Graham 9/11 Coverup Claim Lacks Proof

tbo.com ^

[Retired Chemist]

WASHINGTON - A secret report on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks details how Saudi Arabian diplomats and other Saudi officials assisted some of the hijackers who flew jets into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, intelligence agency and congressional sources who have seen the report said. But the report, prepared by a joint congressional inquiry and totaling nearly 900 classified pages, is said to lack strong support for the incendiary presidential campaign assertions of Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Miami Lakes, who charges the Bush administration has engaged in a coverup. The report details failures of ``senior administration officials´´ - National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and possibly President Bush - to heed warnings in August 2001 of a possible attack on U.S. interests somewhere in the world, possibly involving al-Qaida hijackings of airplanes. Official confirmation of such failures could prove provocative. But the warnings are said to have been too unclear for authorities to take decisive steps, at specific locations, at precise times or against identified individuals to conceivably prevent the terrorist attacks. ``There´s not anything like a coverup going on,´´ said U.S. Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fort Myers, former CIA agent and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who helped Graham oversee the inquiry. ``He´s got a different agenda, I think.´´ At the White House, Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer put it more bluntly. Responding to Graham's assertions that focusing on terrorism instead of Iraq's Saddam Hussein might have prevented the deadly car bombings in Saudi Arabia, Fleischman said Graham was just trying to ``carve out a name or an issue for himself.´´ ``His allegations are strong but baseless,´´ said Republican National Committee spokesman Chad Colby. ``It´s blatant politics. He´s trying to distinguish himself from the other Democrats, to break out of the pack.´´ Added Colby, a Sarasota native: ``It´s sad. This guy was my senator. He built a reputation as an incredible guy. I guess this shows what politics can do to a person.´´

[G.Mason]

Senator(?)Graham needs to go back and do what he does best.

Work a day at McDonalds, Joe Bob's Auto Repair, or any other non-descript job that will tolerate his silliness.

Once Graham is exposed to the "light of day" it's the whole country that sees he's a boob, not just Floridians.

[MEG33]

You mean Graham is misleading us?..I'm shocked..shocked! Saudis are in danger themselves now..perhaps the reformers may have some clout..but I have little hope.We may have more clout,too.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Miami Lakes

Is he a U.S. Senator or a State Senator? If he is a U.S. Senator, where the hell is the State of Miami Lakes?

[MEG33]

I thought he was a favorite in Florida.

[Mike4Freedom]

where the hell is the State of Miami Lakes?

This article appeared in a Tampa, FL newspaper/website so was written in accordance with local standards. Everyone knows he represents the state but people need to know where, within the state he lives. That is what the local style manual requires and is typical throughout Florida. Even when talking about a county commissioner, they will use the city of his residence.

[meenie]

A secret report analyzes the situation and declares Graham a liar. Why is the (secret) report not released so the individual can make up his own mind? If the report is secret, how does the press get its hands on the report? Until the report is released to the public, I have to assume that the propaganda continues. Chris Cox (R) has complained that there has been a reluctance by the administration to furnish documents and cooperation to his committee investigating the intelligence failures leading up to 9/11.

[mware]

That is exactly what Sen. Chuck Hagel said this morning on Fox Sunday when Tony Snow asked him if there was anything in the meetings he attended with Graham that showed the President ignored information that would have stopped 911

[cksharks]

Are you accusing President Bush And Condi of lying?????????If so I suggest you just say so and dont beat around the bush. That is what that asshole graham is doing. Just put it on the record that you think the president is lying.

[EggsAckley]

``He´s got a different agenda, I think.´´

Ya think??!?

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Graham is just the kind of reckless liar that the Democrat party loves to nominate for President.

I wouldn't count him out until after he is interviewed on 60 Minutes after the 2004 Super Bowl.

[MEG33]

Some of the report betrays ongoing investigations..It is going through the security check and some in government have never wanted to release anything .Everything is top secret.The fight is going on between releasers and the censors.Happens in every report that contains intelligence.

[section9]

Are you accusing President Bush And Condi of lying?????????If so I suggest you just say so and dont beat around the bush. That is what that asshole graham is doing. Just put it on the record that you think the president is lying.

No, it goes deeper than that. In truth, without the time, place, and personnel information, there is nothing that Condi or GW could have done. We forget that the terrorists had the strategic initiative at the time.

People want to go and blame Bush, or Condi, or Tenet, or whomever, but the fact is, we had a very talented enemy who was adept at compartmentalizing information. That enemy also had the advantage of the element of surprise. That has been lost, but it was there in the beginning.

There is no way, save for a defector from Al Qaeda in the pre-9-11 period, that that operation could have been stopped. Look at how lax security was in those days: the terrorists carried boxcutters on aircraft, for God's sake. Low tech weaponry, coulpled with highly detailed planning. One of the hijackers was pulled over on a traffic stop by a highway patrolman, for God's sake.

Whenever the conspiracy nutcases get going, I like to remember America as it was in November of 1941. We had a certainty that Japan was on the verge of a major offensive in the Pacific. However, there were ongoing negotiations with Ambassador Nomura at the same time. As it stood, attention in those days was being paid to the undeclared war on the U-Boat fleet going on in the Atlantic. Only towards the end of November did Roosevelt come to the conclusion that war with Japan would come sooner rather than later.

But they didn't know where. Pearl Harbor itself was considered a lower probability target. The Phillipines, laying astride the sealanes between the oil rich Dutch East Indies, the resource rich French IndoChina, and the Indian Ocean, was considered the most likely target. In actuality, it was the primary objective of the initial Japanese offensive, but no one in America understood that Yamato was determined to put the American fleet out of the game as a corollary to the attack on the Phillipines.

