The Eleventh Day_ The History and Legacy of 9_11 - Anthony Summers [313]
CHAPTER 29
1 Fuller search/“Sheraton”: FBI IG, CR, 271–, 539n84–85, Fenton, 312;
2 tracks all over: Newsweek, 6/10/06, Lance, Triple Cross, 349–, CR, 539n85;
3 Moussaoui detention/agents begged/blocked/Samit shared/Harry/Permission: FBI IG, Kiser to Samit, 9/10/01, Exhibit 334, U.S. v. Zacarias Moussaoui, ABC News, 3/20/06;
4 Ashcroft turned down/not increased: Staff Statement 9, CO, Newsweek, 5/27/02, Benjamin & Simon, 348;
5 “very docile”: NYT, 6/2/02.
6 “The Big Wedding”/“aircraft”: John Cooley, a renowned Middle East specialist, reported in 2002 that the “Big Wedding” warning came in “late summer,” and referred to an attack within the United States involving airplanes. CNN, reporting earlier, referred to a Jordanian warning “a few days” before 9/11—but suggested that it related to a coming attack not in the United States but on resort hotels in Jordan. According to CIA director Tenet, “a source we were jointly running with a Middle Eastern country” went to his foreign handler on September 10 to say “something big” was about to happen. He was ignored (“Wedding”: Cooley, 229, International Herald Tribune, 5/21/02, CNN, 11/19/01; “something big”: Tenet, 160).
7 France passed: Le Figaro, 11/1/01;
8 Feinstein/“One of”/“Despite”: Late Edition, CNN, 7/1/01, Statement of Dianne Feinstein, 5/17/01, http://feinstein.senate.gov, Newsweek, 5/27/02, MSNBC, 9/28/06.
9 Massoud assassinated/“journalists’ ”: CR, 214, Time, 8/12/02, Burke, Al-Qaeda, 197. After 9/11, when U.S. strikes on Afghanistan had routed Taliban and al Qaeda forces, Wall Street Journal reporter Alan Cullison made remarkable discoveries on a computer that had belonged to the terrorists. The hard drive contained a letter, apparently crafted by Ayman al-Zawahiri, purporting to be the “journalists’ ” request for the Massoud interview (WSJ, 12/31/01);
10 widow: Bergen, OBL I Know, 297–;
11 O’Neill had warned/frustrated/resigned/“We’re due”: Murray Weiss, The Man Who Warned America, NY: Regan, 2003, 180–, 320–, 362, 370–, Frontline: “The Man Who Knew,” PBS, 10/3/02.
12 Putin: int. of Putin for Iran & the West: Nuclear Confrontation, BBC, 2/7/09. While-Putin was to say clearly that he spoke with Bush the day before the attack, the former President referred in his 2010 memoir only to a conversation afterward (Bush, 369–);
13 Massoud assassination/analyzed implications: Coll, Holy War Inc., 582–, Tenet, 174;
14 memoir not refer: e.g. see Bush, 187, 196;
15 Deputies tinkered/eliminate OBL: CR, 206, Farmer, 68;
16 “literally headed”: CBS News, 9/11/02;
17 “eerie”: int. Rice by Bob Woodward, “Farmer Misc.,” B9, NYC files, CF;
18 PM of Australia: Sept. 10 entries, Public Papers of the Presidents, 2001, www.gpoaccess.gov;
19 helicopter: Goldberg et al., Ch. 4;
20 Bush at Colony: int. Katie Moulton, Sarasota Magazine, 11/01, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 9/10/02;
21 “soft event”: WP, 1/27/02;
22 “Tomorrow”/“The match”: Report, JI, 32, 205, 375, Graham with Nussbaum, 138–, CBS News, 6/20/02, Bamford, Shadow Factory, 92.
23 Arabs gathered/“finally”: MFR 04017535, 11/18/03, MFR 04017537, 11/18/03, CR 249–;
24 Dulles/Boston/Newark hotels: “Hijackers Timeline [redacted],” 11/14/03, INTELWIRE, Stipulation, U.S. v. Zacarias Moussaoui, 3/1/06.
25 drove Portland/Comfort Inn/ATM/Walmart/Pizza Hut/phone calls: What Atta bought at the Walmart, though, according to an FBI document, was a “6-volt battery converter”—a puzzling purchase for a would-be hijacker expecting to go to his death in the morning. “Chronology of Events for Hijackers, 8/16/01,” U.S. v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Exhibits OG00020.2, FO07011, FO07021, FO07022, FO07023, FO07024, “265D-NY-280350, TWINBOM-PENTTBOM, Biographical Report,” 11/26/01, National Drug Intelligence Center for the FBI, authors’ collection, FBI press release, 10/14/01, entries for 9/10/01 & 9/11/01, “Hijackers Timeline [redacted],” 11/14/03, INTELWIRE, FBI 302 of [name redacted], 10/15/01, “FBI 302s of Interest,” B17, T7, CF, FBI Timeline of 9–11 Hijacker Activity & Movements, “Timelines 9–11, 2 of 2,” B20, T7, CF.
26 Kara: