The White House has released the August 6, 2001 intelligence report.

[blazinjason]

The White House declassified and released Saturday the daily intelligence briefing delivered to President Bush a month before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Portions of the report dealing with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and dated August 6, 2001, have been redacted for national security reasons, the White House said.

Portions of the intelligence report dealing with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and dated August 6, 2001, have been redacted for national security reasons, the White House said.

The memo, titled "Bin Laden determined to attack inside the United States," had been described by the White House as a largely historical document with scant information about domestic al Qaeda threats.

Highlights of the report include:

• An intelligence report received in May 2001 indicating that al Qaeda was trying to send operatives to the United States through Canada to carry out an attack using explosives. That information had been passed on to intelligence and law enforcement age

[maggrwaggr]

1. the CENSORED version

fuckers

[atre]

4. Perfect timing for them: right before the news

No time for any critical analyses to be done before the 6:30 network news stations go on air. And on a weekend, no less.

At least the timing of the release shows us they believe it to be terribly damaging!

[KeepItReal]

14. Another weekend special from Bush & Co....

They are just like a child who tries to hide his/her bad report card from their parents, until the parents find out one and demand to see it. Only a child doesn't have the option of editing out the parts of the report card they don't want the parents to see...Bush & Co. does.

[kskiska]

Holiday Weekend Special

to boot. What better time than the Saturday before Easter. I just came from the supermarket, which is filled with people shopping for their Easter dinner. No one will be paying attention to this all weekend.

[WinningDoubt]

41. Really?. Me too...I want the version that says...

We will attack on 9/11 in the AM with four planes and we intent to hit the WTCs, Pentagon and the White House. Why won't the Republicans give us that version so we can get on with our lives. Why are they hiding this obvious and well understood LIHOP???

[Just Me]

53. They redacted the "nations" that sponsored terrorism,...

,...at least, that is what I sense from this report:

The names of countries that supplied the CIA with intelligence have been removed from the memo dealing with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and dated August 6, 2001.

How much you wanna bet that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were the countries redacted?

[Jackpine Radical]

2. The whole thing, or selected parts?

Redacted?

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Answered my own question by going to the article.

"Portions of the report dealing with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and dated August 6, 2001, have been redacted for national security reasons."

[grytpype]

20. National security = Presidential job security n/t

[arcane1]

3. they leave out the good stuff, of course:

"Portions of the report dealing with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and dated August 6, 2001, have been redacted for national security reasons"

yeah, the stuff about bin Laden wasn't what the commission was looking for anyway :eyes:

[atre]

7. Bush's reelection campaign is not a "national security" issue

nm

[Jackpine Radical]

11. Really bad syntax in that story.

I read it generously to mean "The report deals with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and {is} dated August 6, 2001. Portions have been redacted for national security reasons"

[mulethree]

33. partial pics at yahoo

first half page is legible

http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl=fc&in=US&cat=Terrorism

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040410/photos_ts_afp/040410224633_0ghy5khq_photo0

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/911/081202sept11&a=&tmpl=sl&ns=&l=0&e=1&a=&printer=

havent found a second page yet

[worldgonekrazy]

40. Commissioner Roemer indicated it was a page and a half, I believe

I watched the Rice testimony and one point in referencing the document he held up his hands to roughly show how long the document was. At any rate, that photo is certainly not complete.

[ET Awful]

5. It may be redacted, BUT. . .

A quote (to my recollection) as read on CNN:

"he wants to attack Washington in retaliation."

also references to hijackings and attacking buildings in New York.

[punpirate]

10. Guess Condi didn't read this one, either...

... since she said in the hearing that there was nothing specific about place of attack....

[JohnOneillsMemory]

8. "Portions redacted" but they got their cooperation-flavored headline. n/t

[teach1st]

9. Highlights

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/10/bush.briefing/index.html

Highlights of the report include:

• An intelligence report received in May 2001 indicating that al Qaeda was trying to send operatives to the United States through Canada to carry out an attack using explosives. That information had been passed on to intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

• An allegation that al Qaeda had been considering ways to hijack American planes to win the release of operatives who had been arrested in 1998 and 1999.

• An allegation that Bin Laden was set on striking the United States as early as 1997 through early 2001.

• Intelligence suggesting that suspected al Qaeda operatives were traveling to and from the United States, were U.S. citizens, and may have had a support network in the country.

[ET Awful]

13. I want to see the released version. . .

The way they just read it on CNN contained a referenced to him wanting to attack Washington and buildings in New York specifically.

[acmavm]

12. Please don't tell me that anyone expected it to be released whole, no

blacked out parts. Please don't tell me that. Not here at DU. That would just depress me beyond the way I feel now.

