QUES: As noted above, the 9/11 plotters spent somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000 to plan and conduct their attack. The available evidence indicates that the 19 operatives were funded by al Qaeda, either through wire transfers or cash provided by KSM, which they carried into the United States or deposited in foreign accounts and accessed from this country. Our investigation has uncovered no credible evidence that any person in the United States gave the hijackers substantial financial assistance. Similarly, we have seen no evidence that any foreign government-or foreign government official-supplied any funding. We have found no evidence that the Hamburg cell members (Atta, Shehhi, Jarrah, and Binalshibh) received funds from al Qaeda before late 1999. It appears they supported themselves. KSM, Binalshibh, and another plot facilitator, Mustafa al Hawsawi, each received money, in some cases perhaps as much as $10,000, to perform their roles in the plot. After the Hamburg recruits joined the 9/11 conspiracy, al Qaeda began giving them money. Our knowledge of the funding during this period, before the operatives entered the United States, remains murky. According to KSM, the Hamburg cell members each received $5,000 to pay for their return to Germany from Afghanistan after they had been selected to join the plot, and they received additional funds for travel from Germany to the United States. Financial transactions of the plotters are discussed in more detail in chapter 7. Requirements for a Successful Attack As some of the core operatives prepared to leave for the United States, al Qaeda's leaders could have reflected on what they needed to be able to do in order to organize and conduct a complex international terrorist operation to inflict catastrophic harm. We believe such a list of requirements would have included leaders able to evaluate, approve, and supervise the planning and direction of the operation; communications sufficient to enable planning and direction of the operatives and those who would be helping them; a personnel system that could recruit candidates, vet them, indoctrinate them, and give them necessary training; an intelligence effort to gather required information and form assessments of enemy strengths and weaknesses; the ability to move people; and the ability to raise and move the necessary money. The information we have presented about the development of the planes operation shows how, by the spring and summer of 2000, al Qaeda was able to meet these requirements. By late May 2000, two operatives assigned to the planes operation were already in the United States. Three of the four Hamburg cell members would soon arrive.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: How many operatives were there in the United States already and who were they waiting on?

QUES: Responding to a wave of public dismay over the first designs for rebuilding Lower Manhattan, Gov. George Pataki has sent word that it's time to go back to the drawing board. It is the right message, sent while it is still early enough to do something constructive about the disappointing quality of the work so far. The governor, like Mayor Michael Bloomberg, now seems committed to creating a better mix of uses for ground zero, and a 24-hour community in Manhattan's downtown. While rethinking the plans will delay the original rebuilding schedule slightly, it does not need to stall progress if the governor keeps the pressure on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. New York cannot afford to have a gaping hole that mocks the city and its process for rebuilding what was destroyed. Pataki openly questioned the Port Authority's requirement that any plan for the site replace all the office, hotel and retail square footage lost in the attack on Sept. 11. More than anything else, that specification limited the designs to the undistinguished options presented two weeks ago. Renegotiating that issue with the World Trade Center leaseholders should begin immediately. Opening the process to other designers, both here and internationally, will help separate this urban plan from the ordinary. The city also needs to begin openly discussing what happens underground, in particular with the transportation network. At this point, planners have focused on short-term repair of PATH and subway lines, with medium-range proposals being shopped in Washington that could untangle the disorganized web of subway lines downtown. Within the next few weeks the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Port Authority should offer some bigger ideas about how to connect the downtown area better to the rest of the region. Lowering West Street alongside the World Trade Center site and building a park or esplanade on top is another option that has been popular with those reviewing the first six public proposals. But it would be expensive, and the governor, the mayor and their friends in Washington will have to look at long-range ways to pay the bill. Pataki's recent remarks are a sign that he understands how central the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan will be to his own political legacy. Now he needs to follow through with action, to keep demonstrating that his core concern is coming up with the best possible plan, not simply keeping the issue on hold until after this fall's election.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What is the issue in building a park on the world trade center site

QUES: '' The Octopus , '' a masked crime lord , is bent on crippling the nation with a wave of terror . He starts with the transportation system and then moves onto industry . He demands tribute from railroad magnates and other captains of industry . Richard Wentworth , an amateur criminologist who is friendly with the police , is secretly '' The Spider , '' a masked vigilante equally determined to wipe the Octopus and his gang off the face of the earth . Pleasant and smiling in civilian life , Wentworth is often ruthless as the Spider , slinging two guns against the public enemies who attack him . Wentworth also masquerades as affable underworld lowlife Blinky McQuade . Disguised as McQuade , Wentworth can infiltrate gangland at the hired-gun level and keep current on the gang's plans . The only people who know Wentworth's other identities are his assistants Jackson and Ram Singh , his butler Jenkins , and his fianc e Nita . The Octopus was a villain in a single issue pulp believed to have been written by Norvell Page who wrote most of The Spider pulp stories . He is garbed completely in white and is only ever seen sitting in a chair . Unlike the pulps , The Spider is garbed in a lightweight full length costume with web-like markings on it Which resemble Spiderman's costume . The serial follows the standard formula of fights , shoot-outs , Wentworth's friends being kidnapped at various times and having to be rescued . Each chapter ends with The Spider or his friends in deep trouble , often about to be killed , but the effect is spoiled by a trailer for the next episode Which shows them in full health and fighting the villains .
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION:
Who was only ever seen sitting in a chair?