How Bush Could Have Prevented the 9/11 Attacks

News Max ^ | Sunday, Apr. 11, 2004 | Carl Limbacher

[Kaslin]

A handful of Sept. 11 widows are outraged that President Bush didn't act on the August 6, 2001 briefing he got from the CIA.

"Everything is in [the briefing memo] but the date 9/11," complained Lori Van Auken whose husband died in the Twin Towers, in comments to the New York Daily News. "You have the who, what, where, why and how. The only thing you don't have is the when."

Actually, as far as the "who" goes, none of the hijackers' names appear in the Bush CIA briefing memo.

And the "what"? Nowhere does the memo warn that hijackers would use airplanes as kamikaze missiles.

"Where?" The memo mentions "federal buildings in New York." But Bush could have closed every one of them and the World Trade Center, which is not a federal building, would have still been packed with 50,000 workers on the morning of 9/11.

How about the "why" cited by Mrs. Van Auken? The CIA briefing says that "after US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington." But those attacks were launched by President Clinton, not Bush.

And the "how?" The memo makes no mention of hijackers overtaking U.S. flight crews with small knives.

Of course, if President Bush had treated the Aug. 6 PDB as actionable intelligence, there are indeed several measures he could have taken that would have guaranteed that a Sept. 11-style attack on America would have never happened.

* Because the CIA memo mentions only bin Laden by name, Bush would have had to round-up any and all of his potential followers inside the U.S., i.e., every Muslim in America, and throw them into internment camps - just like FDR did with Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor.

* Since reporters have been able to sneak any number of weapons past airport screeners even with post-9/11 security measures in place, President Bush would have had to close all America's airports to completely eliminate the possibility of hijackings.

* In order to protect against another Millennium plot bombing attack - which the memo explicitly refers to - Bush would have had to order that all shopping malls, schools, museums, movie theaters, train stations, large office buildings and other potential high value targets be closed till further notice.

* Because Millennium-plot bomber Ahmed Ressam tried to sneak across the Canadian border, Bush would have had to seal both the Canadian and Mexican border until the war on terrorism was won.

* In order to assure the elimination of the bin Laden threat, Bush would have had to launch a pre-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan. If the master terrorist ran to Pakistan, the U.S. would need to invade that country as well.

Had Bush taken the above steps, the economy would have been in shambles, the airline industry destroyed, most of the nation unemployed, the U.S. at war and six million Muslims - almost all of them innocent - would be behind bars.

But the Sept. 11 attacks would have been prevented - at least for the few months that it would have taken for the Congress to impeach and remove Bush from office for massive abuses of power.

[Kaslin]

Excellent observation by NewsMax

[WhiskeyPapa]

I dismiss statements that the 9/11 attacks were in any inevitable.

Just a few more pieces being put in their proper place might have foiled the whole thing. The difference in emphasis that the Clinton administration and the Bush administration put on international terrorism might have been decisive.

Walt

[arjay]

Outstanding article. Thanks for posting it.

[conservative cat]

Oh, how true. And he would have had just over a month to get all of that done!

[TomGuy]

"Calling channel 7, calling channel 7.
How do you tune in this dang thang?"

[america-rules]

Wrong!

Bush's only huge mistake was holding over all the Clinton failures. All this crap happened under the Clinton teams watch and Bush should have cleaned house because they knew they were not doing their job swatting flies !

[redrock]

Hindsight is always perfect.

redrock

[reluctantwarrior]

The only way to prevent an attack is to have an inside source that feeds you pre-operational intel so you can act before hand. We did not have that and it is fantasy and hindsight angst to say otherwise. We will not prevent the next attack and when it happens we will blame the same people that work hard every day to track the bad guys. The blame rests with the late Frank Church and the present day Teddy Kennedy together they have emasculated the human intel gatherers, oh and add Bobby toricelli to the list.

[Caipirabob]

Given the sabotage the rats committed on Federal property before they surrendered the White House and other agencies to the new administration, it was a long time before Bush's team even had the proper equipement in place. Imagine Bush distributing a document to round up Terrorists in the name of the " ar on Terror".

The rats did everything to disable the incomming administration. If there was anything that could be done, they are directly responsible for any delays Bush faced in getting started.

[MACVSOG68]

Wrong! Bush's only huge mistake was holding over all the Clinton failures. All this crap happened under the Clinton teams watch and Bush should have cleaned house because they knew they were not doing their job swatting flies !

And that would have somehow permitted the experts he would have brought on board to connect all the dots.....before 9/11?

