Bush criticized by former 9/11 commission member

[babsbunny]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hjsuf_9jR4zMZzyl8Ekx26_cg5yAD98BG7HO0

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.

[Bolo Boffin]

1. It was vacation time!

And Al Qaeda was oh, so Clinton Administration.

[mix]

2. this simple fact

needs to be repeated...Bush was negligent at the very least of ignoring the warning, as a result many people died...thank goodness someone of Ben-Veniste's stature is keeping the truth in the public's mind

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Can't forget that Cheney also ignored the warning.

[indepat]

10. But, but, but, wasn't 2001 a very good year for junior and Laura?

:shrug:

[Octafish]

25. ''We got a laugh out of it.'' -- George W Bush

George W. Bush on 9/11: "But the day ended on a relatively humorous note"

" Noonan: You were separated on September 11th. What was it like when you saw each other again?

Mrs. Bush: Well, we just hugged. I think there was a certain amount of security in being with each other than being apart.

President Bush: But the day ended on a relatively humorous note. The agents said, "You'll be sleeping downstairs. Washington's still a dangerous place." And I said no, I can't sleep down there, the bed didn't look comfortable. I was really tired, Laura was tired, we like our own bed. We like our own routine. You know, kind of a nester. Like the way things are. I knew I had to deal with the issue the next day and provide strength and comfort to the country, and so I needed rest in order to be mentally prepared. So I told the agent we're going upstairs, and he reluctantly said okay. Laura wears contacts, and she was sound asleep. Barney was there. And the agent comes running up and says, "We're under attack. We need you downstairs," and so there we go. I'm in my running shorts and my T-shirt, and I'm barefooted. Got the dog in one hand, Laura had a cat, I'm holding Laura --

Mrs. Bush: I don't have my contacts in, and I'm in my fuzzy house slippers --

President Bush: And this guy's out of breath, and we're heading straight down to the basement because there's an incoming unidentified airplane, which is coming toward the White House. Then the guy says it's a friendly airplane. And we hustle all the way back upstairs and go to bed.

Mrs. Bush: And we just lay there thinking about the way we must have looked.

Noonan: So the day starts in tragedy and ends in Marx Brothers.

President Bush: That's right -- we got a laugh out of it." (Emphasis added)

[calimary]

3. You had a chance to do something more than sit on your ass til the coast was clear

and then write some book about it, Ben-Veniste.

So you'll get on some of the talk shows (the few that aren't hard-wired to support and provide cover for all things bushie) and have your makeup and hair done and probably buy a couple of nice new expensive imported silk designer suits for the occasion(s), too, won't you?

WHEN YOU GENUINELY AND ACTUALLY HAD A CHANCE TO DO SOMETHING, YOU SAT BACK AND KEPT YOUR POWDER DRY.

And LIES were told and not refuted or rebutted openly.

And people DIED - by the hundreds. Including American troops (that we're supposed to be supporting, especially on a weekend like this, by driving around with those cheap-ass $1.98 made-in-China yellow-ribbon "Support the Troops" car magnets).

:grr: :mad: :banghead:

[Gabi Hayes]

4. a frickin men.....if he'd have opened his yap at the time, along with the other

'democratic' members of the whitewash commission, it would have saved us four more years of Bush, and perhaps, the depression toward which we careen

[Tangerine LaBamba]

6. You said it -

writing a book about it just renders anything he says totally worthless.

Opportunistic chump who blew it. Thanks a lot, Dick ...................

[Baby Snooks]

13. What could he have done?

No more and no less than most of the members of Congress. The question is would he have done something prior to 9/11 if he'd known.

Would members of Congress have done something had they known?

The question is who might have known and more importantly who would have known and did nothing when Bush did nothing. All the conspiracy theories aside, the one fact that cannot be refuted is that four airplanes left their flight path. And were not intercepted at any point. Not any of the four airplanes. There were fighters sent to intercept the two headed for Manhattan. After the first airplane had already been flown into the North Tower at the World Trade Center and ten minutes before the second airplane would be flown into the South Tower. The fighters were twenty minutes away from Manhattan.

No fighters were sent to intercept the airplane headed for Washington that was flown into the Pentagon. Nor were any fighters sent to intercept the other airplane headed for Washington.

No one in Congress really pursued this fact. No one in Congress wanted to hear the answer. But they should have pursued it. Had the attacks been better timed they would have all been dead.

Had 9/11 been prevented we of course wouldn't be in Afghanistan or Iraq.

That of course is the point. It provided the basis to allow us to attack and invade and occupy two countries under the guise of a "war on terror" that was planned before 9/11 and probably planned in expectation of 9/11.

