Timeline of 9/11

September 11, 2001: The World Trade Center, Pentagon, and Flight 93 crash.

September 11, 2001 (G): The 9/11 attack: four planes are hijacked, two crash into the WTC, one into the Pentagon, and one crashes into the Pennsylvania countryside. At least 3,000 people are killed. A more detailed timeline focusing on the hours of this attack appears on a Day of 9/11 . According to officials, the entire US is defended by only 14 fighters (two planes each in seven military bases). [ Dallas Morning News, 9/16/01 ] And “they no longer included any bases close to two obvious terrorist targets—Washington, DC, and New York City.” A defense official says: “I don't think any of us envisioned an internal air threat by big aircraft. I don't know of anybody that ever thought through that.” [ Newsday, 9/23/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (H): At the time of the attacks, ISI Director Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmed is at a breakfast meeting at the Capitol with the chairmen of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, Senator Bob Graham (D) and Representative Porter Goss (R) (Goss is a 10-year veteran of the CIA's clandestine operations wing). The meeting is said to last at least until the second plane hits the WTC. [ Washington Post, 5/18/02 ] Graham and Goss later co-head the joint House-Senate investigation into the 9/11 attacks, which has made headlines for saying there was no “smoking gun” of Bush knowledge before 9/11. [ Washington Post, 7/11/02 ] Note Senator Graham should have been aware of a report made to his staff the previous month that one of Mahmood's subordinates had told a US undercover agent that the WTC would be destroyed (see Early August 2001). Evidence suggests Mahmood ordered that $100,000 be sent to hijacker Mohamed Atta (see Early August 2001 (D)). Also present at the meeting were Senator John Kyl (R) and the Pakistani ambassador to the US, Maleeha Lodhi (all or virtually all of the people in this meeting also met in Pakistan a few weeks earlier (see August 28-30, 2001)). Senator Graham says of the meeting: “We were talking about terrorism, specifically terrorism generated from Afghanistan.” The New York Times mentions bin Laden specifically was being discussed. [ Vero Beach Press Journal, 9/12/01 , Salon, 9/14/01 , New York Times, 6/3/02 ] FTW

September 11, 2001 (I): At about 9:00 a.m., a strange incident occurs aboard United Airlines Flight 23, scheduled to fly from New York to Los Angeles. After boarding, the crew tells the passengers that the flight had been canceled. Three Middle Eastern men on board refuse to get off the plane. They argue with a member of the flight crew. Security is called, but before security arrives, the men escape. [ CBS News, 9/14/01 (B) ] In June 2002, a Canadian general who is also deputy commander of NORAD refers to Flight 23 and states, “From our perception, we think our reaction on that day was sufficiently quick that we may well have precluded at least one other hijacking. We may not have. We don't know for sure.” [ Globe and Mail, 6/13/02 ] It may not be the only aborted hijacking that day (see September 19, 2001).

September 11, 2001 (J): Zacarias Moussaoui watches the 9/11 attack on TV inside a prison, where he is being held on immigration charges. He cheers the attacks. [ BBC, 12/12/01 ] Within an hour of the attacks, the Minnesota FBI uses a memo written to FBI headquarters shortly after Moussaoui's arrest to ask permission from a judge for the search warrant they have been desperately seeking. Even after the attacks, FBI headquarters is still attempting to block the search of Moussaoui's computer, characterizing the WTC attacks as a mere coincidence with suspicions about Moussaoui (the person still trying to block the search is later promoted). [ Time, 5/21/02 ] However, a federal judge approves the warrant that afternoon. [ New Yorker, 9/30/02 ] Minnesota FBI agent Coleen Rowley notes that this very memo was previously deemed insufficient by FBI headquarters to get a search warrant, and the fact that they are immediately granted one when finally allowed to ask shows “the missing piece of probable cause was only the [FBI headquarters'] failure to appreciate that such an event could occur.” [ Time, 5/21/02 ] The search uncovers information suggesting Moussaoui may have been planning an attack using crop dusters, but it doesn't turn up any direct connection to the 9/11 hijackers. However, they find some German telephone numbers and the name “Ahad Sabet.” The numbers allow them to determine the name is an alias for Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Atta's former roommate, and they find he wired Moussaoui money. They also find a document connecting Moussaoui with the Malaysian Yazid Sufaat, a lead that could have led to hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi (see September-October 2000). [ New Yorker, 9/30/02 , MSNBC, 12/11/01 ] Rowley later suggests that if they would had received the search warrant sooner, “There is at least some chance that … may have limited the Sept. 11th attacks and resulting loss of life.” [ Time, 5/27/02 ]

