9/11 and Russia: connecting the dots - and quotes

• Igor Sergun was a military attache in Tirana in 1998-99 and engineered a plan to capture the Pristina airport on 12 June 1999. The airport itself and the neighboring with Russia airspace were blocked, no reinforcements could come in and no one could get into the airport. Apparently, the precise purpose of this Russian maneuver, except for the mini-strategic bravado remains unknown or under question but the incident itself has to be mentioned. Sergun's initiative in this affair was described gingerly, in very brief bits and pieces and many years later in the Russian press. It is not clear what impact, if any it had on his career in the military-diplomatic field, which was completed soon after, at some point in 1999, but the overall impact was quite positive for him (he got a special medal for this) and his stellar performance and rise in the field of Russian military intelligence continued unabated. This was quite a difficult time for Russia: financial default of 1998, bitter emotional reaction to what they saw as a defeat in the Yugoslav wars, the threat of continuing instability in Chechnya and, on a larger scale a threat to the territorial integrity of the country itself, which appeared to be unraveling. Bin Laden's and others' sponsorship of "Islamic International Brigade" (read: Chechen rebels and terrorists, including foreigners) could be a significant factor in the emerging events. However something happened during Mr. Sergun's tenure in Tirana that did change the course of these events. It is not known (just like practically everything else is not known about him, at least in the open press) if he played any role in those events but it would be surprising if he did not. One might even wonder if the case of "Albanian returnees" and other "returnees" were on the top list in his military-diplomatic mission and on his agenda. The mechanics of his hypothetical involvement, again, are not known. The end results however, soon became evident; the tactic of setting up his enemies against each other which he probably learned and used during the First Chechen war, did serve him well on a global stage as well. "The Second Chechen War was launched by the Russian Federation, starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Brigade (IIB). On 1 October, Russian troops entered Chechnya.[21][22] The campaign ended the de facto independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and restored Russian federal control over the territory. The war attracted a large number of foreign fighters." Not as large as it could be if Al Qaeda got really involved. The Russian success in the Second Chechen war led directly to Putin's rule in Russia for the last 16 years. "After Yeltsin’s retirement, Acting President Vladimir Putin won the March 2000 election largely on the strength of his continuing war against the Chechens and Islamic “terrorists.”

• The Albanian Connection: "The first of the "Albanian returnees", Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar was arrested on July 2, 1998 as he stepped off the plane in Cairo, having been deported from Albania with the help of the CIA. The others followed soon and a massive criminal trial in an Egyptian military court  was held from February to April 1999." This trial led to the great turmoil within the EIJ from which Zawahiri eventually emerged victorious and strengthened his leadership position. "Dissent among EIJ members to this change of direction and abandonment of the taking over Egypt as the group's primary goal, was so strong that "in the end, Zawahiri pledged to resign if the members failed to endorse his actions. The organization was in such disarray because of arrests and defections, and so close to bankruptcy, that the only choice was to follow Zawahiri or abandon al-Jihad." These arrests, trials and imprisonments were a turning point: Al Qaeda turned vehemently against the West and, specifically, against the US. Both bin Laden and Zawahiri issued their fatwas (In Afghanistan Zawahiri wrote the 1998 fatwa for the "International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders," calling for the killing of Americans and their allies, both civilian and military, which was signed by representatives of several jihadi organizations, including EIJ.[35]) and the terror war started, with 1998 United States embassy bombings, leading straight to the 9/11/2001. Russia, however, was apparently saved from what appeared at that time as the almost inevitable break-up. When Zawahiri assumed the command of Al Qaeda after bin Laden' death, he continued to counsel ‘patience and insistence’ in Chechnya. 

