Former CIA Director George Tenet and several other top CIA officials should be held accountable for not taking stronger action against al-Qaida prior to Sept. 11, the CIA’s inspector general recommended in a report released Tuesday. The report, which the CIA tried to withhold, also faulted the agency for its lack of cooperation with the FBI. At least 50 CIA officers knew of intelligence reports in 2000 that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers might have been in the United States, but none notified the FBI.
The report didn’t conclude that there was “a single point of failure” or a “silver bullet” that would have allowed the CIA to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks, the New York Times reported. But it fault the CIA for mismanaging resources devoted to counterterrorism, and it said that Tenet and other named CIA officials “did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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25 Comments
Hindsight is always 20/20 all the pieces were there. But who before 9-11 would have thought about them flying planes in to the world trade center?
Funny that anybody should start talking about “accountability” in this administration now. What shall we hold Bush accountable for?
9-11 was great for the Republicans. Remember that before 9-11 Bush was a lame duck who had just stole the presidency with the help of the Supreme Court. (-11 is what made his presidency and gavce him the cover he needed to take away our rights and liberties and to start a war with Iraq. So why would the Republicans want to stop 9-11?? In fact they are praying to God we are attacked again between now and November of 2008. They are probably even scheming an attack now.
” At least 50 CIA officers knew of intelligence reports in 2000 that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers might have been in the United States, but none notified the FBI.”
It was against the rules.(Jamie Gorelick)—–
Bush gave him the medal of freedom as a token of his undying appreciation for a Hecuva Job.
So why would the Republicans want to stop 9-11?? In fact they are praying to God we are attacked again between now and November of 2008. They are probably even scheming an attack now.
Posted by: Kev | August 23, 2007 at 05:55 AM
Yeah. right. Watch your house man, the black helicopters are circling. Can you hear them? They are whispering your name. There is a a man in the doorway. What’s in his hands?
Gee- You are right! Look what I found on the web!
http://estrecho.indymedia.org/newswire/display/69726/index.php
Pointing fingers over 9/11 is pretty pointless. Studying the failures to learn what we can do better NOW is what’s important.
But it’s fun to point out possible lies by Presidents, soooo-
The report also criticized intelligence problems when Bill Clinton was president, detailing political and legal “constraints” agency officials felt in the late 1990s. In September 2006, during a famous encounter with Fox News anchor Wallace, Clinton erupted in anger and waived his finger when asked about whether his administration had done enough to get bin Laden. “What did I do? What did I do?” Clinton said at one point. “I worked hard to try to kill him. I authorized a finding for the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since.”
“Clinton appeared to have been referring to a December 1999 Memorandum of Notification (MON) he signed that authorized the CIA to use lethal force to capture, not kill, bin Laden. But the inspector general’s report made it clear that the agency never viewed the order as a license to “kill” bin Laden—one reason it never mounted more effective operations against him. “The restrictions in the authorities given the CIA with respect to bin Laden, while arguably, although ambiguously, relaxed for a period of time in late 1998 and early 1999, limited the range of permissible operations,” the report stated.”
Only in Republicanland will gross incompetence earn you a medal or a promotion.
Writerdog – why wouldn’t someone think about flying planes into a building – especially the World Trade Center Twin Towers. What more of a focal point would the world need than that scenario?
I remember watchting Condi Rice testifying about that infamous memo and her only defense was that the title was not planes will fly into the World Trade Center.
Come on now, anybody with a half a brain cell could read that memo and know that something big was going to happen.
Let’s face the facts, the Bush Administration FAILED to act on any prior warnings because they were too focused on their Iraq invasion.
The collective intelligence community failed regarding 9/11, from the military to the CIA to the FBI.
Part of the problem was/is the institutional jealousy and inter and intra-departmental bickering that still marks our intelligence efforts.
Pre-9/11, the CIA and the FBI did not share information regarding the activities of suspected terrorists. The divisions between the agencies go back decades, probably to the birth of the CIA after WW II.
The question regarding Tenant and his Medal of Freedom is why did George W Bush reward him in the first place?
To keep him quiet?
The only thing more fun than asking rhetorical questions is answering them.
Right, Farmgrrl? :)
If memory serves, the Aug 6 2001 presidential daily briefing specifically mentioned flying airplanes into buildings.
heheheheh Tom. I cant resist a nice, slow, fat pitch down the middle….
. . .and here’s the IG summary:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/CIA_SUMMARY.pdf
The (pre-9/11) G8 meeting in Genoa, Italy had ANTI-AIRCRAFT guns set up to protect it against air attack threats.
“But who before 9-11 would have thought about them flying planes in to the world trade center?”
Maybe the widely publicised plot almost carried out to fly French planes into the Eiffel Tower?
The pilots lied and said they needed to re-fuel in Marselle (sp) and French police stormed the plane.
Or remember in WWII when Japanese pilots deliberately flew fighters into our destroyers–the Kamikaze?
Or how about when John Ashcroft was warned not to fly commercial aircraft two months before 9-11?
Nah.
Nobody could have ever predicted it . . .
And you know what else, an early version of a CSI type drama Fox TV aired (since cancelled) showed intelligence officers trying to stop a group of terrorists from flying a plane into a high-rise building.
I love the way the right-wing has this “let by-gones be by-gones” when they can’t say “Clinton” without also saying “BJ.”
Hell, yes, I point fingers at Bush and his incompetent administration.
Actually, I point just one finger . . .
Do you mean like Clinton manipulating the ROTC program to avoid being drafted is a crime, but Bush being AWOL from the ANG is ancient history and is of no consequence?
“In fact they are praying to God we are attacked again between now and November of 2008.” (Kev)
You’re right, Kev… Hannity nearly has two or threeconniption fits every week about how SURE he is we will be attacked again before Election 2008… Its like he is salivating for another attack… SOME of them even take it so far as to predict “Nucular” attacks…
I think they have been watching too much “24″ and drinking too much Bauer-ade… LOL
Another example: During the last incursion of Israel into Lebanon, Glenn Beck was gleefully cheering on “World War III” (yes, he said it–as did his screaming graphics–guess the “war on terrorism” wasn’t working out. . .
Tom Clancy wrote a bestselling novel where terrorists fly planes into buildings a decade ago
Yes who would imagine terrorists would try to hijack airplanes? Certainly not Republicans. They were too busy with Clinton’s sex life.
Even if they couldn’t have forseen what the terrorist would do with the planes; they damn sure had an established history of hijacking airliners in the sky! That should have been an obvious MO to look out for. No Excuses.