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Welcome Back to Summer 2001
According to practically every available intelligence report, the summer of 2007 is eerily similar to the summer of 2001: numerous, compounding threats, without specificity, emanating from a souped-up al-Qaeda with save haven in South Asia.
In the summer of 2001, with voluminous intelligence chatter indicating an al-Qaeda attack on the U.S. somewhere, White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke and CIA Director George Tenet had their "hair on fire," in the memorable words of the 9/11 Commission, trying to raise the issue with a preoccupied Bush administration. Now, with a new intelligence report circulating, titled "Al-Qaida Better Positioned to Strike the West," Clarke writes for ABC News that it's feeling a lot like summer 2001: al-Qaeda, seeking European Muslims for use as jihadist operatives, is planning something, though it's not clear what or where. Clarke calls this "a disturbance in the Force." What to do? Clarke on his 2001 actions:
I ordered counterterrorism units to cancel leaves and directed FAA, FBI and other domestic agencies to send out warnings.Overseas, we urged DOD to put its bases on high Defense Condition status and to move ships from vulnerable harbors in the Middle East. State Department embassies were directed to go on heightened security status.
None of this, of course, was enough to prevent 9/11. But none of it seems to be happening now. White House spokesman Tony Fratto noted that "There continues to be no credible, specific intelligence to suggest that there is an imminent threat to the homeland." Still, the Bush administration could do worse than, say, increasing security at nuclear and chemical sites, expanding (legal) surveillance of suspected jihadist assets -- you can do this all under FISA, remember -- and bringing law enforcement closer into the intelligence loop, for starters.
The strategic problem is Pakistan, where intelligence over the past year has indicated that the old al-Qaeda leadership is reconstituting a measure of centralized authority, taking money and recruits from franchisees and affiliates and using them in tribal areas where Gen. Pervez Musharraf fears to tread. Nearly six years after 9/11, and the U.S. again faces a situation where the danger from al-Qaeda is clear but invading its territory is politically difficult, if not impossible. Musharraf has a temporary boost in his political fortunes after crushing the jihadist rebels at the Red Mosque this week. Perhaps the best short-term option the administration has is to get Musharraf -- probably with the support of U.S. intelligence and Special Forces -- to break a truce he signed in 2006 with tribal leaders in lawless Waziristan Province, so his forces can go after the increasingly powerful al-Qaeda remnant finding refuge there. If that safe haven remains, the summer of 2001 is going to recur again and again -- until another 9/11 finally follows it.
Today, Senate Democrats Harry Reid, Patty Murray, Charles Schumer and Dick Durbin wrote to Bush to ask for clarification in light of the new intelligence assessments about al-Qaeda:
We ask that you immediately inform Congress through the appropriate channels of (1) the near-term steps your Administration has taken or plans to take to address Secretary Chertoff’s heightened concerns about the terrorist threat, and (2) the strategy to reverse the alarming growth of Al Qaeda and affiliated extremist groups.
Josh
Zachary
What about his vacation in August?
gone with the wind?
July 12, 2007 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, anybody know we spent like 1 trillion dollars and thousands of lives fighting the war on terra?
July 12, 2007 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
W: I'm prepared. I have my copy of "My Pet Goat" right here.
July 12, 2007 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
These kinds of reports are amusing to me. Like the whole "threat level" rainbow scale. What on earth is the average citizen supposed to do in response to the warnings? Not only that, but DHS has cried wolf so many times that the warnings have lost all meaning.
July 12, 2007 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can we send tricky Dick Cheney to Gitmo to extract what he knows about Big Wedding Part Deux?
July 12, 2007 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
opol (one pissed off liberal), one of my very favorite rant specialists, had a diary up at daily kos yesterday that captured the very essence of the critical pass we are at in the united states... he tells it like it is and anyone seriously concerned with our future direction in this country needs to pay close attention...
teaser...
