The Eleventh Day
Page 49
KSM SUBST Substitution for the Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Defense Exhibit 941, U.S. v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Cr. No. 01-455-1, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
LAT Los Angeles Times
MFR Memorandum for the Record of 9/11 Commission staff interviews, available on National Archives website, http://www.archives.gov/legislative/research/9-11/commission-memoranda.html
NARA National Archives and Records Administration
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce
NTSB National Transportation Safety Board
NYT New York Times
OBL Osama bin Laden
TF Oral histories of 503 first responders conducted by the Fire Department, City of New York, archived by The New York Times at http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/met_WTC_histories_full_01.html
WP Washington Post
WSJ Wall Street Journal
PREFACE
1 memorial: NY Daily News, 8/20/01, NYT, 6/10/09, www.wtcsitememorial.org, www.national911memorial.org/site, int. Michael Frazier for National September 11 Memorial and Museum;
2 disease: AP, 6/24/09.
3 tens of thousands: Documenting the number of dead in any conflict is difficult, fraught as such figures are with political ramifications. Americans in particular, given the lingering specter of the Vietnam War, are sensitive to rising casualty counts among servicemen and women. Nor does any military readily accept responsibility for civilian casualties. The issue is further complicated by determining which deaths qualify as having been the result of war—does one, for example, include deaths due to disease or starvation—conditions brought about by conflict? In citing the figure of many tens of thousands of dead, the authors have relied on casualty counts from the U.N. Assistance Missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the websites icasualties.org and iraqbodycount.org.
4 graves/remains: AP, 4/1/09, www.911research.wtc7.net, Israel National News, 2/1/08, NYT, 2/23/08, MFR 03009720;
5 Riches: NYT, 11/5/02, 4/21/08, www.NY1.com, 4/17/08, NY Post, 4/13/02;
6 McIntyre: AP, 5/19/06, Independent on Sunday (U.K.), 10/7/07;
7 Dillard: Arlington historian Thomas Sherlock to authors, 9/11/09, WP, 5/26/07, NY Observer, 6/20/04;
8 Breitweiser: Kristen Breitweiser, Wake-up Call, NY: Warner, 2006, Preface, 110, 240.
9 Martin: WP, 11/2/06, Newsweek, 12/25/06, transcript, 9/12/01, FBI 265D-NY-280350, report, 9/12/01, FBI 265D-NY-280350-CE, courtesy of INTELWIRE. Though Martin suffered serious injuries early in the first hijacking, it is probable that a First Class passenger—Daniel Lewin—was the first to die. See Ch. 1, p. 15.
10 safe to breathe: “EPA’s Response to the World Trade Center Collapse,” Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 8/21/03, 4;
11 Riches ill: www.NY1.com, 4/17/08, www.sohoblues.com, citing Time; “dead or alive”: CNN, 9/17/01;
12 backtrack: press release, 3/13/02, www.whitehouse.gov;
13 Obama: NY Post, 2/7/09;
14 Zubaydah: NY Daily News, 9/10/06, & see later refs.;
15 Dillard questions: CNN, 3/28/04, ACLU statement, 12/12/08;
16 Breitweiser testimony/questions: testimony, 9/18/02, JI, Breitweiser, 100–, int. Kristen Breitweiser, St. Petersburg Times, 8/12/05;
17 CIA/two hijackers: see later refs.;
18 kept secret: Bob Graham with Jeff Nussbaum, Intelligence Matters, NY: Random House, 2004, 228, 231;
