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October 27, 2005

Lou Dobbs is keeping the focus on Able Danger

The best part is, Lou sticks with a story, and something about Able Danger has caught his attention. Personally, I'm hoping Lou will set up one of those calendars he uses - to keep track of how many days all of the witnesses in the Able Danger story have been gagged. If you count September 21st as Day One (although it might technically be even longer) then today is already Day Thirty-Seven.

From last night:

DOBBS: Colonel Anthony Shaffer's attorney Mark Zaid joins me now.

Mark, thanks for being with us.

MARK ZAID, COL. ANTHONY SHAFFER'S ATTORNEY: Thank you.

DOBBS: What is your response to what Slade Gorton said there?

ZAID: Well, I think the first thing is that someone should remind Senator Gorton he's no longer talking on the Senate floor where he has immunity from defamation, because he's going perilously close to crossing the line with his attacks on Tony Shaffer who, by the way, is -- his statements are being supported by half a dozen or so more career civil servants within the military and the defense contracting community.

So it's just nonsense with his statements that, in fact, he's talking about things he just doesn't know, and that's the problem.

He doesn't know because the Defense Department never gave the 9/11 Commission the crucial information.

DOBBS: Never gave them the information.

Dr. Eileen Pricer (ph), Captain Scott Philpott, both DOD, and J.D. Smith (ph), a defense contractor -- did any of those individuals who support your client, Colonel Shaffer -- have any of them made any progress in communicating with the 9/11 Commission, with the government here?

ZAID: Well, Shaffer spoke to them in October of '03, as the senator said, and then they asked the DOD for more information. When the DOD -- what we didn't know at the time was that the Defense Department had destroyed millions and millions of the documents that the Able Danger team had come up with, so it's no surprise that the commission then didn't have the information.

Then, Scott Philpott goes to them in July of '04, only about a week or so before the committee's report was issued, so it was too late to do anything.

Where the senator fails to address is the issue that if the commission had gone back to Shaffer in January of '04, when he tried not once but twice to talk to them and said one sentence, "Mr. Shaffer, we're not finding any documents that support your claims. Can you point us in the direction we should go?"

If they had done that, Shaffer could have gone back to his office at DIA and obtained the info.

And J.D. Smith, my other client, actually had a copy of the chart -- the chart that everyone is looking for -- with Mohamed Atta's name and photo, had it hanging in his wall. That chart then was destroyed several months later, and the DIA destroyed Shaffer's documents.

DOBBS: I'm unclear about who would take a picture, a chart off a wall for an active DOD project without their permission or knowledge?

ZAID: No.

By this time, Able Danger actually had ceased by late 2000, early 2001.

And the copy of the chart that J.D. Smith had was a draft copy that he had just kept as a memento. And when he moved his offices, the paper the chart was on was so frail it just fell apart and was destroyed. That didn't happen until the summer of 2004.

If the commission had actually followed up and done its due diligence, the chart would exist today in their hands and what Senator Gorton says was irrelevant probably would have been featured prominently in their report.

DOBBS: As another member of the commission, Tim Roemer, has said on this broadcast, he never saw the chart, no one has ever been able to produce the chart, he would have loved to have seen the chart.

ZAID: Absolutely.

And I can tell you also that Senator Gorton is not necessarily speaking for the entire 9/11 Commission.

I know of meetings with at least one commission member -- and it's not who you just referenced -- who does not agree with what Senator Gorton is saying.

DOBBS: Well, let's find out, what is the next step here? Because Congressman Curt Weldon, who is doing an outstanding job of advocacy for truth here and trying to get to the truth, and Senator Specter holing hearings on the Judiciary Committee on this very issue -- what happens next? How do we get to the truth?

ZAID: Yes.

And the Defense Department has been blocking the Senate Judiciary from pursuing their investigation. I had to testify in the place of my clients because DOD wouldn't allow it.

We're hopeful that somewhere within the grand canyon of the government and in the defense contractors that additional information, and especially the documents, someone will find some copies.

We do know that there is at least another person coming forward soon who will say the same assertion that Shaffer and Philpott and Price and the others have been.

So what's their motive? What exactly did these people have to gain by lying? Even the Defense Department says that they're credible witnesses, but unfortunately there is no documents. But we know in this town, just because there's no documents -- hey, 18 minutes off the Nixon tape disappeared. Do we think there wasn't anything on those 18 minutes? We just have to find it.

DOBBS: Mark Zaid, we thank you for being here representing Colonel Anthony Shaffer. We will continue along with you to try to get to the bottom as best we can of this remarkable controversy on able danger...

ZAID: Thank you.

DOBBS: And who knew what a year before 9/11.

Congressman Curt Weldon as we just mentioned, leading an investigation being and a remarkable advocate for both your clients and for the truth here. Thank you.

Posted by Mike at October 27, 2005 06:34 PM

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