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View Full Version : Additions To The Timeline As Of 9/28/2008



Gold9472
09-30-2008, 10:53 AM
Pentagon on 9/11, Shoe Bombing, Bin Laden in the Soviet-Afghan War

Kevin Fenton
9/28/2008

This week, a massive amount of new entries have been added to the timeline, dealing with a whole range of different issues. We will start with the day of 9/11, in particular the Pentagon, which a fire chief warned could be a target nearly 20 minutes (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a920campbellwarns&scale=0#a920campbellwarns) before it was hit. The attack itself created confusion by setting off 300 fire alarms (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a938boccalarms&scale=0#a938boccalarms), although some medical workers thought the ensuing evacuation was a drill (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a937evacuationadrill&scale=0#a937evacuationadrill). After wandering about outside the building, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld refused to follow the established emergency plan and evacuate (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1040rumsfeldrefuses&scale=0#a1040rumsfeldrefuses), instead sending deputy Paul Wolfowitz to an alternate military command center (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1100wolfowitzleaves&scale=0#a1100wolfowitzleaves), where the computers and communication systems did not work (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1145computerproblems&scale=0#a1145computerproblems).
The first fighter (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1040firstfighter&scale=0#a1040firstfighter) was seen arriving over the Pentagon at around 10:40 a.m., the FAA sent the White House incorrect details (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091101wrongflightnumbers&scale=0#a091101wrongflightnumbers) of the hijacked planes in the early afternoon, and astronauts viewed the devastation in New York from space (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091101spacestation&scale=0#a091101spacestation). Meanwhile, the FBI established a command post (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1215fbicommandpost&scale=0#a1215fbicommandpost) near the Pentagon and limited the evidence that needed to be photographed (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1215fbiphotographers&scale=0#a1215fbiphotographers) there.

The day after the attacks, the FBI set up a joint operations center (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091201fbijoc&scale=0#a091201fbijoc) for its Pentagon response and, together with the NTSB, limited evidence recovery efforts (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091201fbilimits&scale=0#a091201fbilimits) there. There was a false alarm (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091201inboundplane&scale=0#a091201inboundplane) over an inbound plane that day and a sudden fire (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091301fireerupts&scale=0#a091301fireerupts) the next that disrupted recovery efforts. An apparently fake military official (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091201fakeofficial&scale=0#a091201fakeofficial) helped with the recovery for a couple of days, then vanished.

There is also a group of entries about Congressional leaders' actions on 9/11. It was clear the Capitol was a possible target from around 9:00, but it was not evacuated until later (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a903nocapitolevacuation&scale=0#a903nocapitolevacuation). After the evacuation, some members of Congress established a Central Command Center (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a955congresscommand&scale=0#a955congresscommand), but others went home. Some were flown to a secure bunker outside the capital, from which Vice President Dick Cheney instructed them not to return to Washington (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a250cannotreturn&scale=0#a250cannotreturn). They finally summoned up the courage to do so anyway in the early evening (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a500leadersreturn&scale=0#a500leadersreturn), after agreeing to reconvene (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a500membersdecide&scale=0#a500membersdecide) the next day (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a724leadersannounce&scale=0#a724leadersannounce).

Another topic that has received more coverage is the 2001 attempted shoe bombing. Zacarias Moussaoui, one of the many "20th hijackers," met one of the bombers, Richard Reid, at a London mosque (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=asummer96moussaouireid&scale=0#asummer96moussaouireid) in 1996. Reid also met an al-Qaeda recruiter (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=aspring98reidbeghal&scale=0#aspring98reidbeghal) at London's Finsbury Park mosque, which was run by British intelligence informer Abu Hamza al-Masri and also attended by Nizar Trabelsi (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a98trabelsi&scale=0#a98trabelsi), another operative who went on to be involved in the shoe bombing. A few months before the attempting bombing, Reid cased targets in Israel (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a0701reidisrael&scale=0#a0701reidisrael).

The US was monitoring calls between an al-Qaeda communications hub in Yemen and a top associate (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=abefore070301yemenbeghal&scale=0#abefore070301yemenbeghal) of the shoe bombers, leading to his arrest. That, in turn, led to Trabelsi's arrest (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091301trabelsiarrested&scale=0#a091301trabelsiarrested), and that led to the arrest of a group of Algerians (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a092601sixalgerians&scale=0#a092601sixalgerians) in Spain. All the plots Trabelsi was involved in were halted--except the shoe bombing, which was not cancelled even after his arrest was revealed in the international press (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a092101shoebombinggo&scale=0#a092101shoebombinggo).

