Remembering 9/11
While I have referred to the attacks of 9/11 as an intelligence failure that’s not exactly true. In realty the Bush/Cheney administration ignored intelligence. This is from an intelligence briefing given to George W. Bush on August 6, 2001.
Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Laden implied in U.S. television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and “bring the fighting to America.”
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We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a —- service in 1998 saying that Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel Rahman and other U.S.-held extremists.
Nevertheless, 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 FBI is conducting approximately 70 full-field investigations throughout the U.S. that it considers bin Laden-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group or bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives.
According to Ron Suskind George W. Bush’s reaction was:
The book’s opening anecdote tells of an unnamed CIA briefer who flew to Bush’s Texas ranch during the scary summer of 2001, amid a flurry of reports of a pending al-Qaeda attack, to call the president’s attention personally to the now-famous Aug. 6, 2001, memo titled “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US.” Bush reportedly heard the briefer out and replied: “All right. You’ve covered your ass, now.”
The Bush/Cheney cabal was not interested – they were busy trying to justify an invasion and occupation of Iraq. In case you forgot there is oil there.
And we can’t forget that while Osama bin Laden may be dead he died a winner. With the help of George W. Bush and his puppet master Dick Cheney he achieved most of his goals. The United States has bankrupted itself with unwindable wars. The country that was once the beacon of freedom has become “the show me your papers” state. Of course the US has also become the torture state so we now have no moral authority as a nation.
It would be disrespectful of those who died on 9/11 and those who have died in the wars since then to point out these truths.
10 Responses to “Remembering 9/11”
We haven’t wiped out the entire populations of Iraq, Iran, and, Afghanistan yet, so the Republican agenda, in spite of our nation’s economic woes, has not been fulfilled.
In order for the President to be re-elected, and likely preventing another Republican Hitler considering the GOP candidates, he has been forced to succumb to a war continuance, should the inevitable overrunning of Kabul by the Taliban occur on his watch prior.
Many people I know had a strong sense of foreboding when they realized Bush/Cheney actually had a shot at taking the helm of this once fine country; not because they were republicans, but because they reperesented some of the worst qualities and lack of qualitie) in leadership. When it finally became clear who was going to be occupying the White House I remember feeling physically ill. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one. That terrible things would happen (and be allowed to happen) because of that administration didn’t surprise a lot of us, although we didn’t know what those things would be. The pity of it is, there are far, far too many partisans whose opportunities to benefit from crystal clear hindsight are wasted. They have chosen to learn absolutely nothing from that horrible eight year lesson. It is my belief that 9-11 could have been averted had there been different leadership in this country at the time.
I’ve read the text of the warning.
Mmmmm…
Pretend for a moment YOU were POTUS at that time, and had received that exact warning.
Noting the CIA and FBI were investigating,what additional steps would YOU have taken ?
Leadership matters. I would have lit a fire under them, made them aware that it was high priority, and was not something I considered backburner material that I didn’t care to be bothered about. Of course we’ll never really know if 9-11 could have been averted, but it sure appears that Bush/Cheney coasted on the information. What if they’d given it the priority it deserved? Maybe the WTC would still be there and it’s occupants would be alive. I’m guessing the invasion of Iraq would have still taken place.
genefinneran-
Well, for one, I would NOT have invaded Iraq.
Allen,we’re not talking about Iraq, which we invaded in 2003.
We’re talking about August 2000 : you are the President , and you’ve just received the threat warning specified.
You’ve been told the CIA and FBI are investigating. (You have no way of knowing-by the way-that the FBI has already screwed up its end of the job, by “burying” reports from an experienced agent concerning suspicious individuals attending flight schools.)
Look carefully at the warning, if you will, and tell us what action you would take as POTUS.
I appreciate that fact that , with all due respect to those who died in 9/11, Ron Beasley has offered an Objective rather than an Emotional opinion concerning this tragedy. Again not to take anything away from the deceased, but the question that was asked…what would you do? None of us knows what we would do, come on…for one thing we’re not a rich oil baron that’s used to getting their way in politics. To me, the people that answered the question made as much sense as any body would, even the person that asked.
As far as Iraq goes there is oil, economic, and military strategic “reasons” for America to be there, it was the response Bush gave ultimately for 9/11 “WMD and Links to Terrorists”.
Lastly I want to say don’t ever forget that over 4,400 US troops have died in this “war”, more than the people that died on 9/11, not to mention countless civilians men women and children also.
Again I want to offer my respect to those who died.
genefinneran-
It’s hindsight Gene. I could not possibly be objective now. Besides, mine was never the opportunity to lead, but is very much now to question the logic of whom presumed they knew how, and sold us on it.
Trial and error, that is how we learn. Unfortunately in order to learn one must be open to admitting error. Republicans never admit error. Most probably because they are the very embodiment of human error and cannot stand their never ending shame.
“Trial and error, that is how we learn. Unfortunately in order to learn one must be open to admitting error. Republicans never admit error.” ~ Allen
Therein lies one of the great tragedies of modern US politics. When protecting the lie becomes more important than protecting the truth then we are screwed.
Okay: I’ve noticed-over more years than I care to think about-American Presidents (past and present) get a lot of static for NOT being magicians, or super heroes,or not being able to enjoy the benefits of hindsight vision while still stuck in the past. They get raked over the coals when they observe/ignore constitutional limits of their power.
I’ve also noticed Presidents lie – deliberately, and by omission – very possibly because we are not that good at handling the unvarnished truth.
For example: How much panic would there have been if the American people had known Soviet Russia had a nuclear bomb—and we did not ? (The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs-already exploded-were all we had – for quite some time.)