Live tracking - sledujte své známé na trati!!!

Od roku 2002 Vám Prague International Marathon nabízí ŽIVÉ SLEDOVÁNÍ maratonských běžců z Vašeho počítače na internetu. V den závodu bude možné sledovat kteréhokoliv běžce jako pohybující se bod na virtuální mapě závodu. Na virtuální mapu se dostanete zde. Zadejte startovní číslo závodníka a ...

...

Časomíra

Časomíra bude prováděna čipovým systémem The Winning Time. Každý závodník si musí vyzvednout čip v distribučním stánku v prostoru Maratonského EXPO. Čip musí být připevněn kolem kotníku. Ihned po doběhu budou čipy závodníkům odebírány. Na startu, v cíli a podél trasy Pražského mezinárodního maratonu budou umístěna kontrolní stanoviště časomíry. V případě, že čip nebude vrácen do 15 dnů po závodu, bude běžec penalizován pokutou 500 Kč.

Důležité: Čipy jsou majetkem společnosti The Winning Time. Jsou nepřeprogramovatelné a nelze je tudíž použít na žádný jiný závod.

http://www.pim.cz/index.php?action=main&subject=1424&sessid=82add3584ac16d3028de8f4aae604878

Taky slušný... britská novinářka zadržena v LA na letišti, protože neměla zvl. víza pro tisk.
http://hn.ihned.cz/2-14372230-500000_d-e7
(link převz. z klubu 7262 zahraničněpol.události)

Podivná cesta Nicholase Berga
Vladimír Stwora
15.5.2004

Video nahrávka surového uřezání hlavy amerického občana Nicholase Berga skupinou zakuklených iráckých bojovníků oběhla svět. Jeho tělo bylo nalezeno 8.5. u dálnice do Bagdádu. Svět je šokován. V průběhu několika málo hodin tato událost zcela zastínila odhalená zvěrstva amerických vyšetřovatelů ve věznici Abu Graib a dalších. Den po té, co byl Bush nucen se za mučení vězňů veřejně omluvit, jeho rétorika změnila kolej a nabrala směr, ve kterém se cítí mnohem bezpečněji: z defenzivních se staly projevy opět ofenzivní.

"Tato akce teroristů nám připomněla skutečnou povahu těch několika, kteří chtějí zastavit cestu iráckého lidu ke svobodě," řekl Bush v Bílém domě."Jejich snahou je otřást naši vůli. Jejich snahou je otřást naším sebevědomím. Ale současně nám ukazuje, jak zoufale některé části světa potřebují svobodnou a mírovou společnost. Našim posláním je tuto svobodu a mír přinést. A jsme rozhodnuti naše poslání dokončit."

Byl to okamžik probuzení pro mnoho patriotických talk show a mnoho senátorů a kongresmanů, kteří už několik dnů měli pocit, že se zbytečně rozmazavává to (podle nich nepříliš důležité a zbytečně nafukované) zacházení s iráckými vězni.

"Spojené státy jsou rozhodnuty provést důkladné vyšetření vraždy Nicholase Berga a vyvodit z ní patřičné důsledky," řekl mluvčí okupačních jednotek Dan Senor.

Nicméně některé drobnosti naznačují, že možná bude pro Spojené státy lépe, když se viníci nikdy nenajdou a celá věc zůstane nevyjasněná.

Položme si otázku, jak se vlastně Nicholas Berge dostal do zajetí psychopatických muslimských fundamentalistů? Obecně se přiznává (CNN to hlásila 13. května), že byl od 24. března v zajetí Američanů nebo irácké policie - vlastně prodloužené ruky okupačních jednotek. Podezřívali ho z teroristické aktivity. FBI ho několikrát vyslýchala. Nakonec se zdálo, že není proti němu dostatek důkazů a Berg byl propuštěn.

Ale co vedlo FBI k podezření, že Berg je teroristou? Není to náhodou proto, že jeho otec je otevřeným kritikem Bushovy vlády? Možná je ještě jeden důvod: webová stránka FreeRepublic.com. Je to stránka fanatických přisluhovačů Bushova režimu. Ostře pravicová, silně nacionalistická a samozřejmě všemi deseti pro válku. 7. března se na těchto stránkách objevil "seznam nepřátel". Seznam mírových skupin a lidí nedostatečně patriotických. Na tomto seznamu najdeme i jméno Michael S. Berg a jméno jeho firmy Prometheus Methods Toner Service Inc. Michael Berg je otcem popraveného Nicholase Berga.

