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Bush Admin. Briefed on Able Danger After Attacks
NewsMax ^ | 8/18/05 | NewsMax

Posted on 08/18/2005 9:46:51 AM PDT by wagglebee

Two weeks after the 9/11 the attacks, the Bush administration was told that a special military intelligence unit code named Able Danger had developed actionable intelligence two years earlier that could have foiled the 9/11 plot, a member of the Able Danger team revealed on Wednesday.

Among the Able Danger evidence shared with the Bush National Security Council: a chart put together before 9/11 featuring a picture of lead hijacker Mohamed Atta. Asked why he didn't go public before this week with the news that his group had been tracking Atta during the Clinton administration, Able Danger team member Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer told ABC radio host Sean Hannity:

"Within two weeks of the attack, this colleague of mine ... she took that very poster [with Mohamed Atta] to Congressman [Curt] Weldon," Shaffer said. "And I have to say he took it right to Michael Hadley, I believe, over at the NSC."

"It's my understanding that he gave him that chart and Hadley had a great deal of interest in it," he added.

Once the Bush administration had been briefed, Shaffer said, he thought the information would be handled properly. "[I felt] that we were good to go - that everything was going to be solved," he told Hannity.

The military intelligence sleuth stressed, however, "I'm not criticizing the Bush administration here. They're doing everything in their power to prevent this now. I think they're fully behind what we're doing. I think the Pentagon right now is fully behind me trying to get the word out and trying to get to the bottom of this."

Shaffer credited his still unidentified Able Danger colleague with managing the technical side of the program.

"The doctor who put this all together is brilliant. I mean, I cannot speak high enough of her and her brilliance in being able to break the code on this. She was able, through the technology used, to somehow pull out of all this amorphous data usable, actionable information."

"And that's where things kind of got off track," Shaffer explained. "Because at the same time she pulled that out, we then were trying to look at how we could exploit that information. And that's where the lawyers got involved."

Shaffer said that immediately after the 9/11 attacks, this same colleague alerted him to the fact that the Able Danger team had developed intelligence on the hijack team, a detail he hadn't noticed.

"My colleague called me in and said, 'Look, we knew these guys.' And I was shocked. It was like, in the pit of my stomach there was just this sinking feeling, like - we knew. We knew this!"

Congressman Weldon has previously described three attempts by Able Danger to brief the FBI on the Atta intelligence, before being blocked by lawyers at the Clinton Pentagon.

Those lawyers have yet to be identified.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 43couldnotcareless; abledanger; atta; bush; bushloved911commish; clinton; clintonfailure; clintonlegacy; gorelickmemo; impeached42; mexicofirstyoufreaks; september12era; sinkemperor; weldon; x42
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To: Phantom Lord

The same as all of the usual DemLib bigmouths - nothing!


21 posted on 08/18/2005 10:43:08 AM PDT by Solamente
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To: wagglebee
Why wasn't the Bush administration briefed before the attack?
22 posted on 08/18/2005 11:29:04 AM PDT by sydbas
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To: carl in alaska
They could be Clinton appointee lawyers assigned to the Pentagon -- a huge distinction. We don't know which lawyers, which of course the MSM considers irrelevant.
23 posted on 08/18/2005 11:39:49 AM PDT by mwl1
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To: sydbas
Why wasn't the Bush administration briefed before the attack?

That's the question the Clintonistas should be forced under oath to answer.

24 posted on 08/18/2005 11:48:39 AM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: mwl1
We don't know which lawyers, which of course the MSM considers irrelevant.

Hell, the media considers this entire story irrelevant. It directly implicates the Klintoon regime and the media will avoid that at any cost. They would much rather give around the clock coverage to the left's puppet, Cindy Sheehan.

25 posted on 08/18/2005 11:51:01 AM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: sydbas

"Why wasn't the Bush administration briefed before the attack?"

Good question. That statement troubles me. And no doubt the rats will run with this and spin it in their best interests.


26 posted on 08/18/2005 11:56:13 AM PDT by SeaBiscuit (God Bless all who defend America and Friends, the rest can go to hell.)
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To: mwl1
"They could be Clinton appointee lawyers assigned to the Pentagon -- a huge distinction."

Quite likely. This sad incident adds to a mountain of evidence that the Clinton administration's handling of our national security was a total cluster f###.

27 posted on 08/18/2005 12:09:15 PM PDT by carl in alaska (Blog blog bloggin' on heaven's door.....Kerry's speeches are just one big snore.)
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To: wagglebee

"...she took that very poster [with Mohamed Atta] to Congressman [Curt] Weldon," Shaffer said. "And I have to say he took it right to Michael Hadley, I believe, over at the NSC."

Who is Michael Hadly.. doesn't he mean Stephen Hadly?


