Bush Warned

Bush Warned of 911

"We have repeatedly issued warnings, over a number of years," bin Laden told ABC producer Rahimullah Yousafsai a day after the Newsweek interview. "Following these warnings and these calls, anti-American explosions took place in a number of Islamic countries."

"Most probably, these acts came about as a result of such calls and warnings," he continued. "But only God knows the truth."

(http://www.cnn.com/US/9901/04/binladen.interviews/)

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Signal one: On Aug. 21, 2 ½ weeks before the attacks, the FBI asked that two known al Qaeda terrorists be put on a border-watch list — only to learn they were already in the country. That's a big clue," said John Martin, the former chief of internal security at the Justice Department.

Signal two: In early August, the FBI office in Phoenix messaged headquarters about an unusual influx of Arab students at local flight schools, but there was no national response. They gave headquarters a heads-up and headquarters did not pick up on it," said Martin.

Signal three: On Aug. 15, a flight instructor in Minneapolis called the FBI to report suspicions about a foreign student named Zacarias Moussaoui, who wanted to pay cash to learn to fly a Boeing 747. Moussaoui's wad of money, foreign background and lack of flying skills led flight instructors to warn the local FBI office of a possible hijacking plot.

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THE WARNINGS OF TERRORIST ATTACKS

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Saturday, September 15, 2001

Report: Iranian Deportee Gave Warnings

Ireland's online news service, online.ie, reported yesterday that German police have confirmed an Iranian man phoned US police from his deportation cell to warn of the planned attack on the World Trade Centre.

Germany's Lower Saxony Justice Ministry has confirmed the man warned of the impending series of terrorist attacks, but had not been believed.

Spokesman Frank Woesthoff said the man phoned America "several times", but refused to give further details.

He said the US Secret Service had not told the ministry about the calls received from the Langenhagen prison until after the attacks.

"I cannot say anything about the man and the ministry does not know the content of the conversations," he added.

The Hanover daily newspaper Neue Presse reported the 29-year-old was dismissed as mentally unstable when he gave the warning of a terrorist attack to occur this week.

The ministry would not reveal when the calls had been made.

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By Brian McWilliams, Newsbytes

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A.,

27 Sep 2001, 11:48 AM CST

Officials at instant-messaging firm Odigo confirmed today that two employees received text messages warning of an attack on the World Trade Center two hours before terrorists crashed planes into the New York landmarks. Citing a pending investigation by law enforcement, the company declined to reveal the exact contents of the message or to identify the sender. But Alex Diamandis, vice president of sales and marketing, confirmed that workers in Odigo's research and development and international sales office in Israel received a warning from another Odigo user approximately two hours prior to the first attack.

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CAIRO, Sept 11 (AFP) -

Egyptian and Arab officials had recently warned the United States of the risk of terrorist attacks against it, if Washington failed to become more involved in settling the Arab-Israeli conflict.

At the end of August, following Israel's assassination of a Palestinian political leader, the assistant secretary general of the Arab League, Said Kamal, had also warned of terrorist attacks.

"Unfortunately, day by day, (the Americans) are going to be affected by what is going on. I can't say how, when and where. But they must take responsibility for their negative position," Kamal told AFP, expressing a personal opinion.

The warnings were notably linked to Saudi extremist Osama bin Laden, who has taken refuge in Afghanistan.

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By Karen Matusic

LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden warned three weeks ago that he and his followers would carry out an unprecedented attack on U.S. interests for its support of Israel, an Arab journalist with access to him said Tuesday.

``Personally, we received information that he planned very, very big attacks against American interests. We received several warnings like this. We did not take it so seriously, preferring to see what would happen before reporting it.''

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Interview of Judith Miller

In this interview, conducted September 12, 2001, Miller discusses what was learned about bin Laden's network from the trials of the 1998 U.S. embassy terrorists and from the failed series of terrorist attacks planned to coincide with the millennium celebrations. She also discusses the warnings prior to the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon and destruction of the World Trade Center.

I think the American reaction, or at least some of the American news media, was, "There he goes again." Actually, these warnings from bin Laden himself have been very rare. They are relatively few and in-between. And I think the people in intelligence and law enforcement that I know were rattled by this warning, but they didn't quite know what to do about it.