Bergova rodina podala 5. dubna u soudu ve Filadelfii žalobu proti Rumsfeldovi, ve které se praví, že Berg byl zadržen bezdůvodně a protiprávně, že je čtrnáct dnů vězněn, aniž by mu sdělili obvinění a umožnili mu kontakt s obhajobou. Hned nato, 6. dubna byl Berg v Iráku propuštěn. Zmizel o tři dny později.

Berg byl v Iráku na vlastní náklady. Ani Pentagon ani firma Haliburton jej tam nevyslala. Snažil se sehnat pro firmu svého otce, kde vykonával vedoucí funkci, nějaké zakázky a současně pomáhat Iráčanům. Bylo by velmi odvážné předpokládat, že policie a FBI nezadržely mladého Berga náhodou?

Dostáváme se na tenký led nejasných důkazů, ale my, kteří vidíme Bushovo vedení bez příkras, a kteří si uvědomujeme ty hory lží a podvodů, kterými se washingtonské vedení udržuje u moci, si uvědomujeme, že jeden podvod navíc a jedna smrt navíc není pro juntu žádný problém. Zvlášť když to poslouží věci.

Sam Hamon (bývalý poradce ministerstva zahraničí a redaktor Third World News) klade některé zneklidňující otázky.

Proč například, ptá se Sam, měl na sobě Berg v době popravy stejný vězeňský mundúr (oranžovou teplákovou soupravu) jakou mají zadržení v koncentračním táboře X na Guantanámo? Copak mu při propuštění tři dny předtím nevydali jeho civilní oděv? Nebo fanatičtí muslimové někde vyrabovali sklad amerických vězeňských mundúrů a potěšení jejich kvalitou rozhodli se je používat i pro své vlastní vězně?

Okupační jednotky Berga propustily. Alespoň tak to tvrdí. Ale od propuštění ho nikdo neviděl. Měl se ohlásit v hotelu, ale když ho tam za tři dny hledali, ukázalo se, že tam nedorazil. Opravdu ho propustily?

Způsob držení těla jeho strážců na filmu nevypadá příliš arabsky. Ti muži tam stojí způsobem, jaký známe z filmu o amerických kovbojích. A jsou vysocí, mají růžové dlaně (nezvyklá věc u snědých Arabů) a jsou kupodivu dobře živení. Vypadají jako sytí otesánkové. Kde se stačili tak vykrmit? Většina arabských bojovníků jí za poklusu, narychlo a co se kde sežene. Bývají hubení a kostnatí. Ještě nikdo neviděl arabské bojovníky tak dobře živené, až téměř otylé, jako ty na videosnímku, popravující Berga.

Osobně jsem ten videozáznam jeho popravy neviděl. Nemám na to žaludek. Děj je prý následující: (a) Berg sedí na židli o hovoří o své rodině. (b) Berg sedí na zemi, za ním skupina zakuklených pořízků (c) Berg se při popravě téměř nehýbe. Zvuk byl jasně domixován později a celá páska vypadá jakoby prošla mnoha zákroky střihače.

Proč ten "Arab" čtoucí prohlášení listuje stránkami a vždy skončí na téže stránce? Copak neumí dost arabsky?

A jak to, že z rány vytéká tak málo krve? Pokud jste někdy někomu podřezávali krk, tak víte, že krev stříká všude. Ale na videozáznamu je té krve poskrovnu. Ani Bergovi vrazi a jejich ruce, ani jeho oděv, ani hlava, nevypadají příliš od krve. Že by byl Berg v té době už mrtev? Jak to, že se Berg na poslední chvíli nebrání, že kolem sebe nekope? Kamera to zabírá tak, že není vidět jeho tvář. Poslední jeho výkřik se zdá být spíše ženský a byl zřejmě doplněn později.

