A great mass of both direct and circumstantial evidence in the matter of the infamous 9/11 terrorist attacks has been slowly accumulating. Because of the serious implications contained in these reports, we are presenting a heavily sourced chronology of events leading up to the event as well as a point by point listing of the events of that day.

The reader is invited to draw their own conclusions from this presentation.

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing resulted in intelligence that indicated that al-Qaeda had planned the attack and was planning further attacks on bridges and tunnels in New York City.

1993: An expert panel commissioned by the Pentagon raises the possibility that an airplane could be used to bomb national landmarks. [Source: Washington Post 10/2/01] In 1993, the Pentagon commissioned, via the Department of Defense's office of Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, a think tank-style study of the ways terrorists could execute large-scale acts of terrorism on the US. Participants in the $150,000 study consisted of a panel of 41 intelligence/security experts that included former ranking CIA, FBI, State Department and Rand Corporation officials, as well as an ex-KGB general and Israeli intelligence agent.

One of the problems the team brainstormed over was the various ways an airplane could be used to destroy national landmarks –in fact, the WTC was most certainly on the panel's list of possible targets. One conclusion reached by the team as a future trend in terrorist activity was that extremists would seek to maximize their impact by escalating their attacks from one-at-a-time truck bomb/suicide bomber events to multiple, simultaneous targeting, thereby touting their power and stretching the victim governments' ability to respond.

The possible terrorist scenarios the team outlined scared the socks off folks in the government. One high-level official described it as "too outrageous." As a result, the team's report, Terrorism 2000 (a reference to terrorism in the new millennia) was blocked from public release. Even a toned down version that had been proposed as a way to raise public awareness and improve national preparedness was killed! A draft of the report was nonetheless passed on through the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is absolutely no doubt that this information was available to everyone in the Bush Administration, including Ms. Rice. It should have been required reading –especially since many of the predictions made by the report had already come true before 9/11.

1994: Item:A Federal Express Flight engineer was apprehended as he tried to storm the cockpit of a DC-10. The engineer, despondent over his impending firing, had planned to crash the plane into a Fed Ex building in Memphis. Item:A pilot stole a Cessna and tried to crash it into the White House. He instead hit a tree on the White House grounds, not far from Clinton's bedroom.

In 1995, an al-Qaeda group headed by one Ramzi Youssef, was planning to seize and blow up 12 commercial aircraft over the Pacific. One Abdul Hakim Murad, a co-conspirator of Youssef, admitted to U.S. authorities that he had been trained at American flight schools and had been involved in a plot to crash a commercial aircraft into the CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia. An Islamic fundamentalist group hijacked an Air France flight and loaded the plane with 27 tons of fuel in Marseilles as a way to turn it into an incendiary bomb when they crashed it into the Eiffel tower. This plan was thwarted when Special Forces stormed the craft before it could leave Marseilles. Abdul Hakim Murad confessed to planting timed explosive devices on eleven US airline flights in an attempt to create a "multiple attack" event. The same terrorist group also planned to crash on airplane into CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and another into the Pentagon. 

In 1995: U.S. investigators discovered that al-Qaeda personnel involved in the Embassy bombings in Africa were part of a larger plan involving the training of terrorist members at American flight schools for attacks on American targets

1998: The CIA ignores warnings from Case Officer Robert Baer that Saudi Arabia was harboring an al-Qaeda cell led by two known terrorists. A more detailed list of known terrorists is offered to Saudi intelligence in August 2001 and refused. [Source: Financial Times January 12, 2001]

1998: An Oklahoma City FBI agent sends a memo warning that "large numbers of Middle Eastern males" are getting flight training and could be planning terrorist attacks. [Source: CBS, 5/30/02] A separate CIA intelligence report asserts that Arab terrorists are planning to fly a bomb-laden aircraft into the WTC. [Sources: New York Times, 9/19/02, Senate Intelligence Committee (Witness Hill, 9/18/02]

December 1998: A Time magazine cover story entitled "The Hunt for Osama," reports that bin Laden may be planning his boldest move yet - a strike on Washington or possibly New York City. [Source: Time, 12/21/98]

1999

1999: a plot was uncovered that indicated that al-Qaeda personnel were plotting to blow up the Los Angeles International airport and selected targets in Jordan. Following the trial of an al-Qaeda man, Ahmen Ressam who was caught smuggling explosives into the United States, the FAA issued an official warning that al-Qaeda was expected to conduct explosive outrages against commercial aircraft or American airports.

There was then, an impressive background of actual al-Qaeda threats against targets in the United States, often involving aircraft and aircraft facilities.

In the period just prior to the September 11 aircraft attack on American targets, there were numerous specific reports from what can only be termed entirely reliable foreign sources (as distinct from domestic intelligence reporting).

September 1999: A US intelligence report states bin Laden and al-Qaeda terrorists could crash an aircraft into the Pentagon. The Bush administration claims not to have heard of this report until May 2002, though it was widely shared within the government. [Sources: CNN, 5/18/02, Associated Press, 5/18/01, Guardian, 5/19/02]

1999: MI6, the British intelligence agency, gives a secret report to the London US embassy. The report states that al-Qaeda plans to use commercial aircraft "possibly as flying bombs." [Source: Sunday Times, 6/9/02]

2000

October 24-26, 2000: Pentagon officials carry out a "detailed" emergency drill based upon the crashing of a hijacked airliner into the Pentagon. [Source Military District of Washington News Service, 11/3/00] The White House later asserts that no one in government had envisioned a suicide hijacking. [Source: Associated Press report, May 18, 2002]

2001

January, 2001: The Bush Administration orders the FBI and intelligence agencies to "back off" investigations involving the bin Laden family, including two of Osama bin Laden's relatives (Abdullah and Omar) who were living in Falls Church, VA -- right next to CIA headquarters. This followed previous orders dating back to 1996, frustrating efforts to investigate the bin Laden family. [Source: BBC Newsnight, Correspondent Gregg Palast -- Nov 7, 2001].

February 13, 2001: UPI Terrorism Correspondent Richard Sale -- while covering a trial of bin Laden's al Qaeda followers -- reported that the National Security Agency had broken bin Laden's encrypted communications. Even if this indicated that bin Laden changed systems in February it did not mesh with the fact that the government insists that the attacks had been planned for years.

March 2001: An internal debate ignited at the Justice Department and the FBI over wiretap surveillance of certain terrorist groups. Prompted by questions raised by Royce C. Lamberth, the Chief Judge of the FISA Court, the Justice Department opened an inquiry into Michael Resnick, an FBI official who coordinated the Act's applications. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Robert Mueller (then deputy Attorney General) ordered a full review of all foreign surveillance authorizations.

March 7, 2001:The Russian Permanent Mission at the United Nations secretly submits “an unprecedented detailed report” to the UN Security Council about bin Laden, his whereabouts, details of his al-Qaeda network, Afghan drug running, and Taliban connections in Pakistan. The report provides “a listing of all bin Laden's bases, his government contacts and foreign advisors,” and enough information to potentially kill him. The US fails to act. Alex Standish, the editor of the highly respected Jane's Intelligence Review, concludes that the attacks of 9/11 were less of an American intelligence failure and more the result of “a political decision not to act against bin Laden.” [Jane's Intelligence Review 10/5/01]

May 2001: Secretary of State Colin Powell gives $43 million in aid to the Taliban regime, purportedly to assist hungry farmers who are starving since the destruction of their opium crop in January on orders of the Taliban regime. [Source: The Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2001].

May, 2001: Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, a career covert operative and former Navy Seal, travels to India on a publicized tour while CIA Director George Tenet makes a quiet visit to Pakistan to meet with Pakistani leader General Pervez Musharraf. Armitage had long and deep Pakistani intelligence connections and he is the recipient of the highest civil decoration awarded by Pakistan. It would be reasonable to assume that while in Islamabad, Tenet, in what was described as "an unusually long meeting," also met with his Pakistani counterpart, Lt. General Mahmud Ahmad, head of the ISI. [Source The Indian SAPRA news agency, May 22, 2001.]

May 2001: The US introduces the "Visa Express" program allowing any Saudi Arabian to obtain visas through their travel agent instead of appearing at a consulate in person. Three to five hijackers use Visa Express over the next month to enter the US. [Sources: US News & World Report, 12/12/01, Congressional Intelligence Committee, 9/20/02, Witness Hill]

June 2001: German intelligence, the BND, warns the CIA and Israel that Middle Eastern terrorists are "planning to hijack commercial aircraft to use as weapons to attack important symbols of American and Israeli culture." [Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 14, 2001.] [see also entry of August 6, 2002]

June 1, 2001: Responsibility for ordering NORAD into defensive action shifted to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. [Source: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction revision (CJCS3610.01A).]

June 13, 2001:  Egyptian President Mubarak, through his intelligence services, to use a plane warns the US that bin Laden's Islamic terrorist network is threatening to kill Bush and other G8 leaders at their July economic summit meeting in Italy. The terrorists plan stuffed with explosives. [Source:  New York Times, 9/26/01]

Late June 2001: White House National Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Richard Clarke, gives a direct warning to the FAA to increase security measures in light of an impending terrorist attack. The FAA refuses to take such measures. [Source: New Yorker 1/14/02]

July, 2001: Three American officials: Tom Simmons (former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan), Karl Inderfurth (former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs) and Lee Coldren (former State Department expert on South Asia), meet with Pakistani and Russian intelligence officers in Berlin and tell them that the U.S. is planning military strikes against Afghanistan in October. A French book released in November, "Bin Laden -- La Verite´ Interdite," discloses that Taliban representatives often sat in on the meetings. British papers confirm that the Pakistani ISI relayed the threats to the Taliban. [Source: The Guardian, September 22, 2001; the BBC, September 18, 2001.]

Summer 2001: Pakistani ISI Chief General Ahmad  orders an aide to wire transfer $100,000 to Mohammed Atta, who was according to the FBI, the lead terrorist in the suicide hijackings. Ahmad recently resigned after the transfer was disclosed in India and confirmed by the FBI. [Source: The Times of India, October 11, 2001.]

Summer 2001: An Iranian man phones U.S. law enforcement to warn of an imminent attack on the World Trade Center in the week of September 9th. German police confirm the calls but state that the U.S. Secret Service would not reveal any further information. [Source: German news agency "online.de", September 14, 2001,.]

Summer 2001: Supposedly, since 1997 there are only fourteen fighter planes on active alert to defend the continental US. But in the months before 9/11, rather than increase the number, the Pentagon was planning to reduce the number still further. Just after 9/11, the Los Angeles Times reported, “While defense officials say a decision had not yet been made, a reduction in air defenses had been gaining currency in recent months among task forces assigned by [Defense Secretary] Rumsfeld to put together recommendations for a reassessment of the military.” By comparison, in the Cold War atmosphere of the 1950s, the US had thousands of fighters on alert throughout the US. [Los Angeles Times 9/15/01 (B)] Also during this time, FAA officials try to dispense with “primary” radars altogether, so that if a plane were to turn its transponder off, no radar could see it. NORAD rejects the proposal. [Aviation Week and Space Technology 6/3/02]

June 2001: German intelligence warns the CIA, Britain's MI6, and Israel's Mossad that Middle Eastern terrorists are training for hijackings and targeting US and Israeli symbols. [Source: Fox News, 5/17/02]

June 26, 2001: The CIA informed the White House that they had intercepted foreign intelligence traffic concerning possible al-Qaeda strikes in America on July 4.

Summer 2001: Russian intelligence notifies the CIA that 25 terrorist pilots have been specifically training for suicide missions.

June 22,  2001: the military's Central and European Commands imposed "Force Protection Condition Delta" the highest anti-terrorist alert

June 28, 2001: National security advisor Condoleeza Rice said: "It is highly likely that a significant al-Qaeda, attack is in the near future, within several weeks."

July 1, 2001: Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee stated that her staff had advised her that there was a “major probability of a terrorist incident within the next three months.” (emphasis added)

July 2, 2001: The FBI reported to the White House that al-Qaeda terrorist attacks outside the United States were very possible and that domestic attacks could not be discounted

July 4-14, 2001: Osama bin Laden receives treatments for kidney disease at the American hospital in Dubai and meets with a CIA official who returns to CIA headquarters on July 15th. [Source: Le Figaro, October 31st, 2001.]

July 5, 2001: The CIA informed the President that al-Qaeda attacks against American targets were entirely possible during the summer of that year.

July 5, 2001: The government's top counter-terrorism official, Richard Clarke stated to a group gathered at the White House: "Something really spectacular is going to happen here, and it's going to happen soon." The group included the FAA, the Coast Guard, the FBI, the Secret Service, and the INS. Clarke directed every counter-terrorist office to cancel vacations, defer non-vital travel, put off scheduled exercises and place domestic rapid response teams on much shorter alert. By early August, all of these emergency measures are no longer in effect. [CNN 3/02; Washington Post 5/17/02]

July 2001: India gives the US general intelligence on possible terror attacks; details are not known. US government officials later confirm that Indian intelligence had information “that two Islamist radicals with ties to Osama bin Laden were discussing an attack on the White House,” but apparently this particular information is not given to the US until two days after 9/11. [Fox News 5/17/02]

July 10, 2001: A Phoenix FBI agent sends a memorandum warning about Middle Eastern men taking flight lessons. He suspects bin Laden's followers and recommends a national program to check visas of suspicious flight-school students. The memo is sent to two FBI counter-terrorism offices, but no action is taken. [ Source: New York Times, 5/21/02] Vice President Cheney says in May 2002 that he opposes releasing the memo to congressional leaders or to the media and public. [Source:  CNN, 5/20/02]]

July 26, 2001: Attorney General Ashcroft stops flying commercial airlines due to a threat assessment but “neither the FBI nor the Justice Department … would identify [to CBS] what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.”. [Source: CBS, 7/26/01]  He later walks out of his office rather than answer questions about this from the press. [Source: Associated Press, 5/16/02] 

July 28, 2001: Authorities in Dubai arrested one Djamel Beghal who revealed information about a planned al-Qaeda explosive attack on the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

July 3l, 2001: The FAA urged U.S. airlines to maintain a "high degree of alertness".

Late July 2001: The US and UN ignore warnings from the Taliban foreign minister that bin Laden is planning an imminent huge attack on US soil. The FBI and CIA also fail to take seriously warnings that Islamic fundamentalists have enrolled in flight schools across the US. [Source: Independent, 9/7/02]  

August 2001: Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Russian intelligence to warn the U.S. government "in the strongest possible terms" of imminent attacks by suicide pilots on airports and government buildings. [Source: MS-NBC interview with Putin, September 15.,2001, Fox, September 17, 2001] The head of Russian intelligence also later states, “We had clearly warned them” on several occasions, but they “did not pay the necessary attention.” [Agence France-Presse 9/16/01] A Russian newspaper on September 12, 2001 claims that “Russian Intelligence agents know the organizers and executors of these terrorist attacks. More than that, Moscow warned Washington about preparation to these actions a couple of weeks before they happened.” Interestingly, the article claims that at least two of the terrorists were Muslim radicals from Uzbekistan. [Source:Izvestia 9/12/01]

August 2001: The FBI arrests an Islamic militant linked to bin Laden in Boston. French intelligence sources confirm that the man is a key member of bin Laden's network and the FBI learns that he has been taking flying lessons. At the time of his arrest the man is in possession of technical information on Boeing aircraft and flight manuals. [Source: Reuters, September 13, 2001]

Late summer 2001: Jordanian intelligence agents go to Washington to warn that a major attack is planned inside the US and that aircraft will be used. Christian Science Monitor calls the story "confidently authenticated" even though Jordan later backs away from it. [Source: Christian Science Monitor, 5/23/02]

August 4-30, 2001: President Bush spends most of August 2001 at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, nearly setting a record for the longest presidential vacation. While it is billed a “working vacation,” ABC reports Bush is doing “nothing much” aside from his regular daily intelligence briefings. [ABC 8/3/01; Washington Post 8/7/01; Salon 8/29/01] One such unusually long briefing at the start of his trip is a warning that bin Laden is planning to attack in the US, but Bush spends the rest of that day fishing By the end of his trip, Bush has spent 42 percent of his presidency at vacation spots or en route. [Washington Post 8/7/01] At the time, a poll shows that 55 percent of Americans say Bush is taking too much time off. [USA Today, 8/7/01] Vice President Cheney also spends the entire month in a remote location in Wyoming. [ Source:Jackson Hole News and Guide 8/15/01]

August 6, 2001: The CIA also presented a warning to the President, explicitly concerned with terrorism inside the United States, indicating that bin Laden might be planning to hijack commercial airliners. The memo read to him is titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US”, and the entire memo focuses on the possibility of terrorist attacks inside the US. [Sources: Newsweek, 5/27/02, New York Times, 5/15/02] The actual content of this message has been the subject of considerable debate, with White House officials understandably downplaying its significance.[Sources: Time May 16; New York Times, May 16, 2002]

August 6, 2001:  A document surfaced in 2002, dated in April of that year, that purports to be a lengthy intelligence survey by the Federal German BND. A portion of it sates that German Ambassador Manfred Issinger personally warned President Bush at his Texas ranch about the attack by Arab terrorists “about September 10-11.” The Federal German government will neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of this document.

August 15, 2001: An alert civilian instructor at a Minnesota flight school called the FBI and said, "Do you realize that a 747 loaded with fuel can be a bomb?" The next day; Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested. After investigating Zacarias Moussaoui's past, the FBI (with the help of French Intelligence) learned that he had Islamic extremist connections. They also knew that he was interested in flight patterns around New York City, and that he had a strong desire to fly big jets, even though at the time he didn't have so much as a license to fly a Cessna

August 16, 2001: The FAA issues a warning to airlines concerning disguised weapons. According to later testimony by National Security Advisor Rice, the FAA is concerned about reports that the terrorists have made breakthroughs in disguising weapons as cell phones, key chains and pens [CNN 3/02; Reuters 5/16/02] However, the major airlines later deny receiving such notification. For instance, a Delta spokesperson states: “We were not aware of any warnings or notifications of any specific threats.” [Fox News 5/16/02]

August 20, 2001: the French government made a report to the U.S. government at the highest levels, similar to the German one of August 6^th concerning their knowledge of imminent Muslim terrorist attacks against prominent US targets.

August 8-23, 2001: Two high ranking Israeli Mossad agents come to Washington to warn the FBI and CIA that up to 200 terrorists have slipped into the US and are planning an imminent major assault in the US. Indications point to a highly visible target. [Sources: Telegraph, 9/16/01, Los Angeles Times, 9/16/01, Fox News, 5/17/02] The Mossad gives the CIA a list of terrorists. A major Israeli spy ring was hard on the heels of at least four members of the 9/11 hijackers, including lead hijacker Mohammed Atta. [Source: BBC, 10/2/01]

August 24, 2001: The head of the Israeli Mossad  warned both the CIA and the FBI reported the imminence of an Arab attack against American targets, that as many as 200 al Qaeda members were infiltrating the US and planning "a major assault on the US" against "a large-scale target" in a setting where Americans would be "very vulnerable." and a similar report was made by the same agency on September 7, 2001.

Note: Much has been made in conspiracy circles that Israel was responsible for the 9/11 attacks; that their government had prior knowledge and did not report this, hoping to gain the United States as an active ally in their ongoing conflict with the Palestinians. However, there is no question that the Mossad passed important information to competent American authority in a timely manner and on several documented occasions prior to the attacks..

August 24, 2001: Frustrated with lack of response from FBI headquarters about detained suspect Moussaoui, the Minnesota FBI begins working with the CIA. The CIA sends alerts calling him a "suspect 747 airline suicide hijacker." Three days later an FBI Minnesota supervisor says he is trying keep Moussaoui from “taking control of a plane and fly it into the WTC." [Source: Senate Intelligence (Hill #2), 10/17/02}] FBI headquarters chastises Minnesota FBI for notifying the CIA. [Source: Time, 5/21/02]

August 2001: Britain gives the US another warning about an al-Qaeda attack. The previous warning was vague. This one specifies imminent multiple airplane hijackings by al-Qaeda. [Source: Sunday Herald, May 19, 2002]

Late August, 2001: The CIA asked the INS to put these two of the hijackers  , Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, on a watch list because of their ties to the bombing of the U.S. S. Cole. On August 23, 2001, the INS informed the CIA that both men had already slipped into the country: Immediately thereafter, the CIA asked the FBI to find al-Midhar and Alhazmi. This should not have been difficult in view of the fact that one of them was listed in the San Diego phone book, and the other took out a bank account in his own name, and finally, an FBI informant happened to be their roommate.

August/September, 2001: The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops nearly 900 points in the three weeks prior to the attack. A major stock market crash is imminent.

September 3-10, 2001: MS-NBC reports on September 16 that a caller to a Cayman Islands radio talk show gave several warnings of an imminent attack on the U.S. by bin Laden in the week prior to 9/11.

September 1-10, 2001: In an exercise, Operation "Swift Sword" planned for four years, 23,000 British troops are steaming toward Oman. Although the 9/11 attacks caused a hiccup in the deployment the massive operation was implemented as planned. At the same time two U.S. carrier battle groups arrive on station in the Gulf of Arabia just off the Pakistani coast. Also at the same time, some 17,000 U.S. troops join more than 23,000 NATO troops in Egypt for Operation "Bright Star." All of these forces are in place before the first plane hits the World Trade Center. [Sources: The Guardian, CNN, Fox News, The Observer.]

September 7, 2001: Florida Governor Jeb Bush signs a two-year emergency executive order (01-261) making new provisions for the Florida National Guard to assist law enforcement and emergency-management personnel in the event of large civil disturbances, disaster or acts of terrorism. [Source: State of Florida web site listing of Governor's Executive Orders.] President Bush's plan to visit a Sarasota, Florida elementary school on September 11 is publicly announced. According to a later news article, numerous eyewitnesses see hijackers Atta and Marwan Alshehhi in Sarasota later that evening. They appear to have stayed at a Holiday Inn very close to the place Bush will later stay. [Longboat Observer, 11/21/01]

September 6-7, 2001: 4,744 put options (a speculation that the stock will go down) are purchased on United Air Lines stock as opposed to only 396 call options (speculation that the stock will go up). This is a dramatic and abnormal increase in sales of put options. Many of the UAL puts are purchased through Deutschebank/AB Brown, a firm managed until 1998 by the current Executive Director of the CIA, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard. [Source: The New York Times; The Wall Street Journal.]

September 10, 2001: 4,516 put options are purchased on American Airlines as compared to 748 call options. [Source: above]

September 6-11, 2001: No other airlines show any similar trading patterns to those experienced by UAL and American. The put option purchases on both airlines were 600% above normal. This at a time when Reuters (September 10) issues a business report stating, "Airline stocks may be poised to take off."

September 6-10, 2001: Highly abnormal levels of put options were purchased in Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, AXA Re(insurance) which owns 25% of American Airlines, and Munich Re. All of these companies were directly impacted by the September 11 attacks.

It has been documented that the CIA, the Israeli Mossad and many other intelligence agencies monitor stock trading in real time using highly advanced programs reported to be descended from Promis software. This is to alert national intelligence services of just such kinds of attacks. Promis was reported, as recently as June, 2001 to be in Osama bin Laden's possession and, as a result of recent stories by Fox News, both the FBI and the Justice Department have confirmed its use for U.S. intelligence gathering through at least this summer. This would confirm that CIA had additional advance warning of imminent attacks. [Sources: The Washington Times, June 15, 2001; Fox News, October 16, 2001]

September 10, 2001: the NSA intercepted two messages in Arabic. One message read: “Tomorrow is zero hour” and the second “The match begins tomorrow.” [Source: New York Times, August 10, 2002] [Source: Reuters, June 19, 2002] On June 19, 2002, CNN reported the contents of these two National Security Agency intercepts. Other news outlets, including The Washington Post, also reported on the intercepts.  [Source: New York Times, August 10, 2002]

September 10, 2001: A particularly urgent warning was received the night before the attacks, causing some top Pentagon brass to suddenly cancel travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of “sudden security concerns ‘ . [Source: Newsweek September 12, 2001] “Why that same information was not available to the 266 people who died aboard the four hijacked commercial aircraft may become a hot topic on the Hill." [Source: Newsweek, 9/13/01]

September 10, 2001: Bush flew to Florida to visit with his brother Governor Jeb Bush and to commune with school children in Sarasota. Attorney General Ashcroft rejected a proposed $58 million increase in financing for the bureau's counter-terrorism programs. On the same day, he sent a request for budget increases to the White House. It covered 68 programs, but none of them related to counter-terrorism. He also sent a memorandum to his heads of departments, stating his seven priorities—none of them relating to counter-terrorism. This is more than a little strange, since Ashcroft stopped flying public airplanes in July due to terrorist threats (see July 26, 2001) and he told a Senate committee in May that counter-terrorism was his “highest priority.” [Sources: New York Times, 6/1/02, Guardian, 5/21/02]

September 10, 2001: Just prior to 9/11, the CIA and FBI don't have enough staff working on al-Qaeda. 17-19 people are working in the FBI's special unit focusing on bin Laden and al-Qaeda. [Senate Intelligence Committee, 9/18/02] The FBI has a $4.3 billion anti-terrorism budget, but of its 27,000 employees, just 153 are devoted to terrorism analysis. [Sydney Morning Herald, 6/8/02] The FBI's “analytic expertise had been ‘gutted’ by transfers to operational units” and only one strategic analyst is assigned full time to al-Qaeda. The FBI office in New York is very aware of the threat from bin Laden, but many branch offices remain largely unaware. [Source: Senate Intelligence Committee, 9/18/02] A senior FBI official later tells Congress that there are fewer FBI agents assigned to counter-terrorism on this day than in August 1998, when the US embassy bombings in Africa made bin Laden a household name. [New York Times, 9/22/02] The CIA has about 35-40 people assigned to their special Bin Laden unit. It has five strategic analysts working full time on al-Qaeda. [Source:Senate Intelligence Committee 9/18/02] The CIA and FBI later say some of these figures are misleading. [Source:New York Times 9/18/02] “Individuals in both the CIA and FBI units… reported being seriously overwhelmed by the volume of information and workload prior to September 11, 2001.” Despite numerous warnings that planes could be used as weapons, such a possibility was never studied, and a Congressional report later blames lack of staff as a major reason for this. [Source:Senate Intelligence Committee, 9/18/02] Senator Patrick Leahy (D) also notes: “Between the Department of Justice and the FBI, they had a whole task force working on finding a couple of houses of prostitution in New Orleans. They had one on al-Qaeda.” [Source:CBS 9/25/02]

September 11, 2001: Employees of Odigo, Inc. in Israel, one of the world's largest instant messaging companies, with offices in New York, receive threat warnings of an imminent attack on the WTC less than two hours before the first plane hits the WTC. Law enforcement authorities have gone silent about any investigation of this. The Odigo Research and Development offices in Israel are located in the city of Herzliyya, a suburb of Tel Aviv which is the same location as the Institute for Counter Terrorism which breaks early details of insider trading on 9-11. [Sources: Ha'aretz, 9/26/2001, Reuters, June 19, 2002]

September 11, 2001: For 35 minutes, from 8:15 AM until 9:05 AM, with it widely known within the FAA and the military that four planes have been simultaneously hijacked and taken off course, no one notifies the President of the United States. It is not until 9:30 that any Air Force planes are scrambled to intercept, but by then it is too late. This means that the National Command Authority waited for 75 minutes before scrambling aircraft, even though it was known that four simultaneous hijackings had occurred -- an event that has never happened in history. [Sources: CNN, ABC, MS-NBC, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times.] The responsibility for protecting America's skies from terrorist attack falls upon the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD, also simply called the "Space Command."). Established in 1958, NORAD is a US-Canadian command that provides warning of missile and air attack against both member nations, according to the organization's Web site. In the Eastern US, NORAD has at its disposal, several Air Force Bases from which F-16s and F-15s can be scrambled at a moment's notice. Among these bases are Otis AFB in Cape Cod, Mass, Hancock AFB in Syracuse, NY -home of the 174 Fighter Wing of F-16's- Andrews AFB just outside DC, and Langley AFB in Eastern Virginia. NORAD's mission statement on its website states:

"The Northeast Air Defense Air Sector's area of responsibility covers more than one-half million square miles of airspace including that over New York City; Washington, D.C.; Chicago and other major metropolitan areas."

THE CHAIN OF COMMAND DURING A TERRORIST ATTACK:

A: The FAA reports hijackings and other threats to NORAD's First Air Force Commander, who is based in Tyndall, FLA. On Sept. 11, this was Gen. Larry K. Arnold.

B: The First Air Force Commander then relays this info to The Commander in Chief (CINC) of NORAD. On 9/11, this was Gen. Ralph "Ed" Eberhardt

C: In a grave situation where force seems warranted, the CINC reports to the Commander in Chief......George Bush. Also notified are Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard B. Myers

The fact that NORAD was well aware that a major attack was a possibility is made obvious by the command's planning, well before Sept. 11, for a major exercise, slated for June 4, 2002.

"On June 4, 2002, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will sponsor a multi-agency, bi-national exercise, Amalgam Virgo 02, involving an airborne terrorism scenario over the United States and Canada. The exercise, which was planned prior to the events of Sept. 11, is designed to allow many US and Canadian agencies to test, improve and validate their coordination and operational procedures." [Source:NORAD Operational Paper}

Regardless of what warnings Bush may have received, NORAD was well aware of the threat to American skies.

September 11, 2001: Did the Air Force send up planes after the hijacked aircraft? The Air Force won't say. It says they keep about 20 F-15 and F-16 fighters on duty with Air National Guards along the nation's coastline, ready to inspect unknown aircraft entering U.S. airspace. "We can scramble and be airborne in a matter of minutes," said an Air Force spokesperson. Some airline pilots are wondering whether the FAA did enough to try to prevent the crashes.[Source: Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2001]

Department of Defense (6/1/01) and FAA (7/12/01) procedure: In the event of a hijacking, the FAA hijack coordinator on duty at Washington headquarters requests the military to provide escort aircraft. Normally, NORAD escort aircraft take the required action. The FAA notifies the National Military Command Center by the most expeditious means. [Sources: DoD..6/1/01, FAA, 7/12/01, FAA, 7/12/01] If NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) hears of any difficulties in the skies, they begin the work to scramble jet fighters [take off and intercept aircraft that are off course]. Between Sep 2000 and June 2001 fighters were scrambled 67 times. [ Source: AP, 8/12/02] When the Lear jet of golfer Payne Stewart didn’t respond in 1999, F-16 interceptors were quickly dispatched. According to an Air Force timeline, a series of military planes provided an emergency escort to Payne’s stricken Lear about 20 minutes after ground controllers lost contact with his plane.[Source: Dallas Morning News, 10/26/99]

7:59 AM: American airlines flight 11, a Boeing 767 takes off from Logan Airport in Boston with 92 people, headed for Los Angeles.

