Uneven Response Seen on Terror in Summer of 2001

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/04/politics/04SUMM.html?ex=1081659600&en=2095a44ac157339c&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

On July 5, 2001, as threats of an impending terrorist attack against the United States were pouring into Washington, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, and Andrew H. Card Jr., the president's chief of staff, directed the administration's counterterrorism office to assemble top officials from many of the country's domestic agencies for a meeting in the White House Situation Room.

Even though the warnings focused mostly on threats overseas, Ms. Rice and Mr. Card wanted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and other agencies put on alert inside the United States. Ms. Rice and Mr. Card did not attend the meeting, run by Richard A. Clarke, the White House counterterrorism coordinator. When the meeting broke up, several new security advisories were issued, including an F.A.A. bulletin warning of an increased risk of air hijackings intended to free terrorists imprisoned in the United States.

That meeting represented a peak moment in the Bush administration's efforts in the months before Sept. 11, 2001, to prevent a terrorist attack inside the United States. The issue of whether the meeting and the actions that preceded and followed it were a reasonable response to the gathering threat that summer now lies at the heart of the independent inquiry into the attacks. Ms. Rice will be questioned intensively about these matters when she appears in public on Thursday for the first time before the independent commission investigating the 2001 attacks, members of the panel said.

A review of the Bush administration's deliberations and actions in the summer of 2001, based on interviews with current and former officials and an examination of the preliminary findings of the commission, shows that the White House's impulse to deal more forcefully with terrorist threats within the United States peaked July 5 and then leveled off until Sept. 11.

more

[boobooday]

1. Condi is in deep doo doo

She'd better take some dramamine. She's going to be spinning faster than the tea cups at Disneyland.

The commissioners better ask some tough questions.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[VolcanoJen]

2. Kicking... I think this is huge.

Amazing.

This is mostly a round-up piece, putting everything that we know from the 9/11 Commission, especially concerning Clarke's testimony, in preparation for Condi's appearance Thursday.

I think this is an incredibly significant and important review. First, it's in the New York Times, which is still (sorta, kinda) the nation's paper of record. The headline shows the reader what the conclusion of the article is, and it's a powerful headline at that. Finally, the article is accompanied by a photograph of Bush in full cowboy regalia, at his Crawford Ranch on August 6, 2001, a day that he was briefed about the possible thread of hijacked airplanes being used by terrorists as missiles.

I honestly don't know how they're going to wriggle out of this one, friends.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/04/politics/04SUMM.html?hp

Excerpt:

A review of the Bush administration's deliberations and actions in the summer of 2001, based on interviews with current and former officials and an examination of the preliminary findings of the commission, shows that the White House's impulse to deal more forcefully with terrorist threats within the United States peaked July 5 and then leveled off until Sept. 11.

The review shows that over that summer, with terror warnings mounting, the government's response was often scattered and inconsistent as the new administration struggled to develop a comprehensive strategy for combating Al Qaeda and other terror organizations.

The warnings during the summer were more dire and more specific than generally recognized. Descriptions of the threat were communicated repeatedly to the highest levels within the White House. In more than 40 briefings, Mr. Bush was told by George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, of threats involving Al Qaeda.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. This IS HUGE. KIck this article.

The following quote is enough to seriously damage the Bush Administration:

"Money for fighting terrorism had to be justified against an array of other priorities, from tax cuts and education to missile defense. The White House Office of Management and Budget said in a report in August 2001 that counterterrorism programs were having difficulty competing."

[goforit]

4. The WH would rather be accused of Lihop rather than mihop!!!!

They are willing to be accused of this(and get it out of the way fast)just so
the "brilliant" Americans won't find out their
truest intentions.......mihop.

[Stephanie]

5. They knew attacks were coming - so they went on vacation.

Did they go on vacation because they knew it was too dangerous to stay in Washington?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the spring as initial policy debtes in the Administration begain, I e-mailed Condi Rice and NSDC STaff colleagues that al Queda was trying to kill Americans, to have hundreds of dead in the streets of America. During the first week in July I convened the CSG and asked each agency to consider itself on full alert. I asked the CSG agencies to cancel summer vacations and official travel for the counterterrorism response staffs. Each agency should report anything unusual, even if a sparrow should fall from a tree. I asked FBI to send another warning to the 18,000 police departments, State to alert the embassies, and the Defense Department to go to Threat Condition Delta. The Navy moved ships out of Bahrain.

- Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 236

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Secrets of September 11

April 30 (2003) — Even as White House political aides plot a 2004 campaign plan designed to capitalize on the emotions and issues raised by the September 11 terror attacks, administration officials are waging a behind-the-scenes battle to restrict public disclosure of key events relating to the attacks.

