The Bush White House ignored even more warnings about September 11 than we thought, according to journalist Kurt Eichenwald, who has a column in the NYT and a new book out today.
We already knew about the presidential brief from Aug. 6, 2001 that was titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” The White House has shown that this declassified document was primarily a history of Al Qaeda, not a warning of imminent attack.
But there were other briefings, some seen by Eichenwald, that did warn of an imminent attack.
On May 1 the CIA said that a terrorist group in the U.S. was planning an attack. On June 22 it warned that this attack was "imminent." On June 29 the brief warned of near-term attacks with "dramatic consequences" including major casualties. On July 1, the briefing said that the terrorist attack had been delayed but "will occur soon." On July 24, the president was told again that the attack had been delayed but would occur within months.
These and other similar warnings were ignored by the White House. The Neocons in charge insisted that the threat was instead a coordinated diversion meant to distract attention from Saddam Hussein, according to Eichenwald. This opinion frustrated the intelligence community, who saw the theory as totally illogical. Eichenwald's column is already getting a lot of attention today. No doubt so will his book, 500 Days: Secrets And Lies In The Terror Wars.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/new-report-shows-how-many-warnings- about-bin-laden-were-ignored-by-the-bush-white-house-2012-9#ixzz26AGbSCCj