Posted on 09/10/2006 9:16:53 AM PDT by mware
Edited on 09/10/2006 3:32:33 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
I didn't hear if anyone was planning for a live thread of the film tonight. Just in case anyone wants to start early. Some in Australia already have seen part 1. Part 1 airs tonight at 8pm Eastern Time on ABC.
Here are several of the missed opportunities to stop bin Laden prior to the devastating attacks of 9/11:
# June 1995: The CIA concluded that Osama bin Laden authorized the failed assassination attempt on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The CIA also concluded that Hassan al-Turabi, Sudan's leader, knew where bin Laden was living and aided the plot. The United States weighed options for attacking bin Laden and al-Turabi's headquarters in Sudan's capital, but retaliation plans were ultimately rejected - as tantamount to staging war with Sudan.
# February 1996 to October 1998: The United States targeted bin Laden's satellite phone calls. After a U.S. missile strike against bin Laden's camps on Aug. 20, 1998, however, an official leaked that the United States could track his movements through the use of the phone - nixing this key intelligence coup.
# March to May 1996: Varying unverified reports indicated that bin Laden's sanctuary, Sudan, offered to hand over bin Laden directly to the United States, but U.S. officials decided not to take him because there was not enough evidence at the time to charge him with a crime. (The 9/11 Commission later concluded that there was no evidence that Sudan offered bin Laden directly to the United States, but it does find substantiation that Saudi Arabia was discussed as an option.)
# March 1996 to April 1996: Eager to get from beneath sanctions, Sudan advised the United States that it had a vast intelligence database on bin Laden and more than 200 leading members of his al-Qaida terrorist network. Although FBI officials wanted to parley with the Sudanese and get their files, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright pressed to continue to box the country in economically. No deal was made for the files.
# May 1996: When Sudan finally expelled bin Laden, the terror chieftain left in the company of many other key al-Qaida members, carrying cash. Flying to Afghanistan in a transport plane with his entourage, he made the trip unscathed - even though the United States reportedly knew of the particulars of the journey.
# June 1996 to October 2001: Al-Qaida took control of Ariana Airlines, which transported illegal drugs and arms and became the main conduit of militants traveling incognito as airline employees. The United States failed to act swiftly against the airline.
# 1997: Although the CIA ramped up its Afghanistan operations and recruited some Taliban military leaders, none gets close to bin Laden.
# February 1998: The United States rejected yet another offer of the Sudanese al-Qaida files. Although the FBI remained eager to accept the offer, the official posture was that Sudan's offers were not credible - owing to Sudanese leader al-Turabi's ideologically bond with bin Laden.
# May 1998: The United States developed a plan to capture bin Laden in Afghanistan, using a CIA-owned aircraft that would swoop in from a nearby country, set down on a remote landing strip, and haul him aboard. Involved in the complex scenario that evolved over time was a team of Afghan informants who would kidnap bin Laden from his Tarnak Farm complex. CIA chief George Tenet, however, nixed the operation on grounds that, in his judgment, the impromptu Afghan allies were unreliable.
# August 1998: After the al-Qaida bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, President Clinton, in writing, authorized the CIA to arrange the capture of bin Laden, using force. Despite a lot of preliminary groundwork by the CIA, the plan never unfolded - reportedly owing to inadequate intelligence.
# August 1998 to 2000: After the embassy bombings, the United States placed two submarines on station - likely in the Indian Ocean. They were poised to launch cruise missiles at al-Qaida targets, including bin Laden. However, by the time the drone Predator spy plane soared over Afghanistan in late 2000 and famously pinpointed bin Laden on the ground, the submarines had been redeployed elsewhere. Bin Laden escaped unscathed - since the Predator model used at that time was not armed with a missile.
# August 1998: The United States fired about 60 missiles at various al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan, as well as a dozen missiles at a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan. No key al-Qaida cadre was killed.
# December 1998: The United States once again pinpointed bin Laden in Afghanistan. Although missiles were readied, the strike was called off over fears of collateral damage.
# February 1999: Intelligence put bin Laden at a desert hunting camp in Afghanistan. Cruise missiles are prepped, but royals from the United Arab Emirates are present and the strike is called off.
# May 1999: Bin Laden was reportedly pinpointed again. Tenet nixed attack owing to usual concerns about collateral damage.
# October 1999: A reportedly joint Pakistani Interservices Intelligence/U.S. commando strike to kill bin Laden is waylaid when Gen. Pervez Musharraf took over Pakistan in a coup and subsequently decided to abort the operation.
# May 2000 to August 2001: When the CIA and FBI send a joint investigative team to Sudan, that country again offered to hand over its files on al-Qaida. Once again the offer is rejected.
