Podcasts about bojinka

December 11, 1994. As the JTTF chases Ramzi Yousef around the world, a bomb explodes on a Philippine Airlines flight. Could this be the work of Ramzi Yousef, America's most wanted terrorist?Operation: Tradebom is an Apple Original podcast, produced by Truth Media in partnership with Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Listen and follow on Apple Podcasts.https://apple.co/operation-tradebom

Erik & Ben are back at the movies with something that could not be more in our combined wheelhouse. We dig into Bertrand Bonello's Nocturama, a style drenched terrorism/siege thriller from 2016. We break down the dumbest Bojinka plot variant, remember the 2015 Bataclan attack and also talk more Kubrick, John Wick, Danny Boyle & Alex Garland plus Ben's thoughts on The Last of Us TV show (as he needs to badly justify watching in the first place). We'll be back in 2 weeks to get as 90s as possible with Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. We accidentally refer to the version of "My Way" used in this film as being performed by Nancy Sinatra. It's actually Shirley Bassey and please do not get mad at us, we record these late at night and will endeavor to do better.

Erik's return to PNAC is short lived as he has been returned to the Haqqani Network for being too annoying. In his place Ben is joined for an in depth interview with filmmaker, researcher, and musician Nelson Martins aka DJ Thermal Detonator. We talk about his past work, his series "The Hidden Path to 9/11" which is being released over the course of this summer along with the Muslim Brotherhood, Bojinka, Michael Moore and WTCs 93 and 01. This was recorded during a brutal heatwave in a room without AC so if it sounds like I am dying by the end just know I do it all for you. Also, if you find yourself asking "hasn't it only been 1 week since the last episode" and you would be right! We are officially moving to a weekly schedule going forward so join us next week and we continue to reconnect the dots. Follow Nelson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DJThermalD Subscribe to Nelson on YouTube where you can find all of his documentary work: https://www.youtube.com/c/TrutherTVOriginal/featured Support Nelson's work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thermaldetonator/

Folks, we lost Erik. While I try to negotiate his release the show must go on and we have another guest! Writer and researcher Darin Harvey takes us up the long road to 9/11 with a fairly free-flowing primer of Islamic fundamentalism through the 90s. We are talking WTC 93, the Blind Shiek, Ramzi Yusef and all kinds of plots. We got airlines, landmarks, the new Millenium and Bojinka! Join us next time to wrap up some recurring plot lines before we turn our eyes to sunny Florida. Assuming I can get proof of life for Erik by then at least.    https://twitter.com/harveydarin26 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUB5eB2JcLhhRdTqWORuH8g https://911skepticsvstruth.wordpress.com/2021/06/26/millennium-plot-the-original-9-11-doomsday/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd9iv9sHPm8 [Nelson Martin's WTC93 film mentioned]

Attempting to crash an aircraft into a building was not an entirely new paradigm. Despite Secretary Rice stating, “I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile” (Brush, 2002, para. 24), there had been numerous prior attempts to utilize aircraft in this manner (CNN, 2001). In addition, there had been a significant number of warnings suicide hijackings posed a serious threat. In 1972, hijackers of Southern Airways Flight 49 threatened to crash the airliner into Oak Ridge National Laboratory if a $10 million ransom was not paid (CNN, 2001). Copilot Johnson reported, “The demands at Knoxville were that if we didn't have the money by 1:00 that we'd crash into the nuclear reactor there” (CNN Transcripts, 2001, para. 151). The hijacked airliner was placed in a dive toward Oak Ridge, and was only pulled out of the dive at the last minute when Southern Airways agreed to pay $2 million to the hijackers (Allison, 2004). In 1974, S. Byck attempted to hijack a Delta Airlines DC-9 aircraft to crash it into the White House (Cohen, 2009). During the hijacking, Byck killed a security guard and the copilot before committing suicide after being wounded by police. Also in 1974, Private R. Preston stole an Army helicopter and flew over the White House and hovered for six minutes over the lawn outside the West Wing, raising concerns about a suicide attack (White House Security Review, n.d.). Following the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, Jenkins and Edwards-Winslow (2003) conducted an exhaustive threat analysis for the World Trade Center. They concluded that an aerial attack by crashing an aircraft into the Center was a remote possibility which must be considered. Reports indicated Iran was training pilots to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings: “Trained aircrews from among the terrorists would crash the airliner into a selected objective” (Bodansky, 1993, p. 15). Senator S. Nunn was concerned terrorists would attempt to crash a radio-controlled airplane into the Capitol during a State of the Union address, possibly killing the President, Vice President, and all of Congress (Nelan, 1995). In 1994, four Algerian terrorists attempted to hijack Air France Flight 8969 (Air Safety Week, 1995). The group, identified as Phalange of the Signers in Blood, killed one of the passengers, planted explosives on the plane, and planned to crash the aircraft into the Eiffel Tower (Bazerman & Watkins, 2005). French police stormed the aircraft and stopped the hijacking. R. Yousef, the architect of the first World Trade Center attack, was associated with these Algerian terrorists (Lance, 2003). Another attempted airliner suicide hijacking occurred in 1994. Flight Engineer A. Calloway boarded Federal Express Flight 705 as an additional jump seat crewmember, intending to overpower the crew and crash the DC-10 aircraft into the Federal Express corporate headquarters in Memphis (CVR Database, 1994). Calloway attacked the flight deck crew with a hammer, inflicting serious, permanent disabling injuries to all three pilots (Wald, 2001). On September 11, 1994, F. Corder attempted to crash an aircraft into the White House (Wald, 2001). Experts had been concerned the White House was highly vulnerable to an attack from the air (Duffy, 1994). Former CIA director R. Helms expressed concern a suicidal pilot could easily divert from an approach to Washington to crash into the White House (Duffy, 1994). In 1995, FBI informant E. Salem revealed a Sudanese Air Force pilot's plot to bomb the Egyptian President's home and then crash an aircraft into the U.S. Embassy (Berger, 2004). Salem also testified about Project Bojinka, which, in addition to the aforementioned bombing of 11 American aircraft, included crashing an airplane into CIA headquarters. In addition to CIA headquarters, this second Bojinka wave was planned to target the Pentagon, an unidentified nuclear power plant, the Transamerica Building in San Francisco, the Sears Tower in Chicago, the World Trade Center, John Hancock Tower in Boston, U.S. Congress, and the White House (Brzenzinski, 2001). McNeil (1996) noted in 1996, Ethiopian Airlines flight 961 was hijacked and an attempt was made to crash into a resort in the Comoros Islands. At the last moment, the pilot overpowered the hijacker and ditched the fuel-starved airplane into the Indian Ocean near the coast. Of the 175 passengers, 123 died (AirSafe Journal, 2001). Also in 1996, M. Udugov, a Chechen leader, threatened to hijack a Russian airliner and crash it into the Kremlin (Cohen, 2002). In 1998, White House Terrorism Chief R. Clarke conducted a training exercise to simulate a Learjet intentionally crashing into a government building (Kaplan, 2004). Clarke considered the exercise unsatisfactory (Kaplan, 2002). In a 1998 briefing to the FAA, three terrorism experts were concerned terrorists would hijack airliners and crash into buildings in the United States (Fainaru, 2002). In 1998 the Kaplancilar terrorist organization had planned to crash an explosives-laden plane into the tomb of M. Ataturk, Turkey's founder (Anadolu Agency, 2006). The entire Turkish government was gathered at the mausoleum for a ceremony on the day scheduled for the attack. The plot was foiled and the conspirators were arrested shortly before execution of the plan (Anadolu Agency, 2006). In addition to actual aircraft suicide attacks, there were numerous predictions of these types of attacks. One such prediction was the script which showed an airliner crashing into New York in the 1980s movie Escape from New York (“Kamikaze Jet Hijacking,” n.d.). Another prediction was in the March 2001 pilot episode of the Fox series The Lone Gunmen, featuring a hijacked Boeing 727 used as a missile to crash into the World Trade Center (Killtown, 2009). In 1999, the British Secret Service MI6 provided the U.S. Embassy in London with a secret report on al Qaeda activities (Rufford, 2002). The report indicated al Qaeda was planning to use commercial aircraft to attack the United States. The report stated the aircraft would be used in “unconventional ways” (Rufford, 2006, para. 1). In a report prepared for the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, Hudson (1999) noted numerous terrorist threats, and specifically named bin Laden and al Qaeda: “Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or the White House” (p. 7). A 1999 keynote address at the National Defense University warned terrorists might attempt to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack buildings (Hoffman, 2001). Security consultant C. Schnabolk had remarked, in 2000, the most serious threat to the World Trade Center was someone flying a plane into it (Reeves, 2001).

