250+ 9/11 'Smoking Guns'
Found in the Mainstream Media
Connecting the dots.
(last updated: 09/18/2007)
http://thewebfairy.com/killtown/911smokingguns.html
1962 - US military drafted 'Operation Northwoods', a plan to commit terror acts in US cities, kill innocent people, hijack airplanes, and plant evidence as a way to trick the public into thinking Cuba committed an unprovoked attack against the US in order to support a war against Cuba. (ABC, Natl Security Archives)
March '00 - Filming begins for The Lone Gunmen's 'Pilot' episode that depicts a US plot to crash an electronically hijacked Boeing 727 into WTC and blame foreign terrorists to provoke war and increase military's budget (KC Star), March '01 - 'Pilot' episode airs on FOX TV, 6 months before attacks (TV Guide), Lone Gunmen co-producer hopes WTC attack wasn't 'somehow inspired' by anything they did. (KC Star)
1999 - NORAD starts conducting exercises in which airplanes are hijacked and crashed into targets which include the WTC and Pentagon (USA Today), April '01 - NORAD requested a war games event of having a terrorist group hijack a commercial airline and fly it into the Pentagon. (Boston Globe)
2000 - CNN has employed active duty military psyops personnel. (WorldNetDaily)
Oct '00 - Pentagon conducts emergency training exercises of a mock passenger plane crash into the Pentagon. (Army)
June '01 - Attorney General John Ashcroft stops flying commercial aircrafts because of a 'threat assessment'. (CBS)
June '01 - Terrorist act exercise involving an explosion is conducted near the Pentagon to test first team's 'external response.' (Military District of Washington)
June '01 - NORAD conducts Amalgam Virgo 01, an exercise involving a cruise missile attack scenario in which their presentation manual has a photo of Osama bin Laden on the cover and a picture of an explosion in a skyscraper inside. (Global Security); June '02 - NORAD conducts Amalgam Virgo 02, an exercise involving a domestic commercial airliner-hijacking scenario planned before 9/11. (Defense Link)
June '01 - U.S. conducts senior-level bio-terrorist war game 'Operation Dark Winter' which includes scripted TV news clips that name possible culprits of the simulated attack; Iraq and terrorists groups based in Afghanistan. (MIPT)
July '01 - Twin 400 ft gas tanks near WTC are imploded by Controlled Demolition Inc. who will later do clean-up at Ground Zero. (Queens Gazette, Phillyblast)
Aug '01 - Raytheon and US Air Force successfully land pilot-less Boeing 727 using military GPS landing system that enables ground control to take control of hijacked plane. (Der Spiegel, Raytheon)
Aug 30 - Dept of Transportation conducts exercise involving high-jacked plane and a cell phone from it among other aspects of the scenario that one participants describes as being 'very strange' when the actual event happened on 9/11. (MTI)
Sept '01 - 25,000 British troops ensemble in Oman near Afghanistan for 'Operation Swift Sword' and will help US in attacking OBL. (BBC, Telegraph)
Sept 4 - An Israeli owned shipping company moves out of the WTC. (Virginian-Pilot, Real Estate Weekly)
Sept 5 - US pulls the plug on Muslim websites. (Guardian, BBC)
Sept 7 - Jeb Bush puts the Florida National Guard on alert (WorldNetDaily, MyFlorida.com), Sept 10-11 - President Bush is in FL, state that controversially handed him 2000 presidency (Telegraph), 9/11 - Jeb Bush declares state of emergency in FL immediately after 2nd tower fell (WorldNetDaily), At least 15 of the 19 hijackers have Florida ties. (Augusta Chronicle)
Sept 8 - Marine Aviation group moves further away from where explosion at the Pentagon will happen. (Leatherneck)
Sept 8 - Mock drill at Buffalo Niagara Airport simulated terrorists blowing up an aircraft containing 82 passengers and some of the participants will help at Ground Zero after 9/11. (Univ Buffalo, Highland Hose Volunteer Fire)
Sept 10 - FEMA rescuer Tom Kenney says he was deployed to NYC late Monday night before going into action Tuesday morning, the day of the attacks. (CBS video)
Sept 10 - San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown receives travel warning 8 hours before attacks. (SF Chronicle)
Sept 10 - A rookie is asked to temporarily take command of the National Military Command Center inside Pentagon for Sept. 11. (9/11 Commission)
9/11 - Fort Belvoir near the Pentagon was conducting an exercise to test the security at the base in case of a terrorist attack. (Connection Newspapers)
9/11 - An airport emergency operations exercise is being conducted at Fort Myer, a mile from the Pentagon. (MDW, DC Military)
9/11 - Employees at Israeli instant messaging company Odigo received text message warnings about attacks 2 hours prior. (Haaretz, Washington Post)
9/11 - Donald Rumsfeld predicts terrorist attack in US 2 minutes before 1st WTC plane crash (Fayetteville Observer), later predicts Pentagon crash minutes prior. (Telegraph)
9/11 - White House staff given Cipro, a full month before first cases of anthrax reported. (Washington Post)
9/11 - President Bush's cousin escaped death from the WTC thanks to a 'schedule change' the night before. (Ananova)
9/11 - Fiduciary Trust, located in the south WTC, had scheduled an emergency drill for the day. (NY Times)
9/11 - Larry Silverstein is absent from his office on the North Tower's 88th floor because of a 'doctors appointment' along with his two kids who are 'running late'. (NY Magazine, NY Observer)
Sept 12 - FEMA was scheduled to participate in an attack drill in NYC. (9/11 Panel, NYC.gov)
Sept 9 - NORAD conducts operation 'Northern Vigilance,' planned months in advance, which deploys fighter jets to Alaskan region. (NORAD, Toronto Star)
9/11 - Three F-16 jetfighters from Andrews AFB, 15 miles from Pentagon, are flown 180 miles away for training mission in the morning. (Aviation Week)
9/11 - Andrews AFB, home to DC Air National Guard and Air Force 1 & 2, had no jetfighters on alert. (Newsday, USA Today)
9/11 - US intel agency planned exercise in the morning to simulate plane crash into government building. (Boston Globe, USA Today)