Na závěr dovolte ještě jednou citovat Sama Hamoda:

"Je také dobré položit si otázku, kterou si kladou zpravodajské agentury, řeší-li nějaký problém: 'Komu to prospělo nejvíce?' V tomto případě ne-li přímo Izraeli, pak určitě Bushovi a jeho juntě, aby to odvedlo pozornost od brutálního zacházení s vězni v Iráku na Guantanámo. Ten hrozný čin také snížil tlak zvenčí na Američany. A vzhledem k tomu, že jsme těm vrahům do tváře neviděli, nemůžeme je ani identifikovat a nemůžeme ani vyloučit, že to nebyli členové americké skupiny pro potlačení iráckého odporu, popř. CIA nebo jejich žoldáci. Stalo se to v době, kdy nesouhlas a odpor vůči USA roste na celém světě. Nevím, nakolik je to pravda, ale tolik vím, že když jsem pracoval ve zpravodajské centrále a řešili jsme nějaký případ, tyhle věci se v minulosti stávaly."

Podle článku Kurta Nimmo The Strange Case of Nicholas Berg na serveru Informationclearinghouse.info.

http://www.zvedavec.org/zpravySQL.php?clanek_id=865

Put George W. Bush in Prison

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0505-11.htm

Supposed Ringleader of Berg Decapitation was Killed Months Ago



http://prisonplanet.tv/articles/may2004/051104beheadsuscivilian.htm

Choose Your Own Adventure: WTC

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/5/10/182412/895

'Learn to Fly in Florida' business card found on Israeli arrested after high speed chase in Tennessee

May 11--Venice,FL.
by Daniel Hopsicker

Two Israelis driving a moving van were arrested in Tennessee last Saturday after leading police on a high-speed chase, marking at least the third time since 9/11 that Israelis in moving vans suspected of espionage in the U.S. have been taken into custody.

Taken into custody in the incident were Israeli nationals Shmuel Dahan and Almaliach Naor. In the wallet of 23-year old Dahan, an Israeli military veteran living in Miami Beach, police discovered a “Learn to Fly in Florida” business card.

"I got a sick feeling when I saw it (the business card)," Kent Harris, Sheriff of Unicol County in Tennessee, told the Associated Press, expressing concern about the proximity of the nearby Nuclear Fuel Services plant in Erwin.

“Its the nation’s sole provider of fuel for the Navy’s nuclear subs,” he explained in a phone interview Monday evening.

The MadCowMorningNews has learned exclusively that the ‘learn to fly in Florida’ business card is that of Nissan Giat, also an Israeli military veteran, he said, as well as a free-lance flight instructor in the Miami area, working out of the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

“These guys aren’t terrorists, they belong to the Israeli military,” he protested, in a telephone interview Monday night.

pokracovani:

http://www.madcowprod.com/index53bb.html

Images of US torture tactics recall the Nazis

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/11/1084041406951.html

joj.. ta animace one yar in iraq je fakt dobra...

FAA Manager Mangled, Cut, Destroyed 9/11 Tapes

Copyright © 2004, Aviation Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
By Liz Swaine
Newswriter, Editor

Information provided to the commission investigating the U.S. government's response to terrorist threats prior to September 11, 2001, names an FAA quality manager in the destruction of an audiotape made in the aftermath of the 9/11 hijackings. Each of at least six air traffic controllers and some ten other employees who were on the job at the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., during the World Trade Center attacks gathered several hours after to recall their version of events. But that tape, which could have helped determine how the agency responded to clues that four planes had been hijacked, was destroyed before it was ever heard. In fact, officials at the ARTCC were never even told of the tape's existence. According to the report given to the 9/11 Commission by Department of Transportation Inspector General Kenneth Mead, the audiotape was crushed in the hand of the unnamed FAA employee, then cut into small pieces and tossed into different trash cans around the ARTCC building. Despite the fact that the quality assurance officer had been told to retain all records pertaining to 9/11, he told inspector general investigators he destroyed the tape because he felt making it was contrary to FAA policy, which calls for written statements. He is also quoted to have said the controllers "were not in the correct frame of mind to have properly consented to the taping" because of the stress of the day, and told investigators that faced with a similar situation, he would repeat his actions.

