The 9-11 Commission Report Misses the Diamond Story

The 9-11 Commission, despite extensive interaction with me, Global Witness, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), wrote that "we have seen no persuasive evidence that al Qaeda funded itself by trading in African conflict diamonds" (p. 171). The footnote cites: FBI report, "Allegations of al Qaeda Trafficking in Conflict Diamonds," July 18, 2003; CIA Analytic Report, "Terrorism: Assessing al Qaeda and Hizbollah Ties to Conflict Diamonds," Jan. 13, 2003; CIA Analytic Report, "Couriers, Hawaladars Key to Moving al Qaeda Money," Dec. 12, 2002; two State Department cables, an FBI "situation reports and supporting documents from the Sierra Leone trip, Feb. 2004." It also notes an interview with Alan White of the Special Court.

This would lead one to believe that not only my reporting, but the Global Witness reports and other investigations were not looked at or taken into account. That is unfortunate, because it was all made available to them, including the Beligian police report, posted on this website, and other documents. They didn't say there was no evidence of al Qaeda moving its assets to commodities such as diamonds, but that is small consolation when such an important report, with so much right, got this so wrong.

The most ususual aspect of all this is the behavior of the FBI. While agents who carried out February 2004 mission to investigate the ties told Rep. Wolf and others they had found credible evidence of the Liberia/Sierra Leone ties to al Qaeda, none of this is reflected in the reporting to the Commission or in other recent briefings. Wolf not only told me this privately, but also to the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. FBI officers sat in his Cannon House Office Building office and told him that they had been able to verify much of my reporting. The FBI also told Wolf and others they had even polygraphed witnesses in Sierra Leone, and the people had passed, lending credibility to the story. But in a 4-page report handed out in recent briefing on terror finance--titled "FBI/DDS Deployment to Freetown, Sierra Leone & Monrovia, Liberia, RE: Allegations of Possible al Qaeda Involvement in Conflict Diamond Trade, now available on this website under the documents section of the "Links to Diamond and Terrorism Topics"--none of this is mentioned. They brief as if they found no evidence. While I don't expect the CIA to suddenly acknowledge it was involved in another intelligence failure, the FBI's behavior is baffling. I would take the word of Rep. Wolf over just about anyone in Washington because of his known personal integrity. So why is the FBI doctoring its reports now? Leads one to believe there is more to be hiddend than meets the eye.