Report of the 9/11 Commission

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233. DOD note, transcript of Air Threat Conference Call, Sept. 11, 2001.

234. Donald Rumsfeld interview (Jan. 30, 2004).At 11:15, Secretary Rumsfeld spoke to the President and told him DOD was working on refining the rules of engagement so pilots would have a better understanding of the circumstances under which an aircraft could be shot down. See, e.g., DOD notes, Stephen Cambone notes, Sept. 11, 2001. DOD did not circulate written rules of engagement until sometime after 1:00 P.M. See DOD memo, rules of engagement, Sept. 11, 2001 (faxed to Andrews Air Force Base at 1:45 P.M.).

235. David Wherley interview (Feb. 27, 2004).

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236.The 113th Wing first learned from the FAA tower at Andrews that the Secret Service wanted fighters air-borne.The FAA tower had been contacted by personnel at FAA headquarters, who were on an open line with senior agents from the President's detail. See Nelson Garabito interview (Mar. 11, 2004); Terry Van Steenbergen interview (Mar. 30, 2004). On the Secret Service agent relaying instructions, see USSS memo, Beauchamp to AD-Inspection, September 11 experience, Feb. 23, 2004. On the order to fly weapons free, see David Wherley interview (Feb. 27, 2004); DOD memo, interview of David Wherley, Oct. 3, 2001, p. 12.

237. President Bush and Vice President Cheney meeting (Apr. 29, 2004).

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238. These estimates are based on analysis of Boeing 757 maximum operating speed data, FAA and military radar data, and assumptions regarding how the airplane would be operated en route to the Washington, D.C., area. The shortest time frame assumes maximum speed without regard to overspeed warnings, a straight-line path, and no time allowed for maneuvering or slowing to aim and crash the airplane into its target.The probable time frame allows for speeds consistent with the observed operation of the airplane prior to its final maneuvers and crash, as well as for maneuvers and slowing in the D.C. area to take aim.According to radar data, the fighters from Langley Air Force Base arrived over Washington at about 10:00 A.M. Two of the three Langley fighters were fully armed (i.e., with missiles and guns); the third fighter carried only guns. Craig Borgstrom interview (Dec. 1, 2003).

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239. For the pilots' awareness, see Dean Eckmann interview (Dec. 1, 2003); Bradley Derrig interview (Dec. 1, 2003); Craig Borgstrom interview (Dec. 1, 2003). For the quotation, see Dean Eckmann interview (Dec. 1, 2003). 240. For no authority at 10:10, see NEADS audio file, Mission Crew Commander, channel 2. For shootdown

authority at 10:31, see DOD record, Continental Region chat log, Sept. 11, 2001. For possibility of ordering a shoot-down, see Larry Arnold interview (Feb. 2, 2004).

241. NEADS audio file, Identification Technician position, recorder 1, channel 4, 10:02:22.

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2 The Foundation of the New Terrorism

1. "Text of World Islamic Front's Statement Urging Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders," Al Quds al Arabi, Feb. 23, 1998 (trans. Foreign Broadcast Information Service), which was published for a large Arab world audience and signed by Usama Bin Ladin,Ayman al Zawahiri (emir of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad),Abu Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha (leader of the Egyptian Islamic Group), Mir Hamzah (secretary of the Jamiat ul Ulema e Pakistan), and Fazlul Rah-man (head of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh).

2. "Hunting Bin Ladin," PBS Frontline broadcast, May 1998 (online at www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ shows/binladen/who/interview.html).

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3. Usama Bin Ladin,"Declaration of War Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places," Aug. 23, 1996 (trans., online at www.terrorismfiles.org/individuals/declaration_of_jihad1.html). 4."Hunting Bin Ladin," PBS Frontline broadcast, May 1998.

5. Ibid.

6. For a classic passage conveying the nostalgic view of Islam's spread, see Henri Pirenne, A History of Europe, trans. Bernard Miall (University Books, 1956), pp. 25-26.

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7. See Martin Marty and R. Scott Appleby, eds., Fundamentalism Observed, vol. 1 (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1994).

8. See Emmanuel Sivan, Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics, enlarged ed. (Yale Univ. Press, 1990).

9. From the perspective of Islamic, not Arab, history, the Baghdad Caliphate's destruction by the Mongols in 1292 marks the end not of Islamic greatness but of Arab dominance of the Muslim world. Moghul India, Safavid Persia, and, above all, the Ottoman Empire were great Islamic powers that arose long after the Baghdad Caliphate fell.

10. Bin Ladin,"Declaration of War," Aug. 23, 1996.

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11.The Muslim Brotherhood, which arose in Egypt in 1928 as a Sunni religious/nationalist opposition to the British-backed Egyptian monarchy, spread throughout the Arab world in the mid-twentieth century. In some countries, its oppositional role is nonviolent; in others, especially Egypt, it has alternated between violent and nonviolent struggle with the regime.

12. Sayyid Qutb, Milestones (American Trust Publications, 1990). Qutb found sin everywhere, even in rural midwestern churches. Qutb's views were best set out in Sayyid Qutb,"The America I Have Seen" (1949), reprinted in Kamal Abdel-Malek, ed., America in an Arab Mirror: Images of America in Arabic Travel Literature:An Anthology (Palgrave, 2000).

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13. For a good introduction to Qutb, see National Public Radio broadcast, "Sayyid Qutb's America," May 6, 2003 (online at www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1253796.html).

