September 19, 2002

10:14 AM

Freeh's misplaced priorities."The threat level grew so high that by December 1998, the director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet, issued a "declaration of war" on Al Qaeda, in a memorandum circulated in the intelligence community. Yet, Ms. Hill said, the intelligence agencies failed to adequately follow up on the declaration, and by Sept. 10, 2001, the F.B.I. still had only one analyst assigned full time to Al Qaeda. "

Whereas Freeh had 85 agents assigned to the continous microscopic inspection of Clinton's zipper. Politics trumps national security?
posted by nofundy (21 comments total)

I'm curious how many agents are currently assigned to potential copyright/DMCA violations. Certainly investigations concerning potential and violent terrorist attacks would take precedent?
posted by quam at 10:27 AM on September 19, 2002

damnit that pisses me off.
posted by Hall at 10:47 AM on September 19, 2002

with all those agents near the president's penis, I'd be worried about getting pissed on.

I love you, Mel.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 10:49 AM on September 19, 2002

Okay, can I do a Freeh/Willy line too? Can I? Oh, thank you!
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 10:49 AM on September 19, 2002

The Congressional report was the first disclosure that there was specific intelligence about terrorist plans to crash airplanes into the trade center, though officials said that those plans did not appear to be connected to the Sept. 11 attack.

And while the joint committee made public several intelligence reports that had been received in the years before Sept. 11 that related to Al Qaeda's intentions to launch an attack inside the United States and its interest in using aircraft for terrorism, Ms. Hill emphasized that the joint committee had still not found a "smoking gun" that could have helped prevent the Sept. 11 attacks.

Umm, what?? Oh, sorry, I forgot that it's idiots here that we allow into office . . .
posted by tr33hggr at 10:55 AM on September 19, 2002

Politics trumps national security?

still does. nothing's changed.
posted by donkeyschlong at 11:01 AM on September 19, 2002

So , to summarise:

- ...from 1998 to the summer of 2001, the c.i.a., the f.b.i. and other agencies repeatedly received reports of al qaeda's interest in attacking washington and new york, either with airplanes or other means.

- ...the threat level grew so high that by december 1998, the director of central intelligence, george j. tenet, issued a declaration of war al qaeda, in a memorandum circulated in the intelligence community...

-...there was specific intelligence about terrorist plans to crash airplanes into the trade center... before sept. 11 ...al qaeda's intentions to launch an attack inside the united states and its interest in using aircraft for terrorism...

- ...the c.i.a., the f.b.i. and other agencies repeatedly received reports of al qaeda's interest in attacking washington and new york, either with airplanes or other means.

- ...in 1996, a pakistani terrorist, abdul hakim murad, confessed to federal agents that he was learning to fly an aircraft in order to crash a plane into the c.i.a. headquarters... in april 2001, an individual with terrorist connections speculated that mr. bin laden would be interested in using commercial pilots as terrorists. the individual warned that al qaeda wanted to mount spectacular and traumatic attacks.

- American intelligence officials said today that despite the similarities, they did not believe that the 1998 report was related to the Sept. 11 attack.

Huh? (jinx!)

posted by dash_slot- at 11:01 AM on September 19, 2002

I'm with you dash - this seriously confounds the hell out of me. They told us they were coming, and we still didn't bake a cake . . .
posted by tr33hggr at 11:24 AM on September 19, 2002

dash to Freeh: "How do you pronounce i-n-c-o-m-p-e-t-e-n-t...?"
posted by dash_slot- at 11:27 AM on September 19, 2002

The FBI had enough time to help the bin laden family escape on a private jet without any real questioning too, during a time when all planes were grounded and regular americans were not allowed to fly
posted by Babylonian at 11:41 AM on September 19, 2002

It's no wonder some are polishing their tin hats*...


* NOT a euphemism!
posted by dash_slot- at 12:09 PM on September 19, 2002

Babylonian, this is a myth. The Bin Laden family did leave America, but after the flight ban was lifted. More info on Snopes2.com
posted by cell divide at 12:49 PM on September 19, 2002

I believe newspapers, and the statements made by the FBI more than Snopes, personally, but you're free do believe whatever you like
posted by Babylonian at 12:52 PM on September 19, 2002

what about - henry hyde and gang - oh, and ken starr? if there is anyone that should be marched by ground zero and asked what they were doing with government money and intelligence resouces during the 90's its that SOB.
posted by specialk420 at 1:43 PM on September 19, 2002

Oh please....spare us this drivel. The suggestion that vast amounts of government resources were diverted from intelligence because of Clinton's scandals is nonsense.
posted by Durwood at 2:06 PM on September 19, 2002

Drivel? How is $40 million of taxpayer money down the drain drivel?

Granted, there is no direct relation to decreased intelligence spending or any evidence that resources squandered in the attempt to "get" Clinton would have prevented the attack, but it is unfortunate that our leaders had no problem finding the time and the money to poke, prod, harass and intimidate their way to any shred of potential "evidence" that might discredit a powerful not-quite-as-crazy-conservative (I gave up calling Clinton liberal long ago), but there were seemingly no funds or time available to investigate real threats to our national security.

Of course, we get the government we deserve and I think on the whole this country seems more interested in peering into their neighbors' back yards than dealing with the substantive issues of the day.
posted by zaack at 2:22 PM on September 19, 2002

Babylonian, the Snopes article also references FBI statements and newspapers. However after reading the article you linked it is difficult to reconcile the two articles. Anyone want to try?
posted by cell divide at 2:25 PM on September 19, 2002

Zaack, the whole problem with the Clinton debate was that it was successfully framed by Clinton and his apologists as "all about sex" rather than Clinton's failure to respect the rule of law.

In any event, I find it ridiculous that intelligent people would somehow try to link the impeachment of President Clinton to the intelligence failures preceding the 9/11 attacks.
posted by Durwood at 3:27 PM on September 19, 2002

Maybe, just maybe, that's why we're perfectly right to demand the president keep his dick away from the interns. I never liked the time and money spent chasing him down, but there was an even *easier* way to avoid it all - he could have kept it in his pants, or 'fessed up about it when asked under oath.
posted by Banky_Edwards at 3:34 PM on September 19, 2002

[Maybe - just maybe - Clinton's dalliances with girls put a couple of them at risk (....of suffocation)
Thank you. I'll be here all week.]

How many lives are responsible for this... dalliance?
posted by dash_slot- at 3:58 PM on September 19, 2002

This is not about Clinton but the misplaced priorities of Louis Freeh. The man has gotten a free ride during this investigation and I think it could be successfully argued that he was the absolute worst leader the FBI ever had. The man followed a political agenda instead of a law enforcement agenda his entire career and his appointment was the biggest mistake Clinton made during his Presidency.

Now let's talk about Ashcroft choosing to use private air transportation shortly before 9/11 due to terrorist warnings yet the Bush cabal and Ashcroft in particular never saw fit to address terrorism as a national priority. Too busy busting pot heads and prostitutes. The hearings make one thing very clear: they were warned multiple times but chose to ignore the warnings as they did not fit their agenda.
posted by nofundy at 5:32 AM on September 20, 2002