Miers Briefed Bush on Bin Laden PDB, But Papers Handle Photo From That Day

[sabra]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001221205

Miers Briefed Bush on Bin Laden PDB, But Papers Handle Photo From That Day Quite Differently


NEW YORK On its front page Tuesday, The New York Times published a photo of new U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers going over a briefing paper with President George W. Bush at his Crawford ranch “in August 2001,” the caption reads.

USA Today and the Boston Globe carried the photo labeled simply “2001,” but many other newspapers ran the picture in print or on the Web with a more precise date: Aug. 6, 2001.

Does that date sound familiar? Indeed, that was the date, a little over a month before 9/11, that President Bush was briefed on the now-famous “PDB” that declared that Osama Bin Laden was “determined” to attack the U.S. homeland, perhaps with hijacked planes. But does that mean that Miers had anything to do with that briefing?

As it turns out, yes, according to Tuesday's Los Angeles Times. An article by Richard A. Serrano and Scott Gold observes that early in the Bush presidency “Miers assumed such an insider role that in 2001 it was she who handed Bush the crucial 'presidential daily briefing' hinting at terrorist plots against America just a month before the Sept. 11 attacks.”

[grasswire]

1. I feel sick.

Very sick.

[cassiepriam]

33. This woman is up to her eyeballs in mire.... color me sick too.

[dargondogon]

2. Some questions for Harriett, No. 1

Why didn't the president take seriously bin Laden's threat to attack America?

[dargondogon]

3. Harriet: Did you approve of the torture policy at abu graib and

Guatanamo?

[dargondogon]

4. No 3: What do you know about President Bush's missing military

records?

[UpInArms]

8. No. 4, do you agree with Gonzales in that the POTUS does not

have to abide by the Constitution and the US does not have to follow the Geneva Convention?

[bpilgrim]

18. have to follow the LAW OF THE LAND and can STRIP americans of their RIGHTS

and TORTURE PEOPLE!!!

peace

[gratuitous]

13. Goodness, such a fine bunch of questions

"I decline to answer on the combined grounds of attorney/client privilege and the mythical concept of executive privilege." Which, being translated, means, "Go suck eggs, Senator Doodyhead."

[dargondogon]

20. Confirmation hearing = Torture hearing

No answers? Keep asking rougher questions, backed by the abundant evidence that the White House law office approved torture. The answers don't matter, the questions do.

[leesa]

39. He did. Which is why they have gained so much that they have wanted

BushCo did 9-11...the OBL thing was fantasy to make their actions palatable to Americans.

[sueh]

5. That explains what Chris Matthews did tonight.

Someone named Francisco who worked with Miers in the WH and justice dept was on and Matthews was trying to get this guy say Miers was responsible for the 16 words that got in the SOTU address because as Staff Secretary, Miers was responsible for co-ordinating all the papers and documents that went to Bush.

[jazzjunkysue]

49. OK. If Tweety finally proves that Shrub was responsible for 9/11

I'll wear his T shirt from the NYC RNC convention TV coverage for a week.

They gave the people who stayed until 12 or 1 T shirts, buttons and hats from the company MSNBC stock. I never knew why I kept mine (I certainly never wore it....)

I'll have to forgive Tweety all his past transgressions. I'm sure as heck gonna watch him, tonight.

Thanks for the heads up.

[lovuian]

6. dear Harriet was the brief you gave the Prez 11/2 pages or 11

cause the picture shows us one thing and witnesses like Woodward say another???

Such a dilemna!!!

She's there to make sure Bush doesn't get convicted for years past but thats a real long shot for Bush!!!

[CoffeeCat]

7. Am I on the right track...

...when I assume that Junior is paying back Harriet for not mentioning that she briefed him and had a long discussion with him about the PDB?

Did Harriet deliver the ball, but Junior dropped it? And can we pretty much infer that Harriet could have buried Junior--by telling America that she told Junior how critical this was--but he must have ignored it?

After he read that PDB, Junior did nothing to prevent a possible attack. NOTHING.

Harriet would know what was said about Bin Laden to Junior. She would know what actions she recommended--and everyone would know that he ignored her words and suggestions.

She's the linchpin. If she talks, he's destroyed. If she keeps quiet (as she's done), Junior can continue his charade as the "protector in chief".

Ok, now I'm going to be sick.

[UpInArms]

10. IIRC, Harriet was the one that was doing the search for the

USSC nominee - and (like Cheney did in 2000) came back and said that she was the best nominee.

hmmmmm....

[proud patriot]

23. interesting observation there

the circle seems to have gotten quite small indeed .

[UpInArms]

44. here's a laff for you - George Will(you just shut up) attacking Miers nom

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/04/AR2005100400954.html

excerpt:

Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that Miers's nomination resulted from the president's careful consultation with people capable of such judgments. If 100 such people had been asked to list 100 individuals who have given evidence of the reflectiveness and excellence requisite in a justice, Miers's name probably would not have appeared in any of the 10,000 places on those lists.

