John Dean on the classified "smoking gun" against Condi Rice

[skeptic9]

"The 9/11 Report Raises More Serious Questions About The White House Statements On Intelligence

By JOHN W. DEAN Tuesday, Jul. 29, 2003

The recently released Report of the Joint Congressional Inquiry Into The Terrorist Attacks Of September 11, and its dismal findings, have been well reported by the news media. What has not been widely reported, however, are the inescapable conclusions that must be drawn from a close reading of this bipartisan study. ...

Bluntly stated, either the Bush White House knew about the potential of terrorists flying airplanes into skyscrapers (notwithstanding their claims to the contrary), or the CIA failed to give the White House this essential information, which it possessed and provided to others. Bush is withholding the document that answers this question. Accordingly, it seems more likely that the former possibility is the truth. That is, 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. ...

One of the most important sets of documents that the Congressional Inquiry sought was a set of copies of the President's Daily Brief (PDB), which is prepared each night by the CIA. ... In particular, it asked for information about the August 6, 2001 Daily Brief relating to Osama Bin Laden's terrorist threats against the United States, and other Daily Brief items regarding Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and pre-September 11 terrorism threats. ...

The president's briefing of August 6, 2001 was the subject of public discussion even before the Inquiry started its work. As the 9/11 Report notes in a footnote (at page 206), "National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice stated in a May 16, 2002 press briefing that, on August 6, 2001, the President Daily Brief (PDB) included information about Bin Laden's methods of operation from a historical perspective dating back to 1997." At that May 16, 2002 briefing, Rice went on to say that the Brief made clear that one method Bin Laden might choose was to hijack an airline, taking hostages to gain release of one of their operatives. She said it was "a generalized warring" with nothing about time, place or method. And she added, "I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon."

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

From http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030729.html

[Florida_Geek]

1. Drip Drip Drip

Day by day Bush is look worse and worse.

The sad part is 3000 people died over this.

[Kimber Scott]

12. Another sad part is this was written almost a year ago.

Were it not for the 9/11 families insisting on the current inquiry, and Richard Clarke's best selling book, this all would have been old and forgotten news.

[skeptic9]

22. What do you mean, "this all WOULD HAVE BEEN old and forgotten ...

... news"?

Even with all the millions of words that have been written and aired regarding Richard Clarke's book and testimony, Dean's analysis STILL IS "old and forgotten news" to most of the media. I haven't seen Dean's argument repeated anywhere else during the past couple of weeks. Have you?

[peacetalksforall]

2. The new Dem radio station should book

Dean and Clarke for a dual interview. Al F.? Are you the also the program director? Listen up.

[justgamma]

3. What I found most disturbing

is the fact that Shrub is allowing foreign dignitaries to sit in on his CIA briefings, but refused to allow the 911 commission access to them. Is he just trying to prove to them that he really is the pResident?

[skeptic9]

4. Kristen Breitweiser shook the "classified" report John Dean cites ...

... into the "Hardball" camera on cable yesterday (Thursday March 25th).

The 9-11 widow must be pretty buff--Dean says the Report of the Joint Congressional Inquiry Into The Terrorist Attacks Of September 11 runs 800 pages.

Chris Mathews had just run a two-year old tape of Condi's biggest lie: ""I don't think anybody could have predicted ... a hijacked airplane as a missile..."

Breitweiser's reaction was, "The families would like Dr Rice to testify under oath in a public hearing ... I think one of two things: either she flat-out lied, or she's incompetent .. I can hold up the Joint Inquiry report. You see all the post-its on here indicating instances of planes being used as missiles, of al Qaeda being interested in using planes as missiles, of attacks in the homeland ... I would encourage her to set a moral precedent.... a precedent that 3000 lost lives warrant."

Seeing the hard look on Kristen Breitweiser's face last night had to have shook up Condi Rice and her "strategic information management" advisers. This has to be the explanation for Condi's sudden about face after two years of stonewalling. According to another thread, at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1294693 Condi now has said she "misspoke" two years ago.

