Centre for Research on Globalisation

Centre de recherche sur la mondialisation

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TIMELINE: Daniel Pearl and The Paymaster of 9/11

by Chaim Kupferberg

Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG),  Centre de recherche sur la mondialisation (CRM),  globalresearch.ca ,   27 September/ septembre 2002

What follows is a comprehensive chronicle of an organized (and fatally flawed) disinformation campaign concerning the "smoking gun" of 9/11.  Read it and decide for yourself what this ultimately means for the credibility of those who have shaped your perceptions over the events of September 11.

This Timeline has been based mostly on the contents of an article by Chaim Kupferberg, entitled 9/11 and The Smoking Gun that turned on its Tracker,


 

September 11, 2001:

The World Trade Center is destroyed. That morning, Pakistani ISI Chief Mahmud Ahmad is sitting down for breakfast in Washington, D.C. with Sen. Bob Graham and Rep. Porter Goss -  both of whom will later head the Congressional Committee to investigate the events surrounding September 11.

September 18, 2001:

CBS News reports: "...agents have uncovered a money trail that they hope will lead to the hijackers' accomplices."

September 30, 2001:

ABC News "This Week" reports that the $100,000 money trail "can be traced directly to people linked to Osama bin Laden."

October 1, 2001:

Judith Miller of the New York Times reveals that the money was wired by someone using the alias "Mustafa Ahmad".  The Guardian reports that Mustafa Ahmad is the alias for a "Sheikh Saeed." 

That day, an attack is launched on the Kashmiri provincial legislature, increasing tensions between India and Pakistan.

October 3, 2001:

British Prime Minister Tony Blair releases his report detailing the "persuasive case" against bin Laden, yet no explicit mention is made of the "smoking gun" money trail.

New York Newsday reporters Riley and Brune reveal that Mustafa Ahmad is an alias for a "Shaykh Sai-id, who has been identified as a high-ranking bin Laden financial lieutenant."  They also identify him as an Egyptian linked to the 1998 Tanzania Embassy bombing. 

October 6-8, 2001:

Maria Ressa of CNN reports that 9/11 paymaster Mustafa Ahmad is an alias for a "Sheikh Syed", a 28-year old Pakistani former student at the London School of Economics who was released from an Indian prison in 1999 after being bartered for hostages taken in an airline hijacking that was  "strikingly similar to the four hijackings carried out on September 11."  Ressa also links "Syed" (hereafter known as Omar Saeed) to the October 1 attack on the Kashmiri legislature.

The invasion of Afghanistan begins.

Pakistani ISI General Mahmud Ahmad (not to be confused with the 9/11 paymaster alias "Mustafa Ahmad") is suddenly dismissed by Pakistani President Musharraf.

October 9, 2001:

The Times of India reports that General Ahmad was dismissed "because of the evidence India produced to show his links to one of the suicide bombers that wrecked the World Trade Center.  The U.S. authorities sought his removal after confirming the fact that $100,000 were wired to WTC hijacker Mohammed Atta from Pakistan by [Omar Saeed] at the instance of General Mahmud [Ahmad].

From this date, an intensive cover-up effort is set in motion. Omar Saeed mostly disappears from the Western mainstream media until his re-emergence in Britain's Telegraph, January 27, 2002.  

October 10, 2001:

Vernon Loeb and Alan Sipress of the Washington Post report that General Ahmad was "purged" from  the ISI due to his pro-Taliban sympathies.  No mention is made of Omar Saeed, the money trail, or any actual links to al-Qaida.  

October 13, 2001:

The Associated Press reports that "the government has widened its financial dragnet," including on a new list "Sa'd Al-Sharif, a brother-in-law of bin Laden and a senior associate believed to head bin Laden's complex financial network."

October 14, 2001:

The Times of India reports: "Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terrorist group has now formally and publicly adopted the Kashmir issue as one of their causes..."

November 2001:

Omar Saeed is "secretly" indicted by the Justice Department for a 1994 kidnapping of an American tourist. 

November 11, 2001:

Newsweek reports that "Mustafa Ahmad" is an alias for a 33-year old Saudi named "Shaikh Saiid."  According to Newsweek, "Shaikh Saiid" was caught on surveillance video picking up a package in Dubai mailed by hijacker Mohammed Atta. 

December 11, 2001:

The court indictments against alleged "twentieth hijacker", Zacarias  Moussaoui, are unsealed.  The indictments mention "Mustafa Ahmad" as the 9/11 paymaster.   

December 13, 2001:

The Bush Administration unveils its definitive "smoking gun" - the bin Laden videotape that "captures" bin Laden boasting of his involvement in the events of September 11.

A brazen suicide attack is launched on the Indian Parliament in Delhi, bringing India and Pakistan to the brink of war. 

December 18, 2001:

The Associated Press reports that the alias "Mustafa Ahmad" belongs to bin Laden's 33-year old brother-in-law, a Saudi named "Shaihk Saiid, also known as Sa'd al-Sharif..." According to the Associated Press: "Saiid allegedly wired money to Atta in preparation for the Sept. 11 attacks, according to court documents [presumably the Moussaoui indictments of the week before]."

If the Associated Press is correct, then this person has had his assets actually frozen twice - once, on Sept. 23, 2001, when Bush's Global Terrorist Executive Order listed a "Shaykh Sai'id (aka Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad)"; and a second time, on Oct. 13, 2001, when he was listed as "Sa'd Al-Sharif." 

Thereafter, the news on the money trail remains sparse.  No further news reports explicitly link bin Laden's "brother-in-law"  to the money trail.

January 22, 2001:

A terror attack is launched on the American Cultural Center in Calcutta.  A gangster based out of Dubai, Aftab Ansari, claims responsibility.  The Times of India reports that Ansari had furnished Omar Saeed with the $100,000 to pay the  9/11 hijackers.  As the Times of India reports it, this fact is revealed by Indian intelligence to FBI Director Robert Mueller, who is in India that day.

January 23, 2001:

Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan.

January 27, 2002:

Omar Saeed re-emerges in the mainstream Western media when the Telegraph links him to the January 22 Calcutta attack.  The Telegraph also identifies Omar Saeed as "one of the key financiers of Mohammed Atta."  At this point, Saeed has not been connected to the Pearl kidnapping.

February 6, 2002:

The Associated Press reports that Omar Saeed is the main suspect in the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl.  He is reported to be still at large.  It is later revealed that Omar Saeed had actually surrendered himself to ISI custody the day before.

February 9, 2002:

President Musharraf accuses Indian intelligence of playing a role in Daniel Pearl's kidnapping.  Pakistani police sources claim that they have traced, with FBI assistance, the cell phone calls - used to lure Pearl - to "numbers for an Indian cabinet minister and two members of parliament."  This is almost an exact mirror image of the Oct. 9 Times of India bombshell that put the blame on Pakistan.  

February 10, 2002:

TIME Magazine's Unmesh Kher offhandedly mentions Omar Saeed's $100,000 link to 9/11.  The Associated Press also reports on Omar Saeed's role as 9/11 paymaster, thereby refuting its December 18 designation of bin Laden's 33-year old Saudi brother-in-law as paymaster.  No mention is made of the discrepancy. 

Officially, the authorities are still looking for Omar Saeed.

February 12, 2002:

It is announced that Omar Saeed has been officially "arrested" on that day.  At some point it is revealed that Saeed was tracked by Pakistani authorities with help from the FBI.

February 13, 2002:

The Times of India backs away from its bombshell article of October 9, now saying that "there was no evidence to indicate that [ISI General Ahmad] was aware that [Omar Saeed's $100,000 money transfer] was meant for the terrorist strikes in the U.S."  

February 14, 2002:

The Times of India provides details as to how Aftab Ansari worked with Omar Saeed to provide the $100,000 money transfer.  Ansari had conveniently been deported to India from Dubai about the same time that Omar Saeed was making headlines as the main suspect in the Pearl kidnapping.  It appears that Ansari has formally replaced General Ahmad as Omar Saeed's 9/11 paymaster accomplice.

