Who Knew What When? Part One

WHO KNEW WHAT, WHEN?

A TIME LINE OF COINCIDENTAL ACTIVITY SURROUNDING THE NEW YORK CITY WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACK

Compiled by Bill Sardi, Word of Knowledge Agency
San Dimas, California
Copyright 2001-2002
Permission to copy on paper is granted for noncommercial use.
Timeline of strange events surrounding the World Trade Center attack.

1957: Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden was born forty-four years ago in Saudi Arabia, one of twenty sons of wealthy construction magnate Muhammad bin Laden, who runs a $5 billion company. On December 25, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and 22-year old Bin Laden left to join the fight. He financed the recuitment of Muslims from the Middle East. Osama bin Laden tells stories of the Russians using poison gas against his Mujahideen troops. John Miller, journalist, writes that bin Laden believes "through sheer will, even superpowers can be defeated." The Russians left Afghanistan having lost thousands of troops. There were huge stockpiles of weapons and grenades and rocket launchers supplied to the Mujahideen, many of them bought by the CIA. The US trained and funded the Mujahideen to the tune of $6 billion.[Reported by John Miller at www.pbs.org] Osama bin Laden is added to the list of worldwide villains, like Manuel Noreiga in Panama (1980s), Muammar Khaddafi in Libya and Sadam Hussein in Iraq (1990s), whose regimes initially received covert support by the CIA and whose countries held large reserves of oil

July 3, 1979: President Jimmy Carter secretly authorizes $500 million to create an international terrorist movement that would spread Islamic fundamentalisms in Central Asia in an effort to destabilize the Soviet Union. Known as Operation Cyclone, it built "terrorist universities" in collaboration with the Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistan Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). Al Queda grew out of this, being established in 1987-88.

1997: Zbigniew Brzezinski, a 1953 Ph.D. from Harvard who was National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, and trustee and founder of the Trilateral Commission, writes a book on America as the first true global power and America's plans to dominate central Asia, now found to be a rich source of energy resources. Brzezinski writes: “The most immediate task is to make certain that no state or combination of states gains the capacity to expel the United States from Eurasia or even to diminish significantly its decisive arbitration role.” (p. 198) “It follows that America’s primary interest is to help ensure that no single power comes to control this geopolitical space and that the global community has unhindered financial and economic access to it.” (p148) Brzezinkski then goes on to suggest how the American people would have to be sold on any military incursions into Eurasia. “Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multi-cultural society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat.” (p. 211) “The attitude of the American public toward the external projection of American power has been much more ambivalent. The public supported America’s engagement in World War II largely because of the shock effect of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (pp 24-5) THE GRAND CHESSBOARD - American Primacy And It’s Geostrategic Imperatives,” Zbigniew Brzezinski, Basic Books, 1997 Was the attack on the World Trade Centers on Sept. 11 the event to trigger American sentiment for war?

Feb. 1998: A consortium of international companies expresses interest in building an oil pipeline from Central Asian countries across Afghanistan to a port terminal in Pakistan that would carry 1 million barrels of oil a day on a 42-inch pipe costing $2.5 billion. On February 12, 1998, a UNOCAL oil company executive testified before Congress that a stable government in Afghanistan is required before the oil pipeline project can proceed. Osama bin Laden is identified as a terrorist being harbored in Afghanistan and repressed women in Afghanistan as the victims of the Taliban regime.

Feb. 26, 2000: A House subcommittee on National Security called for suspension of the anthrax vaccine because of uncertain safety and efficacy. The current vaccine was developed in the 1950s. Meryl Nass MD, a Maine internist, said: "The subcommittee acknowledged that the vaccine is unlikely to be effective against weaponized anthrax, is not safe, and is strategically a poor idea as well." [The Lancet, February 26, 2000]

March 1, 2000: Bayer Corporation, Pharmaceutical Division of West Haven, Connecticut, files a new drug application at the request of the Food & Drug Administration for CIPRO (ciprofloxacin) antibiotic as treatment for inhalation anthrax. Bayer says it filed for this new drug application in response to an national anti-bioterrorism symposium held in 1999 and a Centers for Disease Control panel that identified the most likely biological warfare agents. Traditionally penicillin or doxycycline have been the drugs of choice for anthrax. Bayer's application is approved largely based upon what is called pharmacokinetic data (blood levels, test-tube studies) because human studies would be unethical. In the only interventional study of groups of 10 animals infected with inhalational anthrax, doxycycline (9 of 10 animals survived) compared favorably to ciprofloxacin (CIPRO- 8 of 9 survived) over penicillin (7 of 10 survived). [New Drug Application, received March 1, 2000 by FDA and FDA Briefing Package, Bayer Corp, July 28, 2000]

