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9/11 widows blast Bush Administration over Rice, Tenet meeting

Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: Friday October 6, 2006

In an October 5th response to recent news of yet another pre-September 11th warning that was ignored by senior Bush administration officials, four widows who lost their husbands during the terrorist attcks have issued a statement about what they see as the failure of White House officials to act upon warnings that Al Qaeda was planning a strike on the United States.

Lorie Van Auken, Mindy Kleinberg, and Patty Cazaza – who are among the four widows from New Jersey known as the Jersey Girls (the fourth, Monica Gabrielle, is not a member of the group) – have issued a compilation of pre-9/11 terrorism warnings that they believe paints a disturbing picture of a negligent Presidency.

They also address the latest revelation from Watergate reporter Bob Woodward that then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice was warned of a possible attack on July 10, 2001 by then-CIA Director George Tenet.

The allegation in Woodward's book, State of Denial, is that Tenet was so concerned about the intelligence showing a possible attack that he phoned Rice and asked for an immediate meeting, which he got that same day, along with the CIA's top counterterrorism expert, Cofer Black. During the meeting, Tenet says, they expressed "in the starkest of terms" to Rice that an attack was imminent.

Rice has denied that such a meeting took place, citing the 911 Commission Report, which never mentioned any such meeting.

"It kind of doesn't ring true that you have to shock me into something I was very involved in," she stated when asked about the allegation.

In addition to Rice, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was also warned by Tenet, as was Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, according to Woodward.

Ashcroft began to charter private jets shortly afterwards, avoiding all travel by commercial airliners in July and continuing to do so up until the attacks. According to a July 26, 2001 CBS news report, Ashcroft began flying by private plane after an FBI "threat assessment."

"In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a 'threat assessment' by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term."

It remains unclear whether or not this concern for personal safety was in any way brought on by the Tenet warnings.

Initially backing Rice's denial were the 911 Commissioners themselves, who also denied having knowledge or having been briefed on such a meeting.

In a remarkable turn of events, however, records of the meeting between Commission members and Tenet counter that claim – as does a State Department log book – and support Woodward's assertions about the warnings that Rice and Ashcroft had received from the CIA. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle:

    Members of the commission – an independent, bipartisan panel created by Congress to investigate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks – have said for days that they were not told about the July 10 meeting. But it turns out that the panel was, in fact, told about the meeting, according to the interview transcript and Democratic commission member Richard Ben-Veniste, who sat in on the interview with Tenet. The meeting was not identified by the July 10 date in the commission's best-selling report.

    Rice added to the confusion by strongly suggesting that the meeting may never have occurred at all – even though administration officials had conceded for several days that it had. A State Department spokesman said later that while the meeting definitely happened, Rice and Tenet disputed Woodward's characterization of her response.

Why the meeting and Tenet's interview never made it into the official 911 Commission Report remains a mystery and adds to the concern of many 911 family members and activists that a second investigation is needed.

The four women, Van Auken, Kleinberg, Cazaza, and Gabrielle – who initially made news by forcing the Bush administration to acquiesce to forming the first 911 Commission and holding hearings – have issued a scathing response to this latest turn of events, citing many additional warnings that the Bush administration was given but that the 911 Commission failed, in their view, to adequately address.

Their statement, in its entirety, follows:
#

Statement Regarding al Qaeda Threats
October 5, 2006

Astonishingly, five years post 9/11 the public is made aware about an urgent July 10, 2001 meeting that took place between former CIA Director George Tenet and then, National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice. This information comes from Bob Woodward's newly released book, "State of Denial".

Despite this Administration's rhetoric that they had "no warnings" leading up to 9/11, it has become abundantly clear, that key Administration officials were made aware of the vast array of Al Qaeda threats and warnings that existed in years prior, and more importantly, in the weeks leading up to September 11, 2001.