Mid - Late February 2002:

Various mainstream news sources link Omar Saeed to either al-Qaida or the ISI.  No mention at all is made of his alleged connection to General Ahmad.  Most mainstream sources still fail to explicitly connect him to the money trail.

As regards the money trail, some news sources at this point still claim that the paymaster with the alias "Mustafa Ahmad" is still at large. 

February 18,2002:

Khan and Moore of the Washington Post report Saeed's links to the Oct.1 attack in Kashmir, the December 13 attack on the Indian parliament, and the January 22 attack in Calcutta - all "aimed at provoking India into taking action against Pakistan."   While the article remains silent on Saeed's links to the money trail, it reveals that Saeed traveled to Afghanistan "a few days after September 11" to meet Osama bin Laden.  The article also mentions Saeed's admitted "relationship with Aftab Ansari", yet only in the context of the January 22 Calcutta attack, and not the money trail.

February 28, 2002:

CNN reports that Omar Saeed was "secretly" indicted back in November for a 1994 kidnapping.  "Justice Department officials won't say what prompted that indictment, which came more than six years after the incident."

March 14, 2002:

An indictment is filed in the United States against Omar Saeed for the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl.  Saeed has now officially been indicted for two kidnappings.  No mention is made of his alleged involvement as the 9/11 paymaster.

April 29, 2002:

Tim McGirk of TIME Magazine provides a detailed account of General Ahmad's dismissal from the ISI due to his "pro-Taliban sympathies."  While elsewhere in the article, McGirk briefly mentions "Pearl's kidnappers," at no point does he mention Omar Saeed by name - abiding by a heretofore mainstream pattern of never mentioning General Ahmad and Omar Saeed in the same article.

July 15, 2002:

Omar Saeed is sentenced to hang in Pakistan for the murder of Daniel Pearl.  At no point have American officials gone on record as evincing any interest in Omar Saeed's connections to the 9/11 hijackers.

August 2002:

A Vanity Fair article on Daniel Pearl by Robert Sam Anson explicitly links Omar Saeed to the money trail through Aftab Ansari. No mention is made of General Ahmad.

September 26, 2002:

An Associated Press article by John Lumpkin reports that FBI Director Robert Mueller has introduced a new "financier" behind 9/11:  "Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, who allegedly shifted thousands of dollars before the attacks from the United Arab Emirates..."

The article also reveals:  "Two other chief financiers have previously been named: Mustafa Ahmed al-Hisawi, believed to be bin Laden's financial chief Shaikh Saiid al-Sharif [i.e., the bin Laden brother-in-law mentioned on Dec. 18], and Ramzi Binalshibh...Shaikh Saiid is still at-large."

For a second time, the Associated Press has refuted itself concerning the identity of the 9/11 paymaster, this time ignoring its February 10 article that identified Omar Saeed as paymaster.

As of this date, no media outlet or government official has ever acknowledged any discrepancy or confusion concerning the identity of the 9/11 paymaster. 


The preceding timeline reveals a concerted effort to obscure and confuse this one particular issue beyond all understanding. 

This chronicle is a comprehensive expose of that effort.  Special thanks to Paul Thompson of the Center For Cooperative Research in contributing to this timeline.


For details on the role of Pakistan's Military Intelligence, see Michel Chossudovsky, Political Deception: The Missing Link behind 9/11   and The Role of Pakistan's Military Intelligence Agency (ISI) in the September 11 Attacks,


Chaim Kupferberg is a freelance researcher, writer and frequent CRG contributor.  Copyright Chaim Kupferberg 2002. Permission is granted to post this text on non-commercial community internet sites, provided the source and the URL are indicated, the essay remains intact and the copyright note is displayed.  For fair use only/ pour usage �quitable seulement .


The URL of this article is:
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KUP209C.html

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