Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Until now, I've haven't backed the idea that the Bush administration's ignornace had enabled the 9-11 attack on the U.S.
As each day passes and as new information is becoming available to the public, it seems that they did indeed turn a blind eye to events unfolding around them.

Hindsight is a tricky and manipulative idea. Assigning blame based solely on it only is speculation at best but as these new reports and new information articles come out, I'm seeing something that can't be denied.

---------------------------------------------------------
Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice
Sunday, October 1, 2006; Page A17

On July 10, 2001, two months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then-CIA Director George J. Tenet met with his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, at CIA headquarters to review the latest on Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Black laid out the case, consisting of communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States. It was a mass of fragments and dots that nonetheless made a compelling case, so compelling to Tenet that he decided he and Black should go to the White House immediately.

Tenet called Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, from the car and said he needed to see her right away. There was no practical way she could refuse such a request from the CIA director.

http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/09/30/PH2006093000943.jpg
In 2001, then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, President Bush and then-CIA Director George J. Tenet ................ (By Eric Draper -- White House Via Associated Press)

For months, Tenet had been pressing Rice to set a clear counterterrorism policy, including specific presidential orders called "findings" that would give the CIA stronger authority to conduct covert action against bin Laden. Perhaps a dramatic appearance -- Black called it an "out of cycle" session, beyond Tenet's regular weekly meeting with Rice -- would get her attention.

Tenet had been losing sleep over the recent intelligence he'd seen. There was no conclusive, smoking-gun intelligence, but there was such a huge volume of data that an intelligence officer's instinct strongly suggested that something was coming. He and Black hoped to convey the depth of their anxiety and get Rice to kick-start the government into immediate action.

He did not know when, where or how, but Tenet felt there was too much noise in the intelligence systems. Two weeks earlier, he had told Richard A. Clarke, the National Security Council's counterterrorism director: "It's my sixth sense, but I feel it coming. This is going to be the big one."

But Tenet had been having difficulty getting traction on an immediate bin Laden action plan, in part because Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had questioned all the National Security Agency intercepts and other intelligence. Could all this be a grand deception? Rumsfeld had asked. Perhaps it was a plan to measure U.S. reactions and defenses.

Tenet had the NSA review all the intercepts, and the agency concluded they were of genuine al-Qaeda communications. On June 30, a top-secret senior executive intelligence brief contained an article headlined "Bin Laden Threats Are Real."

Tenet hoped his abrupt request for an immediate meeting would shake Rice. He and Black, a veteran covert operator, had two main points when they met with her. First, al-Qaeda was going to attack American interests, possibly in the United States itself. Black emphasized that this amounted to a strategic warning, meaning the problem was so serious that it required an overall plan and strategy. Second, this was a major foreign policy problem that needed to be addressed immediately. They needed to take action that moment -- covert, military, whatever -- to thwart bin Laden.

The United States had human and technical sources, and all the intelligence was consistent, the two men told Rice. Black acknowledged that some of it was uncertain "voodoo" but said it was often this voodoo that was the best indicator.

Tenet and Black felt they were not getting through to Rice. She was polite, but they felt the brush-off. President Bush had said he didn't want to swat at flies.

CONT (http://tinyurl.com/hdyuz)

[Barry Ramey]

Yeah, this is so rich. AFTER 9/11, the lefties have been against all the measures the Bush admin. has put together to try to make this country safer. Patriot Act? Lefties against though can't find one person whose rights have been violated, much less the millions. Wire tapping? Nah, might infringe on rights of criminals and terrorists. Follow money transactions? Nah, also against people's rights and better, our media will announce we're doing it so the terrorists get a heads up. Gitmo and military tribunals? Nah, violating rights of terrorists.

And again, this is all AFTER 9/11. But what makes the sane people think these same lefties would have been for those same programs BEFORE 9/11? Nothing. The lefties would have been crying and complaining just the same as they are now, if not more.

So this, Bush could have prevented 9/11 is all a bunch of BS. Yeah, prevented it with the same programs these people complaining are against. This is true crap and wanting it both ways, which is the lefty way. "You could have prevented attacks, though I would have vehemently been against your way of doing it and done what I can to stop it." Talk about stupidity.