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CBS NEWS David Ruppe

Over the course of the year, the U.S. State Department has issued a number of alerts pointing to the possibility that agents of al Qaeda may be planning an attack against U.S. military or civilian targets.

A June 22 alert said the U.S. government had learned "that American citizens and interests abroad may be at increased risk of a terrorist action from extremist groups."

Most recently, on Friday, Sept. 7, the State Department issued a worldwide alert warning "American citizens may be the target of a terrorist threat from extremist groups with links to [Osama bin Laden's] al Qaeda organization."

That report cited information gathered in May that suggested an attack somewhere was imminent. It warned that individuals in al Qaeda "have not distinguished between official and civilian targets."

Possible Warning Last Month

An Arab journalist with access to bin Laden said the Saudi-born dissident had warned three weeks ago that he and his followers would carry out an unprecedented attack on U.S. interests, according to Reuters news agency.

"It is most likely the work of Islamic fundamentalists. Osama bin Laden warned three weeks ago that he would attack American interests in an unprecedented attack, a very big one," said Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi, an Arabic-language weekly news magazine.

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WorldNetDaily.com -Joseph Farah

For instance, according to a report in the London Telegraph, Israeli intelligence agents traveled to Washington in August to warn the FBI and Central Intelligence Agency that large-scale terrorist attacks on highly visible targets on the American mainland were imminent. The Israelis warned that as many as 200 terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden and Iraq were preparing a big operation.

The FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies also knew that two of the hijackers were in the country, according to the Los Angeles Times. They were on a terrorist watch list. But the airlines were not notified.

In addition, the FBI and CIA were well aware of bin Laden's plans to hijack U.S. airliners. The plot was uncovered six years earlier in the Philippines when police found detailed information on a laptop computer belonging to a bin Laden operative, Ramsi Youssef. The plan called for hijacking U.S. airliners and crashing them into U.S. buildings including the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

In case the FBI and CIA had just forgotten about Project Bojinka, which I sincerely doubt, they should have received a reminder with the 1999 publication of Yossef Bodansky's book, "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America," in which he spells it out. The original plan called for the hijacking of 11 airliners at once.

The FBI had several terrorists under surveillance, according to the Oct. 1 issue of Newsweek. They intercepted communications just prior to Sept. 11 that suggested something very big was about to happen.

San Francisco Chronicle reported that Mayor Willie Brown was called eight hours before the hijackings and warned by his security staff not to travel.

On Sept. 27, the London Times reported that Salman Rushdie got a similar warning about avoiding U.S. and Canadian airliners. That warning, said Rushdie, came from no less authority than the Federal Aviation Administration.

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New American - William Norman Grigg

During the 1990s, the FBI uncovered clues indicating that bin Laden was planning to attack America with hijacked airliners. This information was never shared with local police.

In fact, both the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had detailed information about the possible use of hijack/suicide attacks by terrorists connected to Osama bin Laden. "In 1994," reported the October 3rd New York Times, "two jetliners were hijacked by people who wanted to crash them into buildings, one of them by an Islamic militant group. And the 2000 edition of the FAA’s annual report on Criminal Acts Against Aviation, published this year, said that although Osama bin Laden ‘is not known to have attacked civil aviation, he has both the motivation and the wherewithal to do so,’ adding, ‘Bin Laden’s anti-Western and anti-American attitudes make him and his followers a significant threat to civil aviation, particularly to U.S. civil aviation.’" Moreover, the 1999 edition of the FAA document reported that a radical Islamic leader living in British exile warned in August 1998 that bin Laden "would bring down an airliner, or hijack an airliner to humiliate the United States."

"Arrested and tortured by Philippine intelligence agents, Murad told the story of ‘Bojinka’ — ‘loud bang’ — the code name bin Laden operatives had given to an audacious plan to bomb 11 U.S. airliners simultaneously and fly an airplane into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia — all after attempting to assassinate Pope John Paul II," recounted the September 23rd Washington Post. Additional targets of the conspiracy included the Pentagon, San Francisco’s TransAmerica Building, the Sears Tower in Chicago — and the World Trade Center, which had survived the 1993 bombing relatively unscathed.

"Since 1996," reported the September 24th Washington Post, "the FBI had been developing evidence that international terrorists were using flight schools to learn to fly jumbo jets." This evidence began to accumulate shortly after the FBI learned of "Bojinka" from Philippine officials.