Ngày 11/09/2001, nước Mỹ rung chuyển vì loạt tấn công khủng bố thảm khốc nhất trong lịch sử đất nước. Gần 3.000 người chết và hơn 6.000 người bị thương. Hai mươi năm sau, dư chấn vẫn còn đó, và người ta vẫn tự hỏi : Làm thế nào một kiểu khủng bố như vậy lại có thể xảy ra tại Hoa Kỳ, một cường quốc quân sự hàng đầu thế giới ? 11/9/2001: « Cứ như một trận Trân Châu Cảng ! » Đó là một ngày thứ Ba định mệnh trong lịch sử nước Mỹ đương đại. Trong vòng chưa đầy hai tiếng, 19 tên khủng bố chiếm lấy 4 chiếc máy bay hàng không dân dụng Mỹ, tiến hành loạt tấn công tại ba điểm khác nhau : Tòa tháp đôi của World Trade Center ở New York, Lầu Năm Góc – trụ sở bộ Quốc Phòng Mỹ - và Shanksville tại Pennsylvania. Tấn thảm kịch này đã cướp đi 2.977 sinh mạng. Riêng tại tòa tháp đôi, con  số tử vong là 2.753 người, trong đó có 343 lính cứu hỏa và 60 cảnh sát, nhưng chỉ có 1.643 người là được nhận dạng.   Cả thế giới chấn động. Nước Mỹ bị tấn công. Cứ như một Trân Châu Cảng. Tổng thống Mỹ George W. Bush trên chiếc Air Force One rời Florida đến căn cứ quân sự Andrews ở ngoại ô Washington, khi quan sát Lầu Năm Góc từ trên cao, đã thốt lên : « Đây mới chính là diện mạo của cuộc chiến thế kỷ XXI ! ». Vì sao nước Mỹ - một cường quốc hàng đầu thế giới về quân sự cũng như là kinh tế lại không thể dự báo và ngăn chặn được cuộc tấn công thảm khốc đó ? Trong cuộc điều tra đặc biệt nhân kỷ niệm 20 năm tấn thảm kịch này, nhà báo Gregory Philipps của đài France Inter, qua các cuộc gặp gỡ với nhiều cựu nhân viên an ninh, tình báo Mỹ và một số chuyên gia Pháp, ghi nhận cả một hệ thống kẽ hở trong ngành an ninh, tình báo Mỹ vào thời điểm đó.   Al Qaida: Những chỉ dấu báo động đỏ Nhà báo nhắc lại, ba năm sau biến cố lịch sử này, năm 2004, ông Philip Zelikow, trong bản báo cáo của ủy ban điều tra Nghị Viện đã nêu rõ hai điểm yếu ngành an ninh Mỹ : Cuộc chiến chống khủng bố trước ngày 11/9 chỉ là một ưu tiên hạng ba đối với giới chức an ninh quốc gia và việc bảo vệ không phận Mỹ trong ngày bị tấn công chỉ được thiết lập một cách vội vã.  Điều khó hiểu là trước khi xảy ra vụ tấn công, đã có nhiều chỉ dấu báo động đỏ mối đe dọa khủng bố. Ngay từ giữa những năm 1990, Al Qaida, đặc biệt là Oussama Ben Laden, người thành lập tổ chức khủng bố này, đã nằm trong tầm ngắm của tình báo Mỹ. Nhiều vụ đánh bom tự sát được cho là do Al Qaida thực hiện nhắm vào người Mỹ và những cơ quan đại diện lợi ích Mỹ ở nhiều nơi trên thế giới, đã xảy ra trong suốt giai đoạn này. Cụ thể:  Vụ khủng bố ở tầng hầm parking của World Trade Center năm 1993 làm 6 người chết, hơn 100 người bị thương.  Tháng Giêng năm 1995, an ninh Philippines phá vỡ âm mưu chuyển hướng hàng chục máy bay dân dụng của Mỹ trên Thái Bình Dương của Al Qaida, còn được gọi là « chiến dịch Bojinka ».  Năm 1996, vụ tấn công khủng bố tại khu phức hợp dân cư Dahran ở Ả Rập Xê Út làm 20 người chết, trong đó hết 19 người là công dân Mỹ, 400 người bị thương.   Ngày 07/08/1998, cuộc tấn công khủng bố kép nhắm vào hai tòa đại sứ Mỹ, một ở Nairobi, Kenya và một ở Dar es Salaam, Tanzania đã làm 224 người thiệt mạng, trong đó có 12 công dân Mỹ.  Trong tầm ngắm Ali Soufan, cựu điều tra viên của FBI, một trong số những người đầu tiên gióng chuông báo động ngay từ năm 1996 về mối đe dọa Al Qaida nhớ lại : « FBI đã bắt đầu theo dõi Al Qaida khá sớm. Từ năm 1996, 1997, chúng tôi đã chú ý đến Ben Laden. Vào thời điểm đó, nhiều người trong cơ quan tình báo kể cả bên an ninh liên bang chỉ nghĩ rằng Ben Laden là một nhà tài trợ, chứ không nghĩ là nhân vật này có khả năng chuyển sang cả hành động.  Tháng 8/1996, ông ta tuyên bố thánh chiến chống nước Mỹ. Chúng tôi nghĩ là nghiêm trọng, nhưng nhiều người khác thì không. Tháng 2/1998, ông ta phát ra một lệnh fatwa kêu gọi hạ sát người Mỹ ở bất kỳ nơi nào trên thế giới. Chúng tôi thực sự tin rằng việc này là nghiêm trọng, đến mức ngầm kết án vắng mặt Ben Laden vào tháng 6/1998. » Về điểm này, ông Philip Zelikow, có giải thích thêm như sau : « Quả thật những kẻ thực hiện vụ khủng bố ngày 11/9 đã tuyên chiến với nước Mỹ bằng một bản fax gởi đến Luân Đôn vào đầu năm 1998. Bức fax này đến từ một nhóm bí ẩn, nằm ở một nơi kém phát triển nhất của thế giới, ở phía nam Afghanistan. Trong suốt năm 2001, chúng tôi đã suy nghĩ nhiều : Nhóm khủng bố này làm gì ở Afghanistan ? Nhưng ý tưởng nước Mỹ đến xâm chiếm Afghanistan để bắt lấy những kẻ đó trước năm 2001 là điều không thể nhắm đến ! » Những kẽ hở Sau vụ tấn công này, nhiều câu hỏi được đặt ra. 19 tên khủng bố đó là ai ? Vì sao chúng không bị theo dõi ? Tại sao thông tin đồng phạm Mohammed Atta, từ Hambourg (Đức) đến Mỹ vào đầu mùa hè năm 2000, để học lái máy bay tại nhiều trường khác nhau Florida, Arizona và Minnesota đã không được chuyển đến Washington ? Trả lời câu hỏi nhà báo Gregory Philipps, nhà nghiên cứu, chuyên gia về các mạng lưới thánh chiến, ông Dominique Thomas, thuộc trường EHSS, đưa ra các nhận định : « Trước hết, một trong những lỗ hổng lớn của hệ thống dân chủ là tình trạng quan liêu, đôi khi còn thiếu cả sự phối hợp giữa các ban ngành khác nhau. Quý vị có thể có đủ hết các mảng ghép nhưng chúng lại nằm rải rác ở nhiều bộ phận khác nhau, và không có sự liên thông hay kết nối tồi (…)  Hơn nữa, tôi nghĩ rằng vào thời điểm đó, cơ quan FBI có quá ít chuyên gia đủ khả năng phân tích các mối đe dọa. Nếu như chúng ta không có người thạo tiếng Ả Rập, những người nắm rõ khu vực này, hiểu được hệ tư tưởng, cách nói chuyện, tâm lý của những nhân vật đó, thì đương nhiên quý vị thất bại trong cuộc chiến này thôi ! »  Ali Soufan là một ví dụ điển hình. Là người đầu tiên xác định được danh tính của Khaled Cheikh Mohammed, kẻ chủ mưu của loạt tấn công thảm khốc, nhưng Ali Soufan là một trong số hiếm hoi các nhà điều tra của FBI nói thạo tiếng Ả Rập, vì có gốc người Liban. Tình trạng này cũng xảy ra tương tự ở CIA. Ông nhìn nhận sự hiểu biết về ngôn ngữ và văn hóa là điều cốt lõi trong cuộc chiến chống khủng bố.  