Know your BFEE: The Stench of Moussaoui Permeates the Octopus

[Octafish]

The joke goes: “Doctors bury their mistakes.”

The same can be said for the Bush Crime Syndicate. Except, the Bushies use the Intelligence Community to cover up their mistakes and law-breaking.



In this particular example, Bush and his henchmen are blaming self-confessed “20th hijacker” Zacarias Moussaoui for failing to inform FBI investigators of the terror plot. Perhaps Bush and Co. hope to pin the blame for what happened on one man and silence him permanently.

Should the Bushies succeed in blaming Moussaoui, they will be letting off the hook the many more who are criminally negligent. That would be unfortunate for America.

The official record — revealed last week in Federal Court — shows blame for failing to pursue the leads, connect the dots, build the puzzle and generally do the competent leadership thing doesn’t fall solely on the terrorist pawn Moussaoui.

Failing to prevent 9-11 falls squarely on many shoulders in the “administration” of George W Bush. These names are on the record: Michael Rolince, David Frasca, and Michael Maltbie.

My source? Special Agent Harry Samit. Here’s what else Samit and some more of the best and the brightest in the government of the United States have to say:

FBI Agent Slams Bosses at Moussaoui Trial

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Mar. 21, 2006

(CBS, AP) The FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui in August 2001 testified Monday he spent almost four weeks trying to warn U.S. officials about the radical Islamic student pilot but "criminal negligence" by superiors in Washington thwarted a chance to stop the 9/11 attacks.

FBI agent Harry Samit of Minneapolis originally testified as a government witness, on March 9, but his daylong cross examination by defense attorney Edward MacMahon was the strongest moment so far for the court-appointed lawyers defending Moussaoui. The 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent is the only person charged in this country in connection with al-Qaida's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

MacMahon displayed a communication addressed to Samit and FBI headquarters agent Mike Maltbie from a bureau agent in Paris relaying word from French intelligence that Moussaoui was "very dangerous," had been indoctrinated in radical Islamic Fundamentalism at London's Finnsbury Park mosque, was "completely devoted" to a variety of radical fundamentalism that Osama bin Laden espoused, and had been to Afghanistan.

SNIP…

But Samit told MacMahon he couldn't persuade FBI headquarters or the Justice Department to take his fears seriously. No one from Washington called Samit to say this intelligence altered the picture the agent had been painting since Aug. 18 in a running battle with Maltbie and Maltbie's boss, David Frasca, chief of the (R)adical (F)undamentalist (U)nit (RFU) at headquarters.

They fought over Samit's desire for a warrant to search Moussaoui's computer and belongings. Maltbie and Frasca said Samit had not established a link between Moussaoui and terrorists.

CONTINUED…

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/21/ap/national/mainD8GFLTIGA.shtml

FBI Witness in Moussaoui Trial Faults Superiors

By Richard Serrano
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
4:43 PM PST, March 20, 2006

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui weeks before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks described with great regret today how his superiors in Washington repeatedly blocked his attempts to find out whether Moussaoui was part of a widespread terrorist cell intent on attacking the United States.

Special Agent Harry Samit also said his superiors did not share other critical counterterrorism intelligence with him, such as a memo from the FBI's Phoenix office about suspected terrorists taking flight lessons and a briefing for President Bush citing intelligence that planes might be hijacked.

Samit said his superiors told him right after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that it was "just a coincidence" unrelated to the case he was trying to make against Moussaoui.

Testifying during cross-examination by defense lawyers in Moussaoui's death penalty trial, Samit said he now believed his FBI superiors were guilty of "criminal negligence and obstruction" and that they thwarted his efforts in the interest of protecting their own careers. He called their actions a "calculated" management decision "that cost us the opportunity to stop the attacks."

CONTINUED…

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-moussa21mar21,0,4983416.story?coll=la-home-headlines

“Uh. What’s a terrorist got to do to get investigated around here?”

Al-Qaeda trial lands FBI in dock for criminal ineptitude

From Tim Reid in Alexandria, Virginia
The Times (London) March 25, 2006

EXCERPT…

Into the witness box stepped Harry Samit, the FBI agent who arrested Moussaoui. He was called by the prosecution but became the star witness of the defence.

He said that he warned his supervisors more than 70 times that Moussaoui was an al-Qaeda operative who might be plotting to hijack an airplane and fly it into a building. He said that he was regularly thwarted by two superiors, David Frasca and Michael Maltbie, from obtaining a warrant to search Moussaoui’s flat. He accused the men of being criminally negligent.

Mr Maltbie told him that getting a warrant, which could be troublesome, might harm his — Maltbie’s — career prospects. Mr Maltbie has since been promoted.

On Tuesday Ed MacMahon, Moussaoui’s defence laywer, cross-examined Michael Rolince, of the FBI. He was there to defend the bureau, but his answers brought down the house.

