Deep Dark Truthful Mirror PART I
by Maureen Farrell
"Face it: a nation that maintains a 72% approval rating on George
W. Bush is a nation with a very loose grip on reality," Garrison Keillor
wrote in the summer of 2002, right about the time it became
obvious that America had slid into an alternate universe. "How else
could we explain Condoleezza Rice's insistence, that, despite
warnings from French intelligence, G-8 Summit organizers and Tom
Clancy novels, nobody could have predicted that terrorists would fly
airplanes into skyscrapers?," I wrote that August, without realizing
the extent of the Twilight Zone absurdities and oddities yet to
come.
Of course, George Bush's Tuesday night reiteration of Rice's "who
knew?" shtick was reminiscent of another bizarre statement the
President made on at least two occasions, when he asserted that
Saddam Hussein was given "a chance to allow the inspectors in, and
he wouldn't let them in." Was Hans Blix merely the U.N.'s version of
the Tooth Fairy?
Similarly embarrassing, when the President was asked about the
"biggest mistake" he'd ever made, he stammered and stumbled and
complained about "the pressure of trying to come up with an
answer." And though he bills himself as a steady leader for unsteady
times, if not for the lucky sperm club, it's doubtful that his interview
prowess would even land him a job at his local Dairy Queen.
This was further evident when a reporter asked the President why
he felt the need to hide behind Dick Cheney's skirt when he testifies
before the 9/11 commission. "Because the 9-11 commission wants
to ask us questions, that's why we're meeting. And I look forward to
meeting with them and answering their questions," came Bush's
dodgy non-answer. When asked to clarify why the President and
Vice President are "appearing together, rather than separately,"
Bush said, "Because it's a good chance for both of us to answer
questions that the 9-11 commission is looking forward to asking us.
And I'm looking forward to answering them." End of explanation.
Moreover, Bush's assertion that "the American people need to know
my last choice is the use of military power" flies in the face of
everything former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill and former
counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke have confessed, and makes no
sense in light of any sentient being's understanding of recent
history. And so, questions that were legitimate a couple years ago
-- such as whether or not Team Bush can be trusted -- have been
made ludicrous by the weight of this administration's charades.
"There have been many things swept under the carpet. And I think
it's a shame in a government that you trust - I think it's a shame,
the things that they chose to tell you and the things they choose
not to tell you," Sept. 11 widow Julia Sweeney said on Donahue a
couple years back. Since then, a catalogue of this administration's
inconsistencies and whoppers has been unearthed, offering a
glimpse at the deep dark truthful mirror at the bottom of the rabbit
hole. For those of who believe that Bush and his cabinet have
brought "honor and integrity" to the White House, turn back now.
For everyone else, however, here is an incomplete, but damning,
reminder of what has transpired:
Bush Knew
"President Bush was told more than a month before the attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, that supporters of Osama bin Laden planned an
attack within the United States with explosives and wanted to
hijack airplanes, a government official said Friday." -- ("Bush Was
Warned of Possible Attack in U.S., Official Says," The New York
Times,April 10, 2004)
"By the time a CIA briefer gave President Bush the Aug. 6, 2001, President's Daily Brief
headlined 'Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US,' the president had seen a stream of
alarming reports on al Qaeda's intentions. . . In April and May 2001, for example, the
intelligence community headlined some of those reports 'Bin Laden planning multiple
operations,' 'Bin Laden network's plans advancing' and 'Bin Laden threats are real.'" ("Panel
Says Bush Saw Repeated Warnings: Reports Preceded August 2001 Memo," The
Washington Post, April 13, 2004)
"U.S. Had a Steady Stream of Pre-9/11 Warnings." -- (PBS, Sept. 18, 2002)
"Even though Bush has refused to make parts of the 9-11 report public, one thing is
startlingly clear: The U.S. government had received repeated warnings of impending
attacks -- and attacks using planes directed at New York and Washington -- for several
years. The government never told us about what it knew was coming." -- James
Ridgeway, ("Bush's 9-11 Secrets: The Government Received Warnings of Bin Laden's Plans
to Attack New York and D.C.," The Village Voice, July 31, 2003)
"George Bush received specific warnings in the weeks before 11 September that an attack
inside the United States was being planned by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, US
government sources said yesterday. In a top-secret intelligence memo headlined 'Bin
Laden determined to strike in the US', the President was told on 6 August that the
Saudi-born terrorist hoped to 'bring the fight to America'. . ." -- ("Bush Knew of Terrorist
Plot to Hijack US Planes," the Guardian, May 19, 2002)
"It seems very probable that those in the White House knew much more than they have
admitted, and they are covering up their failure to take action. . . After pulling together
the information in the 9/11 Report, it is understandable why Bush is stonewalling. It is not
very difficult to deduce what the president knew, and when he knew it. And the portrait
that results is devastating." -- John Dean, ("The 9/11 Report Raises More Serious
Questions about the White House Statements On Intelligence," Findlaw.com July, 29,
2003)
"President Bush and his top advisers were informed by the CIA early last August that
terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden had discussed the possibility of hijacking
airplanes." ("Bush was Told of Hijacking Dangers," The Washington Post, May 16, 2002)
"The White House said tonight that President Bush had been warned by American
intelligence agencies in early August that Osama bin Laden was seeking to hijack aircraft
but that the warnings did not contemplate the possibility that the hijackers would turn the
planes into guided missiles for a terrorist attack. (''Bush Was Warned bin Laden Wanted to
Hijack Planes," The New York Times, May 15, 2002)
"I saw papers that show US knew al-Qaeda would attack cities with airplanes'" -- FBI
Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, ('I saw papers that show US knew al-Qaeda would attack
cities with airplanes": Whistleblower the White House wants to silence speaks to The
Independent," The Independent, April 2, 2004)
"The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against U.S.
facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or
no warning."-- CIA Intelligence Report for President Bush, July, 2001 (60 Days Prior to
9/11)
"I spoke with Congressman Ike Skelton who said that just recently the director of the CIA
warned that there could be an attack--an imminent attack--on the United States of this
nature. So this is not entirely unexpected." -- NPR Congressional Correspondent David
Welna (NPR's Morning Edition, Sept. 11, 2001)
"Israeli intelligence officials say that they warned their counterparts in the United States
last month that large-scale terrorist attacks on highly visible targets on the American
mainland were imminent." ("Israeli security issued urgent warning to CIA of large-scale
terror attacks," The Telegraph, Sept. 16, 2001)
"Family members of victims of the terror attacks say the White House has smothered
every attempt to get to the bottom of the outrageous intelligence failures that took place
on its watch." ("Bush's 9/11 Cover-up?" Salon.com, June 18, 2003)
"I really think there's nothing more despicable "| for someone to insinuate that the
president of the United States knew there was an attack on our country that was
imminent and didn't do anything about it." -- Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (" Bush
Was Warned of Hijackings Before 9/11; Lawmakers Want Public Inquiry," ABC News, May
16, 2002)
De Planes, De Planes!
"[T]he least understandable argument of all is the line first used by Rice in May of 2002,
that no one could have foreseen that terrorists would hijack airplanes and crash-fly them
into buildings. It is especially odd coming from the coordination person in the White House.
. . It is also odd coming from the official who had an administration plan for actions against
Al Qaeda on her desk on the day of the attacks." -- Thomas Oliphant ("Prejudging the
9/11 report," the Boston Globe, Dec. 21, 2002)
"According to counter-terrorism experts quoted in Germany's largest newspaper, the
attack on [George W. Bush at the July, 2001 G-8 Summit] might be a James Bond-like
aerial strike in the form of remote-controlled airplanes packed with plastic explosives. --
James Hatfield, ("Why would Osama bin Laden want to kill Dubya, his former business
partner?" Online Journal, July 3, 2001)
"On Sept. 10, Newsweek has learned, a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled
travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns." (Bush: "We're
at War: As the deadliest attack on American soil in history opens a scary new kind of
conflict, the manhunt begins," Newsweek, Sept. 24, 2001)
"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. . ." ("Ashcroft Flying High," CBS News, July 26,
2001)
"For Mayor Willie Brown, the first signs that something was amiss came late Monday when
he got a call from what he described as his airport security -- a full eight hours before
yesterday's string of terrorist attacks -- advising him that Americans should be cautious
about their air travel... Exactly where the call came from is a bit of a mystery." ("Willie
Brown got low-key early warning about air travel," The San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 12,
2001)
"It had been known as early as 1996 that there were plans to hit Washington targets with
airplanes. Then in 1999 a US national intelligence council report noted that "al-Qaida
suicide bombers could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives into the
Pentagon, the headquarters of the CIA, or the White House.'" -- Former British
environment minister Michael Meacher, ("This War on Terrorism is Bogus," The Guardian,
Sept. 6, 2003)
"On the morning of September 11th 2001, Mr. [John] Fulton and his team at the CIA were
running a pre-planned simulation to explore the emergency response issues that would be
created if a plane were to strike a building ." (Promotional literature from The National Law
Enforcement and Security Institute 's "Homeland Security: America 's Leadership
Challenge," held in Chicago on Sept. 6, 2002)
"[Vanity Fair's Craig Unger] provides a definitive account of how members of the bin Laden
family and relatives of the House of Saud were spirited out of the country on private
aircraft during the days following the Sept. 11 attacks -- when almost all aviation was
prohibited. -- Joe Conason ("Up, up, and away with Prince Bandar: The truth about how
the White House helped the bin Laden family flee the U.S. finally comes out. Will the
"liberal" press pay attention?" Joe Conasan's Journal, Sept. 4, 2003)
"The twin-engine Lear jet streaked into the afternoon sky, leaving Tampa behind but
revealing a glimpse of international intrigue in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on
America. The federal government says the flight never took place. But the two armed
bodyguards hired to chaperon their clients out of the state recall the 100-minute trip
Sept. 13 quite vividly. In the end, the son of a Saudi Arabian prince who is the nation's
defense minister and the son of a Saudi army commander made it to Kentucky for a
