200+ 9/11 'Smoking Guns'

Found in the Mainstream Media

Connecting the dots.  Where do they point?

(last updated:  01/15/2007 )

PLANNED BEFORE, FUTURE IDEAS

1. 1962 - US military drafted 'Operation Northwoods', a plan to commit terror acts in US cities, kill innocent people, hijack airplanes, and plant evidence as a way to trick the public into thinking Cuba committed an unprovoked attack against the US in order to support a war against Cuba. (ABC, Natl Security Archives)

2. March '00 - Filming begins for The Lone Gunmen's 'Pilot' episode that depicts a US plot to crash an electronically hijacked Boeing 727 into WTC and blame foreign terrorists to provoke war and increase military's budget (KC Star), March '01 - 'Pilot' episode airs on FOX TV, 6 months before attacks (TV Guide), Lone Gunmen co-producer hopes WTC attack wasn't 'somehow inspired' by anything they did. (KC Star)

PREPARATION

3. 1999 - NORAD starts conducting exercises in which airplanes are hijacked and crashed into targets which include the WTC and Pentagon (USA Today), April '01 - NORAD requested a war games event of having a terrorist group hijack a commercial airline and fly it into the Pentagon. (Boston Globe)

4. Oct '00 - Pentagon conducts emergency training exercises of a mock passenger plane crash into the Pentagon. (Army)

5. June '01 - Terrorist act exercise involving an explosion is conducted near the Pentagon to test first team's 'external response.' (Military District of Washington)

6. Aug '01 - Raytheon and US Air Force successfully land pilot-less Boeing 727 using military GPS landing system that enables ground control to take control of hijacked plane.  (Der Spiegel, Raytheon)

7. Sept '01 - 25,000 British troops ensemble in Oman near Afghanistan for 'Operation Swift Sword' and will help US in attacking OBL. (BBC, Telegraph)

8. Sept '01 - US pulls the plug on Muslim websites days before 9/11. (Guardian, BBC)

9. Sept 10 - FEMA rescuer Tom Kenney says he was deployed to NYC late Monday night before going into action Tuesday morning, the day of the attacks. (CBS video)

10. Sept 11 - Fort Belvoir near the Pentagon was conducting an exercise to test the security at the base in case of a terrorist attack. (Connection Newspapers)

11. Sept 11 - An airport emergency operations exercise is being conducted at Fort Myer, a mile from the Pentagon. (MDW, DC Military)

12. Sept 12 - FEMA was scheduled to participate in an attack drill in NYC. (9/11 Panel, NYC.gov)

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

13. June '01 - Attorney General John Ashcroft stops flying commercial aircrafts because of a 'threat assessment'. (CBS)

14. Sept 3 - Author Salman Rushdie given US air ban. (Ananova)

15. Sept 4 - An Israeli owned shipping company moves out of the WTC. (Virginian-Pilot, Real Estate Weekly)

16. Sept 7 - Jeb Bush puts the Florida National Guard on alert (WorldNetDaily, MyFlorida.com), Sept 10-11 - President Bush is in FL, state that controversially handed him 2000 presidency (Telegraph), 9/11 - Jeb Bush declares state of emergency in FL immediately after 2nd tower fell (WorldNetDaily), At least 15 of the 19 hijackers have Florida ties. (Augusta Chronicle)

17. Sept 8 - Marine Aviation group moves further away from where explosion at the Pentagon will happen. (Leatherneck)

18. Sept 10 - Group of top Pentagon officials canceled travel plans for next morning because of 'security concerns'. (Newsweek)

19. Sept 10 - San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown receives travel warning 8 hours before attacks. (SF Chronicle)

20. 9/11 - Employees at Israeli instant messaging company Odigo received text message warnings about attacks 2 hours prior. (Haaretz, Washington Post)

21. 9/11 - Donald Rumsfeld predicts terrorist attack in US 2 minutes before 1st WTC plane crash (Fayetteville Observer), later predicts Pentagon crash minutes prior.  (Telegraph)

22. 9/11 - White House staff given Cipro, a full month before first cases of anthrax reported. (Washington Post)

