THE PERPLEXING PUZZLE OF THE PUBLISHED PASSENGER LISTS
Sat Oct 13 14:58:57 2001
Gary North's REALITY CHECK
Number 82 October 12, 2001
THE PERPLEXING PUZZLE OF THE PUBLISHED PASSENGER LISTS
Maybe you like puzzles. I hope so. I don't like them. I regard them as a challenge, not a
game. I avoid them because, when I cannot find a solution, my mind won't stop working on
them. Then I get very frustrated. So, I
avoid magic shows, crossword puzzles, and similar brain- twisters.
Yet I am also a historian with a Ph.D. Historians are trained to solve puzzles with
insufficient pieces. Historians never have all of the evidence that they would like
in order to come up with a coherent explanation of what happened. They always want another
piece in the puzzle before they go into print. (Of course, once they go into print, they
will tend to reject any newly discovered piece that messes up their version of the
completed puzzle.) At some point, they are supposed to come to a conclusion. They are
supposed to make a judgment about what happened.
I am presently stuck. So, I am sending out this report. Maybe there is someone my list who
can get me unstuck.
Years ago, I saw a movie, "My Cousin Vinnie." Vinnie was studying to be a
lawyer. He wasn't a good classroom
student, but he had a unique ability. He could figure out how things fit together. Show
him a magic trick, and he
could tell you how the magician did it. Tell him a story with a missing link, and he could
identify where the missing link was, and maybe what it was. He could solve puzzles.
I am trying to locate Vinnie.
This puzzle is no game. The United States has gone to war on the basis of one solution to
this puzzle. We have not yet been told what this solution is.
The puzzle begins with the crash of four airliners. We must work our way backward from
this.
To do this, I decided to begin with official information that was published 16 days after
the attack. To work my way backwards, I first leaped forward.
ALLEGED HIJACKERS
On September 27, the Associated Press released a story about the hijackers. The version
that I read, published in
the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, referred to these men as alleged hijackers. I shall do
the same.
I located this article by using www.daypop.com Daypop
is the most complete archive of recent news stories
on the Web. Daypop allows you to search for stories that are up to four weeks old.
I searched for "passenger list" and "hijackers." Daypop produced
three pages of links -- not that many.
Almost all of these links were to the same AP story, which was published by numerous
on-line news sources. Here is the version I used.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/terrorism/nation/0927hijackerlist.html
The headline reads: "FBI releases updated list of alleged hijackers." Above the
headline is a link that says, "Click here to see 19 suspected hijackers." I
clicked it. A large box popped up. It took a while for the photos to appear. There are 19
photos, along with names. The names appear to be Middle Eastern -- Arabs. Most of
the men look like Arabs, although a few might pass as Mexicans. Only one of them looked
vaguely like a European.
They are divided into four lists, according to which flight they are said to have boarded.
There were five men on American Airlines Flight 77, five on AA Flight 11, five on United
Airlines Flight 175, and four on UA Flight 93 --
the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania.
Let's return to the AP story itself. We read the following:
As Attorney General John Ashcroft launched a "national neighborhood watch" with
the release of the photos, FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged that questions
remained about whether an accompanying list contained the true names of the 19.
"What we are currently doing is determining whether, when these individuals came to
the United States, these were their real names or they changed their names for use with
false identification in the United States," Mueller
said.
The FBI director said there was evidence that one or more of the hijackers had had
contacts with al-Qaida, the network associated with Osama bin Laden, the exiled Saudi
millionaire who is the Bush administration's top suspect in the attacks.
This story indicates that, as of September 27, the FBI was not certain whether these
suspects had used their real
names. The remainder of the story listed each of their names, along with possible aliases.
The aliases all look
like Arab names.
I have discovered no additional information released to the general public regarding these
suspects.
I now backtrack to the morning of September 11. The issue that I am trying to deal with is
airline security.
To draw rational conclusions about how the alleged hijackers accomplished their acts of
terrorism, we must
begin with airline security.