8:01AM: United Airline Flight 93, a Boeing 757, bound for San Francisco, is delayed for 40 minutes on runway, with 45 people on board.

8:13 AM: Boston ground control loses contact with Flight 11

8:14 AM: United Flight 175, a Boeing 767, takes off from Logan for Los Angeles with 65 passengers.

8:17 AM: American Airlines Flight 77 (Boeing 757) leaves Dulles in D.C. headed for Los Angeles with 64 passengers

8:20 AM (approx.): Air traffic controllers suspect Flight 11 has been hijacked. [Source:  New York Times, 9/15/01]

8:20 AM: Flight 11 reaches the Hudson River in NY and stops transmitting its IFF signal.

8:24 AM: Hijackers on Flight 11 accidentally broadcasts warning to the passengers over its radio: "Everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet."

8:25 AM: Boston air traffic controllers notify other air traffic control centers of hijacking.

8:27 AM: Flight 11 heads south toward Manhattan; flight attendant Betty Ong calls American Airlines reservations and reports that two flight attendants had been stabbed and a passenger had had his throat slashed. She identifies the seat numbers of the hijackers

8:33 AM: Last transmission from Flight 11: Hijacker is heard telling passengers not to move.

8:38 AM: Boston Air Traffic control notifies NORAD that Flight 11 has been hijacked.

8:40 AM: NORAD is notified of hijacking. [Sources: New York Times, 10/16/01, Washington Post, 9/15/01]

8:42 AM: Flight 175 is hijacked. It begins to make a U-turn over New Jersey, reading for its northward assault on Manhattan.

8:42 AM: Flight 93 takes off from Newark International Airport, headed for San Francisco.

8:43 AM: FAA notifies NORAD that Flight 175 has been hijacked.

8:44 AM: Two F-15 eagles are ordered scrambled out of Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod. Comment: If NORAD had been notified at 8:27, when the plane was obviously hijacked and heading to NYC, an F-16 from Otis or Griffis would have been about 10 minutes from Manhattan at this point. In addition, since the WTC was high on the list of known targets, and since some of the warnings to Bush indicated airplanes could be used as "bombs," the WTC should have been given an alert and the building evacuated. If evacuation had started at 8:30, there would have been no one in the upper floors when the first plane hit and the loss of life would have been minimized.

8:45 AM: Flight 11 strikes WTC's north tower at the 80th floor.

8:46 AM: Flight 175 stops transmitting beacon signal.

8:52 AM: Two F-15s take off from Otis Air Force Base. [ Source: Washington Post, 9/15/01]  They go after Flight 175. Major General Paul Weaver, director of the Air National Guard, states "the pilots flew like a scalded ape, topping 500 mph but were unable to catch up to the airliner. We had a nine-minute window, and in excess of 100 miles to intercept 175,'' he said. ''There was just literally no way.'' [ Source: Dallas Morning News, 9/15/01] F-15's fly at up to 2.5 times the speed of sound [1875 mph or 30+ miles a minute or 270+ miles in nine minutes] and are designed for low-altitude, high-speed, precision attacks. [ Source: BBC]

8:56 AM: Flight 77's transponder is cut and it is evident that Flight 77 is lost. The FAA, already in contact with the Pentagon about the two hijackings out of Boston, reportedly doesn’t notify NORAD of this until 9:24, 28 minutes later. [Source: New York Times, 10/16/01] If F-15s had been scrambled from Otis at 8:27, they would now be in a position to engage the hijacked flight 175 headed for the WTC.

9:00 AM: United Airlines learns that Flight 93 flying over western PA may be in process of being hijacked.

9:00 AM: Flight 77 makes U turn and heads back for Washington. Comment: This is when the FAA should have notified NORAD, and NORAD should have ordered F-16s into the air from Andrews AFB If they had, by 9:15 AM , F-16s may have been in a position to deflect Flight 77 away from DC altogether.

9:03 AM: Flight 175 crashes into the south WTC tower at the 60th floor. [23 minutes after NORAD notified, 43 minutes after air traffic control lost contact with pilots] [Sources: New York Times, 9/12/01, CNN, 9/12/01]

9:10 AM: Major General Paul Weaver states Flight 77 came back on the (radar) scope at 9:10 in West Virginia. [ Source: Dallas Morning News, 9/15/01] Another report states the military was notified of Flight 77 several minutes after 9:03. [Source:  Washington Post, 9/1/01]

9:16 AM: FAA informs NORAD that Flight 93 may have been hijacked.

9:17 AM: Federal Aviation Administration closes all airports.

9:24 AM: The FAA, who 28 minutes earlier had discovered Flight 77 off course and heading east over West Virginia, reportedly notifies NORAD.   A Pentagon spokesman says, "The Pentagon was simply not aware that this aircraft was coming our way." [Sources: Newsday, 9/23/01, New York Times, 9/23/01]Yet since the first crash, military officials in a Pentagon command center were urgently talking to law enforcement and air traffic control officials about what to do. [Source: New York Times, 9/1/01] NORAD orders three F-16s scrambled from Langley. There is not enough time for either a jet from Langley, which will be 10 minutes too late, or one from Andrews, which would have had just about 3 minutes between reaching the airspace over D.C. and dealing with the incoming Boeing 757.

9:25 AM: Air traffic controllers notify Secret Service as Flight 77 makes dramatic maneuver just south of the Pentagon.