Mohammed Azmath, left, and Shah/Khan, right. [AP]

September 11, 2001 (K): Two men, Syed Gul Mohammad Shah (using the alias Ayub Ali Khan) and Mohammed Jaweed Azmath, are arrested on a train near Fort Worth, Texas, during a random drug check. They are found with $20,000 in cash, hair dye, and box cutters similar to those used in the 9/11 attacks. They also both had flight training. They had boarded Flight 679 in Newark, New Jersey, at 6:10 a.m., bound for San Antonio. [ Washington Post, 9/20/01 , Village Voice, 9/25/02 ] The flight was diverted to St. Louis after the WTC was hit. Shah and Azmath then took an Amtrak train headed to San Antonio. The FBI says no one else on the flight manifest is believed to be a potential hijacker. It is speculated that they were planning to meet Dr. al-Badr Alhazmi, who lived in San Antonio and was also arrested that day. [ Los Angeles Times, 9/20/01 , Washington Post, 9/29/01 ] It is also known that a $64,000 wire transfer by the two men to Pakistan in 1999 “has aroused authorities' suspicion.” [ Washington Post, 10/7/01 ] They appeared to be some of the most significant terrorists caught after 9/11. But on September 12, 2002, after nearly a year in solitary confinement, Azmath pleads guilty to one count of credit card fraud, and was released with time served. Shah is given a longer sentence for credit card fraud. [ Village Voice, 9/25/02 ] Both are deported back to India around the end of 2002. [ New York Times, 12/31/02 , Associated Press, 1/25/03 ] Both also claim to have been tortured, threatened, denied access to lawyers, and kept in solitary confinement for months (see also June 12, 2001, October 20, 2001). [ Associated Press, 1/25/03 ] Dr. Alhazmi is released after only two weeks. [ San Antonio Express News, 10/1/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (L): Within hours of the attacks, Florida governor and the President's brother Jeb Bush signs an executive order: “I hereby declare that a state of emergency exists in the State of Florida.” This order is declared faster than any other state, even New York or Washington, DC, and carries much greater powers. [ Jeb Bush Executive Order, 9/11/01 ][ Jeb Bush Executive Order, 9/7/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (M): It is later revealed that only hours after the 9/11 attacks, a US “shadow government” is formed. Initially deployed “on the fly”, executive directives on government continuity in the face of a crisis dating back to the Reagan administration are put into effect. Approximately 100 midlevel officials are moved to underground bunkers and stay there 24 hours a day. Officials rotate in and out on a 90-day cycle. When its existence is revealed, some controversy arises because of the exclusion of any Democrats from it. In fact, top Congressional Democrats had never even heard of it until journalists broke the story months later. [ Washington Post, 3/1/02 , CBS, 3/2/02 ]

September 11, 2001 (N): A few hours after the attacks, German intelligence intercepts a phone conversation between followers of bin Laden that leads the FBI to search frantically for two more teams of suicide hijackers, according to US and German officials. The Germans overhear the terrorists refer to “the 30 people traveling for the operation.” The FBI scours flight manifests and any other clues for more conspirators still at large. [ New York Times, 9/29/01 ] Two days later, authorities claim to have identified teams that total as many as 50 infiltrators who supported or carried out the strikes. About forty are accounted for as dead or in custody; ten are missing. They also believe a total of 27 suspected terrorists received some form of pilot training. This corresponds with many analyses that the attacks would have needed a large support network. [ Los Angeles Times, 9/13/01 ] Even 50 may be a gross underestimate (see September 19, 2001). Yet so far, only one person, Moussaoui, has been identified and charged as an accomplice, and a report in October suggests no one else arrested has been connected to the 9/11 attacks (see October 20, 2001).

