Thom Hartmann: Bush's Failed to Keep America Safe on 9/11

[thomhartmann]

As a new op-ed published today in the New York Times uncovers, the Bush administration was repeatedly warned in the months leading up to the attack that terrorists were operating in America and determined to carry out an attack. We all know of the infamous memo Bush received titled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." on August 6th - a month before 9/11. What we didn't know about was the slew of other memos that Bush received in the months before - that like the August 6th memo - went largely ignored. As journalist Kurt Eichenwald uncovered in that New York Times Op-Ed - as early as May of 2001, the CIA was warning Bush of a coming attack. On May 1st - the CIA warned the White House there was a terrorist group "presently in the United States."

On June 22nd - Bush was warned that Al Qaeda attacks could be "imminent." But the White House did nothing Why? Well - as Eichenwald points out - it's because Bush and his team of NeoCons in the White House were delusional. Rather than taking the threats seriously - they all argued that Bin Laden was just bluffing to distract America from the real threat...Saddam Hussein. As Eichenwald writes: "An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, w< Embedded Title: OTS GFX--BUSH Duration: 00:00 >om the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat."

That promped the CIA to write a new memo to Bush under the title: "The U.S. is not the target of a disinformation campaign by Usama Bin Laden." That same day - the administration learned that a near-term attack could have "dramatic consequences." A few days later on July 1st - Bush was told the operation was delayed but, "will occur soon." On July 9th - counter-terrorism officials had a meeting where they openly talked about asking for a transfer so that they wouldn't be blamed for the coming attack. Again - on July 24th - Bush was warned the attacks are still being readied. Then came the August 6th memo: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."

Ignoring these warnings and believing they were part of a disinformation campaign staged by Saddam Hussein displays not just total incompetence on the part of the Bush administration, but also downright negligence. Negligence that Americans paid dearly for - and continue to pay dearly for. It’s now been 11 years since the attacks - and since then we’ve seen 11 years of continuing war, 11 years of continuing surveillance, and 11 years of continuing disintegration of our civil liberties. Today we honor the victims who lost their lives on that day, but as a nation we must also recognize the profound impact the decisions our leaders made in the months and years after 9/11 that have made our country less safe, destabilized the planet, and shredded our constitution. Let’s hope that future memorials to this day aren’t clouded by war, anger, and xenophobia

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