• Zawahiri, the "real brains" of al-Qaeda, was formed psychologically and ideologically by the Sadat's assassination, likely organized by the KGB (or GRU). He had close ties with Egyptian military intelligence (heavily influenced by Russian intelligence prior to Sadat's expulsion of the Russians and purges) officer, Abbud al-Zumar, who organized the Sadat's assassination, and Zawahiri eventually became the Zumar's successor in Egyptian Islamic movement. Zawahiri spent some time in the southern Russia (from December 1, 1996 until April 1997) and later, in Afghanistan, had contacts with the GRU officer who, apparently was later implicated in Yandarbiyev murder (or was a part of this plot, or was discovered accidentally as a visitor to the Russian embassy in the course of the investigation - it is not clear from the description of this episode) as was demonstrated by computerized analysis of officer's photograph. It is tempting to assume that the so called "Al Qaeda" (whose existence as well structured and defined paramilitary group or groups was and is questioned by many observers) was the creation of the Russian (military) intelligence from the beginning as their front organisation, after Zawahiri's "priming" or conversion, his introduction to bin Laden and formation of Zawahiri - bin Laden group in 1998. Was Zawahiri directly instructed by the mentioned above GRU officer to proceed with this merger, according to the GRU plan? It is also possible that they tried to influence ("обработать") bin Laden (as well as others) directly, in bin Laden case capitalizing on his assumed resentments about his older brother Salem's mysterious death in the US. Thus, "Al Qaeda" appears to be a KGB (as a generic term, more specifically and more likely - GRU) created myth, for the purposes of deceiving, misleading and distracting of their opponents. Practically, it came into the public discourse after the 9/11, having been born out of the success of this operation. It would also be logical to assume that it was not and is not the only front organisation created by the KGB but is a part of their network and a part of their more general and broader strategy. The related issue are the roles of the players: it appears that bin Laden was an ideological banner, "the prophet", and mostly "the cashier and banker", while Zawahiri was the operational leader and manager, but, in fact, for all the GRU's intents and purposes, a Russian agent. It is possible that bin Laden was not told or was not aware of the details, "nuts and bolts" of the operations, which is in line with his initial denials of complicity in 9/11 until 2008. In a way, hypothetically, he might be more of a convenient scapegoat than a culprit. 

• "The Egyptians": Zawahiri, Mohammed Atef Al-Masri (former Egyptian Air Force serviceman and police officer), Saif al-Adel (former Egyptian military colonel, "one of the masterminds of the Sadat assassination... He joined the Egyptian Military around 1976 and became a Colonel in the Special Forces as an Explosives expert, possibly being trained in the Soviet Union.") and others, associated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, appeared to play a disproportionally large role in Al Qaeda. "It was also at this time [In the mid-1980s? - M.N.] that some saw "the Egyptians" of the EIJ begin to exert an influence on Osama bin Laden, who at the time was known as a wealthy and well-connected fundraiser for the jihad in Afghanistan. Egyptian filmmaker Essam Deraz, "bin Laden's first biographer," met bin Laden in the "Lion's Den" training camp in Afghanistan and complained that the Egyptians "formed a barrier" around bin Laden and "whenever he tried to speak confidentially to bin Laden, the Egyptians would surround the Saudi and drag him into another room". "In June 2001 [note the timing! - M.N.], al-Qaeda and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (which had been associated with each other for many years) merged into "Qaeda al-Jihad".[5] However, the UN states that there was a split in the organization when the merger was announced.[3]... In June 2001, al-Qaeda and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad merged into an entity formally called jamaa'at Qa'idat al-Jihad,[5] with the leadership of the EIJ having "the majority" – six of nine seats – of al-Qaeda's ruling council (shura)."[38][39] However, Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif has claimed that only 9 people from the organization, including Zawahiri, actually joined al-Qaeda.[40] Consequently, it is often considered synonymous with al-Qaeda (for example, by the US Treasury Department),[41] although some refer to it as a separate organization with al-Zawahiri as its leader and global jihad's main ideologist.[42]" This particular role and influence of EIJ and its operatives might indicate that the roots of Al Qaeda can be traced to the Sadat assassination, circumstances around it and its participants, in sum, essentially to the Russian intelligence. It might not be dissimilar to the present days structural roots of ISIS: disaffected and unemployed former Iraqi military and intelligence officers who also had close ties with the Russians. It is worthwhile mentioning, as if in passing, that Mohamed Atta was an Egyptian. Did someone somewhere like that movie so much?

• The Bosnian connection: Zawahiri, just like KSM and many other jihadists, had a Bosnian passport and was able to travel there freely, where the contacts with Russians might have occurred.

• The Hamburg cell hijackers planned to go to Chechnya but instead, for some reasons (it is doubtful that it was just a chance encounter) went to Afghanistan to meet with Al Qaeda people.

• Turki al Faisal, who was a head of Saudi intelligence, abruptly resigned this post just 10 days prior to 9/11 and allegedly had 37% stake in a private security firm run by the Russians: Far West LLC, which was reported to be "behind many black operations".

• R. Hanssen, a Russian mole in the FBI, sold a monitoring software PROMIS to them for $2 ml, which they sold to bin Laden for the same amount, enabling him to monitor his and others investigations, including the financial transactions.

