Thousands gathered Tuesday in New York, suburban Washington and rural Pennsylvania to mark the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, but at the somber day's biggest venue, Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, this year's observance was missing a key feature from years past: politicians' voices.

In a reminder of the global consequences of the attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed by airliners hijacked by Islamist militants, commemorations also were being held abroad. At the Kaia airport in the Afghan capital Kabul, soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force prayed during a memorial ceremony for the Sept. 11 victims.

The United States and its allies launched the invasion of Afghanistan to oust al-Qaida and its Taliban protectors in retaliation for the 2001 attacks. Nearly eleven years later, troops are still fighting there in what has become America's longest war.

President Barack Obama has pledged to end the main U.S. combat role in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but current plans call for some thousands of U.S. troops to remain long after that to train Afghans and hunt terrorists. Since 2001, more than 2,000 American troops have been killed in Afghanistan.

In search of 'more intimate' commemorations
In previous years, politicians including presidents, state governors and New York City mayors have participated in the reading of the names, or have read from the Bible or recited passages from literature, at Ground Zero commemoration ceremonies.

PhotoBlog:360-degree-view of National 9/11 Memorial at dusk

This year, only the families of the more than 2,750 who were killed when militant Islamist hijackers crashed two jetliners into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, causing their collapse, appeared on the podium to read their names.

To Charles G. Wolf, it's a fitting transition.

"We've gone past that deep, collective public grief," says Wolf, whose wife, Katherine, was killed at the trade center. "And the fact that the politicians will not be involved, to me, makes it more intimate, for the families. ... That's the way that it can be now."

Fewer families attended the ceremonies this year, and some cities canceled their remembrances altogether.

"I feel much more relaxed" this year, said Jane Pollicino, who came to Ground Zero Tuesday morning to remember her husband, who was killed at the trade center. "After the ninth anniversary, that next day, you started building up to the 10th year. This feels a lot different, in that regard. It's another anniversary that we can commemorate in a calmer way, without that 10-year pressure."

Politicians still attended, but under event rules set down in July by the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, chaired by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, none was to speak or participate in the reading of names.

The point, memorial President Joe Daniels said, was "honoring the victims and their families in a way free of politics" in an election year.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was among the officials attending the New York ceremony this year.

From NBC 4 New York: Agreement reached on Sept. 11 museum

Political friction
But others said keeping politicians off the rostrum smacked of ... politics.

The move came amid friction between the memorial foundation and the governors of New York and New Jersey over financing for the museum — friction that abruptly subsided Monday, when Bloomberg and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement that paves the way for finishing the $700 million project "as soon as practicable."

Before the deal, Cuomo, a Democrat, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, had signaled their displeasure by calling on federal officials to give the memorial a financial and technical hand. Some victims' relatives saw the no-politicians anniversary ceremony as retaliation.

"Banning the governors of New York and New Jersey from speaking is the ultimate political decision," said one relatives' group, led by retired Deputy Fire Chief Jim Riches. His firefighter son and namesake was killed responding to the burning World Trade Center.

Spokesmen for Christie and Cuomo said the governors were fine with the memorial organizers' decision.

The restrictions will not extend to politicians at the other remembrances.

Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

Soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force pray at Kaia airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, during an 11th anniversary memorial ceremony for those who perished in the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

At the Pentagon outside of Washington, where more than 180 were killed when a hijacked plane was flown into it, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke in a ceremony that was closed to the public, attended only by victims' families.

Also speaking to the victims’ families, President Barack Obama said that the Sept. 11 victims would be remembered "no matter how many years pass.”

Obama said that the whole country shares their loss.

US adds cancer to list of illnesses linked to 9/11 terror attacks

"Eleven times we have paused in remembrance and reflection, in unity and in purpose," Obama said. "This is never an easy day, but it is especially difficult for all of you, the families of nearly 3,000 innocents who lost their lives."

"But no matter how many years pass, no matter how many times we come together on this hallowed ground, know this: That you will never be alone, your loved ones will never be forgotten. They will endure in the hearts of our nation because through their sacrifice they helped us make the America we are today, an America that has emerged even stronger."

Earlier, the president and first lady Michelle Obama observed the anniversary in a ceremony on the White House's south lawn, and then laid a white floral wreath at the Pentagon, above a concrete slab that said "Sept. 11, 2001 — 9:37 a.m."

Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar  delivered remarks in Shanksville, Pa., where 40 passengers aboard United Flight 93 were killed when that plane crashed as they revolted against their hijackers.

The names of 40 crew members and passengers aboard the plane were read beginning at 10:03, the time of the crash, by victims' families and local volunteers who assisted in the aftermath of the attacks. A bell was rung for each of the 40 victims, and a wreath was laid at the Wall of Names honoring the dead.

"How we handle the legacy of these 40 people and what they did, what they kept from happening, is really more of a statement about ourselves, about what we value as a society," said Patrick White, current president of Families of Flight 93. White's cousin, Joey Nacke II, was among the passengers who stormed the cockpit.

