Secret 9/11 memo reveals Bush rewriting the history of the 9/11 attacks & the warnings he'd tuned ou

[Nevilledog]

https://www.businessinsider.com/911-commission-memo-declassified-bush-cheney-attacks-bin-laden-qaeda-2022-11

No paywall
https://archive.ph/6DbEp

On April 29, 2004, President George W. Bush hosted one of the most unusual meetings to ever take place inside the Oval Office. The ten members of the 9/11 Commission got to ask him and Vice President Dick Cheney any question they wanted about the September 11th attacks. The words that were spoken in that room remained secret for nearly two decades. Now, we can finally read what Bush said. Earlier this month, after more than 18 years, the government declassified a 31-page "memorandum for the record," which compiles notes that the commissioners took during the meeting. The document shows the commissioners giving Bush multiple chances to acknowledge the numerous documented warnings he'd received from his own government of an impending Al Qaeda attack. For the most part, Bush failed to do so. Instead, he passed the buck.

Perhaps the largest of Bush's evasions that day concerned his CIA director, George Tenet: "The threat was overseas — that was what George said." Bush's implication at the time is clear. He wanted the commission, and by extension the public, to think that no one could have anticipated Al Qaeda mounting a large-scale attack on US soil. But in fact, Tenet's CIA had warned Bush on multiple occasions that Al Qaeda could strike anywhere, at any time, and that all US citizens were potential targets. The most notorious warning that Bush received, but not the only one, was a CIA briefing headlined "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US."

Very little of Bush's excuse-making and clumsy attempts to rewrite history found their way into the 9/11 Commission's report. Indeed, one of the commissioners, Richard Ben-Veniste, told Insider that he still had questions today about what Bush knew, and when.

"I could never square in my mind CIA Director Tenet's intense preoccupation with the Al Qaeda threat in the months leading up to 9/11, with his claim that he never briefed President Bush on the many clues the intelligence community had developed that bin Laden was planning to launch a 'spectacular' attack on the US homeland," Ben-Veniste said.

*snip*

[underpants]

1. Clinton warned W that terrorists and Al Qaeda specifically

we’re going to be a big concern for him.

Obama left a pandemic playbook for Trump.

We know how both turned out.

[certainot]

29. both became opportunities to advance authoritarian/ MIC interests

bush cons wanted a war and got it. wanted NO destroyed by hurricane so they could blame dems, start a race war, and elect republicans there. both 'worked' for them.

trump WANTED COVID to get worse. worst case scenario with millions dead would allow emergency powers, cancelled elections etc. 1500 trump radio stations proved it, calling it a hoax, a flu, then opposing masks, vaccines. assholes like limbaugh replacement bongino whining about mask mandates threatening his 'bodily sovereignty' while cheering end of roe and reading ads for 'pro life' orgs

[Whiskeytide]

69. I think Тяцмp's behavior concerning the pandemic actually ...

… suggests that he just wanted it to go away. He knew it was bad for his presidency and his chances for re-election, so he downplayed it, blamed others, and opposed life saving policies - all primarily to minimize it and make it seem to not really be a big deal. I don’t want to defend him, but I don’t think he WANTED to kill people. He’s responsible, certainly, but more out of narcissistic driven negligence, not murderous intent.

Now - did others in his orbit see opportunities to exploit the pandemic and perhaps relish in its destructiveness? I suspect that is true. Miller and Bannon both come to mind first for me.

[kellytore]

75. I agree 100%

[LiberalLovinLug]

81. This is true, but Trump is also a shameless oportunist

He started out with the head in the sand approach.

But when it became clear that it was a serious concern, instead of rolling up his sleeves, listening to the medical experts, he instead catered to his paranoid anti-vax base that had been conditioned already to believe in whacky conspiracy theories. So he pivoted from "it will all magically disappear in a few weeks" and even "I will make the best vaccines in history" to a distrust of vaccines, masks, SD, and even went along with publicly ridiculing Dr. Fauci and the CDC. And his loyal idiots followed along.

[Whiskeytide]

82. Agree on all points. I also think he ...

… likes the chaos he leaves in his wake. He thinks that is managing situations, and makes him look like the influential big dog. His history is to pit people against each other and then see how he can profit from the resulting chaos. It never occurred to him that perhaps chaos isn’t a beneficial characteristic of government. Or if it did, he didn’t care.

[renate]

87. He didn't mind, as far as I've heard, when Jared said it would hit the blue states hardest

... and help them in the upcoming election.

He and his administration may not have actively wanted people to die--well, probably some did, particularly Stephen Miller, especially where certain people were concerned--but they sure didn't care. All those deaths meant literally nothing compared with the effect COVID would have on their election chances.

[Trueblue Texan]

91. I disagree...

...it stirred chaos and fear. He didn't count on it shutting down the economy but a fearful public is more willing to accept authoritarian rule. Who said that?