March 16, 2000: The Associated Press, citing a Hong Kong-based news magazine, reported that Osama bin Laden, wanted for the bombings of two US embassies in Africa, is dying of kidney disease and is in need of a dialysis machine. [www.apbnews.com]

May 14, 2000: Bayer Corp. is accused of fraud and ethical violations in a British clinical study of its antibiotic drug CIPRO among surgical patients. Bayer is accused with witholding information which showed that CIPRO was poorly absorbed when pre-operative sedative medications were taken which resulted in the death of one patient and serious infections in others. Bayer declined to disclose the numbers of postoperative infections claiming its data is confidential. [London Times, May 14, 2000] In a disaster scenario, patients may need surgery and the inclusion of CIPRO in an antibiotic stockpile might put surgical trauma patients at risk.

May 20, 2001: Prime Minister Kurmanbek Bakiyev of Kyrgyzstan announces major oil find. A 70 million barrel field of oil was discovered in the western Dzhalal-Abad region. Production in the oil field was begin sometime later in the year. [BBC News, May 20 and 23, 2001]

Sept. 11, 2000: The Saudi Binladin Group, registers a domain name on the worldwide web {www.saudi-binladin-group.com), which was pre-set to expire on Sept. 11, 2001, the day of the World Trade Center attack. The Binladin Group is run by the family of Osama bin Laden, who denies any recent association with him. The website was created by Arq Limited in the UK which was reported to have gone out of business in October of 2001. [Howard Altman in the Philadelphia citypaper.net, Oct. 18-25, 2001] Was this site utilized in some way to communicate to the terrorists?

April 24, 2001: Author and investigative journalist James Bamford releases a new book entitled BODY OF SECRETS (Doubleday), which reveals that in the 1960s the Joint Chiefs of Staff drew up and approved plans to launch a secret and bloody war of terrorism against their own country to incite public sentiment against the Communist regime in Cuba.

May 22, 2001: Robert Scheer, nationally syndicated columnist, reports that the US sent a gift of $43 million to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. [LA Times, May 22, 2001] Five months later, Ben Fritz, writing for Spinsanity.com, came to the defense of the Bush administration and said these gifts amounted to wheat, food commodities and food security programs distributed by UN and non-governmental agencies. [Spinsanity.com, Oct. 8, 2001] However, the US usually adds stipulations to aid its sends to foreign countries, as it has in Iraq. No stipulations were mentioned regarding this aid package despite widespread criticism of the oppressive Taliban regime.

July 2001: John O'Neill, deputy director of the FBI, resigns in protest over obstruction by the White House of any further investigation into the activities of Osama bin Laden. "The main obstacles to investigate Islamic terrorism were US oil corporate interests and the role played by Saudi Arabia in it," said O'Neill. By coincidence, O'Neill accepted a position as security chief of the World Trade Center after leaving the FBI and was killed on Sept. 11. [Nov. 20, 2001, World Socialist Website]

Aug. 6-7, 1998: On August 6, a grand jury hears former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, reported to testify that she and President carried on a sexual affair. On August 7 two U.S. Embassies in Africa are bombed, steering the news headlines away from the Lewinsky affair. The attacks are later blamed on Osama bin Laden. Why would bin Laden time these attacks to divert attention away from the Clinton affair? This has never been explained.

