The White House Mole

[Didereaux]

Source: Wash Post - Froomkin

An independent, bipartisan commission was set to report on the "circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks."
The White House had a lot to lose from an unfettered, authoritative examination of those issues. The last thing Bush needed during a hotly contested reelection campaign was a reminder of his inattention to the threat of terrorism before 9/11, or of his initial paralysis when he heard the news, or of his misbegotten attempts to pin the blame on Iraq.
Bush originally fought the establishment of such a commission. Even after he bowed to congressional pressure, he still only went along grudgingly. For instance, he famously refused to face the panel alone or in public, insisting instead on a private, unrecorded interview with Vice President Cheney at his side.
But when the report finally came out, it was clear Bush had dodged another bullet. The commission spread the blame for 9/11 far and wide and emphasized needed structural changes over accountability.
Now, it seems the White House may not have needed to be too apprehensive about the commission's report. It had an inside man. And he was one of the guys in charge.
<snip>
Michael Isikoff writes in Newsweek: "In the summer of 2003, Warren Bass, an investigator for the 9/11 Commission, was digging through highly classified National Security Council documents when he came across a trove of material that startled him. Buried in the files of former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, the documents seemed to confirm charges that the Bush White House had ignored repeated warnings about the threat posed by Osama bin Laden. Clarke, it turned out, had bombarded national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice in the summer of 2001 with impassioned e-mails and memos warning of an Al Qaeda attack--and urging a more forceful U.S. government response. One e-mail jumped out: it pleaded with officials to imagine how they would feel after a tragedy where 'hundreds of Americans lay dead in several countries, including the U.S.,' adding that 'that future day could happen at any time.' The memo was written on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2001 -- just one week before the attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"But when Bass tried to impress the significance of what he had discovered upon the panel, he ran into what he thought was a roadblock -- his boss. Philip Zelikow, a respected University of Virginia historian hired to be the 9/11 Commission's executive director, had long been friendly with Rice. The two had coauthored a book. Rice had later placed him on a Bush transition team that reorganized the NSC (and ended up diminishing Clarke's role). At Rice's request, Zelikow had also anonymously drafted a new Bush national-security paper in September 2002 that laid out the case for preventive war.
much much more...

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/02/04/BL2008020401554_pf.html

---

A pretty good summation of the sleaze and corruption surounding the 9/11 commission.

[MADem]

1. K/R, and what you just noted deserves repeating, a little bit louder now...

"In the summer of 2003, Warren Bass, an investigator for the 9/11 Commission, was digging through highly classified National Security Council documents when he came across a trove of material that startled him. Buried in the files of former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, the documents seemed to confirm charges that the Bush White House had ignored repeated warnings about the threat posed by Osama bin Laden. Clarke, it turned out, had bombarded national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice in the summer of 2001 with impassioned e-mails and memos warning of an Al Qaeda attack--and urging a more forceful U.S. government response. One e-mail jumped out: it pleaded with officials to imagine how they would feel after a tragedy where 'hundreds of Americans lay dead in several countries, including the U.S.,' adding that 'that future day could happen at any time.' The memo was written on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2001 -- just one week before the attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"But when Bass tried to impress the significance of what he had discovered upon the panel, he ran into what he thought was a roadblock -- his boss. Philip Zelikow, a respected University of Virginia historian hired to be the 9/11 Commission's executive director, had long been friendly with Rice. The two had coauthored a book. Rice had later placed him on a Bush transition team that reorganized the NSC (and ended up diminishing Clarke's role). At Rice's request, Zelikow had also anonymously drafted a new Bush national-security paper in September 2002 that laid out the case for preventive war.

[SpiralHawk]

14. In other words: republicons did all they could to block 9/11 truth from getting out

and they are still blocking the truth, because republicons LIHOP.

IMPEACH THE WHOLE PACK OF REPUBLICON TRAITORS...

