It was 11 years ago today that 19 psychopaths took the lives of over 3,000 people. What few people still can't let themselves admit is it also represents a massive failure of intelligence and leadership. The intelligence failure could have been mitigated if the Bush administration had shown more leadership but the administration was busy planning an invasion and occupation of Iraq which in the end would benefit Iran.
Kurt Eichenwald: The direct warnings to Mr. Bush about the possibility of a Qaeda attack began in the spring of 2001. By May 1, the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report that "a group presently in the United States" was planning a terrorist operation. Weeks later, on June 22, the daily brief reported that Qaeda strikes could be "imminent," although intelligence suggested the time frame was flexible.It's those same neoconservatives the Romney has turned to for his foreign policy advise. If you thought Iraq was a mistake what do you think an attack on Iran would be.
But some in the administration considered the warning to be just bluster. 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, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat. Intelligence officials, these sources said, protested that the idea of Bin Laden, an Islamic fundamentalist, conspiring with Mr. Hussein, an Iraqi secularist, was ridiculous, but the neoconservatives' suspicions were nevertheless carrying the day.
In response, the C.I.A. prepared an analysis that all but pleaded with the White House to accept that the danger from Bin Laden was real.[bold mine]
Yes it's important to remember those who died on that day but it's also important what contributed to it and the horrible and costly mistakes that followed.
Eichenwald was interviewed this morning on Morning Edition.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/2012/09/11/160924602/the-deafness-before-the-sept-11-attacks
Same message as the editorial.
I'm still waiting for some media to spell it out in plain language: There was no Al Qaeda in Itaq until the US launched a war three. The Al Qaeda franchise may be damaged but if current news reports are any indication, they are stronger than ever in Iraq. What was it, a hundred dead a couple days ago?
Some of that blood is the result of the war in Iraq. Even now, and especially today, most Americans imagine the Iraq war had something to do with 9/11. Well actually it did, but only because the Bush administration and the aforementioned neocons made it so after the event.
Thanks John - I embeded the interview.
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