Inspector General Mead told the 9/11 commission the employee showed "poor judgment," and in calling for administrative action, said the employee's attitude about the destruction was "especially troubling." The FAA confirms disciplinary action has been taken against the employee, but will not say what that action was, or identify the employee. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) says the matter could be investigated further.

http://www.avweb.com/newswire/10_20a/briefs/187259-1.html

jee sorry... http://globalresearch.ca/articles/WOO404A.html ted uz je to snad ok

Twenty-Six Top 9/11 Anomalies

by Ian Woods

April 2004 / www.globalresearch.ca 2 April 2004

The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/404A.html

An Educational Power Point Presentation (with pictures and graphics)

Sabrina Harmanová byla jednou z těch, které jsou zachyceny na snímcích s „pyramidou těl“.

Vojín Sabrina: Měli jsme jim dělat peklo

„Měli jsme za úkol dělat vězňům peklo,“ napsala v e-mailu, který otiskl listWashington Post. Článek zároveň naznačuje, že tak činila na pokyn amerických tajných služeb. Harmanová je zachycena na jednom snímku, který ukazuje nahé irácké vězně nakupené do lidské pyramidy. Byla obviněna, protože se údajně podílela na trýznění zajatců: ti museli stát se zahalenou hlavou na bednách s elektrickými vodiči v rukách. Harmanová jim tvrdila, že pokud spadnou z bedny, usmrtí je proud.
Mluvčí Pentagonu odmítla informace Washington Postu potvrdit s poukazem na to, že vyšetřování ještě probíhá.
„Vždycky přiváděli jednoho i více vězňů, kteří měli želízka a hlavu zakrytou pytlem. Mým úkolem jakožto členky vojenské policie bylo udržovat je vzhůru tak dlouho, dokud nepromluví,“ napsala k tomu Harmanová.
„Vězni byli svlečeni do naha, prohledáni a potom byli donuceni, aby stáli či klečeli celé hodiny. Člověk, který je přivedl, obvykle zároveň určil, jestli na ně máme či nemáme být hodní,“ naznačila, odkud přicházely povely.
Členové vojenské policie - citoval Washington Post Harmanovou - přijímali rozkazy od důstojníků vojenské rozvědky, CIA a od civilních vyšetřovatelů, kteří byli armádou k této práci najímáni.

...

Sabrina Harmanová nastoupila jako rezervistka do armády v roce 2001. Její jednotka byla povolána do akce loni v únoru. Do té doby se živila jako úřednice potravinového řetězce Papa John's Pizza.
„Ženevské konvence jsme nikdy neprobírali,“ říká dnes o svém vojenském výcviku. „Poprvé jsem je četla až po obvinění. Podtrhla jsem si v nich všechno, co jsme porušovali. Bylo toho hodně,“ svěřuje se bezelstně, zatímco čeká na proces.
Kromě Harmanové je obviněna také její kolegyně Lynndie Englandová, jejíž fotografie s iráckým vězněm „na vodítku“ obletěla svět.

http://zpravy.idnes.cz/mfdnes.asp?r=Azesvetaa&c=zesvetaa_8_1

Israeli minister wants Arabs expelled

An Israeli cabinet minister has called for the expulsion of about 1.3 million Palestinian citizens of Israel who constitute nearly one fifth of the state’s population.

Lieberman, a former Moldovan immigrant who arrived in Israel in 1978, suggested that the existence of a large non-Jewish minority in Israel threatened the "Jewish identity" and "ethnic purity" of Israel.

...

"He is not the only fascist. The entire political atmosphere in Israel provides a most suitable environment for the growth and prosperity of fascism. This is why sickening statements as such go unchallenged."

Tibi blamed the international community, especially the United States and Europe, for their "obscene double-standards toward Israeli fascism".

...

"At 8:00 am, we'll bomb the commercial centers; at noon, we'll bomb their gas stations and at two o'clock we'll bomb the banks … Then we keep the border crossing open," Lieberman was quoted as saying during a cabinet session.

Upset by his remarks, Israeli opposition leader and then Foreign Minister Shimon Peres reportedly looked at Lieberman, telling him … "and at 6:00 pm, you'll receive an invitation to the international Tribunal in the Hague".