[dantyrant]

21. Dems too

This corruption is bipartisan. Believe me, if it were only a problem within the GOP the Dems would have been all over it.

[dchill]

38. "corruption is bipartisan..."

That has to be the case, or we'd have had some 9/11 truth and post 9/11 prosecutions by now. Sibel Edmonds? Sibel Edmonds? Anyone? Anyone?

[dantyrant]

40. exactly

Lantos is accused of being a part of this web off corruption, and he's a senior Democrat on the intelligence committee.

[druidity33]

84. yeah but

he's a DINO Supreme-O... Feinstein too.

Let's oust the corporate DLC-ers and not lump everyone together. When you've got a tent as big as ours, some criminals are bound to sneak in!

:shrug:

[lonestarnot]

85. Just like they MIHOP.

[Kikosexy2]

73. They knew...

and they allowed it to happen...9/11 Families its time sue Bushco again...or demand their resignation...or God strike lightning on them to oblivion....Simply evil...

[Botany]

2. After being told that bin Laden wanted to attack ..... Rice said ....

And Bush wasn't interested in 'swatting flies' -- he was already looking for a reason to attack Iraq.

So bush & company were told about 9/11 before the attack and even then they were planning
a war in Iraq.

Hey Nancy P! How is your table.

[gauguin57]

3. I want someone who lost a loved one on 9/11 to sue Bush, Cheney, et al ... civil suit, if need be

There have to be some survivors/widows/childless parents etc. who didn't take the money (agreeing not to sue).

I want to see a big, splashy lawsuit (even if it has to be after Numbnuts and Captain Evil leave office).

I want the facts that come out of such a lawsuit to make every voter who voted for those two feel horrible about themselves for the rest of their lives.

[wordpix]

42. we should have a "People vs. BushCheney" lawsuit over the Iraq War!

[davekriss]

53. Already happened

But it seems it went nowhere. The latest status can be seen here. Google "Mariani 9-11" and you'll see that the surviving spouse (Ellen Mariani) filed a RICO suit against the Bush administration soon after 9-11. She lost her husband on United flight 175.

[moodforaday]

79. Some gave up the right to sue

At least some families gave up the right to sue any government agencies in exchange for financial compensation. The "Jersey Girls" are a few of those that did not accept any money, many others did.

[Jane Austin]

4. That makes my head explode.

Again.

[libodem]

62. my head exploded

I'm wiping my brain off the monitor as we speak! I hope the history books get this part right. I've been a LIHOP person from the start. (don't send me to the basement, bro)

[dantyrant]

5. Whoa...

This is in the Washington Post...

Is the MSM finally willing to touch 9/11 again?

[ClintonTyree]

13. Well sure, now that it's safe to do so.....

nearing the end of Bush's pResidency the right-wing media machine is no longer bound to protect the idiot son of a Bush from scrutiny. I imagine there will be a torrent of such stories forthcoming. Nothing to lose now, except Bush's legacy, which is so far down the shitter there's no possible redemption. They've done their job and now they're free to give the appearance that they're "on the ball" and have a scintilla of journalistic integrity. :puke: Their legacy will be as tarnished as Bush's.

A lapdog media who abetted the Bush White House every step of the way. Now they, along with Bush, are scrambling for anything they can grasp to prove that they aren't totally worthless, to invent a positive legacy. Sorry, but it ain't 'gonna wash. Not with anyone who's been paying attention.

[bulloney]

15. Yeah, more than 7 years after the fact. More than 3 years after the '04 elections.

It's amazing how the "liberal media" start doing their jobs when it leaves less of an impact.

[ursi]

6. All the years and all the lies ...all the lives and all the money ...when will it end?

When we will see justice?

[pokercat999]

17. Hahahahahaha justice? in america hahahahhahaha

jesus what a fucking tragic joke

[The Wizard]

31. They did their best to

cast doubt on the Administration's responsibility and deflect blame to Bill Clinton's pecker.

