WikiLeaks: 9/11 Commission report hinted at network of US 'accomplices'
The official 9/11 Commission report into the attacks made no mention of another team of potential hijackers - but did hint at a “support network of accomplices” who had eluded investigators.
The commission apparently failed to discover that a group of young Qataris conducted surveillance of possible targets in the weeks before the attacks Photo: AFP/GETTY
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Stretching to 600 pages and based on the evidence of more than 1,200 witnesses, the commission’s report was meant to be the final word on the atrocity when it was published in July 2004.
The commission spent nearly two years compiling evidence, including previously classified documents, but apparently failed to discover that a group of young Qataris conducted surveillance of possible targets in the weeks before the attacks.
Hotel staff whose concerns about the men’s pilot uniforms and strange behaviour are reported in the cables do not appear to have been interviewed by the original investigators.
The report also contains no details of Mohamed Al Mansoori, the former Los Angeles resident who allegedly helped the Qataris as well as proving support to the 19 hijackers.
This oversight allowed Mr Al Mansoori to remain in the US undetected for several years after the attack, public records indicate, before the FBI obtained intelligence about his possible role.
However, the 9/11 Commission report does allude to suspicions that the hijackers, some of whom arrived in America more than a year before Sept 11, may have been assisted by a “support network of accomplices in the United States” who have never been traced.
Two of the hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, are known to have spent several months living in California in 2000, because it was judged “a convenient point of entry from Asia and had the added benefit of being far away from the intended target area.”
The report states that they “sought out and found a group of ideologically like-minded Muslims” in San Diego, before departing for “a brief stay in Los Angeles about which we know little”.
Mr Al Mansoori has been linked to addresses in Irvine and Long Beach, both of which are in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
But investigators failed to prove the support network theory, concluding: “The evidence is thin—simply not there for some cases, more worrisome in others.”
Overall, the 9/11 Commission found that the Sept 11 attacks were orchestrated by Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the head of al-Qaeda’s military committee who is currently being held in Guantanamo Bay.
It blamed “deep institutional failings” at US intelligence agencies for failing to grasp “the gravity of the threat”.
Two of the hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, are known to have spent several months living in California in 2000, because it was judged “a convenient point of entry from Asia and had the added benefit of being far away from the intended target area.”
The report states that they “sought out and found a group of ideologically like-minded Muslims” in San Diego, before departing for “a brief stay in Los Angeles about which we know little”.
Mr Al Mansoori has been linked to addresses in Irvine and Long Beach, both of which are in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
But investigators failed to prove the support network theory, concluding: “The evidence is thin—simply not there for some cases, more worrisome in others.”
Overall, the 9/11 Commission found that the Sept 11 attacks were orchestrated by Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the head of al-Qaeda’s military committee who is currently being held in Guantanamo Bay.
It blamed “deep institutional failings” at US intelligence agencies for failing to grasp “the gravity of the threat”.