• On August 13th, a flight school in Eagan, Minnesota, informed the FBI that a student named Zacarias Moussaoui had asked to take 747 flight simulator training, but that he only wanted to learn how to steer the aircraft — not take off or land. Moussaoui, who was in this country illegally, was arrested and held for deportation. But, as Novak notes, "no connection was made with the 1995 revelations" about "Bojinka." In fact, the October 6th New York Times reported that the FBI "held back its own agents" from investigating Moussaoui.

• Over the past two years, the CIA made the FBI aware of the names of about 100 suspected members of bin Laden’s terrorist network thought to be headed to, or already in, the United States. An August 23rd cable specifically referred to Khalid Al-Midhar and Nawaq Alhazmi, who were aboard the hijacked airplane that crashed into the Pentagon.

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MANILA, Philippines (CNN)

"Murad narrated to us about a plan by the Ramzi cell in the continental U.S. to hijack a commercial plane and ram it into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and also the Pentagon," said Rodolfo Mendoza, a Philippine intelligence investigator.

Philippine investigators also found evidence targeting commercial towers in San Francisco, Chicago and New York City.

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News Telegraph UK

Military adviser Dr Marvin Cetron says he prepared a 250-page report for the US intelligence agencies in 1993 which detailed his concerns - but it was ignored. "I said ... aircraft could hit the White House or the Pentagon - making a left turn at the Washington Monument and running into the White House, or a right turn and going into the Pentagon," Dr Cetron said.

He added: "They understood and they ignored it, they took it out of the final draft. I think the reason they didn't want that published is because they felt they couldn't do anything about it. It would scare people and the flying public, which it probably would have, and therefore why worry about it."

Republican Senator Wayne Allard, a member of the US administration's armed forces committee, said he was part of various hearings where the suggestion of possible attacks from hijacked jets were made. He said the warnings were similar to the terror attacks which saw four planes hijacked to deadly effect, but not exactly the same.

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Israeli security issued urgent warning to CIA of large-scale terror attacks By David Wastell in Washington and Philip Jacobson in Jerusalem

(Filed: 16/09/2001)

ISRAELI intelligence officials say that they warned their counterparts in the United States last month that large-scale terrorist attacks on highly visible targets on the American mainland were imminent.

The attacks on the World Trade Centre's twin towers and the Pentagon were humiliating blows to the intelligence services, which failed to foresee them, and to the defence forces of the most powerful nation in the world, which failed to deflect them.

The Telegraph has learnt that two senior experts with Mossad, the Israeli military intelligence service, were sent to Washington in August to alert the CIA and FBI to the existence of a cell of as many of 200 terrorists said to be preparing a big operation.

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However, one thing is certain, based upon what is now known. By itself, neither the CIA nor the FBI can claim that a lack of resources or human intelligence prevented them from predicting this attack. Indeed, there is credible but preliminary and circumstantial information, that certain segments of Wall Street and the U.S. financial community did know of the pending attack. There is also evidence that the U.S. government already had the technical expertise to know what was coming and was likely using it at the time the attacks occurred.

The Cayman Islands - MS-NBC reported on September 14 that a caller to a radio talk show made several warnings of an imminent attack by Osama bin Laden against American Airlines.

Germany - On September 14, the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported that "U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies received warning signals at least three months ago that Middle eastern terrorists were planning to hijack commercial aircraft to use as weapons to attack important symbols of American and Israeli culture."

According to a report filed by the Post-Newsweek information service, "The FAZ, quoting unnamed German Intelligence sources, said that the Echelon spy network was being used to collect information about the terrorist threats, and that U.K. intelligence services apparently also had advance warning. The FAZ, one of Germany's most respected dailies, said that even as far back as six months ago, western and near-east press services were receiving information that such attacks were being planned. "Within the American intelligence community, the warnings were taken seriously and surveillance intensified"

France - On September 13, Reuters reported, "The FBI arrested an Islamic militant in Boston last month and received French intelligence reports linking him to Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden but apparently did not act on them, a French radio station said on Thursday.

Europe 1 radio reported that U.S. police arrested a man with dual French and Algerian nationality who had several passports, technical information on Boeing aircraft and flight manuals. "The man had been taking flying lessons, it added.

