9-11 Commissioner: Bush Allowed 9-11 To Happen

**MustavaMond** · 24-05-2009, 12:14 PM

..did nothing to heighten security...

"In the run up to the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks, Ben-Veniste wrote, the summer of 2001 marked the most elevated threat level the country had ever experienced, providing convincing evidence that a spectacular attack was about to occur.
"CIA analysts had written a report for the president's eyes to alert him to the possibility that bin Laden's words and actions, together with recent investigative clues, pointed to an attack by al-Qaida on the American homeland," Ben-Veniste writes."

The Associated Press: Bush criticized by former 9/11 commission member

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Bush criticized by former 9/11 commission member
By PETE YOST – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former member of the 9/11 Commission criticizes former President George W. Bush in a new book for not responding to pre-attack intelligence on Osama bin Laden's intentions.
In "The Emperor's New Clothes: Exposing the Truth from Watergate to 9/11," Richard Ben-Veniste writes that CIA analysts told Bush that bin Laden was determined to strike inside the United States, "yet the president had done absolutely nothing to follow up."
A Democrat and a longtime Washington attorney, Ben-Veniste provides an inside account of the commission's three-hour interview with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on April 29, 2004.
Bush told the panel that the Aug. 6, 2001 intelligence summary — known as a presidential daily brief — was the only one he ever received on the domestic threat, Ben-Veniste writes.
In the interview with Bush, Ben-Veniste asked the president why he hadn't met with the FBI director after getting the PDB.
Bush replied that there were concerns predating his administration about politicizing the FBI and interfering in pending cases.
But "this was no pending case subject to claims of political interference," Ben-Veniste writes in his book.
The president said he couldn't recall whether he asked National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to get in touch with the FBI regarding the PDB, according to the book.
There was no immediate response from a spokesman for the former president to requests for comment.
Finally declassified by the Bush administration amid public and political pressure in April 2004, the PDB from Aug. 6, 2001 said, "The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full-field investigations throughout the U.S. that it considers bin Laden related." The PDB also said that the CIA and the FBI at the time were investigating a call to the U.S. embassy in the United Arab Emirates three months earlier saying that "a group of bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives."
In his interview with the commission, Bush said the mention of 70 pending FBI investigations was a good thing, helpful, according to Ben-Veniste's book. Rice testified publicly that the PDB contained "some frightening things." At the time the president received the Aug. 6, 2001 PDB, Rice was not with Bush, who was vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
In the runup to the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks, Ben-Veniste wrote, the summer of 2001 marked the most elevated threat level the country had ever experienced, providing convincing evidence that a spectacular attack was about to occur.
"CIA analysts had written a report for the president's eyes to alert him to the possibility that bin Laden's words and actions, together with recent investigative clues, pointed to an attack by al-Qaida on the American homeland," Ben-Veniste writes.
In the commission interview, "President Bush volunteered that if there had been 'a serious concern' in August 2001, he would have known about it," Ben-Veniste writes. "Being on my best behavior, I didn't come out and ask him what he thought a briefing from the CIA titled 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.' was, if not a serious concern."
"Instead, I asked whether the president had discussed the Aug. 6 PDB with either the attorney general or the secretary of the treasury, the two cabinet officers who oversaw the FBI and other federal agencies charged with domestic law enforcement," Ben-Veniste wrote. "Had he discussed the PDB with Attorney General Ashcroft to ensure the FBI was doing everything necessary? The president said that he could not recall, nor could he say whether Rice had any such discussion with Ashcroft."
Ben-Veniste's book recounts five episodes from his career in which he played a role. Aside from his membership on the 9/11 Commission, Ben-Veniste prosecuted former top Nixon administration officials in the Watergate coverup; prosecuted the top aide to Democratic Speaker John McCormack for bribery and perjury; defended a lawyer in the FBI's Abscam sting operation in which bribes were paid to members of Congress; and served as Democratic counsel to the Republican-controlled Senate Whitewater Committee that investigated the Clintons.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

**spliff** · 24-05-2009, 12:18 PM

Supose he was expected to have a crystal ball, the article is bollocks.

