State-Terror Archive

It was the FBI that bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. None of this would be known today if it were not for the FBI's undercover agent Emad Ali Salem taping his conversations with his FBI handlers (unbeknownst to them). Salem thought that the FBI might try to pin it on him so he took measures to protect himself. Indeed, without the FBI the '93 WTC bombing would never have happened, as it was agent Salem who built the bomb for the would-be Muslim "terrorists." Salem wanted to use fake ingredients for the "bomb" but the FBI ordered him to make a real one. When the making of the bomb was complete Salem told the FBI that they could now arrest the would-be terrorists, but the FBI refused to stop the bombing. After agent Salem went public with his tapes in a news conference the FBI found it necessary to pay him over a million dollars to shut him up.

For more on the above, see the below New York Times articles:

• "Tapes Depict Proposal to Thwart Bomb Used in Trade Center Blast," Ralph Blumenthal, New York Times, October 28, 1993, Section A, pg. 1, Column 4; also available here.

• "Tapes in Bombing Plot Show Informer and F.B.I. at Odds," Ralph Blumenthal, New York Times, October 27, 1993, Section A, pg. 1, Column 4. See the hyperlinks for the above article, which also contain this article.

Also see the below article:

• "Who Bombed The World Trade Center? FBI Bomb Builders Exposed," Paul DeRienzo, Frank Morales and Chris Flash, The Shadow, October 1994/January 1995 Issue.

From the above article one can find the below two audio clips from one of Emad A. Salem's recorded telephone conversations with one of his FBI handlers, FBI Special Agent John Anticev:

• emad%20salem.mp3 ; also available here.

The above clip is an excerpt from the below longer clip:

• SalemWBAI.mp3 ; also available here.

The above clips are from a broadcast on WBAI Radio in the city of New York which aired this taped conversation between Emad A. Salem and FBI Special Agent John Anticev.

In this audio recording of Emad A. Salem in conversation with one of his FBI handlers, Special Agent John Anticev (recorded unbeknownst to him), Salem admits a number of times to building, with the supervision of the FBI and the District Attorney of New York, the bomb that exploded in the North Tower (Tower One) of the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. FBI Special Agent John Anticev doesn't disagree with Salem's account of the event, and indeed Anticev admits in the recording that Salem has only ever told him and the FBI the truth.

The below transcript is from 2:57 to 4:31 min:sec from the longer clip (SalemWBAI.mp3):

FBI Special Agent John Anticev: But, uh, basically nothing has changed. I'm just telling you for my own sake that nothing, that this isn't a salary, that it's--you know. But you got paid regularly for good information. I mean the expenses were a little bit out of the ordinary and it was really questioned. Don't tell Nancy I told you this. [Nancy Floyd is another FBI Special Agent who worked with Emad A. Salem in his informant capacity.]

FBI undercover agent Emad A. Salem: Well, I have to tell her of course.

Anticev: Well then, if you have to, you have to.

Salem: Yeah, I mean because the lady was being honest and I was being honest and everything was submitted with a receipt and now it's questionable.

Anticev: It's not questionable, it's like a little out of the ordinary.

Salem: Okay. Alright. I don't think it was. If that's what you think guys, fine, but I don't think that because we was start already building the bomb which is went off in the World Trade Center. It was built by supervising supervision from the Bureau and the D.A. and we was all informed about it and we know that the bomb start to be built. By who? By your confidential informant. What a wonderful, great case!

Anticev: Well.

Salem: And then he put his head in the sand and said "Oh, no, no, that's not true, he is son of a bitch." [Deep breath.] Okay. It's built with a different way in another place and that's it.

Anticev: No, don't make any rash decisions. I'm just trying to be as honest with you as I can.

Salem: Of course, I appreciate that.

Anticev: And as far as the payments go, and everything like that, they're there. I guarantee you that they are there.

Salem says in the above that he and the FBI built the bomb, i.e., "we." Indeed, he says it three different times here in three different ways: first he says "we [i.e., at the very least Salem] was start already building the bomb," then he says "It was built by supervising supervision from the Bureau and the D.A.," and lastly he asks "By who?" (i.e., "By whom was the bomb built?") to which he answers "By your confidential informant" (i.e., by Salem).

Salem was a former Egyptian army officer and the explosives expert within Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman's circle of followers. The fact that Salem was the explosives expert and bomb-builder within Sheik Rahman's circle is further reinforced by the fact that Salem tried to get the FBI to allow him to secretly substitute harmless powder for the explosives, but the FBI wouldn't allow it (see the two New York Times articles I previously cited above for that). Let me repeat: Salem himself wanted to substitute harmless ingredients for the bomb. What this demonstrates is that (1) Salem was regarded within Sheik Rahman's circle as the bomb-making expert (such that Salem would be allowed by them to be in charge of building the bomb), and that (2) Salem wasn't all that concerned about anyone else within Sheik Rahman's circle knowing the difference between fake or real bomb-making ingredients.

Nor can point No. 2 be dismissed as Salem not being very cautious, because not only was Salem concerned enough about his dealings with the FBI to secretly record his phone conversations with them (lest the FBI attempted to deny the extent of their relationship with Salem and blame him for the bombing), but Salem also refused to wear a "wire" in case he should be discovered as an undercover agent. In other words, if Salem thought that there was anyone else within the circle that he infiltrated who would know the difference between fake or real bomb-making ingredients then he wouldn't have been at all keen--as he indeed was--on the idea of substituting fake bomb-making ingredients.

There is simply no getting around the fact that Salem was the one who built the bomb under orders and supervision of the FBI. Not only did Salem say three different times in three different ways that he and the FBI built the bomb, but then one has points Nos. 1 and 2 which demonstrate that Salem was in charge of bomb-building within Sheik Rahman's circle, and that no one else within this group besides Salem would have been able to recognize fake bomb-making ingredients.

The following exchange is from 8:00 to 8:34 min:sec on the longer clip (SalemWBAI.mp3):

FBI undercover agent Emad A. Salem: [Have] you ever verified information and you find me falsifying any information to the Bureau?

FBI Special Agent John Anticev: Falsify? No. No.

Salem: No. Alright. So, every single information I supplied, it's very excellent and correct.

I was talking to El Sayyid Nosair's [I'm not sure if this is the correct name that Salem says] wife yesterday, and she's going to visit him today, and I will be going to visit him next week, as per the arrangement. What am I supposed to do this trip? I don't have money to do this trip. And then to go over there and the guy will ask me to build a bomb again. ...

One reason for me bringing up the above exchange is that it once again, at the very least, demonstrates that Salem was in charge of bomb-building within Sheik Rahman's circle. And depending on how one interprets the phrasing, it could very well mean that Salem is here saying that he had previously built a bomb for this group and hence "the guy will ask me [i.e., Salem] to build a bomb again": i.e., Salem had already built a bomb for this group, and now they're asking him to build another one for them. But at the very least this exchange further demonstrates that this group thought that Salem was the one to go to when it comes to having a person build bombs.

Moreover, another point to me bringing up this exchange is that FBI Special Agent John Anticev here admits that Salem hasn't ever said anything false to him or the FBI. That is, Anticev here agrees that Salem's statements in the audio recording regarding how the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bomb was built are correct.