[Smartass]

Hypocritical, Monday morning quarterbacking. I read
the memo as well as the world and could not find the
WHAT, WHO, WHEN OR WHERE. However, we now know WHY!!!

[Kaslin]

You're quite welcome

[Kaslin]

Exactly

[A CA Guy]

Clinton allowed Bin Laden the freedom to grow a massive terror structure that may cost us a trillion to defeat.
Laden declared war on us and when Clinton had him in hand, yet he let him go to kill Lord knows how many tens or hundreds of thousands of innocents around the whole world.

Carter then has the nerve to come out and open up his pathetic stupid pie hole. For heaven's sake, he had no gonads to handle terrorists in Iran and he had hostages held all his administration. This is the last F'ing loser that should ever open his mouth about anything. Carter is an idiot and Clinton was the worst President ever.

The Democrats attempts to make it harder to prosecute this war and to try and make hay at President Bush really makes a case for them being a pretty anti-American crowd that acts in the interest of their own power and NOT the American people IMO.

This is 100% Clinton's fault.

[Kaslin]

Wrong!

Bush's only huge mistake was holding over all the Clinton failures. All this crap happened under the Clinton teams watch and Bush should have cleaned house because they knew they were not doing their job swatting flies !

You are forgetting that the president had been forced due to teh Rat's trying to steal the 2000 election to delay getting his team together. He was forced to keep many of Billy Jeffs people on staff

[Tacis]

I sincerely regret the loss of each person murdered by religious fanatic Muslims on Sept.11 and wish there was something that could have prevented just as I sincerely regret the deaths of each person killed this weekend on the Washington Beltway by drunk drivers.

Beyound that, who gave these wealthy widows the right to assuage their guilt that they should have treated their loved one better and that they have profited mightely by that act and the grave, grave concern that some one else might have gotten something more, by criticing the governments actions and pretending they know something about national security? I guarantee that, no matter how much information some of these people have, they will never be satisfied. That is, despite the fact that they claim to want information, they want to be releived of their guilt or they want the act undone. There will ALWAYS be the next question; there will ALWAYS be "We'd have closure if we knew [what] [when] [who] [how]....."

Let's try to understand their grief. But, let's not let them think they've become spokesmen for all of us.

[Kaslin]

Well if the president had worn his Carnac The Magnificent hat, perhaps he could have seen and prevented it.

[Kaslin]

If you really want to know the truth, it is that we can thank Jimmy Peanut Carter for the situation we are in when he supported the ouster of the Shaw of Iran, who was a great supporter and friend of the US

[MizSterious]

Wasn't "Miss Cleo" out of work at that time? He could have hired her. Of course, like the political hacks on that "committee," she's a fraud...

[A CA Guy]

Jimmy was a punk for sure and he most certainly made it tough for the hostages and America under his presence in the White house, but I will stick with Clinton being responsible for the billions we pay for now in war, the growth of terror with billions of Laden monies when instead the creep should have been taken into custody in 96.

Doug from Upland should be typing his fingernails off on these threads about how Clinton is ultimately responsible. He knows so much more about Clinton than I would EVER care to know.

[Sabatier]

Exactly right. Imagine the howls of outrage if Bush had taken the necessary steps to prevent 9/11. If he had done so Congress would have been in an uproar.

The media would have accused him of conducting a witch hunt against Muslims. Politicians would have accused him of conducting an imperial presidency.

What I suspect? If Kerry gets elected a whole lot more Americans will die because a la Johnson he will get us bogged down in Iraq, not Bush.

[Chewbacca]

Bush could have prevented the 9/11 attack by running for president and winning back in 1996.

[Montaignes Cat]

Let's look at what Bush should have done: September 11, 2001 was plotted during the 1990s. The Al-Qaeda bombings during the 1990s were plotted by men raised in Muslim Brotherhood families, and the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in the 1920s. So, Bush should have stopped the formation of the Muslim Brotherhood, and their indoctrination of their followers. It doesn't matter that he wasn't born yet. He shouldn't have done things to fuel Arab resentment. He should have prevented the Pakistan and Bangladesh wars of independence, he should have forbidden Jews from living in Palestine in the 1880s. He should have supported the Arabs against the Ottoman Turks. He should have worked for the return of the Mahdi in the 1800s. He shouldn't have supported the Spanish crown from retaking Andalusia and expelling the Moslems in 1492. It is all Bush's fault.