[BushLiesDaily]

7. Washington Post

just trying to make themselves look good...

What about the CIA torture tapes? The nukes 'mistakenly' flown from base A to base B? The missing White House emails? Sibel Edmonds tell-all in the British newspapers?

Shoot, if Arlen Specter goes after the NFL like he did everything else he's done, we may find another pristine bullet at the bottom of it all again...

Don't hold your breath folks...

[Demit]

16. It's Dan Froomkin's blog. I don't think it's in the paper itself.

Dan Froomkin has been critical of the administration for years—on his blog. The Post is so wary of him that a few years ago there was internal pressure for him to change the name of his blog from "White House Report" (or something, I forget)—the gist was that it sounded too official, as though he were truly representative of the Post reporting from the White House. They needed to marginalize him. He's wonderful, he writes straight, he's everything that the Post doesn't itself want to be.

[Mojambo]

8. This is huge.

[AntiFascist]

Doesn't this pretty much prove LIHOP? n/t

[BeHereNow]

10. When you add the PNAC document to it- ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY.

The same lunatics in charge at the time all clearly
stated that they needed another Pearl Harbor.
Any questions about LIHOP?
Not in my mind.

BHN

[fascisthunter]

36. Yes, It Does Prove It

and yet, impeachment is off the table....

[sofa king]

60. I don't think so, BUT....

Outside of a court of law, when lives are on the line, the logical thing to assume is that the cover-up was designed to obscure complicity in the act.

These guys don't even have the cold-war blanket to hide under, as Lyndon Johnson did when he railroaded Earl Warren into presiding over the Kennedy white-wash. That effort succeeded so well that it's unlikely anyone will ever know for sure what really happened to JFK.

There are really only three options left: LIHOP, MIHOP, or sociopathic political squirming to deflect blame at a time when the truth was most needed. They'll fall back on that last option and stick to it until the day they die, as Howard Hunt did.

But I know in my heart that they did it.

[lapfog_1]

9. Richard Clarke

the guy who, during the 9/11 commission testimony, turned to the audience members (mostly family of 9/11 victims) and took responsibility... and apologized. I believe that he was the only high ranking government official to ever do so.

And who said in the months before 9/11, that everyone in the intelligence community had "their hair on fire" over a likely OBL attack.

And who testified that in the day after 9/11, Bush cornered him and dragged him into a unused conference room and said "find me the links to Saddam, to Iraq".

[bluerum]

12. Yes, that Richard Clarke. This is coming out about 7 year too late.

[allisonthegreat]

18. I am glad this is coming up AGAIN...

We have known about it for awhile, the crap keeps getting swept under Bush & Co.'s filthy rugs...And this is another reason why I personally think impeachment proceedings should go forward.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. The march for oil was on before Bush went into office, I'm sure.

And the road led through Iraq.

[underpants]

25. Bush (Cheney) moved Clarke DOWN from a cabinet level position

SO any comparison on the emphasis given by the Clinton and Bush administrations is bogus.

They completely dropped the ball.

[petgoat]

78. Shenon told Terri Gross that Zelikow was the architect of Clarke's demotion--

and then Zelikow was the Exec. Director of the 9/11 Commission
that refused to point fingers!

Zelikow gets confronted in California by a couple of heroes
back in 2004 in this video. Jump ahead to 1:53 if you just want
to see Zelikow, but it's all good. The look on his face is
priceless!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8888742751442686831

[Lugnut]

35. Richard Clarke was vilified.

When Against All Enemies was published Dick Cheney said, "He was moved out of the counterterrorism business over to the cybersecurity side of things ... attacks on computer systems and, you know, sophisticated information technology,", and "He wasn't in the loop, frankly, on a lot of stuff.". Condiliar and Scott McCleallan took their own sleazy shots at the man as well. And the MSM let them.