**Butterfly** · 24-05-2009, 05:10 PM

he was too stupid to take a decision, his brain was not functioning

probably still drunk from the party after his "election"

**Rural Surin** · 24-05-2009, 05:22 PM

Designed and planned it.

**Whiteshiva** · 25-05-2009, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by Butterfly

he was too stupid to take a decision, his brain was not functioning

probably still drunk from the party after his "election"

Probably didn't put in the hours needed:

"Mike Allen of the Washington Post did report in an Aug. 7, 2001 article that Bush had spent all or part of 54 days of his presidency by that time in Crawford, Texas, almost a quarter of his presidency, and that he had spent 42 percent of his presidency (including weekends) at vacation spots or en route. "

And this little revelation from Mr.Tenet of the CIA:

In an otherwise dry day of hearings before the 9/11 commission, one brief bit of dialogue set off a sudden flash of clarity on the basic question of how our government let disaster happen.

The revelation came this morning, when CIA Director George Tenet was on the stand. Timothy Roemer, a former Democratic congressman, asked him when he first found out about the report from the FBI's Minnesota field office that Zacarias Moussaoui, an Islamic jihadist, had been taking lessons on how to fly a 747. Tenet replied that he was briefed about the case on Aug. 23 or 24, 2001.

Roemer then asked Tenet if he mentioned Moussaoui to President Bush at one of their frequent morning briefings. Tenet replied, "I was not in briefings at this time." Bush, he noted, "was on vacation." He added that he didn't see the president at all in August 2001. During the entire month, Bush was at his ranch in Texas. "You never talked with him?" Roemer asked. "No," Tenet replied. By the way, for much of August, Tenet too was, as he put it, "on leave."

And, he set a new record for a president:

COLUMN: Record Breaker! Bush Takes Most Vacation Days For Sitting President - CBS News

**MustavaMond** · 25-05-2009, 10:30 AM

Indict, convict and then execute Bush, Cheney , Rice ,NOW for failing to uphold their sworn oath to protect the country. ( and the Constitution..)

**Butterfly** · 24-05-2009, 05:28 PM

by who ? The Pentagon ? could they be that powerful ? then Jr was out of his league again and responsible for not holding his men then

**Rural Surin** · 24-05-2009, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by Butterfly

by who ? The Pentagon ? could they be that powerful ? then Jr was out of his league again and responsible for not holding his men then

Put Bush aside Butters. It was well known he wasn't running the show. Defacto position.

**Butterfly** · 24-05-2009, 05:43 PM

^ yeah, but he was the fall guy, and he seemed complicit and happy about the situation

it's like attacking a lazy rich kid who won the lottery, bashing is fully deserved

**britmaveric** · 24-05-2009, 08:41 PM

Clinton didnt do much either - if I remember quite a few terrorist attacks came under his watch.

**mao say dung** · 24-05-2009, 08:59 PM

^Yeah, but he knew what to do with a cigar.

And besides, Cheech and Chong are so much more cogent doing a Bush routine. Don't interrupt. "It's like... "

**Butterfly** · 24-05-2009, 09:04 PM

yes 911 part 1 on the WTC was under his watch, and yet nothing happened for 10 years, and he didn't have Guatmo and silly Patriot Act

I guess Bush war on terror was all smoke and mirror for the American tards,

**Muadib** · 24-05-2009, 09:20 PM

Had US foreign policy not included interfering with the governments of 3rd world country's for the last 60 years, 911 would have never happened...

**britmaveric** · 24-05-2009, 09:33 PM

^Bit Naive if you really think that. Just ask Europe and UK - where appeasing these nutters got them - Big shite load of problems now.

**greg47** · 24-05-2009, 10:06 PM

I don't see how you could blame Bush,,911 was over 5 yrs in the planing stage,,clinton was pres. for 8 yrs and bush only 8 month.Sudan had offered bin laden to clinton on a silver platter but he refused.Some say because it was too much of a political hot potato on the world stage and others say he was too busy with his monica problems.Don't get me wrong,I don't think he was the worst pres we ever had,and if I was married to billery I would fool around also and if I got caught I would lie my arse off,but i would have made sure she swallowed the evidence instead of shooting it on her jacket

**NickA** · 25-05-2009, 04:09 AM