9/11 - NORAD was running war game called 'Vigilant Guardian' in which the commander in charge thought first hijacking was "part of the exercise." (Aviation Week, NY Observer)
9/11 - FAA bans takeoffs at 9:26 am for all civilian, military, or law enforcement aircraft (FAA, Time)
9/11 - A simulated aircraft hijacking was scheduled for the morning by NORAD. (Vanity Fair)
9/11 - Shoot-down authorization not communicated to NORAD until 28 minutes after Flight 93 crashed. (9/11 Panel, Seattle Post)
Jan '01 - Frank De Martini, deceased Mgr of WTC Construction & Project Mgmt, says in documentary before 9/11 that he believes WTC towers could sustain multiple hits from large jetliners, comparing it to poking a pencil through mosquito netting. (WTC-A Modern Marvel, DVD Talk)
July '01 - WTC landlord leased the entire WTC complex 6 six weeks before attacks. (CBS, Washington Times)
Twin Towers were hated, poorly designed money-losers subsides by the State and weren't torn down before because of expensive asbestos removal in which 9/11 benefited the owners by efficiently destroying the complex in a way that they didn't have to pay for any of it. (Baltimore Sun, Salon, Front Page)
Sept 6 - WTC officials recently took steps to secure towers against aerial attacks by installing bulletproof windows and fireproof doors in the 22nd-floor computer command center (Newsday)
Two week heightened security alert at WTC is lifted and bomb-sniffing dogs are abruptly removed days before 9/11. (Newsday)
Occupant in WTC says weeks before attacks they had "unusual" amount of evacuations from WTC and says he thinks "they had an inkling something was going on." (People)
Sept 10 - The roofs at the WTC are closed. (911DigitalArchive) 9/11 - Exit doors to the WTC's roofs are locked, preventing people to escape on to the roof. (NIST)
9/11 - A Fiduciary Trust CEO from the South WTC is invited to early morning charity event at Offutt AFB hosted by billionaire Warren Buffett and is escorted to TV by military officers and sees 2nd plane crash into her offices. (Forbes, SF Business Times)
9/11 - A missile was reportedly launched from the Woolworth Building near the WTC. (NIST, WNBC, NY Daily)
9/11 - Rudy Giuliani says he was told South WTC was going to collapse. (ABC video) July '05 - Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani was near the London Blasts. (BBC)
Company hired to help clean up Ground Zero is control demolition experts, Controlled Demolition Inc. (Waste Age)
Preliminary tests show steel quality did not contribute to twin towers' collapse. (Boston Globe, Pittsburg Live)
Oct '04 - Fire in 56-story Venezuelan skyscraper spreads over 26 floors and burns for over 17 hours, but does not collapse. (CBS)
WTC Ground Zero workers claim they helped FBI find 3 of the 4 black boxes from planes that struck WTC, contradicting official accounts that none were found. (Philadelphia Daily News)
Bombs, flashes, other explosions
EMT Jeff Birnbaum near the South Tower says he heard an eerie high-pitched noise and a 'popping sound' then an explosion before the top of the tower leaned toward him and started coming down. (CEE News)
Firefighter Louie Cacchioli in elevator going to 24th floor hears a bomb go off and thinks bombs were set in the building. (People)
Firefighter Edward Cachia says the South Tower gave at a lower floor then where the plane hit because they thought there was internal explosions going off from hearing successions of 'boom, boom, boom, boom' before the tower came down. (NY Times)
Fire Captain Karin Deshore says there was orange and red flashes followed by explosions that were getting bigger going both up and down and then all around the WTC 2. (SF Gate)
Tom Elliott on 67th floor floor in WTC 2 felt explosion below him as plane hit, firemen going up told him of an explosion near 60th floor. (CS Monitor)
Commissioner Stephen Gregory along with a Lieutenant Evangelista from Ladder 146 say they both saw multiple flashes coming from the lower level of the WTC 2 right before it collapsed and mentions the flashes they saw are like what you'd see when they 'blow up a building.' (NY Times)
Nadine Keller from her balcony in Soho, NY says she 'heard the bomb' before she saw the buildings collapse. (BBC)
EMT Joseph Lovero reports hearing 'additional explosions' to dispatcher. (WNBC)
Edmund McNally phoned his wife from 97th floor of WTC 2 following the plane crash, says he heard explosions below him. (NY Times)
Mike Pecoraro and co-worker hear a loud explosion in WTC 1 basement and believes a bomb went off after seeing major damage to the basement floors. (Chief Engineer)
Janitor William Rodriguez in WTC 1 basement hears explosion below him, then the plane crash above him seconds later, then saw severely burnt man come out of basement elevator. (CNN)
Kim White from 80th floor of WTC 1 hears an explosion near the 74th floor. (People|2)
Witnesses reported hearing another explosion just before WTC 1 collapse, police said collapse looked almost like a 'planned implosion' designed to 'catch bystanders watching from the street.' (Guardian)
Third explosion reported at WTC 2 and part of the tower collapses afterward. (TCM News, TCM News)
Group of firemen discussing the collapse of WTC 2 said how each floor was pooping out as by being 'detonated' as if 'they had planned to take down a building'. (9/11 - The Filmmakers' Edit)
A member of the FDNY says when trying to get some people out that there was 'secondary explosions' and then subsequent collapses. (11 News)
A FDNY Firefighter says as he was getting his gear on and making his way to the stairway, there was a 'heavy duty explosion'. (CBS)
MSNBC Reporter Ann Thompson says at 10:30 when she got outside the building she heard a 'second explosion' and 'another rumble' then ran inside for cover when a fire marshal said they had to leave because if there was a third explosion the building might not last. (MSNBC)
NBC's Pat Dawson reports that the chief of safety of the FDNY told him that he received word of another bomb going off and when he tried to get his men out he said that there was another explosion which took place and thinks there were devices that were planted in the building. (NBC)