...more...

(edited for clarity)

[dargondogon]

22. She'd never bury him

She'd die before she'd expose him. That's her weakness. Put her hopeless devotion to Bush on display in the hearings, and Americans will ralph.

[mallard]

37. Did harriet deliver the ball, or a hot potato?

There could be more to it.


Maybe she was there in August 2001 to make sure bin Laden would be blamed for events long planned by others to guarantee conditions for war.

Maybe she was there to get a kind of insurance deal started for the aftermath of an event with predictable liabilities.

The forewarnings are just a little too perfect to be coming from such a source when they should have been from the NSC, not a staff lawyer.

The forewarnings don't equate well with a virtual military stand down in response to the officially reported hijackings, but they do correlate with the immediate blame getting laid squarely on Atta & Co.

[jazzjunkysue]

50. Right. Why did his staff secretary have them? Where were the terror

white house staffers? Why didn't they give them to him?

[onenote]

9. Can someone explain why this is a big deal

Miers was "staff secretary". The staff secretary is the last substantive control point before papers reach the president. This is no secret. So one of two things: either the PDB material on Bin Laden was classified at a level that even she didn't see it, or she did. But that's hardly "news". So what's the big deal?

onenote

[stillcool]

11. ummm...because she is nominated to be...

a supreme court justice...and her only qualifications are her proximity to the fuhrer. And, with the history of this administration she could be an eye witness to, or personally involved with decades of criminal behavior.

[onenote]

12. she was staff secretary -- of course she was around

But this isn't any secret.

onenote

[stillcool]

14. well....i didn't know that before today...

i know NOTHING about this woman. Don't you think its important that this woman is potentially as tight with * as Karl Rove? Would you like to see him be a supreme court justice?

[onenote]

17. nope. Heck, I didn't want chimpy to be president.

And I didn't want Roberts to be a SCOTUS justice. But frankly, he scares me more than she does at this point. And it would be nice if someone could point a realistic (repeat: realistic) scenario where we would end up with chimpy nominating someone we "like" to be a justice on the SCOTUS. One of the reasons I prayed and worked to defeat chimpy was because of the likelihood he would get to name justices. But its hard to get worked up about Miers when I can't for the life of me figure out how we end up with much of an improvement if she doesn't get confirmed.

onenote

[stillcool]

24. well...maybe they could pull a Gingrich...

and shut the corrupt cabal down.

[ticapnews]

34. The idea is to block this nomination this fall...

Then the cocaine-addled alcoholic would have to nominate O'Connor's replacement in 2006 - right before the midterm elections. If we can also block/filibuster THAT choice he wouldn't have a chance to nominate another before the elections - plus he would be crippled politcally having had TWO nominees blocked by the Senate. With any luck at all, we can use that momentum to gain 4-6 Senate seats and shift the balance of power tremendously. Then he has to put forth a THIRD nominee in 2007, with a split Senate filled with Democrats and Republicans who will be busy getting ready to run for president in 2008.

At that point the country might decide that another fight isn't worth it, and insist that this president not nominate anyone else and wait until a new president is elected.

Not that any part of this scenario is likely to play out, but I'm sure someone at the DNC already has a plan to help make it happen...

[onenote]

41. I don't think that plan works --here's how I see it

First...the process doesn't take that long. Let's assume Miers is blocked by a filibuster this fall and chimpy withdraws her name. A week later (two tops) he puts forward another name. A vote on that nomination could be held as early as January, February at latest. We block that one. One of two things happen -- the Senate goes nuclear and/or the repugs mount an off-year election campaign based on the ralllying cry "up or down vote". Yeah, its a stupid argument. But all the polling data shows it resonates with the public because it sounds like its about fairness.

So, instead of the message of the off-year elections being about corruption and incompetence, about the war and Delay and Katrina, that message gets drowned out as the Dems have to play defense explaining why they aren't "obstructionists". Of couse we're not, but the public likes things simple. They "get" corruption. They "get" (increasingly) the war being a disaster. They aren't going to "get" why Miers or whomever comes after Miers is so much worse than Roberts.
The right wing, instead of being demoralized, is energized. On the othe hand, if the court battle is over, they don't have anything to get energized about.

So instead of making gains in the Senate, we lose seats. Now instead of chimpy being a lame duck with dwindling support, he is viewed as making a comeback. The public loves comeback stories. And if, heaven forbid, one of the Dems on the court dies/retires, he could have a filibuster proof majority to push through another Roberts clone. And we are screwed. On the other hand, if we fight smart for the short term and keep the repugs on the defensive, pick up seats in 2006, we could succeed in blocking anything that comes down the pike in the final years of what truly would be a lame duck presidency.

onenote

[watrwefitinfor]

47. Dems MUST be obstructionists

OBSTRUCT at every opportunity! Buy the word. Own it. This shit MUST be obstructed.