"Asked for information by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, French security services provided a dossier clearly identifying him as an Islamic militant working with bin Laden."

Russia - A former CIA officer told FTW that, according to a Russian newspaper article, Russian intelligence had notified the U.S. government of the attacks. They even stated that they were aware that 25 pilots had been specifically trained for the suicide missions.

Russia - On September 15, Russian president Valdimir Putin told interviewers on MS-NBC that the Russian government had been warning the U.S. of imminent attacks on airports and government buildings in the strongest possible terms for weeks.

The Financial Markets - Cockburn and St. Clair report, "In addition to what we have previously reported about heightened security at the World trade center itself in the weeks leading to the attack and at the Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway, New Jersey, Counterpunch has also learned that internal memo was sent around Goldman Sachs in Tokyo on September 10 advising all employees of a possible terrorist attack. It recommended all employees to avoid any American government buildings."

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By Jake Tapper

Sept. 12, 2001 | WASHINGTON -- They went to great pains not to sound as though they were telling the president "We told you so."

But on Wednesday, two former senators, the bipartisan co-chairs of a Defense Department-chartered commission on national security, spoke with something between frustration and regret about how White House officials failed to embrace any of the recommendations to prevent acts of domestic terrorism delivered earlier this year.

Bush administration officials told former Sens. Gary Hart, D-Colo., and Warren Rudman, R-N.H., that they preferred instead to put aside the recommendations issued in the January report by the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century. Instead, the White House announced in May that it would have Vice President Dick Cheney study the potential problem of domestic terrorism -- which the bipartisan group had already spent two and a half years studying -- while assigning responsibility for dealing with the issue to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, headed by former Bush campaign manager Joe Allbaugh.

The bipartisan 14-member panel was put together in 1998 by then-President Bill Clinton and then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., to make sweeping strategic recommendations on how the United States could ensure its security in the 21st century.

In its Jan. 31 report, seven Democrats and seven Republicans unanimously approved 50 recommendations. Many of them addressed the point that, in the words of the commission's executive summary, "the combination of unconventional weapons proliferation with the persistence of international terrorism will end the relative invulnerability of the U.S. homeland to catastrophic attack."

"A direct attack against American citizens on American soil is likely over the next quarter century," according to the report.

The commission was supposed to disband after issuing the report Jan. 31, but Hart and the other commission members got a six-month extension to lobby for their recommendations. Hart says he spent 90 minutes with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and an hour with Secretary of State Colin Powell lobbying for the White House to devote more attention to the imminent dangers of terrorism and their specific, detailed recommendations for a major change in the way the federal government approaches terrorism. He and Rudman briefed National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on the commission's findings.

Bush also directed Cheney -- a man with a full plate, including supervision of the administration's energy plans and its dealings with Congress -- to supervise the development of a national counter-terrorism plan. Bush announced that Cheney and Allbaugh would review the issues and have recommendations for him by Oct. 1. The commission's report was seemingly put on the shelf.

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CLINTON'S WATCH

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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/trail/inside/

An Algerian on trial for terrorism was alleged by the prosecution yesterday to have aided a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport - one of several attacks planned by terrorist cells based in Afghanistan aimed to coincide with millennium celebrations in the United States.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph F. Bianco said in his opening statement that Mokhtar Haouari gave convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam USD$3000, a fake driver's license and the name of a person to meet when he arrived in the United States.

The scheme collapsed when Ressam was arrested in December 1999 crossing the Canadian border with a trunkful of explosives.

The explosives were intended for an attack on "a terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport," Bianco said, in a bid to kill hundreds of people at the height of the holiday season.

He said Haouari did not necessarily know the target of the attack but knew Ressam was on a mission of destruction.

The plot originated when an Algerian terrorist group began training in Afghanistan 1998, Bianco said. The camp worked with cells from Yemen, Germany, Italy, Jordan and other countries.

"The teaching at the camp was very clear: The United States was the enemy, and its citizens and its interests anywhere in the world are viable targets for terrorist attacks," Bianco said.

The bomb was to be detonated in a suitcase outside a security checkpoint in one of the Los Angeles Airport terminals at the height of the holidays, Bianco said.

