By Kyle F. Hence

1) Deception: Why, when the Administration and the intelligence community had more than adequate intelligence regarding the precedent for, and the threat of, airplanes being used as weapons, did they lie to the American people and the world when C. Rice and Ari Fliesher said at the May 18th White House press conference that, "no one could have imagined…[etc.]"? Similarly, why in the immediate aftermath did they insist they had received no warnings of an imminent attack when in fact the intelligence briefing given the President on August 6th in Crawford contained just such warnings?

2) Air Defenses: Given detailed warnings (ie. "domestic hijackings" by Al-Qeada) from US and foreign intelligence, why did Air defenses appear unprepared, and in fact, did not respond per standard operating procedure and as required by Federal law to scramble jets to intercept the hijacked planes on the morning of September 11th? Why did VP Cheney, say on Meet the Press that the administration had decided to make the decision to intercept when in fact it is standard procedure followed as a matter of course?

3) Pre-9/11 Insider Trading: Short-selling experts (ie. Phil Erlanger www.erlangersqueezeplay.com) have estimated insiders with apparent detailed knowledge of the attacks netted billions of dollars in put option trading in United and American Airlines and other carefully selected stocks. Why has the SEC investigation launched in Oct. 2001 been completely silent and not been able to publicly identify and prosecute those who quite literally "made a killing". The anthrax investigation also lied dormant for months. Investigators determined that it the highly weaponized anthrax came from within the US; was that the case with the insider trading as well?

4) Money trail--FBI-confirmed wire transfer to Mahammed Atta: What was the nature and substance of the D.C. meetings held in the week prior the attack between high level US officials and ISI General ISI Chief Pakistani General Mahmoud Ahmad? On the morning of September 11th, what was discussed between Porter Goss, Bob Graham (and other members of Congress) and the ISI Chief who was later implicated in the wiring of $100,000 to hijacker ringleader Mohammed Atta? [The insider trading money trail (see above) is a hotter trail and in all likelihood will lead to a larger circle of compicity moving far more money]

5) 'Choke point' at FBI HQ: Why did David Frasca, chief of the F.B.I.'s radical fundamentalist unit, or others at FBI's headquarters deliberately and repeatedly obstruct or undermine legitimate investigations into arab flight school training and terrorist financing by capable FBI agents in the field [ie. Colleen Rowley (Minnnesota), Kenneth Williams (Phoenix), Robert Wright (Chicago)]? Why did the secret FISA court deny the Rowley request for a Moussaoui search warrant; an extraordinarily unusual case (1 in 1000s)?

6) Lack of Accountability -- Rewarding failure: Are we safer as a nation when we reward failure and fail to hold culpable officials responsible? Why has not a single high or mid-level official in a position of responsibility within a single agency charged with protecting the American public been (at least not publicly) reprimanded, demoted, or fired? Why in fact have many responsible parties been promoted? More simply, why have government officials not been publicly reprimanded or fired as a result of the failure to prevent or respond appropriately to the attacks?

7) Blocked or stalled investigations: a) After the attacks: Why wasn't a full independent investigation launched immediately following the attacks? And why did the Bush Administration resist it for over a year and then weaken its charter once it agreed to the investigation? [See points #3]

b) Before the attacks (and continuing): See point #8 below.

8) Cheney's Energy Task Force meetings: Will records from those meetings, now mandated by a judge to be made public, show that key energy companies were engaged with the Administration in geo-strategic energy policy discussions regarding the opening up of Afghanistan to pipelines, one of which would feed fuel to Enron's troubled Dabhol power plant in India, possibly saving it from imminent bankruptcy?

9) Patriot Act/Civil Liberties: Why has our government been so quick to sacrifice our freedoms and erode the Constitution when this was what provoked the attack? Don't the terrorists win every time we sacrifice our liberties and freedoms, especially when there is no guarantee of security or protection from a threat similar in nature to what Israel has faced for decades?

10) Prior planning, motive and foresight: Is there evidence to suggest that both the war plan for Afghanistan and core elements of Patriot Act were prepared and written long before the attacks of 9/11? [See Z. Brezinski's The Grand Chessboard,1998]

11) Government history and current links to Al-Qeada: What was the US Government's (read CIA) role in the creation of Al-Qeada and support of Bin Laden? Are their any current links with Al-Qeada in Kosovo in US operations there? Why and how did it come to be, that some of the 9/11 hijackers trained at major US defense establishments such as the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA where the Dean of Students, Colonel Butler made some disturbing accusations?

Commentary

By all evidence, 9/11 been fully capitalized and exploited by the Administration and the military-industrial-intelligence-police complex as a perfect justification for carrying out an agenda that by all appearances was in place well prior to the attacks. 9/11 has been pretext for huge budget increases for defense and intelligence, consolidation of political control that stifles dissent, frightening Orwellian and unconstitutional increases in police and surveillance powers, and a massive projection of US military might around the world. Our people and our economy are suffering. The Constitution, the very foundation of our republic which government officials are SWORN to uphold, is being undermined and compromised with each new draconian measure implemented--all with no guarantee to our safety, all feeding increasing hatred, antagonism and resentment overseas, even from our own allies.

Deeper reflection and courageous action is required to wrest ourselves from this mess and dangerous power shift. There is virtually no dialogue exploring the roots of terrorism; instead authorities practice fear mongering while ratcheting up rhetoric for war that will in all likelihood only escalate the level of violence and terrorism across the globe, thus insuring that the unconstitutional and dangerous agenda, unfolding since 9/11, "won't end in our lifetimes."

In the meantime, the above list of key lines of inquiry, if pursued aggressively toward full disclosure, through subpoena if necessary, may well lead to a entirely different picture of what happened on 9/11 and why. The 9/11 attack, with its current official narrative, is proving to be the most critical event in modern history. What if the course of human events and geo-political upheaval that has occurred since is built on deception and lies? What if evidence is discovered and whistleblower testimony is offered which completely undermines the official story? The very course of history may well lie in the hands of those willing and courageous enough to take another deeper look at what happened--further grave danger will likely be averted if these lines of inquiry are followed to the whole and unvarnished truth.

Tom Flocco and Kyle F. Hence are Co-founders, Unanswered Questions. org

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