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Jan. 2001 memo warned of Al-Qaida attack... idiots in the White House ignored it

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*Jamal*:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A newly released memo warned the White House at the start of the Bush administration that al Qaeda represented a threat throughout the Islamic world, a warning that critics said went unheeded by President Bush (news - web sites) until the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The memo dated Jan. 25, 2001 -- five days after Bush took office -- was an essential feature of last year's hearings into intelligence failures before the attacks on New York and Washington. A copy of the document was posted on the National Security Archive Web site on Thursday.

The memo, from former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke to then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), had been described during the hearings but its full contents had not been disclosed.

Clarke, a holdover from the Clinton administration, had requested an immediate meeting of top national security officials as soon as possible after Bush took office to discuss combating al Qaeda. He described the network as a threat with broad reach.

"Al Qaeda affects centrally our policies on Pakistan, Afghanistan (news - web sites), Central Asia, North Africa and the GCC (Gulf Arab states). Leaders in Jordan and Saudi Arabia see al Qaeda as a direct threat to them," Clarke wrote.

"The strength of the network of organizations limits the scope of support friendly Arab regimes can give to a range of U.S. policies, including Iraq (news - web sites) policy and the (Israeli-Palestinian) Peace Process. We would make a major error if we underestimated the challenge al Qaeda poses."

The memo also warned of overestimating the stability of moderate regional allies threatened by al Qaeda.

It recommended that the new administration urgently discuss the al Qaeda network, including the magnitude of the threat it posed and strategy for dealing with it.

The document was declassified on April 7, 2004, one day before Rice's testimony before the Sept. 11 commission. It was released recently by the National Security Council to the National Security Archive -- a private library of declassified U.S. documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

The meeting on al Qaeda requested by Clarke did not take place until Sept. 4, 2001.

Sikotic™:
It's nice to know our prez was taking multiple vacations during that time period instead of heeding those warnings. Makes me feel oh so safe.

Machiavelli:
yeah, bush and his administration fucked up.

But Clinton had chances to stop Bin Laden and an Al Qaeda attack, so you just cant blame bush. Clinton deserves  blame.

Ant:

--- Quote from: Machiavelli on February 11, 2005, 03:56:21 PM ---yeah, bush and his administration fucked up.

But Clinton had chances to stop Bin Laden and an Al Qaeda attack, so you just cant blame bush. Clinton deserves  blame.

--- End quote ---

by all means state some facts to prove that Clinton had chances to stop Bin Laden and Al-Queda and deserves blame for sept. 11?

Machiavelli:

--- Quote from: Ant on February 11, 2005, 04:07:18 PM ---
--- Quote from: Machiavelli on February 11, 2005, 03:56:21 PM ---yeah, bush and his administration fucked up.

But Clinton had chances to stop Bin Laden and an Al Qaeda attack, so you just cant blame bush. Clinton deserves  blame.

--- End quote ---

by all means state some facts to prove that Clinton had chances to stop Bin Laden and Al-Queda and deserves blame for sept. 11?



--- End quote ---


read the 9/11 report....

even your canadiate Wesley Clark agrees clinton failed to stop 9/11


--- Quote ---After I gave my former commander-in-chief credit for squeezing Libya," said Mr. Clark, "I realized that I would also have to blame him for not stopping the 9/11 attacks. After all, there was a three-year hiatus between the Clinton White House and the Libyan decision, but only nine months between Bill's departure and the day the planes hit."
--- End quote ---

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