Eyewitness speaking in a studio interview says he was about five blocks away when he heard three explosions and turned around to see the building he just got out of collapse. (Studio interview)
An injured witness to one of the towers collapsing said it sounded like 'gunfire' and then all of a sudden he heard 'three big explosions'. (News interview)
NBC's Rick Sanchez reports that police have evacuated an area around the WTC because of a 'suspicious device' thought to be a bomb and say they think a van with explosives in it went off inside the WTC and fear that bombs have been planted in, or nearby the buildings. (MSNBC)
BBC's Stephen Evans reports there was a big explosion from 'much, much lower' in the WTC from where the plane crashed. (BBC)
9/11 - 6:47am, WTC 7's fire alarm is placed on 8 hr 'test' mode which any alarms received are ignored. (NIST)
9/11 - WTC landlord Larry Silverstein says he gets a call from a fire chief about the WTC 7 and he recommends to him to 'pull it' and after they 'decided to pull,' they all watched the 7 collapse. (PBS video)
9/11 - BBC correspondent Jane Standley announces that the WTC 7 collapsed before it did. (BBC video)
9/11 - CNN correspondent Aaron Brown announces that the WTC 7 has either collapsed, or is collapsing before it did. (CNN video)
9/11 - A medical student watching the WTC 7 hears a clap of thunder, sees a shockwave rippling through it and windows bust out, then sees the bottom floor cave out followed by the rest of the building. (1010 WINS video)
WTC 7 becomes first steel high-rise building in history to collapse due to mostly fire. (Chicago Tribune, Stanford Report)
The collapse of the 47 story WTC 7 skyscraper hardly gets any media attention. (NY Times)
WTC 7 debris was removed without investigators having the chance to examine it at the scene to help determine the cause of failure. (History Channel)
FEMA report concludes specifics of WTC 7 fires and how they caused it to collapse remain unknown and call for further investigation and also says the facade was 'pulled downward', suggesting an internal failure and 'implosion'. (FEMA)
Rescuers told and waited around for collapse
A Ground Zero rescuers mentions that the WTC 7 will be 'coming down soon' as he walks away from the area. (CNN video @2:20)
A Ground Zero rescuers tells people they are walking away from the WTC 7 because it's about to 'blow up'. (CNN video @2:25)
Captain Chris Boyle says 'they' said WTC 7 is coming down. (Firehouse Magazine)
Firefighter Marcel Claes says he was kept away from WTC 7 because of the 'potential of collapse'. (Firehouse Magazine)
Deputy Chief Peter Hayden says that by about 2 o’clock in the afternoon 'we realized' WTC 7 was going to collapse. (Firehouse Magazine)
Firefighter Scott Holowach says he and his crew were just 'hanging out' until tower WTC 7 came down and went right to work to put the 7's fires out. (NY Times)
Battalion Chief John Norman says 'they’re telling us' that WTC 7 is going to fall down. (Firehouse Magazine)
Paramedic Steven Pilla says he and his crew didn't do any further because they were 'waiting' for WTC 7 to come down. (NY Times)
Firefighter Lt William Ryan says he and his crew were told WTC 7 was going to collapse 'around 3 pm' and fell back until it came down. (NY Times)
Firefighter Frank Sweeney says he and his crew were sent back down near the WTC 7 and 'stood and waited' for it to come down. (NY Times)
Battalion Chief Tom Vallebuona says 'we thought' WTC 7 was going to fall and push the side of the WTC that was still standing. (Firehouse Magazine)
Deputy Chief Nick Visconti says Chief Frank Fellini responded to him saying WTC 7 'imminent collapse' and they moved the command post over because WTC 7 is 'coming down'. (Firehouse Magazine)
Sept 10 - Pentagon medic is on the phone with FBI talking about who has command of their emergency plane crash plan. (Army)
9/11 - Emergency equipment for Pentagon's emergency plane crash plans were already out of storage for inventory check before Pentagon crash. (Army)
9/11 - Hours before crash, a Pentagon medic was studying disaster plan based on unlikely scenario of a plane crashing into building. (Washington Post)
9/11 - Flight 77's radar stops near Ohio/Kentucky border and is the only one of the four hijacked planes that wasn't able to be tracked all the way. (Flight Explorer, Washington Post)
Flight 77 is piloted by ex-Navy fighter pilot who worked on anti-terrorism strategies in same area of Pentagon hit by his plane and a passenger on board is an ex-Navy Admiral, jet fighter pilot, and American Airlines captain who also worked at Pentagon. (Newsday, Washington Post)
9/11 - Multiple fire and medical units dispatched near Pentagon minutes before crash for high-rise apt. fire that was reported out when 1st responder arrived which allowed most units to proceed to the Pentagon. (Arlington County, Fire Engineering)
Pentagon crash happened right in the middle of the only section being renovated to bolster it against an attack which severely limited damage and loss of life. (USA Today, Army)
9/11 - Many key emergency response people arrive at the Pentagon within 5 minutes after the crash. (Arlington After-Action Report)
9/11 - Gas station and hotel's security cameras recorded Pentagon crash, but FBI arrived within minutes and confiscated films. (CNN, National Geographic)
Pentagon construction worker says on Larry King Live that plane that hit Pentagon had 'fewer engines' than the other 9/11 planes. (CNN)
9/11 - Air traffic controllers thought alleged Boeing 757 flying towards the Pentagon flew like a 'military jetfighter.' (ABC, Washington Post)
Alleged Flight 77 hijacker pilot, Hani Hanjour, was described as a horrible pilot by his flight instructors, was the only hijacker who didn't have a passenger number or seat assignment, and was unable to rent a single-engine Cessna 172 one month before 9/11 because he had trouble controlling and landing it during a test flight. (CBS, NY Times, Washington Post, Newsday)