The United States has now gone to war because of a breakdown somewhere in airline security
procedures. Yet
nobody in government is blaming the specific airlines. They are blaming the procedures.
This is why I want you
mentally to go through the procedures with me. I have hit a brick wall. I am asking you to
help me knock it down. I
will show you how I went through the procedures mentally. See if you can figure out which
step I missed.
Step One is check-in.
STEP ONE: CHECK-IN
On September 11, airline check-in counters were the only places in the United States that
required travellers
to present a photo ID in order to travel. A photo ID meant (and still means) a card issued
by some branch of civil
government. Years ago, the United States government took the first step toward a national
ID card when it mandated the requirement that all passengers present a photo ID card
before being allowed to get on a commercial airplane.
This means that the tightest security that the typical American ever confronts is airport
security. This is the
model for all other security systems governing the general public.
Let's go through the check-in routine together. Pretend that it's September 11, and
you are a check-in agent at either a United Airlines counter or an American Airlines
counter. It is your job to ask the standard questions. "Did you pack your own
luggage? Have you had it in your possession at all times?" Then you ask for a photo
ID. The name on the ID must match the name on the ticket. The photo must match the person
presenting the card.
I began with American Airlines, Flight 11. This was the plane that crashed into the north
tower of the World
Trade Center. I began with the list of passengers. This was not difficult. The passenger
lists for all four planes
are posted on CNN's Website.
Click on the link. This is a long link for the formatting of my newsletter. If it is
broken on your screen, you will have to paste it into your Web browser's address box. This
will take two steps.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/victims/AA11.victims.html
The CNN page says that there were 92 people on board. I suggest that you print out the
list. Part of my exercise
was to count the names of the passengers. Besides, you never know when a Web page will
disappear.
Do you have the print-out in front of you? Count the names. I get 86 names, including the
crew. But the CNN
page says 92 people were on board.
None of the 86 names is an Arab name. This is very, very strange. First, how did the CNN
list-compiler know
that there were 92 people on board? Five of them are not listed. Second, how did anyone
get on board who was not on the list of ticketed passengers?
To get onto the flight legally, each passenger had to have a ticket with his or her name
on it. Each passenger
had to present a photo ID to the check-in agent. The check-in agent was supposed to look
at the picture and the
person, and then make a judgment. Was it the same person? If the mandated procedure was
followed, the check-in agent decided that the ticket's name, the photo ID's name, the
photo, and the ID-holder's face all matched. If there was any doubt, the check-in agent
was supposed to ask for some other form of identification. If there was none, the
person was not allowed to board the plane.
We are told by the United States government that five Arabs somehow got through this
initial screening procedure.
How did they do this? This is puzzle number one regarding Flight 11. Puzzle number two has
to do with the incomplete passenger list.
Airlines keep a list of passengers on board. This is for insurance purposes, should there
be a crash. It is also for the purpose of notifying relatives after a crash. It is also
for the purpose of in-cabin screening. "Has everyone paid who is on the plane?"
And, finally, is there a hijacker on board?
On American Airlines Flight 11, there were no Arab names on the passenger list. So, how
does the government
know who the hijackers were?
Why does CNN's Web page list 92 dead, when there are only 86 name listed? Who was the
non-Arab?
I have seen nothing about government accusations against American Airlines for substandard
check-in security
procedures. In fact, I have seen nothing about the discrepancy between the published names
and the published
numbers regarding how many people were on board.
Let's go to American Airlines Flight 77. This plane crashed into the Pentagon.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/victims/AA77.victims.html
We are told that 64 people were on board. I count 56, including 6 crew members. There is
no explanation offered
for the absence of 8 names. There is no Arab name on this list.
Something is definitely wrong here.
What about United Airlines? Did the company's employees follow the same check-in
procedure? Presumably,
they did. I checked Flight 175, which crashed into the south tower.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/victims/ua175.victims.html
There were 56 people on board, according to CNN's summation. I printed out the list. I
counted the names.