[Supersedeas]

67. surely, no one expected or expects Condi Rice to take any responsibility

[moodforaday]

80. Richard Clarke is also

Richard Clarke is also the guy who pinned the blame on Bin Laden. Whatever other spinning was going on on 9-11, Richard Clarke is pretty much the source for this, so far undocumented, claim.

Being such an expert on Bin Laden, he comes up rather empty-handed whewn it comes to proof. I don't trust him at all.

[ima_sinnic]

11. eh--just a bunch of conspiracy nuts

:eyes:




:sarcasm:

[underpants]

26. Yeah I mean come on! Can't we be civil about this

(meanwhile the RW press compiles any dirt on the person who dare speaks of such conspiracy theories)

[FiveGoodMen]

77. Check out the Sept 11 forum to see the names DUers have called anyone who found this suspicious

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Does this fall under the category of treason?

Hiding such pertinent information jeopardizes the public's national security because we can't remove the incompetent people from office if we don't have the best information available to select candidates at election time.

[Justice]

22. Odd that memos and email were found only in Clarke's [the sender's] file...

Bass should have also found the recipients' (note the plural possessive) copies in the files of the recipients as well. After all, Clarke did not not send the emails and memos to himself. What did Bass find in Condi's files? Who else is on the National Security Council?

Was Bass given access to Condi's files? Were her copies missing? destroyed?

[Botany]

24. We can not look @ Condi's files because .....

..... that would help the terrorists ..... national security you know.

[JohnyCanuck]

23. Seattle PI calls for a new 9/11 report.

9/11 Commission: Fox in hen house

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

A new book by a New York Times reporter shines a light on the disturbing behind-the-scenes workings of the 9/11 Commission's report. If bulletproof, the book prompts us to add one more thing to our to-do list for the next administration: Pressure it to charge a panel of independent experts to write a real, nonpartisan report on the attacks.

Philip Shenon's "The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Commission" focuses on the relationship between the commission's executive director, Philip Zelikow, and the White House. To start with, Shenon writes that Zelikow sought to limit the Bush administration's responsibility in failing to assess threats leading up to the attacks. In 2003, with George W. Bush seeking re-election, a commission investigator found materials confirming that the White House (specifically, Condoleezza Rice, with whom Zelikow had written a book) had ignored warnings of an impending al-Qaida strike. Belittling the investigator, Zelikow dismissed the evidence.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/349987_commissioned.html

[Mugsy]

27. Last December, I wrote about the possibility of a WH mole (link)

There has been ample evidence for years that the Bush White House has an "inside man" at the CIA that has been feeding them information to use against the agency to assist the Bush Administration in advancing its agenda:

Is There a WH Mole at the CIA? - Did WH leak news of CIA tape destruction in retaliation for NIE embarrassment?

The first time was with Plame.

[King Coal]

30. George the Smarter was head of the CIA, how could there possibly be a mole?

:sarcasm:

[Frank Cannon]

28. Anyone who believes this administration's official story...

of the events of 9/11--with all of its contradictions, implausibilities, and miraculous coincidences--IS a fucking nut.

[IsItJustMe]

29. I knew when they created the commission, it would be skewed. They don't want the people of this

country to know the truth.

If we had an honest media, this would be covered from wall to wall. But alas, all we he is enablers to the lies and false hoods.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

32. This will be ignored by M$M, just the lunatic fringe ranting about conspiracies

[mamameow]

33. surprise?!

why should 9/11 and the white house knowledge be a surprise? i have said this before and bush said it too, they did not know time and date. but the bastards knew!!!!! they had a time frame but chose to let it happen as a business decision. the airlines and other financial market leaders got together with bush and told him how much it would hurt the economy to close/shut down the airlines. so business decision made to loose X amount of lives but keep the economy going. lee iacoccoa of ford motor co made a business decision to not recall the pinto car to fix the gas tanks. it was economically cheaper to pay off families of loved ones who die or injured from the exploding gas tanks. this is called a business decision. when bush stood on the tarmac in phoenix with john mc cain and fed each other birthday cake while bodies were floating in new orleans, we saw the callousness of bush. those people were not important!!!! eating cake was!!!!! wasn't it marie antoinette who said let them eat cake?

