January 28, 2004

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9/11 panel faults Bush for letting hijackers in
How the misadministration made us safer from terrizm

  • "The US government fumbled repeated opportunities to stop many of the men responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from entering the country, missing fraudulent passports and other warning signs that should have attracted greater scrutiny, according to a preliminary report released yesterday. The new findings by the independent commission investigating the terrorist strikes stand in marked contrast to the contentions of many senior US. officials, who for more than two years have portrayed the 19 hijackers as law-abiding travelers who did little to attract government suspicion and who, in nearly all cases, entered or resided in the country legally. Yesterday's report disclosed that as many as eight of the hijackers carried passports that 'showed evidence of fraudulent manipulation,' while as many as five of the passports had 'suspicious indicators.' The report did not identify the details missed by authorities." - - WaPo.

  • "Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, plot, obtained a visa to come to the United States just weeks before the attacks despite being under a federal terrorism indictment, a report by the federal commission investigating the attacks revealed Monday. And as many as eight of the hijackers entered the country with doctored passports that contained 'clues to their association with Al Qaeda' that should have been caught by immigration authorities, commission investigators said. The newly disclosed findings challenge previous claims by top CIA and FBI officials that the hijackers' records and paperwork were so clean that they could not have aroused suspicion." - - the LA Times.


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