The National Security Archive has just released a Load of Files Electronic Briefing Book No. 253 Posted - August 20, 2008 under the title: 1998 Missile Strikes on Bin Laden May Have Backfired with a subtitle: Extensive 1999 Report on Al-Qaeda Threat Released by U.S. Dept of Energy, Taliban Told U.S. They Wanted to Bomb Washington
With backlinks to the PDF's and more links in the sidebar on the left.
The REPUBLICAN congressional years 1994 - 2006 (and 2000-2008 President Bush years) will be remembered for all they've accomplished...
Seven year war in Afghanistan, 5 year war in Iraq with close to 660 billion dollars spent, part of which we now owe China to pay for them.
North Korea, Iran and now Russia, are all greater powers then before the GOP took control of government. Pakistan with nukes is about to lose their (U.S. picked) leader. China is now listed as having the most manufacturing companies in the world.
Yesterday at the Aspen Institute, John McCain made another "oops," as he called the Georgia v. Russia conflict the "first probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War."
I hate this time of year, and I have good reason. I start getting ready around now - I turn off the phone. I avoid the news. I take a long walk in the big blue and green room away from the computer, away from the flag-waving hype from loudmouthed Republican talking heads that makes me want to hurl my guts up for days because I know how shallow and temporary it is.
What makes me a little queasy is that August 13, 2001, is my own particular anniversary. Seven years ago today, blissfully unaware of whatever might have landed on Bush's desk, I suddenly decided that making backups of all my files to CD would be a Real Good Idea(tm). All my email, stuff I was working on, scripts and tools, etc. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. I burned 3 CDs worth of data and took them home.
One of the most enduring moments of the 9/11 Commission hearings came when Condoleezza Rice casually recalled the now infamous August 6, 2001 presidential daily brief (PDB). "I believe," she said, "the title was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'" Now almost exactly seven years later, Secretary of State Rice seems to have missed the warning signs once again. Having sent mixed messages to Tbilisi in July and on vacation as Russian armor poured into the country, Condi Rice ignored the alarm, "Putin determined to strike in Georgia."
I got another one of those ridiculous bogus viral chain emails today. It got me so riled up I actually drafted a response. It's tough getting a mail like this from this person - as she is actually a very kind and loving person who lives in the burbs of upstate NY.
I'm sure many here would be much more effective skewering this trash, but I just needed to spout off.
I haven't sent it yet, and I'm posting it as a Diary just to let it "simmer" for a while.
The original mail below the fold, followed by my rant.
The Bush Administration's military tribunal system, created in the aftermath of 9/11 to process terrorism suspects, was on the verge of going down in history without a single conviction under its belt - nearly seven full years since its inception.
Well, pop the fucking champagne bottles, baby! They finally convicted a guy - bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan (of the famous Hamdan v Rumsfeld case) - of what he admitted to at the time of his capture in 2003 - being bin Laden's driver.
Normally, I'd treat this as the smallest of small deals - but with Bush and company trumpeting this as a great acheivement, proof that military arbitration is a more effective (they never said fair) way to deal with these suspects than civilian courts, I had to point out what a complete and total goatfuck this whole thing has become.
For those who are contemplating voting for anyone other than Barack Obama, whatever your motives may be, view this diary as a parable. I used to believe it didn't matter who was president, and never voted for president until 2004 - I was first eligible in 1972. I tell this to people I meet who say Obama is like all the rest of those pols, they'd rather vote for Nader. Today, on August 6, I find myself thinking how much it matters.
Arizona Sen. John McCain's campaign will donate $5,000 to the Flight 93 National Memorial.
Paul Lindsay, the senator's Pennsylvania campaign press spokesman, on Tuesday confirmed a report by network television stations that the presumptive Republican presidential candidate's campaign will donate the contribution it received in April from Ted Stevens' Northern Light PAC to the memorial. Indicted Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska pleaded not guilty on Thursday to accusations of planning to conceal thousands of dollars worth of gifts from an oil-services company.
King Laughlin, campaign manager for the National Park Foundation, said he was aware of the news reports, but he hasn't been contacted by McCain's office.
I apologize because TexMex had a great diary earlier about this here: http://www.dailykos.com/... . Go over there and give him/her some love in the form of tips.
But this story needs to be seen and talked about again.
Seven years ago today, Bush was handed a memo entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US". Instead of taking his job seriously and with responsibility (god forbid), he talked about how great vacationing is and what he wants for his birthday. ThinkProgress has a great post about it here. Here we are, several thousands of days later, and we still havent captured the mastermind behind the horrific events of September 11th. Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that the man-child in the white house is utterly incompetent at best and impeachably negligent at worst?
Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Laden implied in U.S. television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America."
After U.S. missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a -- -- service.
An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told - - service at the same time that bin Laden was planning to exploit the operative's access to the U.S. to mount a terrorist strike.
The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S.
In the wake of improbable events, like the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, we should
Consider all possible explanations.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, but fiction can illuminate truth. Often the travels of fiction disappoint or outrage, but as Carly Haskins, President of the Carnegie Institution in 1963 said, "A society committed to the search for truth must give protection to, and set a high value upon, the independent and original mind, however angular, however rasping, however socially unpleasant it may be; for it is upon such minds, in large measure, that the effective search for truth depends."
The author of the story below would not presume to be an "original and independent mind". The story enclosed is it fiction? Perhaps. It is woven from news reports. It can be seen as a means to view recent events, events that have held the stage as explanation for nearly every act, in a different light. Though to do so today is near treason, or brings on questions of one's sanity. We have all the answers. We do not need to deal with messy details. Our ideology demands a struggle between East and West.
I have asked the question aloud many times here in the last few weeks. However, I have never really felt the need to write about this question at all. That is, until now.
America is a nation divided, Liberals hate Conservatives, Conservatives Hate Liberals, Moderates think they are both crazy, and Libertarians hate everybody.
OK, I am not trying to step on toes here, or flirt with proscribed subject matter. It's just that I've asked this question several times here and have never received a straight answer.
Frequently when a 9/11 CT diary or comment is posted, people come in out of the blue and accuse the person posting said stuff of anti-semitism.
I just don't get this. Really. How is the theory that the AMERICAN government was either complicit in the attack or responsible for it ANTI-SEMITIC?
Immediately following the attacks of 9/11 there was a moment when it appeared as though the US was prepared to engage in some serious self-reflection and look at their part in the events and history that led up to those attacks.
Clearly world trade had been lopsided for decades. The US enjoys an "exorbitant privilege" as Charles De Gaulle put it. They rack up trillions in world debts priced in the world's reserve currency the US dollar and whenever debts are due, they just print more dollars. Pressure builds. Bad things happen.
Prosecutors in the trial of Osama bin Laden's driver unveiled a graphic video on Monday of the September 11 attacks and other al Qaeda operations that is likely to play a repeated role in pending war crimes cases.