28 posted on 08/18/2005 12:56:22 PM PDT by SeaBiscuit (God Bless all who defend America and Friends, the rest can go to hell.)
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To: wagglebee
Hell, he said that Bush knew about the attack, and now we are fairly certain that Klintoon definitely knew.

Where do you get that ststaement from?

The article said Bush Administration briefed AFTER attacks.
29 posted on 08/18/2005 1:01:54 PM PDT by Republican Red (''Van der Sloot" is Dutch for ''Kennedy.")
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To: SeaBiscuit

Agreed. Can't see our side trying to fry any chicken at all with this, and I don't understand why not.


30 posted on 08/18/2005 1:06:04 PM PDT by txhurl
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To: Republican Red
I think you are mis-reading what I wrote.

In "Farencrap 911," Fatass basically stated that Bush had knowledge of the plot prior to 9/11. This is of course pure bullsh*t, but the left doesn't care.

What I was trying to point out is that we now know for certain that the Clintonistas had direct knowledge of Atta and could have acted to prevent 9/11. I was sarcastically wondering why Moore wouldn't do a movie on the hypocrisy of this.

31 posted on 08/18/2005 1:13:40 PM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: wagglebee
Sorry!

I'm a redhead on edge. Didn't mean to jump on you. I miss read what you wrote.

After Sheehan, the media and now Able Danger screw-ups by Clinton, I've had about all the moonbat crud I can take.
32 posted on 08/18/2005 1:18:19 PM PDT by Republican Red (''Van der Sloot" is Dutch for ''Kennedy.")
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To: wagglebee

Now this really p!sses me off. Why did they cover for the Clintons? Why did they keep Tenet around for far too long? Why didn't they honor the dead with the truth? Why do we have wide open borders to this day? Why do we have the silliest excuse for airport security, maximum inconvenience and minimal profiling?

Well, it's nice to know that we were right all along, that as more info is declassified, our well founded suspicions are being validated. Unfortunately, the more we find out, the more the Bush Admin is going to have to answer for their inaction regarding Clinton.


33 posted on 08/18/2005 1:24:50 PM PDT by ovrtaxt (Logic test: Pearl Harbor is to 911 as Harry Truman is to .....)
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To: ovrtaxt

New bumper sticker:

Clinton KNEW, Monica BLEW, Bin Laden FLED, 3000 DEAD!


34 posted on 08/18/2005 2:45:58 PM PDT by mobyss
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To: wagglebee
And that's where the lawyers got involved.

Famous last words. Just ask the people who died in the towers.
35 posted on 08/18/2005 2:49:20 PM PDT by AD from SpringBay (We have the government we allow and deserve.)
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To: darkwing104

My sentiments exactly. Boycott the unholy trinity (ABC,NBC,CBS, oh and CNN) until they begin to tell the news (instead of how they want everyone to think).


36 posted on 08/18/2005 3:17:07 PM PDT by whenigettime
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To: carl in alaska

Why hasn't anyone named the lawyers yet?


37 posted on 08/18/2005 3:22:17 PM PDT by dearolddad
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To: wagglebee

The big problem here is that Bush has been reluctant to go after the past administration. Even where it's warranted. This "uniter not a divider" thing, I feel, has been taken a little bit too far. Sometimes, you have to be mean.


38 posted on 08/18/2005 3:31:13 PM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
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To: ovrtaxt

Answer: Bush: "I am a uniter, not a divider."

Bush is a known devotee to Dale Carnegie methodologies.

Certainly, there is a place for them, for example, when dealing with civilized, honorable people, or even ones not quite to that level but whose hearts are in the right place. But the problem is, when dealing with cutthroats, traitors and Communists, you CANNOT use Dale Carnegie - if you do, you'll get stabbed in the back! This is where I critique Bush. If ever there was a clear situation where being heavy handed was called for, it is in dealing with the treason and crimes of the past administration. Come on people, go after the villains! Don't worry about what the Left will say! Go after Janet Sterno, Slick "Cigar" Willie, Fats Richardson, and the whole lot of them! And do it soon, before the '08 horse race begins! Etc ...


39 posted on 08/18/2005 3:37:31 PM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
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To: wagglebee
Asked why he didn't go public before this week with the news that his group had been tracking Atta during the Clinton administration, Able Danger team member Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer told ABC radio host Sean Hannity:

I saw this guy on TV and my impression was that he couldn't give a straight answer to any of the questions posed. It was all pretty vague. I'd like to hear more details from other people who can explain exactly what happened.

Shaffer said that immediately after the 9/11 attacks, this same colleague alerted him to the fact that the Able Danger team had developed intelligence on the hijack team, a detail he hadn't noticed.

If it was actionable intelligence why did he not notice it? Maybe it was just something in a mass of information that had been gathered whose relevance was not noticed until after 9/11.

40 posted on 08/18/2005 3:37:34 PM PDT by wideminded
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