U.S. authorities say the al-Qaida hijackers planned to crash that plane into the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

The anniversary led to a brief pause in the presidential campaign as Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney pulled their negative ads and avoided campaign rallies. Romney shook hands with firefighters at Chicago's O'Hare Airport and was flying to Nevada to address the National Guard, whose members deployed after the attacks. His running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, had no scheduled public events.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Updated at 5:15 p.m. ET: The federal government on Monday added 14 categories of cancer to the list of illnesses linked to the 9/11 terror attacks, which brings added coverage to rescue workers and people living near ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health approved the additions to the list of illnesses covered in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which were proposed in June. The updated regulations take effect 30 days after the ruling is published in the Federal Register.

See more on this story on NBCNewYork.com

The decision "marks an important step in the effort to provide needed treatment and care to 9/11 responders and survivors," said Dr. John Howard, administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program established by the Zadroga law. 

The Zadroga Act — named after NYPD Detective James Zadroga, who died at age 34 after working at ground zero — was signed into law nearly two years ago. Despite the hundreds of sick responders, the act did not cover cancer because of a supposed lack of scientific evidence linking cancer to ground zero toxins.

"We are getting sick in record numbers," said Ray Pfeiffer, a first responder who was diagnosed three years ago with kidney cancer. He said it has been a struggle to pay for expensive medications not fully covered by his insurance.

"It's fantastic news," he said of the expanded list of covered illnesses.

About 400 residents and rescue workers have died from cancer since 9/11, according to the New York Post.

With cancer included in the program more victims are likely to seek compensation, which could cause individual awards to be reduced as officials divide up the $2.77 billion fund.

"They’re going to add cancers, but are they going to add more money to the fund?" Thomas "T.J." Gilmartin, who suffers from lung disease and sleep apnea, said to the Post. "It’s crazy. Every time, we gotta fight. It’s two years since Obama signed that bill, and nobody’s got 10 cents."

"We fought long and hard to make sure that our 9/11 heroes suffering from cancers obtained from their work at ground zero get the help they deserve," U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles E. Schumer, both of New York, said in a statement. "Today's announcement is a huge step forward that will provide justice and support to so many who are now suffering from cancer and other illnesses. We will press on - with advocates, the community, and our partners in government - to ensure that all those who suffered harm from 9/11 and its aftermath get the access to the program they so desperately need."

Family photo via NY Daily News / AP File

In this undated file photo, New York City Police Det. James Zadroga, left, holds his daughter Tylerann. Fifty cancers will be added to the Zadroga Act, which was named after the detective--who died of respiratory failure in Jan. 2006 after working at ground zero.

Last week, the New York City Fire Department added nine names to the 55 already etched on a wall honoring members who have died of illnesses related to ground zero rescue and recovery work, Reuters reported.

Some estimates put the overall death toll from 9/11-related illness at more than 1,000, according to Reuters. At least 20,000 ground zero workers are being treated across the country and 40,000 are being monitored by the World Trade Center Health Program, Reuters reported.

Tuesday marks the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. 

Last fall, the September 11 Memorial at ground zero finally opened in the footprints of the original towers. Since then, more than 4 million people have visited.

Financial, security and design setbacks have delayed the redevelopment of the World Trade Center in the past decade. A recent project audit indicates that overall site redevelopment costs have grown to nearly $15 billion.

One World Trade Center is nearing completion and is expected to open in 2014.

NBCNewYork.com's Brynn Gingras and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Slideshow: Sept. 11: Attack on America

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

See images from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Launch slideshow

A U.S. judge ruled that AMR Corp's American Airlines and United Continental Holdings Inc must face trial over claims relating to the September 11 attacks that destroyed the landmark towers of the World Trade Center in New York almost 11 years ago, court documents showed.

In July 2001, two months before the attacks, World Trade Center Properties LLC (WTCP) bought 99-year leases to four World Trade Center buildings from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Inc for $2.805 billion.

In its lawsuit against United Airlines and American Airlines, WTCP said that had it not been for the airlines' negligence, "the terrorists could not have boarded and hijacked the aircraft and flown them into the twin towers," on September 11, 2001, according a New York court filing.

The company claimed damages of $8.4 billion from the airlines, the estimated cost of replacing the towers.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein limited the value of WTCP's destroyed property to $2.805 billion, the price WTCP paid for the leases.

The defendants denied they were negligent, and said the case should not go to trial because WTCP has recovered $4.091 billion from insurance companies.

Slideshow: After the raid: Inside bin Laden's compound

Farooq Naeem / AFP - Getty Images

U.S. forces found and killed the al-Qaida leader in the affluent Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where he had been living in a large compound.

Launch slideshow

Judge Hellerstein said at this stage he could not reasonably determine the defendants' claim that insurance payments received by WTCP covered the damages the company is seeking from them.

"On this record, before trial, I am not able to make such findings," Judge Hellerstein said in a court filing.

The case is in re September 11 litigation, Case No. 21-MC-101, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

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An al-Qaida leader in Iraq has threatened to soon carry out an attack inside "the heart" of the U.S.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio recording boasting that operatives from his al-Qaida affiliate are in the midst of planning a major terror operation.

