Bush Admin's First Memo on Al Qaeda Declassified (Richard Clarke)

[Octafish]

From Jan. 25, 2001, here's what Richard Clarke told the Little Turd from Crawford regarding "al Qida -- not just some terrorist group."



Spread this one to all who give a damn, please.

Memo PDF:

http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB147/clarke%20memo.pdf

Bush Administration's First Memo
on al-Qaeda Declassified

January 25, 2001 Richard Clarke Memo:

"We urgently need . . . a Principals level
review on the al Qida network."

Document Central to Clarke-Rice Dispute on Bush Terrorism Policy Pre-9/11

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 147

Edited by Barbara Elias

February 10, 2005

Washington, D.C., February 10, 2005 - The National Security Archive today posted the widely-debated, but previously unavailable, January 25, 2001, memo from counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke to national security advisor Condoleezza Rice - the first terrorism strategy paper of the Bush administration. The document was central to debates in the 9/11 hearings over the Bush administration's policies and actions on terrorism before September 11, 2001. Clarke's memo requests an immediate meeting of the National Security Council's Principals Committee to discuss broad strategies for combating al-Qaeda by giving counterterrorism aid to the Northern Alliance and Uzbekistan, expanding the counterterrorism budget and responding to the U.S.S. Cole attack. Despite Clarke's request, there was no Principals Committee meeting on al-Qaeda until September 4, 2001.

The January 25, 2001, memo, recently released to the National Security Archive by the National Security Council, bears a declassification stamp of April 7, 2004, one day prior to Rice's testimony before the 9/11 Commission on April 8, 2004. Responding to claims that she ignored the al-Qaeda threat before September 11, Rice stated in a March 22, 2004 Washington Post op-ed, "No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration."

Two days after Rice's March 22 op-ed, Clarke told the 9/11 Commission, "there's a lot of debate about whether it's a plan or a strategy or a series of options -- but all of the things we recommended back in January were those things on the table in September. They were done. They were done after September 11th. They were all done. I didn't really understand why they couldn't have been done in February."

Also attached to the original Clarke memo are two Clinton-era documents relating to al-Qaeda. The first, "Tab A December 2000 Paper: Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects," was released to the National Security Archive along with the Clarke memo. "Tab B, September 1998 Paper: Pol-Mil Plan for al-Qida," also known as the Delenda Plan, was attached to the original memo, but was not released to the Archive and remains under request with the National Security Council.

CONTINUED w/LINKS, PDFs and a lot of the Big Thing that shows Bush was asleep, at best:

http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB147/index.htm

Remember "The Pet Goat"?



Hello. This is important for those interested in restoring the United States Constitution and democracy.

EDIT: Added stuff.

[5X]

1. Thanks for this. k&r. n/t

[Octafish]

3. It's not news, but I fail to see it mentioned anywhere in the mass media.

Clarke told the truth.

Bush and Co. lied.

[Jane Austin]

6. I'm glad to be reminded of this,

but it looks like the story is a year old, so no surprise the media isn't covering it today.

[Octafish]

18. Don't have LexisNexis, but I do have GOOGLE.

With all DU respect, DU Friend janeaustin:

From what I can find, there was a blip on the blogosphere and maybe a mention on NPR, but nary a peep in the MSM when this went public.

Hope that doesn't sound snippy, it's jus that seeing how most Americans get their news from TV, it would be news to them to know that Bush really is an incompetent -- at best.

[Jane Austin]

27. I'm not at odds with you on this.

It drives me crazy that critical stuff doesn't get covered.

I just noticed the report was from last February and so I didn't expect it to be in today's papers.

- - - Especially with our short-attention-span press.

Sigh.

[blm]

2. Notice that they wouldn't release the copy till after the election?

Not that media would have picked up on anything to destroy the illusion they had constructed of "fearless leader" Bushboy.

In fact, the media did everything they could at the time to attack Clarke's version while they kept Bush and Condiliar propped up.

[Octafish]

4. The Royal Order of the Pet Goat

I propose we start a special category for traitors, blm.

These can be in the media, government, the worlds of business and finance. Even just plain Joes and Janes.

Named in honor of the Coward from Crawford, I propose
The Royal Order of the Pet Goat.



My Goodness, there are a lot of Them.

[noonwitch]

65. I was told I'd have to ride a goat for my sorority initiation!

It turned out that riding the goat was a code term for drinking shots of Southern Comfort prior to being spun around in a circle with a blindfold on.

I didn't get sick, so I was worthy.

[Octafish]

76. Good on ya, noonwitch! I was a judge at a Fainting Goat competition...

...well, in my dreams. But still, these goats happen:

http://www.faintinggoat.com/

Now I have a whole world of respect for these creatures that fall over when frightened.

Here's one goat I have no respect for.



When called to duty, he ran behind his daddy's skirt and the bottle.

[H2O Man]

5. Nominated.

It just makes me shake my head. The truth is that Rice's area of knowledge was the Soviet Union, and she didn't have a clue who Usama bin Laden was, or what al Qaeda brought to the table. Clarke took shit from the Rumsfelds and (especially) Wolfowitz. Unreal.

[H2O Man]

9. From Clarke's book:

"Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld's deputy at defense, fidgeted and scowled. Hadley asked him if he was alright. 'Well, I just don't understand why we are beginning by talking about this one man bin Laden .... Well, there are others that do as well, at least as much,' Wolfowitz replied, looking not at me but at Hadley .... Finally, Wolfowitz turned on me. 'You give bin Laden too much credit' ..."

Wolfowitz continued to insult Clarke, and insisted that bin Laden had to be connected to Saddam's Iraq. Others pointed out that this was not so. Wolfowitz insisted that although the FBI and CIA had not found any evidence of a connection, he knew there was. Dick Armitage sided with Clarke, creating more tension between State and Defense.(231-2)

On the next page, Clarke continues: "I wasn't the only one asserting an al Qaeda threat whom Wolfowitz belittled. He then tells about Bob Gelbard and his risk assessments in Indonesia. Wolfowitz discounted him, and, of course, there were the incidents at the nightclub in Bali and the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.

[Octafish]

16. Criminal Negligence -- at BEST.

Treason -- most likely.

These traitors wanted war with IRAQ -- despite the facts that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.

Adding to what you said, H20 Man:

Is Anybody in Charge?

Former anti-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke exposes White House's criminal negligence

by Justin Raimondo
March 22, 2004

EXCERPT...

In his new book, Against All Enemies, Clarke recalls a high level meeting held in April, 2001, during which Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz scoffed at the threat posed by Osama bin Laden:

"'Who cares about a little terrorist in Afghanistan?' The real threat, Wolfowitz insisted, was state-sponsored terrorism orchestrated by Saddam Hussein."

The meeting was supposed to have been about implementing Clarke's persistent efforts to do something about Al Qaeda. He had written to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, in late January, 2001, urgently requesting some attention be paid to the growing threat of domestic terrorism orchestrated by Al Qaeda. It wasn't until April, however, that a high-level meeting was convened, at which, according to Clarke, Wolfowitz cited as evidence to the contrary the writings of conspiracy theorist Laurie Mylroie, who has created an entire oeuvre around the idea that Saddam Hussein was responsible not only for the 1993 WTC bombing, but also the Oklahoma City terror incident – and, quite possibly global warming. "We've investigated that five ways to Friday, and nobody believes that," replied Clarke. "It was Al Qaeda. It wasn't Saddam."

But facts weren't going to get in the way of the neoconservative drive to invade and conquer Iraq, no matter what the price to truth, common sense, or the national interest. The neocons' relentless single-tracked agenda didn't permit any other conclusion but the one pointing to Saddam as the main danger, even as Al Qaeda gathered in the shadows.

Ideological blindness is one thing: deliberate diversion is another. It is the difference between incompetence and treason. But that difference, in the context of the Clarke revelations, seems to disappear in light of the numerous warnings received by U.S. government officials in the months and days prior to 9/11: As the target date of the terrorists drew nearer, the alarm bells - sounded by foreign intelligence agencies, including the British, the French, the Argentineans, and the Israelis, and some of our own people – were getting louder. But was anybody listening? Was anybody in charge?

CONTINUED...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=2172

Like you, I'm not going to sit still while the nation's press corpse rots.