waiting 747 and a trip to their homeland." ("Phantom Flight From Florida," The Tampa
Tribune, Oct. 5, 2001)
Incompetence
"On July 5 of 2001, the White House summoned officials of a dozen federal agencies to the
Situation Room. 'Something really spectacular is going to happen here, and it's going to
happen soon,' the government's top counterterrorism official, Richard Clarke, told the
assembled group. . . Clarke directed every counterterrorist office to cancel vacations,
defer non-vital travel, put off scheduled exercises, place domestic rapid-response teams
on much shorter alert. For six weeks in the summer of 2001, at home and overseas, the
U.S. government was at its highest possible state of readiness--and anxiety--against
imminent terrorist attack." That intensity -- defensive in nature -- did not last.
By the time Bush received his briefing at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., on Aug. 6, the
government had begun to stand down from the alert. -- ("Before Sept. 11, Unshared Clues
and Unshaped Policy," The Washington Post, May 17, 2002)
"My analysis is that George Bush had no option but to keep George Tenet on as Director,
because George Tenet had warned Bush repeatedly, for months and months before
September 11, that something very bad was about to happen." 27-Year CIA Veteran Ray
McGovern, ("Interview: 27-Year CIA Veteran," Truthout.com, June 26, 2003)
"You know why I think George Tenet is still in his job? I think there are smoking guns all
over the White House. I think if you crack the White House safe, you're going to find
memos from Tenet saying, 'The terrorists are coming, the terrorists are coming.'" Gary
Hart, ("Condi Rice's other wake-up call: Former Sen. Gary Hart says he, too, warned Rice
about an imminent terror attack on two occasions before 9/11," Salon.com, April, 2, 2004)
"But wow! This goofy child president we have on our hands now. He is demonstrably a fool
and a failure, and this is only the summer of '03." . . . The American nation is in the worst
condition I can remember in my lifetime, and our prospects for the immediate future are
even worse. I am surprised and embarrassed to be a part of the first American generation
to leave the country in far worse shape than it was when we first came into it. The Bush
family must be very proud of themselves today, but I am not. Big Darkness, soon come.
Take my word for it." -- Hunter S. Thompson, ("Big Darkness," ESPN.com, July 22, 2003)
"On June 21, I believe it was, George Tenet called me and said, "I don't think we're getting
the message through. These people aren't acting the way the Clinton people did under
similar circumstances.' And I suggested to Tenet that he come down and personally brief
Condi Rice, that he bring his terrorism team with him. And we sat in the national security
adviser's office. And I've used the phrase in the book to describe George Tenet's warnings
as "He had his hair on fire.' He was about as excited as I'd ever seen him. And he said,
"Something is going to happen.'" Richard Clarke (Meet the Press, March 28, 2004)
"I think this is the worst government the US has ever had in its more than 200 years of
history. It has engaged in extraordinarily irresponsible policies not only in foreign policy and
economics but also in social and environmental policy. This is not normal government
policy. Now is the time for (American) people to engage in civil disobedience. I think it's
time to protest - as much as possible." American Nobel Prize laureate for Economics
George A. Akerlof ("US Nobel Laureate Slams Bush Govt. as "Worst' in American History,"
Der Spiegel, July 29, 2003)
"Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused
the administration of using classification to "disguise and keep from the American people
ineptitude and incompetence, which was a contributing factor toward Sept. 11." -- ("9/11
report puts Saudis in spotlight: Lawmakers: Tell the whole story," The Associated Press,
July 28, 2003)
"Bush acknowledged that bin Laden was not his focus or that of his national security
team. "I was not on point,' the president said [to Bob Woodward in Bush at War ]. "I didn't
feel a sense of urgency.' Well, how can you not feel a sense of urgency when George
Tenet is telling you in daily briefings, day after day, that a major al Qaeda attack is
coming?" Richard Clarke (Larry King Live, March 24, 2004)
"Frankly, I find it outrageous that the president is running for reelection on the grounds
that he's done such great things about terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for
months, when maybe he could have done something to stop 9/11." -- Richard Clarke, (60
Minutes, March 21, 2004)
"If I did anything like this as a policeman and killed 3,000 people, with this much evidence
against me, I'd spend 100,000 years in jail," -- Retired New York City cop and 9/11 victim
family member Bruce DeCell, ("Probing 9/11," The Nation, June 19, 2003)
"This is an issue that everyone needs to worry about, because we are not safer here.