23. 9/11 - President Bush's cousin escaped death from the WTC thanks to a 'schedule change' the night before. (Ananova)

24. 9/11 - Fiduciary Trust, located in the south WTC, had scheduled an emergency drill for the day. (NY Times)

25. 9/11 - Larry Silverstein is not in his office on the 88th floor of the North Tower because of a 'doctors appointment.' (NY Magazine)

DECOYING, STAND DOWN

26. Sept 9 - NORAD conducts operation 'Northern Vigilance,' planned months in advance, which deploys fighter jets to Alaskan region. (NORAD, Toronto Star)

27. 9/11 - Three F-16 jetfighters from Andrews AFB, 15 miles from Pentagon, are flown 180 miles away for training mission in the morning. (Aviation Week)

28. 9/11 - Andrews AFB, home to DC Air National Guard and Air Force 1 & 2, had no jetfighters on alert. (Newsday, USA Today)

29. 9/11 - US intel agency planned exercise in the morning to simulate plane crash into government building. (Boston Globe, USA Today)

30. 9/11 - NORAD was running war game called 'Vigilant Guardian' in which the commander in charge thought first hijacking was "part of the exercise." (Aviation Week, NY Observer)

31. 9/11 - FAA bans takeoffs at 9:26 am for all civilian, military, or law enforcement aircraft (FAA, Time)

32. 9/11 - Shoot-down authorization not communicated to NORAD until 28 minutes after Flight 93 crashed. (9/11 Panel, Seattle Post)

33. Feb '05 - Donald Rumsfeld, Gen. Myers confirm there were total of four wargames on 9/11 from Rep. McKinney questioning. (C-SPAN)

WTC ATTACK

34. Jan '01 - Frank De Martini, deceased Mgr of WTC Construction & Project Mgmt, says in documentary before 9/11 that he believes WTC towers could sustain multiple hits from large jetliners, comparing it to poking a pencil through mosquito netting. (WTC-A Modern Marvel, DVD Talk)

35. July '01 - WTC landlord leased the entire WTC complex 6 six weeks before attacks. (CBS, Washington Times)

36. Twin Towers were hated, poorly designed money-losers subsides by the State and weren't torn down before because of expensive asbestos removal in which 9/11 benefited the owners by efficiently destroying the complex in a way that they didn't have to pay for any of it. (Baltimore Sun, Salon, Front Page)

37. Sept 6 - WTC officials recently took steps to secure towers against aerial attacks by installing bulletproof windows and fireproof doors in the 22nd-floor computer command center (Newsday)

38. Two week heightened security alert at WTC is lifted and bomb-sniffing dogs are abruptly removed days before 9/11. (Newsday)

39. Occupant in WTC says weeks before attacks they had "unusual" amount of evacuations from WTC and says he thinks "they had an inkling something was going on." (People)

40. 9/11 - A Fiduciary Trust CEO from the South WTC is invited to early morning charity event at Offutt AFB hosted by billionaire Warren Buffett and is escorted to TV by military officers and sees 2nd plane crash into her offices. (Forbes, SF Business Times)

41. 9/11 - A missile was reportedly launched from the Woolworth Building near the WTC. (NIST, WNBC, NY Daily)

42. 9/11 - Rudy Giuliani says he was told South WTC was going to collapse. (ABC video)

43. Company hired to help clean up Ground Zero is control demolition experts, Controlled Demolition Inc. (Waste Age)

44. Preliminary tests show steel quality did not contribute to twin towers' collapse. (Boston Globe, Pittsburg Live)

45. Oct '04 - Fire in 56-story Venezuelan skyscraper spreads over 26 floors and burns for over 17 hours, but does not collapse. (CBS)

46. WTC Ground Zero workers claim they helped FBI find 3 of the 4 black boxes from planes that struck WTC, contradicting official accounts that none were found. (Philadelphia Daily News)

Bombs, flashes, other explosions

47. EMT Jeff Birnbaum near the South Tower says he heard an eerie high-pitched noise and a 'popping sound' then an explosion before the top of the tower leaned toward him and started coming down. (CEE News)