[certainot]

100. after 3 years and what he did jan 6 how can anyone say he gave a shit about hundreds of thousands of

humans? he's sex-on-the-wrong-brain insane. life is a game of golf. he sees what he wants, goes for it, and nothing else matters. he's never wrong. he's capable of insane levels of denial of reality and truth to create the certainty he needs to be the king he knows he is.

he didn't see it as wanting to kill people, he saw it as a necessary part of a moneymaking op, a way to call a state of emergency, bring out the military, and cancel or postpone elections. that's what the millers and bannons and stones were helping him see. he doesn't give a shit about anyone or the millions of lives.

i think trump's eyes lit up when he got that first intel briefing about the pandemic in late 2019 and he got the worst case scenario. lots of win-win. close the borders, money-making opportunities, etc. with limbaugh and talk radio they were going to use ebola the same way but they stopped it in congo. limbaugh was already talking about congolese in the caravans 'attacking' the border before they stopped it, despite russian or other social media and radio ops in congo to get the locals to attack the clinics and make it worse.

[ShazzieB]

103. I agree on all these points.

I'm sure Trump didn't care how many people died, but I don't see murderous intent. I agree that he just wanted the whole thing to go away.

When he said, "One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear," that was his own wishful thing he was expressing.

[certainot]

111. i disagree. limbaugh, trump's main guy, would not have called it a hoax for weeks

if trump didn't want him to.

trump would have received worst case scenarios telling him many millions would die if nothing was done, disproportionately the poor. but would have seen many moneymaking ops. like climate change it was too complicated for the sex-on-the-wrong-brain certainty freak so he just went into denial mode, saw the opportunities, and decided he should make it worse to get what he wanted - chaos and fear to increase the value of the authoritarian royal certitude, money-making ops, state of emergency, cancelled elections.. putin was doing the same thing.

there's a pic of he and limbaugh and a few others having lunch at christmas about the time trump would have gotten that first briefing.

[ShazzieB]

112. .....

[certainot]

113. ah greed!

[yankee87]

98. True

You are so correct. The Qpublican party is always about turning the country into a dictatorship.

[drmeow]

107. Exactly

Bush and Cheney figured "how bad can it be" and "it will help US." Trump thought the same.

Human lives do not f**king matter to power hungry authoritarians - in fact, it is their MO. It is a racist, classist, sexist, "divine right of kings" bullshit "we are more human than others" attitude which says others are expendable and either won't "really" suffer or deserve to suffer in service of their elevation. It is profoundly unamerican, profoundly inhumane, and fundamentally evil.

And the rank and file right wing voters buy into the "Bush/Cheney/Trump/et al are better than me and deserve to rule over me" BS because it allows them to also believe that they are better than anyone who is not part of their group and that they deserve to rule over all the people they view as beneath them.

It is an aristocratic world view which is deeply hierarchical and deeply anti-equality.

[Farmer-Rick]

2. Just another grossly incompetent Republican

Or drunk Republican. W had a serious drinking problem.

Trump was/is owned by Putin and I think W was owned by the Saudis.

Just the GOP destroying American democracy for fun and profit.

[Raster]

5. Agree. I remember W looking like he'd gone a few rounds more than once...

...turns out he was prone to "falling"
And I also remember Bandar Bush* quite well.

The super-duper OFFICIAL story of 9/11 left out far too many "inconsistencies."

[Walleye]

59. I remember when he said he fainted and hit his head from eating a pretzel. Even I never tried

Story as lame as that in my drinking days. Could’ve been true but I didn’t believe it

[Texin]

12. It's more than that. Granted, W was incompetent, but I believe he was getting

significant pressure from Cheney and Rumsfield to stand down. I think it's pretty clear that the two of them viewed a war with Iraq would be financial windfall for both them and it positioned W as a "war president".

[Rebl2]

26. He should

have stood up to them and said I am the president, not the two of you. He just came across as a patsy though-was just used by others. I really don’t think he ever wanted to be president and was talked into it. If Jeb had been chosen, they would not have been able to push him around. I would bet he would never have chosen Cheney as his vice-president.

[Texin]

47. "Standing up to" someone like Cheney & Rumsfield wasn't in his nature.

The two of them were absolute snakes and they'd had years perfecting their Machiavellian ways. W was never groomed by the family to be a leader. And he had an inferiority complex, which Cheney-Rumsfield used to lead him around by the nose by promising him that he'd be the hero of the hour. His braggadocio about besting HW's Iraq war invasion by toppling Sadam Hussein was proof that it was all about 'winning' when HW didn't (by bringing about Hussein's downfall).

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

88. Exactly...

... even my dad, who seldom comments on politics, said at the time GW was elected, "I don't think he is very smart, they are going to lead him all over the place".

[PatSeg]

105. Yes, it couldn't have been more obvious

but republicans tried to play down what many of us could clearly see. Bush wasn't the opportunistic monster that Trump was and is, but he clearly was an incompetent, weak leader.

[LT Barclay]

94. The whole mess was put in writing long before 9/11.

Look for the Project for the New American Century.

[True Blue American]

122. Cheney and Rumsfeld ran the Goverbnent. Junior played President.

[summer_in_TX]

60. As a young man, W had a serious drinking

problem. I am unaware that he continued to be a drinker as an older adult. But he was strangely incurious and many of his leadership faults came from inability to imagine anything outside of his realm of experience.