Chống khủng bố: Ưu tiên hạng ba, thất bại to lớn Bên cạnh việc thiếu hiểu biết về thế giới Ả Rập, thiếu sự liên thông giữa các ban ngành, báo cáo của ông Philip Zelikow cho ủy ban điều tra nghị viện Mỹ còn nêu rõ trách nhiệm của ngành tình báo Mỹ trước ngày 11/9, chưa bao giờ xem xét nghiêm túc mối họa khủng bố. Cuộc chiến chống khủng bố chỉ là ưu tiên thứ yếu của an ninh Mỹ thời đó, theo như giải thích của ông Mathhew Levitt, chuyên gia về chống khủng bố, với nhà báo Gregory Philipps.  « Giờ nghĩ lại người ta chợt nhận thấy có điều gì không ổn, khó tin và cảm thấy đau đớn. Vào lúc đó có quá nhiều thông tin để xử lý, các nhân viên an ninh làm việc như điên. Nhưng bộ phận chống khủng bố ở FBI lúc ấy bị ví như là thùng nấu quần áo, đó không phải là nơi để họ thăng tiến. Hoạt động chính của FBI là tập trung nhiều vào các vụ án hình sự. Làm việc cho bộ phận chống khủng bố, gián điệp thật sự không mấy gì được xướng tên trên bảng vàng. Phần lớn thời gian họ chẳng bắt được ai. Ngày nay, khi nói đến khủng bố là người ta nghĩ đến cả một mẻ lưới. Nhưng đó là một hiện tượng hậu 11/9 ».  Nhìn từ khía cạnh này, bà Valerie Plame, một cựu sĩ quan CIA, đánh giá : « Đây thật sự là một thất bại to lớn của các cơ quan tình báo Mỹ. Đó chẳng qua là do thiếu chút suy nghĩ về việc làm thế nào vụ khủng bố này có thể xảy ra. Loạt khủng bố này không tốn kém nhiều chi phí (khoảng nửa triệu đô la), chẳng cần nhiều sự huấn luyện (hai năm chuẩn bị). Những tên khủng bố này lại thoát được tầm theo dõi của FBI, cơ quan lẽ ra có trách nhiệm phải giám sát những đối tượng này.  Rồi CIA cũng có cả những thông tin nhập cảnh vào Mỹ của những nghi phạm này nữa. Làm thế nào chúng có thể thoát được sự giám sát đó ? Người ta đã phớt lờ các dấu vết của FBI. Họ đã phí quá nhiều thời gian, sức lực và năng lượng để tìm kiếm một sự mưu phản. Nhưng làm gì có sự mưu phản nào. Đó chẳng qua là sự chểnh mảng, lơ là của Mỹ mà thôi ! »  Gregory Philipps lưu ý, trước năm 2001, mối đe dọa khủng bố này được cho là « xa vời » đến mức người ta có thể mang theo cả dao rọc giấy hay một con dao nhỏ kích cỡ chưa tới 10 cm trong hành lý mà không phải lo lắng gì. Thậm chí, người thân có thể đưa hành khách đến tận cửa lên máy bay. Trước ngày 11/9, FAA – Cục Hàng không Liên bang Mỹ công bố một danh sách đen cấm một số người đáp máy bay, nhưng danh sách này chỉ có 12 tên, trong đó Cheikh Mohammed, một trong số đầu não của loạt khủng bố này.  Ben Laden và 10 năm truy nã Đương nhiên, lãnh đạo CIA lúc bấy giờ là George Tenet đã được báo động, Richard Clark – cố vấn an ninh quốc gia của tổng thống Bush có gióng chuông báo động về mối họa khủng bố Al Qaida. Dù vậy, những tên khủng bố « nằm vùng » trên đất Mỹ lại không được cảm nhận như là mối đe dọa quan trọng. Vì sao như vậy ? Ông Andrew Card, chánh văn phòng Nhà Trắng thời kỳ đó giải thích :  « Tổng thống Bush đã làm những gì ông ấy nên làm. Tôi đã đọc lại tất cả những bản báo cáo tình báo mà ông ấy đã xem qua. Và tôi còn nhớ có một bản báo cáo gây tranh cãi được đệ trình lên hồi tháng 8/2001, báo động rằng Al Qaida đang chuẩn bị làm điều gì đó với Ben Laden. Rồi sau đó cũng có lời đáp : Đúng vậy, họ muốn tấn công nước Mỹ nhưng không ai có thể dự đoán chính xác ngày xảy ra vụ khủng bố.  Ai có thể có được câu trả lời đúng ? Liệu chúng tôi có thể nào cấm các máy bay cất cánh trong ngày 11/9 hay không ? Giờ thì chúng ta biết được là những tên khủng bố đó đã khởi động vụ tấn công này trước đó vài ngày. Như vậy là chúng tôi đã có những thông tin sai và do vậy chúng tôi đã chọn nhầm ngày để chặn các chuyến bay. Giả như chúng tôi có cấm các chuyến bay trong ngày đó, trong vòng một tuần hay một tháng, điều đó sẽ tàn phá kinh tế đất nước. Quốc Hội rất có thể sẽ chất vấn chúng tôi : Các ông đang làm điều gì vậy ? Các ông không thể đóng cửa kinh tế đất nước như thế. Giờ thì chúng tôi hiểu rằng lẽ ra chúng tôi đã phải làm điều gì đó ! »  Sau vụ khủng bố này, quyền hạn của các cơ quan tình báo đã được mở rộng. Hơn 262 cơ quan liên bang đã được lập ra hay được điều chỉnh lại. Hơn 850 ngàn nhân viên được tuyển dụng tại Mỹ trong lĩnh vực thu thập tình báo có nguy cơ biến hệ thống này còn trở nên quan liêu hơn và khó thể kiểm soát.   Một điều hiển nhiên là các cơ quan an ninh Mỹ đã không thể phá vỡ vụ khủng bố ngày 11/09/2001. Và họ cũng đã phải mất đến 10 năm sau mới tìm ra được kẻ chủ mưu thực sự của loạt khủng bố này : Oussama Ben Laden ! 

