[Ramona_A_Stone]

Dear George,


I didn't really want to mention this, but, OK, this lands on your desk on August 6, 2001.

Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US

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Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S. Bin Laden implied in U.S. television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America."

After U.S. missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a XXX service.

An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told XXX service at the same time that bin Laden was planning to exploit the operative's access to the U.S. to mount a terrorist strike.

The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S.

Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that in XXX, Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own U.S. attack.

Ressam says bin Laden was aware of the Los Angeles operation. Although Bin Laden has not succeeded, his attacks against the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Laden associates surveyed our embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.

Al Qaeda members -- including some who are U.S. citizens -- have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks.

Two al-Qaeda members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our embassies in East Africa were U.S. citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.

A clandestine source said in 1998 that a bin Laden cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.

We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a XXX service in 1998 saying that Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman and other U.S.-held extremists.

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full-field investigations throughout the U.S. that it considers bin Laden-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group or bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives.

...and you say, in your own words,

"The memo was no indication of a terrorist threat."
--to the press pool, April 11, 2004, Fort Hood, Texas

...of course you keep stammering to make sure you qualify yourself so it can't be construed as an outright lie, wrinkling your brow in that cute of-course-I'm-more-enlightened-than-you-I'm-the-fucking-president way you have, and go on to say:

"There was not a time and place of an attack. It said Osama bin Laden had designs on America. Well, I knew that. What I wanted to know was, is there anything specifically going to take place in America that we needed to react to."

...and he dives, executing a difficult triple-gainer and barely making a splash, scoring a row of 10s...


...you didn't really say that there was no indication of a terrorist threat and that you knew bin Laden was a terrorist threat in the same breath. No. It only seems that way to those who cannot see the emperor's new clothes. You simply reminded us that your priorities are beyond the scope of mere mortal comprehension, and that those silly little things that flutter across your desk are as trifling as the newspapers you also never read.

Now beyond the spectacle of your Zen Mastery, I don't see that you necessarily had anything to apologize for anyway, we can all see the document is "vague" ...because it's not clairvoyant. We can't blame you for not acting when there's nothing actionable, like a date or a flight number.

But you could have chosen to say "Yes, the document indicated a possible terrorist threat but it was hard to know what to do about the information." No one would've thought twice about it. Hell, we all know in August you were already drawing up battle plans for war with Iraq, you had a lot on your plate.

But no, better to glisten even if it's with pure slime. Slippery George the Golden Weasel, the man who knew better by not knowing at all.

Intelligence failure indeed... I don't care if it was written in orange Crayon in four inch high letters on a brown paper sack, it indicated a possible terrorist threat.

"The memo was no indication of a terrorist threat."



What is your tongue connected to? Why would you even bother to say that? It'd be truly laughable except that it makes me more suspicious of you than I ever wanted to be. You're supposed to be all about our security per your very own unbelievably redundant droning, but you just keep making me more and more paranoid with all this ultrasophisticated reverse psychology shit. It concerns me that someone close to you can't impress upon you that it might be in your best interest to shut the hell up, or at least get your meds adjusted before they let you speak.


Yet I was truly willing to let this go, I wasn't even going to mention it. But then, a day later, in the photo-op for Mubarak visiting your ranch, you say:

"There was nothing there that said, you know, 'There's an imminent attack.'"
--Press conference, April 12, 2004, Crawford, Texas

...and I mean this is after you slept.

Let's review.

...reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S.
...would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber
..."bring the fighting to America."
...told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington
...was planning to exploit the operative's access to the U.S. to mount a terrorist strike
...serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S.
...conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport
...helped facilitate the operation
...was planning his own U.S. attack
...attacks against the U.S. Embassies
...Al Qaeda...maintains a support structure that could aid attacks
...bin Laden cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks
...wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft
...preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks
...planning attacks with explosives

Then, your big Prime Time Press Conference. By now you've obviously had time to chisel this crude gem into pure brilliance:

"...the briefing contained 'nothing new' in terms of disclosing that Osama bin Laden hoped to attack the United States."
--April 13, 2004, Washington

...nothing new. Breathtaking.

This indicates that in your peculiar brand of ominiscience, you not only already knew all about an imminent terrorist threat, but you also didn't know there was one... Apparently this is achieved by knowing it so well that you cease to know it, which is both like really really knowing it and not knowing it all at the same time...

Gotta hand it to you, you did a superb job of making the memo itself seem completely irrelevant there...



Just between me and you though, next time you're campaigning for the trust and support of the American people through a critical period, you might want to toy with the idea that we have a collective grasp of reality. It's not even a question of "would you buy a used car from this man" when you can clearly see the guy is trying to sell you half a stuffed goat.

And dude, you've got to stop with the whole sarcastic sneering thing. You're getting a little better, but you've really gotta keep practicing those eyebrow relaxation techniques and try to shake it completely. I know you think it's all Charleton Heston but it really just comes off The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

Love,
Ramona