A NYT op-ed slated for publication tomorrow indicates issues GW will again arise, just in time for the election. http://www.nytimes.com/...
It appears GW was warned not just by the August 9, 2011 “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S" memo. (You may recall, he dismissed its messenger, saying it was "okay, he had covered his ass" or words to that effect). While the administration later dismissed that briefing, it now turns out this was not only not his only warning, he was repeatedly warned, cajoled and begged by the CIA to take action. Such were reportedly ismissed by neo-cons in Bush's admin. who said such was a distraction from Iraq and Saddam Hussein and their plans to start a war there:
The neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat.
The direct warnings to Mr. Bush about the possibility of a Qaeda attack began in the spring of 2001. By May 1, the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report that “a group presently in the United States” was planning a terrorist operation. Weeks later, on June 22, the daily brief reported that Qaeda strikes could be “imminent,” although intelligence suggested the time frame was flexible.
The CIA was reduced to near begging:
In response, the C.I.A. prepared an analysis that all but pleaded with the White House to accept that the danger from Bin Laden was real. “The U.S. is not the target of a disinformation campaign by Usama Bin Laden,” the daily brief of June 29 read, using the government’s transliteration of Bin Laden’s first name. Going on for more than a page, the document recited much of the evidence, including an interview that month with a Middle Eastern journalist in which Bin Laden aides warned of a coming attack, as well as competitive pressures that the terrorist leader was feeling, given the number of Islamists being recruited for the separatist Russian region of Chechnya.