Look at August 06, 2001, and Bush's Presidential Daily Briefing: "Bin Laden determined to attack inside U.S.," the "historical" document which had no "actionable" intelligence. No, obviously, that PDB did not specify a time, date or place, but surely a warning must not be specific in order for a President to take action.
The only thing new in that PDB -- Bush had received 40 PDBs concerning Bin Laden by that time -- was that the FBI was conducting 70 investigations. This was a good point for Bush to have called the FBI -- "70 investigations? That's a lot. What's up with that?"
Bush was not engaged against terrorism BEFORE 9/11. Having a President who is not engaged before disaster has implications -- ask the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
Jihadists hijacking planes in the air, flying the planes themselves, using the planes as large guided/cruise missiles against buildings was not "unimaginable."
In 1996, when the Olympics were held in Atlanta, I paid attention to the preparations because 1) it was close, and 2) it was supposed to be the last Olympics before the end of time. Of course, they were worried bout terrorism, such as commandoes Munich-style or truck bombs World Trade Center-style or Oklahoma City-style or planes flying into buildings.
Indeed, when Amanda Beard won her swimming medals in what was basically an outdoor arena, the TV cameras would scan the night sky and show the lights of the planes landing at the Atlanta airport, and the TV guys talked about how dangerously close they were even tho the FAA had ordered a three-mile no-fly zone.
Why were they worried about planes flying into buildings? Well, at the trial of the first WTC bomber, they laid out the details of a plot from the Philippines to blow up 11 planes over the Pacific and hijack two others in the air and fly them into buildings.
Remember the plane in France jihadists wanted to hijack and fly into the Eiffel Tower in 1994? Commandos stormed the plane on the ground -- jihadists learned that they needed to hijack planes in the air and fly them themselves. The intelligence community -- and anybody else paying attention -- picked up on hijacking plane in the air, flying the planes themselves, using the planes as large guided/cruise missilesagainst buildings as a way of the jihadists.
Indeed, different pre-9/11 plots have named the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower), CIA headquarters, the Seatle SpaceNeedle, the TransAmerica building in San Francisco among others as targets for the jihadists to hijack planes in the air, fly the planes themselves, using the planes as large guided/cruise missiles against buildings.
Yes, Bush was taken by surprise -- obviously. But the U.S. intelligence community warned Bush about an imminent attack wherein jihadists would hijack planes in the air, fly the planes themselves, using the planes as large guided/cruise missiles against buildings, and Egypt, France, Israel and Russia passed on their own warnings in the month before 9/11; Bush did NOTHING -- other than to tell a messenger, "You've covered your ass now."
I would expect a President -- any President -- to do like Franklin Delano Roosevelt in November 1940 and at least issue a war warning: Have the FAA warn the airlines about the threat of hijackings and tell them to take precautions; step up the air marshals; call the FBI -- "hey, buddy, the CIA is here having a fit 'bout terrorism. What do ya know 'bout that?" Again, Bush did NOTHING. That's why I say, George W. Bush was derelict in his duty -- he willing refused to perform his duties of keeping Americans safe.
The bottleneck is at the top of the bottle. Um, 9/11 was NOT an intelligence failure; the failure was in the White House. I think a President should be aware of what his intelligence community had been working on for five years. Does the buck stop in the White House -- yes or no?
And they gave us Iraq instead....
President George W. Bush stood atop the rubble of the World Trade Center, wrapped his arm around a firefighter and said, "These terrorists shall hear from us. But, if we can't get 'em, we will invade a country that did not attack us and does not threaten us."
Wait -- was that a dream or a nightmare?
Indeed, at a 9/13 meeting in the Oval Office with Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer of New York and Senators John Warner and George Allen of Virginia about getting aid for their states, Bush said, "When I take action, I'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It's going to be decisive."
And so the Decider decided. He wouldn't repeat President Clinton's 'mistake' of chasing shadows -- he was going after bigger fish....
Friday, September 07, 2012
Post #353 9/11: A Day Of Infamy
Eleven years later, the question remains: Does a President have any responsibility for the failures of his own government? Does the buck stop in the White House?
I consider a successful terrorism attack to be a failure. I'd expect a President -- any President -- to review what happened and fire those responsible. George W. Bush opposed the 9/11 Commission, refused to give a formal interview to Congress and promoted Condoleezza Rice. I think he failed to be responsible.
The most depressing thing I saw on TV during MSNBC's replay of the coverage of that morning was, before 12 noon, Tom Brokaw identified the prime suspect, Osama bin Laden, and cited a speech he had given in London the month before in which he threatened the United States.
Why wasn't Bush all over this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, January 17, 2001)
SANDY BERGER, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: With survivors of the U.S.S. Cole reinforced the reality that America is in a deadly struggle with a new breed of anti-Western jihadists. Nothing less than a war, I think, is fair to describe this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
As Senator Carl Levin said as the new administration took office, "I'm concerned that we may not be putting enough emphasis on countering the most likely threats to our national security and to the security of our forces deployed around the world, those asymmetric threats, like terrorist attacks on the U.S.S. Cole, on our barracks and our embassies around the world, on the World Trade Center."
