A Defense Department inspector general’s report released Thursday said that there is no evidence to indicate that the Able Danger intelligence program run by the Pentagon had identified Mohammed Atta or any of the 9/11 hijackers prior to September 11. But the report drew sharp criticism for numerous “distortions.”
“We concluded that prior to Sept. 11, 2001, Able Danger team members did not identify Mohammed Atta or any other 9/11 hijackers,” the inspector general’s report (PDF) said. “While we interviewed four witnesses who claimed to have seen a chart depicting Mohammed Atta and possibly other terrorists or ‘cells’ involved in 9/11, we determined that their recollections were not accurate.”
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and one of several members of Congress who requested the investigation, blasted the report.
“I am appalled that the DOD IG would expect the American people to actually consider this a full and thorough investigation,” Weldon said. “I question their motives and the content of this report, and I reject the conclusions they have drawn.”
Michael Kasper, who writes at the Able Danger Blog, said the report was “built on distortions” and made comparisons between information in the IG report, which said that “GEN [Henry H.] Shelton testified that he had no specific recollection of term ‘Able Danger’ or the Able Danger program” and published news accounts where Gen. Shelton, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, described the program in detail.
“Awfully specific for someone with ‘no specific recollection’ of Able Danger,” Kasper wrote.
“Acting in a sickening bureaucratic manner, the DOD IG cherry picked testimony from witnesses in an effort to minimize the historical importance of the Able Danger effort,” Weldon said. “The IG narrowly focused their investigation on the witnesses recollections of the 9/11 hijackers and a chart.”
More: Washington Post
This whole thing has turned into a he-said, she-said affair, and it’s far from clear we’ll ever confirm what really happened, especially since most of the data collected in the Able Danger program has been destroyed. The IG report found that the data destruction “followed established procedure and violated no regulation.”
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Karl Marx would love the popular moves among politicians in various state governments and the federal government to ban so-called "junk" food in schools, and to "put healthy food in" convenience stores and on the tables of those they define as poor. It's a very elitist and arrogant mindset that promotes this ideology, and it needs to be addressed.
Ultimately, the war supporters in Congress prevailed in the vote on the resolution. Still, the vote was significant because it places every member of Congress on the record as supporting or not supporting the unconstitutional, costly, violent occupation of a country that never attacked us. This vote should serve as an important reminder to the American people of where their representatives really stand when it comes to policing the world, empire building, and war.
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Miles
Sep 24, 2006
I hope this story never dies until the final truth is learned. This is not America
Dungeon Master
Oct 15, 2006
Has anyone actually tried to keep up with the Able Danger story as told by
Conspiracy Curt? His story has taken more turns and flights of fantasy
than a Tom Clancy novel. He has promised to produce confirmatory
witnesses beyond his band of fringe lunatics. He has promised to deliver
an FBI agent to support Shaffer’s story. He has promised numerous
affidavits about various aspects of his story. He even said he would
resign from Congress if his colleagues did not take him seriously. He
has delivered no credible witnesses; the FBI refuted his claims; still
waiting for his multiple affidavits; no one takes him seriously BUT he
forgot to resign. After years of rumors that Weldon was abusing his
office and running a nepotism welfare agency we now read in the
Washington Post and other national media that the FBI is investigating
Weldon. Seems like a smart move on his part to steer attention to a
never ending stream of conspiracies. The FBI look will have to play out
but we don’t need any more time to see that Weldon has bilked the
American taxpayer out of some serious money with his Able Danger
charade. He and Tony Shaffer make the perfect pair–two guys
competing real hard to prove who can be the biggest doofuss. Shaffer is
simply a tragicomic, self-agrandizing sociopath while Weldon is a
fanatical conspiracy monger who happens to a freaking member of the
United States Congress! Heaven help us!!
real hard
SPILT BEANS
Aug 29, 2007
The Former Able Danger Co, Capt. Phillpott is not a good person. I understand that he is currently under a Naval Inpsector General investigation for becoming an accessory to violation of the civil rights of a African-American sailor onboard the USS Leyte Gulf.
I also understand that The NAVY IG’s and COMNAVSURFLANT are trying to White Wash the results to help Capt. Phillpott and ruin the African American sailor to save any reputation that Capt. Scott Jon Phillpott has left.
If he commited the crime then why are the NAVY IGs and COMNAVSURFLANT committing perjury for him. Double standards are illegal.