Witnesses describing a missile, or other non-Boeing 757
USA TODAY reporter Richard Benedetto says aircraft he saw hit the Pentagon 'sounded like an artillery shell.' (USA Today)
Pentagon Renovation project coordinator Michael DiPaula says aircraft that hit the Pentagon 'sounded like a missile.' (Baltimore Sun)
Space News editor Lon Rains was 'convinced a missile' hit the Pentagon by the way it sounded and how fast it flew in. (Space News)
Pentagon network engineer Tom Seibert said he heard what 'sounded like a missile' crash into the building. (Guardian)
Steve Patterson says aircraft he saw crash into pentagon appeared to hold about '8 to 12 people' and sounded like a 'fighter jet.' (Washington Post)
USA Today Editor Joel Sucherman says he saw the body and tail of the aircraft that hit the Pentagon, but 'did not see the engines.' (CNN video)
D. S. Khavkin says aircraft she and her husband saw fly overheard towards the Pentagon appeared to be a 'small' commercial aircraft. (BBC)
Witnessing hardly any plane debris
Engineer Steve DeChiaro says he was perplexed that a plane had crashed into Pentagon by seeing only a small hole in the building and seeing 'no tail, wings, no nothing'. (Memphis Online)
Army Captain Lincoln Liebner says remarkably there was 'no debris from the airplane' at the Pentagon when he got to the building. (Army)
Army Captain Allan Lindsley says he was 100 meters from the Pentagon crash site and didn’t see 'any of the plane.' (Army)
Nurse Eileen Murphy upon reaching the Pentagon crash scene says she was real surprised that the plane 'wasn't there.' (Army)
Sergeant First Class Maybon Pollock says he was in awe that he saw 'nothing left from the plane' at the Pentagon crash site after being told the size of the plane that had crashed there. (Army)
Will Jarvis of the Office of Secretary of Defense tried but failed to see the plane at the Pentagon saying there was just 'nothing left' and couldn’t see a 'tail or a wing or anything.' (U of T Magazine)
CNN's Jamie McIntyre live at the Pentagon scene says there's no evidence a plane crashed anywhere near the building other than pieces that are small enough to pick up by hand. (CNN video)
Hearing multiple explosions, or smelled explosives
Pentagon attorney Gilah Goldsmith said she smelled cordite, or gun smoke near the crash site. (Jewish News Weekly)
Don Perkal of the Office of Secretary of Defense said he heard two explosions minutes apart and heard that a bomb had gone off in the building and when he smelled cordite, he says he knew 'explosives had been set off somewhere'. (McSweeney's)
June '01 - A major terrorist exercise 'Mall Strike 2001' is conducted in a PA county next to county Flight 93 allegedly crashed at. (FEMA, PittsburgLive)
Sept 10 - Neighboring Cambria county has a meeting for its Local Emergency Planning Committee which is hosted by a member of the PA Air National Guard discussing the County's hazmat team and equipment purchases regarding terrorism/hazmat response. (Cambria County)
9/11 - Flight 93 reportedly lands at a Cleveland airport, adjacent to NASA Glenn Research Ctr, due to a bomb scare after a man over Flight 93's intercom says a bomb is on board and the plane will be 'returning to the airport' at about the time it is flying over Cleveland. (WCPO-TV, Pitt Post-Gazette)
9/11 - Somerset county coroner Wally Miller says the small crater looked as if someone took a scrap truck, dug a 10-foot ditch and dumped trash into it and that no remains were visible at the crash site as if the plane had 'stopped and let the passengers off before it crashed' and that the most 'eerie' thing was that he hadn't seen a 'single drop of blood' at the scene. (Pittsburg Live, Washington Post)
Shanksville, PA, is a military flight corridor. (Daily American)
Dec '04 - Donald Rumsfeld says Flight 93 was shot down in a speech. (CNN)
Witnessing hardly any plane debris
Homer Barron said it didn't look like a plane crash because there was nothing that looked like a plane, just a big pile of 'charcoal'. (Pitt Post-Gazette)
Chris Konicki told a FOX News reporter that there was nothing that you could distinguish that a plane had crashed there. (FOX News)
Nina Lensbouer said when she arrived there was nothing there but charcoal. (Pitt Post-Gazette)
State police Capt. Frank Monaco said the scene looked like a 'trash heap' littered with nothing but tiny pieces of debris. (Pitt Post-Gazette)
Mark Stahl said that the plane had pretty much disintegrated and there was nothing left but scorched trees. (CNN)
Shanksville mayor Ernie Stull said there wasn't much left of the plane after the explosion except for one of the engines lying in the bushes. (Der Spiegel)
State police Maj. Lyle Szupinka said the scene looked liked a 'commercial landfill' with papers flying around and bits and pieces of shredded metal. (PittsburghLive)
Small white military plane seen circling area before and right after alleged crash
Jim Brandt said that he saw another plane in the area and said it stayed there for one or two minutes before leaving. (Pittsburgh Channel)
Dale Browning said everybody saw this plane in the sky, but no one can tell them what it was. (Bergen Record)
Rick Chaney described the plane as a Lear-jet type, with engines mounted near the tail and painted white with no identifying markings. (Bergen Record)
Susan Custer said she saw a small white jet streaking overhead. (Bergen Record)
Dennis Decker saw a Lear type jet with engines mounted near the tail and painted white with no identifying markings flying low and fast that appeared to make a loop or part of a circle before it turned fast and headed out. (Bergen Record)
Robin Doppstadt saw a small white jet that looked like it was making a single circle over the crash site then climbed very quickly and took off. (Bergen Record)
Val McClatchey heard what she thought was a small plane roar over Indian Lake headed east towards the crash scene which is the opposite direction officials said Flight 93 flew in and caught a glimpse of it when she looked out her front window. (Pittsburgh Live)