When we add the July 10, 2001 meeting to the plethora of other clear warnings that our government had, a very concise view of the al Qaeda threat emerges. Those other warnings include, but are not limited to:

    *

      Warnings from leaders of other nations and foreign intelligence apparatus' of terrorist threats
    *

      June 30, 2001 Senior Executive Intelligence Briefing (SEIB) entitled "bin Laden Threats Are Real"
    *

      The threat of President Bush's assassination at the G-8 Summit by al Qaeda in July of 2001 – using aircraft to dive bomb the summit building
    *

      July 2001 Phoenix memo, which told of potential terrorists taking flight lessons
    *

      52 FAA warnings – five of which mentioned al Qaeda's training for hijacking
    *

      August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Brief entitled "bin Laden Determined to Strike in US"
    *

      National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)entitled "Islamist Extremists Learn to Fly"
    *

      Intelligence agency heads describing themselves with their "hair on fire" to characterize the imminent nature of the threats they were intercepting from Al Qaeda and their sense of urgency in relating them to the Bush Administration
    *

      The arrest of Zacharias Moussaoui in August of 2001
    *

      FBI Agent Harry Samit's 70 unsuccessful attempts to get a FISA Warrant to examine Moussaoui's belongings

Aside from scheduling a National Security Council meeting on September 4, 2001, two months after the July 10 "connect the dots" briefing from CIA director, George Tenet, the abundance of post 9/11 reports and commissions found no evidence of any action taken by appropriate officials. The 9/11 Commission itself concluded that in spite of an unprecedented attack threat in the months before 9/11, US "domestic agencies never mobilized in response to the threat. They did not have direction, and did not have a plan to institute. The borders were not hardened. Transportation systems were not fortified. Electronic surveillance was not targeted against a domestic threat. State and local law enforcement were not marshaled to augment the FBI's efforts. The public was not warned."

While certain members of the 9/11 Commission recalled a January 28, 2004 closed session meeting with former CIA Director, George Tenet, where this urgent July 10, 2001 meeting was discussed, this meeting was not referenced in the Commission's final report.

In the transcript testimony, the former CIA Director described the non-routine meeting that he and Cofer Black called for with then National Security Advisor, Condoleeza Rice as one of the "starkest warnings" ever given by the CIA to the White House on Al Qaeda.

To our continued dismay, both the Bush Administration and the 9/11 Commission have consistently failed to give a complete and honest accounting to the American public with regard to their actions and inactions leading up to the devastation of September 11, 2001.

The inexcusable result of this less than truthful accounting has resulted in America making important national security decisions and passing legislation using the 9/11 Commission's conclusions and recommendations. Chillingly, these decisions appear to be based upon an unclear combination of partial truths mixed with distortions and omissions of important facts.

Incredibly, five years post 9/11 we have come full circle. In spite of all the clear warnings that our government received, why did those in power fail to invoke any defensive measures to protect our nation from the attacks of September 11, 2001?

We demand the immediate declassification and release of these latest documents and transcripts. The American public has the right to know what their government did or did not do to protect us from terrorist actions.

Finally, instead of reorganizing an entire intelligence community because they "weren't sharing information", and rather than telling us that "9/11 was a failure of imagination", what we needed was for the 9/11 Commission to state the truth and hold those responsible to account. The most effective change for America would be to have a National Security Council that understands that it is their job to translate vital information into action.

[Editor's note: Larisa Alexandrovna was involved in the writing of the film 9/11 Press for Truth.]

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/911_widows_blast_Bush_Administration_over_1006.html

Quoting Bear:
Maybe that would help you understand why some folks raised questions about the statement. Personally, I already know Bush has trouble expressing himself - there is an entire website dedicated to his misspoken Bushisms. I would think, though, that the speechwriters who come up with this stuff for him so he doesn't come off sounding like a hick could do a better job of it.  Endquote

I don't care if he sounds like a hick. Half the people in this town sound like hicks. 
I care if he makes the war less than it is. Diminishes it.  "Just a comma." 
The brain injuries that are the signature wound of this war----"Just a comma, soldiier."
Well, he has people to write speeches for him.  I don't care if he would just let them give the speeches and they just wheeled him out at ceremonial occasions to wave graciously at us from a balcony or something.  I'm very tired of him.

