ties:

• The Sept 21, 2001 PDB (I’ve never seen a Sept 12, 2001 PDB regarding regime ties)President’s Daily Brief (PDB)
  -Sept, 21, 2001
  -Just 10 days after the 911 attacks this summary assessment clearly suffered from lack of intelligence gathering and analysis since at the time it still wasn’t 100% clear that Al Queda was behind the 911 attacks.
• NESA Report on Iraq’s Ties to Terrorism (terrorism in general/not specific to Al Queda). This was basically a preliminary draft of the CIA’s “Iraqi Support for Terrorism 2002” and “Iraqi Support for Terrorism 2003” reports
  -October 2001
  -Formed no conclusions (per Sen Intel Com rpt on pre-war intel regarding Iraq)
  -cited a lack of evidence and a lack of investigations into the matter as no formal investigation and analysis had ever been conducted (per Sen Intel Com rpt on pre-war intel regarding Iraq)
• “Iraq and al-Qa’ida: Interpreting a Murky Relationship”
  -6/12/02
  -Formed no conclusions (per Sen Intel Com rpt on pre-war intel regarding Iraq)
  -specifically cited a lack of evidence gathered (per Sen Intel Com rpt on pre-war intel regarding Iraq)
• “Iraqi Support for Terrorism 2002”
  -9/18/02
  -Formed no conclusions (per Sen Intel Com rpt on pre-war intel regarding Iraq)
  -specifically cited a lack of evidence gathered (per Sen Intel Com rpt on pre-war intel regarding Iraq)
• Letter from DCI Tenet, head of the CIA, to Sen. Bob Graham, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee
  -10/7/02
  -Formed no conclusions, simply reiterated closed door testimony from CIA officials to the Senate Intelligence Committee that the more time passes, the more likely it is that Saddam would make WMD and use Al Queda to covertly and deniably attack the United States
  -Lists several examples of Saddam’s support for terrorism, Al Queda, and its proxy terror affiliates.
• “Report of the Joint Inquiry Into the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001-By the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence”
  -December 2002
  -Reiterated the comments from the 9/21/01 PDB and the 10/7/02 Tenet Letter
  -Added more reports of possible Iraqi involvement in the 911 attacks, but added caveats that the reports hadn’t been fully investigated by Dec 2002
  -cited a lack of evidence gathered as a problem that prevented forming any conclusions (per Sen Intel Com rpt on pre-war intel regarding Iraq)
• “Iraqi Support for Terrorism 2003”
  -January 2003
  -This was basically a rehash of the 2002 version with a little new info since the CIA finally got a spy back into Iraq just a few weeks prior to its release (per Sen Intel Com rpt on pre-war intel regarding Iraq)
  -Formed no conclusions (per Sen Intel Com rpt on pre-war intel regarding Iraq)
  -specifically cited a lack of evidence gathered (per Sen Intel Com rpt on pre-war intel regarding Iraq)
• “Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Investigation Into Pre-War Intelligence on Iraq (Phase I report)”
  -July 7, 2004
  -confirmed the various reports of ties between Saddam’s regime and Al Queda as presented in other reports (including confirmation of most of the comments made by Feith and his office), and repeatedly stated that the Bush Administration’s claims were “reasonable” as well as often accurate reflections of the intelligence reporting at the time.
  -“Due to the limited amount and questionable quality of reporting on the leadership intentions of Saddam Hussein and Usama bin Ladin, the CIA was unable to make conclusive assessments in Iraqi Support for Terrorism regarding Iraq’s relationship with al-Qaida. The CIA stated in the Scope Note: ‘Our knowledge of Iraq’s ties to terrorism is evolving DELETED. . . . ‘”
  -at the rollout of the report, several of the senators-including Sen. Rockefeller (D), addressed the press and made it clear that the issue of regime ties to Al Queda was not looked at:
  “…the committee concluded there was a failure by intelligence community managers to adequately encourage analysts to challenge their assumptions, to fully consider alternative arguments, to accurately characterize intelligence reporting and to counsel analysts who had lost their objectivity.”
• Senator Pat Roberts 070904 SIC Release of WMD investigation report Press Conference transcript
  -”Most alarmingly, after 1998 and the exit of the U.N. inspectors, the CIA had no human intelligence sources inside Iraq who were collecting against the WMD target.”
