FROM..http://killtown.911review.org/flight77.html

• December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies.

"Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.
Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.
About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda, including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tribute to the "great leader."
The Taliban source who claims to have seen bin Laden's face before burial said "he looked pale ... but calm, relaxed and confident."
Asked whether bin Laden had any feelings of remorse before death, the source vehemently said "no." Instead, he said, bin Laden was proud that he succeeded in his mission of igniting awareness amongst Muslims about hegemonistic designs and conspiracies of "pagans" against Islam. Bin Laden, he said, held the view that the sacrifice of a few hundred people in Afghanistan was nothing, as those who laid their lives in creating an atmosphere of resistance will be adequately rewarded by Almighty Allah.
When asked where bin Laden was buried, the source said, "I am sure that like other places in Tora Bora, that particular place too must have vanished." - FOX News (12/26/01)

"OSAMA bin Laden's supporters yesterday issued a statement on the internet saying he was dead.
The claims, repeated in the Al Bayan newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, said that the al-Qaeda terror chief died when the Americans bombed the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan.
The details tally with dates of bombing missions in which US intelligence experts suspected that he may have been killed.
The newspaper's story, headlined, "Yes, Osama bin Laden is dead but the Jihad will continue until Judgement Day'', quotes witness Shahid Ayan saying he perished on December 10, 2001." - Mirror UK (09/14/02)

"Osama bin Laden is dead. The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the fugitive died in December and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, echoed the information." - New York Times (07/11/02) [Reprinted at: benadorassociates.com]

(See also: September 10, 2001 - Osama Bin Laden reportedly undergoes kidney dialysis at a Pakistani military hospital; December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video showing a husky looking Osama bin Laden bragging about the attacks; December 28, 2001 - US casts doubt on bin Laden's latest message, suggests he's already dead.; October 29, 2004 - Video of OBL admitting to attacks is released four days before election)



• December 2001 - Northwest airlines gives passenger data to NASA.

"Northwest Airlines said on Sunday it had acted appropriately and in line with company policy when it provided passenger data for a U.S. government air security study after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
The airline's security department provided passenger information for July, August, and September of 2001 for a federal study aimed at improving aviation security but did not violate its own privacy policies, Northwest said in a statement.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday the Northwest gave three months of passenger data from October through December 2001 to NASA's Ames Research Center and that federal records showed more than 10 million passengers traveled with the airline during that period." - Washington Post/Reuters (01/18/04)

“In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 tragedy, NASA had discussions with Northwest Airlines’ Security Department regarding a NASA research study to improve aviation security. In December 2001, NASA requested that Northwest’s Security Department provide it with passenger name record data from the period July, August, and September 2001 for NASA’s exclusive use in its research study. Northwest Airlines agreed to provide that data.
On September 23, 2003, after a speech to the St. Paul (Minn.) Rotary Club, Richard Anderson, Northwest Airlines chief executive officer, responded to a reporter’s question regarding JetBlue Airway’s release of passenger data to a private contractor. He said, “Northwest Airlines will not share customer information, as JetBlue Airways has.”
At the time Mr. Anderson answered this question, he had no knowledge of the Northwest Security Department’s provision of passenger data for the NASA research study.
Northwest Airlines’ current policy is to not provide passenger name record data to private contractors or federal government agencies for use in aviation security research projects. While Northwest Airlines still believes it would be appropriate to provide such data to the U.S. Government to advance aviation security, in light of current privacy concerns, Northwest believes a data protection protocol addressing privacy concerns should be developed before any further aviation security research with passenger data is conducted.” - Northwest Airlines (01/18/04)



• December 4, 2001 - In a speech in Florida, Bush claims he saw one of the planes crash into the WTC live on a TV in his holding room at Booker Elementary school right before he goes into a classroom for his scheduled reading with 2nd graders and thinks the crash was just a "horrible accident."

THE PRESIDENT: "Thank you, Jordan. Well, Jordan, you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. And my Chief of Staff, Andy Card -- actually, I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident.
"But I was whisked off there, I didn't have much time to think about it. And I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my Chief of Staff, who is sitting over here, walked in and said, 'A second plane has hit the tower, America is under attack.'" - White House (12/04/01)

What Did Bush See and When Did He See It?

"Which is why, ever since the one-year anniversary, various Web citizens have been puzzling and arguing over President George W. Bush's recollection of the first moments of Sept. 11. E-mails and Web sites drew my attention to transcripts posted at www.whitehouse.gov.

Here is a section, verbatim: President Bush was at a town meeting in Florida in December, 2001. A third grader asked: "How did you feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?''

"THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Jordan. Well, Jordan, you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. (On Sept. 11, Bush was visiting the Booker Elementary School to promote literacy programs.) And my Chief of Staff, Andy Card - actually, I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower - the TV was obviously on. And I used to fly, myself, and I said, well, there's one terrible pilot. I said, it must have been a horrible accident.

"But I was whisked off there, I didn't have much time to think about it. And I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my Chief of Staff, who is sitting over here, walked in and said, `A second plane has hit the tower, America is under attack.' ''

- (Posted at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011204-17.html)

Think about that. Bush's remark implies he saw the first plane hit the tower. But we all know that video of the first plane hitting did not surface until the next day. Could Bush have meant he saw the second plane hit - which many Americans witnessed? No, because he said that he was in the classroom when Card whispered in his ear that a second plane hit.

Was Bush's comment a simple mistake? Maybe. But here's what Bush said in January 2002 at a town meeting in Ontario, Calif. posted at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020105-3.html:

"Q: What was the first thing that went through your head when you heard that a plane crashed into the first building?''

"THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Well, I was sitting in a schoolhouse in Florida. I had gone down to tell my little brother what to do, and - just kidding, Jeb. (Laughter.) And - it's the mother in me. (Laughter.) Anyway, I was in the midst of learning about a reading program that works. . . . I was sitting there, and my Chief of Staff - well, first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. And something was wrong with the plane, or - anyway, I'm sitting there, listening to the briefing, and Andy Card came and said, `America is under attack.'

"And in the meantime, this teacher was going on about the curriculum, and I was thinking about what it meant for America to be under attack. It was an amazing thought. But I made up my mind that if America was under attack, we'd get them.''

Again, the question: How could the commander-in-chief have seen the plane fly into the first building - as it happened?

The Web has spun dozens of theories - some quite bizarre - about why Bush made these comments - you can get a sense of some at http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/completetimeline. You can also see a Booker School-produced video of Bush at the school at sites like: http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/2002/06/12_BookerLinks.html. It catches the moment when Card whispered in Bush's ear.

Perhaps Bush saw a replay of the second plane hitting the second tower, but simply remembers the hit as the first plane. Or maybe he did see the second plane hit - and then went on to read to the children. It's not conspiracy - just confusion. But it's confusion on a grand scale.

I ask again: Will you ever forget how you heard about Sept. 11? And what do you think of Bush's comments?

Read the transcripts and think about it." - Boston Herald (10/22/02)

(See also: January 5, 2002 - Bush again claims to have seen one of the hijacked planes crash into the WTC live on TV at the school he was at; Killtown's: Did Bush see the 2nd WTC plane crash?)





• December 7, 2001 - U.S. focuses bombing runs over Tora Bora region, Osama bin Laden not there and might have slipped into Pakistan.



U.S., ANTI-TALIBAN FORCES FOCUS ON TORA BORA

"With Kandahar in the hands of ethnic Pashtun tribes, the U.S. and anti-Taliban factions are focusing their attack on a series of caves in eastern Afghanistan where hundreds of al-Qaida fighters may be hiding.
Witnesses reported numerous U.S. bombing runs over the Tora Bora region south of Jalalabad. Al-Qaida troops reportedly responded by firing mortars at hundreds of tribal forces arrayed below the mountains.
Tribal leaders told reporters they are growing more convinced that Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaida and suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, is in the area.
"We have intercepted radio messages from Kandahar to the al-Qaida forces here, and they ask, 'How is the sheik?' The reply is, 'The sheik is fine,'" Zein Huddin, one of the commanders, told the Associated Press. He said he is convinced "the sheik" is bin Laden.
Another tribal leader said his troops had seen someone resembling bin Laden riding on horseback near the al-Qaida front line.
As U.S. jets and anti-Taliban ground forces intensified their assaults on the cave complex, most al-Qaida troops reportedly left the larger base and moved higher into the mountains.
By late Friday, the Northern Alliance said they had capture the major caves in the region and that Osama bin Laden was not there.
"Osama was not in Tora Bora during the past days of fighting and if he had been, he has probably slipped into Pakistan," Northern Alliance spokesman Mohammad Habeel told Reuters.
The U.S. said it would continue the hunt for bin Laden and his associates. Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. operation in Afghanistan, said his forces were working to make sure that any al-Qaida fighters that had been in Tora Bora would not escape into neighboring Pakistan.
Tora Bora, which means "black dust," is the name of one of the most influential anti-Soviet guerilla bases. It was carved into the side of Ghree Kil mountain in the 1980s with U.S. backing." - PBS (12/07/01)



Tora Bora falls, but no bin Laden

"A US Special Forces team, sometimes hiding behind tinted pickup truck windows, directs the operations of the Afghan fighters and target US bombing runs. Together, they have hammered Al Qaeda forces and cleared two major mountain valleys near the Tora Bora cave complex.
But yesterday, after tribal fighters said they captured the last of the Al Qaeda positions, killing more than 200 fighters and capturing 25, there was still no sign of the world's most wanted terrorist - Osama bin Laden. And there were far fewer fighters both captured and killed than were originally thought present.
Could this be called the siege of Tora Bora, or was it something more akin to a sieve? Was bin Laden here, did he die in the bombing, or did he flee days ago?
Mr. Ghamsharik said he had no information on the whereabouts of Mr. bin Laden. The Tora Bora region was the last major pocket of Al Qaeda resistance in the country. And a cave where alliance commanders had thought bin Laden might be hiding was the last Al Qaeda holdout.
The Saudi, who had arrived in Jalalabad about six months earlier with a $3 million contribution to the Al Qaeda cause, said he drove in a truck with bin Laden from Jalalabad toward Tora Bora on the night of Nov. 6.
He was present when bin Laden met with several chiefs of the Ghilzi tribe, whose villages straddle the rugged border between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. Some 400 Kalashnikovs were given as "gifts" to the Ghilzi tribesmen. In exchange, the tribesmen promised to help smuggle Afghan and Arab leaders to freedom in Pakistan. It was a quid pro quo that the Ghilzis understood well.
When bin Laden finally decided that remaining inside the embattled Tora Bora terror base had become too risky, he used the same Ghilzi contacts to escape the siege.
"Most of us firmly believe that Osama left to Parachinar in Pakistan days ago," says Abdul Wafi, a lieutenant for Commander Ghamsharik. Eight Afghan Al Qaeda prisoners, who surrendered Thursday night, gave similar accounts. They told their captors that bin Laden had left Tora Bora almost two weeks ago.
The battle for Tora Bora finally got under way a full week after newspapers published accounts of bin Laden entering Tora Bora with his closest aids." - Christian Science Monitor (12/17/01)



• December 11, 2001 - Zacarias Moussaoui, dubbed the "20th hijacker", is indicted on six counts of conspiracy charges for the attacks on 9/11.

