From: Travis
U.S. Attorney Tries to Kill Book Exposing Terrorism | Print |
Written by William F. Jasper
Monday, 15 June 2009 17:45
A major battle over censorship is igniting. Since October 2007, United
States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has been trying to kill a book that
paints him in an unfavorable light. A new edition of TRIPLE CROSS: How
Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the
FBI by Peter Lance is due to be released on June 16, at a press
conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
In Triple Cross (Harper Collins), Peter Lance, a five-time Emmy
award-winning investigative reporter, details the incredible story of
how Ali Mohamed, al-Qaeda's master spy, managed to penetrate the
deepest levels of the U.S. intelligence community and provide vital
assistance to Osama bin Laden's terrorist operations for years prior
to the 9/11 terror attacks — while on the U.S. government's payroll. A
cover story on Ali Mohamed that appeared in The New American in
November 2007 ("Unleashing a Terrorist") reports on the enormous
multi-year investigative effort by Peter Lance to connect the dots,
showing the important linkages that tie together several of the most
important terrorist attacks on America: the 1990 assassination of
Rabbi Meier Kahane; the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; and the 1998
U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Ali Mohamed played a key
role in all of these cases — and others besides.
Lance is one of the few investigative journalists from the mainstream
media to delve into the abundant evidence (which The New American
reported on extensively over a period of years) showing the
connections of Ali Mohamed and convicted 1993 World Trade Center
bomber Ramzi Yousef to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
In an October 2007 letter to Harper Collins, Patrick Fitzgerald, the
U.S. attorney for Illinois' northern district (and formerly assistant
U.S. attorney in New York, where he headed a number of high-profile
prosecutions), threatened to sue for defamation unless the publisher
ceased publication and distribution, issued a public retraction of the
book's allegations about Fitzpatrick, and agreed to refrain from
publishing a scheduled updated edition of the book. Following an
extensive, 18-month vetting of the evidence in Lance's book, Harper
Collins decided to go ahead with publication of the updated version of
Triple Cross. The legal correspondence between Patrick Fitzgerald and
the legal counsel for Harper Collins can be accessed here.
In his most recent letter to Harper Collins (June 2, 2009), Fitzgerald
reiterates his earlier charges that Triple Cross "is not a book whose
falsehoods are a result of mere negligence or even recklessness. Nor
is it a book whose inaccuracies can be fixed by a redaction of a few
offending sentences. The book is a deliberate lie masquerading as
truth." This is a very sweeping charge from a prosecutor whose
professional office demands the use of precise legal language.
Fitzpatrick's characterization of the entire book as a "deliberate
lie" is especially troubling inasmuch as the author has a
well-deserved reputation as a meticulous researcher, Lance's
statements are well within the bounds of legally acceptable
interpretation of established facts, and the book is extensively
sourced with several hundred end notes and 30 pages of appendices
reproducing dozens of government documents.
Triple Cross is a masterpiece of investigative journalism concerning
some of the most important events in recent history impacting our
national security, personal liberty, and the future of limited
constitutional government. It is one of the most important books (if
not the most important) published to date on the 9/11 terror attacks,
especially because of Lance's ability to analyze and assimilate vast
quantities of data and then present the "big picture" in a manner
accessible to the non-expert. In refusing to cave in to the threats of
Patrick Fitzgerald, Peter Lance and Harper Collins have performed an
important civic duty. Ironically, Fitzgerald's heavy-handed efforts to
squash the book may be backfiring; journalists and publishers spanning
the political spectrum are speaking out against his attempt to use the
intimidating power of his office for blatant censorship. The New
American contacted Fitzgerald's office in Chicago for comment on this
story but was informed that he was unavailable for comment. We were
told that his media spokesman at the U.S. attorney's office, Randy
Sanborn, would call back to answer our questions, but by the end of
the day he still had not responded.
Related article: Unleashing a Terrorist
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