[Rigs11]

Yeah, this is so rich. AFTER 9/11, the lefties have been against all the measures the Bush admin. has put together to try to make this country safer. Patriot Act? Lefties against though can't find one person whose rights have been violated, much less the millions. Wire tapping? Nah, might infringe on rights of criminals and terrorists. Follow money transactions? Nah, also against people's rights and better, our media will announce we're doing it so the terrorists get a heads up. Gitmo and military tribunals? Nah, violating rights of terrorists.

And again, this is all AFTER 9/11. But what makes the sane people think these same lefties would have been for those same programs BEFORE 9/11? Nothing. The lefties would have been crying and complaining just the same as they are now, if not more.

So this, Bush could have prevented 9/11 is all a bunch of BS. Yeah, prevented it with the same programs these people complaining are against. This is true crap and wanting it both ways, which is the lefty way. "You could have prevented attacks, though I would have vehemently been against your way of doing it and done what I can to stop it." Talk about stupidity.

Hey genius there are legal ways to do these things. Rules are made to be followed, not broken like this misadministration has done.Without following rules we become just like the terrorists we are trying to defeat. Seriously is it really that hard to comprehend??Take the blinders off.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Yeah, this is so rich. AFTER 9/11, the lefties have been against all the measures the Bush admin. has put together to try to make this country safer. Patriot Act? Lefties against though can't find one person whose rights have been violated, much less the millions. Wire tapping? Nah, might infringe on rights of criminals and terrorists. Follow money transactions? Nah, also against people's rights and better, our media will announce we're doing it so the terrorists get a heads up. Gitmo and military tribunals? Nah, violating rights of terrorists.

And again, this is all AFTER 9/11. But what makes the sane people think these same lefties would have been for those same programs BEFORE 9/11? Nothing. The lefties would have been crying and complaining just the same as they are now, if not more.

So this, Bush could have prevented 9/11 is all a bunch of BS. Yeah, prevented it with the same programs these people complaining are against. This is true crap and wanting it both ways, which is the lefty way. "You could have prevented attacks, though I would have vehemently been against your way of doing it and done what I can to stop it." Talk about stupidity.
And all this ranting has what to do with the topic of this thread and the article referenced?

[fido]

All of us are guilty of 20/20 hindsight. How many times would each and every one of us do something different were we to have foreknowledge? Mistakes I can understand, incompetence? That is something else entirely.

[Meck77]

So other than grounding all flights for several months and virtually shutting the country down how was a warning supposed to stop 9-11 slug?

[Bronco_Beerslug]

So other than grounding all flights for several months and virtually shutting the country down how was a warning supposed to stop 9-11 slug?
Why would those actions have to be taken? How about listening to what the director of the CIA was telling you and not ignoring it?

[Meck77]

Why would those actions have to be taken? How about listening to what the director of the CIA was telling you and not ignoring it?

Ok and what could they have done with it? Are you suggesting we should have declared a full on war and invade Afghanistan in seach of Bin Laden two months before 9-11?

I see the point you are trying to make but realistically how could they have rounded up 19 people who were already imbedded in our country long before Bush even got in office?

[spdirty]

Wow. Breaking news here. Only the 77,395th time its been reported. But thanks for the up-to-date story slug.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Ok and what could they have done with it? Are you suggesting we should have declared a full on war and invade Afghanistan in seach of Bin Laden two months before 9-11?

I see the point you are trying to make but realistically how could they have rounded up 19 people who were already imbedded in our country long before Bush even got in office?
If you ignore the intelligence you have no chance to do anything which seems to have happened. If you take it seriously, there may have been a chance to follow the leads?

[Meck77]

If you ignore the intelligence you have no chance to do anything which seems to have happened. If you take it seriously, there may have been a chance to follow the leads?

Agreed...Too bad we didn't take the threat seriously after the first time they tried to blow up the world trade centers.....

It's an endless discussion and one that Clinton can't even discuss without having his veins pop out of his neck......