• There are some indications that someone in FBI hierarchy stymied the efforts to investigate the plot prior to 9/11, pointing to the possibility of more moles. Robert G. Wright, Jr. is an FBI agent who has criticized the FBI's counterterrorist activities in the 1990s, when he worked in the Chicago division on terrorists with links to the Middle East... 
  Three months before 9/11 he wrote the following:
  "Knowing what I know, I can confidently say that until the investigative responsibilities for terrorism are removed from the FBI, I will not feel safe. The FBI has proven for the past decade it cannot identify and prevent acts of terrorism against the United States and it's [sic] citizens at home and abroad. Even worse, there is virtually no effort on the part of the FBI's international terrorism unit to neutralize known and suspected terrorists residing within the United States."[1][3]
  After his revelations circa 2002–2003 he was demoted.[1][4]

Michael Novakhov

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Quotes:

Russia Was Behind 9/11 -Former Soviet Intelligence Officers

Posted by Louise Barnes on June 27, 2014 at 1:00pm

I found this article, which also quotes Pacepa, and Litvinenko, a former FSB (KGB) colonel:


Russia Was Behind 9/11

If you are serious about the global war, let us try and think strategically. The most important strategic target in that war is the Kremlin. That is not only the best way to start winning it, but, as far as I can see, the only way. Paraphrasing Alexander (Litvinenko), we can say it is impossible to destroy international terrorism even in a century unless you disband the Russian secret services first.

- Pavel Stroilov, a Russian exile in London and the editor and translator of Alexander Litvinenko’s book, Allegations, The Putin-Osama Connection, FrontPage Magazine, 1/16/08


September 11, 2001 was directly rooted in a joint Soviet/Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) operation conceived in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli War. The object of this joint operation was to repair Moscow's prestige by turning the Islamic world against Israel and by creating a rabid and violent hatred for its main supporter, the United States. The strategy was to portray the US, this land of freedom, as a Nazi-style "imperial-Zionist country" financed by Jewish money and run by a rapacious "Council of the Elders of Zion" (the Kremlin's epithet for the US Congress), the aim of which was allegedly to transform the rest of the world into a Jewish fiefdom. In other words, the heart of the joint plan was to convert the historical Arab and Islamic hatred of the Jews into a new hatred of the United States. We threw many millions of dollars at this gigantic task, which involved whole armies of intelligence officers.

- Ion Mihai Pacepa, former acting chief of Communist Romania’s espionage service, From Russia With Terror, FrontPage Magazine, 3/1/04



Mohammed Atta, the pilot of the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, had met with a senior Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague, Czech Republic, five months before the attack. But Iraqi intelligence was just a client of Russia's intelligence service. It brings a new understanding to the fact that President Putin was the first foreign President to call President Bush on 9/11. One may conjecture that he knew in advance what was to happen.

- Konstantin Preobrazhensky, former Lt. Colonel in the KGB who defected to the United States in 1993, "Russia and Islam are not Separate: Why Russia backs Al-Qaeda"

read more at:

http://thespiritoftruth.blogspot.com/2010/09/russia-was-behind-911.html

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al-Zawahiri's Alleged activities in Russia:

There have been doubts as to the true nature of al-Zawahiri's encounter with the Russians in 1996. Washington, D.C.-based Jamestown Foundation scholar Evgenii Novikov has argued that it seems unlikely that the Russians would not have been able to determine who he was, given their well-trained Arabists and the obviously suspicious act of Muslims crossing illegally a border with multiple false identities and encrypted documents in Arabic.^[87][88] Assassinated former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko alleged, among other things, that during this time, al-Zawahiri was indeed being trained by the FSB,^[89] and that he was not the only link between al-Qaeda and the FSB.^[90] Former KGB officer, speaker on the Voice of America and writer Konstantin Preobrazhenskiy supported Litvinenko's claim and said that Litvinenko "was responsible for securing the secrecy of Al-Zawahiri's arrival in Russia, who was trained by FSB instructors in Dagestan, Northern Caucasus, in 1996–1997."^[91]

...

Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri organized an al-Qaeda congress on June 24, 1998. A week prior to the beginning of the conference, a group of well-armed assistants to al-Zawahiri had left by jeeps in the direction of Herat. Following the instructions of their patron, in the town of Koh-i-Doshakh they met three unknown Slavic-looking men who had arrived from Russia via Iran. After their arrival in Kandahar, they split up. One of the Russians was directly escorted to al-Zawahiri and he did not participate in the conference. The Western intelligence succeeded in acquiring photographs of him, but he disappeared for six years. According to Axis Globe, in 2004, when Qatar and U.S. investigated Russian embassy officials whom the United Arab Emirates had arrested in connection to the murder of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in Qatar, computer software precisely established that a man who had walked to the Russian embassy in Doha was the same one who visited al-Zawahiri prior to the Al-Qaida conference.^[58]