Thank you for giving a damn, H20 Man.

[H2O Man]

17. The more one reads

about Mr. Wolfowitz, the more he sounds like the mysterious Mr. X described on page 405-9 ofJames Bamford's "A Pretext for War." Food for thought.

[Octafish]

40. Wolfowitz is a comb-licking turd of the BFEE, all right.

Could the Mr. X fellah be in Bamford's "Body of Secrets?" I checked my copy of "Pretext" and those pages are notes with nary a mention my tired eyes doth see. Or else one of us has acquired a copy the Jorge Louis Borges's NSA version of Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.

http://www.ktothedizzle.com/spencer/?page_id=43

EDIT: For a Better Link

[H2O Man]

42. You must have

the earlier edition. The Anchor Books edition has a 45-page "afterward" addition .... which has perhaps the best information in the book.

[madmark]

72. the comb licker is the guy that testified to congress that the Iraq war

would pay for itself and for that spectacularly prudent and accurate judgment, he got a job running the World Bank. When your a Bush synchophant, fuck competence or accomplishment, who needs it, the world is your oyster.

[Ksec]

7. The rethugs were too busy trumping up Star Wars

That was their focus. (enriching military industry , surprise!)

They had no use for something that wasnt making money for their contributors. Thats a fact.

[Octafish]

19. It didn't take long for them to figure out how to make a buck off terror.

The BFEE is driven by fear, the lack of an enemy being a large one.

Profits of War

The Fruits of the Permanent Military-Industrial Complex

by William Hartung
Multinational Monitor, January/February 2005

U.S. weapons contractors have had their ups and downs over the past 25 years, but they have done far better than they should have. They have cashed in by pursuing a few simple strategies: 1) exaggerating the threats faced by the United States; 2) marketing their weapons systems as the answer to national security problems, regardless of their actual relevance to the needs of the moment; and 3) exploiting well-cultivated relationships with Pentagon officials, members of Congress, White House decision makers and opinion shapers in the media and think tanks.

THE REAGAN REVOLUTION

in the mid-1970s, the industry and its allies in the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill, and in organizations like the rightwing Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), were looking for ways to reverse the decline in military spending in the wake of the Vietnam War.

The 1976 election of Jimmy Carter, who campaigned on a platform of promoting human rights and curbing the arms trade, got the industry's back up, prompting the creation of a specific industry lobbying group, the American League for Exports and Security Assistance (ALESA). ALESA was explicitly designed to thwart Carter's efforts on this front.

The overthrow of the Shah of Iran by internal opponents in late 1978 coupled with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 gave political ammunition to hardliners within the Carter administration, moving it to the right as it called for the development of a Rapid Deployment Force capable of intervening militarily in the Persian Gulf on short notice. Simultaneously, the CPD was winning a propaganda war that claimed that the CIA had badly underestimated Soviet military strength.
The arms industry was the direct beneficiary of these developments, as it backed the CPD's preferred candidate, Ronald Reagan, in his 1980 bid to oust Carter from the White House.

CONTINUED...

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Military_Industrial_Complex/Profits_of_War.html

The Truth is their biggest fear. Thanks for remembering, Ksec.

[Supersedeas]

23. and blaming Clinton for all of their woes

[jaysunb]

70. Chief Wahoo...huh !?

GO TRIBE !

[smoogatz]

8. Bushco: Asleep at the Wheel

How the fuck did Kerry fail to use 9/11 as an election issue? Bushco's incompetence--utter cluelessness, really--in dealing with the al Qaeda threat pre-9/11 was staggering.

[blm]

15. Timing - Dems were forbidden to issue their 9-11 commission findings till

after the election. Same with the Senate Intel Report on Iraq. Dem report and Phase ii dealing with White House culpability could only be issued after the election.

Fucking pathetic, but that's how the Democrats in charge at the time negotiated to get any hearings.

And NONE of the 9-11 commission Dems were allowed to discuss findings as part of discussing the campaign. Every time Bob Kerrey showed up on TV in support of John Kerry, he was immediately hamstrung by that agreement and could only discuss other campaign issues.

[Octafish]

30. I'd've run the 5-minute 'My Pet Goat' classroom scene over and over ...

...until every American eyeball attached to a voter had seen it and remembered it.

It would be the antidote to the images of the second jetliner hitting the WTC was played over and over and over again, until the nutworks found an image of the first plane striking the other tower. Unforgettable. And those unforgettable (and mightily replayed ever since) images remain in the heads of most all who've been exposed to them.

Now that's effective Psyops.

This man-made fear, this terror, may not have been caused by Bush, but it was sure used by him to create a case for war against a nation that had nothing to do with the attacks of 9-11. And the Congress and the Courts and the Press and the Pentagon and the CIA and the NSA and the Corporations -- in fact, all the "legitimate institutions of the nation" -- went along with it.

Now that's dictatorship.

[ktlyon]

10. then there is the Hart-Rudman report on terrorism

it was one the new Presidents desk when he took office
they had plenty of information
they refuse to be concerned
gas pipeline in Afghanistan was more important

[leftchick]

11. he handed that off to cheney

and cheney shelved it and started work on his energy plan.

[Octafish]

31. That pipeline'd've been a pisser of pure money for ENRON.

It's probably in the Cheney Secret Energy Task Force minutes.

Those plans were formulated months before the hollowed-out shell game of ENRON imploded.

I remember the Clinton-bashing turd Larry Klayman sued the Chimpministration to get access to the documents. Klayman made the case that ENRON favored getting the pipeline to Karachi and the ships sailing for India, where they built a very expensive natural gas power plant but forgot to bring the fuel needed to make it go.



Details:

http://skimble.blogspot.com/2003_07_13_skimble_archive.html

Thanks for the reminder on the Hart-Rudman report:

Commission warned Bush

But White House passed on recommendations by a bipartisan, Defense department-ordered commission on domestic terrorism.

By Jake Tapper

Sept. 12, 2001 | WASHINGTON -- They went to great pains not to sound as though they were telling the president "We told you so."

But on Wednesday, two former senators, the bipartisan co-chairs of a Defense Department-chartered commission on national security, spoke with something between frustration and regret about how White House officials failed to embrace any of the recommendations to prevent acts of domestic terrorism delivered earlier this year.

Bush administration officials told former Sens. Gary Hart, D-Colo., and Warren Rudman, R-N.H., that they preferred instead to put aside the recommendations issued in the January report by the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century. Instead, the White House announced in May that it would have Vice President Dick Cheney study the potential problem of domestic terrorism -- which the bipartisan group had already spent two and a half years studying -- while assigning responsibility for dealing with the issue to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, headed by former Bush campaign manager Joe Allbaugh.

The Hart-Rudman Commission had specifically recommended that the issue of terrorism was such a threat it needed far more than FEMA's attention.

Before the White House decided to go in its own direction, Congress seemed to be taking the commission's suggestions seriously, according to Hart and Rudman. "Frankly, the White House shut it down," Hart says. "The president said 'Please wait, we're going to turn this over to the vice president. We believe FEMA is competent to coordinate this effort.' And so Congress moved on to other things, like tax cuts and the issue of the day."

"We predicted it," Hart says of Tuesday's horrific events. "We said Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers -- that's a quote (from the commission's Phase One Report) from the fall of 1999."

CONTINUED...

http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/09/12/bush/

"We predicted it" or "I told you so." Either way, Bush ignored the warnings.



Most happily: A hearty welcome to DU, ktlyon!

[Jack from Charlotte]

50. There were 3 clear warnings to AWOL/moron about OBL.....

The Hart/Rudman Report in January '01, just after AWOL/moron's appointment, this Richard Clarke memo to Condi-the-idiot and finally the 8/6/01 PDB the idiot, AWOL/moron just ignored.

I rage at this bastard's responsibility for the 9/11 attack.

[zbdent]

12. That explains everything!

Bush was looking for al Qaeda, and Condi got a memo about al Qida . . . :silly:

[phusion]

13. al-CIAda n/t

[Critters2]

26. Spelling counts

See what happens when you're not careful?

[Octafish]

32. No one could have predicted a terrorist would mis-spell a warning word...

... Or an unread PDB would lead to criminal negligence, at best; criminal incompetence, from all appearances; or treason, most likely.