"U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Tuesday what he said were the first federal indictments directly related to the September 11 terror attacks.
Ashcroft said Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, has been charged with conspiring with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to "murder thousands of people" in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.
Moussaoui was arrested in Minnesota weeks before the attacks on a passport violation charge and was in custody at the time of the attacks. Authorities said he has long been suspected of somehow being involved in the plot.
Ashcroft also named Ramzi bin al Shibh as a co-conspirator, whom authorities said was a member of the al Qaeda Hamburg, Germany, cell and who is alleged to have transferred funds to Moussaoui.
Zacarias Moussaoui was indicted on six counts:
1) Conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism
2) Conspiracy to commit air piracy
3) Conspiracy to destroy aircraft
4) Conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction
5) Conspiracy to commit murder
6) Conspiracy to destroy property" - CNN (12/12/01)

"Mr Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, is accused of conspiring with Osama Bin Laden, the hijackers and others to commit the attacks on the US. Prosecutors believe he was meant to be the 20th hijacker and he is the only person charged over the 11 September attacks.
The plane that crashed into a Pennsylvania field only had four hijackers on board, while the other three planes carried five." - BBC (04/23/02)

(See also: August 16, 2001 - Moussaoui is arrested by the FBI for an immigration violation; January 2, 2002 - Judge enters innocent plea on Moussaoui's behalf)



• December 12, 2001 - FOX News: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? Part 1 of 4

(These items have since been removed from the FOX News web site.)

BRIT HUME, HOST: It has been more than 16 years since a civilian working for the Navy was charged with passing secrets to Israel. Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and is serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders claimed Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took responsibility for his work.
Now Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe that there are Israelis again very much engaged in spying in and on the U.S., who may have known things they didn't tell us before September 11. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron has details in the first of a four-part series.
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Since September 11, more than 60 Israelis have been arrested or detained, either under the new patriot anti-terrorism law, or for immigration violations. A handful of active Israeli military were among those detained, according to investigators, who say some of the detainees also failed polygraph questions when asked about alleged surveillance activities against and in the United States.
There is no indication that the Israelis were involved in the 9-11 attacks, but investigators suspect that they Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance, and not shared it. A highly placed investigator said there are "tie-ins." But when asked for details, he flatly refused to describe them, saying, "evidence linking these Israelis to 9-11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It's classified information."
Fox News has learned that one group of Israelis, spotted in North Carolina recently, is suspected of keeping an apartment in California to spy on a group of Arabs who the United States is also investigating for links to terrorism. Numerous classified documents obtained by Fox News indicate that even prior to September 11, as many as 140 other Israelis had been detained or arrested in a secretive and sprawling investigation into suspected espionage by Israelis in the United States.
Investigators from numerous government agencies are part of a working group that's been compiling evidence since the mid '90s. These documents detail hundreds of incidents in cities and towns across the country that investigators say, "may well be an organized intelligence gathering activity."
The first part of the investigation focuses on Israelis who say they are art students from the University of Jerusalem and Bazala Academy. They repeatedly made contact with U.S. government personnel, the report says, by saying they wanted to sell cheap art or handiwork.
Documents say they, "targeted and penetrated military bases." The DEA, FBI and dozens of government facilities, and even secret offices and unlisted private homes of law enforcement and intelligence personnel. The majority of those questioned, "stated they served in military intelligence, electronic surveillance intercept and or explosive ordinance units."
Another part of the investigation has resulted in the detention and arrests of dozens of Israelis at American mall kiosks, where they've been selling toys called Puzzle Car and Zoom Copter. Investigators suspect a front.
Shortly after The New York Times and Washington Post reported the Israeli detentions last months, the carts began vanishing. Zoom Copter's Web page says, "We are aware of the situation caused by thousands of mall carts being closed at the last minute. This in no way reflects the quality of the toy or its salability. The problem lies in the operators' business policies."
Why would Israelis spy in and on the U.S.? A general accounting office investigation referred to Israel as country A and said, "According to a U.S. intelligence agency, the government of country A conducts the most aggressive espionage operations against the U.S. of any U.S. ally."
A defense intelligence report said Israel has a voracious appetite for information and said, "the Israelis are motivated by strong survival instincts which dictate every possible facet of their political and economical policies. It aggressively collects military and industrial technology and the U.S. is a high priority target."
The document concludes: "Israel possesses the resources and technical capability to achieve its collection objectives."
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy here in Washington issued a denial saying that any suggestion that Israelis are spying in or on the U.S. is "simply not true." There are other things to consider. And in the days ahead, we'll take a look at the U.S. phone system and law enforcement's methods for wiretaps. And an investigation that both have been compromised by our friends overseas.
HUME: Carl, what about this question of advanced knowledge of what was going to happen on 9-11? How clear are investigators that some Israeli agents may have known something?
CAMERON: It's very explosive information, obviously, and there's a great deal of evidence that they say they have collected — none of it necessarily conclusive. It's more when they put it all together. A bigger question, they say, is how could they not have know? Almost a direct quote.
HUME: Going into the fact that they were spying on some Arabs, right?
CAMERON: Correct." - FOX (12/12/01) [Reprinted and video clip at: Information Clearinghouse]

(See also: 9/11 - Workers at Israeli company get text warnings about attacks 2 hours prior; 9/11 - Elite Israeli military commando who understands Arabic allegedly shot on Flight 11; 9/11 - Israeli spies caught cheering while filming themselves with the WTC burning in the background; 9/11 - Netanyahu says 9/11 attacks are " very good" for US/Israeli relations; December 13, 2001 - Israeli spy scandal, pt 2)





• December 13, 2001 - The Pentagon releases a poor quality amateur video that was supposedly made on November 9, 2001 and "found" in a house in Afghanistan that shows a husky looking Osama bragging about the 9/11 attacks and who is wearing a gold ring -- and possible gold watch -- which are strictly forbidden in Islam, and the Bush Administration uses this video to confirm his guilt and vindicate US military action in Afghanistan.