<snip>

Some sources who have read the still-secret congressional report say some sections would not play quite so neatly into White House plans. One portion deals extensively with the stream of U.S. intelligence-agency reports in the summer of 2001 suggesting that Al Qaeda was planning an upcoming attack against the United States—and implicitly raises questions about how Bush and his top aides responded. One such CIA briefing, in July 2001, was particularly chilling and prophetic. It predicted that Osama bin Laden was about to launch a terrorist strike “in the coming weeks,” the congressional investigators found. The intelligence briefing went on to say: “The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against U.S. facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning.”

The substance of that intelligence report was first disclosed at a public hearing last September by staff director Hill. But at the last minute, Hill was blocked from saying precisely who within the Bush White House got the briefing when CIA director Tenet classified the names of the recipients. (One source says the recipients of the briefing included Bush himself.) As a result, Hill was only able to say the briefing was given to “senior government officials.”

www.msnbc.com/news/907379.asp?0cv=KA01

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summer Spinning
Aug 29, 2001

<snip>

The White House had announced that Bush would stay at his 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford from Aug. 4 through Labor Day on Sept. 3, a 31-day stretch that would have broken a modern record for a presidential vacation, held by Richard M. Nixon for a 30-day trip to San Clemente, Calif., in 1969. News reports played up the record, and a Gallup Poll found that 55 percent of respondents thought Bush's vacation was too long.

The length of the trip revived old questions about Bush's work ethic, and the poll and the news coverage caused consternation in the White House. Aides said they had planned an ambitious schedule for Bush as long ago as late June, but reporters were not told about it, even after they landed here. The White House, suddenly defensive, took every opportunity to show Bush on the go and even created a "Western White House" logo for the briefing room at Crawford Elementary School. Bush revealed that his ranch had new video conferencing equipment for keeping in touch with his national security team.

www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A15957-2001

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Working Vacation
Aug. 15, 2001

Vice President Dick Cheney took time off from his month-long working vacation Monday to outline his plans for August in Jackson Hole and to reflect on "an amazing year."

Cheney, who will live at his Teton Pines home about six miles west of Jackson until Labor Day, defended his energy policy, supported a local decision to limit drilling around the Gros Ventre Wilderness, recalled a life of service in Washington and said his health problems are not affecting his ability to fish for trout on his favorite Western waters.

www.jacksonholenews.com/Archives/NewsArchive/2001/010815-News.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashcroft Flying High
WASHINGTON, July 26, 2001

(CBS) Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.

"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[dArKeR]

6. Why isn't Bhutto being called before the 911 Commission?

In the late 80s, Pakistan's then head of state, Benazir Bhutto, told the first President George Bush, you are creating a Frankenstein. But the warnings never quite filtered down to the cops and G-men on the streets of New York.

The Road to September 11
This is an unbelievable story of how Bush Senior/CIA made the Mujahedin/Asama bin Laden into what they are today. UNBELIEVABLE! On MSNBC http://msnbc.com/news/632825.asp Don't read it if you have a weak stomach!

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This link no longer works but it was still up just last month. I think most of you have read it because I've posted it about every month for the last 2.8 years. I have it saved to disk in Taiwan but not on my USA PC.

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Aren't the Bhutto's now being 'illegally', using obscure laws, kept out of running for politics by General Pervez Musharraf the coup leader in Pakistan?


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I've found it on another site:
THE ROAD TO SEPTEMBER 11
http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/eddesk.nsf/All/3043C0B91612E65 ...

[VolcanoJen]

7. Second link doesn't work, either

I'd really like to read this report, dArKeR. Any other sources for it?

[calimary]

8. Uh, excuse me? "Ms. Rice and Mr. Card DID NOT ATTEND THE

MEETING"?????????????

If it was such an important meeting that she had it called, WHY THE FUCK WASN'T SHE IN IT? What'd she have to do that was more important? Breastfeed bush? JEEZ!!!!!!! Oh yes, and it was run by Clarke, who DID attend, I guess. The same guy cheney says was "out of the loop." The guy who RAN the meeting was "out of the loop."

COME ON!!!!!!! This is just absolute madness!!! While the people stay asleep. And the news media snores!

[dbt]

9. Kick!

This nasty shit needs to float back to the top!

:grr:
dbt

[belle]

10. Kick.

[yardwork]

11. Typical moron headline: "Uneven response...."

UNEVEN RESPONSE!!!!!

How about "No response whatsoever to threats leading up to 9/11 attack, except possibly to help it along...."

I guess that wouldn't fit in a headline. Corporate sponsors wouldn't like it either.