George Tenet, director of the CIA, said that at last week's hearings. We're no safer here.
We need to work together, regardless of our political affiliation to become safer. And the
public must care about this. They must be informed." Sept. 11 widow Kristen Breitweiser
(Deborah Norville Tonight, April 1, 2004)
Predictions
"As a small army of fire fighters struggled to put out the flames at the World Trade Center
in New York and at the Pentagon in Washington, federal law enforcement agencies had
already begun marshaling agents, readying them for what promises to be the largest
criminal investigation in the history of the nation." -- Peg Tyre (Newsweek, Sept. 11,
2001)
"Congress will no doubt hold hearings to assign the fault for a massive failure of
intelligence. . . " (Bush: "We're At War': As the deadliest attack on American soil in history
opens a scary new kind of conflict, the manhunt begins," Sept. 24, 2001)
"If you were to tell me that two years after the murder of my husband that we wouldn't
have one question answered, I wouldn't believe it." -- Kristen Breitweiser ("911 Chair:
Attack Was Preventable," CBS News, Dec.18, 2003)
"The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for Peace in Our
Time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are At War
now -- with somebody -- and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest
of our lives. It will be guerilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no
identifiable enemy. . . .
This is going to be a very expensive war, and Victory is not guaranteed -- for anyone, and
certainly not for anyone as baffled as George W. Bush. All he knows is that his father
started the war a long time ago, and that he, the goofy child-President, has been chosen
by Fate and the global Oil industry to finish it Now," Hunter S. Thompson, ("Fear and
Loathing in America," ESPN.com, Sept. 12, 2001)
"Two years ago a project set up by the men who now surround George W Bush said what
America needed was "a new Pearl Harbor.' Its published aims have, alarmingly, come true."
-- John Pilger, commenting on the Project for a New American Century, (PNAC) ("A New
Pearl Harbor," New Statesman, Dec. 16, 2002)
"[PNAC co-founder William] Kristol believes the United States will be "vindicated when we
discover the weapons of mass destruction and when we liberate the people of Iraq.' --
("Were Neo-Conservatives' 1998 Memos a Blueprint for Iraq War?" ABC News, March 10,
2003)
"I had said at -- I had an 8 o'clock breakfast [on Sept. 11, 2001] -- that sometime in the
next two, four, six, eight, 10, 12 months, there would be an event that would occur in the
world that would be sufficiently shocking that it would remind people, again, how
important it is to have a strong, healthy Defense Department . . And someone walked in
and handed a note that said that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center." -- Donald
Rumsfeld (Larry King Live, Dec. 5, 2001)
The 9/11 Commission
"I don't believe any longer that it's a matter of connecting the dots. I think they had a
veritable blueprint, and we want to know why they didn't act on it." Republican Sen. Arlen
Specter ("FBI, CIA Brass in a Sling," New York Daily News, June 6, 2002)
"They don't have any excuse because the information was in their lap, and they didn't do
anything to prevent it." Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, member of the joint intelligence
committee investigating 9/11 ("Another Dot That Didn't Get Connected," San Francisco
Chronicle, June 3, 2002)
"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and
what should have been done. This was not something that had to happen." Gov. Thomas
Kean, ("9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable," CBS News, Dec. 18, 2003 )
"As each day goes by we learn that this government knew a whole lot more about these
terrorists before September 11th than it has ever admitted." -- Former Senator and 911
commissioner Max Cleland ("9/11 Commission Could Subpoena Oval Office Files," The New
York Times, Oct. 26, 2003)
"We spent $100 million on Whitewater. Only $3 million has been spent on investigating
September 11! It's not about 'getting Bush' -- I'm no fan of Bill Clinton either! In a
democracy it's always about us -- and what we're willing to let people get away with." --
David Potorti, author of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, ("Building a War
Machine on the Back of Victims," Pulse of the Twin Cities, Dec. 10, 2003)
Oh, What a Tangled Web |