[petgoat]

81. The job was botched. It wasn't supposed to kill 3000 people.

There were obvious efforts to minimize the loss of life.
The planes had few passengers. The towers would have
had 50,000 people in them at 10:30 but flight 11 struck
before 9:00.

What happened was, tower two had to be brought down
early before it could be evacuated, because the fires
were going out.

[focusfan]

34. i knew 9/11 was a lie when Bush tried to say it was linked to Iraq

he is just trying to cover his ass I hope he gets in big
trouble

[Triana]

37. NPR had yesterday afterooon - on The State of Things...

..interviews with Clark et al about this. It was SHOCKING. (I think it was Clark not sure - anyone else hear this?)

NOT that we'd put anything like this past the bu$h regime but it was still shocking to hear what THEY KNEW - and the lengths they went to to try to HIDE what they knew - and the lengths they went to to keep Democrats (or anyone) from disclosing WHAT THEY KNEW before 9/11.

The FIRST THOUGHT that came to my mind when I saw what had happened on 9/11:

THEY KNEW

I was right. We all were.

[DemReadingDU]

59. NPR: Fresh Air

2/4/08 NPR: Philip Shenon, Scrutinizing the 9/11 Investigation
Missed evidence, ignored clues, political considerations—did the 9/11 Commission really issue the definitive report on the September 2001 terror attacks? In his new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, New York Times investigative journalist Philip Shenon scrutinizes those charged with analyzing the terror attacks and uncovers new information about the commission's complicated relationship with the Bush White House
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18660248

book excerpt at the link, and audio to hear program

[Triana]

68. THANKS! I'm going to listen again...

...this was just sickening but worth bookmarking/printing/saving.

[Justpat]

39. K&R n/t

[CJCRANE]

41. IMO B*sh is no better

than someone who allows a house to be burnt down...then turns up half an hour later in a fireman's uniform claiming to be a hero there to save everyone.

(We saw the same behavior after Katrina too).

[peacetalksforall]

43. They couldn't get Kissinger, so they got Zelikow. Here's a review that

Zelikow wrote about Kissinger's (final?) book about himself. Zelikow reviewed it in 1999 for the journal ... Foreign Affairs - as in Council On Foreign Affairs.

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19990501fareviewessay985/philip-zelikow/the-statesman-in-winter-kissinger-on-the-ford-years.html

There is probably more stuff between just the two of them. In other words, Zelikow didn't need Kissinger guiding him because he had Rice, but Kissinger may have been guiding both of them.

Preserve the legacy. Crappiest LEGACIES of any administrations in our history.

A certain per cent of Americans are just not honornble. There are no good cells in their soul.

I read this thread just after I saw the video from the Anti-Defamation League.

Republicans maligning Mexicans (and all the immigrants that they call Mexicans) and ignoring scum like these people who cheat us out of truth is a fact that proves how bad this nation has become.

PLEASE PEOPLE - when you refer to Republicans - don't think downwards to the people who support them and vote for them - concentrate in the UPWARD and figure out who is running the show. It is not Cheney or Bush - people tell Dick and George what to do. Cheney and Bush are only the Managers. We must get it clear about just who is calling the shots.

[FourScore]

44. lihop

k&r

[jimlup]

45. This is totally consistent with what we knew about these bastards

These guys loaded the deck and now have almost succeeded in shifting the blame for 9/11 onto the Clinton Administration. They have created a mythology which they will now unvail and use in this election cycle.

[stubtoe]

46. LIHOP. n/t

[Raster]

47. 9/11 was the answer to cheney*/bush*'s hopes and prayers. 9/11 MADE EVERYTHING POSSIBLE.

Everything!

