Originally Posted by
Kevin Fenton
From the hearing on 20 September 2002:
Eleanor Hill: Within two weeks after the September 11th attacks, the FBI prepared an analysis of bin Laden's responsibility as part of the State Department's development of a white paper that could be shared with foreign governments. That analysis relied at least in part on the connection between the attack on the USS Cole and al-Midhar and Alhazmi. Quote, "Even at this early stage in the investigation, the FBI has developed compelling evidence which points to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda as the perpetrators of this attack. By way of illustration, at least two of the hijackers met with a senior al Qaeda terrorist -- the same al Qaeda terrorist which reliable information demonstrates orchestrated the attack on the USS Cole and who was involved in the planning of the East Africa bombings."
The two hijackers referred to were al-Midhar and Alhazmi. The senior al Qaeda terrorist was Khallad. The place that they met was Malaysia. Thus the facts linking these two individuals to Khallad and to bin Laden formed the crux of the case made to governments around the world after September 11th that bin Laden should be held accountable for those attacks.
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