Not surprising that he tried to cover up his bumbling. I do wonder if Cheney manipulated him to think the threat was elsewhere. I don't perceive him as being likely to have been paying a big role in allowing the attack and using it to benefit his own interests. Cheney on the other hand was likely in it up to his eyeballs.

[Maraya1969]

72. I didn't know that! I thought that he was either a big drinking in former

days or he had used pot of something. I didn't know he continued to be an alcoholic.

[DENVERPOPS]

89. You can bet

it was serious alcoholism and also some "Bolivian Marching Powder"........

[True Blue American]

123. 20 years.

He had a serious problem. Jeb would have been a better choice.

[KS Toronado]

3. Did Bush sit back because he wanted to be a WAR President?

[samsingh]

8. i think so

[Gore1FL]

14. I think he sat back because he didn't really want the job.

He was in the middle of his month-long summer vacation clearing brush instead of doing the people's business.

Bush was more incompetent than devious.

[calimary]

127. Man, you can say that again.

[wnylib]

16. Yes. Many advantages for Bush/Cheney

in going to war. Halliburton military contracts and reelection because Americans usually stand by an incumbent president during wars. Also, opportunities for expansive surveillance of people in the Patriot Act.

Prior to Bush taking office, a group who later became members of Bush's administration sent a letter to President Clinton urging him to invade Iraq. So, besides personal gains for Bush and Cheney, another reason for invading Iraq was to have troops in place for action if needed to protect the Saudi royals and government from the OBL faction of Saudi society. Plus possible oil gains from Iraq oil, which never materialized.

Cheney (the real president) very much wanted war.

[H2O Man]

4. Recommended.

It really isn't surprising that Bush didn't have a grasp on international dynamics. But Cheney sure as hell did. They both betrayed this country.

[Raster]

7. Darth Cheney was the actual POTUS. W was just a figurehead...

And the US invaded Iraq, which had NOTHING to do with 9/11, so that Cheney* and his sycophants could make a fortune "catering" a war. It stunk then. It still does.

[H2O Man]

9. I agree 100%.

[nightwing1240]

13. I can agree with that

Wasn't Cheney tasked with finding a running mate for W and decided he himself was the best choice? That war in Iraq had zero to do with 9/11 or Junior getting even with Sadam. It was an oil grab by like you mentioned, "so that Cheney* and his sycophants could make a fortune". And yes it still stinks knowing all the fine men and women we lost.

[jalan48]

15. I feel the same way about Reagan and Bush Sr.

[PCIntern]

21. Exactly...

Remember those stupid news pieces about Bush going to have lunch with Reagan as if Bush were sitting at Reagan’s feet listening to every word? That whole intelligence group had an operation which periodically would tell Ronnie a few things so that he felt as though he were important , but in fact, they were running the show.

[jalan48]

31. It was about optics. A likable, grandfatherly figure who was there to settle the country down

after years of protests and turmoil while the real powers remained hidden behind the scenes. Reagan was America's Happy Days President, aka, let's go back to the good times of the 50's and forget about all that disagreeable stuff that happened in the 60's and 70's.

[mountain grammy]

6. K & R

[samsingh]

10. bush and cheney allowed the attack willingly, through negligence, or some other reason

and yet both are rehabilitated and the stain of essentially changing the world for the worse doesn't stick to them. Even our leaders treat them with respect and courtesy.

There is no penalty for being a republican and being incompetent or a criminal.

[Wounded Bear]

17. I was always a LIHOP...

[CaptainTruth]

36. Me too. The PNAC made their agenda clear.

It's a shame our media ignored them, everyone should know.

For years I researched, gathered documents, & maintained my own web site where I wrote extensively about the PNAC. I repeatedly sent info to major news organizations but none cared.

"some catastrophic and catalyzing event--like a new Pearl Harbor"

[Raster]

48. Yes! A thousand times YES!

Most people do not realize that the live broadcast of W getting the news while reading "My Pet Goat" to schoolchildren WAS. THE. SECOND. JET.
Not the first jet, but the second jet.
So, they already knew the World Trade Center had been hit by the first jet, and still they allowed the POTUS to remain at a school reading to children.

[Mr.Bill]

84. I remember the network news on TV

after the first plane hit, then the second one. During that time there was very little certainty that this was a terrorist attack. The leading theory was that it was an aviation accident. When the second plane hit, there was an immediate realization that it was no accident.

[Martin Eden]

68. I joined DU in 2002 during their systematic campaign of LIES for war in Iraq

DU was a great source for PNAC and other information being kept from the general public.

Using the national tragedy of 9/11 to manipulate the grief, fear, anger, and patriotism of the American people to gin up a war of choice based on lies was IMO the most egregious betrayal of public trust by a president in our nation's history. Nearly 5000 American soldiers and upwards of a million people in the region died as a result. The carnage goes on, as does caring for tens of thousands of our veterans who suffered grievous wounds in body and soul. Trillions of dollars are spent on this evil fiasco.

