U.S. Spy Chief: 9/11 'Could Have Been Prevented'

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Six years after the deadliest attack on U.S. soil, the head of U.S. spy operations admitted to lawmakers that "9/11 should have and could have been prevented."

Director of National Intelligence, Michael McConnell, told members of the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday that "it was an issue of connecting information that was available."

McConnell, explaining that the intelligence community was, at the time, very focused on foreign threats, said the community allowed itself "to be separated from anything that was potentially domestic," and that domestic threats were "not something we supposed to be concerned with."

"Yeah, that translates to negligence," charged committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich.

"Or interpretation of the law of how the culture had evolved," McConnell countered.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3621517&page=1

[SayWhatYo]

1. Hasn't this been the accepted offical stance for awhile now?

That people screwed up?

[rusty quoin]

2. That people screwed up but no accountability.

[rodeodance]

35. good to hear it from the Horses's mouth!

[kurth]

3. "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States"

was too vague a title. Probably had the wrong font size too.

[DearAbby]

16. Vague yes....

it didnt have

Time:
Date:
Location:
RSVP

[BornagainDUer]

32. Actually it was too vague...

The seat numbers of the terrorists, the airline they were using and the amount they were being paid by the CIA was not included in the memo. :evilgrin:

[Jazzgirl]

34. All I can say is......

:evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

[MissWaverly]

36. You are wrong, IT had no pictures

Now, if they had given it to the woman that wrote My Pet Goat, then it would have gotten some attention.

Something Like: See the Plane. Fly, Plane, Fly. See the Building. See plane fly into Building.

Sorry I don't have appropriate pictures. You can't expect someone busy on his vacation to

read a whizbang report about terrorists determined to attack the US after all he's the

prez and all.

:-)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. Sweet. Using their failure to help make the current FISA permanent

Take note, the reason you keep seeing these stories now is because FISA is being reviewed by congress. Today the formal WH press release came out explaining their version of facts and myths regarding FISA.

It's posted here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1838138&mesg_id=1838138

The only reason McConnell keeps going on and on everyday about this in one way or another is to sell their new permanent FISA.

So, if you buy the marketing don't complain when you lose your rights.

[bleever]

7. I agree.

Thanks.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

10. If one follows the vast number of this type of spying thread in the past two days one would wonder

Then couple that with the fact that making FISA permanent is before congress right now and it becomes obvious.

We can have a civic responsibility to pay attention.

[seriousstan]

9. So this would not have helped connect the dots, which they didn't do?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. Yes, they could have done this without expanding FISA

But, now that they want the extra spying powers they're going to admit that they didn't do this, and just claim it was due to their lack of powers then.

Not true. Then they didn't take the threat seriously enough to go to the next level. They could have, if it was warranted, which it was.

[MissWaverly]

37. this whole idea is stupid, they had tapes they could not translate

the terrorists do not speak English and there is still not enough people to translate Arabic, so they want to
spend millions of dollars to maybe, just maybe listen in on domestic calls when there is no way to keep
up with the arabic tapes they have. This was never about the terrorists, it's about gathering info
right here.

[Whoa_Nelly]

21. Then, this marketing should backfire on them all

and be the beginning of bringing impeachment.

I keep wishing.

I keep hoping.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

27. You would think it should

However, this is about confusing the public into supporting FISA. In my experience they've managed to be successful with this method before.

I will however keep hoping right along with you.

[Norrin Radd]

5. k+r

[wellst0nev0ter]

6. U.S. Spy Chief: Bush Should Have Read "Bin Laden Determined To Strike IN US"

If only, if only. . .