"Soon you will witness them in the heart of your homeland, as our war with you has just begun, and so await them," al-Baghdadi said.

Federal and local security officials told NBC New York there are no new specific threats inside the U.S. The officials said that overseas terror leaders often make unsubstantiated claims and threats about targeting American interests. 

This latest terror threat message did not specify where or when such a plot might take place. New York, which officials say has faced more than a dozen unsuccessful terror plots since 9/11, appears not to be a target.

"There is no specific or credible threat to New York at this time," said FBI New York spokesman J. Peter Donald.

Officials have said the 2009 Zazi subway terror plot and the 2010 Times Square car bomb attempt were the most serious threats to date against the city. Both of those plots were planned with the help of al-Qaida operatives based in Pakistan. 

Al-Baghdadi – which is believed to be a pseudonym -- became head of al-Qaida in Iraq in 2010. 

The al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen has also targeted U.S. airliners using explosives hidden in underwear. That group has also plotted to bomb cargo planes using explosives hidden in printer cartridges.

In 2005, al-Qaida in Iraq had been linked to a "baby stroller" bomb threat targeting New York subways. But after an investigation, security officials determined the alleged plot to smuggle bombs onto trains hidden in baby strollers was based on unsubstantiated information from intelligence sources overseas.

In addition to threats inside the U.S., al-Baghdadi boasted that the terror group would soon carry out more attacks and assassinations inside Iraq.

As for the U.S., he said "The leader of the infidels and protector of the Cross, I say to her: Your war on the Muslims is a failure, and soon enough Allah-willing you will collapse and accept defeat."

He went on to claim terror operatives were already en route to the US. "The Mujahideen have departed to pursue your fleeing army, and they have sworn to make you face more severe punishments than those dealt to you by Osama (bin Laden)."

NBC terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann translated al-Baghdadi's comments.

DENVER -- Sandy Dahl, wife of the pilot who captained United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a Pennsylvania field after being taken over by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, has died at age 52.

A fundraising group she founded to honor her husband’s memory, the Captain Jason M. Dahl Scholarship Fund, announced on its website that Sandy Dahl died in her sleep Friday from natural causes near Denver.

“Her guiding light will be missed,” the group said.

Dahl, a former United flight attendant, became a public face for 9/11 families.

She had told the Denver Post the heroism of Jason Dahl and many others aboard Flight 93 was not forgotten.

"They did what would almost never be asked of anyone,” she had said.

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Sandy Dahl looks at the image of her husband, Pilot Jason Dahl, etched on a memorial for Flight 93 crew members at the Shanksville Chapel for Flight 93 Sept. 10, 2006, in Shanksville, Penn.

"I want to make sure history is written," she said then.

She said she believed her husband joined passengers in fighting the terrorists who planned to crash the plane into the Capitol or White House. It went down outside Shanksville, Penn., about 75 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. A memorial dedicated to the 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93 was dedicated last September.

Two other planes on 9/11 struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York; a fourth crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. The death toll from the four attacks was nearly 3,000.

The Jason Dahl scholarship fund provided money for young pilots to receive their education.

As of 2011, 16 students had received scholarships and some were already commercial pilots, NBC station KUSA of Denver reported.

"Both of them were my best friends," Capt. David Dosch, president of the Jason Dahl Scholarship Fund, said of Jason and Sandy Dahl. "Unfortunately, both of them had a short period of time to enjoy their company."

"Sandy's courage picked up where her husband's left off," Patrick White, president of Families of Flight 93, said Saturday in a statement obtained by the Post. "Her dedication to completing the Flight 93 National Memorial as a way to honor her husband's heroic actions on 9-11, and those of his fellow crew members and passengers, is a significant part of her legacy."

Jefferson County coroner's officials have confirmed Dahl's death, but the exact cause has not been released, the Post said.

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Janet Hamlin / Pool via AP

Pentagon-paid civilian defense lawyer Cheryl Bormann, defense attorney of accused Sept. 11 co-conspirator Walid bin Attash, argues a point during the military hearing at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, Saturday, May 5, 2012.

The civilian defense attorney of one of the men accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks wore a black hijab and long black robe at the arraignment of the five Guantanamo prisoners Saturday, and she wants other women to dress more modestly.

Attorney Cheryl Bormann, 52, who is from Chicago and is not Muslim, said she wore the modest garment that revealed only her face to show respect for the religious sensitivities of her client, Yemeni terror suspect Walid bin Attash.

Bormann asked the court to order the other women present at the hearing to dress more modestly so as not to distract the defendants, who would be "committing a sin under their faith" by looking at them.

According to The Washington Post, chief military prosecutor Brig. Gen. Mark Martins deemed the request not worthy of a response.

"The women on the prosecution team are dressed in an appropriate and professional manner," Martins said Sunday at a press conference.

Bin Attash’s military attorney, Air Force Capt. Michael Schwartz, told msnbc.com he didn't think Martins had the opportunity to see what sparked Bormann's request due to the setup of the courtroom. Schwartz said one of the female attorneys present in the courtroom was wearing a skirt whose bottom hemline appeared closer to her waist than to her knees when she was seated.

