U.S. government agents knew in August 2001 that Zacarias Moussaoui was an acolyte of Osama bin Laden who had traveled to Afghanistan but still failed to aggressively investigate, Moussaoui's defense lawyers said in a closed hearing last month.

Moussaoui's lawyers disclosed several details in the Jan. 5 hearing that go beyond and sometimes contradict what was disclosed in the Sept. 11 commission report, the government's most exhaustive study of the missed opportunities to foil the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

....defense lawyer Edward MacMahon said government correspondence shows "the actual (redacted) information that essentially tells them in August that Moussaoui is a bin Ladenite who traveled to Afghanistan. That wasn't acted on."

MacMahon's statement that the government knew before 9/11 that Moussaoui had traveled to bin Laden's home base of Afghanistan differs from the report of the Sept. 11 commission.

The authors of the 9/11 report write that it was not until Sept. 13, 2001 that British intelligence told the United States that Moussaoui had traveled to Afghanistan to attend an al-Qaida camp.

"Had this information been available in late August 2001, the Moussaoui case would almost certainly have received intense, high-level attention," according to the Sept. 11 commission's report.

MacMahon also said during the hearing that the government explicitly barred one FBI agent in the summer of 2001 from interviewing Moussaoui or any member of Moussaoui's family for fear that such contact would alert al-Qaida to the government's investigation of two other al-Qaida terrorists....

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=696162

Now how will the Bush League spin this one?

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??If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy? ---James Madison 4th U.S. president (1809 -1817), and one of the founding fathers of this country. (1751- 1836)
intangible child Reviewed by intangible child on . Moussaoui Defense Reveals Details of Pre-9/11 Knowledge U.S. government agents knew in August 2001 that Zacarias Moussaoui was an acolyte of Osama bin Laden who had traveled to Afghanistan but still failed to aggressively investigate, Moussaoui's defense lawyers said in a closed hearing last month. Moussaoui's lawyers disclosed several details in the Jan. 5 hearing that go beyond and sometimes contradict what was disclosed in the Sept. 11 commission report, the government's most exhaustive study of the missed opportunities to foil the Sept. 11, Rating: 5