Info on possible al-Qaida plot in U.S. was 3 months old

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By John Solomon
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON — President Bush's August 2001 briefing on terrorism threats, described largely as a historical document, included information from three months earlier that al-Qaida was trying to send operatives into the United States for an explosives attack, according to several people who have seen the memo.
The so-called presidential daily briefing, or PDP, delivered to Bush on Aug. 6, 2001 — a month before the Sept. 11 attacks — said there were various reports that Osama bin Laden had wanted to strike inside the United States as early as 1997 and continuing into the spring of 2001, the sources told The Associated Press.

The same month as that briefing of Bush, U.S. intelligence officials received two uncorroborated reports suggesting terrorists might use airplanes, including one that suggested al-Qaida operatives were considering flying a plane into a U.S. embassy, current and former government officials said.

Those August 2001 reports — among thousands of varied and uncorroborated threats received by the government each month — weren't deemed credible enough to tell the president or his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, the officials said. Neither involved the eventual Sept. 11 plot.

The sources who read the presidential memo would only speak on condition of anonymity because the White House has not yet declassified the highly sensitive document, entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside the United States."

-more-

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001899778_webmemo09.html

[xultar]

1. So, you mean it didn't mention the Lusitania? n/t

[Cassandra]

2. Doesn't make it historical...

just makes them slow as molasses.