April 16-29, 2004
9-11 Investigation
Bush Knew, Condi Lied
Bush was Warned of Al Qaeda Threat While on Vacation August 6;
Rice Lied Repeatedly Under Oath Before 9-11 Commission
By Paul Rosenberg, Editor

     After years of stonewalling, the Bush Administration finally released the Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) on al Qaeda that was presented to Bush on August 6, five weeks and one day before the 9-11 attacks. The PDB’s title—“Bin Laden determined to strike in US.”
     Aside from a few specific intelligence sources, which remained redacted (blacked out), there was no apparent security reason why the briefing could not have been declassified and released immediately after 9-11. There was, however, a clear political reason for withholding it, since it proves that Bush received sufficient warning to take vigorous preventative action and failed to do so—unlike the Clinton Administration and the Millenium Bombing plots in November and December 1999. Specifically, the PDB mentions:
• Al Qaeda operatives—including American citizens— inside the U.S.
• Past al Qaeda operations in the U.S.
• New York, Washington, D.C., The World Trade Center and “federal buildings” as targets.
• Bin Laden’s long-standing interest in attacking the U.S., at least since 1997, and as recently as early 2001.
• Bin Laden’s patience and long-term planning (at least five years for the 1998 embassy bombings).
• “[H]ijack[ing] a U.S. aircraft” and “explosives,” though not “hijacked planes as missiles.”

     All this was enough to cause Attorney General Ashcroft to stop flying on commercial airplanes. It was not enough for the Bush Administration to take decisive preventive action to protect anyone else. Instead, they continued with plans to further cut counter-terrorism funding, and massively increase missile defense, as indicated by a speech pushing missile defense by National Security Advisor Condaleezza Rice, scheduled for delivery on September 11. Because of its embarrassing nature, the administration refuses to release the text of that speech.
     Rice mislead, and even lied repeatedly under oath to the Independent 9-11 Commission on April 8. The Center for American Progress (www.americanprogress.org) posted a list of seven claims Rice made in her opening statement alone, along with contradictory facts—citing budget documents, Undersecretary of Defense Richard Armitage, and news outlets like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, etc.—as well as one true statement, disavowing her earlier lie that “No al-Qaida plan was turned over to the new administration.” [Washington Post, 3/22/04].
Rice’s four biggest lies were:
     (1) Bush continued, “pursuing the Clinton Administration’s covert action authorities and other efforts to fight the network.” Actually, Bush discontinued two key efforts—the highly-classified ‘Catcher’s Mitt’ program monitoring al-Qaida suspects inside the United States, and the Predator drone reconnaissance that spotted Osama bin Laden at least three times in late 2000. [Sources: Newsweek, 3/21/04; AP, 6/25/03]
     (2) “We bolstered the Treasury Department’s activities to track and seize terrorist assets.” Actually, Bush opposed Clinton-backed efforts by the G-7 and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to target countries with “loose banking regulations” being abused by terrorist financiers.. [Source: The Age of Sacred Terror, Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, 2003]
     (3) “We increased funding for counter-terrorism activities across several agencies.” Actually, the 2002 Bush budget proposed to slash more than half a billion dollars out of funding for counter-terrorism at the Justice Department. .” [Source: 2001 vs. 2002 Budget Analysis]
     (4) “ The threat reporting that we received in the Spring and Summer of 2001 was not specific as to time nor place, nor manner of attack.” Actually, the August 8 PDB was specific as to place (New York City, the World Trade Center, and Washington, D.C.) and manner (hijacking airplanes). [Sources: ABC News, 5/16/02; NBC Dateline, 9/10/02, text of PDB]
Rice lied further during her testimony, most notably when she repeatedly claimed that the PDB was merely a historic document. She made her meaning particularly clear when she said, “this was not a warning. This was a historic memo.” But the very title of the memo was a warning, and the last sentence of the memo read: “CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group of bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives.”
     After the PDB’s release, Bush continued lying while on vacation in Crawford, Texas, saying, “the PDB was no indication of a terrorist threat.” 

Phoenix Memo
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0412042phoenix1.html
Center for American Progress--
http://www.americanprogress.org
Overall Coverage of Condoleezza Rice & the 91 Commission
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=44767
Specific Coverage of False Claims in Rice's Opening Statement
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=44918
Aug. 6 PDB, Image of Original [PDF]:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/images/04/10/whitehouse.pdf
Aug. 6 PDB Transcript:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/10/august6.memo/index.html

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