When Bush left office I wrote a poem for what I'd say to his face if I could:

I'd tell you to go fuck yourself
But that is much too kind
For if you could perform that feat
You'd take pleasure in your behind

I'd like to say eat shit and die
But you deserve much more
You should suffer all the grief and pain
Of your misbegotten war

Though I can never make you think
Or feel, or understand
I'll take solace when you hear your name
Cursed throughout the land

From inside a lonely prison cell
Dark and bare and cold
Where every day you pay for your crimes
Until you're sick, heartbroken, and old

Then when you finally leave this earth
You fucked over oh so well
If there is a God and afterlife
You're going straight to Hell.

[McKim]

101. Thank You, Captain!

Thank you for doing this research and bringing truth to light! New Pearl Harbor indeed!

[sybylla]

71. Same. LIHOP.

Still haven't seen any evidence to counter that belief. I keep waiting, though.

[BComplex]

76. Me, too, Wounded Bear. They already had the Homeland Security Bill written. PNAC

was way ahead of the attack.

Thinking of all of our soldiers killed in Iraq....which had NOTHING to do with 9/11...just makes me sick.

But all of us on DU were considered Conspiracy Theorists.

[McKim]

102. Then there's the Iraqis!

Then there is the Iraqis. According to the British medical journal The Lancet a million Iraqis died as a result of this war! That’s quite a moral stain on the perpetrators and supporters of this vile act. For me it was the end of America.

[lindysalsagal]

79. Me, too. Plausible deniability. He was pushing for war well before 9/11.

The triumvirate:
1. Global energy/military complex,
2. U.S. Neocons (Cheney, Rice, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Kristol, et. al) who were ousted when the USSR fell
3. Evangelicals.

[LymphocyteLover]

118. At best!

If he let an attack happen, then seems unlikely he would randomly let a major attack happen... they had to have more idea of the plan

[Wounded Bear]

124. Given they were ignoring intel reports all summer, I find it easy to believe...

The only surprise they got was how big it was.

[LymphocyteLover]

125. I suppose you could argue they just distrusted the CIA... but 9/11 proved Bush/Cheney wrong

so it was weird how in the run-up to the Iraq war, Bush/Cheney *also* disbelieved the CIA intel on WMD, like why didn't they learn their lesson? Or perhaps they only believed intel they fit their own plans.

[Wounded Bear]

126. There were reports that Cheney was arm-twisting CIA to provide "proof" that Iraq was...

aligned with the terrorists and out to get us. At the time al Qaeda was not on Saddam's friends list and mostly non-existent in Iraq. They didn't get a solid foothold there until after we took down Hussein and started to mis-manage the country.

[alfredo]

19. Bush wanted a way to invade Iraq, alQaeda gave him justification

for the invasion of Iraq. Bush knew many Americans didn’t care that it was Saudi Arabia that manned and financed the attack, and that Saddam was an adversary in the eyes of Al Qaeda. To many Americans the only good Muslim was a dead Muslim. America wanted to lash out, and Bush gave them an enemy straight from central casting, Saddam.

[UTUSN]

11. K&R - Shrub has gotten a pass, so Drumpf demands one.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

18. Condi conned us too. She rightly said no one expected a highjacker

To fly into a building. But no one followed up and asked "well, what DID you do about the plain ole hijacker warning? "

[suegeo]

24. don't you know this is a guy who could fly into the World Trade Center?

https://kstp.com/archive/remembering-911-the-plot-nearly-unraveled-in-minnesota/]

Nelson’s call to the FBI failed to thwart the 9/11 attacks, largely because Minneapolis FBI agents couldn’t convince FBI headquarters in Washington of the seriousness of the threat Moussaoui might pose.

“The [Minneapolis FBI] supervisor said, out of frustration, exasperated, don’t you know this is a guy who could fly into the World Trade Center?” former FBI agent and eventual whistleblower Coleen Rowley said. “And he said this on the phone to that supervisor (in Washington) on something like Aug. 23rd, maybe something like the 25th. You know, two weeks before it actually happened.”

[alfredo]

25. The hijacking wouldn't have happened if they had listened to Gore.

He did an extensive study on airline safety. One of his was to add a locking, reinforced cockpit door. The airlines hated the idea, because it would have cost money to secure cockpit doors and lobbied against those ideas. Gore a Democrat had no chance against a Republican congress, not wanting Gore to get good press.

He used Israel as a model of airline anti hijacking technology.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

32. Al and Howard! The good ones that got away: (. But

Condi admitted she was warned about "regular" highjackings and obviously did nothing.

If those guys didn't get thru security or in cockpit there wouldn't even have been a 9-11

[alfredo]

99. All got through metal detectors. They just walked through.

https://www.newsweek.com/its-easy-get-knives-razors-plane-hijackers-found-1618167

TSA really upped their game since 911.

[suegeo]

20. Ashcroft flying via private airplane.

Shrub spent loads of time away from D.C. at his faith-based ranch.

Harriett Meyers photo of her handing the "Determined to attack in US" memo to Shrub.

Warnings of pilots in Minnesota training to take off, but never land, airplanes.

