The only thing you need to know about the 911 hearings

[xoxoxoBruce]

But those differences were largely theoretical; administration officials told the panel's investigators that the plan's overall timeline was at least three years, and it did not include firm deadlines, military plans or significant funding at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Talks cheap, show me the money.
If 10 guys drive to work every morning, not wearing a seatbelt and 1 has an accident. The fact that the 9 got away with it, is moot. The one that didn't is a fool.
lots of president's got away with not being proactive on the terrorists. Bush didn't.
Actually the others didn't really get away with it. ie, The Cole, WTC garage, Marine Barracks and various embassy attacks, but that didn't stir people up like 9-11.
But the bottom line is hindsight is 20/20 and nobody (except TW) ever expected an attack on US soil, the size and scope of 9-11.

What really interests me is that you never hear a word about anyone going back and scrutinizing what was happening in regard to the trading of certain stocks on the market in the weeks just prior to 9/11. Terrorism is not exactly a cheap enterprise, and just because someone is a fanatic does not mean he's a fool. I think a scrutiny of large buy and sell orders in certain areas (the airlines, the insurance industry, to name a couple of obvious ones) could reveal some highly interesting information regarding just what entities are backing terrorism in the US, as well as globally. Find out who those folks are and you've taken a giant step toward preventing future 9-11's.

[tw]

Originally posted by Happy Monkey
Why vulcans? I've only heard this term applied to them once before, and I think it was [tw].

A core group of vulcans is found in the 40 founding members of "Project for a New American Century". They include but should not be limited to Elliott Abrams, Richard L. Armitage, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeffrey Bergner, John Bolton, Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Eliot A. Cohen, Paula Dobriansky, Midge Decter, Steve Forbes, Aaron Friedberg, Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, William Kristol, Richard Perle, Dan Quayle, Condoleezza Rice, Peter W. Rodman, Donald Rumsfeld, William Schneider, Jr., Vin Weber, Paul Wolfowitz, R. James Woolsey, and Robert B. Zoellick.

Fundamental to understanding why we now attack another nation only on our fears is the Doctrine called preemption as defined by the PBS Frontline story called War behind Closed Doors:

>NARRATOR: The weapons inspectors had left in 1998 and were never to return. To the hard-liners, Saddam had won.
Around this time, a group of foreign policy wisemen known as "the Vulcans" were descending on Austin, Texas, to prepare the eventual Republican nominee for the White House. At the governor's mansion, the hawks, the moderates and all varieties of Republicans came to bring the young governor of Texas up to speed about the world.

For more informaton:The Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet

I am rather surprised you did not hear the Vulcans being described repeatedly in this week's news. Principles of this core group are being questioned as they saw world in terms of Axis of Evil and other traditional fears such as China and Russia and the solution being preemption.

In the meantime, this commentary from a British government minister provides an example of the agenda that vulcans in Project for a New American Century were grappling with as vulcans struggled to define their agenda: Comment-This war on terrorism is bogus

1992 First Draft of a Grand Strategy
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has been at the center of Pentagon strategic planning in both Bush administrations. A hawk on the use of U.S. military power, Wolfowitz took the lead in drafting the 1992 Defense Planning Guidance on America's military posture toward the world. The draft said that containment was an old idea, a relic of the cold war. It advocated that America should maintain military strength beyond challenge and use it to preempt provocations from rogue states with weapons of mass destruction. And it stated that, if necessary, the U.S. should be prepared to act alone. Leaked to the press, Wolfowitz's draft was rewritten and softened by then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. Ten years later, many analysts see a strong resemblance between President Bush's 2002 National Security Strategy and Wolfowitz's 1992 draft.

Finally you should view the pre Iraq War report from PBS yourself. The War Behind Closed Doors

[Happy Monkey]

I'd just never heard of them called Vulcans.

[tw]

Originally posted by Happy Monkey
I'd just never heard of them called Vulcans.

My mistake. I thought you wanted to write a research paper.

[tw]

This is probably the only reason why the 911 Hearings are in progress AND why Condoleeza Rice has been forced to testify:
9/11 Widows Skillfully Applied the Power of a Question: Why?

Logic dictates that this commission should have been empowered by the end of 2001. However we now know why the George Jr administration so fears the facts be out. Repeated mismanagement directly traceable to the top man and his staff that still had a cold war mentality. An administration that wanted more oil (the Energy Bill that is only about more oil consumption) and the Axis of Evil (enemy nations only because the administration had decided so in advance).

At least the Clinton administration tried to get bin Laden. George Jr could not be bothered and then preferred that this 911 Hearings not be conducted. George Jr was more concerned about building another Star Wars - to the glory of his legacy. In reality, WTC is more his legacy.

