The Darkened Hour

Planning Terrorism: The 2000 Al Qaeda Meeting In Malaysia

In December 1999, NSA analysts working on a covert signals intelligence operation on an Al Qaeda network hub in Sana'a , Yemen, pick up an important phone call from Malaysia. The caller tells someone by the name of "Khalid", to tell the two others, to come to a meeting in Malaysia. The caller was identified as someone by the name of "Khallad". 
The CIA, which heads all international operations, had then asked Malaysian authorities to conduct a surveillance team from the Special Branch, and take photographs of anyone at this meeting. Afterwards, two of the meetings occupants, 'Khalid' and 'Nawaf', who possessed US visas, were coming to the United States. NSA and CIA then blocked the FBI from sharing this intelligence from being shared with FBI headquarters. Question is why? 
In this episode, we will go over the factual information regarding this meeting, where some of the information comes from Chapter 1 of  Bob Graham's excellent book, "The CIA, The FBI, Saudi Arabia, And The Failure Of America’s War On Terror"
Bob Graham's book: https://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-Matters-Arabia-Failure-Americas/dp/0700616268

An Interview With Richard Kammen (Tortured Justice: Guantanamo Bay)

Richard Kammen is a criminal defense lawyer with his office in Indianapolis, Indiana. He concentrates his practice in serious felonies, white-collar defense, complex crimes and death penalty defense. He is of Counsel to the law firm of Kammen and Moudy. He has defended over three hundred homicide cases including approximately forty death penalty cases in both State and Federal courts. No client that Mr. Kammen has represented at trial has been sentenced to death.
Until October of 2017, Mr. Kammen served as “Learned Counsel” in United States v. Abdul Rahim Al-Nashiri who is charged before a Military Commission at Guantanamo Bay Cuba. Al-Nashiri is alleged to have been a central figure in the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in 2000 in Aden, Yemen. He is also the recipient of the Pro Bono Award given by the Indiana Bar Association and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indiana Public Defender Council. Richard is also the author of two books, one in which we will speak at some length today, "Tortured Justice: Guantanamo Bay"
Tortured Justice: Guantanamo Bay:
https://www.amazon.com/Tortured-Justice-Guantanamo-Richard-Kammen/dp/1614938717

An Interview With Alka Pradhan (Lawyer For 9/11 Defendant Ammar al-Baluchi)

Alka Pradhan is an American human rights attorney who has represented Guantanamo Bay detainees, civilian drone strike victims, and other torture victims. She currently works for the U.S. Department of Defense, Military Commissions Defense Organization and represents Ammar al-Baluchi in the case of United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Pradhan also works as a defense attorney at the International Criminal Court.  
Additionally, she is an active participant in the UN human rights mechanisms, with submissions or presentations on behalf of clients to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the UN Committee Against Torture, the Human Rights Committee, and the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. She has co-written or advised on several amicus curiae briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court. 
In this interview, Ms. Pradhan speaks at length regarding her initial career as a litigator while working alongside the International Criminal Court., Military Commissions Defense Organization and co-counsel for Ammar al-Baluchi (one of the defendants charged for the Sept 11th attacks).  

New Evidence For Saudi Government's Alleged Involvement With Two 9/11 Hijackers While Inside The United States

According to breaking reports from 60 Minutes and Florida Bulldog, video footage shot by a Saudi government employee, Omar al-Bayoumi, which was obtained by news outlets shows a group of men driving around a neighborhood and sometimes pointing out landmarks like the White House, the Washington Monument and the Capitol building. Also, a cell phone linked to a top Saudi prince was also used to contact two future 9/11 hijackers which was never used again, shows that there very well could be a direct connection between certain individuals within the Saudi Kingdom and the 9/11 hijackers and the attacks.
Investigators for 9/11 families examine video taken by man with ties to Saudi intelligence referencing a "plan":https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bayoumi-video-examined-as-september-11-evidence-60-minutes/Saudi prince’s cell phone linked to 9/11 hijackers:https://www.floridabulldog.org/2024/06/saudi-princes-cell-phone-linked-to-9-11-hijackers/

An Interview With Seth Hettena (The CIA, FBI & The Guantanamo Defendants Charged For The 9/11 Attacks)