Remember the "President's" Daily Brief from Aug 6, 2001?

Bush doesn't. The drunk jogged, "built a trail" and went fishing.



Full thing:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0409041pdb1.html

I kid you not. BUSH GOT BRIEFED ON "BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO STRIKE IN U.S." AND THEN HE WENT FISHING.

*President Bush's Vacation Schedule starting Aug.6, 2001 – the day of the PDB warning about an impending al Qaeda attack in the U.S.

Monday, August 6

4-mile run, built nature walk in canyon, fishing.<1>

Tuesday, August 7

Golf.<2>

3-mile run.<3>

Fishing, cookout with Mel Martinez.<4>

Wednesday, August 8

Habitat for Humanity, Waco, TX (injured finger).<5>

Worked out with weights.<6>

Thursday, August 9

Jogging, fishing, announced stem cell decision (9pm EST).<7>

Sunday, August 12

Church near Crawford.<8>

Monday, August 13

Golf, signed agriculture bill with audience of farmers.<9>

Tuesday, August 14, 2001

Thinned brush and raised money at a picnic in Colorado.<10>

Talked to children at YMCA camp in Colorado.<11>

Wednesday, August 15, 2001

Talked to children in Albuquerque, opened job-training center, addressed Chamber of

Commerce, attended fundraiser for Sen. Domenici, Colorado Rockies v. Atlanta Braves.<12>

Saturday, August 18, 2001

Radio address re: faith-based initiatives.<13>

Monday, August 20, 2001

Addressed VFW Convention, toured Harley-Davidson plant, Milwaukee.<14>

Work out, dinner with friends.<15>

Tuesday, August 21, 2001

Truman High School, Independence, MO re: taxes.<16>

Wednesday, August 22, 2001

Ran, lifted weights.<17>

Thursday, August 23, 2001

Golf, Crawford Elementary School, met with horticulturalist re: trees on ranch.<18>

Friday, August 24, 2001

Press conference re: economy (1st press conference of vacation).<19>

Saturday, August 25, 2001

Ranch tour for the press (80 minutes).<20>

Sunday, August 26, 2001

Steel Plant in Pennsylvania, barbeque.<21>

Little League World Series Championship (Japan v. Florida).<22>

Wednesday, August 29, 2001

Spoke at an American Legion Convention re: military budget, tax cut.<23>

Dedicated a restored grist mill, San Antonio.<24>

SOURCE:

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=45265


CONTINUED...

The crazy moron ignored what it contained or couldn't read what it said.

[wiggs]

14. It may be that I'm too suspicious these days, but

the image of the document does not look like it has 8 1/2 x 11 proportions. Something left off the bottom? The text of the memo also seems like it does not wrap up the thought in an appropriate way.

Regardless, I'm for using this in MSM to spur more action on 9/11 phase II. Bring all this up again. Once again show that Rice said "no one could have imagined planes flying into buildings" that she also said the August pdf was merely historical in nature....that Bush was on month-long vacation.....all that is good.

[Beam Me Up]

28. Go to the link and download the 3 page 200dpi redacted pdf file. n/t

[wiggs]

53. Thanks. I was lazy, I guess. nt

[Octafish]

33. I appreciate your concern, wiggs. Here's the deal on 6 Aug 2001 PDB:

The National Security Archive used part of one page for a graphic, which is where that comes from.

When done up in the PDF, it looks like Clarke's original copy.

Condescenda probably burned as many of the others as she could find on Sept 12.

'The Texas Try' on Terrorism

April 12, 2004
Center for American Progress

Saturday evening – the day before Easter – the White House conveniently released the Aug. 6, 2001, Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) titled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in U.S." But the clever timing of this release can not hide the Bush administration's failure to act decisively in attempting to thwart al Qaeda activities in the United States prior to 9/11. The administration was explicitly warned in this memo that something big was coming. How did President Bush react at the time? He stayed – uninterrupted – on one of the longest presidential vacations in history.*

* Contrary to the sworn testimony of Condoleezza Rice, the Bush administration was given explicit warning of impending al Qaeda attacks on the United States. The Aug. 6 PDB contained detailed warnings about al Qaeda plans in the United States including "preparations consistent with hijackings" and stated that 70 full field FBI investigations into al Qaeda were underway. The president did not need bin Laden's final blueprint to know that something more had to be done.

* Despite this clear warning, President Bush did nothing to increase the urgency of the government's efforts to stop al Qaeda. President Bush yesterday amazingly claimed that he did everything he could to fight domestic terrorism. Yet after the Aug. 6 memo, he stayed on vacation for two more weeks. He convened no high level meetings. And he did not bring the government to "battle stations" as Rice misleadingly stated last week.

* The Bush administration should stop the political games and come clean on its role pre-9/11. The nation's security should not be beholden to President Bush's desires for clean campaign scripts about how valiant the administration has acted on terrorism. Two and half years after 9/11, the public is just learning the not-so-pretty truth about the administration's actions. It's time for the administration to admit its mistakes and reassure the public that it has learned something from these errors.

CONTINUED...

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=45265

The above article goes on with Boosh's vacation schedule.

After getting briefed "BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO STRIKE U.S.", the little turd from Crawford went fishing.

Then Junior Gangster stayed on vaca for two more weeks, on OUR dime.

[Usrename]

39. As far as I know, she never has retracted that testimony.

The National Security Adviser to the President says: "no one could have imagined planes flying into buildings"

That's not incompetence, it's perjury.

20. does show that a extremely skewed partisanship

is dangerous for our country. You need to have a vision that takes in the whole field around you, or you get hit unawares. That is a basic law of survival in the animal world.

[Octafish]

34. Weird how, once we got hit, George Moron of Jungle goes for Iraq.

Like a needle stuck on a broken record: "9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. 9-11. 9-11. 9-11. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq."

About a third of the country may still believe they're tied together.

Two Years Before 9/11, Candidate Bush was Already Talking Privately About Attacking Iraq, According to His Former Ghost Writer

by Russ Baker

HOUSTON -- Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.

"He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. "It was on his mind. He said to me: 'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.' And he said, 'My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.' He said, 'If I have a chance to invade·.if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency." Herskowitz said that Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever in the shadow of an accomplished father. In aggressive military action, he saw the opportunity to emerge from his father's shadow. The moment, Herskowitz said, came in the wake of the September 11 attacks. "Suddenly, he's at 91 percent in the polls, and he'd barely crawled out of the bunker."

That President Bush and his advisers had Iraq on their minds long before weapons inspectors had finished their work - and long before alleged Iraqi ties with terrorists became a central rationale for war - has been raised elsewhere, including in a book based on recollections of former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. However, Herskowitz was in a unique position to hear Bush's unguarded and unfiltered views on Iraq, war and other matters - well before he became president.

In 1999, Herskowitz struck a deal with the campaign of George W. Bush about a ghost-written autobiography, which was ultimately titled A Charge to Keep : My Journey to the White House, and he and Bush signed a contract in which the two would split the proceeds. The publisher was William Morrow. Herskowitz was given unimpeded access to Bush, and the two met approximately 20 times so Bush could share his thoughts. Herskowitz began working on the book in May, 1999, and says that within two months he had completed and submitted some 10 chapters, with a remaining 4-6 chapters still on his computer. Herskowitz was replaced as Bush's ghostwriter after Bush's handlers concluded that the candidate's views and life experiences were not being cast in a sufficiently positive light.

According to Herskowitz, who has authored more than 30 books, many of them jointly written autobiographies of famous Americans in politics, sports and media (including that of Reagan adviser Michael Deaver), Bush and his advisers were sold on the idea that it was difficult for a president to accomplish an electoral agenda without the record-high approval numbers that accompany successful if modest wars.

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1028-01.htm

Bush thought it was OK for the United States to attack a country that posed no threat to the U.S.A., and had no role in 9-11.

This kind of thinking -- Bush's kind of thinking -- is NAZI.

43. I'm with you 100% - thank goodness he is in his 2nd term

and the republicans are developing a bad taste for him too.

