Unleashing the Beast

T HE H ANDWRITING ON A MERICA ' S W ALL / 283

We know in retrospect that certain Muslims throughout the world had knowledge that an attack was being planned against America. One story told of a Jewish family in New York that had become friends with a Muslim family across the street. The Muslim businessman warned the Jewish friend not to be in downtown New York City anytime on September 11. He told him he could not give details, but to please not go into New York City. On the morning of September 11, the Jewish man noticed that his neighbor's house was empty. Apparently, the family moved out in the middle of the night and has not been heard from since. Behind the doors of Islamic mosques, Muslims with Middle Eastern and Asian connections heard whispers from fellow worshipers that an attack was being planned against the United States. They may not have known the details, but some knew it was coming. Months before the attack, a Jewish friend residing in Florida was in the same flight school where one of the hijackers was being trained to fly a plane. My friend actually met one of the men and recognized that there was something suspicious about him. When he saw the pictures on television of the 19 hijackers, he reported his information to intelligence agencies in Washington, D.C. Mounting evidence indicates that several agencies received vague warnings prior to the attack, but the handwriting on the wall was covered by the red tape of bureaucracy. Such ignorance of the facts was apparent when one U.S. government agency released the visas for two of the hijackers months after they had already enacted