Posted on 04/13/2004 4:08:56 PM PDT by WinOne4TheGipper
In Journalism 1 we- those of us who were paying attention- learned that a news story had basic facts that were needed in order that the public would be properly informed. Those facts were the answers to the basic questions- Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Similarly, a briefing to the president of the United States must properly inform him of the threats that face the United States so that he may have an effective policy against anyone that wishes us ill. The August 6, 2001 presidential daily briefing fails to meet these guidelines, leaving the when, where, and how unanswered or vague or even wrong. The briefing states that the New York federal building was a possible target. It turns out that it wasn't. Another target was "Washington". There are many possible targets in Washington, both strategic and symbolic. Defending them all, with no idea when they would be attacked,l would be nearly impossible. Further, it leads the reader away from the kind of attack that happened on 9/11. "We havenot been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting," reads the document. "such as that from a [deleted text] service in 1998 saying that Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" 'Umar' Abd aI-Rahman and other U.S.-held extremists." The briefing leaves absolutely no clue as to when the potential attack may happen. You've heard the complaints about the Department of Homeland Security's color- coded alert system. Whether you're for or against that system, imagine what would happen in a pre- 9/11 world where the government had absolutely no clue when an attack may happen. In hindsight, it's easy to ask why an event happened, but with little to no credible information beforehand there was nothing the government could do, despite the howls of protest from those who have a political agenda.
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