Pentagon Releases Bin Laden Videotape, U.S. Officials say Tape Links Him to Sept. 11 Attacks

"The Pentagon has released a videotape of Osama bin Laden, that it says provides additional evidence that the al Qaeda leader is responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Administration officials say the tape shows bin Laden had specific knowledge of when and where those attacks would occur before they took place.

The videotape -- discovered in a private home in Jalalabad, Afghanistan -- shows a relaxed bin Laden discussing the attacks in Arabic with another man who appears to be a cleric. On the tape, bin Laden says he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of destruction caused at the World Trade Center; he only expected the top portion of the twin towers to collapse.

Bin Laden also indicates on the tape that he knew of the attacks in advance. "We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day," he says." - NPR (12/13/01) [Read transcript / original video / re-ordered video]



OSAMA BIN LADEN VIDEO TAPE

"RAY SUAREZ: The tape bore a label indicating it was made on November 9. Administration officials wouldn't reveal exactly how or when they got it, except to say it was found in a house in Jalalabad after anti-Taliban forces moved in. The US Government translated the Arabic conversation and provided subtitles. The tape, which has a home video quality, shows bin Laden sitting on the floor in a bare room in a house in Kandahar." - PBS/Online NewsHour (12/13/01)



The Bin Laden video: is this the clinching evidence? Some Arab opinion claims tape was doctored

"Osama bin Laden laughs and boasts in a captured videotape released by the Pentagon yesterday as he describes how he sent the September 11 hijackers to their deaths without revealing their mission until moments before they boarded the planes.
In the most decisive evidence to date of the Saudi-born fugitive's guilt in the murder of more than 3,000 people in the World Trade Centre and Pentagon attacks, the 40-minute camcorder tape shows Bin Laden telling a visiting Muslim cleric, referred to only by the honorific title of sheikh, details of the planning for the attacks and his delight at the devastation they had caused.
The video, thought to have been made in early November, is also likely to focus attention on Bin Laden's fervent support among ultra-conservative Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia.
Before the tape was released, US officials had suggested that at least some of the hijackers were not aware they were going to die, but Bin Laden's remarks suggest that although they did not know the details of the plan, they were aware they would end up dead. It was a "martyrdom operation".
The tape's release may turn out to be an ironic death knell for Bin Laden's terrorist career. In the aftermath of September 11 he used carefully staged videos with great effect to rally Muslim support for his cause. By contrast, most analysts agreed that this amateur video was never intended for broadcast, and is likely to puncture the Bin Laden legend in the Islamic world.
In the course of the video, Bin Laden says he had been informed of the timing of the attacks the previous Thursday, September 6, and he makes it clear that the plan succeeded beyond his expectations, with the collapse of the twin towers.
"We calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors," he says, illustrating the impact with his hands, one palm vertical for the World Trade Centre and one horizontal, a plane.
"I was the most optimistic of them all," he continues. "Due to my experience in this field, I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only. This is all that we had hoped for."
According to US officials, the tape was found in a house in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan, and handed to US officials by a person or group the Pentagon has refused to identify. President Bush first watched it at the end of November.
The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said Mr Bush had held up the release of the tape so its authenticity could be verified, and to make sure that no intelligence sources would be jeopardised. The administration also brought in independent translators to ensure that it would not be accused of twisting the tape's interpretation.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said: "By boasting about his involvement in the evil attacks, Bin Laden confirms his guilt. This totally vindicates the action that we, the US and the international coalition have taken in Afghanistan." - Guardian (12/14/03)

Videotape simply confirms views

"That's why U.S. officials from President Bush on down were eager to release the grainy videotape that dominated the airwaves Thursday. They said they were convinced it would validate their belief that bin Laden is the linchpin of the terrorist network responsible for the historic attacks of Sept. 11.

U.S. officials and their coalition partners saw all the justification they needed for the war. "How could there be any doubt in anyone's mind any longer ... that he was the head of an organization that participated in this kind of evil?" asked Secretary of State Colin Powell. Sheik Abdullah bin Zaid al-Nahayan, a United Arab Emirates spokesman, said the tape confirms bin Laden's guilt "in a way that leaves no room for doubt."

The beginning of bin Laden's visit to the house comes last. Bin Laden is seen coming through the doorway, looming over everyone. He sits on gray flowered cushions on the floor of the small room. He's wearing American fatigues, a white turban and a long white scarf trailing down his left shoulder. On his right hand are a gold ring and a wristwatch." - USA Today (12/13/01)



FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive - Usama Bin Laden

"DESCRIPTION

Remarks: Bin Laden is the leader of a terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda, "The Base". He is left-handed and walks with a cane." - FBI



Fatwa Bank

"Title of Fatwa: Men Wearing Gold-Plated Objects

Question of Fatwa: Dear Sheikh, I would like to know if Muslim men are permitted to wear golden rings, chains and so on. What about watches plated with gold and other similar objects?

First of all, it is important to note that men are prohibited to wear golden rings or anything that is made of gold, and this prohibition extends to chains, watches and so on.
Concerning watches that are plated with gold, Muslim scholars hold different views regarding them. Some say that is allowed to use such things if the amount of gold is very small. Anyhow, it is better to avoid such materials so as to be safe from any doubtful matter.

