Memo: To George

Wow – you’d think I’d be giddy at all the finger pointing at the Bush administration, but I’m oddly detached. Maybe that’s because I have had a nagging feeling all along that the Bush camp didn’t take terrorism seriously — there was Iraq, missile defense, and tax cutting to worry about.
I’ve been reading analysis of the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing that was released yesterday, and I can’t see how the White House can successfully spin it as not having warned of impending attacks. When they claim — as they do now — that they did know that hijackings were planned, but that they had no warning of the use of planes as weapons — well, I don’t buy that. Regardless, if they knew hijackings were in the planning, why didn’t they step up security? Perhaps that would have prevented the hijackers from carrying on box cutters.
Everyone is going to read into the memo exactly what they want to see. I understand that, and I understand that I will, too. Here it is. What do you think?

Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US

Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Ladin since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Ladin implied in US 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 US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a …(redacted portion) … service.

An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an … (redacted portion) … service at the same time that Bin Ladin was planning to exploit the operative’s access to the US to mount a terrorist strike.

The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of Bin Ladin’s first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the US. Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that Bin Ladin lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own US attack.

Ressam says Bin Ladin was aware of the Los Angeles operation.

Although Bin Ladin has not succeeded, his attacks against the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Ladin associates surveilled 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-Qa’ida members — including some who are US citizens — have resided in or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks. Two al-Qa’ida members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our Embassies in East Africa were US citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.

A clandestine source said in 1998 that a Bin Ladin 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 … (redacted portion) … service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of “Blind Shaykh” ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Rahman and other US-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 US that it considers Bin Ladin-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our Embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group of Bin Ladin supporters was in the US planning attacks with explosives.

Just as an aside, I wonder why they use “Bin Ladin” instead of “bin Laden”? It’s like the many variations on “Gaddafi”. There must be no hard and fast rules on converting Arabic to English.

And in the interests of journalistic ethics, I should point out an interesting fact: the analysis article linked above is entitled “Declassified Memo Said Al Qaeda Was in U.S.” But shortly after it was published on the Washington Post website, they changed that headline on the front page to read “Bush Warned of Possible Attacks Before Sept. 11.” That creates the impression that Bush was warned of these specific attacks, which he was not — except that in hindsight, some people may be able to connect the dots. The change to that headline is worthy of hyped tabloid reporting, not the Washington Post. It’s technically true that he was warned of attacks, but that’s not the point. (Update, 7pm: the link on the home page of washingtonpost.com has now been changed back to the original title. Interesting, eh?)

The Voice of America quotes the president:

“There was not a time and place of an attack,” he said. “It said Osama bin-Laden had designs on America. Well, I knew that.”

There was no time or place? You mean that Osama didn’t make an appointment? How rude!
So, the official line has gone from “there was no warning” to “they didn’t tell us exactly where and when.”
Cripes.