more on "War on Terra" saves few lives, expert says

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Barry Ritholtz <ritholtz () optonline net>
Date: September 12, 2005 9:10:25 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: Brian Smithson <brian () grot com>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on "War on Terra" saves few lives, expert says


Dear Dave and Brian,

Sigh . . .  How soon they forget.


It was, and remains, a most glaring falsehood and an insupportable  
notion that "no one had any idea that commercial planes would be used  
as part of the attack."

On July 26, 2001, CBS reported that Attorney General John Ashcroft,  
on the advice of his FBI security detail, stopped flying on  
Commercial Aircraft. Previously, he had flown commercial, as did his  
predecessor, Janet Reno.

Ahem -- An edict to the AG that he NOT FLY COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT is  
solid evidence that the FBI knew that aircraft were a potential  
target. Given all the terrorist "chatter" which intelligence agencies  
have said existed in June and July of 2001, its clear that there was  
plenty of notice about commercial aircraft. (Not that "we" heard  
anything about it at the time).

San Francisco Gate columnist Harley Sorensen reported the same on  
June 3, 2002. This is simply old news, still available on the web.  
(anyone else could have found these in all of 30 seconds)

The New York Times noted today that in an August 6, 2001, President  
Bush was told that Al Qaeda might seek to hijack aircraft. The 9/11  
Commission has found that US intelligence agencies had some warning  
of terrorists using airplanes as missiles.

That's before we even get to Richard Clarke's testimony about 1996  
Atlanta Olympics security detail. He's commented that the security  
detail had fixed on ways to prevent aircraft from being flown into  
the Olympic stadium, creating a no fly zone, using helicopters, etc.

You can see all the sources below:



Sources:


Ashcroft Flying High
Jim Stewart
CBS News, Washington, July 26, 2001
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

Video: Ashcroft No Longer Flying Commercial Jets

Heads-Up To Ashcroft Proves Threat Was Known Before 9/11
Harley Sorensen,
SF Gate, June 3, 2002
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/ 
2002/06/03/hsorensen.DTL

Meet the Press,
White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke
March 28, 2004
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4608698/

Mendacity Index: Which president told the biggest whoppers?
The Washington Monthly, September 2003
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0309.mendacity- 
experts.html





Barry L. Ritholtz
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Big Picture: Macro perspectives on the Capital Markets, Economy,  
and Geopolitics
(with a dash of music and film thrown in!)
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments














On Sep 12, 2005, at 6:12 PM, David Farber wrote:

> > Mr. Bray was right about one thing, even if Mr. Fairlie denies  
> > it.   Only Tom Clancy (in "Debt of Honor," I believe, published in  
> > 1994)  forecast the use of a commercial airliner in a suicide  
> > terrorist  exploit.  Yes, there have been many airline hijackings  
> > in recent  decades but to my knowledge no one in the intelligence  
> > community (in  which I worked for most of the last 20 years) or  
> > anywhere else put  forward a scenario that resembled Clancy's.


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