September 9, 2001: Internet Forum Message Warns of 9/11 Attack

On September 9, 2001, a message is posted on Alsaha.com, a website based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, warning of the 9/11 attack. It proclaims that in the next two days, a “big surprise” is coming from the Saudi Arabian region of Asir, the remote, mountainous province that produced most of the 19 hijackers who struck on September 11. Since 9/11, the FBI and CIA have closely monitored this website as “a kind of terrorist early-warning system” due to its popularity with Muslim fundamentalists. However, it is doubtful if they were monitoring the site before 9/11, or noticed this message. [Newsweek, 5/25/2003] Additionally, on September 10, someone in Jordan posts on a website that at attack is close to “zero hour.” [Tenet, 2007, pp. 233]