Brokaw-Bush Had Detailed War Plan for Al Qaeda on Desk 2 Days Before 9/11

MSNBC Cable and the NBC Evening News ^ | May 16, 2002 | Tom Brokaw

[codebreaker]

I think this is the White House providing the story to MSNBC and the NBC Evening News.

Cable channels higlighting it on the hour, no link yet.

[codebreaker]

We make these kind of battle write ups all the time but it does show that the administration was dealing with the situation and trying to stay ahead of the game.

No one really thought a plane attack was feasible, I'm sure.

[swarthyguy]

What's so bad about contingency planning? This is a FullCourt press by the mediadems; they've panicked about the Nov elections and want this story to drip drip drip all thorugh the summer.

[My2Cents]

Or, even if feasible, no one knew with any degree of certainty where or when such an attack would occur.

[anniegetyourgun]

They have declared war on the R party. Typically these come in 3's. I don't think they are done.

[My2Cents]

Agreed. The Dems know they cannot overcome Bush's popularity, and likely coattail effects it could have on congressional elections. All they can hope to do is put a dent in his approval ratings, take him down a few pegs, and thereby reduce or potentially eliminate any coattail effects.

What aggrevates me is that this dust up occurs no more than about 24 hours after McAliffe was calling the use of Bush's 9/11 photo on the phone overly political and "grotesque." Hypocrats!

[summer]

What all this backtracking led by the Dems sounds like to me is this: they have already concluded that complaining about GW's photo on the phone with the VP on 9-11 was not an issue that would resonate with voters, so they tossed that out, and instead came up with this new focus, about complaining what GW knew or did not know prior to 9-11. I wish they would instead devote their energies to something like publicly supporting our military and their families, and thinking up ways to make life a little easier for those families now separated by this war. That would be constructive and of interest.

[kaylar]

Well, THAT was weird...I clicked on the thread and got a "this thread has been delted message" the first time, but obviously it's still here. Must be a glitch in my system. Here's the full link to the title story, which is now posted :

U.S. planned for attack on al-Qaida Bush given global assault strategy two days before Sept. 11

[TLBSHOW]

They aren't finished. Hillary must be stopped for her crimes and jailed now.

[summer]

What aggrevates me is that this dust up occurs no more than about 24 hours after McAliffe was calling the use of Bush's 9/11 photo on the phone overly political and "grotesque."

I agree. The timing of this mad dash to a new inquery really looks bad -- and frankly, just stinks.

[Wphile]

That would be constructive and of interest.

But they are only interested in one thing: POWER. And obviously, they will do ANYTHING to keep or acquire it. The Dems are scum. I hope my mother is hanging her head in shame, once again, at having ever been a Democrat.

[swarthyguy]

Witness the article today quoting relatives of dead WTC people bemoaning the President and Administration for not issuing a public warning etc.

[demlosers]

This answers all those conspiracy theorists who jumped to conclusions why the Bush administration had a game plan so quickly. They were going to do something about Al-Qaida after the Clinton administration did nothing to stop them. Remember the Cole, U.S embassy, and Dahran Saudi Arabia bombings?

[hole_n_one]

Witness the article today quoting relatives of dead WTC people bemoaning the President and Administration for not issuing a public warning etc.

John King is set to trot out some of those same people within the hour on CNN.....

[hchutch]

Unfortunately, this is all the "progressives" need. We'll be dealing with the "Bush knew everything" for decades. Yet another similarity to Pearl Harbor.

I have to admit, political jiujitsu might be the only thing the Dems have left. Using Bush's competence in foreign policy AGAINST him might fire up the base. "See, he had a secret plan..."

Bush needs to get up front and explain EVERYTHING very simply. It's bully pulpit time.

[Musket]

This is GREAT, I believe the Rats are gonna catch MAJOR BLOW-BACK from this, far beyond their wildest dreams! YAHOO! WAY TO GO RATS! Look at Europe. Your days are numbered.

[finnman69]

Good, this is a 10,000% improvement over the CLinton Administration which had ZERO plans to deal with Al Qaeda.

[OldFriend]

I agree and I believe blowback has begun. By this evening everyone was backing off of blaming the President........backing WAY OFF!

[OldFriend]

The information that Cheney had the plan ready to roll out was made public soon after the attacks on the eleventh.

[Timesink]

This bit of info that Brokaw is trying to report as some exclusive, was actually made public somewhere around 9/12. Practically every newsmagazine article the next week made note of the irony.

Someone who wants to dig through the FR archives could probably find it.