The prohibition of gold for men includes pure gold, gold alloys, cut pieces, joined pieces, gold inlay, etc. As for gold-plating and gilding, some scholars are of the opinion that such articles are forbidden for men if it is possible to extract gold from them (by peeling or shaving, for example); if no gold can be extracted from it, then such items are permitted. Some scholars say that it is not permitted to wear an item which is wholly or mostly gold-plated, but if only a little part of it is gold-plated (like the hands of a watch, or the numerals, or the tiny points denoting numbers), then it is permitted. They say that the issue is its appearance, not its value: if the gold-plating is obvious and covers all the article, it is not permitted, because most people can not make the distinction between gold-plate and real gold, and some may follow this person’s example and begin to wear pure gold." - Islam Online

- See video of "OBL" writing with his right hand and wearing a gold ring (Courtesy of Loose Change.) See stills of this video at: September11News.com

(See also: December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies; December 15, 2001 - Special effects experts say fake video would be easy to make; December 26, 2001 - A video of Osama bin Laden, looking thin and weak, is released and officials suggest the video may have been recorded in November; October 29, 2004 - Four days before the 2004 Presidential elections, a videotape is released of Osama bin Laden admitting publicly for the first time that he ordered the attacks of 9/11)



• December 13, 2001 - FOX News: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? Part 2 of 4

(These items have since been removed from the FOX News web site.)

BRIT HUME, HOST: Last time we reported on the approximately 60 Israelis who had been detained in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorism investigation. Carl Cameron reported that U.S. investigators suspect that some of these Israelis were spying on Arabs in this country, and may have turned up information on the planned terrorist attacks back in September that was not passed on.
Tonight, in the second of four reports on spying by Israelis in the U.S., we learn about an Israeli-based private communications company, for whom a half-dozen of those 60 detained suspects worked. American investigators fear information generated by this firm may have fallen into the wrong hands and had the effect of impeded the Sept. 11 terror inquiry. Here's Carl Cameron's second report.
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fox News has learned that some American terrorist investigators fear certain suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks may have managed to stay ahead of them, by knowing who and when investigators are calling on the telephone. How?
By obtaining and analyzing data that's generated every time someone in the U.S. makes a call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What city and state, please?
CAMERON: Here's how the system works. Most directory assistance calls, and virtually all call records and billing in the U.S. are done for the phone companies by Amdocs Ltd., an Israeli-based private elecommunications company.
Amdocs has contracts with the 25 biggest phone companies in America, and more worldwide. The White House and other secure government phone lines are protected, but it is virtually impossible to make a call on normal phones without generating an Amdocs record of it.
In recent years, the FBI and other government agencies have investigated Amdocs more than once. The firm has repeatedly and adamantly denied any security breaches or wrongdoing. But sources tell Fox News that in 1999, the super secret national security agency, headquartered in northern Maryland, issued what's called a Top Secret sensitive compartmentalized information report, TS/SCI, warning that records of calls in the United States were getting into foreign hands – in Israel, in particular.
Investigators don't believe calls are being listened to, but the data about who is calling whom and when is plenty valuable in itself. An internal Amdocs memo to senior company executives suggests just how Amdocs generated call records could be used. “Widespread data mining techniques and algorithms.... combining both the properties of the customer (e.g., credit rating) and properties of the specific ‘behavior….’” Specific behavior, such as who the customers are calling.
The Amdocs memo says the system should be used to prevent phone fraud. But U.S. counterintelligence analysts say it could also be used to spy through the phone system. Fox News has learned that the N.S.A has held numerous classified conferences to warn the F.B.I. and C.I.A. how Amdocs records could be used. At one NSA briefing, a diagram by the Argon national lab was used to show that if the phone records are not secure, major security breaches are possible.
Another briefing document said, "It has become increasingly apparent that systems and networks are vulnerable.…Such crimes always involve unauthorized persons, or persons who exceed their authorization...citing on exploitable vulnerabilities."
Those vulnerabilities are growing, because according to another briefing, the U.S. relies too much on foreign companies like Amdocs for high-tech equipment and software. "Many factors have led to increased dependence on code developed overseas.... We buy rather than train or develop solutions."
U.S. intelligence does not believe the Israeli government is involved in a misuse of information, and Amdocs insists that its data is secure. What U.S. government officials are worried about, however, is the possibility that Amdocs data could get into the wrong hands, particularly organized crime. And that would not be the first thing that such a thing has happened. Fox News has documents of a 1997 drug trafficking case in Los Angeles, in which telephone information, the type that Amdocs collects, was used to "completely compromise the communications of the FBI, the Secret Service, the DEO and the LAPD."
We'll have that and a lot more in the days ahead – Brit.
HUME: Carl, I want to take you back to your report last night on those 60 Israelis who were detained in the anti-terror investigation, and the suspicion that some investigators have that they may have picked up information on the 9/11 attacks ahead of time and not passed it on.
There was a report, you'll recall, that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, did indeed send representatives to the U.S. to warn, just before 9/11, that a major terrorist attack was imminent. How does that leave room for the lack of a warning?
CAMERON: I remember the report, Brit. We did it first internationally right here on your show on the 14th. What investigators are saying is that that warning from the Mossad was nonspecific and general, and they believe that it may have had something to do with the desire to protect what are called sources and methods in the intelligence community. The suspicion being, perhaps those sources and methods were taking place right here in the United States.
The question came up in select intelligence committee on Capitol Hill today. They intend to look into what we reported last night, and specifically that possibility – Brit.
HUME: So in other words, the problem wasn't lack of a warning, the problem was lack of useful details?
CAMERON: Quantity of information." - FOX (12/13/01) [Reprinted and video clip at: Information Clearinghouse]

(See also: Israeli spy scandal - Part1, Part 3)



• December 14, 2001 - FOX News: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? Part 3 of 4

(These items have since been removed from the FOX News web site.)