July 12, 2007 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pakistan is a disaster waiting to happen. We tried to do Afghanistan on the cheap and let Osama and his friends reconstitute in Pakistan. Major screw up on Bush's part. Guess he was more focused on Saddam by that point.
July 12, 2007 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Slim @ 3:51
Yes, I'm sure the people who got a nice fat chunk of that $1 trillion are well aware of it, but they seem to feel that actually securing the realm is not part of their job description.
As for the thousands of lives (and limbs, and eyes, and marriages and minds), well, that's just collateral damage on the path to the prize.
July 12, 2007 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
nice job, Bushie
July 12, 2007 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, please don't tell me you believe this crap? BushCo is having a really bad month, Tom Ridge outed them on the color coding scam , they don't have any REAL evidence of anything, so they're calling on Chertoff's gut to put the fear on everyone. And what was the great big black headline in the paper today? Al-Quada More Active This Summer.
Pardon my French, but it's a pile of merde!
July 12, 2007 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
The first 9/11 was an inside job. That is proven beyond a reasonable doubt by Steven Jones et al. The next terror event will also be an inside job. You have only a short while to impeach Bush and Cheney to stop the next disaster.
July 12, 2007 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Am I not remembering right or before this morning didn't President Bush say that Al-Qaeda was weaker be cause of the way he has persued the war on terror. Instead today he said that they are weaker today than they would have been had we not done things his way. The first is a measurable statement (fact) the second is an opinion. And as he has said so often everyone is entitled to there oppinion.
July 12, 2007 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gee, maybe terrorists have gotten their hands on one of those licenses the NRC hands out so readily (see today's Daily Muck). Can anyone trace where material in a dirty bomb comes from? Will the NRC end up saying "oops" for being slack in their licensing? I can hear it now: "Heckuva job, Kleinster*!"
code: sudden. Yikes!
*www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2006/06-090.html
July 12, 2007 6:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
All the incompetent Bushites have accomplished is started us down to the road to a tyrannical police state while allowing Al Qaida to gain strength and members. Just goes to show that running 2 failed companies and getting a figurehead position as a baseball club President doesn't not prepare you to be Commander in Chief. Just as being the last loyal Nixonite doesn't prepare you to the the Vice-President and the first "4th branch of government."
July 12, 2007 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
The next attack will bring an end to our democracy, or what's left of it. That's the opening Cheney is waiting for, and perhaps preciptating.
July 12, 2007 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm more concerned about the summer of 08. They probably want something going on close to November so the decider can decide that we don't need no stinking election.
July 12, 2007 8:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
(Some nutjob below Richard Clarke's ABC article stated that martial law and suspension of elections should occur after any terrorist attack in the U.S., which made me wonder if Dick Cheney has taken up blogging under a pseudonym. My response?)
Terrorist attack inside the U.S.? Declare Martial Law? Suspend elections?
Gee, following this logic (or illogic), after the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, President Bill Clinton should have declared martial law and suspended elections until such time the terrorist threat passed.
Or, after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on Bush's watch (or should I say when Bush and his administration weren't paying any attention to the terrorist threat and "hair on fire" warnings like "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."), Mr. Bush should have immediately declared martial law and suspended elections indefinitely...instead of asking everyone to go shopping.
To their credit, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in England have not declared martial law and suspended elections after terrorist attacks by crazed, hardcore, orthodox, conservative, religious fundamentalist fanatics.
So, for anyone to even suggest suspending our Constitution, our civil liberties and our elections after any right-wing terrorist attack amounts to fascist totalitarianism in it's most evil form, and would amount to a victory for the religious fundamentalist terrorists and a defeat for our freedom-loving, democratic nation.
I served in the U.S. military. I swore an oath to defend our Constitution and our right to live free of tyranny, no matter what form it takes, nor what dictator is dictating or decider is deciding, in contravention of our Constitution and our inalienable rights as free American citizens.
