FBI: No Fifth 9/11 Cell, Wikileaks Fuels Conspiracy Theories

A senior FBI official yesterday moved to quash rumors that the publication of a secret State Department cable by Wikileaks points towards a so-called “fifth 9/11 hijack team.” The cable, sent February 11, 2010, by the US Embassy in Doha to the National Counterterrorism Center in Virginia, recommended adding a Qatari citizen to the air-travel watch list because he was one of four individuals “currently under investigation by the FBI for his possible involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks. He is suspected of aiding people who entered the U.S. before the attacks to conduct surveillance of possible targets and providing other support to the hijackers.” The cable, the FBI official said, was not accurate. “They’re not sought by us and they’re not 9/11 plotters,” the FBI official said, speaking anonymously so he could speak candidly.