“Knowing our clients' conservative religious beliefs we were concerned about their ability to really participate in the defense of their case without losing focus for fear of committing a sin under their religion,” Schwartz said.

He said Bormann wears the hijab or abaya whenever she's around their client "out of respect for [bin Attash's] religious beliefs."

"Our client has never seen Ms. Bormann’s hair, he’s never seen her arms, he’s never seen her legs,” Schwartz added.

The military attorney did not comment on whether Bormann had received threats following the arraignment.

After chaotic start, long fight predicted in Guantanamo 9/11 case

The five defendants face 2,976 counts of murder and terrorism in the 2001 attacks that sent hijacked jetliners into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The charges carry the death penalty.

On Saturday, the self-described mastermind of the attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants refused to respond to the judge or use the court's translation system and demanded a lengthy reading of the charges. One of them got up and started praying.

Defense lawyer James Connell called the tactics "peaceful resistance to an unjust system."

The arraignment, Connell said, "demonstrates that this will be a long, hard-fought but peaceful struggle against secrecy, torture and the misguided institution of the military commissions."

The defendants' actions outraged relatives of the victims.

"They're engaging in jihad in a courtroom," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother, Charles, was the pilot of the plane that flew into the Pentagon. She watched the proceeding from Brooklyn on one of the closed-circuit video feeds around the United States.

NBC News' Michael Isikoff contributed to this report.

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Janet Hamlin / AP

In this sketch reviewed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed reads a document in court on Saturday.

Updated at 10:20 p.m. ET: GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants defied a military judge Saturday by refusing to answer his questions, and one of them got up and started praying as the long-awaited arraignment of the terror suspects got off to a rocky start in a military courtroom in Guantanamo.

Mohammed -- dressed in a white turban and robe -- sat silently, taking off his headphones when Judge James Pohl first addressed him. "One cannot refuse to participate and frustrate the proceedings," a clearly irritated Pohl snapped.

"The reason he's not putting the earphones in his ears is because of the torture that was done to him," his lawyer, David Nevin, told the judge. 

Ramzi Binalshibh, another alleged 9/11 plotter, at one point disrupted the court by standing up and shouting -- first in Arabic and then in English --  that "the era of Gadhafi is over but it continues at this camp. Maybe you aren't going to see me anymore ... there are threats we have seen at this camp. Maybe they will kill us and say we have committed suicide."

When Pohl ordered him to sit down, saying such issues could be raised later, Binalshibh shot back: "The time to discuss these things is now, not tomorrow."

While families of the 9/11 victims watched in the courtroom, and on closed-circuit television at seven sites in the United States, the  dispute - and other protests by the defendants and their lawyers --  appeared to initially tie up the proceedings  in knots. 

The chaotic hearing ended with the reading of the 87 pages of charges, which took more than two hours. The judge then declared the court in recess until June 12. 

Binalshibh earlier brought the court to a halt when he stood up and then dropped to his knees in prayer.

Another defendant, Walid bin Attash, sat in court in restraints -- apparently because of a dispute with guards -- and his lawyer said he couldn't participate because his client was "in pain." The restraints were later removed.

With his long flowing beard, Mohammed was a striking presence in the courtroom. But his refusal to utter a word -- despite repeated entreaties by the judge -- stood in stark contrast to previous court appearances where he has chanted Koranic verses, denounced  the United States, and taken credit for the terror attacks.

AP

At left, a 2003 photo obtained by the Associated Press shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 attacks mastermind, shortly after his capture. At right, a photo downloaded from www.muslm.net purports to show Mohammed in 2009.

When the defendants declined to wear their headsets so they could listen to translations of the judge's questions, Pohl ordered a translator to repeat them out loud in Arabic. And he plowed ahead, asking each of the defendants detailed questions about their knowledge of the lawyers who had been appointed to represent them and whether they accepted them. None of the defendants responded and refused to even look at the judge.

During a break, the defendants could be seen leaning back in their seats, laughing, smiling and chatting among themselves -- apparently pleased with their ability to frustrate the judge.

The lawyers did their part, raising repeated objections. Cheryl Borman, a lawyer for Attash and dressed in a muslim hajib, objected to the attire of women members of the prosecution team, several of whom were dressed in military skirts with their legs showing.

"There are issues of cultural sensitivity here," she said. "I am suggesting the prosecution team make decisions of appropriate dress of their female colleagues so that our clients are not forced to look (at them) for fear of commiting a sin under their faith."

Nevin, Mohammed's lawyer, asked Pohl to force prosecutors to identify the men sitting in the back of the courtroom. "Given what Mr. Mohammed has been through with unknown, shadowy people it will affect his ability to proceed," Nevin said. The men were later ID'd as paralegals and FBI agents.

The tactics appeared designed to highlight objections their lawyers have raised to the fairness of the proceedings before a military commission.