Why be so afraid of the word? They must own up to it. The awful and criminal decisions and schemes of the Bush regime MUST be obstructed. It is because the Dems are and have been so afraid to obstruct him that we are in this situation. They don't have the numbers to stop him. All they can hope for is obstruction. And then they should holler from the rooftops that is what they are doing - Obstructing. The only remaining hope for democracy in this country is that Bush be obstructed.

Wat

[onenote]

48. because the public doesn't like it

And if the public doesn't like it, they vote for republicans. Funny thing about a democracy. You have to win the freakin' elections. And we aren't going to do that if we let our best chance -- the corruption and incompetence of this administration -- get drowned out by a different message.

Again..a caveat. If there is evidence that Miers is corrupt/ethically challenged -- and I mean even evidence that she failed to pay a parking ticket -- go after her. It allows us to stick to our message and keep the other side on the defensive.

onenote

[daleo]

16. I agree with the other comments

This proves her only real qualification for one of the top jobs in the world is that she is linked at the hip with Bush, and the rest of the BFEE gang.

[dchill]

15. So what we're saying is...

that it's really nice of Bush to silence Miers by putting her on the Supreme Court in lieu of having her whacked.

[lutefisk]

27. Expedient, maybe. I wouldn't impute "nice" to Bush, Inc..n/t

n/t

[brentspeak]

19. Was she interviewed by the 9/11 Commission?

[dargondogon]

21. Ask the questions in the hearings

I think it'll piss Americans off to watch her stonewall questions that are backed by hard evidence.

[jazzjunkysue]

51. Amen. I'll be taping those. If we don't use this opportunity to expose

Shrub on his 9/11 complicity, then the dems really are republicans in drag.

[Chi]

46. Does not appear so.....

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/22jul20041130/www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/appc.pdf

[Toucano]

25. Didn't Condi and Tenet both say they briefed the president?

On edit:

He needed three fuckers to brief him to on the subject so that he could do NOTHING?

[orleans]

26. can anyone get a link to that page?

i'm reading this late tuesday and the nytimes has wednesdays page up

[bananas]

36. It was the LA Times, not the NY Times.

Here's the url.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/la-na-profile4oct04,1,824765.story
The President's 'Pit Bull'
October 4, 2005
By Richard A. Serrano and Scott Gold / Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON — From the beginning of George W. Bush's presidency, his professional life has been so closely intertwined with Harriet Miers' that some White House insiders jokingly refer to her as the president's "work wife." And she was the lawyer...

[rodeodance]

28. nominated

.....So the Aug. 6 photo may show this historic moment, though quite possibly not. In any case, some newspapers failed to include the exact date with the widely used Miers photo today. A New York Times spokesman told E&P: "The wording of the caption occurred in the course of routine editing and has no broader significance."

The photo that ran in so many papers and on their Web sites originally came from the White House but was moved by the Associated Press, clearly marked as an “Aug. 6, 2001” file photo. It shows Miers with a document or documents in her right hand, as her left hand points to something in another paper balanced on the president's right leg. Two others in the background are Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin and Steve Biegun of the national security staff.

The PDB was headed “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,” and notes, among other things, FBI information indicating “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks.”

[rodeodance]

29. “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S., and notes......

..The PDB was headed “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,” and notes, among other things, FBI information indicating “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks.”

[NVMojo]

30. Ken Olbermann showed this clip tonight ...freaking scary!!!

[Canuckistanian]

31. It's all a big circle jerk

Miers needs to be shut up. A lifelong appointment to the bench will do just that.

Bravo, GOP strategists. I won't say Rove, because he's been emasculated by his own upcoming scandal.

[wakeme2008]

32. even the French are carrying this

"Harriet Miers, at the time staff secretary, is seen on Aug. 6, 2001, briefing President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas."

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8657

[Tesla]

35. Everyone in the World should be paying attention to this!!

She is his "Bagdhad Bob"!

Baghdad Bob in front of Atomic Bob

[jazzjunkysue]

52. ....3, 2, 1 Let the photoshopping begin. This isn't going to be pretty.

Oh god, oh god...

[Cocoa]

38. it wasn't a briefing

it was Bush's daily "historical document."

[leesa]

40. Is it Harriet who is really our President?

[Tesla]

42. Wonder who tell Harriet what to write, she has to have sources

[jody]

43. Bush likes dominant women, e.g. Hughes, Rice, and Miers. Barbara Bush

was obviously very dominant. What would psychologists make of that behavior?

[Roland99]

45. Why did a former managing partner of a law firm have access to this?!?!?

This is a matter of utmost National Security!

WTF was a co-managing partner of a somewhat corrupt law firm with links to TRMPAC doing with a PDB?!?!?