Dean: "Bush knew" (9/11)

Dean on WAMU: "The president is suppressing evidence"
Update: Dean-"Bush knew" picked up by Charles Krauthammer (WP 12/05)

Dean: Bush May Have Been Tipped to 9/11 Attacks (GFP: TRIFECTA?)

http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=7853

SNIP...""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," Dean told a caller to Washington, D.C's Diane Rehm Show, according to a transcript obtained by Opinion Journal.com.

"Now, who knows what the real situation is?" the presidential conspiracy theorist cautioned. He then added, "But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kinds of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not."

Newsmax -Tuesday Dec. 2, 2003; 8:08 p.m. EST

It looks like ex-congressional nutball Cynthia McKinney has picked up some new support for her conspiracy theory that President Bush had advance word of the 9/11 attacks - from none other than Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean.

Dean said on Monday that President Bush is withholding documents related to 9/11 because they may show he knew what was coming.

"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," Dean told a caller to Washington, D.C's Diane Rehm Show, according to a transcript obtained by Opinion Journal.com.

"Now, who knows what the real situation is?" the presidential conspiracy theorist cautioned. He then added, "But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kinds of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not."

Dean warned that the more theories like his "get repeated," the more people tend to believe them. "So I think the president is taking a great risk by suppressing the key information that should go to the Kean commission" investigating the 9/11 attacks.

Ms. McKinney raised similarly explosive questions during a March 2002 radio interview, when she demanded, "What did this administration know, and when did it know it about the events of Sept. 11?

"Who else knew," McKinney added, "and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? What do they have to hide?"

Dean on WAMU: "The president is suppressing evidence"

BY JAMES TARANTO

Dean has also been trafficking in crackpot conspiracy theories. On yesterday's "Diane Rehm Show" on WAMU radio (link in RealAudio format, exchange begins at 42:39), the erstwhile Vermont governor had this to say:

Caller: Once we get you in the White House, would you please make sure that there is a thorough investigation of 9/11, and not stonewall it?

Dean: Yes. There is a report, which the president is suppressing evidence for, which is a thorough investigation of 9/11.

Rehm: Why do you think he's suppressing that report?

Dean: I don't know. 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. Now who knows what the real situation is? But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kinds of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not. And eventually they get repeated as fact. So I think the president is taking a great risk by suppressing the key information that should go to the Kean commission.

Now, it's true that the Bush administration sought to withhold some classified documents from the Kean commission, which is investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. Such disputes are nothing unusual; both the Nixon and Clinton administrations sought (unsuccessfully) to use executive privilege to withhold information from prosecutors investigating possible presidential crimes. In this case, there are no serious allegations of wrongdoing, and the information in question is sensitive for reasons of national security, not just protecting the office of the president.

Besides, as the Daily Record of Parsippany, N.J., noted last month, the White House and the commission reached a compromise that will allow some access to such information. Dean is out of bounds to cite this "suppression" as an excuse to raise nutty conspiracy theories. If a Republican candidate had said of Bill Clinton, "The Clintons may have murdered Vince Foster--but it's only a theory," he would have been pilloried in the media, and rightly so. Will Dean get the same treatment?

Related links

Democratic front-runner Howard Dean: Bush May Have Been Tipped ...
PHXNews, United States - 4 hours ago
... some new support for her conspiracy theory that President Bush had advance word of
the 9/11 attacks - from none other than Democratic front-runner Howard Dean. ...

Dean: Bush May Have Been Tipped to 9/11 Attacks
NewsMax.com - 7 hours ago
... for her conspiracy theory that President Bush had advance word of the 9/11 attacks
- from none other than Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean. ...

Media Backtalk
Washington Post - 15 hours ago
... I am concerned about some of the media coverage of Howard ... The larger issue for Dean
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Christian Science Monitor - 10 hours ago
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Los Angeles Times (subscription), CA - Nov 29, 2003
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Columbia Journalism Review - Dec 1, 2003
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printed from Dean: "Bush knew" (9/11) on 2004-04-28 03:18:40