[Toucano]

17. He could have opened his mouth in 2004 and it might have influenced the election that year.

What is the point of him saying, now, in 2009, that the administration was negligent?

1. We already know that. The right twists and contorts themselves to deny it, but they know it too.

2. It serves no purpose. He signed off on a report that left everyone involved blameless and reinforced the ridiculous argument that inter-agency rules led to the intelligence failure when the reality was a vacuum of leadership and an administration that was concerned enough to remove their people from commercial airliners but warn no one else.


Thanks, Ben-Viniste.

[Baby Snooks]

21. In 2004?

Only the truly delusional or the truly brain-dead didn't know "what was what" in 2004. Everyone was too busy playing "good German" including quite a few members of Congress.

That was in 2004. And in 2009 we are still sweeping it all under the carpet. Still playing "good Germans" simply because that is what the new administration expects of us.

The world cries out for a Nuremberg over the revenge we sought over 9/11 which caused many to become "good Germans" and support the atrocities. History does repeat itself.

The victims of 9/11 simply cry out for justice. Not revenge. Although now they cry out for justice over the revenge we sought.

We are such a shameful nation.

[Toucano]

22. "Only the truly delusional or the truly brain-dead..." don't know it now.

So why write the stupid book?

[Bluebear]

19. +1

[leveymg]

5. "You don't roll out a new product-line in August."

So said Andrew Card. A notion echoed by Condi, Cheney and the rest of Dubya's inner circle. So, the FBI was never let loose to roll up the Al-Qaeda attack cells known to be in the final final stages of operations inside the U.S.

Beside, "the adults" had it covered.

Famous last words, "Do your orders still stand, Sir?"

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[upi402]

8. Good that the "Warren Commission II" is coming clean

Lets hope more come forward to tell about info that was ignored or swept under the rug

[spanone]

11. bu$h* was too busy 'keeping us safe' to worry about bin laden blowing up buildings

wink wink nudge nudge

[Toucano]

12. "...determined to strike inside the U.S."

We already know this.

The Bush apologists said doing nothing was the right thing to do, if I recall correctly. There was no, as Condi put it, "actionable intelligence".

Thanks for nothing, Ben-Veniste.

[Baby Snooks]

14. Not true...

The intelligence was very specific about planned hijackings and about an approximate time frame. The FBI could have notified the airports and the airlines which would have alerted them to the threat and most airports and airlines would have been suspicious of 19 men purchasing one-way tickets and paying cash and also not having any luggage except for their carry-on luggage. Which would have been searched. Had the airlines known there was a threat of hijackings. The point is the airlines didn't know. And they didn't know because the hijackings fit into the planned "war on terror" and when you look closely at the involvement of Princess Haifa it is probable that Bush knew about it long before the intelligence was presented to him.

[Toucano]

15. Again, we already know that.

That is not coming from Ben-Viniste's book.

There was plenty of testimony for the commission to examine. They gave everyone involved a "no foul" free pass in their report and now I am expected to jump with glee because Ben-Viniste writes a book telling everyone what we already know?

The only thing he can offer is is some insight into the secret testimony of Bush and Cheney, which the commission should have refused to permit in the first place.

[SpiralHawk]

16. "I was just implementing our Republicon Shock & Awe strategery. Smirk" - xCommander AWOL (R)

"So don't get all pissy. What the Hell were you Americans expecting from us fatcat Republicon Homelanders? Responsibility? Competence? Bwaaa ha ha ha ha. Smirk."

- xCommander AWOL (R)
(

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[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

18. Even more than the Aug 6 PDB is the July 10 meeting between Rice, Tenant and Black

Please read this link
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/30/911-meeting/

No one has ever gotten their stories straight on this one. Condi couldn't remember the meeting that Black (I think) described as 10 on a scale of 10. The 9/11 Commission first said they weren't told, but later on I think they said they were told. Which is it? Both scenarios are bad both for the Bush administration AND the 9/11 Commission.

Dick Cheney HIMSELF in his speech this week seemed to imply that they did not take Al Qaeda seriously when he said 9/11 caused them to take a "second, serious look at threats that had been gathering for awhile" .

[malaise]

20. The more you think about it the more you realize

that 9/11 happened because of Bush and Cheney. All this crap about safety after the fact is just to cover their incompetent criminal asses.
I hope I'm alive to hear the truth - I have my own views on this one.

[Gabi Hayes]

23. wouldn't you love to see the brave exVeep on a show with, oh, say, Kristen Breitweiser?

let him spout that "kept us safe crap" to her.....

[malaise]

24. I'd like to see him with a few people including KO and Rachel

They'd tear him a new one.