http://911myths.com/index.php?title=FBI_doubts_over_hijacker_identities&feed=atom&action=historyFBI doubts over hijacker identities - Revision history2024-03-28T19:30:40ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.22.7http://911myths.com/index.php?title=FBI_doubts_over_hijacker_identities&diff=9813&oldid=prevMike at 19:50, 27 June 20122012-06-27T19:50:32Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>Many 9/11 web sites and authors claim that the identification of the hijackers remains in doubt, even by the FBI. This Insight story is typical.<br />
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{{divbox|amber||While there is no doubt the hijackings were the work of al-Qaeda, questions remain about whether some of the hijackers actually were the men the FBI identified. Last year that doubt crept into the highest levels of law enforcement after a series of sensational news reports aired by the BBC, ABC and CNN, along with several British newspapers, cast suspicion on whether the FBI got it right. The reports suggested at least six of the men the FBI claimed were hijackers on the planes were in fact alive. They didn't survive the crashes, of course, but never boarded the planes. <br />
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The six claimed they were victims of identify theft. They were "outraged" to be identified as terrorists, they told the Telegraph of London. In fact, one of the men claimed he never had been to the United States, while another is a Saudi Airlines pilot who said he was in a flight-training course in Tunisia at the time of the attacks. <br />
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The stunning news prompted FBI Director Robert Mueller to admit that some of the hijackers may have stolen identities of innocent citizens. In September 2002, Mueller told CNN twice that there is "no legal proof to prove the identities of the suicidal hijackers." After that admission a strange thing happened - nothing. No follow-up stories. No follow-up questions. There was dead silence and the story disappeared. It was almost as if no one wanted to know what had happened. In fact, the FBI didn't bother to change the names, backgrounds or photographs of the alleged 19 hijackers. It didn't even deny the news reports suggesting that the names and identities of at least six of the hijackers may be unknown. Mueller just left the door open.<br>http://www.prisonplanet.com/fbi_denies_mix_up_of_911_terrorists.htm}}<br />
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The key part here is the Mueller September 2002 quote: that there is "no legal proof to prove the identities of the suicidal hijackers." Is he really expressing doubts about the names released by the FBI, a year earlier? Many people appear to think so, and as we write the claim is reproduced online at [http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/hijackers.html WhatReallyHappened.com], [http://www.mujca.com/projectcensored2.htm Mujca.com], a [http://debunking-bbc.blogspot.com/index.html Debunking the BBC's Conspiracy Files site], and more. <br />
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And yet something about this doesn't quite feel right. The quote itself doesn't look to us like something Mueller would say. No "legal proof"? So he might have illegal proof? Saying "no proof to prove" is redundant: "no proof of" would make more sense. And the use of "suicidal" rather than the more common "suicide hijackers" looks odd, too. It's still not unknown, and perhaps if Mueller were caught off guard somewhere, on a bad day, then he might have come up with something like this, but we'd like to see the source, first. So where is it?<br />
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We used Google to look for the quote, and came up with many hits, but no-one revealed an original source. They either linked to each other, or simply referred to "CNN", occasionally with September dates. But then, a breakthrough: a Robert Fisk article that used the same quote, dated October 18th 2001:<br />
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{{divbox|amber||Robert Mueller, director of the FBI, has twice been forced to admit on CNN that there is "no legal proof to prove the identities of the suicidal hijackers" (CNN, September 20 and 27).<br>[http://web.archive.org/web/20021117132248/http://www.robert-fisk.com/hundreds_dying_zafar_oct18_2001.htm www.robert-fisk.com (Web Archive)]}}<br />
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So the September 2002 date for Mueller's comment appears to be an error in the 2002 article, that's just been reproduced around the web. But it doesn't stop there. Here's a version that appeared 6 days earlier at WhatReallyHappened.com, according to Archive.org:<br />
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{{divbox|amber||FBI Chief Robert Mueller admitted on September 20 and on September 27 that at this time the FBI has no legal proof to prove the true identities of the suicidal hijackers.<br>[http://web.archive.org/web/20011012093659/http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/hoax.html Source]}}<br />
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No quotes here to indicate Mueller actually used these words. That may be an error, of course, but it's also possible the comment was a paraphrase, which then had quotes added to make it look like Mueller said those exact words.<br />
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Of course the origin of this story makes little difference. It's far more important to find out what Mueller really said.<br />
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Hijacker identities<br />
http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing7/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-01-26.htm<br />
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{{divbox|amber||'''21st September'''<br />
We have several hijackers whose identities were those of the names on the manifest. We have several others that are still in question. So it's -- the investigation is ongoing and I am not certain as to several of the others.<br>Robert Mueller, FBI<br>http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/21/se.25.html<br><br><br />
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'''27th September'''<br />
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QUESTION: How certain can you be that these are the correct names and photographs of the 19 hijackers? And can you give us some more guidance on how you actually arrived at those?<br />
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MUELLER: Surely. The photographs that will be passed out to you and you see behind us are photographs identified with the names on the manifest, and those names on the manifest we've identified as being the hijackers. These photographs are photographs that may come from passports, drivers license obtained in the United States or other identification documents. Consequently, these photographs we've identified with the individuals whose names appear on the manifest. <br />
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What we are currently doing is determining whether, when these individuals came to the United States, these were their real names or they changed their names for use with false identification in the United States. That false identification being utilized up to and on the day of September 11, and that false identification used to purchase the tickets and, thereby, being the name on the manifests of the planes that went down. Our investigation has reached out to a number of countries to determine whether or not these individuals definitively, in the photographs we have here and the names associated with these photographs, are the actual identities of the individuals prior to the time they came to the United States.<br>Justice Department Press Conference at FBI Headquarters<br>http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/27/se.24.html}}<br />
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WhatReallyHappened.com was referring to a comment on September 20th, but that's when [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/20/hijack-id.htm Mueller made his comments]: the September 21st here is simply the date of this particular report. And so it appears we've found the words that inspired the comment that there is "no legal proof to prove the identities of the suicidal hijackers."<br />
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If that's true, then it's plainly a very deceptive presentation of Mueller's view. He explicitly says that he's already sure of the identities of some of the hijackers, even only 9 days after the attacks. Mueller isn't certain about others, but they are being investigated to provide a definitive answer. This is far from there being "no legal proof to prove the identities of the suicidal hijackers."<br />
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What's more, these investigations were resolved by November, when the FBI announced:<br />
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{{divbox|amber||The FBI has resolved questions about the identities of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks and has discovered places outside the United States where the conspiracy was planned, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Friday. <br />
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Saudi Arabian officials and others have questioned whether some of the hijackers identified by the FBI in the weeks after the attacks used stolen identifications. Mueller said those questions have been answered. <br />
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"We at this point definitely know the 19 hijackers who were responsible," he said.<br>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/11/02/attack/main316806.shtml}}<br />
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Of course we can’t prove that Mueller really believed that, however the point is clear. The first quote took place soon after the attacks, not in 2002; the questions were quickly resolved so it's long out of date; and people or sites who still use it, without mentioning what happened next, are not telling the whole story.</div>Mike