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Just as significant, Zawahiri’s Russian sojourn 

occurred at a pivotal point in the development of al-Qa’ida; the shift in strategy, resulting in attacks on the “far enemy” (i.e. the United States), the road leading to 9/11, occurred after Zawahiri’s imprisonment by the Russians.
...
While the idea that Russian intelligence may have developed a relationship with Zawahiri sounds fantastic to most in the West, the notion is far from implausible, and is consistent with known Soviet/Russian espionage practices. During the Cold War, the KGB had robust ties with many terrorist groups, including several from the Middle East.
Its links to the PLO, including arms and training for cadres, were substantial for decades, while Palestinian groups like PFLP-GC were, in effect, wholly owned subsidiaries of the KGB. It would be naïve to think such ties evaporated with the Soviet Union.
Moreover, anyone acquainted with the Russian practice of provokatsiya(provocation) as Moscow’s preferred counterterrorism technique, finds the idea of a Russian relationship with al-Qa’ida to be entirely plausible. Indeed, such is the easiest explanation for Zawahiri’s six months in Russian custody and sudden release back to wage jihad.
...

Nevertheless, it seems justified, based on the available evidence, to suggest that Dr. Zawahiri reached aquid pro quo with Moscow while he was in FSB custody. That he underwent FSB training appears plausible; that there may be some kind of relationship even today between Russia and al-Qa’ida exists within the realm of possibility.

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Prince Turki began his political career as deputy to his uncle, Kamal Adham, and then, his successor as the head of Saudi Arabia's Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah (General Intelligence Directorate), a position he held for 23 years—from 1979 until just 10 days before the September 11 attacks in 2001.^[11][12][13]
...

In 2002, Prince Turki was named in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit by the families of 11 September victims, alleging that he and other Saudi princes, banks, and charities may have funded the terrorists involved in the attack. His involvement was also strongly implied in the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 911. A reporter for the Baltimore Chronicle claimed he was flown out of the United States shortly after the terrorist attacks, but the claim disappeared from later versions of the article. Prince Turki described Fahrenheit 911 as "grossly unfair" to Saudis.^[6]

Prince Turki maintains that he had no contact with bin Laden since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. He claims to have secretly negotiated with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in 1998 in an attempt to have bin Laden extradited to Saudi Arabia, but the negotiations were unsuccessful.^{[citation needed]} In a November 2001 interview, Turki expressed support for the US operation in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. In December 2004, Turki was awarded libel damages from Paris Match for its claims that he was connected to the attacks. In 2005, a US federal judge ruled that Saudi officials including Turki were immune from the lawsuit. Turki has severely criticized al-Qaeda, calling it an "evil cult."^[6]

However, the allegations continue to dog Turki, with a court affidavit filed on 3 February 2015, claiming that Zacarias Moussaoui served as a courier between bin Laden and Turki in the late 1990s, long after Turki claims to have broken off his relationship with bin Laden.^[22] The Saudi government continues to deny any involvement, and claims there is no evidence to support Moussaoui's allegations, noting that Moussaoui's own lawyers presented evidence of his mental incompetence during his trial.^[22]

...

The Turki family owns 37 percent of the private intelligence company Far West LLC, formally registered by several Bakhrein offshore companies. Turki's relative Prince Rasheed aar Rasheed is the company's president (since the end of 2007). Ruslan Saidov controls 25 percent stake in FW. That includes Ramzan Kadyrov's share and that of Vladislav Surkov, the ideological chief of Putin's and Medvedev's administrations. The rest of the company is controlled by General Vladimir Filin of Ukrainian military intelligence (25%) and the US company KBR (formerly KBR Halliburton – 13 %), represented by the British military intelligence officer Ruslan Berenis.

While Prince Turki is formally the president, in practice the company is managed by Vladimir Filin, Ruslan Saidov, and Valery Lunev.

PRINCE TURKI RESCUES HIS “FAR WEST LLC” PARTNERS FROM CHARGES IN CONSPIRACY TO MURDER SULIM YAMADAYEV

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KSM - Bosnia 1995

Main article: Bosnian War

The news agency Adnkronos reported in 2009 that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, under an assumed name, had traveled to Bosnia in 1995, as a humanitarian aid worker for Egyptian Relief.^[20] Adnkronos quoted the Sarajevo paper Daily Fokus, reporting that local intelligence officials confirmed Mohammed had obtained Bosnian citizenship in November 1995.^[20] Those officials told Daily Fokus that Egyptian Relief was a front for the Muslim Brotherhood. 

The truth of the matter IMO is that the real Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was killed, along with his extended family, when Iraq occupied Kuwait in 1990. These identities were then handed to highly-skilled terrorist operatives from Baluchistan that were used to carry out the major acts of terrorism against the U.S. that were attributed to Al Qaeda.