[Beam Me Up]

49. Nope. Someone MADE it happened and covered it up ever since.

"They" (whoever "they" are) didn't "let" Osama et al plant explosives in those buildings.

Building 7 is a classic example of a controlled demolition. Sudden onset, straight down, rapid decent, plumes of pyroclastic (explosive) dust afterward, 'molten' temperature hot spots beneath the rubble for days and weeks afterward.

The twin towers are more extraordinary because the visible demolition was 'top down' (although there are many witnesses and some photographic evidence that they were preceded by sub-basement detonations as well). The telling factors are rate of decent, expulsion of material laterally, plumes of fine dust in all directions, images of molten metal cascading from one tower location pre-collapse and extreme (above temperatures jet fuel can reach) hot-spots below the pile for days and weeks afterward. www.ae911truth.org/

[gristy]

48. military spending

The Pentagon on Monday will unveil its proposed 2009 budget of $515.4 billion. If it is approved in full, annual military spending, when adjusted for inflation, will have reached its highest level since World War II.

[HamdenRice]

50. It's becoming impossible not to believe LIHOP

without being irrational.

K&R

[RuleOfNah]

51. What would redress look like?

It is so overdue, I'm not sure I would be able to recognize it...

[AwakeAtLast]

52. And yet, still, impeachment is off the table.

:banghead:

I'm guessing we would need pictures of Bush piloting one of the planes to get impeachment. If this doesn't do it along with all of the other information we already have, I don't know what will. x(

[Pooka Fey]

54. K&R

[Duppers]

55. here's Philip Zelikow's email addy

[email protected]



Have fun emailing this traitor to the US people!

[nebula]

69. Zelikow is the principal author of PNAC

The mastermind behind PNAC in charge of the 9/11 commission?

Hah! An elaborate show trial would be the nicest way to describe it.

[sofa king]

56. One more strike against UVa.

Heh, heh. Just had to slide that one in there. Virginia Tech history majors only get to snipe from the sidelines.

[Duppers]

61. yes!!

What Zelikow did was downright criminal!! He should be fired!! The hell with tenure!

I am so disgusted with UVa. Just why do they feel this need to have "a balance"? It must be funded by huge donations by wingers to swing so far right so many times. Thankfully, the student body is more liberal than its faculty.

Btw, there's a new building at UVa named after a creationist! And environment science dept. has a faculty member who has denied global warming!!! I wonder just how does UVa keeps its rep as the 'public ivy.' Sheesh!

(Sadly, I have to pay my son's tuition to this school! Thankfully, he's majoring in a science field.)

[Cabcere]

70. Sometimes, I'm inclined to wonder

how UVA got "Public Ivy" status in the first place...but then maybe that's just me being a mean ol' W&M student.* ;) I don't think UVA is a bad school - I have many friends there, all very cool and intelligent people - and the UVA medical school has done some wonderful things, but...yeah. Let's just say that my mom, a journalism major from UNC: Chapel Hill (another "Public Ivy") and a generally easy-going person, gets pretty offended when people try to draw parallels between UNC & UVA. :shrug:

/UVA-snarking :hi:



*I think it must be the whole Thomas Jefferson thing, but there's definitely a tendency to pick on UVA here. Nothing really mean-spirited; just friendly snarkiness (for lack of a better word). :hi: Peace.

[Duppers]

74. no problem

We live in Wmsburg and hubby used to be an adjunct faculty member at W&M! :)

[kimmylavin]

57. K&R n/t

[femrap]

58. And still no Impeachment....

just think if people had used all of that hateful energy toward HRC into fighting for Impeachment......

K and R

[Baby Snooks]

63. But it fit into the agenda...

They probably knew about the impending hijackings. Which fit into the agenda discussed earlier in the year with regard to Iraq. The one thing about 9/11 that cannot be dismissed on the basis of "conspiracy theory" is the planes themselves. Commercial airliners do not suddenly divert from their flight path without someone noticing and someone intercepting them. They were allowed to do so. Because it was planned by this administration. They knew. But what I will always believe they didn't know was that it was to be more than just hijackings. They didn't know the hijackers would fly the planes into buildings.

