Posting on HC Groups

I’ve twice edited posts today, one that advocated killing Philip Zelikow and one that advocated using thermite, presumably against the “9/11 minders,” or perhaps the building they work in. It was not clear, and I don’t want to know.

Let me remind everyone of this caveat, published in the “About This Blog” page.

[T]he content providers who handle the material on this blog will not, repeat, will not tolerate personal attacks, ugly invective, spam, trolling, flame wars, commercial proselytizing, racial slurs, ethnic attacks, pornographic postings, advocacy of violence, or anything of that nature in the posts and comments. There will be no warnings except for this one. Posts and comments that violate this prohibition will be deleted without warning, and if users continue to attempt to post such material, they will be banned. Sorry, but there are a million flame pits on the Internet. This will not become one of those places. The proprietors and administrators of this blog are the final arbiters of what will and will not be allowed.

I’ve given edits and warnings instead of following my own guidelines and banning the two violators outright. Maybe that About page isn’t obvious enough. Maybe some people just don’t care what the guidelines are. So let me make this as clear as I can.

You are welcome to state your opinion. Whether I agree with it or not, or other Commons editors and contributors agree, is irrelevant. However, NO poster will be allowed to publish comments that advocate violence towards anyone or anything, period the end. No discussion, no appeals.

This makes two warnings. I do not intend to give a third. Please, conduct yourselves with that minimum amount of decorum and restraint.

Newly Released Memo: Government ‘Minders’ at 9/11 Commission Interviews ‘Intimidated’ Witnesses

A recently released 9/11 Commission memo highlights the role of government “minders” who accompanied witnesses interviewed by the commission. It was added to the National Archives’ files at the start of the year and discovered there by History Commons contributor paxvector.

The Usefulness of KSM’s Interrogations: Very Low

Emptywheel has a post analysing the effectiveness of detainee interrogations based on references in the 9/11 Commission report to interrogations of Abu Zubaida. She says she plans to extend this method to KSM’s interrogations cited in the commission’s report, and gives an example of one of his alleged statements as possible evidence of him giving up new information to interrogators. However, in the example she uses the US already knew most (at least) of what the commission attributes to him.

Alleged 9/11 Mastermind Travelled to South Africa in Run-up to Attacks

A newly released FBI document shows that alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, usually referred to as KSM (timeline), travelled to South Africa in the run-up to the 9/11 attacks. There he received a wire transfer from Saeed Alghamdi, one of the presumed hijackers of Flight 93 on September 11.

Former 9/11 Commission Vice Chairman Makes Bizarre Comments about Intelligence Failures before Attacks

Former 9/11 Commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton recently made some bizarre comments about the Zacarias Moussaoui case in an interview for Vanity Fair. The interview was used for a wide-ranging and very interesting oral history of the Bush White House. Hamilton’s comments appear to show complete ignorance of a key aspect of the investigation of which he was vice chair.

9/11 Commission Documents Related to Saeed Sheikh (updated 6 December 2009)

This post lists documents related to the 9/11 Commission’s investigation of the Pakistan money connection, which is related to the Saeed Sheikh allegations. The documents have been posted at the History Commons site at Scribd. I am reading through them gradually and highlighting interesting information. This post will be updated if and when I find new information about the topic.

9/11 Commission Documents Related to Alleged Hijackers (last updated 30 September 2009)

This post lists documents related to the 9/11 Commission’s investigation of the alleged hijackers. The documents have been posted at the 9/11 Document Archive at Scribd. I am reading through them gradually and highlighting interesting information. This post will be updated continuously.

Newly Released DOJ Memos Support Account of Torture of KSM’s Children using Insects

A set of memos recently released by the Obama administration provide some support for allegations that the children of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) were tortured to reveal their father’s whereabouts. A detainee’s relative said that they had been tortured with insects in 2007, and the newly released memos approve the use of insects as a part of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques.

Miscellaneous 9/11 Commission Documents (last updated 18 March 2010)

This post lists miscellaneous documents related to the 9/11 Commission’s investigation of the attacks. The documents have been posted at the 9/11 Document Archive at Scribd. I am reading through them gradually and highlighting interesting information. This post will be updated continuously.

9/11 Commission Documents Related to White House Document Battle (last updated 21 June 2009)

This post lists a set of documents related to the 9/11 Commission’s battle over document access with the White House. The documents have been posted at the History Commons site at Scribd. I am reading through them gradually and highlighting interesting information. This post will be updated continuously.