July 26, 2004
The Wisdom Fund

9/11 Commission Report: Why No Arab Names on Passenger List?

Is the U.S. fighting the wrong war?

by Enver Masud

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Why are there no Arab names on the passenger list for the planes used in the September 11, 2001 attack on America: American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 77, and United Airlines Flight 93?

Why is the "terrorist ringleader Mohamed Atta" not listed on the passenger list for American Airlines Flight 11?

We understand that the passenger list published by the Associated Press on September 17, 2001 is based on information supplied by "family members, friends, co-workers and law enforcement." How could "law enforcement" miss all the Arab names?

Yet on September 28, 2001 - seventeen days after the attack - the FBI found a will and burial instructions, in Mohamed Atta's suitcase that Atta had checked for the American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, but which was never loaded on the plane.

Are we to believe that Mohamed Atta's suitcase bore his name, but his ticket was purchased under a different name? If so what is that other name, and is it on the passenger list? If the suitcase bore a non-Arab name, why did the FBI open it? Wouldn't it have been returned to the family of the ticketed passenger?

The 585 page report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States appears to be silent on these issues, and while it contains much useful information, it leaves many loose ends.

In formulating its "global strategy," the Commission states that the "catastrophic threat at this moment in history is more specific. It is the threat posed by Islamist terrorism - especially the al Qaeda network, its affiliates, and its ideology." [p. 362]

Al Qaeda does pose a threat, but the underlying causes of "terrorism" are U.S. policies toward the Muslim world.

Why does the report not highlight the reasons most Muslims cite as the source of not only Muslim frustration, but as polls show, worldwide frustration, with the U.S.: Uncritical U.S. support for Israel's occupation of Palestine, the U.S. occupation and exploitation of Muslim lands, and U.S. support for authoritarian regimes while proclaiming America's desire for democracy in those lands.

The report mentions Islam about 300 times, but did the commission seek the testimony of independent, Muslim scholars or experts? Did it obtain advice primarily from those who drove the U.S. to war: Israel and its U.S. backers, global corporations, and the military-industrial complex?

Until the U.S. focuses on the specific issues which frustrate Muslims, and many others, and until the U.S. includes informed, independent Muslims in the much needed, national dialog, we see no early end to the "war on terrorism."

America was not attacked just because "they hate us." Until the U.S. accepts this fact, it will be fighting the wrong war.

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"War Against Terror: List of Victims," cnn.com, 2001

Nick Hopkins, "False identities mislead FBI," Guardian, September 21, 2001

[How did the airlines know how many people were on each of these flights? The airlines must have had a list for each flight. What possible reason could they have had for not releasing the full lists?--Gary North, "The Perplexing Puzzle Of The Published Passenger Lists," rense.com, October 13, 2001]

[The men - all from Saudi Arabia - spoke of their shock at being mistakenly named by the FBI as suicide terrorists. None of the four was in the United States on September 11 and all are alive in their home country.--David Harrison, "Revealed: the men with stolen identities," Telegraph, September 23, 2001]

Enver Masud, "What Really Happened on September 11 Remains a Mystery," The Wisdom Fund, April 27, 2002

Gary Thomas,"Intelligence Officer Challenges Bush Administration on 'Why They Hate Us'," Voice of America, June 10, 2003

[FBI Director Robert Mueller says that an essential clue came from one of the hijacked planes before it crashed. A flight attendant on American Flight 11, Amy Sweeney, had the presence of mind to call her office as the plane was hijacked and give them the seat numbers of the hijackers.

"That was the first piece of hard evidence," says Mueller. "We could then go to the manifest, find out who was sitting in those seats and immediately conduct an investigation of those individuals, as opposed to taking all the passengers on the plane and going through a process of elimination."--"The President's Story," 60 Minutes II, September 10, 2003]

[ . . . the following statement by "USA Today" in relation to its published passenger lists is of some concern.

"Partial lists of passengers and crew killed in Tuesday's terrorist attacks, according to family members, friends, co-workers and local law enforcement."

This is a very strange way to source such information. Why not get it from American Airlines or the FBI? If neither of these were consulted, how did USAT know who's "family members, friends, co-workers" to go looking for? Or if AA and the FBI were the first source of inquiry, why a partial list from hearsay sources?--Gerard Holmgren, " MEDIA PUBLISHED FAKE PASSENGER LISTS FOR AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 11," 911review.org, May 17, 2004]

["To think that he's trying to rob us of our liberties and freedom is, I think, a gross mistake. What he has done, his genius, is to identify particular American foreign policies that are offensive to Muslims whether they support these martial actions or not - our support for Israel, our presence on the Arabian Peninsula, our activities in Afghanistan and Iraq, our support for governments that Muslims believe oppress Muslims, be it India, China, Russia, Uzbekistan. Bin Laden has focused the Muslim world on specific, tangible, visual American policies."

". . . the same polls that show the depths of their hatred of our policies show a very strong affection for the traditional American sense of fair play, the idea of rule by law, the ability of people to educate their children. I think the mistake is made on our part to assume that they hate all those things. What they hate is the policy and the repercussions of that policy, whether it's in Israel or on the Arabian Peninsula. It's not a hatred of us as a society, it's a hatred of our policies."--Andrea Mitchell, "CIA insider says U.S. fighting wrong war," MSNBC.com, June 24, 2004]

"Q&A: 9/11 commission's report," BBC NEWS, July 22, 2004

Terry McDermott, "Questions Persist Despite 9/11 Investigations," Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2004

[If you were a Muslim, might you instead figure that the "present transnational danger" to you was Christian fundamentalist extremism,--Bill and Kathleen Christison, "The 9/11 Report and Its Weak-Kneed Consensus: Dodging the Issue of Palestine-Israel; Blinkered on Causes of Terrorism," counterPunch, July 27, 2004]

[The National Center for Health Statistics, which tracks 113 causes of death in the United States, reported that in the same year that nearly 3,000 people died in the Sept. 11 attacks, 43,788 died in motor-vehicle accidents, 30,622 by suicide, 20,306 were murdered (including 11,348 by firearms), 14,078 died by accidental poisoning and 3,021 died as a result of complications from medical care. An additional 700,000 Americans died of heart disease, the No. 1 killer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while 553,768 died of cancer and 32,238 died of blood poisoning.--Miles Benson, "Dangers from terrorism scant compared to other risks, experts say," Newhouse News Service, August 8, 2004]

Julian Borger, "We could have stopped him," Guardian, August 20, 2004

[In July of 2006 a large collection of documents was published on a website containing prosecution and defense exhibits for the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. Included in the prosecution exhibits are a set of Flash presentations detailing the government's account of the passengers on all four commandeered jetliners.--"Victims Lists, Passenger Manifests, and the Alleged Hijackers," 911research.wtc7.net, 2006]

David Eliasson, "The Events of 11 September 2001 and the Right to the Truth," aldeilis.net, April 14, 2008

Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, "Why was a Sunday Times report on US government ties to al-Qaeda chief spiked?," ceasefiremagazine.co.uk, May 16, 2013

VIDEO: "What motivated the 9/11 hijackers?"

VIDEO: "Politicians Lying to the American People about 9/11 Motive"

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