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William H. Hamilton, president of Inslaw Inc., said the commission — headed by former New Jersey Gov. David H. Kean — should focus on the validity of published reports saying bin Laden penetrated classified computer files before the attacks to evade detection and monitor the activities of US law enforcement and intelligence agencies. 

The 10-member Commission on Terrorist Attacks will have the authority to subpoena witnesses and documents in an effort to determine whether intelligence lapses by the FBI, CIA and other agencies contributed to the deadly success of the September 11 attacks. 

“Bin Laden reportedly bought the US intelligence community’s version of the Promis database software on the Russian black market, after former FBI Agent Robert P. Hanssen had stolen it for the Russians, and used Promis in computer-based espionage against the United States,” Mr Hamilton said in a two-page fact sheet. 

“The national commission may wish to examine whether the Justice Department’s misappropriation of Promis was, at a minimum, linked indirectly to pre-September 11 performance problems of US intelligence,” he said. 

Law enforcement authorities said Hanssen gave secret US software to his Russian handlers that later went to bin Laden, allowing him to monitor US investigations of his al Qaeda terrorist network. 

The Washington Times reported last year that an upgraded version of the Promis software was routed to bin Laden after Hanssen, who is now serving life in prison for his espionage activities, had sold it to Russia for $2 million. 

The software not only would have given bin Laden the ability to monitor US efforts to track him down, the authorities said, but also could have given him access to databases on specific targets of his choosing and the ability to monitor electronic-banking transactions, easing money-laundering operations for himself or others. 

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In 2001, the Washington Times and Fox News each quoted federal law enforcement officials familiar with debriefing former FBI Agent Robert Hanssen as claiming that the convicted spy had stolen copies of a Promis-derivative for his Soviet KGB handlers.

Robert Hanssen

They further alleged that the software was used within the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies to track internal intelligence, and was used by intelligence operatives to track international interbank transactions.^[34]These reports further stated that Osama bin Laden reportedly later bought copies of the same Promis-derivative on the Russian black market (blat) for $2 million.^[35] It was believed then that al Qaeda used the software to penetrate database systems to move funds throughout the banking system, and to evade detection by U.S. law enforcement. ^[36]

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Hanssen, Putin, and 9/11

The sensational capture of the top-level Soviet/Russian mole in one of our nation’s most sensitive intelligence posts, however, was largely forgotten a few months later when the far more sensational September 11 terrorist attacks captivated world attention. This was both ironic and tragic since the 9/11 attacks should have been viewed (and should be viewed now) in the context of — and in connection with — the enormous national security compromises revealed in the Hanssen espionage fiasco. All of the context and connections of the Hanssen-Russia-al-Qaeda-9/11 nexus are still not known, but the evidence and information available thus far indicates that the much-lamented intelligence failures that left America vulnerable on September 11, 2001 have been vastly compounded by even greater misdirection of our intelligence in the “War on Terror” ever since. We are referring specifically to the misdirection of our intelligence away from consideration of evidence that the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks were a strategic operation sponsored by our new “ally,” Russia.

The policy “experts” who dominate our governing institutions, think tanks, universities, and major media were virtually unanimous in singing paeans of praise to Russian President Vladimir Putin for being the first world leader to express condolences and support during our tragedy. Even today, after several years of steady marching toward a renewed form of Stalinist-style, Soviet governance, the Putin-Medvedev regime in Moscow is viewed by much of our so-called intelligentsia as the indispensable partner in a global battle against radical Islam.

...

More sober-minded realists would have viewed Putin’s 9/11 condolences and offers of support in much the same vein as they would the Mafia godfather who sends flowers to the funeral of the rival he’s just rubbed out and cries crocodile tears as he expresses condolences to the victim’s widow and children, assuring them that he will spare no effort to find who did the foul deed.

...

The PROMIS Connection

One of the important early bits of information that leaked out to link Hanssen, Putin, and 9/11 concerned references to Hanssen’s alleged delivery of copies of the FBI’s enhanced version of the controversial PROMIS computer software to the KGB/FSB. The Russians then, reportedly, provided a copy of the software to Osama bin Laden, thus facilitating al-Qaeda’s money laundering and other activities, as well as enabling al-Qaeda to monitor and evade U.S. law enforcement, intelligence, and military efforts to kill or capture them.

Developed in the 1980s by Inslaw, Inc. as a powerful case-management, people-tracking program for the U.S. Justice Department, the PROMIS (Prosecutors Management Information Systems) software has been the source of ongoing litigation and investigation. In 1985, Inslaw launched a suit against Justice, claiming that the Justice Department had defrauded it of millions of dollars in licensing and service fees. Inslaw charged, moreover, that the government had illegally converted PROMIS into a covert intelligence tool, which it sold to other governments, with a Trojan horse trap door, in order to spy on those governments.

In 2001, a number of stories — in the Washington Times, Washington Post, and Fox News — reported that PROMIS-derivative software provided to the Soviets by Hanssen had found its way to bin Laden.

...

In its case against Hanssen, the U.S. government did not mention PROMIS directly, but government sources say PROMIS-derived software programs were at the heart of the case. The lengthy FBI affidavit supporting the criminal complaint notes that Hanssen made extensive unauthorized use of the FBI’s Automated Case Support (ACS) system, reportedly a PROMIS derivative, to obtain information for the KGB/SVR and to monitor the FBI’s search for the Soviet mole (Hanssen) within the bureau. The affidavit does not explicitly say that Hanssen gave a copy of the ACS software to his Soviet/Russian co-conspirators, but it does say he gave them 26 computer diskettes and more than 6,000 pages of documents in the 27 letters and 33 packages he delivered to them over the years.

...

It is not likely the government will confirm or refute the Hanssen-PROMIS-Russia-bin Laden thesis (or provide documents to publicly settle the matter) any time soon. However, quite apart from that important issue, the Hanssen case exposes the dangerous schizophrenia that exemplifies our relations with Russia, most especially as it relates to national security and terrorism.

...

The Hanssen case is far from being the only example of this KGB-to-FSB continuity. In 1996, five years before Hanssen’s arrest, FBI special agent Earl Edwin Pitts was arrested for selling secrets to the Soviet Union and Russia. In 1994, CIA counterintelligence agent Aldrich Hazen Ames was arrested for his ongoing espionage for the KGB and FSB/SVR. Ames’ nine-year career of betrayal resulted in devastating intelligence and national security losses for the United States. In June 2001, less than three months before 9/11, U.S. Army Colonel George Trofimoff, a military intelligence analyst, was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia over a 25-year period. These cases and others more than vindicate former CIA counterintelligence chief James J. Angleton and Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn, who argued that overwhelming evidence indicated there were high-level moles within our intelligence community. They and their warnings were disparaged, discounted, and dismissed — with disastrous consequences for our nation. Unfortunately, Robert Hanssen was not the last mole; we can be virtually certain there are others.

...

The KGB-FSB continuity does not extend merely to espionage; it also includes all of the traditional KGB activities: active measures, disinformation, propaganda, assassination — and terrorism.

...

The main difference today is that the Kremlin strategists have determined that it will be far more effective — for many reasons — for them to run their terror operations as deniable assets under the banner of Islam.

There is another major difference; while Putin and the Russian Politburo continue to use terrorism as a form of asymmetric warfare against us, our leaders insist on pretending it isn’t happening. In fact, they insist Putin & Co. are our trusted “allies” against terrorism. The Obama administration is continuing the course set by George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. In a “Joint Declaration on a New Relationship Between the United States and Russia,” Presidents Bush and Putin said on May 24, 2002, that our countries had “embarked upon the path of new relations for the twenty-first century,” and are “committed to developing a relationship based on friendship, cooperation, common values, trust, openness, and predictability.”

M.N.: One can only lament the psychological and political powers of denial and self-deception. 

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Robin Cook wasn’t known for denying Al Qaeda is a terrorist group as far as we can recall, and searching at Hansard (a record of everything that goes on in Parliament) produced no matches even remotely matching the above claim. The best match we found was this, from a Guardian article:

Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Inexplicably, and with disastrous consequences, it never appears to have occurred to Washington that once Russia was out of the way, Bin Laden's organisation would turn its attention to the west. 

[M.N.: Or: that Bin Laden's organisation will be turned against the west deliberately and on design by the Russian intelligence as a retaliation for the "defeats" in Afghanistan and in Cold war, which has never ended. They snatched their victories in terrorism from the jaws or the opposite anatomical part of those assumed "defeats".] 

The danger now is that the west's current response to the terrorist threat compounds that original error. So long as the struggle against terrorism is conceived as a war that can be won by military means, it is doomed to fail. The more the west emphasises confrontation, the more it silences moderate voices in the Muslim world who want to speak up for cooperation. Success will only come from isolating the terrorists and denying them support, funds and recruits, which means focusing more on our common ground with the Muslim world than on what divides us. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1523838,00.html

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Marc Sageman, a psychiatrist and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, said that al-Qaeda is now just a "loose label for a movement that seems to target the west. There is no umbrella organisation. We like to create a mythical entity called [al-Qaeda] in our minds, but that is not the reality we are dealing with."[47]

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The modern al-Qaeda organization is the combination of bin Laden's financial resources with al-Zawahiri's ideological and operational leadership.