The female FBI agent, whistleblower Coleen Rowley, in Minnesota, who sent warnings up the chain of command only to be ignored.

https://kstp.com/archive/remembering-911-the-plot-nearly-unraveled-in-minnesota/]

There are more things to make me go huummmm.

Those GOP assholes knew and left us open to attack. I still hate them all.

[Kid Berwyn]

83. Ashcroft WARNED not to fly commercial airlines that summer.

So Uncle Sam paid for a private jet.



Ashcroft Flying High

BY CBSNEWS.COM STAFF CBSNEWS.COM STAFF
JULY 26, 2001 / 7:04 PM / CBS

Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

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.

A senior official at the CIA said he was unaware of specific threats against any Cabinet member, and Ashcroft himself, in a speech in California, seemed unsure of the nature of the threat.

"I don't do threat assessments myself and I rely on those whose responsibility it is in the law enforcement community, particularly the FBI. And I try to stay within the guidelines that they've suggested I should stay within for those purposes," Ashcroft said.

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

[Historic NY]

22. "Old Reporting" as Condi Rice put it,

Remember the Republican mockery when Clinton missile attack missed getting bin laden, the wagging the dog. He was preparing ever since the initial World Trade bombing. The incoming administration failed to heed the warning, all the while Saudi Arabia funded training of pilots.

"Old Reporting" as Condi Rice put it, became the fresh hell for Ny'ers and the nation with a 20yr saga and hundreds of thousands in death and injuries. If continuing the course of targeting bin laden was continued we might never had experienced the nightmare
that ended on May 2 2011.

It took the next Democratic Administration to cleanup the mess by killing Bin Laden and the present one to end the 20+yr war started all those years ago

[link:|https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2004/jul/18/memo-to-clinton-in-98-warned-of-hijack-plans]]

[John1956PA]

40. She was despicable during her testimony before the commission

She would now allow Senator Bob Kerry to question her about the presidential briefing. Contrary to her assertion that no one could have foreseen terrorists highjacking aircraft and flying them into buildings, that scenario was in the literature well before 2001.

[Botany]

23. After being given the Aug. 6th 2001 PDB w said: "All right. You've covered your ass, now,"

"They" knew it was coming and it was really convenient for w to be in front of a bunch of
elementary school kids when the planes were hitting the WTC something which w lied about
too. Because he talked about seeing the 1st and second planes hitting the WTC and there
was no television on in classroom where he at.

[tanyev]

56. And he took a long time getting back to D.C. because he might have been a target.

If he was, he put everybody in and near that school in danger by staying there so long. It was an appearance that had been on the public schedule for some time. And WHO thought it was a good idea to put a bunch of children behind him when addressing the nation about a horrific terrorist attack?


I’m still

[Botany]

64. And just days after the attack w met @ the White House with Ambassador Bandor whose wife had paid

.... all the expenses including the flying lessons for 3 of the hijackers who when they landed @ LAX
(Los Angeles airport I think) were driven to their apartment in San Diego by Saudi agents. And w
refused to meet with the Congressional 9-11 committee unless he had Dick Cheney with him, it was
in private, and not under oath too.

[StormKing]

27. Score One For "Conspiracy Theorists"

Not much to say here. This is one of their big points about 9/11 is that George Bush knew and he lied.

[StormKing]

28. How will DU moderate 9/11 discussion now?

Serious question asking for lots of friends.

Because even in the replies here I see a lot of people that I can bet were shut down by those rules.

[Raster]

49. YES! All one had to do was shout "TRUTHER" and all discussion was supposed to cease.

It's like hiding something in plain sight.

[StormKing]

51. I literally got pinged for it two weeks ago n/t

[patphil]

30. Republicans wanted a war on terror, and they needed a 2nd Pearl Harbor to jump start it.

[kimmylavin]

33. Man...

I almost forgot how much I hated Bush & Cheney.
Thanks for the reminder!

[Javaman]

34. the banality of evil...

you don't have to be a mustache twirling snidely whiplash to be a living pile of shit.

just going along to get what you want at any cost is enough, even when it requires absolutely no effort from you.

george w. moron is a war criminal and should be doing fucking hard labor.

[orthoclad]

35. Bush and oligarchs

wanted an attack to proceed, for their propaganda uses. They were shocked at the extent of the attacks, but recovered and made use of them to get the US to accept heavy surveillance, the framework of a police state, and a permanent war economy. Large fortunes were made by weapons manufacturers and "contractors" like Blackwater. Many new billionaires.

Conspiracy theory, or simplest explanation of the observed last 22 years?

[LiberalLovinLug]

86. This

I also don't know to what extent of damage they thought would happen, only that something was being planned, perhaps using an airline. And so of course did nothing to enhance airport surveillance etc.
And were waiting with anticipation about what would happen, and they had their NeoCon plan in place for afterwards.

Although its still a mystery the way the buildings fell, with small explosions happening on each level below as they fell, as well as the #7 building also falling like a controlled demolition blocks away. A building that housed the Security Exchange Commission with thousands of financial documents and evidence in investigations. All conveniently lost.

I think any thinking person would question a lot of things that didn't make sense that day. It doesn't mean one is an unhinged conspiracy theorist about everything else.

