Wizblog

Iranian Involvement In 9/11

Ed Morrissey at Captains Quarters continues to lead the way in the reporting on the Able Danger case, and the ongoing unraveling of the credibility of the 9/11 Commission. Quoting at length from the new book by Kenneth Timmerman, "Countdown to Crisis", Morrissey examines the evidence of Iranian involvement and support for the 9/11 attacks.

Timmerman writes that the CIA had communicated repeatedly to the Commission what he calls The Concept: Iran had nothing to do with al-Qaeda, and especially 9/11. Nothing would shake them from that belief, not evidence nor intelligence, both of which turned up in spades. It sounds quite familiar to the same meme about al-Qaeda and Iraq; despite the numerous connections between Saddam and al-Qaeda, the official line remained that AQ conducted the attacks entirely on their own, without Iraqi assistance. Any evidence or intel to the contrary got dismissed or completely ignored.

So it was with the fresh documents discovered by Zelikow's team at the time Phillpott told them about Able Danger. Their team leader on intel, an old CIA hand, spent his Sunday reviewing these explosive documents:

What the team leader found that Sunday morning was nothing less than a complete documented record of operational ties between Iran and al-Qaeda for the critical months just prior to September 11. "The documents showed Iran was facilitating the travel of al-Qaeda operatives, ordering Iranian border inspectors not to put telltale stamps on their passports, thus keeping their travel documents clean," the team leader told me. "The Iranians were fully aware that they were helping operatives who were part of an organization preparing attacks against the United States." ...

More on the topic from CQ here, and here.

It is increasingly clear that the 9/11 Commission was in possession of a great deal of information about foreign involvement in support of Al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks, that it chose to ignore and withhold from its final report because it conflicted with their pre-established narratives. Evidence of contacts between intelligence operatives of both Iraq and Iran and the 9/11 hijackers was discounted by the commission, and now the American people deserve to know why.