issue6

=20

**Issue Number=20 6**
=20 =20 October=20 14,2001=20 EXCLUSIVE=E2=80=94 Despite=20 earlier denials, terrorists in the Sept. 11 attacks = received=20 training at secure U.S. military bases, a Defense = Department=20 spokesman admitted in an interview = Friday. =20 Three = days after=20 the WTC disaster, Newsweek, the Washington Post and = the Knight=20 Ridder newspapers reported claims that five of the = terrorist=20 hijackers in the Sept 11 attacks received training at = secure=20 U.S. military installations during the 1990s. The = reports also=20 claimed three of the terrorists had listed their = address as=20 the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla., and had = participated=20 in military exchange programs for foreign officers at = the=20 Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida.=20 In an = interview=20 with a reporter questioning the vaguely-worded Sept 16 = Pentagon denial, the Defense Dept spokesman was asked = to=20 explain the particulars of fuzzy statements in which = officials=20 said "name matches may not necessarily mean the = students were=20 the hijackers, and that discrepancies in biographical = data=20 indicate "we are probably not talking about the same = people."=20 (Italics added.)=20 Pressed repeatedly=20 to provide specifics, the spokesperson finally = admitted, "I do=20 not have the authority to tell you who (which = terrorists)=20 attended which schools."=20 So it = appears=20 certain that at least some of the previous denials = have been=20 rendered inoperative, and that a list exists in the = Defense=20 Dept which names Sept 11 terrorists who received = training at=20 U.S. military facilities, a list the Pentagon is in no = hurry=20 to make public. This admission has significant=20 import.=20 Consider: Foreign=20 nationals training at secure U.S. facilities do so = almost=20 solely at the behest of governments considered = friendly to the=20 United States.=20 Gaining admittance=20 to the International Officer=E2=80=99s School at = Maxwell AFB in=20 Montgomery=E2=80=94which terrorist ringleader Mohamed = Atta was=20 reported to have attended=E2=80=94would have required = Atta to be=20 someone well-connected with a friendly Arab = government. (For=20 the record, the spokesperson denied that the = International=20 Officer=E2=80=99s School attendee named Mohamed Atta = is the same=20 Mohamed Atta who piloted a passenger plane into the = WTC, while=20 repeatedly declining requests for biographical details = about a=20 second Arab pilot with the same name as the=20 terrorist.)=20 Take = the (online)=20 resume of someone who indisputably did attend the U.S. = Air=20 Forces=E2=80=99 International Officers School, for = example, as an=20 illustration of just how connected these foreign = nationals=20 must be.=20 Colonel and Staff=20 Pilot Mohammed Ahmed Hamel Al Qubaisi is currently a = Defense=20 Military Naval & Air Attache at the United Arab = Emirates=20 Embassy U.S. embassy, after previous stints in his = country=E2=80=99s=20 Embassy & Security Division as Chief of = Intelligence, and=20 in the UAE=E2=80=99s Security Division/Air Force = Intelligence &=20 Security Directorate Security Officer/Air Force = Intelligence=20 & Security Directorate.=20 Arab = Emirate-wise,=20 International Officer's School graduate Al Qubaisi is = a=20 homeland-security kind of guy.=20 A = former Navy=20 pilot quoted in Newsweek=E2=80=99s Sept 15 report = stated that during=20 his years on the Pensacola base, "we always, always, = always=20 trained other countries' pilots. When I was there two = decades=20 ago, it was Iranians. The shah was in power. Whoever = the=20 country du jour is, that's whose pilots we=20 train."=20 The = "country du=20 jour" at U.S. military installations during the = 1990=E2=80=99s,=20 according to numerous reports, was Saudi Arabia. = Newsweek=E2=80=99s=20 prematurely "dis-credited" report, for example, states = that=20 according to a Pentagon source at least two of the = terrorists=20 trained at U.S. military facilities were former Saudi = Air=20 Force pilots. Mohammed Atta had a Saudi passport, = early=20 reports also indicated. Waleed Alshehri and Marwan = Alsherhri=20 had been living in Saudi Arabia before they arrived in = Florida=20 to train for their missions.