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Are you suggesting we should have declared a full on war and invade Afghanistan in seach of Bin Laden two months before 9-11?


That's funny - people on your side of the political spectrum (W*GS in particular) never get tired of condemning Clinton for not doing exactly what you just described above.

FYI:

Clinton sent legislation to Congress to TIGHTEN AIRPORT SECURITY. (Remember, this is before 9/11) The legislation was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the airlines.

Clinton sent anti-terrorism and airport security measures to the house in 96, 97, 98, 99 and 2000.

Everyone one was killed by the house Republicans without even bringing them up for debate.

Clinton sent legislation to Congress to allow for BETTER TRACKING OF TERRORIST FUNDING. It was defeated by Republicans in the Senate (opposed by Enron's go-to guy Phil Gramm, (R) Texas in particular) because of opposition from banking interests.

Clinton sent legislation to Congress to add tagents to explosives, to allow for BETTER TRACKING OF EXPLOSIVES USED BY TERRORISTS. It was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the NRA.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Agreed...Too bad we didn't take the threat seriously after the first time they tried to blow up the world trade centers.....


http://www.bartcop.com/monicas-dress.jpg

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

"Nobody could have predicted..."
http://www.bartcop.com/condi-legs-open-sm-sm.jpg

Report Warned Of Suicide Hijackings

(CBS) Two years before 9-11, an analysis prepared for U.S. intelligence warned that Osama's terrorists could hijack an airliner and fly it into government buildings like the Pentagon.

"al Qaeda suicide bombers belonging could crash-land an aircraft with high explosives, CIA headquarters or the White House," the September 1999 report said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/18/attack/main509488.shtml

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Are every one of these people nothing more than liars?


----------------------------------------------------------
Rice: I don't recall alert about attack
By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer 11 minutes ago

SHANNON, Ireland - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she cannot recall then- CIA chief George Tenet warning her of an impending al-Qaida attack in the United States, as a new book claims he did two months before the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"What I am quite certain of is that I would remember if I was told, as this account apparently says, that there was about to be an attack in the United States, and the idea that I would somehow have ignored that I find incomprehensible," Rice said.

Rice was President Bush's national security adviser in 2001, when Bob Woodward's book "State of Denial" outlines the July 10 meeting in which Tenet said he warned Rice. Cofer Black, the CIA's top counterterror officer, was also present.

"I don't know that this meeting took place, but what I really don't know, what I'm quite certain of, is that it was not a meeting in which I was told there was an impending attack and I refused to respond," Rice said.

Speaking to reporters en route to Saudi Arabia and other stops in the Middle East, Rice said she met with Tenet daily at that point, and has no memory of the wake-up call from Tenet described in the book.

"It kind of doesn't ring true that you have to shock me into something I was very involved in," Rice said.

There was near constant discussion of possible attacks overseas, and high alarm, Rice said.

Meanwhile, former Attorney General
John Ashcroft said Monday that he should have been notified of any such report dealing with a pending attack on the United States. "It just occurred to me how disappointing it was that they didn't come to me with this type of information," Ashcroft said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"The FBI is responsible for domestic terrorism," Ashcroft said. He said both Tenet and Cofer Black of the CIA should have been aware that he had pressed for a more aggressive policy in going after bin Laden and his followers in the United States and should have briefed him as well. Rice knew of this advocacy, he suggested.

According to the Sept. 11 Commission, Ashcroft was briefed on July 5, 2001, "warning that a significant terrorist attack was imminent." The report noted that the briefing addressed only threats outside the United States.

Woodward wrote that the meeting among Tenet, Rice and Black stood out in the minds of Tenet and Black as the "starkest warning they had given the White House" on al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his network.

Tenet asked for the meeting after receiving a disturbing briefing from Black, according to the book.

A former intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Sept. 11 Commission and an earlier joint congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks were both informed of Tenet's and Black's meeting with Rice, when Tenet warned Rice that a significant attack was coming.

In a closed, classified session at CIA headquarters, Tenet told Sept. 11 Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste, the commission's executive director Phil Zelikow and other commission staff about Rice's meeting with Tenet and Black, the official said.