Lieberman now lives at the settlement of Nikodem in the northern West Bank, built on a piece of land, which he and other immigrants from the former Soviet Union had seized from Palestinian villagers.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FED27702-1D56-4699-8BC1-3415D354D3B6.htm

... ://///

Budou se Rumsfeld s Bushem zpovídat z genocidy?

„Nebyli jsme zvoleni, abychom se pořád líbili,“ tímto svým pohledem na demokracii se snažil podpořit zapojení českých vojáků a přidání se na stranu jeho "přátel" tehdejší prezident Václav Havel v rozpravě v parlamentu o vojenské podpoře útoku na Irák, 15. ledna 2003.

"Myslím, že je to velmi těžké rozhodnutí, ale domníváme se, že ta cena za to stojí," tehdejší ministryně zahr. věcí USA Madeleine Albrightová a blízká přítelkyně Václava Havla na otázku redaktora Lesley Stahla v pořadu 60 minut, zda cena, kdy díky mezinárodním sankcím na Irák zemřelo půl milionu nezletilých Iráčanů, stojí za to.

Uznávám, že pouštět do světa takovéto fotky je tak trochu mediální masáž. Je to hra s emocemi. Nicméně válka JE taková a nevidím jediný důvod, proč mají lidé sledovat do omrzení v novinách a televizi snímky usměvavých vojáků, záběry z tiskových konferencí velení nebo zinscenované strhávání sochy Sadáma Husajna. To není opravdová válka, to je válka virtuální, která slouží pro vaše ANO nalévání vašich daní do jejich zločinných aktivit. TOTO již však JE válka skutečná! Snímky mučených Iráčanů prolomily ideologickou blokádu "demokratických" médií, jdoucích za jakékoli doby vždy ruku v ruce s režimní elitou mocných. Není již proto zcela vyloučeno, že se brzy někde objeví i tyto snímky. Podobné, za které mne poslanec Parlamentu České republiky Vidím ještě před agresí do Iráku mezi řádky obvinil ze spolupráce s "Husajnovou tajnou službou". Jsem zvědav, z čeho mě obviní teď. Zřejmě ze spolupráce s al-Kajdou. Nic jiného také ONI neumí, argumenty NEMAJÍ, logický úsudek také ne.

Zde předkládáme důkazy, že Spojené státy používají v Iráku tříštivé střely a bomby I PROTI CIVILISTŮM (podle konvencí je dovolenou jejich nasazení pouze proti vojenským cílům).

Nyní se tedy podívejte, jak naše "vyspělá civilizace" bojuje s "terorismem":

http://www.osud.cz/cs/clanek.php?id=2644&PHPSESSID=6e3b8d8d2c107bf485afcecc2a7d1848

THE POINT OF NO RETURN

Dictators do not appear overnight. They must gradually assume more and more power over time so that the population does not realize what is going on, or does not feel it is worthwhile to object.

But to maintain control, dictators "seduce" their population into greater and greater atrocities, over time. There is more than simply acclimating the population involved to the dictator's agenda. By tricking the population into acceptance of greater and greater atrocities, the dictator will eventually reach a position where the people will be too afraid to examine what they themselves have become. Trapped by the fear of examining themselves, such people turn into the most fanatical of the dictator's supporters. They dare not look at the dictator's evil for to do so is to look at their own. Once the dictator can trick his people past that point, they are his slaves. Hitler used this tactic. So did Stalin.

The people of the United States stand at that point right now. That the US Government is using torture on POWs (just as Hitler did) is beyond argument. One can either stand up and denounce that torture and demand the firing of all who took part in it (and the end of the war), or one is by default complicit, an accessory after the fact, seen by all to condone such barbarism.

Anyone who steps across that line is trapped. Unable to look at what they themselves have become they will refuse to look at what the government has become, indeed will create or accept any justification, no matter how thin and transparent, rather than question that government. And indeed this web site gets email from people who have already crossed that point, and are trying to explain why torture is really necessary "this time".
So, you are down to a choice. There is no more being neutral, or sitting on the fence. As Bush himself said, you are either with him or against him, and unless you are actively against him and his war machine, then he wins by default. Unless you stop them now, sooner or later, Bush and the NeoCons will succeed in turning this nation into the 21st century version of Nazi Germany, powered by fanatics so afraid to look in a mirror that they will inflict any pain on any people, rather than do so.

