G'day Gene,
> Bush's INTENT, if such it was, to get us into a hot war with Iraq, and > the Muslim
>world, has not yet been addressed publically.
Well, msnbc's Jim Miklaszewski reckons "game plan to remove al-Qaida
from the face of the Earth," was afoot before 911. Indeed, al Qaidea
had been the subject of an inter-agency committe for many months by then.
Here's the NBC account:
" ... the directive ... outlined essentially the same war plan that the
White House, the CIA and the Pentagon put into action after the Sept. 11
attacks. The administration most likely was able to respond so quickly
to the attacks because it simply had to pull the plans "off the shelf,"
Miklaszewski said.
The United States first would have sought to persuade other countries
to cooperate in the campaign by sharing intelligence and using their
law enforcement agencies to round up al-Qaida suspects.
The plans also called for a freeze on
al-Qaida financial accounts worldwide
and a drive to disrupt the group's money
laundering. The document mapped out
covert operations aimed at al-Qaida cells
in about 60 counties.
In another striking parallel to the war
plan adopted after Sept. 11, the security
directive included efforts to persuade
Afghanistan's Taliban government to turn
al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden over to
the United States, with provisions to use
military force if it refused.
... The couching of the plans as a formal security directive is
significant, Miklaszewski reported, because it indicates that the United
States intended a full-scale assault on al-Qaida even if the Sept. 11
attacks had not occurred.
Such directives are top-secret documents that are formally drafted only
after they have been approved at the highest levels of the White House,
and represent decisions that are to be implemented imminently."
( http://www.msnbc.com/news/753359.asp )
As for what was known and who knew it, I dare say we should not assume
that the FBI has suddenly become a generous and timely donor of
intelligence to its fellow agencies. But a cursory peek through
Cursor's resources tell me that we do know that the interagency Hudson
Report (THE SOCIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF TERRORISM: WHO BECOMES A
TERRORIST AND WHY?) told everyone who'd listen in 1999 that
"Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion
could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and
semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central
Intelligence Agency, or the White House."
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Sociology-Psychology%20of%20Terrorism.htm
1993 WTC bomber Ramzi Yousef was quoted as telling interrogators in 1995
that he planned to fly a liner into Langley. Also in 1995, suspect
Abdul Hakim Murad admitted to the Philippinos that a plot was afoot to
hijack and crash a passenger plane into something: " [the hijacker
would] board any American commercial aircraft pretending to be an
ordinary passenger. Then, he will hijack said aircraft, control its
cockpit and dive it at the CIA headquarters. There will be no bomb or
explosive that he will use in its execution. It is simply a suicide
mission that
he is very much willing to execute."
Then there's the FAA warning to US airlines and airports on April 18
2001 that: " ... some of the currently active groups are known to plan
and train for hijackings and have the capability to construct
sophisticated (bombs) concealed inside luggage and consumer products ...
The FAA encourages all U.S. carriers to demonstrate a high degree of alertness."
Then there's the June warnings from the German BND and the Egyptian
security service that hijacked planes might soon be running into
selected targets.
Then there's the July warning from the Phoenix FBI agent, in which links
between al Qaida and flying schools is made very explicitly indeed.
Then there's Zacarias Moussaoui's arrest, at a flying school, in August,
who was arrested at a flight school in August. Didn't he actually say
something about planes and World Trade Centres? The Russian
intelligence services also told the CIA that terrorist-pilots were
training for such missions, and Putin says that warning was couched "in
the strongest possible terms", and that threats to airports and large
public buildings were mentioned. Also in August, Mossad warned both the
FBI and CIA that a major assault on vulnerable targets in America was
being planned. The LA Times is clear that these warnings were duly received.
been received. And Bush copped a CIA daily briefing to that very
effect.
So the anti-terrorism forces are stood down in April and the CIA red
alert cancelled in late August ...
And this from Cheney on Russert's *Meet The Press*
RUSSERT: No specific threat?
CHENEY: No specific threat involving really a domestic operation
or involving what happened, obviously, the cities, airliner and so forth.
We did go on alert with our overseas forces a number of times during the
course of the summer when we thought the threat level had risen
significantly. So clearly, we were surprised by what happened here."
And Bush apparently asks Daschle to tread lightly when Congress begins
its formal investigation of 911 ...
There's circumstantial evidence there to justify talking about (a) an
eye-rollingly pathetic dysfunctional inter-agency relationship; or (b) a
recklessly incompetent executive; or (c) a White House in search of a
pretext for some domestic political distractions and legitimacy, a
perpetual war economy to ward off an incipient economic crisis, and a
chance for a unilateral grab at some strategically useful real estate.
So I agree with Rather: if such talk is the only way to get the info out
in the open, then it's high time to talk.
Cheers,
Rob.