HUME: Last time we reported on an Israeli-based company called Amdocs Ltd. that generates the computerized records and billing data for nearly every phone call made in America. As Carl Cameron reported, U.S. investigators digging into the 9/11 terrorist attacks fear that suspects may have been tipped off to what they were doing by information leaking out of Amdocs.
In tonight's report, we learn that the concern about phone security extends to another company, founded in Israel, that provides the technology that the U.S. government uses for electronic eavesdropping. Here is Carl Cameron's third report.
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The company is Comverse Infosys, a subsidiary of an Israeli-run private telecommunications firm, with offices throughout the U.S. It provides wiretapping equipment for law enforcement. Here's how wiretapping works in the U.S.
Every time you make a call, it passes through the nation's elaborate network of switchers and routers run by the phone companies. Custom computers and software, made by companies like Comverse, are tied into that network to intercept, record and store the wiretapped calls, and at the same time transmit them to investigators.
The manufacturers have continuing access to the computers so they can service them and keep them free of glitches. This process was authorized by the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA. Senior government officials have now told Fox News that while CALEA made wiretapping easier, it has led to a system that is seriously vulnerable to compromise, and may have undermined the whole wiretapping system.
Indeed, Fox News has learned that Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller were both warned Oct. 18 in a hand-delivered letter from 15 local, state and federal law enforcement officials, who complained that "law enforcement's current electronic surveillance capabilities are less effective today than they were at the time CALEA was enacted."
Congress insists the equipment it installs is secure. But the complaint about this system is that the wiretap computer programs made by Comverse have, in effect, a back door through which wiretaps themselves can be intercepted by unauthorized parties.
Adding to the suspicions is the fact that in Israel, Comverse works closely with the Israeli government, and under special programs, gets reimbursed for up to 50 percent of its research and development costs by the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade. But investigators within the DEA, INS and FBI have all told Fox News that to pursue or even suggest Israeli spying through Comverse is considered career suicide.
And sources say that while various F.B.I. inquiries into Comverse have been conducted over the years, they've been halted before the actual equipment has ever been thoroughly tested for leaks. A 1999 F.C.C. document indicates several government agencies expressed deep concerns that too many unauthorized non-law enforcement personnel can access the wiretap system. And the FBI's own nondescript office in Chantilly, Virginia that actually oversees the CALEA wiretapping program, is among the most agitated about the threat.
But there is a bitter turf war internally at F.B.I. It is the FBI's office in Quantico, Virginia, that has jurisdiction over awarding contracts and buying intercept equipment. And for years, they've thrown much of the business to Comverse. A handful of former U.S. law enforcement officials involved in awarding Comverse government contracts over the years now work for the company.
Numerous sources say some of those individuals were asked to leave government service under what knowledgeable sources call "troublesome circumstances" that remain under administrative review within the Justice Department.
And what troubles investigators most, particularly in New York, in the counter terrorism investigation of the World Trade Center attack, is that on a number of cases, suspects that they had sought to wiretap and survey immediately changed their telecommunications processes. They started acting much differently as soon as those supposedly secret wiretaps went into place – Brit.
HUME: Carl, is there any reason to suspect in this instance that the Israeli government is involved?
CAMERON: No, there's not. But there are growing instincts in an awful lot of law enforcement officials in a variety of agencies who suspect that it had begun compiling evidence, and a highly classified investigation into that possibility – Brit." - FOX (12/14/01) [Reprinted and video clip at: Information Clearinghouse]

(See also: Israeli spy scandal - Part 2, Part 4)



• December 14, 2001 - President Bush says the video of Osama bin Laden discussing the attacks is a "devastating declaration of guilt" and scoffs at the notion that the tape might not be authentic.



President Bush: Tape a 'devastating declaration of guilt'

"President Bush scoffed Friday at any suggestion that the videotape of Osama bin Laden discussing the September 11 terrorist attacks might not be authentic.
"It is preposterous for anybody to think that this tape is doctored," he said during a brief photo opportunity with the prime minister of Thailand. "That's just a feeble excuse to provide weak support for an incredibly evil man."
Bush acknowledged he had mixed emotions about releasing it to the public.
"I was hesitant to allow there to be a vivid reminder of their loss and tragedy displaced on our TVs," he said. "On the other hand, I knew that the tape would be a devastating declaration of guilt for this evil person."

Barry Pollack, an attorney, said the tape could be a key piece of evidence if bin Laden is captured and brought to trial. Pollack pointed to one sentence in the transcript in which bin Laden said of the hijackers: "We asked each of them to go to America."
Testimony would be needed from experts to say that it had not been doctored, he added.

On the streets of Cairo, Egypt, the reaction was different. "There is still no proof in America, so they come up with this tape," one man said.
"People will continue to be suspect of anything that is American," he said. The United States should release more information about how it got the tape, Kamal said.
Officials said the approximately hour-long tape, dated November 9 and made in Kandahar, was found in a private residence in Jalalabad, although they haven't explained details of its discovery.
Asked Friday whether he preferred bin Laden's capture dead or alive, Bush said it "doesn't matter to me," but vowed that he would not escape." - CNN (12/14/01)



(See also: December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video of OBL bragging about 9/11; December 15, 2001 - Special effects experts say fake video would be easy to make)



• December 14, 2001 - Sheik in bin Laden videotape may be Saudi cleric Ali Ben Said al-Ghamdi.

"U.S. officials said Friday they believe the sheik seen on a videotape with Osama bin Laden is Ali Ben Said al-Ghamdi, a former Islamic theology professor once jailed by the Saudi government.
On the videotape released by the U.S. government Thursday, the man thought to be al-Ghamdi flatters bin Laden and repeatedly praises him for organizing the attacks on New York and Washington. The man also suggests that he is aware of a further attack planned before the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends Sunday.
Unnamed Saudi officials quoted in The New York Times describe al-Ghamdi as a militant cleric from the same tribe as several of the aircraft hijackers of September 11 -- a tribe from Saudi Arabia's Asir Province, north of the Saudi border with Yemen.
Al-Ghamdi was fired from his teaching post in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and briefly jailed. His detention was protested at the time by a Saudi dissident group known as the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights, according to U.S. officials.
The sheik appears to be paralyzed from the waist down, and Saudi analysts said that may be a result of injuries received in fighting either in Afghanistan or Chechnya. Neither U.S. nor Saudi officials could confirm that, however." - CNN (12/14/01)

(See also: December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video of OBL bragging about 9/11)







• December 15, 2001 - Muslim doubts grow over authenticity of bin Laden tape, special effects experts say a fake video would be relatively easy to make.