Time to decide.



http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/noreturn.html

Two Israeli men have been arrested after evading Unicoi County, Tennessee sheriff`s deputies, driving eratically on a two lane highway, and littering.
But, there may be more to their apprehension than that.
Sheriff Kent Harris says the stories they`ve been telling investigators simply don`t add up.
The two men led authorities on a three-mile high speed chase in a rented moving truck.
Lt. Ron Arnold says one of the men had a fake Florida i.d. and passports found didn`t add up.
The FBI is now testing a bottle thrown from the truck during the pursuit.
Robert White, the community member who found the bottle, says it had a powder and liquid in it.
Sheriff Harris says the substance didn`t test for any type of drug, but did for a fuel source.
The driver, 23-year old Samuel Dahan and passenger 19-year old Almaliach Noar claim they were delivering furniture and were headed to Boston, Massachusetts.
Authorities found a couple of "learning to fly" business cards during a search of the moving truck.
Both men are being held in seperate cells pending a bond hearing Monday morning.
Investigators have determined both men are living in the United States legally.

...

http://www.wcyb.tv/newsread.asp?newsid=4381


-----------

Two men arrested after high-speed chase in Tennessee

Associated Press

ERWIN, Tenn. - Two Israeli men who led the Unicoi County sheriff on a high-speed chase in a rented moving truck were placed under arrest and are being investigated by the FBI, local officials said.

Shmuel Dahan and Almaliach Naor, both from Israel, were being held without bond Sunday afternoon at the Unicoi County Jail. The truck, rented from a Ryder office in Mars Hills, N.C., was being held in the county garage pending an FBI investigation, officials said.

Dahan is charged with reckless driving, littering, false identification and evading arrest, while Naor faces charges of false identification and evading arrest, an officer with the Unicoi County Sheriff's Department who would not give his name said Sunday.

An investigation by the FBI is ongoing and more charges are possible, he said. A woman who answered the phone at the FBI's Knoxville office said there was no one available to answer questions about the arrest.

The incident began late Saturday afternoon when Sheriff Kent Harris noticed a rental truck traveling at a high speed along former U.S. Highway 23, a lightly-traveled highway near the North Carolina state line.

"I was really concerned because the driver would not stop after I flashed my headlights for nearly three miles," Harris said. "He was weaving back and forth and I was wondering what a large (rental truck) was doing on the two-lane highway late Saturday afternoon instead of the faster I-26 Interstate."

Harris said he saw the men throw something from the truck while they were being pursued. Officers scouring the area later found a vial containing an unknown substance along the roadway, he said.

Once the men were apprehended, officers also found a "Learn to Fly" brochure in the truck, leading Harris and others to express concern about security at the Nuclear Fuel Services plant in Erwin.

"I got a sick feeling when I saw it," Harris said.

Dahan also gave authorities a fake Florida driver's license issues in Plantation, Fla., he said, while Naor produced a fake identification card.

Harris subsequently contacted the FBI, the federal Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms and other local authorities to look into the situation.

"We're not overreacting," Harris said. "We have a responsibility to protect the citizens of Unicoi County and that's what I'm going to do at any cost. I'd rather overreact, if that's what you call it, than be sorry later."

http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_news&Number=1464211&t=-1#Post1464211

prvni strana deniku asia times aneb co si o 9/11 mysli indicka tajna sluzba...

Front Page

9-11 AND THE SMOKING GUN

Part 2: A real smoking gun
By Pepe Escobar

Part 1: 'Independent' commission

If the 9-11 Commission is really looking for a smoking gun, it should look no further than at Lieutenant-General Mahmoud Ahmad, the director of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) at the time.

In early October 2001, Indian intelligence learned that Mahmoud had ordered flamboyant Saeed Sheikh - the convicted mastermind of the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl - to wire US$100,000 from Dubai to one of hijacker Mohamed Atta's two bank accounts in Florida.

