Rosebud #28
Where Have you Gone, Mr. bin Laden?
Ya know, I’m not a conspiracy theorist—being called a “conspiracy theorist” in America today is a bit like being called a commie in America fifty years ago. Today in America, some people also like to call “conspiracy theorists” “insane,” as they did dissidents in Russia, right before they sent them to the gulags.
So: I am not a conspiracy theorist.
But it was none other than Franklin Roosevelt who said that, “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”
And so I’ll venture to ask: what is it that we’re not talking about today, as we sit here talk-talk-talking about whether disgraced (and disgraceful) former Rep. Mark Foley asked underage boys to strip down to their skivvies? And what did Speaker Dennis Hastert know about it and when did he know it?
What we’re not talking about, now, is what we were talking about—suddenly, finally—just a few days ago, in the wake of a new book by Bob Woodward, State of Denial, which examines how the Bush administration lied to the American people and Congress about the reasons for the war in Iraq, as well as a Fox News interview with Bill Clinton in which the former president charged that the Bush administration had “done nothing” to stop Osama bin Laden.
We were talking, then, about something much more explosive, and even potentially more criminal: What did Condoleeza know, and when did she know it? What did the Bush administration know and when did they know it? And what did they do about it?
About 9/11, that is.
America loves a good—or bad—sex scandal; no matter what faith we follow, together, we are Puritans. And at the moment, we are Puritans governed by an administration that has done very well for itself by diverting our attention away from issues of national, even global importance and on to the question of whether men and women are kissing and hugging others of the same sex.
Throw in some underage pages, and you have one whopper of a diversion.
Oh, Mark Foley will recede in time (hopefully just in time for the mid-term election) and nobody will blame the entire Republican party for the perversions of one bad man.
As Napoleon once allegedly said: It isn’t necessary that the truth be suppressed, only that it be delayed.
So we don’t have to go over all THAT again; all that which we have never even become fully conscious of, as a nation. THAT:
—despite the claims of every senior official in the Bush administration, post-9/11, that “No one could ever have imagined using planes as a weapon” (Condoleeza Rice), the FBI learned in early 2001, from a bin Laden aide turned government witness, “detailed information about a pilot training scheme”…
—on February 7, 2001, former CIA Director George Tenet warned Congress that bin Laden was “capable of planning multiple attacks”…
—in April, 2001, the U.S. military considered an exercise simulating flying an airplane into the Pentagon…
—in April, 2001, according to FBI translators Sibel Edmonds and Behrooz Sarshar, an informant on the FBI’s payroll told two FBI agents that sources in Afghanistan had heard of an Al Qaeda plot to attack the U.S. and Europe in a suicide mission involving airplanes (Edmonds was later silenced by a gag order from former Attorney General John Ashcroft)…
—between April and May of 2001, President Bush and Vice President Cheney received briefing papers titled, “Bin Laden Planning Multiple Operations,” “Bin Laden Public Profile May Presage Attack” and “Bin Laden Network’s Plans Advancing”…
—on April 18, 2001, the FAA warned airlines about the possibility of Middle Eastern hijackers…
—in May, 2001, an Iranian in custody in New York City told local police of a plot to attack the World Trade Center (according to Fox News)…
—between May and July of 2001, the NSA reported “at least 33 communications indicating a possible, imminent terrorist attack”…
—in June, 2001, German intelligence warned the CIA of a plan to use aircraft as missiles to attack U.S. and Israeli landmarks…
—between June and July of 2001, the already numerous reports of terrorist threats increased. President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and national security aides were all given briefing papers with headlines like, “Bin Laden Threats Are Real” and “Bin Laden Planning High Profile Attacks” as frustration with the White House within the intelligence community grew…
—on June 1 and 2, 2001, NORAD sponsored an exercise, Amalgam Virgo 01, which involved the scenario of a cruise missile launched by a rogue [government] or somebody.” The plan involved two simultaneous commercial aircraft hijackings. Bin Laden was pictured on the cover of the proposal for the exercise…
—on June 20, 2001, Time magazine reported in its usual upbeat style, “For sheer diabolical genius (of the Hollywood variety), nothing came close to the reports that European security services are preparing to counter a bin Laden attempt to assassinate President Bush at next month’s G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. According to German intelligence sources, the plot involved bin Laden paying German neo-Nazis to fly remote-controlled model aircraft packed with Semtex into the conference hall and blow the leaders of the industrialized world to smithereens. (Paging Jerry Bruckheimer)”…
—on June 28, 2001, CIA Director George Tenet wrote an intelligence summary for then National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, saying, “It is highly likely that a significant Al Qaeda attack is in the near future, within several weeks…”
——on July 10, 2001, FBI agent Ken Williams issued a warning about suspicious activities involving a group of Middle Eastern men learning to pilot planes in Arizona…
—on July 18, 2001, the BBC reported that “supporters of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden might attempt an air attack on some of the world leaders present” at the G8 summit…
—between July 20 and 22, the Italian military prepared for an attack from the sky…
—in late July, the Taliban foreign minister, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, warned the United States bin Laden was planning a “huge attack” inside America…
—in mid-July of 2001, Tenet had a meeting with Rice about Al Qaeda, briefing her that he believed another attack was imminent…
—on August 6, 2001, the president received a Presidential Daily Briefing entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S. “FBI information…indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings,” it said…
The warnings go on and on; for further information read Paul Thompson’s The Terror Timeline (Harper Collins: 2004), from where I gleaned most of the above. (You can also see the timeline at www.cooperativeresearch.org.)
Or we can just keep watching Mark Foley’s train wreck.
