Intelligence and Disinformation

Bush, as Atrios and others noted, was apparently pushed in front of a microphone by his mentor Karl Rove, in order to "set the record straight" regarding 9/11. And set the record straight he did:

“The facts are these, George Tenet briefed me on a regular basis about the terrorist threat to the United States of America, and had my administration had any information that terrorists were going to attack New York City on Sept. 11th, we would have acted,” Mr. Bush said. Tenet is the CIA director.

Mr. Bush did not mention Clarke or the Iraq war in his response, but reviewed the progress of the U.S.-led war on terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001.

"We've captured or killed two-thirds of their known leaders and we're still pursuing them. And we will continue to pursue them so long as I am the president of the United States," he said.

"We're making progress. There is more work to do. This country will stay on the hunt," he said.

OK--what Bush seems to be saying is that if Al Qaeda had managed to call the private White House number (or the phone on George Tenet's desk) and informed the administration that they'd decided to hijack four planes on September 11, 2001--and, Mr. Heathen President, are you writing this down? We said FOUR planes on September 11--what, you want the flight numbers? OK...United Airlines Flight 175, out of Boston, American Airlines Flight 11 also out of Boston (but Atta is taking a commuter plane into Logan from Maine), United Airlines Flight 93, out of Newark, and American Airlines Flight 77 out of Dulles--Dulles--Dulles Airport, just outside of WASHINGTON....

IF Bush had received this critical information, then he CERTAINLY would have acted. God, one would hope so...for that matter, I'd like to think that maybe he'd have cancelled his book reading in Florida. Of course, having ONE plane hit the North Tower of course wasn't enough to call off THAT important event, especially since, in Bush's mind, it was "a terrible pilot."

A terrible pilot indeed. One who thought nothing of killing thousands in pursuit of his demented political agenda--irony intended.

However, to move back into the realm of slightly more normal discourse, does Bush or anyone else think that the public will accept that, in order to be on the alert for Al Qaeda, we needed the itinerary of the hijackers? 5:00 am, wake up. 8:00 am, hijack plane? For chrissakes, intelligence, as Rummy notes over and over, is never 100 percent. It should have been enough for Bush to think about the title of his August 6, 2001 briefing, "al-Qaeda Determined to Strike in U.S." I mean, I don't know how "intelligence" can BE more specific, unless you've got quality agents working behind enemy lines. And this was clearly not the case.

So, when Bush comes before the cameras (no doubt fully expecting the lapdog media to avert their eyes when speaking to him), recognize that his function RIGHT NOW is to fog the mirror. Which is about all he's good for. The entire Bush record is consistent with someone who is asleep at the wheel. And the country will be paying the price for a LONG TIME...