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9 11 Synthetic Terror Made in USA - Amazon Noir

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Page 38<br />

9/<strong>11</strong> <strong>Synthetic</strong> <strong>Terror</strong>: <strong>Made</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>USA</strong> resources, access to good watch<br />

lists, digital technologies, enhanced platforms, better language<br />

tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g, and career support." The subcommittee was of the op<strong>in</strong>ion that<br />

the 9/<strong>11</strong> attacks could not have been prevented, even if all the<br />

<strong>in</strong>telligence <strong>in</strong> the possession of the entire US government had been<br />

synthesized and brought to bear - an absurd thesis. However, by virtue<br />

of so much <strong>in</strong>eptitude, the tradition of begg<strong>in</strong>g the question had been<br />

further solidified. (CNSNEWS.com, July 17, 2002) The healthy skepticism<br />

displayed by world public op<strong>in</strong>ion <strong>in</strong> response to the fantastic and<br />

unsubstantiated stories peddled by the dubious US regime rankled with<br />

Paul Wolfowitz, the chief neocon and number two <strong>in</strong> the Rumsfeld<br />

Pentagon. When a new b<strong>in</strong> Laden tape appeared <strong>in</strong> which b<strong>in</strong> Laden was<br />

understood by some as claim<strong>in</strong>g responsibility for the attacks, Wolfowitz<br />

expressed the wish that this new tape would put an end to "conspiracy<br />

theories." Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Wolfowitz, the new f<strong>in</strong>d "confirms everyth<strong>in</strong>g<br />

we've known about him already. There's noth<strong>in</strong>g new or surpris<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> it.<br />

It's just further confirmation and hopefully, maybe, we'll stop hear<strong>in</strong>g<br />

anyth<strong>in</strong>g more about these <strong>in</strong>sane conspiracy theories that somehow the US<br />

has made this up or that somebody else did it." (Sam Donaldson, ABC,<br />

December 9, 2001) The US Congress mounted its <strong>in</strong>quiry, which was<br />

conducted by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House<br />

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, act<strong>in</strong>g as the Jo<strong>in</strong>t Inquiry<br />

<strong>in</strong>to Intelligence Community Activities Before and After (but not dur<strong>in</strong>g)<br />

the <strong>Terror</strong>ist Attacks of September <strong>11</strong>, 2001. The history of this<br />

committee, known as the JICI, was a troubled one. Three months <strong>in</strong>to the<br />

probe, the orig<strong>in</strong>al staff director suddenly resigned. This was L. Britt<br />

Snider, the former <strong>in</strong>spector general of the CIA. He was known for be<strong>in</strong>g<br />

a creature of Tenet, and was considered too eager to spare his former<br />

colleagues any embarrassment. But on the other hand, Snider had been<br />

favored by Democratic presidential hopeful Bob Graham of Florida, and<br />

was opposed by Republican senators. Snider was replaced temporarily by<br />

Rick C<strong>in</strong>quegrana, another CIA officer, and then permanently by Eleanor<br />

Hill. "Members are try<strong>in</strong>g to say, `We've got to get to the bottom of<br />

what happened' while also say<strong>in</strong>g, `We don't want to make it <strong>in</strong>to a witch<br />

hunt,"' said L. Paul Bremer, who led a previous probe of <strong>in</strong>telligence<br />

agencies after the bomb<strong>in</strong>g of US embassies <strong>in</strong> East Africa. Bremer later<br />

became notorious as Bush's proconsul <strong>in</strong> Mesopotamia. Those impulses,<br />

Bremer said, "will be an <strong>in</strong>herent tension irrespective of who is the<br />

staff director." When the JICI's report was published <strong>in</strong> December 2002,<br />

the most notable th<strong>in</strong>g about it was that 28 pages were absolutely blank<br />

- redacted at the <strong>in</strong>sistence of the adm<strong>in</strong>istration. Remarks by Graham<br />

and others fueled speculation that the 28 blank pages conta<strong>in</strong>ed<br />

<strong>in</strong>formation that somehow implicated Saudi Arabia, and the press made<br />

much of this. But the general approach of the JICI was that there had<br />

been an <strong>in</strong>telligence failure, and that there ought to be measures to<br />

avoid more <strong>in</strong>telligence failures - noth<strong>in</strong>g more.

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