  -”But with respect to Saddam Hussein’s regime and his link to terrorists, the committee did find that the CIA judgments were reasonable, based on the available intelligence. The agency was also more careful to inform policy-makers about uncertainties with their analysis.”
  -”Finally, the committee found no evidence that the intelligence community’s mischaracterization or exaggeration of intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction capabilities was the result of politics or pressure.”
  -”Our human intelligence collection, as Pat Roberts has pointed out, was inadequate. Not only did we not have people on the ground after 1998 when the inspectors left, but we relied when they had left too much on the fragmentary reporting from years before, from the early ’90s, from the post-Iran/Iraq War situation and were never able to pin anything down.”
• “911 Commission Final Report”
  -July 22, 2004
  -Formed no conclusions regarding regime ties to Al Queda
  -members later specifically cited a lack of evidence gathered and asked that the question of regime ties to Al Queda be examined further-not dismissed or otherwise closed.
  -John Lehman (a 911 Commissioner) said, “There may well be–and probably will be–additional intelligence coming in from interrogations and from analysis of captured records and so forth which will fill out the intelligence picture. This is not phrased as–nor meant to be–the definitive word on Iraqi Intelligence activities.”
  -“This is a very significant set of facts,” former 9/11 commissioner, Mr. Kerry said yesterday. “I personally and strongly believe you don’t have to prove that Iraq was collaborating against Osama bin Laden on the September 11 attacks to prove he was an enemy and that he would collaborate with people who would do our country harm. This presents facts should not be used to tie Saddam to attacks on September 11. It does tie him into a circle that meant to damage the United States.” (I believe he even went on Jon Stewart’s, The Daily Show, and reiterated that the issue of regime ties was never fully investigated, analyzed, or concluded, and he said that he thought it needed to be re-opened.
  -Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton also said: there was a lack of intelligence gathered which led to problems, that the matter was never concluded (or even started), and that it should be re-examined.
• “Iraqi Perspective Project Report” (DoD)
  -March 2006
  -Confirmed many of the previously reported ties between the regime and Al Queda
  -Found many more examples of ties and further demonstrated that there was in fact a relationship between the two, that it was dangerous, and that it was growing faster than expected
  -Cited a lack of intelligence gathered before the war, and an even larger, more deliberate, and more unexplained refusal to investigate the relationship after the invasion given the wealth of captured intelligence and detained regime members.
• “REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE ON POSTWAR FINDINGS ABOUT IRAQ’S WMD PROGRAMS AND LINKS TO TERRORISM AND HOW THEY COMPARE WITH PREWAR ASSESSMENTS (Phase II report)”
  -September 9, 2006
  -Cited the post-war refusal of any and all intelligence agencies to investigate the depth and threat of the relationship between Saddam’s regime and Al Queda
  -Used the refusal of intelligence agencies to investigate pre-war intelligence and the causes for the lack thereof, the Senate Intelligence Committee openly, freely, and admittedly took it upon itself to act as an intelligence agency and form an intelligence assessment on its own.
  -(U) The CIA has not published a “fully researched, coordinated and approved position” on the postwar reporting on the former regime’s links to al-Qa’ida, but has published such a paper on the postwar reporting on Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi and the former Iraqi regime. The CIA told the Committee that regarding Iraq’s links to terrorism, “the research the Counterterrorist Center has done on this issue has called into question some of the reports of contacts and training . . . revealed other contacts of which we were unaware, and shed new light on some contacts that appeared in prewar reporting. On balance, this research suggests that the prewar judgment remains valid.“l54 (Recall that previous investigations had determined that pre-war judgments as presented by the Bush Administration were “accurate” and “reasonable.”)

