UQ Wire: The Silver Bullet

During her testimony to the 9-11 Commission, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said three times that there was no silver bullet that could have prevented the attacks of September 11. Prompted by commissioner Ben-Veniste, Rice read aloud the title of the Presidential Daily Briefing of August 6, 2001, long a subject of rumor and speculation:

"Bin Laden Determined to Attack Within the United States"

As to the origin of the PDB, Rice states:

".this August 6th PDB was in response to the president's questions about whether or not something might happen or something might be planned by al-Qaida inside the United States."

We find out that the PDB included:

".the FBI indicates patterns of suspicious activity in the US consistent with preparations for hijacking."

And for a bit of surrealism, her analysis of the PDB:

".the PDB did not warn of attacks inside the United States..."

And:

"There was no threat reporting of any substance about an attack coming in the United States."

Rice stated that the August 6 PDB was an "historic document, it did not contain new information." But when asked whether there was anything reassuring in the document, Rice replied "Certainly not. There was nothing reassuring."

We know that the August 6 briefing had been preceded by what has been called "the summer threat, the spike threat." According to Rice, "On July 5th.domestic agencies, including the FBI and the FAA, were briefed by the White House. Alerts were issued. The next day, the CIA told the CSG participants.the upcoming attack would be spectacular, something quantitatively different from anything that had been done to date." Some of the chatter that had been picked up included:

* "Unbelievable news in coming weeks"
* "Big event ... there will be a very, very, very, very big uproar"
* "There will be attacks in the near future"

According to Rice ".the president of the United States had us at battle station during this period of time. He expected his FBI director to be tasking his agents and getting people out there." But Rice was also uncertain whether the President had bothered to meet with the Director of the FBI as a result of the August 6 PDB. Commissioner Gorelick replied "You indicate in your statement that the FBI tasked its field offices to find out what was going on out there. We have no record of that."

The revelations supplied by Rice, at the very least, serve notice to the 9/11 Commission to follow the trail of what was known before 9/11 by the federal government to the specific actions that were taken as a result of that knowledge. This trail must lead to a detailed examination of the absolute failure of all of the systems in place to detect, deter, and respond to possible and actual hijackings in the United States. Given the information revealed by Rice, it is reasonable to have expected that all systems be placed on sustained alert to be on the lookout for hijackings. A failure to have taken action to ensure that all parties were advised is not simply incompetence, but arguably, criminal negligence.

According to Rice, we have to be successful 100% of the time while the terrorists only have to be successful once. But we know from documentation of the 9/11 timeline, that the hijackers were not just successful once, but many, many times. The system did not simply fail, it failed in totality. The hijacks were not reported until long after they were known, the FAA was incomprehensibly slow in contacting NORAD, the fighter jets flew at less than half of maximum speed, and the most sensitive air space in the US over the Pentagon and White House went unguarded a full 40 minutes after both Twin Towers had been hit. This, after a summer of extreme threat levels. What is even more incomprehensible than the events themselves is the fact that over 2 years later, we still don't have any answers.

According to Mike Ruppert, of 'From The Wilderness', it is not the testimony of Rice, but the failure of the Commission to press her on other documented sources of foreknowledge that is most damning. Detailing a few of the topics not pursued by the commission on his website, Ruppert asks, what about the warnings from German, French and Russian intelligence with specific information that terrorists were planning to use commercial planes and fly them into major landmarks? What about the insider trading pointing to foreknowledge of the attacks? What about the decision by Ashcroft and other officials to stop flying on commercial aircraft? What about the warning to San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to not fly the morning of 9/11?

Silver Bullet? Smoking Gun? Call it what you will. The testimony of Condoleezza Rice serves to legitimize and fuel the concerns of legions of citizens over the official White House story of the events of 9/11. The questions raised are sufficient to prompt the most passive couch potato into action. This is as serious as it gets. If the events of 9/11 were in any way known of beforehand by federal officials, then allowed to happen and used as a "New Pearl Harbor", a tool to manipulate public sentiment allowing the implementation of sweeping and preexisting foreign policy initiatives such as those described by PNAC, of preemptive wars and global imperial domination, and a domestic policy as contained in the Patriot Act, of suppressed individual freedoms, suppressed dissent, and invasive government surveillance, then in the words of 9/11 widow and bringer of RICO lawsuit against Bush & Co. Ellen Mariani, "We are in great peril. Wake up America!"

(*Readers are encouraged to take immediate action by calling and writing the 9/11 Commission, calling and writing their local, state and federal officials, writing articles, joining discussion and action groups, and becoming informed via the following resources: "The New Pearl Harbor" by David Ray Griffin, "The War On Freedom" by Nafeez Ahmed, unansweredquestions.org, fromthewilderness.com, 911independentcommission.org, 911forthetruth.com, 911inquiry.org, septembereleventh.org, madcowprod.com, globalresearch.ca)

Gregor Holland is a member of the 9/11 Truth Movement living in Los Angeles. gkh@earthlink.net. © All rights reserved. April 9, 2004

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