14. "Bin Laden's 'Letter to America,'" Observer Worldview, Nov. 24, 2002 (trans., online at http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worldview/story/0,11581,845725,00.html). The al Qaeda letter was released in conjunction with the release of an audio message from Bin Ladin himself.

15. Ibid.

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16. See Arab Human Development Report 2003 (United Nations, 2003), a report prepared by Arabs that examines not only standard statistical data but also more sensitive social indicators recently identified by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen. It says little, however, about the political dimensions of economic and social trends. See Mark LeVine, "The UN Arab Human Development Report: A Critique," Middle East Report, July 26, 2002 (online at www.merip.org/mero/mer0072602.html).

17. President Bush, remarks at roundtable with Arab- and Muslim-American leaders, Sept. 10, 2002 (online at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020910-7.html).

18. See, e.g., Intelligence report, interrogation of Zubaydah, Oct. 29, 2002; CIA analytic report, "Bin Ladin's Terrorist Operations: Meticulous and Adaptable," CTC 00-40017CSH, Nov. 2, 2000.

19."Open resistance flared so quickly that only two months after the invasion . . . almost the entire population of Kabul climbed on their rooftops and chanted with one voice,'God is great.'This open defiance of the Russian generals who could physically destroy their city was matched throughout the countryside." General (Ret.) Mohammed Yahya Nawwroz and Lester W. Grau,"The Soviet War in Afghanistan; History and Harbinger of Future War?" Military Review (Fort Leavenworth Foreign Military Studies Office), Sept./Oct. 1995, p. 2.

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20. Rohan Gunaratna, Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror (Columbia Univ. Press, 2002), pp. 16-23. Regarding UBL's access to his family's fortune, see Rick Newcomb interview (Feb. 4, 2004);William Wechsler interview (Jan. 7, 2004).

21. Government's Evidentiary Proffer Supporting the Admissibility of Co-Conspirator Statements, United States v. Enaam Arnaout, No. 02-CR-892 (N.D. Ill. filed Jan. 6, 2003).

22. Intelligence report,Terrorism: Usama Bin Ladin's Historical Links to 'Abdallah Azzam, Apr. 18, 1997. By most accounts, Bin Ladin initially viewed Azzam as a mentor, and became in effect his partner by providing financial backing for the MAK.

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23. In his memoir,Ayman al Zawahiri contemptuously rejects the claim that the Arab mujahideen were financed (even "one penny") or trained by the United States. See Zawahiri,"Knights Under the Prophet's Banner," Al Sharq al Awsat, Dec. 2, 2001. CIA officials involved in aiding the Afghan resistance regard Bin Ladin and his "Arab Afghans" as having been militarily insignificant in the war and recall having little to do with him. Gary Schroen interview (Mar. 3, 2003).

24. See Abdullah Azzam,"Al Qaeda al Sulbah" (The solid foundation), Al Jihad, Apr. 1988, p. 46.

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25. A wealth of information on al Qaeda's evolution and history has been obtained from materials seized in recent years, including files labeled "Tareekh Usama" (Usama's history) and "Tareekh al Musadat" (History of the Services Bureau). For descriptions of and substantial excerpts from these files, see Government's Evidentiary Proffer Supporting the Admissibility of Co-Conspirator Statements, United States v. Arnaout, Jan. 6, 2003. See also Intelligence report, Terrorism: Historical Background of the Islamic Army and bin Ladin's Move from Afghanistan to Sudan, Nov. 26, 1996; DOD document, "Al-Qaeda," AFGP-2002-000080 (translated). For a particularly useful insight into the evolution of al Qaeda-written by an early Bin Ladin associate, Adel Batterjee, under a pseudo-nym-see Basil Muhammad, Al Ansar al Arab fi Afghanistan (The Arab volunteers in Afghanistan) (Benevolence International Foundation (BIF) and World Association of Muslim Youth, 1991).

26. Government's Evidentiary Proffer Supporting the Admissibility of Co-Conspirator Statements, United States v.Arnaout, Jan. 6, 2003.

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27. See FBI report of investigation, interview of Jamal al Fadl, Nov. 10, 1996; Gunaratna, Inside Al Qaeda,p.23.

28. Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, The Age of Sacred Terror (Random House, 2002), pp. 6-7, 57-63, 83-85; United States v. Rahman, 189 F.3d 88, 104-105, 123-124 (2d Cir. Aug. 16, 1996).

29. Gunaratna, Inside Al Qaeda, pp. 25-27; DOD document,"Union Agreement between Jama'at Qaedat Ansar Allah (The Base Group of Allah Supporters) and Jama'at Al-Jihad (Jihad Group)," AFGP-2002-000081, undated; Benjamin and Simon, Age of Sacred Terror, p. 103.

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30.Trial testimony of Jamal al Fadl, United States v. Usama bin Laden, No. S(7) 98 Cr. 1023 (S.D. N.Y.), Feb. 6, 2001 (transcript pp. 218-219, 233); Feb. 13, 2001 (transcript pp. 514-516); Feb. 20, 2001 (transcript p. 890). Fadl says this invitation was delivered by a Sudanese delegation that visited Bin Ladin in Afghanistan. See also CIA analytic report, "Al-Qa'ida in Sudan, 1992-1996: Old School Ties Lead Down Dangerous Paths," CTC 200340028CHX, Mar. 10, 2003.

31. See Intelligence report,Terrorism: Historical Background of the Islamic Army and bin Ladin's Move from

Afghanistan to Sudan, Nov. 26, 1996. 32.Trial testimony of Fadl, United States v. bin Laden, Feb. 6, 2001 (transcript pp. 220-224).