And where was Bush?
On January 25, 2001, five days after Bush took office, Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism czar, sent Condi Rice a memo, attaching to it a document entitled "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat of al Qaeda." It was, Clarke wrote, "developed by the last administration to give to you, incorporating diplomatic, economic, military, public diplomacy, and intelligence tools."
On February 26, 2001, Paul Bremer said of the administration, "What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident, and then suddenly say, Oh, my God, shouldn't we be organized to deal with this?"
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, February 27, 2001)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Taliban in Afghanistan, they have offered that they are ready to hand over Osama bin Laden to Saudi Arabia if the United States drops its sanctions, and they have a kind of deal that they want to make with the United States. Do you have any comments?
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Let me take that and get back to you on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Ari never did.
Clarke had a meeting with the deputies of Cabinet Secretaries in April of 2001, when, he says, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz insisted the real terrorism threat was not al Qaeda but Iraq.
Why a meeting with the deputies and not the Secretaries themselves? Bush had downgraded counterterrorism from a cabinet-level job, so Clarke now dealt instead with deputy secretaries. As Clarke told the 9/11 Commission, "It slowed it down enormously, by months. First of all, the deputies' committee didn't meet urgently in January or February."
The Secretaries' first meeting on al Qaeda was not until after Labor Day, on September 4, 2001. One week later, Bush got the word of the 9/11 attacks, stared like a deer caught in the headlights and pondered 'who could have done this?' Really? No idea, huh?
The CIA had been tracking Bin Laden for five years, and Bush had received 40 Presidential Daily Briefings concerning Bin Laden, and Bush was taken by surprise. [rolleyes]
I do not blame Bush for not connecting the dots; I do blame Bush for ignoring the dots. He did NOTHING -- no warnings, no follow-up questions. That's why I say, George W. Bush was derelict in his duty -- he willing refused to perform his duties of keeping Americans safe.
I consider a successful terrorism attack to be a failure. I'd expect a President -- any President -- to review what happened and fire those responsible. George W. Bush opposed the 9/11 Commission, refused to give a formal interview to Congress and promoted Condoleezza Rice. I think he failed to be responsible.
The most depressing thing I saw on TV during MSNBC's replay of the coverage of that morning was, before 12 noon, Tom Brokaw identified the prime suspect, Osama bin Laden, and cited a speech he had given in London the month before in which he threatened the United States.
Why wasn't Bush all over this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, January 17, 2001)
SANDY BERGER, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: With survivors of the U.S.S. Cole reinforced the reality that America is in a deadly struggle with a new breed of anti-Western jihadists. Nothing less than a war, I think, is fair to describe this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
As Senator Carl Levin said as the new administration took office, "I'm concerned that we may not be putting enough emphasis on countering the most likely threats to our national security and to the security of our forces deployed around the world, those asymmetric threats, like terrorist attacks on the U.S.S. Cole, on our barracks and our embassies around the world, on the World Trade Center."
And where was Bush?
On January 25, 2001, five days after Bush took office, Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism czar, sent Condi Rice a memo, attaching to it a document entitled "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat of al Qaeda." It was, Clarke wrote, "developed by the last administration to give to you, incorporating diplomatic, economic, military, public diplomacy, and intelligence tools."
On February 26, 2001, Paul Bremer said of the administration, "What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident, and then suddenly say, Oh, my God, shouldn't we be organized to deal with this?"
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, February 27, 2001)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Taliban in Afghanistan, they have offered that they are ready to hand over Osama bin Laden to Saudi Arabia if the United States drops its sanctions, and they have a kind of deal that they want to make with the United States. Do you have any comments?
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Let me take that and get back to you on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Ari never did.
Clarke had a meeting with the deputies of Cabinet Secretaries in April of 2001, when, he says, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz insisted the real terrorism threat was not al Qaeda but Iraq.
Why a meeting with the deputies and not the Secretaries themselves? Bush had downgraded counterterrorism from a cabinet-level job, so Clarke now dealt instead with deputy secretaries. As Clarke told the 9/11 Commission, "It slowed it down enormously, by months. First of all, the deputies' committee didn't meet urgently in January or February."
The Secretaries' first meeting on al Qaeda was not until after Labor Day, on September 4, 2001. One week later, Bush got the word of the 9/11 attacks, stared like a deer caught in the headlights and pondered 'who could have done this?' Really? No idea, huh?
The CIA had been tracking Bin Laden for five years, and Bush had received 40 Presidential Daily Briefings concerning Bin Laden, and Bush was taken by surprise. [rolleyes]
I do not blame Bush for not connecting the dots; I do blame Bush for ignoring the dots. He did NOTHING -- no warnings, no follow-up questions. That's why I say, George W. Bush was derelict in his duty -- he willing refused to perform his duties of keeping Americans safe.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)