Aug. 27, 1998: An article at SALON.COM says the Clinton administration has accused Osama bin Laden for almost every terrorist act in the last decade but has failed to produce evidence. While Osama bin Laden's rhetoric is anti-west and encourages terrorism, even an alleged plot to assassinate President Clinton turned out to be murky. The report says he is a spiritual leader and financier of terrorism, rather than an evil plotter and planner. Says the report: "the evidence so far does not support him being a cerebral Dr. No moving an army of terrorist troops on a vast world chessboard to checkmate the United States." [Salon.com, August 27, 1998]

Nov. 12, 2000: Bruce Hoffman, director of the Rand Institute office in Washington DC, indicates the next US President will have to face up to the growing threat of Islamic terrorism. Hoffman: "The next administration must turn its immediate attention to knitting together the full range of US counterterrorism capabilities into a cohesive plan." [Los Angeles Times, Nov. 12, 2000]

Jan. 31, 2001: A bipartisan committee recommended the formation of a cabinet level position to combat terrorism, a Nation Homeland Security Agency director. The Bush administation indicated the problem of terrorism could be handled adequately by FEMA. [Salon.com, Sept. 12, 2001] President Bush named Tom Ridge, Pennsylvania governor, as the appointee for homeland defense shortly following the Sept. 11 WTC attack.

Aug. 27, 2001: Miramax Films announces acquisition of the film rights to Andy McNab's novel "CRISIS FOUR" featuring a plot in which Osama bin Laden aims to blow up the White House. The books were written in 1999. [PRNewswire Aug. 27, 2001 and BBC News, October 1, 2001]

Aug. 28, 2001: Two weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks on the WTC, the Federal Aviation Administration warned airlines and airports that individuals with links to terror networks were planning to fly on US airlines. The August 28 memo was revealed by Cambio Magazine, a Mexican magazine. Reuters reported this story and an FAA spokesperson said "she could not comment on security matters related to the Sept. 11 attacks." [Reuters, Yahoo News, October 6, 2001]

Sept 6-7, 2001: The Chicago Options Exchange saw purchases of 4,744 put options on United Airlines, but only 396 call options. United Stocks fell 42% from $30.82 to $17.50 which was the price when the stock market re-opened after the WTC attack. Assuming that 4000 of the options were bought by people with advance knowledge of the imminent WTC attack, "insider traders" would have profited by almost $5 million. ["Black Tuesday, The World's Largest Insider Trading Scam," Don Radlauer, consultant to the International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism in Herzliya, Israel, Sept. 19, 2001]

Sept. 7, 2001: An 80-man FBI task force raids the offices of a Middle-Eastern internet service provider in Texas. The FBI did not reveal why the company, Infocom Corp., had been raided, but said it was a criminal investigation, and did not deal with Middle East issues. Muslim leaders accused the FBI of an anti-Muslim "witch hunt." [BBC News, Sept. 7, 2001]

Sept. 8, 2001: Inova Fairfax Hospital in Northern Virginia practices a response to a mock terrorist attack that would include anthrax. [NY Times Jan.6, 2001]

Sept. 10, 2001: George Schultz, former US Secretary of State, states he received a copy of a "worldwide warning" in his San Francisco offices. The state department memo is dated Sept. 7, 2001. The memo said that Americans "may be the target of a terrorist threat," and identified the threat as coming from "extremist groups with links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization." The wording of the state department warning was verbally passed on to San Francisco mayor Willie Brown when he called the airport to check on the status of a flight he was planning to take to New York. [San Francisco Chronical, Sept. 14, 2001]

Sept. 10, 2001: Reuters releases a story published in newspapers across the USA that suggests purchase of airline stocks would be a good buy despite recent expectations of losses. The report said "investors who can stomach the bumpy ride might find the time is right to get back into US airline stocks." Goldman Sachs was identified as an aggressive buyer of airlines stocks because they are trading at 4-year lows, evidence that stock holders had been dumping their holdings prior to the World Trade Center attack. [Detroit Free Press, Sept. 10, 2001] Also on this day, 4,516 put options on American Airlines were bought on the Chicago exchange compared to only 748 calls. American Airlines stock fell 39% from $29.70 to $18.00 per share. Assuming 4000 option trades represent insider trading, they would represent a gain of about $4 million. ["Black Tuesday, The World's Largest Insider Trading Scam," Don Radlauer, consultant to the International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism in Herzliya, Israel, Sept. 19, 2001]

Sept. 11, 2001: National "911" day; teams of Islamic terrorists, some whom were on the FBI "watch" list, escaped detection and commandeered four commercial jet aircraft and steered them into the World Trade Center Towers in NYC and the Pentagon building in Washington DC. One plane crashed before it could strike any target. Onlookers report explosions just prior to the collapse of each tower and the buildings implode, as if they were being demolished by explosives as is customarily done with old buildings. Experts claim the heat from the fire and jet fuel caused the steel girders to buckle, but fire sprinkler systems had already put out much of the fire and fires burn upwards, which should have left the lower floors intact. Within a short period of time Osama bin Laden, hiding in Afghanistan, was fingered as the culprit behind the attacks and film footage was being shown on television of bin Laden speaking in Arabic language, calling on Muslims around the world to enter into a "Holy War." TV commentators were quick to note that Osama bin Laden's message appears to have been pre-taped. Why would a man who bankrolls terror, but is reportedly worth $300 million, cavort in caves in Afghanistan and remain there as western countries send forces to surround the country?

