Important: Huge Problem with KSM Confession

In his confession, KSM claims:

"I was responsible for planning, training, surveying, and financing for the New (or Second) Wave of attacks against the following skyscrapers after 9/11: ...Plaza Bank, Washington state"

The Plaza Bank was not founded until 2006 according to their official Web site:

" Founded in early 2006, with a vision of creating the leading commercial bank in the Pacific Northwest, Plaza Bank’s story quickly captured the hearts and passion of some of the region’s leading business minds. From Jack Creighton, former CEO of Weyerhaeuser and United Airlines, to former Seattle Mariner Edgar Martinez, and nationally acclaimed salon operator Gene Juárez, the story of a bank founded to bring “class to the mass” simply could not be contained."

I think we can say for quite certain that whomever is being held as KSM was either caught recently or that his entire confession is a fraud.

Update: Noah has more

Comments

[Pedrolito]

Hi Larissa,

You are right, this Plaza Bank event is a major flaw in the KSM story.

I share the point of view of your source, the KSM story looks like a desperate propaganda move.

Here are 13 questions that should be asked to KSM (it's priceless) :
http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/articles/show/
128851-Some+Questions+about+911+for+Khalid+
Shaikh+Mohammed

[Larisa Alexandrovna]

Ped: It is hard to say what is going on here. A source of mine said it was a sloppy DOD propaganda effort. But beyond that, none of my questions have been answered.

[pedrolito]

Dear Larisa,

Your article makes perfect sense.

The Bush gang sets up such poor distractions.

KSM recognized 30 terrorist attacks. With some more torture I am sure he would have recognized 50.

I've just read an article that described very accurately how the KSM pawn was created and introduced in the 9/11 illusion game :
http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/articles/show/128665-Khalid+Sheikh+Mohammed%3A+The+Wally-World+of+Wickedness%21

[Ningen]

Ahmed - that is a different building from the much Columbia Center,formerly known as Bank of America Tower.

[andhowe]

Late comment on the "Plaza" issue. I worked a long time on the P-I copy desk before retiring a few years ago. Part of the job was policing trivia such as building names, locations, etc. Don't recall building ever being called "Plaza." Informally, it was often called Darth Vader because of its awful black-sheathed architecture.

[Larisa Alexandrovna]

Ahm: you are right to be confused, we all are. He called his target the "Plaza Bank in Washington State." The Plaza Bank was not founded until 2006, regardless of when the building was built. The building itself was never called the Plaza Bank Building and the Plaza Bank is just one company in the building described.

Hope that helps.

[Ahmed Ismail]

I don`t know what to say. I do question the credibility of this confession. But I Googled that Ameria Bank Plaza Fifth Avenue and found that it was built in 1981.
And after I looked at your link I found it was not constructed till early 2006. I am confused. Please, I need someone to clear this up for me.
The link I visited was this:

http://www.hines.com/property/detail.aspx?id=150

and you can find me and leave me a comment at my blog:

www.ahmedismailibrahim.wordpress.com

[made brani]

KSM has confessed to so many terrorist plots, that his confession gives the US administration good grounds to claim "mission accomplished!".

There is only one small problem left: Did he confess that he is actually not KSM?

http://www.iamthewitness.com/Bollyn-Ahmed-Abdul-Qadus.html

[Ningen]

"That's all beside the point though. If most Seattlites and Wikipedia don't know its obscure and fleeting original name, it's doubtful that al-Qaeda would either."

Thank you for responding, Lawrence. What you say above is exactly what I was saying.

As for your point about KSM misspeaking, I do not see where he could get this. I suppose it could be a complete coincidence, but the very fact that there might be some basis for the term Plaza makes me think that he did not say this at all. "Bank of America Tower" was the name, and the logical target, through 2005.

More basically, I have no basis to believe that KSM has spoken at all, nor to believe the words of any of the other phantom roles in that bogus document. And Senators Levin and Graham seeing something on closed circuit TV is not good enough for me. An open public criminal trial in federal court, with a vigorous defense allowed, is all I will accept.