19 Breitweiser/Obama: NYT, 6/24/09;
20 Commission Final Report received: Philip Shenon, The Commission, NY: Twelve, 2008, 415–;
21 Kean/Hamilton: NYT, 12/8/07 & 1/2/08, www.rawstory.com, 12/24/07, International Herald Tribune, 12/8/07;
22 Kerrey: Newsweek, 3/23/09, Air America radio, 3/2/08;
23 Cleland: Salon, 11/21/03, NYT, 10/26/03;
24 “first draft”: CBC transcript, 8/21/06;
25 CBS poll: www.angus-reid.com/polls, www.alternet.com, 9/16/06;
26 Scripps poll: Scripps Howard News Service, 11/23/07;
27 Zogby poll: Zogby International, Aug. 2007;
28 sixteen thousand: Reuters, 9/10/08, www.alternet.com, 9/16/08;
29 Iraq/attacks: NYT/CBS News polls cited at www.angus-reid.com;
30 Angus Reid poll: released 3/17/10, www.angus-reid.com;
31 criticism: (senators) Lincoln Chaffee, Mark Dayton, Mike Gravel, Patrick Leahy, Charles Schumer;
32 (representatives) Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney, Ron Paul, Curt Weldon;
33 (governor) Jesse Ventura;
34 (deputy attorneys general) Roy Andes, Philip Berg, Donald Bustion;
35 (state legislators) Peter Allen, Peter Espiefs, Karen Johnson, Barbara Richardson, Charles Weed, Suzi Wizowaty;
36 (public officials/diplomats/engineers/officers) see https://patriotsquestion911.com;
37 Texas candidates: “Texas GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Questions Government Involvement in 9/11,” Fox News, 2/12/10, “Shami Questions US Involvement in 9/11 Attack,” KTBS TV, 2/14/10;
38 CIA/FBI: e.g., letter to Congress regarding the 9/11 Commission Report signed by twenty-five military, intelligence, and law enforcement veterans, 9/13/04, National Security Whistleblowers Coalition;
39 Freeh: WSJ, 11/17/05, CNN, 11/30/05;
40 Mondale: int. Minnesota, “We Are C.H.A.N.G.E.,” 2/3/08, www.youtube.com;
41 Clark: This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC News, 3/5/06;
42 Graham: ints. Bob Graham, Salon, 9/9/04, Graham with Nussbaum.
43 300,000 pages: corr. Kristen Wilhelm, 2011. Only some 35 percent of the Commission documents held by the National Archives had been reviewed for release as of February 2011. Of the documents reviewed, 15 percent remain classified, largely under national security and privacy restrictions. The remaining 20 percent, some 300,000 documents, are available to researchers.
Part I: ATTACK
CHAPTER 1
1 recognized: Martin Gilbert, Israel, London: Black Swan, 1999, 189;
2 day in 1938: Robert Lacey, The Kingdom, NY: Avon, 1983, 262;
3 40,000 planes: Jane Garvey testimony, 1/27/04, CO;
4 Rosenzweig/Mladenik/Gordenstein/Theodoridis/Iskandar/Filipov: “DOJ Documents Requests #35–13,” B13, T7, CF, “AAL Misc. Folder—AA11 and AA77,” B18, T7, CF;
5 Cuccinello: eds. Der Spiegel magazine, Inside 9–11, NY: St. Martin’s, 2001, 37;
6 Gay: AP, 9/25/01, Raytheon press release, 9/10/07;
7 Morabito: Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), 10/20/07;
8 Berenson: Richard Bernstein, Out of the Blue, NY: Times Books, 2002, 171;
9 Angell: People, 5/17/04;
10 Lewin: BG, 9/12/01.
11 five young men: BG, 9/13/01. Some have raised questions about the identities of the hijackers. The issue will be covered in Ch. 14 and its related notes.
12 Ogonowski: Bernstein, 110–, James Ogonowski remarks at Safety Awards Banquet, 9/11/02, “Ogonowski Legacy,” Public Radio International, 9/13/02.