US urged to detail origin of tape, As Muslim doubts grow over authenticity, special effects experts say fake would be relatively easy to make

"The White House yesterday came under pressure to give more details of the video which purports to show Osama bin Laden admitting his part in the September 11 attacks.
There was growing doubt in the Muslim world about the authenticity of the film while special effects experts said computer technology made it possible to fake such a video. Unless the US gives more information about how the tape was found or provides more technological details about it, doubts are bound to linger.
The 40-minute poor-quality tape, apparently shot with a camcorder, shows Bin Laden telling a visiting Muslim cleric details of the planning for the attack and his delight in the carnage.
According to US officials the tape was found in a house in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan, and handed to the Pentagon by an unnamed person or group. Officials say Mr Bush first watched the tape in November but release was delayed until it could be authenticated. Independent translators were used to make sure the US could not be accused of twisting the words of the men on the film.
But for many the explanation is too convenient. Some opponents of the war theorise that the Bin Laden in the film was a lookalike, others claim images of him had been manipulated.
It was also pointed out that it was surprising that a man with the ability to organise the attacks on America would be naive enough to confess on tape. And some observers point out that Bin Laden appears to be wearing a ring on his right hand. In previous film of Bin Laden released by him, he has worn no jewellery apart from a watch.
Riaz Durrani, a spokesman for Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, which spearheaded pro-Taliban rallies in Pakistan, said: "This videotape is not authentic. The Americans made it up after failing to get any evidence against Osama."
Legal experts in the US said that prosecutors seeking to bring Bin Laden to justice would certainly be keen to produce the tape but might struggle to prove its authenticity.
Henry Hingson, a former president of the national association of criminal defence lawyers, said: "In this day and age of digital wizardry, many things can be done to alter its veracity."
On the other hand it would be foolish to fake a video confession, knowing that if Bin Laden is ever tried his defence team will have experts pore over the video.
Sean Broughton, director of the London-based production company Smoke and Mirrors and one of Britain's leading experts on visual effects, said it would be relatively easy for a skilled professional to fake a video of Bin Laden.
The first step would be to transfer images shot on videotape on to film tape. Distortion or "noise" and graininess would be removed. A "morphing package" would then be used to manipulate the image on a computer screen.
Using such a package it is possible to alter the subject's mouth and expressions to fit in with whatever soundtrack is desired. The final step is to put the "noise" and graininess back on and transfer the doctored images on to videotape.
In a recent advert that Smoke and Mirrors made for a US insurance company, the technique was used to place Bill Clinton's head on an actor's body for comic effect.
Mr Broughton said that while it would be relatively easy to fake a Bin Laden video, to fool the top experts was much more difficult.
Bob Crabtree, editor of the magazine Computer Video, said it was impossible to judge whether the video was a fake without more details of its source. "The US seems simply to have asked the world to trust them that it is genuine."
Mr Bush said it was "preposterous for anybody to think this tape was doctored".
He added: "Those who contend it's a farce or a fake are hoping for the best about an evil man. This is Bin Laden unedited. This is... the Bin Laden who murdered the people. This is a man who sent innocent people to their death."
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, insisted there was "no doubt it is the real thing"." - Guardian (12/15/01)



(See also: December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video of OBL bragging about 9/11; December 14, 2001 - Bush scoffs at notion that OBL tape is a fake)



• December 15, 2001 - U.S. 'reasonably certain' it heard bin Laden radio call.

"The United States is "reasonably certain" that one of the voices it has been monitoring on battlefield radios in eastern Afghanistan is that of Osama bin Laden, a U.S. official said Saturday.
U.S. officials have said publicly they do not know Bin Laden's whereabouts, but they have said privately they believe he is in the Tora Bora area." - CNN (12/15/01)

(See also: December 2001 - Osama bin Laden reportedly dies; April 26, 2002 - Rumsfeld says they haven't heard "anything hard" from Osama bin Laden since last December)



• December 17, 2001 - FOX News: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? Part 4 of 4

(These items have since been removed from the FOX News web site.)

