Wikileaks Cable Details 9/11 Team B. 2nd Group of Hijackers Booked onto Flt. 77 Aircraft - Got Away
Here's the cable. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...
The FBI, CIA, and DHS have apparently been sitting on this information for 9 years. Three Qatari men were scheduled to fly on 9/10 from LA to DC on the same American Airlines plane that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11 by Flt. 77 hijackers al-Midhar and al-Hazmi. There are two other suspects mentioned, a young UAE man living in the LA area who helped the three move around the West Coast and a "convicted terrorist" who purchased the airline tickets.
One has to ask: why did they abort their mission, and where are they? Who is the "convicted terrorist", and is he in custody? Did the USG ever find the others? Why has the USG sat on this information all this time?
MORE below, including the cable . . .
Ref ID: 10DOHA60
Date: 2/11/2010 5:03
Origin: Embassy Doha
Classification: SECRET
Destination:
SNIP
S E C R E T DOHA 000060 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR INR/TIPOFF AND CA/VO/L/C E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2020 TAGS: PINR, ASEC, CVIS, KVPR, PGOV, PTER, QA, SIPRS SUBJECT: QATAR JANUARY 2010 VISAS VIPER MEETING AND SUBMISSION Classified By: DCM Mirembe Nantongo, reasons 1.4 (b),(d)
1. (U) VISAS VIPER (State Department Terrorism Alert)
SNIP
3. (SBU) THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PROVIDED FOR WATCHLISTING PURPOSES AS THE DEPARTMENT AND THE NATIONAL COUNTERTERORISM CENTER (NCTC) DEEM APPROPRIATE. WE RECOMMEND THAT MOHAMED ALI MOHAMED AL DAHHAM AL MANSOORI (MOHAMED ALI MOHAMED AL MANSOORI) BE INCLUDED IN THE TSA SELECTEE SECURITY DIRECTIVE FOR RELEASE TO U.S. AND FOREIGN CARRIERS AS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO MAY POSE A THREAT TO CIVIL AVIATION IN THE U.S. AND ABROAD. A REVIEW OF CLASS INDICATED NO HITS FOR AL MANSOORI. POST WILL ENTER AL MANSOORI IN CLASS AFTER TRANSMITTING THIS CABLE.
4. (SBU) NAME: MOHAMED ALI MOHAMED AL DAHHAM AL MANSOORI ALIAS: MOHAMED ALI MOHAMED AL MANSOORI DOB: xxxxxxxxxxxx POB: UAE GENDER: M NATIONALITY: UAE LOCATION: UNK PPT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx A0122037 (UAE)
5. (S) MR. AL MANSOORI IS CURRENTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE FBI FOR HIS POSSIBLE INVOLVEMENT IN THE 11 SEPTEMBER 2001 ATTACKS. HE IS SUSPECTED OF AIDING PEOPLE WHO ENTERED THE U.S. BEFORE THE ATTACKS TO CONDUCT SURVEILLANCE OF POSSIBLE TARGETS AND PROVIDING OTHER SUPPORT TO THE HIJACKERS.
6. (S) THE THREE INDIVIDUALS BELOW ENTERED THE U.S. ON 15 AUGUST 2001 ABOARD BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) FLIGHT #185 FROM LONDON, ENGLAND: NAME: MESHAL ALHAJRI ALIAS: MESHAL AL HAJRI, MESCAL ABDULLA AL HAJRI DOB: xxxxxxxxxxxx POB: QATAR GENDER: M NATIONALITY: QATAR LOCATION: UNK PPT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxxx (QATAR) NAME: FAHAD ABDULLA ALIAS: FAHAD MUBARAK R ABDULLA DOB: xxxxxxxxxxxx POB: QATAR GENDER: M NATIONALITY: QATAR LOCATION: UNK PPT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxxx (QATAR) NAME: ALI ALFEHAID ALIAS: ALI HAMAD S M AL FEHAID DOB: xxxxxxxxxxxx POB: QATAR GENDER: M NATIONALITY: QATAR LOCATION: UNK PPT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxxx (QATAR)
7. (S) THE MEN FIRST VISITED NEW YORK, NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON, D.C. THEY VISITED THE WORLD TRADE CENTER, THE STATUE OF LIBERTY, THE WHITE HOUSE, AND VARIOUS AREAS IN VIRGINA.
8. (S) THE MEN THEN FLEW TO LOS ANGELES, CA ON 24 AUGUST 2001 ABOARD AMERICAN AIRLINES (AA) FLIGHT #143. THEY CHECKED INTO ONE ROOM IN A HOTEL NEAR THE LOS ANGELES AIRPORT WITH A CHECKOUT DATE OF 10 SEPTEMBER 2001. THEY PAID FOR THE ROOM USING CASH AND, DURING THE LAST FEW DAYS OF THEIR STAY, REQUESTED THAT THEIR ROOM NOT BE CLEANED. HOTEL CLEANING STAFF GREW SUSPICIOUS OF THE MEN BECAUSE THEY NOTICED PILOT TYPE UNIFORMS, SEVERAL LAPTOPS, AND SEVERAL CARDBOARD BOXES ADDRESSED TO SYRIA, JERUSALEM, AFGHANISTAN, AND JORDAN IN THE ROOM ON PREVIOUS CLEANING VISITS. THE MEN HAD A SMASHED CELLULAR PHONE IN THE ROOM AND A CELLULAR PHONE ATTACHED BY WIRE TO A COMPUTER. THE ROOM ALSO CONTAINED PIN FEED COMPUTER PAPER PRINT OUTS WITH HEADERS LISTING PILOT NAMES, AIRLINES, FLIGHT NUMBERS, AND FLIGHT TIMES.