There are some consistencies in all these investigations and their reports:

They all refuse to form a conclusion
They all say there was a relationship, but the depth of it is debated inside the intelligence community
They all say the matter should be looked into rather than dismissed, closed, or perpetuated as a resolved point of discussion.

People can also point to 1990′s, pre-Bush Administration, open-source, mass media reports from: Newsweek, TIME, US News, NYT, LAT, ABC, and CBS; all of which claimed in 1998 and 1999 that there was a relationship between the two. Still, I bow to the reports and the bi-partisan claims from at least (4) 911 Commission members and both the chair and vice-chair of the Senate Intel Committee all of whom I’ve cited above as saying there was a lack of evidence gathering, a lack of analysis, and that the matter was never closed.

There are also MILLIONS of captured and authenticated documents, videos, tapes etc. brought back from Afghanistan and Iraq, and in these documents-many made public, some even listed by the FBI-individual terror groups that are in the Al Queda network of terrorist groups and were taking orders and working with Iraqi Intelligence (lest we forget “Al Queda” translates as “the Base” or the start of jihad, and is really a network of groups rather than a single club type entity).

Oh….there were definitely ties between Saddam Hussein’s regime and the Al Queda terrorist network, but the question was about closeness. Were they just entities with a common mission, were they occasional allies, were they close allies like Roosevelt and Stalin, were there operational ties, cooperational ties, did Saddam want Osama to have his baby, did they share wives, were they snuggle-buggle-huggy lovers, or did they use each other. That ties existed was claimed and proven from 1996 onward, but the depth and detail of those ties was never fully investigated or concluded despite high-ranking calls from Democrats and Republicans to look into it.

Still some people-even after being informed-prefer to maintain the idea that the war in Iraq has nothing to do with Al Queda. It’s an ironic claim for if it were true, then their ire would be equally directed towards the Obama Administration’s war there: one aimed at-Barack Obama’s words-fighting Al Queda.

I invite anyone and everyone to send Jonathan ( jlanday@mcclatchydc.com ) and McClatchy newspapers a link to this post which categorically proves they were wrong in their assertions that there were never any ties between Saddam’s regime and the Al Queda terrorist network.

Let’s support President Obama’s war in Iraq-and his fight against Al Queda there-by halting the lie that the war has nothing to do with Al Queda.

First and foremost, I do not want or like etc torture. I’m not one of those millions of Americans who wanted Osama Bin Laden’s skin peeled on pay per view.

However, the myth that a ticking bomb scenario doesn’t exist is a lie. It DID exist, and it does exist today. Before 911, the US new for months that a big attack was coming. George Tenet told the Joint House/Senate inquiry (as also reported in the 911 Commission and Richard Clarke’s book, Against All Enemies) that he was running around DC like he was on fire. Then, the FBI grabbed Zacarias Moussaoui, and his laptop computer. The investigative process blocked American investigators from looking at the laptop which would have revealed the 911 plot and likely prevented it. Equally, he was not allowed to be tortured. America could have prevented 911 if the investigative process wasn’t hindered, OR if he was tortured.

Months later, Zubaydah and KSM are captured. Intel agencies know another 911 attack is coming, but the process can’t figure it out (again). This time, harsh interrogations were used, and then torture (not all harsh interrogation is torture and vice versa), and a 911 attack was prevented (according to multiple CIA directors, the Vice President, the President, and the new Director of National Intelligence.

Sick and sad as it is to say, torture worked. It was a last resort, and it worked.

SO, we can look at it simply. When intel says there’s an attack coming, and the investigative process is stumped, America can either:
A) stoop to torture and hope that it reveals the attack like it would have with Moussoui, and did with KSM
or
B) refuse to stoop so low, and know that lives could have been saved.