Sept. 11, 2001: Showing uncanny timing, on the day of the air attack on the World Trade Center towers in NYC, Simon & Schuster, Inc., release a new book entitled BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS AND AMERICA'S SECRET WAR by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad of the New York times. [www.simonandschuster.com] Also, a disaster preparedness drill had been scheduled in NYC for the following day. Coincidence?

Sept. 11, 2001: CNN airs live TV views of Kabul, the capitol of Afghanistan, showing flames from a possible attack on the outskirts of the city. Ahmed Shad Massoud, leader of the Afghan northern faction, is reported to have been killed by a bomb hidden in a TV reporter's video camera. CNN left the impression that either the US or northern Afghan forces had already retaliated against the ruling Taliban. An early link was being made for TV viewers between the WTC attack and the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan, long before US intelligence agencies could confirm the identities of the airborne hijackers and their alleged association with Osama bin Laden or terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. [CNN, Sept. 11, 2001]

Sept. 12, 2001: CBS reporter Dan Rather interviewed Tom Kennedy, spokesperson for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's search and rescue team. Kennedy said he and his team arrived in New York City and were "finally on the ground" and deployed by "Monday night." That would mean the team arrived Sept. 10- the night before the attacks. FEMA officials claim Kennedy misstated his team arrival date. [World Net Daily Nov. 15, 2001]

Within days of the WTC attack: US intelligence agencies, who had been cited for the biggest intelligence lapse in history, suddenly were able to round up hundreds of Islamic suspects and determine that the hijackers had made repeated trial trips on airliners prior to the Sept. 11 attack. [Boston Globe, October 11, 2001]

Sept. 15, 2001: Jack Straw, British Foreign Secretary, said Britain must prepare itself for the next terrorist attack and said that efforts to stop the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons must be redoubled. [THe London Times Sept. 15, 2001] Straw's statements precede any reported cases of anthrax in the US by about two weeks. Why would Straw suggest preparation against a biological warfare threat when no attack had occurred yet?

Sept. 16, 2001: New York Times reporters David Johnston and Neil A. Lewis reveal that two of the men (Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hamzi) believed to have hijacked planes that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11 were known to authorities as associates of Osama bin Laden and had been sought since August by the FBI. American and European law enforcement officials were also reported to be examining whether any associates of Osama bin Laden may have tried to profit from attacks by trading in put options or short-selling particular stocks, like re-insurance companies or airlines. [The New York Times, Sept. 16, 2001]

Week following the WTC blast: The FBI denies it had prior knowledge of the airborne attack against the WTC. Yet the owner of a pilot training school in Illinois indicates FBI agents had visited his business a month prior to investigate some of the alleged terrorists. Actor James Woods reports in the NY Times that he was on a flight in August from Boston to Los Angeles, sitting in 1st class with the only other passengers in the section being four Middle Eastern-looking men who only talked in whispers and did not read or sleep. Woods called the FBI on Sept. 12 to tell the FBI of his experience, but he had reported the incident to airline and ground authorities when he landed in August. [Boston Globe, Oct. 10, 2001]

Sept. 17, 2001: Upon the 50th anniversary of the CIA, former President George Bush defended the work of this agency which he ran in 1976-77. In the wake of the biggest intelligence lapse in modern US history, Bush called agency critics "nuts." [Associated Press, Sept. 17, 2001]

Sept. 19, 2001: Don Radlauer, consultant to the International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism in Herzliya, Israel, reports that insider trading prior to the Sept. 11 attacks "was, at the very least, an accessory to their planning; and the overwhelming probability is that the trades could have been made only by the same people who masterminded the attacks themselves." ["Black Tuesday, The World's Largest Insider Trading Scam," Don Radlauer, consultant to the International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism in Herzliya, Israel, Sept. 19, 2001]

Sept. 24, 2001: People Magazine published eyewitness accounts of the WTC attack and subsequent events. Louie Cacchioli, 51, a firefighter assigned to Engine 47 in Harlem: "We were the first ones in the second tower after the plane struck. On the last trip up a bomb went off. We think there was a bomb set in the building." [People Magazine Sept. 24, 2001]

Sept 28, 2001: The New York Times publishes a story indicating financial regulators have found "no evidence that people with advance knowledge of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington used that information to profit in the international securities markets." Initial newspaper reports had suggested that Islamic interests had possibly profited by selling off airline and insurance stocks prior to the WTC attack. The report did admit that German authorities had noticed possible illegal trading that would yield billions of dollars of profits in wake of the attack. The report also says "the oil price rise just ahead of the attacks is otherwise inexplicable." The New York Times report cited a Sept. 5 report by Reuters that predicted "a further deterioriation" in the airline industry's financial performance. Kurt Eichenwald and Edmund L. Andrews, reporters for the New York Times, made no mention of the Sept. 10 report by Reuters entitled "Airline Stocks May Be Poised to Take Off," which suggested investors buy airline stocks. [New York Times, Sept. 28, 2001]

Sept. 29, 2001: An article in the San Francisco Examiner indicates more than $2.5 million in profits from trading options in the stock of United Airlines before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks remain uncollected. There is suspicion that those who profited from these transactions had advance knowledge of the World Trade Center attack. There was an unusually large jump in purchases of put options on the stocks of United Airlines Corp. three business days prior to the attack. On one day the put option purchases on UAL were 25 times greater than the year-to-date average. [San Francisco Examiner, Sept. 29, 2001]

Oct. 5, 2001: American employers eliminated more jobs in September than in any month since the 1991 recession. Since March nearly a half million jobs had been lost. Unemployment had been growing before the Sept. 11 attack. [NY Times Oct. 5, 2001] Note: Governments often go to war to cover up a bad economic condition.

Oct. 5, 2001: Bob Stevens, 63-year old photographer for the National Enquirer newspaper dies of anthrax infection. At the writing of this report, numerous cases of anthrax have been reported in Florida, New York, Nevada and Wash DC. The anthrax appears to have been delivered, in the first case in Florida and the 4th case in New York, by receipt of a mail envelope containing a powdery substance. [Newsday.com, October 12, 2001] In an odd followup story, the wife of Bob Stevens' editor, Michael Irish, helped two of the suspected Sept. 11 hijackers find an apartment in the Boca Raton area. [Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2001] The first inhalational anthrax case reported in Florida during October was reported to be a natural rather than a drug-resistant strain. [Palm Beach Post, Oct. 7, 2001] An HHS bulletin dated October 10, 2001, lists ciprofloxacin, tetracyclines (doxycycline) and penicillin as approved drugs for anthrax. But most people are being treated with the high-priced CIPRO because of its newly approved drug status for inhalational anthrax. CIPRO costs around $400 for a 2-week course versus about $20-40 for doxycycline. Prescriptions for CIPRO rose from about 8-10 thousand per day to over 18 thousand by mid October. Tommy Thompson, Secretary of HHS, indicates he will petition Congress to purchase $643 million of antibiotics to build the nation's stockpile, which includes CIPRO. [New York Times, Oct. 16, 2001] Bayer holds a patent till 2003 on CIPRO, but it is possible the company cannot meet demands for supply. East Indian companies have offered to supply generic versions of CIPRO to the USA at cut rate prices ($10 per course). [Reuters, Oct. 11, 2001] An October 10 bulletin from Health & Human Services indicates three drugs are approved for anthrax (ciprofloxacin, tetracyclines such as doxycycline and penicillins. HHS advises doctors not to prescribe CIPRO to have on hand for prophylactic use. [HHS Bulletin October 10, 2001]