48. Firefighter Louie Cacchioli in elevator going to 24th floor hears a bomb go off and thinks bombs were set in the building. (People)

49. Firefighter Edward Cachia says the South Tower gave at a lower floor then where the plane hit because they thought there was internal explosions going off from hearing successions of 'boom, boom, boom, boom' before the tower came down. (NY Times)

50. Fire Captain Karin Deshore says there was orange and red flashes followed by explosions that were getting bigger going both up and down and then all around the WTC 2. (SF Gate)

51. Tom Elliott on 67th floor floor in WTC 2 felt explosion below him as plane hit, firemen going up told him of an explosion near 60th floor. (CS Monitor)

52. Commissioner Stephen Gregory along with a Lieutenant Evangelista from Ladder 146 say they both saw multiple flashes coming from the lower level of the WTC 2 right before it collapsed and mentions the flashes they saw are like what you'd see when they 'blow up a building.' (NY Times)

53. Nadine Keller from her balcony in Soho, NY says she 'heard the bomb' before she saw the buildings collapse. (BBC)

54. EMT Joseph Lovero reports hearing 'additional explosions' to dispatcher. (WNBC)

55. Edmund McNally phoned his wife from 97th floor of WTC 2 following the plane crash, says he heard explosions below him. (NY Times)

56. Mike Pecoraro and co-worker hear a loud explosion in WTC 1 basement and believes a bomb went off after seeing major damage to the basement floors.  (Chief Engineer)

57. Janitor William Rodriguez in WTC 1 basement hears explosion below him, then the plane crash above him seconds later, then saw severely burnt man come out of basement elevator. (CNN)

58. Teresa Veliz on the 47th floor of the WTC 1 feels the building shake again more violently then the shaking from the 1st crash and hears explosions going off everywhere inside the building and also hears explosions when she was outside that she was convinced bombs were 'planted all over the place' and that someone was 'sitting at a control panel pushing detonator buttons.' (September 11: An Oral History)

59. Kim White from 80th floor of WTC 1 hears an explosion near the 74th floor. (People|2)

60. Witnesses reported hearing another explosion just before WTC 1 collapse, police said collapse looked almost like a 'planned implosion' designed to 'catch bystanders watching from the street.' (Guardian)

61. Third explosion reported at WTC 2 and part of the tower collapses afterward. (TCM News, TCM News)

62. Group of firemen discussing the collapse of WTC 2 said how each floor was pooping out as by being 'detonated' as if 'they had planned to take down a building'. (9/11 - The Filmmakers' Edit)

63. A member of the FDNY says when trying to get some people out  that there was 'secondary explosions' and then subsequent collapses. (11 News)

64. A FDNY Firefighter says as he was getting his gear on and making his way to the stairway, there was a 'heavy duty explosion'. (CBS)

65. MSNBC Reporter Ann Thompson says at 10:30 when she got outside the building she heard a 'second explosion' and 'another rumble' then ran inside for cover when a fire marshal said they had to leave because if there was a third explosion the building might not last. (MSNBC)

66. NBC's Pat Dawson reports that the chief of safety of the FDNY told him that he received word of another bomb going off and when he tried to get his men out he said that there was another explosion which took place and thinks there were devices that were planted in the building. (NBC)

67. Eyewitness speaking in a studio interview says he was about five blocks away when he heard three explosions and turned around to see the building he just got out of collapse. (Studio interview)

68. An injured witness to one of the towers collapsing said it sounded like 'gunfire' and then all of a sudden he heard 'three big explosions'. (News interview)

69. NBC's Rick Sanchez reports that police have evacuated an area around the WTC because of a 'suspicious device' thought to be a bomb and say they think a van with explosives in it went off inside the WTC and fear that bombs have been planted in, or nearby the buildings. (MSNBC)

70. BBC's Stephen Evans reports there was a big explosion from 'much, much lower' in the WTC from where the plane crashed. (BBC)