In recent days, defense lawyers have filed motions objecting to rules that allow military guards to inspect the mail they send their clients, a lack of translators, and orders that make anything their clients as "presumptively classified."

The Obama administration had previously sought to try the suspects in federal court in New York City -- a move that stirred up a storm of political opposition. Since then, the case has been moved back to military court here at Guantanamo and some of the family members that gathered here this week said they are anxious to see the suspects brought to justice.

"I'm from Brooklyn and you know what, you face your, you face your fight," said Eddie Bracken, whose sister Lucy was killed in the World Trade Towers.

He said he wanted to see Mohammed and his co-defendants in the courtroom. "I want to see him eye to eye. That's the man that killed my sister -- him and the other cohorts or whatever you want to call them."

Background on the long, winding road to arraignment
Pentagon releases video of US troops interrogating bin Laden's driver
Honor student pleads guilty in 'Jihad Jane' terror plot
NYT: Role of torture revisited in bin Laden narrative
Bin Laden in hiding: Hatching horrific plots despite crippling attacks on al-Qaida 

It was the first public appearance by the five men in more than three years.

Mohammed, a Pakistani citizen who grew up in Kuwait and attended college in Greensboro, N.C., was joined by four co-defendants:

• Binalshibh, a Yemeni -- allegedly chosen to be a hijacker but couldn't get a U.S. visa and ended up providing assistance such as finding flight schools;
• Attash, also from Yemen, allegedly ran an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan and researched flight simulators and timetables;
• Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi accused of helping the hijackers with money, Western clothing, traveler's checks and credit cards;
• Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, a Pakistani national and nephew of KSM, allegedly provided money to the hijackers. 

Like Mohammed, Binalshibh also earlier told the court he was proud of the attacks in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pa. 

Defendants before military commissions typically do not enter a plea during arraignment. Lawyers for the men said they were prohibited by secrecy rules from disclosing the intentions of their clients. 

But Jim Harrington, Binalshibh's civilian lawyer, didn't expect any of the defendants to plead guilty, The Associated Press reported.

And attorney James Connell, who represents al-Aziz Ali, told reporters at the base that the arraignment is "only the beginning of a trial that will take years to complete, followed by years of appellate review."

"I can't imagine any scenario where this thing gets wrapped up in six months," he added.

Also in court Saturday were six 9/11 family members who won a lottery to attend the proceedings. Others were watching on closed-circuit video at military bases in New York City and the eastern U.S. 

Cliff and Christina Russell traveled from New York to honor the memory of Cliff's younger brother, Stephen, a firefighter killed responding to the attacks, AP reported.

Cliff Russell said he hopes the tribunal will end with the death penalty for Mohammed and his co-defendants. "I'm not looking forward to ending someone else's life and taking satisfaction in it," he said. "but it's the most disgusting, hateful, awful thing I ever could think of if you think about what was perpetrated." 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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What is torture? In the post-9/11 era, that question has loomed over the country’s efforts to track down and interrogate those planning terrorist attacks against the U.S. and its allies.

The former director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service renewed the debate this week with the publication of his book, “Hard Measures,” and an explosive interview on 60 Minutes in which he defended the “enhanced interrogation” program he helped oversee.

On Thursday, Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr., told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that what his officers did was legal, noting torture involves the “breaking of bones” and “blood on the walls.” He said CIA officers knew tactics resulting in great bodily harm wouldn’t elicit good intelligence, so they used other ones, like waterboarding and sleep deprivation, on their subjects.

President Obama, who has said waterboarding is “torture,” ended the practice shortly after taking office.

Rodriguez defended the Bush administration’s “enhanced interrogation” program on “Morning Joe,” claiming it added momentum to the “war on terror” as the agency began capturing al-Qaida’s “high command.”

He said the first detainee to provide the big picture on al-Qaida was Abu Zubaydah, who was near death after being wounded by the Pakistanis. He was nursed back to health because the service knew how valuable his information would be, Rodriguez said.
Zubaydah, who had been the third most senior al-Qaida figure, was subjected to waterboarding along with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused of plotting the bombing of the USS Cole in 2002.

“The program is not about using brute force because we recognize that brute force doesn’t work. So, we’re totally in agreement that torture does not work,” he added.

But critics charge that waterboarding and other “enhanced techniques” are torture, similar to what was practiced by the Japanese or the Nazis.

“This is not that,” he said. “Our waterboarding program is based on the U.S. military training program … tens of thousands of U.S. servicemen were waterboarded pursuant to this program to prepare them for the possibility of being captured someday so that they would know what it felt like.”

The last waterboarding was in 2003. He said there was a lot of confusion among the public over how many times someone was waterboarded versus how many pourings of water there was, noting that “183 pourings of water became 183 times, which is just not the case.”

Of the interrogation techniques, “waterboarding is the most harsh; sleep deprivation is tough, too,” he said. But he noted that when he described the tactics to a U.S. senator who had been a marine, the response was, “’What?’ He said, ‘That’s it?’”

When asked what torture was, Rodriguez said: “Brute force. It’s breaking of bones. It’s people passing out from pain. It’s blood on the walls. This is the way that some of our heroes who’ve actually been tortured tell us what torture is.”

