“There
were no drugs or secret meetings with terrorists... just a few young men serious
about learning to fly planes.”
--Sabrina Hupfeld
May 3,2005 -Venice,
FL. by Daniel Hopsicker
More than three years after the 9.11 attack, intrigue continues to swirl
concerning knowledge of the terrorist hijackers movements, activities, and
associates while in the U.S. preparing the assault.
A
mysterious French-Arab man resurfaced last
week who authorities had dubbed the ‘5th terrorist pilot’ and a ‘Second’
Mohamed in Venice, FL. In an email, he alleged that a number of eyewitnesses,
including the girl who had lived with him, had all mistaken him... for
Mohamed Atta.
It was he they'd known in
Venice, not the terrorist ringleader, he asserted. And he suggested the confusion might
owe something to their common name, "Mohamed."
Before dismissing
the claims of this supposed "Second Mohamed," we must first consider a
curious story from the Sarasota Herald Tribune, which seems to back him
up.
It was while reviewing his allegations
that we discovered that
crucial
early news reports filed in Venice during the week after the attack in
the local Sarasota Herald Tribune have been removed from the newspaper
database Lexis-Nexis, relied on by journalists and investigators
worldwide.
9.11 a dead issue... for Goldbugs
Missing are stories reporting that
Mohamed Atta was living across from the Venice Airport at the Sandpiper
Apartments during the Spring of 2001, with Amanda Keller, a pink-haired
American stripper.
Also at this time, as if the air was not
already filled with enough intrigue for several spy novels, two more alleged European associates of Atta chose this
precise moment to step forward and deny having associated with the
terrorist ringleader, including a German pilot who
recently filed a lawsuit against us in Katherine Harris's hometown of
Sarasota, Florida.
There's nothing like having a home court
advantage.
So...if the September 11th attack is a dead
issue, as some allege, why the conspicuous flurry of activity?
Perhaps its a
signal that there remains something of major value still hidden and waiting to
be found beneath the garbled official account of the chronology and movements
of terrorist ringleader Mohamed Atta.
(continued below)
The 'Second' Mohamed in Venice?
The
series of events which led to the discovery of ‘disappeared’ news about Atta in
Venice began with
notice that we were being sued—again.
One clear message seems to be that the
MadCowMorningNews will need to place
the budget line for “Defense attorney” under 're-occurring expenses.”
(See related story on how to get our new video free as a premium for a
contribution to our free press fund.)
Today the missing stories can only be
found in one place we're aware of: the microfiche record kept of the
paper-as-printed in the Sarasota Library.
What this means is that—unless you already
knew about them—these stories effectively no longer exist.
Just to make
sure they never go away, we are making them available here. Both contain
mostly unremarkable interviews with numerous
local eyewitnesses whose paths crossed with those of the terrorists. Their
testimony matter-of-factly contradicts the FBI's official account, which
states Atta moved to
Venice soon after arriving in the U.S., and left for good in December of
2000.
Rare slip by Atta leaves trail of clues
“FBI Links
Third Terrorist to Venice” was the headline of the first, on Sept. 16,
written by Herald Tribune
staff writers Robert Eckhart and Michael Werner, in which law enforcement
officials matter-of-factly confirm to reporters that before
moving to Venice, Mohamed Atta lived 30 miles to the south in rural Charlotte
County.
“Atta lived for several months in rural
Charlotte County before moving to Venice, Sheriff Bill Clement said at a news
conference Thursday. Clement said the Sheriff’s Office had forwarded several
tips to the FBI about Atta, who used an alias in Charlotte County.”
Atta had gone to flight school at the
Charlotte Airport, local authorities discovered, when a local business owner
took advantage of one of Atta's few slip-ups...The terrorist
ringleader had inadvertently forwarded a five-page screed which included the
picture of a dead Middle Eastern child to an aviation business at the
Charlotte Airport.
The horrified owner immediately passed it on
to the County Sheriff. So local law enforcement got it before the FBI. Then the well-meaning Sheriff released it to the media,
much to the subsequent displeasure of the FBI.
He must have thought he still lived in a
country where there is something called the "people's right to know."
This information contradicts the
FBI's account. But it also throws into question the entire chronology of the
crime, from Atta’s
arrival in the U.S. to his subsequent movements, which is disturbing because the FBI's investigation was the
sole investigative source relied on by both the Joint
Congressional Intelligence Committee inquiry and the later “independent” 9.11
Commission.
Both "investigations" knew only what the FBI
told them...a truly chilling prospect.