September 11, 2001 (O): A National Public Radio correspondent states: “I spoke with Congressman Ike Skelton—a Democrat from Missouri and a member of the Armed Services Committee—who said that just recently the director of the CIA warned that there could be an attack—an imminent attack — on the United States of this nature. So this is not entirely unexpected.” [ NPR, 9/11/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (P): Senator Orrin Hatch (R) tells the Associated Press that the US government was monitoring bin Laden's communications electronically, and overheard two bin Laden aides celebrating the successful terrorist attack: “They have an intercept of some information that included people associated with bin Laden who acknowledged a couple of targets were hit.” [ Associated Press, 9/12/01 , ABC News, 9/12/01 ] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld publicly denounces the report, not as untrue, but as an unauthorized release of classified information. [ Department of Defense news briefing, 9/12/01 ] The head of the NSA explains the delay by saying bin Laden (living in a cave in Afghanistan) “has better technology” than the US ($30 billion annual intelligence budget). [ Sunday Herald, 9/16/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (Q): Shortly after the suicide attacks, a source with intelligence connections tells Newsweek that US intelligence picks up communications among bin Laden associates relaying the message: “We've hit the targets.” Its not clear if this was the same intercept Senator Hatch speaks of (see September 11, 2001 (P)), or an additional one. [ Newsweek, 9/13/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (R): Explosives expert Van Romero says: “My opinion is, based on the videotapes, that after the airplanes hit the World Trade Center there were some explosive devices inside the buildings that caused the towers to collapse.” The collapse of the buildings appears “too methodical” to be a chance result of airplanes colliding with the structures. [ Albuquerque Journal, 9/11/01 ] However, Romero, who says he was on his way to the Pentagon to seek Pentagon research funding when the attack hit, reverses his stance 10 days later. [ Albuquerque Journal, 9/21/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (S): Two of Atta's bags from an early flight from Portland are not loaded onto Flight 11 and are discovered. They contain a handheld electronic flight computer, a simulator procedures manual for Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft, two videotapes relating to “air tours” of the Boeing 757 and 747 aircraft, a slide-rule flight calculator, a copy of the Koran, Atta's passport, his international driver's license, a religious cassette tape, airline uniforms, a letter of recommendation, “education related documentation”, a note to other hijackers on how to mentally prepare for the hijacking, and Atta's will (written in 1996). [ Associated Press, 10/5/01 , Sydney Morning Herald, 9/15/01 , Boston Globe, 9/18/01 , Independent, 9/29/01 , (see also an FBI affidavit that omits certain items, like the uniforms and the how-to note)] A New Yorker reporter later writes, “many of the investigators believe that some of the initial clues that were uncovered about the terrorists' identities and preparations, such as flight manuals, were meant to be found. A former high-level intelligence official told me, ‘Whatever trail was left was left deliberatelyfor the FBI to chase.’” [ New Yorker, 10/1/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (T): TV news coverage on 9/11 repeatedly shows images of Palestinians rejoicing over the 9/11 attack. According to Mark Crispin Miller, a Professor of Media Studies at New York University who investigated the issue, the footage was filmed during the funeral of nine people killed the day before by Israeli authorities. He said “to show it without explaining the background, and to show it over and over again is to make propaganda for the war machine and is irresponsible.” [ AFP, 9/18/01 , Australian, 9/27/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (U): Later in the day, weapons are found planted on board three other US airplanes. A US official says of the hijackings: “These look like inside jobs.” “Sources tell Time that US officials are investigating whether the hijackers had accomplices deep inside the airports' ‘secure’ areas.” [ Time, 9/22/01 ] Penetrating security doesn't appear to have been that difficult: Argenbright, the company in charge of security at all the airports used by the 9/11 hijackers, had virtually no security check on any of their employees, and even hired criminals and illegal immigrants. Security appears to have particularly abysmal at Boston's Logan Airport, even after 9/11. [ CNN, 10/12/01 , Boston Globe, 10/1/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (V): Hours after the 9/11 attacks, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is given information that three of the names on the airplane passenger manifests are suspected al-Qaeda operatives. The notes he composes at the time are leaked nearly a year later. Rumsfeld writes he wants the “best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] at same time. Not only UBL. [Usama bin Laden] Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.” [ CBS, 9/4/02 ] He presents the idea to Bush the next day (see September 12, 2001 (F)). It is later revealed that shortly after 9/11, Rumsfeld sets up “a small team of defense officials outside regular intelligence channels to focus on unearthing details about Iraqi ties with al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks.” It has continued to sift “through much of the same databases available to government intelligence analysts but with the aim of spotlighting information the spy agencies have either overlooked or played down.” [ Washington Post, 10/25/02 ] Time will report in May 2002 that Defense Secretary “Rumsfeld has been so determined to find a rationale for an attack that on 10 separate occasions he asked the CIA to find evidence linking Iraq to the terror attacks of Sept. 11. The intelligence agency repeatedly came back empty-handed.” [ Time, 5/6/02 ] But while the CIA hasn't been helpful to Rumsfeld, one former senior official later says, “If it became known that [Rumsfeld] wanted [the Defense Intelligence Agency] to link the government of Tonga to 9/11, within a few months they would come up with sources who'd do it.” [ New Yorker, 12/16/02 ]

