Federal Judge George Daniels announced in open court in New York City yesterday, in a case filed by families of 9/11 victims, that he was going to be signing an order within 24 hours stating Iran, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda are responsible for the 9/11 attacks. More specifically, the judge found that Iran has provided material support to al Qaeda for the 9/11 attacks. Much of the material witness testimony in the case comes from three Iranian defectors whose affidavits remained under seal during the course of the case.
What we do know publicly is that Iran and Hezbollah not only provided terrorist travel assistance for the 9/11 hijackers to travel through Iran to attend Afghan terror training camps, but also that Hezbollah's most senior operational leader, and chief liaison with Iran, Imad Mughniyah – and other Hezbollah operatives – traveled with the 9/11 hijackers in and out of Lebanon and in and out of Iran after these same hijackers had been issued visas to visit the United States. The purpose of the hijackers' travel into Iran after acquiring U.S. visas was made clear by Iranian defector testimony under seal. The defectors, in turn, were vetted by two CIA veterans who reviewed numerous of hours of tape to determine the credibility of persons who stated they had knowledge of Iran's involvement in 9/11, including those claiming to have participated in planning meetings in Iran with other Iranian officials on executing the terrorist plot that became 9/11. The CIA veterans concluded that the three defectors were both credible and substantial witnesses.
In an unusual move, Judge Daniels did not require any of the expert witnesses to appear in court. (I was originally supposed to testify at this hearing today.) Instead, based on the credibility of the witnesses, and their expertise, the judge instead simply had an open dialogue with the attorneys who worked for eight years gathering evidence – often at risk to themselves – against Iran and Hezbollah in this case.
For a full explanation of the terrorist travel material support Iran and Hezbollah provided al Qaeda for the purpose of carrying out the 9/11 attacks, please see my affidavit.
For a full reading of the case, and the substantial evidence against Iran and Hezbollah, please read the attorneys' brief. It is an excellent read, and I feel privileged to have been asked to support such an important turn in our understanding of 9/11, terrorism, and its state sponsorship.
Extremely serious border and national security concerns are raised by the fact that we now know, with evidence as substantial as evidence we obtained against al Qaeda pertaining to 9/11 on the 9/11 Commission, that 9/11 was not a fringe terrorist incident, but a coordinated, state-sponsored event that probably would not have successfully occurred without the material support of Iran and Hezbollah.
Our nation needs to stop and consider these facts, and incorporate them into our national and border security policies. Now.
