:/

[Karmic]

An article in the Washington post.

CRAWFORD, Tex., April 10 -- President Bush was warned a month before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that the FBI had information that terrorists might be preparing for a hijacking in the United States and might be targeting a building in Lower Manhattan.



The information was included in a written Aug. 6, 2001, briefing to Bush that was declassified Saturday night by the White House in response to a request from the independent commission probing the Sept. 11 attacks.

The short article, titled "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US," also included information that the FBI had "70 full field investigations" underway in the United States that were believed related to Osama bin Laden, and that a caller to the U.S. Embassy in the United Arab Emirates in May 2001 said a group of bin Laden supporters was in the United States planning attacks with explosives.

The document, citing a foreign intelligence service whose identity was redacted, said bin Laden told followers he wanted to "retaliate in Washington" for the United States' 1998 missile attack on his facilities in Afghanistan.

In a conference call Saturday with reporters, administration officials who insisted on anonymity said there was no evidence that either the call to the U.S. Embassy in the UAE or the surveillance of federal buildings in New York by Yemenis was related to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The officials said the photographing of the federal buildings was later judged to be "tourist activity," but they did not say whether that judgment was made before or after the attacks.

The White House originally resisted releasing the article, part of the President's Daily Brief, or PDB, citing the sensitivity of intelligence information. It characterized the document as a historical summary with little current information on which the president could have acted.

In her testimony to the 9/11 commission on Thursday, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said, "this was a historical memo. . . . It was not based on new threat information."

While the two-page document included information dating to 1997, it also contained information that the government suspected al Qaeda was actively preparing for an attack in the United States. While it gave no information about specific targets or dates, the briefing warned that U.S. intelligence believed bin Laden had serious plans to hit the United States.

The PDB said U.S. intelligence could not confirm "some of the more sensational threat reporting," such as information from a foreign intelligence service in 1998 saying bin Laden "wanted to hijack a US aircraft" to gain the release of U.S.-held Muslim extremists. The identity of the foreign service was redacted.

"Nevertheless," it said, "FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York."

The brief continued: "The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full field investigations throughout the US that it considers Bin Ladin-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our Embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group of Bin Ladin supporters was in the US planning attacks with explosives."

The CIA author of the document wanted to make clear to the president that, despite the many threats being centered abroad, agency analysts believed there was a real and continuing danger that bin Laden was determined to attack the United States.

As one former administration official who has read the PDB said last week: "The agency doesn't write a headline like that if it doesn't want to get attention." In this case, the former official said, "the CIA did not believe Bush policymakers were taking the threat to the U.S. seriously."

The White House noted Saturday night that the Federal Aviation Administration and the FBI issued several warnings between June and September 2001, including specific warnings about the possibility of a hijacking to free al Qaeda members imprisoned in the United States.

ummmmmmmmmm........

 

[MajestikMøøse]

Bush should be convicted in front of the war crimes tribunal in the hague.

 

[xOrdinary_Storyx]

Bush should be convicted in front of the war crimes tribunal in the hague.

 

[Karmic]

Agreed.

(says the swede)

 

[XtremeParanoia]

but I don't think he would intentionally ignore a serious threat. My feeling is that he knew that retalliation was emminent but did not know about the actuall plan in advance. Either way, we need a new President, how 'bout Devin Townsend. That man is a genious.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

Devin Townsend is canadian

 

[LifeDepraved]

Steve Digiorgio is in every band imagined.

 

[Worthless]

Nah, he didnt ignore it, he let it happen. Boom, towers go up, bunch of people die. People are outraged, and *BAM* we have a nice little war. We invade Afghanistan and Iraq. We kill lots of idiots playing in the sand. HUGE benefits to doing this for America and Bush.

Benefits:

War time economy and presidential support (btw, you dont want to change leadership halfway through something, especially a "war").

America now governs Afghanistan and Iraq.

Benefits of Afghanistan: We own the fucking Opium business baby. Not directly, but you can bet your ass we either set people up or are sweethearts with the warlords there. Tons of intel on terrorists and other morons.

Benefits of Iraq: Oil. Thats all were there for. Who give a fuck about the Iraqi people. Not me, not Bush, not America. We set up an "Independant Government" and control shit while the VPs company kicks ass and makes shit loads of money. Why tap our supply in Alaska when we can rob sun dried idiots?

Control. We control the Middle east where it counts, there leadership and support. Some peasants get out of line? Give some weaponry and money to a warlord and lots of people die. Of corse, we get to kill them afterwards, but thats half of the fun.

Testing our shit. Our boys in the service get to kick ass and get experience while hosing worthless flesh bags in the sand. An military without experience, well, sucks.

Lastly, Im sure we know exactly where Osama is. Im sure when realection comes around or shit hits the fan, we will make a miracle catch and get him! Surprise! Rating skyrocket, support is back on track. Plus, if things get really fucked up, it can be used as a red herring.

All in all, Im proud to be an American. See, were just better at telling lies, stealing, and killing than the the rest of the dumpy world. So all I have to say is that if you dont like America, I dont give a shit lol, there isnt anything you can do about it, hah.