Secretary Rice: “I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile” 1972: Southern Airways Flt 49 threatened to crash into Oak Ridge National Laboratory 1974: S. Byck attempted to hijack Delta DC-9 to crash it into White House 1993: Iran training pilots to fly into buildings 1994: Air France Flt 8969 1994: FedEx Flt 705 1994: Terror 2000 1995: Bojinka plot included crashing planes into Sears Tower, Transamerica Bldg, WTC, John Hancock Tower, U.S. Congress, White House 1996: Ethiopian Airlines Flt 961 1996: Chechen rebel threatened crash into Kremlin 1998: Kaplanicar (Turkish) attempt to crash airplane into tomb of Attaturk 1999: MI6 warned of suicide attack 1999: Research Div. of L.O.C warned of airplane attacks 1999: Keynote address at NDU warned of UAV attacks on buildings 2000: Security consultant warned “most serious threat to WTC was someone flying a plane into it” March, 2001: The Lone Gunmen – hijacked B-727 flown into WTC

In this episode we catch up with Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, as he flees to Pakistan and then the Philippines and plots to bomb multiply airplanes in flight. A plan known as Operation Bojinka. For those who see 9/11 as principally an Islamist plot, Bojinka is often presented as the template. Adam assess this claim and contrasts it to Operation Norhtwoods, the US Government's plan to fake a shoot down of a civilian plane to justify an invasion of Cuba, which those who see 9/11 as being an 'inside job' point to for a template.

