As shown in this copy of the document, the August 6th PDB was a page and a half. I would be very curious to know if the second page was printed on the back of the first, or if they were two pages stapled together. Regardless, I believe I have conclusive proof to explain the main reason that Bush was unable to take any action to attempt to prevent 9/11. He didn't realize there was a second page.
As you may recall, he was vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas at the time. In fact, it is possible that his aide read the report to him. In that case, the real blame could be placed on the aide, but it was addressed to Bush. I guess you could also blame the guy who laid out the report that way, with the important stuff at the end, under "nevertheless" instead of at the top of the page. Either way, it is pretty obvious that Bush never read
these paragraphs on page two: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.
If he was, or is, aware those paragraphs are in the report, shouldn't it have been a clear indication to him that Bin Laden was looking to strike a visible building in New York City, and use methods that could include explosives or even a hijacking? It does everything but connect the dots and explain that the explosives could be the hijacked aircraft themselves. The obvious course of action, if you receive information that Osama Bin Laden is planning to hijack a plane, would be to beef up airport security, not abandon the air marshall program, and make sure the FBI, FAA, CIA, INS and defense department are all on the same page, working together to prevent a potential hijacking. He didn't. Instead, all Bush says now is that if he knew the time or place of an attack he would have "moved mountains" to prevent it. Well, it's good to know he can move mountains, but I'd have just been happy if he turned the fucking page. It said right there: New York. He must not have seen it.
How else could he say:Q Mr. President, could you tell us, did you see the presidential -- the President's Daily Brief from August of '01 as a warning --
THE PRESIDENT: Did I see it? Of course I saw it; I asked for it.
Q No, no, I'm sorry -- did you see it as a warning of hijackers? And how did you respond to that?
THE PRESIDENT: My response was exactly like then as it is today, that I asked for the Central Intelligence Agency to give me an update on any terrorist threats. And the PDB was no indication of a terrorist threat. There was not a time and place of an attack. It said Osama bin Laden had designs on America. Well, I knew that. What I wanted to know was, is there anything specifically going to take place in America that we needed to react to?
As you might recall, there was some specific threats for overseas that we reacted to. And as the President, I wanted to know whether there was anything, any actionable intelligence. And I looked at the August 6th briefing, I was satisfied that some of the matters were being looked into. But that PDB said nothing about an attack on America. It talked about intentions, about somebody who hated America -- well, we knew that.
Yes, Dave.
Q Just to follow up on that, Mr. President. There was, in that PDB, specific information about activity that may speak to a larger battle plan, even if it wasn't specific. So I wonder if you could say what specifically was done, and do you think your administration should have done anything more?
THE PRESIDENT: David, look, let me just say it again: Had I known there was going to be an attack on America, I would have moved mountains to stop the attack. I would have done everything I can. My job is to protect the American people. And I asked the intelligence agency to analyze the data to tell me whether or not we faced a threat internally, like they thought we had faced a threat in other parts of the world. That's what the PDB request was. And had there been actionable intelligence, we would have moved on it.
I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to in the PDB, but if you're referring to the fact that the FBI was investigating things, that's great, that's what we expect the FBI to do.
Q Wasn't that current threat information? That wasn't historical, that was ongoing.
THE PRESIDENT: Right, and had they found something, they would have reported it to me. That's -- we were doing precisely what the American people expects us to do: run down every lead, look at every scintilla of intelligence, and follow up on it. But there was -- again, I can't say it as plainly as this: Had I known, we would have acted. Of course we would have acted. Any administration would have acted. The previous administration would have acted. That's our job.
Q Are you satisfied, though, that each agency was doing everything it should have been doing?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's what the 9/11 Commission should look into, and I hope it does. It's an important part of the assignment of the 9/11 Commission. And I look forward to their recommendations, a full analysis of what took place. I am satisfied that I never saw any intelligence that indicated there was going to be an attack on America -- at a time and a place, an attack. Of course we knew that America was hated by Osama bin Laden. That was obvious. The question was, who was going to attack us, when and where, and with what. And you might recall the hijacking that was referred to in the PDB. It was not a hijacking of an airplane to fly into a building, it was hijacking of airplanes in order to free somebody that was being held as a prisoner in the United States.
Okay, thank you all. Happy Easter to everybody. Thank you.
Either he is deliberately mistating the facts, or he never read the whole report.
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