9:28 AM: Air traffic control learns that Flight 93 has been hijacked. [Source:  MSNBC, 7/30/02]

9:29 AM: While the al Qaeda attack was in progress our Commander-In-Chief was busily engaged in reading a goat story with second-graders at the Emma E. Booker School in Sarasota, Florida, and was allegedly informed that an "apparent terrorist attack"  was under way. No orders are give to evacuate any buildings in D.C., or to even urge residents and workers to seek shelter. According to Gwen Rigell, principal of the Booker School, Verizon installed 49 telephone lines at the school just prior to Bush’s supposedly routine visit.

9:38 AM: Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. [42 minutes or more after contact was lost, one hour after NORAD notification of first hijacking] [Sources: New York Times, 10/16/01, CNN, 9/12/01]

9:40 AM: Three F-16s take off from Langley. They reach Washington by 9:55, moving at least 550 mph. - the trip takes 14 minutes. The time from Andrews to D.C.: under 2 minutes. The time from Bolling: almost instantaneous. Here is a description of Andrews from its website: "Training for air combat and operational airlift for national defense is the 113th's primary mission. However, 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."

9:43 AM: Plane crashes into Pentagon - a full 40 minutes after being reported hijacked and the likelihood of its being used as a weapon of mass destruction obvious.

9:45 AM: White House evacuates.

9:57 AM: Bush leaves Florida grammar school event along with his personal staff.

10:05 AM: South Tower of World Trade Center collapses.

10:08 AM: Armed agents deployed around White House.

10:10 AM:. Flight 93 crashes in Pennsylvania. [42 minutes after contact was lost][Source:  CNN, 9/12/02]. Part of Pentagon collapses

10:13-10:45 AM: All Federal buildings in D.C. evacuated.

10:28 AM: WTC north tower collapses.

10:46 AM: Colin Powell heads for D.C. from Latin America. It should be noted here that  Secretary of State Colin Powell is in Latin America,  President George Bush is in Florida, Attorney General John Ashcroft in Missouri, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in the part of the Pentagon most remote from the impact point.

1:04 AM: Bush speaks from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

1:27 AM: State of emergency declared in D.C.

1:44 AM: U.S. Naval units from Norfolk are deployed to protect coastline.

2:00 AM:  Bush at Offutt AFB in Omaha NE. Also at Offutt that day from 8:00 AM , are several  important American CEOs -attending a  purported charity event (not disclosed) that is interestingly held at a  secure Air Force base well-removed from Washington and New York.

6:54 AM: Bush back in White House.

8:30 AM: Bush addresses nation.

September 12, 2001: "On Tuesday a few hours after the attacks, FBI agents descended on flight schools, neighborhoods, and restaurants in pursuit of leads. The FBI arrived at Huffman Aviation at about 2:30 am., Wednesday morning: They walked out with all the school's records, including photocopies of the men's passports." Students at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University said-that within hours of the attacks FBI investigators were seen at their school. How did they know which neighborhoods, which flight schools, and which restaurants to investigate so soon into the case?  federal agents questioned employees at a store in Bangor, Maine where five Arab men believed to be the hijackers tried to rent cell phones late last week. Store employees at first refused to sell the phones because the men lacked proper identification, but they gave in after the five offered $3000 cash, store employees and an airport official said."  "The men then phoned Bangor airport trying to get a flight to Boston but were told that there was no flight that matched their desired departure time, the authorities said. The men then phoned Portland, International Jetport, where two of them apparently made reservation for a flight to Boston on Tuesday morning." , "authorities said they had also identified accomplices in several cities who had helped plan and execute Tuesday's attacks. Officials said they knew who these people were and important biographical details about many of them. They prepared biographies of each identified member of the hijack teams and began tracing the recent movements of the men." [Source: New York Times, Sept. 12, 2001]

September 12, 2001: Senator Orrin Hatch says the US was monitoring bin Laden supporters and overheard them discussing the attack. [Sources:  ABC, 9/1/01,  AP, 9/12/01]

September 13-19, 2001: Members of bin Laden's family are driven or flown under FBI supervision to a secret assembly point in Texas and then to Washington, where they leave the country on a private charter plane when airports reopen three days after the attacks.[Source: New York Times, September 30, 2001]

September 19, 2001: The FBI claims that there may have been six hijacking teams on the morning of 9/11. [Sources: New York Times, 9/19/01, CBS, 9/14/01, Guardian, 10/13/01] Authorities have identified teams that total as many as 50 infiltrators who supported or carried out the strikes. About 40 of the men have been accounted for. [Source: Los Angeles Times, 9/13/01]

September 29, 2001: $2.5 million in put options on American Airlines and United Airlines are unclaimed. This is likely the result of the suspension in trading on the NYSE after the attacks which gave the Securities and Exchange Commission time to be waiting when the owners showed up to redeem their put options. [Source: The San Francisco Chronicle]

November 21, 2001: The remains of all but one of the people on board Flight 77, including the hijackers, are identified. But the identities of the hijackers have still not been confirmed through their remains. [Washington Post, 11/21/01, Mercury, 1/11/02] Over a year later, the FBI still has not given DNA profiles to medical examiners so the hijacker remains can be identified .

December 18, 2001: Recovery experts extract data from 32 WTC computer drives revealing a surge in financial transactions just before the attacks. Illegal transfers of over $100 million may have been made through some WTC computer systems immediately before and during the disaster. [Source: Reuters, December18, 2001]

2002

February 6, 2002: CIA Director Tenet tells a Senate hearing that there was no 9/11 intelligence failure. When asked about the CIA on 9/11, he states that the 9/11 plot was "in the heads of three or four people." He rejects any suggestion that the CIA failed to do its job. [Source: USA  Today, 2/7/02]

April 19, 2002: FBI Director Mueller: "We have not uncovered a single piece of paper that mentioned any aspect of the 9/11 plot. The hijackers had no computers, no laptops, no storage media of any kind." [Sources: FBI, 4/19/02, Los Angeles Times, 4/30/02 ] Yet investigators have amassed a ''substantial'' amount of e-mail traffic among the hijackers. [ Source: USA Today, 10/1/01] The laptop computer of Moussaoui, the alleged 20^th hijacker, was confiscated weeks before 9/11, yet FBI headquarters systematically dismissed and undermined requests by Minneapolis FBI agents to search the computer. [Sources: Time, 5/21/02, CNN, 5/27/02]