[Amonester]

79. And then, he LIED during the televised debate on Oct. 11, 2000...

"He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. "It was on his mind. He said to me: 'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.' And he said, 'My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.' He said, 'If I have a chance to invade - if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed"

~snip~
During a debate with then-Vice President Al Gore on Oct. 11, 2000, in Winston-Salem, N.C., Bush said: "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building. . . . I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations." 1. "Maybe I'm missing something here. I mean, we're going to have a kind of nation-building corps from America? Absolutely not." 2.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/02/once_against_nation_building_bush_now_involved/

1. (!?!What a mega-moron!!)
2. (!?!What a mega-moron AND mega-LIAR!!) x(

[threadkillaz]

21. December 2000 Strategy

Source Document: PDF on National Security Archive site, declassified 7 April 2004. This presentation based on a transcript in the New York Times.

http://www.infobomb.org/?December_2000_Strategy


The United States' goal is to reduce the al Qida network to a point where it no longer poses a serious threat to our security or that of any other governments. That goal can be achieved over a three- to five-year period, if adequate resources and policy attention are devoted to it."

--

In 1998, Usama bin Ladin publicly declared war on the United States.

--
al Qida is present in the United States. al Qida has been linked to terrorist operations in the U.S. while also conducting recruiting and fund-raising activities. U.S. citizens have also been linked to al Qida.

[Octafish]

36. No 9-11 if FBI had told Clarke about the terrorist 'flight students.'

Excellent work from DUer and world-famous blogger Minstrel Boy:

The 9/11 whistleblowers-get-screwed data dump

Some who’ve spoken up, and paid the price. I'd say that "incompetence theory" cannot explain what these people faced.

Michael Springman

WHO: Twenty-year State Department veteran, and former head of the visa bureau in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

CLAIM: He was repeatedly overruled by high-level State Department officials to issue visas to bin Laden recruits so they could receive training in the United States. Says this continued at least until the summer of 2001. (Notably, 15 of the 9/11 hijackers first entered the US through Jeddah.) Springman protested.

RESULT: Fired. Springman says he believes that the victims of 9/11 "may have been sacrificed in order to further wider US geopolitical objectives."
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=104&row=1
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2002/02/521.shtml
http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/dispatches/audio/020116_sp...


Sibel Edmonds

WHO: FBI translator

CLAIM: That a Turkish "spy ring" operated in the translation department with the apparent protection of FBI brass, falsifying intercepts containing explicit, actionable warnings of 9/11. That members of this ring were involved with the subjects of the intercepts. And that high-ranking officials asked her to falsify her translations and bribed her to keep quiet.

RESULT: Fired. After taking concerns to upper management, was dismissed with only one reason offered: "for the convenience of the government." Escorted from building by agents who said "We will be watching you and listening to you. If you dare to consult an attorney who is not approved by the FBI, or if you take this issue outside the FBI to the Senate, the next time I see you, it will be in jail." Told by John Ashcroft that he was invoking "State Secret Privilege and National Security" to keep what she knows from reaching the public.
http://www.thememoryhole.org/spy/edmonds.htm
http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=8516
http://tomflocco.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article...


Robert Wright

WHO: FBI special investigator

CLAIM: That FBI agents assigned to intelligence operations actually protect terrorists from investigation and prosecution. That the FBI shut down his probe into terrorist training camps, and he was removed from a money-laundering case that had a direct link to terrorism. Says the FBI "intentionally and repeatedly thwarted his attempts to launch a more comprehensive investigation to identify and neutralize terrorists."

RESULT: Suspended and ordered to remain silent. Subject of at least three internal FBI investigations. Has written a book that the FBI is not only refusing to allow publication, but is not permitting anyone to even see it.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/printer_2469.shtml
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/37/news-crogan.php


Lt. Col. Steve Butler

WHO: Vice Chancellor for student affairs, Defense Language Institute in Monterey.

CLAIM: In a letter to the editor of a local paper, Butler wrote "Bush knew of the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people because he needed this war on terrorism. What is...contemptible is the President of the United States not telling the American people what he knows for political gain." During Butler’s term as chancellor, 9/11 hijacker Saeed Alghamdi was enrolled at the Defense Language Institute.

RESULT: Disciplined, lost his position and threatened with court martial.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mcherald/3406502.htm
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/06.06E.butler.bush.htm
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/com/21220698.html


Indira Singh

WHO: "Risk architect" consultant to JP Morgan Chase.

CLAIM: That Ptech, a software company founded by a Saudi financier on the terrorist watch list, had troubling access to sensitive US institutions, which was apparently of no concern to the institutions involved or the FBI. For instance, a "person of interest" from Ptech “had a team in the basement of the FAA for two years” before 9/11. One of Ptech’s projects gained it access to "all information processes and issues that the FAA had with the National Airspace Systems Agency."

RESULT: Warnings went ignored by institutions and the FBI. Told to keep quiet. Subject to surveillance and threats.
http://www.madcowprod.com/index45.html


Colleen Rowley

WHO: FBI field agent, Minnesota office.

CLAIM: That FBI head office perversely thwarted the investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui, throwing up unusual roadblocks which prevented exposing the terrorist use of flight schools in the summer of 2001. That Dave Frasca of the Radical Fundamentalism Unit altered her report, rendering it impossible for the FBI to pursue the matter further.

RESULT: After 9/11, Frasca – the senior official who altered Rowley’s report and sat on the Minnesota office's request to investigate flight schools, even though he had received a similar request from the Phoenix office – is promoted and commended.
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020603/memo.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/MOO208B.html


John O’Neil

WHO: Former FBI head of antiterrorism.

CLAIM: That his investigations into al Qaeda in general and the Cole bombing in particular were subverted by senior officials, and the situation had become much worse under Bush. Authorisation to re-enter Yemen to investigate the Cole denied by US Ambassador Barbara Bodine. Quit the FBI under a cloud.

RESULT: Killed in the World Trade Center.

http://www.hereinreality.com/johnoneill.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/

SOURCE w/working links and lots from DU:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1293947

Why would all these whistle-blowers -- TRUTH-TELLERS -- get dumped on or worse by their bosses in the Federal Government?

[madmark]

73. agreed, clarke was the only one with the sense of urgency and

purpose to have connected the dots amongst that confederacy incompentents.

[Just Me]

22. PNAC (which increases nat'l INsecurity) always took precedence,...

,...over actual threats. Since the BushCO/neoconsters' pursuit of PNAC, the threat of international terrorism and global instability has grown exponentially. The world hates us. There are many MANY more people joining forces seeking to retaliate against us.

PNACers don't care about the consequences of their fantasies of global imperialism because they profit off perpetual conflict. Hell, one might even proffer that the PNACers LUV terrorism because they can wield it to spread their war and expand their power/profits.

[Disturbed]

24. PNAC Neo Fascists needed a "New Pearl Harbor".

They got what they needed to pull off the scam to invade Iraq.


"The terrorists want to control the oil. Our way of life will be at risk". George W. Bush (Nov. 2005)



Bush Regime Iraq Successes (Phase 1)

1. Saddam will no longer sell Iraqi oil via the Euro.

2, A military foothold in the ME. Other than Saudi Arabia.

3, No countries will be able to buy Iraqi oil that the U.S. disapproves of.

4. The Multi-Intl. Oil Corps are reaping great profits.

5.The Military Industrial Complex is a booming Industry.

[bobthedrummer]

25. One of the most influential neo-conservatives passed away yesterday

Michael S. Joyce

Foundation chief nutured conservative movement
by Alan J. Borsuk Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=404463

[Octafish]

37. Irv Kristol: "The godfather of modern (conservative) philanthropy."

Wow.

Quote from bobthedrummer's link:

• (Michael S. Joyce) led the Bradley Foundation to prominence as one of the pivotal forces in the rise of conservative think tanks and similar efforts. Neoconservative leader Irving Kristol once referred to him as "the godfather of modern philanthropy" related to conservative causes.

Wow.

[Octafish]

38. Juan Cole: 'Bin Laden's Vision Becoming Reality'

Who'd a thought? Besides you and a whole lot of DUers, Just Me.

Bin Laden's Vision Becoming Reality

by Juan Cole
September 13, 2004

EXCERPT...

Bin Laden sees the Muslim world as continually invaded, divided and weakened by outside forces. Among these are the Americans in Saudi Arabia and the Israelis in geographical Palestine. He repeatedly complained about the occupation of the three holy cities, i.e., Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.