Susan Mcelwain saw a white plane with two rear engines, a big fin on the back with two upright fins at the side with no markings that looked 'military' rocket 40 or 50ft above her mini-van, but hardly made any sound and then heard an explosion then saw a fireball rise up over the trees followed by a white plume of smoke thinking it was the jet that crashed and later the FBI tried to tell her no other plane was around the area then changed their story to say it was a plane taking pictures of the crash 3,000ft up. (Bergen Record, Daily Mirror)
Lee Purbaugh saw a white jet circle the area about twice before flying off over the horizon. (Daily Mirror)
Tom Spinelli saw a white plane with high back wings flying around all over the place before and after the crash like it was looking for something. (Daily Mirror, Pittsburgh Channel)
Three Shanksville High students see a fighter plane fly from the alleged Flight 93 crash scene seconds after the explosion. [video]
IGNORED WARNINGS / ALLOWING IT TO HAPPEN
1994 - US intel warned that terrorists might attack US using airplanes as weapons (CNN, CBS); 1995 - US warned of 'Operation Bojinka' plot to hijack planes and attack the Pentagon and CIA headquarters (CNN); July '01 - US and Italian officials were warned that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit. (LA Times)
CIA had low-level spies inside Al Qaeda three years before attacks (MSNBC), US intel overheard discussions of a major pending terrorist attack weeks prior to 9/11 (USA Today)
US agents told to back off bin Laden's and Saudi Royals soon after Bush becomes president. (Ananova, BBC)
June '01- Convicted terrorist provided US with specific info about a terrorist attack, some was used in Aug. 6th memo. (Newsweek)
June '01 - Dept. of Defense changes hijacking rules, first time since 1997. (DoD)
July '01 - Armed pilots banned 2 months before 9/11. (WorldNetDaily)
July '01 - Briefing for senior US officials warns of spectacular attacks by terrorists with little or no warnings. (CNN)
July '01 - Agent's "Phoenix memo" warned FBI about OBL supporters taking flight training in Arizona, suggesting schools could be used for terror operations, but doesn't reached tops at FBI, CIA, and Justice Dept. until after 9/11. (CBS, CNN)
July '01 - Suspected 9/11 mastermind KSM receives US visa despite '96 terrorist indictment. (ABC)
Aug '01 - Israeli security issued urgent warning to CIA of large-scale terror attacks. (Telegraph)
Aug '01 - Taliban warns US of huge attack from bin Laden. (BBC)
Aug '01 - FBI supervisor said in conversation with headquarters that he wanted to prevent Zacarias Moussaoui from flying a plane into the WTC. (USA Today)
Aug 6 - CIA memo titled "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US" warns Bush of attacks and plane hijackings in the US by OBL. (ABC, FOX)
FAA chiefs received 52 warnings in 6 months time period before 9/11. (NY Times)
All 4 hijacked planes were well below normal passenger loads, averaging only 27% full. (CNN, Washington Post)
FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley accuses bosses of ignoring 9/11 warnings and sabotaging investigation attempts. (Time, USA Today)
FBI translator Sibel Edmonds: 'I Saw Papers That Show US Knew al-Qaida Would Attack Cities With Airplanes' (Independent-UK)
Senior FBI officials were warned about 70 times of 9/11 plot. (WorldNetDaily)
9/11 - Ari Fleischer claims that Bush received no warnings about the attacks (White House), May '02 - Fleischer confirms that Bush was told by CIA a month before attacks about possibility of OBL terrorists hijacking planes in the US. (SF Gate)
Sept 22 - 'Airline Transportation Stabilization Act' becomes law which if 9/11 victim's families except, they can't sue airlines or US gov't for any reason. (Guardian, LA Times)
Sept 26 - Mayor Rudolph Giuliani bans all video and photography at Ground Zero. (Boston Globe)
Nov '01 - Bush signs Executive Order 13233 which limits public access to presidential records. (Boston Globe, NS Archives) Mar '03 - Bush signs Executive Order 13292 allowing for a broad range of documents to be kept secret for up to 25 years and gives classification powers to the Vice President. (Boston Globe, National Review) The number of documents classified by the Bush administration increased by over 50 percent since 2001 (Boston Globe) and they have classified more records in their first 2 years than President Clinton's last four years. (US News) Ex-Nixon legal aide says Bush Admin is the most secretive ever. (Telegraph)
Jan '02 - Steel from the WTC is shipped to China and India for recycling which has angered investigators, engineers and victim's families who say the steel could hold vital clues about why the towers collapsed and GPS trackers were installed on trucks hauling the 'highly sensitive' steel scraps away to be melted. (USA Today, China.org, ACSS)
Jan '02 - Fire Engineering says official WTC investigation is a 'half-baked farce' that may already have been 'commandeered by political forces' whose primary interests lie 'far afield of full disclosure.' (Fire Engineering)
March '02 - Pentagon security photos of crash are released, but Pentagon says gov't didn't 'officially' release them. (Washington Post)
May '02 - Bush Administration oppose a 9/11 investigation. (CBS)
June '02 - Records of 9/11 response not for public, New York City says. (NY Times)
Sept '02 - American Airlines continues to gag all employees from talking about Sept 11 hijackings. (WorldNetDaily)
Sept '02 - Bush admin denies lawmakers investigating 9/11 permission to reveal whether the president or White House staff received warning of potential terrorist attacks against US, including plans by al Qaida linked terrorists to use hijacked planes as weapons. (UPI)
Nov '02 - Bush names former National Security advisor and Unocal consultant Henry Kissinger to head 9/11 investigations. (CNN, CBS)
Dec '02 - WTC surveillance tapes and maintenance logs are among the missing evidence as investigators try to figure out why the WTC collapsed. (Ft Wayne Sentinel)
Dec '02 - Bush names Homeland Security Project Co-Chair who has business link to husband of OBL's sister to head 9/11 panel. (Fortune)