The prosecutor also said Ressam would be a key government's witness. His testimony, he said, would "give a rare and chilling glimpse inside of the world of a terrorist."

Haouari, 32, an Algerian living in Montreal, waived extradition after his arrest in Canada. He was charged with conspiring to commit terrorism on U.S. soil and faces up to 100 years in prison if convicted.

His lawyer, Daniel J. Ollen, spent much of his opening argument attacking the credibility of Ressam and another prosecution witness, Abdel Ghani Meskini, an Algerian living in New York City.

Meskini, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, has said he was asked by Haouari to go to Seattle to give Ressam money and other aid.

Ollen called Ressam and Meskini "the gang of two, both desperate men... Both went to the government looking for a deal."

Ollen gestured toward his own client and told the jury: "That man is not a terrorist."

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/06/993730990.html

www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,311097-412,00.shtml www.latimes.com/news/local/

Mr. Bush had begun today about 6:30 a.m., running 4.5 miles during a 42-minute stop at a golf course near the Longboat Key,....

At 9:04 a.m., before his speech, Mr. Bush went into a classroom for a brief reading demonstration. He smiled when he saw the 18 children. At 9:07 p.m., his chief of staff, Andrew Card, leaned over and whispered to him. Mr. Bush's face suddenly went grim.

At that point, officials apparently thought the crash was an accident. Mr. Bush sat with his hands folded and his legs crossed, with a bemused look. The second-graders read so well that Mr. Bush said, "Really good readers! Whoo! This must be sixth-graders."

Mr. Bush asked his standard question about whether any of the children read more than they watch television, and was pleased to hear that some do. Their reading included the phrase "more to come." Mr. Bush asked, "What does that mean, 'more to come?' "

One of the pupils said, "Something else is going to happen."

Mr. Bush said, "That's exactly right."

http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/468411_exbushpost_11n.html

WHO ELSE KNEW & WAS WARNED??

4000 Israeli Employees in WTC Absent the Day of the Attack Arab diplomatic sources revealed to the Jordanian al-Watan newspaper that those Israelis remained absent that day based on hints from the Israeli General Security Apparatus, the Shabak, the fact which evoked unannounced suspicions on American officials who wanted to know how the Israeli government learned about the incident before it occurred, and the reasons why it refrained from informing the U.S authorities of the information it had. Suspicions had increased further after Israeli newspaper Yadiot Ahranot revealed that the Shabak prevented Israeli premier Ariel Sharon from traveling to New York and particularly to the cityâEUR(tm)s eastern coast to participate in a festival organized by the Zionist organizations in support of the "Israel".

http://arizona.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=1528&group=webcast

For Mayor Willie Brown, the first signs that something was amiss came late Monday when he got a call from what he described as his airport security - - a full eight hours before yesterday's string of terrorist attacks -- advising him that Americans should be cautious about their air travel. Mike McCarron, assistant deputy director at SFO, said the Federal Aviation Administration "routinely" issues security notices about possible threats. He said two or three such notices have been received in the past couple of months, but none in recent days.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/09/12/MN229389.DTL

In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.

http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,303601-412,00.shtml

Most recently, on Friday, Sept. 7, the State Department issued a worldwide alert warning ‘American citizens may be the target of a terrorist threat from extremist groups with links to [Osama bin Laden's] al Qaeda organization.’ That report cited information gathered in May that suggested an attack somewhere was imminent. It warned that individuals in al Qaeda "have not distinguished between official and civilian targets."

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/wtc_terrorsuspects_010911.html

The state of alert had been high during the past two weeks, and a particularly urgent warning may have been received the night before the attacks, causing some top Pentagon brass to cancel a trip.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/627963.asp

Ashcroft Flying High WASHINGTON, July 26, 2001 In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term. That idea, they said, came strictly from Ashcroft's FBI security detail. The FBI had no further comment.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

GOOD SOURCE http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/jan2002/sept-j16.shtml

8:48 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 en route from Boston's Logan Airport to Los Angeles International with 92 people onboard, slams into the north tower, 1 World Trade Center.

9:05 a.m. Approximately 18 minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175, also a Boeing 767 enroute from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 people onboard, hits the south tower, 2 World Trade Center.

9:21 a.m. New York City Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels in New York City.

9:24 a.m. President Bush calls the crashes "an apparent terrorist attack on our country."