Once again, they don't add up. The summation says there were 2 pilots, 7 flight
attendants, and 56 passengers. I
counted the names. The total is 56 -- the number attributed to the passengers. Nine names
are missing.
None of the listed names is Arab.
This leaves United Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania. It had 45 people on board,
according to the
summation.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/victims/ua93.victims.html
Again, there is a discrepancy. Only 33 names appear on the list. A dozen names are
missing. Among the missing
names are the four Arabs who allegedly hijacked the plane.
So, the published names in no instance match the total listed for the number of people on
board. CNN really
should offer an explanation for this discrepancy.
In no case does an Arab name appear on a list, let alone one of the alleged hijackers.
How did CNN fail to count the names accurately? Did the airlines not provide the full list
of each flight's
names? Perhaps so.
This raises the next question. 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? Finally, why are there no Arabs listed on any of these lists, let alone the
specific Arabs identified by
the Attorney General and the head of the FBI in an Associated Press story?
I do not understand how 19 Arabs could have evaded the check-in procedures. I also do not
understand why every
passenger's name is not on the published lists.
I have seen no other source of the passenger lists. (Another search word:
"manifests.") It has now been over a
month since the attack. Where is a complete list? I don't know. Where is a complete list
of all four flights that
has the alleged hijackers' names on it? I don't know.
Finally, where is some enterprising reporter who is trying to get answers? I don't know.
What about Step Two?
STEP TWO: ON-BOARD SEATING
There were multiple terrorists in the cabin of each plane when the plane left the ground.
They did not get
there through the ticket-screening system. Or did they? If they did, then how?
I assume here -- again, maybe I am wrong -- that they got there through another entrance.
Maybe they were part
of the food service team.
These were all cross-country flights. The planes were loaded with lots of fuel, which is
why they were selected:
flying bombs. On cross-country flights, passengers still are given meals, not just
pretzels and soft drinks. The
number of meals is supposed to match the number of people on board, or at least come
close.
Flight attendants have a list of passengers and their assigned seats. This is to enable
them to identify
passengers who have requested special meals, such as kosher meals. It is also to enable
them to identify people who have not bought a ticket. Flight attendants are supposed to
know who has been assigned to which seat.
It is September 11. Here is the situation: there are an extra five men on three flights,
and four extra men on
Flight 93.
You have already seen the photos of these men. If I had been a flight attendant, and I saw
five extra men who
looked like they did -- young, Arabic, and without tickets -- I would have asked them to
explain why they were on
board. I would not have assumed that they belonged there.
Are we to assume that on four separate flights, none of the flight attendants noticed that
something was wrong?
Are we to believe that they failed to notice that five or four extra passengers were on
board who were not on the
passenger list? Furthermore, these men looked as though they were of one ethnic group.
They all had Arabic
accents, I presume.
Why did the flight attendants ignore all this? There is no indication from the government
that these men took
over all four planes while the planes were still on the ground. Even if they had, the
pilots would not have taken
off if there were hijackers on board. They would have waited to hear the demands, and the
demand to "take off
now" would have been refused by at least one flight crew -- and I believe all four.
We need a theory of the co-ordinated hijacking that rests on a plausible cause-and-effect
sequence that does
not assume the complete failure of both the check-in procedures and the on-board seating
procedures on four
separate flights on two separate airlines. If the explanation does rely on a theory of
check-in procedural
breakdown, where is the evidence?
I have heard no such theory from the government. I have heard no such theory from the news
media. In fact, I
have heard neither the government nor the mainstream media even mention these perplexing
problems. Perhaps you have. If so, I would like to see the Web link or a reference
to the newspaper or other source where these matters have been discussed.
I don't mean this or that discussion forum devoted to conspiracy theories. I mean the
mainstream press. It is very peculiar that the mainstream media and the government have
not offered a detailed theory of how the hijackers
evaded both the check-in procedures and the pre-takeoff seating procedures.
Perhaps some airline industry publication has dealt with this. If so, I would like to see
the document.