The text of the August 6 briefing when Bush took no action on a month before September 11th was released on a holiday weekend by the White House so it would be unnoticed. The is the same PDR that Rice testified was "historical" so there was no reason to act on it. That it contains information on recent (at that time) warnings, that its title was "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" and mentions NY, Washingon, hijackers, airplanes, and terrorist cells in the US did not result in any action. The accopanying White House statement said that the PDR didn't tell Bush to do anything so he didn't. What a cop out explanation. First the White House denied they had any advance tips on al qaeda. Lie. Then they denied that they had any recent information. Lie. Now thay say Bush didn't act because he wasn't told to. And I suspect that is true. And that is why he a danger to our nation.
A person with reasonable curiousity and intellect might have sent out an alert or at least asked for more information on "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" but no - not Bush. He did nothing. Did not even ask for more information did not ask for a follow up. Bush is told "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" and gets told NY, Washington, hijackers, aircraft, and does not a damn thing, not even ask for a follow up on this. Of course that was the day Bush was in meetings about Ken Lay his biggest contributor and Enron. Priorities.
Bush was warned "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" and did nothing, not even ask for more information. As the White House statement said, he wasn't told to. I'd like to think the president does not have to be told to ask for more information when he gets briefed that "Bin Laden determined to strike in US."
I am editing this to add Bush's new comment that he did nothing because he was not told the place and date and time. Imagine not following up in intelligence that an attack is coming because you aren't told the date and time. He never even ordered a follow up to try and find the date and time. This man's incompetence in his position is a danger to this country and he has got to go for Amerca's sake.
link
from CNN:
The following is a transcript of the August 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing entitled "Bin Laden determined to strike in US." Parts of the original document were not made public by the White House for security reasons.
Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. 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 U.S. missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a -- -- service.
An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told - - service at the same time that bin Laden was planning to exploit the operative's access to the U.S. to mount a terrorist strike.
The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S.
Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that in ---, Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own U.S. attack.
Ressam says bin Laden was aware of the Los Angeles operation. Although Bin Laden has not succeeded, his attacks against the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Laden associates surveyed 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 Qaeda members -- including some who are U.S. citizens -- have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks.
Two al-Qaeda members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our embassies in East Africa were U.S. citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.
A clandestine source said in 1998 that a bin Laden 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 ---- service in 1998 saying that Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman and other U.S.-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 U.S. that it considers bin Laden-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group or bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives.