A juicy direct connection was also established between Mahmoud and Republican Congressman Porter Gross and Democratic Senator Bob Graham. They were all in Washington together discussing Osama bin Laden over breakfast when the attacks of September 11, 2001, happened.

Mahmoud's involvement in September 11 might be dismissed as only Indian propaganda. But Indian intelligence swears by it, and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed the whole story: Indian intelligence even supplied Saeed's cellular-phone numbers. Nobody has bothered to check what really happened. The 9-11 Commission should pose very specific questions about it to FBI director Robert Mueller when he testifies this month.

In December 2002, Graham said he was "surprised at the evidence that there were foreign governments involved in facilitating the activities of at least some of the [September 11] terrorists in the United States ... It will become public at some point when it's turned over to the archives, but that's 20 or 30 years from now." He could not but be referring to Pakistan and Mahmoud. If Mahmoud was really involved in September 11, this means the Pakistani ISI -"the state within the state" - knew all about it. And if the intelligence elite in Pakistan knew it, an intelligence elite in Saudi Arabia knew it, as well as an intelligence elite in the US.

Get Osama bin Laden
On August 22, 2001, Asia Times Online reported Get Osama! Now! Or else ...


On September 9, the legendary "Lion of the Panjshir", Ahmed Shah Masoud, the key Northern Alliance commander, was assassinated by two suicide bombers posing as journalists in his base in northern Afghanistan. The Northern Alliance tells Washington that the ISI may be involved. Masoud himself had told this correspondent, two weeks before he was killed, of the incestuous link between bin Laden and al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the ISI. A 2002 Asia Times Online investigation would later establish that Masoud was killed as a gift from al-Qaeda to the Taliban, with heavy involvement by Abdul Sayyaf, an Afghan mujahideen commander very close to the ISI and the Saudis. From Washington's perspective, this was also a gift. Masoud was the crucial Afghan nationalist leader, supported by Russia and Iran; after the Taliban being smashed he would never have accepted a feeble, US-sponsored, Hamid Karzai-style government.

On September 10, the Pakistani daily The News reported that the Mahmoud visit to the United States "triggered speculation about the agenda of his mysterious meetings at the Pentagon and National Security Council". If he'd been to the National Security Council, he had certainly met Rice. Mahmoud did meet with his counterpart, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director George Tenet. Tenet and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had been in Islamabad in May, when Tenet had "unusually long" meetings with Musharraf. Armitage for his part has countless friends in the Pakistani military and the ISI. Mahmoud also met a number of high officials at the White House and the Pentagon and had a crucial meeting with Marc Grossman, the under secretary of state for political affairs. Rice maintains she did not meet Mahmoud then.

On the morning of September 11, Mahmoud was having a breakfast meeting at the Capitol with Graham and Goss. Goss spent as many as 10 years working on numerous CIA clandestine operations. He is very close to Vice President Dick Cheney. It's interesting to note that two weeks ago Goss suggested to the Justice Department to bring perjury charges against the new Cheney nemesis, Clarke. As it is widely known, Graham and Goss were co-heads of the joint House-Senate investigation that proclaimed there was "no smoking gun" as far as President George W Bush having any advance knowledge of September 11.

According to the Washington Post, and also to sources in Islamabad, the Mahmoud-Graham-Goss meeting lasted until the second plane hit Tower 2 of the World Trade Center. Graham later said they were talking about terrorism coming from Afghanistan, which means they were talking about bin Laden.

Pakistani intelligence sources told Asia Times Online that on the afternoon of September 11 itself, as well as on September 12 and 13, Armitage met with Mahmoud with a stark choice: either Pakistan would help the US against al-Qaeda, or it would be bombed back to the Stone Age. Secretary of State Colin Powell presented an ultimatum in the form of seven US demands. Pakistan accepted all of them. One of the demands was for Musharraf to send Mahmoud to Kandahar again and force the Taliban to extradite bin Laden. Mahmoud knew in advance Mullah Omar would refuse. But when he went to Kandahar the Taliban leader said he would accept, as long as the Americans proved bin Laden was responsible for September 11. There was no proof, and Afghanistan was bombed anyway, a policy already decided well in advance.

