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Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Sorting truth from fiction
Max Blumenthal takes down Bush's argument that eavesdropping on American citizens making international phone calls would have prevented the September 11 attacks:
In fact, Al-Midhar bought his plane ticket for Flight 77 with his real name. At the time, he was wanted by the FBI and CIA for attending a terrorist meeting in Malaysia. He was also on a State Department watch list called TIPOFF. Al-Hazmi also bought a ticket for Flight 77 using his real name. And he shared an address as 9/11 hijacker Nawaq Alhazmi. Al-Midhar, for his part, was living with Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the plot.
Al Gore brought these facts forward in his 2003 speech, "Freedom and Security," and to date, no one has challenged him.
A couple related points. First, wasn't there an FBI informant living with one of the hijackers? Seems like that would've been an even better source of information.
Second, maybe if the feds had tapped Coleen Rowley's phone they would've followed up on Zacarias Moussaoui's flight training.
Third, the Bush administration has pushed dueling fantasies that they did all they could to prevent the September 11 attacks and no mistakes were made. Both arguments are wrong. The federal government did not do everything within its power to stop the September 11 attacks. The failure to follow up on dire warnings was clearly a mistake reaching into high offices of the government.
It's understandable that Bush does not want responsibility for the failures of leadership and imagination that allowed the September 11 attacks to happen. However, unless and until an honest and thorough accounting of the failures to prevent the attacks is completed, it's not merely disingenuous to claim new powers will protect America -- it's utterly dangerous.
