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During a radio show this month, Dr. Dean responded to a question about why the Bush administration is withholding documents from a commission investigating the terrorist attacks this way: "There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far – which is nothing more than a theory ... it can't be proved – is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis."
Asked about the comments, Mr. Bush, pausing several times, said: "Look, there's time for politics. And, you know ... there's a time for politics. And ... it's an absurd insinuation."
Dean spokesman Jay Carson responded: "Gov. Dean has been very clear he doesn't subscribe to or believe this theory. But the White House needs to be more forthcoming with the 9-11 commission and put all these types of theories to rest."
White House Admits Pre-9/11 Warnings; Bush Still Denies It
ViveLeCanada -Tuesday, December 16 2003
At his press conference yesterday, President Bush was asked about charges that he had received warnings prior to the September 11th attacks that a terrorist incident was imminent. He answered that even asking such a question was "an absurd insinuation." It was the same sentiment expressed by Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who said in May of 2002 that "[no one predicted] that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane."
The problem for the president and the administration is that the White House has previously admitted that the president had personally received such specific warnings. As ABC News reported in May of 2002, "White House officials acknowledge that U.S. intelligence officials informed President Bush weeks before the September 11th attacks that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network might try to hijack American planes." As Condoleezza Rice said at a hastily called press conference to spin these revelations, the President specifically received an "analytic report" on August 6th, 2001 at his Crawford mansion that "talked about Osama bin Laden's methods of operation" and "mentioned hijacking." According to Reuters, that report was congruent with "intelligence since 1998 that said followers of bin Laden were planning to strike U.S. targets, hijack U.S. planes.".
While the administration claims that the president's pre-9/11 warning was actually "not a warning," the threat was specific enough for Attorney General John Ashcroft to stop flying commercial airlines. While no warning was issued for the general public after Bush's personal intelligence warning, Ashcroft was flying exclusively by leased jet instead of commercial airlines because of an official "threat assessment by the FBI."
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Daily Misleader
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