WTC 7

71. 9/11 - 6:47am, WTC 7's fire alarm is placed on 8 hr 'test' mode which any alarms received are ignored. (NIST)

72. WTC landlord Larry Silverstein says he gets a call from a fire chief about the WTC 7 and he recommends to him to 'pull it' and after they 'decided to pull,' they all watched the 7 collapse. (PBS video)

73. Firefighter Scott Holowach says he and his crew were just 'hanging out' until tower WTC 7 came down and went right to work to put the 7's fires out. (NY Times)

74. Paramedic Steven Pilla says he and his crew didn't do any further because they were 'waiting' for WTC 7 to come down. (NY Times)

75. Firefighter Lt William Ryan says he and his crew were told WTC 7 was going to collapse 'around 3 pm' and 'fell back' until it came down. (NY Times)

76. Firefighter Frank Sweeney says he and his crew were sent back down near the WTC 7 and 'stood and waited' for it to come down. (NY Times)

77. WTC 7 becomes first steel high-rise building in history to collapse solely from an alleged fire. (Chicago Tribune, Stanford Report)

78. The collapse of the 47 story WTC 7 skyscraper hardly gets any media attention. (NY Times)

79. WTC 7 debris was removed without investigators having the chance to examine it at the scene to help determine the cause of failure. (History Channel)

80. FEMA report concludes specifics of WTC 7 fires and how they caused it to collapse remain unknown and call for further investigation and also says the building collapsed as a result of an 'implosion.' (FEMA)

PENTAGON ATTACK

81. Sept 10 - Pentagon medic is on the phone with FBI talking about who has command of their emergency plane crash plan. (Army)

82. 9/11 - Emergency equipment for Pentagon's emergency plane crash plans were already out of storage for inventory check before Pentagon crash. (Army)

83. 9/11 - Hours before crash, a Pentagon medic was studying disaster plan based on unlikely scenario of a plane crashing into building. (Washington Post)

84. 9/11 - Flight 77's radar stops near Ohio/Kentucky border and is the only one of the four hijacked planes that wasn't able to be tracked all the way. (Flight Explorer, Washington Post)

85. Flight 77 is piloted by ex-Navy fighter pilot who worked on anti-terrorism strategies in same area of Pentagon hit by his plane and a passenger on board is an ex-Navy Admiral, jet fighter pilot, and American Airlines captain who also worked at Pentagon. (Newsday, Washington Post)

86. 9/11 - Multiple fire and medical units dispatched near Pentagon minutes before crash for high-rise apt. fire that was reported out when 1st responder arrived which allowed most units to proceed to the Pentagon. (Arlington County, Fire Engineering)

87. 9/11 - Two clocks have their times frozen at about 9:32 from being knocked down from an explosion at the Pentagon. (Navy, Smithsonian)

88. Pentagon crash happened right in the middle of the only section being renovated to bolster it against an attack which severely limited damage and loss of life. (USA Today, Army)

89. 9/11 - Many key emergency response people arrive at the Pentagon within 5 minutes after the crash. (Arlington After-Action Report)

90. 9/11 - Gas station and hotel's security cameras recorded Pentagon crash, but FBI arrived within minutes and confiscated films. (CNN, National Geographic)

91. 9/11 - Boy on Flight 77 is lectured by military father beforehand about dying who subsequently takes a 'rare day off' from working in same area of Pentagon that son's plane will later crash into. (MSNBC)

92. Pentagon construction worker says on Larry King Live that plane that hit Pentagon had 'fewer engines' than the other 9/11 planes. (CNN)

93. 9/11 - Air traffic controllers thought alleged Boeing 757 flying towards the Pentagon flew like a 'military jetfighter.' (ABC, Washington Post)

94. Alleged Flight 77 hijacker pilot, Hani Hanjour, was described as a horrible pilot by his flight instructors, was the only hijacker who didn't have a passenger number or seat assignment, and was unable to rent a single-engine Cessna 172 one month before 9/11 because he had trouble controlling and landing it during a test flight. (CBS, NY Times, Washington Post, Newsday)

