Strategic level terrorist warning in July 2001

[ecopal]

Flashback to July 2001:

“...top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States.

.. so compelling to Tenet that he decided he and Black should go to the White House immediately...

...this amounted to a strategic warning, meaning the problem was so serious that it required an overall plan and strategy.

Second, this was a major foreign policy problem that needed to be addressed immediately.

They needed to take action that moment — covert, military, whatever — to thwart bin Laden. . .Tenet and Black felt they were not getting through to Rice. ..

..“Around the time of that July meeting, Rice and Bush were more focused on their pet issue: missile defense. And Bush wasn’t interested in ’swatting flies’ — he was already looking for a reason to attack Iraq."

from the:
The White House Mole
Monday, February 4, 2008; 1:41 PM
www.washingtonpost.com
By Dan Froomkin
excerpts:

“Michael Isikoff writes in Newsweek: “In the summer of 2003, Warren Bass, an investigator for the 9/11 Commission, was digging through highly classified National Security Council documents when he came across a trove of material that startled him.

Buried in the files of former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, the documents seemed to confirm charges that the Bush White House had ignored repeated warnings about the threat posed by Osama bin Laden.

Clarke, it turned out, had bombarded national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice in the summer of 2001 with impassioned e-mails and memos warning of an Al Qaeda attack–and urging a more forceful U.S. government response.

... Bob Woodward disclosed in his book “State of Denial” that commission investigators weren’t told about a July 2001 meeting, in which Rice waved off warnings that should have put the government on high alert for an al-Qaeda attack.”

In an excerpt from his book, Woodward wrote: “On July 10, 2001, two months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then-CIA Director George J. Tenet met with his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, at CIA headquarters to review the latest on Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization.

Black laid out the case, consisting of communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States.

... so compelling to Tenet that he decided he and Black should go to the White House immediately.

“Tenet called Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, from the car and said he needed to see her right away. . . .

“He and Black hoped to convey the depth of their anxiety and get Rice to kick-start the government into immediate action. . . .

“Tenet hoped his abrupt request for an immediate meeting would shake Rice. He and Black, a veteran covert operator, had two main points when they met with her. First, al-Qaeda was going to attack American interests, possibly in the United States itself.

Black emphasized that this amounted to a strategic warning, meaning the problem was so serious that it required an overall plan and strategy. Second, this was a major foreign policy problem that needed to be addressed immediately. They needed to take action that moment — covert, military, whatever — to thwart bin Laden. . . .

“Tenet and Black felt they were not getting through to Rice. ..


“Around the time of that July meeting, Rice and Bush were more focused on their pet issue: missile defense. And Bush wasn’t interested in ’swatting flies’ — he was already looking for a reason to attack Iraq.


..And just a few weeks ago, Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton, who served as chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the 9/11 commission, wrote in a New York Times op-ed that “the recent revelations that the C.I.A. destroyed videotaped interrogations of Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot. Those who knew about those videotapes — and did not tell us about them — obstructed our investigation."

[wrobert]

Watch Fox News for right wing propaganda,
Watch K. Olberman on MSNBC for left wing slant,
Tune into PBS (89.1FM) for the real news.


Why do you say left wing slant vs right wing propaganda? That seems hardly fair or balanced.

[ecopal]

Watch Fox News for right wing propaganda,
Watch K. Olberman on MSNBC for left wing slant,
Tune into PBS (89.1FM) for the real news.


Why do you say left wing slant vs right wing propaganda? That seems hardly fair or balanced.


The K. Olberman show is only a left wing slant compared to the extreme right wing Fox News.

Also, Olberman is only a mega corporate media homogenized version of true liberal media.

If you want liberal propaganda check this out:

http://www.evilgopbastards.com/

You could also balance the Fox neo conservative propaganda with a news source from the other extreme:
http://english.aljazeera.net/English

You could also listen to some authentic liberal news at:
http://www.airamerica.com/
http://www.democracynow.org/

[hnooe]

In all fairness, at least Fox (attempts to) engage people form the left, or left/center occassionally on the show. Keith Olberman never directly engages anyone (guests, commentators) on the right on his show.

[30A Skunkape]

In all fairness, at least Fox (attempts to) engage people form the left, or left/center occassionally on the show. Keith Olberman never directly engages anyone (guests, commentators) on the right on his show.

He also fails to engage an audience-his ratings are the pits.

