SOURCE: AOL Canada This was so long I edited out the unimportant bits...I couldn't find a link to the article. CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - U.S. President Bush was told more than a month before the Sept. 11 attacks that al-Qaida had reached America's shores, had a support system in place for its operatives and that the FBI had detected suspicious activity that might involve a hijacking plot. Since 1998, the FBI had observed ``patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks,'' according to a memo prepared for Bush and declassified Saturday. The Aug. 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Breifing (PDB) referred to evidence of buildings in New York possibly being cased by terrorists. The document also said the CIA and FBI were investigating a call to the U.S. embassy in the United Arab Emirates in May 2001 ``saying that a group of (Osama) bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives.'' The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania, asked the White House to declassify the document at its meeting Thursday. It is significant because Bush read it, so it offers a window on what Bush and his top aides knew about the threat of a terrorist strike. The PDB made plain that bin Laden had been scheming to strike the United States for at least six years. It warned of indications from a broad array of sources, spanning several years. Senior administration officials said Bush saw more than 40 mentions of al-Qaida in his daily intelligence updates during the first eight months of his presidency. The CIA prepared the document ``in response to questions asked by the president about the possibility of attacks by al-Qaida inside the U.S,'' one said. But the senior officials refused to say what Bush's response to the memo was. Republican commissioner James R. Thompson, a former Illinois governor, said the memo ``didn't call for anything to be done'' by Bush. The memo's details confirm that the Bush administration had no specific information regarding an imminent attack involving airplanes as missiles, Thompson said. ``The PDB backs up what Dr. Rice testified to. There is no smoking gun, not even a cold gun,'' he said. ``Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S.,'' the memo to Bush stated. Bin Laden implied in U.S. 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 President Clinton launched missile strikes on bin Laden's base in Afghanistan in 1998 in retaliation for bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 231 people, ``bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington,'' the memo said. The memo cited intelligence from other countries in three instances, but the White House blacked out the names of the nations. Efforts to launch an attack from Canada around the time of millennium celebrations in 2000 ``may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S.,'' the document stated. Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam, who was caught trying to cross the Canadian border with explosives about 60 miles north of Seattle in late 1999, told the FBI that he alone conceived an attack on Los Angeles International Airport, but that bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah ``encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation,'' the document said. Ressam is still awaiting sentencing after agreeing to testify in other terrorism cases. Zubaydah was a senior al-Qaida planner who was captured in Pakistan in March 2002. Al-Qaida members, some of them American citizens, had lived in or traveled to the United States for years, the memo said. ``The group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks,'' it warned. The document said that ``some of the more sensational threat reporting'' - such as an intelligence tip in 1998 that bin Laden wanted to hijack aircraft to win the release of fellow extremists - could not be corroborated. One item in the memo referred to ``recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.'' A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity said that was a reference to two Yemeni men the FBI interviewed and concluded were simply tourists taking photographs. On May 15, 2001, a caller to the U.S. embassy in the United Arab Emirates warned of planned bin Laden attacks with explosives in the United States, but did not say where or when. Bush is screwed.
"OH BUSH IS DONE FOR!" Not really. Personally I think it's idiotic to continously dwell over our nation's mistakes and how bad we ####ed up in the past. I'll remember all the victims on the anniversaries but otherwise I feel its best for me, and everyone else in this world to just forget about it and move on, making sure we don't make the same mistakes in the future.
Dwelling on our mistakes?? This 'mistake' has cost the US thousands of lives on 9/11, not to mention the War that ensued (and you cannot deny Sept. 11th greatly influenced it) cost hundreds of billions as well as hundreds of Americans and thousands of Iraqis. If they can get to the bottom of this and nab whose responsible (bush and his cronies in all likelihood) than they should! Sorry, but this just didn't affect the people who died, it effected the WORLD.
Well true, but as heartless as it sounds, I just got tired of hearing about the war and 9/11 after a while. It doesn't feel good to talk about depressing thoughts all the time and that's the point I was trying to get across.
You know, no matter WHO is president, people are going to whine and complain. No one will ever be satisfied. I think Bush has done a fairly decent job, well, I mean, one person can only do so much. So eh.
I agree, he's the best trained monkey this side of the world. Personally, I thought Clinton was an excellent president, which is why this didn't happen while he was in office...
The world became a bad place after 9/11, but it has become an even worse world since this war. I'm not saying that you shouldn't retaliate, you did that against Bin Laden in Afghanistan, but don't say countries have WMD's unless you have solid proof. Instead of starting a pointless war, and killing thousands of people on both sides, send a couple of snipers over and pick off Saddam and his two sons. Don't make the whole Arab world pissed at you, that's around one third of the world!