Oct. 6, 2001: An article in the New York Times says the FBI "held back itw own agents last August from opening a criminal investigations of a man who investigators now suspect was meant to be the 20th hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks." Zaccarias Moussaoui, a 33-year old French citizen or Moroccan descent, was arrested on August 17 on immigration charges after he tried to learn how to fly large jet aircraft, but expressed no interest in learning how to take off or land. Senior FBI authorities denied requests from Minneapolic FBI agents for a wider investigation on two occasions. Mr. Moussaoui's file was also reviewed by an anti-terrorist panel of FBI and CIA personnel prior to Sept. 11. Mr. Moussaoui came to the attention of the FBI in August when an instructor at the Pan Am Flying Academy in Eagan, Minnesota, called the bureau's office in Minneapolis to report a new foreign student was acting suspiciously. Earlier in the year Mr. Moussaoui had received 57 hours of flight training from a school in Oklahoma. [New York Times, October 6, 2001]

Oct. 9, 2001: MSNBC reports that US intelligence sources are analyzing a videotape message from Osama bin Laden, who is dressed in a green and brown camouflage jacket. Bin laden shows not signs of illness, as reported earlier. Osama bin Laden is reported to have four look-alikes to escape detection and he appears different in many archived news videotapes shown on TV news programs. Osama bin Laden also utilizes go-betweens to make his public statements.

Oct. 9 2001: The Times of India reports that Pakistani General Mahmud Ahmad was relieved from his job after intelligence services in India revealed that $100,000 was wired to WTC hijacker Mohammed Atta from Pakistan by Ahmad Umar Sheikh under the direction of Gen. Mahmud. [Times of India Oct. 9, 2001] The US alliance with Pakistan in the anti-terror coalition is questioned. Pakistan may have played a pivotal role in the WTC hijackings and may also be sheltering Osama bin Laden. [World Net Daily Jan 30, 2002]

Oct. 11, 2001: James Woolsey, former CIA director under President Clinton (1993-94), is asked by Pentagon officials to "look for an Iraqi connection to the sept. 11 attacks." Mohamed Atta, pilot of the first jet to hit the World Trade Center, is reported to have met with an Iraqi agent in June of 2000. [USA TODAY, Oct. 11. 2001] Woolsey is no longer employed by the CIA.

Oct. 13, 2001: Investigative reporter Michael C. Ruppert, who broke the story on insider trading in the stock market, releases his detailed report that links high-ranking CIA officers to banks and companies that are alleged to launder money or perform insider stock trading. The co-mingling of the CIA and the banking/investment industry is compelling. The No. 3 executive director position at the CIA is held by "Buzzy" Krongard, former chairman of the investment bank A.B. Brown, who joined the CIA in 1998 as counsel to CIA Director George Tenet and was promoted to his current CIA position by President G.W. Bush in March 2001. Ruppert cites other links between the CIA and bankers/brokers, such as John Deutch, now on the board at Citicorp, the nation's second largest bank, who was former CIA director in the Clinton Administration, and Nora Slatkin, retired CIA executive director who also sits on Citibank's board. Ruppert's report falls short of providing hard evidence that these CIA-associated people were involved in insider trading that generated massive profits in the wake of the WTC attack. [Michael Ruppert newsletter at copvcia.com, Wilderness Publications]

Oct. 13, 2001: BBC News reports that 20,000 anti-war protestors marched through London against military strikes in Afghanistan. [BBC News Oct. 13, 2001] The event was not covered by the American news media.

Oct. 14, 2001: A Time Magazine poll indicates 81% of Americans believe Osama bin Laden must be captured or killed and the Taliban removed from power if Americans are to declare victory in Afghanistan. [Reuters, Orange County Register, October 14, 2001]

Oct., 16, 2001: Seymour M. Hersh reveals that the Saudi Royal family funded Islamic fundamentalists as a sort of protection money against their activities. Hersh also reports the Saudi royal family has plundered wealth from their country. [The New Yorker Oct., 16, 2001]