I say the lesson here is do like the Navy does in a sinking ship. When you’re told to close the hatch and let people die so that the ship may survive, close the hatch. Let the people in NYC, DC, Los Angeles, San Fran, etc., let them get attacked & then tell their families that we had people in custody who knew of the attack, but we didn’t want to torture em. We CHOSE to let the people die. That’s the decision.

Do like they do in the military and cut your losses. Close the hatch. Let the attack happen (still understanding that the investigative process is blocked like before and after 911).

The families won’t understand, and politically it’s equally suicidal, but the honor of the flag is protected. Besides, maybe then Richard Clarke’s testimony to the 911 Commission will be remembered, ‘America needs more body bags before people will get it.’

WASHINGTON (AP) – The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is proposing a “truth commission” to investigate abuses of detainees, politically inspired moves at the Justice Department, and whole range of decisions made during the Bush administration. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the primary goal of the commission would be to learn the truth rather than prosecute former officials, but said the inquiry should reach far beyond misdeeds at the Justice Department under Bush to include matters of Iraq prewar intelligence and the Defense Department. Leahy outlined his suggestion for a “truth and reconciliation” commission during a speech at Georgetown University Monday.

“I’m doing this not to humiliate people or punish people but to get the truth out,” he said.

The panel he envisions would be modeled after one that investigated the apartheid regime in South Africa. It would have subpoena power but would not bring criminal charges, he said. Among the matters Leahy wants investigated by such a commission are: the firings of U.S. attorneys, treatment and torture of terror suspect detainees, and the authorization of warrantless wiretapping.

“Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened” during the Bush administration, Leahy said.

Some Democrats have called for criminal investigations of those who authorized certain controversial tactics in the war on terror. Republicans have countered that such decisions made in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks should not be second-guessed.

“We need to be able to read the page before we turn the page,” Leahy said. “We need to come to a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past.”

No, seriously….c’mon, stop laughing. This could be really good. I mean, Battlestar Galactica finishes up this season, after that…there’s a vacancy in the schedule. I’m free. I’ll take em all on by myself and do so for free. PLEASE, just call me Sen. Leahy, I’ll be happy to clear anything up for you regarding allegations of abuse in the Bush Admin, AND-if you act now-I’ll even toss in precedents of identical, equal, or greater “abuse” done by the Clinton Admin (not sure our Sec of State will appreciate it, but I make the offer for free). I’ll also toss in examples from THIS administration just to make your faux hearings more pertinent.

PLEASE, CALL ME!

Cronyism? You say Brown and FEMA, I say Les Aspin from Clinton/DoD and Panetta/CIA for Obama

Political appointees? You say 8 Attorney General firings by Gonzolez, I say over 100 in the same dept by Clinton and point to the DoD where most of the Undersecs are to be replaced by Obama

You say Bush Lied re Iraq Intel, and I point to Clinton’s UBL indictment from 1998, sec 4 that stated Saddam had a working relationship w AQ, AND I point to Clinton’s 1998 Desert Strike claims. (just for fun, I’d toss in some of Leahy’s own comments and discussion w Dr David Kay where it’s made perfectly clear to Leahy that the WMD intel was too little and too vague pre-war. As to Obama…I’ll point to last night’s press conference where he claimed Iran had pursuits of a nuclear bomb-not peaceful nuclear power, and his campaign rhetoric where he claimed Iran was supplying arms to kill American forces, AND Obama’s claim last night that Iran has ties to terrorist groups.

How ’bout…911? You say Bush knew, and I’ll say Clinton knew MORE on 12/4/98 (oooo, and Able Danger too!), and he didn’t tell Bush during uber-short transition. Then re Obama, I’ll point out that he specifically said Bush didn’t know (he made that statement in response to a claim Howard Dean made on NPR).

You say Haliburton, I say SES International and Clinton ties to Oil For Food recipient list. Then I’ll talk about the head of the IRS failing to pay his taxes under Obama.