Attempting to crash an aircraft into a building was not an entirely new paradigm.  Despite Secretary Rice stating, “I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile”, there had been numerous prior attempts to utilize aircraft in this manner.  In addition, there had been a significant number of warnings suicide hijackings posed a serious threat.  For example, a 1994 report for the Department of Defense predicted every aspect of the 911 attack.  In 1972, hijackers of Southern Airways Flight 49 threatened to crash the airliner into Oak Ridge National Laboratory if a $10 million ransom was not paid.  The specific target was the nuclear reactor.  The hijacked airliner began a dive toward Oak Ridge, and was only pulled out at the last minute when Southern Airways agreed to pay $2 million to the hijackers. In 1974, S. Byck attempted to hijack a Delta Airlines DC-9 aircraft to crash it into the White House.  During the hijacking, Byck killed a security guard and the copilot before committing suicide after being wounded by police.  Also in 1974, Private R. Preston stole an Army helicopter and flew over the White House and hovered for six minutes over the lawn outside the West Wing, raising concerns about a suicide attack. In 1994, four Algerian terrorists attempted to hijack Air France Flight 8969.  The group, identified as Phalange of the Signers in Blood, killed one of the passengers, planted explosives on the plane, and planned to crash the aircraft into the Eiffel Tower.  French police stormed the aircraft and stopped the hijacking.     Also in 1994, Flight Engineer A. Calloway boarded Federal Express Flight 705 as an additional jump seat crewmember, intending to overpower the crew and crash the DC-10 aircraft into the Federal Express corporate headquarters in Memphis.  Calloway attacked the flight deck crew with a hammer, inflicting serious, permanent, disabling injuries to all three pilots.  Additionally in 1994, F. Corder attempted to crash an aircraft into the White House.  The planned 1995 Bojinka attack targeted the Pentagon, an unidentified nuclear power plant, the Transamerica Building in San Francisco, the Sears Tower in Chicago, the World Trade Center, John Hancock Tower in Boston, U.S. Congress, and the White House.  In 1996, hijackers attempted to crash Ethiopian Airlines flight 961 into a resort in the Comoros Islands, ditching into the Indian Ocean near the coast.  Another 1996 event occurred when M. Udugov, a Chechen leader, threatened to hijack a Russian airliner and crash it into the Kremlin.  In 1998 the Kaplancilar terrorist organization planned to crash an explosives-laden plane into the tomb of M. Ataturk, Turkey’s founder.  The entire Turkish government had gathered at the mausoleum for a ceremony on the day scheduled for the attack.  Police foiled the plot and arrested the conspirators shortly before execution of the plan. In addition to actual aircraft suicide attacks, there were numerous predictions of these types of attacks.  One prediction was in the March 2001 pilot episode of the Fox series The Lone Gunmen, featuring a hijacked Boeing 727 used as a missile to crash into the World Trade Center.  In 1999, the British Secret Service MI6 provided the U.S. Embassy in London with a secret report on al Qaeda activities.  The report indicated al Qaeda was planning to use commercial aircraft to attack the United States.  The report stated the aircraft would be used in “unconventional ways”. The 1993 attack on the World Trade Center prompted an exhaustive threat analysis for the World Trade Center.  The study concluded an aerial attack by crashing an aircraft into the Center was a remote possibility requiring consideration.  Reports indicated Iran was training pilots to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings: “Trained aircrews from among the terrorists would crash the airliner into a selected objective”.  A report on terrorist threats prepared for the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress specifically named bin Laden and al Qaeda: “Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida’s Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or the White House”.  A 1999 keynote address at the National Defense University warned terrorists might attempt to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack buildings.  In 2000, security consultant C. Schnabolk had remarked, the most serious threat to the World Trade Center was someone flying a plane into it.