Elliot, the Time Magazine editor who wrote the latest cover story makes an interesting comment. He thought this administration had thought out the consequences of a 911 Commission in advance. He is surprised that this George Jr administration is literally "blindsided by every revelation". It is as if the George Jr administration is totally in denial about their complacency even when they had and were reviewing Richard Clarke's book back in November 2003.

It took Jersey widows to get Washington to acknowledge what this administration is about. Those widows are very angry - justifiably so - that this administration has repeatedly obstructed this 911 Commission. A damning fact. The George Jr administration has been as uncooperative as they could be - for reasons that are now suspiciously obvious. Nixon also was uncooperative to the point that the Supreme Court had to rule unaminously against Nixon. Nixon was also uncooperative as to invade another sovereign nation for no justifiable reason - no smoking gun. Back then it was two unknown reporters. Today some Jersey widows?

[tw]

As if this George Jr administration has not tried to obstruct the 911 Commission enoug. They still find more ways to keep facts from us. No wonder the Jersey Girls are so mad at this "we fear to be honest" administration - that even claims widespread looting did not happen in Iraq:

from NY Times of 2 April 2004 Bush Aides Block Clinton's Papers From 9/11 Panel
The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said on Thursday that it was pressing the White House to explain why the Bush administration had blocked thousands of pages of classified foreign policy and counterterrorism documents from former President Bill Clinton's White House files from being turned over to the panel's investigators.
...
The commission and the White House were reacting to public complaints from former aides to Mr. Clinton, who said they had been surprised to learn in recent months that three-quarters of the nearly 11,000 pages of files the former president was ready to offer the commission had been withheld by the Bush administration. The former aides said the files contained highly classified documents about the Clinton administration's efforts against Al Qaeda.
...
Mr. Lindsey, who is Mr. Clinton's liaison to the National Archives, said ... he had read through many of the 10,800 pages that were collected and believed them to be valuable to the work of the panel.
"They involved all of the issues — Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, terrorism, all of the areas with the commission's jurisdiction," he said. He made his first public complaints about the handling of the documents in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.

[tw]

from NY Times of 4 April 2004
The White House has insisted there was nothing that could have been done to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks. The White House spokesman Scott McClellan said last month that charges by Richard Clark, Mr. Bush's former terrorism chief, that the administration could have done more to prevent the attacks were "deeply irresponsible," "offensive," and "flat-out false." Ms. Rice, in an interview on the CBS News program "60 Minutes" last week, insisted that the Bush administration regarded terrorism as "an urgent problem" before Sept. 11. "I would like very much to know what more could have been done given that it was an urgent problem," she said.

But that is not what Governor Kean, head of the 911 Commission, is saying:

from NY Times of 4 April 2004
Thomas H. Kean, chairman of the commission and former Republican governor of New Jersey, said that had the United States seized early opportunities to kill Osama bin Laden in the years before Sept. 11, "the whole story would've been different."

Mr. Kean's comments on the NBC News program "Meet the Press" echoed statements he made in December and January. But he emphatically declared that additional months of testimony and investigation had not altered his view.

"What we've found now on the commission has not changed that belief because there were so many threads and so many things, individual things, that happened," he said. "And if some of those things hadn't happened the way they happened," the attacks could have been prevented.

Just another conclusion in direct contradiction to George Jr administration spin. Just another reason to ask why this administration obstructs the 911 Commission; starting with stifling the Commission's formation (as even the Jersey Girls claim), to nearly forcing the entire Commission to resign by refusing to provide necessary information, and now to the latest obstruction - withholding 11,000 pages of relevant Clinton administration documents while forgetting to even tell the Clinton curator that those documents were not delivered. One must ask how much more information has been stifled and why this administration is in cover-up mode; so much like the Nixon White House.

Keep these 911 revelations in perspective. White House cover-up appears more to be business as usual - as was the Watergate investigation. Those who did not follow Watergate "live" (those under 45) probably think Watergate was big headline news back then. Except for Woodward and Bernstein, most domestic press and public completely ignored the serious implications of Watergate. Most early Watergate relevations back then were not even reported by most newspapers. If you don't see the serious implications in this administration's spin, then you are reliving exactly how most of America understood Watergate - until years later after Judge Sirica, John Dean, and McCord basically blew a whistle even the press could not ignore.

Lies of this adminstration are as boldfaced and disturbing as were Nixon's Watergate lies back then. Only during Watergate Senate hearings did Americans finally realized how corrupt and how dispicable that Nixon administration really was - with full intent to undermine the US Constitution as necessary to promote their agenda. In particular I cite the Senate Hearing confrontation between Sen Erivn and John Erlichmann as Erlichmann even denied the meaning and intent of the Fourth Amendment. Agenda was more important than the nation, the Constitution, or even basic individual ethics. But back then, most Americans still thought Nixon was a good man.