13 5:00 A.M.: Unless otherwise indicated, all times in this book are rendered as the times in use by civilians on the U.S. East Coast on the day in question (i.e., EDT)—as opposed to the times used by the military or the aviation industry, or in other time zones;
14 McGuinness: website of Cheryl McGuinness (widow), www.beautybeyondtheashes.com;
15 “turn-around”: MFR 04016228, 2/10/04;
16 take off due: CR, 2;
17 cleaners/fuelers: “FBI 302s of Interest Flight 11,” B17, T7, CF, “FBI 302s Arestegui,” B10, T7, CF;
18 flight attendants: “FBI 302s Homer Folder re Kathleen Nicosia,” B10, T7, CF;
19 “organized”: NYT, 12/9/01;
20 backup: “FBI 302s Arestegui,” B10, T7, CF;
21 joked: Cape Cod Times, 9/14/01;
22 sick/standby: “FBI 302s Arestegui,” B10, T7, CF;
23 odd i
ncident: Staff Report, “The Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security,” note 22, CF, MFR 04020636, 2/2/04, MFR 03007050, 8/15/03, Miami Herald, 9/22/01;
24 Filipov/“suspicious”: “DOJ Documents Requests 35–13,” B13, T7, CF;
25 Howland: “FBI 302s Cockpit and American and Hijacker,” B11, T7, CF;
26 profiling system: CR 4, MFR 04018154, 11/24/03, Staff Report, “The Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security,” 2, 77, CF, John Raidt comments, 1/27/04, CO;
27 crutch: BG, 11/10/01;
28 “sweating bullets”: World Net Daily, 9/21/01;
29 last to board: MFR 04020636, 2/2/04;
30 greeted by Martin/final checks: “FBI 302s Arestegui,” B10, T7, CF;
31 seating: CR, 2, BG, 9/13/01;
32 Sweeney call: NY Observer, 2/15/04, FBI 302 Michael Sweeney, 9/21/01, INTELWIRE;
33 switch off phones: “FBI 302s Arestegui,” B10, T7, CF;
34 pushed back/takeoff: Joseph Gregor, “Air Traffic Control Recording,” NTSB, 12/21/01, CR, 2, 4;
35 “severe clear”: Lynn Spencer, Touching History, NY: Free Press, 2008, 3;
36 air-to-ground exchanges: Gregor, 2–, & see FAA Memo, Full Transcript: Aircraft Accident AA11, New York, NY, 9/11/01, “Boston Center, Shirley Kula,” B3, T8, CF;
37 “a brief unknown sound”: “Summary of Air Traffic Hijack Events, Sept. 11, 2001, FAA,” Report on Investigation of 9/11 Commission Staff Referral, Dept. of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Appendix 3;
38 Ong to Reservations: quotes attributed to Ong & nature of her call come from FBI 302 of Vanessa Minter, 9/12/01, FBI 302 of Craig Marquis, 9/16/01, & “Charlotte to Director,” FBI 265D-NY-280350-CE, 9/13/01, “Flight Call Notes,” & Transcript of 9/11 Telephone Calls, “AA Phone Calls,” B13, T7, CF, FBI 302 of Nydia Gonzalez, 9/12/01, “FBI 302s—Knife and American Flight 11,” B11, T7, CF, FBI 302 of Winston Sadler, 9/13/01, INTELWIRE, Nydia Gonzalez testimony, 1/27/04, CO.
39 “sterile cockpit”: The interjection appears on the transcript but is only partially audible on the tape version as heard by the authors;
40 Lewin dead?: Lewin was an American-Israeli citizen who as “Daniel Levin” had served in the Israel Defense Forces as a member of Sayeret Matkal—in its Unit 269, which specializes in counterterrorism (FBI 302 of Anne Lewin, 9/21/01, “Flight Calls Notes,” B13, T7, CF, UPI, 3/6/02, ints. Tom Leighton, Marco Greenberg, Ha’aretz, 9/15/06).