Describing a missile

95. USA TODAY reporter Richard Benedetto says aircraft he saw hit the Pentagon 'sounded like an artillery shell.' (USA Today)

96. Pentagon Renovation project coordinator Michael DiPaula says aircraft that hit the Pentagon 'sounded like a missile.' (Baltimore Sun)

97. Space News editor Lon Rains was 'convinced a missile' hit the Pentagon by the way it sounded and how fast it flew in. (Space News)

98. Pentagon network engineer Tom Seibert said he heard what 'sounded like a missile' crash into the building. (Guardian)

Describing aircraft very different than a Boeing 757

99. D. S. Khavkin says aircraft she and her husband saw fly overheard towards the Pentagon appeared to be a 'small' commercial aircraft. (BBC)

100. Steve Patterson says aircraft he saw crash into pentagon appeared to hold about '8 to 12 people' and sounded like a 'fighter jet.' (Washington Post)

101. USA Today Editor Joel Sucherman says he saw the body and tail of the aircraft that hit the Pentagon, but 'did not see the engines.' (CNN video)

Witnessed no/little plane debris at crash site

102. CNN's Jamie McIntyre live at the Pentagon scene says there's no evidence a plane crashed anywhere near the building other than pieces that are small enough to pick up by hand. (CNN video)

103. Engineer Steve DeChiaro says he was perplexed that a plane had crashed into Pentagon by seeing only a small hole in the building and seeing 'no tail, wings, no nothing'. (Memphis Online)

104. Army Captain Lincoln Liebner says remarkably there was 'no debris from the airplane' at the Pentagon when he got to the building. (Army)

105. Army Captain Allan Lindsley says he was 100 meters from the Pentagon crash site and didn’t see 'any of the plane.' (Army)

106. Nurse Eileen Murphy upon reaching the Pentagon crash scene says she was real surprised that the plane 'wasn't there.' (Army)

107. Sergeant First Class Maybon Pollock says he was in awe that he saw 'nothing left from the plane' at the Pentagon crash site after being told the size of the plane that had crashed there. (Army)

108. Will Jarvis of the Office of Secretary of Defense tried but failed to see the plane at the Pentagon saying there was just 'nothing left' and couldn’t see a 'tail or a wing or anything.' (U of T Magazine)

Smelled explosives, heard multiple explosions

109. Pentagon attorney Gilah Goldsmith said she smelled cordite, or gun smoke near the crash site.  (Jewish News Weekly)

110. Don Perkal of the Office of Secretary of Defense said he heard two explosions minutes apart and heard that a bomb had gone off in the building and when he smelled cordite, he says he knew 'explosives had been set off somewhere'. (McSweeney's)

PENNSYLVANIA CRASH

111. June '01 - A major terrorist exercise 'Mall Strike 2001' is conducted in a PA county next to the one where Flight 93 crashes. (FEMA, PittsburgLive)

112. 9/11 - Flight 93 reportedly lands at a Cleveland airport, adjacent to NASA Glenn Research Ctr, due to a bomb scare after a man over Flight 93's intercom says a bomb is on board and the plane will be 'returning to the airport' at about the time it is flying over Cleveland. (WCPO-TV, Pitt Post-Gazette)

113. 9/11 - Witness at Flight 93 crash scene says there was nothing that could 'distinguish that a plane had crashed there.' (FOX video)

114. 9/11 - Somerset county coroner says no remains were visible at Flight 93 crash site if the plane had 'stopped and let the passengers off before it crashed' and that the most 'eerie' thing was that he hadn't seen a 'single drop of blood' there. (Pittsburg Live, Washington Post)

115. Dec '04 - Donald Rumsfeld says Flight 93 was shot down in a speech. (CNN)

IGNORED WARNINGS, ALLOWING IT TO HAPPEN

116. 1994 - US intel warned that terrorists might attack US using airplanes as weapons (CNN, CBS); 1995 - US warned of 'Operation Bojinka' plot to hijack planes and attack the Pentagon and CIA headquarters (CNN); July '01 - US and Italian officials were warned that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit. (LA Times)

