Stella's Place


Home | Pages | Archives


The Man Who Knew

September 11, 2023 12:02 am

PBS’s Frontline used to put out some interesting documentaries. Here is one of them.

When the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, among the thousands killed was the one man who may have known more about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda than any other person in America: John O’Neill.

This 2002 FRONTLINE documentary chronicles John O’Neill’s struggle to convince the FBI to pay attention to the threat posed by Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

John Patrick O’Neill was an American counter-terrorism expert who worked as a special agent and eventually a Special Agent in Charge in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He began to study the roots of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing after he assisted in the capture of Ramzi Yousef, who was the leader of that plot.1 O’Neill investigated the bombing of the American embassies in Africa, the USS Cole in Yemen, the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, and the first attack on the World Trade Center. He believed that America should kill Osama bin Laden before Al Qaeda launched a devastating attack, but his voice was often a lonely one.

For five years, he led the fight to track down and prosecute Al Qaeda operatives throughout the world. But he was a controversial figure inside the buttoned-down world of the FBI. O’Neill’s critics contend that his personal failings proved fatal to his FBI career. His supporters, however, believe his main failing was refusing to conform to the standard-issue FBI mold.

The irony is that this is where John O’Neill died on September 11, 2001.

Posted by Stella

Categories: FBI, government corruption, Terrorism

Tags:

4 Responses to “The Man Who Knew”

  1. Very interesting.

    Liked by 2 people

    By auscitizenmom on September 11, 2023 at 12:45 am

  2. Quite the story here!

    Liked by 2 people

    By Pa Hermit on September 11, 2023 at 2:10 am

  3. I saw this when it came out. It’s shocking, the way John O’Neal was treated by the FBI. He was a true hero.

    Liked by 3 people

    By geoffgo on September 11, 2023 at 4:41 am

  4. Also can read the book, which I did in 2003.

    Liked by 2 people

    By czarina33 on September 11, 2023 at 9:24 am

Leave a Reply



Mobile Site | Full Site


Get a free blog at WordPress.com Theme: WordPress Mobile Edition by Alex King.