32 green: e.g.
33 When the news started: translation of Binalshibh audiotape by Naouar Bioud, in authors’ collection. The tape was obtained by reporter Yosri Fouda, and the material is used with his permission.
Part VII: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 30
1
story/picked up by press/According to report:
, 10/21/01, Reuters, 11/14/01,
, 11/1/01,
(U.K.), 11/1/01 int. Alexandra Richard.
2
medical tests:
Rumors long circulated that bin Laden suffered from serious kidney disease requiring dialysis. His son Omar refuted that allegation in the 2009 memoir written with his mother, Najwa—both of whom had intimate contact with bin Laden until well into 2001. Omar conceded, however, that his father—along with others in the
extended family—“had a tendency to suffer from kidney stones. Those stones caused immense pain until they had passed out of his body, but his kidneys were strong otherwise.” Interviewed by the Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir on November 8, 2001—the only post-9/11 newspaper interview—bin Laden himself said, “My kidneys are all right” (rumors: e.g. Gunaratna, 48,
magazine, no. 57, 2008; Omar: bin Ladens & Sasson, 172; “all right”: ed. Lawrence, 144);
3
Callaway declined:
, 10/21/01;
4
Koval denied:
, 11/1/01;
5
Mitchell told:
int. Alexandra Richard & authors’ int. with Dubai source;
6
possible OBL did visit Dubai:
In the November 2001 interview cited above, bin Laden said, “I did not go to Dubai last year.” The meeting with the CIA, of course, is not alleged to have happened the previous year—2000—but in July 2001 (ed. Lawrence, 144).
7
Chouet:
int. & corr. Alain Chouet, 2009 & 2011, Chouet int. for
, 3/29/07, http://alain.chouet.free.fr. In the furor after initial publication of the story, a
article suggested that the allegation of the Dubai meeting was planted by French intelligence “to suggest a continuing covert linkage between the CIA and bin Laden.” In her description of how the story developed, however, reporter Alexandra Richard made clear that she first learned of it from a private source she had long trusted—in Dubai. As described in the text, moreover, she firmed it up with further research. Another French journalist, Richard Labeviere, meanwhile, told the authors he received corroboration of the Dubai meeting from three other sources. (
, 11/1/01,
[U.K.], 11/1/01, ints. Richard Labeviere);
8
contacts with Taliban/improved cooperation/?assistance/?threats:
(U.K.), 9/22/01,
, 1/02,
, 7/12/02, BBC News, 9/18/01;
9
Simons pressed:
(U.K.), 9/22/01,
, 1/02,
, 7/12/02, BBC News, 9/18/01;
10 Rice “whether any”: CR, 204.
11 major stories re Atta: e.g.
12 “had been trailing”: corr. Kate Connolly, 2009;
13 German intelligence interest/CIA/Joint Inquiry aired: Report, JI, 29–, 183–;
14 Commission Report ignored: CR, 495n81;
15 sequence of events/?Zammar/?Darkazanli/?card/?phone tapped: ibid., CR, 164, 495n81, McDermott, 71–,
16 incoming call/?“Marwan”/?second/?third calls: “Memorandum, Investigative Proceedings Against Mohmammed Haydar Zammar,” 11/19/01, Bundeskriminalamt ST 23–067–256/?01, authors’ collection, Report, JI, 185–,
17 “particularly valuable”/CIA “didn’t sit”/“uncertain”:
18 Volz: McDermott, 71–, 75–, 278n11,
19 Landesamt: Landesamt fur Verfassungsschutz translates in English as the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Each of Germany’s sixteen states has such an office, which in turn answer to the Bundesamt fur Verfassungsschutz, the federal body. Together, they function as Germany’s domestic intelligence service.