[marajade]

Are any of the widows claiming they saw the Aug 6 briefing before we did yesterday?

I read it today and agree with Dr. Rice; its mostly historical in nature.

How could anyone marry the desire by bin Laden to hijack planes in exchange for political prisoners and using them as missiles by flying them in the WTC. Those two go to two totally different outcomes.

You can't blame Bush for wanting to keep Clinton admin staff in place... it was prudent considering the Dem controlled Senate was slow in confirming Bush nominees and the 36 day recount fiasco really hurt the transition between administrations. I remember articles saying that Gore was getting more of the confidential military briefings and that Bush was being ignored by Clinton.

[E=MC²]

"Everything is in [the briefing memo] but the date 9/11," complained Lori Van Auken whose husband died in the Twin Towers, in comments to the New York Daily News. "You have the who, what, where, why and how. The only thing you don't have is the when."

We will never know, but I wonder just how many OTHER equally probable memos the president received before 9/11 that fingered OTHER who, what, where, why and how groups??? demonrats and their eternal love affair with "smoking gun" memos always cherry pick the one out of thousands that hindsight validates and that promotes their agenda.

[CyberAnt]

I don't!

#1 - WTC was hit in 1993 - they didn't do the job right. They are known for going back to places they have partially hit before and finishing the job.

#2 - part of the WTC was built by one of Osama's brothers' construction company. I have always believed the WTC was chosen because it was a DUAL hit - at America and at Osama's family who had rejected him.

[america-rules]

"And that would have somehow permitted the experts he would have brought on board to connect all the dots.....before 9/11? "

I guess we'll never know will we !

[america-rules]

"We will never know, but I wonder just how many OTHER equally probable memos the president received before 9/11 that fingered OTHER who, what, where, why and how groups??? demonrats and their eternal love affair with "smoking gun" memos always cherry pick the one out of thousands that hindsight validates and that promotes their agenda. "

Woodwords first book said Bush gets briefed on over 100 threats per day, every day.

[Shery]

YES, AND REMEMBER HOW MUCH TROUBLE THE DEMS WERE GIVING BUSH TO GET HIS CABINET NOMINATIONS THROUGH...AND STILL ARE. SOMEWHERE IN THE PROCESS OF ALL THE STALLING AND NAME-CALLING BY THE DEMS SOME STUFF PROBABLY GOT OVERLOOKED IN FRUSTRATION WITH DEALING WITH THE DEMS. BUSH IS NOT SUPERMAN! IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN A CONCERTED EFFORT TO STOP 9/11 AND THE DEMS WERE MAKING A CONCERTED EFFORT TO GIVE BUSH A HARD TIME OVERALL!

[secretagent]

"Where?" The memo mentions "federal buildings in New York." But Bush could have closed every one of them ...

Hmmm....

[NordP]

How Bush Could Have Prevented the 9/11 Attacks = Crystal Ball

;-) sheesh

[Kaslin]

The WTC towers were not federal buildings

[Kaslin]

Or worn his Carnac The Magnificent hat

Re: How Bush Could Have Prevented the 9/11 Attacks = Crystal Ball

;-) sheesh

[secretagent]

Yes, but don't ignore the plus side.

[Kaslin]

Someone recently posted the question if these widows aren't the ones who refused to accept the offer of $2.5 million in damage because they were hoping to get more money. I thought that was a good point

[MACVSOG68]

I guess we'll never know will we !

Perhaps not, but given the lack of details in that memo at least, as well as the lack of communications among the various intelligence agencies, I doubt seriously if any political appointees could have made a difference.

But perhaps you could lay out a scenario in which after confirmation, say around July, this miracle could have been achieved...

[Kaslin]

That doesn't mean he would have been elected then

[KillBill]

I don't know about you, but in my high school World Civ class we came to a general consensus that the U.S. should invade Afghanistan to take out the Taliban (most recently having blown up Bamiyan Buddhas) and Bin Laden. Though that memo says absolutely nothing new, if Clinton had the resolve or Bush the time to invade Afghanistan pre-9/11, I think it would have been supported more than Bosnia would have been.

[F.J. Mitchell]

As a realist, I fully accept the fact that 911 couldn't have been prevented. As a realist, I accept the fact that the next 911 cannot be prevented, regardless of who is President or what steps are taken to prevent it. As insane as it may sound, our facing the fact that as long as Muslim (hopefully only radicals) terrorists exist upon this earth, occasional death and destruction will be the unavoidable lot of everyone else, will actually make us safer. Not safe just safer.

