Report cites FBI’s pre-9/11 intelligence lapses: FIVE missed opportunities

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

WASHINGTON - The FBI missed at least five opportunities before the Sept. 11 attacks to uncover vital intelligence information about the terrorists, and the bureau didn’t aggressively pursue the information it did have, the Justice Department’s inspector general says in a newly released critique of government missteps.

The IG faulted the FBI for not knowing about the presence of two of the Sept. 11 terrorists in the United States and for not following up on an agent’s theory that Osama bin Laden was sending students to U.S. flight training schools. The agent’s theory turned out to be precisely what bin Laden did.

“The way the FBI handled these matters was a significant failure that hindered the FBI’s chances of being able to detect and prevent the Sept. 11 attacks,” Inspector General Glenn Fine said.

When the bureau did discover the presence of hijackers Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar in the United States shortly before the attacks, “the FBI’s investigation then was conducted without much urgency or priority,” the report concluded.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8163203/

[Neerav B. Trivedi]

1. BUSH SHOULD BE IMPEACHED FOR THIS ALSO!!!!

Nuff said!

[Blue Belle]

5. Bush should be Impeached for so many reasons...

He should be hung for this. :grr:

[newyawker99]

6. Hi Neerav B. Trivedi!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[slor]

2. Does this make it...

53 other warnings, or 63 total warnings? I ask because supposedly in January, it was admitted that there had been 58 warnings prior to 9/11. Needless to say, this story did not stick around.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. The "5 warnings" story won't stick around, either...

...it will be eclipsed by the Jackson verdict.

:grr:

[Frederik]

7. No, those were just the warnings to the FAA.

There were a hell of alot of information in addition to that, that was known to intelligence and law enforcement agencies. According to Sibel Edmonds, the FBI had very precise information about the 9/11 plot and who were in on it by April 2001, from an Iranian FBI informant (probably Abdussattar Shaikh, who rented an appartment in his home to hijackers al-Hamzi and al-Midhar). Yet they continued to sabotage field agents who desperately wanted to investigate suspicious Arabs, who some people in the FBI HQ knew were preparing 9/11.

According to David Schippers, the attorney who prosecuted Bill Clinton, it was common knowledge in the FBI that a big terrorist atack would take place on lower Mahattan that week. I don't know how credible Schippers is, but Sibel Edmonds certainly is credible (Senators Leahy, D, and Grassley, R, support her, the Justice Dept IG confirmed her allegations in a classified report, Ashcroft gagged her).

[CJCRANE]

10. It's been quite common

throughout history for govts and intelligence agencies to let attacks go ahead for political or intelligence purposes.

For example in WWII Churchill knew that the Nazis were going to firebomb the city of Coventry but the population weren't evacuated because then it would have been obvious that the Brit's had cracked the German's enigma code. A tactical loss was allowed for a strategic gain later on.

[sam sarrha]

4. ASScroft denied warrants for Mohamed Attas computer and 12 of the hijackers

phone taps.. which would have stopped the attack.. the justice department at the time felt it a waste of time to even fill out the paper work to ask for a warrent..NONE were ever awarded..

[Nikki Stone 1]

8. That's a great number of errors for a single agency

I am amazed that no one was ever fired over this.

[Nikki Stone 1]

9. kick

:kick: