Ben-Veniste is clearing up Clinton and Bush's stand on. going after OBL

[Frustratedlady]

He's on the Situation Room with Blitzer and is telling parts of the interview before the 911 Commission with Bush and Clinton about no retaliation for the Cole and why they hadn't gone after OBL more vigorously before 911. I wasn't able to hear it all, but it sounded very revealing. It will surely be recorded.

NOTE: Including the interviews in the formal report was voted down, but Ben-Veniste voted to include them.

Edited to clarify that Ben-Veniste was referring to the 911 Commission Report.

[Kira]

1. I think this is huge

That interview started something that should have happened a long time ago. People need to know what they testified to. They need to understand they did nothing about this situation when they got into office.

[katmondoo]

3. A great interview

Cleared up a lot of what happened after the Cole bombing and why Clinton stopped in Dec. Of course the Bush spin is that the incident happened in October and he was not president then.

[Justice]

22. Agree - Explosive

[EVDebs]

24. Bush, NSA pre-9/11 "policy shift"

from
Khan Job
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=312

""A top-level CIA operative who spoke with us on condition of strictest anonymity said that, after Bush took office, "There was a major policy shift" at the National Security Agency. Investigators were ordered to "back off " from any inquiries into Saudi Arabian financing of terror networks, especially if they touched on Saudi royals and their retainers. That put the Bin Ladens, a family worth a reported $12 billion and a virtual arm of the Saudi royal household, off limits for investigation. Osama was the exception; he remained a wanted man, but agents could not look too closely at how he filled his piggy bank. The key rule of any investigation, "follow the money," was now violated, and investigations-at least before September 11-began to die.""

Palast's article and subsequent NSA and administration actions clarify a situation that was building up since Nixon planned to seize Saudi oil fields in '73. Friends, this is the smoking gun

Document reveals Nixon plan to seize Arab oil fields
'70s embargo sparked 'last resort' measure, says British memo

Lizette Alvarez, New York Times

Friday, January 2, 2004

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/01/02/MNG8G427D61.DTL

THESE were the warplans, dusted off, and substituting "Iraq" for "Saudi Arabia" that Bushco relied upon...all waiting for a pretext.

[bigbrother05]

2. Ben Veniste interviewing Bush Cheney in the oval office

BV asked shrub why there was no follow up to the Cole.
Bush claims that no one told him.

[Fridays Child]

9. In all likelihood, Bush's assertion is demonstrably false but, even if...

...it's true, the standard for the president of the United States needs to be either that he knew or should have known. "No one told me" is criminally negligent.

[GeorgeGist]

19. How patriotic of the 9/11 commission to ignore...

Bush's lack of intelligence as a contributing factor to national insecurity.

[City Lights]

34. No one told him the Cole had been attacked, or no one told him what

to do about it? :crazy: How sad that because we have a mildly retarded chimp for president, I have to ask for clarification on what he wasn't told... Either scenario is quite damning.

[applegrove]

4. Ben-Veniste clarified a whole lot about but was left out of 9/11 report.

Cole and presidential behaviour re: who tried and cared & who did not. Who didn't get intel passed onto them. ETC. And that democrats could not get testimony of Presidents included in the public report, re: 9/11 investigation, for 5 years. That was the deal. But now....now the cat is out of the bag.

GOP tactic of blaming Clinton for bin Laden seems to have back-fired.

[berner59]

5. This should be a bombshell...

He's saying that Bush admitted to NOT KNOWING about the Taliban?? No one told him?? Clark and others running around with their hair on fire and he's saying he didn't know anything?? Clinton leaves him a whole plan and they ignore it??? Pretty telling...

Did you see the WH response? They simply said: "The bombing of the Cole occurred on Oct 12, 2000...we were not in office..." WTF?? Clinton finds out in Dec that it was Bin Laden and sets up a plan to attack but didn't want to leave the mess to a new adminsitration so he gets the plans set with Clark to pass it on and they do NOTHING!!! Ben-Veniste says this maybe could have had an effect on the 9/11 plans...if we had attacked before it - makes sense...

This is VERY DAMNING!! Ben-Vensite did a great job today...1st with Soledad this morning fact checking Clinton...all was true...now this...wow!!!

[Frustratedlady]

7. I agree! I felt he was very intent on getting the message across...

I hope they replay the interview, or one of the sites captured it and we can view it again.

[tblue]

10. Also, Clinton said

there was no definitive intelligence that the Cole bombing was by Al Qaeda. That didn't come until December or January, I think, and so Clinton prepared a response and asked the Bushies to execute it. We all know what happened next: nothing.

[applegrove]

33. Came in December. Then Clinton didn't want to start a war Bush would

have to finish.

[Cassandra]

11. didn't want to leave the mess...

to a new adminsitration...as Bush 41 did to him in Somalia.

[grasswire]

13. exactly

Somalia was a trap 41 set for Clinton. Clinton refused to appear to be setting a trap for 43 over the Cole bombing. That's the difference between a despot and a leader.

[calimary]

16. Is that the same Taliban that bush gave 40-some-odd MILLION dollars

to - in MAY of 2001? THAT Taliban? He knew about THAT Taliban.

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. ** seems to have selective memory recall syndrome. He also has

selective hearing in that he only hears what he wants too hear. My kids suffered from both. :rofl:

[never_get_over_it]

30. I seem to remember

it was 43 million and I know for sure I was pissed that the devil in chief gave these freaks 43 million - because the way they treat women - pissed me off big time....