What is truly frightening is that Osama bin Laden probably didn't know they knew. But does now. So the next attack most likely will be planned in such a way that they don't know. Just in case the next attack doesn't fit into the agenda and they might want to stop the next one.

I am so thoroughly disgusted with the Democrats as well as the Republicans in Congress cowering in the corner that at this point I truly hope that if there is another attack it will be on Washington.

Congress has become as complicit as the administration in this and Congress is just as much a threat to all of us as this administration is. Congress not only has the blood of innocent Iraqis on their hands but the blood of innocent Americans as well.

Nancy Pelosi is the worst of the lot. Congress should have at least voted on impeachment. It might have at least tempered this administration somewhat. She instead has enabled it and further empowered it. As have the majority of the Democrats.

Better they be the victims next time instead of innocent Americans.

[juno jones]

64. K&R...NOW CAN WE DISCUSS THIS

without having it dungeonized? I'm tired of everything that even mentions 9-11, even with verifiable, impeachable sourcing, winding up in the dank mildewy corners where no one will ever see it...except for us 'conspiracy nutters', WHO BY THE WAY, SEEM TO HAVE BEEN RIGHT THE WHOLE TIME! ( and forget the dissappearing planes side show, and mysteriously imploding buidings, the magician is very good at misdirection. The crux of the biscuit is who allowed it to happen in the first place: how much did they know, why did the air force stand down, etc etc etc, Y'know the massive fuckup that really happened.... or was allowed to.)

[Baby Snooks]

66. The conspiracy theories...

Most are just that. There was a freeway overpass collapse last year in California which was the result of a gasoline tanker having exploded and the heat from the fire having melted the rivets which caused the overpass to collapse. Which is probably what happened to the twin towers at the World Trade Center. As for the other building, who is to say? The force exerted by two huge buildings collapsing may have indeed caused structural damage in that other building which caused that building to collapse as well.

The only thing that cannot be explained away is the planes themselves. They were allowed to proceed to Manhattan without anyone intercepting them. I believe fighters were dispatched finally after the first plane hit the first tower. When it became obvious these were not just hijackings.

Then you have the Saudi royal family having funded the hijackers through an account at Riggs Bank. And when the investigators finally turned to that matter, Prince Bandar and Princess Haifa suddenly returned to Saudi Arabia on "urgent family business" which was simply to remove Princess Haifa from the power of a subpeona that some believe was about to be issued by the Riggs Bank investigators.

It is one thing to say this administration has obstructed the investigation but it is another to believe that the Democrats themselves have not aided and abetted in that obstruction. They have.

This country, it seems, is destined to fall. The fall of the American Empire. As Rome burns, the Emperor continues to fiddle. And his Empress sits in the House of Representatives smiling. Oblivious to the smoke rising all around her.

Beware the Emperor. And the Empress.

[CJCRANE]

71. And isn't it also interesting

that Prince Bandar was apparently Poppy's best buddy and also the guy who literally taught B*sh Junior everything he knows about foreign policy (documented in one of Bob Woodward's books).

It's also amazing that the warrantless wiretapping can monitor anywhere in America except the WH.

Seems like it's the perfect hideaway.

[Baby Snooks]

72. Bandar the Bandit

That's what quite a few called him through the years, the many years, he was the Saudi ambassador. He was just as chummy with Bill Clinton. Wave enough billion dollar oil contracts around and you can become chummy with just about anyone it seems. Threatening to withdraw them is just as effective as offering to give them to you. Either way, there was always something in the deal for Bandar. Hence, the name, Bandar the Bandit. He probably stole more than he gave in the end.