Right now, the US is a prime target for terrorists, but instead of preparing for another attack, people would rather criticize Bush for not being ready for it. People knew terrorists were a threat, didn't they? if they didn't, then Bush damn well should have been much more prepared, but he didn't know there was gonna be an attack. No one did. If they did, then it is stupid to blame Bush for not being prepared for this attack. People know of terror risks now, but won't do anything until it actually happened. The 9/11 attack happened. Now there's nothing we can do about it, except prepare for another attack. I'm not saying that the attack didn't affect us, I'm just saying, instead of finding reasons of lack of defense in the past, let's find ways to incease defense for the future. People move on in life after they lose a lost one whether they know it or not. They may be sad for the rest of their lives because of the loss, but they still continue to live their lives. America should do that. Remember the past but don't hold it too tight that you won't be satisfied until you find all the answers. This is basically what I'm stressing strongly: Let's focus on our defense right now, instead of wishing of improvments of the past, so it won't happen again.
Exactly! You can prevent terrorists from hurting you if you don't let them inside your borders! Unless it's through missile-attacks, but you can use missiles to destroy enemy missiles. Improve the technology if you can't do that well.
It wasn't a mistake. He knew it was going to happen and did nothing to stop it. That's not a mistake in the slightest sense of the word. I think Bush is done for now. After more people hear about this, they're going to realize that the war in Iraq is completely unjust and they're not going to vote for him again.
Politics really, really frustrate me. I will vote for him in the upcoming election. I haven't seen any better candidates. They're all just kinda... there. Aaaaanywho, there's too much controversy, and who knows what's really true and not true anymore these days. We need to just move on and worry about now.
Exactly! You can prevent terrorists from hurting you if you don't let them inside your borders! Unless it's through missile-attacks, but you can use missiles to destroy enemy missiles. Improve the technology if you can't do that well. [/b][/quote] Yeah. But, can u trace a missile attack to its first location?
History (whats past) is your friend. You can look at what's happened and can have a pretty good clue about what the US was trying to do. These are some questions I asked myself: Q: So, if Bush did know about this, why wouldn't he act? A: If this attack never happened, there would be NO support for his war on Terrorism (which lead to war on Iraq). Q: Why did he want the war? A: Well, he wanted tap into the resources and the markets of the Middle Eastern nations. Oil is a main reason. Supply is running thinner, greedy oil companies are panicking and people like Saddam Hussein (who they supplanted in Iraq) aren't letting them have access to the goods. Q: Why do they want to democratize the Middle East? A: Probably so they can have better control over the area. America loves being in control, but the Middle East has always been defiant when it tries to control it. Democratizing would allow for more trade too, allowing America to export more of its goods to the Middle East, making more money. To me its just a move for more money and power. Bush and Bush's cabinet (Republicans) are conservatives who are capitalists with the winner-take-all attitude. The greediness of Big Business is whats driving the Bush Administration and its gonna cause I big f*ck-up. BY THE WAY: Bush had ONE HOUR'S notice of a highjacked plane(s) heading for Washington and New York. Given he read of terrorists threats a mere month earlier, won't you think it odd that no interceptor jets took off from the nearby airforce Base?? There's something to think about.
Clinton knew it, and the missile strikes on traning camps were the proofs. It was told to Bush, but he didn't care. I guess he had this "They can't attack" feeling...
Clinton was the best President the nation had in a long, long time. I don't think that anyone will be as good for decades now. Bush has really ruined the credibility of the presidency and he's ruined the credibility of the United States. And since our allies didn't want to piss us off, they tried to help us... but that only ruined their credibility, too. (I'm probably not using the right word when I say "credibility" but you should know what I mean...)
The war and 9/11 distracted the rest of the world from America's internal problems. For a man who has single-handedly squandered the national surplus, looted the treasury fund, involved himself in the biggest corporate fraud of the world, appointed convicted criminals to administration positions, turned the US economy heading straight down, attacked a sovereign nation against the will of the UN and caused the death of thousands upon thousands...it'd be ridiculous if he were to be president for another term. Not to mention that awfully incompetent national security advisor of his simply has to go. We can't always dwell on history but you can certainly learn from it and avoid repeating mistakes. And history has taught us that George W Bush is the worst president ever in the entire history of the US.
The war and 9/11 distracted the rest of the world from America's internal problems. For a man who has single-handedly squandered the national surplus, looted the treasury fund, involved himself in the biggest corporate fraud of the world, appointed convicted criminals to administration positions, turned the US economy heading straight down, attacked a sovereign nation against the will of the UN and caused the death of thousands upon thousands...it'd be ridiculous if he were to be president for another term. Not to mention that awfully incompetent national security advisor of his simply has to go. We can't always dwell on history but you can certainly learn from it and avoid repeating mistakes. And history has taught us that George W Bush is the worst president ever in the entire history of the US. [/b][/quote] reach: Tell it like it is! lol, agreed. It pretty much sums up the last 4 years.