[orthoclad]

90. I think a jet

full of fuel is enough to explain everything observed.

[ancianita]

37. More on why Bush edited the 9/11 Report -- his relationship with the Saudis.

... the House Intelligence Committee maintains highly classified files. One of those files is titled “Finding, Discussion and Narrative Regarding Certain Sensitive National Security Matters.” It is twenty-eight pages long. In 2002, the Administration of George W. Bush excised those pages from the report of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks. It is twenty-eight pages long. In 2002, the Administration of George W. Bush excised those pages from the report of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks. President Bush said then that publication of that section of the report would damage American intelligence operations, revealing “sources and methods that would make it harder for us to win the war on terror.”...

“There’s nothing in it about national security,” Walter Jones, a Republican congressman from North Carolina who has read the missing pages, contends. “It’s about the Bush Administration and its relationship with the Saudis.” Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, told me that the document is “stunning in its clarity,” and that it offers direct evidence of complicity on the part of certain Saudi individuals and entities in Al Qaeda’s attack on America. “Those twenty-eight pages tell a story that has been completely removed from the 9/11 Report,” Lynch maintains.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/twenty-eight-pages

Bush and Bandar, two days after 9/11.

[StormKing]

38. God damn it...

....we were mostly right on our cynicism and the entire country united in telling us to shut up for "unity."

[ancianita]

41. Yes, we sure as hell were!

[Raster]

50. There were DIRECT FINANCIAL LINKS to several of the hijackers and Bandar's chief wife.

[ancianita]

54. Do you have a source for that?

Even if it's 21 years later...?

[Lars39]

52. Dubya spent at least one summer as a teen with the Saudi royal family

[Torchlight]

39. All things being equal, I think Bush was just to dimwitted

to explore anything outside of his own carpet-bagging comfort.

To me, he'll always be the guy who was too dim to see one airplane or 40 millions housing crises on the horizon.

[ShepKat]

45. like herschel walker

only white

[BComplex]

77. Hahaha!

[jaxexpat]

42. It's a documented fact GWB could not express any curiosity regarding the 9/11 event.

The reason was not that W was incurious, as so many have accused. It is rather that he was essentially the ONLY "W" in the building, all keyboards in the structure having had their "W"'s removed at Hillary's request. Thus, it is a provable fact that he could ask no question about 9/11 because who, what, when, why and where ALL require W's. I rest my case, dammit.

[Grasswire2]

116. hahaha! nt

[BamaRefugee]

43. But now he's a great guy, beloved by all, just gently painting masterpieces.

Fuck that piece of sh*t!
He can paint in prison. Salvador Dali did. And cellmate Cheney can wash his brushes and stretch his canvasses.

[ShepKat]

44. yeah

unfortunately I remember. Another criminal still walking the planet

[90-percent]

46. Cheney

"So what? They volunteered."

- Dick Cheney's bizarro world way of "supporting the troops"

[FakeNoose]

58. Remember on Sept. 11 when nobody knew where Dick Cheney was?

He was out of touch for 24 hours - hiding in a nuclear-proof bomb shelter.
I'm not even sure if Dubya knew where his VP was. WTF?

[90-percent]

85. like goebbels use of the big lie

cheney made it happen on purpose. getting the national guard or other military jets to conduct practices going after pretend hijacked planes over the atlantic simultaneously with the real attack is so audacious and hidden in plain sight that hitler himself would have been envious of the chutzpah.

-90% jimmy

[NBachers]

53. When Republicans are elected, Americans die. Gore would not have allowed this.

[republianmushroom]

55. Tsk Tsk another lying republican President.

[Catherine Vincent]

57. As Richard Clark said "Your government failed you".

BUSH KNEW.

[ffr]

61. Republicans are strong on the military and will keep Americans safe

No they won't and no they are not.

They're great at getting elected, but terrible at governing and protecting Americans.

If you want to feel safe, elect democrats. Once democrats have a supermajority, let them nominate dissenting voices as advisors, if we need republican input.

[LaMouffette]

62. Yet another good reason why there should be more "barriers to entry" for the job of US president,

vice president, cabinet members, Congress members . . .

Chief among them should be that no person shall hold public office if he or she or a close family member has foreign entanglements of a financial nature.

That would have kept Traitor Trump and McTurtle out of office, for sure.

[Warpy]

63. He and Cheney believed their own bullshit

that told them Iraq and Iran had to be the problems because they were sitting on OIL. They had shelved the Hart-Rudman report that detailed the threat from al Qaeda and its main leader, bin Laden. They just weren't interested, there wasn't any oil in Afghanistan, going after a terrorist and his organization there just didn't fit their bullshit.

C'mon, we knew all this shit 20 years ago, the PNAC had put its manifesto online. They were fucking idiots and yes, there was a coverup, but it was a coverup of a couple of bogus flight schools in Florida. That's what I hope eventually comes to light.

[Martin Eden]

66. Dim Son may have been an idiot but Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others KNEW their case for war was BOGUS

In other words, they LIED us into a disastrous war to feed their lust for oil and the "New American Century" (PNAC).

