CIA Rebuffs 9/11 Commission Criticism

[cal04]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA (news - web sites) defended itself against criticism in the Sept. 11 commission report on Thursday and said it had warned of the possibility of terrorists using hijacked planes before the 2001 attacks took place."CIA regularly reported on threats to civil aviation including hijacking," a CIA official said on condition of anonymity to a group of reporters before the report's release.


The report criticized the spy agency, already under fire for its flawed intelligence on Iraq (news - web sites)'s banned weapons before last year's invasion, for failing to properly understand the threat of the al Qaeda movement that carried out the attacks.


It slammed the agency's methods as "Cold War" and bemoaned the lack of any expansion in the CIA's paramilitary operations in the face of potential terrorist attacks.


The strong defense by CIA appeared intended to forestall further criticism of the agency, whose director, George Tenet, resigned in the face of a barrage of complaints about intelligence failures in Iraq and over Sept. 11.


The official said the CIA in 1999 had provided the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) with language to use in briefing U.S. airline officials that read: "Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) remains interested in targeting U.S. interests including on U.S. territory. He is well prepared to consider kidnappings and hijackings as well as bombings."


"All of those warnings plus other intelligence reports of a similar nature through that period were provided in time to do something about it. It wasn't too late. The industry could have taken countermeasures and so forth. So we were on time and on target with that," he said.


ISLAMIST TERRORISM


The CIA official spoke on Wednesday on condition his remarks not be published until the report was released.
He disputed the commission's conclusion that Tenet did not develop a management strategy for a war against Islamist terrorism before the Sept. 11 attacks. "The assertions in this report represent a triumph of theory over fact," the official said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=2&u=/nm/20040722/ts_nm/security_commission_intelligence_dc

[molly]

1. Are we surprised?

BTW - I don't think that the comment "it's a slam dunk" was ever made.

[Zorra]

9. Not one bit.

We already knew what the 9/11 commission report was going to say before it came out.

They could have skipped the whole investigation and saved taxpayers a lot of money, and told us just what they wanted us to hear from the beginning.

[Tellurian]

14. Now, someone please enlighten me..

How in the world does a bipartisan investigation end up in a dead heat, where no one is able to assign not one single factoid of blame to any area within the US government. Except for a dysfunctional systemic overview.

I've read a partial facsimile stating the system currently in place, ei. setup of the agencys responsible for national security and public safety have been declared by the commission as dysfunctional...

oh, well! Where are the mandates blueprinting a proposed reform? Are we to remain at the mercy of the appropriations committee ongoing turf war with the national security agency's need for secrecy.

Hey, just tell all these agency heads, there won't be any paychecks until they reach resolution to this formidable dysfunctional breech in national security. Their lack of motivation is affecting the safety and welfare of the citizens of this country. And they shouldn't be paid until these agencys reach a meaningful consensus!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. Woodward has a history of creating dialogue where none...

...may have actually existed. Three examples:

1. Watergate: Who was Deepthroat, and did such a person really exist? How did a reporter with all of one and one half years of experience in the world of journalism manage to develop the sources that he claimed? You have to go back into Woodward's background at Yale as a member of a Secret Society and Navy ROTC. Then you have to look at Woodward's rather interesting assignments in the Navy to include a fast-track position as a briefer in the Pentagon for such notables as two-star General Al Haig.

2. Iran-Contra: How was it possible for Woodward to get past the heavy security around William Casey's hospital room to secure a statement from Casey absolving Reagan of any blame? Based on the fact that Casey was heavily medicated, how was it possible that Casey was able to talk? Casey's family members stated that conversation with Casey was just not possible. The next day, and very conveniently for the Iran-Contra co-conspirators including Poppy Bush, Casey died following brain surgery for a cancerous tumor.

3. Iraqi WMDs: The "Slam dunk" quote was allegedly given to Woodward by one or more NeoCons who claim they were present at a major meeting at the Crawford pigfarm. I find it more than a little odd that Tenet did not recall being present at such a meeting...but his calendar back at Langley apparently indicated that he was indeed in Crawford. Hmmmm. I also find it interesting that the person, or persons, providing the quotes have a very strong interest in shifting the the blame for the bogus Iraqi WMDs onto Tenet and the CIA.

[skypilot]

2. It's about time..

...that the CIA started speaking up and defending itself. "Intelligence failure" my ass.

[cal04]

3. not only that but when is it going

to defend their agent that was outted
they should be sticking together
Britain and US, same story, blame everyone else but the commander

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Everyone was waiting for the report

The next couple of months, should be very interesting. Especially if the DOJ finds some excuse to postpone the Plame indictments.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. The CIA has always been an excellent counter-puncher...just ask...

...JFK and Nixon.

[jdj]

4. Good, a cat fight.

The CIA knows where the bodies are buried, they can fck these folks good and hard, and I hope they do.

What is up with this "islamist" terminology? Is it a pc way of saying muslim without offending all muslims, or is it an insulting sneer? I don't know how to read it in this context.. why can't they say extremist?

[skypilot]

5. Cat fight

If there's a God, George Tenet is typing away as we speak.

[Moderator]

7. kick

[maddezmom]

8. thanks

sorry for my dupe :)

[hippiegranny]

10. just rated this article a 5

:kick:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. "The assertions in this report represent a triumph of theory over fact"...

...stick that up your butt, FratBoy, and twist it!