Mr Rolince was forced to concede that he had never seen an April 2001 intelligence briefing paper warning that bin Laden was preparing to mount an attack, even though he had signed it. Mr MacMahon then introduced an April 13, 2001, FBI communication, approved by Mr Rolince, giving warning about bin Laden’s threat inside the US. Mr Rolince said that he had not approved it.

CONTINUED…

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2102266,00.html

Unwelcome Attention From Moussaoui Trial

By NEIL A. LEWIS and DAVID JOHNSTON
NYT March 25, 2006
News Analysis

WASHINGTON, March 24 — The sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui was supposed to have been the government's best opportunity to hold someone accountable for the deaths on Sept. 11, 2001.

But after federal prosecutors finished laying out their case this week, even those who strongly supported an aggressive prosecution may wonder whether the trial has shed as much light on Mr. Moussaoui's culpability as it has on the missteps and mistakes by law enforcement agencies.

SNIP…

Mr. Samit was followed to the witness stand by Michael Rolince, a retired F.B.I. counterterrorism supervisor who similarly recited a list of actions that the bureau could have taken if Mr. Moussaoui had told them about Qaeda plans to take over planes with knives and fly into buildings.

But when Mr. MacMahon began reading from a document detailing many suspicions about Mr. Moussaoui's intentions, Mr. Rolince interrupted, "Can I ask what document that's coming from?"

Mr. MacMahon obliged, noting that it was an urgent memorandum written by Mr. Samit on Aug. 18, 2001, hoping to attract the attention of headquarters. Mr. Rolince had inadvertently underlined that the agent's suspicions had never risen to his attention.

CONTINUED…

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/25/politics/25moussaoui.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Minnesota FBI then asked “70 times” (SEVENTY times!) for a FISA warrant.

FBI Was Warned About Moussaoui

Agent Tells Court Of Repeated Efforts Before 9/11 Attacks

By Jerry Markon and Timothy Dwyer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 21, 2006; A01

An FBI agent who interrogated Zacarias Moussaoui before Sept. 11, 2001, warned his supervisors more than 70 times that Moussaoui was a terrorist and spelled out his suspicions that the al-Qaeda operative was plotting to hijack an airplane, according to federal court testimony yesterday.

Agent Harry Samit told jurors at Moussaoui's death penalty trial that his efforts to secure a warrant to search Moussaoui's belongings were frustrated at every turn by FBI officials he accused of "criminal negligence." Samit said he had sought help from a colleague, writing that he was "so desperate to get into Moussaoui's computer I'll take anything."

SNIP…

Samit said he also sent an e-mail to the FBI's bin Laden unit but did not receive a response before Sept. 11, 2001. By late August, the agent had concluded that Maltbie and other FBI officials were no longer interested in investigating Moussaoui. Samit acknowledged that he told the Justice Department's inspector general's office that his supervisors engaged in "criminal negligence" and were trying to "run out the clock" because they wanted to deport Moussaoui rather than prosecute him.

Most portions of the inspector general's report dealing with Moussaoui have never been made public.

CONTINUED…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/20/AR2006032000240.html

Hmm. What could be in that report?



Gee. Maybe someone would bring up how the FBI originally refused to investigate or arrest Moussaoui. When the local FBI office told the Minneapolis flight school instructors not to worry about Moussaoui, they contacted their DEMOCRATIC Congressmen in Washington, Oberstar and Sabo, who had to intervene.

Eagan flight trainer wouldn't let unease about Moussaoui rest

Greg Gordon, Star Tribune
Published December 21, 2001 FLIT21

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When a Twin Cities flight instructor phoned the FBI last August to alert the agency that a terrorist might be taking lessons to fly a jumbo jet, he did it in a dramatic way:

"Do you realize how serious this is?" the instructor asked an FBI agent. "This man wants training on a 747. A 747 fully loaded with fuel could be used as a weapon!"

SNIP…

The still-unidentified flight instructor became wary of Moussaoui immediately, according to Minnesota Rep. Jim Oberstar and others with direct knowledge of the briefings.

SNIP…

Besides alerting the FBI about Moussaoui, the school's Phoenix office called the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) early this year about another student – Hani Hanjour, who was believed to be the pilot of the plane that flew into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. The school had raised questions about Hanjour's limited ability to speak English, the universal language of aviation.

An FAA representative sat in on a class to observe Hanjour, who was from Saudi Arabia, and discussed with school officials finding an Arabic-speaking person to help him with his English, said Oberstar and others with direct knowledge of the school's briefings.
Oberstar and Minnesota Rep. Martin Sabo, who also was briefed by the school, praised Pan Am for its efforts to safeguard the skies and for passing federal authorities clues to possible terrorist activities before Sept. 11.

CONTINUED…

http://www.startribune.com/stories/843/913687.html

If FBI wanted to do its job, they would arrest everyone in the government who had information on the terrorists taking flying lessons and then sat on the Intel.



It would begin atoning for their own negligence.