[EVDebs]

26. Psssst. See post #24 ... and pass the word.

[tblue37]

32. What's sad is I actually believe him.

His role is purely ceremonial in the Cheney administration. He is a front man and a stooge. He isn't told much of anything, and he isn't interested in finding anything out. They give him his talking points, and he spews them, repetitiously, often in mangled sentences.

[Bucky]

36. What's even sadder is that there's times when he really is in charge

I think the consensus is that the Harriet Miers nomination happened because they left him alone with a decision one day. The result is indistinguishable from a toddler telling his nanny she's so pretty she ought to be the queen one day. Thanks for the nomination, junior, now hold still while I finish changing your diapers.

[Dinger]

31. We Should Call This The Aftermath Of path to 9-11

Whaddaya think?

[tuvor]

6. Kicked and recommended! bush's testimony supposed to be SECRET!

Ben-Veniste's talking about bush/cheney's Oval Office testimony where they demanded to be interviewed together, and without being under oath (!!!!!)

This is big, the first time we've heard what bush-cheney said to the 9/11 commission. (bush: "Nobody told me nuthin' 'bout no terra.")

Anyone have a transcript/video?

[EVDebs]

29. Looks like a NEW 9-11 Commission Report will be necessary

Don't you think ?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

8. K & R

I passed Veniste on a New York street last year and got a little deja vu feeling... Let's pass the word on this, everyone...

[Frustratedlady]

12. Here's the transcript to the interview with Ben-Veniste

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/25/sitroom.03.html

About half way down the page.

[Diamonique]

14. Wow!

Stuff is finally coming out.. from every direction!

[calimary]

17. About. Frickin'. TIME.

How long have we suffered through this national agony?

HOW long?

Visualize orange jumpsuits. On bush AND cheney! For starters.

[FogerRox]

18. I got just the sig

[EVDebs]

28. Key points made

""BLITZER: So you the asked the president in the Oval Office -- and the vice president -- why didn't you go after the Taliban in those eight months before 9/11 after he was president. What did he say?

BEN-VENISTE: Well, now that it was established that al Qaeda was responsible for the Cole bombing and the president was briefed in January of 2001, soon after he took office, by George Tenet, head of the CIA, telling him of the finding that al Qaeda was responsible, and I said, "Well, why wouldn't you go after the Taliban in order to get them to kick bin Laden out of Afghanistan?"

Maybe, just maybe, who knows -- we don't know the answer to that question -- but maybe that could have affected the 9/11 plot. ""

....AND...

""BLITZER: ... that the CIA and the FBI had, in his words, certified that al Qaeda was responsible, he was still president until January 20, 2001. He had a month, let's say, or at least a few weeks to respond.

Why didn't he?

BEN-VENISTE: Well, I think that was a question of whether a president who would be soon leaving office would initiate an attack against a foreign country, Afghanistan. And I think that was left up to the new administration. But strangely, in the transition there did not seem to be any great interest by the Bush administration, at least none that we found, in pursuing the question of plans which were being drawn up to attack in Afghanistan as a response to the Cole.""

Not so strange when sandbagging the old President (Clinton) while awaiting a pipeline (or not) in Afganistan with a 'back up' plan waiting in the wings that only needed a pretext to set it off...

See post #24 and read slowly.

[bleever]

15. Thus unravels the Bart Simpson presidency of

"I didn't do it!" ...hyuk hyuk.

[Justice]

20. thanks for posting the transcript, it also backs up Clinton

If you read the earlier part of the transcript, Wolf "fact checks" Clinton's statements and concludes they are true.

[warrior1]

21. From Paul Thompson 9/11 timeline

May 2001: US Gives Taliban Millions

Secretary of State Powell announces that the US is granting $43 million in aid to the Taliban government, purportedly to assist hungry farmers who are starving since the destruction of their opium crop occurred in January on orders of the Taliban. This follows $113 million given by the US in 2000 for humanitarian aid. A Newsday editorial notes that the Taliban “are a decidedly odd choice for an outright gift ... Why are we sending these people money—so much that Washington is, in effect, the biggest donor of aid to the Taliban regime?”

Entity Tags: Taliban, Colin Powell

[Frustratedlady]

23. And, what was the answer?

Do I want to know?

[EVDebs]

27. Oil/Gas pipeline and Laili Helms...

http://archive.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=5496

Either how soon we forget or how much the M$M leaves out...again,, refer to post #24 and the NSA's pre 9-11 policy shift under Bush.

[Ladyinblack]

35. Jeff Gannon

Every time they bring up President Clinton's sexual indiscretion, I always think of the male prostitute who had open access to the white house and to restricted material. We never found out whose finger he wagged.

[EVDebs]

37. TALON acronym stands for domestic military spying/psyops

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=TALON

Threat and Local Observation Notice....at least from what I've been able to discern. This should have been FOIA'ed, and at least you'll get a "national security" excuse if you do, but I for one can't see how Gannon's dirty work fits into that bill. Propaganda-boy ? But Gannon was IN the White House, so I guess he was tracking down a threat there (?!) or else why be there, huh.

Also, Gannon and the NSA's "First Fruits" operation...gives new meaning to the phrase tongue in cheek.