Go here and you will see a short video presentation from Daniel Hopsicker on Wolfgang Bohringer -- Mohammed Atta's very strange and spooky associate. Much of the footage comes from a New Zealand news team, who interviewed islander Chuck Corbett (who seems to be a real-life equivalent to Cary Grant's character in Father Goose). Bohringer admitted his friendship with Atta to Corbett.
This information conclusively verifies the statement made by Atta's girlfriend Amanda Keller. At the time of Hopsicker's interview with Keller, he did not know about Wolfgang Bohringer, whom Amanda knew only by the first name. She pronounced that name in a correctly Germanic fashion -- "VOLF-gahng" -- imitating the way she heard it.
Confirmation of the Bohringer/Atta relationship is important because the Sarasota Herald-Tribune published a recent piece in which Amanda tries to claim that she had fibbed about knowing Atta. "It was my bad for lying," she told the newspaper.
In fact, there were numerous witnesses who saw Amanda and Atta together. Their testimony is what put Amanda's name in the newspapers in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Amanda herself did not volunteer the information.
Amanda recalled Atta making reference to an organization called "The Family," a term which cropped up in another Hopsicker interview. A restaurant owner who overheard the hijackers also heard references to this "Family." Both interview subjects spoke independently, without prompting. As readers know, I believe that the Atta "Family" may be Boris Berezovsky's "Family," which has strong ties to Chechen extremists -- who have, in turn, strong ties to Al Qaeda.
Most importantly, we have the videotaped interview with Amanda. While no-one possesses an infallible bullshit detector, I have encountered no shortage of individuals who have fantasized a role for themselves in important news stories. Fabricators carry a distinctive aroma which does not perfume Amanda Keller. In this tape, she comes across as a very credible witness.
Her elaborate story includes details that would never have occurred to a not-particularly-well-educated young woman asked to concoct a yarn about the world's most notorious terrorist. A fabricator would have drawn on Hollywood stereotypes of what a terrorist is like: Fanatical Islamic harangues, repeated references to the Koran, prayers to Mecca five times a day, contacts bearing Arabic (not European) names, and so forth.
The persuasively detailed account given by Amanda is of a very different nature.
Keep in mind, the story she tells does not display her in a creditable light; she comes across as somewhat tawdry and manipulative. The fantasists I have met invariably remained mired in self-justification and maudlin grabs for sympathy. Amanda, by contrast, conveys an air of Here's-what-happened-and-I-don't-give-a-damn-what-you-think-of-me.
If Amanda had concocted the tale to draw attention to herself, then she would have drawn attention to herself. She would have sought out the media; she would not have hid. She would have spoken to the tabloids, not to a guy like Hopsicker.
She is still hiding, putting herself through nursing school -- not an easy task for someone with a history of working at low-wage jobs.
Chrissy Mazzeo, who made assault charges against the Nevada governor, says that she was offered money to change her story -- offered, in fact, both carrot and stick.
I believe Chrissy.
And I think that we should keep her account in mind when we consider the troubling story of Amanda Keller.
3 comments:
Here is an article from 3 days after 9/11 - sure sounds like people thought Atta and Keller were together. While Atta's name may be a fairly common arab name, he had a distinctive look that would make him hard to mistake.
09/14/01
Hunt for terrorists reaches North Port
NORTH PORT -- As authorities continue to dig through the rubble in Tuesday's terrorist attacks, agents were digging through North Port to find one of the many missing pieces to the puzzle of who declared war on the United States and why.
Thursday began like a normal day for North Port residents Tony and Vonnie LaConca, but they would later learn a man who rented their Agress Avenue home is someone whom authorities think may be connected with Tuesday's attacks.
An FDLE agent working in conjunction with the FBI arrived at the LaConca home around 10:30 a.m. Thursday and questioned the couple for two hours concerning a man they knew only as "Mohamed."
The couple told the agent the man was about 25, 5 feet 10 inches, 160 pounds, had "dark, perfect" skin, and was clean cut and "very polite."
"He was a very handsome guy," Vonnie LaConca said in an interview. "He had beautiful, unblemished skin."