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Links and References: 

9/11/2001 - The Russian Connection

Russia Was Behind 9/11 -Former Soviet Intelligence Officers - Blogs & Discussions - Patriot Action Network

The Spirit Of Truth Blog: Russia Was Behind 9/11-2

6.10.14 - Exploring Al Qaeda’s Murky Connection To Russian Intelligence - Business Insider-2

Exploring Al-Qa’ida’s Russian Connection | The XX Committee

Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda and Chechnya | In Moscow's Shadows

Incident at Pristina airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

9/11 russian connection - Google Search

litvinenko on zawahiri - Google Search

The False Flags of Islamic Terrorism

MUST READ: Muslim terrorism - false flag operation sponsored by Russia | Examiner.com

How Russia Manipulates Islamic Terrorism | The Syrian Intifada

Russia Is Sending Jihadis to Join ISIS - The Daily Beast

5.15.15 - US Intelligence Officer: “Every Single Terrorist Attack In US Was A False Flag Attack” | Collective-Evolution

False flag - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

false flag - Google Search

false flag operation - Google Search

false flag 911 - Google Search

Islamic Terrorism As a False Flag - Google Search

Russian FSB Defector Reveals Kremlin Supports ISIS

Mali hotel attack: The unanswered questions - BBC News

Russia and Islam are not Separate: Why Russia backs Al-Qaeda, by Konstantin Preobrazhensky - Google Search

Konstantin Preobrazhensky - Google Search

KGB/FSB's New Trojan Horse: Americans of Russian Descent: Konstantin Preobrazhensky, Various, Andy Glad Graphic Design: 9780615249087: Amazon.com: Books

Putin’s Russia. Why it is worth to reconsider links between Kremlin and international terrorism - EN.DELFI

Paris Shooting: 10 Hallmark Signs of a False Flag Op

The Opinions: JR Nyquist and others

What Is Moscow’s Game? - Commentary for 25 January 2015 - J.R. Nyquist

Anatoliy Golitsyn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New Lies for Old

A Website for Patriots Who Think J.R. Nyquist

jr nyquist wikipedia - Google Search

jeff nyquist wikipedia - Google Search

nyquist jr - Google Search

Nyquist, J.R. “Is Al Qaeda a Kremlin Proxy.” August 13, 2005

The Chechen connection

NEWS: The next Genghiz Khan of All Russia (plus the Instagram)? Were Chechen Security Personnel Responsible For Nemtsov's Death? "Nonstate media, including Novaya Gazeta, have suggested that Nemtsov was under threat from Kadyrov's own security personnel f

NEWS: Putin's "victorious" policy of "Chechenisation" and "Kadyrovisation" is an utter hypocrisy and failure, and his complete, unconditional and very dangerous for Russia self-defeat: Russia Won Nothing in Chechnya | Opinion: The problem is that those fo

9/11 chechen connection - Google Search

9/11 russian-chechen connection - Google Search

The Saudi - Chechen link

Prince Turki Rescues His “Far West LLC” Partners from Charges in Conspiracy to Murder Sulim Yamadayev

His Royal Higness Prince Turki al-Faysal - the dark king of undercover jihad , the godfather of Osama bin Laden :: Reader comments at Daniel Pipes

Prince Turki and russian intelligence - Google Search

Prince Turki and chechen intelligence - Google Search

Prince Turki and chechens - Google Search

Turki bin Faisal Al Saud and 28 pages

Turki bin Faisal Al Saud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Turki bin Faisal Al Saud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pre-9/11 Ties Haunt Saudis as New Accusations Surface - The New York Times

Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud - 9/11 Encyclopedia

28 pages, no smoking gun: 9/11 Commission chairmen

SMOKE SCREEN: Does New FBI 9/11 ‘Saudi’ Report Deflect From Clandestine Realities?

turki bin faisal al saud - Google Search

Turki Al-Faisal and 9/11 - Google Search

News - 28 pages - Google Search

NEWS: » Florida Ex-Senator Pursues Claims of Saudi Ties to Sept. 11 Attacks 13/04/15 16:12 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks

NEWS: “He basically said, ‘Get a life,’ ” Mr. Graham said of the F.B.I. official, who suggested that the former senator was chasing a dead-end investigation... “One thing that irritates me is that the F.B.I. has gone beyond just covering up, try

NEWS: New allegations of Saudi involvement in 9/11

Investigations

CIA Director Documentary: ‘The Attacks Will Be Spectacular’ - POLITICO Magazine

George Tenet says Bush/Cheney knew 9/11 was about to happen - before it did | United States |Axisoflogic.com