Funding for the Bojinka Plot came from Osama bin Laden and Hambali, and from front organizations operated by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden's brother-in-law. Wali Khan Amin Shah, an Afghan, was the financier of the plot. He funded the plot by laundering money through his girlfriend and other Manila women, several of whom were bar hostesses and one of whom was an employee at a KFC restaurant. They were bribed with gifts and holiday trips so that they would open bank accounts to stash funds. The transfers were small, equivalent to about 12,000 to 24,000 Philippine pesos ($500 to $1,000 US), and would be handed over each night at a Wendy's or a karaoke bar. The funds went to "Adam Sali", an alias used by Ramzi Yousef. The money came through a Filipino bank account owned by Jordanian Omar Abu Omar, who worked at International Relations and Information Centre, an Islamic organization run by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa. A company called Konsojaya also provided financial assistance to the Manila cell by laundering money to it. Konsojaya was a front company that was started by the head of the group Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesian named Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali. Wali Khan Amin Shah was on the board of directors of the company. As soon as Yousef arrived in Manila along with other "Arab Afghans" who were making cells in Manila, he started to work on making bombs. Yousef had shown up in Singapore with Shah earlier in the fall of 1994. The two got their Philippine visas in Singapore. He left Manila for several days, but was met by Islamist emissaries upon his return to Metro Manila. They asked him to attack United States President Bill Clinton, who was due to arrive in the Philippines on November 12, 1994 as part of a five-day tour of Asia. Yousef thought of several ways to kill the president, including placing nuclear bombs on Clinton's motorcade route, firing a Stinger missile at Air Force One or the presidential limousine, launching theater ballistic missiles at Manila and or killing him with phosgene, a chemical weapon. He abandoned the idea, as it would be too difficult to kill the President. However, he incorporated his plan to kill the Pope into the Bojinka plot. In 1994, Yousef and Khalid Sheik Mohammed started testing airport security. Yousef booked a flight between Kai Tak International Airport in Hong Kong and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei. Mohammed booked a flight between Ninoy Aquino International Airport near Manila and Kimpo International Airport near Seoul. The two had already converted fourteen bottles of contact lens solution into bottles containing nitroglycerin, which was readily available in the Philippines. Yousef had taped a metal rod to the arch of his foot, which would serve as a detonator. The two wore jewelry and clothing with metal to confuse airport security. To support their claim that they were meeting women, they packed condoms in their bags. On December 8, Yousef moved into the Doña Josefa Apartments under the alias "Najy Awaita Haddad" and purported himself to be a Moroccan. Edith Guerrera, the manager, laughed with the receptionist after the two men asked for new registration forms. "Perhaps they have forgotten their names", she said as the first ones were torn up. Yousef had accidentally put his "real name" on the first form. He did not want to get discovered too early. Yousef had booked Room 603 in advance. He had made an Php 80,000 (Philippine peso) deposit, and added Php 40,000 more up front before taking the elevator to Room 603. A conspirator named Abdul Hakim Murad came to Manila with Yousef and stayed at the same apartment. The apartments are located in the Malate district, 200 meters away from the embassy of the Holy See in the Philippines, and 500 meters down the street from Manila Police Station No. 9 on Quirino Avenue. One of the windows of Room 603 looks down on the path that the Papal motorcade was to take. People were suspicious of the men in Room 603. The men renting the apartment were very secretive. According to Guerrera, "They gave me the impression that they were here to study", said Mrs. Guerrera. "They looked like students. They double locked the door when they were inside or out. They didn't ask the room boy to clear up the room." The men, who had chemical burns on their hands, were carrying boxes and never hired other people to carry them up. The boxes contained chemicals bought from suppliers in Manila and Quezon City in Metro Manila. Yousef would use these to make his bombs. Mohammed purported himself to be a Saudi or Qatari plywood exporter named "Abdul Majid." Yousef and Mohammed had already started planning Operation Bojinka. According to Abdul Hakim Murad, Yousef got an idea for crashing a plane into the CIA from Murad while at the apartments. According to Murad, Yousef replied, "OK, we will think about it", before heading off with Mohammed to Puerto Galera for scuba diving. Yousef's first operational test of his bomb was inside a mall in Cebu City. The bomb detonated several hours after he put it in a generator room. It caused minor damage, but it proved to Yousef that his bomb was workable. On December 1, Shah placed a bomb under a seat in the Greenbelt Theatre in Manila to test what would happen if a bomb exploded under an airline seat. The bomb went off, injuring several patrons. On December 11, 1994, Yousef built another bomb, which had one tenth of the power that his final bombs were planned to have, in the lavatory of an aircraft. He left it inside the life jacket under his seat (26 K) and got off the plane when it arrived in Cebu. Yousef had boarded the flight under the assumed name of Arnaldo Forlani, using a false Italian passport. The aircraft was Philippine Airlines Flight 434 on a Manila to Narita route, stopping partway at Cebu. Yousef had set the timer for four hours after he got off the aircraft. The bomb exploded while the aircraft was over Japan's Minamidaitō Island, part of Okinawa Prefecture. A Japanese businessman named Haruki Ikegami occupying the seat was killed and an additional 10 passengers were injured. The flight was carrying 273 passengers in total. The blast blew a hole in the floor and the cabin's rapid expansion severed several control cables in the ceiling, cutting off control of the plane's right aileron, as well as both the pilot and first officer's steering controls. Usually, 26K, the seat that Yousef chose to plant the bomb, would be positioned directly over the centre fuel tank, and the detonation of the bomb would have caused a crippling explosion, but on this particular airframe, a former Scandinavian Airlines aircraft, the seat was two rows forward from normal. The flight crew kept control of the Boeing 747-200 and brought it into an emergency landing at Okinawa's Naha Airport. Satisfied with the deadly results of the attack, Yousef then planned which flights to attack for "Phase II" of the plot. The first plan was to assassinate Pope John Paul II when he visited the Philippines during the World Youth Day 1995 celebrations. On January 15, 1995, a suicide bomber would dress up as a priest, while John Paul II passed in his motorcade on his way to the San Carlos Seminary in Makati City. The assassin planned to get close to the Pope, and detonate the bomb. The planned assassination of the Pope was intended to divert attention from the next phase of the operation. About 20 men had been trained by Yousef to carry out this act prior to January 1995. The details of Phase I were found in the evidence discovered in the investigation into Room 603 in the Doña Josefa. The next plan would have involved at least five terrorists, including Yousef, Shah, Murad and two more unknown operatives. Beginning on January 21, 1995, and ending on January 22, 1995, they would have placed bombs on 11 United States-bound airliners which had stopovers scattered throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia. All of the flights had two legs. The bombs would be planted inside life jackets under seats on the first leg, and each bomber would then disembark. He would then board one or two more flights and repeat. After all of the bombers had planted bombs on all of the flights, each man would then catch flights to Lahore, Pakistan. The men never needed U.S. visas, as they only would have been on the planes for their first legs in Asia. United States airlines had been chosen instead of Asian airlines so as to maximize the shock toward Americans. The flights targeted were listed under operatives with codenames: "Zyed", "Majbos", "Markoa", "Mirqas" and "Obaid". Obaid, who was really Abdul Hakim Murad, was to hit United Flight 80, and then he was to go back to Singapore on another United flight which he would bomb. Zyed, probably Ramzi Yousef, was to target Northwest Flight 30, a United Flight going from Taipei to Honolulu, and a United Flight going from Bangkok to Taipei to San Francisco. The explosions were to be timed by the operatives before they disembarked from the plane. The aircraft would have exploded over the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea almost simultaneously. If this plan worked, several thousand passengers would have perished, and air travel would likely have been shut down worldwide. The U.S. government estimated the prospective death toll to be about 4,000 if the plot had been executed. (For comparison, about 3,000 were killed during the September 11 attacks in the United States.) If Phase II of the plot had been successful, it would have been, in terms of casualties, the most devastating terrorist attack in recent history. The "Mark II" "microbombs" had Casio digital watches as the timers, stabilizers that looked like cotton wool balls, and an undetectable quantity of nitroglycerin as the explosive. Other ingredients included glycerin, nitrate, sulfuric acid, and minute concentrations of nitrobenzene, silver azide(silver