Thus, I have to question the patriotism of any U.S. citizen who mentions (or even jokes about) any president or political party usurping our Constitutional rights, especially for some base political expediency or political plot to turn our great nation into a fascist police state.
July 12, 2007 9:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
This administration needs to recognize the war in Iraq is a complete failure and mistake. Not only are the lives of the American people not secured, more threats and terror are further fueled by this government. There are also more critical issues that affecting the lives of millions of americans and people world wide that our president is not taking actions against. Now the war has proven to be a failure and is causing more violence, terror and poverty in this world. According to the Borgen Project, it only takes $19 billion dollars annually to eradicate world hunger and poverty. However, our government has already spent more than $450 billion dollars over this fruitless war in Iraq. It is time for the Bush Administration to take a real interest in the lives of the American people as well as people who are in desperate needs around the world. Stop the lies and stop poverty now. Put away the arrogance and put the needs of the people before political gains.
July 12, 2007 11:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
". . . . What on earth is the average citizen supposed to do in response to the warnings?"
According to those who give them, vote Republican, the doing of which will guarantee more threats of the same kind.
Posted by: rubberpants
Date: July 12, 2007 4:04 PM
July 13, 2007 12:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
According to Prof. Westin, scared people tend to vote more right wing. This seems to have worked on the House Republicans.
I have spent some time considering what should be done about the fact that Bush has caused more damage to the United States than any other individual on the planet and have found a solution to my satisfaction: the next President should declare him an enemy combatant and send him to an undisclosed location. Perhaps then Republicans would start believing that Constitutional rights are important.
July 13, 2007 8:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
rubberpants and Mstessyrue both take the issue in it's two correct contexts, the first the political ramifications at home, and the military efforts abroad.
The efforts in Iraq now seem to point out that the violence begetting violence, and the option to frame the opposition to radical religous zealouts (off all ilk) in non-policing terms, simply calling them criminals and murderers irrespective of their religous motives universally, and the tragic undermining of that effort globally by invading Iraq, leaves me to conclude that in entirety and as a final point to prove of the disconenct politically of this administration, that another attack would create the opposite response, and that that would be a reaction similar to Spain where the demand was to go isolationist. The political mind now infused with the fleet-street (media) perception does not 'get it' especially when they see the power of the media in the short run.... that the long term consequences, the unitended consequences, cannot be managed with perception management, nor with shock and awe, especially if they have seen it again.. or before...
That is why it was such a clear debacle, a miserable failure of historical proportion not to have had a end-game planning in effect for Iraq before we entered and sufficient troop forces.
Windows of opportunity are only fleeting and the war on terror has run its course like the French revolution... if an attack occurs it will be Chernoff that the 'public wants' to see on the gallows similar to a former food and drug official in China...
This is the price of foolish policy and spending God knows how much on signs in the highways of our nation in an age when every auto has a radio and each driver a cell phone and knows 911 can be called...
what a miserable failure and a debacle
code word 'false' even Yeltsin can rise to power
July 13, 2007 9:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
--The president said it is not Congress' job to make decisions regarding the war.--
"The Congress shall have Power To . . .
. . . provide for the common Defence . . .
. . . To define and punish . . . Offences against the Law of Nations . . .
. . . To declare War . . .
. . . make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water . . .
. . . To raise and support Armies . . .
. . . To provide and maintain a Navy . . .
. . . To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces . . .
. . . To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions . . .
. . . To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof . . .
============
The president does not have plenary power over the conduct of war by this nation and he has lied by stating that he does.
Consequently:
He has usurped powers shared with the Congress of the United States solely unto himself;
He has improperly and in bad faith interfered with the congressional exercise of its legitimate and necessary constitutional powers regarding the conduct of war and has dishonorably sought to mislead the people of this nation about the same;
He has declared himself to be no less than a King, contrary to the principles of democrayc, the laws of this nation, and the will of the American people;
He has abused the authority of the Office of the President of the United States to the deteriment of this nation and its people;
As Commander in Chief, he has betrayed the trust placed in him by the members of this nations armed services;
He has betrayed his duty to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of American and has subverted that honorable and cherished document with arrogant, perverse, and criminal actions;
He has failed to adequately, properly, faithfully, honestly, and honorably exercise the powers entrusted to him by the people of this nation;
For the foregoing reasons, the President should be impeached, tried, and convicted of high crimes and misdemeanors, removed from office, and imprisoned for the remainder of his life so that future generations may rest assured that despots shall never rule this country.
