WHO WAS BEHIND THE WORLD TRADE CENTER AND PENTAGON ATTACKS? --------------Warren D. Smith 15 Sept 2001----------------- 1. WHO BENEFITED? After any crime, perhaps the most important question one can ask when attempting to find out who did it, is "who benefited"? If the rich man is killed, whom do we suspect - the daughter who hates him, or the daughter named as the sole benificiary of his fortune? It would be stupid to pre-judge and decide only one of these daughters is a suspect. As far as I can tell, there is only one country which clearly benefited from the suicide-aircraft-crash-bombings of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Tuesday 11 sept 2001 (approx 5000 dead): Israel. Israel now is likely to get: more US financial and military aid, aid in wars against its perceived enemies, squelching (in the name of "patriotism") of anybody who is against nasty-Israeli-policies, further international cooperation, etc. This is a critical decade for Israel because worldwide oil shortages should begin sometime in the 2010-2020 decade and lead to oil price increases and a dramatic gain in power and wealth for Arab states. Israel would like to avert that now, suppress its enemies now, and optimally gain control of the entire Mideast. But I think simply initiating a war of conquest would not have worked well for Israel for both military and politico-economic-diplomatic reasons. Indeed quite likely it would have been impossible for Israeli hawks to convince the majority of the Israeli population to do that war at all. If, however, matters were intentionally manipulated to cause that war to be waged mainly by the USA and NATO as part of a "war to end all terrorism", with considerable cooperation from Israel, though, then things would be different. Indeed, already (NY Times saturday 15 sept 2001) Israel's Prime Minister A. Sharon has announced he plans to cease all "peace talks" with Y.Arafat and instead force further concessions because "it is a new world now." Then (AFP reported on 15 sept) "Israel launched a wave of land, sea and air strikes against Palestinian positions Saturday, a day after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon abruptly cancelled talks between Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. ...assaults along the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank... 15 Palestinian dead... Arafat said the attacks were an Israeli attempt to "sabotage" his talks with Peres aimed at ending a year of bloodshed which has claimed more than 800 lives... "It is an escalation to continue to implement their plan for 'oranim'," he said, using the Hebrew word for hell... Late Friday, Sharon called off talks set for Sunday, considering it would be "inappropriate" after the terrorist attacks which killed thousands in the United States..." Meanwhile Arafat, Bin Laden, and leaders of most or all Arab countries all claim they had nothing to do with the US attacks and express condolences. 2. DID ISRAEL DO IT? So: could it be that the entire "attack on the US" was in fact an Israeli secret service operation, perhaps even carried out with the aid of genuine Arab fanatics recruited under a "false flag" (to use the intelligence lingo for this kind of operation)? The stakes for Israel are huge - literally altering the course of history dramatically to their benefit. The risk for Israel in initiating such an operation, on the other hand, seems small. Very few Israelis and a fairly small amount of money (perhaps as little as $100K, and no more than $20M - later note: The FBI has stated that they believe only $100K financed the whole operation) would need to be involved, increasing the odds of everything staying secret - and any leaks could be dismissed as rumors, enemy disinformation, etc. (or the leakers could be assassinated or kidnapped - similarly to the well documented way the Israelis had kidnapped their inconvenient leaker Mordecai Vanunu from London) and most of the main players were planned to end up willingly dead and hence unable to talk (and anyway, even those who did talk would be convinced somebody other than Israel was supporting them, plus obviously terrorists planning a massive attack, even if they did have a change of heart, would still be highly motivated NOT to talk! Finally, any Israelis who now got knowledge of this plan and disliked it, would also be highly motivated to remain silent!). From Israel's point of view the whole operation would be "killing two birds with one stone." A "win-win." As far as I can see, 100% of the evidence released so far to the press in support of the "Arab terrorist hypothesis", in fact, is equally consistent with my "Mossad false-flag hypothesis." (Later note: there is now some circumstanstial eveidence suggesting the official US theory that Bin Laden was behind it, was correct. Such as videotapes of Bin Laden gloating & chuckling, and statements by B.L. that something "important" was going to happen Sept 11, causing him to need to go into hiding. Also the Germans have stated they have evidence hijacker M.Atta visited Afghanistan. All this makes the Bush "Osama did it" Theory far more plausible, so I currently do not believe the Israel-did-it theory advanced here. Still I am astounded at the lack of consideration that was given to this theory and the lack of evidence advanced before starting the Afghan war...) On the other hand after nearly a year still the USA has produced no convincing evidence, has not tried anybody in court, and continues to hold hundreds of people in jail without any charges at all.) How can we distinguish between these two alternatives? It seems to me to be extremely difficult to do. Consider the fact that since the US Supreme Court re-instated the Death Penalty in 1976, over 90 inmates