A political map of the Pacific on the eve of war, November, 1941

Nagumo's First Mobile Fleet left the Hokkaido Island region on the 26th of November. The fleet was lost to American reconnaissance. Everyone knew that the Mobile Fleet was somewhere, most everyone knew that it was going to be used in an upcoming Japanese offensive. No one knew where the Mobile Fleet was headed. And Admiral Nagumo was proceeding under strictest radio silence. His radio silence doctrine was so effective that to this day there is disagreement as to whether or not Nagumo was compromised on his long journey to Hawaii.

Time, place, and method were lost to the Americans. This same set of circumstances would be repeated almost sixty years later. Think of Condi Rice as George C. Marshall and George W. Bush as FDR. In both situations, 9-11 and Pearl Harbor, the individuals at the top of the intelligence food chain were not given the information they needed to make command decisions.*

When the strategic and the tactical initiative lie with the enemy, as well as the element of surprise, these things happen.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

*Indeed, there is debate as to what Admiral Husband Kimmel, then CINCPAC, should have done even had he had the information needed on the whereabouts of the Mobile Fleet. Had he flooded his battleships as well as moved his carriers to the east, the Japanese might have been able to take advantage of their superiority in air numbers to sink the Pacific Fleet whilst it was in the open ocean. As it was, Enterprise was moving in the general direction of Wake Island and Lexington had left Pearl on the 5th for Midway Island, and Saratoga was at San Diego. The Battleship divisions were left at Pearl, a move that was decisive in shaping the nature of the Pacific War.

cj

[Just mythoughts]

The is no way in .ell that if such a "cover-up" existed that it would not already found its way on the front page of the NEW YORK TIMES.

Reason for so many lying low life liberals running for President is that gives them ability to go after President Bush with a long drawn out list of accusations
kinda of like "gang rape".

Reason for "secrecy" is because of the number of lying low life liberals "leaking" bits and pieces of information, just to inflict harm to US and President.

I wish the President didn't have to tell these "HATE AMERICA FIRST" liars anything.

[NightWriter]

<< The report details failures of "senior administration officials" --
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and possibly President
Bush -- to heed warnings in August 2001 of a possible attack on
U.S. interests somewhere in the world, possibly involving al-Qaida
hijackings of airplanes. Official confirmation of such failures could
prove provocative. But the warnings are said to have been too
unclear for authorities to take decisive steps, at specific locations,
at precise times or against identified individuals to conceivably
prevent the terrorist attacks. >>

What is being covered up here is not the apparent complicity of Saudi officials, whether witting or otherwise, in financing the hijackers -- it was and remains the still-unexplained failure of ATC, the FAA, NORAD and the air assets under NORAD's command to execute, promptly, the USG's standing orders which provide for the interception of any and all aircraft flying in or near US airspace with which contact has been lost.

The question is whether anyone who is in a position to present, to the American public, a factual account that explains why the system failed on 09/11, could themselves continue to participate in the governing of the nation after doing so? This administration clearly does not believe that it can.

It will take a -true- patriot to speak the truth to the American public -- without regard to the fate of his own career -- and unfortunately, there are very few of those in public life today, in this or any other country I am acquainted with.

If Graham turns out to be one, I'll be among the very first to salute him.

[HairOfTheDog]

Why is it so hard to believe that what happened is exactly what they said happened? - That there were vague rumors and rumblings, but nothing they could definitively DO anything about? It is easy to pretend that these tips and rumors were happening in a vacuum, that no other information was also being filtered and analyzed and prioritized. Thousands of judgment calls are made every day based on 'tips' and 'rumors'. Only in hindsight are they clear.

[Just mythoughts]

So you have seen this oh so secret intelligence.

Lets not mention who the .ell let this bunch in the country in the first place, and who let them on the planes that they uses as bombs.

Hindsight is 20/20 this low life hustler deserves nothing more than a good grilling, since he had access to warnings long before President Bush stepped in the the Oval Office.

I would have just as much credibility in claiming that these lying low life liberals "set" up President Bush to take a fall over the 9/11 attacks.


There is a very long list of Senators and Representatives who if they were doing their oversight jobs, that they are Constitutionally required, a whole lot of stuff would not have happened. Who is covering up for them?

Graham is running for President and he sure isn't putting his political career at risk now is he.

[CyberAnt]

Yes, and Pat Roberts on FOX this morning tried to help that opinion along. He appeared to agree it was purely political, and indicated he was checking to see what Bob was saying about it when HE WASN'T A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ... Hehehehe. Then he also implied it was a stupid thing for Bob to be doing.

[george wythe]

Last night I had a dream about the New Hampshire primaries, and Graham was asking to Edwards, "How did I make it to the top four candidates?"

In my dream, Kerry, Lieberman, Edwards and Graham had gotten the most votes in the NH Democratic primaries, and Graham was as surprised as anybody else, since he realized how . b-o-r-i-n-g . he is.

[meenie]

I fail to see where my comments have anything to do with lying on the part of Bush. If this is your reaction, evidently this is your suspicion. He has not or his administration have not closed our borders, and are inspecting 3% of our incoming ships.

Then it is learned in Congressional hearings that 20,000 airport screeners have not been cleared for criminal or security violations related to their job. Wake up! This is not a political issue. This is our people at risk. What happened to free thinking in this country? All issues are related to the rise or fall of some ideological idea with no thought given to the logical and practial solution to a problem.