Ya know, I’m not a conspiracy theorist—being called a “conspiracy theorist” in America today is a bit like being called a commie in America fifty years ago. Today in America, some people also like to call “conspiracy theorists” “insane,” as they did dissidents in Russia, right before they sent them to the gulags.
So: I am not a conspiracy theorist.
But it was none other than Franklin Roosevelt who said that, “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”
And so I’ll venture to ask: what is it that we’re not talking about today, as we sit here talk-talk-talking about whether disgraced (and disgraceful) former Rep. Mark Foley asked underage boys to strip down to their skivvies? And what did Speaker Dennis Hastert know about it and when did he know it?
What we’re not talking about, now, is what we were talking about—suddenly, finally—just a few days ago, in the wake of a new book by Bob Woodward, State of Denial, which examines how the Bush administration lied to the American people and Congress about the reasons for the war in Iraq, as well as a Fox News interview with Bill Clinton in which the former president charged that the Bush administration had “done nothing” to stop Osama bin Laden.
We were talking, then, about something much more explosive, and even potentially more criminal: What did Condoleeza know, and when did she know it? What did the Bush administration know and when did they know it? And what did they do about it?
About 9/11, that is.
America loves a good—or bad—sex scandal; no matter what faith we follow, together, we are Puritans. And at the moment, we are Puritans governed by an administration that has done very well for itself by diverting our attention away from issues of national, even global importance and on to the question of whether men and women are kissing and hugging others of the same sex.
Throw in some underage pages, and you have one whopper of a diversion.
Oh, Mark Foley will recede in time (hopefully just in time for the mid-term election) and nobody will blame the entire Republican party for the perversions of one bad man.
As Napoleon once allegedly said: It isn’t necessary that the truth be suppressed, only that it be delayed.
So we don’t have to go over all THAT again; all that which we have never even become fully conscious of, as a nation. THAT:
—despite the claims of every senior official in the Bush administration, post-9/11, that “No one could ever have imagined using planes as a weapon” (Condoleeza Rice), the FBI learned in early 2001, from a bin Laden aide turned government witness, “detailed information about a pilot training scheme”…
—on February 7, 2001, former CIA Director George Tenet warned Congress that bin Laden was “capable of planning multiple attacks”…
—in April, 2001, the U.S. military considered an exercise simulating flying an airplane into the Pentagon…
—in April, 2001, according to FBI translators Sibel Edmonds and Behrooz Sarshar, an informant on the FBI’s payroll told two FBI agents that sources in Afghanistan had heard of an Al Qaeda plot to attack the U.S. and Europe in a suicide mission involving airplanes (Edmonds was later silenced by a gag order from former Attorney General John Ashcroft)…
—between April and May of 2001, President Bush and Vice President Cheney received briefing papers titled, “Bin Laden Planning Multiple Operations,” “Bin Laden Public Profile May Presage Attack” and “Bin Laden Network’s Plans Advancing”…
—on April 18, 2001, the FAA warned airlines about the possibility of Middle Eastern hijackers…
—in May, 2001, an Iranian in custody in New York City told local police of a plot to attack the World Trade Center (according to Fox News)…
—between May and July of 2001, the NSA reported “at least 33 communications indicating a possible, imminent terrorist attack”…
—in June, 2001, German intelligence warned the CIA of a plan to use aircraft as missiles to attack U.S. and Israeli landmarks…
—between June and July of 2001, the already numerous reports of terrorist threats increased. President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and national security aides were all given briefing papers with headlines like, “Bin Laden Threats Are Real” and “Bin Laden Planning High Profile Attacks” as frustration with the White House within the intelligence community grew…
—on June 1 and 2, 2001, NORAD sponsored an exercise, Amalgam Virgo 01, which involved the scenario of a cruise missile launched by a rogue [government] or somebody.” The plan involved two simultaneous commercial aircraft hijackings. Bin Laden was pictured on the cover of the proposal for the exercise…
—on June 20, 2001, Time magazine reported in its usual upbeat style, “For sheer diabolical genius (of the Hollywood variety), nothing came close to the reports that European security services are preparing to counter a bin Laden attempt to assassinate President Bush at next month’s G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. According to German intelligence sources, the plot involved bin Laden paying German neo-Nazis to fly remote-controlled model aircraft packed with Semtex into the conference hall and blow the leaders of the industrialized world to smithereens. (Paging Jerry Bruckheimer)”…
—on June 28, 2001, CIA Director George Tenet wrote an intelligence summary for then National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, saying, “It is highly likely that a significant Al Qaeda attack is in the near future, within several weeks…”
——on July 10, 2001, FBI agent Ken Williams issued a warning about suspicious activities involving a group of Middle Eastern men learning to pilot planes in Arizona…
—on July 18, 2001, the BBC reported that “supporters of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden might attempt an air attack on some of the world leaders present” at the G8 summit…
—between July 20 and 22, the Italian military prepared for an attack from the sky…
—in late July, the Taliban foreign minister, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, warned the United States bin Laden was planning a “huge attack” inside America…
—in mid-July of 2001, Tenet had a meeting with Rice about Al Qaeda, briefing her that he believed another attack was imminent…
—on August 6, 2001, the president received a Presidential Daily Briefing entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S. “FBI information…indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings,” it said…
The warnings go on and on; for further information read Paul Thompson’s The Terror Timeline (Harper Collins: 2004), from where I gleaned most of the above. (You can also see the timeline at www.cooperativeresearch.org.)
Or we can just keep watching Mark Foley’s train wreck.
posted by NancyJo at 9:16 PM
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