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zinnisking

(405 posts)
75. Highest level of reported threats since the millennium alert.
Fri Sep 18, 2015, 04:46 PM
Sep 2015

I've been reading the Sept.11 commission report. You should start here. It'll give you an idea of why the neocons didn't respond (even after months of monumental threats, they weren't buying it). And the report gives examples of ways this might have been stopped if we had an executive branch that wasn't careless.

http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch8.htm

In the spring of 2001, the level of reporting on terrorist threats and planned attacks increased dramatically to its highest level since the millennium alert.

Tenet told us that in his world "the system was blinking red." By late July, Tenet said, it could not "get any worse."

Threat reports surged in June and July, reaching an even higher peak of urgency.

Most of the intelligence community recognized in the summer of 2001 that the number and severity of threat reports were unprecedented.
......................

The neo-cons weren't buying it. Ashcroft did. Given specific warnings about aircraft he took actions to protect himself. More from the report:

Clarke wrote that this was all too sophisticated to be merely a psychological operation to keep the United States on edge, and the CIA agreed. The intelligence reporting consistently described the upcoming attacks as occurring on a calamitous level, indicating that they would cause the world to be in turmoil and that they would consist of possible multiple-but not necessarily simultaneous-attacks.

More:

Tenet told us that in his world "the system was blinking red." By late July, Tenet said, it could not "get any worse."30 Not everyone was convinced. Some asked whether all these threats might just be deception. On June 30, the SEIB contained an article titled "Bin Ladin Threats Are Real." Yet Hadley told Tenet in July that Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz questioned the reporting. Perhaps Bin Ladin was trying to study U.S. reactions. Tenet replied that he had already addressed the Defense Department's questions on this point; the reporting was convincing. To give a sense of his anxiety at the time, one senior official in the Counterterrorist Center told us that he and a colleague were considering resigning in order to go public with their concerns.


...................