The second account was published two days
later with the headline: “Fourth Terrorist Suspect May Have Ties to
Venice.” It too quoted credible witnesses whose testimony is almost
laughably at odds with the FBI’s version of events.
Reporter Earle Kimel
noted the discrepancies.
“Huffman flight instructors have said they
believe Atta left the area shortly after receiving his pilot’s certification,”
he reported.
“However, Atta may have been in Venice as
recently as April. Charles Grapentine, the manager of Sandpiper Apartments on
Airport Avenue in Venice, said he remembers seeing Atta at the complex for
about three weeks in April. He said Atta was living in the apartment of Amanda
Keller.”
"A funny, sweet smell. And he sniffled a
lot."
Here's a taste of what they are trying to hide.
If these witnesses testified before cameras in front of something like Sam
Erwin's Watergate Committee, we would live in a better world than we are
apparently allowed.
For example, the apartment manager’s wife Paula Grapentine, told the Charlotte
Sun that Atta had had "a lot of visitors." That could have opened what
legendary Sen. William Fulbright used to call, "an endless can
of worms."
And the owner of the Sandpiper Apartments,
Vicky Keyser, told authorities the students smoked a strange tobacco which
smelled like marijuana. This is far from only reference we will hear
concerning the terrorist hijackers and drugs.
And here's an interesting find: One week after the attack, Brian Ross
of NBC News reported a curious discovery with possible significance to the
story of Mohamed Atta’s supposed German associates:
“And yet more evidence of the overseas money
trail has been found at a flying school in Punta Gorda. The owner says FBI
agents seized records relating to at least 12 foreign students whose tuition
was paid with foreign wire transfers.”
"They were very interested in the German
transfers, and they were very interested in the Middle Eastern transfers,”
Byers told Ross.
But... the FBI says the hijackers received
"no outside help." So why were they interested in “the German transfers?”
FBI "Conspiracy Theorists"
Any ordinary
mortal who starts talking about things like "A Second Oswald" is labeled a
conspiracy theorist. But somehow when the FBI conjures up a 'Second Mohamed'
no one even blinked.
The sole
surviving report mentioning Atta at the Sandpiper in the Lexis-Nexis
newspaper database is a Sept 23, 2001 article in the Sarasota Herald
Tribune, in which authorities take pains to refute theearlier reports. Ironically this only serves to call attention to
the fact that the earlier stories are no longer there.
Under the headline “FIFTH PILOT TRAINEE VANISHES” on September
23, 2001 the Sarasota Herald-Tribune pair reversed itself, and now reported
authorities were saying Amanda Keller had not lived with Mohamed Atta, but
with another Mohamed.
“He told the people he lived
with in Venice earlier this year that he was moving to Paris,” read the
report. “The man, known as Mohammed, stayed at Amanda Keller's unit in the
Sandpiper Apartment complex on Airport Avenue in April.”
This “Second Mohamed,” who had
until then completely escaped mention, was a man about whom authorities
otherwise knew little…
“Investigators have identified a
fifth man of Middle Eastern descent who trained to fly in Venice, but they
don't know if he was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks because they can't find
him.”
"No sniggering allowed."
While they may not have known if
he was involved with the 9.11 attack, authorities were completely
sure about one thing... The numerous eyewitnesses told police, reporters and the FBI
that terrorist ringleader Atta had been living at the Sandpiper Apartments
during the Spring of 2001 had not in fact seen the terrorist ringleader...They had seen this man.
He was the ‘second’ Mohamed. No sniggering was apparently allowed.
According to statements the FBI
made to Amanda Keller while questioning her, “Mohamed Arajaki” was an alias of
Atta’s. And the FBI Terrorist List—mistakenly released to the public a month
after the attack by the Finnish Government, to the Bureau’s
consternation—also listed “Mohamed Arajaki” as one of Atta’s
numerous aliases.
But Amanda Keller was far from alone in identifying Mohamed Atta as the man she had lived
with for several months. In the days after the attack every one of the
local newspapers in the area—the Sarasota Herald Tribune,
Charlotte
Sun, and Venice Gondolier—ran eyewitness accounts
of Atta at the Sandpiper, across the street from the Venice Airport.
"Charles Grapentine, the manager
of Sandpiper Apartments on Airport Avenue in Venice, said he remembers seeing
Atta at the complex for about three weeks in April. He said Atta was living in
the apartment of Amanda Keller."
