Remember what happened 20 years ago today? We shouldn't forget.

[robertpaulsen]

Transcript: Bin Laden determined to strike in US

The following is a transcript of the August 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing entitled Bin Laden determined to strike in US. Parts of the original document were not made public by the White House for security reasons.

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.

snip

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

https://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/10/august6.memo/

Bush knew what was coming down 20 years ago today and, much like Trump with COVID-19, sat on his ass and let hell rain down on the country he was supposed to be protecting.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

1. Another fucking republican asshole

Incapable, rich, entitled stupid, sociopathic ex- president. Like his daddy was.

[MyOwnPeace]

2. Correct - we should NOT forget!

Incompetence - thy name is REPUBLICAN!

[soldierant]

18. Well, and tat's being kind.

I never put it past a Republican to deliberately set up chaos and harm to Americans in order to have a talking point to push some harmful measure or other which will only make things worse.

And that isn't incompetence. It is malice.

[mikeysnot]

3. In other words republicon presidents

Kill

[Justice matters.]

12. Exact.

US casualties after Bush LIED: 7,000 (approx.)

US casualties after the orange terrorist LIED: 615,000 (approx.)

[leftstreet]

4. Have Bush/Cheney been charged with war crimes yet?

yeah I didn't think so

[Wounded Bear]

5. I've always been a LIHOP believer...

[rampartc]

11. +1

[erronis]

23. Forgot about that acronym: Let It Happen On Purpose

Relegated by wikipedia to "conspiracy theories"
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=LIHOP&redirect=no
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories

There are many conspiracy theories that attribute the planning and execution of the September 11 attacks against the United States to parties other than, or in addition to, al-Qaeda,[1] including that there was advance knowledge of the attacks among high-level government officials. Government investigations and independent reviews have rejected these theories.[2][3] Proponents of these theories assert that there are inconsistencies in the commonly accepted version, or that there exists evidence that was ignored, concealed, or overlooked.[4]

[Wounded Bear]

31. Well, we know Bush basically blew off the Aug 6 memo...

There were other red flags flying that summer that didn't get acted on. I always figured that the "shock" Bush was showing when he heard about 9/11 was not that something happened, but about how bad it was. They expected a simple bombing or hijacking, not a sophisticated plot aimed at several targets of economic and political significance involving multiple aircraft in near simultaneous attacks.

They made the classic mistake of underestimating our enemies and the US paid for it.

[electric_blue68]

36. I could see that

[Ohio Joe]

6. Sorry... 9/11 and covid are two different orders of magnitude different...

Bush was/is an idiot in a lot of ways (so... so many ways) but I don't think he intentionally tried to kill Americans. From your link, the end of the PDB:

"The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full-field investigations throughout the U.S. that it considers bin Laden-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group or bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives."

Bush did not stop the investigations, publicly denounce them, brag about his love letters with Bin Laden or any of the other insane, traitorous and murderous things TFG did... Not even close.

[robertpaulsen]

19. I'll admit it's an apples/oranges comparison

But I'll respectfully disagree about the magnitude. What Bush and Cheney did was criminally negligent and that they faced no consequences emboldened Republicans to take things to the next level, hence Drumpf. They used their criminal negligence on 9/11 to exploit a scared populace into supporting an unnecessary war based on false pretexts that killed thousands more Americans than died on 9/11 and killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. I'll grant you Cheeto Mussolini has a higher body count, but I hope we can agree not to downplay Bush/Cheney - their sociopathy paved the way for the sickness we see in our body politic today.

[Ohio Joe]

32. I don't downplay it at all...

Your OP though reads as though you are saying he intentionally let 9/11 happen:

"Bush knew what was coming down 20 years ago today and, much like Trump with COVID-19, sat on his ass and let hell rain down on the country he was supposed to be protecting."

I do not agree at all and I don't think the PDB proves it. And every time I see it used as supposed proof of letting it happen, the end is always conveniently left out. Lets deal with what is and not what we want things to be. I do not downplay anything... I try not to overplay either.

