editor said:
I'm not making any claims, although it does seem rather strange that this amazing 'story' doesn't seem to have been worthy of further comment in the mainstream press for the subsequent two years.
So do you mean to suggest that the lack of follow up coverage of the investigation into trading anomalies which indicate prior knowledge of the attacks is due to those investigations leading nowhere (rather than directly to the doors of those responsible as would be expected)?
Or do you mean that it is 'strange' that the last reports to appear in the mainstream media suggested that the majority of these trades were handled by the bank which until recently was chaired by the current Executive Director of the CIA, just before the 'story' comletely disappeared?
Basically, I'd like to know if you think the story was quashed (censored) in the media, probably because further investigation would show complicity or precise foreknowledge (much the same thing) of elements of the USG in the attacks, or you think the story was dropped because 'there was nothing in it'?
editor said:
But if you think that elements within the stock market were forewarned and complicit in 9/11, I'm all ears.
So, what proof have you got?
The transactions cited by snopes.com in my previous post were being reported less than a week after the attacks.
The initial reaction in the media was to assume that such dealings would obviously be traceable back to Bin Laden, as this BBC report from Tuesday 18th September 2001 demonstates:
Investigations are under way in Europe, Japan and the US into unusual share price movements shortly before last week's terror attacks on America.
The suggestion is that Islamist dissident Osama Bin Laden, or some of his supporters, may have tried to profit by engaging in "short selling" of stocks likely to be affected by the atrocities.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1548118.stm
Two weeks further on, we are told...
Wednesday, 3 October, 2001, 08:59 GMT 09:59 UK
US launches terror trading probe
The US financial markets watchdog has drawn up a list of 38 companies whose shares saw large selling orders just before they were hit by the 11 September terrorist attacks.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched a probe into the trading of shares in major airlines, cruise liners and insurance companies, as well as in companies that had offices in the World Trade Center.
There is suspicion that some investors had knowledge that the attacks were imminent, and that they sold shares in order to profit from the inevitable plunge.
The SEC has asked financial firms, including brokerages and investment banks in both the US and Canada, to search their books for unusual trading patterns from 27 August to 11 September.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1576470.stm
So what were the results of the SEC 'probe'? What did it reveal?
Nester augmented his response by adding that "according to SEC Associate Director of Enforcement Bill Baker -- who just spoke on a panel outside New York last week -- our SEC probe is much broader than investigations made by countries in Europe (who also lost citizens), many of whom have already closed their financial investigations of investment banks like Deutschebank." No results of those probes have been made public.
While the SEC media director said "the investigation is still ongoing with no current conclusions," Nester (speaking for the SEC), had difficulty explaining the job description of current New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Executive Vice President for Enforcement, David P. Doherty. He would only say that the NYSE "regulates itself as an SRO or self-regulating organization...." This vague answer is all the more provocative because Doherty is a retired General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency.
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/12_06_01_death_profits_pt1.html
Well, we don't know. They won't tell us.
Interestingly, Harvey L. Pitt (Chairman of SEC from August 2001) quit at the end of 2002, under heavy criticism over the way he handled the Enron (and others) fraud.
He was slammed for meeting with top executives of companies that were under investigation by the SEC.
A former lawyer for the major U.S. accounting firms, Pitt was also chastised for his ties to the industry when the several companies became embroiled in the fraud scandals that have gripped the U.S. over the past year.
Pitt is also said to have resisted the appointment of John Biggs to head up a new accounting oversight board. Pitt was accused by Democrats of bowing to accounting industry pressure in resisting the appointment of Biggs, who supporters thought would call for tougher accounting standards.
Pitt's latest problems surfaced last week, when he failed to release information about William Webster, the former CIA and FBI director who was recently picked to head the accounting oversight board. Pitt did not disclose to fellow SEC members that Webster once headed the auditing committee for the board of directors of U.S. Technologies, which is being sued by investors alleging fraud.
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/print.cgi?/2002/11/06/pitt_021106
The 'insiders' investigating 'insiders'.
Under US laws, brokerage houses and banks
cannot disclose purchase and sales records or publically identify their clients.
Only the SEC, the FBI or Congress can demand disclosure.
I have so far failed to even find a
mention of any investigation into short selling of specific stocks preceding the September 11th attacks. Check for yourself:
http://www.sec.gov/index.htm
It's simply disappeared down the 'memory hole'.
By the way - who did GWB 'tap' to replace Pitt as head of the SEC? Why, it was fellow 'Skull and Bones' man William Donaldson. (
source)