[jberryhill]

8. "Determined" is a big word /nt

[EFerrari]

18. Reading is hard work. n/t

[fenriswolf]

12. meh

i made up my mind along time ago that if the gov was not directly responsable (which i believe is the case) then they are indirectly responsable for 9/11. In either case they will and have covered it up and as long as bush is in power the media will go along with the party line. Plus i think it is way to big a step for most americans to believe...even if presented with undisputable evidance... that the gov was responsable/ covered up their mistakes... thus it will always be public record unless america's concious turns a 180 that al queda and usama bin laden attacked america for our freedoms. baser point being i believe this criminal cabal will do anything to further the NWO agenda and that with the press controlled, the politicians controlled and the control of money controlled we will never hear otherwise......(unless of course we make them)

[TheWraith]

13. Not "could have," SHOULD HAVE.

We don't need any extra surveilance. If they had simply listened to and followed up on the reports from FBI field agents, they would have had more than enough information.

[aquart]

14. Secured cockpit doors could have saved how many lives?

How reasonable would it have been to order them installed at the first revelation that planes were being considered as weapons?

[Hissyspit]

15. Duh...

LIHOP.

[EFerrari]

17. Thank God George Bush kept us safe.

:sarcasm:

[trusty elf]

19. Amen!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

20. The July 7(?) meeting with Rice by Tenet and Black

Where they were trying to get her to red alert status. The meeting she didn't recall. The meeting no one has really asked her about again since this surfaced. The meeting that caused her to hop a plane and begin flying around the world without end.

That meeting was extrapolated to other entities and I think common wisdom is that is when Ashcroft stopped taking public flights.

They did have ample warning that something was immanent. And what was their response?

Go to Crawford on vacation.

I want to see more public testimony about the July meeting with Rice. This also was somehow glossed over or forgotten in the 9/11 Commission Report.

[TheWraith]

30. Actually, it's uncertain that there's any truth behind Ashcroft dumping commercial flights.

Still, there were more than enough people sounding alarm bells that something should have been done.

[gratuitous]

22. Help me understand this

The September 11 attacks should have and could have been prevented with the intelligence, techniques and tactics that were available back in 2001 under the old laws and rules. But the attacks happened because the intelligence community couldn't or wouldn't process the data available to them. So the solution is to subvert the constitution, oppress the citizenry and the rest of the world, and gather even more data that will similarly be unprocessed.

Does that about cover it, or is there some subtlety that escapes the casual observer?

[Nickster]

23. Here's my guess: Use 9/11 and the "security needs" as a smoke screen so that you can

start gathering information not with the aim of stopping any terra-ists, but to be used for more worldly things like stock trades, political intimidation, etc etc. Right out of the Nixon playbook.

I think they are only concerned about having the data at hand so that when they get a need, like dirt on a pol, they go to the database and pull up what they need.

[Oak2004]

25. Yes

It appears the intelligence community did do their part, or at last enough of what they needed to do to issue critical alerts. The political leadership would not act on the alerts, and for that reason the solution is to subvert the constitution, oppress the citizenry and the rest of the world, and gather even more data which may lead to alerts which will similarly be unprocessed by the political leadership, whose head has previously expressed a wish that America were a dictatorship.

[donkeyotay]

28. I think that covers it. We screwed up so, give us more money and power. nt

[LynnTheDem]

24. Let's look at that again...

"9/11 should have and could have been prevented."

[Oak2004]

26. The way I think of it:

MIHOP, pretty crazy and theories defy known physics.

LIHOP... all but proven.

[Acadia Blue]

29. rePiglican Bush and dick the cheney did not want it prevented. It

is what got them selected again or allowed them to steal it again.

[tom_paine]

31. No shit it could have been prevented. The Bushies were, at best, not interested

in bothering.

At worst: LIHOP or even MIHOP (though I lean strongly towards LIHOP, myself)

[BornagainDUer]

33. McConnell is a weasly fascist shit! He's gaming this to get more power for his Fuhrer.

[Orsino]

38. Really?

Have they finally translated all the raw intel from six years ago, or are they still running behind?

[defendandprotect]

39. Code for: THEY KNEW . . . !!!

[Trajan]

40. One party was in power when we were attacked .....

One pResident and his cabinet made the decisions that formed the policies that day .....

That party is the GOP ....

The pResident was George W. Bush .....

They deserve all the blame ..... The buck DOES stop on their desks ....