Documents Show Hijacking Warnings Before 9/11

[PSU84]

Documents Show Hijacking Warnings Before 9/11

Associated Press 04/09/04

WASHINGTON - U.S. government agencies issued repeated warnings in the summer of 2001 about potential terrorist plots against the United States masterminded by Osama bin Laden, including a possible plan to hijack commercial aircraft, documents show. While there were no specific targets mentioned in the United States, there was intelligence indicating al-Qaida might attempt to crash a plane into the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. And other reports said Islamic extremists might try to hijack a plane to gain release of comrades.

<snip>

Several Democrats on the commission claim the memo, called a presidential daily brief, or PDB, included current intelligence indicating a high threat of hijackings. It was titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States." "Something was going to happen very soon and be potentially catastrophic," said one of the Democrats, former Indiana Rep. Timothy Roemer. "I don't understand, given the big threat, why the big principals don't get together."

<snip>

The memo mentioned intelligence that bin Laden wanted to hijack aircraft to gain release of prisoners in the United States. The PDB also contains FBI information about "patterns of activity consistent with preparations for hijackings or other attacks," according to congressional investigators. A key event occurred on June 21, 2001, when a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., returned a 46-count indictment charging 13 Saudis and one Lebanese with the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers complex in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S. service personnel.

<snip>

On June 22, the FAA issued a nationwide circular "referring to a possible hijacking plot by Islamic terrorists to secure release of 14 persons incarcerated in the United States" in the Khobar Towers case. In fact, the 14 were still at large, although the circular did not mention that. They remain fugitives to this day. More terrorism warnings quickly followed, including:

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

More....
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&e=3&u=/ap/20040409/ap_on_go_pr_wh/sept_11_commission

[arcane1]

1. rate this a 5!!!

FWIW


dammit Bush!!!!!!!

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Prior to Sept. 11

who were the prisoners OBL would want released that we had? Honest...I don't know...anyone? Only ones I can think of those connected with the WTC bombing in the 90s

[Snazzy]

22. It was the African embassy terrorists

It also was probably the "Blind Sheik."

I've been meaning to dig up the info on the trials, which were being held that summer in NY.

I recall that there were two sets of defendents for the embassy bombings, but I'm foggy on how that rolled into the case USA v. Usama bin Laden, et al., which was also being held in NY.

cryptome.org has the transcripts (somewhere). I bean meaning to revisit this in light of Rice, because there's quite a bit about known plots in there. There's no way Rice wasn't briefed "in" on these various trials.

[xchrom]

3. warnings warnings every where

and not a one to heed...

[readmylips]

5. But The Lone Ranger Didn't come with Silver Bullet...

nor gold engraved personal invitation, according to condosleeza.

[xchrom]

6. sigh -- i'm afraid your right

apparently obl didn't get the booklet on how to properly communicate with the dimmest motherfucker in history to run a country.

[calimary]

10. Well, xchrom, that's because they did not come as a birthday party

invitation would.

Dear Condoleezza,

This is to notify you that we plan...

WHAT: to attack the US

WHERE: New York City, Washington DC, and vacant land in Pennsylvania

WHEN: September 11, 2001, starting approximately 8:30am

HOW: With four hijacked planes from United and American Air Lines, using box-cutters

WHY: Because we all hate your freedom

WHO: Osama bin Laden and Friends

RSVP: Any ol' time you get up off your lazy, wasteful, unmotivated, blind, deaf, dumb, illiterate, deep-in-denial, inertial, good-for-nothing, look-at-me-Ma-I'm-a-PhD ass.

Any questions, or will you be needing an interpreter?

She didn't think that knowing al Qaeda cells were in the US was something to bother the pResident about. She didn't think it was something she was supposed to do anything about. What the fuck was she waiting for? To have it spelled out on a Stanford blackboard for her?

I dunno. Maybe she and bush were just busy doing other, more important things...

[SquireJons]

20. Yesterdays News

Worrying about Bin Laden and the Middle East was Clinton's policy, so in the up-side-down world of *, it could not have been less important. Everyone has forgotten how disengaged the U.S. became in the Middle East peace process after bush stole the election; saying they wouldn't do anything until the Palestinians jumped through an endless array of flaming hoops. Right up until Sept 11th, they could't have cared less. I'll bet they were actually hoping for some event - somewhere else, like Africa - and they got more then they ever dreamed of (while they were fast asleep).

[JohnOneillsMemory]

57. Oh no- there are flies on the birthday cake-swat them! swat them!

[readmylips]

4. Similar to bush/cheney Fund-Raising....

recruiting lier and thieves, and character assassination propaganda ala Karen Huge.

per article above:

"Terrorist(s) (bushistas) activity within the U.S. has focused primarily on fund-raising, recruiting new members(NRA-GPO) and disseminating propaganda (bushitas biggest pride)," report says.

[BostonTeaParty04]

7. What else do our countrymen need to know?

It is all so obvious - the negligence (the complicity) of this administration.

What do 'we the people' need to decide with abiding certainty that our government has been hijacked by thugs, liars, and terrorists. Greedy rich ones at that.

What else does the public need?

[Mari333]

8. a free press, cognitive thought process, ability to read and think

for themselves...

[tkmorris]

21. Welcome to DU!

Good to see ya mate.

To answer your question I don't think we really need anymore at all. It's rather obvious isn't it? Sadly, Bush could start giving press conferences wearing nothing but boxer shorts and speaking only through a sock puppet named Frenchie and 30% of the American public would still support him.

[LastRebelDem]

9. This is the LIHOP smoking gun!!!

Get it out to all the masses and push this hard! We are justified! LIHOP it was!!!

[Moderator]

11. PSU84

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
news source.

Thank you.

DU Moderator

[PSU84]

16. I know the 4 paragraph rule, but

seeing as this story seems to disprove the sworn testimony of the National Security Advisor and refutes 30 months of lies told by bush and his gang of criminals, I thought "What the hell? Be bold."

[LiberalFighter]

24. We have to be careful about copyright... use a workaround

Just don't post more than 4 paragraphs at a time.

[0007]

12. Holy Smoke it is!

[pinto]

13. kick

[roguevalley]

14. Paula Zahn just reported that it said al qaeda was going to do an

explosive event in the usa three months prior to the
memo. God. All. Mighty. The missing feul convoy soldiers
and then this. IMPEACH HIM!

[amandabeech]

15. Reported also on MSNBC about 20 minutes ago.

A few comments on the other thread that I'm sure will be locked as a dupe soon.

I simply cannot believe that no one in the Bush White House had enough imagination to put two and two together. So okay, maybe that had to see two and two equal to 4 1/2, but come on. Or, maybe someone was screaming around about this and was ignored or shouted down. Who is on the distribution list for this thing and who is the editor?

Whatever the case, I'm sure that *Bush never read this himself or had anyone read it to him.

[r_u_stuck2]

17. They knew:

Why can they not tie this announcement in with the CBS news bulletin July 26, 2001.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.


Not only could not anybody connect the dots then, the news media can not even connect them now. Read between the lines folks. If they told ASScroft not to fly then they obviously knew.

My first post, how did I do.

Democrat forever.

[PSU84]

18. OMG!!! THEY KNEW. THEY REALLY KNEW!!!

This is shocking. I am totally stunned.

[KittyWampus]

19. Warm Welcome rustuck! You Did Good

:)

[polazarus]

23. Ok I can tell you

that somewhere in America a house is going to catch on fire. It is going to be set by john smith and 10 people are going to die.

Now stop the fire. or you should apologize and resign.

Can you take your blinders off for one minute and see that no one would have been able to stop it. Not Gore, Not Clinton, Not Bush, Not Cheney, not even the Dali-lama himself. Nobody had a clue when this was going to happen.

[demgrrrll]

25. Poor analogy. Clinton did stop attacks because he was vigilant.

Bush went to the pig farm to clear brush.
Now there's a comparison!

[polazarus]

33. Which ones

the embassy, Kobal towers,? Nobody is to blame except the evil people who did the bombings.

[demgrrrll]

37. There were at least 15 thwarted attacks the most prominent of those

were the 12 potential millenium attacks as well as 3 other targets within the US. Google the Guardian article from 2001.

[drscm]

38. You are right. It would take too much time and energy

to even attempt to investigate any threats which have been forewarned. It would be better to close up shop, go on vacation, sit on our asses and let the inevitable happen.

[mouse7]

40. Stop acting like Pentacostals looking at an Evolution textbook

The behaviors of one covering one's eyes, sticking one's fingers in one's ears and yelling, "I don't hear you" every time one is in the presence of hard evidence in order to prevent you absorbing any of this evidence does not mean there isn't hard evidence. There is hard evidence. Tons of it. The religious belief there is no hard evidence about 9/11 responsibility is the exact same as the religious belief in creationism.

[LiberalFighter]

26. The point is there was/were clues...

and it is better to know that something might happen and get everyone on alert for possible signs that might make it possible to stop or reduce the attacks.

It is NO different than the Homeland Security Threat Level that was instituted. Except it would probably be better not to publicize that the government suspects that there may be an attack.

Part of the problem why WTC went down was because gw* and condi rice failed to alert the FAA and the airlines. condi rice stated in her testimony that they did alert them and the FBI but testimony from those agencies was contrary to rice's testimony.

[polazarus]

34. so you

are going to ground all the planes in the us with some vague threat. I say there is nothing there that was specific.

OK, I am president, I hear there is a terrorist going to fly a plane in to a building. I have no clue where it is going to come from, heck I don't no when. But I am going to ground the commercial airlines indefinitely.

Does not matter which president it is. The only people to blame is the people that did the action. I do not blame Clinton admin, I do not blame bush. If you ever sat in on the threat level meetings even on a lower level, you will understand what I mean...

[mouse7]

42. A "Clinton-era" airport alert catches the 9/11 terrorists

One way tickets
Bought with cash
Young males travelling without families
Fitting Islamic extremist general physical profile

There is no way all 19 get through a Clinton-era airport alert. We know Clinton-era airport alerts flagged all of those characteristics individually for those holding tickets for flights. One gets caught, they are all rounded up within minutes becasue of the system wade alarms that go off when one perp is caught.

[polazarus]

47. can you please

send me that link...

[mouse7]

48. Google the former FAA administrator that's been on all the media

The woman that has been talking about airline security on all the news shows multiple times.

[daleo]

49. Think of this, then

"OK, I am president, I hear there is a terrorist going to fly a plane in to a building."

Then when it happens, I sit and read a child's book for a half hour, rather than respond to a threat I had been warned about just weeks earlier. There is no warning given to evacuate the nearby towers, although it is clear that this is no accident, given the warnings that I have received, just weeks earlier. Jets are not scrambled for an unusually long time, especially given the warnings I have received, just weeks earlier.

Then, once the smoke has cleared I claim that I thought it was just one really bad pilot, and my security adviser claims that nobody could have imagined terrorists would fly a plane into a building. Even though we had been warned of this, just weeks earlier.

[polazarus]

50. Ok I thought about it.

How would you stop it from happening?

Give me some scenarios.

[mouse7]

58. Put the airports on high alert like Clinton did 3-4 times.

The terrorist never would have made it out of the airport. The increaded alert level force thing like those tavelling on one way tickets and those paying for tickest with cash to be more thoughoughly. All 19 9/11 terrorists were travelling on one way tickets bought with cash.

No way all 19 make it through screening. At least one gets caught, then all are caught within minutes.

[daleo]

62. For one thing, I would have quit reading "The Pet Goat"

I would have left the classroom. I would have asked if anything else suspicious was happening, like any other hijackings. I would have found out if the air traffic control system was on high alert, and if NORAD was scrambling jets. I would have insisted that these actions be taken.

I would have reassured the public at the first opportunity. I would have admitted that there had been warnings, rather than lie and say that the whole thing was unimaginable.

But before the hijackings had occurred, I would have taken the whole thing a lot more seriously, given the all the warnings that I had heard, including the advice of my predecessor.

Bush's problem here isn't just that the event happened; reasonable people will agree that they can't be certain that it could have been prevented. His problem is the aura of cover-up that is now developing, and his obsession with Iraq over all other things, which diverted his attention from real dangers, both before and after 911.

[Pax Argent]

65. Let's play a game - You're the president

You read a report that swarthy gentlemen from a foreign land want to hijack US aircraft or blow things up in the US. You:

a.) Alert all agencies and direct them to start rousting recent ME immigrants or those over here on visas. You also send out directions to all agencies to act on reports of said swarthy gentlemen exhibiting unhealthy interest in airplanes or large quantities of fertilizer.

Further, you direct the airlines, who were already having one of the most miserable years in air travel to suck it up and take one for the team. Yes, they would have whined, but national security is more important than money (shudder).

Finally, you take a long hard look at the Hart-Rudman report, recognise the wisdom contained within, put a hold on your vacation at the pig farm and, oh, I don't know, HOLD A MEETING WITH YOUR CHIEF ANTI-TERROR ADVISOR and see what can be done to avert the crisis being heralded by record-breaking chatter by the terrorist networks.

or b.) you spend a month at the pig farm clearing brush and yucking it up for the press. After all, insignificant, cowardly terrorists would never actually attack the US. After all, I'm in charge, not that wimp Clinton.

I like to believe that the President would have had the werewithal to do a.), but I think b.) is probably closer to the mark.

[mountainvue]

71. What building do these rocket

scientists think they would hit? Are you meaning to tell me there is no list of high profile targets? Since the WTC had already once been targeted, do you not think it would have been at the top of the list? Come on man.

[Occulus]

74. A while back in our parking lot

there was a guy that pulled up in a flashy pimped-up Caddy. The car itself screamed "drug dealer" from the rooftops.

A beat-up pickup pulled in and parked next to the Caddy. The guy got out of the truck and knocked on the Caddy's driver's window, which was tinted, as was the rest of the windows in the Caddy.

The driver of the Caddy got out, shook hands with the driver of the pickup, and chatted for a moment. The driver of the Caddy then popped open his trunk and pulled out a beat up old blue gallon-size paint can. The driver of the pickup produced a large wad of bills and began flipping through them. He handed the driver of the Caddy what looked to be a sizeable number of bills and then both got into their respective vehicles and drove off.

But there wasn't anything specific, right? There wasn't any reason to call the police... was there?

Please.

edit: this is a true story; this really did happen. We did call the police, and as it turns out the driver of the Caddy lives in our very same apartment complex... and we see his car sitting there, running, quite often.

[Kool Kitty]

75. No, you don't ground all the planes. Obviously.

But you do pass around or post the photos of the two terrorists that were known to be in the country as soon as you possibly can. As publicly as you can. You actually alert the various agencies that Ms. Rice said that she had notified (but have said that they were NOT notified), give them the info and the photos and let them know what to be on the look out for. There was an awful lot of smoke that summer, too bad it turned into such a horrifying fire.

You sat in on threat level meetings, even on a lower level? What goes on in those meetings? (I am assuming that is what you meant by the last line in your post. If I am wrong, then just ignore the rest, it's not pertinent.) What kind of consideration does the public get, I mean, is the safety of the country's citizens considered? I don't mean that to be a wise-ass, I just think that this administrations' considerations are more with how much money their friends will lose. They certainly didn't seem to have our safety in mind, when Cheney's energy task force met approximately 10 times, and his counter terrorism task force met exactly NO times.

[PassingFair]

29. Look, pal

...they knew enough to not fly commercial themselves. And I believe that it wasn't just asscraft. They should, at the very least, have had the airlines on special alert. There are many more houses than there are commerical airliners. Your analogy is heavy on the "anal".
This is a case of criminal negligence.

[leesa]

30. But if you were so involved that you knew where they were training,

who was writing the checks, knew enough to put Florida on a state of emergency on 9/7, knew not to let Ashcroft fly, knew to have the CEOs out of the WTC...lot's of things were known about this. Your analogy is bogus because they had a lot of info from a lot of world intelligence agencies and from our own agencies. Why was no one put on alert? Why were the airlines not notified?
They knew. And I believe they participated.

[polazarus]

35. Before 911

Fbi did not talk to CIA, Air Force did not talk to army. Local police did not talk to fbi. Heck why did'nt we go after those people that the female FBI agent blew the whistle on?

I will say for the Record. Clinton admin and the Bush admin could not have stopped the 911 based on the vague intelligence.

[mouse7]

43. Read post #42 n/t

[polazarus]

46. cant find it...

send it too me

[mouse7]

55. Google.... it's a good thing. n/t

[polazarus]

60. I like

Dogpile myself.

[drscm]

68. Why did'nt we go after those people that

the female FBI agent blew the whistle on?

Do you know that her supervisor - who withheld the information - recently received a signed commendation from the president and a bonus in a "quiet ceremony?"

The person who obstructed was rewarded by the president.

I really don't know what to make of that? Rewarding incompetence?

[mountainvue]

73. Did anyone ever find out who placed all of the "puts" on

airline stocks that day? I haven't heard anyone talk about that for a while.

[BeFree]

31. No clues? That's BS

FBI agents had a clue. CIA had a clue. Clues were all over the place but the administration wnet ahead and Let It Happen On Purpose. The purpose being that it would scare the good senses out of most of America and allow them to wage war by fiat.

I see you, polazarus, are seemingly fairly new to DU, so I will not cuss you up one side and down the other for your ignorant remarks, but be warned, DU'ers do not tolerate such ignorance for long.

[polazarus]

36. Ohh

So because I do not parrot a ostensible view or toe the line, I am ignorant. No I just have a good memory of what was going on. And it seems that you have a problem with viewpoints that are different from yours. Thats ok

I have learned my lesson...

"Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.Bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center, bush bombed the world trade center.


I am now re-pogramed now, I will never disagree again.

Now how is this "progressive", looks like regressive to me.
Thanks for the thought police.

[mouse7]

41. More Pentacostal behavior... looks like speaking in tongues

The evidence is out there in abundance. The inability to either come to terms with that fact, or blunt refusal to do so DOES NOT mean the evidence isn't there and isn't solid.

It's hard evidence. It's all over the place. How you wish to deal with that fact is your issue.

[polazarus]

54. Given the evidence

How could you avoid a terrorist attack?

[drscm]

No. Not thought police. The point is that our great CEO

*pResident did NOTHING to address this possible threat.

Every competent CEO always has his eyes on possible threats to his/her business and works to reduce them. However this one did nothing - not even one simple high level meeting.

Why?

Certainly he would have had one class on strategic planning - which emphasizes threat management - while in MBA school.

[polazarus]

51. How

would you mitigate that risk...

[drscm]

63. MItigate that risk?

1. Call together all the principals involved.

2. Inform them that you expect them to research this 24/7. (Ashcroft was not even interested in terrorism. His interest lay in his subliminal fascination with prostitutes and naked statues.)

3. Instruct them to share the information with one another and you.

4. Together, come up with an action plan.

*Bush never even did step 1.

[mouse7]

39. Stop acting like Pentacostals looking at an Evolution textbook

The behaviors of one covering one's eyes, sticking one's fingers in one's ears and yelling, "I don't hear you" every time one is in the presence of hard evidence in order to prevent you absorbing any of this evidence does not mean there isn't hard evidence. There is hard evidence. Tons of it. The religious belief there is no hard evidence about 9/11 responsibility is the exact same as the religious belief in creationism.

[polazarus]

45. now that 's

funny!

I know there is hard evidence that something big was about to go down.
we had the who, and the what but we were missing the where and the when.

The FBI seriously screwed up by ignoring the signs.


My main point is this...
Getting all of the government agencies (one of them I work for) to talk to each other then was like pulling teeth. The intelligence as always fails us. It is kinda having different kingdoms The king of the FBI was too good to talk to the King of the CIA. I am just stating was was always known about government agencies. This was also the case that led up to Perl Harbor Failures.

All I am saying there was a serious flaw in the communication channels which led to the breakdown. This is a fact and not fiction.
We needed to fix the system for a long time, 911 made us take a hard look at how the government intermingles.

Which leads me to the point that the lower level intelligence failed both administrations. We all know what happens when we make bad decisions based on bad intelligence. We get Iraq.

[GaryL]

52. Crap!

Been in the intelligence community pal? I have and there were plenty of signs these guys were out there. To blame political inaction on bad intelligence is bull. The NSA should have been on this from day one. Instead, where was she but chasing imaginary missiles. Inter-agency communication was her job and she dropped the ball.

And BTW, I believe we can safely say Iraq intel was spot on until it got "sexed up" by Wolfowitz and crew. I'm effing sick of know nothings pointing fingers everywhere but at the decision makers who failed to do their damn jobs.

[polazarus]

59. OK

Attack me. Its ok. I still love you bro. We just disagree right now. until I get the information I need I will continue to disagree on this point. Now there are other things I agree like some things about Iraq.

On this Web, I can find both sides of the coin that point to each other. This stuff is so diluted.

Man IT EVEN SHOWED UP ON THIS BOARD>>>>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x476603

[mouse7]

53. Put airports on "Clinton-era"alert catches 9/11 terrorist

Putting Armed Forces on alert keeps the Pentagon from getting hit, too.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Gen. Myers put the armed forces on alert an hour after the Pentagon strike.

The White House didn't even order the DefCon increased while we were under atatck.

[gbwarming]

61. That's exactly WHY their boss needed to step in and make it a priority

Exactly why cabinet level crisis meetings might have made a difference.

[Pax Argent]

69. I've been in business long enough to know that if the manager says

its a priority, its a priority. The leader is the center around which the rest of the wheel is arrayed. If the President was taking terrorism seriously, there would be telltales like:

a.) additions instead of deletions to the FBI budget for anti-terrorism in the 2001 budget appropriations.

b.) notations in the FBI "business plan" that made combating terrorism a priority instead of a sub-bullet below gun violence. Kinda' like the way Janet Reno had it when she was the AG.

c.) Meetings with principals and experts on how to implement terrorism abatement, both here and abroad instead of what looks for all the world like blythe acceptance of whatever was held over from Clinton's Administration. The closest you come to this was the 9/4/01 meeting regarding implementation of the Dilenda Plan after 8 months of Bureacratic slow-rolling and one meeting where someone stopped Bush from doodling long enough to get him to complain about "swatting flies". This is where that leadership thing comes in. If the troops see that the boss in interested in something, they'll become interested in it too.

d.) a reaction of any sort to the Cole bombing. While cruise missiles didn't seem to be very effective in 1998, it beat the doors off of no response at all. After getting away with bombing a US warship, Usama bin Laden must have felt like he was on top of the world.

I've noticed you attempt the "link please" dodge here tonight. Could you provide me with a link to prove any one of these comments is wrong and that Bush appeared to take anything but a passing interest in the threat of terrorism prior to 9-11. I'd appreciate the education, 'cuz if you really cared to, you could find the links to everything I've written here.

[mouse7]

64. Geee... where have I heard this crap before... lets find out, shall we?

polazarus (115 posts) Fri Apr-09-04 07:01 PM
Response to Original message

23. Ok I can tell you

that somewhere in America a house is going to catch on fire. It is going to be set by john smith and 10 people are going to die.

Now stop the fire. or you should apologize and resign.

Can you take your blinders off for one minute and see that no one would have been able to stop it. Not Gore, Not Clinton, Not Bush, Not Cheney, not even the Dali-lama himself. Nobody had a clue when this was going to happen.

--------------------

To: Sir Gawain
THIS IS IDIOTIC... it is like me telling all of you... Someone tommorrow will die in a car accident... NOW try and stop it.

WHAT? how could you let this happen after I warned you....? Oh... did I forget to mention Who, what, where, when, how, and why? Simple oversight I assure you....

32 posted on 04/09/2004 9:30:42 PM PDT by Walkingfeather
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1114910/posts?page=39#12

[wickerwoman]

67. Setting a fire isn't analagous to hijacking an airplane and crashing

it into a building.

Don't we have a civil air defense trained to scramble in 90 seconds? Where the hell were they on September 11th? We had four known hijacked planes in the air for the better part of two hours. They should have had fighter planes escorts in ten minutes tops and they should have been shot down the second they turned towards a heavily populated area. Even assuming someone at the top missed school the day thay covered ethics and was debating shooting the plane down, anything in the air that refused to ground or make contact should have been shot down after the first plane hit the WTC. And yet, another plane was allowed to hit the Pentagon and another plane was allowed to hit the WTC hours later.

I've never claimed that we could have stopped the hijackings but there is no reason on God's green earth why a reasonably prepared and forewarned civil air defense would let thousands die when only hundreds were threatened.

So you tell me you're going to start a fire somewhere in America. I can't stop you starting the fire, but if it's near a populated area and the fire department isn't there in 24 hours then maybe I'm not doing such a hot job.

[John_H]

27. They'll try to dribble it out piecemeal over the easter holiday

But it won't work.

[leesa]

28. It amazes me that GOP loyalists would allow this kind of negligence

and treason to be trumped by their political blindness. Their only loyalty is to their party, no matter the cost to the country.

[amandabeech]

32. The talking head that announced this on MSNBC

at about 8:45 Eastern tonight stated that the BDP stated that three months prior, Al Qaeda "was trying to send operatives into the United States from an explosives attack." http://www.msnbc.com/id/4700899

The last time Al Qaeda used explosives in an attack in the U.S. was the 1993 (?) attempt to blow up the World Trade Center. And lots of very troubling info came out at the trial of those perps, if someone had bothered to look at the trial transcripts.

How serious were we about getting the FBI to tail or to round up Al Qaeda suspects when this info came out? The FBI already knew about suspicious activities consistent with hijackings?

Or was Ashcroft too busy using the FBI to investigate prostitution New Orleans or sending them out to buy drapes to cover the statuary in the Justice Department lobby?

It was evident what QA could do with a little fertilizer and some diesel. And why not seriously try to prevent hijackings?

I'm perplexed. Well, maybe not that perplexed.

[Ksec]

44. But they were never told exact dates times and flight numbers.....

hehe These asshoies would say such a thing, no doubt. Liars thru to their bones.

[dArKeR]

56. How much did Bush know about al-Qaeda threat? - IOL

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw1081528921235B226&set_id=1

[JPZenger]

66. If they had given a warning, someone else may have linked things together

If the White House had issued a strong warning to key people, they might have become suspicious and reported more clues. For example, the airline security people, the immigration and naturalization service and the FBI field offices may have started to put together clues earlier and investigated more things that were suspicious. Maybe if the crew of the first 3 planes knew the people that they were up against, they would have fought harder. (Air line crews were trained to not resist hijackers because so few people had been killed by hijackers in recent years).

Instead, Ashcroft stopped flying commercial aircraft 6 weeks before September 11th. (That July 2001 story can be found on USAToday.com's archives). And George W. spent the month before September 11th away from Washington.

[Name removed]

70. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[amandabeech]

72. IF they had given a warning about AQ planning

both hijackings and demolitions by explosive to the FBI, the CIA, Immigration and state and local police, then those agencies that knew suspected AQ or other terrorist operatives and sympathizers in the U.S. could have stepped up surveilance and brought in people for questioning. The FBI went looking for certain people after the fact. Why couldn't they go looking for them before the fact.

The intelligence agencies knew about the history of some of the hijackers and knew or could have found out that they were in the country from Immigration. You grab or chase some of them, and you either catch them or disrupt their plans. It doesn't matter what bad things these bad guys were up to if you catch them before they do anything.

Additionally, a hijack/AQ warning would have helped that FBI guy in Phoenix and that FBI gal in Minneapolis who suspected Moussaoui. Bring in Moussaoui, press him hard but legally, and maybe you get something soon enough.

The crazed Freepers seem to think that one must have the exact date, time and location of a terrorist incident in order to do anything to stop it, even if you have a good idea of what semi-organized group is going to do it, you have two leads on how they're going to do it, and you have anywhere from a few months to four weeks to work your leads. And this is just after the same suspected group ran one of your warships to try to blow it up in a hot semi-war zone. Freepers would make lousy spies.

What did these people think? Were they going to work up son of Star Wars to shoot up Bin Laden from Space?