What Did They Know
…and when did they know it?
Tristero at Digby’s, Susie Madrak, and Charlie Pierce all weigh in on the Jordan Michael Smith article at Salon: New NSA docs contradict 9/11 claims
Over 120 CIA documents concerning 9/11, Osama bin Laden and counterterrorism were published today for the first time, having been newly declassified and released to the National Security Archive. The documents were released after the NSA pored through the footnotes of the 9/11 Commission and sent Freedom of Information Act requests.
Based on the documents it would appear that the Hedgemony and Shrubbery were less than forthcoming about the lead up to the attack on the World Trade Center. The primary lack of intelligence was apparently in the White House, and the Shrubbery’s National Security Council, not the CIA et al.
It looks like John Ashcroft wasn’t the only person in the Hedgemony who cut funding for counter-terrorism and/or monitoring the al Qaeda threat. Actually, it is part of the Republican pattern – if a Democratic President thinks something is important, Republicans ignore it when they win control.
2 comments
Well, there certainly was a “lack of intelligence” in the White House. Which is worse: a dumb, evil prez like Dub, or a smart, equally evil prez like O?
I would hold some hope that something truly damning would emerge from these releases, but by now I know better. If a doc reflected serious criminality on the part of any administration, it would never be declassified. In some flocks, the shepherds have crooks; in ours, they ARE crooks.
The media and people will ignore the fact that the Hedgemony ignored and/or discounted multiple warnings over an extended period that al Qaeda was going to attack the US. Hell, they didn’t hold their first counter-terrorism principals meeting until a week before 9/11, despite everything that Richard Clarke did to get one. It was the job of the National Security Advisor to the President to coordinate intelligence, and Ms Rice was not up to the job.
We now have a Director of National Intelligence because the Shrubbery surrounded himself with incompetence. We have a Department of Homeland Security for the same reason. But most importantly, we have degradation in the civil rights of the American people, because Republicans can’t do their job.