The CIA Knew!
Actually, they knew that Islamic extremists were likely to attack U.S. aviation, Washington landmarks or Wall Street and by 1997 had identified Usama bin Laden as an emerging threat on U.S. soil, a senior intelligence official said Thursday. This is a far cry from stating that they knew a specific attack was coming, which is what the headlines would have you believe.
For example, right now I know that eventually there will be another attack by Islamic extremists on Americans at some point in the future. But I can’t stop it because I don’t know any thing concrete. This whole notion that because Clinton/Bush/CIA/Bureaucracy knew something was afoot does not mean that any of them could have prevented it.
April 16th, 2004 at 2:56 pm
True enough. But what it DOES mean is that it’s pretty clear that terror should at least have been on the radar for Bush & Co.
April 16th, 2004 at 3:16 pm
Exactly. If they had recognized it as imminent a threat as it turned out to be (although it may be a stretch to call 4 years “imminent) there could’ve been more things they could’ve done to tighten security and either realize that all those Saudia Arabians taking flight lessons was suspicious, or have installed more secure airline screenings.