[ecopal]

In all fairness, at least Fox (attempts to) engage people form the left, or left/center occassionally on the show. Keith Olberman never directly engages anyone (guests, commentators) on the right on his show.

Correction: Fox pretends to be “fair and balanced”.
Some viewers are actually gullible enough to believe it.

Redirection:
Some of you are attempting to diverge from the topic of this thread:
How an incompetent and negligent GOP administration ignored serious terrorist threats leading up to 911.
At least President Clinton tried to get bin Laden, Bush did nothing prior to 9/11 and still hasn’t caught him.
A mass murderer of thousands of Americans is still at large.

BTW: hnooe is an “occasional” good speller.

[wrobert]

At least President Clinton tried to get bin Laden, Bush did nothing prior to 9/11 and still hasn’t caught him.


Aide: Clinton Unleashed bin Laden
Chuck Noe, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001 Bill Clinton ignored repeated opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden and his terrorist allies and is responsible for the spread of terrorism, one of the ex-president’s own top aides charges.

Mansoor Ijaz, who negotiated with Sudan on behalf of Clinton from 1996 to 1998, paints a portrait of a White House plagued by incompetence, focused on appearances rather than action, and heedless of profound threats to national security.
Ijaz also claims Clinton passed on an opportunity to have Osama bin Laden arrested.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, hoping to have terrorism sanctions lifted, offered the arrest and extradition of bin Laden and "detailed intelligence data about the global networks constructed by Egypt's Islamic Jihad, Iran's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas,” Ijaz writes in today’s edition of the liberal Los Angeles Times.
These networks included the two hijackers who piloted jetliners into the World Trade Center.
But Clinton and National Security Adviser Samuel "Sandy” Berger failed to act.
”I know because I negotiated more than one of the opportunities,” Ijaz writes. ”The silence of the Clinton administration in responding to these offers was deafening."

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/5/153637.shtml

[scooterbug44]

So what do WE do to make sure this doesn't happen again? :idontno:

Quibbling about tv show bias isn't a solution, and if Clinton was serious about going after Bin Laden, it would have been a moot point pre 9-11 so you can't claim that the fault lies solely with the GOP.

IMO finding Bin Laden wouldn't be difficult if we actually WANTED to find him and this thread just demonstrates how people are much more interested in assigning blame and picking political teams than in finding solutions. :bang:

[chrisv]

IMO finding Bin Laden wouldn't be difficult if we actually WANTED to find him

Zactly.

[ecopal]

Aide: Clinton Unleashed bin Laden
Chuck Noe, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001 Bill Clinton ...
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/5/153637.shtml

GOP , you are so brainwashed by your own neo conservative propaganda that you don’t even know what is real anymore.

Please check your sources more carefully.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=NewsMax.com

NewsMax.com
From SourceWatch

NewsMax.com (NewsMax Media, Inc.) "serves up the news with a conservative slant. The company publishes alternative news and opinion content through its monthly 300,000-subscriber magazine NewsMax and corresponding Web site.

Columnists include Reed Irvine (founder of conservative watchdog group Accuracy In Media) and national broadcasting hosts and analysts Bill O'Reilly, Ed Koch, and Dick Morris.

The company generates sales from politically-oriented merchandise (clothing, posters, books) showcasing stars of the Republican Party. It also partners with Random House to publish a series of co-branded books. Former New York Post reporter Christopher Ruddy, the company's CEO, founded NewsMax Media in 1998." -Hoover's Fact Sheet.

[Margarita]

So what do WE do to make sure this doesn't happen again? :idontno:

Quibbling about tv show bias isn't a solution, and if Clinton was serious about going after Bin Laden, it would have been a moot point pre 9-11 so you can't claim that the fault lies solely with the GOP.

IMO finding Bin Laden wouldn't be difficult if we actually WANTED to find him and this thread just demonstrates how people are much more interested in assigning blame and picking political teams than in finding solutions. :bang:

This is the best and most "fair and balanced" post I've read in a long time!!! I am sick and tired of the "blame game". Let's learn from the mistakes of the past, no matter who made them, and move forward.

[wrobert]

GOP , you are so brainwashed by your own neo conservative propaganda that you don’t even know what is real anymore.


Hey. I am not making fun of your reality, so leave mine alone. It makes me happy.

[ecopal]

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
George Santayana

[Arkiehawg]

Hey. I am not making fun of your reality, so leave mine alone. It makes me happy.


