August 6, 2001 PDB released

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TaurusCIA

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The following is a redacted text of the presidential daily briefing from August 6, 2001:

Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US

Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Ladin since 1997' has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Ladin implied in US television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America."

After US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a [deleted text] service. An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an [deleted text] service at the same time that Bin Ladin was planning to exploit the operative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strike.

The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of Bin Ladin's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the US. Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that Bin Ladin lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own US attack.

Ressam says Bin Ladin was aware of the Los Angeles operation.

Although Bin Ladin has not succeeded, his attacks against the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Ladin associates surveilled our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.

Al-Qa'ida members — including some who are US citizens — have resided in or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks. Two al-Qa'ida members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our Embassies in East Africa were US citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.

A clandestine source said in 1998 that a Bin Ladin cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.

We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a [deleted text] service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" 'Umar' Abd aI-Rahman and other US-held extremists.

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.
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Link...
 
Well, I want to rage against this, not because of 9/11, but because we had known terrorists within our borders and the FBI was apparently sitting on its collective thumb. FBI: the federal bureau of inertia.

I want to be very careful in how I couch this lest the raging leftists have even more ammo with which to destroy the republic.

longeyes,
You got it. Mr. Softy. He needs to grow a spine real quick. 'Course, the barn door has been open for a while.
 
"A White House official"
Al-Qaida surveillance?
One item in the memo referred to "recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.†A White House official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said that was a reference to two Yemeni men the FBI interviewed and concluded were simply tourists taking photographs.

On May 15, 2001, a caller to the U.S. embassy in the United Arab Emirates warned of planned bin Laden attacks with explosives in the United States, but did not say where or when.

The CIA reported the incident to other government officials the next day, and a dozen or more steps were taken by the CIA and other agencies “to run down†the information from the phone call, senior administration officials said Saturday evening.

One official said references to al-Qaida in prior presidential briefings “would indicate ’they are here, they are there’ in other countries and the CIA director would tell the president what was being done to address “these different operations.â€
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What does anyone expect the National Security Advisor or the President to do about terrorist cells operating in the U.S.? The Executive can't call out the military and can't send the CIA to go torture people. All he can do (and presumably did do) is tell the FBI to keep on it. The FBI by its nature is not organized around crime prevention.

Whining about it and pointing fingers won't help. And of COURSE Washington D.C. and New York are going to be suggested targets, but how do you defend them against unknown attacks? Note that the federal buildings being "surveilled" were not targetted. I don't see the big deal about the content of this PDB. As Dr. Rice testified, nowhere was an airplane attack briefed, and as she testified, airlines had been warned about possible hijackings (for hostage purposes, not for suicide missions). What else do detractors expect the administration to have done? Run around like headless chickens squawking about "terrorists in the U.S."? Drum up panic among D.C. and NYC residents by telling them they could be targets of a terrorist attack?

I think releasing the PDB in full was a terrible idea. It gives the terrorists some idea of what the CIA considered important pre-9/11. It gives them ideas about how the CIA performs its intelligence function. Both are BAD.
 
Yup. I am also struck by the fact (not surprised) that critics are trying to suggest that a report that hijackings might be in the offing should have been enough to prevent 9/11, when the warning was specifically about "standard" hostage-taking hijackings for the release of a prisoner. :scrutiny:
 
Kathleen Parker has a great article postulating what the state of affairs would be today if GWB had done everything the Democrats say he should have done. Check it out here
 
Bin Ladin through Al-Quida called the bluff. We have been under the misconception for years that nobody would take us on. We have swallowed the most powerful for too long. We are only powerful if we don't stand for 9-11. Our enemys know the political will of the United States is nill. They know we might mount a great sounding campaign then fail to carry it out. The current difficulties are a case in point. Cease fire my A**. Hunt the thugs down and dispose of them. Somebody better grow a pair that clank and get this over with. Their are lots of investigators and special agents in various federal agencys that need to learn a new word, unempolyment. There are even more high level politically connected beaurucrats that need public trials for malfeasance.
 
If you are interested in seeing what the FBI knew and did prior to 9/11...

I recommend reading the following two books.

The Man Who Warned America: The Life and Death of John O'Neill, The FBI's Embattled Counterterror Warrior by Murray Weiss.

1000 Years For Revenge: International Terrorism and The FBI - The Untold Story by Peter Lance.

After years of investigating Al Qaeda, including the Khobar Towers attack, the USS Cole attack, the embassy attacks in Africa and the capture of Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 WTC bombing, John O'Neill had the unfortunate luck of resigning from the FBI on August 22, 2001 to take a new position as director of security at the World Trade Center. He died on the job on 9/11.
 
Why anyone, Republican or Democrat, would want to be President and put up with the constant "gotcha" games of the opposite party is beyond me.

It seems to get worse with every new President.

I guess blame it on the 50/50 split in our nation: either party has a chance to win, and whoever does immediately inherits a lot of enemies.