FBI Agent: The CIA Could Have Stopped 9/11

omar al-bayoumi - Google Search

9/11 Commission Report - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Criticism of the 9/11 Commission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 9/11 Commission: A Play on Nothing in Three Acts - National Security Whistleblowers Coalition

National Security Whistleblowers Coalition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Wright, Jr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

9/11 conspiracy theories - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

September 11 attacks advance-knowledge conspiracy theories - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intelligence warnings - September 11 attacks advance-knowledge conspiracy theories - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Responsibility for the September 11 attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

PENTTBOM - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

AM - 9/11 Commission finds 'deep institutional failings'

Ali Soufan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

9/11 Commission Report - text - avalon.law.yale.edu/sept11/911Report.pdf

911Truth.Org - Investigation. Education. Accountability. Reform.

How Doj Cover-Up of FBI Murders Enabled 9/11 Attacks - Rodey Stich - Google Books

Ex FBI/CIA Agents Ready To Blow Bush 911 Cover Story

Able Danger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

September 11 attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Planning of the September 11 attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bob Graham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bojinka plot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

9/11 Public Discourse Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

9/11: Press for Truth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Debt of Honor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

September 11 intelligence before the attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clues Alerted White House to Potential Attacks | Fox News

The Israeli Mossad gives the CIA a list of 19 terrorists living in the US - Google Search

John P. O'Neill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Putin alerted to suicide pilots - Google Search

Philip D. Zelikow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

philip zelikow - Google Search

Hijackers

Hijackers in the September 11 attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mustafa al-Hawsawi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Hamburg cell

Hamburg cell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Planning of the September 11 attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

hamburg and russian intelligence - Google Search

Germans monitor Russian intelligence in Hamburg | German News | Expatica Germany

Context of '1996: Tip from Turkey Points German Intelligence to Hamburg Cell Member Zammar'

Breaking the Al-Qaeda code

Al-Qaeda's Post-9/11 Devolution: The Failed Jihadist Struggle Against the ... - Anthony Celso - Google Books

Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia, and the Failure of ... - Bob Graham, Jeff Nussbaum - Google Books

hamburg cell and russian intelligence - Google Search

hamburg cell and kovtun - Google Search

hamburg cell - Google Search

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Osama bin Laden - YouTube

Bin Laden "Confession" Video - YouTube

Hamid Mir interview zawahiri - Google Search

salem bin laden - Google Search

Ayman al-Zawahiri

Ayman al-Zawahiri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

al Quaeda - Ayman al-Zawahiri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Assassination of Anwar Sadat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Former Soviet KGB Agent: Sadat Assassination Triumph for Soviet Policy - UPI Archives

assassination of Anwar Sadat and kgb - Google Search

The assassination of Anwar Sadat, 1981

Review of The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World :: Middle East Quarterly

Khalid Islambouli - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abbud al-Zumar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Egyptian Islamic Jihad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sadat assasination - al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Death - Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Russian President Forced to Sit Face to Face - YouTube

murder of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev - Google Search

Ibn al-Khattab - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hamid Mir interview zawahiri - Google Search

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bosnia 1995 - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BBC NEWS | South Asia | KSM - Suspect 'reveals 9/11 planning'

Yugoslav war connection

FBI and MSNBC Documents Cited by Pres. Milosevic

Milosevic Cites the FBI in Asserting Innocence - latimes

FBI Testimony about 9/11 terrorists' motives

Pakistan to Demand Taliban Give Up Bin Laden as Iran Seals Afghan Border | Fox News

Yugoslav wars - Osama bin Laden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Slobodan Milošević presented FBI documents - Google Search

Hanssen and PROMIS

Osama access to state secrets helped 9/11

Inslaw - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Review of FBI Performance in Investigating the Espionage Activities of Robert Hanssen

A Review of the FBI's Performance in Deterring, Detecting, and Investigating the Espionage Activities of Robert Philip Hanssen - Special Report

The Bureau and the Mole: The Unmasking of Robert Philip Hanssen, the Most ... - David Vise - Google Books

Promis database software - Google Search

Robert Hanssen and 9/11 - Google Search

Hanssen-al Qaeda connection - Google Search

robert hanssen promis software - Google Search

Counterintelligence arrests 2000 - 2002 - Google Search

suspected fbi moles - Google Search

undiscovered fbi moles - Google Search

russians infiltrate fbi - Google Search

FBI agents indicted for espionage - Google Search

FBI agents suspected of espionage - Google Search

Others

Mohammed Atef - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mahmud Ahmed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Khalid al-Masri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alfreda Frances Bikowsky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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