The former intelligence official said the commission kept a transcript of that Jan. 28, 2004, session. A second official familiar with the document, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed its existence.

But though Tenet and Black warned Rice in the starkest terms of the prospects for attack, she brushed them off, Woodward reiterated Monday. He told NBC's "Today" show that Black told him the two men were so emphatic, it amounted to "holding a gun to her head" and doing everything except pulling the trigger.

Black reportedly laid out secret intercepts and other data "showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaida would soon attack the United States." Tenet was so worried that he called Rice from his car and asked to see her right away, the book said.

"Tenet and Black felt they were not getting through to Rice," Woodward wrote of the session. "She was polite, but they felt the brush-off."

Rice referred to the session as "the supposed meeting" and noted that it is not part of the independent Sept. 11 Commission's report.

"I remember that George was very worried and he expressed that," Rice told reporters. "We were all very worried because the threat reporting was quite intense. The problem was that it was also quite nebulous."

CONT (http://tinyurl.com/f4tfg)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

"I don't recall...?"

That's even worse than "I was out of the loop."

:oyvey:

[mhgaffney]

Until now, I've haven't backed the idea that the Bush administration's ignornace had enabled the 9-11 attack on the U.S.
As each day passes and as new information is becoming available to the public, it seems that they did indeed turn a blind eye to events unfolding around them.

Hindsight is a tricky and manipulative idea. Assigning blame based solely on it only is speculation at best but as these new reports and new information articles come out, I'm seeing something that can't be denied.



Well bully for you.

Have you seen Ahmed's book the War on Truth? It's highly recommended and will be reviewed here ASAP -- I promise -- tho long delayed.

In fact the US and world security agencies thoroughly penetrated Al Qaeda -- to the point that the Malaysian intel (no doubt with US involvement) video taped the Al Qaeda meeting where occurred the first planning for 911.

It was all on tape from day one. The US NSA was listening to bin Laden's phone conversations. They tracked his every move -- down to his bowl movements and farts.

Come on guys, the argument that US intel was asleep don't fly no mo.

MG

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Well bully for you.

Have you seen Ahmed's book the War on Truth? It's highly recommended and will be reviewed here ASAP -- I promise -- tho long delayed.

In fact the US and world security agencies thoroughly penetrated Al Qaeda -- to the point that the Malaysian intel (no doubt with US involvement) video taped the Al Qaeda meeting where occurred the first planning for 911.

It was all on tape from day one. The US NSA was listening to bin Laden's phone conversations. They tracked his every move -- down to his bowl movements and farts.

Come on guys, the argument that US intel was asleep don't fly no mo.

MG
Don't misunderstand what I'm saying here which is the Bush administration probably didn't listen to people who tried to tell them something was going on. I'm not saying they knew an attack was coming.

[Pendejo]

"I don't recall...?"

That's even worse than "I was out of the loop."

:oyvey:

Nonsense. Having a poor memory (read: lacking recollection) is a valuable tool to have. It provides plausible deniability.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Nonsense. Having a poor memory (read: lacking recollection) is a valuable tool to have. It provides plausible deniability.

:yep: :~ohyah!: ^5

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Rumsfeld and Ashcroft got same CIA brief as Rice, BEFORE 9-11

Will the major networks make this a lasting story? Or will it be buried?

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15663391.htm

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida strike on an American target that was given to the White House two months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The State Department's disclosure Monday that the pair was briefed within a week after then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was told about the threat on July 10, 2001, raised new questions about what the Bush administration did in response, and about why so many officials have claimed they never received or don't remember the warning.

[gunns]

SHANNON, Ireland - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she cannot recall then- CIA chief George Tenet warning her of an impending al-Qaida attack in the United States, as a new book claims he did two months before the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"What I am quite certain of is that I would remember if I was told, as this account apparently says, that there was about to be an attack in the United States, and the idea that I would somehow have ignored that I find incomprehensible," Rice said.


