CIA: "we could have killed Bin Laden (in the months BEFORE 9/11)"

[welshTerrier2]

bush has gotten a ton of political capital out of 9/11 ... that will all come crashing down around him, the neocons and the republican party if the American people ultimately come to learn the truth ... it looks like the great fascade may finally be shattered ...

this snippet from Woodward's book just might do the trick:

source: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/29/the-cias-top-counterterrorism-officials/

“The CIA’S top counterterrorism officials felt they could have killed Osama Bin Laden in the months before 9/11, but got the ‘brushoff’ when they went to the Bush White House seeking the money and authorization,” Bob Woodward reports in his new book. In an “urgent” July 2001 meeting with Condi Rice, CIA Director George Tenet and his counterterrorism head Cofer Black “went over top-secret intelligence pointing to an impending attack and ’sounded the loudest warning’ to the White House of a likely attack on the U.S. by Bin Laden. Woodward writes that Rice was polite, but, ‘They felt the brushoff.’“

[Imagevision]

1. It appears Rice failed badly, it apears intentional...

[jean]

2. and she was promoted

[roseBudd]

10. He appointed a "Sovietologist" after the fall of the Soviet Union, he is

a terrible CEO.

[EVDebs]

3. NSA's pre 9-11 "policy shift" went into effect w/BushCo

""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.""

Khan Job
http://www.strike-the-root.com/4/palast/palast3.html

Can't blame Clinton for this one...

[MidwestTransplant]

4. They were rightfully brushed off

Clearly she was more worried about the Soviets...a much bigger threat and her area of expertise!

[CraigHinTenn]

5. and build the missile shield!!!!

[welshTerrier2]

7. chicken feed

you're comparing an authorization to "take out" bin Laden to our defense posture relative to the "Soviets" ... i assume you mean the Russians ... the cost to go after bin Laden compared to a "Russian strategy" was chicken feed ...

to cite this as an either/or is absurd ...

the result of 9/11, which may very well have been a LIHOP (or worse), has been to empower a tyrannical regime sought on repealing fundamental Constitutional freedoms and condoning torture in violation of the Geneva Conventions ...

you think this is "rightfully"; throw away you Cold War How-To books and join the modern era ... the Russians still present major problems to the US but to argue that we should focus on them to the exclusion of other critical problems is absurd ...

[MidwestTransplant]

11. Wow, somebody missed my sarcasm.

The Soviet reference was a joke as there was obviously no longer a Soviet Union at that point. Basically she was stuck in the past is the idea.

[welshTerrier2]

12. humblest apologies ...

i'm just a wee bit slow on the uptake ...

[speedoo]

6. Rice was and is a sham.

She is there only as window dressing. Cheney and his neocon thugs are now and always have been completely in charge of foreign policy.

Rice and Powell have had zero policy impact.

[Imagevision]

8. Rice & Rummy communication breakdown, sounds like the CIA & FBI...

This entire administration is bogus, but then look who's calling the shots. You can poke Cheney in the leg and Bush would yell ouch!

[indepat]

9. The administration's failure to keep us safe pre-9/11 should be painfully

obvious to everyone not ignorant or brainwashed.