Media Shock over PDB Bin Laden Warning

[jimnyc]

Ever since Condoleezza Rice revealed Thursday that the title of an Aug. 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing was, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States," the press has been feigning cardiac arrest.

Typical was the reaction of MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who complained Thursday night that the PDB headline should have set off smoke alarms at the White House.

"We're talking about five weeks before 9/11, before hell struck in this country," Matthews told his "Hardball" audience. He insisted that the memo should have been enough to send Bush's national security team into a frenzy of action.

But why? As Dr. Rice told 9/11 Commissioner Timothy Roemer, "I don't think you, frankly, had to have that report to know that bin Laden would like to attack the United States."

If Roemer wanted to confirm Rice's contention, all he needed to do was ask Bill Clinton, who was interviewed by the Commission in private after Dr. Rice's testimony.

According to Mr. Clinton's public comments two years ago, he knew bin Laden wanted to strike America as far back as 1996.

Explaining why he declined an offer from Sudan for bin Laden's extradition, Clinton revealed, "At the time, 1996, he had committed no crime against America, so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him - though we knew he wanted to commit crimes against America."

If President Clinton was so unconcerned about the prospect that bin Laden wanted to commit crimes against America that he couldn't be bothered to extradite him, how was a PDB briefing that merely restated that ancient fact supposed to set Bush's hair on fire?

Still, don't look for the press to come clean on the earlier Clinton warning. They've kept his tape recorded confession on the topic bottled up for more than two years now. No point in spoiling a perfectly good election year hoax with the truth.

To hear President Clinton admit he knew Osama bin Laden wanted to attack America in 1996, click here.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/4/9/04650.shtml

 

[JIHADTHIS]

The burning hatred for GWB is why it's ok that Clinton did nothing and why the current adminstration is always under fire. I would like to point out the fact that due to the nasty election and its aftermath, the transition started late, and a lot of the staff were still dealing with confirmations and taking over from the old admin.
The dems and the media keep throwing up this 233 days of the current administration. Its a smoke screen. How about the 2920 days of Clinton. This whole hearing is a colossal waste of time. We know who attacked us and why. We know what needs to be fixed. Lets fix it and move on. Anybody who has ever dealt with the government knows they are slow as shit.

 

[JIHADTHIS]

Let me add:

I'm not trying to make excuses for anybody, I don't think anybody should. We screwed up. It's the blame game that pisses me off. If you look at it logically, you can see how OBL (and any other adversary) would think they could attack us.

Going back to Beirut, we never responded. Probably because we were gun shy from the lingering effects of Nam and the inability or unwillingness to realize what was going on. The hostage situation in Iran in 1979 could have been a hint, I'm not sure.

We were attacked a dozen times and we never responded. We did not or could not focus on battling communism and the rise of Islamic fanaticals at the same time.

We were all for global trade and internationalization (new word I made up ). But we did not look at the security situation, and the new threats that were emerging.

Talks amongst yourselves, I'm getting VaKlempt.......

 

[TheButlerDidIt]

To say that Bin Laden is determined to attack inside the United States is really a revelation huh?

Gee, whoever figured that out should be elected emperor of the world because it's obvious that they have a real grasp of the international community.

Seriously now, that BL hated us and wanted to destroy our way of life was a matter of public record. He had no qualms with making his position heard. He had declared war on us years before and efforts were being made (however futile) to bring him to justice.

If the president would have acted on that PDB he would have been chastised for taking away our civil rights. All Americans not just the president and his administration were asleep at the wheel pre-9/11. That attack was a wake up call that we all needed. If any of the security polices that have been put into place after the attack would have even been discussed by the president before the attack we all would have (conservatives included) laughed. No one believed that we were the slightest bit vulnerable. It's human nature to believe that bad things only happen to the other guy.

RICE: Mr. Roemer, let's be very clear. The PDB does not say the United States is going to be attacked. It says bin Laden would like to attack the United States. I don't think you, frankly, had to have that report to know that bin Laden would like to attack the United States.