convicted and placed on death row have been exonerated by later (e.g. DNA) evidence. This tells us it is easy to make the wrong judgement about who did crimes, and thus railroad innocent men. But those innocent men did not have the resources of the secret service of an entire country trying to frame them! If they had, it seems even more likely that they would be railroaded! This all tells us: watch out for tricks... I will now list several factors which may favor the "Mossad false flag hypothesis." * The timing for Israel is optimal: both historically (see above), and with novice-president G.W.Bush in office (who is not very smart, and pre-disposed to believe anti-US Arabs - his father's bugaboos - are behind it), and with the political situation cleverly calculated perfectly (i.e., Israel has built enough US political support to pull it off, & they have enough military strength including H-bombs to deter military moves against them - indeed right now the relative military strength of Israel vs the Arabs is probably at an all time peak... and New York City, a traditionally pro-Israel anti-Arab area, was attacked, maximally fanning the flames... and the US has previously been involved in wars started by provocations smaller than this, and of dubious cause, fanned by irresponsible media, such as: the Spanish-American war was triggered by the destruction of the USS Maine in what may well have been an accident - and WW I was started by a lone fanatic shooting an Archduke... in both cases politicians and the media found it "convenient" to amplify these developments into a state of war... a similar state of convenience may presently exist re Arabia) * Y.Shamir (former head of Israel) was in fact a former terrorist himself. * the attack is severe enough to force the US govt to feel it must respond in a major way. (Just, say, one blown up plane would not have been enough, as has been proven by previous experiment.) * Why did the supposedly incredibly clever Arab terrorists, who had planned this for over a year, and who supposedly meant to keep the source of the attack secret, do super-dumb things like: use their real names, leave behind convenient Arabic flight manuals, and leave behind a very convenient suicide note? Can they have been both that smart and that stupid at the same time? (If it had been you, would you have done that?) Or: were those intentionally planted "clues?" * Why were these Arabs from many countries of origin, not just one? (And none of them from Afghanistan...) * Why was Israel (supposedly the only place these Arabs hate worse than the US) not also attacked? * The US, say press accounts, has claimed they identified some of the terrorists as "known associates" of Bin Laden - but how did they "know" that? Could it have been that some of this "knowledge" was conveniently provided by our "helpful friends" in Israeli intelligence? * Why has there never previously been any attack by Arab terrorists anywhere with even close to this level of destruction and multi-agent coordination? Why did those Arab groups not "claim credit" - as has been their previous habit? * The White House has claimed that "extremely credible" threats against Pres. Bush & Air Force I were made by phone (which was why Bush flew to Nebraska instead of Washington DC or NY city after the attacks) - and that these threats were credible due to knowledge the caller had about Air Force I secret codes. It was then claimed this showed the terrorists must have had a "mole" or a "leaker" inside the White House. (W.Safire column "Inside the bunker", NY Times 13 sept 2001.) Well - could the Mossad have got those codes? Or Arab Terrorists headed by O.bin Laden? Which seems more likely? (We know the Israelis spy intensively on the US and have many friends in high places in the US political and commercial scene... jailed Isreali spy J.Pollard is one of the more well known exemplars... several books by former Israeli Mossad operatives also attest to this... Later note: the white house now claims these threats did not exist.) * What was the motivation any Arabs had to do this? What possible benefit did they gain? 3. EYE-OPENING EXAMPLE OF ONE PREVIOUS ISRAEL/MOSSAD OPERATION You may be interested in the following book: Ari Ben-Menashe: Profits of War: Inside the Secret US-Israeli Arms Network, Sheridan Square Press, NY 1992. 394 pages. (Also Allen&Unwin 1992.) Ari Ben-Menashe was an Israeli Intelligence deputy chief. He describes numerous extremely unsavory Israeli intelligence operations in his book (many in collaboration with unsavory US operations), which I do not have the space to address here. (Another book of interest: Seymour Hersh [Pulitzer prize winning Journalist]: The Samson Option, Random House 1991 re Israeli A-bomb and H-bomb programs... and how the US Carter administration intentionally covered up same...). Here is a quoted account from Menashe's book about one Israeli "false flag" operation (i.e. intended to look like Syria was behind it) that may be of some relevance to the current World Trade Center & Pentagon attack: "In 1986 Radi was involved in another slush-fund black operation - the well documented attempt to blow up an El Al plane. Or at least what was publicly perceived to be an attempt. In fact, it was a cold, calculated plan conceived by Rafi Eitan [head of Israeli Intelligence] to discredit the Syrians. At a secret meeting in Paris, Eitan told Radi that he wanted to implicate the Syrian Embassy in London in terrorism and have all the Syrian diplomats thrown out of England. Radi had a 35-year-old cousin, Nezar Hindawi, living in London, who had two things going for him - he was friendly with the Syrian Air Force intelligence attache in London, and he had a problem with an Irish girlfriend who told him she was pregnant." "Radi [Israeli double agent] went to his cousin and offered him $50,000. At the same time he told Hindawi he wanted him to do some work on behalf of Palestine that would also rid him of his troublesome girlfriend. 