Jan '03 - 9/11 investigations get only a $3 million budget and 16 month time frame compared to the over $40 million spent on the 5-year investigation of the Clintons. (Washington Times, Washington Post)
May '03 - White House refuses to release 900-page Sept. 11 congressional report. (Miami Herald)
July '03 - 9/11 panel criticizes Defense, Justice dept's for not cooperating fully and CIA, FBI for intimidating witnesses. (ABC, Guardian)
July '03 - White House, CIA kept key portions of 9/11 report classified dealing with Saudi Arabia and reject Saudi requests to declassify. (Washington Post)
Jan '04 - 9/11 Panel has to interview two of it's own members about attacks. (UPI)
Jan '04 - Bush and Speaker Hastert oppose granting more time for 9/11 Panel. (Washington Post)
April '04 - Bush admin gags FBI translator Sibel Edmonds from speaking to 9/11 Panel about attack foreknowledge. (Independent-UK)
April '04 - Bush, Cheney meet together behind closed doors with 9/11 Panel without recorders, stenographer, or being under oath. (CNN)
FAA manager mangled, cut, and destroyed 9/11 tapes. (Washington Post)
President Bush's phone logs on 9/11 don't exist. (NY Daily News)
June '04 - 9/11 tapes reveal ground personnel covered-up attack response, kept things 'hush-hush.' (New York Observer)
July '04 - Almost 3 years after 9/11, technology only now exists to enable cell phones to work on airplanes at flying altitudes. (USA Today, New York Press)
9/11 report shows much of common wisdom about 9/11 was wrong. (Straights Times)
Oct '04 - NORAD takes their 9/11 response timeline off website (NORAD) after US Senator accuses them and FAA of lying. (Star Tribune)
Oct '04 - Inquiry begins about unreleased 9/11 report about civilian, military response timeline and will stay unreleased until after elections. (NY Times)
Alleged 9/11 hijacker rented room from FBI informant, FBI covered fact up. (Village Voice)
Some in 9/11 panel concluded the Pentagon may have lied about how they first reacted to the 9/11 attacks and debated referring the matter to the Justice Dept for a criminal investigation. (Washington Post)
Box cutters weren't allowed pre-9/11 by airlines industry. (9/11 Panel, CBS)
1997 - CFR & Trilateral Comm member Zbigniew Brzezinski publishes a book urging the US to control the world's natural resources to maintain global domination despite public's uneasiness about US projecting external power and cautions it will become more difficult to get consensus on foreign policy with an increasingly diverse US society unless public perceives a massive direct external threat. (Brzezinski: 'Grand Chessboard') Sept 14 - Council on Foreign Relation member Gary Hart says 9/11 attacks is chance for Bush to carry out a "new world order." (CFR)
Sept 10 - Donald Rumsfeld announces Pentagon has lost track of $2.3 trillion (CBS, DoD), attacks came near end of fiscal year & important budget information was located in the damaged area (Arlington County), large number of fatalities at Pentagon were civilian accountants, bookkeepers and budget analysts. (Pitt Post-Gazette)
Oct '01 - Only 1 1/2 months after 9/11, the 342 page USA PATRIOT ACT is signed into law. (White House)
Oct '01 - Hundreds of gold bars that was stored under WTC 4 are discovered in a delivery tunnel under WTC 5 that was being transported on the morning of 9/11 by a 10-wheel truck that was crushed along with several other cars by debris, yet no bodies were recovered. (NY Daily News, Times Online)
WTC leaseholder Larry Silverstein seeks $7.2 billion in insurance, double his coverage, claiming the attacks count as two separate events. (Insurance Journal) June '02 - Silverstein receives $861 million settlement for WTC 7, debt on it is only $383 million (Insurance Journal), May '04 - Silverstein awarded single payout of $3.5 billion for WTC (CNN), Dec '04 - Silverstein wins extra $1.1 billion from court ruling saying attacks constituted 'two separate events'. (USA Today) The new WTC is projected to cost between $9-12 billion with $5 billion coming from government sources. (MSNBC, NYSCPA)
Bush administration has taken away multiple rights of the people since 9/11. (Newsday) U.S. ranks 17th in press freedoms largely due to 9/11. (CNS)
Nov '02 - Dept of Homeland Security is created to lead the fight against domestic terrorism. (CBS)
Poll Cites GOP Gains Since 9/11 (Washington Post), Gov't terrorist warnings boost Bush's approval ratings. (Cornell U) '9/11 effect' won Bush votes on Democratic turf near Ground Zero. (New York Post)
Military budget increase:
Sept '00 - PNAC calls to increase US defense budget, but says won't happen absent a catastrophic event like a "new Pearl Harbor." (ABC, PNAC)
Sept 5, '01 - Rumsfeld asks Senate to approve new '02 defense budget which has largest spending increase since the mid 80's. (DoD)
FY 2002 budget request is a $37.8 billion, or 11.5% increase from '01 request. (DoD)
FY 2003 budget request is a $40.1 billion, or 10.9% increase from '02 request. (DoD)
Afghanistan, opium, pipeline
July '01 - US plans to invade Afghanistan by Oct '01 (BBC, Guardian), Sept 4 - White House approves plan to invade Afghanistan (CBS, USA Today), Sept 10 - Plan awaits Bush's approval (MSNBC), Oct '01 - US invades Afghanistan. (DoD) War in Afghanistan would have been politically impossible pre-9/11. (USA Today)
July '00 - Taliban bans cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan (BBC), Mar '05, Afghanistan opium production surges. (USA Today)
Afghanistan has huge strategic importance for the west as a corridor to the untapped fuel reserves in central Asia. (Guardian)
1997 - Taleban are in Texas for talks with Unocal about an Afghan pipeline. (BBC)
Feb '98, Unocal rep testifies before congress that an Afghan pipeline can't happen without a single stable Afghan gov't and asks the US to use it's influence to end conflicts there. (US House of Reps)
Aug '98 - Unocal suspends Afghan pipeline activities because of deteriorating political conditions there. (Unocal)
Dec '98 - Unocal drops out of Afghan pipeline consortium. (Unocal)