OF COURSE IT WAS CENSORED! Like everything else EVER released by these assholes. And as far as there being any double top secret info in it, if there ever was any, it is so outdated and obsolete that it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference now. The only thing that these assholes needed to blackout was the part telling them how imminent the dangers were.

[drfemoe]

well uh yeah

The omitted facts purportedly give NO SPECIFICS!! Nothing to be done. "No one told us we needed to do anything."

Guess that's why marshals were pulled from domestic flights? Instead of a *red* light, they saw a *green* light. Makes perfect sense in context.

edit: reply to post #12

[VolcanoJen]

17. ABC News just showed a page from the PDB; here's what I have:

They only showed one page; it was redacted, but not heavily. I paused the photo on my Tivo, and here is all that was legible on-screen:

After US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington according to a (REDACTED) service.

An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an (REDACTED) service at the same time that Bin Laden was preparing to exploit the operative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strike.

In a screenshot of the first page of the memo, the above words were the only ones which were redacted. The full screenshot was illegible; I was only able to make out the two paragraphs above, when they zoomed in on them.

I think it's pretty newsworthy that only two words were redacted from the first page of a page-and-a-half memo...

[MaineDem]

39. Here's the PDF

http://www.cnn.com/2004/images/04/10/whitehouse.pdf

[worldgonekrazy]

45. This info begs at least two MAJOR question:

An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an (REDACTED) service at the same time that Bin Laden was preparing to exploit the operative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strike.

If the briefing says that bin Laden was going to "exploit the operative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strike,":

a) did the Bush Administration pass this information onto the proper authorities for border control, and the FAA? If not, why?

--> The 9/11 Commission has said that the FAA did not receive any warning, nor did border security officials.

b) did the Bush Administration consider revising its "fast track" Visa access for Saudi nationals? If not, why?

--> "Fast track" status made it easier and quicker for Saudi nationals to get visas. I don't know if it effected their entry into the country once they had said visas, but it seems reasonable that it might have.

Answer those questions, Bush.

Edited for html syntax

[GiovanniC]

51. "AN (redacted) Service"

That narrows it down, frankly. Israeli or Egyptian, most likely. Something that starts with a vowel.

[Just Me]

55. Oh, well,...that is far better than I expected,...

,...and such redactions are even more damning than I could have possibly anticipated.

[baby_bear]

23. Here's an article about the Bushistas' penchant for selective censorship

I am a big OMBWatch.org fan.
Here's a snip from a recent article (April 5) that fits right in with this "redacted" release from the WH today.

http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/2117/1/211/

<snip>
The Bush administration is using classification selectively for political purposes evidenced by its inconsistent decisions on declassifying documents, according to a recent Washington Post article. In the article, critics outline a pattern of document classification that supports the administration’s positions and the inappropriate classification of information that contradicts the President’s positions.


The most recent example of this behavior came just last week when the White House requested that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) review a 2003 testimony by former counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke for possible declassification. The request came after the former White House official made serious political waves for the Bush administration by telling the commission investigating the 9-11 attacks that President Bush had ignored terrorism for the attacks and inappropriately focused on Iraq after the attacks.

Another example of the administration’s uneven treatment of classification is the release of intercepted conversations between Iraqi military officers, typically highly guarded information, in an effort to convince the United Nations to support the White House’s plan to invade Iraq.

Critics cited a truncated version of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction as a political document. The document, released before the war with Iraq, made clear and definitive statements that Iraq was pursuing nuclear, biological and chemical weapons capabilities. However, a fuller version released after the war contained detailed and specific disagreements by some intelligence agencies.

The Bush administration has regularly been charged with having an unprecedented penchant for secrecy. However, these new charges are even more troubling, that the White House would misuse declassification and selectively allow openness for the purpose of misleading decision-makers and the general public.

</snip>

More of the same, move along now....

s_m

[0007]

35. Thank you for the link sierra_moon

[worldgonekrazy]

42. Did I *expect* them to redact parts? Sure. But the commission said:

I'm paraphrasing here, of course, but I distinctly remember the Dem co-chair of the committee saying that there wasn't anything in the document that would compromise security sources. I believe at least one of the commissioners said the same during Rice's appearance, as well. So yeah, of course they weren't going to release the whole thing because its pretty damning even with the redacted parts. But this is just their first try. The commission, the media, or the 9/11 family members may demand the uncensored version. It all depends on how much pressure is put on them.

Still though, for now the commission has enough to refute the testimony of Rice and other Bush Administration officials. Its a start.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

15. There's that damned lying by specificity

Rice told the commission Thursday that the August 6 briefing included mostly "historical information" and that most of the threat information known in the summer of 2001 referred to overseas targets. She said she did not recall any reports about al Qaeda using aircraft as weapons before September 11.