C’mon Leahy, I’m available. You wanna waste some time instead of working on the budget, helping protect from AQ, and overseeing two wars…yeah, that’s fine. I’ve got time. I’m not employed, and there’s nothing on TV on Fridays after Galactica ends. You’re the one w the job.

HOPE
CHANGE
INJUSTICE

Late this week, with the nation and the world distracted by a TRILLION dollar spending bill, President Obama halted the trial of the mastermind behind the USS Cole bombing. For a lot of people the USS Cole is a mere footnote in the history books, but good history books look back 9yrs ago and list the attack as the turning point in America’s war with Al Queda. It was the moment when Al Queda went from world class terrorist group to super-terrorists; to a movement.

The attack on the USS Cole demonstrates absolutely EVERY single one of America’s systemic failures in dealing with Al Queda.

• The attack was detected by multiple US intelligence agencies-including naval intelligence, but no one connected the dots.
• The ship was warned, but didn’t protect itself well enough. The response was limited to law enforcement/FBI efforts that were thwarted by diplomatic nuances.
• There was no military response.
• It was and IS NOW AGAIN an al Queda recruiting tool/demonstration of their success
• There was no demonstration of American resolve, revenge, or justice.
• Most of the USS Cole bombers were arrested by our “allies” in Yemen, then they escaped (sometimes several times).

The US did get the mastermind, but now Barack Obama’s dropped the charges against him. He dropped the charges AND HAD THE AUDACITY and ARROGANCE to ask the families of terror victims to come to the White House for a photo op. That gesture (genuine or not is irrelevant) rang hollow as demonstrated in this letter from the father of one of the USS Cole victims to our President.

Dear Mr. President Obama,

Our son’s name was Gary G. Swenchonis, Jr. He was a Fireman in the US Navy. He was killed in the attack on the USS Cole on 10/12/00. This letter is an appeal to you to take some long overdue action on the behalf of the 17 sailors murdered in that attack. It is an appeal for justice for their families as well.

We have been fighting against the Yemeni government and our own government for eight long years to obtain a modicum of justice for our son and his 16 mates. It’s our sincere hope that you, President Obama, and your administration will help us.
President Clinton promised the nation action in the wake of the attack, but never followed through. President Bush wrote to me, and he promised action as well. However for eight years not one of the killers was held accountable by our government or the Yemeni government.

It was not until just these past few months of the Bush administration that we finally saw some concrete measures when we witnessed the case of Ali Hamza al Bahlul. It was the first time my family and I received any comfort through this long ordeal. We attended the trial at Guantanamo Bay Prison, and I was fortunate enough to testify. The Military Commission staff conducted themselves with the utmost professionalism in all their duties, and we are proud to have them representing us in court as our lawyers. The nation can be proud of the conduct of the Military Commissions.

Bahlul was Bin Laden’s media secretary and propagandist. He produced a video that glorified the murders of our son and sixteen other sailors and the wounding 39 more sailors. The video’s purpose was to incite others to murder. Our family believes he received an appropriate sentence.

But besides that one instance of justice, we have had to listen and watch with broken hearts as the Yemeni government coddled our son’s killers. The guilty were pardoned, given light sentences that were later reduced, or not even tried for the attack. We understand that all the members of the terror cell that attacked the United States that day are walking around free in Yemen.

Yet our government still supports President Saleh and his corrupt regime even though he blatantly aids and abets Al Qaeda, Hamas and terrorism. Our government supports Saleh and his duplicitous regime even though he did everything possible to hamper with the US investigation into the Cole attack. And he was successful. Our government supports Saleh and he has used US military assistance to engage in a near genocide of his own citizens in the Sa’ada region, called “Yemen’s Darfur”.