Posted earlier was how a Saudi would visit a new American president, leave a briefcase of $1million (in $100 bills), and see if someone called to return that briefcase. Nixon did not. Would this George Jr administration return a briefcase accidentally left at the White House being as campaign contributions are so important? Is the agenda and needs for campaign contributions more important than basic American principles? If so, then they would also need obstruct those 911 Commisson hearings. Too many embarrassing facts are already being exposed.

[OnyxCougar]

I watched Dr. Rice's public testimony on CSPAN the other night, and I saw this morning the White House released the 8/6/01 PDB. This is the document that Dr. Rice repeatedly and vehemently called a "historical document" and not one with a direct threat.

Since at the time of her public hearing, the document had not been released, the commission could not ask her direct questions on how, conceivablly, she could have construed this document as purely historical, and not a threat. Just the one page I saw clearly indicates that a threat on US soil was imminent (sp).

True, it didn't indicate where and when and how, but it does contain clear language that a threat was forthcoming. How this could be seen as "historical" and not raise flags everywhere is beyond me.

[Happy Monkey]

I suppose that could be a judgement call, and therefore technically not perjury.

But it's very bad judgement if it's not perjury.

[xoxoxoBruce]

In fairness, I would like to know how many other pages/documents were in the pile with that "historical document" on 8-6-01. How many other possibilities/scenarios were being considered at the same time. It's always clearer in retrospect.

[Happy Monkey]

Well, it was the Presidential Daily Briefing. In other words, the things the President should look at today, condensed down to two pages.

[Dotster]

In the mainland Uk we had terrorist attacks from the IRA for many years. Bomb scares and news reports of explosions killing people were a way of life. We frequently saw British citizens being blown up while out shopping with their children or going about their work. Can you explain how and why we had to put up with a terrorist organisation which was being extensively financed by some US businesses and individuals.

Where were you? You were giving them money to help them to do it.

When Britain was suffering frequent terrorist attacks from the IRA the US people did not come to our aid in fact some of them financed the bomb making and supplied the weapons for the shootings. I hope you will remember that our country has given the lives of our servicemen to help you in your hour of need at great risk to our citizens who are now awaiting the UK version of 911 as a result

When Britain needed the US they helped the enemy. When the US asked for British support we stood with you against the world.

[Beestie]

Originally posted by Dotster

When Britain needed the US they [sic] helped the enemy.

Man, you got a seriously short freakin' memory.

Not only that but by your so-called logic, I could demonstrate that 'Britain' helped the US' enemies since clerics/mosques/Muslim charities located in England provided financial and logistical support to Al Queda.

[tw]

Originally posted by OnyxCougar
True, it didn't indicate where and when and how, but it does contain clear language that a threat was forthcoming. How this could be seen as "historical" and not raise flags everywhere is beyond me.

The document said "who" - Al Qaeda. It said "where" - inside the US. It said "how" - planes and buildings (just like in a Clancy novel). It said "when" - immenent. It just did not say exactly "where" in the US nor provide a time. This is not enough to get George Jr's attention? Of course not. After the first plane attack, he continued on to the FL elementary school because he still had no idea that terrorism could happen. Could he read an 6 Aug morning briefing - the first thing he must read every day - without Cheney to explain it?

John O'Neill, only days before, was quoted by newspaper reporter saying the attack was to be any time now. Our people knew that much - except in the White House. But because not all little details were provided, then it was not actionable? No wonder they had to force John O'Neill into retirement. Denial at highest levels was that strong - mostly because a domestic attack was a fear of the Clinton administration.

Maybe not actionable by agents in the field. But clearly actionable by anyone who is a principle in the White House. And so we have the expression "shaking the trees". Had the administration bothered to shake the trees then we now know that FBI agent offices (MN, AZ, IL) had information that could have stopped the attack. We know that John O'Neill's team had names that, if shared with the CIA on Interlink, would have identified the attackers as already in position in this country. And we know that no federal agents were told to look for any terrorism even in FL. Rice and her boss could not be bothered to seek further information.

In the Clinton administration, principles (the top officers) conducted drills where disaster scenario was provided (cabin cruiser docked in Manhatten with a nuclear device on board). Principles (cabinet officiers) were expected to plan a solution. As a result, the various Clinton White House agencies were constantly making plans for a terrorist attack. All this was thrown out by the George Jr administration that viewed such games as not to be trusted - because it was by Clinton people.

No wonder it was not actionable. It was another Clinton era nonsense that was wasting time. Principles did not have an exact time. Therefore they could not be bothered to investigate - shake the tree. Back then, terrorism was a myth of the Clinton administration. Which is why a Clinton person - O'Neill - had to be forced out of office.