FBI: US cleric al-Awlaki bought tickets for 9/11 hijackers

[TonyGosling]

U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki purchased tickets for 9/11 terrorists: FBI documents
January 4, 2013
Within two weeks of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, FBI investigators had information that New Mexico-born jihadi cleric Anwar al-Awlaki had purchased air travel tickets for some of the hijackers; the information is contained in newly released, and heavily redacted, FBI documents; it appears that after the 9/11 attacks, the FBI, rather than arrest al-Awlaki, tried to work with him or track him for intelligence purposes, to see whether he would lead the agency to sleeping-cell terrorists still in the United States; Al-Awlaki was killed by a CIA drone attack in Yemen in September 2011


Documents indicate that al-Awlaki purchased tickets for 9-11 hijackers // Source: akhbarak.net

Within two weeks of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, FBI investigators believed that New Mexico-born jihadi cleric Anwar al-Awlaki had purchased air travel tickets for some of the hijackers. The information is contained in newly released documents which were reviewed exclusively by Fox News.

Fox News reports that the heavily redacted records, obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of information Act (FOIA) request, suggest that by 17 September 2001, the FBI had obtained documents which connected al-Awlaki to the hijackers.

“We have FBI documents showing that the FBI knew that al-Awlaki had bought three tickets for three of the hijackers to fly into Florida and into Las Vegas, including the lead hijacker, Mohammad Atta,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Fox News (and see Judicial Watch release).

Al-Awlaki, who was killed by a CIA drone attack in Yemen in September 2011, “was a central focus of the FBI’s investigation of 9/11. They show he wasn’t cooperative. And they show that he was under surveillance,” Fitton said.

The FBI records show that al-Awlaki used his credit cards to purchase tickets for at least three of the 9/11 terrorist — Mohammed Atta, Satam al-Suqami, and Waleed al-Shehri (or his brother Wail al-Shehri) – for flights within the United States in the days leading up to the attack.

Fox News was on al-Awlaki’s case from the beginning, scoring a few reporting “firsts” in the process. The network, in its special “Fox News Reporting - The Secrets of 9/11,” broadcast in September 2011, was first to report that the cleric was an overlooked key player in the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

Fox News was also first to report that in February 2002, five months after the FBI had concluded that al-Awlaki was involved in the 9/11 plot, he was a guest speaker on moderate Islam at a Pentagon executive dining room.

Fox News was also first to report that al-Awlaki was held at New York City’s JFK airport on 10 October 2002, under a warrant for passport fraud. A the network reported at the time, an FBI agent named Wade Ammerman, from the bureau’s Washington field office, ordered the cleric be released from custody.

Fox News suggested that after the 9/11 attacks, the FBI tried to work with al-Awlaki or track him for intelligence purposes, to see whether he would lead the agency to sleeping-cell terrorists still in the United States.

Judicial Watch’s Fitton told the network that the newly released documents should lead to hard questions being asked of two administrations.

“If he was working for us, to then kill him, that’s an extraordinary decision. And we need more information from the administration,” Fitton said. “And remember this is not just about the Obama administration. A lot of what we are talking about goes back to the Bush administration. So the Bush administration and the Obama administration need to answer about how Awlaki was handled.”

In response to Fox News request for a comment, FBI spokeswoman Kathleen Wright said: “The FBI cautions against drawing conclusions from redacted FOIA documents. The FBI and investigating bodies have not found evidence connecting Anwar al-Awlaki and the attack on Sept. 11, 2001. The document referenced does not link Anwar al-Awlaki with any purchase of airline tickets for the hijackers.”

http://www.blacklistednews.com/U.S.-born_cleric_Anwar_al-Awlaki_purcha sed_tickets_for_911_terrorists:_FBI_documents/23418/0/0/0/Y/M.html