9. (S) ACCORDING TO AA RECORDS, THE MEN SCHEDULED RETURN FLIGHTS FOR 10 SEPTEMBER 2001 ABOARD AA FLIGHT #144 FROM LOS ANGELES, CA TO WASHINGTON, D.C., BUT FAILED TO BOARD. THE SAME PLANE USED FOR AA FLIGHT #144 ON 10 SEPTEMBER 2001 WAS USED FOR AA FLIGHT #77 ON 11 SEPTEMBER 2001. AA FLIGHT #77 WAS HIJACKED ON ROUTE THE NEXT DAY AND CRASHED IN TO THE PENTAGON.
10. (S) BA RECORDS INDICATE THAT THE MEN BOARDED BA FLIGHT #268 ON 10 SEPTEMBER 2001 FROM LOS ANGELES, CA TO LONDON, ENGLAND. THE MEN RETURNED TO QATAR ON BA FLIGHT #125 FROM LONDON, ENGLAND TO DOHA, QATAR ON 13 SEPTEMBER 2001.
12. (S) A SUBSEQUENT FBI INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE MEN,S PLANE TICKETS WERE PAID FOR AND THEIR HOTEL RESERVATIONS IN LOS ANGELES, CA WERE MADE BY A CONVICTED TERRORIST. THE INVESTIGATION ALSO REVEALED THAT THE MEN SPENT A WEEK WITH MR. AL MANSOORI TRAVELING TO DIFFERENT DESTINATIONS IN CALIFORNIA.
13. (SBU) MR. AL MANSOORI,S VISA WAS REVOKED AFTER THIS INFORMATION CAME TO LIGHT, BUT HIS NAME WAS NOT WATCHLISTED IN THE CLASS SYSTEM. POST RECOMMENDS THAT MR. AL MANSOORI,S INFORMATION BE ENTERED INTO THE CLASS SYSTEM ON THE BASIS OF THE ONGOING FBI INVESTIGATION AND HIS POSSIBLE TIES TO TERRORISM.
9/11 Team-B Technologically Proficient
According to the cable, it would appear members of this team may have been using VOIP in '01 and had access to several US aviation databases.
Note also that the three held Qatari passports, which is different from the other hijackers we knew about, 15 of the 19 being Saudis. The names of the three previously appeared on terrorism watch lists, but this incident was not previously revealed.
According to the UK Telegraph, which first published this Wikileak, Al-Mansoor was at the time a 19 year old from the UAE known to have had at least two addresses in the LA area. The others were Qataris in their mid-20's who flew in from London on August 15. The cable indicates a fifth man, "a convicted terrorist", purchased the tickets for AA Flight 144 and hotel reservations. Who is this man, and if convicted, is he being held by the U.S.?
Who is the "Convicted Terrorist" Who Bankrolled Part of the Operation?
Who is this man, and is he in U.S. custody? A few possibilities: KSM? AZ? Ramzi bin al-Sheibh? Five detainees have been convicted at Guantanamo through military tribunals. On February 11, 2008, the United States Department of Defense charged Mohammed as well as Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and Walid Bin Attash for the September 11, 2001 attacks under the military commission system, as established under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. All were convicted.
Or, possibly, the Imam who seemingly knew everyone, and was everywhere at once during every significant AQ attack on US soil? On January 17, 2011, fugitive al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki received a ten-year sentence from a court in Yemen for his role in the murder of a French energy contractor. Al-Awlaki, having been released from U.S. custody after 9/11, has thusfar eluded all reported subsequent attempts to kill or capture him.
What was the purpose of this Team?
It's possible that this was a Command & Control advance team or a back-up, and that their plan was to carry out the attack on the Pentagon if something had happened to prevent al-Midhar and al-Hazmi from carrying out their mission on 9/11. These additional facts may indicate the Pentagon was the primary target, and that this was carried out by a group of real professionals.
It's also possible, of course, that they were an electronically "noisy" diversion, meant to draw attention away from the others. Also, why stay at the same airport hotel for so long, when this increased the chances they would be noticed?
The third possibility is that this was a fifth attack team, and they had some other target, but for some reason, aborted their part of the mission.
In any case, this shows a much higher level of sophistication in planning and use of technology than we had previously been led to believe.
It's extremely disturbing that almost a decade later, the identity of a known co-conspirator is still being kept secret, and not until early last year did the State Dept. finally get the go-ahead to blacklist al-Mansoor. It's not even clear whether TSA actually No-Fly listed him.
One thing is clear - the 9/11 Commission needs to be reopened with some new members and staff. This story is far from complete.