Bush Briefed on Al Qaeda Threat Before Taking Office
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA told President Bush and his senior officials before they took office that Osama bin Laden was one of the gravest threats to the United States, according to the national commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.
"President-elect Bush asked whether killing bin Laden would end the problem," and was told by top CIA officials that it would have an impact but not stop the threat, said a report prepared for hearings Wednesday.
CIA Director George Tenet and former counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke were to testify at the hearing.
Clarke, a senior counterterrorism adviser to Bush and the three previous administrations, created a stir this week by accusing the Bush administration of failing to recognize the urgency of the threat posed by bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
During the summer of 2001 the volume of intelligence about threats grew alarming. "By late July, there were indications of multiple, possibly catastrophic, terrorist attacks being planned against American interests overseas," the national commission's staff report said.
The CIA's Counterterrorist Center identified 30 possible overseas targets and launched operations to disrupt any attacks.
During this period, some CIA officials expressed frustration at the pace of policymaking, the report said. Tenet's deputy, John McLaughlin, "told us he felt a great tension -- especially in June and July 2001 -- between the new administration's need to understand these issues and his sense that this was a matter of great urgency," the report said.
Two veteran CIA counterterrorism officers who were deeply involved in bin Laden issues "were so worried about an impending disaster that one of them told us that they considered resigning and going public with their concerns," the report by the commission's staff said. The report did not identify them.
SENSE OF URGENCY
Tenet had told commission investigators that officials at the White House had grasped the sense of urgency he was communicating to them, the report said.
Clarke, who served both Bush and his predecessor, President Bill Clinton, has accused Bush of paying insufficient attention to the al Qaeda threat before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and afterward focusing on Iraq at the expense of efforts to crush the network.
Bush Tuesday rejected those accusations.
"The facts are these: George Tenet briefed me on a regular basis about the terrorist threats to the United States of America and had my administration had any information that terrorists were going to attack New York City on September 11, we would have acted," Bush told reporters Tuesday.
CIA officials say they were unclear whether presidential authorizations for covert operations in Afghanistan called for killing bin Laden during Clinton's tenure, the commission staff report said.
Clinton's National Security Council staff told the commission the former president made it clear he wanted bin Laden dead, the report said.
"But if the policy-makers believed their intent was clear, every CIA official interviewed on this topic by the commission, from DCI (Director of Central Intelligence) Tenet to the official who actually briefed the agents in the field, told us they heard a different message," the report said.
CIA officials believed that Clinton had authorized them to capture bin Laden, but the only acceptable context for killing him was during an operation to catch him, the report said.
__________________________________________________________
As you all propbably know, Clarke turned his back on the "darkside" last week and told America the truth about Curious George's mishandling pre-911 warnings.
I have nothing but respect for a man who isn't affraid to speak the truth against the biggest mafia of them all....
*Wondering why no one in here's talking about this "major" developement*
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA told President Bush and his senior officials before they took office that Osama bin Laden was one of the gravest threats to the United States, according to the national commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.
"President-elect Bush asked whether killing bin Laden would end the problem," and was told by top CIA officials that it would have an impact but not stop the threat, said a report prepared for hearings Wednesday.
CIA Director George Tenet and former counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke were to testify at the hearing.
Clarke, a senior counterterrorism adviser to Bush and the three previous administrations, created a stir this week by accusing the Bush administration of failing to recognize the urgency of the threat posed by bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
During the summer of 2001 the volume of intelligence about threats grew alarming. "By late July, there were indications of multiple, possibly catastrophic, terrorist attacks being planned against American interests overseas," the national commission's staff report said.
The CIA's Counterterrorist Center identified 30 possible overseas targets and launched operations to disrupt any attacks.
During this period, some CIA officials expressed frustration at the pace of policymaking, the report said. Tenet's deputy, John McLaughlin, "told us he felt a great tension -- especially in June and July 2001 -- between the new administration's need to understand these issues and his sense that this was a matter of great urgency," the report said.
Two veteran CIA counterterrorism officers who were deeply involved in bin Laden issues "were so worried about an impending disaster that one of them told us that they considered resigning and going public with their concerns," the report by the commission's staff said. The report did not identify them.
SENSE OF URGENCY
Tenet had told commission investigators that officials at the White House had grasped the sense of urgency he was communicating to them, the report said.
Clarke, who served both Bush and his predecessor, President Bill Clinton, has accused Bush of paying insufficient attention to the al Qaeda threat before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and afterward focusing on Iraq at the expense of efforts to crush the network.
Bush Tuesday rejected those accusations.
"The facts are these: George Tenet briefed me on a regular basis about the terrorist threats to the United States of America and had my administration had any information that terrorists were going to attack New York City on September 11, we would have acted," Bush told reporters Tuesday.
CIA officials say they were unclear whether presidential authorizations for covert operations in Afghanistan called for killing bin Laden during Clinton's tenure, the commission staff report said.
Clinton's National Security Council staff told the commission the former president made it clear he wanted bin Laden dead, the report said.
"But if the policy-makers believed their intent was clear, every CIA official interviewed on this topic by the commission, from DCI (Director of Central Intelligence) Tenet to the official who actually briefed the agents in the field, told us they heard a different message," the report said.
CIA officials believed that Clinton had authorized them to capture bin Laden, but the only acceptable context for killing him was during an operation to catch him, the report said.
__________________________________________________________
As you all propbably know, Clarke turned his back on the "darkside" last week and told America the truth about Curious George's mishandling pre-911 warnings.
I have nothing but respect for a man who isn't affraid to speak the truth against the biggest mafia of them all....
*Wondering why no one in here's talking about this "major" developement*
