The lid is off. As DemFromCT showed
below, the news is tumbling out from multiple sources that the Presidential daily briefing proves that
George W. Bush was warned on August 6th that al Qaida was planning an attack to take place within the United States before the end of 2001:
The sources said the presidential memo included a series of bullet items that brought Bush through a history of mostly uncorroborated intelligence that cited al-Qaida's interest in hijacking planes to win the release of Islamic extremists who had been arrested in 1998 and 1999 as well as the trips of suspected al-Qaida operatives, including some U.S. citizens, in and out of the United States. It suggested al-Qaida might have a support system in place on U.S. soil, the sources said.
The document also included FBI analytical judgments that some al-Qaida activities were consistent with preparation for airline hijackings or other types of attacks, some members of the commission looking into the Sept. 11 attacks said earlier this week.
The second-to-last bullet told the president that there were numerous -- at least 70 -- terror-related investigations under way by the FBI in 2001 involving matters or people on U.S. soil, the sources said.
And the final bullet told the president of a recent intelligence report indicating al-Qaida operatives were trying to get inside the United States to carry out an attack with explosives, the sources said. There were no specifics about the timing or target, the sources said.
The sources said the briefing memo did not provide the exact date of that intelligence but made clear it was in the 2001 time frame, and that FBI and other agencies were investigating it. The information had been provided to intelligence and law enforcement agencies well before Bush's briefing, the sources said.
They said the final bullet in the presidential memo was based on an intelligence report received in May 2001 that indicated bin Laden operatives were trying to cross from Canada into the United States for an attack.
Condoleeza Rice made a big deal about not having "actionable" intelligence about dates and locations of suspected terrorist actions. As many have pointed out, if actionable intelligence of threats came with dates, times and Mapquest directions there wouldn't be much need for a National Security Advisor. But if this article is confirmed, then the American people have sufficient evidence to conclude that the Bush administration can't recognize actionable intelligence until it's delivered via jet airliner into the side of a building.
This article also supports Richard Clarke's main contention about 9-11; the Bush administration never mobilized the relevant branches of the administration and the government in such a way that these shards of data might have been pieced together to allow the government an opportunity to prevent the 9-11 attacks. The Phoenix memo, the Moussaoui arrest, the information contained in the PDB, and other information that apparently never made it to Rice or Bush--there was so much information that people like Clarke and his team in the administration and experts in the government might have connected enough of the pieces to have prevented 9-11.
Current and former government officials familiar with terrorism intelligence told the AP that in the same month Bush received his briefing, U.S. intelligence received two uncorroborated reports -- among hundreds -- suggesting terrorist might use planes but that neither reached the president or Rice.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one report in August 2001 said there was uncorroborated information that two bin Laden operatives had met in October 2000 to discuss a plot to attack the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi using an airplane.
That report stated the operative would either bomb the embassy using the airplane or drive the airplane into it, according to information provided congressional investigators and cited in their report released last year...
Rice stated emphatically on Thursday she did not see any such reports about al-Qaida using a plane as a weapon until after Sept. 11, suggesting the intelligence information may have reached someone lower in the White House.
This administration's officials are like Mafioso; once they've entrusted somebody with the family secrets, the made men (and women) are expected to keep quiet. In return, the wise guys can expect Bush and his captains to keep quiet about their high crimes and misdemeanors. If anyone squeals, they have the capacity to do grave damage to the family's interests. But with the Bush administration we don't just get a Mafioso's conspiracy of silence, we get the added bonus of a conspiracy of dunces. Everyone keeps quiet, nobody gets fired, but nobody does their job. Does Rice show outrage that this information never got to her or the President? Does anyone in the administration indicate that the parties responsible for keeping this information from rising up the ladder were recognized and suffered consequences for their blunder? No. She just covers her ass, which is about the only thing this administration still does to any degree of competency.
All this President's men and women believe their job is to protect this President. It's not. Their jobs are to protect and advance the interests of the American people. They have failed. Anyone looking at what's happening in Iraq the last few weeks can see that they continue to fail, and fail spectacularly.