Until we come to terms with exactly who and what the enemy is and act instead of react, we are giving the enemy a huge advantage. Like a herd of sheep blaming only the hungry lobo's instead of recognizing that we are dying to satisfy the entire lobo pack's lust for inflicting pain and tasting blood, our naivety will be used against us, just as effectively as any sophisticated weapon of mass destruction.

Playing the stooge to stooges at the expence of our own existance, is not something we will want to brag to our enslaved grandchildren about.

[Kaslin]

Billy Jeff's invasion on Bosnia was greatly supported by the left and by some of the right too

[NYCVirago]

Bump for a great article!

[MainFrame65]

>"Hindsight is always perfect."<

The only place "hind sight" has any value is in some of the sleazier drinking establishments where I spent part of my misspent youth.

[Imperialist]

I posted this rant at another thread, seems more relevant here on this thread though:

I just want to repeat something I have felt and mentioned since 9/11/01 with regards to the newly released "PDB". It seems everyone is looking to blame somebody for the attack, naturally. Though our intelligence apparatus could have performed better, they did manage to get some good intel prior to 9/11/01. So much intel that in June 2001 a warning was given to the FAA about AQ hijacking domestic flights. The info was passed on to the airline industry. And what did the airline industry do? Nothing. Prior to 9/11/01, alot of aircraft cockpits had what amounted to a shower curtain seperating the pilots from the passengers. I quit flying in 1999 because of security and mechanical problems the airline industry still has. I have stood in front of the curtain to the cockpit and looked in there to see what I could see. Back then I could hardly believe that the cockpit was so vulnerable. Gore even tried to get the airlines to tighten security but the airlines lobbied against it to the point where they had the suggested security improvements but which had no deadline for enforcement. All the airlines cared about was profit or lack there of. Upgrading security was to expensive for them back then. Your safety was/is not included in the cost of the ticket to fly, as an EL AL Exec. pointed out shortly after 9/11.

I blame the Airline Industry for 9/11/01 by not responding to the hijack warning given in June 2001. Of course Klintoon Admin could have declared war on AQ in 1996 and things might have been different.

Sorry about the rant. Thanks.

[Tunehead54]

The Democrats attempts to make it harder to prosecute this war and to try and make hay at President Bush really makes a case for them being a(n) pretty anti-American crowd that acts in the interest of their own power and NOT the American people IMO.

This is 100% Clinton's fault.

---

There. That's better. Let's not mince words when our national security is at stake. Hope you don't mind! (Bump for your thoughts.) ;-)

[rj45mis]

"This is 100% Clinton's fault."

Although one can rarely blame a single individual for such a tragedy, I am comfortable in saying that FORMER President Clinton should have to bear the brunt of the blame for 9/11. He cared about little else but maintaining power and satisfying his sexual urges at the expense of the welfare of our nation. IMO he truly is the worst President in our history. He receives credit for an economic recovery that started long before he took office.

[NYCVirago]

Someone recently posted the question if these widows aren't the ones who refused to accept the offer of $2.5 million in damage because they were hoping to get more money. I thought that was a good point.

At least some of these professional victims are not taking money from the 9/11 Victims' Compensation Fund, so they can sue the government, and try to hurt Bush. Money is part of it, but left-wing ideology is what's really driving them. And I think the ones not taking the money are also the ones with wealthy husbands who had lots of life insurance. Remember, life insurance payoffs are deducted from any money received from the 9/11 Fund.

[Solamente]

Don't forget all the racial profiling stories in the year or two before 9/11. Law enforcement was just getting used to all the restrictions of their suspicions.

[CalKat]

Perhaps it goes even further back to when we overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran to put the Shah back in power. The seeds of the so called democracy we want were there, but the elections didn't go our way, so we squashed it immediately, to no advantage of average Iranians.

[CalKat]

People keep using the Clinton excuse, that Bush couldn't "have taken the necessary steps...that Congress would have been in an uproar". If Bush couldn't do it, how could Clinton do it?

[FlashBack]

I agree, Clinton will go down in history as THE worst President in America's history...THAT'S his legacy!!
Tough words on terrorism for eight straight years with no substansive action to back it up is the reason behind 9-11, that and all the PC crap flying around out there...wouldn't want to "offend" anyone for crying out loud!! The Clintonistas tied the hands of our law enforcement agencies, ransacked the military, gutted the intelligence communities, and now it's ALL Bush's fault???
These people need to get a f'n clue!!!