Below The Beltway

Ayman al-Zawahri wants everyone to ignore those crazy conspiracy theories about September 11th:
Osama bin Laden’s chief deputy in an audiotape Tuesday accused Shiite Iran of trying to discredit the Sunni al-Qaida terror network by spreading the conspiracy theory that Israel was behind the Sept. 11 attacks.
The comments reflected al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri’s increasing […]

Early today, Pope Benedict XVI visited the memorial site at Ground Zero in New York City:
NEW YORK, April 20 — Pope Benedict XVI transformed a four-story-deep hole at the bedrock of Ground Zero into a prayer site Sunday morning, lighting a candle symbolizing resurrection and praying with victims of the Sept. 11 attacks for “peace […]

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has suggested that the 9/11 plotters currently being held at Gitmo should be spared from paying the ultimate price for their crimes:
Attorney General Michael Mukasey suggested Friday that he believes the alleged 9/11 plotters held at Guantanamo Bay should not be executed if convicted.
“I kind of hope they don’t get […]

The first attack on the World Trade Center:
Had 9/11 not happened, 2/26 would have been the worst day of terrorism in New York’s modern history.
And the 15th anniversary might have compelled the city to slow down a moment, to reflect on how miraculous it was that the World Trade Center survived the 1,500-pound bomb planted […]

This is the third year that I’ve been blogging during the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Each time I’ve tried, in one way or another, to articulate how that day made me feel.
Back in 2005, I was unable to come up with the right words to express what I was thinking and used […]

On September 21, 2001, President Bush delivered a joint address to Congress and delivered the following message to the government of Afghanistan:
[T]onight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban: Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land. (Applause.) Release all […]

From the firefighters:

According to a report in the New York Times, the Bush Administration passed on an opportunity to strike at the senior leadership of al Qaeda because they considered the mission “too risky”:
WASHINGTON, July 7 — A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas was […]

Several times since 9/11, the Federal Government has issued warnings about terrorist “chatter” and indications that a major attack was in the planning stages. Without fail, these warnings have proven to be much less than meets the eye when subjected to scrutiny.
Which is why the latest report about threats of a summer of “spectacular” attacks […]

If nothing else, one would think that this would finally convince the wingnuts who think that 9/11 was a government conspiracy:
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, confessed at a Guantanamo Bay military hearing that he planned and funded that al-Qaeda operation and said he was involved in more than […]