A newly declassified report from the 9-11 Commission--released five months late and heavily censored, with several passges blotted out by thick black ink lines--reviews Federal Aviation Administration daily intelligence briefings to airport administrators in the months leading up to the attacks.

On 52 occasions, from April 1, 2001, to Sept. 10, 2001, these briefings contained references to al-Qaeda or Osama bin Laden, and at least one specifically invoked the threat of a suicide-hijacking resulting in a "spectacular explosion." In typically paradoxical fashion, the report also found (as the Newsday account put it) "no evidence that the FAA had any information that terrorists planned to hijack airplanes in the United States and use them as weapons." (Newsday, Feb. 11)

The Newsday account quoted numerous 9-11 survivors who are understandably outraged. Also quoted was New York City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who said it "was outrageous that no action was taken by the FAA," and rhetorically asked, "How much more specific than the word hijack before the FAA increases security?"(Newsday, Feb. 11)

The grief and outrage of the survivor families is certain to be exploited not only by politicians, but also by the 9-11 conspiracy industry. With their implicit demands for an omniscient government, these latter elements are (presumably unwittingly) playing into the hands of those who seek a perfectly "secure" world in which privacy and personal liberty have been perfectly eliminated.

See also WW4 REPORT #99

Similar fodder is provided by new developments in the Sibel Edmonds case.