The "Plaza Bank" error is so obvious and implausible that I have to wonder if it was done intentionally by the military intelligence or PsyOp operative that wrote the "confession," for a purpose beyond my ability or desire to fathom. If this were a mistake by KSM, the actual building targeted could have been confirmed during years of interrogation. It is just another weird aspect of a completely unreliable document and process.

[Lawrence]

Ningen: "Lawrence, I do not agree that Columbia Center ever had "and Plaza Building" in its name."

Ningen, I don't know if you're from Seattle, live in Seattle, or have ever been to Seattle, but here's a brief history of the building by someone who's lived her for 20 years (as opposed to Wikipedia).

The original name of the Columbia Center was "The Columbia Center and Plaza Building." Land-use regulations at the time required that the building have open public space because of the size of the building. However, the plaza connected to the building itself isn't all that big, doesn't have any seating on it, has little or no landscaping, and sits in the shade practically the whole day. In order to really get use it should have been designed on the other side of the building -- the 4th Ave side -- where most of the foot traffic is due to the fact that's where all the restaurants and stores are, and where it would have basked in afternoon sun.

I think because the plaza was so poorly designed and not very user-friendly, and the original name was a mouthful, the "Plaza" part of the building name was quickly edited out of the local vernacular and later out of the official name as well.

Someone NOT from Seattle but with a little local knowledge might refer to it as some Frankenstein conglomeration of its original and subsequent names. Here we just call it The Big Ugly.

That's all beside the point though. If most Seattlites and Wikipedia don't know its obscure and fleeting original name, it's doubtful that al-Qaeda would either.

I still subscribe to the opinion that the building is locally known by several names, including various bastardizations with Plaza tacked on (despite its piss-poor plaza) and that The Plaza Bank Building is a plausible option.

And just so you all know, I agree that KSM's admissions are undoubtedly exaggerated including the Pearl execution. It's that there's nothing to the Plaza Bank theory other than naive (to use Ningen's word) conjecture.

[Lawrence]

"I think we can say for quite certain that whomever is being held as KSM was either caught recently or that his entire confession is a fraud."

I'm sorry Larisa, but the above quote sounds like a conspiracy theory. I've admired your writing for sometime, I just think you're seriously off-base here.

I'll try this one more time: there is no Plaza Bank Building in Seattle. The corporate offices for Plaza Bank (founded in 2006) is in the City Center Building about seven blocks north of The Columbia Center. It's a small unremarkable regional bank that has no economic or symbolic significance -- in the same area where the corporate headquarters of Microsoft, Starbucks and Amazon are located (Amazon and Starbucks only a short distance away).

Why would all the targets and terrorist incidents that KSM mentioned be real and documented EXCEPT the Plaza Bank site? It defies any explanation other than an understandable mistake.

Ningen: "Please don't label those who don't accept unfounded assumptions as talking "conspiracy." This is a serious subject, to be discussed with logic, not naive acceptance of government claims."

If you want to use logic, then open your mind to my logical argument that KSM simply misspoke. This is not naive acceptance of government claims, this is intimate knowledge of Seattle's skyline and the names of its buildings.

[mirandapreistly]

I live in Seattle and no one calls it by that name. My impression of this is that the name was fed to KSM (or whoever)rather than he "confessed" it without prompting. I take issue with what the "Scott Lawrence" person says because I don't see this article as "a conspiracy theroy" but just pointing out a fact.

[Larisa Alexandrovna]

In addition, on the question of "conspiracy theory" and such. I ask questions for a living. Are you suggesting that because I am finding huge errors in this so-called confession that I am some how a conspiracy theorist?

Danny Pearl was killed by another man. Are you suggesting that the entire foreign press, my own sources, and Danny's own sources who have gone public, are all conspiring to blame his death on someone who is not his killer? That is to say, we are all trying very hard to make sure that KSM gets off the hook?

The notion that asking questions is in itself a conspiracy or that finding errors/untruths in a confession is a conspiracy, is not only absurd but suggests one of two things: a). you are either very interested in making the "errors" seem minor for some very odd reason or b). you are not getting enough oxygen.