So far after monumental warnings, scary titled memos, and counter terrorist officials running around with their hair on fire trying to get their superiors to listen, the only person taking action is John Ashcroft, heeding advice to protect himself by staying away from commercial aircraft. If only the rest of Americans were as privileged as him. Maybe things would have been different if those counter terrorist officials had gone public. We couldn't count on the neo-cons to respond when they acted like the threats weren't real.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Do these things: Oneironaut Sep 2015 #1
Good points oberliner Sep 2015 #2
" I just don't know what it is he ought to have done that might have helped to prevent the attacks" jberryhill Sep 2015 #15
I have read the 9-11 Report - "it was a whitewash" PufPuf23 Sep 2015 #24
kmafb? unblock Sep 2015 #27
I forgot already lol nt PufPuf23 Sep 2015 #30
awesome ;) unblock Sep 2015 #41
OK I was rudely swearing at Kissinger PufPuf23 Sep 2015 #51
yeah, i started off fine with "kma" but the "fb" tripped me up. unblock Sep 2015 #53
This is your definition of "whitewash": jberryhill Sep 2015 #59
OK Then incompetence and "whitewash" nt PufPuf23 Sep 2015 #62
No - but I should and I will oberliner Sep 2015 #57
The memo says... jberryhill Sep 2015 #9
He could have ended his vacation, for starters, and gone back to DC to confer pnwmom Sep 2015 #3
Stop flights over the Pentagon? jberryhill Sep 2015 #14
Did I say I didn't want to? I just listed things I thought of -- not every thing pnwmom Sep 2015 #17
It says there were 70 investigations already going on jberryhill Sep 2015 #21
We did have airport security. It wasn't the Federal government's TSA program, pnwmom Sep 2015 #38
Apparenlty there was a threat assessment involving airlcraft the cheney admin took seriously when it zinnisking Sep 2015 #44
How long was it shut down AFTER the attack? nt ChisolmTrailDem Sep 2015 #23
All civilian flights were shut down after the attack jberryhill Sep 2015 #50
It's more than just one memo jberryhill Sep 2015 #4
That stupid ass look in George Bushes face as the attack was taking place..is Stuart G Sep 2015 #6
I've always wondered... wildbilln864 Sep 2015 #70
There were many memos warning of imminent attack... Human101948 Sep 2015 #5
Not only didnt take it seriously, the little prick murdering asshole says "you can say you did your randys1 Sep 2015 #31
LIHOP is the relevant acronym here... Human101948 Sep 2015 #37
I thought you were asking me, i had to read my comment LOL randys1 Sep 2015 #39
Actually, we have thwarted several attempted terrorist attacks under Obama through world wide wally Sep 2015 #7
Remember how good police work used to be (and still is) vilified now by Republicans Proud Liberal Dem Sep 2015 #45
Ok, so let's say there was no way to stop the attack before it began... ChisolmTrailDem Sep 2015 #8
While I agree our air force leftynyc Sep 2015 #19
There was plenty of opportunity to shoot down all planes while over rural areas... ChisolmTrailDem Sep 2015 #22
Excellent question leftynyc Sep 2015 #47
They were over the Atlantic. jeff47 Sep 2015 #52
Accutally it would have been very hard to locate and shoot down those planes hack89 Sep 2015 #88
No they would not have Reter Sep 2015 #26
Uh - no leftynyc Sep 2015 #48
You're wrong Reter Sep 2015 #80
I never said it would leftynyc Sep 2015 #82
You have to find the planes before you can shoot them down hack89 Sep 2015 #81
Treat us as ADULTS and arm us with factual INFORMATION as Clinton did blm Sep 2015 #10
I've always been appalled that people were told to go back to work treestar Sep 2015 #89
Had citizens been alerted to potential terror attacks they wouldn't hesitate to blm Sep 2015 #95
Compare it to the response of the Clinton administration to the Millennium bomb plot jeff47 Sep 2015 #11
Exactly. It's a matter of allocating and focusing resources. tabasco Sep 2015 #18
WARN THE PUBLIC. Attorney General Ashcroft was informed... Octafish Sep 2015 #12
+1 sketchy Sep 2015 #33
Mark Lombardi drew the picture in 1999... Octafish Sep 2015 #98
I may not be remembering correctly Proud Liberal Dem Sep 2015 #46
Bush was warned OBL hijacked jet threat at Genoa G-8 summit in July 2001. Octafish Sep 2015 #56
didn't the mayor of SF know too? grasswire Sep 2015 #63
Willie Brown got low-key early warning about air travel Octafish Sep 2015 #67
as i remember it, clarifications and denials followed reddread Sep 2015 #84
Condescenda Octafish Sep 2015 #90
PNAC wanted a "New Pearl Harbor" PufPuf23 Sep 2015 #13
+1 sketchy Sep 2015 #34
It's not just ignoring that daily briefing. tabasco Sep 2015 #16
Why do you leave out the *? That is the answer. Without *, and with "just a president," we got lonestarnot Sep 2015 #20
If the threat was known to be from Bin Laden hamsterjill Sep 2015 #25
I remember President Clinton warning of terror attacks in '98-'99 pa28 Sep 2015 #28
Day One of the stolen presidency with W the word went out that terrorism randys1 Sep 2015 #29
Not much, honestly YoungDemCA Sep 2015 #32
''All right, you've covered your ass.'' -- George W Bush to CIA briefer, August 2001. Octafish Sep 2015 #43
Well you know some here actually support the BFEE, have no idea why they do. Rex Sep 2015 #72
For some reason, that ''young Dem'' prefers the Bush explanation to mine. Octafish Sep 2015 #87
It is not "preferring Bush" treestar Sep 2015 #91
Maybe I take it personally. Octafish Sep 2015 #93
Well there is one of them. Rex Sep 2015 #96
At the very least, notify the airlines sketchy Sep 2015 #35
Lock cockpit doors mainstreetonce Sep 2015 #36
Which, thus far, has resulted in 150 fatalities jberryhill Sep 2015 #65
It may very well be that Bush could have done nothing to stop this well conceived bin Laden plan BUT kelliekat44 Sep 2015 #40
Agreed. It all could have been prevented. nt Stardust Sep 2015 #49
And IIRC we knew where those schools were on Sept 12. Gidney N Cloyd Sep 2015 #61
It's impossible to be sure Proud Liberal Dem Sep 2015 #42
both the CIA and FBI knew about and were watching the perps larkrake Sep 2015 #54
NOTHING was going to prevent 9/11 Politicalboi Sep 2015 #55
"magic planes that leave ZERO debris on the ground at impact." EX500rider Sep 2015 #79
I just can't get over why they wouldn't at least warn the airports, polly7 Sep 2015 #58
"an armed officer on each plane" jberryhill Sep 2015 #64
I have no idea. polly7 Sep 2015 #66
"Couldn't they train the number of people needed?" jberryhill Sep 2015 #68
Desperate times call for quick action. polly7 Sep 2015 #69
No Lee-Lee Sep 2015 #85
Yeah .............. you're right. polly7 Sep 2015 #86
Short of racial profiling, not a whole lot. cherokeeprogressive Sep 2015 #60
Have the CIA and other agencies go after OBL and his group pre-9/11. Rex Sep 2015 #71
He immediately stopped hunting Al Qaeda Nevernose Sep 2015 #73
They had a chance to get OBL at Tora Bora but they called off the hunt. lpbk2713 Sep 2015 #74
Recall the phoney graphics of the underground facility at Tora Bora PufPuf23 Sep 2015 #92
Highest level of reported threats since the millennium alert. zinnisking Sep 2015 #75
Thanks for the link and the info oberliner Sep 2015 #77
Read Richard Clarke's book: Against All Enemies. JoePhilly Sep 2015 #97
Clearly, a month-long vacation is the only rational response n/t arcane1 Sep 2015 #76
The Clinton administration actually stopped a couple of previous attempts, one on the WTC. Cleita Sep 2015 #78
he didnt need a briefing. reddread Sep 2015 #83
Nuke Mecca? dumbcat Sep 2015 #94
#1. Taking the briefing seriously. nt killbotfactory Sep 2015 #99
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