117. CIA had low-level spies inside Al Qaeda three years before attacks (MSNBC), US intel overheard discussions of a major pending terrorist attack weeks prior to 9/11 (USA Today)

118. Jan '00 - CIA information about 2 alleged 9/11 hijackers in San Diego is squelched before reaching FBI. (LA Times)

119. US agents told to back off bin Laden's and Saudi Royals soon after Bush becomes president. (Ananova, BBC)

120. June '01- Convicted terrorist provided US with specific info about a terrorist attack, some was used in Aug. 6th memo. (Newsweek)

121. June '01 - Dept. of Defense changes hijacking rules, first time since 1997. (DoD)

122. July '01 - Armed pilots banned 2 months before 9/11.  (WorldNetDaily)

123. July '01 - Briefing for senior US officials warns of spectacular attacks by terrorists with little or no warnings. (CNN)

124. July '01 - Agent's "Phoenix memo" warned FBI about OBL supporters taking flight training in Arizona, suggesting schools could be used for terror operations, but doesn't reached tops at FBI, CIA, and Justice Dept. until after 9/11. (CBS, CNN)

125. July '01 - Suspected 9/11 mastermind KSM receives US visa despite '96 terrorist indictment. (ABC)

126. Aug '01 - Israeli security issued urgent warning to CIA of large-scale terror attacks. (Telegraph)

127. Aug '01 - Taliban warns US of huge attack from bin Laden. (BBC)

128. Aug '01 - FBI supervisor said in conversation with headquarters that he wanted to prevent Zacarias Moussaoui from flying a plane into the WTC. (USA Today)

129. Aug 6 - CIA memo titled "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US" warns Bush of attacks and plane hijackings in the US by OBL. (ABC, FOX)

130. FAA chiefs received 52 warnings in 6 months time period before 9/11. (NY Times)

131. All 4 hijacked planes were well below normal passenger loads, averaging only 27% full. (CNN, Washington Post)

132. FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley accuses bosses of ignoring 9/11 warnings and sabotaging investigation attempts. (Time, USA Today)

133. FBI translator Sibel Edmonds:  'I Saw Papers That Show US Knew al-Qaida Would Attack Cities With Airplanes' (Independent-UK)

134. 9/11 Panel Chairman: 'Attack Was Preventable.' (CBS)

135. Senior FBI officials were warned about 70 times of 9/11 plot. (WorldNetDaily)

COVER-UP

136. 9/11 - Ari Fleischer claims that Bush received no warnings about the attacks (White House), May '02 - Fleischer confirms that Bush was told by CIA a month before attacks about possibility of OBL terrorists hijacking planes in the US. (SF Gate)

137. President Bush (White House) Gen. Richard Myers (DoD) Condoleezza Rice (CBS) Sect. Mineta and some NORAD officials all deny anybody was aware of the idea that terrorists would use airplanes as weapons (Seattle Post), 1999 - NORAD conducted exercises simulating hijacked airliners used as weapons. (USA Today)

138. Sept 22 - 'Airline Transportation Stabilization Act' becomes law which if 9/11 victim's families except, they can't sue airlines or US gov't for any reason. (Guardian, LA Times)

139. Sept 26 - Mayor Rudolph Giuliani bans all video and photography at Ground Zero. (Boston Globe)

140. Nov '01 - Bush signs Executive Order 13233 which limits public access to presidential records. (Boston Globe, NS Archives) Mar '03 - Bush signs Executive Order 13292 allowing for a broad range of documents to be kept secret for up to 25 years and gives classification powers to the Vice President. (Boston Globe, National Review) The number of documents classified by the Bush administration increased by over 50 percent since 2001 (Boston Globe) and they have classified more records in their first 2 years than President Clinton's last four years. (US News) Ex-Nixon legal aide says Bush Admin is the most secretive ever. (Telegraph)

141. Jan '02 - Steel from the WTC is shipped to China and India for recycling which has angered investigators, engineers and victim's families who say the steel could hold vital clues about why the towers collapsed and GPS trackers were installed on trucks hauling the 'highly sensitive' steel scraps away to be melted. (USA Today, China.org, ACSS)