Seth Hettena is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a freelance journalist. He reports on politics, organized crime, and international affairs. From 1997-2006, Hettena was a reporter and correspondent at The Associated Press in Detroit, Sacramento, Baltimore, and San Diego. Prior to that, he worked at two small newspapers in Iowa. He is the author of two books, Trump/Russia: A Definitive History and Feasting on the Spoils: The Life and Times of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, History's Most Corrupt Congressman. He is also runs a Weekly column at SpyTalk where we will discuss two of his articles at length involving the FBI investigation into Saudi government funding of two future 9/11 hijackers, Operation Encore, and the Canestraro documents revelations, as well as the current pre-hearings of four of the 9/11 defendants, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Exclusive: FBI Agents Accuse CIA of 9/11 Coverup:
https://www.spytalk.co/p/exclusive-fbi-agents-accuse-cia-of
Yet Another Delay in Saudi-Related 9/11 Docs Case:
https://www.spytalk.co/p/yet-another-delay-in-saudi-related

An Illicit Confession: The Capture, Rendition & Torture Of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

In this episode, i talk about the capture and eventual torture of the man alleged to have operated and planned the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Mohammed was captured while hiding in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on March 1st 2003. While in CIA custody, Mohammed underwent various torture methods, also known as, the enhanced interrogation techniques. Mohammed was subjected to punching to the face and stomach, sleep deprivation, rectal rehydration and waterboarding. He was transferred to various countries where secret CIA black sites were held including, Poland, Lithuania, Afghanistan and Romania. 
As of September 2006, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba where he currently awaits trial for conspiracy and other charges in facilitating the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks. However, because Mohammed was tortured, along with the 4 others charged in the conspiracy, his admission's cannot be used as evidence. What does the federal government and CIA have as evidence then? 
The Rendition Project:
https://www.therenditionproject.org.uk/prisoners/khaled-sheikh-mohammed.html
Senate Select Committe on Intelligence Regarding CIA's Use of Torture:
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/publications/CRPT-113srpt288.pdf

An Interview With Cole Bunzel (Wahhabism: The History Of A Militant Islamic Movement)

Cole M. Bunzel is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. A historian and Arabist, he studies the history and contemporary affairs of the Islamic Middle East, with a particular focus on violent Islamism and the Arabian Peninsula. He is the editor of the blog Jihadica and has written widely on the ideology of Sunni jihadism. His current book project, "Wahhabism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement" which draws on an array of rare manuscripts and other primary sources in Arabic, provides a new account of the history and doctrine of Wahhabism, the puritanical Islamic revivalist movement that arose in central Arabia in the 18th century, will be the main focus of our conversation today.
Bunzel received his MA in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and his BA and PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University. He has been a research fellow in Islamic law and civilization at the Yale Law School, and is a nonresident fellow at the George Washington University Program on Extremism.
Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement:
https://www.amazon.com/Wahh%C4%81bism-History-Militant-Islamic-Movement/dp/0691241597Jihadica: https://www.jihadica.com/

The 9/11 Congressional Inquiries: A Comprehensive Breakdown

In this episode, i conduct a detailed report on the two 9/11 congressional investigations, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission and the The Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. I will be speaking in regards to the various failures of the state and federal levels of government and our domestic intelligence services between the Clinton and Bush administration. This will be a comprehensive breakdown of those failures and also i add some additional information in between making it clear that we still have not had an honest and open ended investigation into the 9/11 attacks.

Guantanamo Bay Prison: Where Truth Goes To Die

After the terrorist events of September 11th 2001, the Bush White House, led by its legal counsel, drafted memorandums that would not only infringe on the rights of detained foreign prisoners, but also deny them any protections afforded to them by the Geneva Conventions. The State Department also authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to implement a strategy at obtaining information "through any means necessary". So in 2002, the CIA would hire Mitchell, Jessen and Associates, to conduct a method on detainees entitled the SERE program where acts of torture would be implemented by captured prisoners to elicit information. Most of which would turn out to be false data. 
The manipulation of minds:reckoning with the legacy of the american post 9/11 torture program (Maria Hartwig & Mark Fallon):
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36519198/
The Guantánamo Docket:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/guantanamo-bay-detainees.html

9/11: The Unscripted History Past & Present

In this special episode of the Darkened Hour, i bring a very laid back attitude and offer some personal and direct thoughts on multiple facets of the 9/11 attacks before and after that i never entertained before! The conversation centers on various areas that include the intelligence services, radical arab fundamentalism, Israel and Saudi Arabia and the 9/11 truth movement. Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, i offer many differing thoughts on these questions while also explaining how i become involved with 9/11 and what we need in the future to open a new criminal investigation.