I would also disagree with this statement:

" their sociopathy paved the way for the sickness we see in our body politic today."

I myself place them as a cog in the march to where we are today. It was Reagan who paved the way IMO.

[SergeStorms]

7. Ah, but there was much brush to clear in Texas.

"Now watch this drive".

Baby Bush had much more important things on his mind.

[MoonRiver]

8. LIHOP - nuff said

[Roland99]

9. Ashcroft switched to chartered/lease jets in July 2001

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ashcroft-flying-high/

In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.

"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.

[Takket]

10. yeah but Obama wore a tan suit... that's the real tragedy

[MyOwnPeace]

26. "And we pause.......

for a REALITY CHECK - "HOW in the hell can we let them GET AWAY WITH THIS SHIT!?!"

(we now return to our regular "but they all do it" bullshit.........)

[mountain grammy]

13. They were too busy fulfilling their

Conservative wish list to pay attention. Now watch this drive. Fucking republicans

[rickyhall]

16. Persecuting Martha and Tommy.

[niyad]

14. Let us remember. .. . chimpy never read the daily briefs.

[treestar]

28. Yes, IMO Chimpy negligently let it happen

then Cheney, et al, used it to further their anti-American agenda of war, torture, imprisonment without due process and invasive searches. The Patriot Act and the second part (that they did not get passed, at least).

[twodogsbarking]

15. I think it is much more complex.

[Champp]

17. The Republican "leadership" failed tragically

Shame on the Republicans for failing to defend America.

[Pas-de-Calais]

20. Homeland that bloated tic of an agency was created

From the whole terrible spectacle. Too many stove pipe information stacks preventing sharing of information.
Too big to move, to decide a course of action
Another GOP behemoth sucking down tax money

[Ferrets are Cool]

21. And yet, American stupidly gave him a second term

[Cosmocat]

25. Because "he kept us safe"

That's what he ran on.

This country cant stop gusling down right wing gas lighting.

[Ferrets are Cool]

29. Sadly so.

[inanna]

22. Kicking thread n/t

[msfiddlestix]

24. Or maybe he didn't really know. just everybody else in the intel community did.

I was with the Bush Knew and "let it happen anyway" for years, but it has occurred to me, that maybe he really didn't know after all.

Condi knew. Dick Cheney knew. George Tenet knew. Rumsfeld knew. Probably Andrew Card and Scotter Libby knew too.

The problem is people in position to know, knew.

And there hasn't been any accountability and never will be. At least not in our Justice System.

[twodogsbarking]

27. You state things that are contrary to what has been crammed

down our throats and up our collective asses for decades.

[Ferrets are Cool]

30. ...

The CIA warned the US president, George Bush, weeks before September 11 that al-Qaida terrorists might hijack US aeroplanes, the White House admitted yesterday.

Mr Bush is believed to have received the warning in August last year as part of his regular intelligence briefing while on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. The president was not warned that the planes might be used as missiles to destroy buildings, his official spokesperson said.

"There has been longstanding speculation, shared with the president, about the potential of hijackings in the traditional sense," the White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer, said yesterday. "We had general threats involving Osama bin Laden around the world and including in the United States." He said the administration, acting on the information received in early August, notified the "appropriate agencies" that hijackings "in the traditional sense" were possible. The warning was never made public, he said.

[TexasBushwhacker]

33. It was a PRESIDENTIAL Daily Briefing n/t

[msfiddlestix]

34. I remember that.

Just the same, it is possible he didn't effin know what it said or meant.

We didn't call him Pres. Dumbya for no reason.

That dude was really stupid. He was protected by all the people who knew exactly what the hell was going on and what the memo said and meant.

[Initech]

35. And now DHS is warning of violence related to Shit For Brains' reinstatement conspiracy.

[MustLoveBeagles]

37. K&R

[NewsCenter28]

38. More than anything else

That day contributed to the downfall of America we are seeing, today. Would that it did not.