President Obama, now I fear these sailors who died in the service of the United States will be abandoned again. It will be one more tragedy in a long list of tragedies in the Cole attack. With the suspension of the trials at Guantanamo Prison, we are deeply and painfully concerned that Abd al Rahim al Nashiri and Tawfiq bin Attash will evade justice like all their terrorists friends did in Yemen. These men had a significant role in the terrorist attack that killed my son and 16 other sailors. They are in US custody. We have a right to expect a just outcome. However, our fear is if the terrorists are tried here in our federal courts, they will go free. The bias in favor of the defendant built into our system of criminal justice becomes magnified and disproportionate in terrorism cases which are in fact not crimes but national assaults.

Regardless of one’s view on the definition of torture, there is evidence they murdered American citizens in cold blood. I don’t see how that fact can be ignored and justify their release. The debates revolving around the use of torture does not lessen the severity of the heinous crimes that they are charged with. We have had to watch helplessly as the killers of our son and his mates were tried and then one by one released by the Yemeni regime. I begged our leaders to stop that parody of a trial at the time. They did not. We implore you not to put the families through that nightmare again.

Our Representative and Senator Cornyn along with some other senators are actively working on other issues for us in regards to the attack on the USS Cole. His office has informed us that there will be a Judicial Hearing this year on those issues. It’s my heartfelt hope that you President Obama will stand with us and support that hearing.
We the families of these forgotten heroes have been denied answers for years to the most basic questions. My wife and I were so happy to read in the paper that the goal of your administration is to make our government as honest and transparent as it could be. It was a breath of fresh air. Your words gave us hope that we may actually get answers to our questions after eight long years.

I would also like to ask you if you could personally look into the issue of why the Cole Families have not been able to collect the monies awarded to us in a Federal Court under the Death on the High Seas Act. It’s been two years since our lawyers won that case. And we are still waiting. The monies awarded were only for our loved one’s future wages. How can our own government ignore a Federal Court’s verdict?

The Justice Department has taken issue with releasing the funds from the Sudan which provided assistance for the attack on the Cole. Our own government is fighting us again. And how ironic is it that we were told that the Justice Department is there to help victims of terrorist attacks. We are not asking for taxpayer monies. I never have and never will. We want the nations that supported Al Qaeda such as the Sudan and Yemen to be held responsible, not the American taxpayer. I think that if the 9/11 families had been treated this way, that there would have been a national outcry against such callous treatment from their government. But they were a much larger group of victims than us and they had the press focused on their plight.

Your assistance on these matters would be greatly appreciated. I know that we the Cole families are a small group and that is one of the reasons that we have been ignored by two administrations. Yet unfortunately, I think that small groups of victims of terrorist attacks may continue to grow here in America. And victims like those of the Cole and Embassy attacks will see more of their fellow Americans join our group. It’s my hope that you as the President will see to it that these small groups will be treated equally, with the same rights and dignity as a large group of victims that has suffered the loss of loved ones murdered by terrorists. As Judge Doumar stated in his ruling “It’s a further tragedy that the laws of the United States, in this instance provide no remedy for the psychological and emotional losses suffered by the survivors.”

Small groups of victims of terrorism have no high profile advocates like the terrorist do. All we can do is to beseech our elected politicians so the real victims are not forgotten. Sometimes partisanship rears it insidious head, and justice for the true victims is lost in the process. I think its way past time that Congress passed a Bill that will ensure that American Victims of Terrorist Attacks will have legal and financial recourse at obtaining justice, regardless if it’s just one family and or thousands of families. And not have their own government as their greatest and most formidable opponent to obtaining justice. The laws, passed to help victims, have been watered down to where it is practically of no use to the victims and/or their families.

I know that the press and the Human Rights groups only normally speak for the accused such as the terrorists who helped to murder our son and his mates. But even though they are dead, they still have rights too. We their families do as well. We have no pro bono lawyers. We have no press to champion our cause on the TV, in the newspapers and or the internet like the terrorists do. We have only our elected leaders, the lawyers that we pay if we can afford them and other citizens sympathetic to our plight and our cause.
We hope and pray that you will be willing to help us change that, Mr. President. We hold out hope that with you as our new President that the plight of small groups of victims of terrorism such as the Cole Families and their murdered loved ones will no longer be ignored by their government. We hope and we pray that you will even go so far as to ensure that future groups of Americans will never have to endure what we have had to endure, at least in regards to the problems I have stated.
Thank you for your time in these most important issues.