Problem is, while we worry if Bill Clinton had Vince Foster killed over cocaine, or if George Bush planned 9/11, the real problems aren't being discussed and solved in the best interests of the WHOLE nation.
 
John O'Neill had the unfortunate luck of resigning from the FBI on August 22, 2001 to take a new position as director of security at the World Trade Center. He died on the job on 9/11.
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Aug. 22, 2001
Last Day at the FBI

In his final hours on the job, O'Neill signs an authorization for the FBI to return to Yemen...

Late August 2001
New Job: The World Trade Center

According to Chris Isham, O'Neill recognized the threat still posed to the World Trade Center. "When he had first gotten the job at the World Trade Center, he told me, 'I've got this great job. I'm head of security at the World Trade Center.' And I joked with him and said, 'Well, that will be an easy job. They're not going to bomb that place again.' And he said, 'Well actually -- he immediately came back and he said, 'actually they've always wanted to finish that job. I think they're going to try again."

Sept. 10, 2001
Intimations

On the eve of Sept. 11, O'Neill is with friends on the town. According to Jerry Hauer, O'Neill warns him that night: "We're due for something big." O'Neill explains, "I don't like the way things are lining up in Afghanistan." Still, O'Neill tells friends that he is happy about his new job. "[It] doesn't get better than this," he says.

Sept. 11, 2001
Two Hijacked Planes Hit World Trade Center Towers

Link...
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You would expect that a top Counterterror expert for the FBI stationed in New York would have acted on any information (if it existed) that would have indicated an imminent attack in NY. Especially since his new job would be in a prime target.

HIND SITE...HIND SITE...HIND SITE...
 
Kathleen Parker has a great article postulating what the state of affairs would be today if GWB had done everything the Democrats say he should have done. Check it out here
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I love that. I hadn't seen it.

Thanks for the link.
 
Good work TaurusCIA

I am uncomfortable supporting incompetence, which is usually the job of the left.

The Federal Bureau of Inertia is too large and too unfocused. They were too busy looking for johns and prostitutes (a state matter) and other asundry tasks rather than look at the elephant running through the front room. The sheeple have been more than willing for the feds to assume more and more jurisdictional territory over the past decade. More and more crimes are federally enforceable; which takes precious resources away from the primary role.

I hold the bureaucratic infrastructure responsible for the lapses that lead to all of the terror attacks. SOme blame can be attributed to Klinton since he did hold the CLEO office for 8 years. Bush? 233 days trying to put the admin together and relying on the inertia of the bureaucracy to cover the bases.
 
Democratic members of the 9/11 commission, who had seen portions of the memo, said last week that it showed the White House was aware of the potential for an attack inside the United States.

"This memorandum provided information -- not speculative, but based on intelligence information -- that bin Laden had threatened to attack the United States and specifically Washington, D.C.," said former Watergate prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste.
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Yep he had been threatening that for years. Big "new" news...right Beny-V?


BEN'S REAL AGENDA

RICE: Do you have other questions that you want me to answer as a part of the sequence?

BEN-VENISTE: Well, did you not _ you have indicated here that this was some historical document. And I am asking you whether it is not the case that you learned in the PDB memo of August 6th that the FBI was saying that it had information suggesting that preparations _ not historically, but ongoing, along with these numerous full field investigations against al-Qaida cells, that preparations were being made consistent with hijackings within the United States?

RICE: What the August 6th PDB said, and perhaps I should read it to you...

BEN-VENISTE: We would be happy to have it declassified in full at this time, including its title.

(APPLAUSE)

RICE: I believe, Mr. Ben-Veniste, that you've had access to this PDB. But let me just...

BEN-VENISTE: But we have not had it declassified so that it can be shown publicly, as you know.

RICE: I believe you've had access to this PDB _ exceptional access. But let me address your question.

BEN-VENISTE: Nor could we, prior to today, reveal the title of that PDB.

RICE: May I address the question, sir?

The fact is that this August 6th PDB was in response to the president's questions about whether or not something might happen or something might be planned by al-Qaida inside the United States. He asked because all of the threat reporting or the threat reporting that was actionable was about the threats abroad, not about the United States.

This particular PDB had a long section on what bin Laden had wanted to do _ speculative, much of it _ in '97, '98; that he had, in fact, liked the results of the 1993 bombing.

RICE: It had a number of discussions of _ it had a discussion of whether or not they might use hijacking to try and free a prisoner who was being held in the United States _ Ressam. It reported that the FBI had full field investigations under way.

And we checked on the issue of whether or not there was something going on with surveillance of buildings, and we were told, I believe, that the issue was the courthouse in which this might take place.

Commissioner, this was not a warning. This was a historic memo -- historical memo prepared by the agency because the president was asking questions about what we knew about the inside.

BEN-VENISTE: Well, if you are willing ...

