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| The long awaited Aug. PDB that should have prevented 9-11. . . . . |
| 2004-04-10 |
| No way to "connect the dots." There weren’t even any dots! The following is a redacted text of the presidential daily briefing from August 6, 2001: Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Ladin since 1997’ has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Ladin implied in US television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America." After US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a [deleted text] service. An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an [deleted text] service at the same time that Bin Ladin was planning to exploit the operative’s access to the US to mount a terrorist strike. The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of Bin Ladin’s first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the US. Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that Bin Ladin lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own US attack. Ressam says Bin Ladin was aware of the Los Angeles operation. Although Bin Ladin has not succeeded, his attacks against the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Ladin associates surveilled our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997. Al-Qa’ida members — including some who are US citizens — have resided in or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks. Two al-Qa’ida members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our Embassies in East Africa were US citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s. A clandestine source said in 1998 that a Bin Ladin cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks. We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a [deleted text] service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" ’Umar’ Abd aI-Rahman and other US-held extremists. Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York. The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full field investigations throughout the US that it considers Bin Ladin-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our Embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group of Bin Ladin supporters was in the US planning attacks with explosives. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #9 nope it's: /asshole |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-10 11:10:43 PM |
| #8 oh, forgot to close my tag: < /hysteria> |
| Posted by: Carl in NH 2004-04-10 10:24:14 PM |
| #7 OMIGOD, Ben-Veniste was RIGHT !! It's there in CODE : "Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Ladin since 1997’ has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Ladin implied in US television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America." Run that through the DECODER RING: "............Bin Ladin....9..........1..........1...... .....World Trade Center" IT'S RIGHT THERE PEOPLE CAN'T YOU SEE IT !!!! |
| Posted by: Carl in NH 2004-04-10 10:23:25 PM |
| #6 "Gee, John, does this mean I don't get to be on the Supreme Court?" "Ah, shuddup, Richard." |
| Posted by: Matt 2004-04-10 10:19:16 PM |
| #5 AF Lady - Lol! Those would accurate, hence we'll never see them except on the 'Net. Good catch, thx! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-04-10 9:26:53 PM |
| #4 From Hugh Hewitt: Suggested headlines for tomorrow's papers after today's release of the August 6, 2001 memo to President Bush: "Memo Reveals Ben Veniste a Horse's Ass: Other Commissioners say 'We Already Knew That.'" Washington Post "Oops. Please Disregard Yesterday's Paper" New York Times "Memo Reveals That Eight Years of Clinton Tenure Left Intelligence Agencies With Keen Grasp of Obvious and Nothing Else." Boston Globe. |
| Posted by: AF Lady 2004-04-10 8:56:18 PM |
| #3 Nope, no dots to connect here, that's for sure. One wonders just exactly what the Democrats would have had Bush do in response to this potpourri of vague tidbits, that would not have either gotten him impeached outright or tied up in lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union. Nonetheless, it matters little: the entire point of this cynical exercise was simply to create an excuse for exposing the lumpenproletariat to the headline, "Bush Warned About 9/11!" By the time next November rolls around, the Democratic Party faithful won't remember the rest of the story--that is, if they bothered to read it in the first place. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-04-10 8:20:00 PM |
| #2 Actually, this is extraordinarily embarrassing. We could save a boat load of money and have a beter informed President by having one of Condi's people sumarize the prior day's posts at Rantburg. |
| Posted by: Mr. Davis 2004-04-10 8:16:40 PM |
| #1 Good one, Sherry. You know the Dimocrats were soooooooo convinced that President Bush was hiding this "smoking gun" memo when he's been telling us what it said all along. Looks like W has played rope-a-dope with them again... BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-04-10 8:12:07 PM |