There are many gays in office, I'm sure.  There are other gropers and predators too, I imagine. Remember Bob Packwood? 
No one says, "If you're hetero, you must be a groper." It happens, but one doesn't follow the other like day follows night.

Sirs, I think that's wonderful.

Just think what it must look like to a young person starting out....wow, in 6 years, I could have made 34 cents!
The original post is what I'm referring to here. 

I think he's partly right.

Where I differ is that I see people coming together in opposition to the present Administration.
But there are the fringe  bomb throwers and it's very easy to listen to them: Rush, Michael Savage, etc.
  Newt Gingrish is not exactly a man who encourages people to come together and reason, and I read that his star is rising again in the Party. 
I've never heard such incivility and partisanship among people we elect to office.
I'm hoping people are as heartily sick of it as I am.

Quote from: BT on October 06, 2006, 02:08:20 AM

I don't recall Fordham talking about emails. Perhaps you can provide a link.
I am referring to the initial charges forwarded by Rep. Alexander through Reynolds and back to Shimkus.

Lanya......link please     

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-100406fordham,0,7311220.story?coll=la-home-headlines

(I contend they are not.)
CBS: Death Squads In Iraqi Hospitals
Intelligence Seen By CBS News Says Hospitals Are Command Centers For Shiite Militia

BAGHDAD, Oct. 4, 2006

(CBS) An assembly line of rotting corpses lined up for burial at Sandy Desert Cemetery is what civil war in Iraq looks like close up.

The bodies are only a fraction of the unidentified bodies sent from Baghdad every few days for mass burial in the southern Shiite city of Kerbala, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports.

They come from the main morgue that's overflowing, relatives too terrified to claim their dead because most are from Iraq's Sunni minority, murdered by Shiite death squads.

And the morgue itself is believed to be controlled by the same Shiite militia blamed for many of the killings: the Mahdi Army, founded and led by anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The takeover began after the last election in December when Sadr's political faction was given control of the Ministry of Health. The U.S. military has documented how Sadr's Mahdi Army has turned morgues and hospitals into places where death squads operate freely.

    Reporter's Notebook
    Lara Logan writes on how she found the story of the hospital death squads.

The chilling details are spelled out in an intelligence report seen by CBS News. Among some of the details of the report are:

# Hospitals have become command and control centers for the Mahdi Army militia.

# Sunni patients are being murdered; some are dragged from their beds.

# The militia is keeping hostages inside some hospitals, where they are tortured and executed.

# They're using ambulances to transport hostages and illegal weapons, and even to help their fighters escape from U.S. forces.

Iraq's Health Minister, Ali al-Shameri, is a devoted follower of Moqtada al-Sadr. He disputes the report's claims.

"I am ready now, and in the future, to receive investigation teams and journalists to get into any place they want and see whether the Madhi Army are there or not," the Health Minister says. "They will find only doctors, nurses, pharmacy staff and labs and they would find nothing else."

But a hospital worker says Mahdi Army spies are everywhere, and would only talk with both face and voice masked.

"A man was bringing his murdered brother to the morgue. They asked him if he knew who the killers were and he said ‘yes.’ They shot him right there," she says.

More than 80 percent of the original doctors and staff where she works are gone, replaced by Shia supporters of the Mahdi Army.

"It's going to get worse because there is no control and no accountability," the hospital worker adds. "No one can stop them. They are terrified... No one will be safe. There will be destruction. Complete destruction is what we are watching with our own eyes, and it's getting worse."

In burial, the victims of Iraq's sectarian slaughter still have no names, only a number on an anonymous grave marker. And with neither the Iraqi government nor the U.S. willing to act, the numbers keep climbing.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/04/eveningnews/main2064668.shtml

The emails were reported to the appropriate chairs and acted upon.

------------------------------
Are you talking about the non-action taken by those in the House who were told by Fordham several years ago?