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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2007-08 > 1187885929


From: Jack Linthicum <>
Subject: Re: The Long Knives Are Out For George Tenet
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:18:49 -0700
References: <6nNyi.108$Jp2.1116@eagle.america.net><DWTyi.24697$Db6.16033@newsfe3-win.ntli.net><fahgr1$bf1$1@news.ks.uiuc.edu><2_Yyi.126$Jp2.1041@eagle.america.net><1187800806.595872.187700@r23g2000prd.googlegroups.com><1187801666.623740.108120@j4g2000prf.googlegroups.com><1187812464.691733.110240@z24g2000prh.googlegroups.com><1187818167.210126.92400@e9g2000prf.googlegroups.com><ILWdnaVUOvROLVDbnZ2dnUVZ8vednZ2d@bt.com>
In-Reply-To: <ILWdnaVUOvROLVDbnZ2dnUVZ8vednZ2d@bt.com>


On Aug 23, 12:07 pm, Andrew Swallow <> wrote:
> Tiglath wrote:
> > On Aug 22, 3:54 pm, Ken Wood <> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
> >> Fortify a door. It's was and is common sense.
>
> > Fortify tens of thousands of many different types of doors, with
> > downtime for every plane in the fleet, for an unclear and not present
> > danger? No way.
>
> Fortifying aircraft doors to prevent damage to prevent damage to
> building was not a present danger. Fortifying the same doors to
> prevent the aircraft from being hijacked was sensible. Lots of
> aircraft have been hijacted by Arabs and Left Wingers.
>
> Andrew Swallow

Bush Team Tried to Suppress Pre-9/11 Report Into al-Qa'ida
by Andrew Buncombe in Washington


Federal officials were repeatedly warned in the months before the 11
September 2001 terror attacks that Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'ida were
planning aircraft hijackings and suicide attacks, according to a new
report that the Bush administration has been suppressing.


A newly-released memo warned the White House at the start of the Bush
administration that al Qaeda represented a threat throughout the
Islamic world, a warning that critics said went unheeded by President
Bush until the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The memo dated Jan. 25, 2001
was an essential feature of last year's hearings into intelligence
failures.

{{{A copy of the document was posted on the National Security Archive
Web site at http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB147/index.htm
on Feb. 10, 2005. Page one of the three-page memo is shown. Click on
the image to open the 3-page memo as a .pdf file.}}}


Critics say the new information undermines the government's claim that
intelligence about al-Qa'ida's ambitions was "historical" in nature.

The independent commission investigating the attacks on New York and
Washington concluded that while officials at the Federal Aviation
Authority (FAA) did receive warnings, they were "lulled into a false
sense of security". As a result, "intelligence that indicated a real
and growing threat leading up to 9/11 did not stimulate significant
increases in security procedures".

The report, withheld from the public for months, says the FAA was
primarily focused on the likelihood of an incident overseas. However,
in spring 2001, it warned US airports that if "the intent of the
hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners but to commit
suicide in a spectacular explosion, a domestic hijacking would
probably be preferable".

Kristin Bretweiser, whose husband was killed in the World Trade
Center, said yesterday the newly released details undermined testimony
from Condoleezza Rice, the former national security adviser, who told
the commission that information about al-Qa'ida's threats seen by the
administration was "historical in nature".

She told The Independent: "There were 52 threats that were mentioned.
These were present threats - they were not historical. There were
steps that could have been taken. Marshals could have been put on
planes that spring. Condoleezza Rice's testimony is undermined." To
the consternation of members of the commission who published the
original report last year, the administration has been blocking the
release of the latest information. An unclassified copy of this
additional appendix was passed to the National Archives two weeks ago
with large portions blacked out.

The latest pages note that of the FAA's 105 daily intelligence
summaries between 1 April 2001 and 10 September 2001, 52 of them
mentioned Osama bin Laden, al-Qa'ida, or both. The report also
concludes that officials did not expand the use of in-flight air
marshals or tighten airport screening for weapons. It said FAA
officials were more concerned with reducing airline congestion,
lessening delays and easing air carriers' financial problems than
thwarting a terrorist attack.

Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the FAA, said the agency received
intelligence from other agencies, which it passed on to airlines and
airports. "[But] we had no specific information about means or methods
that would have enabled us to tailor any countermeasures," she said.
"We were spending $100m a year to deploy explosive detection
equipment."

The commission's report, issued last summer, detailed missed
opportunities that, had law enforcement agencies acted differently,
may have provided a chance to prevent the attacks. It also listed
recommendations to prevent further attacks. It said the
administrations of George Bush and Bill Clinton could have done more
to stand up to al-Qa'ida.

But the details, first obtained by The New York Times, are the
strongest evidence yet of the widespread warnings and officials'
failure to take action. They also support claims by whistleblower
Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator, who said she saw evidence that
showed officials were aware of the al-Qa'ida threat before 9/11.

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