BlogWood: MT Archives

Operation Ignore: Bush was warned of bin Laden hijacking in August 2001

Just like now, he was on vacation in Texas. He was warned that Al Queda wanted to hijack airplanes. The White House let this information out on a Friday evening, hoping to minimize the fallout. They always release bad news late on Fridays when no one is paying attention.

President Bush was told more than a month before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that supporters of Osama bin Laden planned an attack within the United States with explosives and wanted to hijack airplanes, a government official said Friday.

The warning came in a secret briefing that Mr. Bush received at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., on Aug. 6, 2001. A report by a joint Congressional committee last year alluded to a "closely held intelligence report" that month about the threat of an attack by Al Qaeda, and the official confirmed an account by The Associated Press on Friday saying that the report was in fact part of the president's briefing in Crawford.

The disclosure appears to contradict the White House's repeated assertions that the briefing the president received about the Qaeda threat was "historical" in nature and that the White House had little reason to suspect a Qaeda attack within American borders.

Oh, and Condi was full of shit. Who knew? Interestingly, the Miami Herald has a much different take on the same story. I’m sure the NYT will catch up soon.

The Bush administration announced Friday that it would declassify a top-secret presidential briefing paper that outlined the threat from Osama bin Laden and his al- Qaida terrorist network a month before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The independent commission that's investigating the attacks demanded Thursday that the document be released after revealing that it included information about a possible terrorist plot to hijack airplanes.

Although the document was titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told the panel it wasn't a warning and didn't include any specific information about a possible attack. Even so, Bush critics contend that the briefing should have served as a call to action for federal officials.

President Bush's decision to release the paper to public review was another sign that he and his advisers have decided belatedly to take a more cooperative approach with the Sept. 11 commission. It remained unclear whether the entire document would be declassified or the government would black out certain sections, claiming national security requirements.

Bush initially opposed forming the panel, then opposed extending the deadline for it to complete its work. His White House also initially withheld two-thirds of the Clinton administration papers that the commission sought, but relented when challenged.

Bush also had refused to let Rice testify under oath in open session, but relented in the face of strong public pressure and urgings from his fellow Republicans.

So, Bush flip flops again.

Note to Miami Herald: Bush still hasn’t released all of those Clinton papers.

Update: MUCH more at Daily Kos.

Another Update: More Kos

Franken Update: This chapter from Al Franken's book has been floating around on the Internet for a while, and Atrios just reminded me of it. If you like it, buy Al's book, but if you do nothing else, follow the link and read this one chapter.