'This money I am offering to you' Radi told Hindawi, 'is from our Syrian brothers on behalf of the Palestinians. We want to blow up a Zionist plane. All you have to do is make sure the girl gets onto an El Al plane with explosives in her bag.' Radi arranged for his cousin to meet the Syrian intelligence officer, and Hindawi later came away with the clear impression that what he was doing was for the Arab cause." "In accordance with his briefing, Hindawi told his 32-year-old girlfriend, Anne-Marie Murphy, a chambermaid at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane, that he loved her and wanted to marry her. He was eager to introduce her, his future bride, to his old Palestinian parents who lived in an Arab village in Israel. He told her to go and visit them and receive their blessing. Then, when she arrived back in England, they would get married. Overjoyed, she agreed to go, not realising the address he gave her in Israel was bogus." "As far as Hindawi knew, the woman was going to be sacrificed. All he had to do was tell her that he wanted her to take a bag of gifts to his parents. But because he didn't want to risk her being stopped for having too much carry-on luggage, he would arrange for a 'friend' who worked at the airport to pass her the bag when she entered the El Al departure lounge. She would walk through the regular Heathrow security checks and then be given the package containing the bomb. Hindawi had been told that a Palestinian cleaner would pass the deadly package to Anne-Marie. In mid-April 1986, he kissed her goodbye and watched her walk through passport control to what he expected would be her death, along with that of all the other 400-plus passengers on board the El Al jumbo." "In the El Al departure lounge an Israeli security man dressed in casual clothes - the 'Palestinian Cleaner' - passed the girl the parcel. She took it. But within seconds she was asked to submit to a search. The security people, who were in on Rafi Eitan's plan, could not afford any accidents. When the bag was opened, plastic explosives were found in a false bottom." "Anne-Marie was rushed off to be interrogated by British security. Sobbing, she told the story of the rat of a boyfriend. Police arrested Hindawi at the London Visitors Hotel, between Notting Hill and Earl's Court, after his brother convinced him to give himself up. He spilled the beans and told them that a Syrian intelligence officer had asked him to carry out the task. But Radi was not implicated. He was under MI5 protection. As a result, Margaret Thatcher closed down the Syrian Embassy in London. Rafi Eitan had had his way; Hindawi was jailed for 45 years, and Anne-Marie went home to Ireland where she gave birth to a daughter. These were the kinds of black operations our [Israeli] slush fund was financing." Notes: The Israelis deliberately picked a religious man caught in an illegitimate pregnancy trap, and known to be desperate. At no time was Hindawi asked to source or purchase explosives, make bombs, or plant them on El Al jumbos. The Israelis took care of all such technical matters personally. Note Israeli intelligence deliberately introduced a large block of primed high-explosive into an El Al departure lounge containing 400-plus passengers, most of them Israeli citizens, in a situation in which a struggle between A-M Murphy and her arrestors over possession of the bag was quite likely. So there certainly was some risk involved. Note the US State Dept. lists Syria as a country "known to support terrorism." Israel is not so listed. 4. CONCLUSION [as of 15 Sept 2001] I certainly do not know that the hypothesis I have advanced herein is correct. But I see no evidence against it, either, since all the evidence I know of could be interpreted as planted by the Mossad by anybody sufficiently paranoid. The summary of the case against Israel is (1) they are the only ones who benefit (2) it is known that Israel had already carried out a very similar (and successful) false-flag operation (albeit with much smaller scale) in 1986 and (3) the Mossad had the capability to carry this out. This in my opinion is enough to make them a suspect. The moral: is that it would be very unwise for the US to rush headlong into actions, such as wars, which could easily cost FAR more, both in lives and money, than the World Trade Center/Pentagon disaster (3K dead; cost $5 billion. Compare with: Vietnam war: 47K US dead and 1150K Vietnamese [N+S] dead, 2 million wounded, cost $200 billion in that era's dollars. Afghan-Soviet war: 50K Soviet dead, over 500K Afghan dead, over 4000K refugees.) when in fact: we do not know who did it. It could well have been precisely the opposite people who did it, than the people who will get the blame. At present I personally think the chance my theory herein is correct is about 50%. (Later note: I now think 20%.) If there were even 1% chance of making the wrong conclusion, I think that ought to be enough to make war definitely the wrong choice, since even a 1% chance represents, in expectation (figuring 500K casualties per war), over 5000 lives lost, which is more than the number already lost in this affair. (Actually, even if we DO know who did it, then STILL the advocated "cures" seem worse than the disease both in lives and money.) But considering there have been 90 US death row inmates who have been exonerated since 1977 (compared with the approx 400 who have actually been executed), it seems to me the chances of making a mistake here are considerably larger than 1%.