# September to October 2000: Predator flights over Afghanistan revealed movements of what appears to be bin Laden and his aides. However, because of high winds, the recon flights are discontinued until the spring.
# December 2000: The CIA recommended to the incoming Bush administration to arm the Predator drone and send it over Afghanistan. Bush, however, does not give the necessary nod until after 9/11.
# March 2001: The Russian Permanent Mission at the United Nations secretly submits a detailed report to the U.N. Security Council about bin Laden and his network. Reportedly, the U.S. failure to follow up on the particulars of the report is part of what motivates Jane's Intelligence Review to conclude that the attacks of 9/11 were less of an American intelligence failure than the result of a political decision not to act against bin Laden.
This thing is pretty good. Sort of a cross between a movie and a documentary. They just picked up one of the perps from Egypt. The Egyptian police tortured him. Americans trying to get him to cooperate.
Saddam's Fingerprints on NY Bombing
June 28, 1993. The Wall Street Journal. Laurie Mylroie
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1115387/posts
The Clinton Justice Department's indictment against OBL in federal court which mentions the terrorist's connections to Iraq.
November 4, 1998. The federal indictment
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/985906/posts?page=30#30
Iraq and AQ agree to cooperate. The federal indictment against OBL working in concert with Iraq and Iran is mentioned.
November 1998. The New York Times
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/985906/posts
Saddam reaching out to OBL
January 1, 1999. Newsweek
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1158277/posts
ABC news reports on the Osama/Saddam connections
January 14, 1999. ABC News
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1229608/posts?page=1
Osama and Saddam Work Together
January 27, 1999. Laurie Mylroie interview. She is a former Clinton terrorism czar.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1158482/posts
A Much Shunned Terrorist Takes Refuge In Iraq (Abu Nidal)
New York Times. January 1999.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1433610/posts
Western Nightmare: Saddam and OBL versus the World. Iraq recruited OBL.
February 6, 1999. The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,798270,00.html
Saddam's Link to OBL
February 6, 1999. The Guardian
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/866105/posts
Saddam offered asylum to bin Laden
February 13, 1999. Associated Press
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1158274/posts
Son of Saddam coordinates with OBL.
Iraqi Special Ops coordinates with Bin Laden's terrorist activities.
August 6, 1999. Yossef Bodansky, National Press Club
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/951911/posts
List of newspaper articles written in the 90's which mention the world's concern regarding the growing relationship between OBL and Saddam.
FrontPage Magazine.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/946809/posts?page=1
The Clinton View of Iraq/AQ Ties.
The Weekly Standard.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/527uwabl.asp
You think the Bush administration covered that up?? Not so sure on that one Fudd, but heck who knows.....
Remarks by the President to the Travel Pool
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE TRAVEL POOL
Lower Manhattan, New York
7:04 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Laura and I approach tomorrow with a heavy heart. It's hard not to think about the people who lost their lives on September the 11th, 2001. You know, you see the relatives of those who still grieve -- I just wish there were some way we could make them whole. So tomorrow is going to be a day of sadness for a lot of people.
It's also a day of remembrance. And I vowed that I'm never going to forget the lessons of that day. And we spent time in there looking at some of the horrific scenes, inside this fantastic place of healing, and it just reminded me that there's still an enemy out there that would like to inflict the same kind of damage again.
So tomorrow is also a day of renewing resolve. I asked -- today at the church service I asked for God's blessings on of those who continue to hurt.
Thank you.
END 7:05 P.M. EDT
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060910-2.html
See if Janet Reno has any balls ???
Well, Lori...it just goes to show ya...it's ALWAYS something...if it's not one thing, it's another...you know, it's like the time I..."
Oh, sorry. Guess I'm dating myself. Right actress, wrong character. I sit corrected!
'We'll see if Reno has any balls.'
Nice.
I think there was an edit there.
"see if Janet Reno has balls..."
priceless.
Nice mention about no choice after screw up at waco.
You're bad...
But of course the Clinton administration jumped all over itself to take full credit for both things, even though they did absolutely nothing to earn this credit.
Yes but there were MANY other attacks. Americans didn't seem to GET those either. We should have. There were plenty of dead people under the watch of Reagon, Bush, and Clinton. Carter as well. It wasn't like it just started. Clinton didn't get it. He should have...but didn't. It took 9/11 to bring it home I guess. Sadly.
I'm not gonna look ... you look.
You're a gem, AliV. You really are!
Oh **Slap**
LOL!
Tell me about Kuntzler. I vaguely remember the name.
Man, I am so amazed at this stuff I never even knew. Not proud of it but am still shocked. There was no Internet, I didn't listen to Rush....
It makes me madder than crap.
Yah, that was a good one! lol
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