trinitride), and liquid acetone. Two 9-volt batteries in each bomb were used as a power source. The batteries would be connected to light bulb filaments that would detonate the bomb. Murad and Yousef wired an SCR (silicon controlled rectifier) as the switch to trigger the filaments to detonate the bomb. There was an external socket hidden when the wires were pushed under the watch base as the bomber would wear it. The alteration was so small that the watch could still be worn in a normal manner. Yousef got batteries past airport security during his December 11 test bombing of Philippine Airlines Flight 434 by hiding them in hollowed-out heels of his shoes. Yousef smuggled the nitroglycerin on board by putting it inside a small container, reputedly containing contact lens cleaning solution. Abdul Hakim Murad's confession detailed Phase III in his interrogation by the Manila police after his capture. Phase three would have involved Murad either renting, buying, or hijacking a small airplane, preferably a Cessna. The airplane would be filled with explosives. He would then crash it into the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in the Langley area in Fairfax County, Virginia. Murad had been trained as a pilot in North Carolina, and was slated to be a suicide pilot. There were alternate plans to hijack a 12th commercial airliner and use that instead of the small aircraft, probably due to the Manila cell's growing frustration with explosives. Testing explosives in a house or apartment is dangerous, and it can easily give away a terrorist plot. Khalid Sheik Mohammed probably made the alternate plan. A report from the Philippines to the United States on January 20, 1995 stated, "What the subject has in his mind is that he will board any American commercial aircraft pretending to be an ordinary passenger. Then he will hijack said aircraft, control its cockpit and dive it at the CIA headquarters." Another plot that was considered would have involved the hijacking of more airplanes. The World Trade Center (New York City, New York), The Pentagon (Arlington, Virginia), the United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.), the White House (Washington, D.C.), the Sears Tower (Chicago, Illinois), and the U.S Bank Tower (Los Angeles, California), would have been the likely targets. In his confession to Filipino investigators, prior to the foiling of Operation Bojinka, Abdul Hakim Murad said that this part of the plot was dropped since the Manila cell could not recruit enough people to implement other hijackings. This plot would eventually be the base plot for the September 11 attacks which involved hijacking commercial airliners, as opposed to small aircraft loaded with explosives, and crashing them into their intended targets. However, only the World Trade Center (which was destroyed) and The Pentagon (which suffered partial damage) were hit. The plot was abandoned after an apartment fire at the six-story Doña Josefa apartments occurred in Manila, Philippines, on the evening of Friday, January 6, 1995. The fire occurred before Pope John Paul II was scheduled to visit the Philippines on January 12. According to the initial accounts of the Philippine authorities, Abdul Hakim Murad started a chemical fire in the kitchen sink in Room 603 in the 6th floor of the Doña Josefa apartment by pouring water on a substance. The fire was spotted at about 11 pm after residents complained about a strange odour. Edith Guerrera, the owner of the apartments, called the fire brigade, but the fire went out unassisted. Yousef and Murad had told the firefighters to stay away before they fled. Police Major Francisco F. Bautista and his men, including watch commander Aida D. Fariscal, decided to investigate the situation and saw four hot plates in their packing crates, what looked like cotton batting soaked in a beige solution, and loops of green, red, blue, and yellow electrical wiring. The telephone rang, and the police ran downstairs, thinking that it was a trap.Fa riscal had been suspicious of the men in Room 603 due to the recent wave of bombings (committed by Yousef) that hit Metro Manila and Philippine Airlines Flight 434. Seeking a search warrant, they left and asked 11 judges before finding one that would grant a warrant. After police discovered the evidence, they arrested a man who called himself "Ahmed Saeed." "Saeed", who later proved to be Murad, claimed that he was a commercial pilot who was on his way to the precinct house to explain that what he claimed to be firecrackers had gone off. Murad initially tried to run away, but he was arrested after he tripped over a tree root. The arresting officer, having lost his handcuffs, improvised a solution by tying Murad's hands with the elastic cord taken from the officer's raincoat. Murad was hauled to the precinct in a taxi van with the help of two other people. He offered 110,740 Philippine pesos (US$2,000) to the policemen if they would agree to let him go, but the officers refused. At the precinct, Murad signed a statement saying that he was innocent and that he was a tourist visiting his friend in his chemical import/export business. He then mumbled about "two Satans that must be destroyed: the Pope and America." 55-year-old Fariscal was later depicted (although by a much younger actress) in the 2006 docudrama The Path to 9/11, in which US agencies in the script gave her much credit. An actress portrays her in the Mayday episode "Bomb on Board." The widow of a slain police officer, she had spent seventeen years as a homemaker before enrolling in the police department in 1977. She became well known in her home nation, which awarded her the equivalent of 33,222 pesos ($700) and a trip to Taiwan. The CIA awarded her a certificate reading "in recognition of your personal outstanding efforts and co-operation." Her decision to investigate the fire was key to disrupting the plot and forcing Yousef to flee. When the officers returned to Suite 603 at 2:30 am on January 7, they found: street maps of Manila with routes plotting the papal motorcade, a rosary, a photograph of the pontiff, bibles, crucifixes, papal confessions, and priest clothing, including robes and collars. This collection of objects, and a phone message from a tailor reminding the occupant that "the cassock was ready to be tried on", along with the fact of the Pope's impending visit, was enough for Police Major Francisco F. Bautista to infer that an assassination plot had been interrupted. A search warrant was granted by 4 am on January 7. The most conclusive piece of evidence found was a manual written in Arabic on how to build a liquid bomb. Stacks of 12 false passports, including Norwegian, Afghan, Saudi, and Pakistani were also found in the apartment. Investigators found a business card from Mohammed Jamal Khalifa; Saeed apparently possessed five telephone numbers from Khalifa. Investigators also found phone numbers for Rose Masquera, Mohammed's girlfriend. Yousef's project was discovered on four floppy disks and an off-white Toshiba laptop inside his apartment, two weeks before the plot would have been implemented. Several encrypted files on the hard drive contained flight schedules, calculations of detonation times, and other items. The first string of text in one of the files states, "All people who support the U.S. government are our targets in our future plans and that is because all those people are responsible for their government's actions and they support the U.S. foreign policy and are satisfied with it. We will hit all U.S. nuclear targets. If the U.S. government keeps supporting Israel, then we will continue to carry out operations inside and outside the United States to include..." and the text ends. A file named "Bojinka" lists the 11 flights between Asia and the United States, which were grouped under five codenames. Strings were found, such as "SETTING: 9:30 pm to 10:30 pm TIMER: 23HR. BOJINKA: 20:30-21:30 NRT Date 5" (for United flight 80), and "SETTING: 8:30-9:00. TIMER: 10HR. BOJINKA: 19:30-20:00 NRT Date 4" (for Northwest Flight 30).[7] The laptop had names of dozens of associates, including some photographs of a few of them and including contact information for Mohammed Jamal Khalifa. They contained records of information about five-star hotels, dealings with a London trading corporation, a meat market owner in Malaysia, and an Islamic center in Tucson, Arizona. Information about how money moved through an Abu Dhabi banking firm was found. A communication signed "Khalid Shaikh + Bojinka" was also found on Yousef's computer that threatened to attack targets "in response to the financial, political and military assistance given to the Jewish state in the occupied land of Palestine by the United States Government." The letter also said that the bombers claimed to have "ability to make and use chemicals and poisonous gas... for use against vital institutions and populations and the sources of drinking water." The letter also threatened to assassinate Fidel V. Ramos, the President of the Philippines at the time, as well as attack aircraft if the United States did not meet the group's demands. The letter said that the group claiming responsibility was the "Fifth Division of the Liberation Army".[7] The evidence found at the Doña Josefa filled three police vans. U.S. investigators did not find the connection with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to al-Qaeda until several years later. The 9/11 attacks evolved from the original Bojinka plot Khalid Sheikh Mohammed decided that explosives were too risky to use in his next plot, and chose instead to use airplanes. The plot was later revised and executed during the September 11 attacks. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in 2003. Yousef filed a motion for a new trial in 2001. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard the case on May 3, 2002, and announced on April 3, 2003 the decision that Yousef and his partners were to remain incarcerated.  