1999 - US paid entire annual salary of Taliban gov't in hopes to secure a stable Afghan gov't to allow US companies to build a pipeline there to connect to the Caspian Sea. (SF Chronicle)
May '01, US gives $43 million to Afghanistan and becomes their largest donor two years in a row. (CNN)
Some say current military campaign in Afghanistan has hidden objective - revive gas pipeline and open the way for U.S. companies to build further facilities to carry central Asian oil. (BCC)
Dec '02 - Afghan gas pipeline deal signed. (BBC, SF Chronicle)
May '05 - Afghan pipeline draws closer to reality, Afghan President said project was a 'top priority.' (Christian Science Monitor)
Iraq, oil
1998 - PNAC calls for a war in Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein who they say threatens Israel and the world's oil supply. (ABC, PNAC)
Jan '01 - Bush had pre-9/11 Iraq war plan according to Treasury Dept memo. (CNN)
Bush made plans for ousting Saddam and for Iraq's oil before 9/11. (BBC)
9/11 - Barely 5 hrs after the Pentagon crash, Rumsfeld begins strike plans against Iraq. (CBS)
Feb '02 - Bush admin was warned statements that Iraq trained Al Qaeda in weapon making was fabricated, yet they would later use same statements as foundation for military action in Iraq. (NY Times, AFP)
White House officials say privately 9/11 was main reason for war in Iraq (ABC)
, Bush says US is in Iraq because of 9/11. (CNN, White House)Jan '03 - Memo reveals Bush was determined to invade Iraq despite UN backing and discusses ways to provoke Saddam into a confrontation. (NY Times, BBC)
Sept '03 - Poll later finds 70% Americans believe Saddam-9/11 link. (USA Today)
Downing Street Memo warned Saddam not a threat and US fixed intel around their war policy. (London Times)
9/11 Panel says no evidence connecting Iraq to Al Qaeda. (Washington Post)
Oct '04 - CIA report later concludes no WMD's in Iraq as Bush used to help justify war. (CNN, BBC)
Dec '04 - Ex-CIA agent says he was sacked for not faking Iraq WMD reports. (Washington Times)
Of the 18 PNAC members who urged Clinton to remove Saddam in '98, 10 will be in the new Bush administration such as Dick Cheney, Zalmay Khalilzad, Lewis Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. (ABC, PNAC)
PNAC member Vice President Dick Cheney was former Defense Secretary under the Bush Sr. Administration (DoD) and former CEO of Halliburton. (CNN) Cheney is still being paid by Halliburton (Guardian) and his stock options with them rose 3,281% in '04. (Raw Story) Halliburton was a large donor to Bush/Cheney campaign, is the top Iraq war contract recipient (Newsday), was awarded no-bid contracts by the Pentagon (CBS) and announced a 2005 second quarter 284% profit increase. (Halliburton)
May '01 - PNAC member Dov Zakheim sworn in as the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and CFO for Defense Dept and was former VP of a defense contractor which makes remote control and flight termination products. (DoD, SPC)
Sept 4 - Robert Mueller, who oversaw the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing case and the 1991 BCCI banking scandal, becomes director of the FBI. (FBI, BBC)
Sept 6 - large put options placed on United, American Airlines, Boeing and some purchases made through bank which used to be headed by Exec. CIA Director Buzzy Krongard. (SF Chronicle)
Sept 10 - 'Rumsfeld's Rules' are revised to include the rule, 'America ain't what's wrong with the world.' (Daily Kos, DoD)
Sept 10 - Former Pres. and ex-CIA dir. Bush Sr. met with Osama's brother at Carlyle Group meeting in DC. (Washington Post), is at the White House morning of attacks. (CBS)
9/11 - The official bin Ladin family's website domain expires. (Yahoo, Philly City Paper)
9/11 - Sen. Graham, Rep. Goss, and other US Intel committee members have meeting in the morning with Paki ISI director who had authorized $100,000 wire transfer to Atta. (Wall St Journal, Washington Post)
9/11 - An elite Israeli military commando who understands Arabic is seated near all hijackers on Flight 11. (WorldNetDaily)
9/11 - Bush proceeds with scheduled reading event after Rice tells him a commercial plane hit the WTC. (9/11 Panel)
9/11 - After being told of attacks, Bush picks up book and reads with kids for 11 mins and after finishing, takes a few questions from kids before leaving. (FOX, St Petersburg Times)
9/11 - Bush gives speech at school exactly the same time he was scheduled to make speech there day before. (Federal News Service)
9/11 - Solicitor Gen. Ted Olson--who has admitted the US gov't lies and helped stopped FL recount that sealed '00 Bush win--claims wife Barbara called him collect from Flight 77 twice and is sole source that hijackers used box cutters. (9/11 Panel, MSNBC, USA Today)
9/11 - 5 Israeli spies film the WTC before the attack then were seen celebrating afterward on top their white van with towers burning in the background and later were arrested and found with boxcutters, multiple foreign passports, maps linking them to the attack, explosives detected, large amount of cash, and FBI seized and developed their photos which one showed the driver flicking a cigarette lighter in front of the smoldering ruins in an apparently celebratory gesture. (FOX, ABC, The Forward, Bergen Record, Globe & Mail)
9/11 - Bush is never evacuated by Secret Service from School. (Globe & Mail)
Air Force Gen. Myers claims was never informed 2nd WTC crash and only became aware of it about same time Pentagon hit. (DoD)
9/11 - Former Israeli PM Netanyahu is asked what 9/11 attacks meant Israeli/US relations and he replies "It's very good." (NY Times) July '05 - Benjamin Netanyahu was near the London blasts. (USA Today)
Sept 13 - Bush Admin allows Bin Laden family and top Saudi officials to evacuated from US before general public flight restrictions were lifted. (NY Times, Tampa Tribune)
Oct '01 - Donald Rumsfeld says in a magazine interview that Pentagon was hit by a 'missile.' (DoD)
Bush twice says he saw WTC plane crash live on TV at Booker Elementary (Boston Herald, White House|2
), 1st crash happened at 8:46 am (9/11 Panel), Bush arrived at school at 8:52 am. (ABC)Bush refers to 9/11 as 'an interesting day' (White House), says 2001 was a 'fabulous year' for Laura and he. (White House)
March '04 - Madrid bombings happen exactly 911 days after 9/11. (News 24, Snopes.com)
Osama had ties to the CIA (MSNBC), July '01 - OBL wanted by US since '98, undergoes medical treatment at the American Hospital in Dubai and is met by the local CIA chief (Guardian), Sept 10 - OBL undergoes kidney dialysis at Pakistani military hospital in which a "secret team" replaces regular urology staff. (CBS), FBI's 'Most Wanted List' does not mention OBL is wanted for 9/11 because they have 'no hard evidence' connecting him to the attacks. (Muckraker, Milli Gazette, FBI)
Five of the alleged 9/11 hijackers receive training at secure US military bases. (MSNBC)
CIA had tracked two of the alleged Flight 77 hijackers. (BBC)
The five alleged Flight 77 hijackers lived in a motel right outside the gates of the NSA. (BBC)
July '01 - Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed receives a US visa despite authorities chasing him since 1994 and a 1996 terrorist indictment (ABC, LA Times), Oct '04 - KSM 'missing' in US custody. (SJ Mercury)
CIA says 1st WTC plane crash was an attack and Dir. Tenet blames OBL for attacks even before 2nd plane crashes (ABC) and the US is claiming Osama bin Laden is behind the attacks before the day is over. (ABC, The Post)
Taliban rulers condemn attacks and says Bin Laden didn't have the means to carry out such well-orchestrated attacks (TCM News), Sept 16 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in press release (Guardian), Sept 28 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in 'Ummat' Paki newspaper, suggests Jews or US secret services behind attacks (Khilafah), Nov 7 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in 'The Dawn' Paki newspaper (Islam Online),
Sept 13 - Airplane passenger lists from all four hijacked planes list no Arab names. (Guardian - 11, 175, 77, 93)
7 of alleged 19 hijackers are reported alive, FBI Director admits some identities are in doubt. (BBC, LA Times)
Hijacker remains from Flight 77, 93 hijackers were identified at same military base and by a 'process of elimination.' (CBS)
Secret FBI report doubts Al Qaeda can stage another 9/11-type attack and says it knows of no sleeper cells in US. (ABC)
Mohammed Atta's father says Atta called him on Sept 12. (Guardian, PittsburgLive)
Framing
Sept 9 - Alleged Flight 175 hijacker pilot Marwan Al-Shehhi reportedly leaves behind Boeing 757 manuals, east coast flight maps, an airplane fuel tester, and a protractor in his hotel room. (Augusta Chronicle), Flight 175 was a Boeing 767. (9/11 Commission)
Sept 10 - Flight 93 hijacker Ziad Jarrah reportedly sends farewell letter and flight training documents to girlfriend of 5 years in Germany, but allegedly wrote address wrong and letter comes back and is passed to FBI; relatives say letter was fabricated to frame him. (BBC)
Sept 10 - Atta and two Arab men allegedly spew anti-American sentiments and leave a Quran and business card behind. (USA Today)
9/11 - Alleged Flight 11 hijackers Atta and Al-Omari caught on Portland, ME airport security video (ABC-AU, USA Today), Father says it's not Atta on security video. (PittsburgLive)
9/11 - Atta was only passenger among 81 people aboard Flight 11 whose luggage didn't make the flight and where found with incriminated evidence. (USA Today, WorldNetDaily)
9/11 - Press reports a group with 'Palestine' in the name claimed responsibility for attacks (CNN video), caught Israeli spy who was filming WTC burning says 'We are not your problem, Palestinians are the problem' (ABC), video shows Palestinians rejoicing over news of attacks, but later is shown to be staged (LA Times, Der Spiegel) '02 - Palestinian says Mossad sought to induce him to set up fake al Qaeda cell in Gaza and declare responsibility for various bombings. (Arabia Online)
Sept 13 - Student ID card of Flight 77 hijacker Majed Moqed reportedly found at Pentagon, still able to read name on it. (9/11 Panel)
Sept 17 - Passport is found belonging to alleged hijacker who's plane crashed into WTC. (CNN)
Sept 28 - FBI claims to find Arabic written letter in Atta's suitcase and additional copies at Flight 93 crash site and in car registered to Flight 77 hijacker at Dulles parking lot. (FBI, PBS)
Dec '01 - Pentagon releases poor quality video showing 'OBL' bragging about attacks and wearing a gold ring and watch which are forbidden in Islam, Bush Admin uses this video to vindicate US invading Afghan. (USA Today)
, Dec '01 - Osama bin Laden reportedly died. (FOX, NY Times), Oct '04 - Video of supposedly OBL admitting to attacks is released 4 days before election and gives Bush a boost in polls (ABC, NY Daily News)Many investigators believe that some of the evidence allegedly left behind by the hijackers was 'meant to be found' and whatever trail was left was 'left deliberately for the FBI to chase.' (New Yorker)
Fundamentalist Muslims 'gone wild'
May '01 - Several alleged hijackers seen at Las Vegas Strip clubs (SF Chronicle), several also patronized Nardone's Go-Go Bar (Wall Street Journal) Flight 77 hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi hang out at Cheetah's nude bar (LA Times), Sept 10 - Atta and two Arab men allegedly spend hundreds on drinks and lap dances at FL strip club the Pink Pony. (USA Today)
July-Aug - Alleged hijacker Majed Moqed seen in two stores in Maryland looking over adult videos and books (Newsday, MSNBC), Sept 10 - Alleged hijacker Hamza Alghamdi watches a porno in his hotel. (Wall Street Journal)
Sept 5 - Two or three of the alleged hijackers go gambling on a SunCruz Casino boat. (St Petersburg Times, USA Today)
Sept 7 - Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi both seen 'wasted' at Florida bar called Shuckums. (St Petersburg Times)
Sept 9 - Alleged Flight 11 hijacker sleeps with a high-priced prostitute (Boston Herald), Sept 10 - Four alleged hijackers spend the night looking for prostitutes in Boston. (Boston Globe)