Tell Me Another One

Liz at BlondeSense spotted this tale:

Former federal terrorism investigators say a piece of luggage hastily checked in at the Portland, Maine, airport by a World Trade Center hijacker on the morning of Sept. 11 provided the Rosetta stone enabling FBI agents to swiftly unravel the mystery of who carried out the suicide attacks and what motivated them.

A mix-up in Boston prevented the luggage from connecting with the plane that hijackers crashed into the north tower of the trade center. Seized by FBI agents at Boston's Logan Airport, investigators said, it contained Arab-language papers revealing the identities of all 19 hijackers involved in the four hijackings, as well as information on their plans, backgrounds and motives.

Let's see, you're planning to highjack a plane and crash it into a building, destroying it, you, and the entire jet. What are you going to make sure you do before you go to the airport? That's right, pack a bag with all the evidence of your crime, and a list of your co-conspirators, because you just know that no one will ever happen to pick your suitcase for a random look-see, and you're certain that it won't fall off a cart and break open in front of baggage handlers. Color me unconvinced.

The papers discovered in the hijackers' luggage were bolstered by other evidence gathered against the conspirators by the FBI, the former federal prosecutor said. "These guys left behind a paper trail," he said. "They had bank accounts. They rented cars. They had to show what they were doing in the United States. ..."

Show whom? Were they planning to submit receipts for reimbursement?

After the funeral, he said, he fell into conversation with a young FBI agent he had helped train in the New York office. The agent, working on the Sept. 11 investigation, told him about the luggage. ... The young FBI agent, who has since left the agency, works in private industry and is reportedly in Dubai. He could not be reached for comment.

I do believe that.