Gee, I'm wondering if this is the same amnesia that struck Daddy Bush during Iran-Contra. I wonder if it's contagious? Or maybe she's got the alzheimers Reagan had. Sad. But I do know she's got the lies down pat like Ollie North.

[baja]

Rumsfeld and Ashcroft got same CIA brief as Rice, BEFORE 9-11

Will the major networks make this a lasting story? Or will it be buried?

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15663391.htm

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida strike on an American target that was given to the White House two months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The State Department's disclosure Monday that the pair was briefed within a week after then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was told about the threat on July 10, 2001, raised new questions about what the Bush administration did in response, and about why so many officials have claimed they never received or don't remember the warning.

Ya know what this little leak in the information dam is going to work it self into a raging river very soon.

[alkemical]

Remember:

Keep your protests simple, symbolic & peaceful. It's ok to be vulgar, but no violence.

Violence will only repeat.

[mhgaffney]

Don't misunderstand what I'm saying here which is the Bush administration probably didn't listen to people who tried to tell them something was going on. I'm not saying they knew an attack was coming.

I suppose the 5 terrorism drills that occurred on or around 911 is sheer coincidence..

And the fact that Cheney was personally supervising the drills from the White House command center on 911 -- just coincidence. Cheney had access to all data streams, including FAA radar screens, and was in a position with the authority to issue all orders...again, just coincidence?

We know, of course, that Bush's first act as president was to abolish the inter agency commttees that coordinated CIA, NSA, FBI etc intel. The same directive re routed everything through Rice's office. So the White House had direct access to all intelligence reports -- was fully in the loop all along.

There are too many "coincidental" facts here -- lined up like ducks. It shreds common sense to believe Bush/Cheney were merely incompetent.
Naw, it doesn't compute.

[bendog]

This story is the flip side to Bushii saying a demoRat congress won't give him the tools to protect America. It's all bull****.

But, Iraq's a bogus war turned **** hole making us less safe. Time to get the troops out. Elect the dems, make bushii declare victory: we got rid of saddam, and they've had thier elections.

[baja]

This story is the flip side to Bushii saying a demoRat congress won't give him the tools to protect America. It's all bull****.

But, Iraq's a bogus war turned **** hole making us less safe. Time to get the troops out. Elect the dems, make bushii declare victory: we got rid of saddam, and they've had thier elections.

Victory?

http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/extremedeformities.html

[bendog]

Hey, remember Eye Patch's vulgarity to me when I posted he was a fool for supporting the boy warrior king's invasion?

The Iraqies now have death squads imbedded within their Ministry of the Interior. We destroyed Saddam's sunni army, and installed this instead. It's a clusterfick beyond all imagination. It cannot be fixed by the US.

[baja]

I remember Dog. I recently started a thread on junkman's site asking Patch where those pesky WMD were all he could manage was a paragraph or two of personal attacks and a week comment that they were in Syria.

[bendog]

I remember Dog. I recently started a thread on junkman's site asking Patch where those pesky WMD were all he could manage was a paragraph or two of personal attacks and a week comment that they were in Syria.

I lurk over there, and I saw your thread and his response, basically that'd he underestimated the groups hatred of one another. As you may recall, I wasn't necessarily against nation building, but basing it on a lie of womd, and not going in with a coalition including the French and Turk and Jordian tacit agreement, and some muslim forces from places like Egypt Alergia and Malaysia, made it impossible to achieve a new society. I've forgotten exactly what Patch called me over that.

I guess the thread's hijacked. But our involvement in Iraq is now counterproductive to the Iraqies interests, and the vast maj of them know it. It went south shortly after their elections, when the shiaa maj allowed the death squads to be infiltrated into the Ministry of the Interior. We're propping up a govt that cannot make a peace. The longer we stay, the worse it is.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2005/09/27/reverse_baathism.php

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Hey, remember Eye Patch's vulgarity to me when I posted he was a fool for supporting the boy warrior king's invasion?


It wasn't just Patch - it was practically every right-winger on this board.

And, so far, I've only seen one person man up and admit he was wrong, apologize, etc.

[bendog]

It wasn't just Patch - it was practically every right-winger on this board.