[Warpy]

70. Of course they knew it was bullshit

but they firmly believed the oil underneath both Iran and Iraq was their oil that nationalization had deprived them of. That's their bullshit and they were incapable of seeing anything beyond it. Lies, they thought, were completely justified in ginning up support for their holy war against upstart countries sitting on their oil.

What will always infuriate me is how well it worked, that people preferred believing crap from some jerk named Curveball (dead giveaway there) instead of someone actually on the ground and inspecting everything like Hans Blix.

It's why I can't blame Russians for buying the bullshit their government is spewing at them.

[Martin Eden]

93. How did OUR oil get under THEIR sand??!!!

But the PNAC agenda was more than naked avarice for oil resources. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the neocons saw an historic opportunity to use the overwhelming might of the US military to forcibly change regimes, starting in the Middle East, enroute to a "New American Century." They were so intent on this they ignored experts in the military and the State Dept who warned the occupation of Iraq would be a hot mess, and they rationalized a systematic campaign of lies and misinformation to gain support for their delusional ambitions.

In my book, they should all have been brought before The Hague to be tried for war crimes.

[Warpy]

95. That was one of the questions our useless press should have been asking and didn't.

There were a lot of unasked questions back then, the public was too busy being led around to cheer a useless war.

I really considered changing my name to Cassandra.

[Martin Eden]

96. I went to the big protest in DC four days before "Shock and Awe" was launched.

At one point during the march a small group of counter protesters started chanting SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, SUPPORT OUR TROOPS.

So I joined their chant but changed it to SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME!

Almost immediately the marchers within earshot joined my chant, and we totally drowned them out with SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME!

[PatSeg]

106. Yeah and now Rumsfeld is dead

and the others won't be around much longer. All that death and chaos for wealth and power that these monsters can't take with them. I just can't wrap my head around what motivates such people.

[Martin Eden]

108. History is often driven by those who lust for wealth and power

They may believe (or profess to believe) their actions are rooted in principles like advancing American interests and national security, but all too often they are deluding themselves and/or deceiving others.

Some may have started out with good intentions, but to succeed at competing in the arena dominated by the confluence of wealth and political power can require compromises which ultimately turns ambition into corruption and abuse of power.

They key is to understand the consequences of their actions. When they leave a wake of suffering in their course to fame and fortune, they are part of a problem which has always plagued humanity.

[PatSeg]

110. Yes, well said

I do believe that some do start out believing they are making the world a better place, though there are others who make such claims, but are really motivated by self-interest.

That continual quest for money and power at any cost is often indicative of those who are never satisfied no matter how much they have. Whatever the deficiencies in their lives they cannot be eliminated with money. Sometimes the more they accrue, the more miserable they become. Elon Musk and Kanye West come to mind.

Then there are those who like playing God with the world and human beings are merely pawn pieces on their gameboard. I think that applies to a lot of PNAC people and similar think tanks. The suffering they cause is viewed just as collateral damage and any empathy is a liability. It is like they are a different species.

[Martin Eden]

114. Insatiable Ego and Greed

He who dies with the most toys wins mentality.

[PatSeg]

115. Yes and there is never enough

Probably because the hole they are trying to fill can't be filled with money or stuff or power. Of course in the end, they all die just like everyone else, which probably scares the hell out of them.

[moniss]

65. Someone may have mentioned this already but I clearly remember a general

testifying before Congress/911 Commission (either or) and was asked about whether the military had preparedness plans etc. My jaw hit the floor when this senior military leader said words to the effect that no military people thought it was possible or he had no knowledge of anybody having tried to use a plane itself as a weapon. I started screaming at the TV "What about WW2 and the kamikaze attacks?" It was all cover for Condi,W and the cabal. Worse yet was the screaming I did when nobody on the panel asked him that very question!!

These military people all knew very well that any method of transport can be turned into a weapon of varying degree of effectiveness. During Rayguns we had the awful use of truck bombs against the Marines in Beirut. During Clinton we had Oklahoma City and McVeigh/Nichols. These MAGA clowns use their vehicles to run into crowds and injure people. But one of the top military generals sat right there and pretended he never heard of any of it.

[Ilsa]

104. I was at a Navy pilots "dining out" in 1986 when a discussion

turned to a hypothetical scenario: Could you, under orders, shoot down a hijacked US civilian commercial jet over US soil to prevent it from crashing intentionally into the WH, Congress, etc?

Anyone with the slightest imagination could envision this scenario occurring. Doesn't the national security apparatus hire fiction writers to come up with concepts of grotesque attacks?

[Solly Mack]

67. I want to laugh. I actually did cackle after reading the headline.

Imagine that. Bush, the same piece of shit he's always been. Then. Now. No change. None. No merit. No redeeming qualities. Nothing worth admiring. Another corrupt republican president who caused people a grievous amount of pain and suffering.

Very little of Bush's excuse-making and clumsy attempts to rewrite history found their way into the 9/11 Commission's report.

Not to be an asshole or anything but the very fact of not putting all of his excuse making into the report is itself rewriting history since the factual history is Bush did try to rewrite his own actions (inaction is an action) about September 11, 2001.