142. Jan '02 - Fire Engineering says official WTC investigation is a 'half-baked farce' that may already have been 'commandeered by political forces' whose primary interests lie 'far afield of full disclosure.' (Fire Engineering)

143. March '02 - Pentagon security photos of crash are released, but Pentagon says gov't didn't 'officially' release them. (Washington Post)

144. May '02 - Bush Administration oppose a 9/11 investigation. (CBS)

145. June '02 - Records of 9/11 response not for public, New York City says. (NY Times)

146. Sept '02 - American Airlines continues to gag all employees from talking about Sept 11 hijackings. (WorldNetDaily)

147. Sept '02 - Bush admin denies lawmakers investigating 9/11 permission to reveal whether the president or White House staff received warning of potential terrorist attacks against US, including plans by al Qaida linked terrorists to use hijacked planes as weapons. (UPI)

148. Nov '02 - Bush names former National Security advisor and Unocal consultant Henry Kissinger to head 9/11 investigations. (CNN, CBS)

149. Dec '02 - WTC surveillance tapes and maintenance logs are among the missing evidence as investigators try to figure out why the WTC collapsed. (Ft Wayne Sentinel)

150. Dec '02 - Bush names Homeland Security Project Co-Chair who has business link to husband of OBL's sister to head 9/11 panel. (Fortune)

151. Jan '03 - 9/11 investigations get only a $3 million budget and 16 month time frame compared to the over $40 million spent on the 5-year investigation of the Clintons. (Washington Times, Washington Post)

152. May '03 - White House refuses to release 900-page Sept. 11 congressional report. (Miami Herald)

153. July '03 - 9/11 panel criticizes Defense, Justice dept's for not cooperating fully and CIA, FBI for intimidating witnesses. (ABC, Guardian)

154. July '03 - White House, CIA kept key portions of 9/11 report classified dealing with Saudi Arabia and reject Saudi requests to declassify. (Washington Post)

155. Jan '04 - 9/11 Panel has to interview two of it's own members about attacks. (UPI)

156. Jan '04 - Bush and Speaker Hastert oppose granting more time for 9/11 Panel. (Washington Post)

157. April '04 - Bush admin gags FBI translator Sibel Edmonds from speaking to 9/11 Panel about attack foreknowledge. (Independent-UK)

158. April '04 - Bush, Cheney meet together behind closed doors with 9/11 Panel without recorders, stenographer, or being under oath. (CNN)

159. FAA manager mangled, cut, and destroyed 9/11 tapes. (Washington Post)

160. President Bush's phone logs on 9/11 don't exist. (NY Daily News)

161. June '04 - 9/11 tapes reveal ground personnel covered-up attack response, kept things 'hush-hush.' (New York Observer)

162. July '04 - Almost 3 years after 9/11, technology only now exists to enable cell phones to work on airplanes at flying altitudes. (USA Today, New York Press)

163. 9/11 report shows much of common wisdom about 9/11 was wrong. (Straights Times)

164. Oct '04 - NORAD takes their 9/11 response timeline off website (NORAD) after US Senator accuses them and FAA of lying. (Star Tribune)

165. Oct '04 - Inquiry begins about unreleased 9/11 report about civilian, military response timeline and will stay unreleased until after elections. (NY Times)

166. Alleged 9/11 hijacker rented room from FBI informant, FBI covered fact up. (Village Voice)

167. Some in 9/11 panel concluded the Pentagon may have lied about how they first reacted to the 9/11 attacks and debated referring the matter to the Justice Dept for a criminal investigation. (Washington Post)

168. Box cutters weren't allowed pre-9/11 by airlines industry. (9/11 Panel, CBS)

MOTIVES

169. 1997 - CFR & Trilateral Comm member Zbigniew Brzezinski publishes a book urging the US to control the world's natural resources to maintain global domination despite public's uneasiness about US projecting external power and cautions it will become more difficult to get consensus on foreign policy with an increasingly diverse US society unless public perceives a massive direct external threat. (Brzezinski: 'Grand Chessboard')