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RyanH
New member
Ladies and Gentlemen--
Congressional hearings are finally on the way, and the Bush Administration critics were correct afterall---the President did know about the attacks prior to September 11.
In short, the Commander in Chief failed to protect his people and will be accountable to the electorate as well as Congress for his colossal failure. Also, isn't an apology in order from the distinguished Congresswoman from Georgia---Cynthia McKinney--the Congresswoman scorned just months ago for bringing the truth into the light? Moreover, for those of you who claim President Clinton failed to protect the American people--you ain't seen nothing yet as the current President's failure to act unfolds..
This quote sums it all up:
“How in the world could somebody have read this document and not had lights, firecrackers, rockets go off in their head that this is something that is really important?”
Sen. Bob Graham
and now the following from CBS news:
(CBS) Members of Congress are raising questions as to whether the Bush administration should have reacted better to warnings in August that Osama bin Laden's followers might hijack a jet.
The White House revealed Wednesday night that President Bush was briefed on U.S. intelligence in August, while at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, that bin Laden's network might hijack U.S. passenger planes.
CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin first disclosed the fact that the White House had received the bin Laden warning.
On Thursday, Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said all possible action was taken given what was known.
"All appropriate action was taken based on the threat information that we had," Fleischer said. “The president did not - not - receive information about the use of airplanes as missiles by suicide bombers. This was a new type of attack that was not foreseen.”
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, said the disclosures in the memos marked an important discovery in Congress' investigation into why the FBI, CIA and other U.S. agencies failed to learn of and prevent the Sept. 11 plot.
“How in the world could somebody have read this document and not had lights, firecrackers, rockets go off in their head that this is something that is really important?” Graham said of the Phoenix FBI memo.
House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said Congress needs to find out - in hearings open to the public - what Bush and other officials knew, when they knew it and what they did with the information, in order to prevent future terrorist attacks.
"The way to do better is to understand what happened in the past," Gephardt said. "Was there a failure of intelligence? Did the right officials not act on the intelligence in the proper way? These are things we need to find out."
After the information was presented to Mr. Bush, the administration put domestic agencies on alert in the summer, just months before the Sept. 11 attacks, Fleischer said. That alert was not announced publicly but Fleischer said it may have prompted the hijackers to change their tactics.
Members of Congress pointed to three pre-Sept. 11 warning signs: the U.S. intelligence Bush received, the fact that an FBI agent had written a memo urging FBI headquarters to investigate Middle Eastern men enrolled in American flight schools, and the arrest in Minnesota of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was believed to be training for a suicide hijacking.
Moussaoui has emerged as the lone defendant charged in the aftermath of the attacks, which killed more than 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. He is charged with conspiring with bin Laden and the 19 suicide hijackers to attack Americans.
FBI Director Robert Mueller repeatedly has said he wished the FBI had acted more aggressively in addressing the Arizona and Minnesota leads but said nothing the FBI possessed before Sept. 11 pointed to the multiple-airliner hijacking plot.
The disclosure came amid questions about whether U.S. authorities failed to recognize and respond to warnings about possible terrorist attacks before the hijackings of the four passenger planes on Sept. 11.
“We've got terrorists connected to al Qaeda out in Arizona engaging in flight training, we've got Moussaoui arrested and being interrogated in Minnesota, we've got the president being briefed while he was on vacation in Texas about the possibility of these airplanes being hijacked. I mean, was anything done about any of those things?” said Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
Edwards called on the administration to help Congress investigate what happened, saying there has been some tension from the White House over starting a probe.
Mr. Bush made no immediate comment on the situation. He attended a National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in Washington and said prayer has helped Americans of faith to get through the last eight months.
“The last eight months have showed the world the American character is incredibly strong and confident. Yet, prayer reminds us that a great people must be humble before God, searching for wisdom - constantly searching for wisdom from the Almighty,” he said.
Congressional hearings are finally on the way, and the Bush Administration critics were correct afterall---the President did know about the attacks prior to September 11.
In short, the Commander in Chief failed to protect his people and will be accountable to the electorate as well as Congress for his colossal failure. Also, isn't an apology in order from the distinguished Congresswoman from Georgia---Cynthia McKinney--the Congresswoman scorned just months ago for bringing the truth into the light? Moreover, for those of you who claim President Clinton failed to protect the American people--you ain't seen nothing yet as the current President's failure to act unfolds..
This quote sums it all up:
“How in the world could somebody have read this document and not had lights, firecrackers, rockets go off in their head that this is something that is really important?”
Sen. Bob Graham
and now the following from CBS news:
(CBS) Members of Congress are raising questions as to whether the Bush administration should have reacted better to warnings in August that Osama bin Laden's followers might hijack a jet.
The White House revealed Wednesday night that President Bush was briefed on U.S. intelligence in August, while at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, that bin Laden's network might hijack U.S. passenger planes.
CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin first disclosed the fact that the White House had received the bin Laden warning.
On Thursday, Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said all possible action was taken given what was known.
"All appropriate action was taken based on the threat information that we had," Fleischer said. “The president did not - not - receive information about the use of airplanes as missiles by suicide bombers. This was a new type of attack that was not foreseen.”
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, said the disclosures in the memos marked an important discovery in Congress' investigation into why the FBI, CIA and other U.S. agencies failed to learn of and prevent the Sept. 11 plot.
“How in the world could somebody have read this document and not had lights, firecrackers, rockets go off in their head that this is something that is really important?” Graham said of the Phoenix FBI memo.
House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said Congress needs to find out - in hearings open to the public - what Bush and other officials knew, when they knew it and what they did with the information, in order to prevent future terrorist attacks.
"The way to do better is to understand what happened in the past," Gephardt said. "Was there a failure of intelligence? Did the right officials not act on the intelligence in the proper way? These are things we need to find out."
After the information was presented to Mr. Bush, the administration put domestic agencies on alert in the summer, just months before the Sept. 11 attacks, Fleischer said. That alert was not announced publicly but Fleischer said it may have prompted the hijackers to change their tactics.
Members of Congress pointed to three pre-Sept. 11 warning signs: the U.S. intelligence Bush received, the fact that an FBI agent had written a memo urging FBI headquarters to investigate Middle Eastern men enrolled in American flight schools, and the arrest in Minnesota of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was believed to be training for a suicide hijacking.
Moussaoui has emerged as the lone defendant charged in the aftermath of the attacks, which killed more than 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. He is charged with conspiring with bin Laden and the 19 suicide hijackers to attack Americans.
FBI Director Robert Mueller repeatedly has said he wished the FBI had acted more aggressively in addressing the Arizona and Minnesota leads but said nothing the FBI possessed before Sept. 11 pointed to the multiple-airliner hijacking plot.
The disclosure came amid questions about whether U.S. authorities failed to recognize and respond to warnings about possible terrorist attacks before the hijackings of the four passenger planes on Sept. 11.
“We've got terrorists connected to al Qaeda out in Arizona engaging in flight training, we've got Moussaoui arrested and being interrogated in Minnesota, we've got the president being briefed while he was on vacation in Texas about the possibility of these airplanes being hijacked. I mean, was anything done about any of those things?” said Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
Edwards called on the administration to help Congress investigate what happened, saying there has been some tension from the White House over starting a probe.
Mr. Bush made no immediate comment on the situation. He attended a National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in Washington and said prayer has helped Americans of faith to get through the last eight months.
“The last eight months have showed the world the American character is incredibly strong and confident. Yet, prayer reminds us that a great people must be humble before God, searching for wisdom - constantly searching for wisdom from the Almighty,” he said.
