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A Tale of Two Presidents:
Why People Remember September 11, 2001 but Not January 1, 2000.
By AIJ Alom
Many Americans can recall the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and the resolve the nation showed in its aftermath. But many Americans forget Al Qaeda’s most devastating attack prior to 9/11.
Al Qaeda operatives launched devastating attacks on Americans domestically and abroad in eight other nations on January 1, 2000 while the world celebrated the start of the new millennium. The Millennium attacks left scores dead, and at that time were considered the deadliest attacks by Al Qaeda against Americans to date.
In the months following the Millennium attack, the media learned of the fortunate arrest of Ahmed Ressam at the US-Canadian border. Ressam was captured by hawk-eyed border patrol agents, several weeks before the attacks. Unfortunately, the Clinton Administration did not look into Ressam further, nor issue a press release on the arrest. Subsequently, several more of his cohorts entered the nation through the porous border undeterred, joined with those already in place and carried out the devastating attacks.
New evidence, declassified in July 2002, shows Bill Clinton failed to read a Presidential Daily Briefing given to him in November of 1999, a full month before the attacks. The memo entitled Bin Laden to Strike US to Coincide With Millennium Celebration provided by domestic and foreign intelligence sources was largely ignored by the Clinton administration. Sandy Berger, the National Security Adviser, when presented with the memo in 2002 said the threats were too vague and based on old intelligence. Berger also said that the Clinton administration had no idea which nations and airports were to be targeted. In a heated response he indicated that Americans were abroad in many nations and there are hundreds of airports in the United States.
One thing is certain, as head of the executive branch, Bill Clinton failed to alert federal and local law enforcement agencies both at home and abroad of the possible threat of terrorism. His inaction resulted in the deaths of countless scores of Americans and allies in 9 nations, including the United States. The brazenness of the attack was compounded by the fact the Clinton team did nothing to warn the general public. Many security experts agree that by simply alerting global law enforcement, especially after the Ressam incident, could have given us an important advantage.
Fortunately for America, Bill Clinton took his PDB’s seriously: the January 1, 2000 terror attacks never happened. It was foiled by a concerted effort by the Clinton Administration, CIA, FBI, and local and foreign governments and law enforcement agencies. Without the Department of Homeland Security, without terror alert levels, and without scaring the general public, they managed to thwart a global terrorist plot. The fact that most people do not remember the details of their heroics is a testament to their success. Nothing happened.
Now what would have happened if the same strategy had been employed by the Bush Administration to try to prevent September 11, 2001?
A review of recently declassified federal documents shows that devastating terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC in early September of 2001 were thwarted by the Bush administration. On August 6, 2001 the president received an intelligence memo (PDB) entitled Bin Laden Determined to Strike In US. The memo, though vague in nature and based on old intelligence was taken extremely seriously by President Bush and his administration. Bush cut his vacation at his Crawford ranch to fly back to Washington. As head of the executive branch, George Bush ordered the FBI and CIA to look into the threat both domestically and abroad.
Collin Powell and the State Department warned Americans overseas to be on the alert for possible terror attacks. He also asked foreign governments and law enforcement to be on high alert for any suspicious activity.
The first break in the case came on August 15, 2001. Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested and detained in Minnesota by the FBI on an immigration violation. Moussaoui, according to the FBI, was taking flight lessons and was reported by flight instructors. The most troubling aspect of Moussaoui’s desire to fly according to the flight instructors is that he was interested in knowing how much damage a 747 can do if it impacted with something.
Though this is only one man, the Bush administration quickly orders all domestic law enforcement agencies, border guards, and US airline security put on high alert for possible terrorism. Information on Zacarias Moussaoui and his possible terrorist connection is leaked to the press in order to deter any other would be terrorists.
Sure enough thanks to the Bush administrations diligence and hard work in August of 2001, September saw the arrests of a dozen or so would be terrorists. Most were caught because of their placement on a terrorist no-fly list which was updated after the Moussaoui incident. A pair was caught in flight schools in Florida by flight instructors who had read about Moussaoui in the local papers. Several others were caught at the border trying to enter with forged passports. A quartet including ringleader Mohammad Atta was caught by Airline security at Boston’s Logan airport.
The above scenario, though as much as we wish now, did not happen. Instead the FBI, CIA, border patrol, and airline security have taken most of the blame for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. They are not the ones that should be held accountable. Why did the Bush administration do nothing? Simple leadership on August 6, 2001 as displayed by Bill Clinton in the fall on 1999 could have stopped this attack as well. The enormity of September 11, 2001, the desire to come together as one nation, and the desire for revenge made us forget. It propelled us into fighting and supporting a retaliatory war in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda and a pre-emptive one in Iraq.
After 9/11, the president promised us we would get Osama Bin Laden dead or alive and smoke him out of his cave. Then six months later, in March of 2002 he had no idea where Bin Laden was and Bush said that it did not concern him, the war on terror was bigger than Bin Laden. Yet to this day, Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda is responsible for the murder of innocent school children in Beslan, Russia, the train bombing in Madrid, and dozens of other terrorist attacks. Bin Laden’s group has even recently threatened US elections. In spite of all this, George W Bush rarely mentions Osama Bin Laden by name. Think about it.
Why does George W Bush feel so strongly about pre-emption in Iraq? In his opinion, Iraq was his second chance to pre-empt a possible terrorist attack. He blew his first chance at pre-emption and more than three thousand souls paid the price.
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