[snippy]

5. Rice claimed that the Bush administration was not given the intelligence

reports about the possibility of using planes as missiles.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: Yes, I do still believe that the attacks were unpredictable. Look, the 1998 reports that apparently some intelligence analysts looked at and made an analysis that perhaps al-Qaida wanted to slam planes into buildings were simply not made available to the Bush Administration.

We weren't here in 1998, and I think you have to look at the fact that this was among a host of other intelligence analyses that suggested that car bombs and attacks against nuclear plants, and other means of terrorism were more likely.

But the fact is when I spoke in May about what was presented to the president on August 6, it is absolutely the case that what was presented to the president and what was analyzed for him and what was analyzed throughout the administration was traditional methods of hijacking - in fact that the hijacking might be to try and win release of al-Qaida prisoners or something like that.

There wasn't any mention or analysis of people slamming planes into buildings; it simply wasn't there.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/july-dec02/rice_9-25.html

[skeptic9]

6. Dean says that explanation IS one of 2 possibilities: Read the snippet...

... in my original post again. Dean's key sentence is:

'It appears from the 9/11 Report that either Rice was dissembling, or the CIA was withholding information from the President (and hence also from Rice).'

Dean goes on to show that the latter explanation is the less likely possibility. We know that the secret August 6 2001 PDB has a complete list of al Qaeda strategies going back to 1997. The Joint Congressional Inquiry Report also has a complete list of al Qaeda strategies going back to 1997. The continuity of leadership at the CIA over that period, under George Tenet, makes it unlikely that the two lists differ substantially. And Dean points out that the JCI list includes using commercial airliners as missiles to attack SKYSCRAPERS in NY and DC. And no building in DC can stand taller than the Capitol dome!

Now we can be pretty sure why the August 6 PDB remains classified. The CIA told Dubya and Condi EXPLICITLY that NYC skyscrapers were about to be attacked by al Qaeda, using commercial airliners as missiles.

[snippy]

17. And in this interview Rice claimed that it was the second possibility.

Rice said that none of the intelligence reports discussing the possibility of using airplanes as missiles were made available to the Bush administration. Dean wrote "or the CIA was withholding information from the President (and hence also from Rice)."

This is the same thing.

[bpilgrim]

7. GENOA ITALY summer 01 - BAMM

when will the press bring this DAMAGING FACT up?
that happened on her watch AND they were worrying about using AIRCRAFT as MISSLES.

peace

[sangha]

8. Genoa braces for G8 summit

http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/07/17/genoa.security/

Genoa braces for G8 summit

"Italian security forces are on heightened alert after a bomb attack in Genoa, where the world's top leaders are to gather for the latest G8 meeting of industrialised nations. ...

...The Italian authorities' security measures also include the positioning of surface-to-air missiles at Genoa's Christopher Columbus airport. Dubbed the SPADA, the land-based system consists of missiles capable of a range of 15 kilometres (9.3 miles).

The ministry said the decision to install the missiles is not excessive.

"There's no excessive precaution," military spokesman Colonel Alberto Battaglini told Reuters. "The measure, which was planned by the previous government, may seem open to criticism, but in reality it is merely to act as a deterrent against any aerial incursion during the summit." ...

..The head of Russia's Federal Bodyguard Service has warned of a plot by terrorist Osama bin Laden to assassinate George W. Bush at the summit and the U.S. President may be staying at U.S. Camp Darby military base in Livorno or offshore on the American aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise to avoid any terrorist risk..."

[sangha]

10. U.S. warned in 1995 of plot to hijack planes, attack buildings

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/18/inv.hijacking.philippines/

U.S. warned in 1995 of plot to hijack planes, attack buildings

"The FBI was warned six years ago of a terrorist plot to hijack commercial planes and slam them into the Pentagon, the CIA headquarters and other buildings, Philippine investigators told CNN.

Philippine authorities learned of the plot after a small fire in a Manila apartment, which turned out to be the hideout of Ramzi Yousef, who was later convicted for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Yousef escaped at the time, but agents caught his right-hand man, Abdul Hakim Murad, who told them a chilling tale.