For al-Qaeda to succeed, it must overthrow the individual nation-states in the Middle East, most of them colonial creations, and unite them into a single, pan-Islamic state. But Ayman al-Zawahiri's organization, al-Jihad al-Islami, had tried very hard to overthrow the Egyptian state, and was always checked. Al-Zawahiri thought it was because of U.S. backing for Egypt. They believed that the U.S. also keeps Israel dominant in the Levant and backs Saudi Arabia's royal family.

Al-Zawahiri then hit upon the idea of attacking the "far enemy" first. That is, since the United States was propping up the governments of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, etc., all of which al-Qaeda wanted to overthrow so as to meld them into a single, Islamic super-state, then it would hit the United States first.

The attack on the World Trade Center was exactly analogous to Pearl Harbor. The Japanese generals had to neutralize the U.S. fleet so that they could sweep into Southeast Asia and appropriate Indonesian petroleum. The U.S. was going to cut off imperial Japan from petroleum, and without fuel the Japanese could not maintain their empire in China and Korea. So they pushed the U.S. out of the way and took an alternative source of petroleum away from the Dutch (who then ruled what later became Indonesia).

Likewise, al-Qaeda was attempting to push the United States out of the Middle East so that Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia would become more vulnerable to overthrow, lacking a superpower patron. Secondarily, the attack was conceived as revenge on the United States and American Jews for supporting Israel and the severe oppression of the Palestinians. Bin Laden wanted to move the timing of the operation up to spring of 2001 so as to "punish" the Israelis for their actions against the Palestinians in the second Intifada. Khalid Sheikh Muhammad was mainly driven in planning the attack by his rage at Israel over the Palestinian issue. Another goal is to destroy the U.S. economy, so weakening it that it cannot prevent the emergence of the Islamic superpower.

CONTINUED...

http://www.antiwar.com/cole/?articleid=3560

Where's our vision?

[Just Me]

47. It's almost as if,....the neoconsters actually adopted ObL's vision.

x( They are certainly feeding that vision.

[madmark]

74. true and they are fucking idiots for not seeing it

[wiggs]

29. Please post if this is seen anywhere in MSM. This is important. nt

[Octafish]

44. Thanks, wiggs! Anyone see the 6 Aug 2001 PDB in the MSM?

These are the sanitized versions released by the Monkey House under intense public pressure.

It is written in language that even a bright third-grader would know there's evidence of an immediate threat to America.

Why the commandeer-n-chimp couldn't figure that out is beyond my ken.





Hey, Bush!

Why didn't you pick up the phone and warn the airlines?

Why didn't you pick up the phone and warn the flying public?

Were you too busy listening in on NSA wiretaps of Daschle and Kennedy?

[savemefromdumbya]

35. Bush and Cheney were in bed with Al Qaeda

so thwy would't let on....

[Octafish]

45. Evidence that George W Bush and Osama bin Laden connected...

Back when George W was avoiding Vietnam by hiding in the Texas Air National Guard, he met a man by the name of James R Bath.

Bush and Bath were drummed off the flight line for failing to take physical exams on the same day. Here's the document:



It must be a coincidence that was right about the same time the Pentagon starting testing pilots for illegal drugs. Anyway...

Here's the document James R Bath signed to be the official US business agent of the bin Laden family.



Bath has testified in court he invested money into Bush's oil venture, Arbusto. Bill White, Bath's ex-business partner indicated the money came from the bin Ladens and bin Mahfouz fortunes.

According to a lawsuit, Bath used up his business's money after he lost a Sheikh's bankroll. So, he did what everyone in the BFEE does: He demanded someone else pay for his thievery. In this case, White.

The Ancestor of the Iran/Contra Scandal

http://xymphora.blogspot.com / February 17, 2004

From a CBC interview(1) with Bill White by Bob McKeown on the subject of James Bath:

"Well if you recall back in the mid-1970's the CIA came under fire for trying to assassinate Fidel Castro, for engineering elections in Latin America and putting friendly Dictators in power. The Church and Pike committees were empanelled in Congress to bring the Agency under control. After these Intelligence committees investigated illegal CIA activities they issued a stinging report concluding that it is incompatible for the Government of a Democratic Society to engage in KGB-type activities. What Bush did as CIA Director, rather than just terminate these activities, was to privatize them.

"He began to look for people qualified and willing to form quasi private corporations to take control of these assets and continue to do the CIA’s bidding. Because he needed a pilot to form an Aviation cutout, he turned to the obvious referral source - his Son George Jr. who was in an Air National Guard Aviation Squadron. All military pilots like myself and Bath have to hold top-secret security clearances, are clearly patriots, and have been vetted by the FBI. Knowing this (as a former Naval Aviator himself), George Bush Sr. asked Dubya: 'Do you know a guy in your Air National Guard Unit who we could bring in to operate an Air proprietary and deal with the Saudis?' George Jr. responded by recommending his drinking buddy, Jim Bath."

And:

". . . Bath explained to me that he had been tapped by George Senior to set up a quasi-private aircraft firm that would basically engage in CIA-sponsored activities funded by the Saudi Royal Family. He explained that the Saudis had basically entered into a quid pro quo relationship with Bush and that Bush when he was CIA Director worked with the head of Saudi Intelligence and the CIA trained the Palace Guard to protect the Saudi Royal Family who was concerned about a fundamentalist revolution. And it was at that point I think that this thing got kicked into high gear and the Saudis agreed to provide surreptitious funding to the United States to fight it's secret wars in Afghanistan and Nicaragua."

The Saudis in Texas were Salem Bin Laden, Osama's brother, and Khalid bin Mahfouz, who were both probably acting as agents for the Saudi Royal Family (I've already (2) gone over the BUSH/HARKEN/BCCI/CIA/BIN LADEN/ENRON connections in some detail). White told the CBC:

". . . Bath had told me that he had used Saudi money to fund George Bush Junior’s start up in the Energy business."

CONTINUED...

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/print.asp?ID=1537

Small world. And very, very bad.

[burythehatchet]

48. Octafish, I want to create a photo of blivet and his ancestors

with all the criminals they have been partners with, can youlist them off the top of your head?

Saddam
Noriega
Binladen
...

[Octafish]

54. This is a difficult question...

...that gets to the heart of the Octopus.

Adolf Hitler
Reinhard Gehlen
J Edgar Hoover
George De Mohrenschildt
Luis Posada Carriles
Carlos Prio Socarrás
Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier
Shah Reza Pahlavi
Gen. Augusto Pinochet
Li Peng and Deng Xiaoping

Gee. There are a lot more in the big filing cabinet at my lawyer's cottage in Banff.

[burythehatchet]

55. perfect, I will add the Rev. Moon to that

Thanks so much.
:thumbsup:

[Octafish]

58. You're welcome, burythehatchet!

D'oh! How could I have forgotten?



MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

[blm]

63. Very important to note Khasshoggi and AQ Khan, too.

Carlos Menem in Argentina was also caught armsdealing to Iran in the 90s - he was a VERY close ally of the BFEE. He also gave Moon free reign in Argentina..

[burythehatchet]

67. What a mind-blowing list of the world's vermin

it is truly remarkable that some consider this family America's royalty.

[blm]

68. They exist and rule because their cronies control most corporate media.

They deteminedly bought up every aspect of broadcast media they could acquire over the last 25 years.

[savemefromdumbya]

49. WOW! WOW!

HEY WHY DON"T YOU POST IT ON THE DISCUSSION BOARD AS A MAJOR TOPIC

[Octafish]

81. Mark Lombardi pegged these turds way back in '99.

He was a great artist, who might've become a household name, if it weren't for the BFEE.

"George W. Bush, Harken Energy and Jackson Stephens," c. 1979-90, 5th Version, a work by Mark Lombardi, from 1999, before most of American had even heard of Osama bin Bush:



A detail that shows just how systemic the corruption reaches:



Here's a detail. Please note the direct connections between Bath, bin Laden and W Bush.



More light:

http://www.wburg.com/0202/arts/lombardi.html

http://nyartsmagazine.com/pages/nyam_document.php?nid=46&did=590

[bspence]

87. This was in Fahrenheit 9/11 n/t

[AntiFascist]

93. The CBC documentary containing part of the Bill White interview...

is still available for download:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=63028&mesg_id=63028

:hi:

[Patsy Stone]

41. K&R!

Thanks.

