London Times: Briton trained as (9/11) hijacker

This article looks interesting, but you have to pay to read it. Looks like yet another way the 9/11 plot could have been foiled. Interesting that he was trained in Pakistan. Can anyone get any more of the text?

Briton Trained as Hijacker

A former waiter in a Manchester curry house was recruited by Al-Qaeda and trained in preparation for the September 11 attacks before changing his mind and surrendering.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

Here's what Bloomberg has to say about it:

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aTKDfDKvYLOs&refer=europe

British Man Trained for Sept. 11 Surrendered, Sunday Times Says

May 9 (Bloomberg) -- A British man who was trained to take part in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S. gave himself up to U.S. authorities before the attacks, the Sunday Times said, citing the man without identifying him.

The man, who had worked as a waiter in a restaurant in Manchester, England, was questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation before being returned to the U.K. when officials didn't believe his claims. The man, who told the paper he had gambled and lost money given to him before he surrendered was also questioned by British police before being released, it said.

The Sunday Times said it wouldn't identify the British-born man, who had been trained in how to hijack in Lahore, northeast Pakistan, because he is in danger. He changed his mind about participating in the attack because he was concerned about his wife and child, the newspaper said.

A U.S. commission is investigating intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 attacks and is due to release a report and final recommendations in July. A commission staff report last month said the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were slow to grasp the al-Qaeda threat in the 1990s and failed to develop a plan to thwart the network.

Wonder if it'll be in the Commission report?

there was a plan and the U.S. took advantage of it.

April 2000. It isn't mentioned in that PDB.

It appears to be more details of this timeline entry (the timing is the same, the training in Pakistan, and the turning himself in in Newark, New Jersey):

April 2000 (B): US intelligence learns about an alleged bin Laden plot to hijack a 747. The source is a "walk-in" to the FBI’s Newark office who claims that he had been to a training camp in Pakistan where he learned hijacking techniques and received arms training. He also stated that he was supposed to meet five to six other individuals in the US who would also participate in the plot. They were instructed to use all necessary force to take over the plane because there would be pilots among the hijacking team. The plan was to fly the plane to Afghanistan, and if they would not make it there, that they were to blow up the plane. Although the individual passed an FBI polygraph, the FBI was never able to verify any aspect of his story or identify his contacts in the US. (Senate Intelligence Committee, 9/18/02)


I recall reading somewhere that they said that turned out to have nothing to do with the 9/11 plot - another lie. Note also below that he was to fly planes into buildings, not into Afghanistan. Checking Google News, I also see that this is the main front page headline in the London Times, but absolutely no coverage anywhere else, except one newspaper in India.

Here's a couple of quotes I found that I think are relevant:

Battered by scandals, the CIA has been struggling with low morale. Former CIA officials and case officers are very doubtful about the agency’s ability to penetrate the terror cells of Islamic extremists. “The Company” has fewer Arab-speaking case officers and less regional expertise than it did during the cold war. The agency’s best assets have always been “walk-ins,” disaffected foreign nationals who offer to spy against their own country. “You don’t get walk-ins from terror cells,” says a former case officer.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/635934.asp?0sp=w14b1

Gaining access to organizations or individuals who have access to terrorist groups has proven extremely difficult for both the CIA and the DIA. This has led to a heavy reliance on walk-ins and on foreign intelligence services. Often CIA's best sources of information on terrorist organizations have been volunteers or walk-ins, who approach U.S. personnel at embassies and other places for a variety of reasons. But evaluating these volunteers and walk-ins is a time-consuming and sometimes risky proposition. The ratio of valuable information providers to charlatans, fabricators or double agents is about one to 10. That is for every 10 walk-ins only one produces information of value to the intelligence community and U.S. policymakers. Yet some of the best sources on Al Qaida during the 1990s were walk-ins. One of these individuals, Jamal al Fadl, began providing information in 1996 and has testified in open court. Foreign security services also played a critical role in understanding the terrorist threat. The United States government relied, and relies today, heavily on this assistance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/14/politics/14TEXT-PANEL.html?pagewanted=all&position=

I just overhead a quick flash of it on the TV. The promo said the story would be broadcast Monday evening. Might be worth cranking up the old video recorder for. They made the "9/11 could have been stopped" part sound very certain.