July 13, 2007 10:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have spent some time considering what should be done about the fact that Bush has caused more damage to the United States than any other individual on the planet and have found a solution to my satisfaction: the next President should declare him an enemy combatant and send him to an undisclosed location. Perhaps then Republicans would start believing that Constitutional rights are important.
Posted by: Jane
I say that since Dubya did not ever actually win either of the presidential elections, his entire reign should be declared null and void and along with it, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING he ever signed, decided or ordered.
He should be presented with a bill for market value rent or the White House for eight years and another for transportation costs associated with the use of Air Force One, Marine One and all those limousines.
The same applies to Cheney and all political appointees (such as Jeff Gannon) who served within the White House itself.
I'll get back to you concerning Regent U.
Code word: CRIME
(as in do not commit, since payback is a bitch)
July 13, 2007 11:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why do we call it the "Defense Department" and not the "Offense Department?" The evidence shows these guys are totally incompetent at defense, witness 9/11. "Shock and Awe," well, that's a different story, but defending Iraq against insurgents, again not so good. I'm an average American shaking in my shoes that some terrorist will get hold of some box cutters again.
July 13, 2007 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm an average American shaking in my shoes that some terrorist will get hold of some box cutters again.
Posted by: mountain biker
Date: July 13, 2007 1:01 PM
That's exactly what they want good buddy, which is exactly why you shouldn't give it to them.
No, there's no way to know when, where, or how it might happen, but keep your eye on the ball, arm yourself, and find comfort in the fact that millions of people just like you and me are working hard to right our listing ship of state.
July 13, 2007 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
The US is the largest terroist threat to human kind in our history. Don't go to repub. corporations like home depot and wal mart...buy CITGO gas if you can find it. Do not look and listen to right wingers. Ghandi says this is the way to make them irrelavent..paraphrasing. He faced big odds and won.
July 13, 2007 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
How jaded you all are. What a comfortable intellectual position you've all put yourselves in. If there is an attack, Bush didn't do enough and it’s all the result of the Admin's poor direction of the war from day one. If it doesn't happen, well there probably was no threat at all and it was all a false flag to begin with. How valiant and noble of you intellectuals. Meanwhile, the world burns and it there is so much dry tinder in America...
July 14, 2007 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
You guys sure have some strong things to say. I say this.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Ok, I didn't say that..our forefathers did. That's from the Declaration of Independence. Bush is a criminal, he should be thusly removed and tried as one. To go against what this nation was founded upon, what countless men and women have died to protect, to violate our very freedoms makes this man guilty of treason. We all know what the punishment for that is, right?
July 15, 2007 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
About Bush not declaring martial law after 9/11, in fact he did, except it was Jeb giving the order, not GW: Florida Executive Order 01-261, declaring a state of emergency in florida in the event of a natural disaster OR a terrorist attack, or civil disobedience due to either of these causes. The date of this order: Sep 7 2001.
July 16, 2007 2:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
My friends,9/11/2001 allowed the passage of the Patriot Act,aka the emergence of the Unitary Executive and all the ramifications thereof.
Mark my words, we ain't seen nothin yet! The Beast will be fully revealed at the time of the next attack,and his name will be CheneyBushCrimeFamily.
At that time,no blogs will be allowed to contravene the official Truth,the MSM will rally the masses,and the Constitution as we have known it will disappear down the memory hole.
Patriots,verily I say unto you, consider your options carefully,as the time doth approach with haste.
July 17, 2007 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink