Fiddling Bush - Alert McKinney
Bush Fiddled While New York Burned
by Michael Colby
The decision to send Condoleezza Rice out before the reporters yesterday to
downplay new evidence that the White House had credible warnings of Osama
bin Laden's plans to hijack planes was a huge slap to the face of reason.
Rice's two main arguments seeking to belittle Bush's prior knowledge lacked
the credibility that the hijacking warnings were filled with.
First, Rice declared that the hijackings said nothing about "using the
planes as missiles." Rice's reasoning ignores the internal Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) reports that at least one student had approached a
flight school in search of training in all aspects of flying big jets with
the exceptions of taking off and landing. For an intelligence agency with a
near-unlimited budget and person power, it wouldn't seem that hard to put
two and two together on this one.
Next, Rice declared that if the Bush administration wanted to do anything
preventive in regards to the hijacking threats it would have resulted in a
widespread disruption in commercial airline travel. Besides being rather
callous towards the nearly 5,000 people who lost their lives, this excuse is
just plain ridiculous.
As it turns out, these hijackings did cause widespread disruption of the
airline industry, but only after the bin Laden crew carried out their tasks
to what they declared to be near-perfection. September 11th wasn't that long
ago to have forgotten that all the nation's airports were closed, the
airlines received billions of dollars in bailouts, and federal regulators
immediately (and dramatically) changed the manner in which every man, woman,
and child approaches the act of flying.
The troubling reality, no matter how much spin the Bush administration and
its fawning media put into it, is that the credible evidence of an attack by
a group of people who every intelligence official in the U.S. knew was
fanatical and capable enough to inflict widespread damage was both kept
secret and ignored.
Imagine, for example, if the same amount of time and hand wringing had been
put into implementing a plan to this hijacking threat as most members of the
Bush inner circle put into dumping their Enron portfolios? That is, you'll
recall, exactly what the Enron-insiders-turned-Bush-officials were up to in
the summer of 2001 when the hijacking threats were made known to the
administration.
Finally, the public should be informed as to why it took more than eight
months after this attack before this information became publicly available.
Let's not forget that the U.S. went to war over this action, decimating a
nation, throwing world security into turmoil, and, interestingly enough,
still failing to "get our man." Every member of Congress who rushed to their
post-September 11 podiums to lust for revenge and provide the Bush
administration what amounted to a blank check for war should now be
wondering about the evidence their own government withheld from them. What
if, at the time of those frantic days after the attacks, the public and
congress knew that the Bush team was sitting on evidence warning of the
attacks?
Most of the media--particularly the right-wing talk shows and pundits--are
busy spinning the disclosure of the hijacking warnings as much ado about
nothing. But this nation lost 3,000 citizens, the "crown jewels" of the
Manhattan skyline, our sense of security, and precious civil liberties, not
to mention unleashing a vicious war against Afghanistan while the Bush team
knew that the acts creating the entire mess were on the way.
Ironically, the same conservative members of Congress and the media who
maniacally pursued the impeachment of Bill Clinton for being on the
receiving end of a blowjob are now declaring that Bush's prior knowledge of
what amounted to "the worst ever attack on our soil" was really no big deal.
Go figure.
Michael Colby is the editor of Wild Matters. He can be reached at
mcolby@wildmatters.org
http://www.counterpunch.org/colby0517.html
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May 17, 2002
Terrorist Warnings
by Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Several weeks ago, I called for a congressional investigation into what
warnings the Bush Administration received before the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001. I was derided by the White House, right wing talk radio,
and spokespersons for the military-industrial complex as a conspiracy
theorist. Even my patriotism was questioned because I dared to suggest that
Congress should conduct a full and complete investigation into the most
disastrous intelligence failure in American history. Georgia Senator Zell
Miller even went so far as to characterize my call for hearings as
"dangerous, loony and irresponsible."
Today's revelations that the administration, and President Bush, were given
months of notice that a terrorist attack was a distinct possibility points
out the critical need for a full and complete congressional investigation.
It now becomes clear why the Bush Administration has been vigorously
opposing congressional hearings. The Bush Administration has been engaged in
a conspiracy of silence. If committed and patriotic people had not been
pushing for disclosure today's revelations would have been hidden by the
White House.
Because I love my country, because I am a patriot, and because the American
people deserve the truth, I believe it would be dangerous, loony and
irresponsible not to hold full congressional hearings on any warnings the
Bush Administration had before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Ever since I came to Congress in 1992, there are those who have been trying
to silence my voice. I've been told to "sit down and shut up" over and over
again. Well, I won't sit down and I won't shut up until the full and
unvarnished truth is placed before the American people.
Cynthia McKinney represents Georgia's Fourth Congressional District.
She can be reached at: cymck@mail.house.gov
http://www.counterpunch.org/mckinney0517.html
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