[Octafish]

56. Thanks, Patsy Stone! Please check out: 'The Bush-bin Laden Connection'

Sorry to have to snip anything from this truly EXCELLENT article from November 2001:

The Bush-bin Laden Connection

BY ANDREW WHEAT

An intriguing sideline to the War On Terrorism lies in the murky Texas ties that existed between the Bush and bin Laden clans before September 11th. According to the official story, the rest of the huge bin Laden family has disowned Osama. While this argument creates a moral firewall for anyone dealing with the other bin Ladens, the firewall is undermined by circumstantial evidence to the contrary. The U.S.-led effort to freeze Osama-linked assets reportedly is probing financial transactions of the wider bin Laden clan, which is closely tied to the Saudi royal family. In fact, as Seymour Hersh reports in a recent New Yorker article, it is far from clear that the royal family, which has thousands of princes, has forsaken Muslim extremists. Indeed, some members of the royal family itself are said to bankroll Osama bin Laden. The Saudi monarchy, Hersh reports, has also quietly resisted U.S. efforts to conduct background checks of Saudi suspects in the wake of September 11. While much remains to be learned about these shadowy connections, it is clear that any investigation of the bin Laden’s family’s U.S. investments will lead to some well-placed Texans.

SNIP...

After the death of Mohammed bin Laden, control of the company passed to Salem bin Laden, Osama’s half brother. The roots of the first known Bush-bin Laden convergence date back to the mid-1970s, when the two clans were linked by a Houston businessman named James R. Bath. Bath had befriended George W. Bush in the late 1960s, when they both served in the Texas Air National Guard. By 1976, when Gerald Ford appointed the elder George Bush as CIA director, Bath was acting as a business agent for Salem bin Laden’s interests in Texas. (Texas and Saudi Arabia were well-connected by this point through U.S. oil companies and related industries with operations in both locations.) In 1991 Time magazine and later other publications reported on allegations by Bath’s former business partner that the Bush CIA hired Bath in 1976 to create offshore companies to move CIA funds and aircraft between Texas and Saudi Arabia.

SNIP...

The bin Ladens cemented clearer-cut financial ties with the Bush clan in 1995, when they invested $2 million in the Carlyle Group. Carlyle specializes in the buyout of government defense contractors, and many of its principals were heavyweights in the Reagan and Bush administrations. Carlyle’s chair is former Reagan Administration Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci. Former Bush Secretary of State James A. Baker III is a Carlyle partner and the firm’s senior counsel. Ex-President Bush himself is a Carlyle board member and its senior Asian advisor. In recent years, Carlyle has dispatched Carlucci, Baker and Bush to Saudi Arabia to butter up the bin Ladens. Amid controversy over the relationship last month, Carlyle and the bin Ladens severed their ties. The bin Ladens’ departure coincided with Carlyle’s announcement that it expected to raise approximately $300 million by taking its privately held United Defense Industries public. Among other things, this defense contractor pro- duces missile launch systems that are currently aboard U.S. war ships in the Arabian Sea.

Current President Bush has his own connections to Carlyle and the bin Laden family. Carlyle appointed W. in 1990 to the board of its Caterair subsidiary, an airline catering company. W. stepped down from this board in 1994, the year he was elected governor. With W. as governor, Carlyle landed at least two business deals involving Texas government funds. In the same month that Bush was elected president, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas selected Carlyle to invest $100 million of its pension funds. In 1996, the quasi-public University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) began awarding lucrative contracts to private firms to invest portions of UT’s $14 billion endowment. The Houston Chronicle reported that UTIMCO’s board (which is appointed by the governor’s handpicked UT System Regents) awarded many of these contracts to firms close to W.–including Carlyle. As of May 2001, Carlyle controlled more than $15 million of University of Texas public endowment funds. This includes $10.5 million that is commingled in the same Carlyle Partners II Fund where the bin Ladens parked their money.

CONTINUED...

http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=480

That man Kenny Boy Lay had closer ties to my opponent, Ann Richards.

[texpatriot2004]

46. Thanks Octafish nm

[Octafish]

57. Anytime, texpatriot2004! More on 'The Bush-Bin Laden Money Connection'

What W must think: "Who cares about the Constitution when you can have trillions?"

The Bush-Bin Laden Money Connection



"Former President George Bush met with King Fahd, right, on a trip to Saudi Arabia last year as part of his work for the Carlyle Group." (NYT, 3/5/01)

A Second Bush Oil Deal To Come With Murky Ties To Saudi Financiers And Osama Bin Laden
"On September 24, President George W. Bush appeared at a press conference in the White House Rose Garden to announce a crackdown on the financial networks of terrorists and those who support them. ?U.S. banks that have assets of these groups or individuals must freeze their accounts,? Bush declared. ?And U.S. citizens or businesses are prohibited from doing business with them.?

"But the president, who is now enjoying an astounding 92 percent approval rating, hasn?t always practiced what he is now preaching: Bush?s own businesses were once tied to financial figures in Saudi Arabia who currently support bin Laden.

"In 1979, Bush?s first business, Arbusto Energy, obtained financing from James Bath, a Houstonian and close family friend. One of many investors, Bath gave Bush $50,000 for a 5 percent stake in Arbusto. At the time, Bath was the sole U.S. business representative for Salem bin Laden, head of the wealthy Saudi Arabian family and a brother (one of 17) to Osama bin Laden. It has long been suspected, but never proven, that the Arbusto money came directly from Salem bin Laden. In a statement issued shortly after the September 11 attacks, the White House vehemently denied the connection, insisting that Bath invested his own money, not Salem bin Laden?s, in Arbusto.

"In conflicting statements, Bush at first denied ever knowing Bath, then acknowledged his stake in Arbusto and that he was aware Bath represented Saudi interests. In fact, Bath has extensive ties, both to the bin Laden family and major players in the scandal-ridden Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI) who have gone on to fund Osama bin Laden. BCCI defrauded depositors of $10 billion in the ?80s in what has been called the ?largest bank fraud in world financial history? by former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. During the ?80s, BCCI also acted as a main conduit for laundering money intended for clandestine CIA activities, ranging from financial support to the Afghan mujahedin to paying intermediaries in the Iran-Contra affair.

"When Salem bin Laden died in 1988, powerful Saudi Arabian banker and BCCI principal Khalid bin Mahfouz inherited his interests in Houston. Bath ran a business for bin Mahfouz in Houston and joined a partnership with bin Mahfouz and Gaith Pharaon, BCCI?s frontman in Houston?s Main Bank.

CONTINUED...

http://www.bushwatch.com/bushmoney.htm

Money. The tie that binds Mammonophiles.

[texpatriot2004]

88. They are a sick, evil lot nm

[Dragonbreathp9d]

51. Suprise Suprise

Not that Bush cared, considering he cut a few counter-terrorism programs initiated by Clarke and Clinton.

[Octafish]

59. Good memory, Dragonbreathp9d! What ASHCAN did...

Thanks for remembering!

Old John Ashkkkroft really went to work on America as AG.

FBI Budget Squeezed After 9/11

Request for New Counterterror Funds Cut by Two-Thirds

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 22, 2004; Page A06

In the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI, an internal administration budget document shows.

SNIP...

Five days after Ashcroft agreed to reduce the FBI emergency request from $1.5 billion to $531 million, the White House asked Congress for a similar amount, $538.5 million, for the FBI as part of a $20 billion supplemental spending package responding to the Sept. 11 attacks. Just over two months later, Congress approved the $20 billion package as part of a defense spending bill but gave the FBI $745 million. Amendments that would have increased FBI funding further failed under the threat of a Bush veto if the package exceeded $20 billion.

SNIP...

"Despite multiple terror warnings before and after 9/11, repeatedly rejected counterterrorism resources that his own security agencies said was desperately needed to protect America," said David Sirota, spokesman for Podesta's group, which plans to post the documents on its Web site today.

The group released two other administration documents, parts of which have already been made public, showing that just before the Sept. 11 attacks, Ashcroft did not agree to $588 million in increases that the FBI was seeking for 2003. That request included funds to hire 54 translators and 248 counterterrorism agents and support staff. But in his 2003 request sent to the White House, dated Sept. 10, 2001, Ashcroft did not propose that any FBI programs get increases above previously set levels and proposed small cuts to some programs related to counterterrorism.

