Tom Flocco
Senator Says White House Pre-Attack Briefings....
Wed Jun 18 17:10:09 2003
208.152.73.27

Senator Says White House Pre-Attack Briefings May Have ‘Probative Value’ as 9/11 Evidence
http://www.tomflocco.com/Senator_says_White_House_preattack.htm  

Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Robert Graham (D-FL) answer questions at an impromptu news conference outside the 9/11 Commission hearing room at the Hart Senate office building.

by Tom Flocco - TomFlocco@cs.com
posted 1:00 AM ET

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2003 (TomFlocco.com ) -- For those Americans watching recent C-Span replays of 9/11 Commission testimony, particularly air force generals and other government officials addressing issues surrounding U.S. military air defense failures, a number of revelations suggested additional doors for further inquiry and witness scrutiny.

And U.S. lawmaker witnesses also offered probing analysis at impromptu news briefings outside the hearing room. Breaking new ground, Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), a member of the intelligence committee, hinted that multiple terrorism updates in the months prior to the attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon could have “probative value” as evidence in the Commission’s ongoing investigation. This was the first reference by a government official to the White House briefings as 9/11 evidence.

Shelby had waited patiently to take questions while we queried Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) as to whether he had personally examined the various July and August briefings in their un-redacted form or not. At the time of the hearings Graham was co-chairman. READ MORE

The Florida Democrat and presidential candidate replied to a direct question from TomFlocco.com, revealing that “We obtained the [White House intelligence] briefings in classified form [sections blacked out],” as he stepped back to allow Shelby to take a turn.

Thus far, no one has questioned why Graham, chairman of the inquiry, has yet to see the un-blacked out documents which sources familiar with the reports say warned that “the attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against United States facilities; preparations have been made; attack will occur with little or no warning.”

The sources also revealed that the briefings had been seen by President Bush in the months prior to the attacks, according to a Newsweek report.

Earlier that morning before Graham’s testimony, we had the opportunity to break the ice and casually chat with the engaging Senator after running into him outside, entering the Hart building and walking up to the hearing room.

It was instructive to understand that Bush has directed his lawyers to withhold key prior- knowledge information even from the senate intelligence chairman, as previously, Graham had been somewhat unclear about the redaction issue during last summer’s hearings.

Congressional testimony by Eleanor Hill, 9/11 inquiry staff director, revealed that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet has shielded the President from possible negligence or impeachable offenses by classifying Bush’s knowledge of all information contained in the briefings -- whether or not the content eventually becomes public. It has not been resolved whether court battles over Bush’s prior awareness will ensue.

Bush’s daily briefings had been described during the hearings by Commissioner Jamie Gorelick as “frantic” in the days prior to the attacks. Interestingly, Gorelick is also a member of Bush’s CIA National Security Advisory Panel, as well as the President’s Review of Intelligence committee, according to her Commission biography.

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“THE ATTACK WILL BE SPECTACULAR AND DESIGNED TO INFLICT MASS CASUALTIES AGAINST U.S. FACILITIES OR INTERESTS. ATTACK PREPARATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE. ATTACK WILL OCCUR WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING.” (CIA Intelligence Report for White House, July, 2001 -- 60+ days prior to 9/11 -- (Newsweek, 5-1-2003 / The Hill, 5-1-2003)

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No one has questioned Gorelick as to what else she may know about the content of Bush’s pre-attack briefings -- given her intelligence ties, and reports now indicating that Bush and other administration officials had prior knowledge of imminent attacks and did nothing to stop them.

FULL OF TERRORISTS
Graham and Shelby had just testified before Chairman Thomas Kean’s National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, and the two legislators agreed to take questions in the adjoining hall just outside the Hart Senate hearing room.

The outspoken Alabama legislator was forcefully critical of the Saudis -- not mincing his words: “Saudi Arabia is full of terrorists,” Shelby said, also telling the media to “give the Administration some time to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq;” but then “leave no stone unturned,” with regard to seeking the truth of the September 11 attacks.

Graham, for his part, again charged the administration with covering-up various issues surrounding the 9/11 events, rhetorically asking “What was the intelligence and where did it come from?,” and cryptically insinuating that “the National Security Agency should be investigated.”

The Florida senator was interviewed recently on CNN Late Edition, hosted by Wolf Blitzer, revealing that “it has been five months since the President’s lawyers received the committee’s 9/11 intelligence report.”

The Sunshine State Democrat told Blitzer that the presidential legal staff had just submitted their latest version of the report (for public consumption) to the committee on May 29 -- with huge sections and chapters totally blacked out. The senator said that many of Bush’s newly-redacted portions had already been made public during the hearings last summer -- thus indicating the administration's concern about possible political fallout over the secrecy.

PROBATIVE VALUE OF PRE-ATTACK EVIDENCE
Having elected to inject the foreknowledge issue, the opportunity had presented itself during the hallway interview where about ten reporters gathered with Shelby and Graham, who had consented to continue taking questions from the media.

A search revealed no reports available regarding what the two senators specifically said that morning about pre-attack briefings, and whether Bush should come clean with all evidence contained in the daily updates by releasing their full contents to Kean’s 9/11 Board for public scrutiny. Victim family members have thus far not addressed this issue.

In the face-to-face interview, we directly asked Graham and Shelby “to particularly speak to the issue of the early-July and August 6 presidential intelligence briefings dealing with ‘hijacked planes used as weapons, crashing into buildings’ and ‘Arabs taking U.S. flight lessons,’ along with the Phoenix memo.”

We reminded the senators that President Bush was told before leaving his hotel and also via some seven different sources during his trip to and after arriving at the Florida elementary school, that a plane had already hit Tower I at the World Trade Center -- according to wide reports. We also asked why Bush didn’t act immediately within the context of reported Arab terrorist hijacking warnings in July and August briefings.


A picture is worth a thousand words: President Bush has just been told at 9:07 am by his Chief of Staff Andrew Card that “a second plane has crashed into the World Trade Center -- America is under attack.” This, after having already been told 32+ minutes earlier at 8:35 am (before even leaving his hotel) that the first plane had crashed into Tower I. And despite his reported prior awareness via briefings, of Arab terrorist plane-crashing threats (thus confirming that America was indeed being assaulted), the commander-in-chief disregarded the New York City carnage and entered the Florida elementary school for his photo-op with the children. Moreover, Bush even stayed for “a lengthy period” to finish a pet goat story and talk with children and teachers after reporters had rushed out of his classroom to cover the WTC crashes -- also according to reports. Photo: The White House and Associated Press
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