In 1995, after the capture of Ramzi Yousef for the 1993 bombing of the WTC,
we discovered documents in the Philippines that described a plan to
simultaneously blow up 11 commercial airliners. The plan was known as
"Operation Bojinka".

In 2001, we knew bin Laden's al Qaeda organization was planning attacks on
America's interests...at that some of those attacks could involve commercial
airlines.

What our intelligence agencies *DID NOT* know was the "when, where, or how"
of the 9/11 attack. It's "absurd" to "insinuate" that these two pieces of
intelligence came together in a report to the White House to forewarn of the
specifics of the 9/11 attack.





"MadDogDave" wrote in message
news:c3dhc2g=.37cfd94fe485bf29b2d883fa5da4e868@107 1671792.cotse.net...

This really upesets me.

White House Admits Pre-9/11 Warnings; Bush Still Denies It

At his press conference yesterday, President Bush was asked about
charges that he had received warnings prior to the September 11th
attacks that a terrorist incident was imminent. He answered that even
asking such a question was "an absurd insinuation."1 It was the same
sentiment expressed by Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza
Rice, who said in May of 2002 that "[no one predicted] that they would
try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane."2

The problem for the president and the administration is that the White
House has previously admitted that the president had personally received
such specific warnings. As ABC News reported in May of 2002, "White
House officials acknowledge that U.S. intelligence officials informed
President Bush weeks before the September 11th attacks that Osama bin
Laden's terrorist network might try to hijack American planes."3 As
Condoleezza Rice said at a hastily called press conference to spin these
revelations, the President specifically received an "analytic report" on
August 6th, 2001 at his Crawford mansion that "talked about Osama bin
Laden's methods of operation" and "mentioned hijacking."4 According to
Reuters, that report was congruent with "intelligence since 1998 that
said followers of bin Laden were planning to strike U.S. targets, hijack
U.S. planes."5.

While the administration claims that the president's pre-9/11 warning
was actually "not a warning," the threat was specific enough for
Attorney General John Ashcroft to stop flying commercial airlines. While
no warning was issued for the general public after Bush's personal
intelligence warning, Ashcroft was flying exclusively by leased jet
instead of commercial airlines because of an official "threat assessment
by the FBI."6

Sources:
President Bush Holds Press Conference, 12/15/2003.
"Report Warned Of Suicide Hijackings", CBS News, 05/17/2002.
"Bush Was Warned of Hijackings Before 9/11; Lawmakers Want Public
Inquiry", ABC News, 05/16/2002.
National Security Advisor Holds Press Briefing, 05/16/2002.
Reuters, 7/24/03.
"Ashcroft Flying High", CBS News, 07/26/2001.