RICE: Now, we had already taken ...

BEN-VENISTE: If you are willing to declassify that document, then others can make up their minds about it.

Let me ask you a general matter, beyond the fact that this memorandum provided information, not speculative, but based on intelligence information, that bin Laden had threatened to attack the United States and specifically Washington, D.C.

There was nothing reassuring, was there, in that PDB?

RICE: Certainly not. There was nothing reassuring.

But I can also tell you that there was nothing in this memo that suggested that an attack was coming on New York or Washington, D.C. There was nothing in this memo as to time, place, how or where. This was not a threat report to the president or a threat report to me.

BEN-VENISTE: We agree that there were no specifics. Let me move on, if I may.
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He was obviously more interested in espousing his agenda than having Rice answer questions.
 
There is a lot of collective blame to go around. Dem and Rebub admins are the target of most because the have most of the political power. The Libs and others with little to know political power pretend that all will be great if their beliefs are followed.

There is no easy answer. Running around yelling about how bad the other guys are is a big part of the reason things never change.

We can't fight the War on Terror with the old conventional methods and we can't clean off the rust of political complacency by ignoring our faults while we point out everyone else's. That old plank in my eye blinds me from everything but the speck in my brother's eye syndrome.

Left? Right? Up? Down? OR American?

Can we remember we are Americans first and relegate all these distracting agendas to bottom of the list??

Most don't seem to care what is true but who appears to be right.
 
You would expect that a top Counterterror expert for the FBI stationed in New York would have acted on any information (if it existed) that would have indicated an imminent attack in NY. Especially since his new job would be in a prime target.
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Yep. If one with his extensive knowledge of Al Qaeda couldn't foresee the attacks of 9/11, how can anyone blame Bush for not stopping it. Everyone knew something was going to happen, just not when, how and where. O'Neill had a good idea of where, but that was about it.
 
That is the trap the leftists set: we went and they screamed, then the 9/11 commission says, in the most vitriolic way, with hindsight mind you, we did not go soon enough. GWB loses either way. :mad:
 
when the warning was specifically about "standard" hostage-taking hijackings for the release of a prisoner.
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Not quite. The PDB states:

====
We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a [deleted text] service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" 'Umar' Abd aI-Rahman and other US-held extremists.
====

The warning was that bin Laden - whose fatwas of '96 and '98 openly declared war on us - had openly proclaimed his intent to attack the US, that hsi soldiers had entered the country, that he had a support infrastructure in place, that his people were recruiting American Muslims into the jihad, and that there were "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks..."

What does anyone expect the National Security Advisor or the President to do about terrorist cells operating in the U.S.?
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That is an excellent question. What would a reasonable person in the same circumstances with the same authority and intel do?

Kathleen Parker has a great article postulating...
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Interesting for its perspective, but check out this statement by the 9-11 Commission.

The Man Who Warned America: The Life and Death of John O'Neill, The FBI's Embattled Counterterror Warrior by Murray Weiss.
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Thanks for the reference, I'll have to check it out. I've always thought that O'Neill received shabby treatment by the Bureau under Clinton. What if O'Neill had been appointed Director?

They were too busy looking for johns and prostitutes (a state matter) and other asundry tasks rather than look at the elephant running through the front room.
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and
Most don't seem to care what is true but who appears to be right.
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I agree 100% with 7.62FMJ and TaurusCIA on this.
 
It might be interesting to speculate what, if anything, might have changed, if the Patriot Act were already in place long prior to 9/11. I would include organizational changes that have occurred intended to better coordinate federal investigative agencies. This exercise could also include seeing if civil libertarians and Bush haters can be objective for five minutes.
 
Whats really appalling to me is that this PDB with all the secret stuff in it, was actually no better than the information I could have found by reading any decent Newspaper. The idea that there was actionable intellegence in the PDB is hillarious.

Lets see what we could have taken action and done:

"Moslem youth being recruited in the US", well we could have rounded up all the Moslem youth and put them in a concentration camp. We could close every Mosque and ban Muslem worship and study.

"Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" 'Umar' Abd aI-Rahman and other US-held extremists. "

Bush could have ordered the Shaykh executed by firing squad.

Bush could have ordered some racial profiling of Muslems who recently entered the US, or he could have banned all male muslems under 40 years old from flying on any airplane.



Now after 911 we cant and wouldnt want to take any of these actions so how can the Democrats claim with a straight face that Bush should have done soemthing substantial BEFORE IT HAPPENED???????
 
A clandestine source said in 1998 that a Bin Ladin cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks
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This is the part that scares the crap out of me. It wouldn't take many traitorous muslim-Americans to wreak havoc in our country. In this day of political correctness I imagine that fighting back would be extremely unlikely by the police or any other legal authority. Hell the TSA won't even search folks who fit the middle aged middle eastern profile of your average terrorist but choose instead to search 80 year old women instead.
 
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