41 man in 10B: Ong also identified the passengers in Seats 2A and 2B as hijackers, while her colleague Sweeney—whose call was not recorded—is variously reported as identifying hijackers in 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, 9G, 10B, and 10C. 2A, 2B, and 10B were indeed the assigned seats of three of the five Arab passengers traveling. (Ong re 2A/2B: Transcripts of 9/11 Telephone Calls, “AA Phone Transcripts,” & Charlotte to Director, FBI 265D-NY-280350-CE, 9/13/01, “Flight Call Notes,” B13, T7, CF; Sweeney re Seats: FBI 302 of Michael Woodward, 9/14/01, & of James Sayer, 9/13/01, “FBI 302s—Olsen,” B10, T7, CF);
42 Sweeney/Woodward call: Quotes attributed to Sweeney & nature of her call come from CR, 453n32, FBI 302 of Michael Woodward, 9/14/01, & of James Sayer, 9/13/01, “FBI 302s—Olsen,” B10, T7, CF, Staff Report, “The Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security,” 14, CF.
43 borrowed card: The calling card was provided to Sweeney by another flight attendant, Sara Low—who also passed information on the hijackers’ seat location to colleagues (NY Observer, 6/20/04, AP 3/5/09, ABC News, 7/18/02).
44 keys: CR, 5, 453n26, FBI 302 of Michael Sweeney, 9/21/01, INTELWIRE, John Farmer, The Ground Truth, NY: Riverhead, 2009, 109;
45 “no warning”: NY Observer, 6/20/04;
46 “refrain”: Staff Report, “The Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security,” 81, CF;
47 not panicky/“static”: ABC News, 7/18/02.
CHAPTER 2
1 data processor: (Chuck Allen), eds. Der Spiegel, Inside 9–11, 46–;
2 steelworker: (Joe Libretti), Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins, Grand Illusion, NY: Harper, 2006, 245;
3 construction workers/composer: (Juan Suarez & “Artie” & composer Jim Farmer) Bernstein, 199;
4 student: 9/11: Dust & Deceit at the World Trade Center, documentary, www.dust.org.
5 8:46 A.M.: 8:46 A.M. is the generally accepted time of the impact on the North Tower. Scientists measuring seismic data at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at the New Jersey Palisades, twenty-one miles from New York City, initially—in 2001—calculated the impact time as 8:46:26. In 2005, they adjusted the estimate to 8:46:29. The 9/11 Commission, meanwhile, relied on the flight path study for Flight 11 provided by the NTSB, reckoning the impact time as 8:46:40. (Similar discrepancies appear in times given for the subsequent crash into the South Tower.) While too complex to detail here, several plausible explanations have been offered for this anomaly. Though minimal, the discrepancies have been used by critics of the conventional account to bolster the notion that—in addition to the planes—explosives were used in the attacks on the Twin Towers. The differing timings supplied by the seismic station, the critics claim, reflect explosions in the towers before the impact of the airplanes. That theory does not hold, however, because the seismic data reflect only a single event. Had there been first an explosion, then an impact, the seismic instruments would have registered two events. They did not (“Seismic Waves Generated by Aircraft Impacts and Building Collapses at World Trade Center,” by Won-Young Kim et al., www.ldeo.columbia.edu, “Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the WTC Disaster,” NCSTAR1–5A, NIST, 22–, CR, 7, 454n39, “Seismic Proof—9/11 Was an Inside Job,” by Craig T. Furlong & Gordon Ross, www.journalof911studies.com, “On Debunking 9/11 Debunking,” by Ryan Mackey, 5/24/08, 79–, authors’ corr. Dr. Won-Young Kim & NTSB’s Ted Lopatkiewicz, 2009).
6 Rubenfien: Leo Rubenfien, Wounded Cities, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2008, 32–;
7 Naudet: David Friend, Watching the World Change, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006, 185–;
8 Naudet image: 9/11, documentary film, Jules & Gedeon Naudet et al., CBS Television, 2002;
9 Allen: eds. Der Spiegel, 48, Chuck Allen profile on LinkedIn.com;
10 Gartenberg: WABC (NY), 9/11/01, videotape on www.youtube.com, eds. Der Spiegel, 89;
11 93rd and 99th floors: CR, 285;
12 10,000 gallons: “Visual Evidence, Damage Estimates, and Timeline Analysis, Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster,” NIST, released April 2005, liii;
13 Fireballs: CR, 285, 292;
14 “The windows”/“I just didn’t”: Friend, 188, Naudet documentary, Jim Dwyer & Kevin Flynn, 102 Minutes, NY: Times Books, 2005, 280;
15 milling around: Brian Jenkins and Frances Edward-Winslow, “Saving City Lifelines: Lessons Learned in the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks,” Mineta Transportation Institute report, 9/03, 11;
16 1,344 souls: NYT, 1/15/04;
17 stairways blocked: CR, 285;
18 Meehan: Dwyer & Flynn, 36, NYT, 9/25/01, www.damianmeehan.org (family website);
19 San Pio Resta: Bernstein, 177;
20 Richards: The Independent (U.K.), 9/24/01, Village Voice, 6/6/02, Art News, 11/01;
21 Fred Alger: NY Sun, 9/11/06;
22 Marsh: Insurance Journal, 9/6/04;
23 “Oh, my God!”: Dwyer & Flynn, 14;
24 remains: ibid., 20;
25 658 people: www.cantor.com/public/charities;
26 Wittenstein: eds. Der Spiegel, 51;
27 Rosenblum: Bernstein, 212;
28 van Auken: CNN, 9/13/01;
29 dead staffer: William Langewiesche, American Ground, NY: North Point, 2002, 134;
30 Windows: ibid., 56–;
31 meetings: Dwyer & Flynn, 11;
32 Risk Waters: ibid., 12, Bernstein, 175;
33 Kane: Dwyer & Flynn, 14;
34 calls/Olender/Heeran: ibid., 38–, 138, 127, 277, James Bamford, A Pretext for War, NY: Doubleday, 2004, 21–, Bernstein, 205–, Times Union (Albany), 8/20/
06;
35 Wortley: Dwyer & Flynn, 130;
36 two helicopters: CR, 291–;
37 blocked: Thomas Kean & Lee Hamilton, Without Precedent, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006, 220, “Crisis Management,” Staff Statement 14, CO, Dwyer & Flynn, 126–41–;
38 cut: MFR 03003644, 7/21/03, CF;
39 “Be advised”: Dwyer & Flynn, 58;
40 “We got jumpers”/too shocking: Friend, 188, 128–, Esquire, 9/03.
41 Reiss: Dwyer & Flynn, 18 & cf. 136–;
42 Naudet: 9/11, documentary;
43 clutching briefcase/skirt: Economist, 5/6/06;
44 burning shirt: Dwyer & Flynn, 32;
45 groups/paratroopers: Friend, 134, int. of Jason Charles, TF, 1/23/02, New Yorker, 9/24/01;
46 Smiouskas: Dwyer & Flynn, 137;
47 “As the debris”: int. Kevin McCabe, TF, 12/13/01;
48 “looked like”: int. Derek Brogan, TF, 12/28/01;
49 “We started”: Bernstein, 5.
50 “Christ!”: “Why No Rooftop Rescues on September 11?,” ABC News, 11/8/01.
CHAPTER 3
1 “We have some planes”: ATCR-AA11, 7–.
2 Zalewski/colleagues: MFR 04016801, 9/22/03, CR, 6. On the second transmission, at 8:24 A.M., the hijacker said: “Nobody move. Everything will be okay. If you try to make any moves you’ll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet.” There would also be a third transmission. At 8:33, the hijacker said: “Nobody move, please. We are going back to the airport. Don’t try to make any stupid moves.” Contrary to the notion that this was an inadvertent blunder by the American 11 hijacker, Commission staff member Miles Kara ventures the thought that the transmission was deliberate—a way of letting his accomplice aboard United 175, who could listen in to radio traffic on cabin channel 9, know that the operation had begun. (MFR 04016801, 9/22/03, corr. Miles Kara, 2011.)
3 Horrocks: www.michaelroberthorrocks.com;