"In a telephone interview late
Friday, Keller said she met Atta through a friend and let him stay in the
apartment with her and her then-boyfriend, Garrett Metts, because she felt
sorry for him. She said authorities told her not to say anything at all about
Atta," the paper reported.
"I can't really discuss
anything," she said. "I'm afraid I'll get in trouble."
Another story just three days
after the attack reported: ”FLIGHT SCHOOL MAY HAVE CHARGED SUSPECTED
TERRORISTS EXTRA RENT.” The local Venice Gondolier reported Huffman
Aviation rented an apartment for $550 a month at the Sandpiper, and then
turned around and sublet it to students at an outrageously high markup. Rudi
Dekkers had been gouging the terrorists. We couldn’t muster any indignation
over it.
The secret history of 9.11
contains items like the one from the Charlotte Sun, stating Amanda had been introduced in Key West to two men
from Germanywho said were Mohamed's friends.
“FBI agents seized records
from a financially troubled flight school at the Charlotte County
Airport, Professional Aviation, that recruited students from Tunisia and
went out of business in the spring of 2001, after tipsters said they saw
Atta there late last year or early this year,” the Charlotte Sun-Herald
reported.
"The FBI in Tampa would neither
confirm nor deny that any agents were interviewing people in the North Port
area," Charlotte Sun reporter Elaine Allen-Emrich wrote.
"Asked for more information
about Atta's wild weekend, an FBI spokesperson identified only as Pam stated
“We recommend that you check in with CNN for current information. Any press
statements can be found on televised stations like CNN.”
You Should Have "Checked In"
with CNN First
Yet
'Mohamed Arajaki's' email naively assumes he has only Amanda Keller to
"discredit" to make the story go away.
“The only common points between
Atta and myself are that I am from an Arabic background, I was in Venice at
the wrong time at the wrong school… (And) I forgot, my family name starts with
an A as well,” the email stated.
“It is true that she met a
certain Mohamed but it was not Mohamed Atta, but myself. The only person to
blame is Amanda as she knew she was lying. Do a little bit of investigation
and you will find things about Mohamed Arakji, because I am the Mohamed she
knew not the other one.”
Upset about what he termed “the
enormous lies you have been publishing about Amanda and Mohamed Atta,” he
wrote, “Unfortunately for you and myself, we had to deal with this serial liar
psycho.”
“She took facts and turned them
to sell a story. I hope it did not cost you too much to buy nothing but lies.”
In point of fact, we paid Amanda
nothing. We'd been puzzled about why her story hadn't already been told in the
tabloids… “Terrorist’s Girlfriend Bares All!” would sell a lot of
papers in the check-out line.
Amanda Keller never went looking
for publicity. We went looking for her. We didn't feel like “checking in
with CNN.”
The accusation that Keller was a
gold-digger looking for a payday in the deaths of 3000 people is a lie. As if
anticipating it might not fly, the email offered a second explanation for how
a half dozen ordinary citizens had mistaken him for Mohamed
Atta…
“Also you must know that it is
very easy to mistake one Arab guy for another.”
We were glad we hadn’t said
that.
Every Picture Tells a Story
“Amanda
mentions transvestites in Key West, my friend got grabbed by a group of them
in the street, as it was funny, I took a
picture as well," stated the email.
We dug out Amanda's comments
about the trip to Key West: “So we went by Diva’s (in Key West) and it was the
first time I ever saw a drag queen,” she told us. “And I was standing there
talking to them, so they had their pictures taken with a drag queen.”
“Peter, Mohamed and Stephan were
all standing next to the drag queen, who stuffed his hand down all their pants
in the pictures, and Peter and Stephan both laughed it off, but Mohamed got
really angry,” said Amanda.
Somewhere there are photographs
of terrorist ringleader Mohamed Atta being groped by a drag queen in Key West.
The truth is always stranger than fiction. Still,
given the numerous reports of Atta’s un-Islamic proclivities, its not at all
unbelievable.
Mr. "Mohamed Arajaki" sent
along several photos of himself...
Sometimes
a picture is worth a thousand words.
We never believed any
credible witness would mistake terrorist ringleader Atta for anyone else, and
seeing this man’s photo only reinforced the conviction...
Could you mistake this man for Mohamed Atta?
We couldn’t either.
We're almost to the fun part of Michael Roy Fugler's lawsuit! He's going to tell
us everything he knows about Adnan Khashoggi when we ask him questions during
our deposition.
Probably we will always be being sued, given the
current state of America's "not too damn free anymore" press. Please help us
continue by making a donation directly into to our defense fund.