=20 Alleged associates=20 had listed Saudi Arabian Airlines=E2=80=99 post office = box in the=20 Saudi city of Jeddah as their home address on their = commercial=20 pilots' licenses. And some of the pilots had licenses=20 indicating they were sponsored or employed by Saudi = Arabian=20 Airlines, owned by the Saudi government. = Then, = too, Crown=20 Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told Washington 10 = days before=20 the September 11 terror attacks that US policy towards = the=20 Arab-Israeli conflict had become untenable. And the = Oct 12=20 Times of London reports that the White House is = frustrated=20 with the lack of help from Saudi Arabia in freezing = Osama bin=20 Laden=E2=80=99s assets and tracking those behind the = September 11=20 hijackings, and that the Saudi regime has so far = refused to=20 clamp down on the assets of bin Laden or other = al-Qaeda=20 figures, despite repeated requests from=20 Washington.=20 This = official=20 admission=E2=80=94that the "Terrorist 19" have = suspicious connections=20 that are still-unexplored=E2=80=94puts even more of a = spotlight on the=20 two Dutch-owned flight schools in Venice, Florida = which were=20 the initial "port of entry" for terrorist pilots = inducted into=20 the U.S. flight training program. = =20 =20 The = Two Venice=20 Dutch Boys There are over 200 flight schools in = Florida. Every=20 terrorist pilot chose one of the two in Venice, = Florida. The=20 two Venice flight schools were the terrorist=E2=80=99s = American=20 beachhead.=20 Rudi = Dekkers=E2=80=99=20 Huffman Aviation was the terrorist=E2=80=99s Omaha=20 Beach.=20 What = made these=20 two schools so popular with the terrorist = cadre?=20 Some = flight=20 schools may be slightly more equal than others, as it=20 happens...=20 "Some = schools are=20 authorized by the Immigration and Naturalization = Service to=20 issue highly coveted I-20M immigration forms that help = foreign=20 students acquire visas to enter the United States as=20 vocational students," read one early report about the = Florida=20 flight schools.=20 Guess = who had one=20 of those "highly-coveted" "vocational status"=20 visas?=20 Mohammed Atta, the=20 alleged mastermind of the most vicious terrorist = attack in the=20 history of the world...=20 Guess = who gave it=20 to him? Rudi Dekkers=E2=80=99 flight school, Huffman=20 Aviation.=20 Under = the glare of=20 TV lights on the apron of the Venice airport the day = after the=20 tragedy, Dekkers had denied any responsibility for the = terrorists student visas, saying "foreign students = must apply=20 through Immigration and Naturalization Services, which = he=20 believes performs background checks.=20 "We = send them the=20 paperwork and they go to their embassies," said = Dekkers. But=20 Richard Nyren, a British classmate of the terrorist = pilots in=20 Venice, had told reporters at the same time that it's = not all=20 that easy to get a student visa, even with the help of = the=20 school.=20 How = did Mohamed=20 Atta happen to get so =E2=80=98lucky=E2=80=99 in the = mangrove swamps of=20 Southwest Florida?=20 He got = his=20 "highly-coveted" I-20M immigration because "some" = schools are=20 authorized by the Immigration and Naturalization = Service to=20 issue them.=20 Not = "all" schools.=20 "Some" schools. Schools like Rudi Dekkers=E2=80=99 = Huffman=20 Aviation.=20 The = question is:=20 what made Dekker=E2=80=99s school so = special?=20 In a = wire service=20 report three days after the WTC disaster, Dekkers was = quoted=20 saying, "I can tell you that there's definitely some = flaws in=20 the system." It has been one of his few completely = truthful=20 statements.=20 FACT: = Some of the=20 terrorists had enough =E2=80=98juice,=E2=80=99 enough = access, to have gained=20 admittance to training at secure U.S. military = facilities.=20 That argues official government = complicity=E2=80=94leaving aside=20 exactly which government for the moment=E2=80=94at a = level the current=20 FBI investigation has not even hinted = at.=20 So = far, the=20 investigation conducted around the world since Sept. = 11 has=20 resulted in a finger being pointed directly at an = obscure=20 outfit most people had never even heard of, and their = Taliban=20 backers. Did Al Qaeda and the Taliban bring down the = World=20 Trade Center towers all by themselves?=20 Or = should the=20 FBI=E2=80=99s investigators be looking at other, = larger groups and=20 even nations?=20 When = the FBI was=20 actively looking for "international networks" which = assisted=20 and harbored the terrorists, were any suspects = overlooked?=20 Were any protected from scrutiny?=20 Were = Rudi Dekker=20 and Arne Kruithof acting as "cut-outs" for a U.S. = intelligence=20 operation at the Venice, Florida airport? Were they=20 =E2=80=98funneling=E2=80=99 Arab pilots into further = pilot=20 training?=20 If the = past 40=20 years of American history serves as any guide, we will = very=20 likely never know.=20 NEXT: = "SPOOKS,=20 SAUDIS, AND THE MOB" =20