March 21, 2007
KSM confession and the 9/11 Commission report
Ed Epstein notes that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's confession is at odds in several crucial respects with what the CIA briefer reported to the 9/11 Commission, and, therefore, several critical findings -- especially those which found no significant connection between the 1993 WTC bombing and 9/11 and the funding and support for both operations -- may be wrong.
[I]f indeed KSM had been behind the 1993 bombing--and the 9/11 Commission had not been told the opposite by the CIA--the question of what support KSM had in recruiting the conspirators and organizing the escape routes of the bomb makers would have become a far more pressing investigative issue for the commission.Of course, KSM's credibility is a very big "if." He might have lied in his confession about his role in the 1993 WTC bombing; he might have lied to his CIA captors (which itself would say something about the effectiveness of their aggressive interrogation); or, in selecting bits and pieces out of their full context, the CIA project officer may have accidentally mis-briefed the 9/11 Commission staff.