In the posting below, I said the rebuttal by 9/11 Commission co-chairman Lee Hamilton of the Able Danger story was reasonably strong. But as the invaluable Captain Ed points out, three days ago Hamilton was saying with total firmness that they’d never heard a thing about the matter. “The Sept. 11 commission (search) did not learn of any U.S. government knowledge prior to 9/11 of surveillance of Mohammed Atta or of his cell….Had we learned of it,” Hamilton said on August 9, “obviously it would’ve been a major focus of our investigation.”
So now he’s saying they knew and it wasn’t a major focus of the investigation anyway because the information wasn’t strong enough. That’s a pretty major emendation, and it doesn’t pass the smell test.