We should not have to wait 20 years to get all the facts. A watered down/whitewashed report is a falsehood and not reflective of the truth or the actual history. And leaving out Bush's words that tell the full story is a whitewash of the complete history.

For anyone to pretend Bush's lies in answering questions, and they were lies about what he was told or wasn't told, weren't important to the final report is bullshit. That report is supposed to be reflective of the actual facts. The actual history. It's what history turns to as time goes by. After enough time, it will be the only definitive thing people have since memories die with the people holding them. So, it matters greatly how history is written. Otherwise, it becomes a struggle to get the truth out over the voices who deny it.

Not only was the Oval Office exchange an extraordinarily sensitive conversation, it was happening at a perilous moment for Bush, who was gearing up to run for a second term. The commission was close to finishing its written report, which would be released to the public in July, less than four months before the election. That may be why Bush repeatedly waved aside suggestions that the meeting needed to wrap up. "It's my Oval Office," Bush said, when a commissioner suggested that a colleague keep things moving along. "Go ahead." He continued to answer their questions for more than three hours.

If you want to understand how Bush escaped blame for 9/11, winning a second term despite having presided over one of the gravest and most costly failures in presidential history, you need to understand exactly what happened that day in the Oval Office almost 20 years ago.

The White House had negotiated for a joint meeting where Bush and Cheney would sit and answer questions together. But Bush didn't lean too heavily on this accommodation. "The president was well-briefed and answered our questions fully," one of the 9/11 commissions, former New Jersey governor Thomas H. Kean, told Insider. "The President's demeanor throughout was relaxed," notes the memo. "He answered questions without notes."

Fortunately for Bush, the 9/11 Commission Report was careful not to point the finger directly at the sitting president. While the report acknowledges the August 6 PDB, headlined "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US," it states unequivocally that there is "no indication of any further discussion" by Bush and his team regarding a domestic terrorist attack

[czarjak]

73. Secret Society members are what they are.

Massive wealth accumulation for a privileged few. Death. Debt. Destruction. For everyone else. The. Real. Mission. Accomplished. "Faith-based organizations will fill the void"? But, what a "great Christian"? F-W!

[czarjak]

74. Secret Society members are what they are.

Massive wealth accumulation for a privileged few. Death. Debt. Destruction. For everyone else. The. Real. Mission. Accomplished. "Faith-based organizations will fill the void"? But, what a "great Christian"? F-W!

[OMGWTF]

78. If there is ever a real investigation into the events of 9/11/01

the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) should be Exhibit A. There would not have been an invasion of Afghanistan or Iraq without it.

[StormKing]

97. Cries of "antisemitism" stopped that

Any public discussion of PNAC's role in 9/11 and the war was always ended with "anti semite!!!!!!" By both parties.

[Caribbeans]

117. +1 - Here's an Interesting PNAC page

Their site as it existed is available at web.archive org

http://web.archive.org/web/20020205133621/http://www.newamericancentury.org:80/balkans.htm

That was the first PNAC war.

By the end of 2006, PNAC was "reduced to a voice-mail box and a ghostly website with a single employee ... left to wrap things up", according to a correspondent at the BBC News. In 2006 former executive director of the PNAC Gary Schmitt said PNAC had never been intended to "go on forever," and had "already done its job," suggesting that "our view has been adopted." In 2009 Robert Kagan and William Kristol created a new think tank, the Foreign Policy Initiative, which scholars Stephen M. Walt and Don Abelson have characterized as a successor to PNAC (OP-Which was dissolved in 2017, they've re-formed again no doubt, what name now?)

Any PNAC objectives unfulfilled?

'That's not the way the world really works anymore. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do' -Karl Rove

[Deep State Witch]

92. A Poorly-Written PDB

One of the problems was that the infamous August 6th "Bin Laden Wishes to Strike America" memorandum was poorly written. In fact, the Intelligence Community now uses it as an exemplar of what NOT to do when writing one.

That's not to give Shrub a pass. Not at all. But, whoever wrote that PDB item and let it get briefed to POTUS was simply incompetent.

[True Blue American]

109. I knew the Bushes were involved

From the moment I saw the FBI SWARMING ALL OVER Daytona Beach where the Saudis trained.

We sat, trying to get home while the Bush family rounded up all the Bin Ladens and flew them to safety while we sat in Daytona unable to fly home.

Then found out the elder Bush was in a meeting with them in NY when the Towers came down.

I also remember the Bush family had their companies confiscate in Germany because they refused to quit doing business with the Nazis.

[LymphocyteLover]

119. So many deeply problematic questions remain unswered about 9/11

I also flet like Bush had something to do with it the moment I heard of the attacks.

[True Blue American]

121. Now, he has the nerve to speak out against

The Ukraine war.

We have so many corrupt people in our Government and many are still there. Jordan is trying to whitewash Trump by smearing Biden and his son.

[LymphocyteLover]

120. I guess GWB is basically written out of our history now, he's completely ignored by the GOP

but damn, you'd like some accountability for his MASSIVE crimes.