His excuse for his wife was she was just charitable and taking care of a Saudi family in California. His excuse for himself was he was unaware of it. Which caused nervous, but uproarious, laughter for those who knew better. Saudi women are not allowed to have a bank account without their husband's approval or the approval of their father or eldest brother. And are not allowed to write checks without their husband's approval or the approval of their father or eldest brother. Even royal Saudi princesses. More than likely Princess Haifa was writing checks to the Saudi family in California because she was told to. By her husband or her father or her eldest brother. Not because she was charitable.

Those who know her know that of the many things she is, charitable is not one of them.

But as you point out, the Sauds are friends of the Bushes. The problem with the friends of the Bushes is that it appears most if not all of the friends of the Bushes are enemies of the American people.

[petgoat]

82. There's no comparison between the freeway fire and the WTC.

The freeway was 8000 gals of gasoline with all the oxygen it needed,
all directly under an un-fireproofed steel beam.

The planes had 10,000 gals of fuel, which was spread throughout the
building over several floors. As much as half of the fuel went
right through the building and burned up in the fireballs outside.

The jet fuel fires burned out in ten minutes, says Shyam Sunder of NIST.

When we think of the WTC fires we're supposed to imagine this:



What they really were was this:

[BuyingThyme]

83. The people here, including the people who run this site,

have been trained their entire lives not to see the realities right in front of their faces. It's just an amazing and frightening thing to observe on a daily basis.

What I've noticed lately, however, is that a large majority of people seem to understand that the anthrax attacks originated from within what people might call the "U.S. government." This is key because what little investigation was done on the anthrax attacks led to the clear-as-day conclusion that the anthrax attacks were planned in parallel with the 9/11 attacks. In other words, the so-called "U.S. government" and the so-called "9/11 terrorists" planned in parallel.

That's the key. It's the key to making people accept the reality of MIHOP because in believing that the "U.S. government" was somehow involved in the anthrax attacks, one MUST also believe that the "U.S. government" was involved in the 9/11 attacks. Even the brainwashed simpletons are having trouble convincing themselves that one event is not in any way linked to the other.

This is why the anthrax investigations have disappeared from the nation's conscience. Once the people understand the anthrax attacks, WE WILL ALL UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT MIHOP. It's a no-brainier, but many people are no longer in control of their own brains.

And, by the way, Bill Clinton seems to get it and he's clearly not on our side.

[Holton]

65. Why couldn't the 9/11 Commission simply ask

John Ashcroft or the FBI to shed some light on the mysterious threat assessment, reported by CBS News on July 26, 2001, that warned Ashcroft to avoid commercial airline flights? This would seem to be a very simple and straightforward bit of investigation. Apparently Zelikow didn't see it that way.

[bluemegan]

75. Froomkin is spot-on n/t

[MasonJar]

76. Not so respected now though; he actually smeared himself. If he

is like the rest of the cabal, he does NOT care anyway.

[jonnyra]

86. Does this really surprise anyone?

I knew it was a cover up as soon as I heard Bush was only going to appear before the commission with Cheney at his side, for only an hour, not under oath and not on record and only after a long drawn out fight. C'mon...right then it was clear the fix was in. I have never thought the report was truthful and now this confirms that thinking.

Problem is most Americans dont give a shit. Most Americans dont care if their government is made up liars, thieves and scoundrels. Most Americans could care less if their president has lied us into illegal, immoral wars or dismantled the constitution or spied on innocent citizens. Americans by and large just dont give damn. We get the government we deserve.

[grasswire]

88. it occurred to me today...

...that perhaps it was Cheney who insisted on being in the room with Junior. He, after all, is the mastermind and the puppetmaster. It seems more likely that Cheney felt that Junior needed a "minder" than anything else. Cheney had to know what Junior said in the interview. Junior could ruin Cheney with just a sentence or two, and Cheney wouldn't know what had been said.

[Oslo]

87. This is disgusting...how do these people sleep at night? n/t

[petgoat]

89. Ambien. A very powerful drug. nt