[Larisa Alexandrovna]

Scott/Lawrence: I think you are missing some key issues here. Let us assume that KSM had described the building, but did not know the name. Why were his own words not used? Who decided that this was the building in question?

And who thought to call it the Plaza Bank (not building)?

You don't seem to realize that no matter what the building was or was not, it was not called the Plaza Bank and the Plaza Bank is but one office in that building. In addition, the Plaza Bank was founded in 2006. Obviously, whomever write this confession on behalf of KSM got it wrong. So I ask again, why were his own words then not used?

And how do you account for the big error of Danny Pearl's death?

[Scotts]

Why would he go for the "Plaza Bank"
when its very clear that its the Columbia Center. The tallest building in the area.

Please change your article.

Though no Seattle building goes by that exact name, several buildings could fit the description, including the Columbia Center and the Bank of America Fifth Avenue Plaza. Both buildings are major bank buildings.

http://www.komoradio.com/news/6500397.html

Also see
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/307571_terror15.html
But in 2004, the Sept. 11 commission concluded that Mohammed had originally planned the attacks to include "the tallest buildings in California and Washington state." The Columbia Center in Seattle is the tallest building in Washington.

[Ningen]

Lawrence, this has nothing to do with whether you are liberal or not. "KSM was clearly referring to" -- did he tell you that?

Please don't label those who don't accept unfounded assumptions as talking "conspiracy." This is a serious subject, to be discussed with logic, not naive acceptance of government claims.

[Ningen]

Lawrence, I do not agree that Columbia Center ever had "and Plaza Building" in its name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Center

Even if it did, and some subset of Seattlites still called it that, "KSM" would have found the name on the Internet, not from a conversation with a Seattlite.

Sure, I could see someone saying you must mean Bank of America Tower, or now Columbia Center, based on their knowledge that Bank of America Plaza Building is nearby and connected by an underground concourse (which is how the Seattle P-I inappropriately tries to explain this away). That's a completely different scenario from a terrorist researching targets, either on the Internet and on the ground. And how would this putative terrorist know to ask for a "Plaza" bank or building in the first place? And if he did, and your Seattlite knew about Bank of America Plaza Building, would they not refer the person there?

If a terrorist googled "tallest buildings in the United States," he would find this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_the_United_States

Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta and in Dallas, or Wells Fargo Plaza in Houston (not that Al Qaeda would attack their buddies' city). No tall Plaza in Seattle.

Throughout the late 90s, the building was called Columbia Seafirst Center, then from 2000-2005, was called the Bank of America Tower. That's how it would have appeared on the Internet and that's how Seattlites referred to it.

This is not about a "conspiracy." It's about whether the document is credible. And this is a minor point, though well worth pointing out and good work by Ms. Alexandrovna. The document has zero credibility let alone legal significance, given that it is the supposed confession of a phantom terrorist, made through a phantom "personal representative" before a phantom "Recorder" and "judge," in a secret offshore military prison.

It saddens me that the Seattle P-I is stirring up fears with this bogus document on its frontpage, with the headline "Terrorist threat stirs up old fears."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/307748_terrorthreat16.html

[Boris Epstein]

Excellent summary, thanks.

You may want to fix the link to the Noah's post. Here's the correct link:

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/03/911_confession_.html

[vev]

If this is the mastermind behind 911, the 'genius' that thwarted the US Military etc etc. He would know the proper name of a bank. Okay? I want to read more about how KSM is dead.

[Lawrence]

"Please inform us how many buildings inventive Seattlites called "Plaza Bank, Washington state" pre 2006."

Look, all I'm saying is that this is a conspiracy theory that's not going anywhere. KSM was clearly referring to the Columbia Center -- the second tallest building on the West Coast and one that at different times over the past 20 years had the word Plaza in it and a bank name attached to it.

If I was walking down 5th Avenue and someone asked me directions to the "Plaza Bank" I'd probably say "Do you mean the Columbia Center?" That's the degree of latitude that Seattlites give to that building's name. It's not a big deal and it's no big mystery.