Murad narrated to us about a plan by the Ramzi cell in the continental U.S. to hijack a commercial plane and ram it into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and also the Pentagon," said Rodolfo Mendoza, a Philippine intelligence investigator. ..."

[sangha]

11. Aug. Memo Focused On Attacks in U.S.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A35744-2002May17�Found=true
Aug. Memo Focused On Attacks in U.S.

"The top-secret briefing memo presented to President Bush on Aug. 6 carried the headline, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.," and was primarily focused on recounting al Qaeda's past efforts to attack and infiltrate the United States, senior administration officials said...

...In earlier comments this week, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and other administration officials stressed that intelligence officials were focused primarily on threats to U.S. interests overseas. But sources made clear yesterday that the briefing presented to Bush focused on attacks within the United States, indicating that he and his aides were concerned about the risks...."

[skeptic9]

19. Thanks, sangha. Did you notice Ari's coordinated lie about the August 6 PDB?

Did you notice that the lead author is Bob Woodward? This May 18 2002 Post article seems to pull together several strands of Condi's predicament. It appeared on the Saturday following the Thursday when Condi told her big lie, and repeats it as the only direct quote from the National Security Adviser, '"I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people . . . would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile," Rice said Thursday.'

According to another paragraph in your Post article, Condi herself confirms the crux of Dean's argument: "the sharpest focus remained on the Aug. 6 presidential briefing memo, which Rice described Thursday as historic and analytic in nature. But she did not explicitly note that the memo, according to sources, was focused primarily on a discussion of possible domestic targets."

The attribution of info about the August 6th memo to unnamed "intelligence sources" reminds me of the glory days of the Washington Post, and Redford and Hoffman as Woodward and Bernstein in 'All the President's Men.'

And there is a jab at Press Secretary Ari that might suggest there had been explicit White House discussions of PR for the coverup of the August 6th memo: 'White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters yesterday said the headline on the document was, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike the United States." But sources who have read the memo said the headline ended with the phrase "in U.S." Fleischer described the briefing as a summary containing "generalized information about hijacking and any number of other things.'

When lies about the same event come from TWO high White House officials during the same week, more than nine months afterward, it seems to me there may have been explicit discussion of a coverup. I wonder who else was at the "strategic information management" meeting where Condi and Ari coordinated their stories, if there was such a meeting.

[seabeyond]

9. contradicts berger reply

specifically asked if there was ever any information that a plane would be used as a missile and he sat back in thought and said no no, we never had that. not a quote

anyone else hear that. has stuck with me why cause i know bushco heard about it in summer of 2001.

[skeptic9]

15. You have a great memory! But it seems to me there's no inconsistency ...

... between what Berger said and what Dean wrote. Dean wrote that there were a number of al Qaeda "methods of operation" included in the comprehensive list in the JCI Report (and therefore presumably in the comprehensive list in the August 6 PDB). Berger agrees that one of these tactics was using a commercial airliner as a missile aimed at a tall building. It seems to me Berger is saying, not that he and Condi weren't aware of the possibility of commercial airliners being crashed into skyscrapers, but that bringing down the World Trade Center with an airplane seemed no more likely an al Qaeda attack than detonating a suitcase nuke in a ship docked in NY Harbor or breaching the containment at the Indian Point nuclear power plant.

The exchange you remember took place just before a lunch break between Berger's appearance and Richard Clarke's 1:30 pm testimony.

From the transcript I downloaded Wednesday from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20349-2004Mar24.html

"KEAN: ... I have one last question -- we're through, but this question comes from some family members, so I wanted to make sure and ask it. Prior to 9/11, did you have any intelligence that planes could be used as missiles?

BERGER: I saw no intelligence which, you know, drew our attention to that as any more likely than truck bombs, car bombs, assassinations at embassies. I take it from the Graham-Goss report there were a number of documents which talked about that. But I do not recall ever being told that this was a modality that was likely -- any more likely than others. Indeed, I think the intelligence took us to other kinds of methods of terrorism rather than this one.

KEAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Berger. Thank you very much for your testimony and thank you for your service. If we have additional questions later on, I hope we can get them to you. I do have a note from the Capitol Police saying please do not leave unattended bags or packages on your chairs or seats or in the room or they may not be here when you get back. We're going to have a brief lunch because we have to stay on time and I would ask the commission to be back at 1:30.

(RECESS)"

[seabeyond]

16. thanks skeptic9

i can remember his face and seemed tired, was the very end. thanks for the quote. he did sound sincere in his testimony

[Moderator]

13. skeptic9

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
news source.


Thank you.


DU Moderator

[skeptic9]

14. Moderator--

I tried to comply with your request, but the DU board software gave me this message:

"You can't edit this message because the editing period has expired."

I was going to remove the third paragraph and the last paragraph, and I was going to reformat the loose sentences so they'd again be bullet points in a paragraph, rather than each looking like a separate paragraph.

Thanks for your message; I'll know what to do next time.

[sangha]

18. Also, it doesn't infringe on copyright

The remarks are from a public hearing. Wash Post doesn't own those words, and even if they were it would still be OK since we're discussing the specific comments that were posted.

[BabsSong]

20. Can I ask a question because I'm still confused on the issue

Does the 9/11 Commission have in it's hands the August 6th briefing and realted briefings?? I can't figure that out---the article says it "sought". Has it ever gotten. I assume they have it because isn't that the info the woman (name??) on the panel keeps referring to as "setting hair on fire". Thus, does that paper specifically say about using planes to hit buildings and refer to skyscrapers, Statue of Liberty, etc.?? Or do they have the papers and it doesn't get that specific and thus supports Rice's claim?? Or, is the White House refusing to give up these papers??

[skeptic9]

21. Those who know, won't say; and those who say, don't really know

Reading between the lines of a 9-11 Commission press release for Feb 10th 2004, and a simplified "FAQ" based on it, I'm guessing that the woman on the Commission, Jamie Gorelick, and Vice-Chair Lee Hamilton, are the only objective people who MAY have seen the ENTIRE August 6th PDB. Along with Chairman Kean, Hamilton, and Condi's former colleague and Bush Transition Team member Phil Zelikov, she was one of four Commission members and staff who may have seen that PDB. But Gorelick must be under some heavy restraint preventing her from disclosing any information from it not specifically needed for counterterrorism recommendations for the Final Report of the Commission. You could check the archives of your favorite publications for reactions to this press release on Tuesday Feb 10th and the following few days.

I've capitalized and asterisked one word for emphasis from http://www.9-11commission.gov/about/faq.htm : "Was the Commission able to review the Presidential Daily Briefs (PDBs)?

A four-person Review Team has seen every single PDB item for which the Commission requested access. The Team prepared a detailed report on all PDBs of critical importance to the Commission�s mandate. All Commissioners were briefed for over three hours on this 7,000-word report, joined with a supplement of complementary intelligence documents. The Commission was also given every word of the August 6, 2001, **ITEM** on al Qaeda and the threat of attacks on the United States."

From http://www.9-11commission.gov/press/index.htm :

"Statement by Thomas H. Kean, Chair, and Lee H. Hamilton, Vice Chair of the 9-11 Commission

February 10, 2004

We want to announce the implementation of an agreement with the White House on the question of Presidential Daily Briefs, or PDBs. This agreement has enabled the Commission Review Team to report back to the full Commission on all PDBs of critical importance to the Commission�s work. The Commission Review Team, consisting of Commissioner Gorelick and Executive Director Zelikow, worked long hours and did superb work. It reviewed all--we repeat, all--PDBs responsive to the Commission�s document requests. This access to PDBs is unprecedented.

The Team prepared a detailed report on all PDBs of critical importance to the Commission�s mandate. We are confident that the Commission has obtained an account of all PDBs that relate to the al Qaeda threat and the events of September 11. We are confident that we can prepare a strong and credible report.

We want to commend the Review Team for its outstanding leadership in completing this task.