Respectfully,
Gary G and Deborah Swenchonis
Remember the Cole! 01/24/09

Believe it or not, there’s yet ANOTHER (I believe this is the fourth) trail of information that shows the U.S. could have prevented the U.S.S. Cole attack, but didn’t. And again-just as with the 9/11 attacks-had they put it together in 2000 it seems very likely they’d have had a greater ability to prevent those September attacks as well.

There are two simple questions: If the NSA was listening in on the bombers putting everything together before the Cole attack, why was it not prevented? Second, why was the hub not shut down after the Cole attack?

I’ll go one further and ask, “How far up the intelligence chain of command did this information go? Did it stop at the CIA in Malaysia, or did it go all the way to Sandy “Sticky socks” Berger?

disgrace

8 Years ago, on October 12, 2000, the U.S.S. Cole was attacked in the port of Aden, Yemen. 17 American sailors were murdered. Eight years after the attack, the father of one of those fallen sailors has written a letter to the President of Yemen expressing his frustration that his son’s murderers have still not been held to account. I am a Flopping Aces reader like you. I could be you. My concerns should not be mine alone. Here is my letter:

President Saleh [Yemen],

It’s that time of year again; yet another anniversary of the attack on the USS Cole in Port Aden, Yemen on October 12th, 2000. In that attack, our son and sixteen of his mates were brutally murdered, and 39 other sailors were wounded.

Since the last time I wrote you a year ago, many changes, some positive and some not, have occurred in relation to the attack on the Cole and the status of your corrupt regime.

First and foremost, we wrote our Texas representative and members of Congress asking for a Congressional Hearing into why our government still supports your dictatorship after you gave the plotters and planners of the Cole attack reduced sentences and pardons for the murders of 17 American Sailors. The rest of the convicted killers conveniently escaped from your prisons. And some remain free to this day, eight years after the attack.

Our Senators have kept us informed as to our requests. We received word recently from them that next year Congress will hold Judiciary Committee hearings. We are extremely grateful to the politicians who have decided that its way past the time to review and hopefully take action against you and your regime. And to put an end to all your worthless and broken promises that you made to two American presidents and our government.

It can now be stated as fact, President Saleh, that FBI Agent John O’Neil and his team were correct in their suspicion that you and your government knew much more about the pending attack on the Cole than you admitted after the attack. Unfortunately, Ambassador Bodine and President Clinton refused to let the FBI follow up on their leads and question members of your government and family after the attack. Instead FBI agent O’Neil was kicked out of your country for wanting to conduct a proper investigation. How ironic that he would be killed in the 9/11 attack less than one year later; an attack that-if Presidents Clinton and Bush had heeded his requests-would not have happened in all probability. You Sir could have allowed a thorough investigation after the Cole attack, so all of the clues and evidence and even some of the terrorists who would participate in 9/11 could have been found. But instead you and government not only interfered with the investigation but threw up hurdles to impede and effectively stop the investigation. So really, sir, you and your government are not only guilty in the Cole attack, but just as guilty in withholding evidence and protecting suspects that would later take part in the attack on 9/11.

We all know now, as many did then, that you were and still are covering up for your Al-Qaeda friends. You and your government did an excellent job at it too. All of the clues and leads that were just waiting to be pieced together after the Cole attack were concealed so well until it was too late to stop the next attack on our country less than a year later on September 11th.

There is a bright side for us in all of this for us, however. It is the fact that more and more people are now seeing how you have used and manipulated Al-Qaeda and two American administrations to achieve your own sick and twisted goals. More major US newspapers in the past year are now reporting how common it is for you to use Al-Qaeda as a friend one day (to fight for you to help quell rebellions in your country and to keep your people oppressed), and then on the next day use Al-Qaeda as a tool to get more money, arms and other assistance from America.