The white van used by five Israeli agents as they were leaving New York on 9/11. [ABC News, 6/21/02]

September 11, 2001 (W): Five Israelis are arrested for “puzzling behavior” related to the WTC attacks.They are arrested around 4:30 P.M. after having filmed the burning WTC from the roof of their company's building near Liberty State Park, then shouting in what was interpreted as cries of joy and mockery. They were spotted by a neighbor who called the police and the FBI. The police tracked them down in a van with the words “Urban Moving Systems” written on the side. [ Bergen Record, 9/12/01 , Ha'aretz, 9/17/01 ] One man was found with $4,700 in cash hidden in his sock, another had two passports on him, and a box cutter was found in the van. [ ABC News, 6/21/02 ] Investigators say that “There are maps of the city in the car with certain places highlighted… It looked like they're hooked in with this. It looked like they knew what was going to happen.” [ Bergen Record, 9/12/01 ] One of these Israelis later says, “Our purpose was to document the event.” [ ABC News, 6/21/02 ] The FBI later concludes at least two are Mossad agents and that all were on a Mossad surveillance mission. The FBI interrogates them for weeks. [ Forward, 3/15/02 ] They are held on immigration violation charges and released 71 days later. [ ABC News, 6/21/02 ] Their names are later identified as Sivan and Paul Kurzberg, Oded Ellner, Omer Marmari, and Yaron Shmuel. [ Forward, 3/15/02 ]

September 11 , 2001 (X): An FAA memo written on the evening of 9/11 suggests a man on Flight 11 was shot and killed by a gun before the plane crashed into the WTC. [See the leaked FAA memo, originally posted at World Net Daily] The “Executive Summary,” based on information relayed by a flight attendant to the American Airlines Operation Center, stated “that a passenger located in seat 10B shot and killed a passenger in seat 9B at 9:20 A.M” [since Flight 11 crashed at 8:46, the time must be a typo, probably meaning 8:20]. The passenger killed was Daniel Lewin, shot by passenger Satam Al Suqami. The FAA claims that the document is a “first draft” and declines to release the final draft, calling it “protected information.” A report in Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz on September 17 identifies Lewin as a former member of the Israel Defense Force Sayeret Matkal, Israel's most successful special-operations unit [ UPI, 3/6/02 ]. Sayeret Matkal is a deep-penetration unit that has been involved in assassinations, the theft of foreign signals-intelligence materials, and the theft and destruction of foreign nuclear weaponry. Sayeret Matkal is best known for the 1976 rescue of 106 passengers at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. [ New Yorker, 10/29/01 ] Officials later deny the gun story and suggest that Lewin was probably stabbed to death instead (which would still be very interesting). [ UPI, 3/6/02 , Washington Post, 3/2/02 (B) ] Note that Lewin founded Akamai, a successful computer company, and his connections to Sayeret Mat'kal remained hidden until the gun story came to light. [ Guardian, 9/15/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (Y): Some White House personnel, including Vice President Cheney's staff, are given Cipro, the anti-anthrax drug, and told to take it regularly on the evening after the attacks. [ Associated Press, 10/24/01 ] Judicial Watch later sues the Bush Administration to release documents showing who knew what and when, and why Presidential staff were protected while Senators, Congresspeople and others were not. [ Associated Press, 6/9/02 ] FTW

September 11, 2001 (Z): The Carlyle Group is a company closely associated with officials of the Bush and Reagan administrations, and has considerable ties to Saudi oil money, including ties to the bin Laden family (see September 27, 2001). Those ties are well illustrated by the fact that on this day the Carlyle Group is hosting a conference at a Washington hotel. Among the guests of honor is investor Shafig bin Laden, brother to Osama. [ Observer, 6/16/02 ]

September 11, 2001 (AA): An unnamed, young, Middle Eastern man flying from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit is arrested after his plane is diverted to Toronto, Canada. He is apparently found to be carrying a flight jacket, Palestinian Authority travel documents, and a picture of himself in a flight crew uniform in front of a fake backdrop of the WTC. [ Toronto Star, 9/15/01 (B) , Toronto Sun, 9/15/01 , Ottawa Citizen, 9/17/01 (B) ] Apparently the man, who identifies himself as an aircraft maintenance engineer in Gaza, Palestine, was supposed to have arrived in the US a few days before but was delayed for unknown reasons. [ CBS News, 9/14/01 (B) ] A second man was arrested a few days earlier while trying to enter Canada carrying a similar photo. He also possessed maps and directions to the WTC. Both men are soon handed to the US. [ Toronto Star, 9/15/01 (B) ] A similar picture of suspected Egyptian al-Qaeda terrorist Mohammad Zeki Majoub, arrested in Canada in June 2000, in front of a fake WTC backdrop was found in the luggage of one of the US hijackers. [ Associated Press, 3/1/01 , Toronto Sun, 9/15/01 ] Canadian officials “believe the photos could be calling cards used by the terrorists to identify those involved in plotting the attacks.” [ Toronto Sun, 9/15/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (BB): Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when asked what the 9/11 attacks mean for relations between the US and Israel, replies, “It's very good.” Then he edited himself: “Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.” [ New York Times, 9/12/01 ] A week later, the Village Voice states, “From national networks to small-town newspapers, the view that America's terrible taste of terrorism will finally do away with even modest calls for the restraint of Israel's military attacks on Palestinian towns has become an instant, unshakable axiom. … Now, support for Israel in America is officially absolute, and Palestinians are cast once again as players in a global terrorist conspiracy.” [ Village Voice, 9/19/01 ]

September 11, 2001 (CC): Hijackers Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, already on a terrorist watch list only for international flights (see August 23, 2001 (C)), are able to fly domestically on their Flight 77 suicide mission without being stopped. However, they and seven other hijackers are selected for extra screening before boarding. Their bags are thoroughly screened for explosives, but their bodies are not searched. A computer program named CAPPS had selected them for suspicious behavior such as buying one way tickets or paying with cash. [ Washington Post, 1/28/04 ] The 9/11 Independent Commission also later concludes that the passports of these two are “suspicious” and could have been linked to al-Qaeda upon inspection but it hasn't been explained why or how. Three other hijackers, Salem Alhazmi, Ahmed Alnami and Ahmad Alhaznawi, also have these same suspicious indicators on their passports. None of them are prevented from flying because of this. [ Baltimore Sun, 1/27/04 ]

A white Mitsubishi is towed from Logan Airport, Boston, on September 12. Inside is an Arabic-language flight manual. [WCVB-TV/ AP]

September 11-13, 2001: Investigators find a remarkable number of possessions left behind by the hijackers:

1. As previously mentioned (see September 11, 2001 (S)), two of Mohamed Atta's bags are found on 9/11 containing a handheld electronic flight computer, a simulator procedures manual for Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft, two videotapes relating to “air tours” of the Boeing 757 and 747 aircraft, a slide-rule flight calculator, a copy of the Koran, Atta's passport, his will, his international driver's license, a religious cassette tape, airline uniforms, a letter of recommendation, “education related documentation” and a note to other hijackers on how to mentally prepare for the hijacking.
2. As previously mentioned (see September 11, 2001 (F)), Marwan Alshehhi's rental car is discovered at Boston's Logan airport containing an Arabic language flight manual, a pass giving access to restricted areas at the airport, documents containing a name on the passenger list of one of the flights, and the names of other suspects. Huffman Aviation, the name of the flight school where Atta and Alshehhi studied, is also found in the car. [ Los Angeles Times, 9/13/01 ]
3. A car registered to Nawaf Alhazmi is found in Washington's Dulles Airport on September 12. Inside is a copy of Atta's letter to the other hijackers, a cashier's check made out to a flight school in Phoenix, four drawings of the cockpit of a 757 jet, a box cutter-type knife, maps of Washington and New York, and a page with notes and phone numbers. [ Arizona Daily Star, 9/28/01 , Cox News, 10/21/01 , Die Zeit, 10/1/02 ]
4. A rental car is found in a airport parking lot in Portland, Maine. Investigators are able to collect fingerprints and hair samples for DNA analysis. [ Portland Press Herald, 10/14/01 ]
5. A Boston hotel room contains airplane and train schedules. [ Sydney Morning Herald, 9/15/01 ]
6. FBI agents carry out numerous garbage bags of evidence from a Florida apartment where Saeed Alghamdi lived. [ CNN, 9/17/01 (B) ]
7. Two days before 9/11, a hotel owner in Deerfield Beach, Florida, finds a box cutter left in a hotel room used by Marwan Alshehhi and two unidentified men. The owner checks the nearby trash and finds a duffel bag containing Boeing 757 manuals, three illustrated martial arts books, an 8-inch stack of East Coast flight maps, a three-ring binder full of handwritten notes, an English-German dictionary, an airplane fuel tester, and a protractor. All the items are seized by the FBI when they are notified on September 12 (except the binder of notes, which the owner apparently threw away). [, Associated Press, 9/16/01 (B) ]
8. In an apartment rented by Ziad Jarrah and Ahmed Alhaznawi, the FBI finds a notebook, videotape, and photocopies of their passports. [ Miami Herald, 9/15/01 ]
9. In a bar the night before 9/11, after making predictions of a terrorist attack on America the next day (see September 10, 2001 (P)), terrorists leave a business card and a copy of the Koran at the bar. The FBI also recovers the credit card receipts from when they paid for their drinks and lap dances. [ Associated Press, 9/14/01 ]
10. A September 13 security sweep of Boston airport's parking garage uncovers items left behind by the hijackers: a box cutter, a pamphlet written in Arabic and a credit card. [ Washington Post, 9/16/01 ]
11. A few hours after the attacks, suicide notes that some of the hijackers wrote to their parents are found in New York. Credit card receipts showing that some of the hijackers paid for flight training in the US are also found. [ Los Angeles Times, 9/13/01 ]
12. A FedEx bill is found in a trash can at the Comfort Inn in Portland, Maine, where Atta stayed the night before 9/11. The bill leads to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, allowing investigators to determine most of the funding for 9/11 (see September 24, 2001-December 26, 2002). [ Newsweek, 11/11/01 , London Times, 12/1/01 ]

September 11-16, 2001: ISI Director Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmed, extending his Washington visit because of the 9/11 attacks (see September 4-11, 2001 and September 11, 2001 (H)) [ Japan Economic Newswire, 9/17/01 ], meets with US officials and negotiates Pakistan's cooperation with the US against al-Qaeda. It is rumored that later in the day on 9/11 and again the next day, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage visits Mahmood and offers him the choice: “Help us and breathe in the 21st century along with the international community or be prepared to live in the Stone Age.” [ Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 9/12 , LA Weekly, 11/9/01 ] Secretary of State Powell presents Mahmood seven demands as an ultimatum and Pakistan supposedly agrees to all seven. [ Washington Post, 1/29/02 ] Mahmood also has meetings with Senator Joseph Biden (D), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Secretary of State Powell, regarding Pakistan's position. [ Miami Herald, 9/16/01 Miami Herald, 9/16/01 (B) , New York Times, 9/13/01 New York Times, 9/13/01 New York Times, 9/13/01 (F) New York Times, 9/13/01 (F) New York Times, 9/13/01 (F) New York Times, 9/13/01 New York Times, 9/13/01 New York Times, 9/13/01 , Reuters, 9/13/01 , Associated Press, 9/13/01 ] On September 13, the airport in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, is shut down for the day. A government official later says the airport had been closed because of threats made against Pakistan's “strategic assets,” but doesn't elaborate. The next day, Pakistan declares “unstinting” support for the US, and the airport is reopened. It is later suggested that Israel and India threatened to attack Pakistan and take control of its nuclear weapons if Pakistan didn't side with the US (see also September 14, 2001 (approx.)). [ LA Weekly, 11/9/01 ] It is later reported that Mahmood's presence in Washington was a lucky blessing; one Western diplomat saying it “must have helped in a crisis situation when the US was clearly very, very angry.” [ Financial Times, 9/18/01 ]

September 11-16, 2001 (B): Andrews Air Force Base is 10 miles from Washington, DC, and Langley Air Force Base in 130 miles away. The official story is that there were no fighters at Andrews so none took off from there to intercept the hijacked planes, but it takes a few days for the media to come around to that point of view:

1. A few minutes after the Pentagon was hit, “fighter jets scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base…” [ Denver Post, 9/11/01 ]
2. “It was after the attack on the Pentagon that the Air Force then decided to scramble F-16's out of the DC National Guard Andrews Air Force Base…” [ NBC Nightly News, 9/11/01 ]
3. “Air defense around Washington is provided mainly by fighter planes from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland near the District of Columbia border. The D.C. Air National Guard is also based there and equipped with F-16 fighter planes, a National Guard spokesman said. But the fighters took to the skies over Washington only after the devastating attack on the Pentagon…” [ San Diego Union Tribune, 9/12/01 ]
4. “Within minutes of the attack American forces around the world were put on one of their highest states of alert—Defcon 3, just two notches short of all-out war—and F-16's from Andrews Air Force Base were in the air over Washington DC.” [ Telegraph, 9/16/01 ]
5. “Andrews Air Force Base, home to Air Force One, is only 15 miles away from the Pentagon, but it had no fighters assigned to it.” [ USA Today, 9/16/01 ]
6. “The District of Columbia National Guard maintained fighter planes at Andrews Air Force Base, only about 15 miles from the Pentagon, but those planes were not on alert and not deployed.” [ USA Today, 9/16/01 ]
7. “… As part of its dual mission, the 113th provides capable and ready response forces for the District of Columbia in the event of a natural disaster or civil emergency.” “In the best tradition of the Marine Corps, a ‘few good men and women’ support two combat-ready reserve units at Andrews AFB.” [ DC Military website ]
8. The District of Columbia Air National Guard website is changed shortly after 9/11. Previously its mission was “to provide combat units in the highest possible state of readiness.” Afterwards, it was changed to read that the Guard has a “vision” to “provide peacetime command and control and administrative mission oversight to support customers, DCANG units, and NGB in achieving the highest levels of readiness.” [ DCANG Home Page (before and after the change)]

September 11, 2001-January 2002: After probably completing last-minute financial transactions with some 9/11 hijackers, Saeed Sheikh flies to Pakistan (see September 8-11, 2001 (B)). [ Knight Ridder, 10/7/01 ] He meets with bin Laden in Afghanistan a few days later. [ Washington Post, 2/18/02 , London Times, 2/25/02 , Guardian, 7/16/02 ] The US government claims Saeed fights for the Taliban in Afghanistan in September and October 2001. [ CNN, 3/14/02 ] Some believe that after the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Saeed acts as a go-between for the hiding bin Laden and the ISI. [ Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 3/3/02 ] He also helps produce a video of a bin Laden interview. [ Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 3/3/02 ] Sometime in October 2001 [ Guardian, 7/16/02 ], he moves back to his home in Lahore, Pakistan, and lives there openly. He is frequently seen at local parties hosted by government leaders. In January 2002, he hosts a party to celebrate the birth of his newborn baby. [ USA Today, 2/25/02 , Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 3/3/02 ] He stays in his well-known Lahore house with his new wife and baby until January 19, 2002—four days before reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped (see January 23, 2002). [ BBC, 7/16/02 ] He is also actively involved in numerous other terrorist acts (see October 1, 2001 (D), December 13, 2001 (C) and January 22, 2002).

September 12, 2001: The government's initial response to the 9/11 attacks is there was no evidence whatsoever that bin Laden planned an attack in the US. “There was a ton of stuff, but it all pointed to an attack abroad,” says one official. Furthermore, in the 24 hours after the attack, investigators have been searching through “mountains of information,” “but the vast electronic ‘take’ on bin Laden, said officials who requested anonymity, contained no hints of a pending terror campaign in the United States itself, no orders to subordinates, no electronic fund transfers, no reports from underlings on their surveillance of the airports in Boston, Newark and Washington.” [ Miami Herald, 9/12/01 ] These are obvious lies (for instance, see September 10, 2001 (K)and September 10, 2001 (L) for messages hinting at the attack). Recall also the title of Bush's briefing on August 6, 2001: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US” (see May 15, 2002).

September 12, 2001 (B): Press Secretary Ari Fleischer explains that Bush went to Nebraska because “There was real and credible information that the White House and Air Force One were targets.” [ Fleischer Press Briefing transcript, 9/12/01 ] The next day, William Safire of the New York Times writes, and Bush's Political Strategist Karl Rove confirms, that the secret service believed “‘Air Force One may be next,’ and there was an ‘inside’ threat which ‘may have broken the secret codes [showing a knowledge of Presidential procedures].’” [ New York Times, 9/13/01 (B) ] By September 27, Fleischer begins to back pedal on the claim that there were specific threats against Air Force One and/or the President and new stories flatly contradict it. [ Washington Post, 9/27/01 (B) ] Slate magazine gives their “Whopper of the Week” award to Karl Rove, Ari Fleischer, and Vice President Cheney for the Air Force One threat story. [ Slate, 9/28/01 ]

September 12, 2001 (C): A New York firefighter tells of his rescue work inside the WTC: “On the last trip up a bomb went off. We think there was bombs set in the building.” [ People, 9/12/01 ] There are many other witnesses who describe bombs. For instance, Teresa Veliz, who escaped from the 47th floor of the North Tower: “The flashlight led us into Borders bookstore, up an escalator and out to Church Street. There were explosions going off everywhere. I was convinced that there were bombs planted all over the place and someone was sitting at a control panel pushing detonator buttons. I was afraid to go down Church Street toward Broadway, but I had to do it. I ended up on Vesey Street. There was another explosion. And another. I didn't know where to run.” [September 11: An Oral History, Dean E. Murphy, 2002, pp. 9-15]

September 12, 2001 (D): Billie Vincent, a former FAA security director, suggests the hijackers had inside help at the airports. “These people had to have the means to take control of the aircrafts. And that means they had to have weapons in order for those pilots to relinquish control. Think about it, they planned this thing out to the last detail for months. They are not going to take any risks at the front end. They knew they were going to be successful before they started… It's the only thing that really makes sense to me.” [ Miami Herald, 9/12/01 (B) ] Since then, considerable evidence of inside help has emerged, including pre-planted weapons (for example, see September 19, 2001).

September 12, 2001 (E): The passport of hijacker Satam Al Suqami is found a few blocks from the WTC. [ ABC News, 9/12/01 (C) , Associated Press, 9/16/01 , ABC News, 9/16/01 ] The Guardian says, “the idea that Atta's passport had escaped from that inferno unsinged [tests] the credulity of the staunchest supporter of the FBI's crackdown on terrorism.” [ Guardian, 3/19/02 ]

September 12, 2001 (F): Following his notes from the day before suggesting that 9/11 should be blamed on Iraq and not just al-Qaeda (see September 11, 2001 (V)), Defense Secretary Rumsfeld proposes to President Bush that Iraq should be “a principal target of the first round in the war against terrorism.” Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and others support the idea. Bush and all of his advisors agree that Iraq should be attacked, but they decide such an attack should wait. Secretary of State Powell says, “Public opinion has to be prepared before a move against Iraq is possible.” [ Washington Post, 1/28/02 , Los Angeles Times, 1/12/03 ] There is still no evidence suggesting Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks (the first and only evidence, later refuted, comes around September 19, 2001 (see September 19, 2001-October 20, 2002)).

September 13, 2001: A Pentagon official, when asked if the US shot down Flight 93 (the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania), says “We have not ruled out that.” This is one of many quotes from officials in the first days that fail to rule out that 93 was shot down. [ ABC News, 9/12/01 , Pittsburgh Tribune Review, 9/14/01 ] On the same day, a flight controller in Nashua claims an F-16 fighter closely pursued Flight 93 until it crashed in Pennsylvania. “Although controllers don't have complete details of the Air Force's chase of the Boeing 757, they have learned the F-16 made 360-degree turns to remain close to the commercial jet. ‘He must've seen the whole thing,’ the employee said of the F-16 pilot's view of Flight 93's crash” (Flight controllers have been ordered not to speak publicly about 9/11, but somehow this slipped out). [ Associated Press, 9/13/01 , Nashua Telegraph, 9/13/01 ] Cheney later tells the Washington Post that he had ordered a plane to shoot down Flight 93, and confirmed that order two more times as the distance between the fighter and the airliner grew closer. So, supposedly, when Flight 93 crashed, Bush had to ask, “Did we shoot it down or did it crash?” [ Washington Post, 1/27/02 ]

September 13, 2001 (B): The White House announces that there is “overwhelming evidence” that bin Laden is behind the attacks. [ MSNBC, 9/13/01 ]

September 13, 2001 (C): AP publishes a list of all the people on board the hijacked airlines. This follows an earlier list from CNN on 9/11. These lists are very curious, because the numbers don't appear to add up. Take for instance Flight 11. The list has 86 passengers on board, including five hijackers, plus 11 crew members, a total of 97. But there only were 92 people total on board the plane according to all accounts. The numbers only work if you subtract the five hijackers. The other plane lists all have too few names, by up to five people. [ Associated Press, 9/13/01 (B) ] Another report suggests that several hijackers boarded Flight 11 with stolen crew uniforms. [ Sunday Herald, 9/16/01 ]

September 13, 2001 (D): Investigators say they've found debris from the Flight 93 crash far from the main crash site. A second debris field centers around Indian Lake about three miles from the crash scene. More debris is found in New Baltimore, some eight miles away. Later in the day the investigators say all that debris was blown there. [