Why doesn't she or anyone else in the administration say there weren't any reports of one or more planned hijackings? Because they can't!

[ulTRAX]

16. memo just ONE piece of the puzzle

I hope no one get's too distracted by this one memo. There had to be many others that gave rise to that "summer of threat". It's that greater context that's most important.

[goclark]

22. Schneider says could be "big problem for Bush"

Coming from the scum at CNN that is huge!
Even with the clipped version. Scheider said it could cause problems for Bush.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

26. You are so right....

I want to see just what it was that sent Diane Feinstein into a panic the July (I think) before 9/11.

I DISTINCTLY remember her on a show practically frothing about how we were looking at an imminent attack and that not enough was being done about it.

[JoFerret]

30. Would love to see that info

.

[Lorien]

46. I remember hearing on Sept. 11th

during the attacks that the CIA and FBI had been warned of an attack on that date because it was the anniversary of the arraignment of Ramsy Yousef for the bombing of the WTC. A friend also recalls hearing the same on NPR that morning, but I've never heard it mentioned since.

[Stephanie]

31. Exactly. I want to see the JULY briefing that inspired the long vacations

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the spring as initial policy debtes in the Administration begain, I e-mailed Condi Rice and NSDC STaff colleagues that al Queda was trying to kill Americans, to have hundreds of dead in the streets of America. During the first week in July I convened the CSG and asked each agency to consider itself on full alert. I asked the CSG agencies to cancel summer vacations and official travel for the counterterrorism response staffs. Each agency should report anything unusual, even if a sparrow should fall from a tree. I asked FBI to send another warning to the 18,000 police departments, State to alert the embassies, and the Defense Department to go to Threat Condition Delta. The Navy moved ships out of Bahrain.

- Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 236

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Secrets of September 11

April 30 (2003) — Even as White House political aides plot a 2004 campaign plan designed to capitalize on the emotions and issues raised by the September 11 terror attacks, administration officials are waging a behind-the-scenes battle to restrict public disclosure of key events relating to the attacks.

<snip>

Some sources who have read the still-secret congressional report say some sections would not play quite so neatly into White House plans. One portion deals extensively with the stream of U.S. intelligence-agency reports in the summer of 2001 suggesting that Al Qaeda was planning an upcoming attack against the United States—and implicitly raises questions about how Bush and his top aides responded. One such CIA briefing, in July 2001, was particularly chilling and prophetic. It predicted that Osama bin Laden was about to launch a terrorist strike “in the coming weeks,” the congressional investigators found. The intelligence briefing went on to say: “The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against U.S. facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning.”

The substance of that intelligence report was first disclosed at a public hearing last September by staff director Hill. But at the last minute, Hill was blocked from saying precisely who within the Bush White House got the briefing when CIA director Tenet classified the names of the recipients. (One source says the recipients of the briefing included Bush himself.) As a result, Hill was only able to say the briefing was given to “senior government officials.”

www.msnbc.com/news/907379.asp?0cv=KA01

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summer Spinning
Aug 29, 2001

<snip>

The White House had announced that Bush would stay at his 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford from Aug. 4 through Labor Day on Sept. 3, a 31-day stretch that would have broken a modern record for a presidential vacation, held by Richard M. Nixon for a 30-day trip to San Clemente, Calif., in 1969. News reports played up the record, and a Gallup Poll found that 55 percent of respondents thought Bush's vacation was too long.

www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A15957-2001

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Working Vacation
Aug. 15, 2001

Vice President Dick Cheney took time off from his month-long working vacation Monday to outline his plans for August in Jackson Hole and to reflect on "an amazing year."

Cheney, who will live at his Teton Pines home about six miles west of Jackson until Labor Day, defended his energy policy, supported a local decision to limit drilling around the Gros Ventre Wilderness, recalled a life of service in Washington and said his health problems are not affecting his ability to fish for trout on his favorite Western waters.

www.jacksonholenews.com/Archives/NewsArchive/2001/010815-News.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashcroft Flying High
WASHINGTON, July 26, 2001

(CBS) Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

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.

"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[worldgonekrazy]

47. Great collection of info

Thanks. It really helped to put the PDB in perspective.

[doni_georgia]

32. Exactly - what about intel from Sept 10th?

There's a lot more out there - believe me. The bushco think this pdb will clear them, but more will leak out - it always does.

[hedda_foil]

18. OMFG! Bill Schneider on CNN is saying the PBD is VERY BAD for *

He says "the only thing missing is that it would happen on September 11th." He answered the anchor gal that it absolutely supports Clarke's testimony and that USB had already carried out attacks and tried to carry out attacks on the US "homeland" so it wasn't hypothetical.

Bill Schneider, the AEI shill. As I live and breathe!