9:32 a.m. New York Stock Exchange closed

9:40 a.m. The FAA orders the entire nationwide air traffic system shut down. All flights at U.S. airports are stopped.

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

9:43 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 enroute from Dulles Airport outside Washington to LAX with 58 passengers and six crew members, crashes into the Pentagon. One of the building's five sides collapses.

9:45 a.m. The White House is evacuated.

9:59 a.m. The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses in a plume of ash and debris.

10:00 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco with 38 passengers and seven crew members, crashes just north of the Somerset County Airport, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Shortly before impact, a passenger called on his cell phone from a locked bathroom: "We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" At this time there was concern the plane was headed to Camp David.

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

10:24 a.m. The FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic flights are to be diverted to Canada.

10:28 a.m. The World Trade Center's north tower collapses.

12:15 p.m. The United States closes some border crossings with Canada and Mexico.

1:02 p.m. New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani orders an evacuation of Manhattan south of Canal Street.

1:04 p.m. In a speech at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, President Bush announces that security measures are being taken and says: "Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts."

1:44 p.m. The Navy dispatches aircraft carriers and guided missile destroyers to New York and Washington. Around the country, fighters, airborne radar and refueling planes scramble. The North American Aerospace Defense Command go to its highest alert.

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

1:44 p.m. President Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base for Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base, home to the U.S. Strategic Command.

4:30 p.m. President Bush leaves Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska for Washington.

4:45 p.m. The City of New York announces that 200 firefighters have been killed and 78 police officers are missing.

5:20 p.m. Seven World Trade Center, a 47-story tower, collapses from ancillary damage.

9:45 a.m. The White House is evacuated.

9:59 a.m. The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses in a plume of ash and debris.

10:24 a.m. The FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic flights are to be diverted to Canada.

10:28 a.m. The World Trade Center's north tower collapses.

12:15 p.m. The United States closes some border crossings with Canada and Mexico.

1:02 p.m. New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani orders an evacuation of Manhattan south of Canal Street.

1:44 p.m. President Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base for Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base, home to the U.S. Strategic Command.

4:30 p.m. President Bush leaves Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska for Washington.

4:45 p.m. The City of New York announces that 200 firefighters have been killed and 78 police officers are missing.

5:20 p.m. Seven World Trade Center, a 47-story tower, collapses from ancillary damage.

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Republicans Watered Down 1996 Clinton

Anti-Terrorism Bill, Thanks to Lott & Hatch

10-16-01, Since all the republicans want to blame clinton for all the worlds problems these articles should open some eyes. I wonder why the mainstream media or O'Reilly or Rush or FOX news never mention these facts when they blame Clinton for everything ?

7-30-1996, WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton urged Congress Tuesday to act swiftly in developing anti-terrorism legislation before its August recess.

"We need to keep this country together right now. We need to focus on this terrorism issue," Clinton said during a White House news conference.

But while the president pushed for quick legislation, Republican lawmakers hardened their stance against some of the proposed anti-terrorism measures.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, doubted that the Senate would rush to action before they recess this weekend. The Senate needs to study all the options, he said, and trying to get it done in the next three days would be tough.

One key GOP senator was more critical, calling a proposed study of chemical markers in explosives "a phony issue."

Taggants value disputed

Clinton said he knew there was Republican opposition to his proposal on explosive taggants, but it should not be allowed to block the provisions on which both parties agree.

"What I urge them to do is to be explicit about their disagreement, but don't let it overcome the areas of agreement," he said.

The president emphasized coming to terms on specific areas of disagreement would help move the legislation along. The president stressed it's important to get the legislation out before the weekend's recess, especially following the bombing of Centennial Olympic Park and the crash of TWA Flight 800.

"The most important thing right now is that they get the best, strongest bill they can out -- that they give us as much help as they can," he said.

Hatch blasts 'phony' issues

Republican leaders earlier met with White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta for about an hour in response to the president's call for "the very best ideas" for fighting terrorism.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, emerged from the meeting and said, "These are very controversial provisions that the White House wants. Some they're not going to get."

Hatch called Clinton's proposed study of taggants -- chemical markers in explosives that could help track terrorists -- "a phony issue."

