MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
I need to do more research on this but it does look like there is evidence that Atta & Co. visited this wealthy family's home--and then the family suddenly moved out less than 2 weeks before 9/11, leaving everything behind except what was in the safe and possibly some computers.
Maybe if you have that much money you always move out this way; you can always buy more stuff!
Anyway, it's got me wondering if other Saudis and their families did the same thing--like a hijacker called his sister or girlfriend and said "Hey, get out of the USA, can't tell you why but go." And word got around pretty quickly. If this were the case, then the 160 Saudis who left on chartered planes after 911 were the end of the wave, not the wave itself. A few hundred Saudis leaving in a bit of a hurry in the days before 9/11 wouldn't have been very noticeable, it would be as if some Canadians living in the US went home.
Makes sense from a human behavior standpoint.
Note--apparently the wife, on questioning, said their tickets were booked "weeks in advance."
Comments
The comments on the story are even better than the story itself. I love the one from the guy who worked at Pier 1 and noticed the Australian bodyguard!
by erica20 on Wed, 01/23/2013 - 12:31pm
Still don't see where it says hijackers visited the house. It says there were calls to the hijackers before they abandoned the house...
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 01/23/2013 - 4:40pm
"People who arrived by car had to give their names and the home’s address they were visiting. Gate staff would sometimes ask to see a driver’s license and note the name, said Berberich.
LICENSE PLATES PHOTOGRAPHED
More importantly, he added, the license plates of cars pulling through the gate were photographed.
Atta is known to have used variations of his name, but the license plate of the car he owned was on record.
The vehicle and name information on Atta and Jarrah fit that of drivers entering Prestancia on their way to visit the home at 4224 Escondito Circle, said Berberich and the counterterrorism officer."
by erica20 on Wed, 01/23/2013 - 5:04pm
These visits were before the couple left the house, quite before 9/11.
And it ruins the story, Saudi couple leaves house with 3 new vehicles & orange juice on the table - while old friends drop by for weeks after?
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 01/23/2013 - 6:59pm
Right, but does it matter whether they visited before or after the family left? I think the point is that there was a connection between them and that the family left in a hurry.
I will amend my post, though, to reflect whatever is accurate. Thanks.
by erica20 on Wed, 01/23/2013 - 7:36pm
There. Better? It's true that it takes the oddball hook out of the story, but still possibly significant in that the family did leave rather abrubtly.
by erica20 on Wed, 01/23/2013 - 7:47pm
My only comment ever was that I didn't think the hijackers visited after they left. Yes, it's very strange how abruptly they left, and could easily suggest close ties with the upcoming attack and something gone wrong. And it's sad that we'll never know why because for some reason we didn't trace things like this to the end. We still don't even know who sent the post-9/11 anthrax or why.
Note, Salon just apologized for letting someone call 9/11 a "conspiracy". But what is it when at least 20 people get together to plan a bunch of hijackings behind the scenes? The effect is chilling - we can't ask further questions, because then we're conspiracy buffs. No air transport crew or other insiders in on the hijacks, getting those box cutters on board (if that was all)? Shhhh.... don't ask.
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 2:28am
This article is from Sept. 2011. In it, it says Bob Graham is upset this information wasn't reported to the 9/11 Commission. I did quick searches for "Abdulazzi al-Hiijjii" and "Senator Bob Graham" and pretty immediately found this from a year later:
If you follow this link there Broward Bulldog last week filed a lawsuit (note:that means it took them a year from the story you posted to file the lawsuit,)
you get these links:
Read our FOIA complaint
The Government’s Motion to Dismiss
Our Response in Opposition to the Motion to Dismiss the Complaint
The Government’s Reply to our Memorandum in Opposition to Dismissal
I admit I haven't read those, because I'm not all that interested, and they have a lot of legal mumbo jumbo I would have to spend of time translating and I get a headache when I have to do that. I look at it big picture and I honestly can't see much of anything much coming out of this piece of data that might alter the big narrative of history.
But if you chose to do so, I would say keep in mind this is the Obama administration fighting this FOIA, not the Bush administration.
And I couldn't easily find any more complaints from Senator Graham about all this. Seems to me if it were something of earth shaking potential that would change the whole narrative, he would have been screaming bloody murder a year ago. And seems to me it's more like he would just like to see this info. included in public addenda to the 9/11 Commission Report for reasons of comprehensiveness and historians.
Instead of spending time looking at these FOIA case docs, I chose to do a quick re-perusal of Chapter 7 of the 9/11 Report where the hijackers movements in the US before 9/11 are reported:
http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch7.htm
That's a summary of an awful lot of people being investigated for coming in contract with the hijackers and perhaps supporting them. One that jumped out at me that I probably didn't recognize the first time I read it was Imam "Anwar Aulaqi" (often spelled Anwar Awlaki or Anwar Al-Awlaki) being interrogated about meeting with Hazmi and/or Hanjour in San Diego and Virginia. We now know what the Obama administration feels (felt?) about him (reminder: an American citizen, not a Saudi.) I find that a way more interesting thing to pursue than the tale of a Saudi family near Sarasota that might easily have gotten a tip from Atta or Shehhi to skidaddle before 9/11.
But anyone really interested should be able to contact The Broward Bulldog and/or Bob Graham to get a wassup. It's not like they are persecuted whistleblowers who can't talk and there isn't an internet.
by artappraiser on Mon, 01/28/2013 - 5:04am