Mohamed was associated with a local woman believed to be Amanda Keller, a local restaurant manager, LaConca said. The FBI is looking for Keller for additional questioning, but she might be missing.
LaConca told the agent that Keller had "dishwater blonde hair, was about 21 years old, big boned with freckles" and seemed to be enamored of Mohamed.
In an effort to locate Keller, the agent accompanied Tony LaConca to the North Port Police Department to pick up a Feb. 25 police report in which Keller had called police about harassing cell phone calls.
According to the police report, after Keller called police about the calls, a computer check was conducted and showed an outstanding warrant from Marion County on a worthless check charge.
"Mohamed bailed her out of South County Jail," Vonnie LaConca said. "We told agents this because we thought they (FBI) might be able to get his last name from the reports."
Keller, who allegedly met Mohamed while working at Papa John's Pizza in Venice, told the couple she would translate because Mohamed spoke limited English. She said he was French/Canadian. She told the LaConcas that he was not a U.S. citizen.
A Papa John's employee confirmed that Keller was a manager there, but has not been to work for some time.
While talking to Keller and Mohamed, the couple learned he had a pilot's license to charter small planes of four to six people and was going to school at Huffman Aviation in Venice to train for a commercial pilot's license. Huffman was the school that enrolled Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi, both identified as suspects in the hijacked jet assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"We almost asked him if he wanted to fly our plane," Tony LaConca said. "He was a very polite guy."
Keller said she would be responsible for the rental, but the man gave the couple two checks amounting to $75 each.
While he was writing the checks, the couple noticed Mohamed had brand new clothing, all still with tags on them from a local mall, the couple remembered.
The only request Mohamed made to the couple was that they provide him a desk in which he could do his aviation homework.
"He didn't even care if the house had a bed, all he wanted was a desk," said Tony LaConca in a thick New York accent.
The couple learned more about Mohamed from a then-employee of Vonnie's cleaning company. After meeting Mohamed and Keller on Feb. 21, the former employee joined the couple on an adventure to Key West the following day.
"They were gone for three days," said Tony LaConca. "They didn't sleep -- it was a continuous party."
LaConca said Mohamed footed the entire bill for the weekend including buying Keller and the unnamed employee new clothes, alcohol, drugs and hotel stay. However, the couple said, Mohamed did not have a job.
"The two girls were introduced to two men from Germany that they said were Mohamed's friends," Tony LaConca continued. "I thought it was strange, because Mohamed didn't appear to be French-Canadian or German."
The couple said the agent tried to locate and interview the unnamed employee, however they said she was "uncooperative to the agent." However, Vonnie learned the former employee made telephone contact with Mohamed last week.
At the end of his week-long stay at Agress Avenue, Mohamed returned to the LaConcas' home to pick up his $75 security check. This time, the couple noticed he spoke "good English." He arrived in a rental car with a friend that he claimed he had just picked up from the airport. Mohamed requested that the check be made out to his unidentified friend.
"His friend didn't speak any English, and his name was very strange," said Vonnie LaConca. "The two stayed at our house for at least an hour. Mohamed seemed real interested in the architecture and decor of our home. He asked all kinds of questions about it. I thought they would never leave."
The couple said the FDLE agent showed them four photographs of possible suspects in the terrorist attack.
"The first photo they showed us was the pilot who crashed into the first building," Vonnie LaConca said. "It was not Mohamed or his friend. But the last picture they showed us was very close, but I could not say 100 percent that it was him."
The FBI in Tampa would neither confirm nor deny any agents interviewing people in the North Port area.
"We recommend that you check in with CNN for current information," an FBI spokesperson only identified as "Pam" said Thursday afternoon. "Any press statements can be found on televised stations like CNN."
Amanda Vs. CD Theory?
Which is True? Which is a lie? Who TF knows anymore??? Where is pinnochio when we need him?
Joseph
congrats, your pal Jeff Wells gave you an honorable mention for your work with this subject on his latest post:
http://rigint.blogspot.com/2007/01/yesterdays-papers.html#comments
Keep up the good work even if you want to spit on some of your readers (me) for having questions about how/why the WTC towers fell.
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