Tabassum Zakaria
Congressional 9/11 Hearing to Tackle 'Phoenix Memo'
Tue Sep 24 19:35:41 2002
208.152.73.162
 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020924/ts_nm/attack_intelligence_dc_2    
Congressional 9/11 Hearing to Tackle 'Phoenix Memo'
Tue Sep 24, 2:15 AM ET

By Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The congressional inquiry into
Sept. 11 intelligence
failures on Tuesday will tackle the FBI ( news - web
sites)'s "Phoenix memo"
and the investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui, cited by
lawmakers as missed
clues before last year's attacks.

In the July 10, 2001, memo, FBI agent
Kenneth
Williams in the Phoenix office wrote
about his
concerns that Middle Eastern men,
possibly tied to
Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites),
were taking
lessons at U.S. flight schools.

But the memo did not reach high levels
at FBI
headquarters and was not connected to
the August
2001 arrest of Moussaoui, who had
raised suspicions
at a Minnesota flight school and was
detained on
immigration violations.

Moussaoui is now on trial in federal
court on charges
of conspiracy in the Sept. 11 attacks
and U.S.
officials believe he might have been
one of the
hijackers if he had not been in custody
at the time.

Four hijacked planes crashed into the
World Trade
Center in New York, the Pentagon ( news
- web
sites) outside of Washington and a
Pennsylvania
field, killing more than 3,000 people.
The United
States has blamed bin Laden and his al
Qaeda
network for the attacks.

Three FBI agents will testify from behind a screen to
protect their identities at
Tuesday's joint hearing of the Senate and House
intelligence committees.

Williams, who wrote the Phoenix memo, was expected to be
one of the agents,
government sources told Reuters.

However, FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley would not be
testifying because
she was not directly involved in the investigation,
sources said.

Rowley, based in Minnesota, had sent a 13-page letter to
FBI Director Robert
Mueller in May accusing FBI headquarters of hampering
field agents from fully
investigating Moussaoui, citing a search warrant request
from the Minneapolis
office that was denied before the Sept. 11 attacks.

The FBI and congressional investigators were negotiating
almost until the last
minute about what details of the Moussaoui investigation
could be made public
to ensure it did not jeopardize the case against him.

The joint hearing may go into closed session after
testimony from behind the
screen at the open hearing "due to the sensitive nature of
the Moussaoui
investigation," a statement from the committees said.

Some lawmakers last week questioned the need for the
hearings to be open.

Congressional investigators had given lawmakers about a
dozen areas of inquiry
to stay away from at last Friday's hearing, where an FBI
agent and CIA ( news -
web sites) officer testified from behind a screen about
two of the hijackers
known to intelligence agencies before the Sept. 11
attacks.

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on
the Senate
Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona
Republican, at Friday's
hearing argued against public testimony, saying it could
lead to unintended
disclosure of sensitive material.

Cofer Black, the former head of the CIA's Counterterrorist
Center, was
tentatively scheduled to testify on Thursday.

====================================================================

Both the EU and the UN have condemed Israels recent
acts of self defense. Just another reason against the NWO
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5158375%255E401,00.html

"... Defence Policy Board Chairman Richard N. Perle. This hawk, a friend of
Sharon, a devoted Zionist and a suspected Israeli mole, calls for seizure of
the Arabian oil fields, transfer of Mecca and Medina unto Hashemite rule and
confiscation of Saudi assets. He represents a voice of many American Jews.
......

"In your Norse tradition, an evil cunning Loki cheated the gentle but blind
Hoed and caused him to kill his brother, shining Balder, this Nordic
pre-figuration of Christ. Now, Loki again tries to cause the war between the
brothers. It is our duty and our right to refuse Loki's advices and to stop
the Ragnarok."
--Israel Shamir, speaking in Norway

THE GOVT CAN MAKE CHOICES
THE INDIVIDUAL CANNOT
By: Dorothy Anne Seese
Published in the October 1, 2002 issue of Ether Zone.
http://etherzone.com/2002/sees100102.shtml