Today marks seven years since the day President Bush received a President’s Daily Brief entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” (See the memo here.) At the time, Bush was vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, TX and stayed on vacation the rest of August 2001. Here’s how the administration reacted, according to the 9/11 Commission report:

 — [President Bush] did not recall discussing the August 6 report with the Attorney General or whether Rice had done so. [p. 260]

 — We have found no indication of any further discussion before September 11 among the President and his top advisers of the possibility of a threat of an al Qaeda attack in the United States. DCI Tenet visited President Bush in Crawford, Texas, on August 17 and participated in the PDB briefings of the President between August 31 (after the President had returned to Washington) and September 10. But Tenet does not recall any discussions with the President of the domestic threat during this period. [p. 262]

The day after he received the memo, “Bush seemed carefree as he spoke about the books he was reading, the work he was doing on his nearby ranch, his love of hot-weather jogging, his golf game and his 55th birthday,” the Washington Post noted. Today — 2,557 days later — Bin Laden still remains free and “determined to strike in U.S.”

-- End of Center for American Progress article --

To learn more about what really happened before 9/11, Veterans for Common Sense suggests that our members please read Phil Shenon’s excellent work, “The Commission: the Uncensored History of the 9/11 Commission.”  See Chapter 23, pages 151 – 158.  Shenon covered the bogus 9/11 Commission for The New York Times.  During 2001, President George W. Bush was briefed on the following days, with the following headlines for each briefing:

  1. April 20: Bin Ladin Planning Multiple Operations
  2. May 3: Bin Ladin Public Profile May Presage Attack
  3. May 23: Terrorist Groups Said Cooperating on US Hostage Plot
  4. May 26: Bin Ladin’s Networks Plans Advancing
  5. June 23: Bin Ladin Attacks May Be Imminent
  6. June 25: Bin Ladin and Associates Making Near-Term Plans
  7. June 30: Bin Ladin Planning High-Profile Attacks
  8. June 30 (a second briefing): Bin Ladin Threats Are Real
  9. July 2: Planning for Bin Ladin Attacks Continues, Depsite Delays
  10. August 6, 2001: Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US

All of these detailed briefings for President Bush about Bin Ladin were before September 11, 2001. However, President Bush remained on vacation.  He has taken more than 900 days of vacation at his Crawford, Texas ranch - more vacation days than any other President.  Even after at least ten detailed briefings, President Bush failed to take any action after any of these briefings, a testament to his absolute abdication of official responsibility.

Even the Washington Post reported very serious allegations that the Pentagon deceived the 9/11 Commission: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080101300.html

-- Paul Sullivan, Executive Director, Veterans for Common Sense