The Bojinka plot was one of the most imaginative and potentially devastating terrorist plans ever. Conceived by Ramzi Yousef it...

Agradece a este podcast tantas horas de entretenimiento y disfruta de episodios exclusivos como éste. ¡Apóyale en iVoox! Quien se crea a estas alturas, que los servicios secretos de USA no estaban enterados, de que se tramaba un plan terrorista para atacar el país con aviones, está totalmente equivocado. Sabían muy bien que esta era una de las pretensiones que tenían Al-Qaeda contra EE.UU. El plan Bojinka, pero parece que les vino muy bien la existencia de bin Laden y de Al-Qaeda. Bin Laden que por otra parte, solo fue culpado por los atentados a las embajadas en 1998, según la página del FBI, pero no de los atentados del 11/9 como nos han intentado vender. Hoy junto con Diego Camacho, José Herradon, Albert Galdor y Jesús Pertierra, trataremos estos temas.Escucha este episodio completo y accede a todo el contenido exclusivo de La Rueda del Misterio. Descubre antes que nadie los nuevos episodios, y participa en la comunidad exclusiva de oyentes en https://go.ivoox.com/sq/4754

How, in 1995, investigators in the Philippines stumbled upon a terrorist plot that would reverberate in the world's memory for years to come.

This podcast takes a look at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the incomplete job they're doing making the skies safe over America.

This podcast takes a look at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the incomplete job they're doing making the skies safe over America.