Other documents indicate that before Sept. 11, Ashcroft did not give terrorism top billing in his strategic plans for the Justice Department, which includes the FBI. A draft of Ashcroft's "Strategic Plan" from Aug. 9, 2001, does not put fighting terrorism as one of the department's seven goals, ranking it as a sub-goal beneath gun violence and drugs. After the attacks, fighting terrorism became the department's primary goal. By contrast, in April 2000, Ashcroft's predecessor, Janet Reno, called terrorism "the most challenging threat in the criminal justice area."

SOURCE:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A13541-2004Mar21¬Found=true

I post this history in order to preserve it.

Once the Chimperror is coronated, one of the first things to go will be freedom of speech.

[wiggs]

52. Saw this yesterday. More angry today reading it again

This is incontrovertible black and white proof that the administration was misleading the american people and the 9/11 commission. This alone should change overall attitudes about competency and honesty of the administration in relation to 9/11. This deserves very wide exposure and discussion. Rehabilitates Clarke...opens up other points he made for re-evaluation. Shines further light on our SOS, Rice. Failure to act before 9/11 looks different now in light of Katrina, Iraq post invasion incomptetence, WMD incompetence, social security blunder, deficits, and every other misdeed since. For this reason, 9/11 is not a dead issue, it is part of an overall pattern that must be exposed.

I would also like people to remember that Bush would not appear at hearings without sitting next to Cheney. I think, reminded of that now, middle america might not believe that Bush wanted Commissioners to see Bush/Cheney "body language" and how well they work together.

I'm pissed.

[Octafish]

61. Bush said: 'If we had something to hide, we wouldn't have (gone).'

Thanks, wiggs! Your excellent post pisses me off.

From CNN:

Bush, Cheney meet with 9/11 panel

President cites 'good discussion'

Friday, April 30, 2004 Posted: 1:28 PM EDT (1728 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Thursday he "answered every question" posed to him by the 9/11 commission during what was described as an extraordinary session at the White House with the panel investigating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"It was wide-ranging, it was important, it was just a good discussion," Bush told reporters in the White House Rose Garden, shortly after the closed-door session ended.

SNIP...

The president dismissed suggestions that he appeared before the panel with Cheney to coordinate stories.

"If we had something to hide, we wouldn't have met with them in the first place," Bush said. "We answered all their questions."

CONTINUED...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/29/bush.911.commission/

Answered every question, sure.

BTW: Isn't Bush the turd who thinks only a crook needs a lawyer at a hearing?

[berni_mccoy]

60. Kicking: MOST INTERESTING PART OF THIS THREAD===>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x530084#535320

[Octafish]

62. Thanks for noticing, berni_mccoy. What Leopold wrote...

... in an excellent article with info from Risen's book

Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11

By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Friday 13 January 2006

EXCERPT...

But according to people who worked at the NSA as encryption specialists during this time, that's not what happened. On orders from Defense Department officials and President Bush, the agency kept a running list of the names of Americans in its system and made it readily available to a number of senior officials in the Bush administration, these sources said, which in essence meant the NSA was conducting a covert domestic surveillance operation in violation of the law.

James Risen, author of the book State of War and credited with first breaking the story about the NSA's domestic surveillance operations, said President Bush personally authorized a change in the agency's long-standing policies shortly after he was sworn in in 2001.

"The president personally and directly authorized new operations, like the NSA's domestic surveillance program, that almost certainly would never have been approved under normal circumstances and that raised serious legal or political questions," Risen wrote in the book. "Because of the fevered climate created throughout the government by the president and his senior advisers, Bush sent signals of what he wanted done, without explicit presidential orders" and "the most ambitious got the message."

The NSA's domestic surveillance activities that began in early 2001 reached a boiling point shortly after 9/11, when senior administration officials and top intelligence officials asked the NSA to share that data with other intelligence officials who worked for the FBI and the CIA to hunt down terrorists that might be in the United States. However the NSA, on advice from its lawyers, destroyed the records, fearing the agency could be subjected to lawsuits by American citizens identified in the agency's raw intelligence reports.

CONTINUED...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011306Z.shtml

I post history in order to preserve it.

These are traitors we are talking about.

[blm]

64. Still amazing that no broadcast media will dare mention it.

.

[librechik]

66. from Day One, these guys were so good at international terror issues

that they simply didn't need any briefings from the guys who preceded them. The Clinton Folks were probably annoyingly grounded in literal facts, too--not our type of people at all. We make our own history. Puny facts and puny people be damned.

(just imagining Cheney's reaction to Clarke. )

[Octafish]

75. They PROMOTED a). the incompetent or b). the treasonous. Pick one.

At least one fellah at FBI Headquarters was getting information from the various field offices about the phony flight students. Odd how he never passed this information on to the counter-terror specialists like John O'Neill at FBI NYC or Richard Clarke at the White House.

From Minstrel Boy of DU:

Some more on how Dave Frasca impeded investigations:

According to Agent Rowley's 13 page memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller, Dave Frasca threw "up roadblocks and undermined Minneapolis' by now desperate efforts to obtain a FISA search warrant, long after the French Intelligence service provided information and probable cause became clear." (Rowley's memo to FBI, May 21, 2002, page 3) (see the following web site) http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020603/memo.html Not only did Dave Frasca not share the information about Moussaoui to other appropriate intelligence/law enforcement authorities, he also, according to Rowley "never disclosed to the Minneapolis agents that the Phoenix Division had, only three weeks earlier, warned of Al Qaeda operatives in flight schools seeking flight training for terrorists purposes!" (Rowley's memo to FBI, May 21, 2002 p. 3) It is of course impossible to believe that Dave Frasca on his own, is just sitting on this information and not doing anything with it, unless ordered to do so.

The Minneapolis agents even tried to do an end run around Dave Frasca and notified the CIA's Counter Terrorist Center. The end result was that FBI headquarters personal (Dave Frasca and unnamed higher ups) "actually chastised the Minneapolis agents for making the direct notification without their approval." (Rowley Report, p. 4) Going even further, Dave Frasca "undercut" the search warrant application by not adding information on Moussaoui's foreign power connections which he had promised Minneapolis agents would be included. He also made damaging changes to the text provided by Minneapolis agents thereby, according to one Minneapolis agent, "setting this up for failure." (Rowley Report p. 4)

Even after the World Trade Center was hit, Agent Rowley asked Dave Frasca if she could now obtain a criminal search warrant for Moussaoui's laptop and personal property, she was again refused because it was probably all a "coincidence". Agent Rowley was warned to "do nothing" because "we might ‘screw up' something else going on elsewhere in the country." (Rowley Report, p. 7) The words "do nothing" are interesting; even more revealing what's to ‘screw up' at that point, except another plane going into another building?

After, when Rowley talked to other FBI agents in other parts of the country, the first question was Why?—"Why would an FBI agent(s) deliberately sabotage a case?" Agent Rowley reports that jokes were made that FBI Headquarters personnel were "spies" or "moles" who were actually "working for Osama Bin Laden." (Rowley Report p. 7) Apparently no one mentioned that it could be the other way around i.e., Bin Laden working for the CIA/FBI. The notion that Bush cabinet members were urging the CIA/FBI chiefs to keep a lit on local FBI investigative actions to arrest or curtail terrorist plots was, at the time, an unthinkable thought. That after all, would not be a joke. It would be one of the most murderous, diabolical cover up committed against American citizens by an American President and cabinet.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/MOO208B.html

Original thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1293947

So, Bush! Why did this fellah get promoted? Did he follow your orders to IGNORE evidence of the 9-11 terror plot?

[Octafish]

78. FBI Coleen Rowley said Washington HQ CHANGED her Moussaoui memo.

Rowley, retired from the FBI and now running for U.S. Congress, wondered if there was an al Qaeda mole working at FBI HQ.

Foreknowledge of 9/11: Cover-up of important information revealed by FBI Whistle-blower
Agent: FBI Rewrote Moussaoui Request

by John J. Lumkin
Associated Press, 25 May 2002
Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), globalresearch.ca , May 2002

An FBI whistle-blower contends that the bureau's headquarters removed important information from a search warrant application whose rejection kept the government from learning more about terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui before Sept. 11.