GOP

Can you provide me some insight into what the GOP controlled white house for the past 7 years and the GOP congress that was in control for 5 of the previous 7 years did to secure our ports/borders and prepare communities for potential nuclear or biological attacks?

The vast majority of studies show that we have done very little to protect us at home since 9/11?

Perhaps instead of chasing the boogey man Sadam, they should have focused a lot of that energy and money into our OWN borders.....

[wrobert]

GOP

Can you provide me some insight into what the GOP controlled white house for the past 7 years and the GOP congress that was in control for 5 of the previous 7 years did to secure our ports/borders and prepare communities for potential nuclear or biological attacks?

The vast majority of studies show that we have done very little to protect us at home since 9/11?

Perhaps instead of chasing the boogey man Sadam, they should have focused a lot of that energy and money into our OWN borders.....


Off the top of my head I would say about as much as the DEM controlled congress has done in the past two years. Sit around and discuss the matter while wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth.

[Arkiehawg]

Off the top of my head I would say about as much as the DEM controlled congress has done in the past two years. Sit around and discuss the matter while wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth.

That is exactly the answer I would expect out of you.

Nice Spin... My point is that the GOP had over 5 years to make a big difference and did NOTHING. The DEM has control of only the congress and not the WH. Perhaps IF they had control over both, they could work on those issues.....

So explain to me why electing McCain will change all of this with a DEM controlled congress? And don't give me the BS of that is why we need to have the congress controlled by the GOP again. It didn't work the last time.


Unfortunately, our elected congress/WH are so freaking polarized on BOTH sides of the aisle that they would rather stab each others party instead of solving issues that effect us.



I HATE POLITICIANS.....

[hnooe]

[quote=Arkiehawg;360797]That is exactly the answer I would expect out of you.

Nice Spin... My point is that the GOP had over 5 years to make a big difference and did NOTHING. The DEM has control of only the congress and not the WH. Perhaps IF they had control over both, they could work on those issues.....

So explain to me why electing McCain will change all of this with a DEM controlled congress? And don't give me the BS of that is why we need to have the congress controlled by the GOP again. It didn't work the last time.


Unfortunately, our elected congress/WH are so freaking polarized on BOTH sides of the aisle that they would rather stab each others party instead of solving issues that effect us.
__________________________________________________ _________



I am now thinking this is not a Dem.or Repub. issue per se--I think it is about a dysfunctional continuum of different administrations not drawing the all correct information (or half information) from the administration before.....this information disconnect is true in the realm of Congress as well --probably, yes, due to party polarization. This is why no political party IMO was totally responsible for 911.

[Furthur]

Attacks in England attacks in Spain attacks in Egypt.
Bust in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Holland.
Just to mention a few.
But no hits on the U.S. of A.
Hmmm maybe something is being done.
Just cause it's not being blabbered about in the media doesn't mean our folks aren't doing their jobs.

[Margarita]

Attacks in England attacks in Spain attacks in Egypt.
Bust in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Holland.
Just to mention a few.
But no hits on the U.S. of A.
Hmmm maybe something is being done.
Just cause it's not being blabbered about in the media doesn't mean our folks aren't doing their jobs.

I totally agreee - thanks for the reminder :clap:

I do hope though that the next administration - no matter who it is - will make securing our borders a top priority. Until this is done I think that it is not a matter of if we will be attacked but when.

[hnooe]

Attacks in England attacks in Spain attacks in Egypt.


Just cause it's not being blabbered about in the media doesn't mean our folks aren't doing their jobs.
__________________________________________________ _____

And that is a great reason that we, the people, should be very worried.

[Arkiehawg]

Attacks in England attacks in Spain attacks in Egypt.
Bust in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Holland.
Just to mention a few.
But no hits on the U.S. of A.
Hmmm maybe something is being done.
Just cause it's not being blabbered about in the media doesn't mean our folks aren't doing their jobs.


This entire quote could have been said PRIOR to 9/11 as well......

Doesn't mean that we are any more secure than before 9/11.

Who is to say that the bad guys are on their schedule NOT ours?

Do you really believe that our borders/ports are secure? If you believe that, you haven't been to Miami, Texas or California lately....

[Margarita]

I think that we are safer that pre 9/11 but still very vulnerable. We have got to secure our borders first and then do something about illegal immigration.