And, so far, I've only seen one person man up and admit he was wrong, apologize, etc.

I wasn't here. I mainly stayed at the DenverPost board till they took it down. I decided to stay here when TJ banned patch. I didn't really agree that Patch needed banning, though he does his net bully crap, over what he posted here, but I don't want to read a board where he posts.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

I wasn't here. I mainly stayed at the DenverPost board till they took it down. I decided to stay here when TJ banned patch. I didn't really agree that Patch needed banning, though he does his net bully crap, over what he posted here, but I don't want to read a board where he posts.

I arrived at the DPO right in the middle of that long-running flame war between Patch and TJ.

My first impression was that Patch was Archie Bunker on steroids. :D

[Traveler]

Gee, I'm wondering if this is the same "convenient"amnesia that struck Daddy Bush during Iran-Contra. I wonder if it's contagious? Or maybe she's got the alzheimers Reagan had. Sad. But I do know she's got the lies down pat like Ollie North.

Gunns- Hope you don't mind that I added something to your quote above. BTW...great reply!

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Gee, I'm wondering if this is the same amnesia that struck Daddy Bush during Iran-Contra. I wonder if it's contagious? Or maybe she's got the alzheimers Reagan had. Sad. But I do know she's got the lies down pat like Ollie North.

:D

Pappy's "amnesia" wasn't so severe that he forgot to pardon all of his Iran-Contra co-conspirators (whose testimony could have sent him and Red Ink to prison) right before he left office.

One of Clinton's biggest mistakes was letting these thugs wriggle off the line after he took office.

As a result, these vermin all lived to fight another day, and subsequently resurfaced in Bush II.

[bendog]

I arrived at the DPO right in the middle of that long-running flame war between Patch and TJ.

My first impression was that Patch was Archie Bunker on steroids. :D

Much of Patch is/was an act. He claimed ot have been a retired submariner. If so, behavior like he exibits on the net would have caused either his murder or his being rated out of the service prior to retirement.

His politics appeared to be gob right, dimorats wrong.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Condi Rice, 9/11 and Another Nest of Lies

Monday 02 October 2006

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have committed perjury in her testimony before the 9/11 Commission in May of 2004. At a minimum, her testimony was a convenient mishmash of half-truths and omissions which served to paint the White House as innocent bystanders as the attacks of 9/11 unfolded. Certainly, her testimony omitted the fact that the two most senior intelligence officials in the nation delivered a stern warning regarding an impending terror attack two full months before 9/11.

Sunday's edition of the Washington Post carried a story titled "Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice." The story described a desperate attempt by CIA chief George Tenet and CIA counterterrorism chief J. Cofer Black to draw Rice's attention to the looming threat of an al-Qaeda strike against the United States. Tenet and Black insisted on a meeting with Rice on July 10, 2001. This meeting was first reported by Bob Woodward in his new book, "State of Denial."

"Tenet had the NSA review all the intercepts," read the Post story, "and the agency concluded they were of genuine al-Qaeda communications. On June 30, a top-secret senior executive intelligence brief contained an article headlined 'Bin Laden Threats Are Real.' Tenet hoped his abrupt request for an immediate meeting would shake Rice. He and Black, a veteran covert operator, had two main points when they met with her. First, al-Qaeda was going to attack American interests, possibly in the United States itself ... Second, this was a major foreign policy problem that needed to be addressed immediately. They needed to take action that moment - covert, military, whatever - to thwart bin Laden."

The meeting, according to Tenet and Black, went nowhere. "Tenet and Black felt they were not getting through to Rice. She was polite, but they felt the brush-off. President Bush had said he didn't want to swat at flies," the Post story reported. "Rice seemed focused on other administration priorities, especially the ballistic missile defense system that Bush had campaigned on. She was in a different place."

"Tenet left the meeting feeling frustrated," continued the Post story. "Though Rice had given them a fair hearing, no immediate action meant great risk. Black felt the decision to just keep planning was a sustained policy failure. Rice and the Bush team had been in hibernation too long. Afterward, Tenet looked back on the meeting with Rice as a tremendous lost opportunity to prevent or disrupt the Sept. 11 attacks. Black later said, 'The only thing we didn't do was pull the trigger to the gun we were holding to her head.'"

The Post story concluded with a remarkable Editor's Note: "How much effort the Bush administration made in going after Osama bin Laden before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, became an issue last week after former president Bill Clinton accused President Bush's 'neocons' and other Republicans of ignoring bin Laden until the attacks. Rice responded in an interview that 'what we did in the eight months was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding years.'"

This comment suggests the entire Post story was inspired by former President Clinton's remarkable denunciation of the Bush administration's efforts to thwart bin Laden in a recent Fox News interview. The seriousness of this meeting, however, goes far beyond political sniping and gamesmanship.

Peter Rundlet served as counsel to the 9/11 Commission, and has accused the White House of hiding the meeting between Tenet, Black and Rice from the commission. Rundlet practiced at the influential law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and was formerly associate counsel to the president and a White House Fellow, serving in the Office of Chief of Staff to the President, before joining the commission.

Writing for the online news magazine Think Progress, Rundlet stated, "Many, many questions need to be asked and answered about this revelation, questions that the 9/11 Commission would have asked, had the commission been told about this significant meeting. Suspiciously, the commissioners and the staff investigating the administration's actions prior to 9/11 were never informed of the meeting. As Commissioner Jamie Gorelick pointed out, 'We didn't know about the meeting itself. I can assure you it would have been in our report if we had known to ask about it.'"

This is a remarkable revelation in and of itself. The head of CIA and the head of CIA's counterterrorism branch delivered a warning in the strongest possible terms to Ms. Rice two months before the attack, yet this meeting was not revealed to the 9/11 Commission. It may well have remained a historical non-event had Woodward not written about it.

Which brings us to Ms. Rice's sworn testimony in May 2004 before the commission.

At one point in this hearing, Commission Vice-Chair Lee Hamilton directly asked Rice about the so-called intelligence failures leading up to 9/11: "At the end of the day, of course, we were unable to protect our people. And you suggest in your statement - and I want you to elaborate on this, if you want to - that in hindsight it would have been - better information about the threats would have been the single - the single most important thing for us to have done, from your point of view, prior to 9/11, would have been better intelligence, better information about the threats. Is that right? Are there other things that you think stand out?"

Rice responded, "Well, Mr. Chairman, I took an oath of office on the day that I took this job to protect and defend. And like most government officials, I take it very seriously. And so, as you might imagine, I've asked myself a thousand times what more we could have done. I know that, had we thought that there was an attack coming in Washington or New York, we would have moved heaven and earth to try and stop it. And I know that there was no single thing that might have prevented that attack."

Not only did Rice fail to mention the dramatic warnings given to her by Tenet and Black, she goes on to flatly state that neither she nor the administration had a clue that an attack was coming. Further, she claims that "no single thing could have prevented that attack."

"The July 10 meeting between Tenet, Black and Rice went unmentioned in the various reports of investigations into the Sept. 11 attacks," read the Post report on Sunday, "but it stood out in the minds of Tenet and Black as the starkest warning they had given the White House on bin Laden and al-Qaeda."

Combined with the August 6, 2001, Presidential Daily Briefing delivered to Bush, which explicitly stated that bin Laden intended to attack the United States, the revelation of this meeting between Tenet, Black and Rice indicates that the Bush White House should have and could have made a far greater effort at thwarting the 9/11 attacks. Rice's testimony before the 9/11 Commission on the matter may rise to the level of perjury. At a minimum, it exposes yet another nest of lies delivered by a member of this administration.

"A mixture of shock, anger, and sadness overcame me," wrote Peter Rundlet in his Think Progress article, "when I read about revelations in Bob Woodward's new book about a special surprise visit that George Tenet and his counterterrorism chief Cofer Black made to Condi Rice, also on July 10, 2001. If true, it is shocking that the administration failed to heed such an overwhelming alert from the two officials in the best position to know."

Indeed.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/100206X.shtml

[Rohirrim]

I arrived at the DPO right in the middle of that long-running flame war between Patch and TJ.