Despite his defense of the technique, Rodriguez doesn’t think waterboarding would work today, since the enemy would be prepared for it. Nonetheless, he said, the controversial interrogation program’s value was “incredible,” providing “thousands and thousands of reports” about al-Qaida.

“The more we captured, the more we learned and eventually it destroyed the organization that attacked us on 9/11 and allowed us to get bin Laden,” he said.

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The three young men were high school friends from Queens, N.Y., seeking to avenge how Muslims have been treated by the United States. In 2008, prosecutors say, they traveled to Pakistan, where they were trained by al-Qaida militants who asked them to return to the U.S. as suicide bombers. They agreed.

Federal prosecutors say they planned three separate suicide attacks on the New York City subway system in September 2009, around the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Before they could act, however, their plans were foiled by police and the FBI. Suspects Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Adis Medunjanin, 28, a U.S. citizen born in Bosnia. Medunjanin’s trial started Monday.

In opening arguments, Medunjanin’s lawyer said he backed out of the plot, which Attorney General Eric Holder has called one of the most serious threats to security since the 9/11 attacks.

NYC Subway bomb plot linked to British cell

Ahmedzay, a former yellow cab driver, told a Brooklyn jury that al-Qaida operatives encouraged them to "do as much damage as possible, but to be successful the attack need not be spectacular," the New York Daily News reported.  

Ahmedzay testified that the three drove around Manhattan casing potential targets for a terrorist attack. They checked out Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and the New York Stock Exchange. Ultimately, they settled on the subway.

New York subway bomb plotter's father sentenced to 4.5 years

The men "were prepared to kill themselves and everyone else around them — men, women and children," said Assistant U.S. Attorney James Loonam. "These men came so close — within days of carrying out this attack."

In September 2009, Zazi was arrested after driving into Manhattan with a detonator and materials to build an explosive device. Medunjanin was arrested in early 2010 after he tried to crash his car – prosecutors called the crash a failed suicide attempt.

Zazi and Ahmedzay have not yet been sentenced. If convicted, Medunjanin faces up to life in prison.  

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Broward Bulldog

Abdulazziz al-Hijji in a photo taken when he lived in Sarasota.

A Saudi man who triggered an FBI investigation after he and his family left their Sarasota, Fla., area home and moved overseas two weeks before 9/11 considered Osama bin Laden a “hero” and may have known some of the hijackers, an informant told the FBI in 2004. 

The informant also told authorities that the Saudi, Abdulazziz al-Hijji, once introduced him to Adnan El Shukrijumah -- another former Florida resident and suspected top al-Qaida operative who today has a $5 million bounty on his head. 

The FBI and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office interviewed the informant, Wissam Taysir Hammoud, at the Hillsborough County Jail on April 7, 2004. The Miami-based investigative website Broward Bulldog obtained Florida Department of Law Enforcement reports about the interview and the investigation using the state’s public records law.

Hammoud, 46, who once owned a cell phone business in Sarasota, is serving 21 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2005 in federal court in Tampa to weapons violations and attempting to kill a federal agent and a witness in an earlier case against him. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons classifies him as an “International Terrorist Associate,” court records show.

Al-Hijji’s name made headlines in September 2011 when The Miami Herald reported on a counterterrorism source’s disclosure of a previously unknown FBI-led probe that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington -- one that pointed to a possible Saudi support operation for the hijackers in Florida. 

A decade after the nation’s worst terrorist attack, which claimed the lives of 3,000 people, al-Hijji has now been found to be living in London, where he works for Aramco Overseas, the European subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state oil company. His job title is career counselor. 

'I love the USA'
In an email to London’s Daily Telegraph, which worked on the story with these reporters, al-Hijji acknowledged Hammoud had been his friend, but strongly denied any involvement in the 9/11 plot. 

“I have neither relation nor association with any of those bad people/criminals and the awful crime they did. 9/11 is a crime against the USA and all humankind and I’m very saddened and oppressed by these false allegations,” al-Hijji said. “I love the USA, my kids were born there, I went to college and university there, I spent a good time of my life there and I love it.” 

Al-Hijji’s account is supported by the FBI, which has stated “At no time… did the FBI develop evidence that connected the family members to any of the 9/11 hijackers… and there was no connection to the 9/11 plot.” In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the FBI repeated this denial as recently as last month. 

In a brief interview outside his office, Al-Hijji also said he did not know Shukrijumah, the alleged al-Qaida operative. “The name doesn’t ring a bell,” he said. 

While living in Florida, al-Hijji attended Manatee Community College (now the State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota) and, from January 2000 until April 2001, the University of South Florida. He earned a bachelor’s degree with a major in management information systems in August 2001. 

Hasty departure denied
In the weeks before 9/11, al-Hijji -- then 27 -- and his wife, Anoud, daughter of an adviser to a member of the Saudi royal family, departed their home at 4224 Escondito Circle in the upscale gated community of Prestancia and returned to Saudi Arabia.

They left behind three cars and “numerous personal belongings including food, medicine, bills, baby clothing, etc,” according to the Flordia Department of Law Enforcement documents, which state the family departed on Aug. 27, 2001. 

Al-Hijji denied having abandoned his home in haste, explaining: “No, no, no. Absolutely not true. We were trying to secure the (Aramco) job. It was a good opportunity.” He said his wife and children followed him out to Saudi Arabia a few weeks after he left Sarasota. 

After the 9/11 attacks, an alarmed neighbor contacted the FBI. When several weeks passed without action, Prestanica resident and administrator Larry Berberich alerted local law enforcement. Authorities, including the FBI, moved in. 

The investigation led to a stunning development, according to Berberich and a counterterrorism officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

“The car registration numbers of vehicles that had passed through the Prestancia community’s North Gate in the months before 9/11, coupled with the identification documents shown by incoming drivers on request, showed that Mohamed Atta and several of his fellow hijackers – and another Saudi terror suspect still at large – had visited 4224 Escondito Circle on multiple occasions,” the source said. 

AP

Thus undated handout photo provided by the FBI shows alleged al-Qaida operative Adnan Shukrijumah. The U.S. has offered up to $5 million for information leading to his capture.

The others included Marwan al-Shehhi, who plowed a United Airlines jet into the World Trade Center’s South Tower; Ziad Jarrah, who crashed another United jet into a Pennsylvania field; and Walid al-Shehri, who flew with Atta on the first plane to strike the World Trade Center. Also identified as having visited: Saudi-born fugitive Adnan Shukrijumah. 

The source said law enforcement “also conducted a link analysis that tracked phone calls – based on dates, times and length of phone conversations to and from the Escondito house – dating back more than a year before 9/11. And the phone traffic also connected with the 9/11 terrorists – though less directly than the gate logs did.” 

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who co-chaired Congress’s bipartisan joint inquiry into the 2001 terrorist attacks, called news of the Sarasota investigation the “most important” development on the background to the 9/11 plot in years. He added that Congress should have been told about it. 

Investigation found no links, FBI says
Soon after the story broke, however, the FBI poured cold water on it. It acknowledged that there had been an investigation, but said it found no connection to the 9/11 plot. It declined to explain. 

The FBI reiterated that position in a letter this month denying a Freedom of Information Act request for records of its investigation. 

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement records suggest such a finding may have been wrong.  One report indicates that what informant Hammoud said during the 2004 interview was treated seriously, “The following information, in particular the information by Wissam Hammoud, is being followed up on internationally,” it said. 

Hillsborough County Jail

Wissam Hammoud.

The FDLE reports buttress key elements of the story, while providing new details.

Hammoud, who said he met al-Hijji through relatives, said the two men worked out together at Shapes Fitness in Sarasota and played soccer at the local Islamic Society.

He told the FBI that al-Hijji was “very well-schooled in Islam” and that “Osama bin Laden was a hero of al-Hijji.” He added that al-Hijji showed him a “website containing information about bin Laden,” and spoke of “going to Afghanistan and becoming a freedom fighter.” Al-Hijji also tried to recruit him, Hammoud said. 

According to Hammoud, al-Hijji also talked of “taking flight training in Venice (Fla.)” He said he believed “al-Hijji had known some of the terrorists from the September 11, 2001 attacks” who were students at an airport there.

Hammoud said al-Hijji “entertained Saudis at his residence” at “parties,” but that he himself did not stay for because – unlike al-Hijji as he remembered him – he “did not drink or smoke cannabis.”

Hammoud also identified Shukrijumah, the alleged al-Qaida operative who also lived in Florida at the time, as a “friend” of al-Hijii’s whom he brought to a soccer game at the Sarasota mosque in 2000 or 2001.

Hammoud’s wife and sister-in-law confirmed during recent interviews that they too knew the al-Hijjis and were familiar with basic elements of Hammoud’s account.

Mrs. Hammoud, who asked that her full name not be used, said she got the impression from comments al-Hijji made that he was “anti-American.” Hammoud himself, speaking from prison in recent days, said al-Hijji “had a lot of hatred towards everyone in America.” He said he had thought al-Hijji was “nuts” when he asked him to go fight in Afghanistan.

A quiet family life asserted
Al-Hijji, while confirming he used to work out with Hammoud, described his life in Sarasota as quiet, centered on his wife and children. 

“My friends were very limited,” he explained. “Normally, I don’t hold parties in the house because I have little kids. I was not a frequent[er] to any bars.” 

Prison officials have put Hammoud under heightened security measures due to his classification as a terrorist associate. Court records state the classification is based on what authorities said was Hammoud’s “support and membership” in a “Palestinian-related terrorist organization.” 

Hammoud denies involvement with the group and has sought -- so far unsuccessfully -- a court order to overturn that classification. While representing himself, he filed documents that reveal a history of mental problems caused by a serious brain injury he suffered in a car accident in 1990. 

After Hammoud’s first conviction in 2002 for selling illegal weapons to an undercover federal agent, an FBI agent wrote: “Hammoud is now claiming diminished capacity because of an auto accident in an effort to be sentenced to less time. …There is speculation on the part of law enforcement that this was merely an attempt to gain sympathy from the sentencing judge.”

Hammoud was found to be competent by a judge before he was allowed to plead guilty to more serious charges arising from his 2004 arrest. The guilty plea and sentence were later upheld on appeal. 

Hammoud’s lawyer, Matthew Farmer, would not comment. But his appellate attorney, Tampa’s Bruce Howie, remembers his former client as “not delusional or wacky. ... I think he has his share of paranoia. But he’s not a liar. He didn’t make it up as he went along.” 

For his part, Hammoud has named several FBI agents that he claims to have dealt with while attempting to assist the government in its fight against terrorism. 

And Hammoud’s current attorney, Detroit’s Sanford Schulman, said FBI agents have met with Hammoud on multiple occasions. 

“There have been about 10 different agents, and that’s just the ones that I’ve been involved with. They were not two-minute meetings either,” said Schulman, who did not attend but was notified of the meetings.

Hammoud may have known more than is revealed in the new FDLE documents.  A Sarasota Herald-Tribune story about him based on an FBI agent’s affidavit filed at the time of Hammoud’s arrest in January 2004 has this ominous reference: 

“In September 2001, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement interviewed Hammoud because someone had anonymously called saying Hammoud had made a comment that the Oklahoma bombing was going to be small compared with what was coming.” 

In a recent email, Hammoud denied having made such a remark.

Anthony Summers is the co-author, with Robbyn Swan, of “The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 & Osama bin Laden.” Dan Christensen edits the Broward Bulldog. This article first appeared in the Broward Bulldog.

Coming Tuesday:Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida says classified documents contradict FBI statements.

A former Air Force mortuary official says the decision that resulted in some cremated remains from 9/11 victims being dumped in a landfill came from higher-ups in the military.

William D. Zwicharowski, a civilian who was interim director of the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware in 2002, told The Washington Post that mortuary officials wanted to have the ashes buried at sea. But he says they were overruled.

“We fought the fight, but I had zero clout back then,” Zwicharowski said. “The decision was made at a higher level. Had I had the experience I have now, 10 years later, I would have stood up and probably just not done it.”

Zwicharowski declined to identify the military superiors.

An Air Force spokesman declined to comment but did not dispute Zwicharowski’s account, according to The Post.

A Defense Department report last week said some unidentified human remains recovered from the crash of American Airlines Flight 77 at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, were incinerated and dumped in a landfill rather than being buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Read the full Washington Post story

Quinton Keel, one of three officials accused of mismanaging the mortuary at Dover and of retaliating against Dover whistle-blowers, has resigned.

An independent federal investigative agency, the Office of Special Counsel, said Friday that it is in touch with Air Force officials about their final decisions on disciplinary action against the two other accused officials.

In November, the Office of Special Counsel issued a report accusing Keel and two other supervisors of "gross mismanagement" at the Dover facility, where small body parts of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan were lost on two occasions.

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One of the three former supervisors accused of "gross mismanagement" at the military's mortuary in Dover, Del., has resigned after a report this week detailed how the remains of America's war dead were mishandled, including those of some victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

M. Alex Johnson is a reporter for msnbc.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

The man, Quinton "Randy" Keel, 44, was demoted from his civilian position as the mortuary's division director last year when a special counsel's investigation found that the center had lost and mishandled body parts and was plagued by poor supervision. The Air Force confirmed a report by The Washington Post that Keel left the service Monday. It said it would have no further comment.

The Dover mortuary, which is run by the Air Force, is the first port of entry for the bodies of America's war dead. After the 9/11 attacks, it also handled the remains of some of the victims who died at the Pentagon and in the plane crash at Shanksville, Pa.

Keel was personally accused of "a pattern of negligence, misconduct and dishonesty" for allegedly retaliating against whistleblowers who revealed the mismanagement at Dover

Outrage at the handling of remains spiked this week when an independent military panel reported widespread command and discipline shortcomings at Dover. Two paragraphs in the 86-page report revealed for the first time that some cremated remains of the 9/11 victims had been dumped in a landfill, a development the White House called "unacceptable."

msnbc.com: Pentagon admits it dumped some 9/11 remains in a landfill

"It is not surprising that Mr. Keel chose to resign," the federal Office of Special Counsel, which had urged further disciplinary proceedings, said in a statement Friday (.pdf). 

"The Office of Special Counsel's report of investigation, which will be made public in mid-March and which the Air Force received in late January, found that Mr. Keel retaliated against the whistleblowers. We remain in communication with senior officials at the Air Force and await their final decisions on disciplinary action for the two supervisors who remain on staff."

Also disciplined last year — but not fired — were the mortuary's commander, Col. Robert Edmondson, who was reassigned and reprimanded, and his deputy, Trevor Dean, a civilian, who took a less prominent job at the mortuary.

As for Keel, one senior defense officials told NBC News on Friday that "if he hadn't quit, he would have been fired."

NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube contributed to this report.

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