Threat of attack on U.S. remains real
Deep in the 9/11 Commission Report, in the footnotes section on page 514, is a chilling passage. The main sections of the report make clear that captured Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed — “KSM” in CIA jargon — gave CIA interrogators a wealth of information about the planning of the Sept. 11 attacks and the operating methods of al-Qaeda. But the footnote points out that there was one area where he stayed silent: the whereabouts of al-Qaeda operatives who might be preparing to launch further attacks in the USA. “Protecting operatives in the United States appeared to be a ‘major part’ of KSM’s (interrogation) resistance efforts,” the footnote says. When asked about U.S. ZIP codes found in his notebooks, for example, Mohammed — who is being held at an undisclosed location outside the United States — offered the unpersuasive explanation that they had something to do with e-mail accounts he was planning to open.Full Story