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Khalid Almihdhar (left), and Nawaf Alhazmi
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WASHINGTON,
June 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The lack of communication
between the CIA and the FBI is a main reason behind the September 11
events, a weekly news magazine reported Monday, June 3.
In
its weekly issue, Newsweek reported that in January 2000, members of
Al-Qaeda, posing as tourists, met in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and
plotted the attacks against the United States. This meeting was closely
watched by the CIA.
“At
the time, the men had no idea that they were being closely watched—or
that the CIA already knew some of their names,” said the magazine.
“A few days earlier, U.S. intelligence had gotten wind of the Qaeda
gathering. Special Branch, Malaysia’s security service, agreed to
follow and photograph the suspected terrorists. They snapped pictures of
the men sightseeing and ducking into cybercafes to check Arabic Web
sites.
“What
happened next, some U.S. counterterrorism officials say, may be the most
puzzling, and devastating, intelligence failure in the critical months
before September 11,” the magazine continued, adding that after their
meeting, the CIA tracked one of them, Nawaf Alhazmi, as he flew from the
meeting to Los Angeles.
The
CIA agents discovered that another of the men, Khalid Almihdhar, had
already obtained a multiple-entry visa that allowed him to enter and
leave the United States as he pleased. They later learned that he had in
fact arrived in the United States on the same flight as Alhazmi,
Newsweek reported.
However,
astonishingly, the CIA did nothing with this information, it said.
“Agency officials didn’t tell the INS, which could have turned them
away at the border, nor did they notify the FBI, which could have
covertly tracked them to find out their mission.”
Instead,
during the year and nine months after the CIA identified them as
terrorists, Alhazmi and Almihdhar lived openly in the United States,
using their real names, obtaining driver’s licenses, opening bank
accounts and enrolling in flight schools—until the morning of
September 11, when they walked aboard American Airlines Flight 77 and
crashed it into the Pentagon.
Despite the fact that questions about intelligence shortcomings leading
up to the attacks have focused on the FBI’s clear failure to connect
various vague clues that might have put them on the trail of the
terrorists, the CIA’s counterterrorism center have all along been
sitting on information that could have led federal agents right to the
“terrorists’s doorsteps”, the magazine reported.
“Newsweek
has learned that when Almihdhar’s visa expired, the State Department,
not knowing any better, simply issued him a new one in June 2001—even
though by then the CIA had linked him to one of the suspected bombers of
the USS Cole in October 2000. The two terrorists’ frequent meetings
with the other September 11 perpetrators could have provided federal
agents with a road map to the entire cast of 9-11 hijackers.
“But
the FBI didn’t know it was supposed to be looking for them until three
weeks before the strikes, when CIA Director George Tenet, worried an
attack was imminent, ordered agency analysts to review their files. It
was only then, on Aug. 23, 2001, that the agency sent out an all-points
bulletin, launching law-enforcement agents on a frantic and futile
search for the two men. Why didn’t the CIA share its information
sooner?” the magazine said.
According
to Newsweek, the CIA loathes sharing information with other U.S.
government agencies, for fear of compromising “sources and methods.”
Both
the CIA and FBI pointed fingers of blame at one other.
“CIA
officials also pointout that FBI agents assigned to the CIA’s
Counterterrorism Center were at least informed about the Malaysia
meeting and the presence of Almihdhar and Alhazmi at the time it
occurred. But FBI officials protest that they only recently learned
about the most crucial piece of information: that the CIA knew Alhazmi
was in the country, and that Almihdhar could enter at will.”
According
to the magazine’s report, the CIA is forbidden to spy on people inside
the United States, but following standard procedure it could have passed
the baton to the FBI once they crossed the border.
The report also emphasized the fact that law-enforcement agents could
have easily tracked them through bank records.
In
September 2000, Alhazmi opened a $3,000 checking account at a Bank of
America branch. The men also used their real names on driver’s
licenses, Social Security cards and credit cards. When Almihdhar bought
a dark blue 1988 Toyota Corolla for $3,000 cash, he registered it in his
name.
He
later signed the registration over to Alhazmi, whose name was on the
papers when the car was found at Dulles International Airport on
September 11. Of course, agents might have used another resource to
pinpoint their location: the phone book. Page 13 of the 2000-2001
Pacific Bell White Pages contains a listing for “ALHAZMI Nawaf M 6401
Mount Ada Rd. 858-279-5919,” the magazine reported.