Coleen Rowley wrote in a memo earlier this week that agents in Minneapolis became so frustrated by roadblocks erected by supervisors in Washington they began to joke that FBI headquarters was becoming an "unwitting accomplice" to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s efforts to attack the United States, said government officials who have seen the memo.

As new details emerged about the letter Rowley wrote to FBI Director Robert Mueller, key members of Congress sought on Friday to extend her whistle-blower protections and invited more agents to come forward.

"We encourage more of the same," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla.

A joint panel of House and Senate members, meanwhile, set the first hearings in June to examine what the government knew before Sept. 11 about terrorist threats and what mistakes it made.

CONTINUED...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/LUM205A.html

No wonder they want to give Moussaoui the death penalty.

Dead men tell no tales.

And, thus, Porter "Operation 40" Goss became DCI.

[madmark]

69. the memo was to condi rice; i bet that bush never saw it

[Octafish]

77. A good bet Bush SAID he never saw it.

George Tenet's hair was on fire. Even a coke-addled drunk would notice that.

July 23, 2004

Hair on Fire

Juan Cole on the 9-11 Commission Report:

The question is, "Should he have known it was coming?"

The answer is, "Yes!"

We now know that Bush and his administration came into office obsessed with Iraq. Cheney was looking at maps of Iraq oil fields and muttering about opportunities for US companies there, already in January or February of 2001. Wolfowitz contradicted counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke when the latter spoke of the al-Qaeda threat, insisting that the preeminent threat of terrorism against the US came from Iraq, and indicating he accepted Laurie Mylroie's crackpot conspiracy theory that Saddam was behind the 1993 World Trade Towers bombing. If you believe crackpot theories instead of focusing on the reality--that was an al-Qaeda operation mainly carried out by al-Gamaa al-Islamiyyah, an Egyptian terrorist component allied with Bin Laden-- then you will concentrate on the wrong threat.

Even after the attacks on September 11, Bush was obsessing about Iraq. Wolfowitz lied to him and said that there was a 10 to 50% chance that Iraq was behind them. (On what evidence? The hijackers were obviously al-Qaeda, and no operational links between al-Qaeda and Iraq had ever been found). Rumsfeld initially rejected an attack on al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan, saying there were "no good targets" in Afghanistan. (What about 40 al-Qaeda bases that had trained the 9/11 hijackers and other terrorists gunning for the United States??) The Pentagon did not even have a plan for dealing with Afghanistan or al-Qaeda that it could pull off the shelf, according to Bob Woodward.

Bush did not have his eye on the ball. Neither did Cheney, Rumsfeld, or Wolfowitz. They were playing Captain Ahab to Saddam's great white whale.

CONTINUED...

http://www.node707.com/archives/001553.shtml

Condi's job at the time was National Security Advisor. It was her job to tutor the dumb fuck.

[madmark]

71. This memo and no action from rice; and her inane comments about

about not imagining that it was possible for a plane suicide strike into a building are Exhibits A and B that she is a useless lightweight; and how she gets credit from any quarter for any accomplishment other than being Bush sychophant supreme is unfucking known.

[Trevelyan]

80. I care. Thank you for the information on Richard Clarke. I think that it

is always the right time to mention whistleblowers. Esp. those on the inside. Last year someone on Smirking Chimp wrote that Richard Clarke could be a whistleblower because as he said he was too rich and too old to care what BFEE. But he probably has family he cares about and recently someone on DU posted that Richard Clarke hasn't said much since his book and wondered if he had been intimidated also.

[Octafish]

82. Whistleblowers are people, too.

Good people. Which separates them from the Bush Crime Family.

Petrodollars and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation: Understanding the Planned Assault on Iran

By Michael Keefer
February 10, 2006

From... GlobalResearch.caIran has been in the gun-sights of George W. Bush and his entourage from the moment that he was parachuted into the presidency in November 2000 by his father’s Supreme Court.

SNIP...

Prior to her public exposure by Karl Rove, Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, and other senior administration officials in July 2003, CIA agent Valerie Plame was reportedly involved in undercover anti-proliferation work focused on transfers of nuclear technology to Turkey that were being carried out by a network of crooked businessmen, arms dealers, and ‘rogue’ officials within the U.S. government. The leaking of Plame’s identity as a CIA agent was undoubtedly an act of revenge for her husband Joseph Wilson’s public revelation that one of the key claims used to legitimize the invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s supposed acquisition of uranium ore from Niger, was known by the Bush regime to be groundless. But Plame’s exposure also conveniently put an end to her investigative work. Some of the senior administration officials responsible for that crime of state have long-term diplomatic and military connections to Turkey, and all of them have been employed in what might be called (with a nod to ex-White House speechwriter David Frum) the Cheney-Bolton Axis of Aggression. Thanks to the courage and integrity of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, there is evidence dating from 2002 of high-level involvement in the subversion of FBI investigations into arms trafficking with Turkey. The leaking of Valerie Plame’s identity as a CIA agent may therefore have been not merely an act of revenge for her husband’s contribution to the delegitimizing of one war of aggression, but also a tactical maneuver in preparation for the next one.

George W. Bush made clear his aggressive intentions in relation to Iran in his 2002 State of the Union address; and his regime’s record on issues of nuclear proliferation has been, to put it mildly, equivocal. If, as seems plausible, Bush’s diplomats had been secretly arranging that Turkey’s reward for connivance in an attack on Iran should include its future admission into the charmed circle of nuclear powers, then the meddling interference of servants of the state who, like Plame and Edmonds, were putting themselves or at least their careers at risk in the cause of preventing nuclear weapons proliferation, was not to be tolerated.

The ironies are glaring. The U.S. government is contemplating an unprovoked attack upon Iran that will involve “pre-emptive” use of nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear-weapons-holding state. Although the pretext is that this is necessary to forestall nuclear weapons proliferation, there is evidence to suggest that planning for the attack has involved, very precisely, nuclear weapons proliferation by the United States.

It would appear that this sinister complex of criminality involves one further twist. There have been indications that the planned attack may be immediately preceded (and of course ‘legitimized’) by another 9/11-type event within the U.S.

CONTINUED...

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0602/S00157.htm

Thanks for giving a damn, Trevelyan! The country, planet and humanity are counting on you.

[Clara T]

83. A FOIA Request

[KoKo]

84. Hey Thanks All for reposting all of this. Sure helps to jog our memories.

The amount of info is overwhelming and revisiting the Timeline every once in awhile refreshes tired brains.

So....when do we ever get a full investigation of this? I wonder if our Dems will ever touch it even if they get back in power.

I hope that one day the truth will come out and all of those involved in this massive government take over and manipulation will be prosecuted. But,I doubt it will ever happen. Maybe living with the results of their Incompetence and Dogmatic Political dreams of world domination will be enough punishment when it falls down on their head. But, these folks never seem to get their comeuppance. Perhaps it's the EVIL..that keeps them immune.

[RepublicanElephant]

85. will pass it on. thanks! (nt)

.

[bspence]

86. My head just exploded after reading this. n/t

[rd_kent]

89. WOW!! This should be the final piece thats needed!!!!

This PROVES once and for all that the Clinton Admin had addressed the issue AND informed the Bush admin to the threat. This PROVES that the Bush admin CHOSE to ignore the threat. This PROVES that this administration is guilty of impeachable crimes. This PROVES that Bush and his entire Cabinet, staff and cronies must go, IMMEDIATELY!!!!

[Sal316]

90. Two words that struck me about this.

One is missing.

Iraq.

The second is heavily redacted.

Uzbekistan.

Time for google!

[bobthedrummer]

91. There were people and organizations working all sides of this

prior to 9/11 as well as after.
Remember this?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/10/20/eveningnews/main242926.shtml

Christina Rocca
http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper230.html

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_6-2-2005_pg7_6

Laili Helms
http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/early/sr_afghan.html

Afghanistan oil pipeline figures
http://bitterfact.tripod.com/afghan/bushandoil1.html

[blm]

92. Same evil names have been popping up for decades - and some dare call

it coincidence.

[bobthedrummer]

94. I like that "and some dare call it coincidence." blm.

:thumbsup:

[bobthedrummer]

95. kick