|
Before 9/11, Warnings on bin Laden
By SCOTT SHANE
12/09/05 "New
York Times" -- -- WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 - More than three
years before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, American
diplomats warned Saudi officials that Osama bin Laden might target
civilian aircraft, according to a newly declassified State
Department cable.
The cable was one of two documents released Thursday by the National
Security Archive, a research organization at George Washington
University that obtained them under the Freedom of Information Act.
The other was a memorandum written five days after the 2001 attacks
by George J. Tenet, then director of central intelligence, to his
top deputies, titled "We're at War."
The June 1998 cable reported to Washington that three American
officials, the State Department's regional security officer, an
economics officer and an aviation specialist had met Saudi officials
at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh to pass along a
warning based on an interview Mr. bin Laden, the Saudi-born leader
of Al Qaeda, had just given to ABC News.
They said he had threatened in the interview to strike in the next
"few weeks" against "military passenger aircraft," mentioning
surface-to-air missiles. The cable said there was "no specific
information that indicates bin Laden is targeting civilian
aircraft," but added, "We could not rule out that a terrorist might
take the course of least resistance and turn to a civilian target."
Part of the Tenet memo had been reported previously in Bob
Woodward's 2002 book, "Bush At War." The eight-paragraph Tenet
letter was a call to arms, declaring "a worldwide war against Al
Qaeda and other terrorist organizations" and saying that the effort
would require "our absolute and total dedication."
The 2001 document echoed an earlier memo about Al Qaeda that Mr.
Tenet had sent on Dec. 4, 1998, to top C.I.A. officials and other
intelligence agencies, stating: "We are at war. I want no resources
or people spared in this effort." But the national 9/11 commission
concluded last year that the 1998 memo had "little overall effect"
on mobilizing the agencies to fight terrorism.
Copyright 2005The New York Times Company
Translate
this page
(In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes.
Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the
originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) |