May 8, 2002: FBI Director Mueller: "there was nothing the agency could have done to anticipate and prevent the [9/11] attacks." [Source: Senate Intelligence Committee (Witness Breitweiser} ]

May 21, 2002: A memo is released in which Minnesota FBI agent Coleen Rowley writes to FBI Director Mueller, “I have deep concerns that a delicate and subtle shading/skewing of facts by you and others at the highest levels of FBI management has occurred and is occurring.” [Source: Time, 5/21/02]  CNN calls the memo a "colossal indictment of our chief law-enforcement agency." [Source: CNN, 5/27/02]   Time magazine later names Rowley one of three "Persons of the Year" for 2002. [Source: Time, 12/22/02] 

May 23, 2002: President Bush says he is opposed to establishing a special, independent commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before 9/11. [Source: CBS, 5/2/02]  

May 30, 2002: FBI Agent Robert Wright formally accuses the FBI of deliberately curtailing investigations that might have prevented 9/11. Wright is under threat of retribution should he talk to members of Congress about what he knows. [Source: Fox News, 5/30/02] He also accuses the agency of shutting down his 1998 criminal probe into alleged terrorist-training camps in Chicago and Kansas City. Wright has written a book, but the agency won't let him publish it or even give it to anyone. [Source: LA Weekly, 8/2/02]

July 23, 2002: The New York City government decides that many of the audio and written records of the Fire Department's actions on 9/11 should never be released. The New York Times had filed a lawsuit seeking numerous records concerning the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, including firsthand accounts by scores of firefighters and chiefs. [Source: New York Times, 7/23/02]         

October 5, 2002: Congressional investigators say the FBI's efforts to block their inquiry makes them skeptical of FBI assertions. They also say the Justice Department has joined the FBI in fighting congressional requests for information, while the CIA has been antagonistic. [Source: New York Times, 10/5/02]

In the intervening time since the end of this chronology, it has become very evident that the Bush Administration has done everything within its power to block any official investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 9/11 attack. In previous matters, such as Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination, the administrations concerned made every public effort to support official investigations and the American media made every public effort to support the findings of the various investigative bodies (but only insofar as these findings supported the administration’s views.)

The frantic attempts on the part of the Bush people, and most especially on the part of the President himself, to either totally avoid any investigation into the background of the September 11, 2001 attacks or, second best, to completely derail it, does not speak well of its motives but it certainly highlights widespread belief in their fore-knowledge.

CONCLUSIONS

Out of all the conspiracy theories arising out of the 9/11 attacks, there is one that stands out very clearly. Given the significant number of proven warnings passed to the American government, at the highest levels, prior to the attack, the curious lack of official concern stands out significantly. Although none of the critics of the Bush Administration have dared to say so in public, it does not seem unrealistic to say that in all probability, George Bush and a number of his top officials, were fully aware that a attack by Arabs against specific American targets was not only highly probable but fully, and specifically, expected. No official warnings were issued precisely because such an attack, if actually executed, would prove to be of great value to the Administration in allowing it to implement certain internal control projects that could never be even contemplated without the impetus of a severe national tragedy.

A White House that would deliberately, and feloniously, release information about an undercover CIA agent would certainly be possessed of a mind-set that would eagerly await an incident that could only increase its power. That many thousands would die and the nation would be plunged into turmoil and apprehension for years afterwards would clearly be of no pressing concern to them.

What would be of pressing concern to them would be the loss of a power which permitted them to indulge in their imperial fantasies unimpeded.

Fortunately for the rest of the world, they have been so arrogant and so inept that one exposure has followed upon another to the point that though they maintain official power, they are growing more and more powerless to exercise it.

A President who stated in public on a number of occasions that God Almighty had personally placed him in the White House would dismiss any collateral damage from his dreams of a religious empire as a matter that was entirely out of his hands.

Certainly, a President who authorized deliberate torture to be applied by American personnel to captured prisoners of war, in direct violation of the international Geneva Convention, would not shrink from permitting a psychologically devastating attack against highly visible American targets to proceed without let or hindrance.

Although Congress initially gave Bush and his people their full support, the disaster known as the Iraq War has generated so much public outrage that Congress arose from its comfortable resting places and stirred itself to ask questions of the Administration. In an election year, much can come of such questions but Congress itself is never beyond approach.

The Neo Cons

In the January 6, 2004 edition of the New York Times, an opinion piece by David Brooks, a right-wing columnist and an eager and thoroughly unabashed apologist for the Bush administration, appeared, making light of the so-called NeoCon group that has been determinant in setting American foreign policy. 

“The Era of Distortion

“Do you ever get the sense the whole world is becoming unhinged from reality? I started feeling that way awhile ago, when I was still working for The Weekly Standard and all these articles began appearing about how Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Doug Feith, Bill Kristol and a bunch of "neoconservatives" at the magazine had taken over U.S. foreign policy.

Theories about the tightly knit neocon cabal came in waves. One day you read that neocons were pushing plans to finish off Iraq and move into Syria. Web sites appeared detailing neocon conspiracies; my favorite described a neocon outing organized by Dick Cheney to hunt for humans. The Asian press had the most lurid stories; the European press the most thorough. Every day, it seemed, Le Monde or some deep-thinking German paper would have an exposé on the neocon cabal, complete with charts connecting all the conspirators.

The full-mooners fixated on a think tank called the Project for the New American Century, which has a staff of five and issues memos on foreign policy. To hear these people describe it, PNAC is sort of a Yiddish Trilateral Commission, the nexus of the sprawling neocon tentacles.

We'd sit around the magazine guffawing at the ludicrous stories that kept sprouting, but belief in shadowy neocon influence has now hardened into common knowledge. Wesley Clark, among others, cannot go a week without bringing it up.

In truth, the people labeled neocons (con is short for "conservative" and neo is short for "Jewish"} travel in widely different circles and don't actually have much contact with one another. The ones outside government have almost no contact with President Bush. There have been hundreds of references, for example, to Richard Perle's insidious power over administration policy, but I've been told by senior administration officials that he has had no significant meetings with Bush or Cheney since they assumed office. If he's shaping their decisions, he must be microwaving his ideas into their fillings.