NationStates Jolt Archive

French Intelligence apparently warned the US, several months in advance, that Al Qaida was planning on hijacking planes.


French intelligence services warned their US counterparts, eight months before the attacks of September 11, 2001, that Al-Qaeda was planning to hijack a US-bound plane, a media report said Monday.

The information that Osama bin Laden's group, working with Taliban militants and Chechen rebels, had been plotting the move was passed on to Bill Murray, head of the Central Intelligence Agency's Paris bureau, Le Monde daily said.

The paper published a copy of the first page of a five-page document which it said had been handed over to the CIA in January 2001 by the French foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE.


(Article here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/france/20070416-France-US-attacks-Al-Qaeda-11-sept.html))

Did US Intelligence mess up? Or could it not have been prevented in any case? French Intelligence 'merely' found that there was going to be hijacking, not that Al Qaida was going to crash planes into buildings.

French Intelligence apparently warned the US, several months in advance, that Al Qaida was planning on hijacking planes.



(Article here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/france/20070416-France-US-attacks-Al-Qaeda-11-sept.html))

Did US Intelligence mess up? Or could it not have been prevented in any case? French Intelligence 'merely' found that there was going to be hijacking, not that Al Qaida was going to crash planes into buildings.
wouldn't have made a difference. why?

PARIS, April 16, 2007 (AFP) -French intelligence services warned their US counterparts, eight months before the attacks of September 11, 2001, that Al-Qaeda was planning to hijack a US-bound plane, a media report said Monday
Their plan was to hijack a plane flying from the German city of Frankfurt, where there was an Al-Qaeda cell, towards an American airport.
that means the security forces would be looking for international flights coming into the US, the attacks were all Domestic Flights.

the focus would have been in Germany and other parts of Europe leaving the gaping holes that would still allow the Hijackers to board the planes in the USA and fly them into their targets.

of course, I am not saying that the Intelligence Services didn't screw up. they did. no communication between all branches and services.

was passed on to Bill Murray,

Who totally tried to warn us, but was trapped reliving the same day over and over again.

Who totally tried to warn us, but was trapped reliving the same day over and over again.

You win the thread.

wouldn't have made a difference. why?


that means the security forces would be looking for international flights coming into the US, the attacks were all Domestic Flights.

the focus would have been in Germany and other parts of Europe leaving the gaping holes that would still allow the Hijackers to board the planes in the USA and fly them into their targets.

of course, I am not saying that the Intelligence Services didn't screw up. they did. no communication between all branches and services.

Indeed. Well said JuNii.

You win the thread.

I finally won a thread!

Oh man, so many people to thank...don't cry, you shouldn't cry...

Well, first and foremost I have to thank the big man upstairs...you know who I'm talkin' about...Karl, he pays for my internet connection...Couldn't do it without ya big guy!


sorry, I'll stop now...

No they did not.

French news papers are known for their, shell we say, 'self made anachronisms'. I am not about to flame the CIA or any other United States agency just because some continental newspaper has released this, I will wait for legitimate news that it did happen.

Funny considering the majority French people believe that it was the CIA behind the attacks.

I declare today "Stupid Thread Day".

And there were warnings that planes would be used in such a fashion from internal sources in the nineties. So?

perhaps that was part of the intelligence that went into the famous "al qaeda planning to hijack airplanes" memo from...8/01 that was pretty much ignored by the administration.

i dont know if 9/11 could have been stopped. but since the bush administration was studiously ignoring alqaeda it could not have been stopped by THIS administration.

perhaps that was part of the intelligence that went into the famous "al qaeda planning to hijack airplanes" memo from...8/01 that was pretty much ignored by the administration.

i dont know if 9/11 could have been stopped. but since the bush administration was studiously ignoring alqaeda it could not have been stopped by THIS administration.

Hey. Bill Clinton did not stop it and it was planned under his administration. YIKES!!!!

The time, money and effort wasted going after Clinton's blow job could have prevented 9/11.

Never forget.

The time, money and effort wasted going after Clinton's blow job could have prevented 9/11.

Never forget.

And Bill Clinton could have easily gotten Bin Laden but choose not to. Never Forget.

And Bill Clinton could have easily gotten Bin Laden but choose not to. Never Forget.

Really?

Link (http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/secrethistory/timeline4.html)

Never forget that before 9/11 the outrage would have been immense at actions done without due trial, it still is in fact.

EDIT: This is on no way a taking of sides against Bush, politics is politics - additionally, while I accept some areas in this article may be debateable, there's no doubt Clinton knew of, and tried to take action against, Bin Laden - that Bush did not is understandable though regrettable.

And Bill Clinton could have easily gotten Bin Laden but choose not to. Never Forget.

Bin laden didnt crash any planes into the WTC, Muhammad Atta and his 18 colleagues did.

Of course, in fantasy land, maybe stopping bin laden stops terrorism, because that big mean goat is the bigggggggest most evvvvvvilest thing in the world, but in the real world, it doesnt.

Try again.

It was really an episode of The Lone Gunmen that warned us of 9/11

[sarcasm]Wow! America is sure good at preventing tragedies[sarcasm/] :rolleyes:

*cough*

Pearl Harbor
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
9-11
Waco
Columbine
Tech shoot out
Lusitania and Germans attacking US boats (hey Germany warned them to stop supplying England but the US greedily kept doing it, and guess what, some freighters were passenger ships as well to cut costs meaning they basically sent their civilians to their deaths for profit, and as Germany kept attacking we eventually went to war. And Germany warned Americans via radio not to board British ships because they are going to attack them)

*cough*

[sarcasm]Wow! America is sure good at preventing tragedies[sarcasm/] :rolleyes:

*cough*

Pearl Harbor
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
9-11
Waco
Columbine
Tech shoot out
Lusitania and Germans attacking US boats (hey Germany warned them to stop supplying England but the US greedily kept doing it, and guess what, some freighters were passenger ships as well to cut costs meaning they basically sent their civilians to their deaths for profit, and as Germany kept attacking we eventually went to war. And Germany warned Americans via radio not to board British ships because they are going to attack them)

*cough*

Yes, I'm sure I speak for many others when expressing my amazement that America doesn't call you more often for your advice on how better to hide their evil intentions

I declare today "Stupid Thread Day".

I shall start a thread called 'Chocolate Pudding'.
It will be about pointless fashions and how it affects popular culture.

[sarcasm]Wow! America is sure good at preventing tragedies[sarcasm/] :rolleyes:

*cough*

Pearl Harbor
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
9-11
Waco
Columbine
Tech shoot out
Lusitania and Germans attacking US boats (hey Germany warned them to stop supplying England but the US greedily kept doing it, and guess what, some freighters were passenger ships as well to cut costs meaning they basically sent their civilians to their deaths for profit, and as Germany kept attacking we eventually went to war. And Germany warned Americans via radio not to board British ships because they are going to attack them)

*cough*

I'll concede your point on Pearl Harbor & Texas Chainsaw Massacre. They were both horrible, horrible movies - that should have been prevented.

[sarcasm]Wow! America is sure good at preventing tragedies[sarcasm/] :rolleyes:

*cough*

Pearl Harbor
Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Indeed bad movies! We failed to prevent them.


9-11
Waco
Columbine
Tech shoot out

Lusitania and Germans attacking US boats


The Lusitania attacked US boats?

(hey Germany warned them to stop supplying England but the US greedily kept doing it, and guess what, some freighters were passenger ships as well to cut costs meaning they basically sent their civilians to their deaths for profit, and as Germany kept attacking we eventually went to war. And Germany warned Americans via radio not to board British ships because they are going to attack them)

*cough*

I declare today "Stupid Thread Day".

I'm with you there.

meh, coulda shoulda woulda. What use is pondering the alternate histories, beyond a sort of vaguely satisfying armchair history discussion?

hey Germany warned them to stop supplying England but the US greedily kept doing it
Wait, wait. America was sending supplies to its allies at war? How dare they!

Wait, wait. America was sending supplies to its allies at war? How dare they!

They were neatral and would have supplied the Germans as well if there was no blockade or so my history teacher says.

The Lusitania attacked US boats?

The Lusitania was a tragedy, the civs decided to board after being warned that British vessels would be attacked.

French news papers are known for their, shell we say, 'self made anachronisms'.

Yes, Le Monde is renowned for making things up. Oh, wait. It isn't.

Funny considering the majority French people believe that it was the CIA behind the attacks.

Making up random statistics now, are you? :rolleyes:

JuNii, you're probably right.

French Intelligence 'merely' found that there was going to be hijacking, not that Al Qaida was going to crash planes into buildings.

Yesterday, on the italian daily "Il Corriere della Sera", the article about this warning told that France had received a warning, through Uzbekistan, that Al-Quaida meant to use hijacked planes coming from Europe in a suicide attack against the US.
It looks like the US intelligence had some clues about a non-standard hijacking project.

Well, since the Taliban quickly denounced the attacks, I think the intelligence is probably good, but was outdated by september 11.

The plans were different, the actors appear to have been different and most importantly, people who were supposedly involved were quick to refuse blame.

Not that it saved them or anything :p

Funny considering the majority French people believe that it was the CIA behind the attacks.

o_O I seriously doubt that. just because the 'réseau Voltaire' tried to convince people it was the CIA doesn't mean everyone fell for it.

Really?

Link (http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/secrethistory/timeline4.html)

Never forget that before 9/11 the outrage would have been immense at actions done without due trial, it still is in fact.

EDIT: This is on no way a taking of sides against Bush, politics is politics - additionally, while I accept some areas in this article may be debateable, there's no doubt Clinton knew of, and tried to take action against, Bin Laden - that Bush did not is understandable though regrettable.

And that was why 9/11 was being planned under his administration. That part of history cannot be changed. Clinton dropped the ball on that.

And that was why 9/11 was being planned under his administration. That part of history cannot be changed. Clinton dropped the ball on that.

I seem to recall there being something around warnings passed on to the Bush Administration from the Clinton Administration that were dismissed out of hand. You can't stop people from planning things. Blaming people because they didn't stop some one else from scheming just shows how blatant your bias is.

I seem to recall there being something around warnings passed on to the Bush Administration from the Clinton Administration that were dismissed out of hand. You can't stop people from planning things. Blaming people because they didn't stop some one else from scheming just shows how blatant your bias is.

Warnings are one thing. You get enough false warnings, people are going to ignore it. Don't believe me? As the people along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. How many false Hurrican Warnings were there? Granted, not their fault that the storm moved but at the sametime...

As to this though, Clinton could have done something to prevent it himself too. I guess he could not so why should we expect Bush (who JUST got into office) to try and stop. After all CLinton had 4 years (give or take)