My first impression was that Patch was Archie Bunker on steroids. :D

My nickname for Patch was "Thud." Dude was a thread killer. He would just come onto a thread, drop one of his turds of doom, and everybody would head for the exits.

[Rohirrim]

BTW, Rice and the WH are trying to deny Woodward's account, and no doubt trying to protect themselves from the idea that she may have lied to the Commission, but has anybody else noticed that Tenet and Black are noticably silent on this whole thing. I mean, if Rice were telling the truth, wouldn't Tenet and Black come out and try to help her?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

BTW, Rice and the WH are trying to deny Woodward's account, and no doubt trying to protect themselves from the idea that she may have lied to the Commission, but has anybody else noticed that Tenet and Black are noticably silent on this whole thing. I mean, if Rice were telling the truth, wouldn't Tenet and Black come out and try to help her?

Good call.

I can't imagine how, after taking a big hit for the team already, Tenet would want to further tarnish his legacy by coming out for Imelda the perjuror.

[defenseman]

Much of Patch is/was an act. He claimed ot have been a retired submariner. If so, behavior like he exibits on the net would have caused either his murder or his being rated out of the service prior to retirement.
His politics appeared to be gob right, dimorats wrong.

The boat sailors I served with in the late seventies, through the eighties, some of them were a bit off kilter , putting it mildly. Then again, it was a different time, different navy..dman

[defenseman]

My nickname for Patch was "Thud." Dude was a thread killer. He would just come onto a thread, drop one of his turds of doom, and everybody would head for the exits.

Plenty of that still going on, except the opposite take (extreme left, damn you if you don't agree) drives everyone away from the threads. Looks like it's come full circle to me. Just an observation....dman

[fido]

That's dc politics for you....deny deny deny

[baja]

My nickname for Patch was "Thud." Dude was a thread killer. He would just come onto a thread, drop one of his turds of doom, and everybody would head for the exits.

What was your handle at the DPO?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Plenty of that still going on, except the opposite take (extreme left, damn you if you don't agree) drives everyone away from the threads. Looks like it's come full circle to me. Just an observation....dman

But according to people like you, anyone who criticizes or disaproves of Bush (read: some two-thirds of your fellow Americans) is "extreme left."

And it's not matters of "agreement" that are beating you and Team Bush down here, it's matters of fact.

Finally, your claim that "everyone is being driven away from these threads" is absurd on its face. This forum is as active as ever, and the only people who are conspicuously absent are those hardcore Bush supporters (go figure) who slunk away with their tails between their legs a long time ago.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

http://www.bartcop.com/condigate.jpg

[Rohirrim]

What was your handle at the DPO?

I was never at the DPO. I was talking about when Patch was here. Don't miss him.

[ScottXray]

Agreed...Too bad we didn't take the threat seriously after the first time they tried to blow up the world trade centers.....

It's an endless discussion and one that Clinton can't even discuss without having his veins pop out of his neck......

At least Clinton said he failed to protect the american people. He admits that he didn't do enough, and I think it really bothers him that he failed.

Unlike the current administration, who failed to even take action when they had repeated warnings about the heightened number of interecepts and that the attacks would almost certainly occur in the US this time. And worst of all...they don't seem to care, other than in what political advantage they could gain from the attack.

Rice was the National Security Advisor..and she failed to advise or even inform the adminsitration when told of the threat by the Director of CIA on a matter of grave national interest. When questioned about this she had an extreme case of CRS (Can't Remember Shyt or Condoleeza Rice Syndrome).
I wonder if her real job was to suck off Cheney or Bush. She certainly didn't do the job her title described. Of course appointing incompetent personnel to high positions is another of this administrations major tendencies.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

At least Clinton said he failed to protect the american people. He admits that he didn't do enough, and I think it really bothers him that he failed.


He didn't say that he failed to protect the American people - he said he failed to get Bin Laden.

All things considered, Clinton did a pretty good job of protecting America for eight years.

Fewer Americans were killed by terrorism (and most of those were overseas) on his watch than during the Reagan, Poppy, and Bush II administrations.