Oct. 17, 2001: Contamination of government buildings and confirmed exposure to anthrax spores continue to be reported. More than 2300 false reports of anthrax have been reported in just a 2-day period, ranging from sugar in postal boxes to pranks. Health authorities report that drugs in the same class as CIPRO, called fluoroquinolones, also work against anthrax (brands names Floxin, Zagam, Avelox, Leavquin, Ooroxin, Penetrex, Tequin, Maxaquin). [Medlineplus Health Information and New York Times, Oct. 17, 2001] Some people taking antibiotics prophylactically may be allergic to the drug and break out in a rash and falsely conclude they have anthrax. A UN expert on biological weapons indicates special technology is required to develop anthrax spores that are 1-5 microns in diameter that can line the nose or throat. Even then, the anthrax spore has to be made into an aerosol. The spores need to be freeze-dried, milled into fine particles, then coated for aerosol use. Such know-how is believed to be beyond that of suspected Islamic terrorists. [ABCNEWS.com, Oct. 18, 2001] If only one party is spreading the anthrax terror powder, which is likely since it requires high technology, it would be a multi-national group since the anthrax threat has been delivered from overseas mail envelopes and is now spreading to Europe. The Bayer Corporation, whose worldwide headquarters are based in Germany, and which runs 350 companies that are located on every continent, and which maintains a pharmaceutical research center with 350 scientists at its New Haven, Connecticut campus, is increasing its production of CIPRO antibiotic to meet the growing demand for weapons to treat anthrax. [www.bayerus.com]

Oct. 18, 2001: The New York Times reports that CIPRO is sold to the US government at about half the normal price, $1.83 per tablet versus $4.40 normal price. Bayer is also reported to have suffered financial losses this year ($800+ million) when it was forced to recall Baycol and Lipobay, its profitable cholesterol-lowering drugs which were linked to the deaths of 52 patients. About $1.6 billion of CIPRO is sold annually in the world. [New York Times, Oct. 18, 2001] The American Medical Association also advised its members not to prescribe antibiotics like CIPRO prophylactically since indiscriminate usage may increase drug-resistant bacteria that now contribute to the deaths of 70,000 Americans anually.

Oct. 19, 2001: The Washington Post reports that CIPRO's rate of side effects is about 7%. [Washington Post, Oct. 19, 2001], which includes sudden death following a single dose, seizures, hallucinations and other undesirable problems. In a mass casualty or biological warfare disaster, the widespread prophylactic use of CIPRO among anthrax-exposed individuals would like cause more side effects than actual anthrax infections. Because of potential side effects, CIPRO is not advised for use among children or pregnant females.

Oct. 19, 2001: Scott Ritter, UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991-98, speaks out in the London-based GUARDIAN newspaper saying there is no link between Iraq and anthrax outbreaks in the US. Ritter claims Iraq procured the Vollium strain of anthrax from a Rockville, Maryland company whereas the Ames strain of anthrax is believed to be linked to the New York and Florida anthrax cases. "Based upon this information, it would be irresponsible to speculate about a Baghdad involvement," said Ritter. [Guardian Unlimited, Oct. 19, 2001]

Who knew ahead of time that Islamic criminals were likely to utilize aircraft terror on or near the Sept. 11 date? Apparently the State Department knew (see Sept. 10). Apparently the FAA knew (see Aug, 28). The FBI had been tracking Islamic men who were receiving flying lessons (see Oct. 6). Apparently stock traders knew and took advantage of the "surprise" attack by trading in airline and insurance stocks. (see Sept. 6, 10, 29) Is it just coincidence that a book was published on germ warfare on the day of the attack? (see Sept. 11) Is it just coincidence that a book published just months earlier revealed that the Joint Chiefs of Staff once considered permitting acts of terror upon the US citizenry to build enmity against an enemy (Cuba in the 1960s)? (see April 24) Is it just coincidence that Bayer Corp. filed for a new drug application for inhalation anthrax for its CIPRO antibiotic just 18 months prior to the WTC attack? Isn't it odd that Miramax films signs a contract to make a film about Osama bin Laden, based upon a 1999 book, just 16 days prior to the WTC attack? (See Aug. 27) Why did a director of the Rand Institute indicate in November 2000 that the next President would have to face up to the threat of Islamic terrorism and should develop a plan to do so? (See Nov. 18, 2000) What was that plan? Why did the President reject the formation of a Secretary of Homeland Defense in Janaury of 2001 and relegate any potential terrorist threat to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an organization that largely deals with weather-related disasters? (See Jan. 31) Why did the President of the United States urge Americans to resume normal life including flying yet took no action to increase airport or aircraft security? It was only after it was apparent that Americans weren't returning to flying that he activated the National Guard and other security measures were put in place. Only a limited group of scientists either in the USA, Britain or Russia are believed to have the technology required to produce and spread anthrax powder. The suspects are few. Which one is the originator of the anthrax threat?