The tallest building on the West Coat, The Library Tower in LA, was also on al-Qaeda's target list. It makes sense that since al-Qaeda was targeting tall buildings, including the Twin Towers in NYC and Sears Tower in Chicago, that the two tallest buildings on the West Coast, including the Columbia Center, was what was meant, and not an at-the-time-nonexistent "Plaza Bank in Washington state" (which is not and has never been a building in Washington state).

C'mon. I'm as liberal as they come and love a good conspiracy, but this theory just makes you look goofy.

[Seattlite fella]

"It doesn't surprise me one bit that KSM would be confused as to the name of the building. Even Seattlites call it any number of things."

Please inform us how many buildings inventive Seattlites called "Plaza Bank, Washington state" pre 2006.

Link to message boards and new article that uses said term pre 2006 will do just fine.

[true human]

I do not think any true arabian will do any harm to america or american people. Becasue of the a true deep friendship between the two countires for a long time. And if you please check with any post office about stamp freindship with morroco in which it is an arab country that first recognize USA as a soverign state! And the arabs have a deep history and the Arab have discovered America..but is there anyone really know this vital truth? Has anyone or any other institute search this truth! No...so the lies goes on!

[true human]

I do not think any true arabian will do any harm to america or american people. Becasue of the a true deep friendship between the two countires for a long time. And if you please check with any post office about stamp freindship with morroco in which it is an arab country that first recognize USA as a soverign state! And the arabs have a deep history and the Arab have discivered America..but is there anyone really know this avital truth? Has anyone or any other institute search this truth! No...so the lies goes on!

[Mike]

This case is a problem on many levels. One, we definitely know he was tortured and we know that al-Qaeda operatives do in fact have methods of dealing with interrogations, namely telling captors wily, but false things to get them off their backs and divert them.

Also, as usual the invaluable Pepe Escobar of the Asia Times raises many a red flag regarding this man:

"KSM met bin Laden in Jalalabad in Afghanistan in 1996, after the Taliban took power in Kabul. It may have taken him years to convince "the Sheikh" of September 11's conceptual merits: with al-Qaeda's No 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the job was much easier. As to KSM's confession of personally beheading former Wall Street reporter Daniel Pearl in early 2002 in Karachi, it does not make sense. The one man responsible for the whole Pearl operation was Lahore playboy turned jihadi turned computer wizard Omar Sheikh, now languishing in jail in Pakistan."

This detainee seems to be playing his captors, it's hilarious:

"
Hardcore Salafi-jihadis don't break under torture - in fact their boot camp teaches them to turn an interrogation on itself and tell interrogators exactly what they want to hear. KSM is wily enough to have engineered a last laugh - attributing to himself a catalogue of horrors as a diversionist tactic while globalized Salafi-jihadis, the post-KSM generation, keep slouching toward Baghdad to be born."

The wars in Iraq and Afg today are perhaps similar to all wars, in that both participants are fighting on some level to "write themselves" into history.

[Lawrence]

I'm sorry, but you're clearly off-base on this.

When the tallest building in Seattle opened in 1985 it was officially called the Columbia Center and Plaza Building. However, everyone just called it the Columbia Center. It's name has changed over the years and has also been known as the Columbia Seafirst Center (after Seafirst Bank), then Bank of America Tower. There's an underground concourse that connects the building to the Bank of America Fifth Avenue Plaza. A few years ago its name was changed back to the Columbia Center (this time without the "Plaza"), hopefully for good.

It doesn't surprise me one bit that KSM would be confused as to the name of the building. Even Seattlites call it any number of things. I've always called it the Columbia Center, but I've also heard it called The Plaza Building.

The 9/11 Commission identified it as one of al-Qaeda's Second Wave targets.

The corporate offices for The Plaza Bank is located on the 37th floor of the City Center Building about seven blocks away. I doubt that anyone in al-Qaeda would consider this little regional bank as a primary target, or even knew it existed. I certainly didn't.