Phone home

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In "The War On Truth", Nafeez Ahmed reports on a supposed warning that the US received immediately before 9/11:

Just before the attacks, US intelligence intercepted informatiom from Osama bin Laden that something "big" would happen on September 11. NBC News reported on October 4 that Osama bin Laden had phoned his mother two days before the World Trade Center attacks and told her: "In two days you're going to hear big news, and you're not going to hear from me for a while." According to NBC, a foreign intelligence service had recorded the call and relayed the information to US intelligence.
The War On Truth, Nafeez Ahmed


This is what NBC said, and it's commonly used as one of many indicators that the US ignored warnings to 9/11. However, what isn't so commonly mentioned is that the story was immediately disputed in a CNN report:

Sources dispute reports of bin Laden phone call

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Knowledgeable U.S officials believe there is no truth to reports that Osama bin Laden called his mother shortly before the September 11 attacks and hinted at upcoming terrorist attacks against the United States.

"We doubt it. We do not think it happened," one of the sources said.

When pressed about the reports, the source said flatly: "We think it's wrong."

Another official said while he could not "one hundred percent eliminate the possibility, I would view those reports with skepticism if I were you."

The New York Times reported Tuesday that bin Laden called his mother September 10 and told her "something big" was about to happen and that she would not hear from him for a long time.

The Times attributed the information to a senior foreign official. NBC, which first reported the phone call Monday, said the call came two days before the terrorist hijackings and said bin Laden told his mother: "In two days, you're going to hear big news and you're not going to hear from me for a while."

U.S. officials told CNN that in recent years they've been able to monitor some of bin Laden's telephone communications with his mother. Bin Laden at the time was using a satellite telephone, and the signals were intercepted and sometimes recorded.

More recently, U.S. officials believe bin Laden has used other means of communicating, and intelligence experts told CNN they could not confirm that they have been able to continue overhearing his calls.

Bin Laden, a Saudi native, lives in Afghanistan and has been labeled by President Bush as the "prime suspect" in the attacks against the United States.
CNN, October 2 2001


Does this prove the call never happened? Of course not. But we think you should at least know that this version of the story exists.

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