Focussed like a laser
   by James Higdon

When George W. Bush was campaigning for president, the Bush team told
us that it wasn't important that the shrub was not a detail oriented man.
Bush's managerial style was to delegate.  He demanded that all briefing
memos issued to his office be distilled down to their essence.  It was only
important that Bush have a general feel for the issue presented, so he could
decide what needed to be done, and then hand it off to the proper expert
on his team.  Now, with the revelations emerging in the middle of May, that
Bush was briefed on threats emanating from al Qaeda, the folly of not having
a detail man receiving and compiling information is coming to the fore.
One can understand that if a memo is distilled down to "bin Laden is intent
on hijacking US aircraft," there isn't much that can be done, other than to
send out alerts to the usual suspects.  Now the world is finally waking up to
the complications that can develop when the United States of America has
a president who suffers from ADD.

Nothing could be more ridiculous than to hear the Bushies pose, "Who'da
thunk it before 9/11?  Islamic zealots using commercial aircraft as weapons
of mass destruction?"  Well... a lot of people.  The fact is that crashing aircraft
into targets is an idea that goes back as far as World War II, when the Japanese,
desperate by the end of the war, used Kamikaze pilots to fly fighter planes into
American warships.  The idea is not new, and should have been considered by
US intelligence agencies the moment it was clear that terrorists were willing to
commit suicide in order to hit their targets.  US intelligence agencies should have,
and did, consider the possibility, and when we last had a lawfully elected president,
that intelligence was acted upon effectively.

Approaching the millenium celebrations in December, 1999, President Clinton was
getting briefed on al Qaeda plans to attack Americans.  The Clinton administration
went about warning the American people to keep their eyes open, the airlines to
increase their airport security, the boarder patrols to increase their vigilance.
Intelligence agencies were ordered to "connect the dots" in regard to uncovering
specific plots.  The US coordinated efforts with foreign police and intelligence
services to make arrests.

Sure enough, Ahmed Ressam was arrested, attempting to enter the United States,
which led to further arrests world wide.  Terrorist plots were thwarted, and in the
United States Americans celebrated the beginning of a new millenium with no greater
conflicts than arguing over whether the new Millenium began in January of 2000, or 2001.

In fairness to George W. Bush, in the summer of 2001, he was also "focussed like a laser."
Unfortunately for Americans, that focus was directed at filling the pockets of his wealthy
friends and contributors.  While Enron was raping California, Bush was busy emptying out
the US treasury of the considerable surplus that Bill Clinton had left behind.

While warnings against bin Laden were coming into the country in a rapid fire pace from
intelligence agencies throughout the world, including Russia, Israel, and Germany, US intelligence
agencies were uncovering the fact that many individuals with ties to Islamic terrorist organizations
were attending flight schools inside the United States.  During this time, George W. Bush spent
42% of his first nine months in office on vacation.

In a recent report by Newsweek's Hirsh and Isikoff, we find this:

"When, in January 2001, Berger gave [Condoleza] Rice her handover briefing, he covered the
bin Laden threat in detail, and, sources say, warned her: 'You will be spending more time on this
issue than on any other.'

"Rice was alarmed by what she heard, and asked for a strategy review. But the effort was
marginalized and scarcely mentioned in ensuing months as the administration committed itself
to other priorities, like national missile defense (NMD) and Iraq."

On the last line, I take issue with Isikoff and Hirsh.  The priority that Bush had committed
himself to the most fully was giving a huge tax break to the wealthiest one percent of Americans.
Further, Bush apparently told the FBI to back off of investigations into bin Laden and his links
to the Talaban and Saudi Arabia.  Bush was busy trying to negotiate an oil pipeline through
Afghanistan for Unocal and Bush's other oil rich friends.

In the mean time, the American lap dog press was busy grilling Gary Condit about sex that
he may have had with his still missing ex-intern, Chaundra Levy.  In spite of the recent
evidence of White House negligence, the American press still acts as though they are the
excuse machine for an illegitimate president in training.

The former US "newspaper of record," the NY Times, in what they bill as a blockbuster
story in investigative journalism, published on May 21, 2002, claims that John Ashcroft
misled the American people when he said that he never saw the Phoenix FBI memo,
claiming that potential terrorists were training at US flight schools, until only a month
or so ago.  The Times claims to have evidence that Ashcroft was shown that memo
within a week after September 11.  Big deal!  Either the NY Times has become so
incompetent that they are fully incapable of even connecting the dots, or they are
intentionally deceitful.

Logic dictates that Ashcroft's Justice Department must have been aware of the contents
of the Phoenix memo prior to September 11th.  Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called
twentieth hijacker, was detained on immigration charges in Minneapolis nearly a month
prior, and subsequent to the timing of the Phoenix memo.  At that time, suspicious that
Moussaoui might be involved in a hijacking plot, the Minneapolis FBI asked Ashcroft's
Justice Department for permission to search the contents of Moussaoui's computer.
The Minneapolis FBI was specific with the Justice Department about their reasons for
the search.  Ashcroft's Justice Department denied that permission.  There can be no
question that high officials in Ashcroft's Justice Department were fully aware of the FBI's
concerns prior to that fateful Tuesday in September.  Yet John Ashcroft was busy
finding naked breasts to cover in the Great Hall.

Since the US press is incapable of asking the most basic of questions, it up to us, the
citizens of this country, to pose the questions ourselves.  It has been widely reported that
many in our intelligence agencies were nearly frantic about the magnitude and number of
warnings that were coming in from foreign intelligence agencies, and from their own
knowledge that known terrorists were slipping into the United States.  While these warnings
lacked specifics, the warnings were credible and urgent.  In spite of their general nature,
we know that George W. Bush was apprised of them.

WHY DIDN'T GEORGE W. BUSH ORDER A FULL COURT PRESS BY A COORDINATED US
INTELLIGENCE TO UNCOVER A SPECIFIC PLOT, AS BILL CLINTON DID IN 1999??!!??
 

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