FBI Agent Warned Superiors 70 Times About Moussaoui

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FBI Agent Warned Superiors 70 Times About Moussaoui

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 20:23:21 -0400 (EDT)

 

 

 

http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_3719.shtml

 

 

FBI Agent Warned Superiors 70 Times About Moussaoui (by William F. Jasper)

by William F. Jasper

 

 

April 12, 2006

 

 

Harry Samit, the Minnesota FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui

three and a half weeks before the September 11, 2001 terror attacks,

provided explosive testimony against his superiors during

cross-examination by Moussaoui's defense attorneys.

 

Samit, who arrested Moussaoui and his Oklahoma University roommate

Hussein Al-Attas on August 16, confirmed on the witness stand that he

and other agents in the Minnesota office had argued repeatedly with

their Washington, D.C., superiors, urgently requesting permission for

a warrant to search Moussaoui's laptop computer, as well as Moussaoui

and Al-Attas' apartment and possessions.

 

Agent Samit said he had contacted his superiors 70 times, urgently

requesting assistance with the Moussaoui/Al-Attas investigation, only

to be repeatedly rebuffed without any rational explanation. He said

the superiors who thwarted the Minnesota investigation were guilty of

" criminal negligence and obstruction. "

 

" You tried to move heaven and earth to get a search warrant to search

this man's belongings and you were obstructed, " defense attorney

Edward MacMahon said to the agent. " Yes sir, I was obstructed, " Samit

replied, noting that these actions were a " calculated " decision " that

cost us the opportunity to stop the attacks. " His superiors even

blocked him from sending a memo to the Federal Aviation Administration

to apprise them of the information he had uncovered about Moussaoui

and Al-Attas and his belief that they were involved in an

international hijacking plot. They also prevented him from putting an

undercover Arabic-speaking agent in the same cell with Al-Attas.

 

Samit's charges echo those of Minnesota FBI agent and lawyer Coleen

Rowley, who wrote a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller bitterly

criticizing Washington's obstruction in the Moussaoui case.

 

Moussaoui, a French citizen, is the only person charged in this

country as a result of the September 11 attacks. He pleaded guilty

last April 22 to conspiring with al-Qaeda to hijack aircraft and

commit other crimes. However, he had claimed that he was not directly

involved in 9/11, but was training instead for a follow-up attack.

Agent Samit had been called to the witness stand on March 20, during

the sentencing phase of the trial, to determine Moussaoui's

punishment: death or life in prison.