"If they want to, they can study the thing" already, Hatch asserted. He also said he had some problems with the president's proposals to expand wiretapping.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said it is a mistake if Congress leaves town without addressing anti-terrorism legislation. Daschle is expected to hold a special meeting on the matter Wednesday with Congressional leaders.

April 16, 1996, WASHINGTON (CNN) -- By Friday, the first anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, Congress is expected to pass an anti- terrorism bill which addresses some, though not all, of the concerns the bombing raised over Americans' safety.

Congressional leaders, flanked by survivors and relatives of victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, unveiled compromise legislation Monday to increase federal powers to fight terrorism and limit appeals by death-row inmates.

As the trial nears for the accused, those who lost relatives in the bombing say the proposed law should put the concerns of victims above those of terrorists.

"We have forgotten that anyone who murdered has relinquished rights for compassion," said Diane Leonard, the widow of a Secret Service agent killed in the bombing.

Only one element of the anti-terrorism bill has a potential effect on the Oklahoma City case. It would limit the number and duration of appeals a convicted death row inmate could file.

President Clinton has expressed concern over the death penalty provision, but Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah said he had spoken with the president about the provision, and feels confident his objection is not strong enough to elicit a veto.

Hatch said the compromise bill would prevent international terrorist organizations from raising money in the United States and provide for the swift deportation of international terrorists.

The demand for an anti-terrorism bill precedes Oklahoma City and was shaped by the attacks on Pan Am flight 103 which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland and the bombing of the World Trade Center.

The bill, which would cost $1 billion over four years, also calls for "tagging" plastic explosives to better trace them. The bill calls for a study on tagging methods for other explosives such as fertilizer and black powder. Critics say the study provision is a concession to groups opposed to restrictions on explosive materials.

The Republicans also dropped the additional wire-tap authority the Clinton administration wanted. U.S. Attorney general Janet Reno had asked for "multi-point" tapping of suspected terrorists, who may be using advanced technology to outpace authorities.

Rep. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said technology is giving criminals an advantage. "What the terrorists do is they take one cellular phone, use the number for a few days, throw it out and use a different phone with a different number," he said. "All we are saying is tap the person, not the phone number."

Still, Schumer said the bill is "better than nothing" and should get some Democratic votes.

President Clinton asked Congress to give him the anti- terrorism bill by the first anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19. And he'll get it. While it might not be all the president wants, administration officials indicate it's a bill he can sign.

Congress Passes Anti-Terrorism Bill

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Congress on Thursday passed a compromise bill boosting the ability of law enforcement authorities to fight domestic terrorism, just one day before the first anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

The House voted, 293-133, to send the anti-terrorism bill to President Clinton, who has indicated that he will sign it after he returns from his overseas trip next week.

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The measure, which the Senate passed overwhelmingly Wednesday evening, is a watered-down version of the White House's proposal. The Clinton administration has been critical of the bill, calling it too weak.

Note: The senate was controlled by the republicans in 1996. Trent Lott was the majority leader.

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The original House bill, passed last month, had deleted many of the Senate's anti-terrorism provisions because of lawmakers' concerns about increasing federal law enforcement powers. Some of those provisions were restored in the compromise bill.

The bill imposes limits on federal appeals by death row inmates and other prisoners and makes the death penalty available in some international terrorism cases and in cases where a federal employee is killed on duty.

The bill "has some very effective tools that we can use in our efforts to combat terrorism," Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday.

But she was less enthusiastic about the bill's limits on federal appeals by death row inmates and other prisoners. She was also concerned that the bill would make it more difficult for federal judges to overturn state court rulings.

Republicans were divided on whether the legislation would be effective.

"We have a measure that will give us a strong upper hand in the battle to prevent and punish domestic and international terrorism," Senate Majority Leader and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole said Wednesday.

But Sen. Don Nickles, R-Oklahoma, while praising the bill, said the country remains "very open" to terrorism. "Will it stop any acts of terrorism, domestic and international? No," he said, adding, "We don't want a police state."

Some lawmakers took a more prudent view of the bill. "The balance between public safety and order and individual rights is always a difficult dilemma in a free society," said Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-New York.

Congressional leaders had initially promised to complete the bill six weeks after the Oklahoma City federal building bombing that killed 168 people last April 19.

Congress reached compromise on anti-terrorism bill.

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