TONY SNOW, HOST: This week, senior correspondent Carl Cameron has reported on a longstanding government espionage investigation. Federal officials this year have arrested or detained nearly 200 Israeli citizens suspected of belonging to an "organized intelligence-gathering operation." The Bush administration has deported most of those arrested after Sept. 11, although some are in custody under the new anti-terrorism law.
Cameron also investigates the possibility that an Israeli firm generated billing data that could be used for intelligence purpose, and describes concerns that the federal government's own wiretapping system may be vulnerable. Tonight, in part four of the series, we'll learn about the probable roots of the probe: a drug case that went bad four years ago in L.A.
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Los Angeles, 1997, a major local, state and federal drug investigating sours. The suspects: Israeli organized crime with operations in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Canada, Israel and Egypt. The allegations: cocaine and ecstasy trafficking, and sophisticated white-collar credit card and computer fraud.
The problem: according to classified law enforcement documents obtained by Fox News, the bad guys had the cops’ beepers, cell phones, even home phones under surveillance. Some who did get caught admitted to having hundreds of numbers and using them to avoid arrest.
"This compromised law enforcement communications between LAPD detectives and other assigned law enforcement officers working various aspects of the case. The organization discovered communications between organized crime intelligence division detectives, the FBI and the Secret Service."
Shock spread from the DEA to the FBI in Washington, and then the CIA. An investigation of the problem, according to law enforcement documents, concluded, "The organization has apparent extensive access to database systems to identify pertinent personal and biographical information."
When investigators tried to find out where the information might have come from, they looked at Amdocs, a publicly traded firm based in Israel. Amdocs generates billing data for virtually every call in America, and they do credit checks. The company denies any leaks, but investigators still fear that the firm's data is getting into the wrong hands.
When investigators checked their own wiretapping system for leaks, they grew concerned about potential vulnerabilities in the computers that intercept, record and store the wiretapped calls. A main contractor is Comverse Infosys, which works closely with the Israeli government, and under a special grant program, is reimbursed for up to 50 percent of its research and development costs by Israel's Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Asked this week about another sprawling investigation and the detention of 60 Israeli since Sept. 11, the Bush administration treated the questions like hot potatoes.
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I would just refer you to the Department of Justice with that. I'm not familiar with the report.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm aware that some Israeli citizens have been detained. With respect to why they're being detained and the other aspects of your question – whether it's because they're in intelligence services, or what they were doing – I will defer to the Department of Justice and the FBI to answer that.
CAMERON: Beyond the 60 apprehended or detained, and many deported since Sept. 11, another group of 140 Israeli individuals have been arrested and detained in this year in what government documents describe as "an organized intelligence gathering operation," designed to "penetrate government facilities." Most of those individuals said they had served in the Israeli military, which is compulsory there.
But they also had, most of them, intelligence expertise, and either worked for Amdocs or other companies in Israel that specialize in wiretapping. Earlier this week, the Israeli embassy in Washington denied any spying against or in the United States – Tony.
SNOW: Carl, we've heard the comments from Ari Fleischer and Colin Powell. What are officials saying behind the scenes?
CAMERON: Well, there's real pandemonium described at the FBI, the DEA and the INS. A lot of these problems have been well known to some investigators, many of who have contributed to the reporting on this story. And what they say is happening is supervisors and management are now going back and collecting much of the information, because there's tremendous pressure from the top levels of all of those agencies to find out exactly what's going on.
At the DEA and the FBI already a variety of administration reviews are under way, in addition to the investigation of the phenomenon. They want to find out how it is all this has come out, as well as be very careful because of the explosive nature and very political ramifications of the story itself – Tony." - FOX (12/17/01) [Reprinted and video clip at: Information Clearinghouse]

(See also: Israeli spy scandal - Part 3)



• December 21, 2001- Bin Laden named 9 hijackers on tape; White House, Pentagon defend translation

"Osama bin Laden named several of the alleged hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks on the United States, according to an independent review of a videotape of a meeting in Afghanistan between the suspected terrorist chief and supporters.
The translation and transcript released last week by the Pentagon said bin Laden spoke about "Mohamed," which the translators concluded was a reference to Mohamed Atta, who was on board the first airliner to slam into New York City's World Trade Center.
But experts who reviewed the tape for CNN said bin Laden also named the brothers Nawaf al Hazmi and Salam al Hazmi, cited by the Justice Department as hijackers on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Later, bin Laden said that four other hijackers were from the al Ghamdi tribe. He also mentioned two others, both named al Shehri.
In doing so, bin Laden makes reference to nine hijackers, not just one, according to the independent translator -- who did not want to be identified -- and Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Saudi Institute, a nonprofit organization that works for human rights for Saudis.
That finding would seem to bolster the government's view that bin Laden was involved in the planning of the hijackings.
But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday the latest review wasn't all that startling. Bush administration officials have long said they are convinced of bin Laden's complicity in the attacks.
In cases where the four outside translators could not agree on what was said, Rumsfeld said no translation was provided.
Rumsfeld said the government was interested in reviewing "every bit" of the tape for intelligence, but added there is no value in providing a new, public transcript.
"From a public standpoint, as I stood up here and said, I don't stand behind that," he said of the tape. "I don't speak Arabic. And it's for everyone to make their own judgment. If someone wants to get their own translator, they can do it."
The tape, which the U.S. government said was found in a home in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and had poor audio quality, was believed to have been made in Kandahar on or around November 9
The translators hired by CNN to independently review the tape concluded that significant elements of what bin Laden said were left out of the translation provided by the government.
"They missed the fact that there were fatwahs -- religious edicts issued and played on Saudi government radio supporting what happened in New York," said al-Ahmed.
"The translators missed a lot of things on the tape. They missed the names of the hijackers -- two of them mentioned by full names," he said. They missed that four hijackers that come from the same tribe were also mentioned, not by name, but by their tribe name, he added.
Al-Ahmed speculated the government might have reasons to leave out parts of the translation.
"If you want to use the conspiracy theory, (one could) say they didn't want to embarrass the Saudi government," Al-Ahmed said.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer dismissed the suggestion that the U.S. government had deliberately withheld information as "far-fetched."
Al-Ahmed and the independent translator -- who did not want to be identified -- also said the original translation did not include the names of three Saudi clerics who publicly backed the attacks, according to the man speaking with bin Laden on the tape. At least one of those three Saudi clerics was possibly a government official.
According to al-Ahmed and the independent translator, there was one other striking example of detail left out of the government translation: bin Laden's description of exactly what he said to others just before the radio announcement was heard that the first of the attacks had succeeded.
They quote him as saying, "When you hear a breaking news announcement on the radio, kneel immediately, and that means they have hit the World Trade Center."
While the two claimed the information was left out, the two did not dispute the overall message: That bin Laden had known about the September 11 attacks ahead of time and boasted about the death and destruction that resulted from the attacks.
Fleischer said the administration, when it released the tape, encouraged news organizations to hire independent experts to assess the tape as well.
The new translation "doesn't change anything for the president" because Bush already knew that bin Laden was responsible for the attacks, Fleischer said." - CNN (12/21/01)

(See also: December 13, 2001 - Pentagon releases a poor quality video showing a husky looking Osama bin Laden bragging about the attacks)



• December 21, 2001 - Despite the worst attacks in America's history just happening three months ago and the anthrax attacks on America, Bush sums up 2001 as a "fabulous year" for himself and his wife Laura.

"But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." - White House (12/21/01)