| Subject: Re: Thanks for the post. |
Author:
The Veeckster
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Date Posted: 13:33:17 06/29/02 Sat
Author Host/IP: 67.24.231.6
In reply to:
Rubber Ducky
's message, "Thanks for the post." on 11:55:23 06/29/02 Sat
yeah very serious.
>Wow, serious stuff.
>
>>Totally irresponsible.Another failure of leadership by
>>Shrub.
>>
>>
>>
>>Terror was low priority before Sept. 11
>>
>>
>>- - - - - - - - - - - -
>>By Ted Bridis
>>
>>
>>
>>June 28, 2002 | WASHINGTON (AP) --
>>
>>President Bush's national security leadership met
>>formally nearly 100 times in the months prior to the
>>Sept. 11 attacks yet terrorism was the topic during
>>only two of those sessions, officials say.
>>
>>The White House acknowledged the dearth of top-level
>>meetings devoted to the subject of terrorism by the
>>"principals committee" of the National Security
>>Council. Yet it has aggressively defended the level of
>>attention, given only scattered hints of al-Qaida
>>activity.
>>
>>One current security council official, speaking on
>>condition of anonymity, said that intensive planning
>>of anti-terrorism strategies was largely the role of
>>midlevel committees at the NSC -- not the
>>Cabinet-level players.
>>
>>"The president was being briefed. The principals were
>>being briefed, perhaps not together," this official
>>said.
>>
>>The description of the 90 to 100 meetings was
>>confirmed by three White House officials.
>>
>>Critics said the low number of terrorism meetings by
>>the most senior members of the security council
>>indicated the administration's priorities were
>>elsewhere.
>>
>>"What were the principals doing to bring this to the
>>attention of the president?" asked P.J. Crowley,
>>council spokesman for the Clinton administration.
>>"Given our growing understanding of this threat that
>>we built in '90s about the emerging threat of
>>terrorism, they just didn't seem to get it."
>>
>>Clinton officials said their council principals met
>>every two to three weeks to discuss terrorist threats
>>after mid-1998. Those meetings increased during times
>>of heightened terrorist concerns, such as immediately
>>prior to the millennium celebrations, when the
>>principals met nearly every day to discuss threat
>>levels.
>>
>>Bush's principals committee was focused on missile
>>defense, Iraq, China, international economic policy,
>>global warming and the U.S. stance toward Russia, a
>>subject of particular interest to National Security
>>Adviser Condoleezza Rice, a Russian expert who has now
>>worked for both Bush presidents.
>>
>>In addition to Rice, the principals usually included
>>CIA Director George Tenet, Defense Secretary Donald H.
>>Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Gen.
>>Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
>>Staff.
>>
>>One discussion on terrorism occurred July 3, amid
>>escalating concerns about a likely attack by al-Qaida,
>>one official said. But experts believed al-Qaida would
>>attack American targets overseas, not inside the
>>United States.
>>
>>The other terrorism meeting occurred Sept. 4 as the
>>security council put finishing touches on a proposed
>>national security policy review for the president.
>>
>>White House spokesman Ari Fleischer has described the
>>council's review as a "comprehensive, multi-front plan
>>to dismantle the al-Qaida." It included instructions
>>for the Pentagon to develop military strikes, plans to
>>work closely with Afghanistan's Northern Alliance
>>against al-Qaida and proposals to freeze bank accounts
>>linked to Osama bin Laden's group.
>>
>>That review was finished Sept. 10 and was awaiting
>>Bush's approval when the first plane struck the World
>>Trade Center.
>>
>>Bush himself said in February 2001 that the nation
>>hadn't done enough to prepare for possible terrorist
>>attacks, and he pledged: "I will put a high priority
>>on detecting and responding to terrorism on our
>soil."
>>
>>A few weeks earlier, Tenet had told Congress, "The
>>threat from terrorism is real, it is immediate, and it
>>is evolving." He described bin Laden and his global
>>network as a serious and immediate threat.
>>
>>In the last months of the Clinton administration, as
>>early as November 2000, the security council had
>>determined that al-Qaida was responsible for the Oct.
>>12 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole, which killed 17
>>sailors. Bush first linked al-Qaida to the Cole
>>bombing publicly in his speech to Congress after the
>>Sept. 11 attacks.
>>
>>"This was a failure in the Bush administration to
>>recognize the nature of terrorism and its impact on
>>the United States," said Vincent Cannistraro, a former
>>CIA chief of counterterrorism operations and analysis.
>>"Everybody felt that it was a chronic phenomenon, it
>>would continue and the best we could hope was to
>>contain it."
>>
>>One official argued that the lack of regular meetings
>>devoted to terrorism among Bush's upper-echelon
>>advisers did not mean inadequate attention was paid to
>>the subject. More work was done by lower-level council
>>staffers, who regularly briefed the principals
>>individually, even if the principals didn't meet
>>frequently on the issue, this official said.
>>
>>Crowley, who worked under Clinton, argued that
>>senior-level meetings are necessary for important work
>>to be done.
>>
>>"You really get the pull of the best information that
>>each agency has when you bring together the principals
>>with the purpose of making decisions and teeing up
>>recommendations to the president," Crowley said. "It's
>>the only way that you overcome those bureaucratic
>>barriers."
>>
>>Rice has described the work of the council's
>>Counterterrorism Security Group, directed by Special
>>Assistant Richard Clarke, which met several times each
>>week during July and August. By Aug. 6, Bush received
>>a briefing report with the heading, "Bin Laden
>>Determined to Strike the United States." The report
>>discussed the possibility of traditional airline
>>hijackings.
>>
>>"To say that the principals never talked about it
>>before Sept. 4 is wrong," another official said.
>>"There were lots of conversations on the margins at
>>meetings or informal meetings. But the first formal
>>meeting was to review the draft policy."
>>
>>
>>Associated Press
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