[worldgonekrazy]

49. Wow, Bill ALWAYS pulls punches for Republicans

This must be *that* big. I know tommorow is Easter, but it still, this info should be front page news on the Sunday edition. It practically destroys Rice's testimony.

[flamingpie2500]

Lots of references to 1998

What a load of censored crap!
The title alone is enough for me.

[salib]

19. This is better than could be expected

The * Admin is making the same mistakes over and over! What will probably happen is that people will be asking just the kinds of questions that we are here. I.e., what was taken out? What do they have to hide? It is incredibly good! This story will not just end here. It will go on and on, as long as they keep tripping over each other's statements, and keep having to amend what they have said, like a bunch of Keystone Cops. Now let's key up the pressure.

[leetrisck]

21. "Historical Document" and I heard

them report on CNN that bush had specifically asked for this report - so, if that is the case, where is the regular or normal daily brief? Was there another one for that day? Are all daily briefs historical documents (in one sense I guess so) - but why would this one be termed that way specifically. Guess I'm being dense - that comes from not trusting anything they say.

[worldgonekrazy]

50. I'm guessing the "Bush requested it" line was an idiotic lie

They probably thought that by saying Bush requested it himself, it would deflect criticism from him. Remember, the current conventional wisdom is "Bush wasn't paying attention to terrorism." The fact that he personally requested this PDB contradicts that, but it ALSO opens up an entirely different can of worms for the Bush Administration. They are getting dumber as they grow more and more scared of getting caught.

Edited for grammar

[avb7]

24. It's not what's in it......

it's what did chimpy say when it was read to him.
Did he say:
"What does Unka Dick think?"
"Is this 'gonna fuck up my vacation?"
"What time do I tee off?"
"My head hurts."
"Where's Karl?"
"What's for lunch?"
"Can I blame Clinton?"
"Will they try to kill my Poppy!"
"Karen says, fuck New York they don't like me!"
"My head hurts."
"Let's attack Saddam."

[maxrandb]

43. You forgot the most obvious *reaction to the warning..

"BRING IT ON!!!"

[Just Me]

56. Oh, avb7, your post makes me laugh in lieu of screaming!

It's hilarious,...yet makes me want to scream!

GRRRRRRRR!

:bounce:

Oh, and, welcome to DU :hi:

[aquart]

25. How MUCH was redacted?

How much al qaida info was piled in there?

[goclark]

28. CNN now talking about New Cars

This is a huge story and they have some idiot posing in front of a new Ford at the Car Show! The story about the release of the Briefing was all of two minutes.

What can we do so this does not get buried?

Condi and Georgie are now on their third bottle of wine at Ranch Rehab and our soldiers are fighting fot their lives!!

BRING THE BOYS AND THE GIRLS HOME NOW!!!

Get a big fish hook and pull this sorry unpresident off of his fake ranch now!

[skooooo]

27. Anyone see Geraldo Rivera's little hissy fit on Fox...

...over the last 45 minutes or so? I thought he was going to wet his pants going on and on about how we should all "be Americans" and look forward and not "point fingers".

Sheesh....you've come a long way, Geraldo.

[doni_georgia]

34. stomping his foot screaming "dammit!"

Yeah, I saw it. Has he had a labotomy?

[skooooo]

36. Sun in Iraq must have gotten to him...

...what an idiot.

[otohara]

37. Or...One of the CNN anchor said....voters must concentrate

not on what happened before 911, but after....

messages to the sheep, you are not to think about this memo, this memo is historical, this memo is no big deal - nothing to see here, move on

[Ravy]

54. You SHOULDN'T point fingers...

at the location on a map that shows the location of US Troops you are embedded with. No American would do that...

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

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

[SoCalDem]

38. Bush was waiting for something MORE substantial ....

[WheresWaldo]

44. has anyone found a link to the document???

if you do, please post where it is available.

[wa state wanderer]

48. link to text

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,116766,00.html

[54anickel]

52. Thanks, it's the last 2 paragraphs that are the most telling, guess

Shrub probably nodded off by the time they got to that part.

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.

[Beetwasher]

58. Those Two Para's Make Condi GUILTY OF PERJURY!

This document is a BOMBSHELL.

More here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1387474

[LiberalTexan]

57. Here's what I want to see...

more of the 9/11 victims' families on the major networks, CNN, MSNBC, et al, DEMANDING that the entire document be released. (Then does it matter if the fuckers release it or not? It already will look bad when the families are demanding it).

One leader of a victims' families group was on NPR on Thursday saying that she couldn't understand what National Security risk this could pose almost THREE YEARS after it happened. Release the damn report already was her attitude. If we get more people like this to stand up and demand these things, at the VERY LEAST it will keep this in the news and make this regime look like it is covering something up (which anyone with a PULSE knows it is).

[Moderator]

59. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=478523