This past year we have watched as you imprisoned Yemeni journalists and activists who dared to question your regime’s brutal tactics. My family and I were proud to sign the petition along with thousands of others to have those journalists freed.

And just as important, if not more so, is all the dedication of the men and women at the Military Commission who are working extremely hard and effectively at bringing more of your Al-Qaeda friends to Justice for the murder of our son and his mates. Even in a democracy such as ours we have faults and obstacles to overcome. We actually have Americans in this country that would rather see terrorists who have murdered their fellow Americans set free than to receive their punishment for their crimes. It’s called partisan politics, or putting politics before the truth. But at least your terrorist friends stand to receive a more impartial trial here than they would from you. We all know how you treat killers. You free them to kill again.

My wife and I look forward to watching that trial in person and seeing the first real justice ever served on the killers since the Cole attack. It is my sincerest hope that I will be able to bear witness in person regarding the misery that those terrorists have brought, not only to us but to others as well. It’s also my hope that the killers you set free will be caught in the future, and that they too will stand trial in a real courtroom, one that adheres to the laws of truth and justice rather than some dictator’s personal whims such as yourself.

My wife and I will go to visit our son’s gravesite this Sunday. I am going to read to him the letters from our congress people who are going to finally convene the long overdue Judiciary Hearings. I am also going to read to him how the American people are slowly beginning to realize how you and your regime have been allowed to get away with not only the murder of 17 sailors, but how your refusal to let the FBI conduct a proper Investigations led to one of the worst attacks on American soil, an attack that killed so many of my fellow Americans. Our son’s murder could have meant something at the time of the attack. But it was ignored by our government, because they were concerned about offending you, and because they were in the middle of a presidential election in the country. Historically major decisions are never made at such a time (be it by the Democrats’ or Republicans’) because they are concerned about negative fallout that might prevent them from keeping their jobs. The attack on the Cole could have been a wakeup call for our leaders to take action before it was too late.

Now our leaders have a second chance at correcting their first mistakes in dealing with you, your regime, and how they mishandled the aftermath of the Cole attack. They can all agree to stop the flow of money and arms to your regime. I hope they finally realize that its time put a stop to your policy of releasing known terrorists to kill other innocent people again, and your use of Al-Qaeda as a political tool to keep your regime in power in Yemen, and to squeeze more assistance from my government. The insanity has to be stopped sometime. I think that you are now watching and living the end of your ruthless reign over your people and Yemen. And the end is coming to your continued manipulation of my government for your own personal power and wealth.

We are also going to share with him about all of our fellow Americans who are helping us in setting right the terrible wrongs committed after the Forgotten Cole attack, and the free Yemenis who are working with us too. We know that he would be proud and happy to know that so many people want see him and his mates obtain the Justice that has been denied them for so many years now. All the help and support we have had from Americans and Yemenis makes me proud and still amazes me. It’s one of my wife’s greatest comforts to know that so many people care, while our government ignored her pleas for years.

In closing Sir, I would like to add that we still have not received a letter of condolence from your government for our son’s murder in your country at your request. We like to think that with a new President in office next year and other new politicians as well that they will finally stop supporting your regime.

At least that action would give some meaning to our son’s murder. So would knowing that he and his mates played a part in having one of the world’s most devious, conniving, and murderous dictators removed from the position of power where you have caused so much death, destruction, and misery. It’s my hope that I will not be writing you this time next year, unless you are in prison, but instead to a new leader of Yemen, a leader who will abide by freedom of the press and speech, freedom of religion, and all the other norms of a free society.

Remember the USS Cole, Mr. President. Because we the families of the murdered sailors and wounded sailors and Americans and free Yemenis will not rest until we achieve our goal of ridding Yemen of your presence.

Sincerely,
Parents of Murdered Fireman, Gary G. Swenchonis, Jr.,
Gary G. Swenchonis, Sr. and Deborah Swenchonis