In the event, Reid missed his flight because of extensive security checks (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a122101reidsecurity&scale=0#a122101reidsecurity) and a repeat attempt was prevented by passengers and crew. Reid was sentenced to 80 years (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a013003reidsentenced&scale=0#a013003reidsentenced) and Trabelsi also went to prison (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a093003trabelsiguilty&scale=0#a093003trabelsiguilty), as did some people linked to him (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a031505parisembassyguilty&scale=0#a031505parisembassyguilty).

There are also a several new entries about Osama bin Laden's actions during the Soviet-Afghan War. He met with mysterious Europeans (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a84ridiosama&scale=0#a84ridiosama) in Pakistan in 1984 and his brother Salem said he was the liaison between the US, the Afghan rebels and the Saudi government (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=aearly85salemosama&scale=0#aearly85salemosama) in 1985, when President Ronald Reagan possibly viewed (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a0285reagansalem&scale=0#a0285reagansalem) a video the bin Laden brothers made about the war. The brothers also concluded a series of arms deals to help the war effort, lubricated by slush funds resulting from the Al Yamamah arms deal (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=alate85alyamamahslush&scale=0#alate85alyamamahslush) between Saudi Arabia and Britian. For example, the bin Ladens negotiated with South Africans (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=aafter0486binladensouthafrica&scale=0#aafter0486binladensouthafrica) in 1986.

One of the translators at some of these meetings was Essam al Ridi, who had a relationship with the CIA (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=aafter092686ridiciaphoto&scale=0#aafter092686ridiciaphoto) and helped the Arab Afghans purchase night-vision goggles (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a87nightvision&scale=0#a87nightvision) in the US in the late 1980s. He also discussed shipping stinger missiles to Africa (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a0892hagephoneridi&scale=0#a0892hagephoneridi) with a close associate of bin Laden and flew some al-Qaeda leaders (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=asecondhalf93ridinairobi&scale=0#asecondhalf93ridinairobi) on the first leg of a journey to Somalia before the Black Hawk Down incident. A leading Pakistani militant (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a93azharsomalia&scale=0#a93azharsomalia) also made a similar trip. Al Ridi later agreed to testify for the prosecution (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1098ridipaddyfitz&scale=0#a1098ridipaddyfitz) at the embassy bombings trial.

There are also a few more entries about the Bojinka plot. One of the plotters, Abdul Hakim Murad, was allegedly tortured (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=aafter060695muradtortured&scale=0#aafter060695muradtortured) by Philippine police after his arrest and was then rendered (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a041295muradrendition&scale=0#a041295muradrendition) to the US, as was lead plotter Ramzi Yousef (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a020895yousefrendition&scale=0#a020895yousefrendition). Another of the bombers, Wali Khan Amin Shah, mysteriously escaped (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=ashortlyafter011195walikhanescape s&scale=0#ashortlyafter011195walikhanescapes) from a Philippine jail, but was recaptured a few months later and also rendered (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a120995shahrendition&scale=0#a120995shahrendition) to the US.

The recent seventh anniversary of the attacks was the occasion for the expression of some skepticism about what has come to be known as the "official account" of 9/11. A member of the European Parliament called for an international tribunal to reassess the attacks (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a090808chiesaberlin&scale=0#a090808chiesaberlin), a former Syrian minister said the US may have committed them itself (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091008mahdidakhlallah&scale=0#a091008mahdidakhlallah), and a controversial documentary (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091208zerorussia&scale=0#a091208zerorussia) was shown on Russian television.

Regarding the hijackers' DNA, the coroner handling the Flight 93 investigation received a call (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a2002wallacemiller&scale=0#a2002wallacemiller) from a person who represented himself as one of the hijackers' relatives in 2002, but the remains of 13 hijackers are still in US custody (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=092108remains&scale=0#092108remains). Remains of the other six alleged hijackers have not been found.

There are only a few miscellaneous entries. A Lebanese hijacker was one of the first people to be rendered (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091887younisrendered&scale=0#a091887younisrendered) to the US in 1987, and a man who shot CIA officers was also rendered to the US from Pakistan (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a061597kasirendered&scale=0#a061597kasirendered) ten years later. Finally, 9/11 Commission Executive Director Philip Zelikow deleted (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a0604bushclintoncomparison&scale=0#a0604bushclintoncomparison) a passage unfavorable to President George Bush from the commission's final report.

Originally posted here (http://www.historycommons.org/news.jsp?oid=140393703-694). If you can spare a dollar or two, please remember the History Commons is in need of donations (http://www.historycommons.org/donate.jsp).