Bush knew about Al Qaeda’s plans
before September 11, 2001
WASHINGTON (PL)—In the wake of heavy pressure, the
White House has declassified parts of a memorandum
received in August of 2001 by President George W.
Bush, alerting him to plans by the Al Qaeda
organization to carry out attacks within the United
States.
Titled
Bin Laden determined to attack in the United States,
the report warned that members of Al Qaeda,
including some who are U.S. citizens, have lived or
traveled to the United States over the years, and
the group apparently maintains a support structure
that could help it to carry out attacks.
Five sections of the document
were censored, according to the White House, to
protect the names of foreign intelligence services
that collaborated in compiling the data.
The
document, produced by the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA), was received by Bush at his ranch in
Crawford, Texas, on August 6, 2001, one month before
the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
The
information released yesterday reveals that as far
back as 1998 the Federal Bureau of Investigations
(FBI) detected suspicious activities in the country
that could indicate preparations for kidnappings or
other types of attacks, including recent
surveillance of federal buildings in New York.
Secret
reports from foreign governments and the media
indicate that (Osama) Bin Laden has wanted to carry
out terrorist attacks in the United States since
1997, the document continues. The Islamic
organization had been studying ways of hijacking
U.S. airplanes to obtain the release of some of
their members who had been arrested in 1998 and
1999, it states.
Members
of a bi-party commission investigating whether it
was possible to avoid the September 11 attacks
insisted that the Oval Office make the memorandum
public so that citizens would be informed of what
the president knew before the attacks.
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