Civil servant Johnelle Bryant says any government employee might have interviewed Mohammed Atta - as she did - and not have suspected he was a terrorist: "I think it's very vital that the Americans realize that when these people come to the United States, they don't have a big 'T' on their forehead."

But when you read the transcript of Bryant's ABC News interview, you have to wonder. As Andrew Sullivan said, this guy didn't just have a "T" on his forehead, he might as well have been carrying an enormous sandwich board. You decide.

Bryant: "He mentioned al Qaeda, he mentioned Osama bin Laden. I didn't know who Osama bin Laden was … He could have been a character on Star Wars for all I knew. ... He was seeking $650,000 for a crop-dusting business. He wanted to finance a twin-engine six-passenger aircraft … and remove the seats. He said he was an engineer, and he wanted to build a chemical tank that would fit inside the aircraft and take up every available square inch of the aircraft except for where the pilot would be sitting."

Finally, she recalls him looking at a picture of Washington DC and saying "How would America like it if another country destroyed that city and some of the monuments in it,' like the cities in his country had been destroyed?"