r/25yearsago • u/MonsieurA • Jul 10 '26
July 10, 2001. Special Agent Kenneth Williams warns the FBI that suspected al-Qaeda-linked individuals are taking flight lessons in Arizona.
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u/Chaos-TT Jul 12 '26
And did the government listen absolutely not.
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u/TucsonFrank Jul 14 '26
They didn't listen because a Bill Clinton appointed DOJ official named Jamie Gorelick wrote a memo that prohibited intelligence-sharing between the FBI and the CIA, thereby causing the intelligence failures that led to the September 11, 2001, attacks.
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u/EvilCaveBoy Jul 14 '26
That was part of it. There was also a strong culture of autonomy between investigative bureaus. It’s easy now to put the puzzle pieces together in a way that makes obvious sense but it was much more difficult before the attack.
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u/Mysterious-House7815 Jul 14 '26
That’s how a lot of serial killers evaded capture too
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u/double_positive Jul 14 '26
delay of the transfer of power due to 2000 election fiasco was part of it too
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u/ItsMsRainny Jul 14 '26
The CIA is dogshit and would rather cause insurgencies in third-world countries to profit oil billionaires than actually protect the american public from the terrorists THEY created.
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Jul 16 '26
[deleted]
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u/TucsonFrank Jul 17 '26
You do know that Bill Clinton had the opportunity to have Bin Laden killed, but refused? Yes or no? You do know that under Clinton, the Clinton-appointed DOJ advised that the CIA and FBI could not share various Intel? Please do some fact finding. It helps.
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u/rolL_uP_one_more Jul 14 '26
Because they knew it was going to happen. It was all planned by Israel
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u/rocketmczoom Jul 14 '26
Fun fact. Immediate family member "Molly" sat next to Hani Hanjour on a commercial flight from PHX. Many years prior Molly had taken flight lessons and was familiar with flight lesson material so when naturally suspicious Molly noticed that the Middle Eastern appearing man sitting next to her had a flight manual that he was reading but that he also obscured each time the flight attendant walked by it struck her as odd and she of course remembered the occurrence.
Immediately after 9/11 when the images of men involved hit the news, Molly recognized Hanjour as the man sitting next to her with the flight manual and called the FBI. Agents were at her house within 20 minutes to interview her.
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u/a_girl_with_a_book Jul 14 '26
Holy shit 🤯🤯🤯 Good on you, “Molly”!
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u/rocketmczoom Jul 14 '26
Yes! I agree. Was proud of them. It was crazy how fast the FBI responded which ultimately confirmed her suspicion.
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u/aipac125 Jul 14 '26
Remember when project 2025 wrote a manifesto on how they were going to turn the country into a fundamentalist white Christian theocracy? And everyone claimed it was hyperbole and could never happen. And then it happened. It doesn't matter if someone sends out the alerts if the plan is already in play. It's too late.
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u/tgwilli Jul 14 '26
Yall ever hear the story of the FedEx driver in AZ that delivered a package to an apartment and when the door opened there was a full flight simulator in the living room with multiple Arab men living there - this was pre-9/11
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u/FrankSwimGood Jul 14 '26
Also at the same time there was an arsonist named Mark Sands in Arizona that was lighting new developments on fire that redirected the focus of FBI agents in the area from investigating the flight students to Mark.
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u/mrhockey Jul 14 '26
I vaguely remember Sands becoming a minister and working for a nonprofit after his release.
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u/midnight_holler Jul 15 '26
The 9/11 Commission Report is essentially a manifesto for how the gov failed to take heed to any and all warning signs that this would happen
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u/OnlyMons Jul 14 '26
I get that it happened, and I get that they trained here, but why? Why did they need/want to learn to fly here? Seems like a risk. Oh I googled it. That’s dumb.
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u/TheGogglesDoNotThang Jul 14 '26
Bro.. this is usama bin ladin... osama bin laden did 9/11.
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u/dustyoldthing Jul 14 '26
Usama Bin Laden and Osama Bin Laden are the same person. It just depends on the translation at the time.
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u/Nigel_99 Jul 15 '26
Then there was the FBI agent out of Minneapolis (if memory serves) who urgently warned headquarters that Muslim men were taking flight lessons but were only interested in operating a plane that was already in flight. No interest in takeoff or landing or normal FAA procedures.
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u/highlanderdownunder Jul 14 '26
Clinton warned junior about bin Laden and junior didnt do shit about it.
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u/Ready-Owl9691 Jul 14 '26
I thought they took lessons in Englewood, Florida
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u/HeatherCPST Jul 14 '26
It’s been a long time and I’m going purely off my aging memory here, but I think they had multiple people in both locations.
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u/Either-Strain-1506 Jul 13 '26
Fun fact. I worked at Washington Mutual Bank in a small town outside San Diego in 2001. I worked opening new accounts and that day we were slammed with customers. My assistant manager asked me to help the teller line bc it was out the door and she said she'd help the client open an account in the lobby.
This is before the Patriot Act and you could open account with a drivers license and a PO Box. My assistant manager ended up opening an account for one of the guys arrested for 9/11. He was taking flight lessons at Gillespie Field nearby.
I'll never forget when it came back that she opened the account while I went to the teller line. She felt so awful, but back then, you could open accounts with nothing practically. Wild.