It's important to remember than on September 13 Islamabad airport was shut down - allegedly because of threats against Pakistan's strategic assets. On September 14, Islamabad declared total support for the US: the airport was immediately reopened. Mahmoud remained in Washington until September 16 - when the war on Afghanistan was more than programmed, and Pakistan was firmly in the "with us" and not the "against us" column.

Million-dollar questions remain. Did Mahmoud know when and how the attacks of September 11 would happen? Did Musharraf know? Could the Bush administration have prevented September 11? It's hard to believe high echelons of the CIA and FBI were not aware of the direct link between the ISI and alleged chief hijacker Mohammed Atta.

On October 7, Mahmoud was demoted from the ISI. By that time, Washington obviously knew of the connection between Mahmoud, Saeed Sheikh and Mohamed Atta: the FBI knew it. The official version is that Mahmoud was sacrificed because he was too close to the Taliban - which, it is never enough to remind, are a cherished creature of the ISI. Two other ISI big shots, Lieutenant-General Mohammed Aziz Khan and Chief of General Staff Mohammed Yousouf, are also demoted along with Mahmoud. Saeed Sheikh was under orders to Khan.

The fact remains that even with this Musharraf-conducted purge of the ISI elite, the bulk of ISI officers remained, and still are, pro-Taliban. Other former ISI directors living in Pakistan, such as the colorful, outspoken Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul, did not "disappear" and always renew their support for the Taliban. But as Asia Times Online has reported, Mahmoud did disappear. He lives in near seclusion in Rawalpindi. And he is definitely not talking. Graham and Goss may not be interested in talking to him either. Because he may be the ultimate September 11 smoking gun.

Conclusion
The Karl Rove-designed campaign to re-elect Bush is in essence anchored on September 11. The Republican convention in New York will happen in the first week of September. Bush's speech will be on September 2 - to force the connection with the three-year commemoration of September 11.

This whole affair is not about whether Clarke committed "perjury"; whether Rice was really up to her job; or whether George W Bush knew something and then "forgot" about it. The families of September 11 victims, US public opinion, the demonized Islamic world, the whole world for that matter, all everybody wants to know is what really happened on September 11. The only party that does not seem interested in getting to the bottom of it is the Bush administration. The official fable of 19 kamikaze Arabs turning Boeings into missiles with military precision, armed only with box cutters and a few flight lessons and directed from an Afghan cave by a satellite phone-shy bin Laden simply does not hold. The commission is not asking the really hard questions. Here are just a few - and they are far from being the most embarrassing.

1) The "stand down" order: Why, despite more than an hour's warning that an attack was happening, were no F-16s protecting US airspace? Documents easily available online reveal why the Pentagon could not act: because of bureaucracy. Why did the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) claim it took 25 minutes after the transponder was shut down to learn that Flight 11 - which hit World Trade Center Tower 1 - was hijacked? Why did fighters not take off from Andrews Air Force base just outside Washington to protect the Pentagon?

2) The pre-September 11 suspicious stock option trades in American Airlines and United Airlines were never fully investigated. Who profited?

3) What happened to the FBI investigation into flight schools - when it was proved that at least five of the 19 hijackers were trained in US military schools?

4) Why did Bush keep reading a pet-goat story for more than half an hour after the first WTC hit, and 15 minutes after Chief of Staff Andrew Card told him there had been an attack?

5) What really happened to Flight 93? An Associated Press story last August quoting a congressional report said the FBI suspected the plane was crashed on purpose. The FBI has a flight-simulation video of what happened: the video - as well as the black box - remain top secret. And as far as four "indestructible" black boxes are concerned, how come none were found, unlike Mohammed Atta's intact passport lying in the WTC rubble?

6) Why have no scientific experts examined the physical and mathematical evidence that a Boeing 757 could not have possibly "disappeared" without a trace after hitting the Pentagon? For the most exhaustive and practically incontrovertible analysis available on the net, see this report.

7) What remains of the very tight 1980s bin Laden-ISI-CIA connection? How much did the CIA know about what the ISI was up to? And how much did the ISI know about what al-Qaeda was up to?

8) What does Rice really know about the very close relations between Mahmoud and the top echelons of the Bush administration?

The genie - the crucial information - is still in the bottle.

(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication policies.)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FD08Aa01.html