and talk about fuckin up

this one takes the cake. and certainly provides even more ammunition to the premise that the 9/11 commission was a whitewash for the bushites.

from today's papers on slate:

Relying on Representative Curt Weldon, R-Pa., and a "former defense intelligence official," the NYT says above the fold on Page One that a secret Pentagon program actually pegged four of the 9/11 hijackers—including Mohamed Atta—as al-Qaida men back in 2000. The secret program, which used data-mining, was called "Able Danger." Again, according to Weldon and the other source, program officials wanted to pass along the tips to the FBI but were overruled by Pentagon lawyers concerned that the military would be overstepping its authority. "We knew these were bad guys, and we wanted to do something about them," the former unnamed DoD official said. That source also charged that the 9/11 commission was told about the scoop but never followed up.

the piece on slate goes on with more details on weldon.