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CLINTON DECLARES WAR ON THE TALIBAN“"If bin Laden or any of the organizations affiliated with him attacks the United States or United States interests," told Waqil, "we will hold you, the leadership of the Taliban, personally accountable. Do you understand what I am saying? This is from the highest level of my government.” WASHINGTON POST
REPUBLICANS BLOCK ANTI-TERROR MEASURES
President Clinton urged Congress Tuesday to act swiftly in developing anti-terrorism legislation before its August recess. ‘We need to keep this country together right now. We need to focus on this terrorism issue,’ Clinton said during a White House news conference. But while the president pushed for quick legislation, Republican lawmakers hardened their stance against some of the proposed anti-terrorism measures.”
GOVERNOR BUSH PARTIES WITH THE TALIBAN
“A senior delegation from the Taleban movement in Afghanistan is in the Texas for talks with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. A spokesman for the company, Unocal, said the Taleban were expected to spend several days at the company's headquarters in Sugarland, Texas.” “Taleban in Texas for Talks on Gas Pipeline,” BBC NEWS, December 4, 1997 (Sugarland is 22 miles outside Houston.)
The Taliban ministers and their advisers stayed in a five-star hotel and were chauffeured in a company minibus. ...After meeting with Governor Bush, their only requests were to visit Houston's zoo, the NASA space centre and Omaha's Super Target discount store to buy stockings, toothpaste, combs and soap.
CHENEY MAKES MILLIONS OF TALIBAN
On October 27, 1997, Unocal and Halliburton issued press releases about their energy work in Turkmenistan. Dick Cheney's company got the Caspian Sea drilling contract. The Cheney led Halliburton was doing business with the Taliban while Clinton was at war with them.
"The energy consortium Enron (a major Bush contributor) plans to be one of the builders of the Afghanistan pipeline.
CLINTON ESCALATES WAR WITH TALIBAN/TERROR
“Clinton directed two retaliatory strikes on Aug. 20. One, near the Afghan town of Khost, was timed to kill bin Laden and his associates in their beds at 10 p.m. local time. It missed, the CIA said afterward, by a few hours. The other demolished a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan, that the CIA had linked to attempted production of chemical weapons for bin Laden.” Washington Post
BUSH GIVEN PROOF OF TALIBAN/BIN LADEN US COLE BOMBING
“On Jan. 26th, 2001, the CIA confirmed to the new Bush administration that bin Laden and Al Qaeda were responsible for the attack on the U.S.S. Cole which killed 17 American sailors.
The response of the Bush administration was to cease Predator drone surveillance flights to track bin Laden, reassign the cruise-missile equipped submarine stationed in the Indian Ocean with the specific mission of targeting bin Laden, reassign the AC-130 gunships on scramble alert that could be on top of bin Laden after a six hour flight, suspend the special forces operations targeting bin Laden already based in Uzbekistan.”
BUSH WELCOMES THE TALIBAN...AGAIN
Then in 2001, just five and a half months before 9/11, the Bush administration welcomed a special Taliban envoy to tour the United States to help improve the image of the Taliban government.
The Bush administration begins sending the Taliban over $100 million in aid.
BUSH ADMINISTRATION WARNED OF IMMINENT AIRLINE TERROR PLOTS
“On July 5, 2001, according to a recent Washington Post article, the White House called together officials from a dozen federal agencies to give them a warning. “‘Something really spectacular is going to happen here, and it's going to happen soon,’ the officials were told by the government's top counterterrorism official, Richard Clarke. MSNBC.com
“Clarke considered the threat sufficiently important to direct every counterintelligence office to cancel vacations and get ready for immediate action, the Post reported.”
AUGUST 6, 2001 Mr BUSH GOES FISHING
“There's no need to learn what was in that top-secret briefing that the president received as he settled down for his monthlong vacation at his Texas ranch on Aug. 6. Reports at the time show that Mr. Bush broke off from work early and spent most of that day fishing. If he had received foreknowledge of an attack that morning, he would have acted upon it, and no Democratic leader has said otherwise (despite Dick Cheney's smears to the contrary).” NY TIMES
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.”
Bush was relaxing at his Crawford ranch (again) in early August, he was briefed about a potential Osama bin Laden hijacking plot. And yet the Bush team, which believed that President Clinton had fruitlessly overpersonalized the struggle with bin Laden, did not go into high alert.”
“President Bush was told in the months before the Sept. 11 attacks that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network might hijack U.S. passenger planes - information which prompted the administration to issue an alert to federal agencies - but not the American public.”
“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.”
SUMMER 2001: BUSH CABINET STOPS FLYING
On July 26, 2001, CBSnews.com reported that John Ashcroft had stopped flying on commercial airlines… The FBI advised Ashcroft to stay off commercial aircraft. The rest of us just had to take our chances…
AMERICAN PUBLIC/AIRLINES NEVER WARNED
Even though he had received direct threat warnings for months, and even though his entire Cabinet had begun the practice of flying private planes, rather than flying commercial, None of the airlines were warned. ‘No warnings indicated that a Sept. 11 scenario was credible or possible,’ United Airlines spokeswoman Chris Nardella told Foxnews.com. “‘We’re not aware of any warnings or notifications of any specific threats,’ Delta spokeswoman Peggy Estes said from Atlanta.”
REPUBLICANS TRY TO STIFLE INVESTIGATION
“Vice President Dick Cheney said today that he would advise President Bush not to turn over to Congress the August intelligence briefing that warned that terrorists were interested in hijacking airplanes, and he insisted that the investigation into Sept. 11 should be handled by the Congressional intelligence committees, not an independent commission.” WASHINGTON POST
“Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Bush asked him on Jan. 28 not to seek an outside commission. He said previously that Vice President Dick Cheney made a similar request Jan. 24.” ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Republicans began a full out frontal assault questioning the patriotism of any who called for an investigation into 911. Georgia Senator Zell Miller even went so far as to characterize my call for hearings as ‘dangerous, loony and irresponsible.’” NY TIMES
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